Fresh Takes on Innovation

Every single week we visit companies in Switzerland and Germany, sometimes also in other parts of the world, and we often hear a variation of what we like to call the “we have more than enough ideas” myth, a story that is told to us by decision makers in companies of all sizes and industries. It is told in different variations, of which the most common one is something like the following:

In our company, we actually do not have a problem with generating ideas. We have so many ideas that we do not know which ones to implement or we have problems with the implementation of ideas that are new in general, because we face internal resistance in many cases.

It is, of course, true, that in all companies new ideas are constantly generated in one way or the other. New ideas for products are discussed in meetings, new improvement for processes are suggested by people who use them, and clients come with needs and ideas that will help them do better business.

Still, the question is: Are the ideas that are developed in this way truly relevant? Are they the most innovative ideas that can be generated? And to which question are these ideas an answer?

You see, the problem with “free floating” ideas like the ones described is that they are not rooted within strategy and they are not generated in a systematic way with a carefully chosen set of participants. And this, ultimately, is also the reason that implementation of these ideas often seems difficult, time consuming, expensive etc. Needless to say that if ideas are driven by individuals, it is always also a political choice which ideas should be implemented and which ones do not deserve another minute of attention.

So our answer to companies and organisations that say “we have more than enough ideas, we just do now know which ones to implement” is to say:

- Please set up a structured innovation management in your company. This can be a process like the Idea Factory process and software that BrainStore uses, and we are happy to provide the training for your team.

- Use this process to work on truly strategic projects, generating ideas for clearly targeted questions, not general ideas for your business

- Work together with internal and external people in this process, do do not just rely on the ideas from within your organisation, but invite your clients, partners and lateral thinkers into the process

- Dare to share ideas with others and improve them by having ongoing discussions about them with a diverse set of people.

If you follow these few suggestions, you will still have lots of ideas, and you still will not be able to implement all of them, but you will know exactly which ones to implement, how, and when. And you will face a lot less resistance, because you have integrated all relevant stakeholders into the process. Sounds easy? It is.

This fun commercial sent to us from Japan shows people at the moment of inspiration in their everyday lives.

The commercial shows people being inspired in bed, in the park, in the WC, in-transit, at the beach and even in board meetings.

What’s really remarkable about this commercial though is how similar it is to the grumpy thinker who stars in the first part of the presentations we give about BrainStore!

Check out some of our images for where people get ideas:

And, we both have the same conclusions: that it’s much better to be proactive and actively try to get ideas than to just wait for creative inspiration.

Of course, our solutions are a little different!  In the commercial, the solution to lacking inspiration is a stick of gum.  Here at BrainStore, our solution is the Idea Machine – which seems like a much more reliable method of ensuring results!

Young Innovations Europe (YIE) is a fresh and exciting magazine created for and by young people interested in exercising positive leadership in their own communities in groundbreaking ways.

YIE are interested in showcasing the best initiatives, programs and innovations young people are implementing throughout Europe.

In their first magazine, YIE also portrais the Idea Factory BrainStore on page 9. You can read the article online on YIE’s website.

UPDATE: We have a winner! Congrats to Axelle who was the first to guess (on Facebook) that BrainStore was in Strasbourg today.

Here’s where we held the Idea Event! For more pictures, check out our photo album on Facebook.

Last month, we started a new contest here on Brainstore’s blog called “Where in the World is Brainstore?”  Why?

In the past 20 years, we’ve been all over the world.  We’ve traveled to four continents, holding our Idea Events everywhere from Zurich, Switzerland to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Washington D.C. in the USA.

So since we get to have so much fun traveling, we thought we’d share the fun and give you all a chance to win prizes as well!

So Where in the World is Brainstore?

Today, we’re actually holding two Idea Events simultaneously!  One at our Idea Factory in Biel, Switzerland… and one somewhere else in the world.

Where?  We’re not telling!

Instead, we’re going to give you several clues and see if you can guess!

The first person to guess where BrainStore is today will win a copy of The Idea Machine in English or German (your choice).

Ready?

Here are your first clues:

• In the mid 1400’s, this city’s newly-build Cathedral – named after the city – stole the title of “World’s Tallest Building” from the Great Pyramid of Giza.
• This city was the location for a bizarre plague where hundreds of citizens took to the streets and danced without stopping for days until many of them died.  The cause of “plague” is still a mystery.
• 1988 was a big year for this city – it celebrated its 2000th birthday!
• This city was the first one to have it’s entire historic city center classified a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

We’ll post new clues periodically until someone guesses the correct city!

Go!

Matthew Inman aka “the Oatmeal” says his site “The Oatmeal” is about comics, stories and quizzes, but in fact it is so much more. It is a site that explains facts, products and things. It even explains, for example, which 10 words we need to stop misspelling.

As we have been dealing with coffee a lot lately at BrainStore, we particularly enjoyed the Oatmeals “15(ish) Things Worth Knowing About Coffee” which explains where coffee comes from, how it came to be our favourite morning drink and how it is served in different countries. What makes Matthews work so interesting are his great texts and great artwork.

You can follow the Oatmeal on Facebook or Twitter and get great and colorful explanations about lots of things regularly. Check it out!

This year, Biel/Bienne in Switzerland, where BrainStore is located, hosted an art event called “Utopics”

This art exhibit in the public space dealt with ideas like new nations, utopical concepts of society, the invasion of public space and new concepts of the way we could live together in the future.

Among the artists were Antoni Wojtyra and Anni Wu, who worked together in this exhibit as “W&W” and proposed the concept of
“ideally“, an art gallery that does not sell artwork, but rather offers it to someone in exchange of a wish.

The artists in the gallery were not allowed to sell their art, but they had to formulate a wish. Visitors of the gallery could offer to fulfill the wish of the artist and propose how they would do that.

Antoni Wojtyra had created a neon work of art called “let’s hope…“. His wish was at the same time simple and comlex. He wanted people to finish the phrase “let’s hope…” and to choose from those phrases the most meaningful for a future art exhibit.

BrainStore offered to collect the phrases for Antoni, and received the neon in exchange, which now hangs in the check-in at BrainStore in Biel and greets visitors with the challange to finish the phrase.

This Christmas, BrainStore sent this challenge to everyone who has been working with us as a client, partner, freelancer or staff. We want people to express their hopes for the future, for this world, and even for themselves.

Within 12 hours of having sent the Christmas greeting we had already collected more than 500 phrases. Among them are many that express the wish for a better humanity, for world peace and the end of hunger and war. But there are also more personal ones like “let’s hope she calls me” or “let’s hope for a kiss”.

From all the phrases, Antoni will choose a few ones to be part of an exhibition in late 2010 somewhere in the world. He will put the “let’s hope…” neon in the center and the finished phrases as neons around it. Antoni is currently also collecting phrases in Vancouver, among people who usually are not seen as very hopeful: The homeless, the drug addicts, people living on the margins of society.

BrainStore will choose one phrase to be made into a Neon and will offer it to the person who contributed the phrase.

You can contribute here:

in German

in English

I visited www.eternit.ch today. Eternit is the market leader in the roofing and façades sector in Switzerland. The company also acts as an important partner for fireproof and aesthetic interior fittings and design products.

Mr Daniel Hauri, who is responsible for the sales of garden and design products kindly showed me the production and explained the process of fibre cement, which is fascinating.

In the factory in Payerne (in the French speaking part of Switzerland) the company produces roof tiles and wall claddings in different forms and colors, but also gardening pots and design objects like the Guhl Chair (by Willi Guhl, Swiss Designer 1915 – 2004).

What impressed me is the way the company has expanded it’s product portfolio from typical building elements to design objects.

But what truly convinced me today about eternit was a very simple and meaningful marketing idea that was presented to me by Daniel Hauri.

“Because the design products section grew significantly over the last years, we had to hire new workers for our manufacturing process here in Payerne. As the demand rose, the quality (the gardening pots and design objects are produced largely by hand) was getting a bit below standard. We searched some ideas on what we could do and found a very simple solution: A sticker with the personal signature of the person who made the object can now be found in every finished object. It was great marketing in the shops because people realised that the object was actually produced by a person, but it also helped us raise the quality standards, because suddenly the workers went to the shops as well and searched for the pots and objects they had made”.

What I really liked about this idea is the fact that one idea worked perfectly to solve to issues at the same time: Quality and Image.

Thank you, eternit and Daniel Hauri, for sharing this idea with me.

UPDATE: We have a winner!  Congrats to Jan-Paul and Michael who correctly guessed (at the same time) that BrainStore is in Munich today!

If you’re been following BrainStore for a while, you’ll know that we’ve been all over the world.  We’ve traveled to four continents, holding our Idea Events everywhere from Zurich, Switzerland to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Chicago in the USA.

In fact, BrainStore’s traveling right now!

Today and tomorrow, we’re holding an Idea Event somewhere in the world… but we’re not going to tell you where we are!

Instead, we’re going to give you several clues and see if you can guess!

The first person to guess where BrainStore is today will win a copy of The Idea Machine in English or German (your choice) and  a set of  our special “It’s Possible” post-its.

Ready?

Here are your first 3 clues:

1. The city’s official colors are the same ones used by the Holy Roman Empire.
2. During World War II, the city was hit by 71 air raids over a period of 6 months.
3. This city is the most successful city in Bundesliga history.

We’ll post new clues every hour until someone guesses correctly.

Go!

There are all kinds of enemies to a good idea. To just name a few: The focus group, the legal department, the budget, the input of the Creative Director, the deadline…. you make the list.

Fabulous San Francisco based Illustrator Scott Campbell has created a series of subtle and humorous illustrations for the independent film group “Show Off” in Portugal, showing the idea and its enemy in the form of – for instance – Titanic and the Iceberg, Little Red Riding Hood and the Woolf or Marie-Antoinette and the Guillotine, advertising the creativity of “Show Off” film group.

Amazing talent and a great idea! Loved it!

Thanks to you Jan, for the link.

Did it ever occur to you that animals do not innovate? And why that is? I mean: You could talk to your cat and tell her an idea and she might even react to it, but she will never ever come up with an idea for herself.

Small kids though will come up with ideas as soon as they can talk and listen. The will reinvent, propose new things, mix and match ideas that they have seen and heard.

So what’s the difference? One explanation could be Malsows “Hierarchy of needs” pyramid. Humans want to fulfil not only their most basic biological or physical needs if they can get higher up in the pyramid and cover safety, belongingness, esteem and – highest in the pyramid – self actualization.

Of course, the way up in the pyramid leads through ideas. To get a level up, you need to be inventive, create opportunities, implement. And that is what sets humans apart, I guess.

On the other hand, maybe it is sometimes easier to be the cat …