I don’t watch much TV, but the one show I do watch on occasion is House. If you haven’t seen it before, Hugh Laurie plays a brilliant but unorthodox doctor who specializes in diagnosing strange disorders. He’s a creative (albeit cowboy) problem solver.
The one thing I’ve recently noticed is where his brilliant ideas consistently originate. He almost always comes up with his break-through ideas when he’s NOT working on a case. It is either something unrelated that someone else says, does or he sees. It is while his problem-solving thoughts are in incubation – while he is NOT thinking about the case, that his ideas flow. This is also called the Shower Moment.
What is it that motivates people to be innovative? While it may not be the primary motivator, most people want to enjoy some benefit from their own ideas. By default, you own what you create, but that doesn’t hang true if you’re an employee. As an employee, everything you create is owned by your employer whether or not you’ve signed an agreement to that effect. So what does this do to your willingness to be innovative?
Part of this may depend on your entrepreneurial tendency and your sense of personal control. As an entrepreneur, I feel a strong sense of ownership of my efforts and ideas. It’s not about money for me, though. It’s about making sure the fruits of my labor and my creative ventures are being put to good use – that they’re helping change lives. It’s about ensuring my ideas and efforts move forward according to my personal mission. I’m curious – does that matter so much for folks who don’t consider themselves entrepreneurial?
For employees for whom the level of purpose described above is also a key motivator, it is your responsibility to align your job choices with your values. Unfortunately that is not always possible given the current job-market challenges, but ultimately, it is a worthy goal.
These past several weeks have been absolutely crazy for me. I’ve been working almost non-stop and, honestly, I have loved every minute of it.
When working with current and aspiring entrepreneurs, I talk a lot about finding your passion. I used to say that you know you’ve found your passion when you’re engaged in a task and time passes quickly.
I don’t believe that anymore. After all, time passes quickly when I drive the repetitive 40-mile route home from teaching 2 nights a week. More than once I have arrived home somewhat surprised that I didn’t remember the drive. Has that happened to anyone else? Sure. But does that mean we’re passionate about driving? Not necessarily.
One of the highlights of last week’s World Business Forum, for me, had to be the candid conversations with T. Boone Pickens and George Lucas. Both were couch-interviewed and held the audience captive with their stories and their wit.
T. Boone Pickens
Pickens’ accent had me riveted, too, as well as a bit homesick for my home-state of Texas. Reminding us that he was 70 years old before he made his first billion, he had a lot to say about the current state of both the economy and the environment.
As I stated in a previous post, it is exhilarating when you realize that several seemingly disparate passions can be combined. For me, that is exactly what is happening with my new company, Path Forward International.
In Part 1, I talked about how our innovation methodology developed from our years of entrepreneurship, in practice and in training others. It turns out that two of my other passions that I share with business partner Renee – technology and women’s empowerment – also have a place in our new company.
Technology is straight-forward. While our original vision was to develop a platform to support our innovation process, we’re currently in negotiations for a partnership with a software vendor that has products very close to what we were looking for. What their software is missing, we may add over time. You’ll have to come back to learn more about this as the details come together.
HSM recently announced that IBM will be the sponsor of the Blogger’s Hub at the World Business Forum, coming up in just two short weeks. The first I heard about it was through an ad in the Wall Street Journal. I am privileged to be working with such a distinguished panel of bloggers (listed on the WBF blogger’s site), hearing from major thought leaders in business.
My one nagging question around the whole event is, why is there only 1 woman speaker on the 2-day agenda? Based on her recent post on the HSM website, I don’t doubt that Irene Rosenfeld from Kraft will be engaging, but I know there are more women with thought leadership in the area of business. Let’s get a list together to send HSM of who they should consider for future events. What women should we bring to their attention?
In my WPO facilitators retreat today, we were treated to a video by Dewitt Jones. I didn’t think I had seen it before, but the minute it began I remembered. I HAD seen it, I just didn’t remember the guy’s name. I won’t forget it now.
teaching 2 nights a week. More than once I have arrived home somewhat surprised that I didn’t remember the drive. Has that happened to anyone else? Sure. But does that mean we’re passionate about driving? Not necessarily.
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