POWER of IMPOSSIBLE POWER of IMPOSSIBLE THINKINGTHINKING

Pat Kappenman

Marilyn Pelosi

AGENDAAGENDA

• Introductions• Mental Models• Impossible Thinking• Case Study• Organizational Creativity• MBTI Survey

PREMISEPREMISE

What we SEE depends• On where we stand• On what we are looking forAnd defines how we respond

MENTAL MODELSMENTAL MODELS

• Stereotypes are a kind of mental model– Mental constructs that shape the way we see the

world

• Mental models “fill in the details”– The “reality” we experience daily is part “hallucination”– Absent mental models and our worlds unravel

• Reality requires a lot of interpretation– Our eyes are not projectors– Our eyes are receptors

• Mental models lend order and meaning to life

• Mental models provide tools for dealing with life

• Mental models can serve as boundaries to what we see as possible in life

MENTAL MODELSMENTAL MODELS

Tap that energy .. Harness it!

Step 1: ID the Problem

Step 2: Analyze the Problem

Step 3: Brainstorm Possible Solutions

SEEING YOUR ORGANIZATIONSEEING YOUR ORGANIZATION

• ID the situation clearly – how do we measure it?

• ID the decision necessary

• ID the time table and resources

• ID symptoms of the problem

• Correct ID is 50% of the solution

IDENTIFY THE SITUATIONIDENTIFY THE SITUATION

• Involve Novices – they will ask critical questions

• Consult a peer group

• Document or Visualize the problem

• Read, attend seminars, learn

• Listen – regularly and sincerely

• Observe

IDENTIFY THE SITUATIONIDENTIFY THE SITUATION

• Look for Causes (6 M’s)

• Walk around the Problem- how does it impact employees, customers, etc

• This is a team sport – consider a novice and/or a consultant- two heads are better than one

• Organize the information

• Zoom In and Zoom Out

ANALYZE THE SITUATIONANALYZE THE SITUATION

In the following line of letters, cross out six letters so that the remaining letters, without altering their sequence, will spell a familiar English word. Play with it for awhile before proceeding.

B S A I N X L E A T N T E A R S

ANALYZE THE SITUATIONANALYZE THE SITUATION

• Rules of Brainstorming

• If our situation were different…what if we were Disney, etc.

• Do the brainstorming with the analysis in full view

• Team Sport

BRAINSTORM SOLUTIONSBRAINSTORM SOLUTIONS

In the mid-1960’s FBI director J.Edgar Hoover was reading a typed copy of a letter he had just dictated to his secretary. He didn’t like the way she had formatted the letter, so he wrote on the bottom, “Watch the borders,” and asked her to retype it. The secretary did as she was instructed and sent it off to all top agents.

For the next two weeks FBI agents were put on special alert along the Canadian and Mexican borders.

BRAINSTORM SOLUTIONSBRAINSTORM SOLUTIONS

• IDENTIFY the situation

• ANALYZE the situation

• BRAINSTORM possible solutions

APPLICATION – CASE STUDYAPPLICATION – CASE STUDY

ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITYORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY

Innovation will be the single most important factor is determining America’s success through the 21st century

- U.S. Council on Competitiveness, December 2004

The greatest source of competitive advantage is not really cost or quality, but creativity.

- John Micklethwaite and Adrian WooldridgeBusiness Editors, The Economist

• CREATIVITY = Making connections between things others have not yet made

• Six Myths of Creativity – Teresa Amabile, HBS– Creativity Comes from Creative Types

– Money is a Creativity Motivator

– Time Pressure Fuels Creativity

– Fear Forces Breakthroughs

– Competition Beats Collaboration

– A Streamlined Organization is a Creative Organization

ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITYORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY

• ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY = Unplanned, Unexpected Innovation and Improvement

• Six Essential Elements of Organizational Creativity – Alan Robinson, UMass– Alignment– Self-Initiated Activity– Unofficial Activity– Serendipity– Diverse Stimuli– Within-Company Communication

ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITYORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY

• Your Best ORGANIZATIONAL IDEA ACTIVATORS?

• Your Best Investment in ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY?

• Your Best PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Goal?

ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITYORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY

• The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business, Jerry Wind, Colin Crook, Robert Gunther

• How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day, Michael Gelb

• A WHACK ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD : How You Can Be More Creative, Roger von Oech

• Corporate Creativity: How Innovation and Improvement Actually Happen, Alan G. Robinson, Sam Stern

• Ideas Are Free : How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations, Alan G. Robinson, Dean M. Schroeder

BIBLIOGRAPHYBIBLIOGRAPHY

• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, Jim Collins

– Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great

• Built to Last : Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras

• Corporate Creativity: It’s Not What You Expect, by Alan G. Robinson, Ph.D. and Sam Stern, Ph.D. from Innovative Leader Volume 6, Number 10  October 1997

• The 6 Myths Of Creativity, by Bill Breen, FastCompany, Issue 89, December 2004

BIBLIOGRAPHYBIBLIOGRAPHY

Please visit…

http://wnecleadershipinstitute.pbwiki.com/

throughout the course of Leadership 2006

for

PowerPoint Presentations and notes

Bibliographies

Online Articles and Resources

ONLINEONLINE

POWER of IMPOSSIBLE POWER of IMPOSSIBLE THINKINGTHINKING

Thank You!