innovation
Are you Visionary or Insightful?
Having great ideas that are not understood or validated is pointless, just as being great at “filling in the gaps” to do amazing things does not accomplish much if what you are building achieves little toward your needs and goals. This post is about Dreaming Big and turning those dreams into actionable plans.
Let me preface this post by stating that both are important and complementary roles. But, if you don’t recognize the difference between the two, it becomes much more challenging to execute and realize value/gain a competitive advantage.
The Visionary has great ideas but doesn’t always create plans or follow through on developing the idea. There are many reasons why this happens (distractions, new interests, frustration, lack of time), so it is good to be aware of that, as this type of person can benefit by being paired with people willing and able to understand a new idea or approach, and then take the next steps to flesh out a high-level plan to present that idea and potential benefits to key stakeholders. People may view them as aloof or unfocused.
The Insightful sees the potential in an idea, helps others understand the benefits and gain their support, and often creates and executes a plan to prototype and validate the idea – killing it off early if the anticipated goals are unachievable. They document, learn from these experiences, and become more and more proficient with validating the idea or approach and quantifying the potential benefits. They are usually very pragmatic.
Neither of these types of people is affected by loss aversion bias.
I find it amazing how frequently you hear someone referred to as being Visionary, only to see that the person in question could eliminate some of the noise and “see further down the road” than most people. While this skill is valuable, it is more akin to analytics and science than art. Insight usually comes from focus, understanding, intelligence, and being open-minded. Those qualities matter in both business and personal settings.
On the other hand, someone truly visionary looks beyond what is already illuminated and can, therefore, be detected or analyzed. It’s like a game of chess where the visionary person is thinking six or seven moves ahead. They are connecting the dots for the various future possibilities while their competitor is still thinking about their next move.
Interestingly, this can be a very frustrating situation for everyone.
- The Visionary with an excellent idea may become frustrated because they feel an unmet need to be understood.
- The people around that visionary person become frustrated, wondering why that person isn’t able to focus on what is important or why they fail to see/understand the big picture.
- Others view the visionary ideas and suggestions as tangential or irrelevant. It is only over time that the others understand what the visionary person was trying to show them – often after a competitor has started executing a similar idea.
- The Insightful wanting to make a difference can feel constrained in static environments, offering little opportunity for change and improvement.
Both Insightful and Visionary people feel that they are being strategic. Both believe they are doing the right thing. Both have similar goals. What’s truly ironic is they may view each other as the competition rather than seeing the potential of collaborating.
A strong management team can positively impact creativity by fostering a culture of innovation and placing these people together to work towards a common goal. Providing little time and resources to explore an idea can lead to remarkable outcomes. When I had my consulting company, I sometimes joked, “What would Google do?” to describe that amazing things were possible and waiting to be done.
The insightful person may see a payback on their ideas sooner than the visionary person, and that is due to their focus on what is already in front of them. It may be a year or more before what the visionary person has described shifts to the mainstream and into the realm of insight – hopefully before it reaches the realm of common sense (or worse yet, is entirely passed by).
I recommend that people create a system to gather ideas, along with a description of what the purpose, goals, and advantages of those ideas are. Foster creative behavior by rewarding people for participation regardless of what becomes of the idea. Review those ideas regularly and document your commentary. You will find good ideas with luck – some insightful and possibly even visionary.
Look for commonalities and trends to identify the people who can cut through the noise or see beyond the periphery and the areas having the greatest innovation potential. This approach will help drive your business to the next level.
You never know where the next good idea will come from. Efforts like these provide growth opportunities for people, products, and profits.
Failing Productively
As an entrepreneur, you will typically get advice like, “Fail fast and fail often.” I always found this somewhat amusing, similar to the saying, “It takes money to make money” (a lot of bad investments are made using that philosophy). Living this yourself is an amazing experience – especially when things turn out well. But as I have written about before, you learn as much from the good experiences as you do from the bad ones.
Innovating is tough. You need people who always think of different and better ways of doing things or question why something has to be done or made a certain way. It means shifting away from the “how” and “why” and focusing on the “what” (outcomes). It takes confidence to ask questions that many would view as stupid (“Why would you do that, it’s always been done this way.”) But, when you have the right mix of people and culture, amazing things can and do happen, and it feels great.
Innovating also takes a willingness to lose time and money, hoping to win something big enough later to make it all worthwhile. This is where many companies fall short because they lack the patience, budget, or appetite to fail. I personally believe that this is the reason why innovation often flows from small companies and small teams. For them, the prospect of doing something cool or making a big impact is motivation enough to try something, and the barriers to getting started are often much lower.
It takes a lot of discipline to follow a plan when a project appears to be failing, but it takes even more discipline to kill a project that has demonstrated real potential but isn’t meeting expectations. That was one of my first and probably most important lessons learned in this area. Let me explain…
In 2000 we looked at franchising our “Consulting System” – processes, procedures, tools, metrics, etc., developed and proven in my business. We believed this approach could help average consultants deliver above-average work products in less time. The idea seemed to have real potential.
Finding an attorney who would even consider this idea took a lot of work. Most believed it would be impossible to proceduralize a somewhat ambiguous task like solving a business or technical problem. We finally found an attorney who, after a 2-hour no-cost interview, agreed to work with us. When asked about his approach, he replied, “I did not want to waste my [his] time or our money on a fool’s errand.”
We estimated it would take 12 months and cost approximately $100,000 to fully develop our consulting system. We met with potential prospects to validate the idea (it would have been illegal to pre-sell the system) and then got to work. Twelve months turned into 18, and the original $100K budget increased nearly 50%. All indications were positive, and we felt very good about the success and business potential of this effort.
Then, the terror attacks occurred on Sept. 11th and businesses everywhere saw a decline. In early 2002 we reevaluated the project and felt that it could be completed within the next 6-8 months and would cost another $50K+.
After a long and emotional debate, we decided to kill the project – not because we felt it would not work, but because there was less of a target market, and now the payback period (time to value) would double or triple. This was one of the most difficult business decisions that I ever made.
A big lesson learned from this experience was that our approach needed to be more analytical.
- From that point forward, we created a budget for “time off” (we bought our own time, as opposed to waiting for bench time) and other project-related items.
- We developed a simple system for collecting and tracking ideas and feedback. When an idea felt right, we would take the next steps and create a plan with a defined budget, milestones, and timeline. If the project failed to meet any defined objectives, it would be killed – No questions asked.
- We documented what we did, why we decided to do it, our goals, and expected outcomes and timelines. Regardless of success or failure, we would conduct postmortem reviews to learn and document as much as possible from every effort and investment.
We still had failures, but with each one, we took less time and spent less money. More importantly, we learned how to do this better, which helped us realize several successes. It provided both the structure and the freedom to create some amazing things. Since failing was an acceptable outcome, it was never feared.
This approach was more than just “failing fast and failing often”; it was “intelligent failure,” which served us well for nearly a decade.
Connecting the Dots Faster
When I started consulting, an experienced consultant told me, “The best Consultants are experts at becoming Experts.” I started my consulting career with that goal in mind. After a few years realized that “Good consults are people who can learn enough quickly to ask intelligent questions and then connect the dots faster.” This is a great skill for anyone, regardless of the industry or business.
It’s impossible to be an expert at everything. I believe having great depth in a few areas (true expertise) and breadth of knowledge in many areas (enhancing context and insight) is important. Both types of knowledge alone are valuable, but combined, they add a dimension that allows a person to be far more effective and potentially much more valuable because it leads to the ability to pick up on the dependencies and nuances that others miss.
Just think – How much more effective is a salesperson who understands technology and project management concepts when working to demonstrate fit and create a sense of urgency? Or, an Attorney who understands the complexity of service offerings and delivery – enhancing their ability to construct agreements that are highly protective yet not overly complex or onerous. Or a programmer who thinks beyond the requirements and looks for ways to improve or simplify the process. Extra knowledge helps with the big picture understanding, and that often leads to providing more value by “thinking outside the box.” Additional knowledge and skills almost always help us become more effective, regardless of what we may be doing.
Increased knowledge and a desire to do amazing things create opportunities to make a huge and immediate impact. Sometimes it is because you are asking the questions that others may be thinking but simply cannot articulate in a clear manner. It helps you see the gaps and holes that others miss. And most importantly, it helps you “connect the dots” before others do (often many months before something obvious to you becomes obvious to others). A large consultancy once used the phrase “seeing around corners” to make this concept tangible.
So, if you buy into the concept that knowledge is good, the next question is usually, “What is the best way to learn?” People learn in different ways, so there really is no one single best way to learn. Understanding how you learn best will help you learn faster.
I’m a fan of reading. A good book may reinforce ideas you already know, introduce you to a few concepts or ideas that seem like they could help (giving you something to test), and often present many ideas that you know or feel just won’t work. Just don’t become one of those people who changes their beliefs and approach with every book they read (or what I refer to as “The book of the month club manager.“)
I’m also a fan of hands-on learning. The experience of doing something the first time is important. Keeping detailed notes (what works, what doesn’t make sense, what you did to figure it out, workarounds, etc.) enhances the value of that experience. It’s amazing what you can learn when you “get your hands dirty.”
What about formal education? I’ve never been a fan of the person who wants to get a degree in order to get a promotion. There are certainly some professions where education is critical to success (often through legitimacy as much as anything else). My advice to people is to work towards a specific degree because it is important as a personal goal and because it could possibly help you get a different or better job in the future. I will never criticize anyone for learning, going to school, or getting another certification or degree.
I believe the best way to get ahead is to learn the position, innovate, optimize, and deliver incredible results. You won’t “knock it out of the park” every time, but those “base hits” will help you score and ultimately win.
This is not to say that formal education is bad; I don’t believe that at all. I was working on my MBA at the same time I was expanding my consulting business from the US to the UK. I had a concentration in International Business, so I could apply many things I was learning right away. This bit of serendipity both enhanced my learning experience and helped me make better decisions that had real implications for my business. The funny thing was that I was working on that degree to raise the bar for my children, so this was just a bonus for me.
There are also other great ways to learn – ways that only require an investment of your time. There are many good free online courses. If you are interested in learning something or need to know more about it, there is almost always a place to find free or low-cost training. These are great investments in yourself and your future, and may help you learn to connect those dots faster.
Below are links to a few good free learning websites. Do yourself a favor and check them out. And, if you know of others, leave a comment and recommend them to others. Enjoy!
OpenCulture (directory with content from multiple sources)
Open Education Database (directory with content from multiple sources
Things that make you go hmmm
This week I read a story about Astronomers finding a new, free-floating planet (PSO J318.5-22). What I loved about this story is that the planet defies the definition of a planet, as it does not orbit a star. It’s something that shouldn’t exist, or at least something that exists outside the current astronomical framework.
It’s funny how you grow up being taught what is right and how things should work. While knowledge and understanding are good, they can also be limiting. When you just know something should not work, it becomes easy to accept that and move on. It can be a real innovation killer.
Occasionally, something new, different, and sometimes even inconsequential comes around and makes a big difference. Think about Apple’s iTunes. It was created merely as a means to sell iPods. Critics said it would never work. But, it created a paradigm shift in how people consumed and purchased music and video content. Now it is one of the fastest growing businesses within Apple.
Or, think about Twitter. An idea for a microblogging service to send text messages to a group of friends. Now news is reported via tweets, and social media of all types use hashtags to create communities and generate buzz. Something that should have been almost nothing has become powerful and important.
People who know me or have worked for me have often heard this saying: “Don’t give me the 10 reasons why something won’t work; Instead, find the one or two ways that it might work, and let’s go from there.” This statement sets a simple yet very important expectation.
Most people spend a lot of time and effort finding ways to prove that things will or should fail. I find that very frustrating. But, get the right people with the right mindset, and you can do some pretty amazing things. And, like Post It® notes, you might create something really cool that was completely unexpected. But you will never know if you don’t even get started.
So, actively look for examples of products or services that broke the rules. Try to understand the genesis of those ideas. And, the next time you think that something is impossible, remember PSO J318.5-22
The Power of Simplicity
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
In the first part of my career, I didn’t care much for consultants. My experience was that they would come in, tell you what to do, and then leave victoriously while we were stuck trying to implement something that just wouldn’t work. They seemed to make everything seem so complex—often to justify their cost.
Then, I met an amazing consultant who shared something valuable with me. He explained what he believed differentiated a true consultant from a contractor (something I wrote about a decade later in a Tech Republic article). He then made me aware of the Einstein quote above. This was one of those pivotal moments in my career.
For many years, I have met many interesting people. Some seemed to try to intentionally obfuscate even the easiest things to make themselves seem brilliant. Others took such a circuitous route that you sometimes forgot what you were trying to understand and fix. And sometimes explanations were just so tangential that the main point was lost entirely. There are likely many reasons for these experiences – some intentional and many not. The real lesson learned is that it wasn’t just consultants who can be incomprehensible and that clear and comprehensible communication is critical to effectiveness.
Just think about the power of a well-crafted “elevator pitch” when you meet someone new or the ability to quickly explain how your company differentiates itself from the competition (making you the more interesting, better, or safer choice in your prospect’s mind). Or being able to articulate your business strategy in a way that people understand (and can explain to others), which also interests them enough to want to learn more and become part of making that happen.
The best consultants, as do the best employees, managers, executives, and business owners, have this ability to explain something simply. While this is only one attribute of success (likability, powers of persuasion, integrity, luck, etc. are others), it is something that can be taught, developed, and consistently applied.
The power to “explain it simply” is the power to make a difference through better understanding.
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Where Ideas, Experiences, and Lessons Learned Intersect 