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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

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

Henry Ford And His Assembly Line   We all know the story of Henry Ford and how he got credit for inventing the Assembly Line, and how it revolutionized manufacturing forever.  But few know the story. As this book isn’t about Henry Ford, only innovation, I am forced to keep it brief. Henry Ford did

Henry Ford’s Assembly Line Family Tree   Looking at Ford’s use of the assembly line with an “organic” perspective shows us it’s family tree.  Ford’s need to solve his manufacturing problem of assembly was already solved in potato farming.  It took an open mind, an uninterrupted environment, and “luck Lightning” to strike Henry that day

Look Elsewhere   The first collapsible baby carriage was invented by an inventor named Owen Maclaren.  Maclaren was inspired by the system designed for folding undercarriages for Spitfire planes in World War II. Innovator James Dyson was inspired by a cyclone vacuum system used to suck up sawdust in sawmills.  Dyson went on to design the

The 30 Circles Test Take a piece of paper and draw 30 circles on it. You have one minute to turn as many circles as you can into objects. Examples: One circle could be drawn as a sun. Another could be drawn as a globe. Draw as many as you can!  Look for quantity over quality.

This is more of a challenge… Every day, I want you to write down 10 ideas.  Get yourself a journal, use Outlook, Word, or pages.  Just write down 10 ideas per day.  They don’t have to be award winning ideas or even good ones.  Just ideas. They can be about work, home, hobbies, family, or

Failure On An Epic Scale   Let’s kick off another first by talking about “failure” right out of the gate and get it out of the way. It wouldn’t be fair for me to just tout my successes and the successes of all the other people’s examples.  Yes, Henry Ford utilized the assembly line and

The Failure Continues Here are two more quick examples of failure from companies and products you are familiar with. WD40 How about WD40.  It stands for Water Displacement, 40th Formulation attempt.  It was invented during World War II when the military was looking for a way to keep wires and other parts dry and water-free,

The most important part of failure is not to take it personally.  Later on in this book, I will discuss a new concept of “Organic Innovation”.  This is where you look at your idea or creation as that, a creation.  Many entrepreneurs see their creations as a child. You give birth to the idea, you