Cult of Innovation

According to Brendan Koerner in this month’s Wired Magazine (link not yet available), despite last year’s concerns that Twitter and Facebook are knocking 1.5 percent off our office productivity, it turns out that knowledge workers like us may actually benefit from stepping back from our current projects for a few moments and reading something else.

The article backs up its assertions with research about incubation, done by the authors of Creativity and the Mind, who found that “people are more successful if we force them to move away from a problem or distract them temporarily.” Further research on incubation, by Rider University professor Don Ambrose, found that it is most effective when it involves exposing the mind to entirely novel information rather than just relieving mental pressure.  The idea, then, is that short exposures to stimulating yet unrelated information are the ideal forms of “distraction” because they can result in more creative thoughts.

Oh, and speaking of deep thoughts while distracted, the writer also mentions that a major idea in modern glass construction was conceived while washing dishes! (Did I not just mention this??)

Anyway, go ahead and read those (PATENTED) Facebook News Feeds, Twitter updates, and blog entries (like this one, please) without feeling quite so guilty.  If anyone complains, tell them you’re doing it for the good of the company.

A huge fan of speculative fiction author William Gibson, I especially enjoyed his books Pattern Recognition and Spook Country because I’ve always been intrigued by “coolhunting” and other types of trend forecasting. Pattern Recognition follows the adventures of protagonist Cayce Pollard, a freelance marketing consultant who works for viral advertising/coolhunting agency Blue Ant, a company that appears in both books. Early in the novel, we learn that Pollard is particularly suited to her job because she has an unusually intuitive sensitivity for branding, manifested primarily in a physical aversion to bad logos and corporate mascots.

While Pollard’s physiological reactions to poor design and ill-conceived marketing are far-fetched and rather comical, I recently discovered this Wall Street Journal article featuring Li Edelkoort, a real life forecaster of future trends, who makes a living using some similar skills. A former art student, Edelkoort, describes her talent as an ability “to spot subtle signs of change.” Edelkoort observes people everywhere she goes and devours newspapers, magazines, and other media.  She then puts together presentations that dissect shifts in zeitgeist — explaining where they originated and how they can be translated into goods and services.

While future-forecasting has its share of naysayers, such as Allyson Stewart-Allen of consulting firm International Marketing Partners who says, “I read it like a horoscope,”  most people who have worked with Edelkoort must feel that her ability to foresee what’s just around the corner is the real deal.  She’s been elected chair of the Design Academy in Eindhoven, one of the world’s most prestigious design school, and is recognized as having nurtured some of the best-known names in design.  In addition, she’s been employed for over twenty years by successful companies such as Nissan, Coca-Cola, Old Navy, Estée Lauder, and Mattel.

Read the rest of the article to learn more about Edelkoort as well as four other trend forecasters who discuss some predictions that have come true and some that haven’t.

Gregg Fraley, innovation blogger and author of Jack’s Notebook: A business novel about creative problem solving lists his Ultimate Innovator’s Playlist, which includes such varied gems as Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” anyone’s version of “My Way,” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” from the Sound of Music.

What would you add to that list?  I’m thinking of adding “Optimistic” by Radiohead…and by Shirley Temple.

One of my best friends just mentioned that she tends to be most energized and does her best thinking in her morning shower, so I just bought a few of these for her birthday:  Aqua Notes.  I know that a lot of other people do too, but I find that I mostly zone out until after I’ve had my shower and coffee. I do tend to have a lot of useful ideas while I’m in transit though, which is reason #231 that I love living in NYC — I never have to drive anywhere. While I’m on the subway, I often write things in either my ever-so-trendy moleskine or sometimes email myself from my phone.

What is so special about those times that helps people focus?  Is it the renewed energy?  Some sort of serotonin or adrenaline rush? Or is it that we’ve not yet lost our minds to the minutiae of our workday?  Is there a way we can get ourselves to feel this way on demand, or do we just have to wait and hope for the best?

In college, I took a meditation course at a Buddhist center and learned about walking meditation.  The premise behind that practice, at least as far as I understood it, was to focus solely on the experience of walking, which in turn forces you to become more mindful.  I found it both relaxing and mentally invigorating. In this case, it seems like focusing on not thinking ultimately helps clear my mind to do its best work.

But sometimes I also find that doing certain things, like cleaning my apartment or washing dishes helps me think more clearly. I also tend to feel rather lucid while doing manual tasks, like painting or putting together furniture. The clarity I experience during those moments makes me think that it’s more than just coincidence that Jesus was a carpenter for a living…

Just a thought.

Here’s a list of design blogs Arc90 is rather fond of:

The Dieline — covers the latest in package design trends, includes some of the world’s coolest package designs.

PicoCool — a site devoted to “uncovering the cool.”  Ambitious, yes — but they do a damn good job.

Design You Trust — a blog full of design news and trends.

idsgn — discussion of graphic design, branding, and typography.

I’m totally aging myself here because the title of this post is from the song the Beat(en) Generation by a band called The The, which was popular for about five minutes in the 80s. While the song itself is rather more dystopian than I’m feeling these days, that particular lyric kept coming to mind while I was reading an essay from Scott Berkun, called How to Be a Free Thinker.

Berkun is a public speaker and the writer of three really great books that most of our readers should check out: Making Things Happen: Mastering the Art of Project Management, The Myths of Innovation, and Confessions of a Public Speaker. In this particular essay, which does have an edgy tone, he explores how most of us stifle our own original thoughts and urges us to challenge those processes by:

1. Overcoming our fears of being wrong
2. Ceasing to worry about what other people think
3. Getting comfortable being alone

Read the rest of this thought-provoking essay here.

Wow, what a month of good news! First, I learn that imperfection can actually be valuable for companies, and now I’ve found this article by Paul Sloane that says a bad attitude can lead to innovation. Good to know that if this blogging gig comes to an end, someone may actually want to hire me.

In related news, a recent article from the New York Times profiles the new C.E.O. of Xerox, Ursula Burns, who hopes to change her company’s culture from one of “terminal niceness” to one that takes more initiative, becomes more fearless, and is more frank and impatient, in order to ratchet up their performance. Hmm, well, I’m not sure I’d want to work there, but she definitely sounds like an interesting addition to the company.

These days, the value of brainstorming is sometimes questioned, such as in the Wall Street Journal article Brainstorming Works Best if People Scramble For Ideas on Their Own, or the study described in my earlier post Is There An Optimal Environment For Brainstorming? which revealed that development usually works best when collaboration involves participants from varied specialties who gather to develop a simple product, but when a project is more complex, it’s better to work in private.

According to BusinessWeek article Eight Tips for Better Brainstorming, however, a broad body of peer-reviewed research on teams and organizations suggests that when brainstorming sessions are managed well and linked to other work practices, those efforts can certainly promote innovation.  The article offers these tips for running a productive brainstorming session:

1. Use brainstorming to combine and extend ideas, not just to harvest ideas.
2. Don’t bother if people live in fear.
3. Do individual brainstorming before and after group sessions.
4. Brainstorming sessions are worthless unless they are woven with other work practices.
5. Brainstorming requires skill and experience both to do and, especially, to facilitate.
6. A good brainstorming session is competitive—in the right way.
7. Use brainstorming sessions for more than just generating good ideas.
8. Follow the rules, or don’t call it a brainstorm.

While I agree with all of the above recommendations (read the article for more detail about each) I feel that the most valuable, in terms of fostering innovation, is #7. At Arc90, brainstorming isn’t just used to generate ideas. Much like the company behind the article, IDEO, our brainstorming sessions support our company culture. When we take a break from our usual activities to gather in a room, we gain a valuable opportunity to share insight across disciplines and perspectives. We begin to think about what we are working on in new and different ways. Whether or not the technique leads to a perfect solution is not really the point. There is much value in keeping people engaged in idea generation. It encourages creative thinking and in turn provides an environment where everyone feels excited about their work and respected for their contributions.

So..anyone want to meet in the boardroom in ten?

In the past, I wrote a post about what Led Zeppelin can teach us about reaching goals.  Well, this time an article from the Atlantic offers insight about business and management from a band more frequently associated with turnin’ on, tunin’ in, and droppin’ out.

In Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead, Joshua Green discusses the soon-to-be opened Grateful Dead Archive at UC Santa Cruz, which aside from offering historians and ethnomusicologists four decades’ worth of obsessively collected stuff to sift through, provides a glimpse into some of the larger social influences now attributed to the band.

In one example from the late 80s, sociologist Rebecca G. Adams studied friendships among Grateful Dead fans and discovered that despite generally not living near  each other, they formed meaningful bonds. This contradicted the then-popular assumption that communities based on common interests, whose members lacked proximity, would lack emotional and moral depth. These relationships are now considered an early form of “social networking.”

Another influence, one now widely embraced by corporate America, is the band’s talent for “creating and delivering superior customer value” as described by business professor Barry Barnes. Treating customers well may seem like common sense to us now, but in the 60s and 70s most companies held more of a top-down attitude. The Dead rewarded their most loyal fans by establishing a hotline to alert them to its touring schedule ahead of any public announcement, reserved some of the best seats in the house for those fans, and capped the price of tickets, which the band distributed through its own mail-order house.  They also allowed their fans to record their shows, assuming that tape sharing could widen their audience, a ban would be unenforceable, and that anyone inclined to tape a show would probably spend money elsewhere, such as on merchandise or tickets.

Barnes also recommends one more major influence. He notes that the key to the band’s success and the characteristic of  greatest importance for current business leaders is a flexibility he calls “strategic improvisation.”  Because of this ability to adapt, he explains, the Dead have thrived for decades, in good times and bad.  In a recession, Barnes says, strategic improvisation is even more important. :If you’re going to survive this economic downturn, you better be able to turn on a dime,” he says. “The Dead were exemplars.”

Interestingly, up until recently, examining the sociological significance of the Grateful Dead had been considered risky for most academics. Rebecca G. Adams was strongly discouraged from pursuing her line of inquiry and very little research has been supported by other educational institutions.  In an exciting move, UC Santa Cruz is going to try try to post as much of the archive online as possible.  It will be fascinating to see what this attempt at collaboration between a bunch of Deadheads and some stuffy intellectuals will produce.

Fast Company’s annual review includes some of the usual suspects, like Apple, Google, and Amazon, but there are some new guys you may want to keep your eye on, like the cloud-enabled music repository Spotify, online sample sale company Gilt Groupe, and biofuel company Synthetic Genomics.