Continuing the conversation about “When Cars Poop” from last week, my goal is to help people think differently, more innovatively, and to have some fun. Along the way, we’ll introduce some innovation tools and skills.
Call Us: 508.359.6048
Call Us: 508.359.6048
Continuing the conversation about “When Cars Poop” from last week, my goal is to help people think differently, more innovatively, and to have some fun. Along the way, we’ll introduce some innovation tools and skills.
Topics: critical ideation skills, creative thinking, Innovation, strategic innovation, creative problem solving skills, brainstorming, creative thinking skills, approximate thinking, sustainability, technical innovation
Topics: creativity, facilitation, Clay Maxwell, Innovation, Collaboration
Hu-mor-ous ba-zoo-ka (hew’mer-us be-zoo’ka), n. 1. a funny, witty comment that, intentionally or unintentionally, shoots down another person’s idea. 2. innovation killer
Think back to the last brainstorming session in which you participated, where the goal was to come up with innovative ideas for your business. How many creative ideas were put forth for the group’s consideration? How many of those really new ones survives the barrage of negativity and doubt that usually greets new concepts? And, of the ideas that did survive, how many have been implemented for are still moving in that direction? Very likely, few made it into development and fewer still—if any—actually are on their way to market. You’ve got the creativity part down; you just haven’t learned how to be innovative!
If your company is typical, I’ll wager that plenty of good ideas surfaces during the brainstorming but few, if any, of the truly breakthrough ones made it out of the room alive. Most of the truly new ideas were probably shot down with a barrage of humorous bazookas—the act of shooting down another’s idea with a witty barb.
This tendency to lob verbal grenades at new ideas has been and still remains so pervasive that I coined the term The Bazooka Syndrome in 1982, when I first began my career as a creative problem-solving facilitator. Every time I have described this behavior to a new group of people, it has hit a responsive chord. Everyone instantly identifies with The Bazooka Syndrome because we have all been hit by these verbal missiles. And most people will also admit, with shamed faces, that they have been guilty of using bazookas on the ideas of others (colleagues, spouses, kids, family, and friends).
The Bazooka Syndrome captures what we unintentionally, but instinctively, do to new ideas. We make fun of them. We point out every single problem. We end up annihilating them. We point out every single problem. We end up annihilating them, all in the spirit of constructive flaw-finding and, allegedly, idea improvement.
For creative people who are good at generating fresh ideas, being hit by a bazooka blast is enormously discouraging. Frustration abounds in organizations that are skilled at dreaming up new ideas yet ineffective at protecting them from the bazooka wielders that exist everywhere.
It’s very discouraging to watch competitors successfully launch innovations based on ideas you tossed around but failed to pursue because you were gunned down by a bazooka. Are the phrases “Gee, we thought of that months (or years!) ago” and “we tried that but couldn’t make it work” commonly heard within the walls of your organization? If so, your company is undoubtedly populated by bazooka experts and, as a result, is short on innovation.
Topics: Mark Sebell, Innovation, creative problem solving, humorous bazooka
What if Henry Ford got it wrong?
Topics: Jay Terwilliger, creative, Innovation, breakthrough innovation
Topics: creativity, Clay Maxwell, trends, Innovation, Collaboration
A client recently impressed me with their willingness to use a powerful word that is rarely allowed to enter into the pursuit of innovation: the word "STOP." So often, innovation efforts are focused exclusively around invention sessions that lay out all sorts of potential new possibilities and opportunities. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement and wonder of it all. Invention is the fun part.
Topics: Chris Dolan, Stop innovation, Resource Allocation, Saying No, implementation
Today is Shel Silverstein's unbirthday and to celebrate I am dedicating today's post to him.
Topics: Amanda Hines, WildCards, creative thinking, Collaboration, brainstorming
In a recent workshop I was asked this question: “If you could only share one thing that executive decision-makers must learn if they are to get what they expect from their innovation investments what would it be?” I didn’t hesitate for a second. I immediately flashed this hockey graphic onto the wall. They thought I was nuts.
Topics: Mark Sebell, Innovation Strategy, Innovation Metaphor, Innovation Metrics
Topics: Jay Terwilliger, levels of innovation, 3 levels, three levels, defining innovation, innovation language, Creating an Innovation Team, Collaboration, breakthrough innovation, leadership, strategic innovation, criteria for innovation, decision-making, Creating an Innovation agenda, platform thinking, disruptive innovation
A couple years back, my friend Bobby had made the connection of using the “power” of mood rings to help the parents of children with [but not limited to] Autism by indicating the child’s mood before a tantrum occurs, when an extra cuddle may be needed, or when they were simply in a great mood. He shared this idea with his family and friends, including fellow entrepreneurs, who unanimously shot his idea down [a.k.a. Bazooka!]. They all told him that he wasn’t being PC, it would be scoffed at by parents and the medical community alike, the 70’s were over and he needed to move on- and so forth. Feeling foolish (and a bit dejected), Bobby abandoned the idea and shifted his focus to other happenings in life.
Topics: open-minded evaluation, Amanda Hines, ban the bazooka, Innovation, creative problem solving
