Author Archives: Dennis Stauffer

About Dennis Stauffer

Dennis Stauffer is an author, independent researcher, and expert on personal innovativeness. He is the founder of Innovator Mindset LLC which helps individuals, teams, and organizations enhance and accelerate innovation success. by shifting mindset. Follow @DennisStauffer

Mental Orgasm – The Joy of Discovery

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Mental Orgasm - The Joy of Discovery

GUEST POST from Dennis Stauffer

Recall a time when you made some discovery or figured something out for yourself. No one told you the answer. You didn’t look it up on your phone. You got there on your own. It might have been something recent, or you may have to go back, maybe even to your early childhood, to recall that moment of discovery. That thrill you felt. That excitement! It’s such pure joy that some researchers have described it as a mental orgasm.

Babies often experience this as they first learn about the world. It’s a moment scientists live for. A feeling that even the most jaded businessperson takes delight in. When something just works—and you made it happen. You solved the puzzle.

It was a frequent experience when we were babies, with a brain constantly driven to discover how the world worked. But it’s something we experience far less often as adults. From the moment you started school, you were gradually pulled away from personal discovery, and instead pushed to memorize things someone else discovered. Like how to solve a math problem, spell a word, or learn the periodic table. Those things are important, but not nearly as much fun as figuring things out for yourself.

So instead of moments of discovery, you’ve probably become conditioned to take pride in what you know. And that very pride can become an obstacle to making new discoveries. The more we identify with our knowledge, the more we want to defend it, making us resistant to understanding the world in new ways. It shouldn’t be hard to see how that might interfere with your ability to innovate, or adapt to changes in your life. The challenge we so often face is not just coming up with new ideas. It’s letting go of the ones we already have.

Innovators, and those who are most effective generally, are open to discovery. Instead of looking for reinforcement of what they already know, they seek experiences that will challenge their beliefs, always being open to revising those beliefs—open to discovery. An innovator mindset frees you to move beyond what you already know, to unleash your own brilliance. Giving you the mental agility needed to make discoveries again—and experience the kind of mental orgasm that creates.

Here is a video version of this post:

Image Credit: Pixabay

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Overcoming Your Assumptions

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Overcoming Your Assumptions

GUEST POST from Dennis Stauffer

One of the ways innovators—and everyone else—so often get tripped up is by our own hidden assumptions. Beliefs we aren’t consciously aware of. These assumptions can make our challenges much harder than they need to be.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Thinking outside the box.” That most overused creativity cliché. You probably don’t know where that metaphor came from, but I suspect you’ve seen it, and it illustrates this difficulty.

It’s called the nine-dot problem. Remember this? You’re supposed to connect all nine dots with four straight lines that are all connected and continuous. One long line with four segments. See if you can figure out (or recall) the solution.

What makes the nine-dot problem hard to solve—when you haven’t seen it before—is an assumption you probably made without realizing it. You assumed that those lines must fall within the space defined by those dots, that they’re inside the box. Once you realize you can go outside the box, it becomes much easier. You can see the solution HERE.

This puzzle goes back at least to the 1970s. Since then, many variations have been suggested. Here’s one that prompts a different hidden assumption.

Think of it as perhaps a new assignment for your team:

Folks, we hit it out of the park on that nine-dot program. That solution gave us a very profitable competitive advantage. But it’s been a while. Our competitors are catching up. We need an update. Our new challenge is similar. There are still nine dots, but they’re a little bigger, a little closer together, and our budget is smaller. We can only afford three lines instead of four. Otherwise, our challenge is the same—connect all the dots. So how do we do that with just three straight lines that are connected and continuous?

Can you figure this one out? If you don’t immediately see the solution, it’s probably because you’re making another assumption that you don’t realize you’re making. You’re assuming that you must go through the centers of the dots. But that’s not required. The lines can tilt. Without that limitation—that hidden assumption—the solution is much more straightforward. That solution is HERE.

I’m not telling you to stop making assumptions. That’s a fool’s errand. We all make assumptions, every moment of our lives, or we couldn’t function. You can’t check out everything. What I recommend instead is that you recognize that you’re always making assumptions and get better at identifying them. That way you can decide whether they’re appropriate. In other words, you need to be willing to challenge your own thinking—your own mindset.

Innovators are willing to question even what may seem obvious, because that’s how you gain new insights and make discoveries. And because learning how to understand this world in some new way is the first step toward making it better.

View this post as a video on YouTube here:

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Two Kinds of Possible

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Two Kinds of Possible

GUEST POST from Dennis Stauffer

If I asked you whether something was possible, your answer would probably be based on your understanding of our current technologies and capabilities.

An electric car? Sure.

Finding a restaurant using your phone? No doubt.

Teleportation Star Trek style? No.

But that’s not how an innovator thinks about what’s possible. For them, it’s an entirely different question. The notion of what’s possible can have two quite different meanings. One that favors innovation and one that resists it.

If you asked someone living in the 19th century whether powered controlled flight was possible, or whether communicating through the air was possible, they would have said, No. And yet people like Marconi and the Wright Brothers set out to invent those technologies because they believed it was possible—if they could figure out how. So, there are these two very different ways of thinking about what’s possible.

  • The first answers the question: Can we go do that?
  • The second answers the question: Could we do that if we can figure out how?

Based on the first definition, teleportation is clearly impossible. But based on the second definition, it’s an open question. We don’t know, and we won’t know, until someone figures out how to do it. The fact that we haven’t figured that out yet, doesn’t mean we won’t or can’t.

We now know that for powered controlled flight, the answer to both questions is: Yes. It’s possible now; and it’s always been possible in the sense that the rules of the universe permit it.

No doubt many things are possible that we can’t yet do. That’s true of our technologies, and it’s true in your life. When you think like an innovator—with an Innovator Mindset—you believe all sorts of things are possible. And those beliefs are what prompt you to pursue all those amazing possibilities.

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What’s Your Mindset?

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What's Your Mindset?

GUEST POST from Dennis Stauffer

Your mindset has a powerful influence on how you think and behave—including how innovative you are. You have the power to shift your mindset to become more innovative. However, to do that effectively you need to know what your mindset is now, and it’s mostly subconscious.

I’m going to show you how to measure your mindset, by surfacing some of those hidden assumptions. To do this, you’ll need some way to jot down four numbers and make a simple calculation.

You may have heard about the work of Stanford University Professor Carol Dweck and her distinction between a growth and a fixed mindset, which is what I’m having you measure. It’s what Dweck calls your Theory of Intelligence.

For each of four statements, I’d like you to write down a number between 1 and 6. One indicating that you strongly disagree with that statement, and six that you strongly agree, with increments in-between.

  1. Strongly Disagree
  2. Disagree
  3. Slightly Disagree
  4. Slightly Agree
  5. Agree
  6. Strongly Agree

Ready?

  1. __ The first statement is: Our intelligence is something about each of us that we can’t change very much. Give that number between 1 and 6, depending on how strongly you agree or disagree with that statement.
  2. __ The next statement is: We can learn new things but we can’t really change how intelligent we are. Give that a number from one to six.
  3. __ The next statement is: No matter how much intelligence a person has, they can always change it quite a bit. Give that a number 1-6
  4. __ And the final statement is: I can always change how intelligent I am. Give that a number.

To score your results, add your first and second answers together to give yourself an “A” value, and add your third and fourth answers together to give yourself a “B” value.

If your A value is the larger of the two, that indicates that you favor what Dweck calls a fixed mindset—that you believe intelligence is largely fixed and unchanging.

If your B value is larger, you favor a growth mindset—defining intelligence as something you can change and grow.

The larger the difference between those two numbers, the stronger your preference.

In her research, Dweck has found this simple distinction has all sorts of ripple effects especially on how students perform. Students with a fixed mindset, may be quite smart, but they’re afraid to challenge themselves and try new things because if that reveals any intellectual deficits, they don’t believe they can do anything about it. Students with a growth mindset believe they can get smarter by working at it, giving them a strong motivation to work hard, learn and overcome setbacks. They tend to become the high performers.

You may never have given much thought to your personal theory of intelligence, but you almost certainly have one and it’s one of many hidden assumptions that make up your mindset. Dweck has found that those hidden assumptions impact your beliefs, behavior, motivation, competitiveness and ethics. Other researchers have found that mindset even impacts how your body functions.

Your mindset also impacts how innovative you are, and that can be measured too. Instead of the growth vs. fixed distinction, measuring your innovativeness involves a range of other tradeoffs. Things that impact how imaginative you are, how willing you are to take risks, how you make observations and how open you are to new insights and ideas.

A growth mindset makes you more willing to accept and push through failure, being ready to learn and discover. An Innovator Mindset is about how you go about doing that. How you can systematically find solutions and make improvements—including improving yourself. Being able to adapt and learn and make discoveries has many benefits in all aspects of your personal and professional life.

If you’d like to measure your innovativeness, across twelve dimensions, and receive detailed personalized feedback on how to improve it, go to Innovator Mindset where you’ll find links to take the Innovator Mindset assessment, or enroll in Mindset Trek elearning—which includes the assessment—to get in depth mindset training.

Here is a video version of this post:

Image Credit: Pixabay

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Innovativeness = Effectiveness

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Innovativeness = Effectiveness

GUEST POST from Dennis Stauffer

What makes you effective? Is it your knowledge and experience? Is it your commitment? Is it perhaps luck sometimes? Simply put: Being effective is about making what you want to happen, happen. It’s about shaping the world around you to fit your hopes and dreams, and aspirations. About creating your desired future. That means something needs to change, or why bother, right? And when something needs to change, what you’re really doing is a form of innovation.

Your innovativeness and your effectiveness are closely intertwined. Becoming more innovative makes you more effective and therefore more successful. Both personal attributes are enhanced as you become more creative, imaginative, resourceful and observant. As you become more skilled at managing the inevitable changes we all confront, you’re better positioned to find—and lead—your way through them.

Innovation and effectiveness both demand that you’re able to somehow account for the realities you face, while at the same time shifting those realities. This world is a dynamic place, it’s always fluid and evolving. You need to align with those changes, even as you attempt to make changes.

Whether you’re launching a new product or venture, trying to advance your career, or maybe start—or repair—a personal relationship, your challenge is not to just go do what needs to be done. It’s to figure out what needs to be done, to get to where you want to be. In other words, effectiveness and innovativeness are complementary. To be effective, you need to be innovative, and the more innovative you are, the more effective you’re likely to be.

Here is a video version of this post:

The Innovator Mindset YouTube channel brings you weekly tips, tricks and insights into how to be more creative, innovative, resourceful imaginative and open–all the things that innovation requires, and that you need to be effective.

Image Credit: Pixabay

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Mastering Your Innovation Mindset

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Mastering Your Innovation Mindset

GUEST POST from Dennis Stauffer

Mindset is quite a remarkable thing. It can be an invisible hindrance, or a tremendous asset when you know how to manage it. Mindset is your often subconscious beliefs about how the world works. It’s your mental frame, your personal paradigm. It has a huge impact on your ability to innovate and drive effective change.

It may have never occurred to you that when you observe something, what you see and experience is just as much in your head as it is out there. Your brain just gives you its best interpretation—using some innate processing, and based on those often-unconscious assumptions and beliefs that make up your mindset. To a great degree, you shape—or your brain shapes—what you experience.

It can be a little disturbing to realize that your brain is deciding for you what you believe is real—and not warning you about it. For a vivid illustration of just how much influence your mindset can have over you, watch this brief video.

But here’s the good news: you can learn to consciously shape your mindset, to reshape how your brain subconsciously processes what you experience.

As you discover your own unconscious assumptions, you reveal choices you didn’t know you had. You can then shape a mindset that gives you greater control, self-awareness and personal effectiveness. You can become more creative, imaginative, resourceful, open and observant–more innovative.

Innovation tools and change management strategies are important, but your mindset determines how effectively you apply those tools and strategies. It’s your default way of thinking and engaging. The key to your effectiveness is getting in front of your mindset. You need to be intentional about the beliefs you want to have, so you’re able to control your mindset, rather than letting it control you.

That’s how you become someone who creates exceptional value in your life and makes the world better—by innovating yourself.

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Crossing the Possibility Space

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Crossing the Possibility Space

GUEST POST from Dennis Stauffer

Innovators are those who push themselves to move from what’s currently possible to what they hope will become possible—if they can make it happen. Doing that means crossing the space—that possibility space—between the two.

It’s the space Steve Jobs entered when he developed the iPhone, and where Elon Musk ventured when he launched SpaceX. It’s the space Florence Nightingale stepped into when she invented modern nursing and hospital cleanliness. The space Marie Curie crossed when she discovered radioactivity. And, that Muhammad Yunus was exploring when he created microloans to support third world entrepreneurs.

It’s a space roamed by countless inventors, scientists, entrepreneurs, change agents, social reformers—and perhaps people like you. This possibility space can be treacherous. Failure is common. Many never make it across. But for those with the courage to try and the personal capabilities to navigate through it, it’s an exciting journey and the rewards are immense.
To innovate successfully, you must be willing to step into that space, and know how to make your way through it. That often requires innovation tools and strategies. But above all, it takes a certain mindset—an innovator mindset.

An innovator mindset is your ticket across this possibility space, and the compass you use to navigate your way through it. It’s a mindset that helps you decide what you need to pack for the trip and how to find your way past those inevitable obstacles. It’s believing in the value of imagination over knowledge, in the courage to take risks, in a clear-eyed assessment of the challenges ahead, and an openness to understanding the world in entirely new ways.

What possibility space would you like to cross? In your work and in your life? What are your dreams and aspirations? Are you ready to get started?

A video version of this post is included below:

Image Credit: Pixabay

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