In my travels within the UK I am forever seeing great pub signs. Pub names are creative and the signs tend to match. I was near Leeds going towards Wakefield when I saw this sign for the Wyke Lion pub. Wyke is a village. Okay, this isn’t a deep insight on creativity, but, creativity is everywhere if you look. Need I mention that the most basic marketing a retail shop or restaurant does is signage. It communicates a lot at a glance if you do it right. People will never say they came in because of the sign (except for nuts like me) but unconsciously it’s part of what helps them form a feeling and opinion. So — do the

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Innovation is not just for profit making companies is it? I was attending my first London Bloggers Meetup (LBM) this past Tuesday evening (April 28). Shish, was the hipster place to be, and LBM took over the basement. Kudos to organizer Andy Bargery for finding a cool spot, and, making it more relevant than just blogheads BS-ing about the vagaries of WordPress. The sponsor of the event was the breast cancer charity, Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (FTBC). We should have sponsored them! Credit FTBC for a creative approach to raising awareness and funds. On the way to the meeting I had noticed some striking posters in the tube of Fergie and Jade Jagger, and at the meeting I connected the dots.

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Okay, so I was wrong. I’ve been saying for about 9 months now that Innovation is holistic. That part is not wrong, I still believe that. What is wrong is saying that companies should not Do Innovation that they should Be Innovation. My point has been that methodologies, tools, techniques and deliberate process are not magic bullets, and, they won’t work without a “feeling” of being innovative all the time. What I was wrong about was to emphasize the Be over the Do. It’s not about one or the other, it’s about both. Companies, leaders, must manage the polarity of doing and being, the yin and the yang of innovation. Yes, you need a cultural Be for an organization to

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It’s been made clear to me, once again, that to be truly good at idea generation, a team must practice the skill. Idea generation sessions, specifically those intensive one day long affairs, are really difficult days even for fluid ideators. It’s hard to stay focused on the challenge at hand, difficult to continue to crank out ideas and perfect them. Very few of us really think this way often. The result is that participants in these sessions invariably “lose it” and the stream of ideas thins out as the day goes on. This is to be expected, but it’s interesting that some people, like improv actors, can keep going for a much longer period. Why? They practice, that’s why. If

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I heard a lecture a few days ago about using Second Life for brainstorming (aka “Ideation”). It was a fascinating presentation by Deigo Uribe Larach who’s done some consulting work with IBM, and others. He made some great points about how the richness of the new media appeals to young people who grew up playing 3D HD games. Okay, it is dazzling, I’ll buy into the program, it will be great for people who like all the bells and whistles, and… Web based systems for virtual ideation have been around for a long time and adoption has been slow. Even the old bulletin boards on CompuServe were used at one point, and that goes back to the early 90’s. Better

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The guidelines of brainstorming include the famous concept of “deferring judgment.” This is suggested so all ideas can be expressed without fear of criticism. It allows for a flow of divergent thinking to get established. It’s a great guideline, and when it’s followed, it helps get results. It’s interesting though that we usually only defer judgment during a brainstorm. It’s open season outside of a brainstorm to cut an idea to shreds, and often, we cut people to shreds right along with it. The best innovation teams make a real habit of deferring judgment, they do it all the time, not just during a brainstorming session. Basically this “open-ness” allows ideas to live. It’s polite to listen isn’t it? It

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It’s the most aggravating cliche of the innovation world…thinking “out-of-the-box.”  Once upon a time it meant something. And in truth, it resonates because “constraints” often has us feel like we are brainstorming inside a straight jacket.  However, what I’ve found is that 90% of the time people don’t really want out-of-the-box ideas, they want inside-the-box ideas. Perhaps the compromise is Across-the-box” ideas (stay tuned.) Sure, we all want fresh perspectives, even on “close in” challenges.  Those kinds of out-of-the-box thoughts are always welcome.  However, in a corporate sense, most “out” ideas are expensive and risky.  They come up in ideation sessions — and are ruled out almost immediately.  Taking a risk on a high potential “out” idea is something that

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I occasionally post a few drawings to this site — here are a few, just for fun.

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Announcing a new Peregrine Panel Partnership with FourSight! (FourSightOnline.com) One of the things I learned the hard way in my career is that people think differently. It’s obvious but it’s overlooked by many innovation leaders, including me. When I was a manager at a software venture I was often frustrated at the lack of team. I tried motivation, tried cajolation (new word), tried yelling, discussion, more yelling, and had loads of trouble getting everyone on the same page. I attributed it to personality problems, insanity, and idiocy. It’s a wonder I ever got anything done. If only I had some understanding of the concept of creative thinking style. Note to self: call Alan Sugar. I became aware of creative thinking

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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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