Innovation is like a dishwasher

This is what happens when you decide to make your own cartoon :-)

It was made when Joyce Wycoff, http://thinksmart.typepad.com/, asked for picture and cartoons describing innovation in different ways. I misunderstood the request and made this cartoon.

Quite some time ago now, but still the only cartoon I've drawn that has been published in real, i.e. paper-based, magazine. It was used by Professional Fundraisings article "Innovate or die", June 2007.

Underdogs are stronger

Is it better to have "something" than to have "nothing"?

Have you ever seen a team coming to the game trying to defend their title? They have that title. And they also have to waste energy to defend it. A portion of their energy will be drained by fear of loosing what they have.
And since they are not only trying to win - but also trying to protect and defend what they have - they are less likely to succeed.

The opposite is also true. Having nothing can make you stronger. You have nothing to loose. And can use all focus and energy forward - to win.
(Beware. If you in the game suddenly think you have won already, you will spend time defending something you think you have...)

This is why the underdog is stronger. He has less to defend. And can only win.

So, what we normally think is good - "having something" - can be a bad thing. And what we normally think is bad "having nothing" can be good.

Oversimplified of course. But the patterns are there. In sports and in business. And in love!

If you have a lot of defend it will be harder to be offensive.

Me thinks.

"Avoid loss" or "go for win". Same thing?

A couple of times I have been engaged in discussions where close friends are having personal problems. To me it sometimes seems as they, i.e. my friends, are trying to avoid to loose more than they try to win. A very simplified view of course!

Trying to play safe avoiding to loose and in that process hoping that it will automatically lead to winning. But that is not necessarily what will happen.

When you focus on "avoid loss" you have included a negative component in your process - "loss".

A more direct approach would be to develop a "go for win" strategy. And not include any negative component that has to be avoided.

How about a boxer . Consider the Champ entering the ring. If he chose the strategy "avoid to be knocked out". Will he become a winner? How will he box? Will he be an offensive boxer? Will he be a worried boxer afrid to be knocked out? Will he feel like a winner when boxing? Will he be willing to take a risk, lowering the guard, and hit the other guy?

And the other way around. If we "go for win" instead. Will he fight like a winner from start? Will he take risks?

Simplified again of course. But still valid I think. For the boxer above. But also for all of us dealing with our personal problems and situation. And of course in all business situations.

When discussing with my friends I have used the simple model belows to illustrate the differences between the two strategies.

In the first small model we focus (yellow border) on "avoid loss". And we hope that that will counteract (arrow with a line crossing) the negative loss (red). And in that process we hope that it produces a win. The win is the goal (filled green) but it is only a potential win (dashed border). And as you can see the arrow producing the win is dashed, meaning insufficient.

In the second model we focus on "go for win" and hope that it creates the goal - "win". The win is only potential here too- But in this model we have no negative effects.

And if you like boxing I think you would prefer two boxer selecting the second strategy below...

A quickguide for this notation can be found at http://www.southbeachinc.com/quickguide.html

Butterfly effect

Amazing how things, events, causes and outcomes are connected. Even the smallest beings and smallest action can influence and be part of creating something big.

Even a butterfly in Beijing!

Definition of pessimist?

"I'm not pessimistic. I just don't see any solutions. And I don't think we will find any." (Financial Expert)

The expert was commenting on SAABs future.

Coordinating stealth submarines

Hmm. If we have two stealth submarins on secret missions out there, there is a risk they collide. The reason for having a stealth sub on secret mission is to gain surprise capability and potential.

Unfortuately we need some sort of co-ordination of the missions to avoid the collision. And that co-ordination reduces the surprise potential, since more people know about the missions.

So. What went wrong when a french and english submarine collided? (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/16/british.french.submarine.incident/index.html

Dont push products - "fetch" problems

How come that some "sales people" try to push "products"?

The product is not what the customer need. The customer need to make value - or money. And he needs to deal with the things that is stopping him from doing so.

If we can get the customer to explain his problems, i.e. what is stopping him from making money, we can use our knowledge and skills in a "solutioning process". Hopefully we can create a solution that will remove the problem. So that the customer makes more money. In the solution we can use our products and services.

Do not sell products to the customer. Sell him more money. And to be able to do that you need to make him reveal and expose his problems. And that is maybe the most important task for the "sales people"; make the customer state his problems.

How can we get the customer to reveal the problems? Here is where you have to start to really think! Focus on the "??" in the model below. Instead of your products and services....

Problems are great (and necessary!) fuel!

Definition of creativity

The word creativity can be defined in many ways. One interesting
definition I have seen is:
"creativity; an excuse for sloppiness and lack of organizational discipline"

modelling an octopus

This model created with a tool called Southbeach. Read more at http://www.southbeachinc.com/ Lots of examples, idioms and helpful material available.
Download your own copy and start modelling your problems and opportunities!

This model shows a harmful (red) octopus that uses his (or hers?) eight arms of destruction (reversed creation) on the useful or good (green) fish.