Ken Cooper | Teaching Innovation.

Innovation can be scary--invoking visions of established ways being turned inside out.

Ironically, control can actually be increased through disruption. Like the racecar driver accelerating through the turns, so innovative activities can help us gain control because we are being proactive rather than reactive.

My latest article for the Idealliance Bulletin magazine outlining principles of innovation, with applications for the printing and publishing industries:

If innovators were philosophers, they might postulate, “I change, therefore, I am.” To the innovator, change is normal and good. It is the vehicle of opportunity. Innovators seek it. Indeed, they lead it.

“The Great One”, Wayne Gretsky, once said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

100 Years, 100 Innovations. Happy Birthday IBM

A recent New Yorker cartoon portrayed several businessmen in dark suits sitting around a conference table. The caption read: “Sounds good. We’ll just have to run it by the Hawaiian Shirts.” Humorous, yet true. Increasingly, businesses of all kinds are defined not only by what they produce, but also by how they think. And that thinking had better be innovative.

Imagine it’s Tuesday. A key project has reached an impasse, sandwiches are ordered and whiteboards are loaded up with lots of juicy dry-erase markers. It’s time for brainstorming.

Asking "W" questions can be helpful for perspective, and to reveal opportunities for innovation:

Visualize an office. Probably you see the stereotypical cubicles, complete with plenty of managers and multi-tabbed Excel spreadsheets. Now visualize a studio. Perhaps you envision more of a collaborative environment, with whiteboards, creativity, brainstorming, and maybe a mindmap or two.