Author: skip
If you want to start a revolution at your next staff meeting, grab a marker, stand up, and announce, “Okay everyone, we’re going to be innovative today. We’re getting outside the box and we’re gonna do some brainstorming for the next hour!” In their minds, your team members will be grabbing pitchforks, throwing darts, rolling their eyes, and wishing they were in a dentist’s chair rather than your conference room.
Nothing strikes fear into the minds of men and women like the words “let’s brainstorm”.
Last time, we reviewed how, when I built a wooden kayak, I realized that building a boat and building a brand have a lot in common. You have to have vision, plans, patience, control, and it really helps to be innovative while you’re at it. There are other similarities and there was ONE big one that surprised me.
Twinkle. A Chesapeake 17 Sea Kayak.
I’ve been building brands for over 35 years. Last year I did something new. I built a boat. A Chesapeake 17 Sea Kayak by #CLCBoats, made of marine plywood, epoxy, fiberglass, and time. It took about three months and I learned a lot about woodworking along the way.
I also learned that building a boat is a lot like building a brand.
Getting “outside the box” is a lot easier than you think. Here are some great tips.
When speaking to groups on innovation and creativity, I always ask the question, “Are you creative?” Typically, about 25 will say “Yes”.
Here’s a little known fact:
Everyone is creative.
Yes. That includes you. You were born creative. You were born to create. If you think otherwise, stay tuned. NASA developed a test for creativity in the 60’s (the 1960’s). They have tested thousands of people of all ages and here is what they have found:
At age five, 98 of us are creative. Sadly, by age 25, only 5 are still “creative”. What happens during those 20 years? Inhibitions, fears, unlearning our creativity, the “right” answer syndrome? Yes.
Fact is, the creative genes we were born with are not gone. They didn’t disappear. They’ve just been repressed and hidden behind walls of “rational” thinking, limits, and can’t do attitudes. After years of education that says there is only one right answer, after years of being ridiculed for thinking “different” or outside the box, it’s easy to start thinking you are not creative. Part of the problem is the definition of creativity.
What is creativity anyway?
We tend to think of artists, musicians and inventors as the “creative” ones… probably because they start outside the box and rarely go inside. Truth is, creativity comes in many forms and in all types of people.
It’s a process. Really.
Creativity is the process of identifying a problem, studying the facts, identifying potential solutions, then planning and implementing a solution. Only one of those steps is what we traditionally call “creative” but without the other steps, (and the people that drive them) there would be no creativity. As Confuscious said, “To know and not do is to not know.”
There are four problem solving styles: Transformers – these are the folks that transform problems into ideas. Examiners – the folks that like to study, research, and contemplate ideas. Architects – planners, schedulers and organizers. Movers – the doers, the action figures. Together, they form an IDEA TEAM.
It takes a T.E.A.M.
Individually, it’s easy to spin our wheels, hesitate, lack direction. Together, problems get solved. Creativity is realized. Whether you think you are creative or not, you can play an important role in the creative process. So, (1) recognize your approach to problem solving, (2) build a diverse team that will contribute to the solution, and (3) get to work being creative.
“To explain. To persuade. To sell.” These phrases are all common in any definition of the “value proposition.” The world has changed Kemosabe, from baby boomers to millennials, the conversation has to change, too. (more…)
The Unique Selling Proposition was the golden rule of advertising for decades, and no matter how much lip service is given to the value proposition and other strategies, the mindset of the USP is still there. It’s time to lay it to rest.
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I took a quick, very unscientific survey recently. It was a one question survey: When you think of Walmart, do you think of innovation? 100 of the answers were the same… “no”. Walmart is just a big ol’ store with lots of stuff at low prices. No innovation, right? Think again.
There’s an unwritten rule in every industry that says “We all go to market the same way.” It’s a dumb rule and I’ve been preaching against it for 35 years. I wish I could say I wrote the book on the subject, but Marty Neumeier beat me to it. More on that in a moment. (more…)
When I discuss Marketing Innovation, one-on-one or with a group of 250, I always tell the story of the drill bit. It goes like this: You walk into Lowe’s to get a half inch drill bit. Six dollars later, you have your drill bit. But you didn’t go to Lowe’s because you wanted to add to your drill bit collection. You went because you wanted a half inch hole. It’s the hole that was worth $6. The bit was just a means to an end. (more…)
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