Some Pretty Smart Dead Guys...
"Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower" - Steve Jobs
"Logic will get you from A to B, Imagination will take you anywhere and everywhere" - Albert Einstein
One of my favorite "non-innovation" blogs is Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pam Slim. Pam inspires hundreds (maybe thousands) of people to free themselves from the illusions of safety and success in "corporate America" (present company included) and to gather up the courage to escape from the cubicle nation! (present company working very, very hard at it)
She has a great blog entry today titled, "Great Way to Start The New Year: Set Up A Personal Board of Directors" in the spirit of Jim Collins' "Good to Great" recommendation of the same concept. In fact, she shares a cool blogcast with Desiree Adaway who put the suggestion into practice and shared her results.
One of the things we do here at Think For A Change, LLC. is to have an Annual Corporate Board Meeting with our ficticious Board of Directors:
I block off 2 hours every New Year's Eve afternoon and role-play all of the roles through a formal meeting agenda. This year, Mr. Disney challenged the organization to abandon the idea of authoring a book and instead imagine/innovate a new way to share our expertise, experience, models, etc.. Mr. Fermi suggested that we add government contracting to our pool of potential clients and to jump through the necessary hoops to get registered as a Federal Government Contractor. Mssrs. Einstein and Edison would like to see Think For A Change, LLC. develop three new products/services in 2009 that will benefit our clients without substantial cost and/or commitment. Mr. Di Vinci wants to see a new innovation-related model designed and ready for release at the 2009 PDMA International Conference. I suggested the possibility of an Innovation Management Certification Program and associated curriculum, getting on a regional/national speaking tour, and keeping operating expenses level at 2008 amounts.
Have you ever role-played? No? Why not? No one has to know. You can do it in your head on the way into work...or while showering...or walking the dog...or cutting the grass/shoveling the snow. Of course, it does help to know something about the person you are role-playing. I have read and studied biographies of all the above-referenced gentlemen to better understand what they might think of my "company" and how we might work together to make it better.
Use the role playing technique when you are having a tough time solving a problem. "Ask" one of your ficticious friends how they might solve the problem. Think about your problem with their brain instead of yours. I think you'll be surprised with the results.
From my perspective...these "pretty smart dead guys" have taught me more than I ever learned in college and I owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude.
"Logic will get you from A to B, Imagination will take you anywhere and everywhere" - Albert Einstein
One of my favorite "non-innovation" blogs is Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pam Slim. Pam inspires hundreds (maybe thousands) of people to free themselves from the illusions of safety and success in "corporate America" (present company included) and to gather up the courage to escape from the cubicle nation! (present company working very, very hard at it)
She has a great blog entry today titled, "Great Way to Start The New Year: Set Up A Personal Board of Directors" in the spirit of Jim Collins' "Good to Great" recommendation of the same concept. In fact, she shares a cool blogcast with Desiree Adaway who put the suggestion into practice and shared her results.
One of the things we do here at Think For A Change, LLC. is to have an Annual Corporate Board Meeting with our ficticious Board of Directors:
- Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul R. Williams
- Vice Chairman and Chief Imagination Officer, Walt Disney
- Chief Problem Solving Officer, Enrico Fermi
- Chief Intelligence Officer, Albert Einstein
- Chief Prototyping/Experimentation Officer, Thomas Edison
- Chief Design Officer, Leonardo Di Vinci
I block off 2 hours every New Year's Eve afternoon and role-play all of the roles through a formal meeting agenda. This year, Mr. Disney challenged the organization to abandon the idea of authoring a book and instead imagine/innovate a new way to share our expertise, experience, models, etc.. Mr. Fermi suggested that we add government contracting to our pool of potential clients and to jump through the necessary hoops to get registered as a Federal Government Contractor. Mssrs. Einstein and Edison would like to see Think For A Change, LLC. develop three new products/services in 2009 that will benefit our clients without substantial cost and/or commitment. Mr. Di Vinci wants to see a new innovation-related model designed and ready for release at the 2009 PDMA International Conference. I suggested the possibility of an Innovation Management Certification Program and associated curriculum, getting on a regional/national speaking tour, and keeping operating expenses level at 2008 amounts.
Have you ever role-played? No? Why not? No one has to know. You can do it in your head on the way into work...or while showering...or walking the dog...or cutting the grass/shoveling the snow. Of course, it does help to know something about the person you are role-playing. I have read and studied biographies of all the above-referenced gentlemen to better understand what they might think of my "company" and how we might work together to make it better.
Use the role playing technique when you are having a tough time solving a problem. "Ask" one of your ficticious friends how they might solve the problem. Think about your problem with their brain instead of yours. I think you'll be surprised with the results.
From my perspective...these "pretty smart dead guys" have taught me more than I ever learned in college and I owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude.
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