CEO

    Wish Wildly With Abandon

    Blue Sky Visioning is Under-utilized

    Improve Personal or Professional Innovation Roadmaps

    “Be careful what you wish for” is a cliché you hear now and then.

    It occurs to me that innovation teams, often, don’t wish imaginatively enough. This is also true for individuals seeking new and interesting projects for their lives.

    If you want to innovate, solve a big problem, or make a positive change in a business or your life — it starts with wildly imaginative wishing. Some term it Visioning. How can you get what you desire if you don’t have an exciting vision for a highly desired outcome?

    Wildly Imaginative Wishing Take Practice

    Don’t obey the cliche and wish carefully. Wish With Abandon.

    This is not as easy as it sounds. It takes practice, and a skilled facilitator helps.

    We tend to rein in wishes. We think, “that’s a stupid wish because I don’t have the money,” or, the resources, the talent, or the guts to make the wish happen. So we wish practically and list unexciting project ideas. Those projects are not likely to achieve a breakthrough. Visioning takes practice. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Tools and frameworks help.

    That Innovation Project List

    Most Innovation teams have a roadmap of scheduled projects. If not that, at least a list of potential projects to consider for future innovation efforts.

    The lists I’ve reviewed are not visionary enough, and, are populated with obvious projects. Obvious projects address the glaring holes. It might be a missing in the product line. Or a service offering that needs improvement. It might be improving operations. There’s nothing wrong with obvious ideas, they tend to be practical. Every innovation project list should have low risk/high reward practical projects. That said, the first items in any creative list are usually not insightful or surprising. If you don’t push beyond this, you’re in trouble.

    Surprising, Scary, Deeply Insightful Projects

    Without doing the work of imaginative, creative, visioning  there won’t be any game changers.

    That’s a missed opportunity that will plague an organization for years. You’ll get incremental innovation, at best. You need to innovate your project list!

    How often do you (or your team) spend time thinking imaginatively about what innovation projects you might do?

    Idea For Project One: Make An Imaginative List of Innovation Projects 

    Another idea: Call in a professional facilitator to plan the project list meeting (which could be virtual) and get that list made, or refreshed. Who you gonna call? Maybe an uber-experienced facilitator? You need tools and frameworks for:

    • Looking at your current research for fresh insights,
    • Casting a wide net for new possibilities, new ways to innovate,
    • Considering new technology and existing shelved IP

    Get teams thinking of wildly imaginative innovation projects. Projects that, when done, fuel growth for years to come.

    If a session found even one major new vision and project idea would that be of value to your organization?

    Are several fresh project ideas for innovation, and a roadmap of your innovation future, of value?

    Get it done. If you need help, get in touch.

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    How to Be Brilliant at Innovation

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    Double Down on Digital Tech Innovation

    Adjust Innovation Project Roadmaps Now Fraley Oracle Predictions for 2020 & 2021 Like everyone else innovators have been thrown a loop during Covid19. Strategic plans so carefully developed now look like Napoleon’s disastrous return from his invasion of Russia (see graphic). Napoleon didn’t adjust his plans. He lost his army and his empire. Our businesses are in Moscow now. We’ve got decisions to make with how to get home. How organizations return from Covid19 determines their futures. This Covid19 disaster is an opportunity. More uncertainty will freeze some of your competition. Survivors prosper. Things will get better eventually, but the time is now to prepare for that lovely day when the sun comes out again. My key advice is in

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    Creativity Is Where Innovation Starts

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    Public Innovation Training, NW Indiana

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    The Potential of Qualitative Research in B2B

    Why Don’t B2B Companies Use Qualitative Research? Qualitative Studies Lead to Insights, and Innovative Results Open-ended Questions Are Powerful Qualitative research is an effective way to understand your market better. Consumer product companies spend a great deal of time and money doing qualitative, essentially, talking to consumers. They often use the focus group method, but also do one-on-one interviews, and observational research or ethnographic studies. It’s an integral part of their innovation process. The findings, the derived insights, can be profound. It’s the perfect start to an innovation process. B2B companies do qualitative much less frequently. They’re missing the boat — qualitative is arguably more effective in B2B markets. Qualitative research is often misunderstood, that might explain why B2B hasn’t embraced it widely. Weirdly,

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    GFi Innovation — Fall Training Course Schedule

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    GFi Innovation Public Training Course

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    Innovation Training in Denver, CO

    Denver, Colorado — Innovation & Facilitation Training — Two Public Courses In late August I’m co-hosting and delivering two public courses on Innovation in Denver. Working with Kim Smoyer of Smoyer & Associates, a Colorado based consultancy that focuses on non-profits. My experience is mostly with corporate innovation, so, we’ve got perspectives and insights for both contexts. We’re holding the courses at the Community Resource Center (CRC) in downtown Denver. The first course is a one-day Innovation Intensive Overview, targeted for executives. It’s theory, practice, and how to get started, or improve your innovation process. If you take this course you’ll know why and how to move forward with results oriented innovation projects. The second course is a 2.5 day

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    Disaster: CEO’s Ignoring Digital Innovation

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