Innovation through Adaptation

Lego adapts its product strategy with Hollywood themes and shifts the workforce culture, meeting with market success. There is a line of thought that theme-based toys will curtail the creativity of children by imposing Hollywood's definition of play. But even kids adapt their strategies. From observations of my kids and their friends, Lego sets are mashed up and integrated in new ways that their creators have not imagined. ...

... "Even toy analysts who admire the company and its recent success acknowledge a broad shift. I would like to see more open-ended play like when we were kids, says Gerrick Johnson, a toy analyst ... " ...

Via New York Times: Hollywood Tie-Ins for Lego

Embrace Toyota Kaizen

Here's a set of leadership principles that contribute to the success of the Toyota production system. These can translate well into the field of project management. ...

... "Advancing your team member's careers by walking along side them on their learning journey, mentoring them and keeping them from wavering on the path of the creative thinking process is also a leadership habit kaizen develops. " ...

Via Manufacturer.com: Kaizen Leadership Development

Personal Innovation Preserves Creativity

Creative Thinking

Reverse Project

Reverse Graffiti Project: "San Francisco's Broadway tunnel walls are caked with dirt, soot, and paint covered graffiti. It set the perfect canvas to create a beautiful work of art ... "

IBM Researches Green Computing Methods

Creative approach to cpu cooling is being explored by IBM researchers. ...

... "Michel see advantages in running them at the current level of 200F. He thinks of the chips as little furnaces from which heat can be removed and reused - by piping it off-site to warm houses or businesses. " ...

Via Business Week: Chilling Biochemistry

Creativity Ideas

100 ideas to spur your creativity ...

... "25. Take regular daydreaming breaks.

26. Dissolve turf boundaries.

27. Initiate cross-functional brainstorming sessions. " ...

Via The Heart of Innovation: Be More Creative

Mindset then Tools

Good advice for influencing innovation in your enterprise. Do more of this to innovate: experiment, invest resources, create burning platforms, and understand your customers' problems. ...

... "Do not train your employees on creativity techniques or bring in innovation software until you have addressed your underlying cultural issues (the mindset). " ...

Via Steve Shapiro: Innovation Mindset, Not Tools

Problem Solving: See the Obvious with Questions

Creative thinker, Roger von Oech, challenges us with how we question ourselves as we approach a problem, so we do not miss the obvious. ... (1) Train yourself to document observations without jumping to conclusions. (2) Ask why's to drive to the root of the problem - problems aren't always well expressed - often solutions and / or desires are expressed. (3) Circle the problem and describe its impacts from multiple perspectives. What other approaches come to mind? ...

... "When you're in a situation (especially problem-solving, concept-developing), what questions do you ask that help you grasp the obvious aspects of that situation? " ...

Via Creative Think: How Do You See the Obvious?

Innovation Ideas for Project Managers

Looking to increase innovative thinking when developing solutions for your project's customers?

I discovered an interesting organization called SolutionPeople. For one, they offer something called AcceleratedInnovation Training, which focuses on using advanced innovation techniques to get to the bottom of "real goals, challenges or problems."

But the real find is an offsite innovation facility in Chicago called The Thinkubator, which, in addition to the expected multi-media equipment, boasts such unusual thought-boosters as Karaoke machines, a rooftop sundeck, disco lighting, unique giant chair sculptures, and my personal favorite..... get this.... restroom themes inspired by Albert Einstein and John Travolta.

Yes, for those who do their best thinking in the bathroom, you too can be ------ wait a minute---- Albert Einstein and JohnTravolta??? I'm trying to get a vision in my head of this. Frizzy hair and a white suit comes to mind.

In all seriousness, there's something to be said for creating an environment that fosters creative thinking. Here's a writeup in Training Magazine on what Thinkubator founder and president Gerald Haman calls "the four Ps of innovative environments (in PDF format).

Hey, maybe they should start a franchise. Apparently they already have a few Thinkubator locations and created "innovation centers" for companies such as Capital One and Lucent. Maybe a specialty facility for project managers is in order. PMThinkubator, anyone?

Sustaining Innovation: Growth Through Creativity ...

Creativity fuels the innovation engine. How can we increase creativity to accelerate innovation? What are leadership principles necessary to drive growth through the creative organization? Here are some great insights ... Marc Babej provides excellent summary of Peter Georgescu, Young & Rubicam, on sustainable innovation from the Fortune Innovation Forum. Peter emphasizes three points on innovation: Embrace creativity, emphasize human values, and support active involvement in investing in future generations through education. Creativity is seen as a core enterprise competency that requires a special type of leadership to cultivate and sustain. ...

Via Being Reasonable: Peter Georgescu on Sustaining Innovation ...

... "First, embrace creativity as the most vital enterprise resource. The only leverageable asset on a company's balance sheet. Creativity is the cure for lack of differentiation, and in turn it begets profits. It's an inexhasutible resource, but also fragile. Creative output requires a new type of leader, one who refuses to manipulate or manage through fear. " ...

David Tanner, Tanner & Associates, Inc., discusses harnessing and increasing the creative capability in a research and development environment. These techniques should apply to most innovation scenarios. ...

Via Winston Brill: Creativity and Innovation in R&D ...

... "It's vital to set aside quality time specifically for people to learn the techniques of creative thinking. This first step satisfies an essential criterion for cultural shift - that is, it gives status to the effort. What resources can you use to focus on this subject? In-house seminars, books and articles on creativity, and outside creativity experts. " ...

Ben Simonton expands on the leadership techniques necessary to increasing the enterprise creativity competency ...

Via Corante: What Drives Innovation?. IdeaFlow: Discussion about innovation and creativity -- new products, strategy, open innovation, commercialization of technologies, patents, idea generation, customer input in the NPD process, more.

... "The brain controls creativity, innovation, productivity, motivation and commitment. I will attempt to explain a superior leadership strategy which turns on brains to the maximum extent and thus greatly enhances innovation. ... A superior leadership strategy inspires people to do more, dream more and learn more. We all know that people are our most important asset and that the best ones are self-motivated self-starters. Unfortunately, only 5% or so are naturally that way. A superior leadership strategy is capable of making the vast majority of employees self-motivated self-starters who are highly committed and highly productive, up to 300% more so than if poorly motivated. So what is this strategy? " ...

Hit Project Barriers: Think Productively Like Genius

Hit Project Barriers: Think Productively Like Genius: Via Creativity Portal: Leonardo da Vinci: Qualities of a Genius and How to Think Productively

Runel Soria provides insights on creative thinking emulating the genius mind. Helpful tips for project managers when project teams hit the wall and need creative solutions to problems ...

... "eight strategies encourage you to think productively, rather than reproductively, in order to arrive at solutions to problems. These strategies are common to the thinking styles of creative geniuses in science, art, and industry throughout history. " ...