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Gerald Haman from SolutionPeople gave a presentation entitled “Know Your Brain” at last week’s Innovation Strategies Summit. Gerald believes most people do not spend as much time as they should thinking about how they think. So he walked us through an exercise designed to help us to better understand our individual thinking style, and to recognize and honor thinking styles that our different than our own. Here are some selected thoughts from his presentation that resonated with me:
Characteristics of innovators: "Innovators know their own brains." Gerald believes people need to learn more about their unique thinking style, and the thinking styles of others. Innovators also know people with better brains. They hire people smarter than themselves and network with people who are experts in various areas.
Gerald's definition of innovation: Innovation is implementing creative ideas into profitable solutions. "Innovation is how you make money from creativity." He pointed out that most companies don't have shared definition of innovation. Because of this, they are unable to envision or communicate about what innovation should look like at their company.
Diversity of thought is essential: Cultivating diverse thinking styles within a company or team is critical to innovation. Different thinkers bring different perspectives and sets of experiences, which tends to lead to better ideas. Gerald acknowledged that people who have different thinking styles can be "pains in the brain." But the creative benefits of a diverse team far outweigh the challenges of learning how to work together.
Collaborate to innovate: Highly innovative people also know that it's important to collaborate in order to innovate. This is a key opportunity that many people overlook, Gerald says. He shared this interesting quote from Woodrow Wilson: "I not only use all the brains I have, but all that I can borrow."
The importance of questions: Gerald is a huge believer in the importance of asking better questions to become a better innovator. He encouraged attendees to ask questions that deliberately inspire innovate of thinking, questions like, "If the sky's the limit, what would be possible?" Gerald is also a fan of the "5 Ws and H" - who, what, when, where, why and how. In particular, the question “why?” can be quite fruitful. If you ask "why?" repeatedly, you will often discover new insights and ideas.
What's in your toolbox: Gerald is a big believer of utilizing tools to extend your creative thinking skills. In fact, he has developed popular ideation tools like the KnowBrainer fan card deck, and a new software version of it called the FlashBrainer. These tools don't think for you, but they serve as a catalyst to draw forth ideas and connections from within your marvelous, creative brain.
Question banks: Gerald encouraged attendees to build question banks that their team or company can share, to inspire diverse thinking and help the company to achieve its goals. He has helped several clients, including Motorola, to build question banks.
Trade shows – a rich source of ideas: Because they tend to bring together the most innovative new products and solutions into one location, trade shows can be a rich source of new ideas. Gerald explained how he gave one client instructions to visit a furniture show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, armed with a pad of paper and a pen, and instructions to record any ideas that came to them as they walked the aisles of the show and viewed interesting exhibits. This sounds like a great strategy - I can't wait to try it! |
