Revelnnovation

If you are a creative that has found a way to live, counter-culture, in corporate society, in a corporate job, or in any bureacracy that is public or private, this might just validate some of that long-suffering vibe about the climate for your creativity and innovation. 

A rare few institutions have found ways to structure in ongoing creativity and innovation. Proctor & Gamble has innovation built into their plan for success. The Mayo Clinic holds a yearly innovation summit with 400 leaders and an social media infrastructure built in to share the summit with it's 50,000 organizational members.  3M and Google have famously built in "create" time into their work structures.  A curation source for these institutions and innovation stories is here.

via flickr.com

On the other side of the fence, many creatives & innovators leave organizations to work for themselves, unfettered by "silence and eye-rolls" for creative ideas and plans, as most institutions attract those who value safety, security, and longitivity ~ or at lease the perception of those qualities in an institutional setting.

Excerpted:

The Mayo Clinic is doing some amazing things in the innovation space, using service design. Mayo has a three year track record for holding an annual Innovation conference that engages the whole organization with social media tools. Features of the gathering that helps spur on energy, creativity and innovation include:

• Diversity, 400 or so executives & thought leaders in diverse disciplines of large enterprise innovation are invited mix & mingle at the conference

• Tools, using new engagement tools in social media, such as SocialText, (described on a business page on Facebook)

• Processes: Fostering "microsharing" - a process using the above two factors, in order to extend creative thinking to the whole organization, 50,000 people

• Engagement, Mayo staffers not at the conference appoint themselves as connectors and advocates of new ideas and innovations to carry ideas forward to further development and possible implementation

• Published, Mayo cited as a case study cited in ~ The New Social Learning, Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner, 2010

Check it out and see what you think:
http://blog.centerforinnovation.mayo.edu/

As for me, I'm including them in my presentation at the local OD Summit this week in Michigan (organization development) with the title: Social Media: Choosing Change Leadership & Strategic Agility over Chaos.

More about the local, Michigan OD Summit conference is available here: www.odsummit.com

So often we lose sight of what really matters in organizations when fostering creativity.  I've seen & experienced many organizational conditions that  in the way: too many rules, too much control, unnecessary complexity, too much worry, and complacency.

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"Freedom is actually a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control.   Freedom is about what you can unleash.“  ~  Harriet Rubin

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What I've experienced fosters innovation: the right tension of trust and risk.  See:

Why Too Much Trust & the Wrong Tension Is Death to Innovation | MIT Sloan Mgmt. Review

A sense of breadth of wonder & play, along with experience and depth also helps.  See:

Classic John Cleese - Teachers, Space & Time Boundaries for Creativity, Video | Ewan McIntosh

What makes a difference where you are?   What has and does foster innovation and creativity?

--Deb

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Benevolent hacking is the duct tape of the work world.  - the Hacking Work Manifesto

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There is a reason I generally like to hang around techie types, and am married to a particular brand of one.  For some, there's a lovely, dry sense of humor, a particular type of irreverence and "fight the system" and "fight working for the man" that enriches and adds proper balance to my anti-corporate (I'm not the Borg*) side. Yet, I do and will continue to choose  to work with and for corporations.  They are filled with lovely human beings that, like all of us I hope, desire to feel fully human and not herded into mechanistic silos and tunnels in order to make their numbers and pay the rent.  They have families, children, dreams.   Hackers provide great insights into this aspect of productivity when the bureaucracy turns sour, does not serve the masses, and just plain gets in the way.

God bless 'em (many agnostics and atheists and alternatives to my mainline religious views, out there, I'm glad to say.)  I'm glad they are out there to make work do-able when the normal ways of doing work just DON'T work.

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 That all said, I'm actually one of them. 

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Also:  Some of them make enough money that their salaries rival that of bank V.Ps.  There's a certain delight in that.  Especially when seeing their videos and reading their blogs, where they say anything they want.

That all said, I'm actually one of them.  I'm a shallow nerd type.  I love technology & gadgets.  I can do basic html and embed stuff.  I can create social media empire structures.  I can figure stuff out, with a little help from my deep techie friends including smartie pants, socially adept types.  I can see where technology accelerates human capabilities and builds relationships.  More power to we all in building our techie side, with every smart phone and iPad we buy.

--Deb

PS:  The Borg are race of 1/2 robot - 1/2 human hive-oriented creatures from the iconic show, Star Trek.   The Borg are also a symbol in popular culture for any type of juggernaut against which "resistance is futile".  I am a Trekker from way back.  Seen all the movies.  Have opinions of the spin offs.  Love sci fi.  Even love Babylon 5 but not BattleStar Galactica.  Convinced I belong to the club?

Here's the whole campaign over the years. If a video does not launch, just go to the full article via adweek.blogs.com. Fun, funny - Enjoy!

Excerpted:

We know how you love Apple's "Get a Mac" ads with John Hodgman and Justin Long. So, here are all 66 TV spots (plus the 90-second version of 2008's "Sad Song") that have aired since the campaign launched on May 2, 2006. All 66 ads were directed by Phil Morrison of Epoch Films for TBWA Media Arts Lab.

The success of Microsoft's Windows 7 raises questions about the viability of "Get a Mac" going forward. (The three October 2009 spots, slamming Windows 7, look a little goofy now, and Apple skipped doing holiday spots for the first time in four years.) Have we seen the last of Mac and PC? We'll see. For now, click on the thumbnails below, and enjoy the work from the past four years.  

 

UPDATE: In April 2010, Justin Long hinted that the campaign may indeed be over. "I think they're going to move on," he told The A.V. Club, "which is sad, because not only am I going to miss doing them, but also working with John." —Posted by Tim Nudd

 

1) "Better"	20) "Sagotage"	36) "Referee"	53) "Biohazard Suit"
2) "iLife"	21) "Surgery"	37) "Time Machine"	54) "Legal Copy"
3) "Network"	22) "Tech Support"	38) "Breakthrough"	55) "Stacks"
4) "Restarting"	23) "Security"	39) "Office Stress"	56) "Time Traveler"
5) "Viruses"	24) "Computer Cart"	40) "Yoga"	57) "Customer Care"
6) "Wall Street Journal"	25) "Flashback"	41) "Group"	58) "Elimination"
7) "Out of the Box"	26) "Stuffed"	42) "Pep Rally"	59) "PC Choice Chat"
8) "Touché"	27) "Choose a Vista"	43a) "Sad Song" (Short)	60) "Surprise"
9) "Work vs. Home"	28) "Genius"	43b) "Sad Song" (Long)	61) "Top of the Line"
10) "Accident"	29) "Party Is Over"	44) "Calming Teas"	62) "Trainer"
11) "Angel/Devil"	30) "Boxer"	45) "Off the Air"	63) "PC Innovations Lab"
12) "Trust Mac"	31) "Podium"	46) "Pizza Box"	64) "Broken Promises"
13) "Better Results"	32) "PR Lady"	47) "Throne"	65) "PC News"
14) "Counselor"	33) "Misprint"	48) "Bake Sale"	66) "Teeter Tottering"
15) "Self-Pity"	34) "Now What?"	49) "Bean Counter"
16) "Gift Exchange"	35) "Santa Claus"	50) "V Word"
17) "Meant for Work"		51) "I Can Do Anything"
18) "Sales Pitch"		52) "Tree Trimming"
19) "Goodwill"

Note: Some of the commercial summaries were adapted from blurbs on the "Get a Mac" Wikipedia page, which has a wealth of other info, including an overview of the campaign's innovative interactive banners.

 

 

Excerpted:

 

The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future. Yet it’s not just about sustaining our nation’s economic growth.

 

All around us are matters of national and international importance that are crying out for creative solutions, from saving the Gulf of Mexico to bringing peace to Afghanistan to delivering health care.

 

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In effect, it’s left to the luck of the draw who becomes creative: there’s no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of all children.

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Such solutions emerge from a healthy marketplace of ideas, sustained by a populace constantly contributing original ideas and receptive to the ideas of others.

 

via flickr.com

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 Around the world, though, other countries are making creativity development a national priority.

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It’s too early to determine conclusively why U.S. creativity scores are declining. One likely culprit is the number of hours kids now spend in front of the TV and playing videogames rather than engaging in creative activities. Another is the lack of creativity development in our schools. In effect, it’s left to the luck of the draw who becomes creative: there’s no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of all children.

Around the world, though, other countries are making creativity development a national priority.

• In 2008 British secondary-school curricula—from science to foreign language—was revamped to emphasize idea generation, and pilot programs have begun using Torrance’s test to assess their progress. 

• The European Union designated 2009 as the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, holding conferences on the neuroscience of creativity, financing teacher training, and instituting problem-based learning programs—curricula driven by real-world inquiry—for both children and adults. 

• In China there has been widespread education reform to extinguish the drill-and-kill teaching style. Instead, Chinese schools are also adopting a problem-based learning approach.

Overwhelmed by curriculum standards, American teachers warn there’s no room in the day for a creativity class.   ...Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into homeroom. ...Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts. Rather, fact-finding and deep research are vital stages in the creative process. Scholars argue that current curriculum standards can still be met, if taught in a different way.

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 While our creativity scores decline unchecked, the current national strategy for creativity consists of little more than praying for a Greek muse to drop by our houses. ...Fortunately, the science can help....

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To understand exactly what should be done requires first understanding the new story emerging from neuroscience.

...Creativity has always been prized in American society, but it’s never really been understood. While our creativity scores decline unchecked, the current national strategy for creativity consists of little more than praying for a Greek muse to drop by our houses. The problems we face now, and in the future, simply demand that we do more than just hope for inspiration to strike. Fortunately, the science can help: we know the steps to lead that elusive muse right to our doors.

 

Excerpted:

When companies collaborate, low trust is detrimental to innovation. But so is very high trust. The optimal level, yielding maximum impact, lies in between.

The Smart microcar, invented by the tumultuous partnership between Daimler-Benz and Swatch, seems to be finally reaping the benefits of its provocative design as more consumers order this compact automobile. By contrast, the minivan codeveloped by Peugeot and Fiat (initially sold as the Peugeot 806 and the Fiat Ulysse) was the result of a harmonious relationship but never garnered much attention. It was just another minivan.

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...There seems to be an optimal level of trust, above or below which innovativeness or creativity is impeded.

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....examples abound of high-trust partnerships that fail to innovate and of turbulent ones that succeed. 

Findings

“As the level of trust increases, effectiveness rises to a maximum level and thereafter decreases. As trust gets very high, effectiveness even goes negative.”  …

Why? Because “tension does not always play a negative role in team dynamics. Indeed, while relational conflicts (which may arise, for example, from personal contempt for one or more team members) are extremely detrimental to team performance, task-oriented conflicts are beneficial because they foster critical thinking and in-depth analysis of the team’s goals and actions.”

Teams need to protect and value conflict that is related to the task, and avoid accommodations that come from not wanting to hurt each others’ feelings.

Trust as a Critical Ingredient

...it is not easy for organizations to create, and especially to maintain  ...innovation-oriented partnerships. Not only must they find the right partner, negotiate, and agree on common goals, but the organizations must thereafter cooperate on a daily basis — a process that faces many stumbling blocks.

• A partner may be unable to contribute as promised.
• The decision-making structure may lack sufficient communication.
• Or the mechanism for cooperation may be unable to adapt to unforeseen changes in the market or the technological environment.

It is therefore not surprising that 50% to 80% of such partnerships end in failure. 7

...trust “constitutes a critical ingredient by which partners can weather the conflicts that economic and competitive changes, as well as shifts in corporate priorities, will throw their way.”

...Partners look to create innovation-oriented joint ventures largely because they need to combine their own knowledge with others’ in order to find solutions that will probably not materialize if acting alone. But such a relationship is unlikely to occur unless there is a sufficient level of trust to counter fears of abuses of confidential information and know-how. Contracts alone won’t help; in fact, they could inhibit innovation because they imply control of information flow and a range of legal dispositions that typically slow the project down.

...Of course, creativity is not innovation, which is the implementation of new ideas. But one might expect that more creativity would lead to more innovation in a higher trust partnership, which would lead to greater partner commitment and consequently better implementation.

 

...There seems to be an optimal level of trust, above or below which innovativeness or creativity is impeded.

 

Deb:  This is probably about the audacity of "free."  The key words here seems to be:  monetization, ROI, and access.  I laid my hands on my first iPad this week.  Honestly, it seems to be an awesome addition to an array of cool electronics for deliver content.  TV has a new screen.  Fast, intuitive, fun, light, purse friendly (Dooney & Burke is about right.)  

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Open source evangelists say that Apple’s draconian policies will stifle developers, and they certainly have a point. ...Yet developers are still lining up for a chance to be included on the iPad, because the opportunity to reach paying consumers is so rich.

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 Excerpted: 

Apple (APPL) has been catching a lot of flack from tech types, who say the iPad stifles innovation. They’re absolutely right, but they’re also missing the point. The iPad is designed to encourage consumption, not creation, and on that front it succeeds with flying colors.

Apple has gone out if its  way to make the iPad difficult to use for anything but consumption. You can’t take a picture or a video. There is no USB connection to upload your own data. ...you can’t multitask, so creating rich documents becomes a hassle.

...you can ...pay to consume beautiful content. ...new iPad users downloaded over 1 million applications and bought 250,000 ebooks. And unlike the iPhone, where many apps are free, a whopping 80% of apps on the iPad are paid.... firms are ...rushing to create apps for the iPad. This device is chock full of gorgeous, easy to use apps for consuming content.

...Google’s (GOOG) more open Android system is still without proprietary apps from heavyweights like the New York Times (NYT) and Netflix (NFLX). Business see the value in Apple’s model, and they are devoting their development resources accordingly.

Open source evangelists say that Apple’s draconian policies will stifle developers, and they certainly have a point. ...Yet developers are still lining up for a chance to be included on the iPad, because the opportunity to reach paying consumers is so rich.

... for those who see the Internet inexorably moving the price of all information to zero, the iPad is a big step in the opposite direction.

Image from Flickr user Curiouslee

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