Choosing the Best Ideas: Value Mapping

Aug 22 2010

Once you’ve brainstormed a long list of powerful new ideas, the challenge becomes choosing the best ones to pursue. We all know that great ideas without execution is about as productive as protesting the rules at the DMV.

One of my favorite techniques for idea selection is *Value Mapping*. In this case you are scoring each possible idea against a set of values that are important to you and your company instead of traditional factors such as feasibility, time to market, anticipated return-on-investment, and risk.

As an example, the board game maker Cranium created their own word: CHIFF. It is an acronym that stands for Clever, High-quality, Innovative, Friendly, and Fun. When they set out to evaluate ideas, a big deciding factor is how CHIFF the idea is. They use the CHIFF benchmark when hiring and evaluating team members, deciding on which markets to enter, and how to market their products. They are using the benchmark of who they are to guide decision-making.

Vigrin Group, the parent company of Virgin Records, Virgin Airways, and now Virgin Galactic (space travel) is willing to consider entering just about any new business as long as it meets their values criteria. To be considered, a concept must:

• Challenge existing rules
• Provide a better consumer experience
• Be more fun
• “Put a thumb in the eye of the complacent incumbents”

Rather than using a numerical score, they let their values dictate their actions. To Virgin, the spreadsheet matters less than the opportunity to “stick it to the man.” Virgin stands for something. You may not like or agree with their brand, but they are certainly remarkable. They are irreverent and edgy, funny and clever, youthful and energetic.

While the company’s product offerings span several industries, their overall brand and attitude are totally consistent. They realize their overall shareholder value is based on the growth and consistency of their brand and their values.

This week, give Value Mapping a shot. See which new ideas map best to your company’s big-picture values and goals. Let your purpose and values serve as the deciding factor instead of some overly complicated spreadsheet. Sometimes, you simply need to let your passion and vision override the bean counters. And by the way, doing so can be incredibly liberating!

Zapping vs. Sapping

Aug 16 2010

There are two types of people in the world – Zappers and Sappers. When you are with a Zapper, you feel energized. You become engaged, you lean forward, you feel stimulated. This enhanced state is ideal for creative expression.

On the other hand, there are the Sappers. These are the folks that drain your energy. You could have just gulped six shots of espresso and four Red Bulls, yet you want to fall asleep after speaking with them for five minutes.

The thing is, we all have both types inside of us, and we have a choice as to how we impact others. In meetings and brainstorm sessions, what do you do? Do you Zap your colleagues with energy and inspiration, or do you Sap them dry of their creativity and motivation? With an increased sense of awareness and empathy, it’s up to you. You get to decide if you want to be a Zapper or Sapper.

In their book, Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment, Authors William Byham and Jeff Cox talk about the impact of Zapping in the workforce. The results? Improved productivity, quality, and employee satisfaction.

In the same way you are used to managing the clock or managing a budget, you should think about managing energy… especially in creative brainstorming sessions. The collective energy of the room can build into a frenzy, unleashing brilliant ideas while having a great time. Or it can devolve into yet another boring, BlackBerry-checking, clock-watching, drone session.

Do everything you can to keep the energy up. High-fives, cheers, and positive vibes for all. Don’t allow negativity and energy-draining commentary to suck the life out of the room while sucking the life of your creativity. Energy is the raw material of creativity. Engender it, and the creativity of your team will soar. Extinguish it, and you’ll end up with yet another set of watered down, group-think, same-old-same-old, not-so-exciting ideas.

This week, make a conscious effort to Zap everyone you come in contact with. Instead of random acts of kindness, try random acts of Zapping. Energize those around you, and you’ll end up energizing the creativity and imagination of your team. That energy will build momentum and help you achieve the results you seek.

Ready….set…. Zap!

Imaginary Barriers

Aug 09 2010

Think of all the stories we tell ourselves that hold us back. “I’m too old”, “I didn’t go the right school”, “I’m too short”, “I’m not good-looking enough”, “I can’t take the risk”, “I don’t have the right connections”, “I’m not creative”.

We all have fears and doubts. Even Ghandi. Even Steve Jobs. Even Barack Obama. One of the key differences between those that do extraordinary things and those that don’t is the courage to move ahead even in the face of adversity. They have the same imaginary limits that we all do. The difference is that they recognize these fallacies for what they are – imaginary demons that can be confronted and conquered.

“That’s all good, but I didn’t go to Harvard”, you might say. Well neither did Joseph Hudicka . Not only hasn’t he gotten into the “right” college, he hasn’t even made it to middle school yet. That’s because Joseph turned eight years old in January, and is already a high-tech businessman. Dubbed “The Little Entrepreneur”, Joseph created a new video game (a fusion between checkers and hockey) called Puckz. With a little help from his parents, he built an iPhone and iPad version and now sells his game in Apple’s AppStore.

What is Joseph talked himself out of going for it due to his age or his inexperience as an entrepreneur? What if he “played it safe” and just focused on baseball and French fries like most other 3rd graders? Come to think of it, what if Thomas Edison held his ideas back? Or Picasso? Or Martin Luther King?

Thinking of your own situation what do you do with your creative ideas? We all have dozens of ideas each day, but most of us hold them inside – too afraid to look foolish or make a mistake. This is a tragedy because creative expression is a talent we all have, and one of the most rewarding aspects of life. Letting your ideas and imagination out is your way to leave your fingerprints on the world. To make a difference. To create something larger than yourself.

This week, try to keep an eye out for your imaginary barriers. Those twitches of self-doubt that get in the way of your progress and your ideas. Look those ugly monsters right in their yellow eyes and don’t back down. Your courage will make them evaporate, and you can get on with changing the world. Joseph Hudicka did it at eight. What are you waiting for?

Are Schools Killing Creativity?

Aug 02 2010

My daughter, Chloe, recently had an unfortunately all-too-common experience in school. Chloe’s 4th grade art teacher asked the students in her class to draw a bear. Chloe went to work and came up with a cool purple, odd-shaped bear. She walked proudly to the teacher and handed over her work, anticipating great praise and admiration. Instead, the teacher said, “That’s not what bears look like. Bears aren’t that color. Go re-do the project.”

In that instant, a little piece of Chloe’s creativity was extinguished. And unfortunately, experiences just like this happen thousands of times each day throughout America.

Bears aren’t that shape? Bears aren’t that color? Ever hear of an Ugly Doll?

Ugly Dolls are an enormously popular toy (www.UglyDolls.com). These stuffed animals are odd shapes and colors, just like you and me. The company is a breakaway entrepreneurial success, and is one of the hottest toys in the world. They won the 2007 Toy of the Year Award, and when Sasha Obama went to her first day of school in Washington DC, she clutched tightly to the security of her ugly doll.

Bears aren’t that shape? Bears aren’t that color? What Chloe was being taught in school is the exact opposite of what creates success in the real world. A stuffed animal company making boring, normal, plain brown bears would draw very little buzz and likely would end up competing on price alone. What generates success outside of grade-schools is being unique, different, and remarkable. We are taught one thing – how to fit in, follow instructions, do what your told, don’t make waves – yet the most success comes from doing exactly the opposite.

According to Sir Ken Robinson, best-selling author of Out of Our Minds, and an expert in creativity education, “We don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it.” Schools were developed back in the Industrial Age, when obedience and rule-following were considered highly important. The problem is that our school systems have not adapted for the times.

To thrive in the future of business (and life), confronting the status quo and breaking free from conventional wisdom is a requirement rather than a luxury. Those that wait to be told what to do by some authority figure will come up short-handed, while those that invent and create and imagine will rule the day.

This week, think about your standard operating procedures, and see if you can come up with your own “Ugly Doll” version. Craft a brand new reality, rather than abiding by the rules of the past. Break free from traditional thinking, and unleash your true creative potential. What are you waiting for?

The Age of Creativity in Action

Jul 26 2010

Shadan Malik is an Age of Creativity entrepreneur. His company, iDashboards , provides exactly the type of value people seek today – aesthetics and insight as opposed to raw data. Shadan started out as a game developer, and also has a deep engineering background. He realized the businesses trend around a concept called Balanced Scorecards, which is basically a method to track business performance through the use of Key Performance Indicators.

His “a-ha” moment was connecting the bland world of Balanced Scorecards with the engaging world of interactive Flash games. The iDashboards software is a tool for companies that makes their raw data come to life. It provides a beautiful, interactive, fun way to view and gain insight from boring raw data. The software makes data come alive as a cool, digital dashboard with colorful views and interactive gauges allowing a business leader to understand what’s going on in real-time, the same way a pilot views her own dashboard to make decisions on flying her plane.

Shadan is an example of the Age of Creativity on many levels. First of all, he used creativity and art as the premise for his business. He combined two previous experiences (engineering and game design) into a fresh, new concept. Second, iDashboards isn’t from Oracle or SAP or IBM. Since there are low barriers to entry, entrepreneurs like Shadan can launch businesses with very little investment and without being the deeply entrenched incumbent. He created a brand new competitive advantage and quickly attracted customers on the value of his idea, not his stock price. And since his costs are low and his business model is unique, it is very difficult for the big boys to compete without radically changing (and cannibalizing) their own model.

In less than three years of operation, iDashboards is a multimillion dollar success servicing hundreds of clients worldwide. They’ve created high-paying, creative-class jobs as well as an empowered culture and fun place to work. The Shadan Malik’s of the world are here, and represent the future. Your choice is to embrace this new line of thinking, or risk the toll these brilliant new idea-makers will take on your business and your career.

In the same way that a new set of rules emerged in the transition points of previous eras, the Age of Creativity contains a new set of competitive advantages. To win in the Age of Creativity, you’ll need:

• Original thought as opposed to following a rule book
• Imagination and curiosity
• To constantly challenge the status quo
• Creativity at all levels of your organization
• The ability to deal with ambiguity
• Speed, which trumps perfection
• To consider aesthetics and design, which matter more than ever
• Creative problem-solving techniques
• Empowered teams that have a system to manage and nurture their creativity capacity

The Age of Creativity is upon us, and once again – we’ll need to either adapt or suffer the consequences. Imagination, original thought, and creativity are now the raw materials of our generation. How we grow and manage these resources will determine our success or failure.

The Creativity Gap

Jul 19 2010

The cover story of Newsweek (July 19, 2010) reports on the state of Creativity in America. The findings, unfortunately, point to the first measurable decline in our collective creative abilities in our country’s history. While we are still the beacon of imagination on the world stage, there is now a leak that could significantly damage our ability to maintain our standing in the global economy.

Why is our creativity declining? We’re taught in schools to guess what the teacher knows, there’s only one right answer, be obedient, and whatever you do… don’t make mistakes! Our kids sit in front of XBOX, television, and Facebook while placing their imagination on hold. Art, music, and theater classes have largely been cut from public school curriculum, as education continues to devalue right-brain, creative thinking.

The disconnect, however, is that Creativity is the most important leadership skill for the next generation of business. According to an IBM study of 1500 CEO’s (May 18, 2010), Creativity was ranked as the single most crucial factor for future success. So we have a situation where the demand for creativity in clearly on the rise, yet the supply is on the downturn. We are experiencing a large and increasing Creativity Gap.

Thankfully there is hope. According to a joint study between Harvard and Insead, it turns out that creativity is 85% a learned skill. That means that all of us, even on our groggy days, have 85% the creative potential as Mozart or Picasso or Da Vinci. We simply need a process to tap into this valuable natural resource.

Creativity is like a muscle- we all have the capacity to build muscle mass if we exercise. If we fail to do so, our muscles atrophy. The same is true with creativity. By embracing and exercising our creativity muscles, we unleash a wellspring of insight. This innovation will drive success in both your company and your career. For dozens of exercises, links, resources, and best practices, click here

It’s time to make creativity a national priority and close the creativity gap. It’s time to encourage risk taking and innovation over cost-cutting and obedience. It’s time to embrace our imagination and build our creativity muscles to their full potential. It’s time to celebrate new ideas and original thought in order to drive breakthrough results. Simply put, it’s time to let our creativity come out to play.

What's Your Color?

Jul 12 2010

If you wanted to start a groundbreaking business in 1981 where you could express your creativity and beat your competitors, I bet you wouldn’t have chosen the nail polish industry. At the time, it was a mature industry with deeply entrenched leaders such as Maybelline and Max Factor. Going head-to-head with these giants who were well capitalized, enjoyed extensive distribution, and owned highly-recognizable consumer brand names would be a crazier bet than taking your life savings to the track.

George Schaeffer, however, had a different idea. He believed that creativity could differentiate his new company even in the highly competitive world of cosmetics. He launched his new company, OPI, and he’s been beating the odds ever since.

George used curiosity to question the status quo. He realized that other nail products were sold at drug stores and department chains, so he sold his products only through salons. He also used the Magic Three Questions (why? What if? and Why Not?) around the names of his nail polish colors. WHY do the names of colors have to be boring? WHAT IF we developed names that were fun, romantic, and mysterious instead of boring? None of the competitors sell adventure and intrigue, WHY NOT?

Today, OPI is one of the hottest and most successful nail polish manufacturers in the world. Their various collections represent exotic and romantic places around the world such as the Mexico Collection or the South Beach Collection. Instead of the boring names used by competitors such as “bright pink” or “dark red”, OPI’s names are a riot. Here are a few of my favorites:

• I’m not really a waitress
• We’ll always have Paris
• Lincoln Park after dark
• Your cabana or mine?
• Yes, I can-can
• Your royal shy-ness
• Keys to my Karma
• Sand in my suit
• My private jet
• Text me? Text You!

By questioning conventional wisdom and challenging the status quo, OPI went on to become a tremendous success. Their original sparks of curiosity led to a new approach to distribution and product names. Their fresh approach broke through a mature, commodity business and led to great results. If they can create groundbreaking change in the nail polish industry, just think what you can do you your industry.

EXERCISE: You and your team have just been hired as Creative Directors at OPI. Your job is to invent new names for various OPI colors. Take five minutes and brainstorm a list of new names for nail polish. Make sure the names are fun, suggestive, mysterious, adventuresome, sexy, and/or alluring. Post your best names as a comment to this blog. Let’s show our goods here as part of the Creativity Generation!

Rocket Science, Brain Surgery and… Art?

Jul 05 2010

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do that!” the common phrase goes. “C’mon man, this isn’t brain surgery after all.”

I started wondering why these two disciplines – rocket science and brain surgery – are so highly regarded. They both involve tremendous precision, years of study, mathematical calculations, complex directions, excessive memorization, and level-headedness under intense pressure. In other words, it’s like the Left-Brain Olympics. The X-Games of Logical, analytical, linear thinking.

Why don’t we attribute the same statue to creative, Right-Brain practices? You don’t hear people saying, “You don’t have to be a film producer to do that!” or “C’mon man, this isn’t haiku composition after all”.

Is it more difficult and challenging to do repetitive, linear tasks? Should these be valued more in society than abstract, non-linear, imaginative disciplines? Personally, I think we have it backwards. Steve Jobs had the imagination and creativity to dream up the iPod, which was a much more significant accomplishment than merely engineering the circuit board. Edison invented the light bulb, a breakthrough of much more impact than the accountants who tally the corresponding profits.

Certainly we need brain surgery, rocket science, mechanical engineering, and actuaries. But let’s stop devaluing the incredible impact produced by inventors, artists, musicians, dancers, photographers, poets, and other “creative types”. Who is to say that rocket science is more difficult than jazz improvisation? Who is to say that brain surgery is more difficult and challenging than writing a brilliant movie script? Who is to say that supply-chain engineering is more difficult than composing a beautiful symphony?

All progress – in business, society, family, and life – requires both aspects of human intelligence. The duality of linear, analytical, computational thinking and abstract, non-linear, imaginative thought. It’s time to celebrate creativity on the same level as detailed memorization. It’s time to raise innovation and original thought to the same stature as precision and computation.

So the next time someone says, “This isn’t rocket science, you know” you should reply, “Yeah. It isn’t painting a masterpiece with oil on canvas either!”