News SPLASH

Via today’s SmartBrief on Leadership, I saw an inspiring blog post, “50 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation,” by Mitch Ditkoff of Idea Champions.  Here are some of my favorite tips:

#4. Always question authority, especially the authority of your own longstanding beliefs.

#8. Help people broaden their perspective by creating diverse teams and rotating employees into new projects -- especially ones they are fascinated by.

#12. Instead of seeing creativity training as a way to pour knowledge into people's heads, see it as a way to grind new glasses for people so they can see the world in a different way.

#30. Stimulate interaction between segments of the company that traditionally don't connect or collaborate with each other.

#41. Don't make innovation the responsibility of a few. Make innovation the responsibility of each and every employee with performance goals for each and every functional area.

But don’t stop here.  Read all 50 tips and be inspired to move innovation to the top of your to-do list in the New Year.

Last night, I caught the end of the animated flick, "Meet the Robinsons," with my son and noticed a quote from Walt Disney (the man) before the closing credits. Here it is:

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long.  We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

The movie celebrates imagination so the quote is a good fit.  Even better, it's an important reminder that while we should learn from the past, we need to "keep moving forward."  Stay curious.

Here are two recent examples of how using seemingly unrelated subjects like bike riding or card playing can effectively convey valuable business lessons.First, read this interview with Annie Duke, professional poker player recently seen on The Celebrity Apprentice.  She speaks with USA Today management reporter Del Jones about parallels between playing poker and conducting business.  Think bluffing, negotiation, perceptions, risk and more.

Second, best-selling author Seth Godin writes about business lessons learned from riding a bike.  He says, “It’s very difficult to improve your performance on the downhills.”  He uses this as an effective metaphor for why tough times (difficult circumstances, the unexpected, poor economy) often provide the most significant opportunities.

Trying to convey a business lesson or philosophy to employees, customers or others?  Use a metaphor.

Business lessons can come from anywhere - even the football field.  In this interview with Dina Berta of Nation's Restaurant News, Peter Cancro, founder and CEO, Jersey Mike's Subs (a client), talks about the connection between sports and leadership.  According to Peter, some of the most important lessons revolve around the philosophy of acting as a team yet celebrating individual victories, mentoring and coaching, and giving back and supporting each other.