Today's managers and leaders think of "creativity" rather than"creativeness". Our corporate culture has trained us to immediately think of results rather than seeking to be the kind of people who achieve them, which is little like putting the cart before the horse. We, too often, look for something which can be measured and therefore controlled. We use the word "Creativity" with the underlying intent that it can be a measurable quantity, whereas creativeness is not. It is a quality of the person.

Creativeness is something entirely natural, like the budding of a plant from a seed. Because it is natural, it cannot be forced to produce, commanded or demanded.

There are no recipes for creativeness. It happens in one's presence at the spur of a moment.

For organizations to compete for the critical "talent war" ahead of us, they must rethink cultivating creativity, but more importantly creating an environment for people to naturally bring out their latent creativeness -which exists in all human beings. Organizations who figure out how to do that will be able to attract and retain the best talent.

So how can one develop this competency of "creativeness" in day-to-day work?

Develop greater awareness of situations and problems, viewing them with bare attention. In this way they will be seen with clarity.

• Look at situations with sincerity and detachment (very hard to do). This means recognizing and admitting to yourself your own involvement.
• When you have observed the problem in this way, do not put it on one side, but bear it in mind for however long is necessary. Don't force to seek the solution- let it come to you.
• Take care to notice the intuitive signals, whatever these happen to be in your case. Eventually a solution will occur to you - anytime, anywhere.
• Look at the solution you have discovered with clear comprehension of purpose and suitability. Not all intuitive and creative ideas you get are necessarily right or practical.
• Validate its value if it was realized, shop it around, lens it from varieties of perspectives - customers, peers, leaders, suppliers, markets, etc.
• Finally, act on it. Ideas and solutions are of no use, if they are only confined to private realities.

Thanks,

-Jatin

Recommended books on creativity (accessible online):

- Handbook of creativity - Robert J. Sternberg

- Cracking Creativity: The secrets of Creative Genius - Michael Michalko

- Creativity: Unleashing the forces within - Osho

 

In our findings for the last 25 years in business, we have discovered that innovation, at a personal level, is as different as the definition of spirituality. It can be very personal for people. Within organizations, our play arena, most of our customers have no idea about what innovation is, and most cannot agree on a definition.

For me, Creativity is generating original, novel ideas. Innovation is putting those ideas to work and getting results.

There is significant difference between creativity, invention, and innovation. Creativity arises from deep personal beliefs. Beliefs are shaped by one's character and values. We use creativity, rooted in our beliefs, assumptions, and passions, to find meaning in our work. When an organized group, with the same passion and beliefs work together for something much larger than themselves, they are capable of generating ideas that can be ventured for commercialization and help grow the top-line or impact the bottom-line of the group/business - that is Innovation. The actual product or service brought to a market, that makes a difference in the marketplace or in people's life, is Invention.

 

Therefore, Innovation is all about "Harvesting the deep insights of an organization's human spirit and knowledge, generating a pipeline of ideas that can be evaluated, selected, and ventured using disciplined tools, methods and processes that advances growth objectives for an organization."

Finally, for a business to succeed and thrive, a business cannot accidentally or occasionally be innovative. It must innovate at a rate faster than current (or future) competitors - with a high degree of predictability. So, in that sense, innovation must be positioned as a strategic tool to improve organizational agility to stay alive and grow. There are only 3 companies still in business on the DOW list from 70's - and soon maybe even less.

For organizations, Innovation is no longer a choice - it should be the primary goal.

Here are some latest articles on Innovation:

- Click here to read the article 'Innovation in America- A gathering storm' from Economist.com

- Click here to read what Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has to say about Innovation.

Thanks,

- Jatin

P.S. If you want to download our latest paper on innovation, feel free to go to http://www.desai.com/Resources and download the whitepaper on "Strategy-Driven Innovation". Enjoy.

Recently, I was asked: "What is the chief quality that we have lost as human beings today? What qualities do we NOT have in abundance right now, that we truly, desperately NEED right now to excel as a species?

It was asked because the person was very concerned about employees, their engagement, and their growing stress levels.

The history of ‘work places' for the past 100+ years has plenty of examples of a disengaged workforce. So, this feeling of uncertainty and fear, is not new. The intensity at which this has happened is alarming.

In my observation, the only ‘chief quality' we are deprived of, and is the ONLY thing humanity lacks - is the poverty of Love.

To Love, without attachments, To Love, others without selfish motives, To Love with care, To Love others as our own brothers and sisters , To Love the divine spark in all living things - especially human beings, irrespective of their past actions, language, color, or faith.

This will occur someday. How? In my strong belief, it has to. We as humans are a form of Love. It is our nature to Love and be Loved. Once each one of us realize who we truly are and discover our inherent divinity as Love, we WILL change ourselves and therefore the world will be changed - one person at a time.

Another way to look at this is to accept that nothing is lacking. Everything is perfect. What we have is what needs to be had - for each one of us. It is what we need right now to help us evolve our own consciousness. We have what we deserve. What we have, good or bad, is result of what we did in the past - the law of Karma. Some of us are only evolved to chase money and materialistic comforts. Some of us are ready to challenge every system around us to make it better, some of us are ‘designed' to win and beat the competition, some of us can only ‘see' the wrong in the world and nothing good. Through all such experiences, each one of us will have to learn the ultimate lesson (someday) that the external world (vs. the inner world), has nothing permanent to offer to us - to make us happy or find peace and bliss. We will have to, someday, accept that such virtues only lie in the depth of our very own heart and soul - not outside in the physical world. That might take a few lifetimes,if not few hundred life times for some of us.

After such a long journey, someday, each one of us will arrive to the conclusion that nothing is lacking, and everything is perfect - for each person, each society, each government, and each world. For each, what they have now, is what is needed for them to evolve to the next stage in their consciousness towards permanent peace - enlightenment, heaven, Moksha, etc.

For more information on this wonderful virture:

- Click here for the health benefits of Love

- Click here for reading about how loving your employees makes good business sense

Recommended books:

- The Six Secrets of Change which includes 'Loving your employees' as a key secret for success.

- Leadership and the Force of Love - Six keys to Motivating with Love

Best wishes,

-Jatin

The DeSai Group's 3 Core Principles on Innovation are:

    1. All is One

• Everything is connected. Innovation requires one to see what is not seen or being ignored. Innovators must find deep interconnections and interdependencies - at the level of macro and micro - within an organization. Real innovators understand that their work has ramifications beyond what is currently being visible. 

    2. Thoughts --> Words --> Action --> Outcomes

• Future Thinking brings awareness of what is possible. This causes development of ideas, both incremental and radical. When ideas get mobilized in form of passionate energy, it leads to new business conditions. Therefore, new thoughts creates new outcomes. To succeed with innovation, people must practice Future Thinking.  

    3. Everyone is Creative and Innovative

• All human beings have the ability to create - from birth. When we create, we find meaning and purpose in our work. 

For more, feel free to check out:

The DeSai Group: http://www.desai.com

Blog & Downloads: http://www.strategydriveninnovation.com 

In today's crisis we need out of the box thinking to move ahead. Looking at the past on how we got this horrific financial melt down is critical. Everyone is asking how are we going to get out of this mess? Who is going lead us out? Who will rise as the leader? Will it me the world bank? National Treasury Leaders? McCain? Obama? Or will it be the (God forbid) "W"?
 
To get out of this mess, every business is going to have to become more innovative and drive new ideas to the market. Harvesting on old ideas and incremental thinking is going to kill you sooner then you think. So, what will you need to do first?
 
Hire some 'freaks'. Yes, you heard me! Hire 'freaks' to shake up your organizational culture.
 
Here is what Tom Peters (http://www.tompeters.com/) says about freaks:
 
Why Do I love Freaks? - By Tom Peters:

(1) Because when Anything Interesting happens … it was a freak who did it. (Period.)

(2) Freaks are fun. (Freaks are also a pain.) (Freaks are never boring.)

(3) We need freaks. Especially in freaky times. (Hint: These are freaky times, for you & me & the [fill in whoever you want here]....)

(4) A critical mass of freaks-in-our-midst automatically make us-who-are-not-so-freaky at least somewhat more freaky. (Which is a Good Thing in freaky times—see immediately above.)

(5) Freaks are the only (ONLY) ones who succeed—as in, make it into the history books.

(6) Freaks keep us from falling into ruts. (If we listen to them.) (We seldom listen to them.) (Which is why most of us—and our organizations—are in ruts. Make that chasms.)
-----------------------
Tom is one heck of a communicator, isn't he? Most people in corporations are 'most people' and not 'freaks'. If we had 'freaks' as per Tom, our corporations would not have been normalized to the level of greed, manipulation, selfishness, and chaos that has resulted into a global financial meltdown.

Feel free to view a short clip of Tom Peters speaking on Innovation by clicking here

CEO Bottom-line: Go hire some 'freaks' and fire all the 'ruts' that got you in this mess.
 
-Jatin

Recently I spoke at a conference that had about 150 human resources, talent management and talent development executives. I asked them how many of you are offering and teaching explicitly today creativity and innovation classes to your employees. The answer was 2 out of 150 raised their hands!

Unfortunately, we as businesses are not giving time and attention to creativity and innovation.

First and foremost, the journey to becoming a Living Organization is not a short, quick or fast journey. It is hard to find organizations that have demonstrated what it is like to be a Living Organization and create a living culture.

The following steps are fundamental towards building a living organization:

1) Recognizing that this is a journey. The book, Innovation Journey provides a good account of this journey.

2) Realizing that it is not something you can go outside for and bring it in for implementation such as Six Sigma which can be brought in to optimize of your business process. Living organizations are geared towards unlearning which helps to provide more time and reflection towards creativity. Realizing that is a creativity and innovation journey about being alive.

3) Recognizing that this approach is top-down. It starts from the top of the ladder at the level of the CEO, board of directors and senior executives who must demonstrate what it is like be a part of a living organization. Authentic leaders in the organization must start out by clearly demonstrating their leadership. Once they have succeeded at that you can tell others about it. Individuals at the top of the organization must become fully aware of what a living organization is all about through personal education and new-scar development.

For more on Authentic Leadership, please click here.

Got thoughts? Want to learn more? Go to http://www.desai.com

Want to hear a podcast version of this blog? Go to http://www.strategydriveninnovation.com/podcasts-links/

 

Google has unveiled a $10 million effort to implement ideas that can "change the world by helping as many people as possible." As part of the Project 10^100 (pronounced Project 10 to the 100th), Google plans to ask its users to submit ideas until Oct. 20 for ways to improve people's lives. Google will choose what it feels are the 100 best ideas...click here

Many world-class companies cannot survive without a great vision. Especially in the current climate, how can an organization survive without a well-defined vision? I don’t mean vision-statement alone, I mean a real vision – a vivid enough picture of the future that has no boundaries, it is larger then the organization itself, it is far enough in distance to want to work hard for. A great company vision, everyone can see a clear direction, not the exact path, but a focused path to the future.

Good organizations have a vision; Great organizations are living their vision. Any strategy guru will tell you, without a company vision, the company will fail.

Therefore, if company must have a good vision to be successful, why don’t every individuals have a vision? Do you? Do you have it written for your self?

I don’t think it is possible to be ‘tuned-in’ to our work without having our personal vision connected to our work. Is it? Without this connection, doesn’t it just feel like ‘work’?

Who loves to go to ‘work’ everyday? Not too many. Work can become our own worship only if is fun and exciting. How can we be creative in our work if we don’t have a vivid picture of our own future?

For innovation to work, I have already argued that employees must be fully engaged – more often, everyday, in every project they contributing to. ‘Engaged’ being - more creative in their work, more passionate, more meaningful, less stressful, collaborative etc.

Most people I know haven't thought to do a personal vision statement for themselves. The great athletes, as we watched Olympics in Beijing recently, all spoke about how they got there, how they envisioned their accomplishments, how they visualized their success, how they even ‘watched’ the medal ceremony and their dreams coming true years ago.

Aristotle observed that "the soul never thinks without a picture."

Creating a compelling vision for our lives -- one that includes not just a vision of our professional accomplishments but also a vision for family life, education, health, community engagements, travel, and adventures -- can point us in new directions and provide the drive we need to get there. A personal vision statement asks: what do I want to be, do, and contribute in life -- and who do I want to share it with?

Many people struggle with the concept of defining a vision of the good life because it sounds too abstract and distant. Fortunately, authors Richard Leider and David Shapiro have come to the rescue with an elegantly simple definition of the good life: "living in the place you belong, with the people you love, doing the right work -- on purpose."

It is important to realize that a vision is very different from purpose ("mission") and goals. Our purpose is our reason for being, and we should think of it as timeless. Our goals are the targets we want to accomplish, and they are best conceived in near term; usually within 1-3 years. By contrast, our life vision is a vivid description of what we will do with our lives. It’s best thought of over a decade, or even a lifetime. Our life vision should give goose-bumps, make us cry, and take our breath away with its boldness. It should roar with passion and set markers for what we plan to do with our days on the planet.

A personal vision for yourself, may take long time to arise in your consciousness. But, once you have it, it will become your ‘being’, the creative and catalyzing force in your life.

Carl Jung says that "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." In essence, our vision statement is an authentic expression of how our purpose and values play out in the world.

C-Suite Bottom Line: To drive enterprise innovation, and create a remarkable living organization, one of the easiest action you take, is to help every employee craft their personal vision statement. This will allow every employee to put their dreams on the line of their own vision of the good life. Once they can see the line of sight between their purpose, values, and work, then let them go – see what happens to your culture for innovation. Creativity will overflow, ideas will come from everywhere, continuous innovation will become the food for sustainable growth, and therefore business strategies will become reality – faster.

-Jatin

Recently a friend asked me what is my definition of integrity. It was an exciting interchange because it helps me deepen my views and obstacles that I am working on within my inner world.

Here is what I said:

1) At the level of highest Universal Truth, it means tight alignment of my thoughts, words, and actions. What I think, must be what I say, and what I do. So, by definition it is Spiritual Integrity - within my self. Many people define integrity from the point of others and not first within themselves. That is fine, but lacks depth and meaning - for me. Integrity therefore is firm adherence to code of personal values - especially moral values. So depending on one's value, virtue and belief system (their level of consciousness), what they think, what they say and what they do, might be quiet different then for others. This does not mean they are not acting with integrity. As long as one is fully aligned from their own internal and higher self, they are acting with integrity. I have to be very careful that I do not judge others in their own integrity. They very well might be acting with full integrity. Does this makes sense?

So how do I know I and others around me are acting with full integrity? That is, how does it show up in my life?

Integrity is a result of three components - Honesty, Respect and Courage.

Acting with integrity means being honest, respectful, and courageous. If I do that correctly, it leads to Trust within myself and with others. Without Trust, we cannot maintain or build relationships with each other. Without relationships, life may have very little meaning - for us mortals that is. Without good relationships, we generally cannot bring our highest self in our work (no matter what we do or what part of our life) and serve others with meaning.

So, I know integrity exists, if my relationships with others have strong bond of Trust and that all three dimensions are active in that relationship. If I lack courage to say the truth to someone, or I have lost respect with someone or them in me, Trust dwindles in our relationship. If trust dwindles, I should feel lack of integrity and I should do something about it.

Integrity is cornerstone for personal creativity. When one is creative with integrity, they are filled with passion in their work and work-teams. There is enough evidence that shows that individuals and teams who act with full Trust (honesty, respect, and courage) with each other, consistently achieve breakthrough results.

Bottom Line for C-Suite and HR: To drive innovation in your organization, simply create an environment of Highest Integrity. Don’t just declare it and talk about it, teach people how to integrate the three components of Honesty, Respect, and Courage in to their work, in to their teams, and with customers. Offer a class on "Integrity 101" and maybe another class on "How to bring Courage in your work 101"? 

It depends on your definition of leadership.

In my experience with building leadership capacity for an organization and coach C-level executives, I would highly suggest you first distinguish between what is Leadership and what is Management for your organization – at the top.

Once you have this definition then look for following traits to build via experiential learning(you can't teach leadership in classroom alone).

One of the best teachers of this subject is my friend Mel Toomey of Generative Leadership Group(www.glg.net). He has taught me very important lessons about the topic of leadership, and I regard him as one of the best in the world. He says that most leadership education in Corporate America is Management Training. Leadership is a form of art. Management is a form of science. You cannot teach leadership in a scientific manner. You can create leadership literacy in class – but that is all.

I asked Mel, what is the one most important thing to teach (or learn) for different levels of leaders in a typical organization. Here is what he said:

1) New leaders: learn to TRUST THEMSELVES - a leader's capacity for trusting others is bounded by their trust for themselves.

2) Experienced leaders: learn to PREPARE TO MAKE MISTAKES... One cannot lead unless they are willing to be wrong... the handmaiden of original thinking are mistakes.

3) For senior leaders: learn that they WILL NEVER HAVE ENOUGH INFORMATION TO MAKE THE DECISIONS THEIR JOB CALLS FOR... By definition, the decisions leaders make involve creating... bringing new things into existence, dealing with matters that are unique. While history will inform a leader, a leader’s decisions involve maters for which they must write the history.

4) Finally for the top level executives: they need to learn to BE A "LEADER EDUCATOR"... the source of growth and innovation in your organization will come from those you educate, develop and mentor as leaders. Be "the coach" and clear the field of play for your "experienced leaders."

If you look at the list above, the question you asked no longer matters. The answer becomes - all human beings have the capacity to be a leader. The difference is, what in the ‘context of leadership’, the ‘play arena for leadership’ are you talking about and what needs to be developed between where they are now and what level of leadership they need to practice. As a side note, most organizational cultures are not tolerant enough for the craft of leadership to be learned fast and safely – en entirely different issue, but an important one.

It is very unfortunate that, many “Leadership Programs” are just that – one brush fits all. Total waste of time and money – most of this stuff does not work.

Cheers,

-Jatin