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What Is Organic Innovation   In this blog, I wanted to discuss a new idea, a new way of looking at innovation.  In the next chapter on Failure, I discuss when I lost my first company it was like losing a child. This concept is critical for you to understand as it describes the life […]

When my youngest daughter was only eight, I took her on a hike in the Arizona desert to a place called Petroglyph Canyon.  It was in the notorious Superstition Mountains which had a running waterfall nearly all year long.  That is saying a great deal considering it wouldn’t rain for months at a time and

Creativity Isn’t A Talent It’s important enough to wash, rinse, repeat.  Creativity is a learned process, just like riding a bike, playing golf, or playing the piano.  the more you practice the quicker you will become an expert at being innovative. Just like any sport, musical instrument, skateboard, or even yoga, you learn the rules,

Series Conclusion   Wow!  Now that was one heck of an innovative journey!  As you see, everything available on Innovation and Creativity has been put into this volume of blogs.  It’s everything worth knowing on the subject. In This seriese have covered a lot of ground.  We discussed “Perspective” and how our brains can be

Reward Ideation   The last topic I want to discuss in this book is rewarding ideation.  B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential psychiatrist in developing the foundation for Behaviorism. Skinner proved how positive reinforcement worked by placing a hungry rat in what he called a Skinner box. The box contained a lever on

One Red Paperclip I think this is one of the most innovative individuals and stories ever.   A Canadian blogger named Kyle MacDonald, bartered his way from a single red paperclip to a house in a series of fourteen online trades over the course of a year beginning on July 14, 2005.  Here are those 14 trades.   On July

Divergent Thinking   What Can You Do With A Paperclip   This activity was first developed by J.P. Guilford in 1967.  Guilford looked at four areas of creativity;   Originality: The novelty of alternative uses for the paperclip. Fluency: The total number of uses the subject was able to innovate. Flexibility: The categories with which

Naysayers & Negaholics   Nothing will drag an innovative team down faster than naysayers and negaholics.  Just one of these personalities can kill the creativity of an innovative team in only a few minutes.  Management and legal are famous for playing these roles.  Remember, it’s their job to see what can go wrong first, analyze

Maslow’s Hierarchy   I am sure you have seen the Maslow’s Hierarchy before.  It’s real, it applies, and I wanted to remind you of this study to help you understand motivations.     “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” – Albert Einstein   Lon

What Motivates You?   In order to be creative, you need to be motivated.  There are many things that motivate different people. From my experience, engineers are motivated mostly by success.  Success in the form of “I did it!”  When I owned my software company and 30 employees, it was surprising how different each person’s