Braden Kelley Interview on Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire

"Passion is a prerequisite not just for getting started with innovation: people leading innovation projects must have enough passion to fight through, over, around or under any obstacles they may encounter in their effort to make a new idea a reality..." - Braden Kelley, Author of Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire

Braden Kelley

Braden Kelley’s, Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire, fires up any organization with timely strategies to rekindle structure, culture and vision. Braden uses many case studies that open a window as to what innovation strategies work well for some and what are problematic for others. Each chapter proposes enlightened alternatives to blockages firms encounter.

Blinded by the Light – Vision Blockages
Peering in the Dark – Strategy Blockages
Setting a Course Blindfolded – Goal Blockages
What Are They Really Thinking? – Insight Blockages
Shining a Light on the Customer Problem – Idea Generation Blockages
Picking a Winner Without Looking – Idea Evaluation Blockages
Going to Market Blind – Idea Commercialization Blockages
Have You Had an Innovation Lobotomy? Organizational Psychology Blockages
Do Your Policies and Processes Keep People in the Dark? Information and Structural Blockages
Keeping the Lights On – Sustainability Blockages

Braden Kelley sizes up organizational innovation, the status quo. He identifies its underlying assumptions and shows some of the old rules which should be broken such as, separate Research and Development Departments. In so doing, organization-wide innovation is possible.  Kelley urges organizations to jump the gate and do something unique as they did earlier in bringing an original innovation to market.

Amazing graphs and charts help project the big picture.   You ask thoughtful questions related to the impact of culture in an organization - questions help readers pinpoint opportunities for cultural change.  Here are some examples:

• Is it okay to fail in our organization?
• Is failure permitted and possibly even celebrated?
• Is learning from failure valued and embraced?

Braden's chapter on an Innovation Lobotomy drew my attention since I use brain based strategies in working with clients of the MITA International Brain Center.

Interestingly, Braden discovered psychological blockages cause greatest trouble for organizations as they make changes. Here's how these relate to newly discovered facts about the human brain:

Most people are afraid to fail so they are less likely to take risks. Vivid memories associated with emotional events such as how team members were treated in past when experiments failed.  Strong memories of harsh treatment are stored in the amygdala of each team member's brain.  The memory literally rushes back any time a new risk arises, and freezes many from ever venturing forth again.  On the other hand, reflection to figure out where to from here, can turn harsh situations around for those willing to step forward with a thoughtful risk.

Organizational culture has a profound impact since trust levels can make or break initiatives.  Many organizational models are broken today and brainpower must be recharged for innovation to thrive.

Braden offers these brilliant antidotes:

Breaking out of the mold increases peoples' ability to imagine breakthrough solutions.  More brainpower comes into play when employees' gifts and talents are valued in ways that new solutions can lead change.

Flexibility to stretch beyond comfort zones.  The human brain's equipped to tackle toxins from folks who are stuck in a rut to create the new.

During my interview with Braden Kelley I zeroed in blockages related to people and organizations who experience an Innovation Lobotomy.  During the interview you'll note Braden's passion for and wisdom about innovation shine.  



I highly recommend Braden's book.

Reflect to Adjust and Change

Each of us does a lot of thinking daily, but some are more effective than others. "We all think about our own thoughts, feelings and decisions," Dr Steve Fleming of UK's University of London notes. "Even if we don't get feedback when we make a choice, we often know intuitively if it's a good or a bad decision," Fleming adds. Ever think about your own thinking?

Introspection, or deep reflection differs from decision-making or learning, which can be assessed by measuring improvement in the performance of a task, or whether choices are made correctly.

On the other hand, it would be hard for others to judge your reflective acumen since they may not necessarily see outward signs of improvement.

Want more intrapersonal intelligence? Dr. Ellen Weber, CEO of The MITA Brain Center, provides insights you can use to improve yours.

Leaders need intuitive brainpower for better decisions, common sense for keen insights, contentment in your own company, simple ability to laugh more on a busy day. Thanks to neurogenesis, we now know these intrapersonal traits (that grow novel leadership) also increase with use. Panic a bit too fast? Feel sidelined a bit too much? Run from risks or new adventures? Grow sad when others celebrate family ties without you? Leaders who enjoy a heaping dose of intrapersonal smarts, add contentment and turn tough challenges (such as attack from another) into opportunities to move forward without sinking.

Interestingly, people strong in intrapersonal intelligence have a bigger associated area in the brain.

You'll find additional insights about building courage, values, curbing anger, common sense, and coping in toxic work environments.

What if... and where to from here? Be the person you most want to be as you increase reflective wisdom to adjust and change.

Experience Stimulating Conversations?

Rich conversations tickle the mind and challenge us to think in new ways.  Questions prime the well of ideas within the mind. Sharing insights from our knowledge and experience builds on others' contributions, and the bigger picture takes shape. People start considering solutions to a problem differently than when they first joined us.  Or, all of us learn more about why a person thinks as s/he does. 

Challenging exchanges of ideas might be just about life, philosophical in nature, show concern for worldwide issues or concerning latest science and technological innovations. Or it may be meeting new people and listening to what makes them tick.  Have you been engaged in a conversation lately that you hated to end because it was so fascinating?  Stimulation does not come by talking about the weather.

One of the reasons I love collaborating with Dr. Ellen Weber is that conversations we have about ideas keep me thinking and researching for hours.  Ellen has an uncanny ability to turn ideas upside down.  I suggested  that we extend our conversations to more people since they were so stimulating.  She caught that idea and invited many new people to her home.  She began to blog and she went so far as to join Twitter.  When I realized how much she seemed driven to exchange ideas with others, I tried my hand at it.  Nothing can turn me back since I experience the creativity and dopamine that accompanies it.

Social Media Turned the Tide of Conversation - Social media is changing the way we interact with others.  Many folks say they miss the engagement of personal conversation if they mostly engage others online. As a result it's not surprising for them to take a laptop to a cafe so they have an arena for personal and online conversations.  Our whole family is engaged in Facebook for instance and it's full of the latest photos and descriptions of events.  Business leaders find it an easy form to share their work and market their products.  Some can be both addicted to and distracted by these new community worlds.  But people enjoy these new worlds because they are engaging in challenging and powerful interactions with others.

MITA two-footed questions for starters Ellen invented the notion of a two-footed question to help people escape the kind of boring questions that are usually asked.  For instance, if you were to ask, "When it comes to storage, why is less more," the question does not connect to you personally because it is only about the topic.  It concentrates only on knowledge.

Not too surprisingly, if the second foot is inserted, the one that directly connects to you, all of a sudden your ideas are solicited and welcomed.  The question would now be: "When it comes to storage, why can less help you gain more and what difference does that make to you?"  The question now draws from intellect and experience.  You are emotionally attached to your experiences and more easily challenged.

Right and left brain

Ellen Weber notes that two-footed questions work best when you follow the human brain’s natural proclivity to resolve puzzles. The opposite is to stress over problems, and research shows that stressed brains rely more on habits that lock you into ruts, rather than progress with winning innovations.

The right brain leaps to solve puzzles and challenges since it is primed through curiosity.  On the other hand there are a few people who like to show off their knowledge and they are driven by trivia questions and TV shows such as, "Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?"  The left brain penetrates the knowledge.  The combination of both the right and left brain is the powerhouse available for you to test.

How might you engage in new conversations by asking two-footed questions at your dinner table tonight?  One might be, "How did you use your right and left brain today at work or school?"  Thoughts?