IDEA-GENERATION & SCREENING

Processes Associated With the Two Brain Hemispheres

Source: Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1979).
 Impediments to Creativity
• Eliminating Muddling Mind-Sets
– Either/or thinking (concern for
certainty)
– Security hunting (concern for risk)
– Stereotyping (abstracting reality)
– Probability thinking (seeking
predictable results)
Innovation in Action
 Innovation and the Entrepreneur
• Innovation:
– Is the process by which entrepreneurs convert
opportunities into marketable ideas.
– Is a combination of the vision to create a good
idea and the perseverance and dedication to
remain with the concept through implementation.
– Is a key function in the entrepreneurial process.
– Is the specific function of entrepreneurship.
 The Innovation Process
• Types of Innovation • Sources of Innovation
– Invention – Unexpected occurrences
– Extension – Incongruities
– Process needs
– Duplication
– Industry and market
– Synthesis changes
– Demographic changes
– Perceptual changes
– Knowledge-based
concepts
Sources of Innovation
What is a new idea?
– A recombination of other old ideas.
• Pen + comfort + pad = pen with a soft grip pad
• Pen + color + change in temperature = pen in which ink
acts like a thermometer
• Pen + sound + color = pen changes color by voice
activation
What can Ideas be about?
– Basically anything, but the valuable ones
contribute to the goal of a business whether it is a
new way to reach customers, cut operating costs,
or a new product.
– “there are ideas for all kinds of things, idea to solve problems, ideas to
help people, ideas to save and fix and create things, ideas to make
things better and cheaper, and idea the enlighten, invigorate, inspire,
enrich, and embolden” (Foster, 1996).Obviously the definition of an
idea is very broad and can include anything from the idea of brushing
one’s teeth in the morning to the ideas of Adam Smith in his book, The
Wealth of Nations (1776).”
Ways to think that help Idea Generation
• Think visually - think in picture images, visually imaging the solution
• Think laterally - make jumps between seemingly un-related concepts
instead of thinking linearly
• Think in terms of metaphors - what if the product was like a cat, what would it
do, how would it behave
• Think in terms of relationships - what are the relationship between feature,
function, components
• Visualize the problem in a picture
• Remove base assumption (no boundaries) –
– Ex. Why does glue have to be strong,- post it notes
– Ex. Paper airplane can also be paper balls
– Why do we need needles to inject people, invention needle-free injection
• Redefine the problem
– Henry ford –“How do I get my workers to do more work” to “How do I get more work to my
workers”
– Fighting AIDS - “How to come up with something to kill AIDS in the body” to “How do we make
the bodies that can live with AIDS” resulting in the discovery of the A3G enzyme
How are ideas kept?

In the mind; on paper

 Do companies care about new ideas to the
world, their industry, or their own company?

– Most companies only care about ideas new to

them, but company’s heavy into patenting care
about inventions, new to the world.
– Why? Because the pressure of business cause
companies to focus on their own needs.
How does organization stifle creativity?

CREATIVITY ???

– No training on creativity (number one reason)

– Managers only ask for ideas from their group
– Managers only request a few options, not many
– Managers
– …. No real wrong answers for this question
Where can creativity be applied? And
where is it best applied?
– To every process in the company
– But it is best applied to the process, methods, and
activities which directly relate to the most
important organizational goals.
– In other words, start by integrating creativity into
the vital processes, like dealing with customer
services issues.
What is the most obvious downside of
being creative as an enterprise?
– Creative solutions introduce new risk which must
be managed
– Organizations which are risk averse have trouble:
• 1) Estimating the risks of a creative ideas , and
• 2) Finding solutions to minimize the impact of potential
risks;
• Hence, they lack the capabilities move away from risk
averse behaviours
– It is easier to do the same old thing instead of
being creative; but the cost is future growth
 When are managers look for ideas in
the course of a project?

– The project formulation and design stage

– Also they may look for ideas to fix problems

during execution but often they settle on the first
workable idea, not the best.
• When are managers not looking for ideas in
the course of a project?
• After the plans are formalized
What are some appropriate ways to suggest ideas to a
fellow colleague of an upper manager?

– Remember if you push an idea out to someone most of the time they
will resist it; it is human nature so you must suggest them in a way
that they are absorbed.
– Get the manager to tell you his problems or concerns with the project.
Also ask them if they had any ideas. Then come back to them with
some ideas.
– Ask the manager if they are open to ideas? Ask them if you should
generate an idea for them? This is a physiological trick. Then later
suggest an idea to them
– Ask the manager if it is OK to suggest an idea with unknown risks, or if
they require the risks to be clearly delineated. This tests their
ability/wiliness to assess risk; an innovative manager will be open to
ideas with unknown risks, an old school manager will require clear and
concise risks. Then, you will know what type of manager you are
submitting to format the idea appropriately.
– In general try and provide the benefits, downsides, and risk of any
submitted idea, as well as, one mode of operation
 A Well Built Idea Generation Process
has:
1. Seeding Activities seeds a person’s mind with other ideas
• Ex. Conferences and trade shows,
• Ex. Reviewing the idea bank
2. Analytical Activities
• Ex. SWOT, competitive mapping, root cause analysis
3. Creative Activities – specifically used to create ideas
• Ex. Focus Groups, Brainstorming, Experimentation,
Prototyping, 6-3-5

A well designed idea generation process is:

– Created in a specific order,
– Intended to create a specific type of idea!
 Selection: Idea Drivers
Every Idea is Driven to Fill a Particular Need
1. Technology driven Ideas Carbon fiber on Airplane wing
2. Customer driven Ideas Easier to hold hand drill
3. Market driven Ideas New styling for car
4. Solution driven Ideas IBM computer solutions
5. Value driven Ideas Reduces a major cost

• Every company’s Innovations process is bias towards a certain type of

ideas drivers
• Forcing the wrong type of ideas into the pipeline may be a waste of time
• When selecting activities select those which creates the appropriate
idea driver

4/18/2019 Copyright Brian Glassman Slide 19

Exercise
• What type of new ideas would an electricity
company be interested in need?
Answer – cut cost , increase reliability

QUESTION TO YOU: How should you present an idea to a VP of

Manufacturing who is 1) risk- averse, 2) tends to go with the crowd and
following industry wisdom? What other information should you present
along with the idea? Should you show him the idea in written form,
picture, prototype, and video?
– Idea 1 – Using Electric golf carts to move people around
the factory instead of walking the large factory
– Idea 2 – Using Air conditioners to increase workers’
productivity
– Idea 3 - Suggest an idea (1) (2)…
 IDEA SCREENING

Techniques & Exercises

 Technique 1

Redefining the Question

Technique 1:Redefining the Question
• Rewording the question to create a paradox of
challenge the way the people in the group think
about the problem.

• People who are good at this technique will ask a

lot of redefining questions, if the right one is
asked people in the brainstorming group will all
of a sudden start coming up with great ideas.
There is no wrong re-defining question ;just some
that sound sillier than others.
Example -1
• Technology example – cold weather – people
need an efficiently cheap way to heat their
homes,
• Redefining question – do they need a way to
heat their house, or a way to keep their bodies
warm at night?
• This promote the ideator to think about bed heat
solution instead of expensive home heating. Idea
would include bed warm, warm blankets, better
sheets adjusting with body temperature first and
then slightly increasing thus, giving warmth to
body.
Example -2
• Technology - MP3 as an example -
• How do we shrink the music files to fit on a smaller disk ?
• Do people really need all of the audio details to really
think it as a high quality music file?

• Example. Wave files (*.wav) perfectly captured the music,

but most human could not hear the super high pitches or
very low sounds captured in the music. Studying the
human ear found that human could only distinguish 3
different music tracks at once; so the infinite musical track
of a wave file were too much. Hence, audio engineers
created (*.MP3) which only displayed music in three
specific stereo channels, thus saving great amount of file
space.
• (22 MB *.wav = 3 MB *.mp3)
Exercise for You
• In your groups, suggest several problems which are
challenging to Indian economy, government, or people.
Now, with your groups create several redefining questions
which make people think about the problem, differently.
Write your original question at the top and redefining
question down; and present them to the class. Each team
has five minutes.

• For example, India’s technology sector is on a decline

because of demand, a redefining question would be- is
Indian technology sector on a decline, or is India producing
technologies which are out of date and thus out of
demand?
 Technique 2

Purposefully Breaking the rules

Technique 2:Purposefully Breaking the rules

• Under brainstorming session, the limit and

general rules around a problem are discussed.
The group is challenged to create ideas which
break the rules. The group members discuss
general rules and ask “What if this rule did not
exist, what ideas would be possible?”
• Example. When Cell phone came out; they always looked like
small bricks, someone questioned & asked…
• What if we make the Cell phone flip open?
Exercise
• In your group discuss some of your favourite hobbies; list
some of the sacred or general rules which should not be
broken. Then with your group suggests that some of these
rules are broken and think of some possible result if they are.
Take one example and present it to the class when asked by
the Professor.
• For example, your favorite hobby is swimming for the longest
time. Your pool needed to stay clean with Chlorine; or else
bacteria would form. Breaking the rules would be
• “Why do we have to use Chlorine? Why can’t we use other
things that kill bacteria like UV, o-zone, or heat?
 Technique 3

Eliminate, increase, reduce, or create

Technique 3: Eliminate, increase, reduce, or create

• Often a product or service changes in small ways which

produce a large impact. By eliminating a feature, increasing
the performance of a feature, reducing the performance of a
feature, or by creating a new feature, products can stand out
from the competition.
Exercise-
• Pick up a product or service

In a brainstorming session, list out the features and general

characteristics of that product/service

• For 05 minutes your team will brainstorm how to eliminate

features and improve the product
• For 05 minutes your team will brainstorm how to increase
features and improve the product
• For 05 minutes your team will brainstorm how to reduce
features and improve the product
• For 05 minutes your team will brainstorm how to create
features and improve the product
 Technique 4

Method 6-3-5
Technique 4: Method 6-3-5
• The moderator gives a topic to generate ideas on to 6 participants who
then quietly write down 3 ideas on a piece of paper in five minutes. When
they are done writing their three ideas; they then pass the paper to the
person sitting next. The next person continues writing another three ideas
up to five minutes then pass again. This continues 6 times till the original
paper get back to the first writer. Then all the ideas are listed out as a
group, redundant ideas are removed.

• Generally if the topic is wide enough, a group of six can come up with 80
to 100 ideas; this exercise is beneficial as it is quite and everyone
constantly comes up with ideas. As others are seeing your ideas; they are
building on them (ideas) making them better, or your ideas are
stimulating them to think of new ideas.
Examples
• How to increase productivity of a small local
factory? or
• How to get employee to show to work on
time?
• How Company to be more visible through
products/services to customers?
• How Kesh-Kanti shampoo(Patanjali product) to
increase its market share in shampoo market?
…..etc