Killer Innovations with Phil McKinney - A Show About Ideas Creativity And Innovation

While many companies recruit for start-up experience, large company experiences can be a secret ingredient to success. The ability to call on executives who have the experience of understanding scale, managing remote staff, complex manufacturing, global markets, selling to large organizations and much more is invaluable. In today's show, we discussed: * Barry's career at IBM and the breadth of experiences that large organizations provide * The shifting role to being a Board member after leaving a large organization such as IBM * How to coach and mentor executive teams to success * How to translate large company experiences into something that start-up companies can apply * Three lessons that Barry would give to a 20 year-old self: * Get out and talk to real customers who use your produce/service early in your career. * The importance of hiring a team that can fill in what your bad at. Look for diversity of thought. * Don't be afraid of putting yourself out there. Try something new and take some risk. Background on Barry Rudolph Barry serves as the Chief Executive Officer of VelociData, Inc. Prior, he  served as Vice President of Strategy and Stack Integration for IBM Storage, responsible for establishing the overall strategy, driving all decisions on portfolio investments for the storage business, and integrating with other areas within IBM including IBM's Global Services and Software organizations.Earlier, Barry served as Vice President for IBM's Disk, SAN & NAS Storage Systems, where he was responsible for all aspects of the Disk, SAN and NAS storage business within IBM, including profit and loss, product portfolio investments, go to market strategy and execution and customer support. During his career at IBM, he held numerous senior level positions in a variety of functional areas, including operations, engineering, product development, test and assurance, program management, field support and, direct manufacturing until his retirement from IBM in 2010 after 32 years with the company. He has been a Member of Industry Advisory Board at GreenBytes, Inc. since August 2013. Barry serves as a Director of VelociData, Inc. He served as Director of Dot Hill Systems Corp. from February 20, 2012 to October 6, 2015. He holds a Bachelor degree of Science degree in Engineering, a Master's of Science in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University, and an MBA from Santa Clara University. Show Links: * Link to Velocidata * Velocidata on LinkedIn * Velocidata on Twitter * Barry Rudolph on LinkedIn Show Sponsors: * Zoom: Video Conferencing That Doesn't Suck – Check out a free account and see what everyone is talking about.

An idea has no value on its own. It's when you find a way to monetize your idea is when value gets created and you benefit from your creative output. There are a number of ways to monetize your idea and here are a few of the ones I've used. 5 ways to monetize your idea * Create a startup around your idea: There are a number of sites that can give you advice on how to create a startup so we won't spend a lot of time giving the specifics. I would encourage you to consider the other options that are available for monetization. * License your product or idea: This is where you grant a license and someone else takes on all of the tasks for translating your idea/product into an offering in the market. * Needs to be more than just a raw idea in PowerPoint or on the back of a napkin * The other party takes on all of the tasks * Your involvement is little to none. * Payment is usually structured around a % of gross revenues or a % of net profit. * Royalty structures don't last forever. * The other party may lose interest in your idea/product of sales don't continue to warrant the investment of time and resources. * Critical: Getting the contract in place. I would strongly encourage you to use legal experts in “licensing” to get the best agreement in place. * Licenses/Sell your patents: If you issued patents (not “provisional patents”), then you can look at licensing or selling them. * Very hard to do with a single patent. * A family of patents in a particular area are much more attractive to potential purchasers. * License the patent if you believe there are multiple entities who need it. * Sell the patent if an entity needs it to fill out a patent portfolio or possible use in a defensive role if they are in litigation. * One of the better options is to find a patent pool (e.g. MPEGLA – MPEG Licensing Authority) and see if they will add your patent as an “essential” patent. If the declare its an essential patent to one of their patent pools, then you get to participate in the royalty stream. They take on all litigation, etc. * Sell your idea outright: This is when you secure a one time payment for all rights, trademarks, etc to your product or idea. * You get the money upfront with no linger obligation. * In some cases, you may want to negotiate an “earn out” which is where you believe the idea has more value and if it proves out, you get a higher payment than the simple lump some. * Its hard to determine the value of an idea. The better equipped you are with data and proof of the value, the more negotiating power you have. * Create a Joint Venture: This is when two or more individuals or entities come together to create a new entity who's mission is to take product or idea and bring it to market. All involved typically have equity in the new entity. * Treat a JV like a marriage. Make sure you really like who you are partnering with and document what happens if it doesn't work out. * Document who contributes what and what each parties obligations are. * Be realistic as to what role you want to have in the JV. Note: I am NOT an attorney and nothing in this post or show should be construed as legal or business advice. Always consult with a professional as monetizing ideas/products/patents is complex with numerous pitfalls. Show Sponsor: * Zoom – Video Conferencing The Doesn't Suck Show Links: * MPEGLA – MPEG Licensing Authority  

With the never ending M&A activities facing most industries, managing your career success through acquisition is a critical survival skill. In today's show, our guest Andrew Skafel shares his lessons learned in how to not only survive acquisitions but how to navigate the changes to ensure career success. We discussed: * Andrew shared is academic background and how it has no connection to his current role as CEO. * What he wanted to do before he got into tech. * His experience of going though multiple acquisitions over his career. * Sharing what contributed to his career success. * Shares one experience where he felt like giving up but instead stayed with it. * History of how Edgewater Wireless came about. * The strategy of doing a spin out from a parent company. * The technology behind Edgewater Wireless. * What makes this technology non-obvious that prevented other from inventing it. * Andrew respomded to the task of sharing three pieces of advice he would you to a 20 year old Andrew. * He discussed two pieces of advice would he would give an entrepreneur just starting out. About Edgewater Wireless: Edgewater Wireless is revolutionizing Wi-Fi infrastructure with their patented, multi-channel WiFi3™ technology powering next-gen access points, Small Cells and Wi-Fi/DAS solutions. Edgewater Wireless has figured out how to deliver what MSOs and their customers have been asking for: vastly improved Wi-Fi network performance across a variety of industries and challenging environments with unparalleled performance, high flexibility, and unsurpassed security. For more information, check out the Edgewater Wireless website. About Andrew Skafel: Andrew is responsible for leading Edgewater Wireless, Andrew’s broad strategic perspective comes from his work with both multinational equipment vendors and a number of start-up network operators. Andrew has significant multinational experience. He was based in Asia for seven years where he worked for Newbridge Networks/Alcatel; Silicon Valley-based, InterWAVE Communications and the Commercial Division of the Canadian High Commission (Malaysia). His roles included strategic marketing, international business development and business planning. A proven telecom innovator and leader, Andrew founded an innovative GSM operator in Brasil, taking the project from concept to fundraising, license acquisition and launch phases. Mr. Skafel holds an MBA from INSEEC (Paris), a graduate diploma from the McRae Institute of International Management (Vancouver) and a BA in Economics & Politics from the University of Western Ontario. Show links: * Edwater Wireless website * Edgewater Wireless on Twitter * Andrew Skafel on Twitter * Andrew Skafel on LinkedIn

Managing the fuzzy front end of the innovation funnel can be daunting especially when management has high expectations from the innovation efforts. This weeks show focused on answering a question emailed in by a listener. The question focused on the challenges of creating an innovation process for a team within a large organization and dealing with the “fuzzy front end”. The fuzzy front end is what some people call “phase 0” of the innovation effort. This front end of innovation is non-linear and can be chaotic and frustrating. It doesn't have to be if you apply a proven approach to getting this early stage innovation work under control. Managing Management When creating new innovation processes and teams, the first step is managing management. They've tasked you with creating the team and process that will generate great outcomes. So how do you manage management? * Manage expectations. Get agreement on the final deliverables such as “2 products per year” * Keep management focused on the deliverables and don't let them in the “tent” to see the messiness of innovation * Keep your ideas quiet. Do NOT share them until they are ready * You control the reveal of your innovation teams output. If you don't do the above, you run of the risk of trying management's patience and run afoul of the “Rule of 18” Three Steps To Manage The Fuzzy Front End Here are the three (3) steps to get control of the chaotic things going on when trying to get started in your innovation process. Step 1:  Create Your Innovation Funnel * Establish your funnel by defining how many stages/gates it will have. I use four (4). * Define the deliverable goal. While CTO at HP, my goal was two (2) fundamentally new products each year. * Back into the numbers of each of the earlier gates assuming a 50% kill rate in each phase. * In my case, my funnel look like the following: * New Products = 2 projects * Limiated lauch/lighthouse trial = 5 projects * Customer Validation = 10 projects * Market Validation =20 projects * This translates to a 10% success rate from the first gate to launch. Step 2: Fill Your Innovation Funnel * Fill the funnel using Focus, Ideation and Ranking (three of the four steps in FIRE) * Test, experiment and be willing to kill ideas. * Even when you don't feel like you're making progress, you are. Perseverance. * Understand the impact of long development cycles on filling your innovation funnel. * Don't be afraid to ask for time to “prime the funnel”. I got two (2) years when I started the funnel at HP. Step 3: Manage Your Innovation Funnel * Don't neglect managing the funnel. Be deliberate. * Move things forward. Don't let them just hang around. * Be willing to pause an idea if the timing is not right. * Don't be afraid to kill an idea. Make the tough call. Show Bonus: A FREE download of my Innovation Funnel and a sample Stage Gate model   Other Resources: * Forbes column on the Rule of 18: Why Projects Are Cancelled For The Wrong Reasons * Managing the I...

Creating a social innovation to impact the social problems and opportunities our society faces is incredibly rewarding. Most (but not all) organizations working to address the social challenges are stuck in a rut. They are running their programs the same way they've always done them. In today's world, getting caught in the rut will dome any organization – including charities. This week, we discuss the challenges, opportunities and considerations to radically improve the innovations being created and applied to social/charity organizations. Social innovation topics covered include: * The role of charities to have social impact * Social innovation: Innovative solutions to a social problem * Social entrepreneurship: A start-up that has a social objective as its priority * Social enterprise: A large organization that has as part of its mission to address a social objective * Ways to help charities including fundraising and supporter engagement * Examples of highly creative charities: * Community Voice Mail (Homelessness) * Kira Microfinance * List of 10 innovative charities * Having a social mission as part of your business is good business * Normal companies have an obligation to put charge holders above any social mission * B Corp and Benefit corporations allow you to put the social mission on equal footing of shareholders * Investors who are supported of social objectives are referred to as impact investors * You don't need to have large amount of money. You can have social impact by using SRI (socially responsible investing) * 4 tips for charity innovation * Trusted Recommendations: We've become accomsted to checking Yelp for “trusted recommendations”. How could your charity secure trusted recomendations from entities beyond the ones most charities secure. * Customers For Life: In the business world, its more cost effective to keep a customer than get a new one. Same applies to charities. Do you think about your supporters as “customers”? What best practices could you borrow from the business world? * Relevant and Personalized Content: Content marketing is one of the key ways to secure a deeper relationship with your customers – as long as you recognize that a “one size fits all” model will not work. The same for your supporters. * Trust: We've all seen the headlines when business and charity leaders go astray and the organization looses its trust with its supporters. What can you do to increase trust? What do you have in place to ensure you don't squander the trust you've earned? Show Links * Global Impact Investing Network * Socially Responsible Investing * B Corp * Benefit corporations * 10 Innovative Charities  

Winning innovation competitions or innovation awards can be a major achievement and proof of you and your teams ability to innovate. Which innovation competitions or awards should you submit to? Are there any downsides to submitting and winning a competiton or an award? In this weeks show, we discuss the structures and thinking behind innovation competitions and innovations awards and I share the 5 most common mistakes I've experienced as a judge. Innovation Awards * A special guest, Tom Kuczmarski, shared an update on the Chicago Innovation Awards. * This award is now in its 15th year. * Of the ~200 awards given in the past, 100% of the companies and organizations are still around. * This year they will give out 10 awards including some new ones such as; Social Innovation, Peoples Choice Awards and Neighborhood Awards. * Criteria they use to select the winner of the Chicago Innovation Award? * What was the customer need the innovation addressed? * What was the impact from the innovation? * Was their a competitive response? (indication of impact since others attempt to copy) * Did the innovation create a new category? Innovation Competitions * What are the different type of innovation competitions? * Solution search like Idea Connection * Broad new ideas * Narrow/focused new ideas * Approaches to applying to a competition * Forward approach: Read the competition and solve for the ask proposed in competition material * Backward approach: Take an idea you already have and find a competition where it can be applied 5 Most Common Mistakes * Not doing sufficient research on the space to fully understand the problem/ask beyond what was presented in the competition material. * Not fully reading/understand the ask. Make sure you don't inject assumptions and bias into crafting your solution to a misunderstood ask. * Not following the guidelines on submissions. Understand what/how/format of the submission. * Submitting an weak/shallow submission. Apply some deep thinking (go beyond the obvious) and create a killer presentation/pitch. Don't short change it. * Not understanding the IP (intellectual property) rules for the competition. Show Links: * Idea Connection * Chicago Innovation Awards * Tom Kuczmarski interview on a previous episode of Killer Innovation

Leading innovation is one of the hardest roles I've ever had in my career. With that said, it is also one of the most exciting and satisfying which is what keeps me in the game. So what does it take succeed in an innovation leadership role? In this weeks show, I share some real-world experiences in what it takes to lead innovation inside an organization that may or may-not be that well aligned on innovation. So what does it take? To succeed, either in the role you have or the role you want in the future, you need to have the foundational behaviors of an innovative leader. The following list is from a recent blog post on innovation leadership. 9 Leadership Behaviors for Leading Innovation Simply stating you are want an innovative culture, accepting forward-thinking employees and creating procedures focused on innovation is a great starting point for innovation, but it is not enough to establish it at an institutional level. To get there, leadership has to take a more active role. What are the behaviors that innovation leaders must live each day? * Innovative Leaders Have a Vision of the Future * Innovative Leaders Establish Trust * Innovative Leaders Challenge the Status Quo * Innovative Leaders Possess Expertise * Innovative Leaders Set Aspirational Goals * Innovative Leaders Move Quickly * Innovative Leaders Crave Information * Innovative Leaders Excel at Teamwork * Innovative Leaders Value Diversity and Inclusion Behaviors are not enough. We need to constantly challenge ourselves to avoid falling into a rut. How? By constantly asking ourselves questions that force us to take a hard look at ourselves as current or potential innovation leaders. 7 Questions Innovation Leaders Should Ask Themselves Are you ready to lead innovation in your organization? There  are several questions you can should yourself to see where you stand and what you should work on. These questions include: * Am I involved at the ground level with my team? * Do I protect my organization’s innovation resources? * Have I clearly laid out my goals? * Am I encouraging teamwork throughout my organization? * How’s my attitude? * Do I understand my team members’ strengths? * How much confidence do I have in myself and the members of my team? Show Links: * The Importance of Leadership in Fostering Organizational Innovation * Developing Leadership Skills for Innovation: The Questions Strong Leaders Ask * What Kind Of Culture Leads To Innovation Success?  

While many may link innovation with technology, innovation can be applied to any job in any industry in any geography. If that is the case, what are the innovation career opportunities for those who want to be innovators but who don't have a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) background? This week, I received an email from a listener (Chris) that asked a number of career advice questions. I began writing a reply and then realized that many of the listeners may be asking themselves the same question(s). So this week, I dedicated the show to answer Chris' career advice questions in the hopes of dispelling the thought that the only career opportunities for innovators such as you are in the technology fields. Q) What opportunities (careers and fields) are available in the “innovation space”, for those of us who are not STEM grads or lawyers. * While many think innovation = tech  (STEM), there are many innovation career opportunities outside of tech. *  A simple search of LinkedIn for jobs under the word “innovation” returns 1000's of responses across a wide range of industries. For example: * Innovation for Online Community * Innovation Project Management * Supply Chain Innovation * Innovation for customer experience * .. and many more. * What companies are looking for are people who can invent/create new processes, methods, markets, customers, etc. * When you see the word “innovation” in a job title or job description, they are looking for people who can “invent” and “create”. * In some cases, companies don't use the word “innovation” in the job description even when what they need is an innovator. * If you are looking for an innovation career, search for words such as: * “Highly creative” * “Innovative person to” * “Can thinks outside the box” (I personally hate this one. It's a cliche that people say but don't really understand) * “Willing to take risks” * “Willing to experiment” * “No afraid to” *  Don't give up. If you want to succeed in the innovation economy – you need to find/create the job yourself. Q) It seems to me, that we are still largely in an ecosystem where credentialism and hard skills reign; where innovative/creative skills are ancillary. What are your thoughts? * While there are a few college degrees in “innovation”, we as an industry “lack” any form of a ‘certification' * Should we as an industry/career have a certification in “innovation”?  Maybe * In some cases, people who have graduated from my Innovation Boot Camp course have used that as a “credential” to justify creating an innovation team inside their organization * I've been approached to create an “innovation credential” which has caused to step back and consider creating a “credential” for innovation. * Would love to hear your thoughts if you would find that useful. * Given that doesn't exist a certification, what are you to do? * Prove to your current or future employers that you are the innovation person they need * So what should you do to get ready for a career in innovation? * Continuous skills development. * 15 Ways To Feed Your Creative Mind S12 Ep23 * The Top 5 Skills Every Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) Needs 

There is a mystique about Silicon Valley. Some think its this magical place where the breakthrough innovation is done. Others talk about it in hushed terms reserved for spiritual experiences. In reality, Silicon is much more complex and harder to grasp than with some simple labels. To understand it, you need to understand the answers to these questions; What is it? Why has it been so successful? How do you take Silicon Valley best practices  and apply them to your business? In the book Decoding Silicon Valley: The Insiders Guide, Michelle Messina and Jonathan Baer take on the task of peeling back the facade of Silicon Valley and help you understand it. In this weeks show, Phil, Michelle and Jonathan discuss their experiences of Silicon Valley and what entrepreneurs can learn from what works – and more importantly what doesn't work. Topics included: * The history of Silicon Valley and how it came to be * How should you experience Silicon Valley * What are the most common mistakes entreprenrus make when coming to Silicon Valley? * They parachute in rather than commit * Looking to have discussions at the wrong executive levels within a company * Thinking that a simple introduction to “any” VC will result in funding * Not being well prepared to present * Believing that what worked at home will work in Silicon Valley * Focusing too much on the technology and features and not enough on the business * What are two Silicon Valley best practices that any entrepreneur can apply to their business? * Taking a 360 degree view (beyond tech to include business model, team, etc) * Really understating product market fit About The Guests: Michelle E. Messina is a serial entrepreneur who brings strong sales, marketing, and business development skills to startups everywhere. She pioneered the Silicon Valley best practices training of startups in 2004 and has worked in more than 35 countries. Michelle has worked with leading corporate, university and government acceleration programs around the world. Today, she helps companies get clear and focused so they translate their vision into reality. Michelle believes that being an entrepreneur is the hardest thing you’ll ever enjoy doing. Jon Baer is a recovering venture capitalist who loves working with early stage companies around the world. He was the founder and CEO of two venture-backed companies, one of which was a spinout from SRI International. Jon now spends his time teaching, mentoring, and advising early stage companies with leading accelerators and investors around the world. He believes that startups require tough love; and need to focus on money, metrics, and milestones. Jon teaches startup CEOs to say less, because less is more. Show Links: * Decoding Silicon Valley: The Insiders Guide by Michelle Messina and Jonathan Baer * Michelle Messina on LinkedIn * Michelle Messina on Twitter * Jonathan Baer on LinkedIn * Jonathan Baer on Twitter * More information on the book visit DecodingSiliconValley.com

Many have the dream of making it into the CxO (CEO, CFO, CIO, CTO, etc) suite. What skills and abilities does it take to be in position to become a world-class CTO? During the time I was CTO at Hewlett-Packard, what where the skills and abilities I had – and which are the ones I wished I had before taking on the role? During my time at HP, we grew from $40B in to $120B in revenue and grew the employee base from 40,000 to +240,000. It was a rocket ship where I found myself running as fast as I could to keep up. So as I look back on my own personal experience, what are the skills I would recommend you to have if you want to become a world-class CTO? 1 – Never Stop Building Your Network If you want to make it into a leadership role, the depth and breadth of your network of peers, mentors, advisers and experts in critical. Why? Your network is your brain trust. They are the experts you will call upon when you need advice in an area where you lack expertise. Trust me – you will soon discover that there will more areas where you are the armature rather than the expert. So never stop building that network. 2 – Communication Skills The ability to inspire teams, organizations, industries and customers is an absolute requirement. If you do not have the experience talking and pitching, then get it. Join Toastmasters and gain the confidence to become a master communicator.Once you have a foundation, practice it as much possible. Its a skill that improves with time. 3 – Building A Personal Brand Most technical people do not consider the importance of creating a personal brand. Most would rather stay in their offices/cube and create away. Building a personal brand can have huge payoffs. In my case, I launched by blog in 1996 and the podcast in 2005. Both resulted in my being on the radar of executives at HP and ultimately by a New York literary agent which in turn secured my book deal. Building a brand takes time so get to it. 4 – Technical and Business Leadership To be a world-class CTO, you need to be equal parts technical and business strategy. Most don't realize that the CTO is the most important bridge between the business and technology. You need to bone up on your business, financial , operations, strategy, sales and marketing expertise. 5 – Team Building Start building your ultimate team now. To make it to the executive suite, you need a team that can grow with you as our responsibilities grow. I still have team members who have been with me for decades. 6 – Create Exciting Side Projects Side projects shows you as a self-starter and reveals things about you that differentiates you from other possible candidates for the role. In my case, the podcast was what put me on the radar for HP. 7 – Non-Stop Learning The world is a changing place and you need to stay up to date. As the CTO, you set the vision/direction for the organization and to do that, you need to stay up on what is coming next. This is a race that never ends. So find technologies, products, etc that are new and learn them. That way, when other executives in the organization ask about them, you have experience with it and an opinion as to the impact to your organization. 8 – Get Comfortable Being Outside Your Comfort Zone I knew the CTO role at HP would require more responsibility, but didn't appreciate how much time would be spent in Board meetings, management bureaucracy and other tasks that some would consider as “overhead”. I was fortunate to have been an “elected officer” as another public company but the shear size and scale of HP was new and scary. 9 – Trust Your Gut Learn to trust your gut.

There are many tools you can use to generate ideas such as brainstorming. Every innovator runs into walls where they know there are better ideas out there but can't seem to get a grasp on what they is. SCAMPER is one of those tools that has always come in handy for me when I want to dig deeper and find that idea that is truly game changing. So what is SCAMPER? SCAMPER is an acronym for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put To Other Uses and Reverse. SCAMPER was developed by Alex Osborne in 1953, and was further developed by Bob Elerle in 1971. Its probably one of the most widely used tools to help generate more  and better ideas. How Do You Apply SCAMPER? For each of the elements, ask yourself a series of questions and then capture the ideas that come to you. Then take those new ideas and rank them so you can focus on the very best. I've found that when I use SCAMPER, I always seem to come up with ideas that are much better than the one I started with. Substitute Think about replacing part of a product or service with something else. By looking for a replacement, you can come up with a set of new ideas. Things that can be substituted include; parts, products, services and people. * Can I replace or change any of the parts? * Can I replace someone involved with the product or service? * Can the rules (rule of the industry, rules of the company, regulatory) be changed? * Can I use other ingredients or materials? * Can I change its color, texture, sound, smell or taste? * Can I substitute one part of another? * Can I change the emotion or attitude to the product or service? Adapt Thinks about adapting an idea that already exists to solve your problem or opportunity. Most innovations are created based on adapting something already in use by others. * What parts of an existing product or service could I adapt to solve my problem? * What historical solution could I learn from? * Who's solution could I emulate? * What ideas from others could I incorporate into my solution? * What processes could I adapt to my idea? * What ideas from outside my industry could I incorporate? Modify/Magnify/Minimize Think about changing all or part of the current problem/ideas, or distort it a unique and unanticipated way. * How can I make my ideas bigger, smaller, thinner, thicker, stronger or lighter? * Can I change the shape in a unique way? * Can I make the idea exaggerated or overstated? (make it VERY expensive) Put To Other Uses Think about how you might be able to use your idea to address other uses. Or think of ways to reuse someone else product or service to solve your problem. Many ideas go from being a good idea to one that is game-changing when the idea is used ways never anticipated. * What else can my idea be used for? * Can it be used by customers other than those it was originally intended for? * Are there other possible uses its it's modified? Eliminate Think of what might happen if you simplified, reduced or eliminated components of your idea. Through constant simplification, you will get to the base essence of the idea and reveal that core function. * How can I simplify my idea? * What parts can I remove without altering the function/benefit of the idea? * Can the rules that I operate under be eliminated? * What features can I eliminate while still delivering the benefit?

Just as we make sure we don't skip many meals, we need to prioritize the feeding of our creative mind. Our creative mind is a critical resource that enables our ability to think creatively. Without it, we stunt our creative output and therefore our personal and professional success. For some reason, most people don't prioritize it. Once they get out of school and begin our careers, they tend to ignore it in hopes that others will feed it for us. This is 100% the wrong approach. We need to be diligent about feeding our own creative mind. Here are 15 ways you can feed your creative mind: * Help one person today (pay it forward) – Find one person who you can creatively help with a problem or opportunity they are facing. Engaging with others allows you to feed (learn about a new problem) and exercise (use your own creative thinking) your creative mind. * Protect your time (1440 minutes per day) – Everyone is given the same amout of time each day. 1440 minutes. No one get more becaus they are rich or famous. How well do you manage this valuable resource? Do you let others steal your time? * Write something (anything) daily – The process of writing forces you to create something to write about. For me, writing in a notebook (pen to paper) is one of those daily tasks that I look forward to. Afterwards, my brain is engaged, ready and has already come up with new ideas for me to work on. * Read from a PHYSICAL book daily – There is a recent study that reveals the difference between reading an electronic book and a physical book. Electronic books enages the non-linear thinking part of the brain that results in use skimming or scanning the information. Reading a physical book results in deep concentration which results in better retention and thereby our ability to recall the information as input to our creative thinking. * Have a good conversation daily (Jefferson Dinners) – Person to person engagement is required for the creative mind. Its through discussion that results in discovering problems or opportunities to apply your creative mind. * Go for a walk daily – Steven King, Ernest Hemingway, Ralph Waldo Emerson and many others found walking as there way to think and solve problems. There is a saying the innovation community that the toughest problems are .. “solved by walking”. * Take in inspiration daily (visual, audio, tactile) – Find input that inspires you across all of your senses such as listening to music (audio), looking at pictures or images (visual) and/or go dancing (physical) * Ask yourself a daily question – Questions have the power to engage your mind to think and solve problems you would have never considered. I would suggest you work on two types of questions: 1) A motivational question such as asking yourself what are you most thankful for in your life today? and 2) a question to challenge your assumptions or beliefs such as I know x is true but what I believed the opposite? * Stop comparing yourself – Comparing yourself to the Joneses is not creative. Comparing to others is about conforming. I shared in a recent post my thoughts on conformity. The opposite of bravery is not cowardess. The opposite of bravery is conformity. To innovate you need to be brave. Stop worrying what others think and go do. * Reprogram your information input – What you read and see has a major impact in how you think. If you take in critical or negative input, you will think negatively. Go through your input (sites you visit, newsletters you get sent,

What do you do with a highly successful 35 year career? You pay-it-forward. You take the ups and downs you experienced and share it with others and help them achieve not just professional success – but also personal success. There seems to be an explosion of people hanging out their coach and mentor shingles. The difference with this weeks guest, Aaron Walker, is both the success he has had to share but also the life experience he brings to his coaching clients. In this weeks show, Aaron shared : * What was he first experience being an entrepreneur (Hint: At the ripe old age of 18) * After the sale of his first business, what happened to get him off track * What was the personal impact after his are accident that killed a pedestrian * After the sale of his last business, what were his plans for the next phase of your life * How did he get into coaching * Why did he focus on life and business coaching of just men * How does he think about prioritization when it comes to balancing professional and personal * What is the best piece of advice he can share * What is the most innovative idea he has implemented in his business (Interview Valet) About Aaron Walker: Aaron Walker is without question a veteran entrepreneur. Starting his first business at 18 and selling to a Fortune 500 company nine short years later demonstrates Aaron’s passion for succeeding. Unwilling to rest on past success Aaron started, bought and sold eight successful companies over the past 36 years. Having a strong desire for personal development has kept Aaron in a weekly mastermind group for more than a decade with Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller, Ken Abraham and seven other notable Nashvillians. Aaron has enjoyed a 35-year marriage with his beautiful wife, Robin. Today Aaron spends the majority of his time helping men grow in success and significance as President and Founder of View From The Top , a premier life and business coaching resource. Show Links: * Lead From The Top * Interview Valet * Aaron Walker on Facebook * Aaron Walker on LinkedIn Additional Resources: * Innovation Coach: 4 Questions You Should Ask Before Selecting One * Innovation Mentoring vs. Innovation Coaching: Which Do You Need?

The emerging creative economy is dependent on having a workforce that is skilled differently than in the past. These new skills include: critical thinking, using our natural ability to be highly creative, be willing to take risks and to not have a fear of failure. There are kids/young adults who showing the rest of us how they will succeed in this new innovation economy. Nick Titus, a creative high school student who took his science fair project and created a company, is showing the rest of us what kids can do when given the chance to innovate. In this weeks show, we covered a wide range of topics including: * How did you come up with this idea? * Why did you decide to start a startup? * How did you bring your team together? * What is different about your technology? * How did you become part of the Boomtown Accelerator? * Why have you decided to open source the technology? * What do you say to those who say you don't have enough experience to tackle this big problem? * Have you worked with paralyzed users? Results? * Who will this technology be able to help? * What is the market potential? * Is voice control the only system you plan on using? * How are you balancing high school and being CEO? * What advice would give to another creative high school student who has an idea? About Nick Titus: Nick Titus is the CEO and Co-founder of Myonic Technologies Inc. Myonic has created a wearable device that allows paralyzed users to regain control of their muscle. He founded the company after developing the medical device in his high school engineering lab for a science fair project. He saw the good that this device could bring to people's lives first hand and found a vessle to get this technology in the hands of more people around the world. The Myonic team recently graduated from the Boomtown Accelerator in Boulder, Colorado. Here, they developed their business model, further developed their technology, and experienced the world of entrepreneurship for the first time. In addition to developing their life changing technology, the Myonic team is currently starting their senior year of high school. Show Links: * Myonic on Facebook * Myonic on Twitter * Myonic website Other Resources: * How to Nurture Creativity in Your Kids * How to teach kids to be more creative (video) * Toys That Help Nurture And Encourage Creative Kids S11 Ep36 * Kid Entrepreneurs: A 10 Year Old Who Is Franchising His Idea S12 Ep14

Our early childhood experiences have a major impact on our lives. In the case of Rodney Williams, he started down his path of being entrepreneur at the early ago of 8. While his friends were out cutting grass, he had his first entrepreneurial success by renting, for $0.50, the latest and hippest magazines to customers waiting in his mothers beauty salon. He found he could make a few bucks and the results was that he always had $20.00 in his pocket. Later, he became a Brand Manager for Pampers diapers at Proctor & Gamble. Turns out the diapers was ground zero for online sales and marketing. Did you know that Pampers was the first product to sold online and at one point, made up 51% of P&G's online sales? Topics covered: * Rodney's first entrepreneurial success was as an 8 year old “renting” magazines to customers at his mom's beauty salon * From an early age, he wanted to be a CEO. * At P&G, he was a brand manager for Pampers. * P&G and the diapers products have a long history of spawning silicon valley leaders. * LISNR was birthed with him trying to solve the challenge of knowing/engaging with customers at the right moment no matter where the are. * Rodney shares how LISNR uses an audio tone that humans can hear to transmit (and not receive) information anywhere. * Som euse case examples include retailers using it to display an ad at the right location in a store without the user doing anything. * Newer use cases include using the tones as a form of authentication/identify verification – including at the offices of LISNR. * What advice would you give yourself back when you were graduating college? * What advice would you give an entrepreneur who is thinking about starting their first company? About Rodney Williams: Rodney Williams, CEO and Co-Founder of LISNR, leads one of the most disruptive companies in the IoT space and the world of mobile connectivity. He is the 2016 Black Enterprise Tech Entrepreneur of the Year and has also been honored by Ad Age's Top 40 under 40 and the Upstart100. Prior to LISNR, Rodney spent over four years at Procter & Gamble as a brand manager and is most noted for being the first marketer there to co-write digital patents. He is also a former Lockheed Martin and Department of Energy disruptor. Rodney achieved those honors after earning four degrees by the age of 24, including an MBA and Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications from Howard University. Show Links: * Rodney Williams on Facebook * Rodney Williams on LinkedIn * Rodney Williams on Twitter * lisnr.com