“Language is the means of getting an idea from my brain into yours without surgery.” – Mark Amidon

How many life changing ideas do you figure have been thought up over the centuries, yet no one ever heard about them?

How many times every day do you imagine a brilliant concept is presented to a decision-maker, only to be shot down and buried forever?

How many creative geniuses do you think are really able to effectively communicate and present their ideas to others? Not everyone is a Steve Jobs. In fact, very few of us are. Which is one of the key reasons why Steve Jobs is, well, Steve Jobs.

Creativity and innovative thinking don’t really require clear, effective communication. Big brained scientists with minimal social skills think up mind-blowing ideas in the privacy of their labs every day. But true innovation requires that those remarkable, game-changing ideas make it through the gauntlet of judgment and criticism, all the way through to completion, where they can deliver real, lasting value. That simply cannot happen if no one knows about them and enthusiastically supports them. And that requires effective communication and presentation skills.

As Howard H. Aiken is quoted as saying, “Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.” And while ramming it down their throats might not always be required, a little persuasion almost always will be.

Communication is the often forgotten, essential component of innovation. True, it’s not as sexy as all those other components we love reading about, things like creative ideation, strategic implementation, enhanced value, disruptive technology, elegant design and a dozen or so other overused buzz words. But in the end, if your big idea is not clearly and persuasively presented to your collaborators and decision makers, it will simply wither on the vine.

We’ve all seen it happen, especially in a group brainstorm session. Someone at the table has an idea, a good idea, one they love and that has real merit. Unfortunately, they don’t have the confidence and expertise to articulate it persuasively. A louder voice and bigger ego in the room shoots it down, and there it lies. Sometimes a supportive comrade will pick up the idea and champion it to the group. But if a skilled communicator doesn’t take up the challenge, it’s dead.

The good news is that communication and presentation skills can be learned and mastered by anybody. As with any other discipline, there are simple, proven methods and techniques that can help you speak with authority and influence the opinions and decisions of others. So if you are going to be an effective innovator, or even a contributor to the innovation process, you had better start boning up on your communication skills.

Here are a few tips to help you sell your next big idea…

1. Know What You’re Trying to Achieve – Before you open your mouth, think for a moment about what you want your words to actually accomplish. Are you trying to convince someone that your idea is the best there is, or simply one of several worthy of further consideration? Are you attempting to get final approval for your idea or simply create the opportunity to present it up the chain of command? Is your idea fully fleshed out or just an embryonic concept? Such things can have a profound impact on what you say and how you say it. So take a moment or two to think about what you wish to achieve before you speak, and you will have a much better chance of choosing the best words to help you attain your goal.
2. Know Who You’re Talking To – One of the great revelations most people have when mastering communication and presentation skills is that their audience often doesn’t really care all that much about what they have to say. In fact, the people you present your idea to only care about one thing… what’s in it for them. To sell your idea, you need to understand ahead of time what the other person’s agenda is, what their goals and objectives are in a given situation, and then frame your communication in the best way possible to let them know you understand, and that your idea can help them achieve their goals. Will your idea make them (or their team) look good? Could it result in a bonus or praise from management? Is it so risky that they might be hesitant to support it? Remember this number one secret of great communicators – know your audience well, and tell them what they need to hear. That is persuasive communication.
3. Know What You’re Going to Say – Seems obvious, right? But how many times have you opened your mouth and realized, almost immediately, that you were saying precisely the wrong thing at precisely the wrong time? If you’ve taken a few moments to focus on the first two steps, this third one becomes a lot easier. What do you have to say to this person in order to get them to respond the way you would like them to, right now? That’s precisely what you want to say at precisely this moment.
4. Know How You’re Going to Say It – As the saying goes, you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. Of course, you can kill a lot more with a flyswatter. Too meek or too bold an approach will not do the trick when presenting an idea for approval. How you deliver your message can be just as important as the message itself. Consider the situation. Is the mood upbeat and congenial or tense and combative? Are ideas being shot down faster than they can be spoken, or is everyone being overly supportive and not really giving anything real, critical evaluation? Are you on a tight deadline or do you have time to spare? Take the temperature in the room before you start selling. Make sure your manner and tone are confident, but appropriate.

Is it really possible to do all of this in the middle of a brainstorm, or even a business presentation? Of course. Masterful communicators and presenters do it every day. It just takes a little awareness, attention and practice. Don’t wait until your job depends on it. Start using these four simple communication tips today. In no time you will be able to consider all of these things in just a few seconds.

Many people think that being a confident, persuasive communicator is something you’re just born with. Nothing could be further from the truth. Communication is a skill. Learn it, master it, become a more valuable part of the innovation cycle – and start seeing more your ideas become a reality.

A recent article on CNN.com, “Learn the five secrets of innovation,” by Mark Tutton, focuses on the results of a six-year study conducted by professors from Harvard Business School, Insead and Brigham Young University. 3,000 executives and 500 innovative entrepreneurs were involved in the study, which also included interviews with the likes of Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Michael Dell (Dell Computers).

The results of the study are hardly earth shattering. But they are important for anyone interested in developing their innovation chops and enjoying the resulting rewards.

The verdict? “Coming up with brilliant, game-changing ideas is what makes the likes of Apple’s Steve Jobs so successful…”

Stating the obvious? Well maybe not to everyone.

Business leaders around the world are struggling to crack the code of innovation. They focus on re-structuring, re-invention, short-sighted innovation initiatives, revolving door consultants, creativity boot camps, etc.

But apparently what it all comes down to is the ability to generate great ideas. Do that well, and all the other stuff more easily falls into place – if for no other reason than the fact that you are generating great ideas about those things, too.

From "Learn the five secrets of innovation," by Mark Tutton, CNN.com

According to the study, there are 5 key skills necessary to be a prolific innovator (a.k.a. idea-generator) – associating, questioning, observing, experimenting and discovering.

It seems these skills have more to do with how one acts as how one thinks. Prolific innovators are always proactively searching for new ideas, new connections, new perspectives. Theirs is not a passive activity; they don’t sit around waiting for the Muse to visit or the lightning bolt to strike. They pursue ideas daily and relentlessly.

It is this skill set, this business activity, that will forever more be the definer of success.

So how can you ensure you have a whole army of Steve Jobses generating innovative thinking in your organization?

Remove the impediments and allow it to happen. Create an environment that facilitates idea-generation. Nourish it with acknowledgment, training, tools – and rewards for achievement. In a recent post here, “Google’s 80/20 Formula – It can work for you!” we briefly described Google’s take on the issue… encourage employees to spend 80% of their time on core projects, and 20% of their time on “innovation” activities that peak their own personal interests.

How much does your organization to do foster innovative thinking? Do you invest 20% in it, like Google does? If you did, what returns might you realize?

The ability to generate innovative thinking is not an inherent trait; it is based on a set of skills that anyone can learn and develop. Exposing yourself to new ideas and observing the world around you can drive innovation.

All it takes is doing it. As one of the men behind the study, Insead’s Hal Gregersen, put it, “Studies have shown that creativity is close to 80 percent learned and acquired,” he told CNN. “We found that it’s like exercising your muscles — if you engage in the actions you build the skills.”

Start building your innovation muscles now. And watch the ideas start to flow.

After all, when you cut through all the hype and Ivy-tower debate, innovation at its core is really just a child’s game of connecting the dots in new and imaginative ways.

Back in the days before email chains, when clever quips were Xeroxed  and faxed between offices so many times, they often became illegible, many people displayed an 8-1/2 x 11 page on their wall that advised visiting colleagues…

Fast, Good, Cheap. Pick 2.

The idea was simply that it is impossible to deliver anything of high quality if you don’t have the time or budget to do the job properly. You may be able to skimp on one or the other, but you always have to compromise something – fast, good or cheap.

Who knew at the time that “Fast, Good, Cheap” is actually a classic example of an engineering concept known as The Project Triangle, designed to show three “corners” of a project to demonstrate opposition.

If only this relatively manageable condition still existed, business success would be far less challenging. Unfortunately today, in the vast majority of businesses, there is a fourth corner that outranks the other three – the consumer.

In this era of instant access to information, the ability to comparison “shop” for virtually anything offered in commerce, and the rather sudden and rapid expansion of the competitive marketplace (you no longer only compete with the guy across the street – you compete with the woman across the globe), consumers call all the shots. And if you don’t say, “How high?” when they say, “Jump!” they will most certainly find someone else who will.

They want it fast.
Apple iPhone users begin clamoring for the next release of hardware of firmware before the most recent version has had a chance to cool off from coming out of the oven. Zappos.com customers expect to receive their shoes overnight. And that new, state-of-the-art laptop I bought last month? It’s too damn slow!

They want it good.
If the plight of the American auto industry tells us nothing else, it tells us that. An entire industry that once dominated the industrialized world was on the verge of extinction – and would’ve ended up there, too, if not for charitable government intervention. There is simply no more room in the marketplace for shoddy anything – because someone else will always provide better, if you can’t. And the consumer will have no qualms about kicking you while you’re down.

They want it cheap.
Well, let’s at least say “good value.” A friend of mine who has owned a design firm in New York for over twenty-five years (no small feat) recently told me that he was getting the same fees for services in the 80s that he is today. TWENTY YEARS AGO! Plus today clients expect the work faster and there is significantly less loyalty. Let them down, they’re gone. This is not unique to his business. It’s every business.

The cause of all this, of course – and the solution – is the rampant pace at which business innovation takes place today. Smart organizations (again, think Apple, Google, Zappos, Amazon, and all the others consistently ranked as “most innovative”) are able to rethink, reinvent, retool, restructure and reposition faster than you can say “cloud computing.” The new “business as usual” is that there is no more business as usual.

So what’s a poor company to do? Simple – follow the example of the big boys. Innovate…constantly. Not whenever a problem comes up. Whenever the sun comes up. Today you need a great idea every year, every quarter, every month, even every day.

Innovative thinking fuels innovation. So start thinking! Ideas are the key, then acting on those ideas and seeing them through to completion.

The days of “pick two” are gone forever. It’s time to understand that you work for your customer. Period. Don’t meet their expectations, anticipate and exceed them. Don’t wait for ideas to come to you, go after them every day. Don’t expect customer loyalty, demonstrate loyalty to your customer.

So what are you going to work on first? Fast, good or cheap?

Pick three.

We all know we’re living in the Information Age – and how vital a role the Internet plays in the free dissemination of all that information.

What many may not realize, however, is that the availability of information isn’t simply a byproduct of advancing technology – it’s what people want.

A recent article at emarketer.com, “Americans Want Brands that Inform,” focused on findings in the “Global Web Index” from Lightspeed Research.

The third most important action a brand can take to make itself relevant to consumers is “Provide me with new ideas and thinking.” Only “news” (which scored only slightly higher) and “product discounts” (no surprise in today’s economic climate) ranked higher. Way down the list were things like “Sponsor my favorite sports team” and “Associate with celebrities that I like.” (Sorry Morgan Freeman.)

And where do they want their ideas and information to come from? According to the article “…US consumers found social network contacts and bloggers that they read regularly more trustworthy than major journalists, television news readers and radio presenters. Celebrities and TV show presenters were tied with politicians for the dishonor of being considered least trustworthy.”

So what does it all mean for business? That if you want to survive, you had better be able to supply your customers with a constant supply of fresh, new thinking.

It means you need ideas. Lots and lots of good ideas.

In the not so distant past, the demand for fresh thinking wasn’t so fierce. Sure, great ideas were always needed, but not overwhelming quantity we need to produce today.

Companies everywhere are buckling under the pressure to deliver innovative thinking at ever increasing speed. Many use decades-old processes for generating, sharing and developing ideas. Many still consider “creativity” something magical, rather than a systematic process that can be implemented every day. And many simply have no idea…how to generate ideas. They just know nobody in their organization is coming up with them.

It’s time for business to understand that nothing happens without an idea – not a product design, not a marketing plan, not a sales strategy – and invest appropriately in the thing their consumers want most.

How’s that for an idea?

Recently Fast Company published its 2009 list of the 50 Most Innovative Companies. Team Obama topped the list (which could, and probably will be the subject of another post). But as amazing as that news was, what struck me was that 33 of the previous year’s 50 did not make the list.

Wait… 33 of 2008’s 50 most innovative companies fell from innovation grace just one  year later? How is this possible? How can 33 of the world’s most innovative organizations fail to continue being innovative, or at least exceptionally innovative? Wasn’t there innovative prowess enough to keep them innovative?

Better yet – what about the 33 million companies that weren’t even in the running? In this era of “innovate or perish,” a topic we discuss often, how is it that so few companies are really doing much that’s innovative – even when they’ve managed to do some of it in the past?

One of our most popular, recent Tweets stated that thinking about innovation isn’t the same as innovative thinking. And that gets to the crux of the matter. There is a lot of talk about innovation these days. But when it comes right down to it, most organizations don’t really do much about it, or at least not much that leads to real, ongoing innovation.

Bringing in management consultants doesn’t do it. Announcing a new era of corporate innovation doesn’t do it. Adding the word to the mission statement doesn’t do it, and neither does charging managers with the task of fostering more innovation in their teams.

In fact, simply “creating a culture of innovation” alone doesn’t do it.

Of course, innovation does require a fertile culture, in the sense that an environment must exist in which it can actually happen. Innovation requires creative thinking that is allowed to be freely expressed and acted upon. A culture that reacts to “think different” – even “think different” that ultimately fails – with disapproval, will not inspire the courage it takes to put one’s ideas on the line.

But it’s the people, not the culture, who innovate.

In the end, what is really needed for innovation to happen is a combination of motivation, freedom, systems, knowledge and responsibility.

Motivation to make the effort in the first place.

Freedom to explore and express, without fear of reprisal.

Systems for sharing, developing and promoting ideas throughout an organization.

Knowledge, talent and skills required to actually transform an idea into a viable plan and, ultimately, a reality.

And responsibility for ensuring that it all happens.

Who is responsible for ensuring that these various, essential elements are in place? Leadership, of course. If history and the news tell us nothing else, it proves that real, ongoing, effective innovation is a top-down process. It must be mandated, inspired, nurtured and championed by the company leader. Apple, Google, Amazon, Zappos – oh, and of course, Team Obama – all have innovative leaders driving the process. Why? Because others in an organization will rarely have the courage or freedom to take on the challenge. Only a leader will.

Innovation is a complex process that involves emotional, psychological, technical and operational factors. If you’re missing just one, you will never (or no longer) find yourself on the “most innovative” list.

Better luck next year!

Why Engagement Marketing is So Powerful…and Why Almost Nobody’s Doing It

Audience engagement.

Everybody’s talking about it. Everybody knows it’s important. Everybody wants to do it. Almost nobody does, or at least does it right.

Let’s establish right at the start that “engagement” is undeniably one of the buzziest of the current marketing buzz words. It is rapidly transitioning from being novel to annoying to cliché. Unfortunately, it is also a very convenient way to refer to an undeniably important shift in strategic marketing communications, one that we must understand, embrace and implement if we are going to continue to be effective at forging meaningful connections with audiences.

So wherever your opinion of the term happens to fall in the continuum – novel, annoying or cliché – please bear with me.

Today, not only is engaging your audience a good idea, it is crucial. Not because some exceptionally clever brand planner decided it is. Because the audience demands it.

THE SHIFT OF CONTROL

Years ago we marketers held all the cards. Just watch a few episodes of “Mad Men” and you’ll see how easy it was back in the sixties to come up with the “big idea” while downing a couple of scotches and sneaking out of the office for afternoon trysts.

In fact, until fairly recently, there were only a few channels through which to deliver messages to audiences. Print publications (magazines and newspapers primarily, and significantly fewer of those), outdoor (fewer choices there, too), promotional materials, through the mail (snail only), on television and radio, and face-to-face (although transportation limitations made this relatively impractical).

That was pretty much it.

On top of that, you had an audience that craved just about any sort of out-of-the-ordinary experience, as most every aspect of life was fairly ordinary. In most markets there were three or four TV stations (depending on the quality of your rabbit ears), a handful on radio, one local newspaper that might publish two editions. So any reasonably clever instance of communication inspired great interest.

We had them right where we wanted them back then. A hungry audience just waiting to gobble up our next flash of inspiration. A few minutes coming up with the latest Burma Shave slogan and we were off to the bar to refuel.

In short, our intrusion on the lives of our audiences was permitted; in fact, it was welcomed. This intrusion marketing provided much needed and keenly desired information in the midst of a communications landscape that was relatively barren.

Ad guy nirvana.

We were in control of the message and the media, and thus, the audience and its consumption behaviors. And it stayed that way for quite a long time.

While I admit that developing effective, memorable, differentiated, persuasive marketing communications was never actually easy, it was certainly less challenging in years past. Today’s audiences aren’t so obedient anymore. The world is totally transparent to anyone who cares to look inside, and as a result, audiences demand greater accountability from the companies they do business with.

And when it’s time for them to get their information, they have endless options. The aforementioned communication channels are all alive and well. Add to them the Internet and all its various opportunities, other interactive technologies, email, product placement, in-cinema, sponsorships, cell phones and PDAs, experiential, podcasts, guerrilla marketing of all kinds, blogging, vlogging, free postcards, in-restroom, in the names and on the walls of sports arenas and about a thousand other things I’m too weary to mention or that none of us has even heard of yet. People have even sold the rights to use their bodies as living billboards via tattoos and sculpted haircuts.

And pretty much all of these vehicles are available when communicating with any audience, consumers, internal or b2b. The options are staggering – to us, but not to our audiences. They like it. And why not? They can have whatever they want.

The reality is, we can no longer tell an audience how they will get their information. A clever TV spot or direct mail piece is no longer guaranteed to get us the results we desire, because there’s no guarantee our audience is ever going to see it, much less pay attention.

EVERYTHING WORKS, AND NOTHING DOES

Recently, a client asked me the following question: “You’re up on what’s going on in marketing. Tell me, what really works? Is radio still worthwhile? Is the Internet the best way to reach people? Does outdoor do anything anymore?”

My response to her? “It all works. And none of it works. It just… depends.”

It depends — on the specific audience you’re trying to connect with, when and under what circumstances you will encounter them, the brand, the message, the objective. It just depends.

And the tough part is, we don’t get to decide what’s going to work. The audience does. The only “right” way to communicate with any audience is the way that audience prefers to be communicated with. They decide.

And that is the critical, defining principle of engagement marketing.

They decide.

The moment you attempt to tell someone how they will be engaged, they will more than likely go do something else. More than ever before, audiences today are the proverbial “moving target,” and like any good archer, you’d better be quick, accurate and have lots of arrows in your quiver if you’re going to hit them.

In the past, pretty much all we had to worry about was the message. How could we make it compelling, motivating, ownable? And how could we win an award or two in the process? As savvy marketers, we all understood that the most important thing to an audience is WIIFM? (What’s in it for me?). We knew how to craft a targeted message, sell the benefits rather than the features, leverage differentiating qualities, create communications that were consistent with and effectively reinforced the brand personality.

The media were generally fairly clear. Details had to be determined and plans formulated, of course. But as long as the message was strong, and the number of impressions was adequate and directed at the right demographic, we’d strike pay dirt.

Today, the media we choose has to be just as carefully scrutinized and tailored as the message. It must meet the enthusiastic approval of the audience we’re trying to not just reach, but engage.

REACHING MEANS NOTHING ANY MORE. ENGAGING MEANS EVERYTHING.

When we engage an audience, we open a dialog, a conversation in which we receive at least as much information as we deliver. Not just beforehand, when studying the demographics and psychographics and behaviors and whatever else we analyze before crafting a message… but throughout the process, at every step of the interaction.

Effective strategic marketing communications today is a dance, and the audience always leads. We must be in concert with our partner, sensitive to their subtlest move and ready to turn and spin and dip whenever they’re ready.

Too bad so many marketers are such lousy dancers.

The problem is, we marketers still want to lead. I said earlier that back in the day, we were the ones in control. That kind of power isn’t easy to give up. We get used to it. We enjoy it. It makes us comfortable. It’s addictive. We all know about this engagement thing, but at the end of the day, we still think we know better than our audience what they really want.

The question we most often ask is, “How can we make our TV spots (or experiential marketing, website, insert your media of choice here) more engaging?”

Well, you can’t, not if the audience isn’t interested.

Sit around the brainstorm table at an ad agency and one thing is pretty certain; at the end of the session, you’ll have advertising. Same is true at a direct response agency, PR firm or event production company.

Audiences don’t think that way. To some extent they used to; they expected to receive information in very specific, defined ways, our ways – on television, radio, newspaper. But today, effective marketing communication is executed in an open architecture environment. It is fluid, immediate, fickle and 100% dictated by the audience. And they know it.

The seemingly endless (and endlessly growing) information and entertainment options available today give all the control to the audience. They simply don’t have to accept anything they don’t

want, need or enjoy. Because there is always something else, and if they like it better, that’s where they’ll go.

Today’s audiences demand that they be entertained, involved, challenged and provoked. They want to be active participants in a brand and a message, to be spoken with rather than talked to. They want a moving experience. They want to be fully and completely engaged.

WHAT’S A POOR MARKETER TO DO?

The good news is, strategic marketing works; it always has and probably always will. Just what effective marketing looks like will continue to evolve with its intended audiences. But remarkably, the very same overarching principles we all know and understand still apply today. It’s just that their specific application has expanded quite a bit.

For example, it has always been important to think like our audiences, understand where they’re coming from, and deliver the message they need to hear. And the same is true today.

If our audiences are in fact “media agnostic,” if they have no predetermined bias as to how they will receive communication, then we have to be equally versatile in our ability to deliver it. In other words, when we sit down at that brainstorm table, there are no more givens, except that whatever we develop will be the most effective means of engaging this audience with this brand and this message in this circumstance.

On the client side, this approach is somewhat easier to embrace. The marketing department has at their disposal any and all marcom capabilities represented by their agencies and any other prospective vendors. Any eclectic mix of media devised by a client can be parceled out to the most appropriate agencies, limited only by budget restraints. Of course, getting all those different entities talking and working together can be a challenge, but it is crucial if any initiative is going to be fully integrated, cohesive and effective.

On the agency side, it’s a bit more complicated. Most agencies are, by their nature, not media agnostic. They do have a preference, dictated by history, expertise and revenue forecasts. The only way an agency can effectively deliver the most engaging programs to its clients is by broadening its offering a much as possible — expanding on its own capabilities; forging real, valuable strategic alliances with other agencies with complementary capabilities; being forever attuned to the latest developments in technology, information delivery and entertainment. And then, begin thinking bigger, longer-term, seeking to always deliver the most effective solution for the

client and their audience – and in the process, hopefully, forge longer, value-added relationships.

In other words, don’t try to get all the nickels for yourself every time you have the chance, and you just may have the chance a lot more often.

SURVIVING IN THE FACE OF CHANGE

Easier said than done, of course. But those who figure out how will survive. And those who don’t?

They’ll go the way of the type shop. Many reading this article may not be old enough to remember type shops, those businesses that just a couple of decades ago produced beautiful, typeset sheets of copy before desktop computers were capable of performing that job. A great typesetter was an artist. And type shops were essential to the marketing communications industry. Many of them were very successful, lucrative businesses.

Today there are none, thanks to the birth of something amazing called desktop publishing. The businesses that survived the cataclysm reinvented themselves as service bureaus, or small creative services agencies. Those that were determined to remain type shops disappeared faster than you can say dodo bird, dinosaur or Mayan.

The marketing communications industry is in this same type of accelerated evolution, from what was, to what will be. There is no more “what is.” “What is” is already yesterday’s news, and again, we don’t get to choose what the new new thing will be, our audience does.

If we can travel right alongside them in this rapidly shifting communication landscape, zigging and zagging where they lead us, only then will we be able to meet their expectations, and in doing so, continue to influence their choices.

Only then are they engaged. Only then do we succeed.

Virtually every business depends on the ability to generate ideas—ideas for new products, ideas about how to communicate more effectively with customers, ideas about how to operate more efficiently, ideas about how to engage employees and strengthen internal communications. Without ideas organizations stagnate, and eventually, wither and die.

The most widely used tool for generating and developing new ideas in organizations is group brainstorming. Literally hundreds of thousands of brainstorm sessions take place in offices and conference rooms across the globe, every single day.

The problem is, most people need help in how to brainstorm better.

In our work, we have the opportunity to question business people about the effectiveness of their brainstorming efforts. And it is rare that we don’t hear a negative response. “Boring.” “Intimidating.” “A big waste of time.” “The same old ideas over and over again.” “Nothing ever happens with the concepts we do come up with.” These are all comments we hear repeatedly, from individuals at every level of an organization, and from every business category.

In fact, brainstorming as traditionally practiced is a sloppy, haphazard process. Remarkably, this single activity, which is so vitally important to business success, is allowed to take place in a manner that is completely lacking in structure, facilitated by individuals with little or no training and who have no idea what tools or techniques might make their efforts more productive. One can only imagine the cost of ineffective brainstorming to business, in wasted manpower, lost opportunity and damaged employee morale.

The topic of how to brainstorm better is a big and important one. But here are seven things you can start doing today to make your sessions dramatically more effective.

1. Make a Plan, Stan

It is sometimes said that professionals plan, amateurs wing it. Before your brainstorm ever begins, take the time to plan your session. What is the challenge you will present to the group? What is your objective for the session? Ten new ideas? One hundred? What idea generation techniques will you use to inspire your group’s imagination and make new connections? When you create a vision and a plan for the session, you increase the odds you will actually realize it.

2. Invite Diversity

Tired of getting the same old ideas in every brainstorm session? Maybe you should consider not inviting the same usual suspects. By including individuals with refreshingly different backgrounds, perspectives, ages, genders, ethnicities, etc., you will be creating a group mind with a wealth of divers experience to draw on. Consider who in your organization might make an unexpected contribution to your idea pool, and make sure they’re there.

3. Kick Out The Boss

I once knew the president of a company who would insist on attending every brainstorm session, and then start it off by saying, “You know how they say there are no bad ideas? That’s wrong. There are very bad ideas that should never be expressed. So, anybody got anything?” Nothing will more effectively shut down a brainstorm session than the fear of saying something stupid in front of the boss. It’s sometimes easier said than done, but unless your company leadership is extremely supportive and accepting, they shouldn’t be in a brainstorming session. Idea generation requires a safe environment, where people aren’t afraid to share their thoughts. Ensure the boss you’ll review everything with her after the session is over.

4. Play By The Rules

Of course it’s not just the boss who can derail and brainstorm. Anyone with a big ego, loud voice or attention-seeking personality can do the same. Negativity and judgment bring instant death to spontaneous idea sharing faster than negativity and judgment. Establish a list of “rules” for your session right at the start. Ask for everyone’s agreement. No negative comments. One person talks at a time. Crazy, even audacious ideas are encouraged. If anyone breaks the rules, ask others in the group to good-naturedly remind him—perhaps by pelting him with crumpled paper balls!

5. Hold The Phone

“Phone” here, of course, means any device that will distract one’s attention from the task at hand. The remarkable convenience and productivity provided by PDAs is nothing short of miraculous. They also suck the life out of a brainstorming session. One of your most important rules is, “All phones, smartphones, iPhones, Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, whatever OFF during the session—and put out of sight, out of temptation’s reach!” Reassure attendees that you will provide breaks during which they can check messages or email.

6. Ask Lots of Questions

Not getting what you want from your brainstorming group? Maybe you’re not asking the right questions. You can immediately change the consciousness and output of any group by simply posing a provocative question? “What if we combined the last two ideas?” “That was a wild idea. How can we rein it in to make it more on strategy?” “What are three more ideas like that one?” Learn and apply the art of powerful questioning and you will get an exponentially greater return on your ideation investment.

7. Maintain Momentum

Most brainstorming sessions tend to start out slow and low energy. People are feeling their way into the process. After awhile, the energy sometimes picks up for a few minutes. Ideas come from everywhere. Then it stops. They’ve run out of steam. They start talking about last night’s episode of Mad Men. You’re lost. A great facilitator is like an accomplished surfer—they can “sense” the crest of the wave, where it is now and where it’s going, and ride it all the way to the end. Be tuned into the energy of the room, when it’s high, let it rip. As soon as you feel it start to wane, ask a powerful question to make the leap to a new direction and get it going again. Brainstorming facilitation is work—fun work, but work nonetheless. Stay focused, ride the wave and you’ll walk out with a stack full of great ideas.

Great brainstorming and creative idea-generation is multi-faceted process that requires structure, trained facilitation and a full toolkit of proven techniques. There’s a lot to learn. But you can start your ongoing education with these seven key improvements, and start seeing better results right away.

How’s that for a great idea?

In business and the media, the words creativity and innovation are used almost interchangeably. Some people believe you have to be creative in order to create innovative things. Others would say, without innovative thinking there is no creativity. Both points of view are perfectly logical, but neither explains the relationship (or interrelationship) between the concepts we call creativity and innovation.

To begin with, creativity and innovation are not synonymous; there is a clear and important distinction between them. It is especially critical for businesses to understand this distinction before instituting a new organization-wide innovation imitative.

Before discussing this distinction, however, it is important to note that creativity is a mental ability anyone is capable of, not just the artists among us. When most of us think of creative individuals, we often point out a special talent such as the ability to draw, paint, sculpt, write, play music, sing, dance, etc. Creativity is much more than winning Mother Nature’s genetic lottery for artistic ability. Creative potential exists in all of us.

Creativity is most often defined as the mental ability to conceptualize (imagine) new, unusual or unique ideas, to see the new connection between seemingly random or unrelated things.

Innovation on the other hand, is defined as the process that transforms those forward-looking new ideas into real world (commercial) products, services, or processes of enhanced value. The result of such a transformation can be incremental, evolutionary or radical in its impact on the status quo. In other words, it can represent a natural step forward in a concept’s development, a leap to the next generation of that concept, or a completely new and different way of doing something altogether.

If we use Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple and his company as an example, we could say that Steve Jobs is creative because he has the forward-thinking ability to imagine new ideas for products, and also to see new connections between different things (such as combining an iPod, the iTunes store, an Internet browser, a camera, a GPS, and a cell phone to create the iPhone).

Apple the company is innovative in the manner in which they interpret and execute those forward-thinking ideas to create inspired, highly desirable products of value. The company’s innovation-driven culture continuously strives to elevate the aesthetics, functionality and simplicity of their product design to museum quality levels.

Why is this distinction between creativity and innovation important?

Because it is impossible to develop a truly innovative organization if creativity is ignored or stifled. And likewise, without effective processes in place to transform creative ideas into practical, real world, value added application, creativity is of no commercial value whatsoever.

Once you understand the distinction between creativity and innovation, the road to success begins by liberating, nurturing and inspiring all the creative capital in your organization.

Liberate creativity, and watch innovation flow.

Innovation has become the benchmark of success, particularly in the current business environment. Companies in every industry are stepping up their efforts to become more innovative in the way they work, communicate and produce the goods and services they sell. But with such an objective, the obvious challenge becomes, how to identify the individuals within an organization who possess the greatest potential to innovate.

While everyone has the innate ability to engage in creative thinking, there are seven common traits that innovative leaders like da Vinci, Edison, Henry Ford and Steve Jobs share; seven traits that propel them to think outside the confines of conventional wisdom and imagine breakthrough concepts that change the way you and I live and experience the world.

The seven traits of highly innovate thinkers are:

1. Curiosity
Curiosity is the first step toward discovery. It is the “beginner’s mind,” a deep, child-like sense of wonder about the world, the relationship between different things and how things work.

2. Imagination
Before you can develop a new idea, you must first be able to conceive it, to envision the very possibility that it could exist. Innovation is fueled by leaps of the imagination, making novel new connections between seemingly disparate ideas, concepts or objects.

3. Intuition
Making decisions based on facts and figures is fine in many instances. But true innovation is more often born from that internal “knowing,” the guiding force, sixth sense or gut feeling to follow one’s instincts, no matter how unconventional or illogical the direction.

4. Inventiveness
The ability to change the status quo requires an inquisitive passion for “tinkering.” Innovators possess the desire to arrange and re-arrange ideas or things in new and different combinations.

5. Playfulness
It is when you get “lost in your work” that amazing things begin to happen. Time, self-consciousness, seriousness and any sense of limitation falls away, and challenges are handled with ease. The attitude of playfulness is, “Everything is possible.”

6. Flexibility
The capacity to suspend judgment and embrace two (or more) seemingly contradictory or unrelated viewpoints at the same time helps create a dynamic tension that ultimately stimulates creative resolutions (solutions).

7. Persistence
All the creative talent in the world is of no value if you give up before the work is done. Persistence, the passion, willpower and enthusiasm to overcome setbacks and discouragement, allows innovative thinkers to keep trying new possibilities until success is achieved.

Of course, there is no secret recipe for innovation. It requires an ongoing commitment on the part of an organization and the individuals within to relentlessly pursue new, better ways of doing business, and to never accept anything less than the best possible outcome. But these seven key traits are an excellent starting point for building your innovation foundation.

Start to recognize the individuals around you who naturally possess these traits, and encourage them to make frequent use of them. And nurture these traits in others who aren’t as naturally inclined. Acknowledge and reward creative thinking, responsible risk-taking and questioning the status quo. And in no time you will have fostered a thriving culture of innovation which can lead to only one thing: greater success.

photo by zetson

Many people believe that highly creative individuals possess some sort of rare, special, almost magical talent. Somehow, mysteriously, they are able to conjure up new and remarkable ideas, produce extraordinarily inventive work and make a profound impact on the world. Such individuals are viewed by many as favored by Mother Nature and blessed with a special gene, the one most of us missed out on.

Businesses that must deliver increasingly innovative goods and services in order to stay competitive (which is just about every company today), rely heavily on such creative thinkers, and may take the appreciation of their enigmatic ability to even greater extremes. In many such organizations the “creative types” are allowed to play by a different set of rules. The sometimes unbusinesslike way they dress, the strange hours they keep, their offbeat language and behavior, and even the unusual ways they decorate their offices are all tolerated, for fear of somehow disrupting the wizardry that takes place inside their heads whenever the all-important big idea is needed.

In fact there is nothing mystical about what creative geniuses do. Their abilities are remarkable, to be sure. But they’re not magic. In fact we all possess many of the same talents and skills in varying degrees and areas of concentration. Each of us was born with the innate ability to imagine, conceive, pretend and exercise curiosity. These are creative traits. The problem is, most of us have simply forgotten how to make use of them.

Creativity is simply the ability to generate new, unusual or unique ideas. “What if my toothbrush had an mp3 player in the handle…then I could listen to music while I brush my teeth!” Of course, most meaningful and worthwhile creativity is a bit more involved than that. But there is actually a process one follows when coming up with such creative notions, a process many of those awe-inspiring geniuses are quite capable of verbalizing. Even those who aren’t are nonetheless following similar systems. There is abundant evidence that many of history’s greatest creators – da Vinci, Mozart, Picasso – all followed careful, meticulous processes in the development and production their work.

So just what does this “creative process” consists of? Five sequential steps that will not only result in a more inventive solution to any challenge, but also make the task of generating that solution more interesting and perhaps even more fun.

1. Preparation – Nothing begins in the middle; and creativity is no exception. Naturally creative people always prepare thoroughly for the arrival of their seemingly spontaneous sparks of genius. There are two aspects to preparation; one is ongoing, and the other is immediate, for the specific task at hand.

Ongoing preparation simply means “stocking the pond” with thoughts, ideas and inspiration. Creativity depends heavily on making connections between two or more ideas, where no apparent connection existed before – like the toothbrush and the mp3 player. The more interesting and provocative reference points you have in your head, the more easily you will make new connections. Continually expose yourself to new, original, thought-provoking things of all kinds: art, music, literature, contemporary culture. Maintain an ongoing sense of curiosity about the world, and when the time comes to get creative, your mind will be filled with all sorts of valuable and relevant experiences to draw on.

Immediate preparation is specific to the challenge you face. Once you know what you have to do, engage in some research. See what’s been done before, what worked and what failed. Ask others for their opinions. Gather as much information as you can, or have time for, and undertaking your own project will be that much easier, and more inspired.

2. Focusing – Sometimes known as “Incubation” or “Reflection,” this is the step where you let everything you’ve gathered in your Preparation phase marinate. It sometimes takes the mind a while to sort through and process all the information you have in your head, to separate the wheat from the chaff, make new connections and build upon ideas you already have. Some people say this process is completely unconscious; after they do their preparation, they simple “walk away” and put the task out of their mind. Others say it’s more intentional and thoughtful. Still others, a combination of the two. Whatever works for you, but give yourself a bit of space between Preparation and Exploration (the next step in the process), and just watch what kinds of ideas that start to percolate and raise up to the surface.

3. Exploration – Often called “Illumination,” this is when the stuff you used to believe was magic takes place. The creative spark, the “a-ha” moment, when all the dots get connected and you come up with the big idea. It’s said that Einstein figured out his famous equation “E-mc2” while riding on a bus, that Newton observed a falling apple and was struck (some believe, on the head) with the notion of gravity, and that Archimedes discovered the principle of displacement when he stepped into a bath, and then shouted, “Eureka!” – which is why this phenomenon is also referred to as the “Eureka Moment.” The reason we call it Exploration, though, is that the Eureka moment is often a long, Eureka slog. It’s true, sometimes a great idea comes to you like a bolt of lightning, seemingly out of nowhere. But just as often the masterpiece emerges after extended, sometimes tedious work. It’s a well-known fact that Thomas Edison conducted literally thousands of experiments in his search for the right material to serve as the filament in the first light bulb. Hardly a Eureka moment. Whatever way your exploration phase happens, your mind will be giving you what you want in the end: a great idea.

4. Verification – On rare occasions, creative geniuses nail it on the first try. I repeat, on rare occasions. Most of the time our brilliant idea needs quite a bit of testing (against our standard of quality and acceptability), and refinement. Often we have several contenders, and through this process we are ultimately able to pick the best or most appropriate one. The point is, once you come up with a great idea, you’re not finished. There’s still work to be done.

5. Completion – The best idea in the world is worth nothing if it isn’t carried through to completion. Yes, more work. But genius doesn’t come cheap. This is simply follow-through, getting the job done, and is quite often more craft than art. And the better you are at it, the more outstanding your work will be. Think through the steps you will take in transforming your idea into a new reality. What tools do you need? What skills will be required? Whatever you don’t have yourself, find. In a recent survey CEOs said that fewer than 25% of their organizations’ best ideas are ever implemented. Which means more than three-quarters never see the light of day. There are countless half-finished brilliant ideas out there. Don’t let yours be one of them.

You may not be destined to become a da Vinci, Mozart, Picasso or Edison (but then again, you may!). But you can most certainly unleash your own innate creativity and significantly improve the quality of your work, whatever it is. You may not be composing symphonies, painting masterpieces, writing Pulitzer Prize-winning novels or bending time and space. Your “art” may be a new business proposal, a script for an upcoming presentation, a corporate brochure, your backyard garden or new window treatments for your bedroom. It doesn’t matter; by following the creative process, you will almost certainly enhance the value, originality and effectiveness of your final product.