I’ve been in and out of a lot of board rooms in the last few months. I’m in selling mode, but also, in listening mode. Nearly every conversation I’ve had has me more firmly believing that one of the problems with large organization innovation is it simply moves too slow. Now, I realize that’s a fairly obvious thought. Still, why is it that organizations are accepting of the fact that their “cycle” of innovation turns over once or twice a year? I don’t see a lot of urgency around changing this, I see a lot of acceptance. This is an opportunity to improve many are overlooking. Here’s why I think so. I’m focused, as is Kiln (I’m a partner in

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It’s easy to say and hard to do — Deferring Judgement. Alex Osborn the original guru of creativity suggested that during brainstorming, participants should “defer judgement.” Osborn wrote Applied Imagination many years ago, which defined brainstorming. He actually coined the term. It’s a rule from the master —  you don’t critique ideas during brainstorming — it’s challenging. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about Deferring Judgement as a daily habit, as a continuous way of being. I heard Sid Parnes talk at CPSI, and this was his lifestyle “add” to the original Osborn guidance. As a fundamental way of being, it’s a big shift. But wow, what benefits for your creativity! Let’s face it, we are

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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

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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

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I woke up today and saw that Josephine Forsberg has passed away. Jo was the founder of Players Workshop of Second City in Chciago. Bill Murray went there — along with many other comic luminaries. She will be missed. She gave the world a gift, and, it’s a gift you can receive. If you are an innovator, or even someone simply seeking more creativity in all you do — take an improv class. You will not regret it. Why? The simple reason is it will improve your access to spontaneous thought. Many of us are plagued with an overactive conscious mind, the analytical-logical type of thinking. Sometimes what you really want is a spontaneous idea. The trouble is that faucet

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“Creativity is Not a Muse, it’s a Choice.” Gregg Fraley Yes, that’s my quote, and what this post is all about today. I’m writing this piece to co-publish on a cool new blog called Follow the Weasel. Most of the content on FtW is in German, but selected bits, such as mine, are in English. FtW is a potpourri of creativity and innovation topics, a bit of design and invention, and it has a younger readership in Austria and Germany. Thank you to “Alf Red” a young visionary for the invitation to guest post on FtW. My post is directed at younger people, but it might resonate with anyone seeking greater creativity. There is a ton of written material about

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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

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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?

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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

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For about three years in the early 80’s I was a stand-up comic. It was a humbling experience. I was bad. Really, bad — particularly at first. I learned how to be a better speaker the hard way. There is nothing quite like “dying” on stage as a stand-up, think the Hindenberg disaster. Multiply by 10 your most humiliating experience — that will give you some idea. Stand-up audiences have a notoriously short fuse for inauthentic, not-funny, boring, stupid, or pretentious comic wanna-be’s. Basically, you have a brief moment to get their attention and hold it. If you haven’t got the attention of a group in the first six seconds — and this is true for any presentation — you

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