Archive for January 2010
Keys to good brainstorming
We’ve all participated in a brain-storming session that resulted in only a drizzle of novel thinking. So, why are some brainstorming sessions more successful than others?
My brother is a firefighter. He told me once that in order for there to be a fire you need heat, oxygen and fuel. I think the same is true for a successful brainstorm. It’s just that in a creative environment we define heat, oxygen and fuel differently.
Generate Heat
Everyone in the session needs to feel the heat a bit during the session. “Heat” is created from everyone feeling accountable for the results of the brain-storm. Two easy ways to generate some heat are competitive pressure (e.g. assigning teams to compete against each other), and peer-pressure (having representatives present their ideas to the group). When colleagues see that there is some sort of reward for the effort, or disincentive for not participating fully I’ve noticed that the intensity and focus for the session improves.
Pump Oxygen into the Room
The word oxygen comes from greek oxys (sharp) and genes (producer or former). When I speak of having “oxygen” in a brainstorm I mean making sure your “sharp producers” are in the room. These people will breathe life into a brainstorm. Sharp producers look at a problem from all angles. They aren’t afraid of being wrong. They are willing to build off other ideas and capable of connecting disparate thoughts. And perhaps best of all, they are comfortable with ambiguity.
Sharp producers create an atmosphere of “renewable energy” for the session, maintaining momentum and providing practical optimism when others in the group see obstacles or are jaded from previous failures. Sharp-producers aren’t compelled to blast down a singular path like a rocket, putting on blinders and focusing solely on one idea. Rather they float above the problem like a hot-air balloon–high enough to keep a wide perspective, but close enough to the ground to make out some of the details.
Fuel for Thought
For a good brainstorm you need an exercise to serve as fuel for the heat and oxygen you’ve generated. It needs to provide focus for the session and encourage new perspectives. Additionally, it needs to set general guidelines to drive the group toward delivering new ideas and solutions.
There are a number of good brainstorming exercises out there. Do a Google search and you’re sure to come across thousands. However, some are better than others. My recommendation is to look for exercises that:
- Keep sessions fun, engaging and moving
- Creates a goal for the session
- Encourages collaboration between all participants
- Re-focuses energy on what is possible–not just probable
- Maximizes the quantity of ideas being generated–not the quality (there’s plenty of opportunity to apply filters later)
My Top Reads of the Last Decade
A list of great books I read over the last ten years that will influence me in the decade to come
Books for strategy development
1. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Stuck in a strategy slump? Kim and Mauborgne offer an incredibly simply and effective way to size up a market and create sustainable differentiation. I’ve successfully used their “strategy canvas” exercise with a team to determine where the competition plays and how we can chart a course to stand out in a crowded and confusing marketplace.
2. The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Dan Roam
I’ve used the approach for solving problems Roam outlines over-and-over again. His theory is basic—but all good theories are—visualizing the problem leads to better solutions. I keep a copy of his framework tacked up on my desk for constant reference.
3. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
Al Ries and Jack Trout
A marketing classic. Still relevant 20-years after it was first published.
David A. Aaker
Aaker builds off the foundation from Reis and Trout.
5. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Seth Godin
When I read this book, I had flashbacks to Blue Ocean Strategy. Fundamentally, they’re saying much of the same. Blue Ocean is more Business Strategy while Purple Cow has a tighter focus on marketing. These books complement one another like cake and ice-cream.
Interactive Marketing
6. Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Steve Krug
Intuitive Web design isn’t necessarily intuitive. Krug provides sensible recommendations on improving user-experience.
7.The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
Chris Anderson
The concept of the “long tail” isn’t novel—firms like Netflix recognized it long before Anderson, but Anderson is so incredibly perceptive in his analysis of this trend you still walk away from the book with gobs of insight and a sharper perspective of online retailing.
Books to Build Better Teams
8. Gung-Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization
Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles
Spirit of the Squirrel. Way of the Beaver. Gift of the Goose. Blanchard and Bowles tell an impactful story and provide salient messages for managers. If you seek to build a strong team or strengthen an existing one and haven’t read this book, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage.
Tom Rath
Know thyself. If you believe that a key element to building an efficient team is to first take inventory of your strengths and weaknesses, this is the book for you. A combination book and online assessment, I walked away with a solid understanding of the fundamental skills
Dr. Seuss
Just because it’s a children’s story, doesn’t mean there isn’t value in adults reading it. Someday I’d like to teach a management course and use children’s books as the required texts. The Emperor’s New Clothes and this story would certainly be on the syllabus. In Yertle the Turtle, Seuss offers a A timeless tale on the impact of ego-centric work environments.
Books That Inspired Me
11. With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln
Stephen B. Oates
Despite it being a work of non-fiction, the book reads like a novel with a vivid depiction of Lincoln’s public life. If you want a real life example of a leader who kept it together in the face of tremendous obstacles—many of which go unmentioned in popular teaching, this is the book.
12. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West
Stephen Ambrose
Undaunted Courage is to the American West as The Right Stuff was to the Space Program. Makes a cross-country trip with the kids to the Grand Canyon look like child’s play.
