Upon the gracious invitation of Chicago friend and colleague Bob Lambert, in August 2007 I attended a Leadership Summit held in South Barrington, Illinois. Over 1,000 people were on hand for this extraordinary event, which lasted 3 days. Among the many luminaries featured at the conference was a leader I greatly admire: Colin Powell.
Due to a late schedule change, Colin Powell was actually interviewed on camera and did not appear live. Despite this, his comments resonated with me perhaps more than any other speaker at the Leadership Summit.
I don't recall who interviewed him, but I do recall what Colin Powell said in response to the interviewer's first question...because I wrote it in my notebook:
Q: What would you say is your most important leadership tool?
Powell: "Optimism. Because it's a force multiplier."
Wow. Optimism. Not something I would have expected him to say. And what the heck is a force multiplier?
Colin Powell described a force multiplier as a strategic tool that allows a smaller body of individuals to conquer a much larger body. For example, by leveraging force multipliers, 10 soldiers can take on opponents that are 2x, 3x or 4x larger (ie up to 40 soldiers).
Curiously, a force multiplier typically cannot be precisely quantified, as it rests primarily in the hearts, minds, or physical prowess of its bearers. A force multiplier thus does not exist "on paper" - only in practice. Force multipliers also "work" because they become infectious in their power, serving as an unspoken form of communication.
Although Colin Powell described "leadership," "the element of surprise," and "intensive training" as other force multipliers, he described "pervasive optimism" as the one he draws upon the most.
Since hearing Colin Powell's interview two years ago, I've thought about force multipliers almost every day. I realized there are six force multipliers within Edison's Five Competencies of Innovation - including optimism. The concept of force multipliers is particularly important to the innovator because using them allows us to ramp up our innovation skills 2x, 3x or 4x faster than we otherwise could. This is especially important in tough economic times.
I'll address three of Edison's six force multipliers today, and the remaining three in the next issue. Read on to learn why optimism, maintaining a notebook, and the use of analogies are innovation force multipliers you can use every day.
The First Force Multiplier: Charismatic Optimism
What Colin Powell described as "pervasive optimism" I describe in the Five Competencies as "charismatic optimism." Colin Powell engaged optimism as a force multiplier on the battle field because it allowed his leaders to be emotionally bigger, verbally stronger, and engender action faster. Optimism created positive thinking patterns in commanders that led to better ideas across the board - both in battle and beyond it.
"Charismatic optimism" allowed Edison to persevere in circumstances that surely would have crushed others. For example, he secured funding in situations that to others looked impossible.
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This photo of Edison survived
the
fire of 1914.
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On a wintry night in December 1914, standing on the 15-acre campus of his West Orange laboratory facility, Edison watched 13 of his manufacturing buildings burn down before his very eyes. Summoned in the dead of night from his home just blocks away, Edison drove to the West Orange lab, and witnessed the
destruction of permanent records, finished goods, phonograph orders, supplies, valuable manufacturing equipment, and more.
In current dollars, he lost $7 million that snowy night. He was responsible for covering $5 million of it, as he'd self-insured most of the lab's property. General insurance would only net him $2 million.
But rather than moan and fret about the money he'd lost, Edison's charismatic optimism took over. Much to the shock of his wife and children - who arrived later - Edison pulled out his notebook and happily began sketching layouts and equipment for the new factory facilities he was going to construct as replacements for the burned out buildings. Edison further pledged that he would be up and running within days - a seeming impossibility!
Edison was true to his word. Securing funds to rebuild - a daunting challenge for most 67- year olds who have lost $7 million - Edison contracted with competitors to make finished goods for his phonographs and other products. Motivated by the raw gumption of "the old man" to keep his operation afloat, Edison's employees rallied to his cause and stayed the course rather than jump ship.
Without charismatic optimism as a force multiplier here, Edison would not only have lost millions of dollars and loads of market share in that fire, he could have lost hundreds of trained factory employees to the competition as well. Instead, he retained the loyalty of his people and motivated them in a way that no bonus or paycheck ever could.
The Second Force Multiplier: Maintaining a Notebook
Author Daniel Pink (A Whole New Mind) has claimed that the 21st century belongs to right-brain thinkers, not just those who immerse themselves in left-brained dominated tools like spreadsheets, numbers, and data. In the domain of the right brain lies the parallel processing power that captures images, patterns, and strategy - elements which drive innovation.
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| Edison's signed notebook entry, detailing the world's first phonograph. (1877) |
Although Edison had no knowledge of brain science, he did notice that he got better and better ideas when he wrote them down. A lynchpin to Edison's second competency of innovation - Kaleidoscopic Thinking - Edison believed notebook writing was a way to significantly expand the power of his mind. Edison said, "The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles can be developed." Writing down ideas in a notebook became a mental gymnastics exercise for his brain.
Maintaining a notebook serves as our second force multiplier because ideas are the onramp to the innovation process. Without a means to record insights, our innovation power is hugely diminished. One of Edison's biggest scientific breakthroughs came during a visit to the lab of fellow inventor William Wallace in 1878. While viewing some of Wallace's arc lighting equipment - in a flash - Edison realized how he could achieve incandescence where more than 20 other scientists had failed. By immediately writing down the idea, he captured both the passion and the scientific essence of his thought.
Edison's notebook entries often include not only the insights themselves, but the emotions behind them. Today, neuroscience proves that the brain remembers ideas longer this way. Maintaining a notebook thus serves as a force multiplier not only by capturing your insights effectively, but by drawing emotions into the picture. Both the left and the right brain are fully engaged. I would estimate that by maintaining a notebook, I've ramped up my own creative thinking ability by a factor of 3x.
The Third Force Multiplier: Analogical Thinking
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This notebook drawing reflects Edison's comparison of telegraphy and electricity |
Edison was able to pioneer 6 industries in less than 40 years not just because he had a lot of great ideas, but because he learned how to generate robust ideas...indeed, entire platforms of ideas.
The third force multiplier - analogical thinking - was key to this process. Analogical thinking accesses the juiciest part of the brain: the frontal lobe. Any neuroscientist will tell you this is where you want to hang out. The frontal lobe of the brain is where world-class innovators like Edison, Dean Kamen and Dr. Robert Langer (read this month's Edison's Awards segment for more on Dr. Langer) spend their "think time."
Because the mind is wired to see "like-ness" or "same-ness" as a means to help us navigate complex environments, we often have to work hard to get out of locked-in brain patterns when we want to think creatively. Analogical thinking enables us to do this.
Analogical thinking involves taking two concepts that at first seem unlike, then actively comparing them to find out how they are alike. Edison often used analogical thinking when trying to navigate something entirely new. For example, when tackling how to connect several light bulbs together, he began to compare what he knew about the flow of information through a telegraph system with the flow of electricity through a similar system. By comparing "telegraphy" with "electricity," Edison was putting together two unlike concepts to see how they were alike. (See this month's Out of the Box segment to read how the hit movie Terminator Salvation used analogical thinking to create robot vision.)
The result of Edison's comparison between telegraphy and electricity is shown in the above drawing. You can see the rudiments of what today we would recognize as a "circuit." Rather than pounding his head against the wall for days, analogical thinking enabled Edison to develop these circuit images in a matter of hours. Analogical thinking pushed Edison's thought process to the frontal lobes of his brain, connecting patterns and images that yielded a new concept for channeling flows of electricity.
Edison's comparison of telegraph and electricity gave birth to the world's first electric circuit. Edison used these drawings as the basis for his initial experimentation with connecting light bulbs together. He could not have tackled this new domain as rapidly nor as creatively without the use of analogical thinking. Speed and high impact outcomes are two key reasons why analogical thinking is a force multiplier!
To read more about analogical thinking, see pages 92 - 99 in Innovate Like Edison.
What You Can Do Starting Now
Start cultivating force multipliers in your own life, and watch how they begin to impact your innovation power:
- Consciously practice optimism: Noted psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman has conducted decades of research into the impact of optimism and positive thinking. Neuroscience proves that optimism is more than just "wearing rose colored glasses." It drives better, faster decisions at critical moments. Seligman states that we need 5 experiences of optimism to offset just one dose of negative news. By knowing what makes you happiest or most optimistic, you can consciously offset negative "incoming" influences. Consciously identify what the 5 things are that make you feel good, and ensure every day you activate them as many times as possible.
- Start a notebook today: Begin ramping up your innovation power by purchasing a small, lined notebook, and carrying it with you everywhere. As you progress through your day, note down ANY ideas that come to you. Within a week, you'll be hooked. I make anywhere from 2 to 5 notations in my notebook daily. In addition to ink or pencil, I use Post-its, and even underlined sections of newspaper articles - anything that captures my thinking. Start putting this innovation force multiplier to work for you today!
- Try analogical thinking in your next meeting: You can complete a simple analogical thinking exercise in 15 to 20 minutes. Next time you're stumped, call to mind something you know a lot about and then compare it to a completely different idea. (I like to use concepts drawn from Nature in these exercises.) Your output can be shown in words or images. Here are three examples of concept comparisons you could try:
- Sales growth and Water
- Advertising and Clouds
- Customers and Mountains
Once you harness the power of force multipliers, you'll never want to stop!
Edison's Notebook will take a vacation in July...August issue: Innovation Force Multipliers for Teams
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