IN THIS ISSUE:

• Letter From Sarah
• Feature Article - HOW CAN COLLABORATION INSPIRE INNOVATION?
• Out of the Box
• Events and Resources
• The Edison Awards
• About Sarah Caldicott

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Dear Innovator:

A big question organizations of all sizes are asking today is, "How do I keep my employees engaged in their work, and doing their best work?"

 

According to a study conducted by BPI Group- a global talent management and consulting firm - maintaining high motivation levels among an organization's best employees has been tough in recent months.  And it was even tougher during the height of The Great Recession. 

 

The BPI Group study notes top-level performers are the most likely to jump ship first when creative projects or innovation-related endeavors get shut down.  Contrary to popular belief, your best people need to be the ones you must inspire most if you want them to stay!

 

Fortunately, after being burned in prior downturns, several macroeconomic surveys reveal that most organizations maintained their innovation spending during The Great Recession.  However, staff layoffs and other cost-cutting measures - especially reduced training budgets - dampened employee motivation levels inside many companies.  Top-level performers often felt their skill sets were going to stagnate as a result.

 

If you lost a key employee in the last 18 months, they may have been saying: "If you're not going to invest in me, I'm leaving." How can you avoid losing your best people?

 

LEVERAGE COLLABORATION TO INSPIRE TOP-LEVEL EMPLOYEES

Sarah in Helsinki, Finland with Heureka Science Museum director Mikko Myllykowski.

In the January 2010 issue of Edison's Notebook, I commented on three core principles which drive human motivation: 1) Autonomy; 2) Mastery; and 3) Purpose.  I offered illustrations of these three areas as described in Daniel Pink's recent best-seller, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

 

Edison's approach to collaboration offered him a masterful way to sustain employee motivation and keep his best people.  His philosophies embraced all three of Daniel Pink's concepts.  This month's feature article talks about a first step you can take in building collaborative teams to drive innovation.  Read how you can link the work of the innovation team to Purpose, as Edison did.  The article also includes a link to anthropologist Simon Sinek's recent TED talk, revealing how Edison's approach connects to how our brains are "wired to inspire."

 

COLLABORATION AND THE INSPIRATIONAL LEADER
This month's Out-of-the-Box segment comments on Fast Company's June cover article, "The 100 Most Creative People in Business." Creativity is a topic I highlighted in this same section in the May 2010 edition of Edison's Notebook. Read why most of us fail to look beyond the "uniqueness" component of Creativity.  Learn what you can do to foster a crucial ability which strengthens Creativity: dealing with ambiguity.

 

Following keynotes at several conferences these past few weeks, I've had a chance to meet some fascinating people.  Check out the Events and Resources section for news about how two large organizations are working to improve America's innovation competitiveness.

 

Do you have a budding inventor on your hands? This month's Edison Awards section lists three terrific resources for you and your kids to check out this summer, including a link to a free poster you can download.  Stay cool, and get inspired to innovate!

 

One last thing...just as this newsletter was going to press, TIME released its July 5th edition with Thomas Edison on the cover! Check out why TIME believes America needs to get back to its innovation roots.  Thanks to all of you who emailed me with your thoughts and opinions about the TIME articles!

 

To your innovation success,

PS: Please share this newsletter with a co-worker or a friend!

Feature Article - HOW CAN COLLABORATION INSPIRE INNOVATION?

(click here to view past newsletter issues)

Why do we get inspired by people like Thomas Edison, or civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, or Apple CEO Steve Jobs? The answer, according to anthropologist and business author Simon Sinek, is that they believed something deeply and could communicate "why." (Read on for more about Simon Sinek and his recent TED talk.) Edison, King, and Jobs each stand as inspirational leaders who in turn inspire(d) others to engage deeply in new behaviors associated with their message.

Inspirational leadership is one of the core requirements for any collaboration team to succeed. This is a key finding from research I've been conducting over the past few months for my new book on Thomas Edison's collaboration methods.  Collaboration intrigues me because so many organizations who take up the innovation cause decide that "better collaboration" needs to be one of their first steps.

While "better collaboration" is indeed a great goal, few organizations really "get" that collaboration is more than just assigning people to work together on a team.  Most collaboration teams I meet at companies where I'm undertaking projects are really just big meetings, or glorified committees.  They don't represent true collaborations.

How can we change this? How can we make collaboration a more effective tool to drive innovation, as well as attract and retain the best people?

This month's feature article offers insight into a new way you can drive inspiration in your workplace, and in turn create inspirational leaders who can populate your innovation teams.  The key? Understanding the "why" of what you do.

TRUE COLLABORATION HELPS ATTRACT, INSPIRE, AND KEEP THE BEST PEOPLE
Thomas Edison realized that true collaboration was not about committees. To enable his Menlo Park laboratory teams to churn out "...a minor invention every 10 days and a big thing every six months," Edison sensed he was going to have to do more than just display a knack for inventing cool new stuff.

Edison became a master at collaboration because he was able to communicate "why" his Menlo Park lab would change the world.  He was able to verbalize "why" he was willing to spend endless hours experimenting.  He could make others palpably feel "why" his innovations could transform the relationship between technology and daily life.

Starting with "why," it turns out, is the secret to attracting people who believe what you believe, will work as you work, and will create what can be created at the outermost limits of possibility.

STARTING WITH "WHY" TAPS THE BRAIN'S DECISION-MAKING CENTER
A trained anthropologist, Simon Sinek teaches graduate-level courses at Columbia University. He spent years researching why some thought-leaders and executives are able to develop passionate followings - or sell more of their branded products -- and others aren't.

Business author Simon Sinek

The result? Higher employee engagement, magnetizing the best people to your organization, and driving inspired - and truly collaborative - innovation teams.

The Golden Circle theory governs how we can most powerfully communicate with others about our work. Sinek's message: "Always start with why." By beginning with those concepts that activate the emotional and decision-making center of the brain, we create tremendous magnetism in our communication. We engender trust, loyalty, and even a sense of happiness or well-being.

Sinek believes that The Golden Circle works as a strong

communications tool because it actually mirrors how the brain works. If seen as a cross-section from above, the brain consists of three concentric circles. The Golden Circle traces this same three-part concentric structure. The outermost circle of the brain is the neocortex which governs language, rational thought, and analytical skills. This is the "what" part of The Golden Circle.

Simon Sinek's depiction of The Golden Circle.

The middle and center circles of our brain's structure correspond to the limbic system. This houses the emotional and decision-making centers, but lacks any kind of language function. The middle and center sections of The Golden Circle help us discern "why" we believe something, and "how" we wish to connect to that belief. No decisions can be made in the brain without the limbic system!

Sinek's theory in effect is, "Don't waste a lot of time talking about ‘what.' It's the ‘why' of things that moves us to action." (To watch Sinek's fascinating TED Talk on The Golden Circle, click here.)

THE "WHY" FOR EDISON
Sinek's TED Talk mentions the "why" for Apple. By focusing on the center of The Golden Circle, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs (photo below) uses "why" to telegraphically communicate at the level of beliefs and emotion...not at the level of fact. (Consider how different this is from the way Microsoft communicates.) Here is what Sinek believes Apple's "why" is:

This sense of rebellion and "being different" creates a huge engagement factor - even among for people who don't buy the Apple brand. Over the last two decades, Apple's "why" has demonstrated market-moving power.

Edison was also very clear about his "why's.'" He drew passion for his "why's" from his belief that technology was merely a tool to make life better. Life wasn't about technology, or even creating better technology. It was about harnessing Nature to create greater ease in daily life.

Here is Edison's "why:"

Edison used his "why" when communicating with his innovation teams and prospective hires. By inspiring engagement around this "why," he was able to retain many gifted employees for years and years.

Being on a collaboration team in Edison's laboratory meant being inspired every day, knowing that you were working toward a "why" that you believed in. Edison's "why's" allowed him to hire the best employees - even if it meant waiting in a long line for an interview!

WHAT YOU CAN DO STARTING NOW
Here are four next steps for you to consider:

1. Are you an inspirational leader? Do you know your "why?" If so, how are you communicating this?
   
   
2. Do your key employees know the "why" of your organization? Can they verbalize this?
   
   
3. Are there employees you can point to right now who "get it," who are engaged in the "why" and are modeling it? How are you leveraging these individuals?
   
   
4. Consider how you can begin tapping into your "why" as a tool to motivate your innovation teams. These teams can be in any area of your organization...Finance, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Product Development. Find the people who "get" the why, and ensure they obtain the skill sets to lead the charge for innovation!

Make it your driving ambition in July to discover your "why!"

In the next issue: The Complexity Factor: How Innovation and Complexity Connect

Out of the Box

ASSESSING YOUR CREATIVITY: GOING BEYOND "UNIQUENESS"
(Second in a series of four segments...)

This month's Fast Company cover article features the magazine's annual review of The 100 Most Creative People in Business. Fast Company started this analysis just a few years ago. Yet, as much as the magazine's emphasis on creativity has really helped highlight its importance as a core driver of business - and innovation - success, I find Fast Company's "definition" of creativity dangerously limited.

Lady Gaga is Fast Company's Most Creative Person of 2010

On page 12 of the Fast Company hardcover edition, editor Robert Safian briefly outlines how his team made their decisions, stating: "That's the way creativity is: plainly obvious or visible only from the right vantage point."

Really? From my read of this year's 100 top finishers, Fast Company has taken a "vantage point" which emphasizes "uniqueness" as its core criterion.

While I love Lady Gaga's wild outfits and her hit song "Bad Romance," I don't know that I would have elevated her to the #1 position on Fast Company's 2010 list. Yet, there she is! Uniqueness does clearly play a role in our Creativity (see the March 2010 edition of Edison's Notebook for more on this subject), but norms-based studies indicated that it is only one of four crucial factors.

DEALING WITH AMBIGUITY IS A CRUCIAL PART OF CREATIVITY
One of these four factors is "ambiguity." According to a 35-year study conducted by the Richard Byrd Company in Minnesota, the ability to deal with ambiguity is a huge part of Creativity.

The BP oil spill offers a good practice case for the challenges of dealing with ambiguity.

What happens when you are confronted by a blank canvas? A blank sheet of paper? A lack of data? A fried computer? A gushing oil well that's poisoning wetlands, sea life, and beaches? Do you freeze up, or do you find that options flow readily to mind?

Edison was a master at addressing ambiguity. He said, "When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes." His creative solution-seeking not only addressed current issues - but challenges that were likely to happen. Addressing ambiguity was at the heart of Edison's endless experimentation. Yet today, we often become too paralyzed even to experiment at all! We want to know all the answers before we begin.

In last month's newsletter, I mentioned here in Out-of-the Box that a major IBM study had just been published. The study indicated a perceived need for today's leaders to have Creativity as the biggest part of their skill set. A Business Week article entitled "What CEO's Really Want" does a great job of reprising key findings from the study. ( Click here to read.)

ADDRESSING AMBIGUITY AND DEALING WITH COMPLEXITY ARE LINKED
Rather than keying primarily on uniqueness - as Fast Company seems to be doing - the IBM study says creative leaders are ones which can handle complexity. Dealing with ambiguity becomes hugely important in a massively interconnected, complex world. The best leaders recognize they must still navigate problems even if factors crucial to a solution are hidden - or even unknowable. Here's a great segment from the article:

"The world is massively interconnected - economically, socially, and politically - and operating as a system of systems....The chief executives see a large gap between the level of complexity coming at them and their confidence that their enterprises are equipped to deal with it. Until now creativity has generally been viewed as fuel for the engines of research or product development, not the essential leadership asset that must permeate an enterprise." - BW: May 18, 2010

TAKE THESE STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR COMFORT WITH AMBIGUITY
Here are a few steps you can take to improve your own comfort level with ambiguity, starting now:

• Watch a foreign film with no subtitles. See if you can get even half way through! Write down what you think the plot line is, and who the characters are. Do an online search later to compare what you observed versus the "actual" story. Note if this is easy, or difficult for you to endure!
• Wander through a museum or botanical garden in your community with no specific "goal" in mind. See where you end up. What insights emerge?
• Observe people who deal(t) with ambiguity. Consider Thomas Edison, Mahatma Gandhi, George Washington, and Madeleine Albright. What patterns do you see?

Your likelihood of running into a problem with fuzzy edges is pretty high these days. So get started with these steps now!

Events and Resources

The Edison Awards
Dedicated to America's Innovation Competitiveness in the 21st Century

SCRATCH THAT INVENTION ITCH, AND INSPIRE A YOUNG INVENTOR!

How many inventors do you know? Do you have an "inventor's mind?" Are you always tinkering with ideas but wondering how you can go further? Or...is there a young, budding inventor living right under your roof?

American inventors changed the world. In no other country can you find the concentration - or proliferation of output - that we see among inventors here in the U.S. Although we always are striving to do better, we are fortunate to live in a nation which encourages entrepreneurs and their ideas. This has a huge and positive impact on the desire to invent...and ultimately, the desire to innovate!

Here are a few resources you can take advantage of this summer:

• Send your child to a summer camp which emphasizes invention and hands-on learning. Visit www.invent.org, the website for the National Inventor's Hall of Fame (NIHF) for more information about Camp Invention. Thomas Edison was the first inductee to the NIHF, which opened in 1973 in Akron, Ohio. Does your prospective camper look as wide-eyed and curious about the world as this one does?
  
  At right is a photo of Thomas Edison, age 12. Imagine if you had met Edison when he was just 12. Would you have spotted his potential? Send your child to Camp Invention, and put them on a path to change our world!

• Check out the Discovery Channel's home page. It's packed with resources about science, technology, and exploration. Visit www.discovery.com for fascinating articles and interactive programming that will keep you and your budding inventor engaged for weeks. Subjects range from architecture to deep-sea fishing and energy - there are even video games!

• August is National Inventors Month. Check out these resources to learn more. This summer,dedicate yourself to learning more about what America's famed inventors have done since 1776, and how you can become more inventive today! National Inventors Month was started in 1998 by the United Inventors Association of the USA (UIA-USA), the Academy of Applied Science, and Inventor's Digest magazine. Here is what an Inventor's Digest editor, Joanne Hayes-Rines, says about the importance of National Inventors Month: "We want to recognize those talented, brave individuals who dare to be blatantly creative, and therefore different, and whose accomplishments affect every facet of our lives." Click here for a free poster you can download to inspire your inventive spirit. Enjoy!

The Edison Awards was established to recognize innovations and innovators. By engaging your inventive spirit - and inspiring invention in those around you - you strengthen pathways for bringing new ideas to the marketplace. This is how innovation happens!

Visit www.edisonawards.com for a list of the 2010 Edison Awards winners in 11 categories. Read about what these inventors and innovators did to gain recognition for their products and services!

Nominations for the 2011 Edison Awards open on September 1st, 2010. Begin thinking about what innovations have transformed your life, and nominate one for an Edison Award this year!

About Sarah Caldicott

Sarah Miller Caldicott is a great grandniece of Thomas Edison, a 25-year marketing veteran, and co-author of "Innovate Like Edison: The Five-Step System for Breakthrough Business Success." She has assembled teams of highly experienced consultants and trainers to assist her in bringing Edison's Five Competencies of Innovation™ to organizations of all sizes. Sarah and her teams are capable of addressing business challenges from a diverse array of industries, in either a business-to-consumer or business-to-business environment.

Sarah is a dynamic and award-winning speaker, whose engaging style combines substantive business content with humor. Her invaluable experience offers an ideal resource for organizations seeking innovation success in today's rapidly integrating global marketplace.

Born and raised in the Midwest, Sarah received a BA from Wellesley College, where she was named a Wellesley College Scholar. She also holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Sarah resides in Oak Park, Illinois, and has two teenage boys, Nicholas and Connor. For additional information on Sarah, click here.

©2010 by Sarah Miller Caldicott. All Rights Reserved.