The Will to Win in Every Part of Life

Cognitive thinking is the mechanism we use to unleash innovation. To be mentally engaged in a cognitive way requires us to have our attention focused. We must be in "observation mode" and we must be actively engaged in processing - or thinking about - what we are observing.

Let's look at it another way. The human mind is at its highest cognitive level when we receive input from our senses that does not match an existing pattern. It's new. Because the mind always makes matches, even if they are grossly incorrect, the degree of the "non match" impacts the level of "cognizance" we have. Our minds are hard-wired to place everything we see, smell, taste, feel, touch or think into perspective in what is often called our "personal world view."

That's why when we see something that doesn't make sense or that we don't recognize we often call to mind images that we mentally start testing. We check them off as "no way, that's not it" until we find something we think might match. Our mind is offering partial pattern matches to us to see if we can cognitively give it that verification. However, this only happens when we actively observe something in a focused, questing way.

Observations - The Fuel We Need

So if you think about thinking (ugh) you should be able to see that we need observations that raise our cognitive level. Let's call this Innovation Fuel.

The innovation technique I developed is very likely the simplest and most elegant way to challenge process. The technique puts us into a cognitive state on purpose by zeroing in on isolated characteristics of a process (Moments of Truth) and challenging them within that isolation. This forces us outside of all our normal reference points.

This gives us the observation input (fuel) we need then propels us into the State of Innovation by challenging us to find a unique way (a change that could be made) to eliminate that characteristic from the process. No "changes" can be reused so as we sift through the stack of possibilities our minds are pressed more and more to "think outside the box" for any unique patterns they can find that could be a fit to what is effectively a pattern-matching request. That's a rough outline of what happens.

A Physical Reality

The State of Innovation is a real condition and we can measure that condition with sophisticated sensory devices used to monitor the changes in brain activity, heart rate, breathing patterns, chemical changes, and body posture that go along with it. That's another important observation because if we don't move into this real and measurable state it is highly unlikely that we will succeed in being innovative.

So if we are able to create the observational context, the challenge (and it does need to be the right challenge), and what I call the "empty bucket" (meaning we run you out of all the obvious and easy answers to the challenge) AND you continue to tackle the challenge you WILL begin to innovate.

When does this not work? Only when we cheat my friend, only when we cheat. Why would that happen? Because it's uncomfortable and it's hard work! Answering a question where all of the obvious answers are already used is no simple thing. We have to really kick things in gear (hence the reason why this condition can be physically measured). While the instructions may be simple and success is there for everyone that follows them, good old human nature often shortcuts the process - leaving us well rested but holding an empty bag.

Unleashing the Opportunity

Unleashing innovation requires us to identify a variety of potential changes that could be taken, to identify even those we are unlikely to seriously consider, and in that experience to uncover novel new steps that can produce competitive, differentiating, trendsetting and even radical advancement of our customer value proposition. It's the one technique that can do this for any industry, market, or geography and it's the one technique that doesn't succumb to rote application.

Observation, challenge and enough effort for us to address the challenge once our "idea bucket" is empty is all it takes to trigger real innovation. The technique is simple; the requirement on people is not. It requires the willingness to be uncomfortable, to often be frustrated as we struggle with new ways to answer the challenge, and the willingness to work at it - hard. Like some many other things in life, you get from it what you put into it.