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Inspiring Creativity | Organizational Culture

This book review was an assignment for my recent MBA course on Organizational Change. The read/write was simply fun! People write books to put their thoughts and ideas into words. Books are made up of words and words are symbols. Books will be sold and authors will make money. People read books to be entertained, to relax and to learn. Not every book is well written and informative. Books populate our university libraries, decorate our coffee tables, line our bookshelves, and others stack up on our night tables. Some books end up in the front of a bookstore bargain rack and some books end up in the Good Will Bin. Some books will make the digital path onto our e readers. People read books for many reasons and people write books for many reasons. A book about the creative process of innovation is a rare treat. The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm, written by Tom Kelley, provides a blueprint for managers who must innovate to survive. Kelley is the general manger of IDEO, a company that is recognized as a leader in innovative design. He positions himself as an expert in the field, convices clients to use their methods and inspires us to think out-of-the box.

Michaelangelo, Van Gogh, Brams, and Bob Dylan did not write books about their work while Martha Stewart just keeps publishing. Once our society achieved industrial maturity, we found time to be creative and not just survive. Perhaps we gained insight from a letter or a biography. Although innovation is far from a commodity, design thinking to fuel innovation is within everyone’s grasp. The folks at IDEO survive to create.

1. INNOVATION AT THE TOP: According to Kelley, Innovation was not always a Silicon Valley “hot topic.”  Companies outsourced product development for four reasons: raw capacity, speed, expertise and innovation. Kelley contends that innovation is now at the top of this list. He attributes a blend of methodologies, work practices, culture and infrastructure as the formula that has worked for IDEO. This mix includes understanding the market, observing real people, visualizing, evaluating and refining, and implementing to bring order to apparent creative chaos.

2. WINGING IT IN START-UP MODE: a very short synopsis of who and when.

3. INNOVATION BEGINS WITH AN EYE: “If you are not in the jungle, you are not going to know the tiger” and the importance of “focused observation”,  “listening to kids”, “learning from people who break the rules”, and “seeing things as verbs.”

4. THE PERFECT BRAINSTORM: “Brainstorming is the idea engine of Ideo Culture” and the seven secrets for better brainstorming include: sharpen the focus, playful rules, number your ideas,  build and jump, the space remembers, stretch your mental muscle, and get physical. If you want to kill a brainstorm: the boss gets to speak first, everybody gets a turn, experts only, do it off-site, no silly stuff, and write down everything.

5. A COOL COMPANY NEEDS HOT GROUPS: get the right people, empower teams with the help of “crazy deadlines” and “seemingly unreachable goals.” Characters for hot groups include: the troubleshooter, iconoclast, pulse taker craftsman, technologist, entrepreneur and the cross-dresser.

6. PROTOTYPING IS THE SHORTHAND OF INNOVATION: prototyping is iterative problem solving, a culture and a language and better than pictures. Kelley tells a fascinating story about how Amazon’s Jeff Bezos urgently forged his way from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

7. BUILD YOUR GREENHOUSE: tear down the walls, don’t take the space seriously, and keep an eye on the body language of your company and have a story-telling entrance.

8. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED: subscribe and surf, play director, hold an open house, inspire advocates, hire outsides, change hats, and cross train to cross pollinate.

9. BARRIER JUMPING: don’t skate over cultural differences and understand market adoption.

10. CREATING EXPERIENCES FOR FUN AND PROFIT: new uses for what exists.

11. ZERO TO SIXTY:  speed counts.

12. COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES: rules are bureaucratic.

13. IN SEARCH OF THE “WET NAP INTERFACE”: keep it simple and fight feature creep.

14. LIVE THE FUTURE: don’t imitate competitors and use visual prototyping.

15. GETTING IN THE SWING: watch, play, think verbs, break rules, be human, and build bridges.

Breaking down Kelley’s book chapter by chapter was extremely helpful for me because I now have a “must do guideline” that I can use to introduce, present, inform, motivate, and hopefully lead change which is inspired by innovation. In our class we are using  The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations. I’ll post some insights on this great volume shortly.  When I first read Kotter’s Eight Steps I actually thought, “How disappointingly linear” and found the stories not particularly relevant and not specific. Now, however, I appreciate the brilliance of Kotter’s structure because I have come to realize that taking steps is ingrained behavior and hard-wired from an evolutionary perspective. I once worked with a manager who kept saying “we need to take little bites out of the elephant” but failed to realize that “she was the elephant” and that she needed to take “little steps” and “lead by example.” Steps can be an efficient way to get to the next level. I like how Kelley uses the metaphor of an escalator (moving steps) as a more efficient and effective corporate transport method. Kotter’s  steps: Increase Urgency, Build the Guiding Team, Get the Vision Right, Communicate for Buy-In, Empower Action, Create Short-Term Wins, Don’t Let Up, and Make Change Stick (Kotter, 2002) are very organized and direct and his book, more than coincidentally was published the year of Kelley’s. The approaches are similar: lists, steps, and stories although Kelley focuses on innovation and Kotter focuses on change and the two are not identical. Change Management is a broad concept which has strategic implications for an organization and can be achieved using various models and techniques. Innovation is a proactive response to an environmental condition and is becomes part of a change strategy.

IDEO is an acclaimed and fascinating company.  The first five chapters were extremely valuable because David Kelley provides lots of lists and steps which articulate the essence of innovation with particular regard to design. His stories are very interesting and inspiring. How many people actually know that Jeff Bezos of Amazon drove across America and made desks from doors? I believe in the power of story telling to move and inspire people and it is important for the story to have a purpose.

Opening each chapter with a color photo seemed compelling. For example, the photo of the elephant and the mouse which opens Chapter 8 was technically and metaphorically perfect. I think it is very hard for a book which focuses extensively on innovation to remain relevant when the pace of innovation is accelerated from sheer necessity because of the maturity of capitalism and consumer wants and tastes.  This book accomplishes just that. The chapters in the first half of this book show us the what, the why and the how. Kelley provides actionable insights in a simple, straightforward manner. The who is probably more important for those who cannot imagine easily and need concrete examples for inspiration and guidance because people need real stories to inspire them.

Kelley’s book stimulated me in additional ways. I went online and visited Ideo’s brilliantly designed, user friendly website: www.ideo.com. I downloaded their company fact sheet, a well designed and informative one-page PDF. Ideo’s client page visually showcased the projects for over twenty companies. This compelling screen was followed by an alphabetized industry list which expanded to impressive client lists. I visited their very professional video channel: http://vimeo.com/channels/ideo. The c60 Redux Music Player is nothing short of brilliant because it looks like a traditional vinyl record turntable and puts physicality back into playing music while providing the component of digital mix.  I shopped at the Apple App Store on my iphone, found great games for kids designed by Ideo, and downloaded Ideo’s Free Deck of Design Cards onto my phone. I listened to Ideo’s CEO, Tim Brown urge designers to think big at TEDGlobal 2009. The digital delivery of their message is consistently compelling, brilliant, entertaining, inspiring and visually rich. Kelley’s book, The Art of Innovation simply put me on a new path. The moment I finish this report, I will start reading Tim Brown’s book, Change by Design. I operated a successful floral design company for fifteen years in New Haven, Connecticut, am a published photographer and an award winning graphic designer. My urge to create comes from within and started at an early age. I enjoy helping people and relish the opportunities when my energy and vision inspire them to think in new ways.
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Citations
Kelly, T. (2001) The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm. New York: Doubleday.
Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.

 

August 8, 2011 Posted by | holistic marketing, internet marketing, just for fun | Leave a Comment

   

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