Jim Eastwood, talking about potential at TEDxStormont

So, I’m talking to five beaming young people after TEDxStormont last Thursday. They’re all 20 something, glowing with energy, smiling like mad, and we’re blue streak style sharing ideas, theories, making connections –it’s a fast-paced, highly generative conversation. It occurs to me,  all at once, that moments like this — are how communities are formed.

And how prosperous futures are created.

For Northern Ireland, I think the lasting value of the event is not the content delivered, the fun experienced, or even the many videos that will eventually be posted. The lasting value is the community it created.

I won’t attempt  a comprehensive report on the event and all the speakers (I was one) but here’s a bit of background. TEDxStormont took place inside a Greek classical gem of a building, Stormont (aka The Parliament Buildings of Stormont). There were great talks given by a very diverse group that included politicians, educators, writers, journalists, motivators, piano players, singers, and rockers). If you want to get a feel for the speakers and content read Chris Kilpatrick’s Belfast Telegraph piece, or Barry Corrigan’s “Nlbcorrigan, Innovating For All” blog.)   Barry is @MrMalcontent and Chris is @C_Kilpatrick1. Suffice to say there was not a lemon in the fruit bowl. Kudos to conference organizers, especially yeowoman Eva Grosman (@evagrosman) supported by an efficient, ebullient, and very attractive crew. My favourite presentation was the singing of Gráinne Holland – that voice will haunt my dreams. Run, do not walk, and buy this woman’s debut album.

The community that came together might be a new one for Northern Ireland. It’s an amorphous demographic of the competent and curious — those dynamic people with very deliberate and fiercely burning creative fires. That’s who buys tickets to an event like TEDxStormont. Call them “cultural creatives” or simply call them: optimists, do-ers, connectors, leaders, scientists, educators, music makers, idea men, and idea women all. These are people who create, discover,  and start-up companies, charities, choirs, rock bands, and more. I wonder if there has ever been, in one place in Northern Ireland, a meeting with as many intersecting Irish Venn Diagrams. I wonder if there has ever been so much potential for imagination, creativity, and society changing innovation in one room?

For every person who bought a ticket there were at least another three who might have — had they been quicker on the draw, had they known, or had they been able to play hookey at work. If this group begins more regular interaction, and they should, trust me, the other two thirds will emerge from the woodwork.

The time is now for this new community of creatives to lead the charge in reinventing Northern Ireland. I’m not the best person to comment on The Troubles that have beset Northern Ireland. I’m an outsider, not a pure journalist, and my knowledge of the history is spotty. Still, clearly, the peace that has been achieved is only a first step. The peace agreement is a bona fide societal innovation, granted, a very good start. The next step has got to be taking the treasure trove of talent in the region and purposing it towards invention. And I mean invention in the broadest sense.

Prosperity and jobs will result if this is done —  and this is how, in my view, The Troubles will be put to rest permanently. It’s about creating something new from whole cloth.  That’s why this new community is so critical — these are the people with one thing in mind — creating something. And this is desperately needed  here. The passion to create transcends political, personal, cultural, and religious differences — but it has to be unleashed. And the creation community needs to organize and  support itself.

As President Clinton once said “it’s about the economy stupid.”

How might this new community move forward? Someone needs to step up and lead.

Back to that blue streak conversation I mentioned above — I’d just finished telling Phil Murray (@philmurray17) and Jonny Elliott (@jelliott1989) and their posse just how important it is to simply start up something that makes money. Sorry, it’s just like me to focus on that mundane stuff when something much more profound was happening. Still, correct me if I’m wrong, but a successful start-up , and the jobs that come with it, could be what keeps NI young talent from going permanently to London, or Germany,  or America. It’s up to guys like Phil and Jonny to create things, but they need support — support from the community. How might that be done? A few ideas, mine alone, and please, load up the cross-bow and fire when ready:

1. This community needs to meet and communicate at least monthly in person to have syncronicity occur. The goals are deliberate networking, idea exploration, concept pitching, and project/company creation.
2. The government should not be the organiser of the community. We don’t want this caught up in politics in any fashion. This group must be seen as being about creativity and innovation, and anyone who digs that stuff can get involved. Leave your gang colors at home.
3. Between meetings communication would be done using social media, this has already started, but it needs to be formalised.
4. The community should raise money from its own members and award small batches of funds at monthly pitch meetings (see the Detroit Soup model and adapt it). The monthly meeting is a pizza dinner (or something) and the entrance fees are used to fund small entrepreneurial or artistic projects.

This community needs to meet, interact, learn, have fun, and support each others efforts. This will all happen with a bit of leadership and light-handed facilitation. This doesn’t require a lot of money, but it would take energy.

So, who’s going to step up?

Imagination Segmentation (Gregg Fraley, 2013)

I’ve been preparing a new keynote speech on Imagination and it’s been a real challenge to get my thoughts together on such a big and creatively important concept. My focus is usually on Creativity. To be honest I’m enthralled with the concept of imagination, and yet have avoided talking about it directly because it’s so individual and amorphous. That’s why I’m so excited about one aspect of my new talk I wanted to share it with my readers right away, so here it is, my “Johari Window” of Imagination (note to self: need better label). It’s helpful in getting a handle on who imagines and how, and might be helpful to individuals and groups who seek to improve imaginative capacity.

One way to look at Imagination is along two dimensions: Awareness and Intention.

My assumptions:  Everyone has imaginative capacity, and, everyone can invoke it if and when they wish to. I assume that nearly everyone has some imaginative thoughts, and I assume that everyone, at some point in time, tries to make use of their imagination. However, many folks have a low awareness of the steam of imaginative thoughts flowing through their minds. Many folks also rarely ask their own minds for imaginative thoughts (be they visuals, words, or sounds).

I’m not talking about imaginative effectiveness. That’s a whole other blog post. It’s not so easy to improve one’s awareness of imaginative thoughts, but it can be done. It’s also not so easy at all to deliberately use imagination to solve problems, but again, there are ways to get better. So, more on effectiveness later. My two dimensional view has to do with segmentation of who’s aware and who’s not, and who’s using, and who’s not using, their imagination.

I think this is where it all starts.

It breaks down into four groups which I’m calling: Zombies, Dreamers, Managers, and Leaders.

Zombies, God bless them, are people who are unaware of their imaginative thoughts and never or rarely call their mind for any. These would not be good employees, for they are walking around in a stupor. They might be in survival mode and too busy to relax, listen, or proactively imagine. I would think they’d be poor problem solvers and might be, frankly, lazy.  Wake them up and you might have something. Awareness can be developed by meditation, yoga, walking and other “centering” sorts of behaviours. Start there!

Dreamers are tuned into their imaginations. They like to be there in their head and they notice their dreams, visions, and images. They don’t have to invoke their imaginations much because they are happy riding the unfocused waves of imaginative thoughts they already have. However, because they don’t focus their imagination on any particular problem or challenge, they miss opportunities for real world creativity. Dreamers improve by taking real world action, and, by calling for imaginative ideas focused on challenges in front of them.

Managers try to come up with imaginative ideas, they desire to be problem solvers, but because they are not connected to their core thought streams, tend to lack big picture visions. They are focused on action and sometimes this focus keeps them from accessing deeper or more high level ideas buried in the subconscious. They would do well to develop more awareness, and, ask their minds for bigger, broader images that move beyond their challenges and to the challenges of others.

Leaders, and they don’t always lead people directly, are both aware of their imagination, and, make deliberate use of it. Because they are centred and aware, and because they practice the skill of imagination, they are probably the most creatively effective Imagineers of the four segments.

Would love to hear thoughts about this. Kindest vibes flowing out to all ya’all.

Imagination is a revered idea isn’t it? Everybody seems to want it. And yet…

• Who actually sets aside time to imagine?
• Is it focused or completely not, or both?
• Who tolerates the imagination of others when it’s expressed?
• Who and how often do people actually take action on some dream?

John Lennon practically has trademarked the word, but I find his song quite challenging.

“Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try, no hell below us, above us only sky…imagine all the people living for today…yohooo”

I find this very difficult to imagine, not at all easy. And my vision of children running through a meadow of cone flowers, does that help people, now, live for today? And who can sing that yohoo part and get away with it except John Lennon?

Don’t get me wrong — I am one of the worlds biggest dreamers. As a child I was so dizzy in my dream world that I lost my shoes on the way to school. Dreaming often means humiliation. So, tell me dear readers, how does one go about making imagination useful?

And what about our brothers and sisters who have lost their imagination? What can they do?

And should we care?

I have my ideas about this, but I want to hear yours. Please, tell me why anyone should Imagine?

But ultimately creative tools and techniques won’t make you “more creative.” They’ll make you more creatively effective, and there’s a difference. Becoming more creative means you change who you are and how you are being, core creative improvement, really, requires personal transformation. The good news, it’s possible. The bad news, it’s quite challenging. Being more creatively effective is a good thing, but it’s a relatively easy change compared to creative transformation.

Creativity is in each of us, that’s a given. We all have creative capacity. Still, without self-expression, without a sense of that force within us, all the tools and techniques in the world are window dressing.

Creativity is an integral part of who we are as human beings, it’s a lot more than Post-It Note brainstorming. Imagination, a creative product, is what makes us different from very smart Dolphins. Not that I know what a Dolphin might imagine, they might have a very rich imaginative life. But a Dolphin has very few outlets for that imagination, whereas humans have endless outlets for self-expression, and also endless outlets for creative suppression.

If you want to be more creative from the core of who you are, it requires changing how you think and behave. That’s why creative transformation is difficult, it’s changing very fundamental things. As my hero and creativity mentor Sid Parnes once said, Deferred Judgment is not just something you do when in the divergent phase of brainstorming, deferred judgment is a way of life. Imagine if you will…

• that you start listening with an ear for what is possible instead of what’s wrong
• that you treat your ideas and the ideas of others with respect, care, and thoughtfulness
• that you are able to distance yourself from the constant stream of critical judgement running through your head

If you could really integrate those three things into your thinking and life, would life be different? I think it would, and that “creative transformation” is a core-level change in who you are that will make you, indeed, more creative. Massively more creative. Combine that way of being with Tools and you are more creative AND more creatively effective. Is it easy to defer judgment as a way of life? Trust me on this, no, but one can make strides in ones journey. Deferral of Judgment is only one of the essential behaviours of a truly actualized creative person. The related concept of Tolerance for Ambiguity is another, but that’s a post for another day.

And yes, dear results-oriented business readers, being more creative and more creatively effective is THE foundational piece for innovation.

Representatives in a republic are not supposed to “do your bidding.” No, they’re supposed to Think and Act For You. When you elect someone to vote a specific way on a specific issue what you’re doing is closing down creativity, opportunity, and solutions. It’s the opposite of innovative.

Let’s ignore party entirely.

How about if we vote for intelligence, competency, and effectiveness? Let’s ignore specific positions on one issue. Let’s be more holistic, and, let’s vote for people who really know something. I mean Really Know Something — you know like an expert at science, technology, or business. AND, not just talkers. Let’s elect people who have actually created things.

What I want in the congress, if I could wave a magic wand, is a very diverse set of very intelligent people. These would be people who have already solved complicated problems, and were part of solution development. My representative should be better informed, smarter than me, and focused on creative problem solving.

When we vote for a politician based solely on party, or on a very specific issue, we’re essentially voting based on fear. We’re not voting for the common good, we’re voting for special interest good. We’re certainly not voting based on who can be effective in Congress. Effective people are about solving problems. Effective people are highly competent and productive. They don’t measure success by how many times they prevented votes, or killed potential solutions. Voting based on party or issue means we’re voting to try to be on the winning side, as opposed to the concept that we’re all on the same side.

We’ve been voting, whether we know it or not, for incompetence.

It’s a proven fact that diverse teams are better innovators. Michael Kirton’s research proved that teams with broad creative style differences, and high level intelligence and knowledge bases, are the ones most likely to innovate. Does that sound like our current Congress?

Our Congress is mostly white men. Those men are mostly lawyers. In my experience lawyers have well-earned the derisive title of “deal killers.” Sure, we need lawyers to make laws, but how about more doctors in Congress? How about more scientists? I want a rocket scientist figuring out what to do with NASA! I want a doctor in the mix when we’re talking about healthcare. How about those people who tend to be collaborative in general — women!

So my simple point is, let’s start electing the smartest people in the room. Their background informs us, but we vote without being slaves to one issue or one party. Let’s tell our reps we want problems solved, and let’s turn them loose. You want to change America? Give this wacky idea a try and innovation will happen.

Amy Kaherl is the Director/Facilitator of Detroit Soup

As a Michigander I’m always looking for some good vibes on the economy. I found it last night on NBC Nightly News, an inspirational story about Detroit Soup. 

It’s not a restaurant, but it does serve soup — and something a lot more precious for down-on-its-luck-Motown — hope.

Here’s the concept: Detroit Soup is a monthly dinner to fund creative and entrepreneurial projects. Micro grants are awarded at the dinner. Five dollars ($5.00) is the entry fee and it gets you a simple meal — soup, salad, bread — and a vote. They hold the dinner in an old warehouse. Click over to their site and read their backstory, it’s interesting.

Apparently this concept has been happening for over three years.

Why I like Detroit Soup:

1. It’s simple, there are no arcane hoops to jump through for those seeking grants, you share a proposal and get feedback, and maybe a grant
2. It develops the entrepreneurial/creative community and encourages young people to stay in Detroit
3. It educates the community about possibilities, and about what might be done. It’s an inspiration for others,  and a springboard for further ideation re: creative projects
4. It rewards creative and innovative ideas immediately and gets projects off the drawing board and into real world action
5. It fosters innovation. Small projects is where big things start
6. Most of all it’s a Hope Generator. Detroit (and all of Michigan) needs more hope and being able to Do Something, even if it’s a small project, is how the hope rubber meets the change-the-city road.

This is not a charity, it’s a crowd-funding kind of incubator, thing. Contribute to them if you can. You can find them on Twitter, or on Facebook. 

No, this is not a blog about innovation. I would like to share an idea. If it resonates, please pass this along.

Like nearly everyone I’m working through complex emotions related to yesterday’s events in Newtown, Connecticut. The sad truth for me is that I’m not shocked. This kind of event has become normal. Death by gunfire is an everyday thing in America. As an American I am simply ashamed.

My mind is flooded with memories of countless assassinations and other insane killings of my lifetime. JFK, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Kent State, John Lennon, Columbine, Gabby Gifford — and so many more. As the years have gone by I have lost my ability to be shocked.

We cry about those children, but really, we should cry all the time — this is an everyday thing. Only these multiple death ones make the news. After each event like this there is new resolve to do something about gun laws, and I hope something does happen, but to be honest, I think it’s unlikely. As the shock wears off the NRA lobbying dollars kick in.

I was thinking very early this morning, unable to sleep, about Why? An image of my grandmother, Regina Fraley, came to me and she whispered “lost souls” in my ear.

One day, 54 years ago, Regina took me with her on a shopping trip. She wore a pink dress and white gloves. She smelled like fancy soap. We passed a bum in the street who begged for some change. She opened her purse and gave him some and spent a few minutes talking to the man. This didn’t surprise me, Regina talked to everybody, even the garbage man. The bum looked up at us, his eyes, dead before, lit up. As we were walking away she shook her head and said “that poor man is a lost soul.” She said it with kindness, with empathy. I didn’t ask her what she meant. I knew what she meant. That person didn’t have a home, didn’t have a family, had nobody to talk to, and didn’t have someone to look after him. He was lost. I was four years old at the time and I understood.

We all understand — but we’ve trained ourselves to ignore people.

I’m not a psychologist. I am a human being. It occurs to me that the common denominator in many of these crazy incidents is that the shooters are lost souls. People that have fallen through the cracks of society. People who have been squashed by the trials of life and have nowhere to turn. People who aren’t looked after or even much talked to. People who are quite simply unloved and forgotten.

If you have anger, sorrow, sadness, or frustration related to yesterdays shooting, why not do something about it now?

Why not reach out for a lost soul?

Today.  Let’s see if we can reel a few lost souls back in.

Search through your mental Roladex. Who is that person, that loner, you’ve chosen to ignore? Who is that human being you pass everyday but are loathe to engage with? We routinely ignore people who are troublesome, argumentative, boring, or stupid. Aren’t they the ones who need us the most?

One of those difficult people, somewhere, is desperate, right now, for someone to talk to. He hasn’t gone over the edge yet, that happens tomorrow.

It might be a family member. That nephew with the Mohawk that the whole family thinks is weird. It might be the doorman at your building, the one with bad breath. It might be the woman who cleans your house who always wants to talk rubbish.

Lost souls, ignored and unloved people, are all around us. If you want to prevent a tragedy, talk to a lost soul — someone who needs attention, a human connection, a bit of looking after, yes, love.

If we’re very lucky we’ll get a new gun law in 3 years.

You can love somebody who needs it today.

A request for help:

Every year, Innovation Excellence, a premier portal for innovation content, has a popularity contest style “Top 40″ Innovation Bloggers of the year listing. I admit, I wish to be on the list. I wasn’t last year and I realized, a bit too late, that it has something to do with driving people to their portal, and a bit less to do with objective statistics. In many statistical categories, I’m already in the top 40. In terms of quality and consistency of content, I’d say, with a great deal of bias, I’m easily Top 10. There is a sort of raw composite ranking which is dynamic, if you look to the right of this post you’ll see where I stand. This ranking is a bit mis-leading because it includes portals that are not individual blogs, like Innovation Excellence and Information Week, and blogs that are not strictly speaking innovation blogs (such as the Futures blogs). If you throw out the ones that really don’t belong in the list, I’m probably top 25.

Is there another Innovation blogger with the voice of an active practitioner (at KILN, an innovation services firm that is innovation how to deliver innovation!) and not just a theorist? There are a few I admit, but just a few. I’m a fan of Paul Hobcraft’s work and also his colleague Jeffrey Phillips. I keep an eye on what Stephen Shapiro writes and also the culture maven, Grant McCracken. There are several other peers I keep an eye on (Jorge Barba, Mike Brown.) I think it’s only fair that I’m acknowledged by my industry, but I need your help to get it.

If you are a frequent reader, could I ask you please to click here and nominate me? The voting comes later between the 18th and December 31st, please stay tuned — I’ll need help there too.

Here’s why I think you might, if you would be so kind, support my Top 40 Innovation blogger campaign. In 2012 on my blog –

• I’ve written 88 posts to date, all related to innovation and the related fields of creativity, trends, self-expression and leadership. I’ll let you judge quality, but in terms of quantity, I’m easily Top 10. This is all original content, unlike many blogs which pump up volume with click through links and guest bloggers.
• My post on creative style was picked up by Smartbrief on Leadership, and was republished by Innovation Excellence (If Steve Jobs Worked for You, You’d Probably Fire Him). This is probably my best post of the year or at least the one that attracted the most attention. It’s an eye opener and it was nearly virally re-tweeted.
• My post on innovation training was also picked up by Smartbrief and was widely read and distributed (Training is Innovation Accelerant) — oddly, while it’s a somewhat obvious insight it’s one that has been routinely overlooked.
• I’m the only Innovation blogger who does his own cartoons — I’ve done 12 this year. Here’s my favorite, How to Avoid Innovation Infarction. Nearly all my graphics are original.
• I’ve done many blogs on specific tools, techniques and innovation frameworks. One of my best is about the concept of conceptual blends or “mash-ups” — Do The Mash, but am also fond of this post about the concept of idea scaffolding — Scaffolding Your Way to Better Ideas. If I don’t say so myself, these are cutting edge techniques, this is high value, free content.
• This year saw me do two blasts of related posts, call them series blogs. One had to do with small business innovation — Guerilla Innovation, and another had to do with a Gonzeaux Innovation Roadtrip — with views of innovation through middle America. Guerilla Innovation is essentially a free online blogged book. That collection of posts is highly useful for a small business innovator or inside a big corporation innovator. Who else has done anything like this in 2012!
• I’ve done a half a dozen book or movie reviews this year with the innovation lens — my fave is – Moneyball is Innovationball
• Nearly all of my posts are of that readable length of between 500 and 700 words — I make an effort to make a point and not pontificate. Shouldn’t this be rewarded?
• My readership varies widely from post to post, but many posts have had over 5,000 hits, and this is without a lot (any) of Google Gerrymandering (search engine optimization)

Alright, I’ll stop with the specifics and the abject begging — but if you go to my blog, browse around in this year’s posts, you’ll find information and insight on a wide variety of innovation topics. So, peeps, give a poor innovation blogger boy a hand willya? 

The simple point of this post is that creativity is not just for the good times. In fact, when you have the blues it might be an opportune time to create something.

A nurse in London committed suicide last week. Why? We’ll never know the details but ostensibly she did it because she was so ashamed. Her crime? She was fooled by some pranking Aussie DeeJays into revealing private medical data of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. It’s such a sad story. The nurse, not a native English speaker, was easily fooled, and was apparently so upset she made this mistake she took her own life. A hard working mother of two teenagers. One should never doubt that human beings are quite vulnerable, let this be a lesson to us all to treat everyone we know with kindness. Pranks can have unintended consequences, as can hurtful remarks. I don’t blame the deejays, but surely, there must have been something she could have done to lighten her spirits and remain alive.

If someone is clinically depressed or not able to think at all, I’m not saying creative self-expression is a cure for that, but if you are just blue…well…

I think at least one answer in instances where we feel we’ve made a mistake, or, when life circumstances deal us a crap hand, is to turn our hearts and minds to some creative work. This is the perfect time to write, paint, make some music, or dance. Even time to re-double our efforts in our work. I find it rather easy to “visionize” a future when I want to forget the present!

This is when a relationship to the arts becomes a huge asset. But if you’re not artistic, there are other ways to self express. Talk to others. Appreciate simple things like food and drink, even the brisk air of a winter morning. Get into your work with a new determination to do something better, and feel better when you accomplish that.

When you’re blue, creative self-expression is not just solace, it’s an opportunity to create something that comes directly from your heart. We’re sometimes more in touch with who we are and what our values are when we are blue. Use the emotion, let it take you to the truth, to new heights of self-expression, in whatever it is you do.

Personally, these last few weeks have seen cancer take an old high school buddy, the sister of a very good friend, and the wife of a boyhood friend. The high school friend was a guy who had a wicked sense of humour I long admired and enjoyed — he will be sorely missed. Closer to home I’m making some big changes myself, and, without disclosing too much, it’s a major milestone and one I would have preferred not to cross. It feels like it’s raining sadness.

But you know something? I’m alive, I’m still rolling, and still able to create. I’m a battered 53 Chevy, but I’ve got some miles, and some creative work left in me. Maybe even my best work. So while it may be a blue Monday, a funky stormy Monday, I’m determined to write, draw, sing, and dance. And help others do the same.

Creativity, for those who choose it, is not just for good times. It’s also for those blue times. Call it Blue Creativity. If the blues have got you down, swim in it, use it, change it from a wail of woe to a song of joy.

Much love in this holiday season to all my readers.

Wally Amos started with a simple idea, great cookies

Guerilla Innovation Chapter Fourteen

Run to the Jungle

I’ve written what amounts to a short book on innovation for small business these last couple months. I’ve called it Guerilla Innovation (the starting post is here) and I’ve targeted those who want to create a start-up, or, are internal innovators at companies who have little experience with innovation (and innovation-speak). This is a basic, but I think highly useful, field-guide-like innovation book for small business. Every business starts as a small business, so, I’m not limiting the book to those who don’t have much ambition — I merely wanted to provide a more readable, more practical, approach to innovation without all the “MBA-speak”.

In the spirit of providing real value in this blog, I’ve posted my chapters for Guerilla Innovation and made them available, free, for all to read and use. This is the final chapter. There is a great deal more to say about innovation, particularly in the operational sense, but there is so much already written on that stuff I feel like I’d be re-creating the wheel. This book was about the “how to” of getting started with innovation, and I think this has been accomplished. I reserve the right to post more on the subject, but for now — here are my final thoughts:

• Going Guerrilla as an innovator is a life style choice. It’s pretty much an “all in” game, at least mentally. If you want to succeed as a small business innovator, you’d better be prepared to put your mind, heart, soul and bank account on the line. This is not work for the faint of heart, so, if you are risk averse, fearful, pessimistic or cynical, you’d better deal with that before you jump into the jungle.
• Creating something new takes time. If your life circumstances have you married to a job and with few resources, getting your own venture off the ground could take years, even if you put your heart and soul into it. Still, have hope, because there are hidden resources all around you and the market is more open and democratic now than it has ever been. When I see people doing amazing projects with Kickstarter or WeFunder — average people with an idea and virtually no money to start — one can take heart, dreams can come true. Don’t forget you can start small, start part-time, and it could be a very simple idea. Famous Amos simply made a very good chocolate chip cookie right? So, with hope in your heart, get started and keep going.
• I’ve tried to avoid MBA-speak in this blogged book, but the truth is there is much to learn about business in general and innovation in particular — you should make the effort to do so. Do your own MBA. Start with my business novel Jack’s Notebook, move on to Eric Reis’ The Lean StartUp, read Alex Osterwalder’s Business Model Innovation, and complete the mini-course with the Peter Diamandis tome, Abundance. There are other good books by folks like Seth Godin (I like Tribes a good deal) and Guy Kawasaki. The point here is you should read these books, and, keep up with busienss trends by reading on the web. This is part of what Guerilla Innovators do.
• Speaking of learning, I’ll summarise a lot of the chapters of this online book in one phrase: how you create something new and different usually means you know a great deal about the area you are trying to innovate in. If you dive into the jungle, you need to become an expert in your arena. Put in the work, learn, learn, learn. It’s the jumping off point for innovation.

You can’t connect the dots if you don’t know any dots.  And as my dear departed father once said, “you can’t do business sitting on your ass”. So, you have a choice to make. Are you going to don a black beret and dive into the jungle and  become a Guerilla Innovator? Or, are you going to sit in an easy chair and watch a football game?

All the best whatever you choose, and do tell me your stories as they unfold. I’m not the Che Guevera of the innovation world (although I do wear a beret) but I am a resource. If you want ideas, or advice, I’m here to help.

And please, direct your friends to this online book if you think they’ll find it useful.

Now, run to the jungle.

*************************

The pre-cursor book to this online book on small business innovation (aka Guerrilla Innovation) is Jack’s Notebook, a business novel about creative problem solving.  This is a great story that blends all the concepts of Guerrilla Innovation into one fast-paced, thriller type book. Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is a fundamental innovation skill, so, I suggest you read, and use, Jack’s Notebook.