Koyono Blog

Lightning in a Bottle is a “proven system to create new ideas and products that work.” So far it has great reviews on Amazon and looks to be a good read. Innovating, particularly in larger organizations, is never easy as bureaucracy and day to day fires always seem to take precedent. David Minter and Michael Reid provide anecdotal approaches to overcoming corporate obstacles by focusing on less ideas, decreasing bureaucracy by decreasing the number of people on the team, and keeping ideas simple in theory and communication (“Less words is more”). Duh? In reality, keeping things simple , especially in corporate organisms, is easier said than done unless there is a strong leader to make the calls and break the rules. Everyone wants to have their say, people have agendas (career) and “simple “takes time, effort and focus. I look forward to reading this one and hope there is a focus not only on process, but selecting the right people for innovation.

Honestly, after reading their 10 reasons why ideas fail, I do have some reservations (which makes me want to read Lightening in a Bottle even more).

Trying to sell things people don’t want to buy.

Okay, this simply should not be on the list. Products that sell the most are things that people did not know they did not know they needed (ie. iPod). You really do not know if something is going to sell unless you get it out in the market. I love Japan’s Akihabara (Electronic City). Companies like Sony and Panasonic create stuff and dump it here to see if it will sell. If it does, then they bring it to the masses.

The ideas don’t make financial sense.

Yes, the product must be profitable. Of course, one never knows if more marketing is going to be required to get the word out and a lot of times products do not scale as predicted.

Giving up too soon on good ideas, which are often big ideas.

What is a good idea and what is a bad idea?

Usually most people think the best ideas will never work to begin with. Look at the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Hubble’s successor. It will orbit Earth from far beyond the moon and can not be serviced.The telescope was shot down when first conceived a decade ago because 10 dependent technologies had not yet been developed, let alone proven. Good or bad idea? Depends on who is driving it.

Pushing bad ideas for too long.

JWST is set for launch in 2010 and 9 of the ten dependent technologies have passed. Even if the telescope does not launch the development of these technologies will find other, useful applications. What is too long?

No separation of good ideas from bad ideas, so money is wasted.

How does one know if something is a bad idea without failing?

Thinking small.

Yep,  the only reason I do not have a question about.

Delegating idea development to junior people.

Hmm, not sure about this one. What is a “junior person”? This is where I think most thought leaders pushing innovation have a ways to go with their theories. It’s not about whether their junior or senior, it is far more important if they are the right people in my book.

Not having specialized talent — idea factories or idea experts — to develop ideas.

What? Ideas are just ideas and the fewer experts the better. It’s more important to have people who can do things and keep prototyping costs to a bare minimum. Of course Minter and Reid are really selling their service as idea experts so this a an expected plug from them. Importantly, they do not “do” innovation from their list of services.

No process, or a poor process, for developing ideas.

If you have the right people, process takes care of itself. It’s more important to have a process for testing ideas.

No real, important differences in the idea versus the competition.

I don’t know about this one. The only important difference is if your product is better (quality, functionality, delivery, beauty, etc.).  Being different for the sake of being different is not necessarily a good strategy.

I am sure “Lightening in a Bottle” has helpful suggestions and approaches to creating new ideas and I look forward to the read.  Hopefully the book will answer my questions.

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Well, Copernicus’ birthday came and went (Feb. 19th) and I am sure it was a fleeting thought at best for 99.99% of the world. I was only made aware of it because I subscribe to Wired News.

It immediately reminded me of a great book on the origins of the Universe by Simon Singh (The Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe). The author does a great job highlighting the people behind the theories, technological breakthroughs and stages of status quo (religious and scientific) without getting muddled too much in science. From Aristarchus, the fifth century BC Ancient Greek astronomer who theorized a sun centered Universe, to the COBE Project, which provided the evidence (CMB radiation variations) to scientifically prove the Big Bang theory in 1992, you can get your arms around what it took to prove something so complex.

The creativity, determination and insanity of people (Aristarchus, Copernicus, Kelper, Einstein, Alpher, etc.) to just go out and disprove reality (i.e. Earth centered Universe) without having or waiting for the necessary technology (i.e. Telescope) is inspiring. There wasn’t an “It can’t be done,” or “Why bother?” in their minds. They simply could not help themselves and spent their lives doing the best they could with whatever means they had. In doing so, they pushed the limits of technology by inspiring others to come up with better ways of seeing and measuring (i.e. Galileo, Hubble, Smoot). Who wouldn’t want to help some 15 year old kid, which happened to be Einstein in this case, figure out whether or not he or she could see himself in the mirror when traveling the speed of light?

One thing is for sure, there are no limits to creativity and we were all put here to ask more questions than provide answers. So what is your Big Bang?

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I am in the middle reading a few books and decided to throw another one in the mix. What the heck, it’s only another 100 pages. The Book of Five Rings is something I read 7 years ago and decided to re-read it because of the first page in the book. It reads:

The Winning Strategy

1) Do not harbor sinister designs.
2) Diligently pursue the Path of Two-Swords-as-One.
3) Cultivate a wide range of interests in the arts.
4) Be knowledgeable in a variety of occupations.
5) Be discrete regarding one’s commercial dealings.
6) Nurture the ability to see the truth in all matters.
7) Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye. Do not be negligent, even in trifling matters.
9) Do not engage in useless activity.

Miyamoto Musashi, the books original author, was a Samurai during the late 1500s and early 1600s. While Musashi-san is one of Japan’s most prolific Samurais, with an undefeated record, he later when on to become skilled craftsman, sculpting in wood and metal, as well as a calligrapher. He applied Zen and the same process of mastering the way of the Samurai to these other areas of his life, eventually reaching enlightenment.

It’s all about the “way.”

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I saw this post on Slashdot about the inventor of the Walkman, Nobutoshi Kihara, leaving Sony. Kihara-san biefly explains the process behind the Walkman’s creation and that Sony still has the genes to innovate.

I don’t know why I thought of this, but reading Kihara’s story made me think of the book, Shoshaman. (After reading the book I realized that I wanted to be an entrepreneur). In Japanese, “Shosha” means trade and of course, “man” means man. Together it more or less means corporate (yes) man. It’s been a decade since I read the book, but I could not help thinking about Kihara-san and his remaining years at Sony after the Walkman. What were those last days like? Was he innovating? One may never know.

In corporate japan, people were/are more or less provided a job for life. While it is changing, there still remains an obligation by coporations to keep people employed at just about all cost. This is especially true for those grandfathered in before the mid 1990s. While coporations feel obligated to keep people employed, they do have there tricks in getting them to quit – “the window job (mado giwa zoko).” Instead of firing someone, corporations will sometimes give them a mado giwa zoku with absolutely nothing to do. People in these positions come to work and gaze out the window thinking of what life would have been like if they just listened and did not fail (take a risk). Man, I would be writing a business plan, calling potential investors, getting a prototype made, etc! But that is not how employees in corporate japan think as they honor obligation with unwavering duty.

Anyway, Shoshaman is about a corporate “yes man” who has great ideas of his own, but would never take the risk himself to realize them. He is married with kids, and has a mistress. He shares his vision with the mistress during bed talk bolstering his bravado (talk is cheap of course). One thing leads to another and he ends up in a “window job,” and more or less at a dead end. The mistress goes away and Shoshaman grapples with his family life and social deterioration. Years go by, and he reconnects with his mistress. Ironically, she has become a multi-millionaire by executing his ideas! In the end, Shoshaman takes a risky opportunity to expand his company’s business in the US and in the end does well. His family life returns back to normal (less the mistress) and he is alive.

I read the book on a flight to Narita (Tokyo) when I was 27, and promised myself that I would never become a Shoshaman with a mado giwa zoku. I began searching for a business to start, which eventually lead to the creation of the BlackCoat. It’s interesting how things turn out and I know I would have gone nuts had I stayed in my corporate job.

“Take a chance. Life is a chance. The man (person) who goes the furthest generally is the one who is willing to do and dare.” Andrew Carnegie

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