Welcome to the November BRAINSTORM. Here are some ideas I hope you'll find stimulating.
1. THE SECRETS OF BREAKTHROUGHS
What's the secret of major breakthroughs in the sciences? Roger Hollingsworth's study of institutions that have won the Nobel and other Major prizes yielded some answers:
* Flexibility is essential. The winning institutions tend to be organised loosely and can respond quickly to new developments.
* Cross-fertilisation. Communication and collaboration between different departments has been crucial.
* Enthusiasm for the work. Often breakthrough ideas have come up outside of working hours. The most dedicated scientists think about their studies all the time, even dream about them.
* Curiosity. The winning scientists don't dismiss interesting "mistakes" or unexpected outcomes, they pursue them.
IDEA: Even though you're probably not working in the sciences, take a moment to consider how these keys to success could work for you:
Are you and your company sufficiently flexible, or do you tend to do things by habit or by the book?
Do you get enough input from people, publications, and other sources outside your immediate speciality?
Are you sufficiently enthused about your work? If not, how could you awaken (or re-awaken) your enthusiasm? When things go wrong, are you sufficiently curious to see whether something
useful might come out of mistakes or unexpected events?
2: DEADLINES: THE MOTHER OF INVENTION
The patents granted in the United States are given for a limited time (17 years) and expire unless they are used commercially within that period. Seventeen years after World War II, many companies faced the expiration of their patents on wartime inventions with great potential. They recruited inventors, designers, and others to come up with commercial applications quickly—and the result was a boom in new products.
IDEA: We tend to come up with the goods when we're under a deadline. If you're facing a personal or business challenge, or have a great idea but haven't acted on it because there's no urgency, try committing to a deadline of your own. In advance, determine a reward for yourself if you make the deadline, and a penalty if you fail to meet it, and put both of them under the control of a friend or colleague (that way you can't later decide "it was all just make-believe anyway").
3. DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT! CASE STUDY
The Problem: A group of crime writers wanted to get more attention for their work.
The Strategy: Seven of them formed a group called Murder Squad. They made their first public appearance at the opening of a Borders book store. They also printed a full-colour brochure offering their services for readings, workshops, and talks at book shops, libraries, and literature festivals.
The Outcome: Although the group has not been together for long, they have garnered considerable publicity and have been invited to a variety of events at which they have promoted their books.
The Lessons: Sometimes there is power in numbers where publicity is concerned. In this case, the group was smart enough to give newspaper and magazine editors a good visual: a group photo with the members dressed up in dark outfits a la Reservoir Dogs, and all wearing sunglasses. Even though each member cares most about promoting his or her books (the group consists of four men and three women), they recognized that a joint effort would pay off for them all.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
1. What kind of publicity pay-off might come from banding together with a group of similar people or businesses?
2. How could the group have visual appeal? Possibilities include a mascot, a common logo, and a colorful outfit.
3. Are there other benefits that could come from joining together—for example, discounts on bulk purchases made by the group?
4. CREATIVITY SECRETS
Some time ago Fast Company magazine asked a variety of people for their creativity secrets. Here are three of our favorites:
DAVID HARDY, Snr. Manager, Creativity and Innovation, Institute for Learning Bank of Montreal: "The key to creativity is clarity. Never work on a creative challenge without first writing down a problem statement in the form of a question."
PAULA SCHER, Partner, Pentagram Design, New York: "In my work, I always try to adopt the perspective of a first-time user. If I'm designing a package, a book, or a magazine, I approach it as if I've never heard of it before. If it's signage or an identity project, I approach it as if I were a foreigner and didn't speak the language."
SUZANNE MERRITT, Senior Creatologist, InsightOut, Cambridge, Massachusetts: "I suggest posing four questions at three different levels: person, team, and organization: What am I here to create? What talents and abilities are my natural resources? What might I have to let go of to create what I want? What real need in the world will be met by what I create?"
5. AND A QUOTE FROM A GREAT BOOK
I've just read a great new book called "The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life," by orchestra conductor Benjamin Zander and his therapist wife, Rosamund Stone Zander. One of the anecdotes in it concerns the fact that Ben Zander often gives his music students an automatic "A" grade at the beginning of the term, as long as they write him a letter dated the following May (the end of the term), in which they detail the story of what will have happened to them by then that is in line with this extraordinary grade.
One day one of his Asian students, from a culture where competition is intense, raised his hand with the following comment about this "A" policy:
"In Taiwan," he said, "I was Number 68 out of 70 student. I come to Boston and Mr Zander says I am an A. Very confusing. I walk about, three weeks, very confused… One day I discover much happier A than Number 68. So I decide I am an A."
Zander comments, "He had realized it's all invented, it's all a game. The number 68 is invented and the A is invented, so we might as well choose to invent something that brightens our life and the lives of the people around us."
By the way, I've just checked: It turns out you're an A, too.
We would like to hear from you. You can send e-mail to BstormUK@aol.com.
