Gregg Fraley

I’ve been involved* these past two years with a creativity conference in Oklahoma, now called the State of Creativity Forum. This conference has energy to spare, it feels like an accelerating fire of innovative energy. Last year’s event (for a summary look at this post) exploded with dynamic speakers, cultural, and artist happenings. Even the governor, Mary Fallin, was there to support the notion that creativity and innovation is how Oklahoma moves forward. This year features Sir Ken Robinson and Peter Diamandis of X Prize fame — and that’s just the start. It’s all taking place November 13th in Oklahoma City. By all means, if you want a great taster, or even a major feast of creative stimulation, this is

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The classic American vacation might be that drive out west to see Mt. Rushmore. I’ve always yearned to see the famous mountain sculpture. This past week I got out to South Dakota, determined not to write or even think about creativity or innovation. I was there to enjoy the Black Hills, the Badlands, take in Mt. Rushmore, have a couple of strenuous hikes, and share it all with my lovely partner. Then I saw the Crazy Horse Memorial — and I had to kiss goodbye the idea of a creativity and innovation thought-free vacation. I’ve never seen such an ambitious creative project. It took me by surprise. I was only vaguely aware of the project and we stopped to see

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When In Doubt, Do The Mash Not so many people remember his name anymore — Philo Farnsworth. The very short bio of Philo Farnsworth is that he created the first working all-electronic television. He conceived the basic idea at the age of 14. Understand, this was leading edge electronics of the time. He made his idea real in his early 20’s. He went on to have 165 patents. The coolest part of the Philo Farnsworth story, to me, is how his thinking evolved and worked in creating the television display tube. First of all he had an “intense preoccupation” with the idea of pictures over the air. Philo was a farm boy, raised in Utah and Idaho and you’ll see

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Guerilla Innovation Chapter Eight Everything is Stimuli for Scaffolding to Better Ideas In my last post I introduced you to the concept of “Scaffolding”. For those who are starting here, it’s essentially a thinking tool to take your mind to a new place — an aid in the objective of coming up with an innovative idea for your small business. It might even be The Innovative Idea that starts a new business (hopefully with the clear point of difference I talked about in Chapter One (Even a Pizza Shop Has a Point of Difference) of this online “blogged book.” In order to take your innovation thinking (particularly in this idea generation phase) to the next level, you need to combine

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Guerrilla Innovation Chapter Seven Scaffolding — Thinking Monkey Bars for Small Business Small business people, aka, Guerrilla Innovators, you’re now looking for a unique business idea. This ain’t brainstorming, it’s Scaffolding. Just for fun maybe we call it Idea Generation Monkey Bars for Small Business. It’s a method to get to great ideas one thinking notch up at a time. I’ve been told that the term “Scaffolding” is used in the psychology and education fields. I first heard the term used by my partner with regard to idea generation — and it immediately struck me as a helpful way to look at things. Let me explain how Scaffolding works. Innovators, get out your Notebooks and start Notebooking. Breakthrough ideas are

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Guerilla Innovation Chapter Six Ideas Aren’t Innovation Ideas are not Innovation — and it’s interesting how often “idea people” think that having a good idea is enough. Ideas need development and implementation — get that done and you’ve still got to run the business. If you’re a start-up you’ll need to hire a team of people, raise funds, market your idea, sell it, and somehow profit from it. Team building, fund raising, operations — these are all essential and they all contribute to the innovation puzzle. I’ll touch on them later in Guerilla Innovation (this online book) but, this book is primarily about innovation — that component of a business where value is created. And creation is an awful lot

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Guerilla Innovation Chapter Five Notebooking is Innovation Viagra What do Leonardo DaVinci, Thomas Edison, Jack Kerouac, Beatrix Potter, Madame Curie, and Twyla Tharp all have in common? They all do Idea Notebooks. Call the behavior Notebooking. It’s not just ideas, it’s also questions, facts, observations — products of your curiosity. The big company version of Notebooking is an Idea Management System (IMS). Notebooks are the IMS for small business innovators. You have a Jungle Business Plan in your purse or man bag. It’s a short document that forms the outline of what you are doing in your quest for innovation. It’s a guide and you’re actively working it, evolving as the landscape in front of you changes. You use creative

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Guerilla Innovation Chapter Four Innovate on COQ Doing “COQ ” (rhymes with Poke) will get you somewhere. If you want to be an innovator you have to create something new — and how do you do that? COQ. COQ stands for Curiosity, Observation and Questions. This COQ is not illegal, but it is rare and precious. Innovator’s should live in a constant state of COQ. Not a COQ “high” a COQ aware. How do you discover that niche, that point of difference, that special value that customers will pay for? COQ that’s how. An innovator has to be Curious beyond measure. Yes, an innovator has to know something at the start, that’s why reading everything you can get your hands

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Guerilla Innovation Chapter Three Small Biz Creative Problem Solving Small business innovation is simply this: one problem after another. It’s a gauntlet. It’s a series of hurdles you have to jump over, and lots of them. Sometimes you intuitively know what you have to do, so you adjust and go and do it. Other times, it looks like Mt. Everest — it just looks impossible. This is where many wanna be innovators, and wanna be entrepreneurs simply give up. Don’t give up. When the going gets tough, the tough get creative. Deliberately creative. The mountain of problems is not an obstacle, it’s an opportunity. What stops everybody else is exactly where you want to be — because if you can

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Guerilla Innovation Chapter Two Business Plans That Work –One You Can Take to the Jungle I’ve got nothing against business plans except when they become an excuse for not doing business. I have a problem with innovators and entrepreneurs spending weeks and even months developing an elegant document which ages like bad smelling cheese. The purposes of a business plan is to PLAN and EXECUTE, not impress, and not waste a lot of time. A Guerrilla innovation business plan is one you can take into the jungle. It’s light weight, it’s simple, and it’s water proof. The Jungle Plan is for your own use. Do Not show it to investors, but only close-in friendly eyes if necessary. It should be less

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