If it is to be, it is up to me

Ten very smart 2 letter words.

Really, I’m trying out a new system – ScribeFire.

Creativity – an individual act best done in groups

Groups contain a valuable mix of perspectives and a range of problem solving styles. The individuals in the group bring their own unique knowledge/skills/experiences and combine with the others to provide a vast collective pool of knowledge.  Within this pool are all potential elements of a creative idea.

An idea is a new combination of existing elements. Once shared new elements reside, however fleetingly, in the minds of those listening. A new element can be the missing ingredient or needed spark that stimulates the new idea. However, whilst the new idea may never have happened if another person hadn’t added that vital element the new idea can only ever be formed in one person’s mind.

You can only combine/synthesize/associate two things you are aware of. The benefit of working in groups is in their ability to stimulate new ideas in individuals. The final act of creativity has to be an individual one.

Would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on this.

From Ideas to Innovation

Ideas are easy/hard (delete depending on previous performance).

Innovation is harder.

Why? Innovation starts with idea generation (well challenge identification if we’re being accurate) and adds on selection and implementation. There are an ever increasing number of idea gathering offerings becoming available but for an organisation trying to embed innovation at the core of its operations these will not be sufficient.

Whatever an organisation’s current innovation status an innovation process management system will be beneficial. The Jenni web application is one such system that all organisations who are serious about innovation must check out.

Today’s generation

Clever and thought provoking. Watch this to the end.

Great joke (told by Clement Freud)

Seth Godin does it again

I take my proverbial hat off to Seth Godin, the respected agent of change. His latest book, Tribes, is yet another stimulating and inspiring piece of work. Very easy to read and digest. I always finish his books thinking “that’s what I think too” but it is the clarity of his writing that most impresses. The book left me feeling that I have an insight that the majority don’t but in keeping with the book’s message I shall share it with others. Here are some comments that resonated with me. Free advice: read the book.Then read his other books.

Leadership is about creating change that you believe in

Organisations that destroy the status quo win

You can’t manage your way to initiative

Ideas that spread, win

Lean in , back off, but don’t do nothing

Faith is critical to innovation

Create change before change happens

The best time to change your business model is while you still have momentum

Tribes don’t do what you want, they do what they want

The largest enemy of change and leadership is “not yet”

if your organisation requires success before commitment, it will never have either

Leaders create things that didn’t exist before

“Why not you, why not now?”

Google Project 10*100

Take a peek at this google project as another example of companies exploring open innovation (see Dell and Starbucks for other examples). Big financial gains for very worthy ideas – worth tracking.

Now, as with these other two the process seems to focus very much on the gathering of ideas and to varying degrees on the management and evaluation of those ideas. Idea management software exists that will conduct the whole process from requesting ideas, through evaluation and into the implementation stage. One service capable of doing all this is “jenni” which I have mentioned previously in a squidoo post.

Perfect for both innovation in products / services as well as cost cutting it could well be an area of increasing corporate interest as the struggle for profitable growth becomes even tougher.

How to draw on-screen in powerpoint

Dan Roam is author of “Back of the napkin”, a book which looks at visual thinking as a way to gain new perspectives on challenges and to carry an audience along with an idea along enabling you to communicate more effectively. Waiting for my copy to arrive.

Anyway, he offers a useful tip for drawing when in ppt presention mode. If you need to draw on a slide here is how to do it.

For those with older versions of ppt (like me) then you can “CTRL+P” to change your arrow to a pen. Then use “E” to erase your scribblings and finally pres “ESC” to return to normal arrow mode.

See what you reckon.

Wordle

Came across this wordle site today. Interesting way to look at a text’s content. Input your text and see the “word clouds” formed by this novel toy. The image’s appearance can easily be tweaked. If you want to save your image as a picture then do a “printscreen”, crop with your picture toolbar and save as a picture.

Could make a nice opener / background slide to a presentation when talking about what the presentation is going to cover.

Shift happens – in the UK

The times they are-a-changing! And quickly too.