Gregg Fraley

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I occasionally post my notebook drawings.  I’ll let this one speak for itself…

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Sometimes you really haven’t got much to say, in which cases, the best thing to do is say nothing.

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A lot of innovators take time off to recharge their batteries, and that’s a good idea. Especially if you’re working on challenges that are really vexing you.  Fresh experiences and time for incubation often lead to breakthroughs. However, now, it’s fall and it’s time to put away the beach towels and get back to more deliberate work. Still, it’s not wrong to wax wistful about the good times we’ve had. Here’s a drawing that captures the feeling for me, take a look and have your own moment to savor the summer one last time. Then, get to work, it will be the holidays before we know it and if you want to get anything done this year you’d better do

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Spotted an Amy Winehouse pretender on the train yesterday. She was a bit half-hearted though. Amy is nothing if not full-out creative.  She may be psycho, but she doesn’t pull any punches does she?  If you really want to create something…don’t hold back.

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It’s nice when people fall asleep on the train. When they hold still it makes it a bit easier to capture a sketch. This guy fell asleep with his mouth open. It was not pretty, but it occured to me he might not be sleeping at all but simply incubating some ideas. If nothing else, I can imagine he was. Sleep is a great time to solve problems. Go to sleep with something on your mind, a question, and inevitably you wake up with an answer. Try it.

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Okay, so I was wrong. I’ve been saying for about 9 months now that Innovation is holistic. That part is not wrong, I still believe that. What is wrong is saying that companies should not Do Innovation that they should Be Innovation. My point has been that methodologies, tools, techniques and deliberate process are not magic bullets, and, they won’t work without a “feeling” of being innovative all the time. What I was wrong about was to emphasize the Be over the Do. It’s not about one or the other, it’s about both. Companies, leaders, must manage the polarity of doing and being, the yin and the yang of innovation. Yes, you need a cultural Be for an organization to

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The guidelines of brainstorming include the famous concept of “deferring judgment.” This is suggested so all ideas can be expressed without fear of criticism. It allows for a flow of divergent thinking to get established. It’s a great guideline, and when it’s followed, it helps get results. It’s interesting though that we usually only defer judgment during a brainstorm. It’s open season outside of a brainstorm to cut an idea to shreds, and often, we cut people to shreds right along with it. The best innovation teams make a real habit of deferring judgment, they do it all the time, not just during a brainstorming session. Basically this “open-ness” allows ideas to live. It’s polite to listen isn’t it? It

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It’s the most aggravating cliche of the innovation world…thinking “out-of-the-box.”  Once upon a time it meant something. And in truth, it resonates because “constraints” often has us feel like we are brainstorming inside a straight jacket.  However, what I’ve found is that 90% of the time people don’t really want out-of-the-box ideas, they want inside-the-box ideas. Perhaps the compromise is Across-the-box” ideas (stay tuned.) Sure, we all want fresh perspectives, even on “close in” challenges.  Those kinds of out-of-the-box thoughts are always welcome.  However, in a corporate sense, most “out” ideas are expensive and risky.  They come up in ideation sessions — and are ruled out almost immediately.  Taking a risk on a high potential “out” idea is something that

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I occasionally post a few drawings to this site — here are a few, just for fun.

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