GUEST POST from Paul Sloane

I was asked not too long ago in an interview what advice I would give to an incoming UK government on how to increase innovation in our economy. Here is what I would recommend:

1. Make it as easy as possible to start a new business. Most radical innovations come from start-ups and we need a lot more of them. It is already reasonably easy to start a new business in the UK. However, we could further reduce administration and tax on new businesses e.g. no corporation tax for the first two years trading.

2. Increase the availability of loans for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). At the moment many smaller enterprises cannot raise the finance they need to expand. We need to encourage venture capital funds, business angels and banks to invest in or lend to start-ups and smaller enterprises. This is risky so the government can help lay-off some of the risk.

3. Tilt higher education towards Science. Somehow our country has lost faith in Science. The media is cynical about Science in general. It is no longer seen as something that can solve problems and make life better. We need to rediscover the belief in Science and Engineering displayed by the Victorians. Many valuable high-tech start-ups come out of PhD studies or University research departments. We should encourage more bright students to take degrees and further degrees in Science based subjects. We should say that a degree in Physics is more valuable than a degree in History. One way to tilt the playing field would be to make tuition fees lower in science and engineering courses and higher in arts subjects.

We need more innovation in all parts of the economy including large corporations and the public sector. However, I would start with the SME sector. These three proposals would cost little but over a period they would encourage more start-up businesses and more high-tech businesses. This will help fuel innovation.

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GUEST POST from Paul Sloane

Keeping the boss away increases innovation

by Paul Sloane

Billions of dollars are spent on developing and launching new consumer packaged goods (CPG) products each year, and some companies see tremendous success while others – don’t. Why? One secret appears to lie in the degree of senior management involvement in the creative process, according to a study by The Nielsen Company.

Nielsen’s research of the innovation processes at 30 large CPG companies operating in the U.S. reveals that companies with less senior management involvement in the new product development process generate 80 percent more new product revenue than those with heavy senior management involvement. Companies that employ this and other best innovation practices derive on average 650 percent more revenue from new products compared to companies that do not.

Nielsen’s research shows that simply being physically near corporate headquarters can stifle new idea generation. In fact, it turns out that having no Blue Sky innovation team at all is better than having a team on-site at corporate headquarters. The best place for your breakthrough innovators? Far, far away. According to Nielsen, companies with an off-site Blue Sky innovation team report 5.7 percent of revenues coming from new products, compared to 4.8 percent from companies with no Blue Sky team at all. Companies with Blue Sky teams on site report just 2.7 percent of revenues coming from new products.

“One of the keys to successful new product innovation is to manage new ideas lightly,” said Tom Agan, Nielsen MD. “While we don’t dispute senior management’s strengths and good intentions, they are often too quick to get involved in the creative process, especially when things are not going well, and their mere presence can stifle free-thinking and boundaryless ideas – which can doom the new product development process to failure.”

Senior management needs to play a different, more important role in new product development. Nielsen’s research shows that another important key to success is for senior management to precisely manage the new product development process, not the ideas themselves. According to Nielsen, CPG companies with rigid stage gates – decision points in the process where a new product idea must pass certain criteria to proceed forward – average 130 percent more new product revenue than companies with loose processes.

“New product development success comes down to two important principles – managing ideas lightly while managing the process precisely,” said Agan.

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GUEST POST from Paul Sloane

Siemens have published a detailed report on Open Innovation. It contains many interesting points including a report from Grant Thornton on the sources of ideas. Their survey revealed that the best sources of ideas were as follows as rated by percentage of respondents:

• Customers 41%
• Heads of Business Units 35%
• Employees 33%
• Internal R&D 33%
• CEO 27%
• Partners & Suppliers 26%
• Sales 17%

Do you work with customers on a systematic basis as a source of innovation?

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GUEST POST from Paul Sloane

Forget What the ‘Experts’ Say

by Paul Sloane

Experts tend to be notoriously wrong in their assumptions, especially regarding the impact of new technologies. So don’t focus your strategy or innovation efforts on their perception of what the future will – or won’t – look like. In face, the greater the expert, the more wrong they can be, either in their assumptions or their negative reactions to new ideas. Here are some classic examples:

1. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), the celebrated English diarist, wrote the following comments on seeing plays by Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet – “the worst play I ever saw in my life”, A Midsummer Night”s Dream – “the most insipid, ridiculous play”, Twelfth Night – “a silly play.”
2. Dr. Dionysius Lardner (1793-1859), professor of natural history and astronomy at London University, warned that railway trains traveling at speed would asphyxiate their passengers through lack of air. He also stated that no steamship would be able to cross the Atlantic because it would need more coal than it could carry without sinking.
3. Simon Newcomb (1835-1909), the leading US astronomer of his time and a professor of astronomy and mathematics, declared that flight by heavier-than-air objects was completely impossible. After the Wright brothers made their first flights he still claimed that airplanes were impractical and worthless.
4. Ernst Werner von Siemens (1816-1892), the great German engineer who developed the telegraph industry and founded the company bearing his name, declared, “Electric light will never take the place of gas.”
5. Charles Duell was Commissioner at the US Patents Office who in 1899 gave his opinion that, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
6. Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) was the eminent British physicist who pioneered nuclear physics, discovered the alpha particle and developed the nuclear theory of atomic structure. He refused to believe that nuclear energy could be harnessed and described ideas for nuclear power as “moonshine”.
7. Lord Kelvin (1866-1892) was a distinguished British mathematician and physicist who developed the law of conservation of energy. The Kelvin scale of absolute temperature is named after him. He scoffed at the idea of radio and stated, “Radio has no future.” He also said, “X-rays will prove to be a hoax.”
8. H.G. Wells (1866-1946) the eminent British author and one of the first science fiction writers said in 1902, “I refuse to see any sort of submarine doing anything except suffocating its crew and floundering at sea.”
9. General Douglas Haig (1861 -1928) the commander of the British Army in WWI said in 1914 of the machine gun, “Make no mistake, this weapon will change absolutely nothing.”
10. In 1927, H.M Warner of Warner Brothers asked, “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”
11. Irving Fisher was Professor of Economics at Yale University. In 1929 he pronounced, “Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.”
12. Dr Albert Einstein said in 1932, “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.”
13. Admiral William Leahy (1875-1959) told President Truman in 1945, “The atomic bomb will not go off and I speak as an expert in explosives.”
14. Rex Lambert, Editor of The Listener, wrote in 1936, “Television won”t matter in your lifetime or mine.”
15. John Langdon-Davies, fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute opined in 1936, “By 1960 work will be limited to three hours a day.”
16. Sir Richard Woolley was the British Astronomer-Royal who declared in 1956 that, “Space travel is utter bilge.”
17. Don Rowe was the director of Decca Records who turned down the Beatles. He said to their promoter, Brian Epstein, “We don”t like your boys” sound. Groups of guitarists are on the way out.”
18. Frank Sinatra in 1957 stated, “Rock and Roll is phony. It”s sung, written and played by cretinous goons.”
19. Ken Olson, CEO of DEC said in 1977, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”
20. Bill Gates stated in 1981, “640k ought to be enough for anybody.”

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GUEST POST from Paul Sloane

This is the third of several ‘Innovation Perspectives‘ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘What are three specific actions that a non-innovative company can take to become more innovative?’. Here is the next perspective in the series:

by Paul Sloane

Three things your organization can do to become more innovative:

1. Set goals for innovation in terms of new products, services, methods, ideas etc and incorporate them into the the objectives of all the senior team.
2. Establish and resource an employee ideas scheme. Encourage suggestions on specific topics. Ensure all ideas are quickly evaluated and the best are implemented.
3. Allocate time, money and people to innovation. Give people some time for brainstorming and experimentation. Appoint innovation champions to help drive through the best ideas.

You can check out all of the ‘Innovation Perspectives‘ articles from the different contributing authors on ‘What are three specific actions that a non-innovative company can take to become more innovative?’ by clicking the link in this sentence.

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GUEST POST from Paul Sloane

There is a right way and a wrong way to run a brainstorm or ideation meeting. A little preparation pays dividends. It is very important to separate the two phases of the meeting. The first part of the meeting is idea generation when you use divergent thinking. The second part is idea selection when you use convergent thinking. Here are my top tips for a meeting that will produce great ideas:

Before the meeting

Choose a diverse group. Six to ten people is ideal. If at all possible bring in some provocative outsiders to challenge the conventional thinking in your team.

Appoint a facilitator. Ideally the facilitator should be external to the group. They can use different techniques to manage the process. The manager is often a poor choice for this role as they cannot stop themselves shaping the content.

Meet off-site. Getting away from the office somehow helps to break conventional thinking. Unusual locations are good. I have run ideation meetings in a zoo, a museum, an art gallery and a castle.

Idea generation using divergent thinking

Suspend judgment. No one is allowed to criticize or even discuss an idea. As ideas are expressed they are simply recorded. This can be done on post-its, lap-tops or flip charts but no fault-finding or comments are allowed to slow the process of idea flow.

Go for quantity. Quantity leads to quality in brainstorms so don’t stop until you have a large number of ideas – typically 60 to 100 or more.

Go beyond reason. Wild ideas are useful because they challenge boundaries and provoke other fresh ideas. It is easier to tame a wild idea than to inject something radical into a bland one.

Ride on other people’s Ideas. When one person suggests a creative concept others should chip in with extensions, developments and specific ways to make it happen. Piggyback on each other’s notions.

Displace people out of routine thinking. There are many good techniques to do this – some of my favorites are Random Word, Similes, Pass the Parcel or SCAMPER.

Idea selection using convergent thinking

Set criteria. Make an initial sift of the ideas using some broad criteria agreed with the group. For example we want ideas that will please customers, increase awareness and can be implemented in the next 12 months.

Discuss the short list. When you are down to say 10 or 12 good ideas then discuss them constructively. Sometimes there is a clear consensus as to which are the best. Sometimes you might want to vote to see which are the most popular. Whittle the list down to a handful of really good ideas.

Assign actions. Start the ball rolling by assigning follow-up actions for the best ideas. Add them to your to do list and make sure they are expedited. The brainstorm is worthwhile only if it delivers actions.

You should run regular brainstorm meetings with your team. They should be fun and motivational for people. They can deliver the ideas and innovations you need to transform your organization.

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GUEST POST from Paul Sloane

All action and no thinking is bad; so too is all thinking and no action. The search for perfection can easily lead to procrastination. Because we cannot conceive an ideal solution we keep searching and searching. We use one thinking tool after another and fall into paralysis by analysis. For most situations in life, there is a time for thought and a time for action. Here are some tips for overcoming the roadblock of procrastination.

Ask yourself, ‘Why am I stuck?’

If you are stuck in a rut then ask yourself why this has happened. Are you baffled by the problem? Are you scared of taking action? Are you lazy? Are you waiting for perfection? Are you worried about the costs or risks of taking action? Is there something in your mood or emotions that is holding you back? Be ruthlessly honest with yourself. Write down the reasons for your procrastination and you will see that most of them are feeble excuses. Focus on the serious issues and find ways to overcome them. Solve this problem the same way you solve other problems – with critical analysis and creative thinking.

Admit that it is all right not to know

Sometimes we have to admit to ourselves that it is all right not to know the answer. We cannot be right all the time and we cannot know everything. It is better to acknowledge that we do not have the solution right now and move forward on that basis than to wait eternally for the correct solution to appear.

Don’t wait for perfection

The perfect can be the enemy of the good. If we keep searching for the perfect partner, the perfect house, the perfect job we can find that life has passed us by. We can strive for perfection but we must recognise that, although the journey is worthwhile, we will never arrive at the destination. Constant improvement is a generally a better goal than outright perfection. If we are moving in the right direction then we will get somewhere useful. There is a saying that is used to inspire writers, ‘Don’t get it right, get it written.’ It means that it is better to start writing and then correct and improve what you have done rather than to wait until you have completed all the research and planning you can possibly do.

Phone a Friend

Use a coach, mentor or friend as a sounding board. Discuss the issue with them and openly share the problem that you have in moving forward. Choose someone who is discreet, honest and forthright. You need someone objective who can challenge your views and thinking. They will often suggest ideas or actions that can help. If you now agree to do certain things it is more likely that you will complete them because you do not want to admit to your friend the next time you see them that you have done nothing.

Remind yourself of the benefits

Write down the benefits that will flow from completing the task. Perhaps it will help your finances, your prestige, your career, your relationships, your family, your social life, your health, your self-esteem. Each benefit is a reason for action. Follow this up with a list of the consequences if you fail to complete the task. Who suffers? How would you feel? Many people are more motivated by avoiding risks and negative consequences than by the rewards of achievement so look at it both ways.

Do something – get into motion

There are times when it is very difficult if not impossible to make the right decision. Under these circumstances you have two major options. You can keep analysing, keep thinking, keep talking, look for more information and wait to see if things become clearer. Or you can deliberately take some action, see what happens and then revisit the decision. One question that can help you when faced with these two options is this, ‘What is the worst that can happen if I take this action?’ If there is a risk that you could lose your job, ruin your relationship or start a war then the action is almost certainly unwise. If the risk is manageable then you should consider action rather than inaction. Doing something produces momentum; it gives you a different view of the situation and injects some energy. The important thing is to watch what happens and be prepared to change direction if necessary.

Set goals

A great way to overcome procrastination is to articulate your goals. Break them down into manageable targets and write them down.

Share your goals and actions

Once we have told someone we are going to do something we are more likely to do it. The sense of commitment and obligation is higher. Share your goals and targets with someone supportive. Sometimes they can be a partner in the activity. It is easier to go jogging in all weathers if you and your neighbour have a regular commitment to jog together. Share your goals and achievements. Celebrate every small success. It will keep you motivated.

Pause, don’t stop

We should think in terms of a pause, not a stop. This may seem like semantics but the difference in mental approach is crucial. Whereas we can stop for an indefinitely long period, we pause with the deliberate intention of moving forward again soon. Brilliant thinkers spend time thinking and because of that they come up with more and better ideas. They select the best ideas and then put them into action.

Mentally Rehearse then Act

Many studies have found that people who mentally rehearse an action do significantly better than those who do not. The subconscious mind it powerful and it retains the positive images of the mental rehearsal. Before a presentation, a business meeting, a speech, a golf shot, a musical recital or an interview practise the event in your mind. Imagine a perfect performance. Go through all the keep aspects in your mind. Feel the sensation of success. This will bolster your self-confidence and dramatically increase the level of your real achievement. Mentally rehearse the action then act.

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GUEST POST from Paul Sloane

How is an Invention Different from an Innovation?

Discussions about innovation are often made difficult because people are unclear about the exact meanings of some key terms. In particular there is confusion about the difference between creativity, innovation and invention. Let us start with some definitions:

• “Creativity is the capability or act of conceiving something original or unusual.”
• “Innovation is the implementation of something new.”
• “Invention is the creation of something that has never been made before and is recognized as the product of some unique insight.”

If you have a brainstorm meeting and dream up dozens of new ideas then you have displayed creativity but there is no innovation until something gets implemented. Somebody has to take a risk and deliver something for a creative idea to be turned into an innovation. An invention might be a product or device or method that has never existed before. So every invention is an innovation. But every innovation is not an invention. When your company first published its website that was a major innovation for the company even though many other websites already existed.

We tend to think of an innovation as a new product but you can innovate with a new process, method, business model, partnership, route to market or marketing method. Indeed every aspect of your business operation is a candidate for innovation. Peter Drucker said, ‘Every organization must prepare for the abandonment of everything it does.’ So do not restrict your vision of innovation to products. Some of the most powerful innovations you can make are in business methods and customer services. If we look at companies like Dell, eBay and Amazon we see that their great innovations were with their business models rather than in new products.

Innovations can be incremental or radical. Every improvement that you make in products or services can be seen as an incremental innovation. Most businesses and most managers are good at incremental innovation.

They see problems in the current set-up and they fix them. Radical innovations involve finding an entirely new way to do things. As such they are often risky and difficult to implement. Most larger organizations and most managers are poor at radical innovation. If you had been making LP records then you could have introduced incremental innovations in your design and marketing. However if this was your strategy then a radical innovation, the CD, would eventually kill you. The CD manufacturer could similarly introduce various incremental improvements. Once again a radical innovation, music downloads over the internet, would make your offering obsolete. So we need to constantly look for incremental innovations and radical innovations. We need to develop creativity and turn it quickly into innovation.

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Botanists, Television, and the iPad

by Paul Sloane

Liquid crystals were discovered in 1888 and are now used in most TVs and computers (including the iPad).

Liquid crystals represent a state of matter which exists between solid and liquid states. They were first discovered in 1888 by Austrian botanist Friedrich Reinitzer who was studying cholesterol at the Charles University in Prague. Reinitzer described three important features of cholesteric liquid crystals; the existence of two melting points, the reflection of polarized light and the ability to rotate the polarization direction of light. These discoveries remained of academic interest only until they were put to practical use some 80 years later when teams at RCA Labs and Kent State independently created early liquid crystal displays by manipulating the crystals with electrical charges. The displays first appeared in digital clocks and watches, but in 1984 LCD resolution improved to the point where it could display images instead of mere text, allowing computer makers to create lightweight laptops and free PC users from their desks.

There are two instructive lessons in discovery and innovation here. The first it that it often takes a long time between the initial discovery of a principle and its application in a product. The second is that a botanist discovered something that was eventually developed into a product by physicists and engineers. It is at the intersection of the sciences that some of the greatest innovations happen.

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GUEST POST from Paul Sloane

This problem analysis method examines an issue from twelve different viewpoints. It is based on the words of the poem by Rudyard Kipling:

I keep six honest serving men, they taught me all I knew.

Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

We probe the topic using these questioning words from a positive and negative perspective. The issue is defined as a question and then 12 sheets of flip chart paper are arranged around the room. On each sheet one of the 12 questions is written as the heading and the team then comes up with answers to that question. Suppose the issue is, ‘How can we improve customer service in our retail centres?’ The questions could be constructed as follows:

1. What is good customer service?
2. What is not good customer service? (Or what is bad customer service?)
3. Why do we get good customer services?
4. Why do we get bad customer service?
5. When is there good customer service?
6. When is there bad customer service?
7. How do we get good customer service?
8. How do we get bad customer service?
9. Where is there good customer service?
10. Where is there bad customer service?
11. Who gives good customer service?
12. Who gives poor customer service?

By repeatedly approaching the questions of good service and bad service and by forcing people to come up with new answers and inputs a broad picture is painted of the issue and the underlying factors. The ideas on the sheets are analyzed, prioritized and combined to give a deeper understanding of the problem and some insights as to why it is happening. These ideas then become the starting point for a plan to address the issue.

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