Gregg Fraley

In my TEDxNASA speech I sought to ‘get back to the very basics’ of innovation — personal creativity. That was November 09 and since then I’ve heard many times that what struck many watching the video was the statement I made that “creativity is the spring, innovation is bottled water.” Not being the kind of person who ever wishes to preach, I must admit that I held back from saying something even more direct. Something which I strongly believe, and that is, innovation has a spiritual component. Okay, now, I’m not talking a religious component, or even an ethical component, although religion and ethics can be inspirational places to come from. What I’m talking about is creativity and it’s connection

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Who remembers “Happenings?”  I’m not referring to the Supreme’s song, or to the TV show, but actual… Happenings.   Before Tweet-ups, before flash mobs, before raves, before disco, there were Happenings. A cultural trend of note, highly innovative at the time, and worth revisiting. I’m creating a new version of a Happening in Boston next week, but more on that later. Why am I posting about this? Because there is something to learn from the old trend, and that is, we learn best through interaction with cultural stimuli. Back to history — the first Happenings were hosted by high level artists in the New York City area (such as George Segal and Allan Kaprow) in the early 60’s.  Characterised as “the

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Okay, I know, leave it to a blogger (and an American living in Britain at that) to pounce on the current topic, to ride coat tails, or in this case, to float on a bride’s veil. Yes, forgive me, I’ll be making the somewhat unlikely connection between the royal wedding of Kate Middleton to Prince William and — don’t swallow your Pimm’s too quickly — Innovation. Throw me in the Tower of London dungeon if you will, but I insist, the more you think about it, the biggest challenge the lovely pair have is to Innovate. All due respect, but can Will and Kate innovate? I hope they can, I do, sincerely, wish them well. I see three big things

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There is a growing realization that brainstorming (aka ideation, aka idea generation) sessions are set up for failure. This is arguable, and I expect I’ll hear how I’m wrong about this.  Many facilitators have a religious belief in the power of brainstorming. While I believe they can be truly productive, I do think brainstorming “works”, I think the formula for success is very tricky. I believe most brainstorm session plans are fundamentally flawed. Sadly, it’s mis-directed creativity that does not lead to innovation. What normally happens is usually not absolute failure.  Typical results are… mediocre, with incremental ideas as the result. Sometimes this is good enough, incremental ideas are often exactly what you want, and are under-valued. If that’s your

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As I suspected would happen a lot of additional information has come in regarding creativity conferences. Here are a few more, with very little data, but to add to the list: The Australian entry: The Amplify Festival — Sydney, Australia, June 6 – 10 Looks interesting!  Follow them on Twitter at @AMPlifyFest — Can we give this conference the award for actually having a creative name?  Would somebody hire me in Australia so I can go? The Idea Festival, Louisville, Kentucky, September 21 – 24, 2011 I’ve heard good things about The Idea Festival, my friend Doug Stevenson has been and he reports an interesting mix of content, and, a real sense of fun. This would appear to be more

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Spring, Summer and Fall are the seasons for creativity AND innovation conferences. The guide I’m posting here isn’t meant to be comprehensive — but a quick glance at what’s on and why or why not you might want to go. Everybody has different criteria, so, take my thoughts with a grain of salt. And if you have additions, please comment and let everyone know. Guide to what’s happening in 2011: CREA 2011, Sestri Levante, Italy, (April 13-17, 2011) For those with the shekels and the time, a trip to Italy for the 9th annual CREA Conference might be in order. Imagine if you will a creativity conference with good food. In a hotel that is really an old seaside castle.

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I watched a wonderful HBO movie last evening, Temple Grandin.  It’s been out in the USA, the illustrious, talented, and ever-refreshing Claire Danes won an Emmy for her role. She was fabulous in the part, you made it live Claire  — but enough already — this is not that kind of review, look for more Danes plaudits elsewhere.  For me, this program was about lessons in personal and industrial innovation. Do watch this film if you get the chance, and view with an eye towards opening your own doors of perception. Temple Grandin is real, this is a true story of a “high functioning” autistic person.  Grandin grew up with loving support and overcame her disadvantages, achieving a great deal.

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I’ve resisted writing this post. I have friends and family in Cincinnati and I don’t want them to think any less of me for criticizing my hometown. Still, I’m compelled to say how baffled and disappointed I am over the lack of support for the proposed Streetcar. Readers who come here for innovation stories, rest assured, this is all about innovation, or more precisely, the lack of it. Call it a sad and tearful tale of what might have been, an innovation not to be. I hope that my distance, and modest expertise in innovation will lend a perspective to my analysis here. Hasn’t anyone in Cincinnati read the work of Richard Florida? Don’t they know how vital it is to

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I keep a close eye on Grant McCracken’s postings, his insights on culture are always fascinating. Grant is the author of Chief Culture Officer, and I’ve alluded to him here before. He recently made some interesting comments about the fallout of hiring Barbara Lippert as “curator of pop culture” at the ad agency Goodby Silverstein. Reactions to her hiring included several age-ist comments about how a 55 year old woman couldn’t possibly be on top of trends. McCracken pointed out, among other things, that trends are only 20% of culture to start with. In his view age is actually an advantage when it comes to the broader task of culture watching. Do read his very pertinent comments. Lippert did a

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Aye, it’s St. Patrick’s Day, and on this day of saints, I cannot tell a lie. There is a pervasive and growing cliché in the innovation business, and it’s starting to drive me a bit nuts, ready? “Ideas are a  dime a dozen” and it’s usually coupled with the thought “it’s not about ideas, it’s about execution.” If you do a Google search on those phrases you’ll find many current links to blogs, business articles, and famous quotes pages. At a recent innovation conference in Berlin (FEI 2011) I heard this thinking echoed in several speakers presentations. Patrick Lefler, clearly a bottom line guy, wrote this recent piece, which was posted on the Blogging Innovation site, but there are many others

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