Commentary by Lynda Curtin

Driving up the mountain to Big Bear from the desert below I was struck by the stark contrast between the dry sandy desert - plants not quite in spring bloom, and the snow sledding hills filled with families having a ball. The drive was made even more enjoyable because my favorite Roy Orbison CD was blaring - taking my mind to the place it goes when it needs to relax. Answers pop. I got answers during that drive!

My delight of the day came when I walked in to photographer, Timothy Wolcott’s gallery. His walls were jammed with the most stunning photos I have ever seen. There was something different about the colors. They were intense. They popped. I just knew I was looking at the work of someone with a rare passion for creating visual experiences for people. I had to go get my husband who was browsing down the street. I wanted to share the experience with him.

One photograph in particular kept calling me back to look at it - Dogwood in the Moonlight; a beautiful dogwood tree in shimmering full bloom, laden with pure white blossoms standing against the dark green forest in the background. I’m not a photographer and couldn’t imagine how such a glorious moment in time could be captured. I learned it took 8 minutes for the shutter speed to capture the photo in the moonlight. What patience. What planning. What vision.

I also learned that Timothy Wolcott has been involved in innovating new ways to use technology for printing processes. This explains why his work is so stunning. He pushes the boundaries of old conventions.

I share this experience with you because it speaks directly to the power of well executed creativity and innovation. These are the lessons I have taken away from this experience:

1. Sometimes it helps the creative process when we make time for our minds to relax in order for answers to surface; to pop.
2. When you look at your innovation does it exude a quality about it that draws customers to it; a specialness? Would customers immediately want to share their discovery of it with others? Perhaps this can become a question in the final analysis of the innovations you are working on.
3. Patience pays.

I look up at Dogwood in the Moonlight hanging in my office several times a day now to help me remember these important lessons and to work towards becoming better with my own creativity and innovation efforts. How do you remind yourself?

Until next time ...

I have come across the compelling work of creativity expert, Sir Ken Robinson, which I want to share with you via his very funny and dramatic presentation - Do Schools Kill Creativity? He delivered this presentation at a TED conference and you can watch it here: (Allow yourself 20 minutes - you won't be disappointed.)

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66

What does this presentation have to do with Real Innovation? Quite a bit in my view. For me, he hits home the importance of cultivating creativity in kids all the way through our education system in order to prepare them for jobs that haven't even been invented yet. After-all, innovation is impossible without creativity, and creativity is impossible without people.

He also made me wonder about the impact our education system is having on our ability to be innovative in the workplace when most of our workers come from our school system, which he describes this way:

"Our education system has mined our minds the way we have strip mined the earth for a particular commodity."

Three ideas for you:

1. Share this presentation with your work group and lead a discussion on how it might help you with your innovation work.
2. Host a discussion dinner party with your family and friends. Show the presentation and then get the discussion going.
3. Watch it once a week for 5 weeks and note different points that strike you each time you watch it and why they do. How can you use these insights back on the job?

I believe innovation relies on people. Tools and techniques help, but, they are not enough. I am hoping to inspire some of you to investigate this work of Sir Ken Robinson. Remember to share with us your innovation insights.

Until next time ...

What are other companies doing to be more innovative? I am often asked this question. To find out, I attended a recent event which hosted two speakers - Rich Vincent (CLO) and Ivars Ozolins (Executive Development) from Nestle U.S.A. to learn the Nestle answer for you. They titled their presentation, "Bend it Like Nestle". Here is a high level overview for you.

Nestle is a very successful global company - $100 billion last year. We all know success can hinder the quest for innovation. So, to reinforce the need for innovation, Rich and Ivars started by researching changing American business trends from the birth of modern organizational science in 1948 to present times - global hyperflux.

In essence they did the background work and created a presentation that painted a compelling business context for product innovation at Nestle U.S.A. They had to grab the attention of senior executives. This took persistence. They wanted top level CEO/President support. They got it.

The Nestle U.S.A. process: A "3 Level Innovation Creation System" which is supported by the business units who hand select high potential employees to participate, and a venture capital (VC) board who review new ideas and approve funding to move selected ideas forward towards commercialization.

Level 1 - 5-Day Introductory Experience: The focus is learning about innovation and working on developing a new idea. Towards the end of the workshop new product ideas are pitched to the VC board.

Level 2 Short Term VC Project: 90-day single person projects start for those whose idea was approved by the VC board in level 1.

Level 3 Explorer Project: For ideas advanced by the VC board to this level, the individual works on a 6-12 month "garage" project. A support structure is in place to provide help with commercialization.

As usual, the toughest part of the system is creating a high performance environment driven by skills, accountability and commitment.

A key learning: Terms can paint pictures of expectations. The Nestle innovation terminology is now making its way through the organization which assists others in becoming more innovative: "change the game", "burn the bridge", "rapid prototyping" are some examples.

The Nestle Approach: create the business case for product innovation, get the support of the top executives, create a VC board that has to fund ideas, put in place a system for innovation, provide support for those individuals whose ideas are advanced through the system, and provide world class innovation training.

Future Forward: What can you learn from the Nestle system? Can you identify gaps in your system? If so, what are you going to do about closing those gaps? Until next time...

From Passion to Prosperity: How to build your business, sell your ideas and change the world...

I believe innovation is a people process; that it requires individual leadership. This professional development conference, sponsored by the Los Angeles chapter of the National Speakers Association, reinforced my belief, fed my mind and left me with lots to think about. Below are three ideas that captured my attention.

1. "Emotions are 24 times more powerful than logic." Scott Baily of the Sandler Sales Institute made this statement during his presentation. I don’t know if there is a study that supports this provocative statement. It does make me think about the selling step in the innovation process. We can have all the facts lined up; the logic is solid and still experience resistance to a useful new innovation. Who hasn’t run up against this challenge? It’s very frustrating. Emotions, hunches, gut instincts, feelings play a part in selling.

Emotions are often messy. They don’t fit neatly on a graph or chart. They can be unique to the individual. They can appear illogical. Perhaps some good questions to ask each person on the team once the data is established..."What’s your hunch right now about how successful this innovation will be?"..."What’s your gut instinct tell you about how people will embrace this?"..."What’s your feeling right now about what we need to do next to advance this idea?". These questions can help get below the surface of the data to help guide what to do.

2. NO MORE EXCUSES. Sam Silverstein, our luncheon speaker, trademarked this phrase. It’s his innovation. I share this with you because I think the phrase "No more excuses" partly answers the question posted by Praveen Gupta - how does one find not-so innovative companies in his article "Least Innovative Companies" posted on July 16, 2007. Look for companies where too many people are failing.

Here is Sam’s list - Ten Reasons People Fail

1. Make and accept excuses
2. No space to try new things and grow
3. Surrounded with weak people
4. Abdication of responsibility
5. Don’t think strategically
6. Low expectations
7. Ego or emotion
8. Impatience
9. Stupidity
10. Fear

Companies are not innovative. People are. People make a company innovative, or not. Think about the items on this list and how they could be impacting your ability to bring valuable innovations to life. What are you going to do about that?

3. Glenna Salsbury closed the conference with her powerful presentation, "Leaving A Lasting Legacy". She shared this thought, "A legacy worth leaving is founded upon our standard of life, not our standard of living. A legacy worth leaving is founded upon our measure of giving, not our measure of getting...and upon our simple goodness...not our climb to greatness." Doesn’t this strike you as a meaningful screen to help determine new idea power?

It’s with pleasure I share my musings with you.

Anti-Age: a popular slogan many in the beauty industry use to promote skin care products and treatments. But, hopefully not for much longer … thanks to Dove's new campaign, “beauty has no age limit" promoting their new line of products.

I share this example with you because I see in action an effective innovation technique for idea generation, reversal provocation - going in the opposite direction of what is usual - in this case, "the market", demonstrated in Dove's campaign as follows:

1. Shifting the emphasis from anti-age to pro-age.
2. Shifting the view “beauty has an age limit” to “beauty has no age limit”.
3. By featuring "real" older women instead of younger thin models.

Many in the industry would consider each of the above to be a gutsy decision. Dove made three. Innovation requires gutsy, doesn't it?

Let me be clear here. A provocation for the sake of a provocation won't do the job. Each of the above provocations also presents benefits which the target customer understands and appreciates. And, Dove's innovative campaign also attracted Oprah's attention which resulted in an Oprah show featuring the models - great priceless publicity. The stars aligned.

Dove's new trademarked term, "pro-age", is also easy to understand by the consumer, a key ingredient to successfully promote new innovations. I believe the term "pro-age" will be welcomed by a major segment of the market - aging women over 50, and, Dove owns the term. Imagine the impact this will have on Dove's business as the trend to cater to “older” consumers picks up speed in the market.

Innovation is hard work. We all know that. Sometimes we forget an important piece of the innovation puzzle - how are we going to communicate our new message?

Imagine lasting 45 years in your business. What would it take? How would you adjust to dramatically changing business needs? Could you create a loyal following of dedicated customers that span generations?

Seventy-five year old Italian fashion designer Valentino is joyfully celebrating 45 years of success in a cut throat business - haute couture; high end fashion. New ideas are presented and commercialized every season. There is no revenue if there is no commercialized collection. Customers won't buy last season's fashions, or last year's. In fact, as each collection is presented - the press, fashion editors, and fashionistas are quick to comment on its merits - making or breaking the revenue stream.

I share this with you as my first posting because I love fashion and believe we can learn many innovation lessons from successful designers. One important aspect of being innovative is being able to hunt for powerful concepts and then see in what ways they can be applied in your business. As I look at Valentino's accomplishments a few powerful concepts surface that have worked very well for him. I don't know if he deliberately chose to develop his business using these concepts. But, they are there in wide use. Here are five powerful concepts:

1. Ways to ensure fashions are treasured by our children in 25 years.
2. Ways to make your product or service memorable.
3. Ways to make timeless.
4. Ways to instill loyalty.
5. Ways to create the illusion of luxury.

My tip for you when you have time: select a creative challenge you are working on. See what ideas you can generate using these concepts as the spark. Sometimes a new concept can set a direction for strategy development. Wouldn't it be nice in today's time pressed world if all of a sudden timeless became the new vogue.

Lynda founded The Opportunity Thinker/de Bono for Business in 1994 joining the global network of Dr. Edward de Bono's authorized providers of systematic creativity and innovation thinking tools. de Bono's Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking Hats tools are very popular with innovators across industries.

de Bono Thinking Systems, the global distributor, retained Lynda as Product Development Manager to lead the development of "Focus on Facilitation: How to Lead Thinking Together Meetings that Deliver Remarkable Results", the first course developed without Dr. de Bono's direct involvement. As part of this project Lynda completed a world tour to help prepare each business leader in the distributor network to launch this new product. Her proven track record facilitating tough business meetings, developing new products, launching marketing campaigns, delivering outstanding training connected to customer needs, and consistently meeting hefty sales and profit goals ensured Lynda was the ideal person in the global network to lead this project. She has a deep understanding of the tools, how they work, and how to apply them. She was first certified by Dr. de Bono in 1992. In 1998 she was selected as one of twelve de Bono experts to receive advanced facilitation training from de Bono. She is also a de Bono Master Trainer and Facilitator.

The U.S. distributor, Innova Training, Inc. inducted Lynda into the Innovator's Club during the 2004 Future by Design Conference for her consistent innovative work with de Bono's methods.

Lynda also leads practical Innovation Boot Camps to help clients clarify what innovation is for their business, where to hunt for it and how to strengthen their individual Innovation InstinctT - a personal assessment she developed.

Her extensive business background in a broad range of consumer goods-product manager responsible for managing a variety of product lines from $20.0 million to over $100.0 million in sales connects with clients-she understands the fast pace of work having thrived on the firing line everyday for 18 years to deliver stretch sales and profit goals in the midst of rapid and revolutionary change. Lynda is well equipped to help clients tackle their business challenges with fresh new thinking.

She is a frequent speaker at conferences, corporate events and off-site meetings. A sampling of diverse clients: HP, Dentsply, PrimeraTurf, Nestle, Porter Novelli, Johnsonville Sausage, AstraZeneca.

She is currently working on a new business start up that will bring de Bono's tools to schools throughout the United States.

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