How small wins can change behaviour

‘Around 55,000 Australians go to hospital with a heart attack every year and around one third of those are repeat heart attacks.’ Associate Professor Clara Chow, The George Institute for Global Health in Sydney In an effort to reduce these alarming figures particularly the repeat rate the researchers tried something new. They sent a series of simple text messages to the patients (4 per week) for 6 months in an attempt to improve their health. Patient received texts such as: ... Read more

How to innovate – one small win at a time*

Disruptive innovation is everywhere it seems. There’s an ongoing fixation with the next Uber, Netflix, WhatsApp or Airbnb. Even perennial technology darlings such as Twitter or Facebook seem, well, so yesterday. It’s intoxicating, heady stuff as one technological change can seemingly transform an industry and lead to growth rates going through the roof. But for every game-changing success there are thousands of failures which are not so glamorous. The lesson therefore is to dream big but to ... Read more

What leaders can learn from the ballet

We just spent a delightful evening at the ballet at the Lincoln Centre in New York. Not only was it an amazing experience but as I reflected on the performance I was struck with how much leaders could learn from this experience also. Here are a few: - The pursuit of excellence. There was nothing ordinary about this performance. The audience expected an was given a world-class show. Leaders — what are your standards? Are you building a world-class team? - The diversity of the group. ... Read more

A small win – win for the environment

It’s a small thing that more and more hotels are doing. They put up a little sign on your towel rack asking you whether you can use the towel again rather then having to wash them. It’s a classic win – win. It’s great for the environment. It’s obviously very good for the hotel as it saves, time, effort and money. And we as hotel guests feel good about doing our bit for the environment. I love this example because it is simple, easy to do and the cumulative ... Read more

The secret to innovative organisations

Everyone wants to know the secret of innovative organisations. These organisations seem to be able to produce breakthrough new ideas and products — on demand. But how do these innovative organisations do it? My observation is this. They have more people innovating, more often. It’s that simple. Yet so hard. Think of a gym. What makes a vibrant gym? It’s the friendliness of the staff, the quality of the instructors and the gym equipment. But it’s also the number of ... Read more

Speed Thinking in Action

I gave a talk yesterday at a conference on *Speed Thinking and it’s tool Ideas Blitz. Speed Thinking is an accelerated way of generating ideas and solving problems that can be used by individuals or small groups or teams. I developed this thinking system based on an insight. My observation working with managers and leaders was: ‘What stopped many people from being as creative or innovative as they could be was their own internal judging or self-limiting voice.’ I found ... Read more

The one thing that creative people do – a lot!

Here it is. Are you ready? Creatieve people spend a lot of time bouncing ideas off other people. You just have to watch or listen to them. For example: ‘Hey jane, have you got 5 minutes — i just want to bounce an idea off you.’ Creative people know that great ideas emerge from the interactions of a diverse range of people. They have a starting or initial idea but they would like to get a quick reaction. They also look for people who are open to new ideas and that they ... Read more

Managers are running out of excuses not to innovate

Managers and leaders know innovation is vital. But they often don’t practice it. It reminds me of exercise. We know it is important yet we never seem to get around to it. We always want to start next week! It seems it’s the same with innovation. – Too tired – Too busy – Not enough people – Not enough time – It’s too big I will start next week! But next week rarely comes around. I think the best time to start to innovate is right now. Select ... Read more

A small yet powerful way to engage consumers

I just returned from Singapore where I ran a few courses for the Institute of Marketing there. The course I designed was called Marketing Creativity. Half-way through the course some of the participants told me about a new ice-cream place that had all these amazing flavours. So we all went off on a field visit to this venue. Ok so we all tasted the ice cream which was delicious. The staff were friendly and enthusiastic about their ice-cream. Another big plus. But what really caught my eye ... Read more

How to become an awesome leader

I think we need a new language to talk about leadership. One that talks to all current and future leaders. Here is my suggestion. Lets try and develop awesome leaders! Here’s how to do this by using the word AWESOME: Achieve results. There are many leadership models which stress various competencies and attributes but sometimes they forget that leadership is primarily about achieving results through and with people. Results count. And so does how the outcomes are achieved but there ... Read more