Get to the Curious Point: How to Title Ideas, Messages, & Books
What can we learn from how best selling non-fiction books are titled to help us title our own ideas and messages so that people understand our ideas and want to act on them? I’ve been thinking about this lately. I’ve gone through a process recently of trying to figure out a title for a book I’m finishing writing. I did a few rounds of surveys to target readers to help me generate ideas and decide. I’ve also done some research on what makes a great title. Even if you aren’t working on a book you are probably trying to communicate something important. We need to get to the point and be interesting in our communications. We can learn from how books are titled. Especially nonfiction books.
Incremental or Breakthrough Innovations: Go +1 or x2?
Would you rather go +1 or x2 in your ideas and innovations? How about life? How about at work? When innovating and doing things better we have choices. Do we want a slight improvement, a +1, an incremental innovation? Or, do we want a x2, a drastic improvement? This is a breakthrough or even disruptive innovation. With the +1 approach things get slightly better. It is like a CD that now holds one more song, or is 1 inch smaller. The x2 approach is like an Ipod. It looks different and even operates different. It is a breakthrough or a disruption to the way things had been done before. It is a drastic improvement.
Scale your Idea Up and Out
The concept of scale is an important one for innovation and greater success. Just like the mighty oak tree began as a small acorn turned seedling, our success begins with a small-scale idea. This idea goes live and it works. It sees light and wants to grow. This idea scales up and out in different ways. We can apply the concept of scale to find greater success in our life and work. Take one of your best ideas…how can you scale it up or out in new directions? Continue Reading →
Innovating on the Wall: Activities for Reflection and Strategy
When you post your innovation activities on the wall and keep them there, you not only have more room to work and collaborate but you are visually reminded of what you are working on. Here is my wall. This innovation journey program I’ve developed guides participants through a number of deep reflection and life assessment projects to help them make meaning of the past and present as well as strategize for the future. The activities are deep, creative, and visual. Participants will leave with “maps” they can put on their walls to keep their strategy at the top of their mind and be motivated to act.
Data: Generate, Analyze, Interpret, Visualize, Communicate and Innovate from it
The CTO of IBM recommends people develop the skill of turning data into knowledge. The New York Times featured an article about how new ways to mine or exploit raw data may bring a surge of innovation. McKinsey research identifies big data as the next frontier for innovation and that people with deep analytical skills are needed for this frontier. I believe that data can be transformed into a logical innovation, and that the innovation has the best chance to succeed when it is grounded in data. There are many steps to doing this. First you need to find or generate data related to the challenge you are working on. Next, you organize and analyze this data. Then, you interpret or make meaning of the data. Later, you visualize this data and communicate it to yourself and other audiences. When you have done all of this the innovation could seem obvious. The solution or course of action seems logical when the data presents itself to you. Infographics are a trend and this trend is useful. Communicating data visually helps us to understand. Watch this video of Hans Rosling to see what I mean.
Speech on Developing and Communicating Innovative Ideas
I had been blogging about the process of creating a visual keynote speech. I recorded a final prototype version of a speech on “developing and communicating innovative ideas” from my home studio and posted the video here. I did this speech live for a group of 300…plus an overflow room for the live stream of the event. They also recorded the live stream of the event and you can view it at Showcase 2011 to see how it looked live. My keynote on developing & communicating innovative ideas starts at 32:15. Continue Reading →
The Growth of Social Media: Believe it & Engage.
Amazing visual portrayal of stats related to social media usage on this video. I am a believer in the power of videos like this because it got one of my last hold out friends onto Facebook! Maybe this new video will get him on Twitter? We should devote more energy to finding better ways to engage with LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media sites. I know they have been tremendously valuable for me. I’ve developed a workshop to help others simply get started or dive deeper. Continue Reading →
How to create a visual keynote speech
I’m doing a pecha kucha keynote speech for an event called Showcase at the University of Wisconsin. This is my story of how I’m developing it. A pecha kucha is a structured framework for a presentation. It consists of 20 visual slides that advance after 20 seconds. It is only a 6:40 long speech! Some benefits of this are that the audience gets a lot of visuals and you have to get to the point quickly. It is a bit more challenging to present but could be a good model for you to use, especially if your presentations tend to look too “texty” or you don’t wrap up soon enough.
Do Not Create Alone: How to Develop a Title Using 2 Question Surveys
I am finishing a book based on my dissertation research of high quality leadership programs. The purpose of the book is to help people innovate their own leadership programs and teach leadership in a way that works with how people learn and develop as a leader. I spent a lot of time thinking about titles for the book. Then I decided to use an innovation process for this. I decided to co-create the title with my target audience, the people who would be buying and reading the book. It makes sense doesn’t it, let them develop the title they want with you. I created a two question surveymonkey survey and floated it to my network on Facebook through a status update.