Sorry about the lack of blog posts lately.  I've been burning the candle at both ends the past couple of weeks working with a new client, trying to land a couple more, serving as the eMarketing chair for the 2009 PDMA International Conference, working on the book that isn't a book, getting ready for a much needed ski vacation to Winter Park in 29 days, 16 hours, 26 minutes and 23 seconds (not that I am counting of course!), cheering on my daughter in her 8th grade basketball games/tournaments, dreaming of fishing season and trying to keep up with my LinkedIn group, Twittering and reading my favorite blogs.  Whew...

Honestly, I've been a bit burned out lately.  The blog topics, rants and inspiration has been pretty thin.  That was until I was walking through my Wal-Mart today and saw a product called the Scoop and Fill for filling bird feeders.  Essentially, it works like any scoop.  It has a large mouth, perfect for scooping up black oil sunflower for my bird feeders.  Yet, some of my bird feeders have a small little opening to refill them and going from a large scoop to a small opening yields spilled seed.  Well, this neat device has a hollow handle, allowing the seed, when triggered by a sliding door, to flow from the scoop portion, through the small handle end, and into small bird feeder openings.  Genius!

Have you ever seen a product and thought to yourself, "Hey, I thought of that two years ago!"  Or see something that makes you stop and think, "If only I had thought of that!"  Sure, we all have.  The end result of great ideas are everywhere you look.  What would have happened if you approached your management with that great idea.  Would it have been gladly received...or rudely ignored.  Would it have been supported, funded and marketed or tabled and killed by committee?  Would you have even offered up your idea in the first place?  Most people don't you know...and I'll never understand why.

In my workshops, I always ask the audience who the number one killer of ideas is in the corporate world.  Ninety percent of the time they will say management.  They are then pretty stunned when I tell them that the idea generators themselves are the number one killer.  And indeed, it is a pretty sobering statistic.

Let's take a look at why most ideas are killed (intentional or otherwise):

• Decision makers about ideas either don't receive them or ignore them
• Ideas are "risk managed" to the point of losing their original intent
• Idea generators fear ridicule so they keep the idea to themselves
• Tall silos block ideas from other areas of the company
• The individuals who promote the most ideas are labeled as "boat rockers" or "renegades"
• Ideas are kept hidden by generators who fear it being stolen
• Ideas are thought of, but never written down or otherwise captured
• Corporate bureaucracy swallows up ideas, never to be seen again

Hopefully you are noticing a common, and repairable, theme here:  Culture Issues.  So what are the culture behaviors that support idea generators and the ideation process in general?

• Risk taking or at least risk tolerance
• Entrepreneurial spirit
• Rewards for supporting change
• Self-motivation and courage
• A well-defined common set of innovation goals
• Persistence
• Freedom to fail but fail fast
• Providing sufficient resources (financial and human)
• Encouragement
• Recognition
• Time to explore and think

Culture change comes from the top down and from the bottom up.  Support your innovation culture starting today!!!