Gregg Fraley

You’re about 50% of the population, at least. The modest half — overly modest. Generally, the hard working half. You make modest improvements (sometimes big improvements). You focus on the task at hand, and you don’t stir up trouble.  In fact, you seek to bridge gaps in teams or departments, this while not seeking accolades, just seeking harmony and productivity. You probably don’t work in Marketing, or other glamor areas, instead, maybe in HR, or Sales, Administration, or Operations. And, you are Not Creative. If people ask, you say out loud “I’m not creative,” or maybe “I’m not a creative type.” You really believe this lie. Sorry brothers and sisters, I’m calling you out on this — it’s just not

Read More..

I really have to say something about this notion that brainstorming / idea generation / ideation can be made into an efficient process. I’ve read a couple of interesting pieces on this lately, this idea it can be made more efficient, so you only get “good” ideas. If only it were so… I’ll grant you that sometimes the questions posed for an “idea campaign” are too generalized and therefore rake in a lot of useless ideas. I’ll also grant you that converging on a few good ideas when you have thousands to wade through is a challenge. I totally understand why an organization would be seeking a more efficient way to arrive at a nice small batch of really good

Read More..

I’m stealing the title of Stephen Shapiro’s new book to do a short post — about his new book, Best Practices Are Stupid. It’s launching today and I wanted to post about it in case you’re one of those innovation book junkies. This is not a review, although I plan to do that with my Kiln partner Kate Hammer. My new company Kiln is on the cutting edge of innovation practice, so, we’ll be reviewing the book and possibly suggesting “and one better” ideas on some of his. This pseudo-review is more about the book concept — and about Stephen Shapiro. Given the title Best Practices Are Stupid — we have a good idea of where he’s going with this

Read More..

I just caught UK Labour party leader Ed Milliband’s speech at the Labour annual conference. In the talk he made a distinction between those who produce value and those who are simply predators. “Producers train, invest, sell…Predators are just interested in the fast buck, taking what they can out of the business.” In my view this is a crucial distinction and of utmost importance with regard to the world economy — and innovation. It’s not my role or my desire here to debate free market versus regulated markets. I’ll simply say that when it comes to innovation, it’s not really an innovation at all if it doesn’t provide actual value. Value means useful. Example: Is value created by mortgage derivatives?

Read More..

So, you’d like to be more creative. It’s good news, it’s a giant step beyond “I’m not creative”. If you’re “not creative” — stop saying that to yourself and, boy, do you need the list below! Before the thought and motivation leave you, try to get into action and actually Do Something Creative Now. Something that might become a habit, like smoking, only positive. Many people have the ‘more creative’ impulse and then let it float away on the raft of inaction. 10 Ways to Be More Creative, Right Now: 1. Go out and buy a notebook, a cool one, an easy to carry around one. Then start making lists in it of ideas for your various needs. Have a

Read More..

Elizabeth Warren made a very interesting comment at a recent campaign stop. The video and quotes from it are “going viral” — I’ve seen at least 4 re-postings on Facebook, and numerous tweets. Warren is seeking to be the new Senator in the State of Massachusetts. I wish her well, she’s a very intelligent woman with a heart. Her statement can be viewed on video here, but to sum up, she’s saying that wealthy people don’t do it alone. She says those who make a lot of money did it with the support of the society around them, including roads, educational systems (educated employees), police and fire protection. These are things that aid an entrepreneur to innovate and make money,

Read More..

I’ve recently started to advocate a new theory of creative thinking. Ready? Don’t think, Do. It’s not “Just Do It” — blindly doing something (although that beats inaction).  It’s more like start Doing in order to inform your thinking.  And keep doing to inform your thinking. It’s my view that many of us waste a great deal of time thinking. Thinking is going to happen, what doesn’t happen enough is action. Don’t wait for the perfect idea to get started. Get started, and perfect ideas often emerge. Yes, you need good ideas, and, good ideas often occur to you as a result of kinesthetic or multi-sensory action. If your problem is intellectual, find a way to make it more tangible.

Read More..

I posted an idea yesterday about having Steve Jobs create a series of videos targeted towards educating and inspiring young people. A day later, I’m modifying the idea — I think Ken Burns should do it. If Ken takes the project on Steve needs only to cooperate. As it turns out there is a lot of historical footage of Jobs — which might supply a good percentage of the content. The SmartBrief on Leadership newsletter published a link this morning to a series of videos on a Washington Post site. Interviews with Jobs in the early 90’s included. The original material was part of a PBS special “Triumph of the Nerds.” Another clip is from PBS’s Wall Street Week with

Read More..

A great deal is going to be written about Steve Jobs in the near future. There are already several biographies and so many articles dissecting him you could wallpaper the Taj Mahal. This brief post is about an idea I have for him. Steve, now that you’re done with being CEO of Apple, I’d like to make a humble request on behalf of very young people. One of the things you could do for them, and future generations, is to simply share, in simple terms, about your life and how to be an entrepreneur. You’ve inspired a lot of people in your time, myself included. Your courage, brilliance, and effectiveness are remarkable. Why not add further glow to your amazing

Read More..

I listen to the radio when I’m in Michigan. Thank goodness because I’ve got no cable here and my web connection is pokey. It’s sort of a self-imposed news blackout. Radio is my one solid connection, so, I had NPR in the background yesterday when I heard a show that had Everything to do with Innovation — This American Life. Ira Glass hosts this eclectic show, and as many times as I’ve heard it in the past, and enjoyed it, I’ve never really thought of him as even remotely concerned with business.  So all the more amazing when his program was an Innovation business mind-blower. Listen to it: it has to do with “Patent Trolls” and their huge negative impact

Read More..