A peek at the contents of an IdeaKeg Single.

I’m off to the FEI show (Front End of Innovation) in Boston this week. In my view it’s the most serious innovation conference in the world, and the USA edition features speakers and participants from a who’s who of international organizations.

I’m particularly interested in hearing Denise Morrison CEO of Campbell Soup about their use of culture in the innovation process, and also Nelson Farris of Nike about corporate storytelling. It will be great to catch up with Idea Management System vendors like CogniStreamer, and innovation service firms like Ideas To Go and Maddock Douglas. They’re always doing something new.

I’m glad the show is in Boston. After the recent troubles it feels appropriate that a conference dedicated to positive change is taking place there.

I’m at FEI to represent KILN USA — the new branch of what has been until now a UK-based firm. KILN is announcing a new version of it’s IdeaKeg subscription service at the show.  I’ll post the official release below with details about IdeaKeg Single.

KILN continues to innovate in the innovation services arena. Yes, I’m a principal of the company, so, this is hardly objective journalism. Still, show me another innovation consulting company that is offering what KILN offers. Does anyone else have a service like IdeaKeg? Can any other organization offer a kinesthetic and whole-brained process for turning global trends into new strategies and breakthrough ideas for your organization? We’re also rapidly becoming known as the go-to firm for training in innovation process and corporate storytelling (Kate Hammer’s StormForms is getting rave reviews, book her now or you’ll be talking 2014).

IdeaKeg Single, the new offering, is for organizations looking for a “power tool” to accelerate breakthrough thinking — on a one-time basis. Until now, KILN’s IdeaKeg was only available as a yearly subscription. This new, more affordable option, is ideal for organizations who already have a well articulated front-end-of-innovation process. IdeaKeg Single is a bit like adding hot pepper flakes to a pizza — it’s the same pizza but it has a lot more excitement!

If you are attending FEI, please come see me and give me a business card. I’ll get your name included in a contest to give away an IdeaKeg Single. Or, if you want to enter the contest through the web, click here.

***************** News Release *************************************

KILN launches IdeaKeg(tm) Single

Teams of all sizes can now conduct idea generation sessions with real objects of cultural relevance

Chicago, IL (May 4, 2013) – The first-ever 3-dimensional cultural insights stimulus box is now available to in-company teams and external facilitators for single-session use. Innovation catalyst company KILN will announce IdeaKeg Single at Front-End-of-Innovation Conference in Boston, MA 6-8 May 2013.

IdeaKeg Single offers teams a tangible, affordable, fun way to use KILN in Away Days and Brainstorms. You can run a whole workshop using IdeaKeg Single or include it as an exciting element in a broader agenda. In IdeaKeg Interactions, you’ll quickly find you ask bolder questions and generate your best ideas.

In an IdeaKeg Single, subscribers receive a box via Fedex that contains 7 cultural artifacts from all aspects of life. Each item represents an emerging trend, or is highly provocative as stimulus for ideation. Online materials (including a short movie) demonstrate how to use IdeaKeg effectively.

The new IdeaKeg Single provides a number of benefits to team leaders and group session facilitators.

IdeaKeg Single is multi-sensorial. Teams using IdeaKeg get to grips with cultural shifts and behaviour changes in a tangible form. This drives “breakthrough” thinking. Physical objects are plainly better at provoking new ideas than trend decks.

“The contents are inspiring” – senior research manager, major food manufacturer using IdeaKeg since 2011.

IdeaKeg saves time. KILN curates the collection, ensuring relevance. Our highly qualified team spots trends, makes sense of them and shares them in the form of physical objects. Users never have to read more than 300 words to make sense of an object.

Huggies “Little Swimmer” Inventor Paula Rosch observes: “Many companies have that ‘eccentric’ person whose office always looks like a museum store, shelves and desks filled with every imaginable item, from bath salts to kaleidoscopes to nanos.    This individual has a knack for monitoring and collecting popular culture, from design to technology, giving it shelf space and allowing time for it to percolate into a valuable connection or idea. Not surprisingly, this is the office where a lot of the ideas come from.”

IdeaKeg Single fills the gap if your business doesn’t have that in-house eccentric.

KILN models creative thinking. Each IdeaKeg Single includes poster-sized mindmaps containing trigger questions and leaving space for teams to add their own. By posing questions before generating ideas, teams can be bolder and more creative without needing extra time.

“The KILN System has been used by large companies with established early-stage innovation processes since KILN launched at the Front-End-of-Innovation EMEA conference in Berlin in early 2011,” said Gregg Fraley, co-founder and Chief Solver of Kiln Ideas Ltd. “Now that our operations have scaled, we can offer IdeaKeg editions on a one-off basis. This means Away Day organisers and innovation process facilitators can bring the power and the fun of IdeaKeg interactions to the groups they run.”

For USA purchasers, IdeaKeg Single is priced at US $2,999 including shipping. To get IdeaKeg Single, please register your interest with KILN at http://kilnco.com/contact/ or email ignite@kilnco.com

A Prize Draw is underway, with one lucky winner receiving IdeaKeg Single at no cost. To enter, please meet Gregg Fraley at FEI 2013 or email your name, role, company name, email address and work telephone to ignite@kilnco.com

Entries must be received by 9 May 2013 Midnight Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

###

For further information, please contact:

Gregg Fraley KILN Chief Solver

Expert in Creative Problem Solving and Early Stage Ideation

+1 888 553 1002

+44 20 3318 5728 (in the UK)

ignite@kilnco.com

About the Company:

KILN was founded in 2010 in London, United Kingdom to provide unique products and experiences to improve company innovation efforts. We believe that every successful innovator scans the world, articulates a solution in order to solve a problem or meet a need. We also believe that work should be fun, the sense of touch is under-used in most people’s working lives, and when we’re adults it takes serious commitment to play.

Early uptake for the KILN System has been in North America. At the request of a Fortune 100 entertainment company, we opened our services division in summer 2011.

We are pleased to announce that from 2013 Gregg Fraley is operating KILN USA on a full-time basis from his base in Three Oaks, Michigan.

Jonathan Winters

Jonathan Winters

Last week, a personal hero of mine, Jonathan Winters, passed away. He had a long, full, complicated, crazy, and indeed, mad, mad, mad, mad, life. If you don’t know who he is or why I’d be doing a post about him in a creativity and innovation blog, please just go to YouTube and watch this. If you really want to snort milk through your nose, try this one.

Winters was a comic genius, a creative tour-de-force, and, a man who “used” his affliction with bi-polar disorder positively. He was one of the first public figures to admit to treatment for mental illness having “gone to the zoo” (as he put it) on two occasions. Thankfully, he found stability in his art.

Growing up, his Verve recordings were a model for me of using make believe to have fun, and he gave me and many of my peers the simple permission to be goofy. I could wax for hours on his talent as an entertainer, but I want to focus on his skill with improvisation.

Comedy improvisation was simply not done before JW. Comedians had set routines. He totally broke the mold, and his ability to spontaneously think and create inspired many to follow, most notably Robin Williams. He was a recognized innovator in entertainment, and he sold millions of albums and won all sorts of awards.

Here’s what we can learn from JW: Sometimes creativity isn’t about thinking, it’s about Not Thinking. As soon as you start logical-analytical processing, you essentially shut down spontaneous thought. JW learned that when somebody threw him a pen and pencil set and said “see what you can do with this” he didn’t have time to think, he had to simply react. This short-circuits the logical-analytical processor most of us live our conscious lives in.

Guess what? Your brain will give you ideas faster, and often better, if you simply allow yourself to get into the flow of what’s right in front of you. JW was the master, but we can all do this — if we practice. How do you practice? Pick up an object and start free-associating about what else it could be. What you’ll discover as you do this exercise now and then, is that your ability to just “go with anything” improves. This is not about being funny, it’s about being more self-expressed. It’s about access to your own spontaneous “thinking” generator. Yes, you have one. And by the way, JW “practiced” improv skills all the time, at the bank, while having a beer, you name it, the stories of his antics are legendary.

With this improvisational skill in hand, you’ll have better ideas,  and more ideas. It’s very simple, and, it works like mad (like mad, mad, mad, mad, mad).

Thanks Jonathan, I loved you.

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

For more information on how your organization can include spontaneous thinking in idea generation and new product development see Gregg’s Keynote speeches, training, and consulting services. For a complete front end of innovation process, see the KILN offerings. KILN’s IdeaKeg trend-centric and kinesthetic whole-brained stimulus might be the perfect vehicle for your next idea generation offsite.

For an interesting related piece on how your conscious mind can get in the way, read this Wall Street Journal article by Alison Gopnik.

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.

Pamela Menges, Phd
CEO of Aerospace Research Systems, Inc.

President Obama made mention in his state of the union address that he wishes to expand the National Netowrk for Manufacturing Innovation concept. I wholly applaud the idea, AND, there might be a more fundamental challenge that needs addressed first. I’ve made the acquaintance of a thought leader with her finger on the pulse of where the nation sits in terms of technological readiness to innovate. Her name is Pamela Menges, and she’s President of a high-tech start up in Cincinnati. She’s also a professor at the University of Cincinnati in their Engineering department.

Steve Jobs once challenged Obama to find him 30,000 engineers so he could build a plant in California. That challenge remains a big one, and again, wouldn’t it be nice if the President took it seriously. The post below is from Pamela Menges who gives her informed perspective on the innovation readiness of the USA, and more specifically, the workforce. Thanks Pamela.

Where is the innovation workforce? – Dr. Pamela A. Menges 2 Feb 2013

Some five years into an early stage technology company, I found myself, an experienced technology manager, as a CEO in search of competent manufacturing.

The complexity and issues that created my interest in the forensics of the loss of what most would consider to be core competencies for any first world country, came after great cost and the final realization I was back in the manufacturing business whether I liked it or not. And after all it was in my background. It wasn’t like we were packaging software we were producing the highest performing vertical axis wind turbine. But it wasn’t an Atlas rocket either.

The economic upheaval of the 21st century gave a boost to the requirement for technological competitiveness. Unfortunately the US government has muddied the waters by not implementing real industrial and technology policies. Now most recently they have embarked on billion-dollar program to build a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. How will it work without the infrastructures, policies and above all the workforce?

Simply in 1970 the percentage of engineering graduates from US Universities was 5%. In 2010 it was 4%.(1) In recent surveys by the professional engineering societies the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), over fifty percent of professional engineering members were over 50.(2)

According to the US Bureau of Labor the current requirement for the increase in engineering employment from 2010 to 2020 is 11% with aerospace engineering at 5%. If it were not for our economic mess, we would be in a full-up engineering crisis.

The most scientifically intense engineering fields are aerospace, chemical, and electrical engineering. These disciplines are key to new technologies in the most competitive areas of the economy. As a degreed physicist and aerospace engineer, I have membership beyond engineering societies. What I have seen is the American Physical Society (APS) does a much better job at development. APS has proactive program on diversity which has a positive impact
on recruiting from less represented groups.

The problem here is the “gender issue” in engineering makes the professional society’s respective sphincters slam shut.

A statement in a recent IEEE Spectrum article was short and not very sweet; “Women total about 10 percent of respondents, a number that has remained relatively stable among IEEE members over the years.”

Well as long as it is stable.

The forward to the female demographic included the statement that; “Almost half of the survey respondents are 50 or older, and 36 percent are 35 to 49.” These are of course primarily male. So maybe an increase in professional woman engineers would be a good idea.

To be fair to IEEE not everyone is doing as well. The raw data at the University of Cincinnati Aerospace Engineering Department where I lecture indicates that the matriculation of aerospace undergraduates has been maintained at 7% for female students. However, they graduate at a higher proportion, than their male counterparts. It may be they are betterprepared with a higher level of entry competence than young men, but that may just my perception.

Engineers are aging. Our numbers are dropping and homegrown engineers are important due to security and the requirements of most government funding.

New skills and diversity of knowledge could reinvigorate the related industries. New approaches to manufacturing and production technologies can shore up the biggest American short coming; translating new technology to manufactured products.

Not seriously discussing and improving the cultural environment for women means that the largest population group in the United States, will not be increasing in numbers in the engineering. We have only so many opportunities to increase the numbers of homegrown engineers in the few years we have left. By 2020 nearly half of the engineers 50 older will be retired and there will be a true innovation crisis.

Locals call the area Michiana, a term to describe the cachement of small and medium sized towns along the Indiana-Michigan border (Gary, Michigan City, Niles, Elkhart, South Bend, Three Oaks, New Buffalo…). Michiana is a lovely area — if you like the beach, vineyards, and the woods. It’s not exactly Silicon Valley.

It wasn’t always so. Once upon a time Benton Harbor was home to one of my favorite high tech companies of all time, Heathkit, which sadly has gone the way of the Edsel. Heathkit was how Americans of a certain age learned the intricacies of electronic engineering — by making their own components and Hi-Fi stereos from kits. The failure of Heathkit is an example of a company that simply didn’t change with the times. Michiana was once populated by manufacturing companies like Heathkit, and Magnavox (now owned by Philips), but for the most part those companies are long gone and the jobs have gone with them.

This backdrop of midwest, rust-belt decay is in stark contrast to Benton Harbor’s Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool, against long odds, is making innovation happen in a world class way. In Michiana. In Benton Harbor. Whirlpool has been around for over 100 years, but in my view that only makes their current success all the more notable. Odds were Whirlpool would fail, just like Heathkit.

How did they do it? How did Whirlpool manage to reinvent itself?

The answer to those questions can be found in a terrific article (Story: Whirlpool’s Innovation Journey: An On-Going Quest for a Rock-Solid and Inescapable Innovation Capability). This story is about exactly how Whirlpool has made itself into a worldwide innovation juggernaut. It’s not light reading. It is a serious and comprehensive treatise — a positive case study in how to manage the complexity of innovation. Author Moises Norena (Global Director of Innovation at Whirlpool) gives us a detailed and holistic inside look at just how difficult it can be to lead in the ultra-competitive consumer market of big-ticket appliances. The article cites influences in terms of theories and books Whirlpool used. It talks about how CEO’s got the momentum going, and how different frameworks and initiatives guided the ball downfield. It’s a surprisingly explicit piece and for that reason it’s of high value for any organization looking to begin, or enhance it’s innovation journey.

If you’re looking for detailed insight on how to big organizations can innovate, you’d be well served to take the time to read how Whirlpool does it. Kudos Moises for the great article, and kudos Whirlpool, keep moving!

It’s the National Speakers Association program on cable channel 21, or “CAN TV”. The title of the show is “Speakers on Speaking” with host Johnny Campbell. Campbell is the Chicago chapter NSA President (technically it’s NSA Illinois).

Yes, it does feel a bit like “Wayne’s World” — Party on Johnny, Party on Gregg. We’ll have some fun but we’ll talk substantially about creativity, innovation, and public speaking. Please tune in if you have time.

Watch it live: http://www.cantv.org/live/

Post Mortem: It was great to meet Johnny Campbell and do the program. It was the fastest 23 minutes I’ve spent in a long time, here’s the video replay: http://youtu.be/xipASeqmCf8

I guess there is an innovation equivalent to a drunk hitting bottom. If only the drunk could see where they are headed — maybe they could avoid the hard fall into the gutter.

Case in point: General Motors. GM hit bottom, and, the good news, they’re in recovery.

As an owner of General Motors, I’m feeling pretty good about their progress. GM is now innovating. The fighter that was at 9 in the ten count is up and battling again.

I say I’m an owner, and in two ways: 1.) as an American tax payer who helped bail them out, and 2.) stock in my retirement IRA. I care if GM innovates!

The most positive signal for me is not that they are finally making money (and, that’s good.) The signal is, at last, once again, they are making exciting cars. Both the new Corvette and the new Cadillac ATS have crossed bridges in design and they reconnect GM to their core story of sexy, romantic cars. Yes, romance. A good car, well, you have a relationship with it — and it’s a life long one.

Americans of a certain age grew up seeing the Corvette as the hippest possible sports car and the Cadillac as what you’d aspire to when you made the grade. As a 10 year old caddy at the country club I’d see those big tail fins pull into the lot, and it just screamed luxury. My favorite golfer, Jack Wood, had a white Sting Ray with a special horn we’d always beg him to sound. I briefly owned a Chevy Malibu — and I loved that car, wish I still had it! These are memories that stick. One could write a book on the joy of a fun and cool car, and, it’s innovation that creates those memories and that joy.

These brands got a bit dusty over the years. As a huge company GM lost it’s focus, and seemed to design by committee. All its cars seemed to end up looking like a box, and frankly, they were boring, unmemorable cars. It’s a sad truth that it often takes a drastic emergency to get an organization into more active innovation. Most companies would have died as a result of the inattention to innovation. GM got a bit lucky. At GM, in the past, I think it would be fair to say it was a leadership problem. Clearly, they had the resources to innovate. What they didn’t have was the vision, and the focus, on creating exciting and useful new products.

The lesson here is not to wait until you’re bankrupt to innovate. It’s a simple point but profoundly difficult for some organizations to do. It’s a culture thing. If the culture doesn’t encourage and implement exciting innovation, they are that drunk headed for the gutter. Is that your organization? Take steps, and drastic ones, now, if that’s the case. Start with training.

It’s hard to get a peek behind the curtain at GM. I’ve tried to reach their R&D center to talk to someone, but without an introduction I’m not getting through their front desk. Still, if you look from the outside, it’s evident that there is a new focus on information technology (both internal business ops and with the vehicles), and a re-committment to excellence in design. Whatever they’re doing, I hope they keep it up. If anyone from GM reads this would love to talk to you directly.

For GM to continue on its path back it needs to make innovation process spin faster, and, leadership needs to take more risks. What’s happening now is a good start.

Welcome back GM.

Car of the year winner, Cadillac ATS