Open Innovation Design

Nearly 2 years ago, I used open innovation to develop the logo used on this site.

I am now using open innovation again to help redesign my Personality Poker cards.

As you know, later this year, the Personality Poker book will be published by Penguin’s Portfolio imprint.  The publisher designed the book cover (we aren’t prepared to share that with the world quite yet).  Then, based on that design, the backs of the Personality Poker cards were redesigned to match (image left).

Yesterday, I launched a design project on 99designs.com, the leader in design-based open innovation.  Last time I ran a competition, I had some interesting learnings.

One of the challenges had to do with people building on the ideas of others.  In some respects, this was great.  As a good design was developed, others could help refine and improve.  However, as my article points out, there was a downside: how to choose a winner.

But the other downside associated with a collaborative challenge is “group think.”  As soon as the first idea is thrown out, it tends to influence the thinking of the other contributors, narrowing the set of ideas generated and reducing divergent thinking.  I discuss this concept in my article on the “hand dryer vs paper towel debate.”

Therefore, for the poker card redesign, I decided to go with private submissions.  That is, no one can see what others are submitting.  I will write more about my experience with this next week.

If you are interested in reading the design brief without having to logon to 99designs, you can read it here (pdf).

Or, if you want to submit your own designs for my challenge, go to the 99designs website.

I Need Your Help: Personality Poker Book Subtitle

I need your help!

I am in the process of finishing the manuscript for my next book, “Personality Poker.”  The book will be published by Penguin’s Portfolio books and is expected in stores September 2010.

We have been working on a subtitle for the book – and I would love your input.

I realize that you don’t know the details of the book.  But in general, it is about creating high performing innovation teams through the use of my specially designed poker cards.  There are a few key concepts:

1. Individuals should “play to their strong suit.”  In Personality Poker, the four suits correlate to the four primary innovation styles and the four steps of the innovation process.  Therefore, if you understand your innovation style/suit, you can maximize your contributions to your team.   [NOTE: "strong suit" is actually a term from bridge and not poker]
2. Organizations must “play with a full deck.”  That is, companies must have all of the styles (and sub-styles) in order to truly be innovative.  Most organizations are out of balance and have too many of just one or two styles.  This inhibits innovation.
3. “Deal out the work.”  Once everyone is clear about their role in the innovation process, you want to divide and conquer.  Avoid having everyone do everything.  Give people specific tasks and roles.

That’s the 10,000 (maybe 30,000) foot view.  You can learn more – and watch a video – on the Personality Poker page.

So, the question is, what is a good subtitle? Here’s a list of some ideas we had…

• “[How to] Play Your Best Hand to Win Big in Business”
• “[How to] Play with a Full Deck to Win Big in Business”
• “[How to] Play to Your Strong Suit to Win Big in Business”
• “[How to] Play with a Full Deck to Create High Performing Teams”
• “[How to] Play to Your Strong Suit to Create High Performing Teams”
• “[How to] Play Your Best Hand to Create High Performing Teams”

Do you like any of these?  Note that the “How to” is optional as each subtitle can stand on its own without those words.

Better yet, I would love to get new ideas for a subtitle.

Please leave your suggestion (either a new idea or a vote for an existing idea) as a comment.  If we end up using your subtitle, we will send you the Personality Poker system (a $200 value).  Plus, when the new book is published, we will send you a signed copy (with an additional deck of the redesigned cards).

Thanks in advance for your help.

Take Our Ultracool Test that Assesses the Unconscious Mind!

As many of you know, I am working on the manuscript for my next book.  It is based on “Personality Poker,” a game that is primarily used to help organizations be more innovative.  But everyone enjoys it because it is a fun card-based game that tells you all about your personality.

As part of my research for the book, I partnered with a professor in the psychology department of a well-known Cambridge, MA based Ivy League University (I’m sure you can guess who they are).

This university (ok, it’s Harvard) developed an approach for testing the implicit or unconscious mind.  You can read about it a previous blog entry.  This is fascinating stuff!  Read the article if you have not done so.

I loved the Implicit Association Testing so much that I had them develop a Personality Poker version. There is nothing out there like it!  Admittedly, it is not as much fun as the card-based version.  You take it on your computer.  And it takes A LOT of concentration.  But it is an interesting process.

And for the holidays, for a very limited time, I am allowing people to take the current version of the test with 4 simple stipulations:

1. You will not share the “experiment file” with anyone else.  This is important because we are constantly refining the process to make it more accurate, simpler, and more insightful.
2. You will take the entire test which lasts for about 30 minutes without interruption.
3. You will send the “dat” file to me via email after taking the test.  This will help us compare explicit and implicit beliefs.  Your personal information is confidential.
4. You agree not to sue me for damages if your head explodes after taking this test!

If you are interested in taking this test, please write us at iat-test@personalitypoker.net (please note it is a .net and not a .com).  We will send you the link and the password.  You will not be added to any lists.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Happy New Year.

NOTE: I am told that the software will not work on a MAC unless you are running a Windows emulator such as Virtual PC.

Win a Trip to our Gala Casino Book Launch Party

As you know by now, I just signed a 2 book deal with Portfolio Penguin. The first book to be published is Personality Poker.

When the book hits the stores in Fall 2010, we are going to party in style!  Given the poker theme, we are holding the book launch party in either Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Foxwoods Resort Casino, or Mohegan Sun.

Would you like to join us at the book launch party?  All you need to do is spend 10 minutes completing a brief survey in order to have a chance at winning.

Everyone who completes the survey will get entered into a raffle where you can win:

• Gala Casino Book Launch Party Grand Prize: Airfare for one, 2 nights hotel accommodations, and two passes to attend the Personality Poker Book Launch Party to be held  in one of four exciting destinations in the Fall of 2010: Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Foxwoods Resort Casino (CT) or Mohegan Sun (CT).
• See your name in print: 15 total survey participants will be drawn at random and personally recognized for his/her contributions in the acknowledgments section of the Personality Poker® book to be published by Portfolio Penguin.
• Win Personality Poker System: 10 names will be randomly drawn to win one of 10 sets of Personality Poker® Starter-Kit valued at $200.00 each.
• Discounts: All participants will receive “20% off” any of the following products ordered by March 1st 2010: Personality Poker® Starter Kit, Goal-Free Living, Little Book of Big Innovation Ideas and 24/7 Innovation. Quantities are limited. Offer good while supplies last.

The results of this survey will be used to further validate the content of Personality Poker®, a personality indicator tool specifically designed for business and innovation. Nearly 10 years of research has been done to date making Personality Poker® the valuable instrument that it is today. And we are not going to stop here. We want to make it even better – and you can help!

To participate, simply click on the link provided below and answer the series of questions provided. Your responses are 100% confidential and your completed survey will automatically enter you into the raffle for a chance to win the Gala Casino Book Launch Party Trip and other fantastic prizes. See complete rules for more details.

I thank you in advance for your contribution to this exciting endeavor.

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE

Are Your Conscious and Unconscious Minds Aligned?

While working on Innovation Personality Poker® over the years, one question has lingered in my mind…

How do we know we are getting the most accurate picture of someone’s personality?

Personality Poker is based on a 75 year old psychological testing technique called a Q-sort.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, in a Q-sort, “a person is given a set of sentences, phrases, or words (usually presented individually on cards) and is asked to use them to describe himself (as he thinks he is or as he would like to be) or someone else.” In some variations, the cards are sorted from most like the individual to least like them.

If you read academic paper about Q-sorts, you will see that the question arises as to whether or not a self-assessment is accurate. Researchers question if other methods of personality testing are more accurate.  They posit that there are three testing methods…

1. Self-assessment (of the conscious mind)
2. Assessment by a friend, family member, or colleague
3. Assessment by an unbiased 3rd party who is expert in the Q-sort process

Which method is most effective?  It appears that the answer is “all of the above.”  All methods are accurate, depending on the situation.

However, there is a 4th method that is not listed above that may prove even more interesting.

Can our unconscious mind be a better predictor of our personality than our conscious mind?

There are very few methods available to answer this question. Fortunately I was introduced to people at Harvard University who developed a tool called “Implicit Association Testing (IAT).”

Harvard’s website gives a very simple introduction to the concept…

“It is well known that people don’t always ’speak their minds’, and it is suspected that people don’t always ‘know their minds’. Understanding such divergences is important to scientific psychology. This web site presents a method that demonstrates the conscious-unconscious divergences much more convincingly than has been possible with previous methods.”

In short, these tests tell you if your conscious mind (i.e., explicit) is aligned with your unconscious mind (i.e., implicit).

We are about to start work with Harvard that will assess if the conscious mind (tested via the card-based version of Personality Poker) correlates with the results from the unconscious mind (tested via a specially designed Personality Poker IAT).

One of three scenarios will prove to be true:

1. In most people, the conscious mind is perfectly aligned with the unconscious mind
2. In most people, the conscious mind is not aligned with the unconscious mind
3. Alignment between the conscious mind and unconscious mind varies from person to person

If scenario #1 proves to be true, then we will have proven the validity of the Personality Poker at both a conscious and unconscious level.

However, if scenarios #2 or #3 prove to be true, we have a new opportunity…to develop an online IAT-based Personality Poker game that we can make available to the public. In some respects, scenario #3 is most interesting, because it means that in some cases “explicit” personality testing (done via cards, questionnaires, and other diagnostics) is accurate. However in order to get a full picture of one’s personality, “implicit” testing is also required. Only through both types of testing can we get an accurate assessment of one’s total psyche.

In order to better understand Implicit Association Testing, I encourage you to take some of the tests on the Harvard IAT website. This may give you some interesting insights into your own personal biases…some of which you might not want to even admit to yourself.

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