Innovative Minds Don’t Think Alike

I’ve always said, “Expertise is the enemy of creativity.” The New York Times recently had an article on this exact topic.

Although the article is pretty basic, it is a good reminder that sometimes the most creative ideas come from those who are not experts on the problem being solved.

This poses a dilemma for organizations. If your Product Development team are experts in your product, then they may be the wrong people to develop new and innovative products.

As Chip Heath (co-author of “Made to Stick”) said in the article,“I HAVE a DVD remote control with 52 buttons on it, and every one of them is there because some engineer along the line knew how to use that button and believed I would want to use it, too,” Mr. Heath says. “People who design products are experts cursed by their knowledge, and they can’t imagine what it’s like to be as ignorant as the rest of us.”

This “curse of knowledge” is increasing the need for open innovation; the ability to get new ideas from outsiders from all corners of the earth. One company that is revolutionizing this is InnoCentive - the leader in prized based open innovation. This open innovation concept is also helping solve pressing social issues such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The key is to engage people who have fresh eyes.

Or, whenever possible, heed the words from Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford University commencement speech, “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

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Pursuing Passion Quote of the Day

“If it is possible to make yourself into a great hacker. The way to do it may be to make the following deal with yourself: you never have to work on boring projects (unless your family will starve otherwise), and in return, you’ll never allow yourself to do a half-assed job (not done properly). All the great hackers I know seem to have made that deal, though perhaps none of them had any choice in the matter.” — Great Hackers by Paul Graham

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Turning a Passion into a Profession

In yesterday’s Boston Sunday Globe, I was quoted in an article entitled “Turning a Passion into a Profession.” The piece shares the story of people who left their regular jobs in pursuit of their passion. Here was my contribution to the article:

And his approach to realizing his dream was well-conceived because he was not only doing something that created value for himself, but for others as well, said Steve Shapiro, a motivational career speaker from Quincy.

“If you’re serious about pursuing your passion, you have to do your homework and put yourself through training and only make the leap when you’re ready,” he said. “And once you are, you can’t just dip your toe, you have to jump in with both feet.”

Shapiro said it’s important not to get restricted or intimidated by the reality checks that will be thrown at your dreams, but to understand that there will be sacrifices along the way.

The author of the article, Kate M. Jackson, also asked me to write 5 tips for a side-bar. They were not published, so I am including them here. [Read more]

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Innovation and the Performance Paradox

Today, my article on “The Performance Paradox: When Less is More” was published by the American Management Association.

You may recall that I introduced this concept in a blog entry last month.

What is the Performance Paradox?

The more fixated on your goal you become, the greater your chance of success, right? Yes, but only to a certain extent. It turns out that when people are too fixated on the future, their creativity and overall performance actually diminish.

Read the entire Performance Paradox article on the AMA website.

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Innovation and Leadership

Back in my Accenture days, I had the pleasure of working with many brilliant individuals.  One person in particular stood out amongst the crowd: Brad Kolar.  Although he worked in the “professional development” department (which typically implies taking other people’s intellectual property and converting it into training), he was one of the firm’s greatest thinkers.  After leaving Accenture he became the Chief Learning Office for the University of Chicago Medical Center.  Recently he started doing his own thing.

Brad recently started a blog, “The Question of Leadership,” which has some fantastic materials.  Although every post is a gem, here are a few of my favorites:

• When SMART Goals are Dumb -  He, like me, believes that goals applied the wrong way will hurt performance rather than help
• What’s so special about YOU anyway? – He addresses the important topic of aligning your roles at work with your strengths
• Falling prey to Pareto – Brad brings home the need to focus on value added activities within the workplace

Please take the time to peruse his collection and post comments.

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