GUEST POST from Mitch Ditkoff

The next time somebody approaches you with a “crazy” idea, pause before putting them down. Instead of looking for what’s wrong, look for what’s right.

See if you can find a hidden jewel in the idea, a principle, an essence that the idea originator is on to — even if the idea itself is rough, raw, or imperfect.

The fact is: most great inventions, products, or services begin as a crazy idea.

Maybe 99 out of 100 times, the so-called crazy idea will go nowhere, but the 100th time it just may be a winner.

And one more thing — if you make a habit out of trashing other people’s “crazy” ideas too quickly, people will soon stop approaching you with any idea.

Then all you’ll be left with are your own.

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GUEST POST from Mitch Ditkoff

I have been an innovation consultant since 1986 and have worked with hundreds of organizations in more than 15 industries. The products and services of my clients have all been different — as have their acronyms, mission statements, and cafeteria food.

But they all have one thing in common — and that is a pronounced tendency to undervalue the power of appreciation.

Sure, they give out gold watches and Employee of the Month awards, but the simple act of acknowledging and appreciating each other on a daily basis is in woeful short supply.

The reasons are many.

Too many managers have come to believe that the expression of appreciation will be counterproductive, leading to a self-satisfied workforce — a workforce that will be entitled and unmotivated.

The perceived lack of time is another reason.

Most people’s plates are so full these days that the time and attention it takes to acknowledge another for their efforts is considered a luxury that cannot be afforded.

A third reason?

The majority of people who work in an organization do not know how to appreciate others. It is not, shall we say, their default condition.

Why should this matter to your organization?

Because there is a direct correlation between appreciation and success. The more appreciation, the more morale improves and the more moral improves, the more willing people are to go the extra yard.

Indeed, recent U.S. Department of Labor data shows that the number one reason people leave their jobs is that they do not feel appreciated. When you quantify the cost of recruiting, orienting, and training people, that adds up. Big time.

Further research has revealed that companies that effectively value and appreciate their employees enjoy more than triple returns on equity and assets and achieve higher operating margins than companies that do not.

Time and again it has been proven: money is not the key driver of employee satisfaction. It is the experience of being appreciated.

“Celebrate what you want to see more,” advises management consultant, Tom Peters.

“Appreciate everything your associates do for the business,” advised Sam Walton, former CEO of Walmart. “Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise.”

Mother Teresa agrees: “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”

The paradox?

Business leaders want their stocks to appreciate, but they don’t see the relationship between rising stock prices and the rise in employee performance that comes from employees being genuinely appreciated.

In what ways can YOU lead the charge by authentically expressing your appreciation to someone with whom you work?

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GUEST POST from Mitch Ditkoff

Here’s a wonderful article, just published in Bloomberg Business Week that raises a very curious paradox — why academics are teaching innovation.

Authors G. Michael Maddock and Raphael Louis Viton state their case clearly, cleanly, and with just enough of an edge to draw blood.

“Process-driven cultures love process-driven experts. Organizations, just like people, do what makes them feel strong, and nothing makes mature, process-driven companies feel stronger than having a template for doing anything (even if having a completely buttoned-down-ain’t-no-exceptions-allowed template for innovation seems oxymoronic on its face).

Need innovation? Simply call in a PhD with a bow tie and trademarked process and watch your innovation portfolio grow. Right? Nope.”

If you are a professor and find Maddock and Viton’s article objectionable, speak up! Let them know what you think — and why. Maybe you’re the one who’s found a way to teach innovation in a novel, cut-to-the-chase, non-academic way. I know there are some of you out there. Yes?

If you are a high roller in a corporation looking for the “secret innovation sauce,” I invite you to read their article before reaching out to academia for your next keynote speaker.

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GUEST POST from Mitch Ditkoff

Allow me to make a wild guess. You have participated in more than a few brainstorm sessions in your life. Yes?

And allow me to make another wild guess. Many of those sessions left you feeling underwhelmed, over-caffeinated, disappointed, disengaged, and doubtful that much of ANYTHING was ever going to happen as a result of your participation.

Yes, again? I thought so.

There’s a ton of reasons why most brainstorming sessions under-deliver, but the main reason — the Mount Olympus of reasons (drum roll, please….) is the brainstorm facilitator.

Armed with a short list of ground rules, a flipchart marker, and a muffin, most brainstorm facilitators miss the mark completely.

The reason has less to do with their process, tools, and techniques than it does with their inability to adapt to what’s happening, real-time, in the room.

In an all-too-professional attempt to be one-pointed, they end up being one-dimensional, missing out on a host of in-the-moment opportunities to spark the ever-mutating, collective genius of the group.

If only our well-intentioned brainstorm facilitators could abide by the words of Walt Whitman, when he confessed that he “contained multitudes.”

Translation? If you or anyone you know is going to lead a diverse group of time-crunched, opinionated, multi-tracking, people through a process of originating breakthrough ideas, DON’T BE A ONE TRICK PONY! Be a multitude — or, at the very least, be multi-faceted. Let it rip. Hang ten. Pull out the stops.

Use your right brain and your left. Let all the cats out of the proverbial bag — and by so doing, exponentially increase your chances of sparking brainpower, brilliance, and beyond-the-obvious ideas.

OK. Enough bloggy pep talk. Let’s get down to business.

Take a few minutes now to rate yourself, on a scale of 1-10, for how skillful you are at embodying the following personas of a high flying brainstorm facilitator

Then tune into your biggest strength and ask yourself how you can amplify that quality. Then identify your biggest weakness and figure out how you can improve in that arena.

1. CONDUCTOR

A skilled brainstorm facilitator knows how to orchestrate powerfully creative output from a seemingly dissonant group of people. In the conductor mode, the facilitator includes everyone, evokes even the subtlest contributions from the least experienced participant, and demonstrates their commitment to the whole by offering timely feedback to anyone who “gets lost in their own song.”

2. ALCHEMIST

A good brainstorm facilitator is able to transmute lead into gold — or in modern terms — knows how to help people “get the lead out.” This talent requires an element of wizardry — the ability to see without looking, feel without touching, and intuitively know that within each brainstormer lives a hidden genius just waiting to get out.

3. DANCER

Light on their feet, brainstorm facilitators move gracefully through the process of sparking new ideas. Able to go from the cha-cha to the polka to the whirling dervish spinning of a brainstorm group on fire, savvy facilitators take bold steps when necessary, even when there is no visible ground underfoot. “The path is made by walking on it,” is their motto.

4. MAD SCIENTIST

Skillful brainstorm facilitators are bold experimenters, often taking on the crazed (but grandfatherly) look of an Einstein in heat. While respecting the realm of logic and the rational (the ground upon which most scientists build their homes), the enlightened facilitator is willing to throw it all out the window in the hope of triggering a “happy accident” or a quantum leap of thought. Indeed, it is often these discontinuous non-linear moments that produce the kind of breakthroughs that logic can only describe, never elicit itself.

5. DIAMOND CUTTER

Fully recognizing the precious gem of the human imagination (as well as the delicacy required to set it free), the high octave brainstorm facilitator is a craftsman (or craftswoman) par excellence — focused, precise, and dedicated. Able to get to the heart of the matter in a single stroke without leaving anything or anyone damaged in the process.

6. ACTOR

Brainstorm facilitators are “on stage” whether they like it or not. All eyes are upon them, as well as all the potential critical reviews humanly possible. More often than not, the facilitator’s “audience” will only be moved to act (perchance to dream) if they believe the facilitator is completely into his or her role. If the audience does not suspend this kind of disbelief, the play will close early and everyone will be praying for a fire drill or wishing they were back home eating a grilled cheese sandwich.

7. ENVIRONMENTALIST

Brainstorm facilitators are the original recyclers. In their relentless pursuit of possibility, they look for value in places other people see as useless. To the facilitator in full mojo mode, “bad ideas” aren’t always bad, only curious indicators that something of untapped value is lurking nearby.

8. OFFICER OF THE LAW

One of the brainstorm facilitator’s most important jobs is to enforce “law and order” once the group gets roaring down the open highway of the imagination. This is a fine art — for in this territory speeding is encouraged, as is running red lights, jaywalking, and occasionally breaking and entering. Just as thieves have their code of honor, however, so too should brainstormers. Indeed, it is the facilitator’s task to keep this code intact — a task made infinitely easier by the ritual declaration of ground rules at the start of a session.”

9. SERVANT

Some brainstorm facilitators, intoxicated by the group energy and their own newly stimulated imagination, use their position as a way to foist their ideas on others — or worse, manipulate the group into their way of thinking. Oops! Ouch! Aargh! Brainstorm facilitating is a service, not a personal platform. It is supposed to be a selfless act that enables others to arrive at their own solutions — no matter how different they may be from the facilitator’s.

10. STAND-UP COMIC

Humor is one of the brainstorm facilitator’s most important tools. It dissolves boundaries, activates the right brain, helps participants get unstuck, and shifts perspective just enough to help everyone open their eyes to new ways of seeing. Trained facilitators are always on the lookout for humorous responses. They know that humor often signals some of the most promising ideas, and that giggles, guffaws, and laughable side-talk frequently indicate a rich vein of possibility to explore. Humor also makes the facilitator much more “likable” which makes the group they are facilitating more amenable to their direction. Ever wonder why the words “Aha!” and “Ha-Ha” are so similar?

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GUEST POST from Mitch Ditkoff

Most companies begin on a shoe-string — under-funded, under the gun, and under the radar. The company I co-founded in 1986, Idea Champions, was no exception.

When my business partner and I began, we had almost nothing — just an idea, some chutzpah, and a deep desire to succeed.

While we both were likable, smart, and skillful schmoozers, we had zippo in the way of a marketing plan.

Racking what was left of our over-caffeinated brains, it soon became abundantly clear that we needed some kind of showcase, some kind of “window to the world” — a place to strut our entrepreneurial stuff and get in front of the people who were the likely buyers of our service…

Back in those days, this meant one thing — renting a booth at the ASTD convention — the annual meet market in the training and development field.

The thought of this made the two of us slightly nauseous, since we had “cased the joint” a year before and come away with three impressions:

1. We didn’t have enough money to get in the door
2. We didn’t have the right marketing materials
3. We probably should have gone into our father’s business.

Clearly, we’d have to do something different if we were going to distinguish ourselves from the 600 other companies vying for the same customers.

Giving out slick brochures was out of the question. (We didn’t have any). Giving out our client list was also out of the question. (You could count the number of our clients on one hand — the hand of Vinny “Three Finger” Scalucci).

In a flash of entrepreneurial mania, it became obvious that we would need a lot of balls to pull this off. Yes, the kind you’re thinking of, but also another kind — juggling balls.

The AHA? We’d create an “anti-booth” and teach people how to juggle. Our booth would be a rest stop, a haven, a place for thousands of convention-weary people to recuperate from all the other booths with their endless supply of Hershey’s kisses, business jargon, and fishbowls full of business cards.

OK. So we didn’t have a marketing plan, but we did have inspiration. And even more than that, a very specific idea of how to get the attention of the marketplace.

Our plan was simple.

We’d bring a posse of our juggling-savvy friends and teach thousands of convention-goers how to do something they’d secretly wanted to learn for years — juggle. No hard sell. No corporate speak. No used-car salesman smiles — just the experience of having a breakthrough.

And our message would be delivered in 30 seconds or less.

Here’s how it worked: As aspiring jugglers dropped their balls, we’d drop in a few well-timed comments to help them make the link between what it took to learn to juggle and what it took to innovate.

Our booth was wildly popular. People loved it. People loved us. And we always had a crowd.

But “having a crowd” doesn’t necessarily translate into sales — and sales is what we were after. Were we pumped? Yes. Were we optimistic? That, too. But still we had nothing to show for our efforts.

That is, until the afternoon of the third day.

That’s when we spied the proverbial big fish walking in our direction. DIRECTOR OF TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT, AT&T his name tag screamed.

This was the moment — the moment of truth.

The impeccably dressed Mr. Big approached. He stopped, tried to look through me, and spoke:

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Um…. what does it look like?” I replied.

“Juggling?” he responded.

“That’s right!” I said. “Would you like to learn?”

Ah…. the existential moment of truth! Dare he lay down his plastic bags of information to try something new? Dare he stop being in charge and become a student for a change? Dare he run the risk of failing.

He looked at me. I looked at him. Then he cleared his throat.

“I’ve been trying to learn to juggle for 25 years,” he confessed, looking at his watch. “OK. Teach me… but… all I have is five minutes.”

By the grace of the juggling Gods, we taught the man. In five minutes. His mind was blown. Borderline ecstatic, he reached into his wallet and pulled out a business card.

“I don’t know what you guys do,” he laughed, “but I know you’re not a juggling company. Call me on Monday and let’s talk.”

We did. He took our call — and spent the next 20 minutes telling us about his weekend juggling adventures. How he couldn’t stop. How he taught his son. How he had a ton of fun.

Then he started grilling us about our work. Apparently, he liked what he heard, because the next thing we know he’s inviting us to pilot our creative thinking training at AT&T.

Which we did.

The training was a big hit — so much so, that our now juggling-savvy client invited us back two more times the next month to do it again, (just to make sure the glowing feedback wasn’t a “false positive.”)

It wasn’t.

Those sessions were also a success. So much so, that Mr. New-Juggler-After-25-Years-of-Frustration pulled the corporate trigger and licensed our training.

During the next three months we taught nine AT&T trainers how to facilitate it. Then, when Lucent split off from AT&T, we taught their trainers and enjoyed five years of great results and even greater passive income.

How did it all begin?

By doing something different. By going with our strengths. By differentiating ourselves from the competition. By translating theory into practice. By giving people an experience, not just words. By skillfully responding to a moment of truth. By having fun. And…by translating all of the above into a service that delivered on it’s promise.

Balls got us started, but it was execution that sealed the deal.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

1. What risk are you willing to take to grow your business?
2. What strengths of yours do you need to leverage?
3. What moment of truth is fast approaching for you?

The above story is excerpted from my next book (WISDOM AT WORK: 40 Stories of Love, Learning and Letting Go from the Front Lines of Business).

If you are a publisher and want to talk turkey, contact me. If you are an agent with the chops to get my book into the hands of the perfect publisher, contact me. If you know an agent or publisher you think I should contact, contact me.

“If not you, who? If not now, when?”

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GUEST POST from Mitch Ditkoff

Unless you’ve been in a coma for the past 20 years, I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase “get out of the box.” It’s everywhere. Whole industries have sprung up around it, including mine.

No one can deny that getting out of the box is a good thing to do. Seems like a no-brainer, eh? Kind of like helping little old ladies cross the street. Or tearing down the Berlin Wall.

But before you start planning your heroic escape, answer me this:

What the heck is the box, anyway?

What is this so-called thing that keeps us so contained, confined, caged, trapped, claustrophobic, and otherwise unable to succeed?

Let’s start with the basics. A box has six sides, including the top and the bottom.

If we can understand what these six sides are, we’ll know what we’re dealing with — and this knowledge will improve our chances of getting out. Or, as Fritz Perls once said, “Awareness cures.”

Let us proceed…

1. FEAR

If you want to raise the odds of being trapped in a box for the rest of your life, all you need to do is increase the amount of fear you feel.

Fear inhibits. Fear paralyzes. Fear subverts action. Indeed, when fear rules the day, even reacting is difficult. Fear not only puts us in the box, it makes it almost impossible to get out the box.

Fear of what?

Fear of judgment. Fear of failure. Fear of change. Fear of the unknown. Fear of being revealed to be an impostor. Fear of this. Fear of that. And fear of the other thing, too.

Do you think it’s an accident that Peter Drucker devoted his entire life to driving fear out of the workplace? Or course not.

Fear sucks. And precisely what it sucks is the life right out of you. There is no box without fear. Get rid of fear and you get rid of the box.

2. POWERLESSNESS

Powerlessness is the state of mind in which people think they have no choice — that they are victims of circumstance, that the act of attempting anything new is futile.

It’s why Dilbert has become the patron saint of most cubicle dwellers.

Some in-the-box people have dwelled in the state of powerlessness for their entire life, going all the way back to childhood, overpowered (or disempowered) by parents, schools, and who knows what else.

If you work in a corporation, you’ve seen this powerlessness paradigm in spades — as the “powers-that-be” don’t always take kindly to the ideas, input, and grumblings of the “rank and file.”

If you’re feeling powerless, not only are you in the box, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to muster the energy, intention, or urgency to get out of it.

3. ISOLATION

Boxes are usually small and confining. Rarely is there room for more than one person. Isolation is the result. There’s no one to talk to, no one to bounce ideas off of, no one to collaborate with.

Curiously, solitary confinement is the biggest punishment our society doles out — second only to the death sentence. Being cut off from the tribe has been a very effective “behavior modification” technique for centuries.

When you’re in the box, that’s exactly what’s happening.

And while your isolation may give you a momentary feeling of much-needed privacy, safety, and relief from the judgment of others, it’s fool’s gold. Sitting in the dark, being completely on your own, vision obscured — all reduce your chances of getting out.

4. ASSUMPTIONS

Assumptions are the guesses we make based on our subjective interpretation of reality. They are short cuts. Lines drawn in the sand.

We end up taking things for granted because we are either too lazy to get down to the root of things or too entranced by our own beliefs to consider an alternative.

Ultimately, it is our assumptions that shape our world. The world is the screen and we are the projector, seeing only what we project — which is all too often merely a function of the assumptions we’ve made.

As one wise pundit once put it, “When a pickpocket meets a saint, all he sees our pockets.”

Bottom line, we see what we are primed to see. Change your assumptions and you change the world — starting with your own.

5. MENTAL CLUTTER

If you find yourself in the box, it would be fair to say that the box contains you. But what do you contain?

If you are like most people in today’s over-caffeinated, twitterfied, fast food, information overloaded world the answer is: too much.

With the amount of information doubling every few years, most of us have way too much on our minds. Too much to do and not enough time.

We have no time for musing. No time for pondering. No time for reflecting. No time for contemplating, incubating, or making new connections — behaviors that are essential to true out-of-the-box thinking.

The result? Not a good one.

We glom onto the first seemingly “right idea” that comes our way — or else desperately try to declutter our minds with an endless series of mindless distractions that only increase the amount of clutter we need to process. Ouch.

6. NARROW MINDEDNESS

When you’re in a box, it’s hard to see. Sight lines are limited. Vision is obscured. We become shortsighted. Our vision conforms to that which confines it. We become, soon enough, narrow-minded.

I’m sure you know a few people like this. Their ability to see beyond their immediate surroundings has become disabled.

When this kind of phenomenon becomes institutionalized, we end up with a bad case of “next quarter syndrome” — especially in organizations ruled by the need to constantly please profit-seeking shareholders.

Few people are thinking six months out. Few are thinking twelve months out. And almost no one is thinking five years out. Everyone is trapped by the short-term.

What we call “focus” becomes a euphemism for tunnel vision — just another form of narrow-mindedness that makes getting out of the box about as likely as my credit card company rescinding their usurious late payment fees.

OK. I hope I’ve not depressed you. That’s not my purpose. Neither is it my purpose to obsess about the “problem.” But until we know what we’re really dealing with, all this hot talk about “getting out of the box” is just hype and a complete waste of time.

NEXT WEEK: Tips and techniques for getting out of the box. Until then, reflect on these questions:

1. What are you afraid of?
2. If you are business leader, how can you reduce fear in the workplace?
3. How can you get reclaim your own God-given power?
4. If you are a business leader, how can you start letting go of control?
5. How can you connect with a more diverse group of collaborators?
6. If you are a business leader, what can you do this week to foster more cross-functional collaboration?
7. How can you identify your three biggest limiting assumptions?
8. If you are a business leader, how can you identify your direct reports’ three biggest limiting assumptions?
9. What’s the simplest thing you can do this week to decrease the amount of mental clutter in your life?
10. If you are a business leader, how can give people more time think creatively?
11. What can you do this week to dream bigger than you usually do?
12. If you are a business leader, what can you do help your organization conceive a more compelling vision of its future?

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GUEST POST from Mitch Ditkoff

You’ve got a great idea. I know you do. But I also know it’s just sitting there. In your head. Like a lump.

Why? Because you haven’t pitched it to anyone.

Everyone — even your best friends — all seem so busy, right? And even if they’re not busy, you… um….er… uh… don’t really know how to kick-start the conversation to get them to help you develop your idea.

The hardest part is starting.

And so, here’s a way to start — actually, 20 ways to start — 20 phrases you can use to increase the odds of someone paying attention to your new idea and giving you the feedback you need to develop it.

Go ahead. Get your idea out there today. Invite someone you know to give you feedback. You can do this…

20 IDEA FEEDBACK STARTERS

1. I wonder if you have a few minutes to give me some feedback on a new idea of mine. Is this a good time?
2. I’d love your opinion about a new idea that really excites me. Got a minute?
3. I just had a huge breakthrough. Mind if I share it with you?
4. I need a second set of eyes on a new insight of mine. Available?
5. Can I book a time with you tomorrow to pitch you a bold, new idea of mine. I think you’ll find it very inspiring.
6. I just figured out how to _________. Can I share it with you?
7. I’d love your sage counsel on a new project of mine.
8. You’re one of the smartest people I know around here. Mind if I share a new idea with you?
9. Who do you recommend I talk with around here to help me develop an exciting idea of mine?
10. I got a deal for you. I’ll buy you breakfast tomorrow if you give me feedback on a bold, new idea that came to me last night.
11. I’d love you to play devil’s advocate with me for a few minutes. Mind if I pitch you an idea?
12. When would be a good time for the two of us to get together and brainstorm an idea with the power to change our industry?
13. I need you help. Can you help me think through an exciting new idea of mine?
14. I’ve got a great idea that I’m really confused about. Can you help me sort it out?
15. Everyone I talk to tells me you’re the resident genius around here. Mind if I pitch you a great idea that needs some polishing?
16. Would you be open to being my coach? I’ve got an awesome idea that’s kind of flopping in the wind.
17. If you’ve got five minutes, I’d love your help thinking through a great, new possibility.
18. Can I take you to lunch today to help me refine a new idea?
19. Got 60 seconds to give me some feedback?
20. If you give me your feedback on my latest idea, I promise to name my tenth child after you. Ready?

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