Casual Fridays

Brian Clark at Lateral Action put together a great list of Tyler Durden’s 8 Rules of Innovation.
The list is based on statements by Brad Pitt’s character in Fight Club. Below is my favorite:

Tyler’s Eighth Rule of Innovation:
“This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.”
Brian does a great job of expounding on [...]

Alex requested I expand on the effects of collaborative communication vs. conspiratorial communication
Collaboration creates teams of teams.
Organizations that encourage collaboration will see greater interdepartmental and interorganizational teamwork. A sense of interdependence creates a desire to involve others in on the work at hand.
Conspiracy creates lines and sides.

Information is held in silos. The grain [...]

Sometimes it’s harder to blog once a week than everyday. So, I’m going to start blogging as much as possible to get out of the funk I’ve been in. Should make things a bit more organic and not so planned.
Just read a Tom Peters “Cool Friends” interview from a few weeks ago with [...]

I recently read a fascinating article on unleashing creativity from Scientific America.
Executive editor Mariette DiChristina conducted a roundtable discussion involving three experts on creativity:
John Houtz is a psychologist and professor at Fordham University. His most recent book is The Educational Psychology of Creativity (Hamptom Press, 2002).
Julia Cameron is an award-winning poet, playwright and filmmaker. [...]

I got some correspondence on The Idea Orphanage that encouraged me to share advise on reclaiming your idea orphans. I guess it would be rather cruel to raise awareness of the lost and abandoned without giving a way for you to help. So, here are a few ways to get the adoption process [...]

I was plugging away on my computer when I heard the cry from upstairs.  “Oh no!”  I asked my wife what was wrong.  “You’re going to hate me.”  She said.
I climbed up the stairs and found her in the laundry room.  She began to pull out pieces of paper and show them to me.  “My [...]

“There are no such things as bad ideas.”
Whoever invented that statement has never watched an infomercial.
There are plenty of bad ideas. The essence of this statement is that bad ideas can lead to good ones. Unfortunately, we either disregard someone’s bad idea altogether or we embrace it, because we’re stupid and don’t realize how [...]

I don’t know how many there are.
Millions? Billions?
I do know they’re alone and wandering. They have been abandoned and forgotten.
How did they get here?
Fear.
Not their fear. Ours.
They are idea orphans. Former hopes, dreams and aspirations who have no guardians.
They were once filled with energy and hope. Now they have no [...]

I got feedback that my Reasons No One Likes Your Ideas was missing one important reason: your ideas are bad.
I intentionally left that off the list, because it opens a whole new can of worms. I’m ready to open that can now.
You’ve heard the saying, “There’s no such thing as a bad idea.”
Not true. [...]

… the originator of ideas is undervalued.
My family has had a business of somekind in my hometown since 1914. That might be where I get my entrepreneurial spirit. While I was growing up, we had a local grocery store named Staiger’s Grocery. Original, isn’t it? I worked there for nearly five [...]