In Praise of Amateurs

The entire staff of San Diego, California design firm NDI, Inc., ventured out into the bright sunlight in the company courtyard to view the latest full-scale model of a new automobile code-named “Cocoon.” As NDI CEO Jerry Hirshberg noted, “Under the midday sun, every undulation and nuance of the Cocoon was thrown into mercilessly high relief, helping to throw critical attention on it.” All of the designers, who had worked non-stop for months on the project, stood nearby to listen to the comments offered by the rest of the staff. The remarks were underwhelming. “Not bad at all” said one person, and “Much improved since the last show” said another. The tepid remarks failed to mask their lack of exuberance for the new car.

Cathy Wu, an executive secretary born in China, and educated in Japan and England, stood quietly sipping her tea and listening to the comments of others. Finally she raised her voice and said, “Well, it just looks fat, dumb, and ugly to me!” The designers were stunned by her comments and the review meeting quickly broke up. Deeply chagrined, the designers returned to their studios to meet and discuss the comments and consider possible re-designs. Some months later, when the new car was unveiled at the Tokyo International Automobile Show, it was a major hit with media and consumers alike. Every member of the NDI design team pointed to the comments of Cathy Wu as the origin of the new and remarkably successful design.

As British design icon James Dyson said, “You are just as likely to solve a problem by being unconventional and determined as by being brilliant. And if you can’t be unconventional, be obtuse. Be deliberately obtuse, because there are 5 billion people out there thinking in train tracks, and thinking that they have been taught to think.” Listen carefully to amateurs. Their sometimes obtuse observations may ultimately spell the difference between failure and success for your innovative ideas.

Dr. Gary Oster
Regent University
School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship


Keywords

Innovation, leadership, corporate communications, compensatory behavior, design


References

Dyson, J. (2003). Against the odds. New York: Texere.
Hirshberg, J. (1998). The creative priority. New York: HarperBusiness.

Town Crier for Innovation

Andrew and Sirkin said, the “Chief innovator is a role often played by the CEO or chairman, especially when the company must make a change from another business strategy, such as cost cutting, merger and acquisition, or geographic expansion.” IDEO CEO Tom Kelley likewise noted, “The role of Director s more complex and nuanced than any other in the world of innovation…You are not just in charge of today’s operations. You are responsible for making sure there is a tomorrow.”

While the CEO takes numerous actions to encourage innovation, including giving permission and providing specific resources, the most important role of the CEO is to loudly, continually, and convincingly promote the absolute necessity of innovation. Corporate executives must publically endorse innovative work to signal their expectation of others in the company to provide cooperation and assistance. As author Scott Berkun noted, “Whether through power, inspiration, or charisma, managers have the singular burden of protecting their teams…If a project needs more time, money, or political cover fire than its leader can provide, the effort will be discovered, lobotomized, or killed.” It is impossible to over-communicate the necessity of innovation and the CEO should utilize as many communication methods as possible to continually focus employee attention on innovation. Whether through formal speeches, memoranda, emails, annual reports, videos, or face-to-face meetings, the drumbeat must always echo the same theme: “Innovation is critical to our corporate future, and everyone is expected to actively participate.”

Dr. Gary Oster
Regent University
School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship


Keywords

Innovation, leadership, corporate communications, resilience


References

Andrew, J. & Sirkin, H. (2006). Payback: reaping the rewards of innovation. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Berkun, S. (2007). The myths of innovation. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.
Kelley, T. (2005). The ten faces of innovation. New York: Currency Doubleday.

Innovation Begins With An Eye

What is visible is an important first element in our process of perception. Common to most creative people is the concept that “Innovation begins with an eye.” Joan Fulton Suri of IDEO noted, “The starting point for most of our projects—whether related to products, spaces, or services—is observation of behavior in its natural setting. Teams do this together, along with clients, as a way of learning firsthand about the context, habits, rituals, priorities, processes, and values of the people we are designing for.” IDEO CEO David Kelley also asserted that, “Focused observation can be a powerful source of innovation. As you observe people in their natural settings, you should not only look for the nuances of human behavior but also strive to infer motivation and emotion.” Mark May said that revising your view may yield different results: “The value to innovation in learning to see lies in changing your perspective on the problem. Viewing the subject from every possible angle is a technique artists, sculptors, and photographers use regularly to enhance their ability to capture and render ‘the truth.’”

Because of the importance of first-hand observation to perception and innovation, Kim & Mauborgne said that field research should be the purview of corporate employees: “Send a team into the field, putting managers face-to-face with what they must make sense of: how people use or don’t use their products or services. This step may seem obvious, but we have found that managers often out-source this part of the strategy-making process. They rely on reports other people (often at one or two removes from the world they report on) have put together. A company should never outsource its eyes. There is simply no substitute for seeing for yourself.”

In the 19th century, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, “Earth's crammed with heaven. And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.” If we have not noticed God’s dynamic presence in the world, perhaps it is because we have outsourced our eyes.

Dr. Gary Oster
Regent University
School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship


Keywords

Innovation, market research, empathic research, observation, customers


References

Browning, E.B. (1864). Aurora Leigh. London: J. Miller.
Kelley, T. (2000). The art of innovation. New York: Currency Doubleday.
Kim, W. & Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue ocean strategy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
May, M. (2007). The elegant solution. New York: Free Press.
Suri, J. (2005). Thoughtless acts? San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

God Changes Minds

Enough was enough! Milton was a popular and highly respected bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and was attending the denomination’s annual conference. The discussion at the conference turned to possible new technologies that would help men achieve greater levels of success and prosperity. A report to the denomination even included the possibility of a future flying machine to transport people from city to city. Milton was furious! From his chair in the audience he rose and loudly decried the absurdity of such talk, noting that it was blasphemy against God to believe that man would ever fly. Milton very publically stomped out of the conference, gathered his wife and children, and caught the next train home.

In the years that followed, Milton underwent a gradual but nevertheless remarkable change. He bought his young sons a toy “helicopter,” based on an invention of French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Penaud. It was roughly a foot long and made of paper, bamboo and cork with a rubber band to twirl its rotor. His sons were captivated by it, and when it eventually wore out, they built another. As their interest in mechanics grew over the years, Milton made sure that his sons had access to the latest books and journals on the subject. Milton provided financial and emotional support when the boys started and grew fledgling companies, and even visited his sons Orville and Wilbur as they experimented with new models of aircraft on the windswept beaches of North Carolina. God changed the mind and heart of Bishop Milton Wright, and his crucial but unheralded support changed the world.

Are you open to a change of mind?


Dr. Gary Oster
Regent University
School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship

Keywords

Innovation, airplane, Wright Brothers, Milton Wright, Holy Spirit

References

Crouch, T. (2003). The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Leadership Obedience

Please check out my recent article entitled “Downstream from Babel: Lessons in Obedience for Contemporary Leaders” in the journal Inner Resources for Leaders.

Dr. Gary Oster
Regent University
School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship

Deciding What Is Right

Christian innovation is not limited to developing the new to replace that which already exists. It also means deciding for and supporting that which is important and should never change. Albert Einstein, one of the most remarkable people in world history, was exiled from Nazi Germany because he was a Jew. He said the following:

“Being a lover of freedom, when the Nazi revolution came I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love for freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration for it because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.”

In this period of moral and ethical ambiguity, what does the Church stand for today?

Dr. Gary Oster
Regent University
School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship

Keywords

Innovation, Einstein, Nazi Germany, doctrine, faithfulness

References

Cochrane, A. (1962). The Church’s Confession Under Hitler. Philadelphia: Westminster.

Minds Limit (And Extend) Innovation

All innovation is dependent on the limitations of the human mind. We are unable to change and improve that which we cannot perceive and understand. As Canadian scholar Alexander Manu noted, “An individual’s or organization’s inability to recognize the meaning and potential of signals—be they in emerging technologies or emergent behavior—comes from the limits of their rational boundaries.” Our minds consistently retreat to the known and familiar.

One fascinating example was provided by Schoemaker & Day. The early morning hours of December 7, 1941 had been exceptionally busy for the captain of the destroyer USS Ward. Just hours earlier the ship had detected an enemy submarine moving toward Pearl Harbor. Releasing its depth charges, the crew of the Ward had sunk the submarine. While sailing toward Pearl Harbor, the captain could hear muffled explosions coming from the mainland. Turning to his lieutenant commander, the captain said, "I guess they are blasting the new road from Pearl Harbor to Honolulu." Even though his ship had engaged a foreign submarine only hours before, the captain made sense of the exploding sounds by reverting to his peacetime mind-set and completely failed to perceive the hostilities that lay just ahead.

How do we expand our sensemaking abilities? Education, experience, interaction with others, intentionally trying on new ideas, and developing multiple perspectives all help. Another important way is to ask God to “open the eyes of our heart.” In Ephesians 1:17-18 (NKJV) we read the prayerful admonition, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…” There can be no clearer vision than that given by God.

Dr. Gary Oster
Regent University
School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship

Keywords

Innovation, sensemaking, leadership, institutional learning, perception

References

Holy Bible, New King James Version (1982). Nashville: Thomas Holman Publishers.
Manu, A. (2007). The Imagination challenge. Berkeley: New Riders.
Prange, G. (1982). At dawn we slept. New York: Penguin Books.
Schoemaker, P. & Day, G. (Spring 2009). How to make sense of weak signals. MIT Sloan Management Review, 50(3), 81-89.