your inner innovator

Unleashing the Inner Innovator (pdf)

the author describes 4 "thinking lenses" - ways of thinking to spark new ideas and innovations:

• Pack Rat - collect experiences, be as diverse as possible. 3 techniques for thinking like a pack rat:
  
  
  
  • Filters - look at the world from different perspectives, pretend you a detective, an artist, a mechanic etc. and view the world from that perspecive.
  
  
  • Try Something New - read magazines you've never read, meet new people, etc.
  
  
  • Rip & Rap - in a brainstorming session hand out different magazines and have team members rip out images that speak to them. then put all the images together and look for connections between them.
  
  
  
  
• Matchmaker - once you have collected new experiences as a pack rat look at them and find matches "what is this like?". look for unlikely combinations.
  

  
  Try and find analogies,
  metaphors, and associations that fit the problem you are
  looking to solve. Recombine ideas in new ways. If you
  are redesigning a business process, borrow a best practice
  from a different industry. South West Airlines did this when
  it benchmarked an Indianapolis 500 pit crew. Or when
  hospitals benchmarked Marriott Hotels for the check-in
  processes. But take it a step further and look to nonbusiness
  analogies and metaphors. Look at nature. Model
  your business after an evolutionary process, an ecosystem,
  jazz music, or whatever tickles your fancy.
  

  
  
• Kid - look at everything with a fresh pair of eyes. Play the "yes, and" game.
  

  
  Have one person throw out the first idea, and then continue
  with, �Yes, and...�, building on the previous idea. The key is
  to answer quickly and avoid thinking too much. Top-ofhead
  answers tend to tap into a part of the brain we don�t
  use during our normal thinking process. And be sure that
  your answer is a contribution. It should build on what the
  previous person said rather than invalidate it.
  

  
  
• Contrarian - turn everything upside, reverse assumptions, come up with the worst ideas
  

  
  Sometimes the best ideas seem like the worst ideas. The
  California Dancing Raisins advertisement came from
  asking the question, �What is the worst way we could sell
  raisins?� Think about the world prior to vaccines. What
  would be the stupidest way to prevent an outbreak of polio?
  Inject everyone with the virus. But of course that is exactly
  how it is done. Breakthrough answers are often hiding in
  illogical solutions.
  

  
  

the author also emphasizes putting together a "whole-brained team":

When everyone thinks
the same way there is little opportunity for something new.
Creativity comes from tension. Differing viewpoints.
Differing ways of solving problems. So, on your team,
surround yourself with people who think differently than
you. Choose people with different analytical, creative, and
personality styles. Welcome the creative tension that is
inevitable. Relish not always getting your way. New ideas
are bound to emerge, and as long as you are open to them,
your whole brained team will create new ideas never
previously conceived.