Rumi Shivaz Innovation Blog

But Thinking vs And Thinking

Whenever you propose a new idea to someone, or when someone proposes an idea to solve one of your problems, our automatic reaction comes out with a 'yes but' or 'no but' answer.  This is because it's much easier to find why something would not work (i.e criticise the idea) rather than coming up with a creative solution.    

Next time when someone suggests an idea/solution to one of your problems/challenges, rather than switching to 'But Thinking' mode, do the following two steps. 

1. Hold off judgement : No matter how stupid/unpractical/crazy the idea/suggestion may feel at that time. 

2. Switch your mind to "And Thinking" mode. This is where you look at the idea/suggestion from a different angle/lense/perspective to see how it could be changed/adopted/adjusted/built-upon to solve your challenge. 

Although this sounds very simple,  you will be amazed how much "But Thinking" is hard-wired to our system.  By learning to use "And Thinking" technique by yourself and teaching others around you to do the same, you can drastically improve the quality of solutions for the challenges you face in your professional and personal life. 

Reactivating The Blogging Habit

I haven't blogged for few months ... it's one of those habits thats hard to re-start once you stop for few weeks.   

While doing some research on how to keep a blog going, I came across a usuful tip; "talk to yourself". 

You can see the article here ... http://blog.inklingmarkets.com/2010/06/talk-to-yourself.html

 

 

 

 

 

Innovation Opportunity : Semi-Permanent Toilets

First of all, my heart goes out to everyone who lost a loved one, had serious injury or had their homes lost or damaged by the recent Christchurch earthquake. It can't be an easy time to get through. 

Nothing is permanent. I'm a great believer that the time you enter this world and the time you leave this world is pre-defined; so there is not a lot you can do to change it. We have to learn how to make the best out of the little time we got in-between these two events. 

While there is a lot of havoc and mayhem that happens as a result of a natural disaster, they also provide a vast number of opportunities for innovation. Watching the news clips and documentaries over the last 10 days about the severe shortage of Toilet facilities made me think of the following need.  

At the moment, what we have is either a permanent toilet (inside a building or public place) or a Port-a-Loo.  

The Port-a-Loo is not the ideal solution for a situation like Christchurch; since it is designed for a different purpose where the requirement is short-term (ie days) & low-usage rather than medium-term (ie weeks or months) with heavy usage. 

Rather than just importing Port-a-Loo's from China, we shoud use this opportunity to do some lateral thinking to find a better solution.

I would like to start an Innovation Challange to re-design a semi-permanent toilet to meet the constraints and demands of a Natural Disaster situation. It must be low-cost, can be assembled by the community using basic material & tools, can be plugged into the underground services (where available) etc. 

If you know of anyone who will be keen to help develop this idea further, then I would love to hear from them ASAP. This could be a great Social Innovation project not only for Christchurch, but for any other city around the world that could face a similar situation. 

 

 

Fast Track Ideas; Let go of Control

 

The last few weeks have been dedicated to eating my own dog food about getting ideas off the ground. 

Around September 2010, I realised that my innovation consulting practice can no longer be a 'Solo-Show'; to build the kind of company that I knew possible, I had to muster a great team around me. 

A lot of people worry about 'How' to get an idea off the ground.  In my view, the question to focus on is 'Who" are the right people you need to make the idea a huge success.  Once the "Who" question is answered, the "How" part will emerge. 

It took me a while gather a team who could see what I was talking about. Tim Brown from IDEO talks about T-Shaped People ... a group of people who have a broad set of complimentary skills and one deep area of Specialisation.  

Collaboration is easy to talk about but really hard to practice. Most ideas won't get off the ground because the Entrepreneur wants to keep full control of the implementation. By sharing this idea with my new team, I had to let go of control, and trust the collective intelligence of the team will transition the idea to a whole new level that I could not possibly have achieved on my own.  

I'm really proud of this team; It has got the right mix of Applied Research, Business Management & Entrepreneurship to tackle the kind of "Hard-To-Crack Problems" and "Hard-To-See Opportunities" that our clients will throw at us.  

During the last 8 weeks, we have managed to complete the first phase of this new enterprise; the most important items being Company Structure, Shareholder Agreement, Branding & Identity.  I'm really glad about deciding to use CrowdSPRING to find a company name & identity design.

The next phase is designing and market testing our service offerings. The link to the new company website is www.visionaro.com

Over the next three months, I'm looking forward to working with few selected customers for market validation and refining the Visionaro value proposition. 

Valuable Resource For Creative Professionals

I'm really looking forward to 2011; this is going to be a massive year from a business point of view. Looking back at 2010, one of the most valuable discoveries I made was a book called Making Ideas Happen from Scott Belsky. 

One of the biggest challenges of working on creativity and innovation space is managing your time and energy. It's very easy to spend heaps of time and effort on ideas, people and projects that go nowhere. 

For me, this book and the Action Method has helped immensly over the last few months, especially to muster a great team around me to realise a long term dream ... that is to set-up an IDEO like company in New Zealand. 

If you are managing a number of challenging/valuable projects, then I would strongly recommend that you read this book and have a go at using the Action Method. 

 

 

 

 

Art of Innovation in Ten Steps - Guy Kawasaki

I came across this video clip today from a tweet from Stefan Lindegaard.   Usually, I don't click to watch a video clip more than 3 minutes long but this one is worth watching. 

 

BD Idea #3 - Treat your Product/Service as a High Value Seed

Some businesses have the luxury of doing well by producing and marketing a generic, me-too product or service.  This is because they have been doing the same thing over a very long time, and has developed a trusted customer base around that service.  So as long as they maintain a good level of service, the customers will keep calling them. 

But some of us don't have this luxury. We can't get excited about making a living by providing a me-too service. We want to do something that would make a huge difference; something that we are passionate about; work with some of the best in the world in our space and somehow make a living by doing that. 

This calls for specialisation, and when you specialise, then you need to think differently about how you promote your services. This is because most people can't/won't understand how you can add value to their life.  

For example, when I meet someone at a networking event, when they ask me what I do, and after I deliver my elevator pitch customised to the best of my ability to suit the person/situation ... if all they say is "that sounds interesting" ... then I know that person will never become a customer for me in a million years.

But here is something to watch out.  Although the person you just spoke to is unlikely to become a customer, they can be connected to your ideal customer.  So never under-estimate what a total stranger can do to your business.

Prospecting is not an easy task, it is time consuming and can be full of disappointments. It is like spreading heaps of seeds up and down the countryside, and hoping like hell that some will grow. 

Instead, treat your service as a high value seed, and think of the conditions on the customer side that's required for your seed to germinate successfully. 

As an example, under my Innovation Consulting service,  I'm have designed an offering called "Trusted Intermediary".

This is where I act as a connector/cross-pollinator between an organisation and the innovation networks outside the organisation, both in New Zealand and around the world. For this seed to grow, I need the following conditions on the customer side. 

1.  A CEO who is driven to make the company one of the best in the world in their category. 

2.  If it's a large company, then the CEO has appointed an internal resource as the innovation manager/advisor as a direct report to her/him. 

3.  The CEO & the innovation manager/advisor understands the value of connecting to innovation networks outside the organisation.

4.  The CEO and/or the innovation manager/advisor has a co-creation mindset, to work with me to design an engagement or proposition.

Unless I can see the above conditions on the customer side, I know that I will be very hard to get an engagement for my Trusted Intermediary offering.   

So, what are the ideal conditions that you need from your customer side for your most valuable services?

BD Idea #2 - Become a Lead Customer for Your Suppliers

This is the 2nd article on my series of ideas for Business Development 

When it comes to searching for new ideas for product/service innovation, most organisations look to the customer side of the value chain.  There are truck load of publications and methodologies like Outcome Driven Innovation, Customer Driven Innovation etc that can help you to uncover value creation opportunities from the customer side. These methodologies work very well when you have decent funds allocated for Research and Development. 

However, most organisations don't have the luxury of big R&D budgets. So in my view, you are better off to look at the supply side of the value chain, and building a reputation as The Lead Customer/Innovation Partner to your current and potential suppliers. 

So how can you do this?  

1. Rather than looking to your big suppliers,  start a conversation with the niche players in your community. Make sure you look outside the current supplier base to get some fresh eyes and ideas. 

2. Invest time to develop relationships and trust with them, so they will see the value of sharing their ideas with you. Most small companies hesitate to do this, because the fear that the customer will take their idea and get one of the bigger suppliers to execute it. 

3. When a niche supplier comes to you with an idea, respond to it promptly. If you are not interested, tell them as soon as possible. Take time to give honest feedback ... value them as much as you value your bigger supplier relationships. 

4. When you identify a valuable idea, make it easy for the niche supplier to engage with you. ie don't expect them to meet the same standards of documentation & track record as your bigger suppliers. Look at their strengths, and find creative ways to manage their weaknesses. 

5. Build a co-creation mindset. For example, if the supplier comes up with an idea that looks promising but not 100% suitable in its current state, using the knowledge you have about your customer base; work with them to co-create the ideal solution.  

Remember, regardless of how smart your internal team is, there are heaps more smarter people in your supply side. Leaning how to win their trust and co-creating new-to-the-world products and services, is an extremely effective way to build your innovation capability and contribute to your local innovation eco-system. 

 

 

BD Idea #1 - Get Your Customers To Interview Your New Staff

Jess Browne from 3 Wise Men, Shop 3, 195 Lambton Quay, Wellington.

Thought of starting a series of articles on Business Development ... so here's the very first one of this series. 

Rater than being a serious, painful exercise, how can you change the staff hiring process to be fun and engaging, and get your customers to play a part in the process? This is especially applicable if you are hiring staff for a retail/hospitality business.

So here is something you could do ...

1.  Make a short list of applicants

2.  Contact some of your regular customers

3.  Arrange few drinks in the shop/store/cafe after work and invite the customers to meet, mix & mingle with the potential staff members. Even better, make a fun event by doing this like a mini-idol contest, where potential employees will tell the customers why they are the best talent for the job.

4.  Then get the customers to vote for who you should hire. 

Here is the story behind this idea. 

3 Wise men is one of my favorite stores in Wellington. I first became a customer when they opened the store in 2005 ... they had a great store manager called Sarah Gummer.  So during 2005 & 2006, I bought quite a few items from this shop and recommended it to heaps of my contacts.

Sarah left sometime in 2007 ... I visited the shop few times but didn't spend much money ... the store manager was good ... but she wasn't great. 

Then last month, I went back to the shop again and met Jess Browne, the new store manager. Jess is awesome ... she knows how to engage with customers and has a real passion for retail.  

So I have spent more money in the store in the last 4 weeks than I have spent in the last 3 years ... and just put out a Tweet to spread the word. 

 

 

 

Innovation Killer - Our Lizard Brain

 

 

I found this story via a great book called Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky

Most people and organisations struggle to execute ideas because of this reason; which Seth Godlin calls our Lizard Brain. 

Here is the link to Set's Article. 

What Is Your Ideal Customer Profile ?

As a niche player,  the worst mistake you can do is not having a clear customer profile. Otherwise, you can spend lot of time prospecting the wrong people, or worst still, take on not-so-ideal projects or assignments.   

This is very easily said than done ... even after years in this game, sometimes I end up spending time with wrong prospects. 

Using years of experience, I have identified the following qualities which defines my ideal customer. 

1.  Will return my calls or emails promptly, usually within 48 hours 

2.  Passionate about value creation and innovation

3.  In decision making positions with access to funding and resources

4.  Has a sense of urgency and prepared to take calculated risks

5.  Has a customer care mindset

6.  Cares about 'value & outcomes' more than 'process & methods'

If you don't have a clear customer profile, then it's worth spending sometime thinking about this. It will save you a lot of heartache and pain in the long run. 

 

 

Feel The Stupidity and Do It Anyway

I think our logical mind can be a huge barrier to discovery of new ideas, connections and opportunities. 

Sometimes, you might agree to do something (i.e go to an event, attend a meeting etc) that doesn't make much sense. So nine out of ten times, even after agreeing to do something, your logical mind will take over and force you to get out of that agreement.

I can vividly remember few times I faced this conflict but somehow did what I agreed to do even though every cell in my left brain was screaming 'this is really stupid ... you are going to waste you time'.

Ignoring this powerful voice of our logical mind is very hard to do.  But when I look back on my own life experiences, I can vividly recall the situations where I forced myself to 'feel the stupidity and do it anyway', and discovered or received something remarkable. 

Next time when you face a situation like this, see if you can apply this strategy, and enjoy the surprising and valuable result it can produce. 

Drag vs Flow

Haven't blog for few months so time to re-activate the Blogging habit again.  

Someone once said to me that 'if what you are doing to make a living feels like hard work, then perhaps you are doing the wrong thing'. 

Last few months has been a bit of a drag ... I was spending quite a lot of time prospecting, but not generating enough business and cash-flow.  

So I decided to do something that doesn't make much sense. That is ... 'when the going get's tough, go on holiday'. 

It's amazing how a bit of sunshine (I went across the ditch to PortDouglas) and a great book (Dan Pink's new book called 'Drive') can do to your system. 

Reading Dan's book helped me to focus on increasing the time I spend on 'Flow' ... which is the 'mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity'. 

For me they are ...

1. Having energising conversations with my prospects & customers about their challenges & aspirations

2. Uncovering an idea/initiative/project that they are passionate about but haven't been able to get it off the ground for whatever reason

3. Discussiong how amazing it will be if we can somehow make that vision a reality ... and moving the idea from 'nice to do' to 'must do' category  

4. Connecting the dots and mustering the right team to transition that idea from concept to reality.  

Sounds crazy but since returning from my short break,  in 7 working days I have built up a piple-line of opportunities bigger than what I managed to do during the last 3 months !!! 

So if your current job/project/role/business feels like a drag, then I strongly suggest ...

1. Take a break

2. Read Dan's book 

3. Find your Flow 

4. Play to your highest potential 

Related links ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Ted Talk - Dan Pink on Motivation   

 

Few Things I Like To See Before Rugby World Cup 2011

 (image from Irish Rugby Union Website)

As of today, there are only 500 days to one of the most exciting sporting events to be hosted in New Zealand. 

Closer to 85,000 well-heeled travelers are expected to arrive in NZ. This is a great opportunitity for us create some urgency and make some valuable innovations/projects happen. 

Here are the first few things that come to my mind.  

1.  Up-to-the-Minute Journey Times.  

Every minute, agencies like NZTA and Local Authorities collect heaps of data from road-side devices (ie sensors). By combining this data with GPS & mobile device data, we should be able to predict up-to-the-minute journey times from point A to B. (and suggest alternative routes if there are bottlenecks).

From technical point of view, all the components to make this happen is already in place. What's missing is a sponsor from the likes of NZTA who can see the massive economic benefit and productivity improvement of doing this project. 

2. "Where is My xyz?"  Apps

We need number of apps on iPhone (or other smartphones) that can provide answers to questions like "where is my Taxi?" , "where is my bag?", "Where are my team supporters?" etc. 

Where is my Taxi would be the easiest app to do, if you can get access to Taxi company location data. 

Where is my Bag is a bit tricky, because you need access to Airline/Transport company back-end-systems. 

Where are my Team Supporters app can be done using feeds from social media sites like FourSquare. 

3. Open Up Heaps of Government Data

During 2009, lot of us from the NZ open govt community put a lot of effort to increase the awareness and open up govt data but so much of valuable data is still locked-up by government agencies. 

Would be great to see a rapid increase of data feeds by agencies so that our creative developer community can produce heaps of awesome applications.  

There are the top three things that come to my mind.  What are your thoughts? 

4. Provide Robust Wifi Coverage Around Stadiums, Venues & Main Tourist Centers

My guess is that a vast majority of visitors will have smartphones. However, they won't be able to access valuable applications because of the horrendous roaming data charges. 

Not sure if/how this will happen but would be great to have robust and comprehensive WiFi coverage in all stadiums, venues & main tourist centers. 

Long Overdue Idea - My Two Minute Profile Video Clip

I'm a strong believer that no matter how hard you try, an idea doesn't move from concept to reality until you connect with the right people. 

For a very long time, I wanted to produce a two minute video clip but couldn't get this idea off the ground. 

Thanks to 90 Seconds Ltd crew, especially Tim, Megan & Turei who did a great job of producing this video in a very short timeframe.  

Also huge thanks to Adam Cooper, Innovation Champion from Land Information New Zealand for doing the customer reference for me. 

A Simple Tip To Overcome Time Pressure

 

From time to time, we all get to a situation that we are racing against the clock to achieve an important goal. It could be as simple as catching a bus or something very important like preparing for a presentation.

Our stress levels go up, we get grumpy and moody, our heart start to race and so on. In essennse, we feel like too much to do and not enough time to meet our objective. 

Next time you face a situation like this, try this little tip. 

Rather than thinking, "I don't have enough time" ... tell yourself that you have "heaps of time" eg rather than saying "I have less than 2 days", say to yourself with conviction "I have more than 48 hours to crack this". 

While this may sound crazy, once you get the hang of this, it will help you to relax your mind, reduce stress level and achieve your goal on time.   

Our minds can perform miracles when you can put it to relaxation mode rather than stressed-out mode. 

Obligation vs Aspiration

Over the last few months,  I have been focusing on finding Innovation champions within New Zealand public sector organizations. 

It's like finding a needle in a haystack. While there is a lot of talk about innovation, there are very few people who are prepared to walk-the-talk. 

One of the reasons for this paradox as follows. 

People in public sector spends an awful amount of time and money formulating strategies, goals, objectives an so on. There are no shortage of managers who are assigned to execute these strategies and goals. 

But there is something missing. 

Most managers are busy fulfilling "obligations" to their senior management or to the minister. It is very rare to find a leader with an "aspiration" close to their heart and committed to making it happen. 

The vast majority of Managers fulfilling obligations will spend their budget, tick a box and maintain status quo.  A small number of Leaders with an aspiration will create huge value and make a difference. 

With a lot of persistence and a bit of good luck, I'm slowly uncovering few amazing leaders in government (both central & local) who have an aspiration and the capability, capacity, courage and urgency to realise that vision.  

Over the next few weeks, I'm planning to write few blog posts about some great projects happening in NZ public sector.  

If you know of any innovation champions in government, then I would love to connect with them to showcase their story. 

Public Sector Innovation - A New Wave

It’s almost 2 years since I started to focus on public sector innovation.  At that time, there was very little interest or good quality reference material on this subject. However, things have changed for the better, and interest on this topic is increasing, both in New Zealand and around the world. 

 In my view, here are some key reasons for this change.  (New Zealand context)

• Change of government … prime minister and number of key ministers with entrepreneurial backgrounds.
• Directive from Treasury to chief executives of government agencies … to cut their operating budgets, think outside the box and deliver more value for money.
• Increase of high calibre people joining the public sector … number of previously self-employed professionals and private sector employees have accepted senior management positions in public sector.  
• Demand from ‘smart citizens’ to improve level of service … we are getting used to extraordinary service level’s from private sector organizations and we want public sector organizations to lift their game.

Expecting a whole government agency to become innovative is wishful thinking.  However, it is possible for this to happen at a business unit level.  Once a business unit start to think and work like a close-knit entrepreneurial team and create a few ‘wow’ services to their customers, over time, that energy and creativity is likely to spread to other parts of the organization.

While there are a number of ingredients required for a public sector team to embrace an innovative culture, the key ingredient is an “innovation champion” with the following attributes.  

• Someone who believes his/her organization could be so much better
• A genuine desire to fulfil customers articulated and latent needs
• A ‘yes – let’s figure out how’ attitude rather than ‘no – here are the reasons why’ attitude
• Willingness to tap into external networks to complement capability and capacity of internal team
• Courage to engage and work with ‘smart citizens’ to co-create public services

As a nation, New Zealand desperately needs more ‘innovation champions’ in the public sector, who are prepared to re-imagine the future, go the extra mile, uncover hidden opportunities & create services that can add huge value to its customers and the economy of New Zealand

Strategy vs Adventure

The word 'Strategy' and all the management jargon/presentations wrapped around it, can put many people in an organization to sleep.  Here is an excerpt from "The Art of Engagement" by Jim Hauden ... a valuable insight for leaders who are responsible for communicating the strategy to win the hearts and minds of their people. 

STRATEGY IS AN ADVENTURE; EVEN MORE, IT'S A PURPOSEFUL ADVENTURE.

Consider the difference in the answers you might get if you asked a business leader these two questions. 

"What is your company's strategy?"

"What is your company's adventure?".

Let's face it: strategies, whether stated verbatim or some translated form, just aren't very stirring. Even worse, they're often couched in some jargon that makes them difficult to decipher unless you're in the select group of people who gave birth to the codes and nicknames. But as adventure? Now, that's exciting!. An engaging leader could tell you a story filled with drama, and you'd be able to tell from his animated comments and gestures how passionate he was. 

Strategies, if shared correctly, are true adventures. There are good guys and bad guys, and the journey is rampant with struggles, setbacks, and barriers. There are accomplishments, disappointments, and refocused dreams ... all with consequences that have a real-life impact on the lives of people. A strategy story, told properly, is an adventure that invites others to join ... to be part of something bigger than themselves, to feel as if they belong, and to see clearly how everyone's efforts contribute to the organizations success. 

Old Box vs New Box

Over the last few months, I have been noticing a steady increase of people that I personally know who are losing their jobs due to a re-structure or by organizations moving to survival/cost cutting mode. 

When something unexpected happens, or something you feared that could happen finally happens, your mind starts to do crazy things, so I thought of sharing this valuable life lesson I learnt few years ago.  

In February 2003, I crashed my last company in epic scale. I was technically bankrupt, but due to a strange co-incidence which I still find hard to believe, I avoided bankruptcy.  Weeks following losing my company was a tough time since I was getting lots of conflicting advice from people who have been in the same situation as I was. Keeping a clear head, maintaining a positive mindset and looking for a way to put some food on the table was extremely hard.  

Fortunately, I got this invaluable piece of advice from John Selby, a senior partner in PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Wellington. Since then, I have passed this on to many people who have faced an unexpected loss, whether it may be a business, job, close relationship etc. 

John said to me "Create two boxes in your head, every-time a thought comes to your mind related to your last company, put it in the Old Box and let someone else handle it. (i.e in my case, lawyer and accountant). Force your mind to spend time thinking about the New Box ... possibilities and avenues for you to generate some income and get back on your feet".  

While this sounds simple, it's actually quite hard to do, because your mind will constantly wonder about the loss and lot's of things that you should or shouldn't have done.  It took me few days to get control over my mind so I can quickly shut down any thoughts related to Old Box and direct my mental energy to the New Box.  

Please share this story with anyone you know who is going through a difficult situation.