Entrepreneur

Nov 21, 2011

Innovation Insight: If I Wanted to Be a Lawyer, I Would’ve Gone to Law School

One of a series by Ken Tencer, Spyder Works CEO

Once every quarter, I receive a beautiful invitation from my company’s law firm to attend a seminar to learn some important new fact about changes in the law. I never go.

Once every quarter, I receive a beautiful invitation from my accounting firm to learn something new about sales, marketing or motivation. I almost never miss it.

I applaud both firms’ efforts to engage their clients, but in this world of information overload, it’s more important than ever to engage in meaningful conversation with your customers. Service providers add value by enhancing the customer’s skill-set, not by telling them how they’ve improved their own.

Innovation isn’t about what interests you; it’s about what fascinates your customers.

By Ken Tencer Blog, business, business strategy, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurial Thinking, entrepreneurship, Innovation, strategy, The 90% Rule No comments Tags: business, business strategy, Entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Innovation, Ken Tencer, strategy, The 90 percent rule, The 90% Rule

Nov 16, 2011

Innovation Insight: “Smooth, uninterrupted airflow with no unpleasant buffeting”

One of a series by Ken Tencer, Spyder Works CEO

With Dyson’s new bladeless fans, generation of kids will be denied the chance to stick pencils through the screen of the household fan to see what happens when they touch the spinning blades. Otherwise, you have to love U.K.-based Dyson, because its innovations are so obvious, yet so breakthrough: safe, bladeless fans that move air without the rumbling and rattling, using technology patterned after jet engines; dual-cyclonic vacuums that suck up more dirt, more efficiently; and airport hand driers that really work.

By Ken Tencer Blog, business, business strategy, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurial Thinking, entrepreneurship, Innovation, Spyder Works, strategy, The 90% Rule No comments Tags: business, business strategy, Entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Innovation, Ken Tencer, Profit, social media, strategy, The 90 percent rule, The 90% Rule

Nov 2, 2011

You Need Both Hemispheres for Innovation

The RSA, an enlightenment organisation committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges, frequently posts animated videos topics. We interpret that these informative videos can help us to understand behaviours and more importantly, how to harness our innovative inner self.

In this RSAnimate, renowned psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist explains how our ‘divided brain’ has profoundly altered human behaviour, culture and society. The video was taken from a lecture given by Iain McGilchrist as part of the RSA’s free public events programme.

McGilchrist explains that our pre-conceived notions about left brain and right brain thinking are not entirely accurate. You need both the left brain and the right brain for both rational thinking and creative thinking.

How does this relate to innovation? Traditionally we have encouraged left brain thinking. That is, de-contextualized, general in nature, fixed, isolated, static and lifeless thinking. This type of thinking does not evolve or become greater than it is. In business, this means that we get trapped in a sort of ‘hall of mirrors’, to borrow McGilchrist’s metaphor, where we continuously learn more about what we already know and don’t adopt any new thinking. Essentially, if we only embrace this type of thinking, we become trapped and can’t innovate or move forward.

The right brain, says McGilchrist, is responsible for individual, changing, evolutionary, interconnectivity, implicit, incarnate, abstract and living thinking. This type of thought is what allows us to evolve, to innovate and to be true entrepreneurs. More credence needs to be given to right brain type thinking in order to move forward in business.

But don’t just take my word for it – watch the video.