Professor Andy Boynton will reveal that great business ideas do not spring from innate creativity, or necessarily from the brilliant minds of people. Rather, great ideas come to those who are in the habit of looking for great ideas — all around them, all the time. Idea Hunters understand that valuable ideas are already out there, waiting to be found — and not just in the usual places. In this presentation, Andy will uncover: Why ideas are critical assets for every professional How to expand your capacity to find and develop winning business ideas The useful mnemonic I-D-E-A: Interest; Diversity; Exercise; Agile How to seek out and select the ideas that best serve your purposes and goals Andy will also share accounts of successful Idea Hunters and thriving “idea” companies, such as Warren Buffet, Walt Disney, Thomas, Edison, and Pixar.

1. Andy Boynton | Dean, Carroll School of Management |20151
Let’s get personal….
You, the effective Knowledge Professional

2. Andy Boynton | Dean, Carroll School of Management |2015
Over 20 years of research (a few
books and articles along the way)
across different disciplines.
Countless conversations with effective
managers, leaders, and professionals
(like you!) from around the world...
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2. What choices do you think that the
business had to make to ensure this idea
was implemented successfully?
1. Who had the idea for this innovation
and why? (what was the innovation,
anyway?)
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Our first case study is far away from your businesses…
I would like you to think about two things as we watch?

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Pirates’ Island MRI

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Where did the idea
for this innovation
come from?
Why did this
“expert” not have
the idea before?

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What choices did managers in
the hospital have to make to
ensure the Pirate MRI was a
successful innovation
(this technologically enabled
change worked - big time)

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Star Model: Must have! Approach ANY innovation as
Organization challenge and change!
Strategy
vision
mission
Structure
formal
informal
Talent
people
skills
experience
Rewards
incentives
goals
formal
informal
Processes
and Systems
work flow
information flow
coordination and
control

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SECOND: Once you find an idea, the game is
not over… you’ve got to implant it into your
organization. (It has to become real or that idea
has zero value! NT + OO = COO)
Two important points arise from this case —
the two faces of innovation are key to
remember!
FIRST: Finding great ideas is often a contact sport
(close contact with customers, users, suppliers…;)

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Which individual is the ancestor
of this great firm’s
approach to technologically
enabled change and
creativity?
HISTORY TEST

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Thomas Edison
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Take a close look: Edison’s Team and Idea Factory

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Work Environment is Key! (Google et al)

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THOMAS EDISON’S JOB INTERVIEW TEST:
Who was Francis Marion?
Where is the River Volga?
Who invented logarithms?
What is the first line in The Aeneid?
What war material did Chile export to the Allies during the War?
Who was the Roman emperor when Jesus Christ was born?
Where is the Sargasso Sea?
Of what is brass made?
Who was Leonidas?
Who discovered the X-ray?
Where do we get shellac?
Why is cast iron called Pig Iron?
Who was Bessemer and what did he do?
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Ability to apply ideas
& knowledge across
disciplines (functions)
i-Shaped
Deep Functional/
Disciplinary Skill
Help Wanted! T-Shaped Knowledge
Professionals! (“Smart Creatives”)

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“It’s what we do. It’s what we’ve always done. We’re always doing
experiments.” -Jeff Bezos

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… how do you know in advance
which technologies and projects
will create opportunities for innovation
and change that creates tangible
value for your business?

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Jeff Bezos (and Edison) a champion
of cheap and smart innovation
Experiments are business investments
in learning and accelerating change.
More money, time and resources do not
mean more or better innovation!
The fallacy of planning….

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Answer: Strategic
Question: What do you call change initiatives or
projects or technology investments that take two
dollars to produce one dollar worth of value?

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Fast Forward to 2015!
The next business is also a world leader:
The magic sauce: effectively blending technology, business, and
talent to innovate really fast and really well!

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“Keep the Change” Account Service for
Bank of America
A service innovation to attract and retain bank members

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Helping Millennials Get Smart About Money
for Swiss Life
Swiss Life’s One100 brings financial goals within reach

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Holiday Inn Express Europe
Creating a smarter hotel experience

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Retail and Brand Strategy
Service Model
For Converse

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Supermarket Retail Experience
For Boston Market

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PROTOTYPING: a
Building Block for Effective Change
Build Fail
Learn
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✓ Time pressure! Get your best ideas out, fast….teams, teams, teams…
✓ More skills, perspectives, experiences are better (T-Shaped talent rules)
✓ Encourage diverse ideas outside the norm (and from weird places —not just appropriate or safe
ideas)
✓ Use rapid prototyping: fail early often to succeed sooner (and mitigate risk) (I’m a prototyping
zealot in everything we do…really!)
✓ Experimentation is a strategic art — the “end” of rationale planning vs. smart, frugal experiments
✓ Great conversations are essential and rare! (Many firms are starving for great conversations)
IDEO, Amazon, Edison….all realized change was an
asset that could be used to foster real advantage…
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A question I get all the time—-
Where do the best knowledge professionals find
ideas that can are a catalyst to impactful change
and innovation?
From all around us…but those ideas won’t find us!

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How birds see the world

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How Idea Hunters see the world

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Phil Schiller led a strategic project at Apple
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1983: HP 9000 2011: iPod

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Walt Disney
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GOOFY | Created by Art Babbit & Frank Webb

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Lighting Round!
Lessons for “We R Effective Knowledge
Professionals”
✓ The challenge is innovation not technology; the two
faces of innovation (find a great idea and implant it!)
✓ Teamwork essential: the right people in the right
process (it’s a factory baby!)
✓ T-shaped vs. I-shaped professionals rule
✓ Failure for Edison: learn, learn, learn
✓Experiments (Bezos: Experiments is where the best
strategic/innovation thinking is today (MVO’s etc)!
✓ Borrow ideas with pride (Originality is way over-
rated!)
✓ Diverse sources for ideas are essential
✓ Are you hunting for ideas? All the time? Are your
teams? (you won’t get much further based on what
you know already!)

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Watch Joe
Galli
(CEO of Black and
Decker)
Some great ideas are lurking here!

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Tradesman Segment
Revolutionized in
Three Years!
Sudden Impact: The Results

59. 2.#Back(cast#from#the#ideal
Versus:….fore-casting
from status quo
Back-Casting: See the future; make it real
time
innovation 1.#Envision#the#Ideal!
4.#What#can#be#done#in#the#
short#term
3.#What#can#be#done#in#
the#mid#term
Andy Boynton | Dean, Carroll School of Management |2015 59

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BE AN IDEA HUNTER!
(Great ideas won’t find you! Collide
with great ideas daily!! )
Andy Boynton
Dean, Carroll School of Management
Andy.Boynton@BC.edu AndrewBoynton.com twitter.com/Andy_Boynton
THANK YOU!