The Sound of Innovation

Ahhh... Summer music - a sweet blend of memories that can take me back five, 10 or (gulp) 25 years, in an instant. I can remember doing the butterfly at the roller rink to Funkytown, singing back up to Summer Lovin', cruising the downtown strip to You Shook Me All Night Long and sneaking in after a few pops with Living on a Prayer. There's no doubt Kid Rock's song, All Summer Long, will be remembered as the 2008 anthem. This hit is a fusion of two songs from the 70s: Warren Zevon's 'Werewolves of London' and Lynyrd Skynard's 'Sweet Home Alabama'. Do you think Kid Rock put two of his favorites together, knowing he would land with a smash hit?

I've been thinking a lot about where the inspiration for "successes" like these come from because I've been working on a project with innovation expert, Rick Boersma, of Floworks. When the energy in a meeting begins to lag, he is wired to "change the stimulants". Not the kind that could have helped Kid Rock along, but the everyday kind that inspire ideas and innovation breakthroughs. We change rooms, play a game, look at random magazines, eat (my favorite), or simply take a walk. Rick says stimuli can come from literally anywhere. Words and images, smells and sounds, indoors and outdoors, something that catches your attention, opening a newspaper, dictionary, catalogue, book of pictures, throwing a dice, a film clip, a piece of music, a physical object... It just so happens the Kid was playing in the background as I was struggling to write this post.

Typically, when faced with a challenge, we tend to resort to the same old stimuli to solve our problems. As Rick puts it, "We can use stimuli to escape our mental box to help us look at situations from a new perspective and generate novel ideas." Stimuli can be related to the subject matter, or completely random. Change the stimuli, change the outcome and results.

Have a bit of writer's block? Go to a card store and check out how many ways you can say, "Happy Birthday ". Can't seem to get a strategy from your head, onto paper? Get tactile and play with some lego, playdoh or nuts and bolts from a tool box. Need ideas to flow from your team? Take them for ice cream and a round of mini golf.

Of course, the summer weather may be calling and your ability to focus and solve problems may be out the window with the birds. If that happens - and I know this from experience - cranking Blackwater by the Doobies and enjoying an ice cold beer helps. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

If you are interested in being a contributing author to this blog, please leave a comment and we will be in touch!