Joseph Rueter

For the most part, people want new ideas and innovation but how? Primarily, I have three rough tactics.

First, it seems to me that innovation can not be separated from context. Innovations are context based because they grow out of them and are defined in relation to them. Think of the paper clip. The paper clip is innovative at minimum because the context had a problem with loose papers and the design of the paperclip is so simple to use and cheap to produce and deliver. The paper clip solves a problem more preferably than other methods.

Second, my mind often connects things seemingly suddenly. I call them flashes. Those around me will get calls, me on the other line with immediacy in my voice and a eager excitement for a solution to a problem they might not even care about… yet. My mind has just connected things and like an explosion it wants to expand and spread.

Most times these flashes occur when I am walking, driving or showering. So, now you know I move and smell good, a lot. But what is it about these things, do you think, that makes them great for fostering the flash? I think they are particularly hot for innovation because in each of them the mind is in a process of improvement or change that it knows and has done many times, like walking. This is important because then, at least my brain knows something is getting done so I am much more interested in taking the extra brain power direct it to work on other things. This may also be why it feels flashy. As the subconscious presses into the conscious and delivers a connection the conscious reaction tends to be to wonder where it came from.

Third, I find that dialogical conversation with diligent co-creators spurns tons of insight that, complied over time and taken together, act as a powerful fertilizer for deep insights and therefore innovative ideas and solution building. These teams are based on trust. I refer to them as diligent because of the discipline it takes to continue to return to the conversation over and over together, to ask questions again and again and to methodically entice insights and innovations to appear. In a way its about creating space for new ideas to fill. I refer to co-creators because the dialogue is often where the magic of wondering is made real and tangible. Here I am thinking of speech act theory where we together create reality when we speak. Maybe I’ll interact with that that specifically in a future post.

So, to get innovative ideas you could try as I do to pay attention to context. I actively consume context with special attention to processing it cognitively. You could build into your routine purposeful opportunities for flashes. Try driving without the radio and rather engage in intentional wonder. You could develop and invest in relationships you have with co-creators. Build trust with them and protect the dialogue while fostering it.

What reactions do you have to these tactics? Where do your ideas come from?