Leadership & Business

Intuition + Process = More (and better) Innovation

Just finished reading Seth Godin’s blog entry on embracing process to improve performance, and boy, has he hit the nail on the head:

If process makes you nervous, it's probably because it threatens your reliance on intuition. Get over it. The best processes leverage your intuition and give it room to thrive.

Process often gets a bad rap by “creative” and “service” professionals who see intuition and unstructured thinking (out of the box) as their stock and trade.  But the truth is many companies best known for innovation employ a very structured process to get there.  TRIZ, often described as the “Six Sigma of innovation,” has been quietly used by companies like Avon, DuPont, Pfizer and Toyota to find their next “big idea.”  Samsung has recognized their TRIZ team for saving Samsung “approximately 120 billion won (roughly US$ 91,200,000).”  Ontech’s self-heating container was developed using TRIZ.  The structured innovation process is quietly thriving in the most innovative companies—and should certainly be considered by all those leaders who claim that innovation is their first priority.

Seth is right… process will leverage both our individual and collective intuition. Structured innovation processes allow us to make the breakthrough moment more commonplace, and, by training others in our organization in the skills, create a culture of continuous innovation within our organization.

Somehow the concept of using process as a creative tool becomes quite powerful when communicated by someone renown for creativity, like Seth Godin.

Thanks Seth.   

Keeping the Competitive Edge Sharp

Earlier today, while  reading an article in the Washington Times by Jeffery Sparshott on “America’s Cutting Edge,” I was reminded of how, a few years ago I was advising friends and clients that if they wanted to keep a competitive edge with the “MBAs of today (well, now the MBAs of yesterday),” they had to start “renewing their education.” 

“Even the most seasoned of executives needs to constantly refresh their education,” I would tell them.  “After all, doctors are required to participate in continuing medical education (CME) because of constantly updated science, and today’s business technologies and best practices are changing at the same pace. Possibly even faster!” 

That MBA earned in the 80’s may not have fully prepared the CEOs for today’s unique business challenges, and, as more and more MBAs graduate with strong innovation skills, today’s senior executives need to take steps to, to paraphrase Apple, “think innovation” to be leaders in the world of tomorrow. 

As Sparshott says, “innovation is a key to U.S. competitveness in a global economy with old rivals and upstarts vying to generate the best jobs and the most technologically advanced products." 

You said it Sparshott.

Systems Thinking for Leaders

The words “systems thinking” are very familiar to most engineers. Yet even within the technical community, it’s commonly believed that unless you’ve specifically been educated as a systems engineer, you’re probably not a real systems thinker. 

In actuality, the roots of any sophisticated way of thinking can be traced to engineering and mathematics. That’s why we live in this kind of world, with all its miracles of progress. Systems are everywhere and a part of everything – from a part to an assembly to a product to an organization.