WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM?

Srini KumarManagement Communication

11/30/06

HAVE YOU EVER FELT...

• Intimidated by the size and profundity of your ideas... or their irreverence?

• Paranoid that others would steal your work... or lacking direction in your life?

• Eager to participate in exciting new projects... to the point of compulsion?

• BORED TO TEARS BY A TEDIOUS JOB ???

• Ignorant of many vital biological and sociological needs... because of IDEAS?

Innovation And Business

• Courses proliferating across b-schools• The Ideology of INNOVATION• The Need for DIFFERENTIATION• Big Money Vulnerable To Big Ideas

– Explain why Yahoo! didn’t conceive of Myspace again ? No reason

• “Innovation” is a codeword for something much deeper

IDEAS: the heart of innovation

• Innovation is a PROCESS with NEW, PRODUCTIVE IDEAS as its PRODUCT

• Can ideation really be MANAGED?– Hire creative people– Give them resources and purpose– Study innovation

• STILL, large firms fail to innovate well• WHY ??? ??? ???

MY THEORY ABOUT IDEAS• Ideas Are “Alive” And Have A Will Of Their Own

• Devices That Turn Time Into Money– Ideas inhabit certain PLACES– Ideas inhabit certain MOMENTS– Ideas make BIG MONEY

• Ideas Merge And Mutate– The Power Of The Hyphen

• Ideas Appreciate Your Worship• Studying Innovation Is Not Enough• Ideas Are What Make America Great

KARMA: How To Judge Ideas

• Many ideas don’t get ACTED ON– The Hurdles: Will the idea survive?

• Certain ideas are IRRESISTIBLE– Clearing The First Hurdle

• Actions Lead To Consequences– Predictable vs Unpredictable

• The Matrix Of Future Consequences Is The Realm Of KARMA

IDEAS: the foundation of the firm

• Underlying every great company (or social movement of any kind) is a great idea which would not be quashed

• Competition is not just for dollars; it is for IDEA DOMINION

• This parallels EVOLUTION• Firms are organisms built around IDEAS• Competition in the noösphere

QWERTY ?

• We sublimate our identities into our online presences

• We lose touch with the real world– “Vanish into the MySpace haze”

• Ideas can lock up our minds• Even BAD ideas, like QWERTY• We learn to cope with the burden of

ideas – and yet firms can’t find enough. SO THEY INVEST IN BAD ONES.

The Ideology Of Innovation

• If you “hire the right people” and “create a neat culture” you will foster real innovation– Maybe a little “directed play” (IDEO)

• New packaging of the same old product – twisting the variables and packages a bit – qualifies as an innovation (CPG)

• TOTALLY SUPPLY SIDE• Neglecting entirely the needs of the

ULTIMATE customer – our strangled society (time and money) and our endangered Earth

GREAT IDEAS HAVE AN AGENDA

• All great ideas are flowing towards a better world

• Envisioning a better world is the way to create a better world

• Envisioning means having ideas• If you lead a life of positivity and low

drama, ideas come naturally• Of course, funding is not so easy!