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PARTICIPANT GUIDE

© 2012 Linkage, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Linkage Thought Leader Series

How to Out-Innovate the Competition

Featuring Stephen Shapiro, Author of Best Practices Are Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition

How to Out-Innovate the Competition Stephen Shapiro

The Linkage Thought Leader Series 1

Dear Participant:

Welcome to the Linkage broadcast, How to Out-Innovate the Competition. This broadcast from

Linkage’s Thought Leader Series features Stephen Shapiro, President and CEO of 24/7

Innovation, and author of innovation philosophy books like 24/7 Innovation and The Little

Book of BIG Innovation Ideas. As Mr. Shapiro shares in his latest book, Best Practices Are

Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition, “the key to innovating successfully involves

innovating efficiently,” and that is why it’s time to let go of best practices and out-innovate the

competition.

One concept stands out as a constant for today’s successful organizations — innovation. The

need to be innovative is no longer a strategy that you can implement part-time. Innovation can no

longer be spearheaded by one person or one team. Innovation must be part of your organization’s

culture if you want to gain the advantage that keeps you ahead of everyone else. You may even

be thinking that your organization already has an innovation mind-set. But what if everything

you’re doing to build a culture of innovation is wrong?

Innovation, like any meaningful strategy, only works when applied in an

effective and results-oriented way. In Best Practices Are Stupid: 40 Ways to

Out-Innovate the Competition, Mr. Shapiro busts the many myths that

surround innovation. His message is clear: innovation isn’t about the

occasional new idea. Companies that are making a mark in today’s business

environment make innovation a repeatable, sustainable, and profitable

process. Your innovation efforts have to be focused and strategic in order to

catapult your organization to the forefront of your target market. If you

implement Mr. Shapiro’s strategies and techniques, your competition will be

trying to catch up with you!

As Stephen Shapiro shares, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for innovation. His lessons are

useful at an organizational level, at an individual level, or both. Your job, as a leader, is to use

what works best for your unique situation. True innovators know that organizations who

continue to rely on traditional innovation methods will ultimately fail. In today’s volatile and

ever-changing business landscape you need an innovation strategy with a laser-focus that allows

you to gain measurable results that positively impact the bottom line.

In this presentation, you will learn:

Why you should hire people you don’t like. Bring the right mix of people to unleash

your team’s full potential.

To define challenges more clearly. If you ask better questions, you will get better

answers.

Why you don’t want to think outside the box. Instead of giving your employees a blank

slate, provide them with well-defined parameters that will increase their creative output.

Why failure is always an option. Looking at innovation as a series of experiments allows

you to redefine failure and learn from your result.



These participant materials have been designed to complement your participation in this

broadcast with Stephen Shapiro. Use the materials before the broadcast to set the stage for the

broadcast. Learn more about Mr. Shapiro, and what you can do to step away from the old models

of innovation that are broken and inefficient, and move toward methods that produce results.

Use the materials during Stephen Shapiro’s presentation to take notes on important concepts. Mr.

Shapiro will use the 90 minutes to provide some prepared material on what you can do to break

out of the conventional innovation mold and create your own path to innovation success.

Most importantly, use the materials after the broadcast to help reflect on ways to embrace the

principles and implement the tools and techniques Mr. Shapiro outlines in his presentation on

How to Out-Innovate the Competition. Apply the strategies to unlock your innovation potential

and discover the key to the long-term growth you need to stay ahead of the competition.



About Linkage

Linkage works with leaders and leadership teams worldwide to build organizations that produce

superior results. For over 25 years, we have delivered on this promise by strategically aligning

leadership, talent, and culture within organizations globally. We do this by providing strategic

consulting on leadership development and talent management topics and through our learning

institutes, skill-building workshops, tailored assessment services, and executive coaching.

Linkage is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts with operations in Atlanta, Boston, New

York, San Francisco, St. Louis and outside the U.S. in Athens, Bangalore, Brussels, Buenos

Aires, Hamilton, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait City, Mexico City,

Rome, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Vilnius.

Other Linkage Programs

Linkage’s broadcasts represent the best in leadership and management thinking, providing you

with:

Idea-generating programs by world-renowned and inspirational leaders.

A convenient, on-site option for educating your leaders and managers.

An innovative vehicle to deliver and drive the learning.

Check Linkage’s website (http://www.linkageinc.com) for additional programming, details, and

updates. Linkage’s featured speakers are available On-Demand via Webcast or DVD:

Doug Conant on TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the

Smallest of Moments

Paul Sullivan on Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Some Don’t

Jason Jennings on Reinvention

David Rock on Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working

Smarter All Day Long

Bill Conaty on Why Smart People Put People Before Numbers

Steven Johnson on Where Good Ideas Come From

Charlene Li on Open Leadership: Transform the Way you Lead

Atul Gawande on How to Get Things Right in a Complex World

Adrian Gostick on How One Great Team Can Transform an Entire Organization

Michael Roberto on How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen

Carlos Gutierrez on Leadership from Top to Bottom

Marshall Goldsmith on The Positive Actions Leaders Must Take to Start Winning Again

http://www.linkageinc.com/



Dan Heath on How to Change when Change is Hard

Malcolm Gladwell on Why People are Successful

Sheena Iyengar on The Art of Choosing

Hank Haney on A Roadmap to Excellence

Lynda Gratton on Creating Performance Driven Innovation within your Organization

Les McKeown on Get Your Organization on the Growth Track

Rosabeth Moss Kanter on Leading a SuperCorp

David Cooperrider on A Symphony of Strengths

Richard Boyatzis on Leading in a New World

Sandra Taylor on The Business Case of Corporate Social Responsibility

John Maxwell on The Five Levels of Leadership

Stephen M. R. Covey on Leading at the Speed of Trust

Randy Street on Using the A Method to Evaluate Talent

Peter Sheahan on Future Proof: How to be Up in a Down Market

Marilyn Carlson Nelson on How We Lead Matters

Tom Peters on Creating the 21st Century Organization

Michael Treacy on Sustaining Double-Digit Growth in Any Economy

Doris Kearns Goodwin on Team of Rivals

John Kotter on Leading Change

Marshall Goldsmith on Coaching for Leadership

Patrick Lencioni on Building and Leading a High Performance Team

Keith Ferrazzi on Relationships for Group Success

Warren Bennis on The Most Common (and Often Fatal) Failures of Top Leadership

C. K. Prahalad on Making Strategy Work: The Future of Value Creation

Ann Richards on Successful Leadership

Michael Useem on Reaching the Go Point

Clayton Christensen on Building a Successful Innovation-Driven Organization

Benazir Bhutto on Diversity

David Breashears on Vision, Courage, and Passion: Leadership at 26,000 Feet

Tom Davenport on Maximizing Knowledge Worker Productivity: The Next Generation of

Management

Tony Schwartz on Building Individual and Organizational Capacity in the Age of

Overload



Phil Harkins on Powerful Conversations

Mareen and Kimball Fisher on Leading High Performance Virtual Teams

Nick Washienko on Effective Leadership Communication

Noel Tichy on Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls

Quint Studer on Transforming a Corporate Culture to Drive Sustainable Results

Marilyn King on Envisioning the Gold: An Olympian’s Challenge to Business Leaders

Betsy Myers on Authentic Leadership: How You Can Take the Lead

Marilyn Tam on How to Use What You’ve Got to Get What You Want

Michael Lee Stallard and Jason Pankau on Fired Up Leadership to Boost Productivity

and Innovation

Gail Evans on The Power of Working Women Working Together

Pat Mitchell on Leader as Mentor

Jack & Suzy Welch on Producing Results: Winning Through Flawless Execution

Rick Belluzzo & Jay Conger on Developing Your Leadership Bench Strength

Mike Krzyzewski & Catherine McCarthy on Coaching to Win: Developing People and

Teams Who Excel

Malcolm Gladwell on The Power of Rapid Cognition for Business Leaders

Dave Ulrich on Creating Your Own Leadership Brand

Dan Goleman on Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: Bottom Line Results

Bill George on Authentic Leadership: Recovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value

Sherron Watkins & Joseph Badaracco Jr. on Ethics in Leadership

Richard Branson on Lessons in Leadership

Future Broadcasts

May 15, 2012: Robert Knowling on Leading a Successful Organizational Transformation

June 28, 2012: Linda Hill on The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader

September 18, 2012: Walter Isaacson on Timeless Leadership: Leadership Lessons from

Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin

October 10, 2012: Eric Olson on Teambuilding and Leadership in the 21st Century

November 14, 2012: Mark Samuel on Unleash the Power of an Accountable

Organization

December 13, 2012: Sylvia Hewlett on Top Talent: How to Reengage and Reenergize

your Workforce



TABLE OF CONTENTS

About Linkage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Other Linkage Programs .................................................................................................................................................... 3

Future Broadcasts .............................................................................................................................................................. 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................................................... 6

ON YOUR MARK: PRE-BROADCAST PREPARATION .................................................................................................... 7

Introduction and Basic Premise ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Question Preparation for Q&A Session ........................................................................................................................... 14

GET SET: PRESENTATION ................................................................................................................................................ 15

During the Presentation ................................................................................................................................................... 16

Notes ................................................................................................................................................................................. 17

GO: ON-THE-JOB APPLICATION...................................................................................................................................... 22

Post-Broadcast Activities ................................................................................................................................................. 23

Materials Written by Stephen Shapiro ............................................................................................................................. 42

FORMS .................................................................................................................................................................................. 43

Question Sheet ................................................................................................................................................................. 44

Broadcast Evaluation Form ............................................................................................................................................. 45



ON YOUR MARK

PRE-BROADCAST PREPARATION



Introduction and Basic Premise

“Too often, we try to fit in with the crowd. We play it safe. But innovation is about taking risks

while being true to you. This takes confidence. And it takes the belief that your ‘style’ is what the

world needs and wants. Yes, taking this risk may help you stand out. More importantly, it may

be the ticket to your success.”

– Stephen Shapiro

Innovation is tricky. Today’s organizations cannot afford to ignore the importance of standing

out in a crowd, of pushing the limits to stay ahead of the competition. Innovators are the leaders

that people talk about, the leaders that make a difference and take their organizations from today

into tomorrow — before anyone else does. The tricky part of innovation is avoiding the old

strategies that many organizations employ around innovation. As the saying goes, “if you do

what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” It’s safe to say that

organizations that out-innovate their competition don’t accept the status quo. They push the

limits and find new ways to deliver what people want — not just once, but again and again.

Innovation is not something you implement as a reaction to what others are doing; innovation

must be an integral part of your organization’s culture. In Best Practices Are Stupid, Stephen

Shapiro will teach you that “nonstop innovation is attainable and vital to building a high-

performing team, improving the bottom line, and staying ahead of the pack.”

Implementing a culture of innovation requires change — and change is hard. Creating an

innovation culture requires you to change not only the way you think about innovation, but

change how you innovate. It’s a tough challenge, but Stephen Shapiro’s strategies, concepts, and

techniques will enable you to take your innovation efforts to the next level. You can’t survive in

today’s challenging business environment unless you commit to consistently staying ahead of the

competition through innovation. What are you waiting for? It’s time to breathe new life into

your innovation thinking and practice. It’s time to be the company that everyone else is talking

about!

The excerpt that follows is from Best Practices Are Stupid and is reprinted with permission from the author, Stephen Shapiro.

On April 20, 2010, the environment was dealt a horrific blow. On that day, the Deepwater

Horizon oil rig exploded, spewing as much as 180 million gallons of crude oil into the waters off

the Gulf Coast of the United States. It took eighty-seven days to cap the gushing wellhead.

In the weeks following the explosion, scientists, movie stars, and concerned citizens tried to

devise ways to slow the flow. But workable solutions were hard to find and implement, as the

well was nearly a mile below the surface of the ocean. Repeated attempts failed.

In an effort to find better solutions, the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command, spearheaded by

BP, launched a Web site where anyone could submit their ideas in an online suggestion box.

According to USA Today, the Web site received nearly 125,000 ideas; 80,000 suggestions had to

do with plugging the leak and 43,000 with ways to clean up the oil.

Of these ideas, one hundred were deemed to have some merit and a couple dozen were tested.

Unfortunately, this

innovation strategy is

what many well-

intentioned companies

use in their quest to be

more innovative. They

operate under the

misguided belief that

getting more ideas

leads to better

innovation.

Organizations that use

this approach spend a

lot of their time sorting

the wheat from the

chaff. And sadly, most

of the ideas are

chaff…you don’t want

more ideas. You want

to focus your energies

on finding solutions to

pressing problems that

enable your company to

be more

innovative…The key to

innovating successfully

involves innovating

efficiently.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 2



On the surface, this might appear to have been a successful endeavor; BP was able to gather lots

of possible ideas to help end the disaster.

For a company that stood to lose billions of dollars in cleanup costs, relief payouts, and lost sales

due to bad publicity, this approach might indeed have been a good strategy.

But the resources necessary to respond to this type of disaster typically don’t exist within

organizations. Although a workable solution may have been found using this strategy, it is

unclear whether that was the case. Regardless, consider how many people it would take to

evaluate thousands of ideas. If one person could evaluate an idea in thirty seconds (which is

optimistic, especially for a technically complex issue like this) and could dedicate forty hours a

week to the task, it would take over half a year to evaluate that many submissions, a significant

investment for any company.

With an innovation strategy like this, finding a useful idea is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Or more accurately, it is like finding a needle in a stack of other needles.

Unfortunately, this innovation strategy is what many well-intentioned companies use in their

quest to be more innovative. They operate under the misguided belief that getting more ideas

leads to better innovation. Organizations that use this approach spend a lot of their time sorting

the wheat from the chaff. And sadly, most of the ideas are chaff.

As this book will reveal, you don’t want more ideas. You want to focus your energies on finding

solutions to pressing problems that enable your company to be more innovative. In fact, I’ll teach

you why the key to innovating successfully involves innovating efficiently.

The popular press and innovation gurus alike often provide well-worn examples that muddy the

waters on how to approach the innovation process.

Google reportedly lets it employees use 20 percent of their time to develop new ideas. “PhDs and

other smarty pants agreed to hand over their brains to the search giant for four days of the week

and, in return, they were given the fifth to work on any project of their fancy.” Many experts

hold this up as an effective way to innovate. In actuality, this investment was designed to help

Google win the “war for talent” and did little in the way of generating new revenue streams. In

spite of the huge investment, 97 percent of its revenues still come from advertising, the same way

it has always made money.

3M uses a similar strategy, giving employees 15 percent of their time to explore. When

discussing the 15 percent rule, someone from 3M once told me, “Which fifteen percent? I work

sixty hours a week and there’s no time for my fifteen percent.” The answer appears to involve

working weekends. As Les Krogh, retired senior vice president of research and development,

once said, “If 3Mers have to get something done, they’ll do it. They’ll take their 15 percent on

Saturdays or Sundays, if need be.”

Admittedly, 3M’s approach has indeed produced some amazing innovations. But will this

strategy work for your organization? Both Google and 3M benefit from a highly motivated

workforce that is probably more ambitious than employees in most organizations.



So is there a more efficient way for you to innovate?

Allowing employees to dedicate 15 percent to 20 percent of their time to innovation efforts of

their choosing is akin to the infinite monkey theorem: If you give an infinite number of moneys

and infinite number of typewriters, they will eventually write War and Peace. The belief is that if

you give employees enough time to tinker around and develop enough harebrained idea, they will

eventually find the next big innovation (and no, I am not suggesting that your employees are

monkeys).

Although this might yield new ideas, it is hardly an efficient way to innovate.

Let’s face it, the old models of innovation are broken, are inefficient, and fail to produce results.

It’s time for you to be innovative about the way you innovate and apply some new thinking to

your innovation process.

This book is composed of forty tips designed to help you do just that. These tips are designed to

help you innovate differently. Innovate more efficiently. Innovate in a more focused manner.

Some tips are intended to change the way you think about innovation. Others are designed to

change how you innovate. Depending on your experience level, you may already be familiar

with some tips, while others will be new concepts for even the most advanced innovation

practitioners. Certain tips are useful mainly at an organizational level, while others are important

concepts for all individuals to consider.

In some cases, you may not agree with my point of view. That’s okay! The objective of each tip

is to get you and your team thinking. You don’t necessarily need to take what I say at face value.

Challenge each concept. Discuss it. See how it applies to your organization. There is no one-

size-fits-all solution for innovation. Pick and choose the tips that will have the greatest impact.

Although the tips are organized in a logical sequence, they can be read in any order and each

stands on its own. The first series of tips introduces some of the most important concepts relating

to “innovating the way you innovate,” and the remainder of the book is loosely organized around

the components of the innovation capability: process, strategy, measures, people, and technology:

Process: Most innovation efforts are ineffective and unfocused. To remedy this, you will

be introduced to challenge-driven innovation, an efficient process for addressing your

most pressing issues and opportunities.

Strategy: If you don’t understand your customers’ latent desires, your innovation efforts

will be comparable to a wild-goose chase. Armed with their true wants and needs, you

can develop a powerful innovation strategy.

Measures: Your measurement systems may inadvertently be killing your innovation

efforts. By making some simple changes to your motivation strategy, you can stimulate

creativity and foster innovation.

People: Innovation is dependent on having the right people — with divergent points of

view — in the right roles. The key is to treat each individual like an owner of the

business, pushing decision making to the lowest levels of the organization.

Tip 2

How Can You Avoid

Becoming a One-Hit

Wonder?

Make sure that your

innovation efforts are

predictable and

sustainable by treating

them like any other

capability in your

company.

Five key components

are required for

successful long-term

innovation: strategy,

measures, people,

process, and

technology.

For too long, innovation

has been relegated to

the darkest recesses of

R&D departments and

to the conference rooms

of well-meaning

brainstormers. But now

is the time to bring

innovation to the

forefront of your

business.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 14, 15, 16, and 17



Creativity: One aspect of the people dimension is competency. With innovation, one

specific competency involves the ability to develop creative solutions. Although

creativity is technically part of the “people” dimension of the innovation capability,

given its importance, I have dedicated a section to these techniques. These can be

used in brainstorming sessions or as instructional aids for helping people be more

creative.

Technology: Technology plays a critical role in finding solutions to challenges and

enabling collaboration. Although this is a distinct component of the innovation

capability, the world of technology is changing rapidly. Therefore, anything written in a

book would be immediately obsolete. As a result, appendix A contains an overview of

the technology landscape, and the most up-to-date information can be found on our Web

site.

I am always amazed by the high quality of people employed by companies around the world. I

am even more amazed by how little most companies tap into the innovative potential of these

employees. This book provides dozens of proven tips and techniques that will enable you to get

the most out of your workforce.

Innovation is the key to long-term growth. Although many companies are enamored with

utilizing best practices, as this book’s title suggests, duplicating what others are already doing

relegates you to a continuous game of catch-up. Following in the footsteps of others is the fastest

way to irrelevancy. Instead, create your own path. Find new and creative ways of staying ahead

of the competition. Only through repeated, rapid, and efficient change can an organization

survive and thrive in today’s volatile marketplace.



Pre-Broadcast Activity: How Do You Approach Innovation?

“If I had an hour to save the world, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and 1 minute

finding solutions.”

– Albert Einstein

As Stephen Shapiro points out, there is no one-size-fits-all innovation strategy for today’s

organizations. If you are paying any attention to companies who successfully stay ahead of the

competition, you know that having an innovation strategy is critical — and you most likely have

your own. If you are like most organizations, your innovation efforts may be more of a process

and less of a culture. You define a problem or challenge, assemble a team to research the issue,

and then use any one of many different methods to come up with an innovative solution. But,

how often does this lead to successful innovation? It’s time to look at your organization and ask:

“How do you approach innovation?”

The self-assessment that follows will help you determine your current approach to innovation.

By taking an honest look at where you are at, you can apply the tips and techniques from Stephen

Shapiro’s presentation to boost innovation in your organization and make it repeatable,

sustainable, and a profitable process at the heart of your company’s culture.

First, come up with a list of problems, challenges, or opportunities your organization is facing.

Use the space below to develop your list. Use as much or as little detail as necessary to help you

set the stage for your innovation strategy. For this activity, you will only focus on one item from

the list, but the remaining items may be used in additional activities in this guide as well as

something to build on when you return to the job.

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From the list above, select one problem, challenge, or opportunity that you would like to focus

on. Using this choice, answer the following questions around how you would approach an

innovative solution to this problem, challenge, or opportunity.

1. What are you currently doing to address this problem/challenge/opportunity?

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Tip 3

Asking for Ideas Is a

Bad Idea

Organizations are often

enamored with

collecting a large

number of ideas from

employees and

customers. And

although these can be

useful for employee

morale, if you go down

this path, your

organization needs to

make sure to implement

enough of the ideas to

keep enthusiasm high.

Unfortunately, the lack

of traction gained by

most idea platforms

hurts morale and leaves

the organization with a

lot of extra work.

If you have an infinite

amount of resources,

time, and money, then

the idea-driven

approach can be useful

for finding hidden gems.

But sometimes the best

idea is to stop asking for

ideas.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 21



2. What approach would you take to innovate a solution to this problem/challenge/opportunity?

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3. What approach would you take to generate ideas? Who would be involved, and to what

extent? How would you capture any ideas?

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4. What measurements would you employ around your innovation efforts? What kinds of

measures would you use? How would you measure less tangible values, such as adaptability?

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5. How do you relate innovation to overall business outcomes and results?

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Question Preparation for Q&A Session

Stephen Shapiro will devote the last portion of the broadcast to answer your questions. Complete

the Question Sheet found on the next to last page of this participant guide and:

If you are participating in the live presentation of this program, you can submit your

questions directly from your webcast viewing window. You can also submit your

questions through email using the instructions on the Question Sheet. Your program

coordinator may collect your questions and send them in collectively. Email to:

[email protected] .

If you are participating in a recorded presentation of this program, share your questions

with your program coordinator to be used during your post-broadcast activities.

Twitter

Linkage is now accepting questions through Twitter. To follow the conversation online or to

submit your questions/comments during a live broadcast using Twitter, please use the hash tag

#LinkageInc.

mailto:[email protected]



GET SET

PRESENTATION



During the Presentation

Participate! Listen actively — question concepts and “try them on” to see how they may

apply to you and your situation.

Take notes on the pages that follow. Capture key thoughts and ideas.

Be bold! Identify one thing to do and vow to take action.



Notes

Please use the following pages to take notes.

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Tip 5

Expertise is the Enemy

of Innovation

Expertise can indeed be

the enemy of

breakthrough thinking.

The more you know

about a particular topic,

the more difficult it is for

you to think about it in a

different way. You’re

solutions will most likely

be “been there, done

that” ideas that are

limited to your area of

expertise. If you want

breakthroughs, you

need to bring together

people from a wide

range of disciplines,

backgrounds, and

experiences.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 26 and 27



More Notes

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Tip 7

The Goldilocks Principle

Remember the story of

Goldilocks? She enters

the house of three

bears. After sampling

their porridge, she

decides to go to sleep.

She finds the papa

bear’s bed too hard, the

mama bear’s bed too

soft, and the baby

bear’s bed just right.

The same is true when

defining challenges.

They can’t be too big

(broad and abstract,

e.g., asking for “new

ideas”) or too small

(overly specific, e.g., an

extremely technical

problem that can be

solved only by one

discipline). They must

be “just right” — framed

in a way that maximizes

the likelihood of finding

a workable solution.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 26 and 27



More Notes

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Tip 9

What Did Edison Get

Wrong About

Innovation?

Edison is famous for

saying, “I have not failed

seven hundred times. I

have not failed once. I

have succeeded in

proving that those

seven hundred ways will

not work. When I have

eliminated the ways that

will not work, I will find

the way that will

work.”…regardless,

each of Edison’s seven

hundred attempts cost

him time and money.

Did finding ways that did

not work really add that

much value? Can your

organization afford

seven hundred

unsuccessful attempts?

Not in today’s

competitive

environment.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 48 and 49



More Notes

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Collaboration and

competition both serve

an important purpose in

the innovation process.

As Alexander Graham

Bell once said, “Great

discoveries and

improvements invariably

involve the cooperation

of many minds. I may

be given credit for

having blazed the trail,

but when I look at the

subsequent

developments I feel the

credit is due to others

rather than myself.”

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 61



More Notes

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Tip 13

Lessons from Indiana

Jones

In today’s world of data

mining and customer

analytics, it can be easy

to study your customers

from the comfort of your

desk…but most likely

you are only gathering

data about your

customers. As a result,

you are missing the

data of former

customers and people

who never were

customers. As for your

current customers, you

will only be able to

analyze their activities

associated with your

existing products and

services; you won’t be

able to identify

unarticulated needs.

The real treasure can

be found when you

leave your office, don

your fedora and

bullwhip, and study

customers with your

own two eyes.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 69



GO

ON-THE-JOB APPLICATION



Post-Broadcast Activities

Activity 1: Self-Reflection and Discussion

1. What in Stephen Shapiro’s presentation struck a special chord with you? Why?

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2. Reflect on what you have learned about how to innovate successfully and efficiently. How will

you apply Mr. Shapiro’s strategies to improve the innovation efforts of your organization?

What steps can you take to create a culture of innovation that keeps your organization ahead of

the competition?

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Continued on the next page.

Tip 16

Innovate Where You

Differentiate

All capabilities are

equal, but some are

more equal than others.

You don’t innovate the

same way for each

capability in your

business. And the way

you innovate will not be

the same as the way

your competitors

innovate.

So what is your most

important capability?

Although the question is

simple, the answer

requires significant

reflection and

alignment, and

answering it is important

for determining your

innovation strategy. In

particular, it helps you

focus your limited

innovation investments

on the capabilities that

will yield the greatest

impact.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 81 and 84



3. In today’s ultra-competitive business environment, the ability to innovate is critical.

Innovation can’t be a one-time event or even a capability. Today’s successful companies live

in an environment where innovation is a system — an environment where innovation is

embedded in everything they do. As Stephen Shapiro explains, “With embedded innovation,

people innovate to deal not only with ‘problems or challenges’ that are presented to them but

with everything they do. They continuously, even radically, improve their products,

processes, and organization. This creates exponential and ongoing value.” What will you do

to implement innovation as a system in your organization?

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4. What are YOUR leadership lessons? As a leader, you have the ability to shape how your

people embrace innovation. What can you do to encourage your people to think creatively?

How can you lead in a way that motivates people to go beyond their jobs and do the

unexpected? Be specific!

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Tip 18

Best Practices Are

(Sometimes) Stupid

For me to shoot par

would be a dream. But

for Tiger Woods, par

would be a nightmare. I

am reminded of this

comparison when I see

companies that are

satisfied to focus on

their understanding of

“par,” otherwise known

as best practice…par

won’t keep you alive in

the current environment.

Once something

becomes a best

practice, it is really no

longer a best practice.

Innovation is about

adaptability, your ability

to change in order to

stay one step ahead of

the competition. When

you copy someone’s

best practice, you are

not staying ahead; you

are playing a game of

catch-up.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 90



Activity 2: Expertise is the Enemy of Innovation

“If you are NASA and you have 100 aerospace engineers working on an aerospace engineering

challenge, adding the 101st aerospace engineer may not help that much. But adding a physicist, a

nanotechnologist, a chemist, a biologist, or even a musician may move your solutions in a

completely new direction.”

– Stephen Shapiro

Imagine you are called to jury duty for a high-profile case that — due to media attention — you

are reasonably familiar with. Take it a step further and imagine you are extremely familiar with

the circumstances, even an expert on all facets of the case. Could you be objective and put your

expertise aside to make a decision? Could you consider the information and think about it in a

different way? You might think so, but the reality is when you demonstrate expertise in any area,

you are less likely to be able to think about it in a different way. This natural tendency is the

enemy of innovation.

This may sound like a bleak prediction for you and your organization, but as Stephen Shapiro

points out, there is a way to overcome this obstacle: open innovation. “Open innovation is an

innovation process where you engage people outside your organization to help solve

challenges”…and there are great examples of this in the business world. Let’s take a look.

Expertise is the Enemy of Innovation


Unilever, the giant consumer goods company, wanted to develop a toothpaste that would whiten

teeth without using the traditional methods of bleach or abrasives. The toothpaste experts didn’t

have a solution. Recognizing the limitations of their own knowledge, they asked themselves,

“Who makes whites whiter?” They quickly realized that a different Unilever business unit made

laundry detergents that whitened clothes without bleach. What they learned was that most

detergents use a blueing agent to make whites appear whiter. Armed with this information, they

created their “Signal White Now” (and other brands) toothpaste. Instead of using harsh bleaches

and abrasives, the toothpaste has a blue dye that runs through the middle and creates the optical

illusion of white teeth. Toothpaste experts were seemingly unable to solve this problem on their

own. The breakthrough solution was discovered only when people with different specializations

were brought together.

While this might seem surprising, it is not uncommon. Expertise can indeed be the enemy of

breakthrough thinking. The more you know about a particular topic, the more difficult it is for

you to think about it in a different way. Your solutions will most likely be “been there, done

that” ideas that are limited to your area of expertise. If you want breakthroughs, you need to

bring together people from a wide range of disciplines, backgrounds, and experiences.

This idea was confirmed by research completed by Lee Fleming, a business administration

professor at Harvard Business School. By analyzing seventeen thousand parents, he discovered

that the breakthroughs that arise from multidisciplinary work “are frequently of unusually high

value — superior to the best innovations achieved by conventional approaches.”

Tip 20

Motivate Like Maslow

Stop recognizing people

for doing their jobs.

When you hire someone

to work for you, it should

be expected that they

have a basic level of

competence. When you

recognize people for

doing what they are

hired to do, it reinforces

a culture where the

status quo is good

enough.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 12 and 13



His research highlighted the pros and cons of each method. He learned that teams composed of

people with similar backgrounds have a great number of successes yet yield fewer breakthroughs.

On the other hand, cross-disciplinary teams have a higher failure rate, yet their innovations are

more radical and have the potential to create incredible value.

Is there a way to get all of the benefits associated with diversity without any of the negative

effects?

Open innovation is an innovation process where you engage people outside your organization to

help solve challenges…remember the BP oil spill that was discussed earlier? BR received

123,000 ideas for solutions. Contrast that with the way open innovation was applied to another

oil spill — the Exxon Valdez disaster.

Back in 1989 the Exxon Valdez tanker crashed into a reef in Prince William Sound in Alaska,

dumping 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the water. Although some of the oil was

recovered, a large amount remained trapped under the ice. When teams tried to move the oil, the

water/oil mixture froze. Oil engineers worked on this challenge for twenty years without any

viable solution until they discovered open innovation. They posted a well-formed challenge to

the Web site of an intermediary, InnoCentive, a company that has a large network of experts from

a wide range of disciplines who solve complex problems for monetary prizes.

A solution to the oil crisis was found very quickly. Interestingly, the winning solution did not

come from the oil industry. Instead, it came from someone in the construction industry who had

a similar challenge with pouring wet cement; he needed to find a way of preventing it from

hardening right away. This chemist developed a device that vibrates the molecules so that they

flow continuously. He figured that if vibrations could keep cement from hardening, then a

similar concept could be adapted to keep the oil in the tanks from freezing. Bringing together

diverse disciplines through an open innovation platform solved this decades-old problem.

Another great example comes from NASA. Solar activity is a major problem for space travel and

can be incredibly dangerous for astronauts. For decades, NASA scientists had been unsuccessful

in trying to find a model that would allow them to predict solar activity with a high level of

accuracy.

To find a solution, they turned to open innovation. Their success criteria for the solution were

that the model should provide a prediction within twenty-four hours of the solar activity, be 50

percent accurate, and be within two sigma (a quality measure where higher numbers are better).

The best solution predicted activity within eight hours, was 70 percent accurate, and was within

three sigma. This was a huge improvement over NASA’s initial expectations. Who had the

solution? A retired engineer who studied dropped cell phone calls and in the process had

discovered a predictive model for solar flares.

Sometimes the best solutions come from outside your area of expertise and beyond the four walls

of your organization. In the end, you might just find solutions to problems that have stumped

experts for years.

“At a more sophisticated

level, innovation can be

part of a ‘process’. That

is, the organization has

a structure in place to

define problems,

generate/evaluate

ideas, and develop

action plans to

implement those ideas.

The result is a realistic

deliverable based on an

organizational problem.

However, the problem

with both of these levels

is that innovation is

reactionary and

discrete. It occurs only

when someone decides

it is time to innovate.”

Stephen Shapiro



Consider the problems, challenges, and opportunities you face as an organization. How often

have you invited people from outside your area of expertise into the conversation around

solutions? Is it typically your strategy to include only those who are familiar with your issues and

share the same background and experience? As the examples shared by Mr. Shapiro illustrate,

expertise can be the enemy of innovation. It’s time to turn your innovation strategy on its head.

For this activity, return to your list of problems, challenges, and opportunities from your Pre-

Broadcast Activity on page 12. Choose another that you would like to work on and write it in the

space below:

Working with other participants, form groups with people from different disciplines,

backgrounds, and expertise. In the event the larger group is made up of people from the same

discipline, background, and expertise, attempt to work with others that you do not normally work

with on a regular basis. You want your group to be as diverse as possible for this activity.

Share your issue with the others in your group and solicit their ideas for a solution. Use their

expertise in a different line of business or area of expertise to inspire some breakthrough thinking.

Capture the ideas shared in the space below (and on the next page) as you work together to

innovate a solution to your problem/challenge/opportunity. Take turns until every member of the

group has had the opportunity to share their problem/challenge/opportunity and gather input from

the diverse members of the group.




“An alternative (and

more insightful) way of

looking at problems is to

ask, ‘What is this like?’

Be a matchmaker.

Make connections. Try

and find analogies,

metaphors, and

associations that fit the

problem you are looking

to solve. Recombine

ideas in new

ways…when you have

many dots collected,

you have limitless ways

of recombining them to

create something new.

This is not about

invention, which is

pulling something out of

the thin air. This is

about innovation which

is about reconstituting

old ideas in new ways.

Don’t always go for the

obvious solution. Some

of the best ideas come

from some of the most

unlikely combinations.”

Stephen Shapiro



Activity 3: Hire People You Don’t Like

Stephen Shapiro’s tip #26 may have you scratching your head — hire people you don’t like? It

might sound like a recipe for conflict and stalemate. In reality, in situations involving high-

difficulty tasks, teams consisting of diverse personalities and styles consistently perform more

effectively. As Mr. Shapiro tells us, “This makes sense if you really think about it. Innovation

demands a diversity of perspectives, disciplines, and personalities. Having a group of people who

think the same way only produces more of the same. Having people on your team who get along

well may seem easier, but it will rarely lead to new and innovative ideas.”

We naturally gravitate toward people who are like us. Think about the people you work with who

have your same style and like to do things the way you do. They make you feel comfortable, tend

to agree with you, and working together is effortless. But do they challenge you? Do they push

you to think differently? Probably not — and therein lies the issue. When you work with a team

of people who are similar in background, expertise, or personality, your innovation efforts will

suffer.

In order to create a culture of innovation within your organization, you need to assess the

innovative style of each member of your team. Are you working with a team of people who all

think the way you do? Do they agree quickly and get things done, yet rarely think creatively or

find innovation breakthroughs? If the answer is yes, it’s time to challenge yourself to hire people

you don’t like; people who can help you become more effective and innovative. Remember

Stephen Shapiro’s insightful mantra, “The person you like the least, is the person you need most.”

On the following pages you will find an Innovation Style Quiz for you to take to help assess your

innovation style. For an even more accurate assessment of yourself and your team, Stephen

Shapiro has developed the Personality Poker® card game. As Mr. Shapiro shares, “The key to

high performing innovation teams is to make sure that each individual is ‘playing to their strong

suit’ while the organization as a whole is ‘playing with a full deck.’ You need to make sure you

have all of the innovation styles fully addressed in your organization.”

Personality Poker® is based on the principles that enable teams to achieve a more consistent and

repeatable performance. Personality Poker® can help you ensure that:

Everyone is in their optimal position.

Everyone understands that their role is crucial.

Everyone knows the exact function they need to perform.

Take an in-depth look at the individuals on your team and play Personality Poker® to spur

innovation and optimize growth in your organization. Use specially designed cards and Stephen

Shapiro’s cutting-edge techniques to identify people’s personality “hand,” which reveals where

they really belong in their organization, and how they can maximize their contribution. For more

information visit http://personalitypokerbook.com/.

http://personalitypokerbook.com/



In this activity, you will take the Innovation Style Quiz to help you identify the right people for

your innovation team. The assessment and score key will help you quickly assess your

innovation style. For each row, rank the words from the most like you to least like you, where 1

represents most like you and 4 represents least like you. For example, if you are very

adventurous but not goal-oriented, you might rank the first row: intellectual 3, adventurous 1,

goal-oriented 4, cheerleader 2. (Note: An additional Innovation Style Quiz can be found on page

32 of this guide. Make copies as needed. The snapshot you create of your team’s innovation

style will help you determine if your team has the right mix of innovation styles.)

The Innovation Style Quiz is from Best Practices Are Stupid and is reprinted with permission from the author, Stephen Shapiro.

A B C D

Intellectual

_______________

Adventurous

_______________

Goal-Oriented

_______________

Cheerleader

_______________

Expert

_______________

Spontaneous

_______________

Driven

_______________

Diplomatic

_______________

Knowledgeable

_______________

Daring

_______________

Decisive

_______________

Sociable

_______________

Philosophical

_______________

Flexible

_______________

Direct

_______________

Gregarious

_______________

Discerning

_______________

Versatile

_______________

Competitive

_______________

Popular

_______________

Analytical

_______________

Creative

_______________

Disciplined

_______________

Nurturing

_______________

Logical

_______________

Visionary

_______________

Organized

_______________

Empathetic

_______________

Data Driven

_______________

Open Minded

_______________

Structured

_______________

Compassionate

_______________

Realistic

_______________

Insightful

_______________

Systematic

_______________

Loyal

_______________

Rational

_______________

Curious

_______________

Methodical

_______________

Considerate

_______________

Total:_________ Total:_________ Total:_________ Total:_________


Creativity and

innovation come from

tension, giving rise to

differing viewpoints and

alternative ways of

solving problems. While

it may not come

naturally, if you want to

differentiate yourself

from the competition,

consider differentiating

your perspective by

surrounding yourself

with people who think

differently from how you

do.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 132 and 133



Scoring your Innovation Style Quiz

To score, add the columns. The column with the lowest score is your innovation style.

If column A is the lowest, you are analytical and are driven by facts.

If column B is the lowest, you like to generate creative ideas and engage in new

experiences.

If column C is the lowest, you prefer plans and actions.

If column D is the lowest, your focus is on people.

Those from columns A and C are often called “left-brained” and are typically “dot” thinkers

(looking at the attributes of a problem and generating solutions from there). They are great at

challenging ideas and helping to drive toward solutions that are implementable and will add

value. The risk is that these individuals can stifle innovation by over-challenging during the

divergent stages of innovation.

Those from columns B and D are often referred to as “right-brained” and are typically “line”

thinkers, as they are masterful at connecting dots (innovative thinking comes from making

connections). They are great at developing new concepts and engaging others in the process.

The risk is that they may get lost in creativity for creativity’s sake, or worry too much about how

others will feel, at the expense of powerful business solutions.

The innovation process goes from A to B to C to D. And although every style plays some role in

each step, each style is best suited to one step in particular:

Define the Challenge — this is best performed by the data-driven A’s.

Generate Solutions — the B’s can help develop creative solutions.

Plan and Execute — the methodical and goal-oriented C’s will ensure progress.

Engage the Hearts and Minds — the relationship-oriented D’s can rally employees and

customers so that everyone buys in and implements the solutions.

Remember, each style is critical to the innovation process.



Additional Innovation Style Quiz. Make copies as needed for each person on your team.

Instructions: For each row, rank the words from the most like you to least like you, where 1

represents most like you and 4 represents least like you.

For example, if you are very adventurous but not goal-oriented, you might rank the first row:

intellectual 3, adventurous 1, goal-oriented 4, cheerleader 2.

The Innovation Style Quiz is from Best Practices Are Stupid and is reprinted with permission from the author, Stephen Shapiro.

A B C D

Intellectual

_______________

Adventurous

_______________

Goal-Oriented

_______________

Cheerleader

_______________

Expert

_______________

Spontaneous

_______________

Driven

_______________

Diplomatic

_______________

Knowledgeable

_______________

Daring

_______________

Decisive

_______________

Sociable

_______________

Philosophical

_______________

Flexible

_______________

Direct

_______________

Gregarious

_______________

Discerning

_______________

Versatile

_______________

Competitive

_______________

Popular

_______________

Analytical

_______________

Creative

_______________

Disciplined

_______________

Nurturing

_______________

Logical

_______________

Visionary

_______________

Organized

_______________

Empathetic

_______________

Data Driven

_______________

Open Minded

_______________

Structured

_______________

Compassionate

_______________

Realistic

_______________

Insightful

_______________

Systematic

_______________

Loyal

_______________

Rational

_______________

Curious

_______________

Methodical

_______________

Considerate

_______________

Total _______________

Total _______________

Total _______________

Total _______________



Activity 4: The Goldilocks Principle

One of the most memorable characters from our childhood is Goldilocks — a young girl who

stumbles upon an empty house belonging to a family of bears. After eating a bowl of porridge,

she decides to go to sleep but struggles to find a bed that is “just right.” Organizations face a

similar problem when defining the challenges they face. Stephen Shapiro tells us that when

framing challenges, you must adhere to the Goldilocks Principle. Creative problem solving is at

its best when challenges aren’t too big or too small. Instead, challenges need to be framed in a

way that maximizes the likelihood of finding a solution. Perhaps entering a home inhabited by

bears was risky, but Goldilocks slept soundly when she got it just right. As Stephen Shapiro

shares, “If we adopt this same rigor when defining challenges, we too just might sleep a bit better

at night, knowing a workable solution is just around the corner. So, remember: Goldilocks is a

great way to innovate.”

The article that follows is from Stephen Shapiro’s Web site http://www.steveshapiro.com/ and is reprinted with permission from the

author, Stephen Shapiro.

Ask a Different Question, Get a Different Answer

If you are a college sports fan, you will most likely

be familiar with the NCAA basketball playoffs. 65

teams in total compete. The games are organized

into brackets like the one illustrated here. Teams

compete with the hope of making it into the “sweet

sixteen,” the “final four,” and then ultimately being

crowned the champion. The tournament is single

elimination — that means that after each game, the

winner advances to the next round and the loser’s

eliminated.

With the NCAA tournament, the two lowest ranking teams compete against each other to get the

64th slot in the bracket.

The question is, “How many games need to be played in order to determine which team is the

champion?”

The only way most will be able to find the answer is to draw out the full bracket and count the

number of games in the chart. As a result, when I ask a group this question, it takes quite some

time for everyone to answer correctly.

However, consider this. If I were to phrase the question differently, I can guarantee that you

would find the solution instantly.

Instead of asking, “How many games need to be played in order to determine which team is the

champion?” what if I asked, “How many games need to be played in order to eliminate all of the

losers?”

Tip 25

View the World Through

a Different Lens

When you view the

world through the lens

that your new idea is a

good one, you see only

the evidence that

supports your

conclusion, while

subconsciously ignoring

all of the points that

don’t. In the process,

you might be making

some bad innovation

investments.

But being right can be

the enemy of good

innovation. As an

innovator, don’t get too

attached to your ideas.

Proactively play devil’s

advocate…This will

allow you to make better

decisions on which

innovations to pursue

and which ones to kill.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 111

http://www.steveshapiro.com/



The answer should now be obvious. If you have 65 teams playing, 64 teams must lose. Since the

tournament is single elimination, 64 games need to be played to eliminate all of the losers.

Therefore, 64 games need to be played in order to determine which team is the champion.

This simple exercise makes an incredibly important point. The way you phrase a problem will

lead you down the path of a particular thought process. This, in turn, will lead to a particular

solution. How you ask the question will impact the manner in which you innovate.

A company who brainstormed, “How can we more effectively use 360 degree feedback?”

completely missed the alternative methods for addressing their larger management issues. If they

had asked, “In what way might we create powerful leaders?” they would have found very

different solutions.

An office supply company that asked the question, “How can we more effectively sell our

products to school administrators?” completely missed the fact that the teachers were the real

buyers and that the administrators merely filled out the paperwork. In this case they should have

done their homework to understand the real buyer first before looking to find a solution.

Or when NASA wanted to “create a zero gravity laundry system” for space travel, they missed

out on possible solutions that involved other methods for cleaning clothes or creating a material

that does not require cleaning.

Asking the right question — the right way — is the surest way to accelerate your innovation

efforts and for finding better solutions. Just as the NCAA tournament example showed,

sometimes a very small change can have a significant impact on the way you view the problem.



For this activity, you will revisit your list of problems, challenges, and opportunities from the Pre-

Broadcast Activity on page 12 of this guide. Choose one problem/challenge/opportunity from the

list that you would like to work on and write it in the space below:

Now, imagine you are getting ready to meet with your team to present this issue and find a viable

solution. How will you frame the problem/challenge/opportunity in a way that maximizes the

likelihood of finding a workable solution? Remember, it can’t be too big (broad and abstract) or

too small (overly specific). It needs to be “just right,” meaning more focused, more practical, and

more valuable. A critical step in trying to find solutions is to clearly define the challenge.

The questions you ask will also impact the solution. What questions could you ask to drive the

conversation towards a viable solution? Knowing the right questions to ask — and asking them

in the right way — takes effort and discipline. Too often individuals and organizations don’t

invest the time framing better questions that lead to better information.

Consider these useful factors when framing questions:

What are the leverage points for finding a solution? What is the one thing that has the

greatest impact in delivering the desired result?

Does your question imply a solution? What are you really looking to achieve? Frame the

question so you consider other approaches.

Does your question require a particular expertise? If so, re-frame it so that other domains

of expertise offer solutions.

Is your question overly complex? Find ways to deconstruct it into smaller and more

solvable parts.

Have you researched the facts your question involves? Too many questions are

formulated on conjecture rather than on real data.

As you prepare to map out your approach, the following example from Best Practices Are Stupid

clearly illustrates the importance of framing an issue and asking questions that are “just right”:

When a cell phone company wanted to improve customer service, instead of simply asking

people how to improve the customer experience, the company analyzed call data and found that

there were ten primary reasons why people dialed in to the call center. One of the most common

reasons had to do with a specific billing issue. The solution? It was concluded that the best way

to improve customer service in the call center had nothing to do with the call center itself.

Instead, it involved a change in the tariffs associated with this particular issue. This one small

change resulted in dramatically reduced call volumes and higher customer satisfaction. The only

way that this solution could have been found was by asking a more specific question backed up

by data.


Tip 26

Hire People You Don’t

Like

Innovation demands

diversity of

perspectives,

disciplines, and

personalities. Having a

group of people who

think the same way only

gives you more of the

same. Having people

on your team who get

along well may seem

easier, but it will rarely

lead to new and

innovative ideas.

Instead, consider the

mantra “The person you

like the least is the

person you need the

most.”

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 131



Use the space below to prepare for the meeting with your team. Map out how you will frame and

present the problem/challenge/opportunity you face. How will you frame the issue? What are

some “just right” questions you can ask? Use the tips and techniques suggested by Stephen

Shapiro to maximize your team’s ability to find an innovative solution to your problem,

challenge, or opportunity.

Tip 30

Get Your Knowledge

Workers Doing

Knowledge Work

Innovation is recognized

by most companies as a

basic requirement for

ensuring business

sustainability. Cliché as

it may be, it is time to

“work smarter, not

harder.” Focus your

energies on the items

that are truly value-add

and differentiate you

from the competition.

Eliminate, automate, or

delegate the rest.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 149



Activity 5: How Can You Make the Impossible Possible?

“Sometimes we get stuck in the mundane. We get stuck in thinking about what’s real and what’s

actually possible.”

“But what if you could become masterful at making the seemingly impossible possible? What if,

instead of solving possible challenges, you started to solve seemingly impossible ones? What if,

instead of looking for realistic solutions to challenges, you started with solutions that seemed

impractical?”

– Stephen Shapiro

When you think of some of the world’s most innovative companies — Apple, Google, Amazon

— does the word constraints come to mind? Probably not. The words impossible, impractical, or

quit wouldn’t make the list either. Today’s innovation giants don’t let the impossible stop them

from believing they can make something happen. They don’t let constraints — real or imagined

— stop their innovation efforts.

The reality is that in many organizations finite resources and adherence to the status quo inhibit

innovation. Due to our fear of tough constraints and possible failure, we surrender and fail to

push the limits of our creative abilities. When you don’t attempt to make the impossible possible,

you never realize your true potential. As Stephen Shapiro tells us, it doesn’t have to be this way.

How Can You Make the Impossible Possible?


When solving problems, we typically attempt to move from point A (where we are today) to point

B (where we want to go). But often we fall short and end up still at A...however, if we shoot for

point C (the seemingly impossible); we might just hit point B.

When solving a problem, a useful question to ask is “What are impossible or impractical

solutions?” This question will stretch your thinking. From there, you can then figure out ways of

making these impractical solutions practical. To encourage this kind of thinking, try this

technique. It can be done in pairs or with small groups. It is done in a few simple steps.

Step 1: As always, make sure you have a clearly defined opportunity/challenge statement.

Example: “How might we promote our new Internet-based business?”

Step 2: Have one person give an outrageous solution. I typically suggest that if it is not “illegal,

immoral, or impossible,” it is probably not wild enough. Example: “Rearrange the stars in the

sky to spell out our Web site address.”

Step 3: Have the other person (or people) list three attributes they like about that solution.

Example: (a) Everyone in the world can see it; (b) It is permanent; (c) It doesn’t adversely affect

the environment.

Tip 33

Someone Else Has

Already Solved Your

Problem

The best way to quickly

find solutions to your

challenges is to identify

someone who has

already solved the

problem — but in a

different context. That

is, someone from

another industry,

discipline, or practice

might have a solution.

Solutions can come

from

anywhere…sometimes

the best solutions

already exist in your

own organization…in

some cases the best

solutions will come from

outside your company

or even outside the

world of business.

Where will your next big

innovation come from?

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 160, 163, and 164



Step 4: Next, have the other person (or people) list three things that would make the solution even

better. Example: (a) Have it be visible twenty-four hours a day, not just at night; (b) Design it so

that you don’t have to look up to see it; (c) Create a concept such that people won’t have to

remember or write down the Web site address.

Step 5: Finally, use the attributes identified in steps 3 and 4 to either refine the original solution

or develop different ones. Examples: Attribute 4(a) (visible twenty-four hours a day) may lead to

the Web site address being displayed in lights in Times Square, New York City. Or “twenty-four

hours a day” and “stars” might get you thinking about movie stars and how they might promote

your business. Or attribute 3(b) (make it permanent) might get you thinking about other

permanent things, such as tattoos. What if you created a nicely designed temporary rub-on

tattoo? Or got nightclub owners to stamp your Web address on the hands of people as they

entered?

This approach works well because step 2 allows you to think without constraints. Step 3

“validates” the original solution and the person who generated it. And steps 4 and 5 make the

solution practical.

Instead of just going for what seems practical, shoot for the seemingly impossible…and make it

possible.



For this activity, form pairs or small groups. Revisit your list of problems, challenges, and

opportunities from the Pre-Broadcast Activity on page 12 of this guide. Choose another

problem/challenge/opportunity from the list that you would like to work on and write it in the

space below:

Using Stephen Shapiro’s simple steps, work together to make the impossible possible:

Step 1: As always, make sure you have a clearly defined opportunity/challenge

statement.

Step 2: Have one person give an outrageous solution. If it is not “illegal, immoral, or

impossible,” it is probably not wild enough.

Step 3: Have the other person (or people) list three attributes they like about that solution.

Step 4: Next, have the other person (or people) list three things that would make the

solution even better.

Step 5: Finally, use the attributes identified in steps 3 and 4 to either refine the original

solution or develop different ones.

Capture the ideas shared in the space below (and on the next page) as you work together to stretch

your thinking, and make the possible out of the impossible. Take turns until every member of the

group has had the opportunity to share their problem/challenge/opportunity and practice the

simple steps outlined above. Make the jump to the impossible (point C) and work from there.

You may find you end up at the possible (point B): an innovative solution that puts you ahead of

the competition.


Tip 35

Don’t Put the “No” in

InNOvation

New ideas are often met

with the immediate

response, “Yeah, but,”

followed by a dozen

reasons why the idea

won’t work — we don’t

have enough money,

there is not enough

time, it’s good for

someone else but not

for us. Instead, use

“Yes, and.” This is an

improv comedy

technique where you

build on the ideas of

others using the words

“Yes, and,” while

eliminating “Yeah, but”

from your vocabulary.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 167



Final Activity: Action Planning

Now is the time to get moving. Everything in today’s broadcast supports the need to take action

and start implementing the lessons shared. Picture yourself six months from now. You’re

reflecting with a sense of pride and satisfaction on how you are finding innovative solutions to the

challenges and opportunities facing your organization. You’ve applied the innovation strategies

shared by Stephen Shapiro to be more focused and efficient in your innovation efforts. How will

you continue to develop a culture of innovation within your organization? What long-term

benefits will your organization achieve as you out-innovate your competition?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Back to the present. With the above goal set for six months from now, what intermediary steps

do you need to take to reach that goal?

What do you need to do within three months?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

What do you need to do by the end of this month?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

What do you need to do by the end of this week?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

What do you need to do tomorrow?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Tip 40

Predict What the

Competition Will Do

Next

Most organizations use

creativity to help them

determine what to do

next based on current

information. They

brainstorm ideas, select

the best solutions, and

then implement the

most promising ones.

Creativity is used to

determine what your

organization will do

next.

But in these rapidly

changing times,

creativity can be even

more valuable for

determining what the

marketplace and your

competitors will do next.

Stephen Shapiro

Best Practices Are

Stupid

pg. 182 and 183



Materials Written by Stephen Shapiro

Books

Shapiro, Stephen M. Best Practices Are Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition.

Portfolio/Penguin, a member of Penguin group, 2011

Shapiro, Stephen M. Personality Poker: The Playing Card Tool for Driving High Performance

Teamwork and Innovation. Portfolio/Penguin, a member of Penguin group, 2010

Shapiro, Stephen M. Goal-Free Living: How to Have the Life You Want NOW! John Wiley &

Sons, Inc., 2006

Shapiro, Stephen M. 24/7 Innovation: A Blueprint for Surviving and Thriving in an Age of

Change. McGraw-Hill, a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002

Website

You may also benefit from visiting the following websites associated with Stephen Shapiro:







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