Gregg Fraley

It might be the most obvious innovation infarction of all. Nonetheless, quite deadly. The latest innovation self-suicide factor is simply avoiding hard work. People, innovation is Never easy. You might be fooled now and then when something goes smoothly, but I’ll bet you a dime to a dollar (a pence to a pound) it’s an incremental innovation. Nothing wrong with that, but breakthrough’s require hard work — blood, sweat, and tears. Cue Paul Robeson  singing Old Man River. Or maybe we recall the famous words of Ringo Starr “Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues, and you know it don’t come easy.” Innovation — it don’t come easy. I’ve observed recently an organization that has done

Read More..

I had the pleasure last week of hearing the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. For those of you whose “woo” detection meter has just started clicking, well, hang in there, I think you’ll see the business relevance in a moment. The experience of meditating with 3000 people at Royal Festival Hall was refreshing and energizing. The focus, even before the man spoke, was on breathing. The guided meditation we all did together had us simply being mindful of the breath going in and out. When you do this, it’s actually difficult to not be “in the moment.” Thich Nhat Hanh’s comments were amazingly simple. And yet, the elegance of his poetic and wise words almost masked how deeply practical

Read More..

It comes like clockwork, once a week, an HTML email letting me know about the latest edition of Innovation Tools.  As I was thinking about what to post today related to innovation and reading Innovation Tools at the same time, I got one of those lovely “aha” moments (or maybe it was just an obvious but good idea hitting me over the head with a sledge hammer). Everyone should know about Innovation Tools. It’s probably the largest ezine/portal related to business innovation. Just as important, it’s a site you can trust has no hidden agenda. If you haven’t checked it out yet, and you are at all in the creativity and innovation space, either as a supplier or on the

Read More..

One of those wacky underlying myths about creativity is that it’s impractical. I don’t know how it got started. Perhaps it stems from that other myth, that creativity is all about art, and of course, art is impractical (and yet another myth). Some say they don’t have time for a “process.” I suspect that the expression of divergent ideas related to a problem might feel impractical, might feel like a waste of time. But it’s not. Even on garden variety complex challenges, taking a bit of time to jam a short list of ideas and selecting the most promising candidate, ultimately saves a great deal of time. Creative thinking is actually a powerful time saver and highly practical for efficient

Read More..

Andy Warhol’s famous quote from 1968, that everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes has come true hasn’t it? I just watched a YouTube of a 12 year old dancing to the Maverick’s “Dance the Night Away” — 38,000 views and counting (authentic if nothing else). The democratization of the media has happened, for better or worse. However, if you’ve not quite gotten your 15 minutes yet, I wouldn’t worry so much about it. A secret wish for fame may mask some other need. Peel back that onion before you attempt to break the world’s record for eating ostrich omelettes. Because… Creativity does not require fame. Innovation does not require fame. Full self-expression, in any of its many forms,

Read More..

I had an interesting conversation recently about innovation culture. Comparing notes of various organizations with a friend, one of us remarked about organization X — “they never say yes, they never say no, it’s always…maybe.” We both concluded that maybe is a bad place to be as a culture looking to innovate. I wrote in a blog post last year about the one question survey to assess innovation culture — Are you having fun?” If I had to ask a second question, it would now be, “Is your organization a Yes, a No, or a Maybe?” The answer is telling. A Yes organization likes to try new things, is open to ideas and possibilities, and holds back from saying No. Ideas

Read More..

Is there anything worse than a job which makes you unhappy? Beyond terminal illness probably not. We spend a great deal of our time and energy at work and it’s where we would hope to have some opportunity for applied creativity and innovation. Today’s secret wish is from Emily who has, frankly, been mentally whipped into submission. She feels her work is hopeless, and  uncreative. She wishes for better. But she’s married to the paycheck and can’t see a way out. Everyday she comes home with her spirits lower than the day before. If you feel your job is sucking the life out of you, there are things you can do: 1.) Look into your heart and ask yourself if

Read More..

Words of wisdom can echo through time. Words of positive creativity creates virtuous circles that can spiral for many years. I’m writing today of the words others have given me, and also, my own words. I occasionally hear from somebody who has read my business novel, Jack’s Notebook. The notes are generally positive. Some have been — inspirational. It’s a profoundly fulfilling thing to hear about the positive impact your words have on others. I’m grateful for the audience, and grateful for the words of empowerment others have given me. Yesterday a reader of Jack’s Notebook, Aaron Eden, posted an interesting blog piece about his journey into the world of creativity and innovation. In Butterflies to Hurricanes – How Innovation and Creative

Read More..

Apologize in advance for the mis-leading title of this post, but I have a motive, and a point (and an ego). On a lark I decided to Google “the most creative man in the world”. Here is the somewhat surprising result. Juan Carlos Solon may not be the most creative man in the world (he’s a damn good illustrator) but he deserves credit for a good blog post title. I’d give the real title to Sir Jony Ive. — but that’s just me. Then, to be fair, went over to the fair sex and Googled “the most creative woman in the world.” Here is the rather silly top entry. The second listing was a bit better, if dated to 2010, a

Read More..

Yes, I’ve updated my website and blog. It’s been a surprisingly fun project due to having a great technology and brand innovation partner in the firm Reuben-Hunter. Not only does it look better, it will be easier to change — and I can do it myself! I’m confident it’s more engaging, and will achieve higher rankings, sell more books and speeches and lead to more business. As an innovation expert (God love me) doing my own house cleaning and updating my brand brings me back to some basics. In other words I should listen to my own advice. Anyway, allow me to share two simple thoughts: 1.) If it ain’t broke, break it — my old website worked in the sense

Read More..