Kenny Harris - HeadSurfing

West Wing's President Bartlet on words and public speaking

2012-02-15T16:21:00.000Z

We had to turn it off. As this week’s TV entered the eighth circle of Hell with yet another "scripted reality" show (in other words, complete unreality), we had to turn it off.

Or rather, turn to the Box Set of “The West Wing” which we are watching yet again. The scene featured President Bartlet complaining about the presentation style of a preacher whose service they had just attended.

Bartlet himself is a superb speaker, with his scripts written and perfected by Toby and Sam. (Yes, I understand they are TV characters. I still love them). In the scene we watched, he talks about the possibilities of public speaking – if we take care to craft the words we use.

“Words, when spoken out loud for the sake of performance, are music. They have rhythm, and pitch, and timbre, and volume. These are the properties of music, and music has the ability to find us and move us, and lift us up in ways that literal meanings can’t”.

When you are next preparing a presentation, think about the actual words you will use. Try to add figures of speech, metaphors, alliteration – all the devices you learned in English class. Rhetoric – the art of crafting how you say things in order to enhance your powers of persuasion – is the mark of a great speaker, or great presenter.

There are several online sites about rhetoric – take a look, and improve your presentations by employing rhetorical tricks, tropes, and triples. (Yup, that was one – an alliterative triple).

Incidentally, don’t overdo it. The response from Bartlet’s wife (played by the incomparable Stockard Channing, the real attraction in “Grease”) is “You are an oratorical snob!”

Creative thinking - Left, Right, Left Right!

2012-02-08T10:32:00.000Z

I can’t quite believe it’s almost the middle of February 2012. How has the start to your year been so far?

Mine hasn’t been quite as I planned. It started with what I think is known in medical circles as “a wee scare”. A trip in an ambulance, a few days in hospital, and now, a diet made up completely of food I can’t taste (in other words, low-salt and low-fat).

The upside was that I got to talk to a lot of doctors, including many who are experts in the working of the brain. And guess what? It turns out that all that HeadSurfing stuff I’ve been saying about stimulating the right brain turns out to be correct!

As part of the treatment, the doctors had me exercising the left side of my body, in order to rebuild and reconnect some of the nerve endings in my right brain. As the right side of the brain contains more of the centres which involve creativity and ideas, it makes sense to me that stimulating those areas will help you come up with more ideas, and find more solutions to problems and challenges.

So I urge you to take time to do things which engage more with the right side of your brain. Yes, you could exercise the left side of your body, but other activities could include sketching or writing with your left hand, listening to music, using colour rather than black and white, exercising rhythmically, or watching or reading something funny.

Me? I’m doing John Travolta’s dance moves from Saturday Night Fever.

Health campaigns save lives, and save money. So why cut them?

2012-02-02T10:29:00.000Z

Unbelievable, isn’t it?

In response to a parliamentary question recently, Health Minister Simon Burns revealed that UK Government spend on health advertising this year has been cut from £60.3m to £4.2m. Not cut BY £4.2m, but cut TO £4.2m.

Even to my non-mathematical mind, that’s a cut of more than 90%. By any standards, it’s a hell of a cut.

That’s not surgery, that’s trauma. In fact, it’s sick. (And I don't mean sick as a good thing - "it's well sick, innit?").

Because if ever the argument “It’s not a cost, it’s an investment” applied, it is to health advertising. Health advertising works. It reduces illness. It saves lives.

Yes, we’re in a recession. A deep recession. So we should be looking for ways to save money.

But if you want to save money Mr Burns, you need to increase health advertising.

Health advertising isn’t a huge cost – but treating seriously ill patients is.

This came home to me at a Marketing Society event last year when I watched The Bridge advertising agency demonstrate the results of a small-scale, low-budget campaign to raise awareness of bowel cancer in (mostly) men over fifty.

The PowerPoint wasn’t great, but the results were. The NHS had sent out the usual self-testing kits, but in this case had also run an ad campaign designed to increase participation. And awareness had risen dramatically, both prompted and unprompted, all that marketing speak. And participation had increased dramatically too.

But most importantly, as more people had participated, many, many more instances of suspected cancer had been found. Pre-cancerous traces identified and treated – and therefore, lives saved.

But let’s forget about the lives saved. Let’s think like the Government think. Purely in financial terms.

Many of those people with pre-cancerous symptoms would have gone on to develop bowel cancer. These cancers are not only nasty, and potentially fatal, they are also expensive to treat. Very, very expensive.

It costs a lot more to treat someone once the cancer has developed than it does if it is caught at an early stage. Millions and millions of pounds. Certainly, a lot more than a few 48 sheet posters and TV commercials.

A 90% cut in the health advertising budget isn’t just short-sighted, it’s stupid. It is saving a penny now to pay a pound later.

And in case you think this is a whine based on self interest, it isn’t. Well, not wholly. I don’t work in health advertising. I don’t work for an agency with health advertising business. But I do have an interest.

Because the presentation I saw last year finally convinced me to take my own testing kit out of the bottom drawer. No pun intended.

I fasted. I locked myself in the loo. Then I undertook the strangest sampling campaign I’ve ever been involved in.

And I sent it off. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually post my poo. Well, except to Piers Morgan.

Back came the response – “we have some concerns”. Within a few days they had me in hospital, for a full “investigation”. You don’t want to know the details. No, honestly.

I was clear. And clean, as it happens. But if I hadn’t been “clear”, they could probably have treated it there and then. They may well have saved a life – they very definitely would have saved money.

You see, Mr Burns? It’s not a cost. It’s an investment.

A joke I have loved since I was a kid

2011-12-09T14:47:00.000Z

At a dinner in Glasgow recently the chat turned to jokes and gags from our childhood.

This is one I heard when I was a kid, and I've loved it ever since. I think I enjoyed the shaggy dog nature of the developing story, and how it grows and grows. I also love jokes like this which discuss different types of people - but turn our stereotypes on their heads.

Here we go.

This guy emigrates from Pakistan to Glasgow, and takes a flat in the South Side. He gets a job, works hard, and makes a success of himself.

After a while, he realises that the months have just flown by, and perhaps it's time to take a trip back home.

So he goes to his local railway station, and asks for a ticket to Peshawar. The ticket guy says "Peshawar? I can't sell you a ticket to Peshawar. You'll need to go to Glasgow Central for that".

So he takes a train to Glasgow Central, and asks the ticket man for a ticket to Peshawar. "Peshawar? You'll need to go to London for that, pal." says the ticket man.

When he gets to London, he goes to the Overseas ticket desk, and asks for a ticket to Peshawar.

"Sorry mate, the closest I can get you is Istanbul, on the Orient Express" he is told. So he gets on the Orient Express, changes in Vienna, and takes the train to Istanbul, where he goes up to the ticket desk.

"Peshawar?" says the ticket man. "Sorry, but the nearest I can get you is Kabul. Take a train to Kabul, and pick up a connection there". So he takes a train to Kabul, and goes up to yet another ticket desk. "Sorry my friend" says the guy at the ticket booth, "But I can only get you to the capital, Islamabad".

So he buys the ticket, and gets the train to Islamabad, where he finally manages to buy a ticket to Peshawar.

He has a great time. He stays with his mammy, attends a few feasts and celebrations, and goes to his sister's wedding.

Finally, after a few weeks with his family, he decides it's time to return to his new home in Glasgow.

So he goes up to the local station, and says "Can I have a ticket to Pollokshaws please?".

And the ticket man says "Pollokshaws East, or Pollokshaws West?".

Why are so many marketers and communicators such terrible presenters?

2011-10-28T17:24:00.000+01:00

OK, OK, I don’t include you.

You are engaging, entertaining, funny, challenging and inspiring.

You open well, tell a great story, involve the audience and finish on a rousing note which makes the audience think, feel or act differently.

When you confidently press “play” your ad actually starts running.

When you handle the Q&A you do so confidently and informatively, addressing the whole group and not just the questioner.

You don’t speak in clichés or jargon. And you never, ever say “I’m sorry, it’s the technology” – as that funny South African beer commercial you downloaded from YouTube fails to run.

But what about the rest?

I can’t tell you the number of presentations I’ve sat through at marketing and advertising events that have sent me to sleep, battered me into submission, or infuriated me to the point of explosion.

We are supposed to be masters of communication and language – and yet I’ve seen time and time again presenters reading the script verbatim, using slides that had no relevance or interest to the audience, and losing control of technology – from complete melt-down to a simple inability to advance slides one at a time.

The oldest form of communication between groups of people – beyond the grunts and whoops of prehistoric hunters – is story-telling. The group sitting in a semi-circle, engrossed as the storyteller used images, metaphor, word pictures and, no doubt, rhetorical device and pattern to inform, inspire and entertain.

Our presentations should be like stories – with a beginning, a middle and an end. And most importantly, a point.

And everything you use – the words, your “stage” craft, your PowerPoint slides, visual aids, Q&A – should be focussed on making that point. Like great copywriting, the skill isn’t in the writing, it’s in the editing. It’s not what you put in; it’s what you throw out.

Here are three quick tips to help your next presentation make the point:

Write your last slide first. Or as Stephen Covey would put it, “Begin with the end in mind”. What do you want to achieve? What do you want your audience to think, feel or do when you stop talking? Everything else should be written to achieve that objective. And if you don’t have an end in mind, why make the presentation at all?
The three key elements of any presentation are the content (script, slides etc.), the presenter, and the audience. And most presenters start with the content. Why? That’s not the way we market to our consumers or customers, is it? We think of the audience first. What do they want? What are their interests, their demographics, their opinions? As a presenter you should start with them too.
Learn to present brilliantly. Do it by watching great presenters and watching how they do it. (Or by watching terrible presenters and doing the opposite – The Apprentice is a good place to start). Get someone in to train you and your team – but make sure the person you bring in has experience and knowledge of presenting in the space in which you need to operate: boardrooms, company meetings and potentially, Marketing Society events.

These three tips will in themselves make you a better presenter – and make it a bit more entertaining for the rest of us when we sit in the audience.

If you’d like some more ideas on how to improve your presenting and public speaking, you should register for my ezine of regular tips at www.headsurfing.com

Some gags, one-liners and motivational quotes

2011-10-20T09:47:00.000+01:00

I take great inspiration from motivational quotes. You know the kind of thing - sayings, musings and bon mots from inventors, thinkers, and artists.

But I also love a great gag. One of those one-liners that makes you laugh and then think "I wish I'd thought of that".

So I always write down the ones I hear or read - and here are some of my recent favourites.

“The only thing that could make Kelly Rowland more attractive is if her third name was sausage”.

Robert Florence on Twitter

“Imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient, happy idling – dawdling and puttering”.

Brenda Ueland

“My one regret in life is that I am not someone else”.

Woody Allen

“All great deeds and great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning”.

Albert Camus

“I’ll tell you who’s full of themselves. Those little Russian dolls”.

Jimmy Carr

Creativity Tip - Great ideas take time

2011-10-20T09:43:00.000+01:00

For almost everyone – and most companies and organisations – money is tight. Spend is restricted, budgets are down – even if cash is still available, we’re asked to do more with it than we ever did before.

But time is even tighter. Deadlines are shorter, demands are greater, and there’s just no time to sit, and think, and ponder.

And a lack of time almost inevitably means a lack of ideas. At least, a lack of good ideas. Ideas need time to develop, to grow, to flourish.

Anyone can come up with an idea quickly. But that idea won’t be great. A great idea – one that is innovative, or game-changing, or unique – won’t be your first idea. It will be the idea you thought of when you stopped thinking about the problem. It will come to you when you least expect it.

So you need to give yourself time to think – and time to not think!

I know you can give me an idea by tomorrow. But you can give me something great if I allow you a little more time to ponder.

Presentation Tip: Start with your #1 hit

2011-10-20T09:40:00.000+01:00

In a previous post, I suggested that when presenting ideas, or solutions, you shouldn’t give away the shop too early. In other words, don't open up with the idea, or the solution. You should take your time and provide the idea or solution as a "reveal".

The most effective structure, I've found, is to build from the problem, to the strategy, to the idea or solution.

However, when you are making a speech to a large audience (as opposed to a presentation to clients or colleagues), you want to start BIG.

You want to grab the audience's attention right from the start. To get them involved or engaged or 'onside' with your opening.

Don’t let the audience sit there wondering “where is this going?” Hit them hard, and hit them early. Get your best stuff in at the start – particularly if it’s funny. If you think your best stories, or examples, or points need a build up, then write a high-impact opening.

What do I mean? Copy Beyonce.

Did you see her at Glastonbury? Many people wondered whether she was a big enough star to headline the festival. Then she opened with “Crazy in Love” – her biggest hit – and we got our answer. Her second song? “Single Ladies (put a ring on it)” – her next biggest UK hit. The crowd goes wild, and she’s in total control of her audience.

That’s where you want to be – in total control of your audience. So open with your #1 hit.

Does where you work affect how you think?

2011-08-03T17:03:00.003+01:00

I've worked in lots of different offices, and visited many more. Wide open, light and bright. Crowded, dingy and dark. On my own, with a partner, and in a team.

In every place I've worked, a key priority was to come up with ideas. Whether it was for running the team, working with clients, or new marketing campaigns. In every office, we had ideas. But in some of them, we had more ideas - and better ideas - than in others. Over the years, I've become convinced that Environment (or at least how you work with your Environment) is a key cultural condition of creativity.

A great environment contributes to the generation of ideas - and a poor one works against it. Working in a box isn't really conducive to thinking outside it.

Not all of us can work at Google (take a look at their office by putting in "images for google offices" on, er, Google). Or First Direct (the only contact centre I've ever been in where the environment is calm, relaxed and casual). Or even a groovy ad agency with a blue sky painted on the ceiling of the "thinking room".

But we can all improve the way we use our office environment to improve the way we think.

Get away from your desk Sitting in the same place, in the same position, surrounded by the same people, screen and furniture does no good for your creativity. Go for a walk round the building. Switch desks with someone else for a while. Find an empty meeting rooms and work there - cover the walls in flipchart paper and scribble! And while you're at it ...

Go for lunch I know, I know, you're busy. And everyone else eats at their desk. And anyway, that's the only time you have for Facebook. Stop it! Go somewhere new for lunch. Just a new sandwich bar, or the park, or by the river or canal, will make it much easier for you to think. At least once a week, take lunch Al Fresco instead of Al Desko. (Sorry).

Enhance what you have OK, so you may not have a budget for repainting, knocking down a wall, or even a sofa or mini-football table. But when you need to come up with ideas, all you need to do is change what you have. Find a quiet corner and listen to some music (especially music you don't normally listen to). Surround yourself with creative stimulus (new postcards, pictures, books, magazines). Put up photographs that inspire you and energise your creativity (mine include David Bowie, Eddie Izzard, Paolozzi, Bob Marley and Dali).

Find what works for you, and use it. Some people think creatively when surrounded by colour, natural light, noise, stimulus. For others, they need to get away from that and move to a quiet, all-white room.

Look at what's around you when you find yourself getting ideas, and replicate that in your workplace.

Environment is just one of my 3 Cultural Conditions of Creativity. I'll be talking more about it (and the other conditions, tools and techniques) in the Headsurfing public seminars I'm running this month in Edinburgh (23rd August) and London (30th).

At £190 for Edinburgh and £230 for London they're great value - I'll deliver a full day of creative inspiration, new tools and techniques, attitudes and behaviours that will help you become instantly more creative.

If you'd like to come along, let me know as soon as you can - the last workshops sold out completely.

Creativity wins out - how to think like The Apprentice

2011-07-18T10:34:00.000+01:00

So the wait is finally over. After weeks of pitching, selling, leading and following, negotiating, inventing and backstabbing, the winner of the latest series of The Apprentice is...Creativity.

Tom Pellereau is the name, but creativity and innovation is the game. And ideas are his stock in trade.

He is obviously a highly creative guy - and last night on the follow-up interview show "You're Hired!", Tom displayed several of the habits, behaviours and attitudes that all highly creative people tend to have.

These are habits (or to put it another way, tools and techniques) that the rest of us can study, learn and put into practice to improve our own personal creativity.

Firstly, he seems to have plenty of ideas - one after the other. Actually, what he demonstrates is that he doesn't close down an idea simply because it hasn't been thought through. He shouts it out, he gets it out there - he doesn't confuse idea generation with evaluation. When he is supposed to come up with ideas, that's what he does - comes up with ideas. Stop judging your ideas - just shout them out, write them down, and get on to the next one.

That's his second habit - he captures every idea in writing. At on point on the show host Dara O Briain suggested another idea - and Tom whipped out his notepad and pretended to write it down. Dara even said "I love the fact that he's got the notepad!". I suspect, Dara, that you carry a notepad too. All creative people do, and that includes great comedians.

Thirdly, he is incorrigibly optimistic. He believes in ideas, and he believes in his own ability to come up with ideas. A healthy cup of Tom's optimism every day could help us all with our own challenges, I believe.

His optimism, belief in himself and all-round decency came in one stunning phrase last night about the fact that he is dyslexic. "I was extremely lucky" he said "that from a young age I knew there were lots of things I couldn't do. I saw things in ways others couldn't, so I had to concentrate on maths, engineering and designing".

That, Tom, is the power of creative thinking. Many congratulations.

Facilitating a brainstorm - managing the outcomes

2011-07-15T15:26:00.000+01:00

The final responsibility of the facilitator of a brainstorm or meeting is manage the outcomes - to make sure that the session has achieved its objectives, and that you have the right outputs in the right format.

The first stage in managing outcomes is to manage expectations in the first place: to know what you want to achieve; to ensure all concerned are agreed on objectives; and to know what the next stage in the process will be.

So have clear in your mind what the outcomes must be. Are you looking for some initial thoughts that can be worked up later? Or a decision on what course of action to take (in which case this meeting isn't for generating ideas, but rather evaluating them)? Do you want the ideas to be pretty substantial in terms of 'completeness'?

And presumably, at least part of the outcomes required will be an action plan to move on to "next steps".

Make sure you have captured ALL the ideas generated - or if the teams have come up with a load of ideas which were not shared, get them to type them up and email on to you. And give them a deadline!

Set aside some time (a couple of days later) to go through these additional ideas - there's always a chance you or the team missed an absolute cracker when you went through them the first time.

Group the ideas together on a whiteboard or on post-it notes. You're looking for themes, big ideas, concepts "with legs".

Get some initial feedback on favourite ideas - but be aware that the group intellect "tends to the norm". In other words, in groups we tend to select the more obvious, instantly recognisable ideas rather than the innovative or unusual ones.

To counteract this, give everyone a few votes - say, five. They have to look at the ideas boards, on their own, then allocate votes as they see fit (for example: two to one idea, and one to three others; or all five votes to one idea). Then they go up one at a time and allocate the votes as written down (or they hand their scoring sheet to you). In this way, you don't get everyone simply following each other once one idea becomes the favourite.

And finally, make sure you share next steps with everyone. People will be happier - and will remain engaged with the project - if they know what's going to happen next.

If you follow these steps, your meetings and brainstorms (and the ideas generated) will be better, faster - and more effective.

Facilitating a brainstorm - managing time

2011-07-01T13:06:00.000+01:00

As Douglas Adams said, "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so".

It may be an illusion, but time is the most expensive resource you use up while running a meeting or brainstorm. Think of all those expensive colleagues sitting round the table (or lolling on sofas, or stretched out on rugs in the park - where do you hold your brainstorms?). All watching the clock. All trusting that their time is appreciated, and being used well.

The key to using time well is to have a plan, and stick to it. Sketch out an agenda that covers the key 'events' in the brainstorm - the introduction, the thinking part, the switching of teams, the harvesting of ideas, the summarising at the end. How long will each take? How much will you need to allow for sessions that are going so well you that don't want to stop?

You needn't share the agenda in detail - although it is a good idea to give your participants a rough idea of where you're going and what you'll be doing. And give deadlines and outlines - saying things like "We'll now break into pairs for a twenty minute challenge".

Stick to the deadlines. Don't wait for everyone to come back into the room (physically or metaphorically) on time - go get them. In fact, go get them five minutes early - so that they don't delay the re-start by deciding then to go to the loo!

Have the agenda in sight, and in mind, throughout the meeting. Try not to over-run - if you think you might, pick up the pace.

Keep the tempo up - this raises the energy in the room and seems to contribute to quicker thinking. It also stops everyone taking time for idea evaluation instead of idea generation (evaluate later is one of the golden rules of creative thinking).

And if you want to earn the undying admiration and love of all concerned, finish ten minutes early. Every time a meeting finishes early, a lovely fluffy kitten is born.

Facilitating a brainstorm - managing participants

2011-06-20T16:53:00.000+01:00

Do you ever get the feeling that managing meetings would be easy - if it wasn't for the people involved?

I think we've all been there. But handling people - even problem participants - is easy when you know how. You need to think about the problem in advance, learn a few engagement techniques - and then implement them as the meeting or brainstorm progresses.

There are certain types of "problem participants" who occur all too often:

The motormouth, who wants to dominate every conversation
The wallflower, who doesn't want to talk at all
The person who seems only to see the negative in everything
The aggressive person, who delights in personal criticism and attacks (but only on others)
The person who is always late and perpetually distracted

In the first instance, agree groundrules in advance - and keep them on display. These should include the rule that the times of the brainstorm will be honoured, that all attendees are expected to participate, and that only one person should talk at one time (the "one singer, one song" rule).

In addition, almost all "problem" behaviours can be handled by facilitation techniques.

In order of escalation they are:

Mention their name (most people respond and attend when they hear their own name)
Move towards them
Put a hand on their shoulder (but be aware of cultural issues which discourage touching) and
Call a coffee or natural break, and have a word with the person causing the problem.

In the last instance, if their behaviour is truly breaking up the brainstorm, explain the problem and ask them to leave the meeting if they cannot behave in a way that will contribute to achieving what the meeting needs to.

In addition, be aware that people have different ways of engaging at work. Their personalities differ, and the way they work and communicate with other people can differ dramatically. There are several ways of understanding different personality styles - from Belbin and Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), to NLP Representational Styles (Auditory, Visual, Kinaesthetic etc) and the Insights Colour system.

The sense behind each of them is that if you understand your own "type", and can flex to communicate in the way others prefer, you'll have much more success in communicating with them.

The system I use is Social Styles, with the primary types of Driver, Analytical, Amiable and Expressive. I find it simple to understand and translate into action, and I use it to understand any type of communication issue and any type of audience.

It's worth trying to work with these communication systems - check them out online, or talk to your HR colleagues.

Facilitating a brainstorm - managing the process

2011-06-06T17:17:00.001+01:00

The second thing to think about in facilitating a brainstorm, idea-generation or any other kind of meeting, is managing the process. (For part one of this series, see "Managing the Event" below).

Having a process in mind will allow you to know where you are, keep the session buzzing, and help you manage the session towards the required outcome, whether that be a raft of ideas or an agreed plan of action. It's not about restricting the natural flow of the meeting, but more that a process or structure will help people concentrate on doing the right things at the right stage of the session.

Well begun is half done as Mary Poppins said. So starting the session well will pay dividends in participation and commitment. Get everyone together, and make sure you give them a heart-felt welcome and thank you for coming. Then make sure you make a statement of objective (what do we want the meeting to achieve), requirements (in what format do we want the outputs - outline ideas, agreed plans, recommendations for others?) and time - when will the session end?

Make an agreement, too, on ground-rules. This will make it easier for you to 'police' the session, and to bring people back when the meeting strays off-track. This should include "No judging or criticising ideas at this point" and also what to do with mobile phones. My own approach is often to have phones off, but allow access to them at regular intervals. Of course, if anyone really must have their phone on, then you really must allow it!

What's YOUR problem? Before the idea generation begins, it's worth restating the challenge, problem or brief you are there to answer. But please, don't read out (or distribute) a closely typed, multi-page written brief, Make your statement of the challenge short, sharp and to the point. The aim is to create, not sedate.

Ready? Steady? THINK! Now you are into the meaty part of the session, getting them thinking, talking, swapping ideas, linking ideas together, and building on each others' ideas. Keep the energy up by switching the group around - work them in pairs, then altogether.

Make sure that every idea is being captured (have post-it notes, flipcharts and markers in abundance!).

Use creative thinking tools and techniques (like Speedthinking, Reframing and Unconnecting on my Headsurfing website).

And keep an eye open for people judging and evaluating ideas instead of generating them. Watch out for phrases like "We don't have the budget" or "I can't see how that would work". Or, of course "That's complete rubbish. Just leave the thinking to me"!

It's harvest time. Collect all the ideas that have been generated. At this point, you could start to evaluate and judge the ideas - perhaps splitting them into groups of "definite", "potential" and "not at this stage".

You might want to involve the participants, using some simple voting system such as giving them five 'votes' to split as they like.

However, don't close off the decision making process here - or, indeed, the idea generation process. There's every chance that you - or some of your participants - will continue to have great ideas once the meeting is over. Make sure they are aware of this - and ask them to make sure they write any ideas down and pass them back in to the process later.

Tell them what's next. Many people feel frustrated at a lack of engagement following the session. So let them know what the plan is for "what's next" - and if at all possible, report back to them with what happens to all those great ideas.

Managing the process well can keep you on track, on brief, and on target to achieve your objectives. In the next part of this series, I'll help you deal with the human side of the session - Managing People.

Open Workshop on HeadSurfing techniques for creative thinking - Edinburgh, 24th June

2011-06-01T14:09:00.000+01:00

Would you like to learn highly effective tools and techniques to help you and your team generate more ideas - and better ideas?

Could you or your team benefit from a dose of creative freshness? Would you like them to re-energise and re-engage?

If so, you should come along (or send some of your team along) to an open workshop I'm running in Edinburgh on 24th June.

The course will be a great grounding in how to think more creatively and more productively. Using the tools and techniques of my own HeadSurfing programme - all based on the secret attitudes, behaviours and actions of the highly creative people I have worked with and studied, you'll learn:

The Cultural Conditions of Creativity (get these right and you're on your way to a culture that encourages ideas and engagement - get them wrong and you'll stifle any ideas your team might have had).
A superb technique for generating dozens of ideas in a very short time - ideal when you're up against a tight deadline or a demanding brief!
How to interrogate and reframe the challenge to change the way you think.
How to facilitate and run a brainstorm.
Dramatic techniques to help you and your team change the direction of your thinking (helping you avoid the predictable and the "same old same old").
Presenting ideas and creative proposals.
Action Planning and getting it done.

... along with a host of other techniques, tips and suggestions for opening yourself and your team to creativity.

The full-day course, to be held in central Edinburgh on 24th June, is available for £190 plus VAT (total £228) per person. For what you'll get out of this session, that's great value. Strike that, ridiculous value!

If you'd like to book a place, contact me through the website here: HeadSurfing Website

Facilitating a brainstorm - managing the event

2011-05-27T13:34:00.000+01:00

A skilled facilitator can make a huge difference to the success (or otherwise) of a brainstorm or creative thinking session - and this starts with how the event is set up.

Once you have the objectives of the session agreed, you can start planning it.

The first thing to think about is timing. Of course, this may be more fixed than you'd like - the only day people are available, or by the demands of the job (for example, if you have to do it within the next couple of days to have the ideas ready by a certain time).

But if you can be more flexible, think about the best day of the week. Mondays for many organisations are a no-no - Thursdays and Fridays are often best. Consider the availability of the people you'd like to involve, even the best time of day.

I like to choose either early morning (before people have been caught up in day-to-day problems) or late afternoon (but use energisers and hands-on exercises to keep post-lunch energy levels up).

How long should the session last? Anything from an hour to a day or two - as long as you are creative about the agenda (yes, even brainstorms should have an agenda or plan, even if it's only shared by the facilitator and problem-owner).

Next is venue. My preference would always be to go off-site, if only because in my experience the simple act of changing environment changes thinking. However, unless you can "borrow" another building or meeting room, going off-site will almost inevitably cost money.

But whether you stay in-house or go off-site, I'd implore you to be creative about the venue too.

Is there natural light? Can you get up and move around? Can you be flexible with the layout of the rooms? Is it fit for purpose? In other words, does it have the right AV or can you take your own? Does it have flipcharts and white-boards if you need them? Are there areas which let you break the team up into smaller thinking groups? And no, you don't need expensive breakout rooms, just different areas like a lounge, bar, or garden.

Think about attendees - who must attend? Who else could you invite - clients or customers? People from other teams? Outside experts? And about how you'll invite them, and what you'd like them to do in advance of the session.

And finally, start thinking about what you'll need for the session itself - how will you inspire great thinking? Take a look at "How to Headsurf" at www.headsurfing.com for some ideas. Think about music, exercises, and what stimulus you might use to provoke creative thinking.

Now all you have to do is manage the process, manage the people, manage timing and manage the outcome - but more on those in my next blog.

Presentation tip - play it, don't say it

2011-05-23T10:13:00.000+01:00

This week I have a special guest at the Professional Speakers Chapter I run – John Cremer from Brighton.

John runs The Maydays, one of the UK’s leading improvisational comedy groups – I have performed with them quite a few times, and enjoyed (almost) every second!

I saw him speak in South Africa recently, and was struck with how good he is at translating what he’s saying into what he’s doing.

Of course, John has an acting background, but anyone, yes anyone, can put more performance and action into their presentations – and you should try it.

I call it "play it, don't say it". Look for passages in your presentation where you are describing a scene, or telling a story, and use movement, body language, facial expression to bring the piece alive.

Watch friends telling stories in the pub – they become animated, adding gestures, pulling faces, and acting out what actually happened. Try the same in your next presentation – bringing your talk alive will bring your audience alive too.

Creativity Tip - Improve your facilitation skills

2011-05-20T16:30:00.000+01:00

I’ve been working with a great new client over the last couple of weeks – the makers of three (if not four) of my favourite whiskies.

As well as doing the opening keynote at their conference (which was a blast) they asked me to train some of their key staff in facilitating brainstorms – so that during the conference we could run several creative thinking sessions simultaneously, getting the most out of them.

The ability to run a meeting properly is a great skill to have – it cuts down on wasted time, keeps energy levels up, and helps your colleagues to look forward to meetings rather than hate them.

The first tip I’d give you is that The facilitator’s key responsibility is to ensure the meeting achieves its objectives.

There’s no other point to facilitating – indeed, there’s no other point to any meeting.

Of course, step one is to have objectives in the first place. Ever been to a meeting that seemed to have no objective, no process, and no point? Thought so.

I’ll put up the key tasks of the facilitator – managing the meeting, managing people and managing process included – as well as tips and strategies for success on this blog over the next couple of weeks.

To learn the skills you need to get the most out of your sessions, keep reading the tips.

The Bowel and The Pussycat

2011-04-15T08:48:00.002+01:00

Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Bum.

I think I'm a pretty typical guy of a certain age.

I love my family, and watching sport. I enjoy a pint, and a good curry. I've got lots of friends I've known for years, and some I've only just met. I love to travel, but I love to stay at home too.

And I don't like medical tests. Hate them.

It's not that I'm scared or anything. Well, not as in really scared. I'm just, you know, a bit of a pussycat.

Because tests mean results, and results might mean something wrong. And something wrong means illness. And illness means, potentially - well, let's not go there.

So imagine my joy when on my fiftieth birthday, in among my cards and presents, I found a special "Happy Birthday" from NHS Scotland. A little padded pack, which made me think "Ooh, that's nice. A present from my doctor".

"Dear Mr. Harris" it said. "Now you are fifty, we would like to present you with this wee Bowel Screening Kit".

It went on. "Please take a sample of your poo and send it to us so that we can confirm your darkest fears". It may not have said exactly that - I'm paraphrasing a bit.

I did exactly what I always do. The wrong thing.

I looked at the pack, read the instructions carefully, and put it in a drawer.

Every now and again I took it out, looked at it again - and put it back in the drawer. For over a year. Well, I told you - I don't like medical tests.

You see, it wasn't really convenient. Not for a man like me - I have things to do, places to go, people to see.

I'd have to plan, and think, and synchronise my poo-sampling with all the other important things in my life, like having meetings, speaking at conferences, listening to the radio, taking trains and watching re-runs of "Friends".

Before I knew it, I'd forgotten about it altogether.

Then last autumn, at a conference, I saw someone make a presentation on the success of a Bowel Screening Campaign in Glasgow. She said that more than 37,500 men and women are diagnosed with Bowel Cancer in the UK every year - it's the second most commonly diagnosed cancer. She talked about how the vast majority of cases are among those who have passed their 50th birthday.

And she told us that Bowel Cancer, if caught early, is 90% treatable with total success.

So when another test kit arrived through the door the following week (another birthday - they come along so quickly these days, don't you think?) I did what I should have done the first time. I decided to take the test, and to stop acting like, well, the thing I was about to take samples from.

The way the test works is that they give you a little pack of, er, lollipop stick things. You stick these into different areas of your poo (I apologise. This is as elegant as I can make it). Then you post the samples, in a very, very well-sealed pack off to the Bowel Cancer Screening Centre.

Mailing my poo was the part I found most strange, having never before sent my poo through the post to anyone.

Well, not if you don't count Piers Morgan.

You get the results back within two weeks, and for the vast majority of people it's an all-clear.

Not for me, though.

I received a letter telling me that the test had shown "hidden blood" - a possible sign of Bowel Cancer.

See? That's why I don't like medical tests.

With the letter was another sampling kit. This time, I completed it in double quick time. I'm sure you would too. And off it went.

This time the results came in a phone call. My daughter Ellen answered the phone and said "Dad, there's a really nice woman on the phone for you".

Which made me think that either I've won a free conservatory because they're in my area, or I've got cancer.

It was neither, but closest to the latter.

The second test had confirmed what was indicated in the first - there was hidden blood in this sample too.

So a week or so later, after a Sunday spent mostly on the loo (thanks to a strange fizzy concoction called Picolax) I presented myself at Edinburgh's Western Infirmary for a Colonoscopy.

This "procedure" involves a doctor inserting a thin tube, with a camera inside it, into your back passage.

Or "Up your jacksie for a shufti", as my dad would have put it.

Don't worry, the camera is very, very small.

I wish the same could have been said for the camera man.

Joking. I'm only joking.

The anaesthesia let me sleep through the whole thing. Just as well, really, because it avoided the unpleasant experience of me lying half naked on my side with a tube up my you know what, trying to make the doctor and nurses laugh.

I got the results almost immediately.

All clear.

The happiest words in the world.

All clear.

The doctor said a bit more than "all clear", of course. Like how I would be sent further tests in the future, and that I should take them (no argument from me). And that if I had any worries or symptoms I should see my GP. Agreed.

I think he then told me that I have one of the clearest bottoms in Edinburgh, but that might have been the after-effects of the anaesthesia.

Of course, I was delighted. More than delighted. relieved. Delirious. And quite weepy.

My wife was delighted too. And Diane, I promise to make it up to you next Valentine's Day. (Oh, did I mention that my colonoscopy took place on Valentine's Day? No? Ah. Happy Valentine's Day, darling).

But here's the point.

Even if the colonoscopy had confirmed "bad news", the chances are high that it would have been caught, dealt with there and then, and treated.

With total success.

That's why, if the test comes through your door, you should take it. No, you MUST take it.

Not just to check that you're clear. But because if you're not, they can treat it.

If you take the test, and any trace of early stage cancer is found, it is treatable. If you don't take the test, it might develop into something that isn't treatable. It might be too late.

Please. If you're fifty or over, take the test. If you know anyone over fifty - a parent, a partner, or a pal - please nag them to take the test.

Yes, medical tests are a pain in the arse. But not as big a pain in the arse as Bowel Cancer.

(April is Bowel Cancer Awareness month in the UK. However I have no association with that. Incidentally, your local health authority can give you much, much more information about why screening is so important, and so successful. They'll have a website, or a phone helpline. The one for my area is NHS Scotland, which is here: NHS Scotland Bowel Screening )

Creativity tip: Turbo-charge your imagination.

2011-03-24T12:01:00.000Z

On Saturday I attended a TEDx event in Edinburgh.

If you don't know TED, you should. Drop what you're doing, and head to ted.com.

Billed as "Ideas worth spreading", TED is a series of conferences and events where the world's leading thinkers do short presentations on a truly remarkable variety of subjects.

The name comes from "Technology, Education, Design", but the speakers cover much, much more than that.

TEDx events are those run not by the TED Organisation, but by local supporters. Saturday's, live in London and simulcast to Edinburgh, Brighton, Liverpool and other cities, was set up and sponsored by the Observer newspaper.

I expected to be a 'sometime' attendee - to dip in and out as the whim took me, based on whether I thought the speaker was going to be interesting or not. That didn't happen. I sat transfixed, enjoying ALL the speakers. They engaged and involved us on subjects ranging from losing children in Israeli attacks (Izzeldin Abuelaish on "I shall not hate") to Climate Change, Ecology and Modern Art (the incomparable Vivienne Westwood). The unbelievably brave Katie Piper (turning her suffering sustained in an acid attack on her face into support and charity) and Martine Wright (who lost both legs in the 7/7 terrorist attacks and is now aiming to compete in the 2012 Special Olympics) showed us the strength of the human spirit in adversity - true adversity.

I did the hand-jive (all in the name of neurological research, of course) and joined in with people across the UK singing Zadoc the Priest in four part harmony. Honest.

I left the event with a notebook full of ideas, and a mind full of energy and inspiration.

Attending an event like this might be the most creative act you could ever do. It will inspire you, re-energise you - and most of all, fill your mind with possibility, with new ideas, and completely new ways of looking at the world.

It's like a turbo-charge for your imagination.

Creativity tip: Laughter equals ideas equals laughter

2011-03-21T11:24:00.000Z

In every group I've worked with, when people are having ideas there tends to be a lot of laughter around.

And conversely, when people are laughing and enjoying themselves, the ideas tend to flow.

If you think about it, humour is very like creativity.

There’s a set-up (two men walk into a pub…), and then a punch line. The punchline is an "answer" to the set up. It's something we don’t expect, but which makes some sort of sense.

Great ideas are similar – there’s a challenge (or problem, or brief). And then an "answer".

If the "answer" we come up with is the obvious one, the one that immediately makes sense, it’s like a punchline you’ve heard before. It’s boring, unimaginative, the same old same old.

A new idea - like an unexpected punchline - surprises us. It's new - but it makes sense when checked against the problem or brief.

And having a laugh helps us have ideas. The centres of the brain which process humour, and come up with ideas, are so close that one helps the other.

Bring humour into your ideas sessions, by putting up cartoons, sharing jokes, or turning the problem into a limerick.

Have a laugh, and have an idea!

Presentation tip - put some humour in your presentations

2011-03-21T11:15:00.000Z

Ask a professional speaker (like me) if you should use humour in a presentation and they’ll say “Only if you want to get paid”.

People whose income depends on speaking at conferences – and getting asked back – know the truth of the Victor Borge line “The shortest distance between two people is a smile”.

Humour engages an audience with what you are saying. It helps them relax, builds rapport and sets you apart from other presenters.

I don’t mean you should turn into Jimmy Carr, with a 20 minute set of one-liners. For most business presentations, actual jokes may be inappropriate.

But self-deprecating humour, taking an alternative view of the issue – or even sharing a funny moment that the team had while coming up with the solution – all help you build a relationship with the people listening to your presentation.

With this in mind, think about how you can improve your ‘take’ on humour.

I was doing some presentation coaching for a senior exec recently, and he asked me to help put more humour into his speeches. “What kind of humour do you enjoy?” I asked. “I don’t, really”, he said. "I tend to spend my time watching and reading more serious stuff".

I suggested he might spend more time reading PG Wodehouse and Christopher Brookmyre and less on Chekhov and Tolstoy.

Some gags, one-liners and motivational quotes

2011-03-21T11:09:00.000Z

“A grown man should wear white trousers on only two occasions. One, when selling ice cream. Two, never”.
Greg Proops

“People often ask me how I come upon the idea… seeing, observing and thinking – that is the answer”.
August Sander

“I asked for an ice cream. He said ‘hundreds and thousands?’ I said we’ll start with just one”.
Tim Vine

“Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend”.
Albert Camus

“He said ‘Knickerbocker Glory?’ I said ‘I do get a certain amount of freedom in these trousers, yes”.
Tim Vine, again

Meerkats are right. Simples is better.

2011-03-07T15:56:00.000Z

I watched two football matches recently, one immediately after the other.

One was a schools match, and the other was between teams from the Youth Development programmes of two Premiership clubs.

Each game was exciting, and there were great players on all four sides.

However, something slowly dawned on me as I watched the second match.

The boys in the Youth Development teams - boys who may be very close to becoming professional footballers - played a much more simple game.

These boys are, for their age, among the best football players in the country. They are all 16 and 17, and their respective clubs will currently be looking closely at their skills, their stamina, their attitude, with a view to signing them as professionals - or letting them go.

The difference between these boys, and those that were just a little less successful as footballers, was obvious. The almost-professionals did the really simple things, brilliantly.

Their first touch control was superb. They played the one-two (or give-and-go, as it seems to be called now) brilliantly. They chose to make the simple pass - getting the ball to another player in space, playing to feet, running on to the ball.

And they did it at speed, and with strength and agility.

It might seem a bit of a stretch to make an analogy between these possible stars of the future and business, but I don't think so.

Simplicity may well be the single biggest factor in success in our work, our organisations, our careers.

What can you remove? What can you strip out? What can you simplify?

Albert Einstein said "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler".

As usual, he was right.

Secs sells. A great new twist on an old, old line.

2011-02-28T11:48:00.000Z

I once took part in a conference about creativity and originality.

A couple of the speakers believed that any creative thought, if it is to be truly creative, must also be completely original.

No copying, I can understand. No pale imitations, and no "same old, same old" either.

But sometimes, you see a great idea, and realise it has influences. It might be a parody, or an homage, or simply something well known given a new twist.

A great one appeared on billboards last week. You may have seen it.

It's brilliant, just brilliant.

The line "Sex Sells" is one of the oldest in the book, particularly in car advertising. This ad takes the obvious line, turns it round, and subverts it. It even subverts the usual approach of talking about the speed of the car (which is now illegal) by talking about the speed of the roof!

It's funny, and it makes the viewer complicit in the gag - there's a payoff when you "get it".

OK, it might look more like a trade ad rather than a consumer one, but I still love it.

Taking the obvious, or the current paradigm, and turning it on its head is a great way to come up with new ideas.

Try it. It might just work for you, too.

Clive Gott left life as he lived life - with unbelievable impact.

2011-02-22T16:36:00.000Z

On Sunday afternoon I opened my pages on Facebook, as I sat waiting in a car park.

The first posting I read was from a speaker friend. It didn't make much sense to me, as it seemed to be referring to another speaker - Clive Gott - in the past tense.

I scrolled down, and saw another. And another.

It gradually dawned on me that my great friend, mentor, encourager, raging bull, and inspirational genius Clive had died suddenly on Saturday night. I was stunned. I still am, to be honest.

Clive himself would not recognise any of the descriptions I've used about him above. He used to talk about how he hadn't won any medals, hadn't climbed any mountains, hadn't done much, really.

What nonsense.

I'll leave others to list his achievements (they can start with Fireman, Marathon runner (Actually, 99 mile marathons. In the desert.), Fellow of the PSA (he was very proud of that, although he fell out with the organisation regularly). He was also proud of the fact that he had seen Status Quo live every year for the last four decades or something. Ah well, nobody's perfect.

What he did achieve was an effect on people. He moved people. He touched their sense of self. He inspired them. And me.

His big thing was "pay it forward". So Elaine suggests that you buy flowers for yourself, or send them to someone else, to pay it forward from Clive.

If anyone took the Nike slogan and turned it into "Just F***ing do it", it was Clive.

My last communication from him was on Friday night, when he told me that he and Elaine were coming to see me speak in Leeds on Thursday night. Then he sent me a joke.

There's a line in the Rocky Horror Show which says "What a guy. Made you cry. And he did."

Clive made us cry with laughter throughout his life.

He made us cry this week too.

For ideas, look to your life.

2011-02-07T17:10:00.002Z

I met one of my heroes recently - the brilliant writer, artist, playwright and all-round good guy, John Byrne.

He wrote "The Slab Boys" trilogy, he's a phenomenal artist and caricaturist, and co-wrote songs with Gerry Rafferty of Stealer's Wheel. And his design for the 1980 album "Beatles Ballads" was originally going to be the cover of the Beatles' "White Album"!

I'd love to say he came to me for advice on how to be even more creative, but he didn't.

I met him on a train.

As we stood in the corridor, I swallowed my nerves enough to say "You're John Byrne, aren't you? I'm a huge fan of your work".

"Oh really?", he said. "Anything in particular?"

That's lesson one. Never go up to someone and pretend you're a fan - you might just get found out.

However, I really am a fan.

Tutti Frutti, his TV series about a travelling rock and roll band, is one of my favourite ever dramas - real black comedy, and bittersweet.

So we had a laugh about my favourite scene, where Robbie Coltrane as Danny McGlone plays a beautiful version of "Love Hurts" to Miss Toner (Katy Murphy), only to get the loving response "Beat it, ya creep".

"And Slab Boys, of course" I said.

I first saw it in Edinburgh in the late seventies, and I've seen it, and the other two Slab boys plays, a few times since.

It's set in the dye-mixing room (the "slab room") of a carpet factory. I always thought it was based on Templeton's factory in Glasgow, an amazing building copied, believe or not, from the Doge's Palace in Venice!

Here's a picture - it's now an amazing looking business centre:

The plays were actually inspired by John's experiences in a different factory, in Paisley, where John grew up. He was a "slab boy", and later, a designer in that carpet factory.

"Always a good idea" John said, "to exploit your life for your art".

Absolutely - even if your 'art' is less fine art and more "I need an idea".

Look to your life. Your experiences, your connections, your inspirations.

What is there in your half-remembered past that could inspire new ideas, new approaches, new solutions?

Someone once said that every first book is autobiography.

More than that, your autobiography could be the source of your next big idea.

Why presenting should be like Christmas lunch

2011-01-05T16:07:00.000Z

Did you celebrate Christmas with a special lunch or dinner? If you didn't, is there another special occasion you celebrate with a family feast?

For our family, Christmas lunch is one of the high points of the year. We anticipate it keenly. It’s exciting, satisfying, memorable and fun.

As I was planning this year's lunch (or rather, last year's, as we're now well into the New Year, another major celebration here in Scotland), for some reason I started to draw parallels with planning as it relates to business presentations.

I know, I should really get a life, but I tend to think about work and my business when I'm cooking or thinking about food!

Most people I know put a lot into their celebrations and family feasts. But what can we learn and apply to our presentations?

Take time in planning and preparation.
A great model for planning is Rudyard Kipling’s “six honest serving men”. What? Why? When? How? Where? Who? For your Christmas lunch the “why?” is obvious. But make sure you can answer “why?” for your presentations too.

Include a little something for everyone.
We all love different things. Some like roasties, some sprouts. Some love bread sauce, for others it’s cranberry sauce. Me? I like it all! You should try to satisfy different people in your audience too. Some want the big picture, and some like stories. Yet others want data and evidence. Try to satisfy as many of them as possible.

Everyone loves the old favourites.
Your guests enjoy traditional food and drink at Christmas. And your audience wants to hear your best stuff – especially if they can share it with others. If you are asked to speak at an event because people have enjoyed you before, don’t leave out your best material. You don’t go to see your favourite band hoping they only play the new album.

Make it memorable.
I’m sure your special lunches are like ours – a lot of laughter, a lot of sharing, and often, a few tears. Give the same to your audience to make it memorable. Inspire them, make them laugh, make an emotional connection.

A great speech, like a great celebration lunch, lasts long in the memory.

Creativity tip: How Christmas can boost your creative thinking

2010-12-21T17:07:00.000Z

For people who celebrate Christmas, things are quite different from the rest of the year.

And you can use these "different times" to boost your creative thinking.

Take time out to relax.

I know Christmas can be a stressful time. But try to find some time on your own, pour yourself a large one (or a cup of tea) and just relax. Just let your mind wander, and listen to your unconscious.

Learn from new people.

When you meet new people at the office party, drinks with the neighbours or family get-together, try to make real connections. You never know: something they say or do might just help you with an idea.

Do something you don’t usually do.

Visit a new gallery, watch a new film, or take a long walk somewhere you’ve never been before. New experiences make new connections in your brain, and that helps with new ideas.

The anniversary of a great Scottish poet. No, not that one.

2010-11-14T21:13:00.000Z

Today (14th November 2010) would have been the 100th birthday of Norman MacCaig, one of Scotland's great poets.

This one of his finest poems. We've all known men like this, but not had the talent to celebrate their lives in such a beautiful way.

Praise of a Man

He went through a company like a lamplighter –
see the dull minds, one after another,
begin to glow, to shed
a beneficent light.

He went through a company like
a knifegrinder – see the dull minds
scattering sparks of themselves,
becoming razory, becoming useful.

He went through a company
as himself. But now he's one
of the multitudinous company of the dead
where are no individuals.

The beneficent lights dim
but don't vanish. The razory edges
dull, but still cut. He's gone: but you can see
his tracks still, in the snow of the world.

Seven Strategies for Success in Innovation

2010-10-29T15:35:00.000+01:00

The UK press this week has been full of calls for greater innovation in companies and organisations following a speech by the Prime Minister on Monday.

But it's a lot easier to say " let's innovate" than it is to do. So I thought I'd give you a few ideas on how you can innovate successfully in your team, company or organisation. A few simple changes in attitude or behaviour can have a huge impact in terms of how ideas are generated - and innovations delivered.

So here they are - my seven strategies for success in innovation:

Recognise that everything is up for innovation. It’s not just about introducing big ideas, or new products and services. Look at how you work, the meetings you attend, and the way you engage with customers or clients. If it ain’t broke? Break it and put it together better.

Ask for help. Talk to your people on the frontline what causes the greatest problems, or the most complaints. Ask recent recruits what they’d change. Most people say that “good ideas can come from anywhere and anyone”. But very few organisations really accept that. Talk to your customers (What do we do badly? What do we do well that you’d like more of? What don’t we do that would help you solve a problem?)

Systemise it. Spend some time every week just dedicated to thinking about new ideas. Spend an hour couple of weeks with your team over coffee and cake just talking about new ideas.

Go look at other organisations. What do they do? What don’t they do well that you could do better?

Be prepared to fail. In fact, prepare to fail. If you’re not failing every now and again, you’re not trying anything new. Be comfortable with failure, and learn to fail quicker.

Get comfortable with creative thinking. Use the Headsurfing™ techniques (on our website, address below) to change the way you think.

Keep developing your people. Nothing succeeds in creativity and innovation like an enquiring mind.

If applying these strategies leads to huge success for you and your organisation, let me know. I won't demand a cut of savings or profits, but I would like you to send me a note!

FBI and CIA learn to "think outside the box".

2010-10-26T15:44:00.000+01:00

There's a brilliant story in the International press this morning.

In New York, FBI and CIA agents have apparently been sent on a course at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study classic paintings, with the aim of "refreshing their sense of enquiry".

What a fantastic idea.

By taking notes as they view the masterpieces, the hope is that they will improve the things they notice about a crime scene, and also their ability to describe it.

I fully expect a flood of complaints along the "total waste of money - just get them back on the streets" lines.

But I love it. By teaching them to look more closely at art, I can see the benefits in real life. In art, first impressions are often false, and there's usually more to the painting than initially meets the eye.

I'm no crime-fighting expert, but I suspect the same might also be the case in crime scenes.

And I think the course will go even further. By visiting places we don't often go (whether that be a gallery, a zoo, a new shop or even the pages of a new newspaper) we stimulate our brains in new ways. We give the brain new content with which to link. New experiences. New connections.

New ability to think differently. To think creatively.

Budget cuts and how to survive them

2010-10-22T15:30:00.000+01:00

It's been a week of conflict and argument, most of it about the economy.

The UK Government Spending Review was released, there are blockades and riots in France over changes to pensions, and the papers are full of (sometimes) well argued opinions about which sector of society will be most badly hit by the budget cuts.

But in the midst of debate, work still has to go on. Companies still have to deliver, organisations still have to perform. We still have problems to solve, and we still have opportunities to grasp.

Anyway, the teams, companies and organisations I've worked with over the last few years didn't seem to me to be drowning in floods of excess money. Maybe yours was, but I doubt it.

So how do we to survive the budget cuts? Reframe the lack of money as something to get creative about.

In any case, money doesn't solve problems. Ideas solve problems.

If the problem is important, it needs to be solved. If the idea is good enough, it has to be done. If the opportunity is great enough, the money isn't a cost - it's an investment.

When times are tough, and budgets are cut, try to look at the lack of money as just another problem to be solved by thinking creatively.

No money? Find someone who has money - or something else you can use to solve the problem. Who could we partner with? Who could sponsor this? Who else has this problem that might share the cost of solving it?

Think of new ways to fund things. New ways of paying the bill. New ways of doing business.

Let's get creative!

Presentation Tip - You must end on time

2010-10-14T14:02:00.000+01:00

There’s a Bob Monkhouse line popular with after-dinner speakers that your duty is to “Stand up. Speak up. And shut up”.

It makes a valid point. One of the first things an audience wants from you as a speaker or presenter is for you to stop talking.

Especially if the conference, event or pitch is over-running, they want you to finish on time. If you can cut your presentation down to the time remaining until the close, they’ll love you for it.

You may wish to aim for this and then ask if they’d like more, but leave it up to the audience.

Don’t simply think “I was given an hour, so I’m going to take an hour”. Audiences don’t like you taking them over time, whether they are leaving to go home, desperate for the loo or (heaven forbid) you stand between them and a free bar.

I failed on this point recently. I was given a very prestigious keynote spot for an audience of professional speakers. It was a big moment for me – I was closing the conference, and had just been made a Fellow of the organisation.

I had a great time. Such a great time I forgot it’s about them, not me. I over-ran, and some marked me down for that. Rightly so.

It doesn’t matter how much fun you’re having, or how much fun you think they’re having. Finish on time. And let them come up to you afterwards and say “I could have happily listened to you for much longer”.

Incidentally, if it’s a paid speech, check with the person paying your fee first. It may be that they’d rather move the end-time so that they get the full time for your fee!

Creative quotations - and a gag or two too

2010-10-14T13:57:00.000+01:00

“Every collaboration helps you grow”.
Brian Eno

“The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won’t get much sleep”.
Woody Allen

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading is good for him”.
Maya Angelou

“Pizza Express sell garlic bread with tomato and cheese. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that pizza?”
Jimmy Carr

“You should have an idea of what you want to do, but only a vague idea”.
Pablo Picasso

“Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things”.
George Carlin

Creativity tip: find time to mull

2010-10-14T13:54:00.000+01:00

And by mull I mean ruminate, cogitate, switch off and think in a relaxed manner. Not the island off the west coast of Scotland.

At a speakers’ convention last week I took pages and pages of notes. Too many, really, for me to act on them all.

So I planned some time a few days later to read through the notes, to mull them over, and then to decide which were the most important to act upon.

I suspect things might be similar for you – too many things to do, too little time?

I know the last thing you want me to tell you is that you must take time to think. But honestly, it will pay off.

Grab your notebook, get away from your desk, switch off the phone, and take fifteen minutes or so to mull things over. Let your mind wander, and take note of the tasks, actions and ideas that float to the surface of your consciousness.

Those are the important ones.

There's nothing so great as bad poetry.

2010-10-07T10:27:00.000+01:00

Today is National Poetry Day in the UK, a chance to celebrate, encourage and enjoy poetry and poets.

Schools pupils bring in favourite poems, and radio and TV programmes have invited poets (or inevitably, celebrities) to discuss and recite poetry. Many newspapers run features on the nation's favourite poems, and events are taking place across the country - including a walking tour of the poetry of the Old Town here in Edinburgh.

But as everyone else celebrates wonderful poetry and great poems, let us take a different course.

Let's celebrate, encourage and enjoy the bad poetry too.

You know who I mean: William Topaz McGonagall, Poet and Tragedian.

Born (and died) in Edinburgh, McGonagall is most associated with Dundee, a town which hardly deserves such a fate.

Revered as "The World's Worst Poet", this sorry title hardly does justice to his perfection in choosing the least appropriate poetic metaphor possible, his complete inability to scan, and his habit of finishing lines with rhymes that, well, just rhymed.

You may know of "The Tay Bridge Disaster":

"Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879
Which will be remember'd for a very long time."

And so on, for 59 gloriously awful, wonderfully excruciating, terrible lines. It's fantastic.

Or "An Autumn Reverie" with, towards the end, its curiously relevant little bit of politics, my name's Ben Elton, good night.

"Oh! Think of the struggles of the poor to make a living,
Because the rich unto them seldom are giving;
Whereas they are told he that giveth to the poor lendeth unto the Lord,
But alas! They rather incline their money to hoard."

You'll have worked out by now that he was a great fan of declamation and the exclamation mark.

When everyone else does one thing, let us do another. So in memory of the great William Topaz McGonagall, I suggest you host a McGonagall Supper, with readings and recitations. To be accurate, you should serve in reverse order, starting with coffee and ending with the starter.

I attend one with old University friends every year, but I'm sure McGonagall wouldn't approve; one of his life's driving forces was the cause of Temperance.

"Oh! thou demon Drink, thou fell destroyer;
Thou curse of society, and its greatest annoyer.
What hast thou done to society, let me think?
I answer thou hast caused the most of ills, thou demon Drink."

I'll drink to that.

Seth Godin doesn't want you to rehearse. Seth Godin is wrong.

2010-10-04T11:19:00.000+01:00

I subscribe to Seth Godin's blog. I love Seth Godin's blog. I find it inspiring, entertaining, educational, and enjoyable.

But not always. That's good, because if we agreed with everything we read it would be an awfully boring world.

A couple of weeks ago Seth wrote that "Rehearsing is for cowards".

He quoted Jackson Browne, who I suspect when he said rehearsing is for cowards was being controversial, confrontational, or both. Browne has sold more than 17 million albums, headlined live shows across the world, and written some of the most powerful songs of the last forty years.

And you don't get that good without rehearsing.

The next time you have a presentation to make, or a conference speech, or you're part of a pitch team, please don't fall into the trap of thinking you can wing it. Plan it, prepare it, and rehearse it.

I'm lucky enough to see a lot of great speakers in my job - indeed, I'm just back from the annual convention of the Professional Speaking Association, where I got to watch some of the best speakers in the world perform. I even got to do a keynote myself.

If great speakers look natural, confident, spontaneous and off-the-cuff, that's because they have put the work in to do so. I had a laugh at the convention with the brilliant after-dinner and conference speaker Graham Davies about rehearsing ad-libs. I was only partly joking.

Professional speakers plan and plan and plan. And then they start rehearsing.

Don't think that being under-rehearsed looks 'edgy', spontaneous or relaxed. It looks unprofessional, unprepared, and for the audience, it simply feels awkward.

Good. Quick. Cheap. Pick two.

2010-09-10T12:19:00.000+01:00

I first heard that mantra from a production director in an advertising agency.

"When it comes to print, there's good, there's quick, and there's cheap. Pick two".

I suspect this 'pick two from three' applies to much more than just printing. In most projects, getting the work done quickly and cheaply rarely results in great work. Having good work done quickly is rarely a cheap option. And if you want good work done cheaply, you generally have to make allowances for a longer delivery time.

I was reminded of this the other day when I drove past a beautifully crafted sign outside a local business which had appeared almost overnight.

It looked superb - a nice typeface, beautiful spacing, nice balance between text and white space. A lovely piece of work.

Except for the spelling mistake in the headline.

Back in the day, I was account handler on the advertising for a large group of hotels. I've worked on several hotel groups, actually, and often they're not the easiest of accounts to run. You tend to take your instructions from the marketing department, but for local activity it's the General Manager's P&L account that pays for the work. So there's often just a little bit of friction.

Anyway, I had been asked to prepare new external signage for an Edinburgh hotel that had just been taken over and refurbished. A large board by the road, advertising the new restaurant and bar, and focussing on the wide range of fine wines and beers available. This was back when having a range of continental lagers was a big thing.

So, we found a great signwriter, got a quote, and I took the estimate to the General Manager. "Four hundred quid?" said the GM. "I can get it done for half that".

And he did. A few days later, as I arrived for our next meeting, I noticed the new sign was up. "Nice sign" I said, as I joined the GM in his office.

"Yes, and it only cost me two hundred quid" he said. "Tea or coffee?".

"Neither, thanks. Can I have a Continental Larger please?"

"You mean a Lager?"

"No, a Larger".

"What's that?"

"I don't know, but it says on your sign outside that you sell them".

He'd had it done quickly, and cheaply. But not well.

If we had done it, it would have been more expensive. But if we'd messed it up, I'd have been responsible for having it re-done, not him.

I know you want everything done quickly, done well, and done cheaply. But honestly, you have to pick two of the three.

Quotivations

2010-08-31T14:22:00.000+01:00

Some motivational and creative quotes - and a gag or two.

“They asked me to be a Bond girl. I said the only Bond part I want to play is James Bond”.
Angelina Jolie

“All great deeds, all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning”.
Albert Camus

“The place of the father in a modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf”.
Bertrand Russell

“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer if they’re happy’”.
Anton Chekhov

“Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things”.
Theodore Levitt

“I like ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon, Dad. But the version from ‘Glee’ is much better”.
Ellen, 12

Reasons to be cheerful

2010-08-31T14:19:00.000+01:00

A great Edinburgh Festival Fringe We managed to see more than we usually do, and the weather has been pretty good. And I swear I saw a taxi driver smile.

University Challenge is back. Don’t know about you, but I feel great if I can answer just one question!

I have been taken by an irresistible urge to shake hands with famous people I adore. This month, Arlo Guthrie, Ian Rankin, Tom Kitchin, Johnny Vegas. Well, August in Edinburgh is a pretty starry month.

Presentation Tip: Your first priority is to start on time.

2010-08-31T14:17:00.001+01:00

There’s a long running online discussion on the pages of a speakers’ group, about speeches starting late. It asked for reasons – in one or two words – why a speaker might not start their speech on time.

Several justifiable reasons were given – fire alarm, emergency, illness. But one thing that struck me was the number of reasons which (to me, at least) seemed to be down to the speakers themselves. “My laptop wouldn’t work”. “My train was late”. “I went to the wrong room”.

These aren’t reasons, they’re admissions of fault. It’s the responsibility of every speaker, every presenter, to arrive on time – indeed, to be there early. In any case, if you’re there early, you can get a feel for the room – and the audience! And you can check your laptop, have a run through – or just relax a bit. Yes, your train might run late. That’s why you get the train two before the one that should come in on time.

My tip? Imagine the worst thing that could go wrong – and leave enough time for that to happen, and you to still start on time.

Incidentally, if you look at the reasons given above, only a few were the one or two word answer asked for. Several responses ran to five or six words. Perhaps that’s why so many presenters also over-run?

Creativity Tip - Stick-to-it-ness

2010-08-31T12:22:00.000+01:00

I recently read an interview with James Dyson, creator of both the cyclonic vacuum cleaner and my favourite recent invention, the Dyson Air-Blade™ hand drier. (Even although it makes my hands look like Buzz Lightyear’s face under G Force when I use it).

In the interview he repeated the fact that it had taken 15 years and over five thousand prototypes to develop the Dyson DC-01. Five thousand!

There’s a temptation to think of innovation and invention as an act of instant inspiration. For most creators, however, that inspiration is brought to life through hours, days, weeks – or even years – of development work.

So you need to stick to it. Honing, perfecting, improving – and if you believe you have a great idea, have faith and carry on.

And sometimes, the persistence you show pays off in unexpected ways. I was lucky enough to see the brilliant adman Dave Trott present last week, and he told the story of one of the most famous campaigns in British advertising, “I bet he drinks Carling Black Label”. The line fitted perfectly with the brand, and was at the heart of a campaign that ran for almost two decades (and was brought back years later).

But it wasn’t written for Carling – it was written for a pitch for the Milk Marketing Board. “I bet he drinks milk”.

Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?

Stephen Covey would call it Win Win

2010-08-25T16:48:00.000+01:00

It has finally struck me that I've got to that age. You know, the one where you turn into your Dad (or your Mum). And it's over music. Which is a bit hard on my Dad, because when I was 13 he took my brother and me to see David Bowie - and he fell for Bowie every bit as much as we did.

So much so that at Dad's funeral the chapel rang to the sounds of "Ziggy played guitar".

Anyway, my son Alex is 15 (16 next week), and some of his music is now getting a bit too, er, extreme. I'm going through the same reactions as a dad is supposed to go through. "Call that music? It's not even a new tune - the original was much better". And, of course, the killer - "You can't even make out the words".

Of course, none of this would matter - he has his own I-pod, and my noise reduction headphones are better than his. However, we spend almost an hour each way in the car together three times a week on the way to his football training, and the battle for control of the radio (Radio 2 vs Galaxy) has become intense. Until last night.

Until now, we had an agreement in place - one of his songs, then one of mine, then his. Interspersed with one of Ellen's (almost 13) if she's in the car too.

But it's not very satisfactory - he doesn't like mine (and sometimes on Radio 2, I don't either) and I don't particularly like his - especially the Ravey Davey ones.

But last night, on our way home, we had a great idea. A revelation. What Covey would call a Win Win.

Alex will make up a joint playlist for his I-pod (names so far include the AK, the AlKen, the Kenlex). On it, he'll put his music that he thinks I'll like - some of the less sweary Eminem, Jay-z, Biffy Clyro and such like. Then I'll put some in of my music - the reggae and funk originals of some of his samples, a bit of glam (although I think that will sound a bit effete for Alex) and 80s/90s hip hop that I think he'll like.

Sorted, as we used to say in 1991.

It was only after we both agreed this sounded like a great idea that I thought about Covey.

In "The Secret Habits of Highly Effective People" he talks about Win Win. And this one is perfect for us. We're both involved. We came up with the idea jointly. We both think it's a nice idea. And we might even learn something from the other's musical taste.

That's the beauty of seeking the Win Win position. Anything else - Win Lose, Lose Win, or even Lose Lose (which would have been the option of agreeing not to play music together at all) creates disappointment and resentment.

In solving problems with your team, your clients, your boss, seek the Win Win position. It's not simply a compromise (in which no-one really feels happy). It's a truly joint agreement which both can enjoy.

Should speakers and presenters use humour?

2010-08-20T12:04:00.001+01:00

...only if they want to get paid. Or so goes the old cliché.

I take it even further. Speakers should only use humour if they want to engage with their audience. Or make a point. Or be remembered.

I believe that humour is an integral part of any successful speech or presentation. But I also believe that it has to flow as a natural part of the speaker's presence, and be an integral aspect of the presentation.

One of the best ways of developing a natural humour style is to watch and learn from the best.

So this Wednesday, August 25th, I have invited Jeremy Nicholas to deliver his superb presentation "Putting the U in Humour" to the Scottish Chapter of the Professional Speaking Association. If you are a professional speaker - or aspire to be one - you really should come along.

Jeremy (or Jem to his friends, like what I am) is an award winning TV and radio broadcaster, after dinner speaker, compere and media trainer.

Does his approach work? Let me give you just one example. In 2005 a politician named Barack Obama heard him speak, and now he's the US President. Given this track record, what could Jeremy do for you?

The venue is the Apex European Hotel, Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh. Timing is 7pm for networking, with the session starting at 7.30pm. Cost is £18 if you are a Member or Candidate of the Professional Speaking Association, £20 for guests (cost includes a networking supper).

Half-time at the Edinburgh Fringe.

2010-08-19T12:48:00.000+01:00

It's the half way point of the Edinburgh Fringe 2010 - we're at the Amen Corner of comedy, theatre and music, ready for the back nine from now until next weekend. The Fringe finishes for 2010 on Monday, 30th August (although a lot of shows give their last performance on Saturday 28th).

So you have just ten days to get here by railway, take a plane, sailboat or any of the more unlikely forms of transport in that song. In other words, I don't care how you get here, just get here if you can.

Of the great things we've seen so far, most continue all next week. We were lucky enough to get tickets for the Gilded Balloon Press Show, at which the stand-out acts were Caroline Rhea (Former Auntie to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, now a great stand-up), and two musical comedy groups: the brilliant Dead Cat Bounce, and the er, awesome Axis of Awesome (take a look at their Four Chord Song on You Tube). Oh, and compere Jarred Christmas, also doing his own show at the Gilded.

Still on are Jason Byrne at the Assembly Hall (on The Mound - what an incredible venue, if you can get over the huge statue of John Knox glaring at you in the queue), Blood Brothers at C Too, and a huge number of current superstars including Tim Vine, John Bishop, Stephen K Amos and Kevin Bridges. And Diane loved Barbershopera - go figure.

Some of the shows we've seen have now finished their run - a brilliant Guys and Dolls by Forth Children's Theatre, The Rupert Pupkin Collective, and the incomparable Jason Manford.

Try to see something you'd never normally go to, as well as the bigger names. And if you're around, give us a buzz.

Why it's wrong to be right

2010-08-18T09:02:00.000+01:00

When it comes to creative thinking, it's often wrong to be right.

It's wrong to be the one who knows everything. The one with the greatest experience, or the fastest mind. The one wearing the tee-shirt with the words saying "Been There, Done That".

Because when you think you know what works (and what doesn't) it can be difficult not to judge new ideas as they come along - and find them wanting.

New ideas need space to breathe. Room to grow. Time to mature. New ideas arrive undeveloped and raw. Sometimes (and these are the really great ideas) they initially sound silly or even stupid.

They don't come with a budget breakdown, a list of features and benefits, or a PowerPoint presentation to help convince the Board.

So we have to suspend judgement when generating ideas. And I mean completely!

No thinking about whether the idea (at this point) is affordable. No judging about whether it fits with the current campaign. No deciding whether it can or can't be done. At this point, it's just an idea. Get it up on the flipchart, and move on to the next idea.

The difficulty is, when we know it all, we find it hard to suspend our judgement. We've been recruited, or promoted, because we have a lot of experience. We think quickly. We know what works, and what doesn't. Or at least, we think we do.

To come up with innovative ideas, and new solutions, we need to stop being right. We have to say "OK, I'm prepared to open my mind to new ways of doing this. I'll pretend (at least for a while) that I don't have the experience, the knowledge, the understanding of what works and what doesn't".

In other words, when it comes to coming up with new ideas, you have to ban the boss-ness.

Or alternatively, ban the boss.

The Edinburgh Festival Survival Guide

2010-07-30T14:04:00.000+01:00

As I’ve told you a million times, I’m not prone to exaggeration. But being in Edinburgh in August really makes you feel as if you’re at the centre of the world. Or at least the worlds of art, comedy, culture, music, dance and theatre.

And I say that as a Glaswegian.

When people talk about the Edinburgh Festival, they’re really talking about … festivals. Insert your own number, I’ve almost lost count.

The Art Festival started yesterday, The Jazz and Blues Festival starts tomorrow, and the multicultural Mela is from 6/8 until 8/8 on Leith Links. There’s even a brand new festival this year (which I’m taking part in): The Edinburgh International Marketing Festival. Oh, there's also the Television Festival, but that's trade only.

But the big four are the International Festival (the ‘proper’ festival), The Fringe (the big one for comedy, music, dance, theatre and kids’ events), the Book Festival and The Military Tattoo (not actually part of the Festival, but the tourists seem to like it).

I’m sure the Edinburgh Festival season generates its own version of Stendhal Syndrome – the panic attacks, breathlessness and hallucinations brought on by too much exposure to art and culture suffered by visitors to Florence. In Edinburgh, it’s brought on by too much comedy, music, and Georgian architecture, weird conversations with famous comics you meet in the Gilded Balloon bar, too many beers and too much deep fried pizza.

So, here’s my Survival Guide – How to Survive the Edinburgh Festival, written by an Edinburgh resident who still works the Festival like a tourist.

1. Plan in advance, but not too much

Book your tickets in advance for any big names, key shows, or your absolute “must-sees”. But don’t fill your days completely. Leave room – and plenty of it – for shows you hear about in bars, venues, or from your taxi driver. Be flexible, ask people for recommendations – and pass them on.

2. Get your bearings.

It’s actually quite simple. The city is centred on Princes Street (The Castle and the National Galleries on one side, shopping on the other). The Mound runs uphill south from Princes Street to the High Street (or Royal Mile) which runs from the Castle to Holyrood Palace. From Princes Street, Hanover Street goes north to George St (Assembly Rooms), Queen St (The Stand Comedy Club) and the New Town. I could tell you all about the New Town, but it would ruin some of my best material. Go up The Mound to the High St for free street shows (also at the side of the National Galleries) and on to The Gilded Balloon and Udderbelly in Bristo Square.

3. Get up early at least once. And stay up late often.

Apparently there are lots of great shows in the morning. They’ll be in the programme then. And there are loads of shows, gigs, events into the wee sma’ hours. Now those, I know about. The best known is Late’n’Live at the Gilded Balloon. It starts at 1am, and runs until 5am. But most venues have something on that runs until at least two or three in the morning. And if you’re all Fringe’d out, don’t worry. Most bars are open until four or five in the morning.

4. See something you’ve never experienced in your life before (and never will again).

It can be tempting just to go for the big ticket acts, or the most popular shows. But the point of Edinburgh is also to see and experience something weird, unusual and perhaps perplexing. If you don’t stagger out of a small theatre space with more people on stage than in the audience, thinking “What the hell was that about?” then you haven’t really ‘done’ Edinburgh.

5. There’s no such thing as bad weather…

…just the wrong clothes. (Billy Connolly). You know that song “Four Seasons in One Day”? Crowded House wrote that during a weekend in Edinburgh. (Actually they didn’t. But once when they played in Edinburgh I was their support act. Honest.) If you don’t like the rain, hang around. It will be sunny in half an hour. Or foggy, or snowing. So carry a mac, bring a jumper, and don’t forget the sun cream.

6. Take a break.

Get away from the culture fest for a couple of hours. Take a walk up Arthur’s Seat, a wander through the Botanic Gardens, or a dander along the beach at Cramond or Portobello. Or head down to North Berwick for “Fringe by the Sea” (10 - 15 August).

7. Get back in there.

If a flyer, or a taster of a show, or a long queue catches your eye, go for it. There’s always a drink close at hand, you can eat later, and sleep when you’re deid. It’s Festival time!

The old ones are the best

2010-07-28T22:27:00.000+01:00

I took a trip out to the Falkirk Wheel yesterday - it's only half an hour from my home in Edinburgh, but like most people I tend to do the tourist bit much more when I'm on holiday, rather than visit the fantastic stuff here on my doorstep.

But yesterday, I thought I'd do something different, for two reasons.

Firstly, because I'm a great believer that to encourage your creativity, you should do something you've never done in your life before, every week.

And secondly, my kids have been on holiday for three weeks now, and I thought they should do something that didn't involve Call of Duty, Facebook, or the Disney Channel.

Anyway, it's a fantastic sight, and a fantastic piece of engineering. A boat lift that rotates through 360 degrees (the first and only one in the world), it bridges the chasm between the Forth and Clyde Canal (at sea level) and the Union Canal (35m, or 115 feet, above it).

No locks, no dragging the barges up the hill - just sail the barge in, and the thing turns like a wheel, raising one boat while lowering another. It's also quite, quite beautiful.

You can watch it here: Falkirk Wheel (and ignore the daft eejit who comments "It's fraud! It takes nearly five minutes").

Anyway, what's that got to do with "The old ones are the best"?

Well, think about it. One of these barges must weigh several tons. Or tonnes, if you prefer. And then they fill them with people.

So what happens when there's a barge on only one of the Wheel's 'arms'? Doesn't the weight imbalance cause a problem - if not a disaster?

The solution to this 21st century problem was over 2300 years old: The Archimedes Principle.

The volume of water displaced by the barge is equal to the volume of the barge itself, so by applying the principle, and making sure the weights are equal, it doesn't matter if the space is filled with water, or filled with barge and people.

I wish I'd been in the room when that happened. "So, any ideas on how we might solve this?".

"Hang on, what about that guy that went for a bath and then ran down the street naked, shouting "Eureka"? Wasn't that a similar problem?"

I love it - getting an idea not from what's going on around you, but from another time, another environment, or another culture.

Try it - it might just work.

Getting it done - lessons from Geldof and Kennedy

2010-07-16T12:38:00.000+01:00

You'll have noticed that this week is twenty-five years since the Live Aid concert, "The day music changed the world".

The BBC celebrated the anniversary by broadcasting two great programmes which are, as I write, available to watch again on the BBC i-Player.

"Rocking all over the world" was the minute-by-minute story of the day itself - it was inspirational, emotional, and brought back great memories of a time when music, musicians and music fans really managed to make a difference.

Although some of the clothes and hairstyles sparked horrible, horrible memories - and that was only looking at my own photographs of the day.

The other programme, broadcast on Tuesday night, was "Against All Odds", the story of how the day was organised and pulled together in only twelve weeks from initial idea. Yes, twelve weeks.

As you can imagine, the central theme that Bob Geldof kept hearing was "it can't be done". He was told he couldn't get the acts, he couldn't get a venue, he couldn't get a broadcaster. He was told that America was impossible. He was advised that the stage wouldn't work. Experts insisted that they were right, and he was wrong.

And he refused to take no for an answer.

What impressed me then, and it still does, was his single-minded pig-headedness not to let people stamp on his vision. He knew he - and we - had to do what we could to bring relief to Ethiopia, and this was all he could do. To paraphrase Nike, his answer was "Just f**king do it".

(Incidentally, he never said "Give us your f-ing money". What he said was "F the addresses, give them the numbers". And he never said "Play it again Sam" either.)

I met Bob Geldof a couple of years ago, when he spoke at a conference I was compering.

They say you should never meet your heroes. What nonsense.

He is everything you'd expect - inspiring, warm, funny, informed, entertaining, open, witty. And no, he hadn't seen the inside of a barbers for a while, but he did have great trainers on.

One of the things he said that day has stayed with me.

He said that all that he did ("all that he did?!") was to challenge people to get things done, using their own initiative. He said "I'd get a phone call saying 'I'm a PA in an office, and want to do something to help". Bob would say "Excellent - you're now 'Secretaries for Africa' - go and raise money".

A few weeks later an envelope would arrive, stuffed with cash, and a note saying "Secretaries for Africa did a sponsored run - here's the money we raised".

He's not the first to say that if we give people responsibility, and let them find answers or solutions to problems, we'll be amazed by their strength, ingenuity and integrity. But why do we keep forgetting that lesson?

Geldof launched Live Aid with only twelve weeks to set it up. He announced the line-up when very few of the bands had even been contacted, never mind had agreed to perform.

They succeeded.

The target was to raise a million pounds. The final figure was one hundred and fifty million pounds.

In 1961, John F Kennedy announced that the United States should commit to the goal of "by the end of this decade, landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth". At the time, his experts expressly told him that it couldn't be done.

They succeeded.

Think big, and inspire others. Just because something is impossible doesn't mean it can't be done.

What do you remember from Live Aid?

2010-07-13T23:51:00.000+01:00

It was twenty five years ago today. July 13th, 1985, at Wembley (and Philadelphia, and 6 other sites across the world).

A moment in TV history, but I didn't see any of the TV coverage until after the event. Because I was there!

The day the tickets went on sale, my brother Stuart happened to be in Edinburgh, and walking past the Playhouse box office. Seeing a queue, he joined it. (Well, that's what happens when you've been brought up in the Soviet Union during the beetroot shortages. Or East Kilbride).

Turned out the queue was for tickets for Live Aid - tickets we couldn't get near in London, living a mile or so from the venue. So on the day, we were there, and it was brilliant, from beginning to end.

Great memories, for a great cause, and as the programme on BBC TV called it tonight, the day music changed the world. OK, perhaps not forever, but at least for a while, and for some who might otherwise not have lived.

Tears, laughter, great sets from some of the finest pop and rock acts of all time. Bowie (of course). Queen. U2. Bryan Ferry. Sade. The Spandaus and Duran. And Quo kicked it all off, while Sir Paul Macca closed it without his mic being switched on.

What a day. Thanks Stuart, and thanks Bob.

When in Rome. So why not ... when at home?

2010-06-16T17:22:00.001+01:00

You know what they say. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

We're planning a trip to Rome in early July, and when I say planning, I mean planning.

It's a long time since we visited the Eternal City, and as we have only a few days in this most romantic and historical and inspiring of cities, we're really putting the time in to make sure we get the most from our visit.

We contacted the Italian Tourist Board, who sent us a pack of maps, guides, details of festivals, walking trips and cultural events. We've checked the location of our hotel (near the Piazza Navona) and looked at walking tours and metro journeys we can take to the top attractions.

I've even used Twitter and Facebook to ask "What should we do in Rome" and had answers from friends who have been there, and more impressively, from locals living in Rome.

Which makes me wonder - why don't we do this for our home town?

Can we honestly say we spend time planning our time off at home? Looking for the best sites, the new recommendations, the 'inside knowledge' from others who live here?

Probably not. And yet, as I've said before, the best way to keep your creativity high is to continually look for new stimuli, new experiences, new places in which to immerse yourself.

Imagine you were visiting your home town as a tourist for a couple of days. What pre-planning would you do? Whose advice would you seek? What tourism resources would you investigate?

OK, now do it! And visit some new places next weekend!

Scotland supports England - well, mostly.

2010-06-11T12:10:00.001+01:00

As I write, the World Cup is about to start. The opening ceremony is minutes away, the first match is this afternoon, and England's first game is tomorrow night.

So as a Scotsman, I have to make a decision. Who do I support?

The decision is made. I will be supporting England. You shouldn't be surprised at this. They are, after all, the nearest thing we have to a local team, and I was brought up to support the local team whoever they are.

In any case, you shouldn't believe that scurrilous rumour put about that Scottish fans support two teams... Scotland, and whoever is playing against England. It's simply not true.

We will always support England - unless, of course, they are playing against a country with which we have a lot in common.

Ireland, for example. Another Celtic nation, a land of romance, language and literature, just like Scotland. So when Ireland play England, we tend to favour the Irish.

And Wales. We've got to support Wales - they're Celts too. So that's Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.

And France. Because of the "Auld Alliance". France and Scotland were friends long before we became friends with England. Assuming, that is, that we're friends now.

So that's it - Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France. And Canada - we've all got aunties and uncles in Canada. And Australia. And New Zealand.

Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Apart from them, we'll always support England.

Oh, what about USA? Come on - cowboys, hamburgers and Bugs Bunny? What's not to like?

But as long as you don't play any of those countries, we're with you all the way.

But Germany - we've got to support Germany. Come on guys, it was a long time ago. Get over it. And the same goes for Argentina. A long time ago, and they were a long way away.

So that's it. We'll support England forever, unless they play Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Germany or Argentina.

Hang on - Italy. Italy? Pizza, Pasta and Pavarotti. You can't go against the Italians.

Or the Spanish - remember the girl in Marbella that summer?

So to recap, unless they're playing Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Germany, Argentina, Italy or Spain, we're singing for England.

Come on England!

(Wait a minute. Brazil. Everyone supports Brazil, yeah?).

Find a mastermind group. Or start a mastermind group.

2010-06-10T21:18:00.000+01:00

Since I mentioned my Mastermind group in a Tweet at the weekend, I've had a host of queries about how it works, and how to set one up.

In the spirit of caring, sharing, and the thought of hundreds of Mastermind groups named after me, I'm happy to let you know how we do it.

In essence, a mastermind group is a small network of like-minded individuals who get together on a regular basis to share information, offer support and advice, and cook a nice dinner (maybe that last one is just us).

If you work on your own, or you think you would benefit from talking over your hopes, fears, challenges and problems with others who are willing and keen to help (and you, to help them), then you should find, join or create a mastermind group. Here's how:

Find people you trust, respect, and like.

If you don't trust them, you won't feel comfortable enough to bare your soul about what matters.

If you don't respect them, you won't respect their answers or advice.

And if you don't like them? Why would you want to spend time and effort with people you don't like?

Who are my mastermind group members? Three people I trust implicitly, and respect totally. And I love sharing their company.

Each of them is superb in the mastermind group - and they are all great as speakers and advisers too.

Alan Stevens at http://www.mediacoach.co.uk is the leading speaker, author and expert in handling the media and creating business opportunities from new media.

Lesley Everett is famous for her programme of personal branding for career and corporate success, Walking Tall. An absolute expert in the importance of branding for individuals, she's at http://www.lesleyeverett.com .

Sean Weafer is a tour de force as a speaker and thought leader in the science and art of selling in the 21st Century. He's at http://www.seanweafer.com

Meet regularly. And commit completely to the meetings.

We meet once a quarter. And the rule is, we make it.

Everyone gets a chance to seek help, and give it.

We start with a catch up, and a sharing of news. OK, we spend a little while sharing the gossip and putting the world to rights. The core part of the day, however, we share in seeking advice. We have an hour each, where the meeting is focused on us individually, one at a time. We can ask for advice, look for suggestions on what we should do next, seek new contacts, suppliers and ideas. The hour is ours, and the help and support is completely invaluable.

Make it as much fun as it is "work".

We hold our meetings in each others' homes, and have dinner with each other in the evening. The importance of this time together is as important as the more 'formal' time, and we get as much benefit from dinner as we do from the meeting.

Try it, do it, enjoy it.

Reinvent yourself. Constantly.

2010-05-28T12:53:00.000+01:00

There was a great interview on TV the other day with Neil Young, one of my all-time favourite musicians.

With Neil, it's all about the music - nothing else matters. Indeed, time and time again he has cancelled gigs, fallen out with colleagues, and upset fans because the muse has struck - and Neil always, always, follows his muse.

I suspect this is a common trait among highly creative people - as is one of his other habits: reinvention.

Talking about Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, the supergroup he joined in 1969, he said "You can only be 'that band' for so long before you have to do something else. You can't just do it again. It doesn't work. It couldn't, even if we wanted to."

Neil Young's career is a monument to successful reinvention - Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y, Crazy Horse, countless solo hit albums, even creative collaboration with Devo (yes, I said Devo) which led to one of his finest songs - Hey Hey, My My.

Reinvention - that's the key to Neil Young's creativity. And indeed, it's the key to all creativity.

Highly creative people constantly reinvent themselves. They look for every opportunity to learn new things, experience new stimulus, take new approaches. Reinvention is something that highly creative people apply not only to the brief, the work, the brainstorm. They also apply it constantly to themselves.

So, what are you going to do to reinvent yourself?

What new skill could you learn? What new experience could you take on? What new YOU could you create?

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

2010-05-26T13:06:00.000+01:00

OK, so in thinking how the hugely successful grocery retailers use speed to kill off the competition, I couldn't help nicking the title from a Russ Meyer film.

But it will do until a better title comes along.

Anyway. I've been working with an organisation on how to improve their products, the service they provide to their customers, and how they engage their people. One of the techniques I've used is to introduce them to my "Innovation Provocations". These are a series of questions, challenges and thought provoking statements introduced randomly into the idea process in order to break normal patterns of thinking.

For example - "How could we make this faster"? "How would we do it if we were starting over again"? "How would change it if we had to give it away for free"?

The point is that you can apply these Innovation Provocations to ANY situation, not just the obviously "creative" situations like coming up with ideas for marketing and branding. One that really worked was "How can we make it faster?" - and that was in a discussion about training and development.

But examples abound in the real world of how this particular Provocation has been used to solve problems. Think about your local supermarket.

How can customers be 'processed' quickly, once they have filled their trolley? Of course, they don't want to rush you through the store - not while there's a good chance you'll make plenty of additional or impulse purchases as you stroll round.

But once you have joined the queue at the checkout, it's in their interest (and frankly, ours too) to get your money and get you out as quickly as possible.

One of the (several) large grocery stores round here has recently changed its check-out procedures. And with the "How can we make it faster?" thought in mind, I noticed that several of the changes seem tailor-made to make the transaction as fast as possible. Having spoken to a "company insider", my suspicions were confirmed.

Firstly, the checkout itself is much longer than before - it now takes almost a full shop from the largest trolley. In addition, the check-out operator no longer waits to say "good morning - can I help you pack?". As soon as the shopping hits their end, away they go!

Secondly, they no longer ask - during the payment stage - "Would you like cashback"? It's still available, but only if you ask. I'm sure this speeds up each transaction by just a few seconds, but multiplied out it must make a difference. (I'm sure it also leaves cash in their bank overnight rather than mine, but that may be an old-fashioned thought that has no reality to the actualite of modern banking?).

And here's the killer - if you do ask for cash, they don't ask you to sign for it any more. Why not? Well, I can only imagine that they did a test and found that the risk of fraud was so low that they could happily drop that stage and speed up the transaction by another few, vital seconds.

So ask yourself - what could you speed up. What ideas might that generate. And once you've done that, ask "What could we slow down?"

Speed is one thing, but you'll get more benefit personally - and for your team and organisation - by slowing down.

A game of two halves from Malcolm Gladwell. Or not.

2010-05-10T15:28:00.000+01:00

Malcolm Gladwell hit Edinburgh last night, to speak at the Festival Theatre. Yes, that Malcolm Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers. And a new one called "What the dog saw".

Well, what this dog saw was Malcolm Gladwell. For fifty minutes.

To open his talk, he made a decent joke about how he'd understand if anyone had to leave early to form a new government. And then started on his theme, which was serendipity.

He told us about the three types of serendipity, or happy accidental discovery (and admitted that this wasn't his idea, but that of Robert Friedel).

Columbian serendipity is when you go looking for something and discover something else (like Columbus discovering The Americas when he was searching for China and India).

Archimedean serendipity is when you're trying to find an answer, and suddenly find it in an unusual place, as did Archimedes when he realised the solution to his problem (how do you measure the mass of an unusual object) when he spilled water on getting into his bath.

And finally, Galilean serendipity, which is when you build a tool or process for discovery, and find something completely new. Galileo built a completely new telescope, to search the heavens. When he did, he discovered new planets, new moons - and by coming back night after night to the sky, realised that moons travel round planets, and planets round the Sun. In other words, our world was centred on the Sun, not Earth.

Incidentally, this led to him being attacked by the Church, charged with heresy, and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. But don't worry, the Church finally expressed regret for the way he was treated in, er, 1992.

So back to Malcolm Gladwell.

The main content of his presentation was the role of Serendipity in discovery and research, particularly with regard to the search for cancer cures. His central story was that of a biotechnology research company on the outskirts of Boston, running two major programmes (or programs, I suppose I should say) of cancer drug research.

As everything around them failed, and they were about to collapse completely, they received unexpected news that one of their trials had succeeded, beyond all expectations. Serendipitously, a rare chemical they had sourced in the badlands of Soviet science had proven to be effective.

What an inspiring and exciting story. Until he finished with the punchline that in third level trials - the most important, large-scale ones - it failed.

And that wasn't only the punchline to the story, but the show. He said thank you, left the stage, and went off to sign books in the foyer.

We - and most of the audience - sat for a while as the lights went up. Was it an interval? Was anyone selling ice cream? Time for a quick one in the Pear Tree before the re-start?

No, that was the end of the show. Fifty minutes. For Malcolm, it was over in a ... Blink, I suppose.

I don't think it's the "Fifty Minutes for £17.50" I object to. Honestly - I didn't even pay for my ticket, it was a gift. But we did feel short-changed.

I think it was the "Is that it? Is that really it?" that hurt.

I like Malcolm Gladwell. I really like Malcolm Gladwell's books. But sheesh, Malc. Give a bit more to your audience, will you?

Top tips we learned last night:

It's good to leave them wanting more. But not that much.
If you are the one with ideas and knowledge, do a Q&A.
Resolve the conversation. "And then it failed" is not a satisfactory conclusion.
Suruchi across the road from the Festival Theatre does a fabulous curry.

Communication Tip - engage them with your opening.

2010-04-27T20:11:00.000+01:00

I'm in Oxford as I write this, preparing to speak to an audience of Head Teachers tomorrow.

It's one of my favourite cities, and the location of a large part of one of my favourite novels - Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.

It's a vast, sprawling story of the relationship between Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte, and Sebastian's family. It was made gloriously famous by a Granada Television dramatisation in the early 80's (and less so by a film version a couple of years ago).

Thinking of the novel as I walked around the Oxford Colleges today, one thing kept coming to mind with regard to my speech tomorrow. The opening line of Brideshead Revisited.

The opening line of Chapter One (although there is a prologue) is "I have been here before".

It is spoken by Charles Ryder, on realising that the army platoon he captains (in the Second World War) is to be camped at Brideshead, home of Sebastian's family. "I have been here before".

The line sets up the whole drama of the novel, setting Charles on a journey through his memory of the preceding twenty or thirty years, from his first days at Oxford, to meeting Lord Sebastian Flyte and friends, Sebastian's dissolution through drink, Charles' marriage and development as an artist, and his relationship with Sebastian's sister Julia.

But it all starts with that one line - "I have been here before".

With the opening line, Waugh sets the stage for his story - and with an opening line, every presentation you make, every email you send, every report you produce will set the stage for how your audience will take it and understand it.

Work hard on that opening line. Is it strong, engaging, involving? If it is, you'll be some way to achieving your objective. (And you do have an objective, don't you?).

If it is weak, unengaging, banal - then you are off to the worst of all possible starts. And don't expect that your audience will come with you on the rest of the journey.

I'll be working hard on my opening for tomorrow's speech. But then again, I have been here before.

Presentation tip – Tell a story

2010-04-12T08:27:00.000+01:00

One of the most powerful ways you can influence your audience is to use stories.

There seems to be some deep connection between people and story, perhaps going back to our childhood. Look into your own experience, or the story of your company, organisation or brand, to find stories that make a point.

Use the classic structure of conflict, resolution and point to make sure your stories resonate with the listener, and add to your pitch.

First, set up the conflict – what was the problem, challenge, danger?

Second, how was this resolved? How did you overcome it?

Finally, make the point. How does it uncover a greater truth? What does it mean for the listener? What did you learn from it?

Story is unquestionably powerful, and one of the best ways you can really connect with your audience.

Creativity Tip: It’s all about collaboration

2010-04-11T20:53:00.000+01:00

"I tried to make ideas happen. Ideas that could change life".

The words of Malcolm McLaren, one of our great artistic directors, who died on Thursday. Next day, there was some bore on the radio fulminating about how disgraceful it was that Malcolm sailed a boat down the Thames with the Sex Pistols playing "God Save the Queen" outside the Houses of Parliament, during The Queen's Silver Jubilee.

Was it disgraceful? Perhaps. But it was funny, too. RIP, Malcolm. Rest in Provocation.

Although Malcolm McLaren created some stunning work himself (I love Buffalo Girls and Madame Butterfly in particular), his greatest skill was in collaboration. From his early collaborations in fashion retail with Vivienne Westwood and others, to helping bring together The Sex Pistols, Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow and many others, he knew that great ideas, and great changes, come from bringing together the talents of others.

If you have challenges to overcome, or problems to solve, or need to come up with ideas (and who doesn't?), look to form new collaborations. Link with other teams, other individuals, people with new skills.

Creation comes from collaboration.

How to handle the hecklers, Gordon!

2010-04-08T19:58:00.000+01:00

So Gordon Brown was on the receiving end of the first heckle of the election campaign.

Or as his political strategists might put it, he was involved in early interactive face to face voter participation in the ongoing national debate.

If you missed the event, you can watch it here: http://bit.ly/cw1wGb

Now, having been on the end of more than a few "interruptions" myself, I have developed a cunning three-option plan for handling those who wish to move from "audience", to "participant".

The three options are:

1. Ignore them.
2. Involve them.
3. Insult them.

The Prime Minister took the first option - Ignore them.

For you or me, when we're presenting to a meeting or conference, that's the correct option. Most times, the 'heckle' was only heard by the heckler and those immediately around them, and if it was a real heckle, you risk getting drawn off course.

But please note, Gordon, that isn't the best option when:

1. You're the Prime Minister standing for re-election,
2. It's in front of the country's TV, radio and press, and
3. The heckle is an appropriate question (even if the voter in question did seem able to get surprisingly close to the PM, and was suspiciously well caught by the TV cameras).

Second option, and moving it up a level, is to Involve them. This, I feel, is what GB should have done. He should have expressed concern, promised to look into it and get back to him (and done so). Then the TV pictures would have been about the PM handling things well, with one of his aides being seen taking notes.

That's the best response for you and me too, if appropriate. Firstly, because if it was a genuine heckle - that is, a pointed, nasty interruption - you taking your time to pause, and engage with the other person will usually embarrass them into silence.

However, if their point is valid, or interesting - and especially funny - you'll get great kudos from bringing them into the discussion.

The final option is to Insult them. This is by far the best option if you are incredibly good at thinking on your feet, prepared for a response which might be funnier than yours, willing to take a punch on the snoot, and you're doing the midnight show at the Comedy Store.

If you're in any other situation, hold the insults.

Unless, of course, you're John Prescott, who I understand has his very own way of dealing with interruptions.

Innovation Provocation - Beg, Steal or Borrow

2010-04-05T13:26:00.000+01:00

"Bad artists copy. Great artists steal". At least, they do according to Pablo Picasso.

Looking at the work of others has always been a great source of inspiration for artists - and for writers, film-makers, advertising creatives, inventors, entrepreneurs and anyone else involved in coming up with ideas.

Of course, you don't want to simply rip off the ideas of others.

You want to take inspiration, pay homage, find that spark of inventiveness that starts a new train of thought which leads you developing something new, fit for your own purpose and answering your own challenge.

I heard a great example last week. I don't know into which category you'd put Rolf Harris - bad artist or great artist, but for me he's firmly in the latter category. (I still have to brush away a tear whenever I hear "Two little boys"). And anyone who can play "Stairway to heaven" on a wobble board in front of a capacity crowd at Glastonbury is truly great in my eyes!

Being interviewed by Jools Holland on BBC Radio 2, Rolf admitted that he'd heard a song by the great Harry Belafonte called "Don't tie me donkey down there, let him bray, let him bray". At the time, Rolf was performing every week at the Down Under Club in London, and looking for songs he could do with a chorus for the crowd to join in.

"I thought, if we change it to Kangaroo, and write some Aussie verses, that would do" said Rolf. And the rest is history - Top Ten in the UK, No. 3 in the chart in the USA, and Number One (of course!) in Australia.

Look around you - in other fields, other arenas, other organisations. What do they do that you could inspire new ideas for you and your team?

Use their Provocation to inspire your Innovation.

Be prepared for compliments as well as complaints!

2010-03-18T15:02:00.001Z

I tried to compliment someone last week. I really tried. But now they'll never know.

I arrived late in a city centre hotel, with a full day of meetings and training the next day. So rather than go down to the bar or the restaurant to eat, I decided to order room service.

Nothing fancy. No large silver globes over the plates, no gangs of waiters setting a table on the terrace, no gentle pop of the champagne cork as I come out of the bath. (As you can tell, I've always rather fancied the James Bond lifestyle).

Just a club sandwich. A simple club sandwich. (OK, and fries).

It arrived, and in good time too. And what a club sandwich! Toasted ciabatta, still warm.

Succulent, chargrilled chicken breast. Crisp streaky bacon. Soft lettuce, sweet tomatoes. OK, the mayonnaise was in those annoying little packets, as was the ketchup for the fries, but this was delicious.

You might think I'm going over the top on a sandwich, but trust me, the food in standard hotels isn't usually this good.

So, on the basis that I always call down to complain if something's wrong, I decided to call down to congratulate and thank the restaurant. So I call the restaurant number on the bedside phone.

"Hello, reception," came the answer. "Oh!" I said. "I wanted the restaurant". "Putting you through now sir". She said. Cue a few minutes of Vivaldi (of course), then "Hello reception".

"I'm waiting for the restaurant?" I said. "Putting you through now sir". Vivaldi's back.

"Hello reception!" came the cheery but by now tiresome welcome. "Can I have the restaurant please" I asked. Still being pleasant. I hope.

"Putting you through now sir" she said. Of course she did. By this time, even Vivaldi has chucked it. The Four Seasons have gone, to be replaced by a "Welcome to the Hotel" message offering lunches, dinners and stay-overs at Christmas and New Year.

Yes, I know it's March.

Then, "Hello reception!".

I think I said "Oh, never mind!", and put the phone down. Assuming the poor woman didn't know it was me again, God knows what she thought.

So, a compliment, which they didn't receive. In fact, a compliment which almost turned into a complaint. Just because they didn't pick up the phone.

So, what did I learn? That some of our customers want to say thank you, and well done. And of course, some want to complain. But if we don't do the simple things - like picking up the phone - we'll never know.

Try it now. Pick up the phone, and call your own business. And see how they handle the call.

Innovation Provocation

2010-02-26T08:56:00.000Z

Trying to come up with ideas? Stuck with a problem?

What would your old friends suggest?

I was watching one of my favourite films the other day - The Big Chill. It's about a group of University friends who get together for the first time in years, at another friend's funeral. It has a fantastic cast (Kevin Kline, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, Glen Close and William Hurt) and a superb soundtrack.

The film deals with how the group comes to terms not only with the suicide of an old friend, but also the way their lives have turned out after the idealism of their student days in the '60s.

Of course, we all move on from the people we were at school, college or university. But sometimes it pays to look back to the people we were, either to gauge where we are now (and where we want to be) - or to find an alternative viewpoint from which to come up with ideas.

If you're struggling with a problem, or trying to find new ideas, try this exercise: what would your friends from years ago suggest that you do?

Chances are that when you hung about with a big group of friends at college or university you (and they) were more free-thinking, more relaxed, less hung up about responsibility and "the rules".

Try going back to those days for a while - at least in your mind.

What would you have come up with in those days?

What would your old friends suggest?

Innovation Provocation

2010-02-15T13:46:00.001Z

Trying to come up with new ideas? Struggling with a problem at work? Think about it in a new way.

Ask yourself a couple of questions.

What would the competition least expect us to do? What would surprise them? Scare them? Outrage them?

Put some ideas together that answers these challenges - perhaps it will take your thinking in new directions.

Where were you when Mandela walked free?

2010-02-11T16:10:00.000Z

Today is the twentieth anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from a South African prison. Radio stations here in the UK (and, I expect) across the world have broadcast interviews with people recalling where they were when they saw those long-lens pictures of our first sight of a man who had been locked up for almost thirty years - a man who was soon to become the most respected man on the planet.

Listening to the stories, I realised I had forgotten that at the time, many in South Africa were terrified that his release would unleash a terrible revenge and payback by black South Africans.

They expected riots, reprisals and even deaths as black South Africa took revenge for years of repression under the apartheid regime. The fact that the country turned to majority rule and then reconciliation was due almost wholly to the integrity and humanity of the man whose release we re-celebrate today

Where were you on that day? We had gathered with friends to watch on TV and have lunch. As the release became more and more delayed, lunchtime went back, and back - and eventually became dinner. But at last the TV cameras picked up the image of a man - much older and weaker than we had expected - and the celebrations, across the world, could begin.

There are still problems in South Africa, and I know my friends there are doing what they can to improve things. But when you think that one of the first aims of the new government was to achieve a water tap within 100 metres of each family, you realise how bad things were beforehand.

What a day. What a man.

Going the extra mile - or standing still?

2010-02-04T13:31:00.000Z

In his latest blog (see below) Seth Godin talks about a "cyborg tool", recently unveiled at the annual TED conference of scientists, futurists, artists and thinkers.

The cyborg tool will remember names, find connections and bring all sorts of external data to us the moment we need it. This will allow us to make links instantaneously - "Oh, yes, David, he's the guy I met through James at the marketing conference - he'd just taken a new job with P&G".

Seth is underwhelmed. He reckons that "The first time it happens to you you'll be blown away and flabbergasted. The tenth time, it'll be ordinary, and the 20th, boring". He believes it's like hotels remembering your name and preferences - just a database trick.

Well, here in the UK, I wish hotels would use the "database trick" more often when we check in!

I stayed last week in one of my favourite "boutique" hotels, in the north of England. I was delighted when I found that in my room (not the same room as before) they had left the window open just a little - exactly as I like it, and exactly as I had left the window on my previous visit. The Gleneagles Hotel (one of the best in the world) used to use the 'window as you like it' as an example of their fantastic service, and it featured in a series of ads by the late, lamented Hall Advertising in Edinburgh.

All evening, I thought "how cool is that - they noticed, they remembered (or their database did - I'm happy with that) and they made sure to make the room exactly as I like it on my next visit".

Just before retiring for the night, I went to close the window a little. They hadn't remembered. The window catch was broken.

Ah well, business as usual.

But why can't hotels get this simple little aspect of customer service right, even when you've stayed there three times in the last month? Why can't they ask me how my journey was (my home address is right there on their computer, I assume). Why can't they say "On your last visit you dined out, Mr Harris - this time would you like to try the hotel restaurant, or can I recommend a great restaurant nearby?"

The data is easy to capture - all they need is to add the human element by actually using it.

And if you've got a hotel and you do this stuff (or a client hotel who does) let me know and I'll stay there next time.

PS: Seth Godin's blog is here: http://sethgodin.typepad.com

Who would you add to your ideas team if there was a transfer window?

2010-02-02T11:52:00.000Z

It was transfer deadline day yesterday across European football, with last minute deals bringing in new players for many teams. The principle behind most transfers was to freshen up (and strengthen) the team for the second half of the season.

It got me wondering - who would you add to your team in order to freshen it up and strengthen it in order to create a title-winning performance in 2010?

Perhaps you need a world class striker - someone who can sniff out opportunities, pounce on them and stick them in the back of the net? Or a classy midfielder, elegant, intelligent, linking people, resources and parts of the team together. Or perhaps your challenges are more pressing, and you need strength in defence: someone who isn't scared of hard times, is willing to stand up and be counted when your backs are against the wall.

I'm sorry, using football as a metaphor always brings me out in cliches.

The point is, few teams have the opportunity to go out and recruit all the various people they might need. So when it comes to generating ideas and solving problems we all need to be flexible, taking on different roles as the need arises.

Think about how highly creative people work. Do what they do. Think like they think. Take a look at www.headsurfing.com for some ideas on how to do this.

Next time you are in a brainstorming session, don't just sit there with the same old gang round the table. Imagine you'd just spent a fortune on bringing in the world class team you need - and think like they would!

Innovation Inspiration - Robert Burns

2010-01-25T16:10:00.000Z

It's Burns' Night here in Scotland.

Perhaps the only day in the calendar (in any country in the world) set aside to celebrate the life and works of a poet. For one day at least let us be encouraged us to focus on art, love and culture.

Rabbie's life (and work) was a mass of contradictions. The ploughman poet. A man from a poor background who wrote some of the most beautiful (and long lasting) poetry of all time. A man who espoused devotion and life-long love - but had a (well founded) reputation as a womaniser.

Take time this evening to read some Burns (try www.robertburns.org ), and raise a glass of whisky to art, to love, and to poetry.

And if you want to find inspiration to help you solve a problem or generate ideas, ask yourself these questions:

"What could we borrow from the past and improve?" (Burns regularly used themes, tunes and poems from the past to inspire his own poetry)

"How could we become more self-aware?" ("O wad some power the Giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us")

"What could we do to treat all our customers (or staff) as equal?" ("For a' that, an' a' that, it's coming yet for a' that, That Man to Man the world o'er, shall brothers be for a' that")

And remember - "Freedom and whisky gang thegither!"

2010-01-25T11:03:00.000Z

I saw an ad this morning for a TV/Phone/Broadband Package, with the headline "You Watch, You Talk, You Tube".

I wonder if it's running in Glasgow, where the last two words have a very different meaning.

And they're usually spelled "Ya Choob".

Innovation Provocation

2010-01-18T12:10:00.000Z

At least once a week I'll be posting ideas, questions or challenges to help you with your Innovation challenges. If you apply the Innovation Preovocation to a business or organisational challenge you're working on, it might help generate new ideas, new products or services, or new ways of working.

The best way to use these is to apply the Provocation directly to your issue - to think the way the Provocation tells you, use that to generate new streams of ideas, and then to 'come out' of the question, and apply these new ideas to your challenge.

Over time, the various Innovation Provocation will build into a set of tools you can use in brainstorms, idea generation sessions or team meetings - either by keeping a list of them yourself, or by referring back to the relevant pages on this blog.

Good luck, and have some fun applying them!

Here's the first Innovation Provocation:

What would your boss suggest if they were sitting in this meeting?

What different way would they have of looking at the problem? What suggestions might they have? What would they want you to concentrate on? What would they discard? What new approaches might they want you to take?

Try it in your next session - and keep an eye out for new ideas, new approaches, and new ways of thinking.

2010-01-17T15:57:00.000Z

There's a brilliant ad appearing on TV at the moment, promoting School Diplomas. Produced on behalf of the Department of Education, the commercial shows rapper Kano completing the recording of his new single, then walking through the crowd of technicians and production staff.

As the 'staff' are identified by name and role, we realise that they are not professionals, but actually kids studying for diplomas in the key roles of construction, sound, PR, Business Admin etc.

It's a superb example of solving the problem creatively by looking within. How do we encourage kids to take up the Diploma (which connects academic study with workplace learning)? Why don't we show students actually producing something - and it's a brilliant and effective use of a celebrity who makes sense in terms of connecting with the target audience.

You can watch the ad here

Naturally, the ad has created some opposition (great ideas always do). The Times covered it with the headline "Foul-mouthed rapper helps Ed Balls". But reading Kano's response in an interview published online here in The Guardian I think his heart is in the right place. But maybe the next single should speak out against knife and gun culture, Kano?