The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place...
August 19, 2011 01:32 AM
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." ~George Bernard Shaw
Too often, innovation is starved right "on location" by a failure to communicate an inspiration. A disturbingly prevalent and even more endemic manifestation of our current communication culture is its seeming failure to exploit new and valuable opportunities to connect, in person, with those around us—to innovate with them.
While modern office communication—VM, texting, email—on first look may appear to ultimately lead to properly filled out cover-sheets on all your TPS reports, it generally fails for innovation, who would far rather talk through a vacuum hose to her best friend two cubicles away than simply stand up or text.
Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity—not a threat
While some organizations better lend themselves to such flights of fancy, most carefully consider the downside (usually after a short trip to Legal)—the statistically significant possibility that someone, in a fit of creative euphoria, strips off their clothing, goes out and buys a Mac.
So next time you look to innovate... it’s not good enough to simply unwrap that "Suggestion Box". Have your group get up, move and actually take a new seat, in some other room, next to their fellow innovators on that Group "W" bench.
Below are just some of the insights I found scratched into ours...
"Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time." ~Bill Gates
"The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B." ~James Yorke
"Doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results, is the definition of crazy." ~Unknown author
"The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." ~Dr. Linus Pauling
"There's a way to do it better—find it." ~Thomas Edison
"Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction." ~Picasso
"The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication." ~Michael Faraday
"The winner is the chef who takes the same ingredients as everyone else and produces the best results." ~Edward de Bono
"Great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities." ~Thomas Jefferson
"Great innovators and original thinkers and artists attract the wrath of mediocrities as lightning rods draw the flashes." ~Theodor Reik
"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative." ~Woody Allen
"Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth." ~Peter F. Drucker
"He's a serial entrepreneur. Somebody stop him before he makes a killing again." ~Carl Zetie
Too often, innovation is starved right "on location" by a failure to communicate an inspiration. A disturbingly prevalent and even more endemic manifestation of our current communication culture is its seeming failure to exploit new and valuable opportunities to connect, in person, with those around us—to innovate with them.
While modern office communication—VM, texting, email—on first look may appear to ultimately lead to properly filled out cover-sheets on all your TPS reports, it generally fails for innovation, who would far rather talk through a vacuum hose to her best friend two cubicles away than simply stand up or text.
Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity—not a threat
While some organizations better lend themselves to such flights of fancy, most carefully consider the downside (usually after a short trip to Legal)—the statistically significant possibility that someone, in a fit of creative euphoria, strips off their clothing, goes out and buys a Mac.
So next time you look to innovate... it’s not good enough to simply unwrap that "Suggestion Box". Have your group get up, move and actually take a new seat, in some other room, next to their fellow innovators on that Group "W" bench.
Below are just some of the insights I found scratched into ours...
"Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time." ~Bill Gates
"The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B." ~James Yorke
"Doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results, is the definition of crazy." ~Unknown author
"The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." ~Dr. Linus Pauling
"There's a way to do it better—find it." ~Thomas Edison
"Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction." ~Picasso
"The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication." ~Michael Faraday
"The winner is the chef who takes the same ingredients as everyone else and produces the best results." ~Edward de Bono
"Great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities." ~Thomas Jefferson
"Great innovators and original thinkers and artists attract the wrath of mediocrities as lightning rods draw the flashes." ~Theodor Reik
"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative." ~Woody Allen
"Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth." ~Peter F. Drucker
"He's a serial entrepreneur. Somebody stop him before he makes a killing again." ~Carl Zetie
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