Recently I’ve been able to talk to Jane Stevenson and Bilal Kaafarani about their new book Breaking Away. It’s a fantastic book about how great leaders create innovation, and it’s filled with tips on how your business can be more innovative without breaking the bank. What follows are some questions that can help your business be more innovative and learn from all the research Jane and Bilaal did for this book.

Phil: Let’s start by defining innovation. What is it – and why do so many get it wrong?

Jane & Bilal: Innovation is a term that is often used, but seldom understood.  That’s because the word has a mystical quality that infers something new or magical, but isn’t clearly defined.  Often when people talk about innovation they are each referring to different things and don’t even realize it.  Thus the confusion.  Since  everyone talks about innovation and agrees it is needed, wouldn’t it be powerful if we all used a common definition and could actually communicate about it with mutual understanding?

In the research for “Breaking Away”, we met initially with 50 top executives, asking each to define innovation, before we came to our first duplicate definition on the 51st interview.  That was proof to us that having a common language around innovation was clearly needed.  In looking at innovation down through the ages, we found that there were three common ingredients to almost any innovation.  These three form a litmus test that defines innovation as something that is 1) unique, 2) of value, and 3) worthy of exchange.  We’ve found widespread acceptance for this definition.  What do you and your readers think?   

Phil: You reference 4 levels of innovation (transformational, marketplace, category and operational). Which one can help a small business grow the most? The fastest?

Jane & Bilal: Of the four types of innovation, Category innovation can help a small business grow the fastest, and probably the most dramatically (within a reasonable time frame).  The reason for this is that Category innovations create whole new sectors with major upside and new markets to serve.  They are often breakthrough in nature, and yet are proven enough to realistically provide growth within a couple year time frame.

Transformational innovation, potentially provides the biggest upside, but often takes well over a decade to achieve social adoption.  This makes it so risky and long term in orientation that it can kick in after a small company’s window of business opportunity may already have closed.

Marketplace is another situation altogether.  With Marketplace Innovation, the opportunity is quick to deliver to market, but it is typically highly competitive, and less sustainable.  This is because it is based on new features and benefits rather than whole new categories or markets to develop.

Operational will help a small company operate cheaper, faster or better, but it is unlikely to generate significant new revenue.  The opposite of Category innovation, Operational innovation generally benefits the bottom line more than the top line.

Phil:      Your book says that “What if?” has been at the center of innovation for centuries. Please explain this.

Jane & Bilal: The question “What if?” is the curiosity factor that ultimately generates innovation.  What if, is the precursor to discovery, and discovery is the precursor to innovation.   If it is a science based company, the discovery process begins by saying “What if this were possible?” or “What if we tried X, would Y then be possible?”.  If it is a financial services company, a telecommunications company or an IT company the question might be, “What if people could deposit funds using their mobile phone?”  Or “what if we could send funds to a relative by phone?”  The “What if?” factor is essential to generating the discovery phase of innovation.

Phil: Quoting Breaking Away: “Customer feedback is an important component for innovation.” If this is true, why do so many companies (Apple as an example) either not ask for this feedback or outright ignore the feedback from their customers?

Jane & Bilal: Customer feedback is important for innovation because it can serve as a guide to future discovery and opportunity development.  People often don’t utilize customer feedback because they are a solution looking for a problem.  If they have to find a problem that fits their solution, then they are already locked in to a particular conversation that may or may not intersect with customers.

You mention Apple as an example.  Many of Apple’s biggest innovations have been things that customers would not have directly asked for, because they didn’t know the offering was even a possibility.  This should not for a minute suggest that Apple is not getting feedback from its customers.  They have studied their customers so well, that they understand from customer feedback, what they would want, if they knew it was possible.  The best companies are those that study their customers so closely and cleverly that they understand desires even before the customer knows him or herself.

Phil:  Another important concept in your book is the idea of trade-offs and how it relates to risk. Please briefly explain this idea.

Jane & Bilal: Risk is an essential part of innovation.  Bilal always says that “risk is innovation’s middle name”.  The question is, how much risk is there and how much upside is the trade-off for that risk?  If the upside is significant, than you can afford to take more risk.  By contrast, if the upside is minimal, then the risk should be contained also.

Phil: Is innovation more important in a down economy or an up economy, and why?

Jane & Bilal: The answer is both.  In a down economy, innovation is important to help restart the engine of growth.  In an up economy, innovation is an imperative to keeping the economy strong.

Phil: What did I miss that you would you like to make sure my readers know?

Jane & Bilal: One of the unique things we share in “Breaking Away” is how to identify not only the four levels of innovation, but also the needed leadership profile and what type of cultural environment is essential for success with each.  This is why “Breaking Away’ is truly a breakthrough book.  It lays out the world’s first innovation framework, and then additionally provides a roadmap to the leadership selections and cultural fit that will enhance the odds for success.  Innovation should be managed similarly to an investment portfolio.  You need different levels of risk, different levels of reward and different types of people to maximize the innovation outcomes.

For more information about Breaking Away, the best way is either www.breakingawaythebook.com, or www.winningjaguar.com.  Both are chock full of information about Jane & Bilal and about innovation for  the 21st century.

NOTE from Phil: What follows is a guest post from Stephen Smith about Creativity at Work, something I think we can all use a little more of.

A common complaint I hear from a lot of people is they don’t get to express their Creativity at work. Some cite being too busy, too confined or are just too afraid that they simply aren’t Creative with a capital-C. I am not on board with that.

With a little training and practice anyone can find the time and motivation to add some Creativity into their Work.

To get you started, here are five things I do to get the juices flowing and make something fun happen:

1. Morning Pages – Julia Cameron describes this practice in The Artist’s Way, an amazing resource for spurring your creativity and enhancing your life:

Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages they are not high art. They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind and they are for your eyes only. Occasionally colorful, more often than not Morning Pages are negative, fragmented, repetitive or bland. Good! Worrying about your job, the laundry, the weird look your friend gave you all that stuff distracts you from your creativity. It eddies through your subconsciousness and muddies your day. Get it on the page first thing in the morning and move on with your day with a freer spirit.

2. Exercise – Since I recently quit my job – where I spent a good deal of the time walking and moving rapidly – I am concerned about putting on some extra pounds. I have started doing some basic exercises in the morning, then going for a short run. It is a great way to clear my mind and stay healthy. When I am done I feel invigorated and ready to get started with my day.

3. Steal Ideas from Other People – Read and look at what other people in your field are doing, selling, publishing. Is there something out there that you can learn from? Of course there is. Now don’t just copy them, take the ideas that inspire and make them your own.

4. Make Some Tea – When you start to get the mid-afternoon blahs, take a break. Brew up some tea (or make a cup of coffee or get a soda, you know what I mean) and take a few minutes to relax and get away from your desk. Don’t think about your work, your to-do list, just clear your mind and breathe. I find that when I get back to my desk after a little break I am ready with at least one new thought that advances what I am working on.

5. Get Outside of Your Comfort Zone – At least once a week I pick up a magazine or read some blog posts that are completely different than the topics that normally catch my eye. Since I am into Tech, Fishing, and Cooking, I will read about Movies or Crafts, sometimes Cars to get myself out of the box. I am frequently able to get ideas for blog posts this way, and I was even able help a client with an unusual problem thanks to the unusual inspiration. Is it serendipity, or just forcing myself to use more of my brain? Who knows, but I do know it works.

I am sure that there are plenty of other Creativity-boosters, why not share some of your tactics in the Comments?

Here’s to getting creative!

Stephen P Smith is the Editor of Work.Life.Creativity, an online forum and community where people share tips and advice for putting more Creativity into their Life and Work. Stephen has been a restaurant manager, car salesman, and freelance marketing consultant teaching Social Media Literacy for Small Business. You can follow him on Twitter at @hdbbstephen and add him to your Google+ Circles via gplus.stephenpsmith.com

NOTE from Phil: What follows is an overview of a new, innovative book called Personality Poker by Stephen Shapiro. If you read all the way to the bottom, you’ll learn how you can win 1 of 2 copies of this book.

Everyone wants to learn about their personality style. But most people don’t like taking boring written quizzes and assessment.

Enter “Personality Poker” – the fun and interactive way to learn about your personality.

Personality Poker is played with a specially designed deck of cards. They look like regular poker cards except they also have words printed across the faces. The words are personality descriptors like organized, analytical, empathetic and creative.

For those who know poker, Personality Poker is played like 5 card draw. Participants receive 5 random cards and swap/trade cards until they get a hand with words that best describe their personality. Based on the suits, the colors, and numbers that they end up with, the player will learn everything about their personality.

The suits represent the four main styles:

· Spades. These are the analytical, data-oriented people.

· Diamonds. These are the stereotypical “creative” individuals. They like ideas and experiences.

· Clubs. These are the people who “plan the work and work the plan.” They’re more about structure and action. Bottom-line results are critical.

· Hearts. These people are all about relationships. They make decisions based on what others think and are more empathetic and supportive.

The numbers represent the “energy styles” and provide deeper insights into the personalities.

· The 2, 3 and 4 cards represent the unproductive behaviors associated with each style. For example, being “organized” is great, but being “anal retentive” may be less desirable.

· The 5 – 9 cards represent the “introverted” styles. Although these individuals may prefer more solitary work, taken more broadly, introversion also includes a tendency to be more easily overwhelmed by stimuli that are deemed too intense. They prefer predictability and a low likelihood of risk.

· The 10 – A cards represent the “extroverted” styles. They thrive on higher energy activities. Although they may not be as good at focusing on single tasks, they get energy from action rather than reflection and are known for their ability to motivate others to get things done.

The last dimension of Personality Poker is reflected by the colors that symbolize the two primary “thinking styles.”

· Rational/Analytical. The black cards (spades/clubs) are more rational and are the ones who put the “no” in innovation. Knowledge and expertise are a cornerstone of their thinking style.

· Relational/Creative. The red cards (diamonds/hearts) are more relational and are the ones who put the “fun” in dysfunctional. While employees enjoy their leadership style, the business could end up in the “red” if someone with red cards is in charge as they are not as organized or focused on the bottom line.

What is particularly fun is to “gift” cards to others. That is, find cards that describe people you work with and give them those cards. It is an interesting insight to see if you see yourself differently than others see you.

Although Personality Poker was primarily developed as a tool for driving innovation in corporations, people enjoy finding out about themselves in a fun and interactive way. You may never look at yourself – or your co-workers – the same way!

Contest: I have 2 copies of this fun book to give away. Leave an insightful comment about why you want to win the book, and I’ll draw 2 random winners on Thursday at 5 PM and post the winners Friday morning. If you want to check out the first chapter of this book free of charge, visit http://personalitypokerbook.com and sign up to view it, then come back and enter.

I am an unapologetic fan of Seth Godin. I have read every one of his books and ebooks, his was the first blog I ever read (on accident), read almost every one of his blog posts, own his CD set, and have even gotten to talk to Seth on the phone for an interview for one of his books. His books are great, and have helped me think about many things in the world differently.  And though I don’t agree with Seth on EVERYTHING, I do enjoy his work and appreciate the fact he writes on his blog every day.

The video above is like a "best of" Seth Godin. He talks about why his books did so well, and they are all things YOU could do. It’s little over 30 minutes long, and is worth every second you spend watching it.

My take on this video: Don’t do things exactly how Seth does them. Instead, take his ideas and put them to work on YOUR ideas.

If you’re reading via RSS or e-mail, you may need to click here to watch the video.

Questions for you:

What’s your favorite Seth Godin book or idea?

How can you put your favorite idea into action in YOUR business and in YOUR life?

Last week I spent 5 amazing days with 1900 other IT service and support professionals at the 2009 HDI Annual Conference. I learned a TON of new things that I plan to share with you over the next few days and weeks. For now, I thought I’d share why I attend conferences like this, and why if you don’t, you should attend them to too.

1. Networking – If you’re looking to meet folks who can help you answer questions about your industry, there’s no better place to do so than a conference. Get there early, make a plan for who you want to connect and reconnect with, learn and remember new folks’ names, and don’t be afraid to skip a session or two if you get involved in an in-depth conversation.
2. Inspiration and Recharging Your Batteries - Almost every conference has keynote sessions meant to inspire you to perform at a higher level or think about things differently. This is one of my favorite parts of the conferences I attend, because it gets me moving in the right direction.
3. Knowledge Gathering - Most conferences have breakout sessions presented and facilitated by experts in their industry. You can learn a LOT from them if you take time to listen to the speaker AND listen to the folks who ask questions, especially if they ask questions you have or questions you have the answer to. Don’t be afraid to go up to someone who asked a question or who needs your help and ask them if you can speak to them a little more.
4. More Knowledge Gathering – If there were no sponsors, there would be no conferences. Most conferences offer time to interact with the sponsors, to ask them questions to learn from them, and to gather a little more information so you can learn more about them, all in a safe, low-pressure environment.
5. Knowledge sharing – At the HDI confernece, I had 1 breakout session, 1 panel I facilitated, 1 brain bite first thing in the morning and 1 30 minute presentation/facilitation about creating your elevator pitch for your organization, so my knowledge sharing was very formal. Sometimes my knowledge sharing is more informal, as I try to ask questions and add insights where I feel I can add value. I love to share, and it’s one of my favorite parts of a conference.

While the HDI Conference was for my day job, I also enjoy attending events for the job I do with the rest of my time and energy. May 1/2/3, I’ll be attending SOBCon09, Business School for Bloggers, to learn a lot more about how to run my online speaking/writing/coaching/branding business.  If you’re going to be there, I hope you’ll seek me out so we can learn from each other and potentially collaborate on something new and exciting.

I’m curious…what am I missing about conferences?

What should I be doing in addition to what I already am doing? What do YOU get out of your favorite conferences? Do you have other conferences I should be attending?

Recently I had the good fortune to spend 40 minutes with Dan Roam, author of the great new book The Back of the Napkin. It’s quickly become one of my favorite books, for it changed the way I think about problem solving and helped me look at things in a new way.

GOOD NEWS: You do NOT need to be an artist to use Dan’s great style of problem solving.

MORE GOOD NEWS: If you read on, you’ll find out how YOU can win a copy of this wonderful book!

Go to http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/ for all the stuff that’s been written about Dan, including cool videos, other audio interviews, and a few of the methods we talk about in this podcast.

For all my deaf and hard of hearing friends, I hope to have this transcribed soon so you can learn from Dan as well.

Enjoy Phil Gerbyshak Meets the Back of the Napkin. It’s about 40 minutes long. When I get it transcribed, I’ll post the raw MP3 file so you can download it for later. For now, head over to http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/ to learn a few of Dan’s tips and tricks!

Win a copy of The Back of the Napkin Contest

Share your best way to solve a problem in the comments below, and I’ll pick someone at random Thursday the 29th of May, 2008 and you can win an autographed copy of Dan’s book!

A few months back I got a wonderful e-mail inviting me to share my dream…with myself…in the future!

And as I unfortunately sometimes do, I lost the e-mail. But this vacation from the blog has my brain freed up. Yep, I said I wanted guest writers so I could take a blogging vacation, but I find myself writing MORE!

The name of the site is called Dreaminder, and it’s so simple, even I can figure it out. You put your dream in there, your name, your e-mail, when to remind you (you can pick multiple dates) and hit Remind me! It’s that simple. And if you like, you can even allow your dream to be published anonymously! VERY COOL!

Check out Dreaminder, and check out Ben Gwilliam‘s dreaming tree!

What’s your big dream? When will you accomplish it?

So I was checking out Kevin Carroll’s Katalyst blog today, and I came across a REALLY cool video. It’s called the Daily Monster, the artist is Stefan G. Bucher, and it’s truly amazing. The artist blows some ink on a page, and turns it into an amazing piece of art. I recommend you start with DAILY MONSTER 01 so you can see all of his amazing work, or start at the end at Weekly Monster 110.

I love the fact that while I have nowhere near as much artistic talent as Stefan, I can still appreciate his art for the amazingness of it, as the videos show me that he didn’t just start with something in mind and run with it, but he iteratively morphed his vision to fit uniquely into his style. VERY cool!

Click in to watch a Bonus Monster from Stefan, or go check out the Daily Monster today, and appreciate the greatness of Stefan G. Bucker, and think about what YOU can do that would allow you to show the same level of passion and love as Stefan shows with his work.

After many years of talking on the phone, podcasting together, and sending MANY e-mails back and forth, we got to have lunch together.

Jodee is just as wonderful in person as she is in all other mediums. VERY awesome.

Jodee Bock makes it GREAT!

If you’d like to meet Jodee and me and Mike Sansone and Mitch Matthews and Pam Thomas and Dick Richards and Jane Greer and many others who I don’t know or who don’t blog yet!

You need to go to the Summit for Bigger Small Talk, June 27th and 28th in Fargo ND. It’s going to be amazing. Open space, open mic, and open minds. I can’t WAIT! Yes, there’s still time to sign up for this conference. If you’ve ever contributed to the conversation here, you need to go to the Summit for Bigger Small Talk.

Hope to see you soon, so I can share with the world that YOU make it great too! Just like all the amazing people I spent SOBCon with

Happy Friday Folks! Lots to learn this week, and this month. It’s almost May.

WOW!

5/12 of the way completed with 2007.

What do you have left to do? Does it still matter? I’m going to take some time to re-evaluate my goals over the next week. I encourage you to do the same.

1. I learned from Lisa Haneberg that you can burn away the fog, that ov erhwlem is not real, ambiguity is stuff we think we should know but don’t know, and that flat and simple need to positively correlated. This is very helpful for where I am right now.
2. I learned 9 great tips for overcoming stage fright from Christine Kane. I haven’t had stage fright yet, but I imagine I might at some point, and I think it ‘s best to have some ammunition to combat it.
3. Rick Cockrum reminded me that multi-tasking does NOT make you more productive, in the Delusion of Multi-tasking. I need to remember this OFTEN, especially when I’m trying to quiet my mind chatter. Rick asks “Do I want to be busy, or do I want to be good?” I want to be GREAT, so I know I need to do this. Something is stopping me. I am working for clarity. Lisa Haneberg and I talked about the multi-tasking myth last July, and I have fallen out of my focused zone. I learned I need to re-focus to become great again!
4. I learned that leadership has become more concerned with soft skills instead of just hard skills, at least according to Jonathan Farrington. I agree with this, and I’m glad it’s changed from the way it used to be. I’ve learned that people are our most valuable asset, and without people, NOTHING gets done.
5. Last but not least, I learned that I can be more productive by taking a break. Thanks for permission to break Ben! I needed that.

And with that, I bid you adieu. I am off to Las Vegas to speak at the 2007 HDI Conference, and posting may be sporadic. I have 1 surprise for you while I’m gone, so stay tuned.

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