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Have you ever needed a quick and tangible way to illustrate that there may be more than one solution to a problem? This might just be the example you need.

Start with three squares of paper. The Problem: each square of paper needs to be divided into 4 parts. The goal is for each part to be equal. So, after you have folded the paper each section of the paper will be the same size, same shape, and same volume as the other 3 parts.

The illustration above shows 3 solutions, each following the rules but each having a very different outcome. One is a square, another a triangle, the third a rectangle.

This excercise is useful for two reasons. First, it helps an individual or a group physically experience an abstract concept; the concept being that there can be more than one acceptable solution to a problem.

Secondly, This example has a very good problem statement so it’s a great way to set up people’s thinking about defining problems before they tackle solutions.

I’ll cover problem statements in a the next post.

Tags: solution, tools

I’ve been reading two books recently and picked up a theme from both that’s worth mentioning.

In Chip and Dan Heath’s book “Made to Stick” they talk about the Curse of Knowledge. In short this is the assumption that other people know what you know, or the inability to see things as other people might.

In Edward De Bono’s “Thinking Course” he talks about the Intelligence Trap and two ways that it manifests it’s self. The first is that intelligent people take a position and use their intelligence to defend that point of view. Equally, the speed in which an intelligent person can dispose of another’s argument simply reinforces the original position. And there’s the trap!

Does this imply that creativity and innovations come from those who are less intelligent? Not really. What it does say is that you need to look out for embedded attitudes that might be inhibiting your creativity.

Have you ever listened to or read an interview of a successful person where they’ve said “If I’d known then what I know now I probably wouldn’t have done it.” What got them through the hard time and past the failures? Was it simply naivety, was it just guts and determination, or was it a grand vision. It was probably all of those things and more. They certainly broke out of the Intelligence Trap and shattered the Curse of Knowledge.

How did they break the trap and shatter the curse? I think it was Openness. They were able to look for and consider alternate view points. They did it by challenging assumptions about the current state. They did it with passion, not for their current position but for finding something new, something not yet discovered.

Tags: creativity, thinking

Mind mapping has been around for years and it’s a terrific tool for expanding ideas. They are great for working through all the thinking associated with a specific idea and putting it into some sort of order.

What I’ve been looking for though is something that allows me to collect a bunch of related ideas and organise them. I’ve needed something that allows me to get the thoughts out of my head and on to something I can work with. For that task Mind Maps don’t quite work for me. In the past I’ve tended to use paper and pens or Post-its (nothing wrong with that), and sometimes PowerPoint.

I’ve recently discovered a great (free) tool that allows me to collect my ideas and organise my thinking into a concept map - a new term for me. From the concept map I can take the key concepts and expand and refine them as mind maps. The mind maps allow me to sort, categorise and expand sub-ordinate thoughts; I can document these into very specific outputs and actions.

The following is a concept map that shows the process and the relationships between Concept Maps and Mind Maps.

InnovationTools provides entrepreneurs and innovators with a focused, growing collection of the best resources on business innovation, creativity and brainstorming. Our goal is to help you to learn more about the tools, strategies and techniques you can use to be more creative in your business — and to help your company to increase its capacity for innovation and change.

Tags: brainstorming, concept maps, ideas, mind maps, toolbox

In two recent posts I introduced very different examples of innovations - one was very practical, the other a very powerful concept.

The first was SPIN Farming which is a very practical, powerful, and profitable approach to small scale farming. The second was a short video introducing the Girl Effect; which is the concept that improving (saving) a girl’s life has exponential effect on her, her family, and her community.

What is interesting about these two innovations is that they have been arrived at from two completely different directions.

SPIN Farming is the build up of one concept upon another. The innovation comes as concepts have combined and been adapted within their new environment. In this instance the innovation is cumulative.

If we look at the “Girl Effect” I think that the starting point was a mass of research, observations, data and overwhelming everyday problems. The Girl Effect is a distillation of all of that until a single succinct diamond of a concept was exposed - save a girl, change the world.

That single line ties everything else together. Examine any element of the Girl Effect material and that single phase jumps out at you.

So why is this helpful? It illustrates that inspiration, ideas, creativity, and innovation can come from everywhere, from every direction. It can be a sequential building of a core idea or it can be refinement of much information down to a core concept.

What is valuable here is to acknowledge that innovation has many sources. Perhaps opening up our awareness and improving our skill at recognising those sources is one of the key tools in the innovator’s toolbox.

Tags: creativity, toolbox

I recently wrote a post about collecting ideas. In that post I listed some reasons why collecting ideas and reviewing them can be a great source of inspiration when you need a creative push.

One of the inspiration techniques I suggested was to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into a new solution. It’s interesting when you see an innovation that has combines several ideas or trends to solve a problem, provide a solution, or approach an existing situation in an innovative way.

The concept of SPIN Farming is a fascinating example of how trends or ideas from unrelated areas have been applied to small scale farming.

I’m not suggesting that the inspiration for SPIN Farming came directly from looking outside of agriculture for new ideas, however it is a good example of trends from other industries combining to enable a whole new approach - in this case applied to farming. SPIN Farming is not a return to the methods of our grandparents, but a total re-think and application of new methods.

So what is SPIN Farming? SPIN stands for S-mall P-lot IN-tensive

SPIN is a non-technical, easy-to-learn and inexpensive-to-implement farming system that makes it possible to earn significant income from land bases under an acre in size. Whether you are new to farming, or want to farm in a new way, SPIN can work for you because:

• Its precise revenue targeting formulas and organic-based techniques make it possible to gross $50,000+ from a half- acre.
• You don’t need to own land. You can affordably rent a small piece of land adequate in size for SPIN-FARMING production.

What trends and ideas do we see applied in the SPIN method? An obvious trend is miniaturization. This directly challenges the large scale corporate farming practices and makes sub-acre sites into profitable enterprises. It even looks fun. Over the last two decades enhancements in technology have taken the power of large enterprise main frame computers down to very portable powerful and affordable laptop and hand held devices.

In recent years micro-financing has been very successfully applied in some of the worlds poorest communities. Again, this is an example of the large “lending beast” being scaled down, made more user friendly and made accessible to people who really need it.

Localization is another trend at work here. Farmers markets and localised produce have become very popular in many heavily urbanised areas. Interestingly there are many parts of the world where weekly local markets have never been out of fashion.

There are also similarities in the SPIN approach to just-in-time manufacturing processes. Conventional farmers sow a large crop at one time, then harvest a large crop at one time. The spin methodology has sequential sowing and sequential harvesting. The harvest is just enough to fulfil the market demand with no loss in productivity.

We can see that the SPIN farming technique combines several ideas that exist in other industries; miniaturization, localisation, and just in time production.

So what can you be inspired to do by looking around, observing, and collecting ideas. What ideas from outside your industry can be sliced and diced, combined, and applied to your business or project. Where will your next innovation come from?

Tags: innovation

How do you take a very simple idea and turn it into something very powerful and very moving? Watch this video and see.

Tags: inspiration

We’ve all done it, scanned the shelves of an airport Bookshop looking for something life changing to read while trapped up in the air. Last week I flew between New Zealand and Australia which took 3 and a half hours. Before I boarded the flight I brought a book called The Idea Accelerator by Ken Hudson.

Physically it’s a smallish book but it’s really packed with fantastic easy to implement approaches to quickly generate, build, and evaluate ideas.

The essence of Ken’s book is fast paced idea generation, of thinking as quickly as you can without judgement. Evaluation does come later and the book contains 10 tools for doing so.

The Idea Accelerator focuses on problem solving and if you think about it - anytime you have an idea or need to be creative it is to solve a problem of some sort. Problems are not all the same of course, and there are lots that are not even urgent or important to solve. Regardless of the size or shape of your problems generating ideas to address them does not have to be time consuming or hard work.

During my flight I worked my way through each of the sixty idea acceleration tools frantically making notes on how I’d apply them in my work environment. If you see this book grab it. Take a look a Ken’s the speed thinking zone website too.

Speed Thinking
How to Thrive in a Time-Poor World
The Speed Thinking Zone is a space where you can learn more about, practice and use your Speed Thinking Skills to help you thrive in a time-poor world. Learning how to think better and quicker is a far better option than working longer or attending an old-fashioned time management course. This means that you can achieve more in a shorter period of time.

Tags: creativity, ideas, inspiration

Ideas may seem like strange things to collect but if you’re interested in creativity and innovation you’re probably subconsciously doing it already.

Somewhere in your brain (probably scattered about) you already have the memories of things that intrigued you. Remember all those times you’ve tried to recall a great idea and wanted to share or apply it and couldn’t recall where you saw or heard it.

I borrow an idea from the advertising world and it’s called a Swipe file. It’s a pretty simple idea – just write down the idea, the website name, the book name, or whatever and keep it so you can refer back to it. So do I have a messy pile of scrap paper and curled up Post It’s in the corner of my office? Yeah, sometimes, but I regularly sort them and put them in a folder.

I have a blank form that I transfer, staple, or stick the original notes to. I refer to my folder regularly and I’m always surprised how a solution manifests from the least likely connections.

So why should you collect ideas. Here are a few reasons that spring to mind, though I’m sure there are plenty more.

• It prompts you to think differently about the things you see and hear.
• It allows you to look at seemingly unrelated things and make a connection.
• It helps develops your sense of what is a good or useful idea.
• It allows you to see how your thinking “maturity” grows.
• It gives you a ready source of inspiration and problem solving triggers.
• It trains your thinking and creativity “muscles”.
• It can help you to spot trends.
• And, once you’ve recorded your idea it “releases that brain space” for something else.

Happy collecting.

Tags: connections, ideas, inspiration

thinking how is a journey, though the destination is not quite clear yet.

It is a journey to look at how ideas become ideas, and what do we do with them.

It is a journey that will ask -

• Is creativity and innovation learnable?
• How do we leap from thinking to doing?
• Can thinkers “do”, and can doers “think”?
• Are ideas, creativity and innovation spontaneous or are they a process.

I suspect that the answers will lie somewhere in between the extremes. I’m sure too that the questions will evolve as the journey progresses.

Come join me.

Tags: creativity, ideas, innovation, thinkers