Gregg Fraley

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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We Still Can Learn From “The Ken” Sir Ken Robinson Leaves a Legacy That Still Inspires Educators, Creators, and Innovators, Revisit His Work! The creativity and innovation world has lost one of its finest just this last week. Sir Ken Robinson was the most articulate speaker and author in the field of applied creativity we’ve ever known. His insights are profound, and his unique verbal delivery is simply unparalleled. His sense of humor colored his work and is the secret sauce of his success; he had the wit of a natural born comedian and the incisive insights of a brilliant satirist. His original TED talk (“How Schools Kill Creativity) is without a doubt the most influential 18 minutes of video

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Intensive Program Helps Small Business Owners in Indiana Survive and Grow Indiana Business Owners: Sign Up Now, It’s FREE, Starts August 12th. MoshPits, those crazy human-smashing dance scenes at heavy metal concerts are deliberate chaos. Those who participate dive in because they want that wacky experience. They Choose to Dance. What business leaders are going through to survive the economic chaos of Covid19 is a MoshPit nobody really chose to be a part of, but, we’re stuck with the situation. Make no mistake, these are tough times, and they cause business leaders anxiety and fear. But, they can Choose to Take Control. Control means thinking your way out of this crisis. Did you know there’s another kind of “MoshPit” that

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Coronavirus Crisis an Ideal Time To Leverage an Underutilized Technology Idea Management Systems: A Solution for Effective Innovation Remote Work What if this Coronavirus crisis could be turned into a positive for your innovation program? Who said “never let a good crisis go to waste?” With innovation there definitely is an obvious opportunity at hand right now. An Idea to Help You Maintain Momentum Do a virtual idea campaign while your people are away from the office. It is entirely possible to have the best idea generation session you’ve ever had, and done virtually. A well-executed, carefully facilitated, virtual session, using a modern Idea Management System (IMS) could drive innovation projects for the next year or more. Wouldn’t this be

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Innovation Lessons from Improv Shakespeare The Creative Power of High Function Teams is Astonishing, Rare, and, Possible Getting Beyond “Group Think” Takes Training A committee is where good ideas go to die. This is not good news for innovation teams, because, innovation “teams” are often not teams at all. They are in fact, committees. A committee composed of people from different departments, with non-aligned goals, no team training or bonding, and built-in conflicts. They attempt to work together, but usually fail. It shouldn’t be a surprise, they were set up for failure. It doesn’t have to be this way. Teams can create together and be uber effective. It takes training! Proof: Can you imagine a group of eight people creating

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Skilled Facilitation Makes a Difference Success is Determined Before a Meeting Combining tools & techniques is an art form I recently completed a really difficult and complicated facilitation. It consisted of about three weeks of planning, a very intensive two day session, and a report. Success! Getting to Clarity It was a challenge that took time to understand. The client started by saying he wanted to do a brainstorming session. Several long format conversations were had to clarify what was really desired. It wasn’t brainstorming that was needed. Nothing Is Ever What It Seems As it turns out the session was really more about idea development and elaboration. There is some imaginative thinking inside idea development, but if this session

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Main Culprit? Lack of Education in Science, Manufacturing, Construction, and Engineering Infrastructure and Education Project Idea: Learn, Build, Innovate USA The USA is 9th in the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index. The USA leads in a couple of categories, including “High Tech Density” and “Patent Activity” — so that’s good. But that’s not the whole story. Can we agree that innovation drives economies? The stock market is actually a questionable indicator of economic health, particularly looking to the future. The Bloomberg Innovation Index shows broad trends related to a countries ability to create. The ability to create is at the heart of any economy. So, this is our future USA citizens, a slow slide into mediocrity, unless we change. It’s true at the national level, and

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Lessons a Forager Can Lend Business Relax, Stay Hopeful, Keep Looking I’m a mushroom hunter. I wander the woods foraging, especially in the fall season. Southwest Michigan has a lot of edible varieties but there is one particular delicacy I love. It’s called a Hen-of-the-Woods. It’s a unique shape, something like a cauliflower, and about that size or larger. Very safe — not one of those “eat once” mushrooms. They are not rare exactly, but one can wander for miles and not find one, even in season. They hide under a brownish leaf-like surface. I have a lesson here for business people. Let me start with this story. Know that “Hens” are simply delicious. A hearty, meaty, solid texture, with a

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Experiential Learning Accelerates Innovation Innovation Session Designs Don’t Engage New Study: Drawing is the Fastest, Most Effective Way to Learn I read with interest an article stating that drawing accelerates learning. It does. Using experiential learning tools like drawing isn’t really new in innovation process. What’s new is the hard proof, and, using tools more deliberately. Sunni Brown, Dave Gray, Dan Roam, and yours truly all use experiential learning tools in innovation projects. In spite of many success stories it’s not done nearly enough. The reason? Most corporate innovators have no training in using experiential tools. They don’t know how to scaffold a learning experience. They go straight to brainstorming without preparing minds, and that’s a big reason sessions fail. The article I reference is in Inc. Magazine by

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Accelerating Teams Through Assessment and Training It’s a sad fact of organizational life that only a small percentage of teams achieve high function. Most teams muddle along, and get the essential things done — or not.  Some teams are absolute disaster zones, and are not only ineffective, are actually destructive. Imagine someone pouring crazy glue into your car engine, that’s how a bad team can affect an organization. It doesn’t matter if the team is three people in a small business, or a cross-functional team of 20 at a Fortune 100 company — all teams struggle to excel. And, all teams can improve, with training. Did You Know Diversity = Conflict? It’s a fact that diverse teams are more innovative. They

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