Great Innovation means seeing things differently and thinking differently. It means "Getting Off the Calf Path" of Routine.

1. GREAT INNOVATION MEANS
GETTING OFF THE CALF-PATH
Presented to
January 15,
2014
Thomas Kayser
kayser1@roadrunner.com

2. Back around 1890 or so, Sam Walter Foss
wrote a poem “The Calf Path” which started
out like this . . .

3. One day, through the primeval wood,
A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail, as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And I infer the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale . . .

4. The poem’s final verses provide
the moral of the story . . .

5. Each day a hundred thousand rout
Followed the zigzag calf about
And o'er his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led,
By one calf near three centuries dead.
They followed still his crooked way,
And lost one hundred years a day;
For thus such reverence is lent,
To well established precedent.

6. For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf-paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun,
To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,
In and out, and forth and back,
And still the same course they pursue,
To keep the path that others do.
They keep the path a sacred groove,
Along which all their lives do move.
Ah, many things this tale might teach—
But I am not ordained to preach.

7. NOW
THE STORY OF
THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET

8. GRAPHITE WIDGETS SHOWN BELOW

9. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
Three companies owned the market
place
Each with roughly a 33% share
These were old line, firmly entrenched
companies
A number of smaller firms fought over
the crumbs

10. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
GC Company

11. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
GC Company
FC Company

12. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
FC Company
GC Company
GF Company

13. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
Even though the market had grown over time, each
company’s internal technologies, work
processes, organization structures, management
style, etc. all constrained their ability to breakout
and dominate the graphite widget market
AND, AT THE SAME TIME . . .
Customers were becoming more and more
disenchanted with all three producers

14. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
Due to their internal inefficiencies and constraints,
each company could only develop a “survival”
operating strategy . . .
NOT A “WINNING” ONE

15. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
GC
Company

16. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
FC
Company
GC
Company

17. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
FC
Company
GC
Company
GF
Company

18. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
ENTER THE ICE COMPANY
GC Company
GF Company
FC Company
ICE Company

19. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
Although new to the marketplace, the ICE
company had a different internal way of doing
business and a more compelling operating
strategy . . .
THEY HAD A “WINNING” STRATEGY
AND WERE READY TO DISRUPT THE GRAPHITE
WIDGET MARKET

20. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
The ICE company harnessed and integrated its
resources at all levels and figured out how to be . . .

21. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
In less than 9 months the graphite widget
market looked like this . . .

22. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
GC Company 3%
Market Share
FC Company 3%
Market Share
GF Company 4%
Market Share
ICE Company 90%
Market Share

23. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
The moral of this story is, the ICE company
through its relentless pursuit of . . .

24. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
Innovation

25. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
Innovation
and
Collaboration

26. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET MARKET:
Innovation
and
Collaboration
and
Execution

27. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
. . . was able to hit the winning business
success trifecta of producing products and
services that were . . .

28. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
. . . was able to hit the winning business
success trifecta of producing products and
services that were . . .
Good

29. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
. . . was able to hit the winning business
success trifecta of producing products and
services that were . . .
Good
and
Fast

30. THE STORY OF THE GRAPHITE WIDGET
MARKET:
. . . was able to hit the winning business
success trifecta of producing products and
services that were . . .
Good
and
Fast
and
Cheap

31. A WORD OF WARNING FROM FORTUNE MAGAZINE

32. WARNING FROM FORTUNE
Regardless of the products and services
that you sell, your customers are
unyielding in their expectations of you:
> Their demands are lengthening.
> Their patience is shrinking

33. WARNING FROM FORTUNE
Regardless of the products and services that you sell, your
customers are unyielding in their expectations of you:
> Their demands are lengthening.
> Their patience is shrinking
Huge shifts in the global economy have
given them the power to:
> Command exactly what they want
> The way they want it
> When they want it
> At a price that makes you cringe

34. WARNING FROM FORTUNE
Regardless of the products and services that you sell, your
customers are unyielding in their expectations of you:
> Their demands are lengthening.
> Their patience is shrinking
Huge shifts in the global economy have given them the power
to:
> Command exactly what they want
> The way they want it
> When they want it
> At a price that makes you cringe
If you can’t meet these demands your
competitors will; then you’ll be an alsoran, fighting for the leftover scraps of
business on the slippery slope to oblivion!

35. END OF PART 1

37. While different; they are absolutely linked . . .

38. Over 40 years ago Harvard
professor, Theodore Levitt, clarified
the difference between Creativity and
Innovation with a definition that is still
relevant today.
He noted . . .

39. CREATIVITY
is thinking up new things

40. CREATIVITY
is thinking up new things
INNOVATION
is doing new things

41. CREATVITY (THINKING UP NEW) MUST
INTERSECT WITH INNOVATION (DOING
NEW) BECAUSE . . .

42. CREATVITY (THINKING UP NEW) MUST
INTERSECT WITH INNOVATION (DOING
NEW) BECAUSE . . .
CREATIVE IDEAS WITHOUT
COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION AND
EXECUTION ARE JUST A DREAM . . .

43. . . . AND WHILE IT IS TRUE DREAMS ARE
AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF CREATIVE
INSPIRATION IN AN ORGANIZATION . . .

44. . . . AND WHILE IT IS TRUE DREAMS ARE
AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF CREATIVE
INSPIRATION IN AN ORGANIZATION . . .
DREAMS ALONE, WITHOUT A SOUND
PROCESS FOR TAKING THESE CREATIVE
IDEAS AND “BRINGING THEM TO LIFE” BY
TURNING THEM INTO MARKET
OFFERINGS, ARE OF NO VALUE TO THE
BUSINESS.

45. IN SUMMARY, AS THOMAS EDISON,
ONE OF THE WORLD’S FOREMOST DREAMERS
AND VISIONARIES TERSELY PROCLAIMED . . .

46. “VISION
WITHOUT
EXECUTION
IS
HALLUCINATION”

47. LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT
INNOVATION
INNOVATION IS A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS
CONSISTING OF TWO INTERDEPENDENT STAGES .
..

48. FIRST IS THE FRONT-END OF INNOVATION
(FRAMING FOR INNOVATION)
Problems, needs, or opportunities key to business success
are identified and defined as GAPS between our current
state and our desired future state
(INTERSECTING CREATIVITY WITH
INNOVATION)
Ideas to address the GAPS in our selected business
problems, needs, or opportunities are generated

49. FIRST IS THE FRONT-END OF INNOVATION
(FRAMING FOR INNOVATION)
Problems, needs, or opportunities key to business success are identified and defined as
GAPS between our current state and our desired future state
(INTERSECTING CREATIVITY WITH INNOVATION)
Ideas to address the GAPS in our selected business problems, needs, or opportunities
are generated
SECOND IS THE BACK-END OF INNOVATION
(EXECUTING)
The best ideas are fully developed and moved into
the marketplace
(GROWING THE BUSINESS)
Value from those ideas—top-line revenue growth
& market share growth—is created

50. BOTTOM LINE, WHEN SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED .
..
. . . BECAUSE INNOVATION IS THE PROCESS BY
WHICH GREAT IDEAS ARE DEVELOPED INTO
REAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

51. NINE “BEST PRACTICE” PRINCIPLES FOR FACILITATING
EXCELLENT INNOVATION FROM THE FRONT-END, THROUGHT
THE BACK-END, AND INTO THE MARKETPLACE

52. PRINCIPLE #1: Innovation depends on how well your
strategy, work
processes, structure, technology, leadership style, and
culture all integrate and reinforce each other.

53. PRINCIPLE #1: Innovation depends on how well your
strategy, work
processes, structure, technology, leadership style, and
culture all integrate and reinforce each other.
PRINCIPLE #2: Collaboration at each point along your
innovation chain must be nurtured in order to bring to
bear the diversity of
thoughts, viewpoints, perspectives, and ideas to the
tasks at hand.

54. PRINCIPLE #1: Innovation depends on how well your
strategy, work
processes, structure, technology, leadership style, and
culture all integrate and reinforce each other.
PRINCIPLE #2: Collaboration at each point along your
innovation chain must be nurtured in order to bring to
bear the diversity of
thoughts, viewpoints, perspectives, and ideas to the
tasks at hand.
PRINCIPLE #3: Execution is the multiplier of
innovation. [An organization that can execute well on a
few good innovations is more powerful than one that has
lots of great ideas with no way to execute]

55. PRINCIPLE #4: Teammates at all levels want to
collaborate on “stuff that matters” because they have a
need for achievement, recognition, and personal growth.

56. PRINCIPLE #4: Teammates at all levels want to
collaborate on “stuff that matters” because they have a
need for achievement, recognition, and personal growth.
PRINCIPLE #5: Teammates at all levels are creative in
some manner. If you give them some freedom to
contribute, and do some creative thinking outside their
boxes, they will amaze you.

57. PRINCIPLE #4: Teammates at all levels want to
collaborate on “stuff that matters” because they have a
need for achievement, recognition, and personal growth.
PRINCIPLE #5: Teammates at all levels are creative in
some manner. If you give them some freedom to
contribute, and do some creative thinking outside their
boxes, they will amaze you.
PRINCIPLE #6: Communicating the status of projects
along the innovation chain and recognizing wins—no
matter how small—is critical to keeping all teammates
excited about innovation.

58. PRINCIPLE #7: Culture gets stronger the lower in the
hierarchy you go. A truly innovative culture is owned and
role-modeled by the senior team and gets dramatically
accelerated and amplified by middle management. This
is also true of dictatorial, risk adverse, and punitive
cultures.

59. PRINCIPLE #7: Culture gets stronger the lower in the
hierarchy you go. A truly innovative culture is owned and
role-modeled by the senior team and gets dramatically
accelerated and amplified by middle management. This
is also true of dictatorial, risk adverse, and punitive
cultures.
PRINCIPLE #8: Risk Tolerance allows you to
learn, learn, learn. Even if something fails at
first, learn, adjust, and adapt. If that doesn’t
work, abandon. Failure is to be expected and at times
rewarded.

60. PRINCIPLE #7: Culture gets stronger the lower in the
hierarchy you go. A truly innovative culture is owned and
role-modeled by the senior team and gets dramatically
accelerated and amplified by middle management. This
is also true of dictatorial, risk adverse, and punitive
cultures.
PRINCIPLE #8: Risk Tolerance allows you to
learn, learn, learn. Even if something fails at
first, learn, adjust, and adapt. If that doesn’t
work, abandon. Failure is to be expected AND at times
rewarded.
PRINCIPLE #9: Action means fail fast, w/
prototypes, shared with customers. Something ugly
now, shared as a prototype is better than something
slick, guarded in isolation, overly engineered, and useless

61. Collaboration
Integrated Business Elements
Execution
Action
Risk Tolerance
Natural Creativity of Teammates
Innovation Culture Role-Modeled at Top
Desire of Teammates to Do Meaningful Work
Communicate and Recognize Successes

62. END OF PART 2

66. RULES OF THE GARAGE
1. Believe you can change the world.
2. Share your tools, share your ideas.
3. Trust and respect your colleagues.
4. No politics, check your ego at the garage door.
5. “We” always gets the credit.
6. The customer defines a job well done.
7. Be bold.
8. Radical ideas are not bad ideas.
9. See differently, think differently.
10. Believe that together we can do anything.

67. DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE TERM
“THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX”
CAME FROM?

68. CONNECT ALL 9 DOTS WITH FOUR
STRAIGHT LINES WITHOUT LIFTING
YOUR PENCIL FROM THE PAPER

69. CAN YOUCONNECT ALL 9 DOTS WITH
THREE STRAIGHT LINES WITHOUT
LIFTING YOUR PENCIL FROM THE PAPER?

71. I’M GOING TO SHOW YOU
A PICTUER FOR 15 SECONDS
WHAT DO YOU SEE?
DON’T SAY ANYTHING!
JUST LOOK.

73. WHAT DID YOU SEE?

74. LET’S TRY ANOTHER ONE.
WHAT DO YOU SEE?

76. WHAT DID YOU SEE?

77. Getting Off the Calf Path
Requires You to See
Differently
and to Think Differently
It Means Suspending Disbeliefs
and
Eliminating the “IDEA
KILLERS”

78. Idea Killers are really death sentences —
certain death for any idea or question that
challenges the existing way of doing things.

79. You’ll Never Leave the Calf Path Using…
Now that’s a career threatening
suggestion if I ever heard one…
Dumb question,
next…
Reasons why innovation & creativity wont fly in your organization

82. Father, why do we follow the same old, tired path everyday…
this path that meanders so strangely…and turns and twists with
no apparent meaning…no rhyme, no reason…why follow it so
blindly, so unquestioningly father?
Good questions son. I never really
thought about it. Just doing what we
cattle have always done. Maybe we
can create an easier, shorter path. Let’s
talk it over tonight.

83. SCAMPER Off the Calf Path by Asking
Questions That Light Up Innovation

84. SUBSTITUTE
What can I substitute to make an improvement?
What if I swap this for that and see what happens?
How can I substitute the place, time, materials or people?
COMBINE
What materials, features, processes, people, products or
components can I combine?
Where can I build synergy?
ADAPT
What part of the product could I change?
And in exchange for what?
What if I were to change the characteristics of a component?
MODIFY
What happens if I warp or exaggerate a feature or component?
What will happen if I modify the process in some way?
What other market could I use this product in?
PUT TO
ANOTHER USE Who or what else might be able to use it?
ELIMINATE
REVERSE
What would happen if I removed a component or part of it?
How else would I achieve the solution w/o the normal way of
doing it?
What if I did it the other way round?
What if I reverse the order it is done or the way it is used?
How would I achieve the opposite effect?

85. DOING THE OBVIOUS

86. DOING THE OBVIOUS
FOLLOWING THE
CALF-PATH

87. DOING THE OBVIOUS
FOLLOWING THE
CALF-PATH
NOTHING NEW

88. DOING THE OBVIOUS
FOLLOWING THE
CALF-PATH
NOTHING NEW
AVERAGE

89. INSTEAD OF
BEING AVERAGE
BE GREAT!
SHOOT FOR. . .

90. GETTING BEYOND THE OBVIOUS

91. GETTING BEYOND THE OBVIOUS
GETTING OFF THE CALF-PATH

92. GETTING BEYOND THE OBVIOUS
GETTING OFF THE CALF-PATH
SEEING,THINKING,AND
DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY

93. GETTING BEYOND THE OBVIOUS
GETTING OFF THE CALF-PATH
SEEING,THINKING,AND
DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY
IMPROVING
INNOVATION, COLLABORATION, EXECUT
ION

94. GETTING BEYOND THE OBVIOUS
GETTING OFF THE CALF-PATH
SEEING,THINKING,AND
DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY
IMPROVING YOUR
INNOVATION, COLLABORATION, EXECUT
ION
BRINGING TO MARKET HARD TO
IMITATE
OFFERINGS, FASTER, BETTER, CHEAPER

95. SO, IN CLOSING—
SEE YOUR POTENTIAL FOR GREATNESS
FOCUS YOURSELF ON IT
SEE YOURSELFAS
THE KING OF YOUR MARKETS
JUST LIKE THIS . . .

97. THANK YOU!!!!!