“Don’t accept the status quo. Break it!” – Futurist Jim Carroll
Daily Inspiration: “Establishing a committee is a guaranteed prescription for innovation paralysis”
“Establishing a committee is a guaranteed prescription for innovation paralysis” – Jim Carroll
How many times does this happen – you have a great idea that you know will succeed – only to have it go to a committee, who proceed to destroy your idea?
As I dig into the culture and attitude of a client through interviews with the CEO and other team members, I’m always mystified to find that some organizations just seem to do everything they can to shut down new ideas. Committees are one of the worst sources of failed innovation.
It happens a lot as a speaker and innovation expert. I will often be contacted by someone in an organization who is convinced that they need my insight in order to move ahead. We have a great discussion, form an outline of how I will help them, and then they try to move it forward. It goes to a committee, gets bogged down, and eventually, they end up booking a motivational speaker!
A few years back, on stage, I went through a list of what goes wrong when it comes to innovation. Innovation failures:
- form a committee. An absolute sure fired way of shutting down ideas! The herd mentality takes over, and activity sclerosis soon sets in.
- defer decisions. It’s easier to wait than to make any bold, aggressive moves. Uncertainty is a virtue; indecision is an asset.
- hide failure. If anyone tries something new and doesn’t succeed, make sure that no one else sees it. You don’t want to set a message that it is important to take risks.
- let innovators work in secret. You want to make sure that the concept of innovation remains some deep, mysterious process that not everyone can participate in. That will help to ensure that most of your team doesn’t pursue any type of fresh new thinking. They’ll just keep doing what they’ve always done.
- banish fear. Make sure that everyone thinks that everything is going to be all right. You don’t have to deal with potential business market disruption, new competitors, significant industry transformation or the impact of globalization. Everything will look the same ten years from now, so just keep everyone focused on doing the same old thing!
- accept the status quo. Things are running perfectly, you’ve got the perfect product mix, and all of your customers are thrilled with your brand and the levels of customer service. There’s no need to do anything new, since it’s all going to work out just fine!
- be cautious. Don’t make any bold, aggressive moves. Just take things slowly, one step at a time. If you move too fast, things are likely to go wrong. Let complacency settle in like a warm blanket.
- glorify process. Make sure that everything is filled out in triplicate; ensure that process slows down any radical ideas. It’s more important to do things perfectly than to make mistakes.
- be narrow. Keep a very tiny view of the future. You can’t succeed with any big wins, because there aren’t going to be any dramatic surprises in the future. Think small. Act accordingly.
- study things to death. Don’t let any uncertainty creep into your decision making process. Make sure that if you are to do anything, that you’ve spent sufficient time and effort to understand all the variables. Your goal is ensuring that any decision is free of risk, unlikely to fail, and will in retrospect be carefully and fully documented.
Wait! That’s 11 ways! And there are certainly more attitudes that help to destroy innovative thinking.
What do you think? What are the other attitudes and ways of thinking that manage to shut down organizational idea machines?
And do you want more insight like this? Check my Innovation Inspiration page! 
Daily Inspiration: “Innovators take their own personal vision of the future — and turn it into reality!”
“Innovators take their own personal vision of the future — and turn it into reality!” – Futurist Jim Carroll
Daily Inspiration: “Think fast. Act faster!”
“Think fast. Act faster!” – Futurist Jim Carroll
Daily Inspiration: “Surround yourself with optimists. Always ignore the pessimists!”
“Surround yourself with optimists. Always ignore the pessimists!” – Jim Carroll
Some of the most fascinating organizations in the world have brought me in to encourage their people to think about the future, and how to nurture a culture of creativity and innovation. Organizations like NASA (twice!), Johnson and Johnson, Whirlpool/Maytag, the Walt Disney Corporation and literally hundreds more!
One of my key motivational points for my clients has always been this idea.
“Many people see a trend and see a threat. Smart people see the same trend and see opportunity“
Think about that, and then ask yourself as to how do you keep yourself in an innovative frame of mind.
A good part of it has to do with the company you keep! To that end, I’d suggest that you surround yourself with:
- optimists. You need to hang out with people who see all kinds of opportunity – not gloomsters who are convinced there is no future out there!
- people who do. Action oriented people. Folks who accomplish things. Those that do.
- people with open minds. Innovators aren’t prepared to accept the status quo – they are willing to explore and understand different viewpoints, and use that as a kickoff for creativity.
- people who have experienced failure. Innovation comes from risk; risk comes from trying things. Try lots of things, and many will fail. That’s good. That builds up experience, which gives you better insight into a fast paced world.
- oddballs and rebels. Some of the most brilliant thinking and best ideas can come from those who view the world through a different lens. They may seem odd at times, but they can be brilliantly creative.
- good listeners and debaters. They’re willing to challenge ideas, analyze issues, and think through the possibilities.
- people who think differently than you do. If you really want to be innovative, go to two conferences a year that have nothing to do with what you do. You’ll be amazed at what you learn, and how it will re-stir your creative juices.
In every single keynote, I focus on future trends and opportunities, and link that to the process and mindset of innovation. I’m an optimist, continually try new things, listen to other people, watch, observe, and listen.
Most important, I refuse to give in to the pervasive negative thinking that so many people seem to envelope themselves within. Maybe that’s why I see so many opportunities in today’s economy.
Think growth!
Daily Inspiration: “To really accelerate your creative engine, focus on growing your diversity of ideas!”
“To really accelerate your creative engine, focus on growing your diversity of ideas!” – futurist Jim Carroll
For years, I’ve explained to my global client base that access to skills and talent will been to the key element for success going forward. Two good examples? Fast trends in the world of self-driving cars, and the acceleration of trends in retail.
I was thinking about this today as two articles floated through my news clipping service: an article in Fortune that outlined how “Walmart Is Launching a Tech Incubator in Silicon Valley.” The second involved quite a few articles that spoke about the new partnerships occurring in the world of self-driving car technology, such as one in Sci-Tech: “Intel’s Not the Only Big Company To Find a Self-Driving Partner.”
There are two big issues that are in play here that can be summarized quite nicely, which I’ve explained for quite some time:
- every industry is becoming a tech industry, and every company is becoming a software company – with the result that companies such as Walmart have to set up in the heart of the tech world in order to get ahead
- companies are quickly discovering that they don’t have the skills to do what needs to be done – hence, they need to partner up to get things done — which is the key trend occurring in the world of autonomous vehicles right now
This is echoed by some research I presented in several recent meetings with major private equity investors, based on a study by GE, which found that among senior executives:
- 85% are concerned about the velocity introduced by digitization and are open to idea collaboration
- 75% indicated they are open to share the revenue stream of an innovation collaboration
- 85% indicated such initiatives were growing over the last year
Key trend? The race for tech skills is going to accelerate; new forms of partnership will be established faster; lots of money will be made by those who have the requisite skills; and this will be a defining issue for success going forward!
Need a bigger example? This headline: “Ford is putting $1 billion into an AI startup, Detroit’s biggest investment yet in self-driving car tech.” Think about that — essentially, it’s a billion dollar investment to get the right skills, at the right time, for the right purpose.
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