Seven Drivers for Re-igniting Innovation in Ourselves

As adults, we have to go deeper into what made us tick as a child in order to come out the other side as creative and courageous as we once were.  What made it possible to play or imagine?  Each of the children described previously shows that creativity takes place when there is ambiguity, or as someone recently said to me, “when there is a lot of gray.”  “Creativity is often one person thinking differently that turns conventional wisdom on its head.” (Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Corporation).  It can be birthed in teams,  but usually it is one person thinking independently that gets things going.  Children are very inner-directed and to be creative you need to ‘hear your own drummer.’ They also appreciate uniqueness in others—little children don’t discriminate in terms of who has the higher I.Q. or judge people by the color of their skin until later in their lives. They are accepting of differences and the differences make their play more interesting.

What makes young children take more risks in their play is that they are authentic, they are true to themselves; they don’t evaluate the ‘political’ landscape.  They are resilient –if something doesn’t work out, they are on to the next thing, and they don’t beat themselves up if something doesn’t go their way.  Children are much more self-accepting.  But we, as adults, teach them that there are mistakes and a right way and wrong way of doing something.

 

The Seven Drivers of Creativity & Risk Taking

           

Creativity Drivers                 DEFINITION			The So What…?
Ambiguity:	Able to operate with uncertainty and   vagueness—don’t require high structure, goals or objectives to accomplish or   create		One   of our biggest blocks to accepting greater ambiguity is the search for clear   answers, isn’t it?  Creativity requires   more comfort with ambiguous situations.
Independence:	Not subject to the control or   influence or determination of another or others—will not subordinate   themselves—don’t like to be managed by others		Creative   people are independent in their judgment –they resist conforming to group   opinion, if it is different from their own.
Inner-Directedness:	Determine their own expectations and   norms—‘march to the beat of their own drummer’		Creative   people are attracted to change and new ideas and ways of doing things—not the   tried and true.
Uniqueness:	Appreciate and value   differences—value uniqueness in both self and others		We all struggle to be   accepted and to be valued for our uniqueness. At times these are at odds with   one another.  Valuing uniqueness says   that we value diversity of thought.
Risk-Taking Drivers           DEFINITION			THE SO WHAT…….
Authenticity:		Being what you purport to be:  genuine—“walk your talk”—“tell it like it   is”	Often we try on different personalities   until we realize it is a joy to be authentic and true to ourselves.  Only by being true to ourselves do we say   and do what we believe.
Resiliency:		The capacity to spring back, rebound   and to successfully adapt and learn even in the face of adversity and stress	The connection between resiliency   and risk taking is central –individuals who take risks that others   wouldn’t   believe that they’ll  land on their feet.
Self-Acceptance:		Approving and/or satisfied with your   behaviors or actions	Understanding what your   response will be if you ‘fail’ or make a ‘mistake’ and disappoint either   yourself or others is critical to moving on and taking that next risk.

Using this framework, we can start to think of these as the keys to tap into our own inner child.  Each of the seven Drivers contributes to your future, no matter whether you are trying to create new ideas, face your own fears, contribute more to the success of the company you work for, start a business, or just feel more comfortable with the ideas you offer and the risks that you take every day in your life.  So, in the next blog, we will discover how to re-ignite your ability to be more creative and take more risks in your life.

What is your most imaginative field trip, story, adventure?

What is your most imaginative field trip, story, adventure?.

Think of the last thing you did that was creative……..

Think of the last thing you did that was creative……...

Voice of the Innovator

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every innovator I’ve known or observed has had to deal with enormous challenges and, yet, they just keep moving forward—nothing seems to get in their way. What can we learn from them? There is something important here. Many of them are successful in spite of others and, in many cases, in spite of themselves. Those who we might not consider successful innovators consider themselves successful —it’s the rest of the world who is “not seeing clearly.” And, in many cases, you know, they are right.

Completing this work completes a journey for me into understanding what innovators have to teach us about ourselves. So my acknowledgement is simple—“here’s to the innovators” who jump the curbs of life, who stand-up for their ideas, who stay curious about the world, who are cynics and optimists at the same time, who never give up. We can all learn from them. I…

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Once upon a time we were all innovators

PART ONE: ONCE UPON A TIME, WE WERE ALL INNOVATORS

Once upon a time, we were all innovators. We came up with new ideas every day. We created worlds of make-believe, with imaginary friends and stories that could take us to new places. But along the way, something happened to that little innovator—that child in all of us. To find it again requires that we re-ignite that inner child. What do you think, doesn’t this picture say it all?

Source: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/How-to-Embrace-Your-Inner-Child-Sandra-Magsamen

Let’s begin with a story—a story that should resonate with each and every one of us.

It was a Monday morning, and a little fifth-grader named Alex had worked very hard over the weekend on her Solar System project. She was so excited to share it with her class. Off she went that morning, songs swirling around in her head about Venus, Pluto and Jupiter, songs she had written herself for each planet. This was such a fun project, she thought, and she was so excited about sharing it. She wasn’t the first to present, she was fourth. The projects presented before hers were PowerPoint presentations, and it was clear parents had helped her classmates put together these very factual reports on the Solar System. But Alex was proud of her unique approach, and her parents hadn’t helped her.

When the teacher called her to the front of the room, she went proudly, wearing a colorful costume of silk scarves (she had seen Martha Graham, the inventor of Modern Dance, do that), so that when she moved the scarves moved with her, a visual depiction of movement in the universe. Alex twirled around the room, singing about Mercury, the ‘Morning Star,’ and then Venus, ‘Earth’s Sister,’ and then on to Mars, the ‘Red Planet.’ She had put a lot of work into each song, and she was very proud of her work.

But as Alex twirled and sang, she noticed a great many giggles and whispers throughout the class. At one point the teacher stopped her and asked everyone to be quiet while she finished. But Alex didn’t want to finish anymore, and her presentation became quieter, duller, uninteresting to the class and even to herself. When she was done, she crept back to her seat and remained quiet for the rest of the day. In fact, she remained quiet for a very, very long time after that.
We all have a story like that, don’t we? The question is, what does a story like that do to our future? It causes us to lose that creative and imaginative flame that burns so brightly when we are children.

Think back to when you were a child. When you were a child, didn’t anything seem possible? Wasn’t everything amazing?

Didn’t ideas flow, didn’t everyone get excited about new things to do and new ways of doing them? One friend would say, “And then we could do this,”and then another friend would say, “And then would could do that,”—always building on each other’s thoughts.
Weren’t you thrilled to get up in the morning as a kid? And didn’t you want to stay up at night, afraid to go to bed because you might miss something—especially in the summer?

What happened to that child? What happens to so many of us during life’s journey?
Well, guess what? That child is still there—he or she just got lost for a while, that’s all!
So, how can you get that child’s innovative spirit back?
You start by believing in YOU, again. You start by believing that you ARE creative and that your innovative spirit can be ignited once more. You look for role models and mentors who believe in you. You begin to take risks with your creative ideas again. That’s what innovation is—Creativity (imagining new ideas) and Risk taking (having the courage to share that idea—even when it is really hard).

JB

The Voice of the Innovator

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every innovator I’ve known or observed has had to deal with enormous challenges and, yet, they just keep moving forward—nothing seems to get in their way. What can we learn from them? There is something important here. Many of them are successful in spite of others and, in many cases, in spite of themselves. Those who we might not consider successful innovators consider themselves successful —it’s the rest of the world who is “not seeing clearly.” And, in many cases, you know, they are right.

Completing this work completes a journey for me into understanding what innovators have to teach us about ourselves. So my acknowledgement is simple—“here’s to the innovators” who jump the curbs of life, who stand-up for their ideas, who stay curious about the world, who are cynics and optimists at the same time, who never give up. We can all learn from them. I hope that everyone who reads this book can takeaway something that will make their lives more fulfilled; more creative, willing to take the risks to make it happen and become more innovative!