Gregg Fraley

I’m still giddy over the University of Cincinnati Bearcats (UC) victory over the University of Pittsburgh Panthers yesterday. Don’t worry, this is not going to be a post about sports, it’s about what it takes to make a great success. Creating a winning major college football program at UC, while not some earth stopping innovation, is surely a story about creating a culture of excellence — and all innovators can learn from that. Let me take you back to the early 60’s for a moment. I was a young lad living near the UC campus in Cincinnati. I attended a few football games with my father and brother, and usually, UC got trounced. Sometimes they would eek out a narrow

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I’m a big fan of keeping an idea notebook. There’s been research done that indicates it’s a real aid to creative effectiveness.  Any innovator worth his — or her — salt should be keeping some kind of idea notebook. I’ve been researching and speaking about famous notebook users and it occured to me (okay, I was told…) that all my examples — Edison, DaVinci, Kerouac, etc. — are men.  The first woman that came to mind, Madame Curie, probably kept lab notebooks, but I can’t seem to find documentation to support the claim. Google, for once, let me down — couldn’t seem to find women idea note-bookers. I put out a call to my network for examples of Idea-Notebook-using-women, and

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“Giving back” is the phrase one often hears from celebrities who use some of their fame and fortune to help others.  Successful business people often give back as well, but we don’t usually hear about it. That’s why I was taken by the story of HUM Girlfriends (HUM is the Hindi/Urdu word for “We”). Innovators are made, not born, and it’s fascinating how support, encouragement, and cultural values make a big difference in success. HUM Girlfrirends is the moniker of seven remarkable women of Indian origin.  The seven met at a recent ESOMAR (market research industry) conference in Switzerland.  It dawned on Anumita Sharma (of the third eye Marketing Intelligence Research) as she watched six other women of Indian origin

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Last weekend 5 tons of cobblestones were delivered to my meadow. Over the next three days a small team of three carved a space out of the woods (no trees were sacrificed!) and created a Chartres Cathedral style Labyrinth.  It was very hard work carrying all that stone and laying it down — my hamstrings still ache from pushing that wheelbarrow around. When we completed the 11 “circuits” and walked the path for the first time, I emerged with some insights about a challenge in my life I’ve been confronted with. It felt like magic. Now for the skeptics among my readers let me just say that I was where you are, and not so long ago. For a few

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I often get the remark, after a speech or something, that “I can’t innovate at my company because…” — And then you get a lot of different endings to that starter, some printable, some  not.  Mostly folks say they can’t because their organization doesn’t want innovation, or isn’t structured to allow innovation.  I know the feeling, I’ve been in those positions, and, it’s BS. I now say to those folks, Shut Up and Start a Revolution.  I mean an Innovation Revolution. If you have ideas, express them, and let the chips fall where they may. If people slam your ideas, and they will, shake it off like a wet duck and dive into those waters again. Keep expressing until people

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The creativity and innovation field is a rather smallish group of people. It feels like a community, I know most of my competitors, and, I wish them all the success in the world. There are a few folks that have achieved nearly cult status within our community because of their unique achievements.  George Prince was surely one of them.  George was the co-inventor/enhancer of Synectics.  Synectics is one of the few comprehensive models for problem solving used in corporate innovation. Kimberly-Clarke was one of early, successful, users of the method. If you don’t know it, I highly suggest that you read Prince’s “Synectics-The Practice of Creativity” (or his partners/co-developer’s book, “Synectics,” by William JJ Gordon, which Prince contributed to).  It’s

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When did Entrepreneur become a bad word? We should all be bending over backwards to help Entrepreneurs in these troubled times.  Watch this video! and get a fresh perspective on what it means to be an Entrepreneur. Send the video link  to every young person you can think of — today!  Let’s kick-start a new generation of  courageous, job making, world changing, “E people.” There’s no better time then now to fulfill a dream and start a business. The amazing video was written & produced by Sonja Jacob, designed by Ben White, and the compelling music is the work of Carly Commando (of NBA playoff theme fame).  I love the straight forward inspirational simplicity of the copy and the elegance

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One Young World — it almost sounds like a Disney song, all sweetness, light, and hope. It’s not a Disney song — it’s an innovative new non-profit organization dedicated to giving young adults a voice. One Young World intends to allow, for the first time, future leaders to shape the agenda of the world they are stepping into. They’re doing this by setting up a global conference — of 25 year olds! Sounds pretty idealistic doesn’t it? Sir Bob Geldof, Kofi Annan, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are among those who think so and are actively supporting the effort.  Professor Nick Haysom (United Nations Director of Political Affairs), Carole Stone (Managing Director of YouGovStone) and Elio Leoni Sceti (Chief Executive, EMI

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I did a speech last week in Belgium and it occurred to me the night before that I was missing something. I was doing a two hour workshop on “Holistic Innovation” at CreaWAL in Belgium. I planned to make the point that the current crisis is a huge opportunity.  I planned to follow with a point about the need for Innovators to “worship at the alter of perspective shift” — because I believe that’s where insight happens. Good content I thought, but lacking an emotional connection.  And it came to me in a flash, innovators need a prayer.  The crowd in Belgium seemed to  like it, but judge it for yourself… The Innovators Prayer Dear Lord, please grant me the

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I can’t let the moment go by without saying something about the recent death of Studs Terkel. Studs was 96 years young when he died October 31, 2008. I have one degree of separation from Studs — I have Chicago friends who actually know him. I’ve heard him speak, only a few years ago when he was “only” 91. His lunch keynote at the QRCA conference was as lively and relevant as any speaker you could wish for. If you are unaware of this man, read his bio here.  I have a few comments to make about him related to creativity and innovation. Briefly, Studs was an award winning writer, broadcaster, actor, and a civil rights/civil liberties activist. He interviewed the

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