getFreshMinds.com | Ideas so fresh--they should be slapped!

Connect with people farther away!

When you're around someone, buying them a beer is a quick and simple way to connect.  It doesn't cost much, but it always make the other person feel happy and appreciated.

But, it's not so easy to do that from far away.  Which is why I really think YouGotBeer.com is a great idea.

It's a really simple service.  You go online, enter the name and email of the person you want to buy a beer for, pay with Paypal, and hit submit. 

Then, YouGotBeer.com sends that person an email with a gift certificate for a beer at a bunch of locations close to them.

No, this isn't the next eBay, or Facebook, or Google.  But it's fun!  It effectively and creatively solves the problem of wanting to buy a beer for someone who isn't in the same city.

And there is definitely something to be said for a service that is a cheap and easy way to put a smile on someone's face when they're on the other side of the country or the world!

Just remember, creative ideas don't always have to be earth-shattering and unique.  Sometimes, great ideas help people do simple things in a new way.

And, stop thinking that ideas have to always be serious.  Have some fun! Give YouGotBeer.com a try!

 

(Hat tip to Drew, who already got a beer from someone.  He thinks it's a great idea too!)

Where is your audacity?

A couple of years ago, while trying to read Caesar's De Bello Gallico in college, I learned the origins of a very thrilling word: Audacity.

Audacity comes from the Latin verb audēre, which means "to dare". 

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary describes it as "arrogant disregard of normal restraints".

Is it just me, or does that sounds like a starting point for coming up with wickedly good new ideas and blasting open new possibilities?

Today's New York Times has a great article about some "crazy" individuals who aim to destroy assumptions about what humans can and cannot do.

They want to make it possible for humans to fly.

No, they're not attaching prosthetic wings in secret surgical experiments, they're designing special suits--similar to the wings of a flying squirrel--and working out a way to land safely without a parachute.

It's not just some crazy dream. 

The wing suits actually work for aerial maneuvering, and the main challenge is now to create a way for the flier to glide to a stop when they finally reach the ground.

Of course, they're not there yet.  There's still the whole "hitting the ground at 75 mph" issue to work out.

At the same time though, the future fliers are well on their way.  One aspirant is building a $2 million slanted landing runway, while another is developing a suit that lets fliers land on their feet on a horizontal surface.

And they definitely have the right attitude.

Jeb Corliss, one of the aspiring fliers, told the NY Times that people want to fly “Because everybody thinks that it’s not possible. The point is to show people anything can be done. If you want to do amazing things, then you have to take amazing risks.”

That definitely sounds like "audacity" to me!

And can you imagine though what will happen when they do succeed?  No one thought that the Wright brothers could fly either.

Download flying_humans.pdf   (Best to go to NY Times though... they have a great video!)

*Photo of Jeb Corliss is from NY Times article by Axel Koester

Just like teaching someone to fish.

Creativity is not just about creating buy-it-now, I-gotta-have-it gadgets, opening new markets, or making the cover of Fast Company.

Creativity is as simple as seeing an opportunity or making a connection that turns into something greater than itself.

Consider this fantastic story on Larry James' Urban Daily, a blog about "ideas, resources, commentary and opinions concerning the issues facing low-income residents of the inner cities of the United States".

...a very poor woman came to one of our Resource Centers seeking assistance to pay a past due utility bill. Serving over 50,000 people annually makes it impossible for us to pay utility bills except on rare occasions.

The interviewer/case worker who visited with this woman was herself a very low-income person, as are most of our volunteers. She knew the ropes of poverty herself and came up with a great idea for the woman with the overdue light bill.

On this particular day our Thrift Store had a special sale on clothing going on--all the clothing you could stuff into a large trash bag for $1.00!

Our counselor handed the woman $2.00 out of her own pocket with the suggestion that she go to the store, purchase two large bags of clothing, return home and prepare them for sale in a yard sale to see how much money she could earn toward the payment of the overdue bill.

The woman took her advice.

About a week later, the woman returned. She located the volunteer and reported with great excitement that she had turned the $2.00 investment in clothing into more than enough to pay her bill!

She proudly repaid the $2.00 loan and went back to the Thrift Store to purchase more used clothing for another sale! ...

In this instance, the counselor saw an opportunity.

She knew that the ministry couldn't afford to give away money, but she also knew about the thrift center sale (something the woman in need did not).  Connecting the two gave her the ability to help in an urgent situation.

And the best part is that she empowered the woman to help herself in a sustainable way.

It's said that if you "Give someone a fish; you have fed them for today. Teach someone to fish; and you have fed them for a lifetime."

It's the same with opportunities.  Once people have seen new possibilities, they are able to take advantage of them.

Making that first creative connection (no matter how small it is) is the hard part.

An idea that doubles the pleasure, doubles the fun!

There's nothing worse than coming across someone's old gum. 

Everyone has bad memories of putting our hands under the seats of the school bus when we were kids or coming across gum stuck under tables in public places.

And if we step in it... ugh.  Anyone else ever had to hop on one leg while trying to clean out a shoe tread with a stick?  It's never fun.

Most of us just think of already-been-chewed gum as something to be avoided, and something we desperately hope we'll never have to deal with.

This isn't just a modern problem either.  Not long ago, an archeology student found a 5,500 year old piece of gum in Finland.  It even had toothmarks.  Yuck.

London designer Anna Bullus, however, has done something really cool about the gum situation.  She combined bio resin with used (and sterilized) chewing gum to come up with a spiffy biodegradable gum disposal.

It's cool because:

• It's a bubble that people can put their gum in!  (Who can resist the pun?)

• Once it's filled, the whole thing is sterilized, and made into new bubblebins.

I like it not only because it helps keep people from just sticking their gum everywhere, but also because it takes a "used-up" product--that most people would just throw away--and begins a positive cycle of renewal.

Plus, it also is an eye-catching addition to the London streets.  With all the rainy weather, the bright pink bubbles are sure to make people smile.

The best part about it, though, is that Anna created something new and useful out of something that we would normally think of as trash.

Most of us see a used object as something that is finished. Kaput. Done with.  Something to forget about as soon as it hits that trash bin.

But what if there is an opportunity there?  Are we missing possibilities because we're so quick to throw things away?

How would you get out of this situation?

Imagine this.

It's one of those moments.  It's late and you're on the way home.  Perhaps you're walking down a dark street, or waiting in the subway, or getting into your car in a deserted parking lot. 

But there you are. Alone in a darkened area.  With danger lurking on the edge of your thoughts.  Usually, there's nothing to worry about.  Usually. 

Those are the times when your mind starts to run wild with possibilities.  What if someone were to approach you?  What if there was no place to hide, and no one around to help?  What if your attacker was stronger and faster? What if?

What would you do?

In America, we're told to make a fuss.  To scream and run and fight if someone attacks us.  To yell "fire" at the top of our lungs because that is an emergency where people run to help.  To wear a rape whistle and carry pepper spray.

Not everyone does this.

For the Japanese, it's quite a different situation.  Many would rather avoid confrontation entirely.  "Making a scene would be too embarrassing."

So, in Japan, inventors are coming up with ways for people to escape a bad situation in a non-aggressive way.

Friday's New York Times actually had an article about the innovative products that nervous people can buy to protect themselves from street crime.

There's a purse that unfolds to look like a manhole cover.  Put it on the ground, and a wallet could easily escape detection.

Or knife-proof school uniforms so parents can breath easier about their children.

But, by far my personal favorite is the skirt that unfolds to look like a vending machine!

Take a look:

Some of those ideas sounds absolutely crazy to us.  Why would someone ever want to disguise themselves as a vending machine to escape?  And, many such ideas are crazy.

But I'm telling you about this article because it has a couple paragraphs that people who are interested in creativity and innovation need to read!

Columnist Martin Fackler reports:

“Japanese society won’t just laugh, so inventors are not afraid to try new things,” said Takumi Hirai, chairman of Japan’s largest association of individual inventors, the 10,000-member Hatsumeigakkai.

In fact, Japan produces so many unusual inventions that it even has a word for them: chindogu, or “queer tools.” The term was popularized by Kenji Kawakami, whose hundreds of intentionally impractical and humorous inventions have won him international attention as Japan’s answer to Rube Goldberg. His creations, which he calls “unuseless,” include a roll of toilet paper attached to the head for easy reach in hay fever season, and tiny mops for a cat’s feet that polish the floor as the cat prowls.

Mr. Kawakami said that while some of Japan’s anticrime devices might not seem practical, they were valuable because they might lead to even better ideas.

“Even useless things can be useful,” he said. “The weird logic of these inventions helps us see the world in fresh ways.”

Wow! This is a society that has nailed the perfect attitude to encourage creativity.

Inventors are willing to come up with outlandish ideas to solve problems that the Japanese people face--because they won't be laughed out of the room.

AND, people actually appreciate the crazy ideas because they know it's part of a process. 

Sounds like a marvelous environment for creativity. 

Where would you rather innovate?  In a place where people will tell you all the reasons your idea won't work, or somewhere that people are willing to give it a shot?

Download fearing_crime_japanese_wear_the_hiding_place_new_york_times.pdf

 

Are your shoes in the way, but there's no place to put them?

There's never been a simple, elegant solution to the issue of shoe storage in my life.

Shoes are the destroyers of otherwise neat houses.  They're strangely-shaped objects that don't stack neatly, don't hang hang well on hangers and nearly always end up in a mismatched heap in a corner of the closet.

At least, when they're not making the entryway into a treacherous obstacle course.

That is why I love this staircase from Unicraft Joinery, in Hamilton, Victoria (Australia).

What I like about it is that it uses a normally overlooked space to store items that are usually in the way, while still keeping the shoes close to the doorway.

Of course, there are always the concerns about someone leaving the drawers open, but (in my experience) having shoes lying randomly on the floor is just as deadly!  I always pay attention to the ground at night when I'm climbing stairs.  It's the open areas that get me.

A solution might be to have small lights installed that go on whenever the drawer is open.  Could be easily done with LED lights, a switch and a battery.

In most houses, stairs are simply ways to get from one floor to the other. They often take up a lot of room and it's hard to use the space under them.  So, it's really nice to see ideas about how to get more utility out of a space-hogging item in a small house or apartment.

Flashy, beautifully-designed items like the iPhone might grab headlines, but there's nothing better than a design-solution that solves a real problem!

Now, if only we could install this in my small, shared apartment...!

The value of this idea will come as no shock...

Do the little things drive you insane?

I love creations that make life a little simpler, or that solve a basic problem that most people face everyday.

Because most of us grumble about things that irk us, but we rarely put our money where our mouths are.

Recently, I wrote about how Ikea's flexible ice trays have dramatically reduced my cold-drink-related stress.  No more ice cubes down the drain, no more broken trays, no more ice flying dangerously through the air.

I can finally (gasp) add ice to a glass without feeling like an incompetent nincompoop!

Well, here's another solution to one of those daily annoyances that most of us usually just put up with.

Ta Da! Rotating electrical outlets.

Obviously this isn't the sexiest innovation out there, but it doesn't have to be.

Why?  Because I bet most of you took one look at it and thought "Hey, I know exactly where I could use one of those!"

Thanks to Sparkbugg for alerting me to this!  If you want it too, go buy your own rotating outlet here.

Parenting with new perspectives

Creative thinking can definitely throw out some surprises. For example, the people who just started thinking about a subject are frequently the ones who come up with tons of new ideas.

Andrea Learned at Learned on Women recently wrote about this very subject, even if she didn't know she was talking about creativity.

Andrea pointed out an article in the NY Times about how a lot of men have suddenly become major inventors in a new arena. She writes "men are actively changing the mommy space into the parent space - by inventing products that make it easier for them to manage previously considered 'mom-specific' tasks." 

It's true!  Men are coming up with everything from a baby-bottle nipple attachment that can screwed onto ordinary water bottles to a luggage attachment that makes it easy to get car seats (and babies) through the airport in one piece to a timer that tracks feeding/changing/napping schedules so sleep-deprived parents have less to remember.

There's even a vest that gives dads a rugged outdoors style so they can "can change, feed, and entertain your child with ease and no one will be able to tell you are wearing your diaper bag." (<-- In many manly colors.)

So why is this happening now?  Why all the new ideas for products to improve the baby-parenting experience?

Simple: It's because men are diving into parenting!

This is not a gender issue.  I'm in no way suggesting that either sex is better at coming up with new ideas.

What is happening is exactly what occurs in many established industries when there's a shake-up to the old order.

This is a group of people who are new (as a whole) to being caretakers of children.  There aren't yet any "social norms" for those fathers--they're basically just figuring everything out as they go along.  They're taking a leap into the unknown!

The men who have chosen to be full-time parents are actually very well-suited for lateral thinking. 

They're choosing to take a less-common path in parenting and aren't afraid that people will judge them.

This means that they're not only less likely to accept it when someone tells them a problem is "just the way things are", they're also more willing to risk that people won't like their idea.

And their very presence is forcing companies to become more open for innovation.

Baby-product companies can't just tailor their offerings to mothers anymore, they have to figure out how to appeal to parents in general.

Refocusing, especially after having the same target market for decades, isn't easy.  Those companies are desperate to get their hands on products that appeal to men.

DadGear.com, one of the new companies springing up, has a fantastic statement on their website.

 Our goal for our products is not just neutral or unfeminine, but style that reflects who we are - guys. Guys who take pride in caring for their kids.

It's incredibly refreshing because those men are opening the gates for new ideas that will benefit all parents.

Both fathers and mothers are going to see those products, and start seeing ways to improve products to meet their needs better. When even the diaper bag can be turned into a stylish, functional piece with personality, there's hope for everything!

The path to failed innovations

How much do companies consider their customers when they're coming up with new products and services?

One of the blogs I enjoy reading, by the idea factory Brainstore, recently brought up an article about how much of the innovation in Germany is done without the input of customers.

The article's in German, but Brainstore's co-founder and blogger Nadja helpfully translated a bit:

[The article says] that most companies in Germany are developing their innovation without listening or talking to customers first. Most companies highly underestimate the ability of consumers or B2B clients to participate in innovation, states the spokesman of the German Innovation Counsel, Axel Glanz.

My always-handy dictionary revealed that (loose translation):

...the people who are directly responsible for innovation in a company are often the furthest away from the market, especially in financial and automobile sectors... the consequences are obvious because more than 70% of innovations fail--costing companies oodles of money.

Brainstore is absolutely right in highlighting this, because 30% is a lousy success ratio.

Imagine if a factory had to discard 2 out of every 3 widgets they made.  Or if 33% were sufficient to pass a class at university.

In fact, .33 is only a good percentage in baseball--a sport where a small ball comes whizzing past at over 90 mph!

But this isn't only a problem in Germany...

Here are a couple stand-outs examples of innovations that were made without involving the customer at all.

The Amphibious Car
It's a two for one deal, screams the ad!  A car... and a boat!  An exciting idea, with James Bond potential--but not something that people wanted to buy for their everyday life.

In reality, it wasn't a great car, or a great boat.  Forget water-skiing and it was too small for just going out to float on the lake.

The Color Copy Machine
When 3M invented the color copy machine in 1972, they were really excited and thought it would be a smashing success.  Except that no one even used color printers in those days--so there was nothing to copy!  Whoops!

In fact, the color copy machine was dropped by 3M because it was such a miserable failure.  Xerox couldn't even find a market for it until the 1980s.

The Dinner-time Hair Holder
This beauty is just so special it had to make the list!  Great for date night!

It goes great with the umbrella-holder hat and the tissue dispenser hat for those days when allergies are rampant!  In fact, if you want to see some other priceless failed innovations from Japan, go here.

Innovation is absolutely essential to stand out in a crowded global marketplace--but it's also a frustratingly failure-prone process.

But many companies--like the ones profiled in the German article--never set themselves up for success.  A cool invention or flashy new product is worthless when no one actually wants to buy it!

How do you test the water?

Cultural Tip: Unlike in America, stores in Europe aren't open all the time! 

Sounds terrible, right?  No grocery shopping on Sunday evenings, no 24-7 Walgreens for picking up supplies in the middle of the night, and no way to buy that fabulous pair of jeans right before going out for the night.

Actually, it's only a tragedy for people like me who get a hankering to go shopping only late in the afternoon--typically only a very short time before the shops all close!

That's why I'm really excited about the shopping promotions that Bremen, Germany, is doing this summer.   

I think that they're testing the water to see if there is interest for longer opening hours.  But the way they're doing it is really fresh and smart!

Instead of just extending their opening hours quietly and hoping people will notice, Bremen decided to make a big splash. 

About once a month, all the stores in the city center throw a big event outside of their regular operating hours. In July, the stores stayed open on Friday until midnight.  Yesterday, the stores opened on Sunday for a couple hours.

There's music, samples, treats, and TONS of people. All the young people come out in force to shop, and the streets are completely packed.  A shopping bag on the arm is de rigueur and everyone wants to know what's inside and where it came from.

It's brilliant.

Here's why this promotion is so fresh:

• Not only are the stores finding out if people want longer opening hours, they're attracting traffic in droves because the whole trial is a big social event. 

• Sure the stores have to pay a couple employees for a few extra hours, but the stores are packed.  It's almost like Christmas season in there!

• It's way better than sales or discount coupons.  Not only are people coming in with the intention of buying, they're happily purchasing full-priced merchandise.

• It's a rare event, so it gets a lot of attention.  People talk about it on the internet, the radio stations bring it up, and the news is all over town.  Doesn't happen too often, so everyone talks about it when it does!

• It's a party!  It's fun, it's festive, and it's a ball to go shopping there with friends at night.  Even people who had their own parties that night dropped in on the fun.  (We counted 6 bachelorette parties!)
  

Of course, the stores of Bremen could have easily gone the boring route in testing out the water.

Perhaps a couple surveys, or perhaps a gradual lengthening of opening hours. You know, the normal stuff that doesn't get a lot of attention, but also doesn't have a lot of risk.

But luckily, the stores in Bremen decided to go a different route and do something much more exciting.  Kudos to them!

Must all quality ideas be brand-spanking new?

Where do your ideas come from?  Are they out of nowhere, or have you seen them before...somewhere else?

The other day I came across an interesting post on the BQF Innovation blog about how many good ideas have been adapted from things people see in other areas.  I've been meaning to write a post expanding on it, but hadn't developed it yet.

So, it was a real pleasure yesterday to get an insightful comment from Kent Blumberg that demonstrated exactly what I wanted to write about!

In response to my recent posts challenging the idea (held by many companies) that customer service is bad, Kent writes...

This reminds me of Fujitsu's approach to help-desk operations (as reported by Jim Womack and Dan Jones in "Lean Solutions", (Free  Press, 2005).

Apparently, Fujitsu gets paid a set annual fee to run help desks, rather than getting a fee per call.  That gives them incentive to fix problems permanently, thereby reducing the number of complaints.

Very interesting.  First of all, it brings up the point that there are people who benefit from repeated calling about the same subject.

If a company uses an outside call center and pays a fee per call, that call center has no motivation to actually work to solve the company's problems.  In fact, the more times customers have to call, the more the call center makes.

But the better part is that Kent opened his mind up to how companies in other industries are dealing with the same problem.  That's actually rarer than you'd think. 

It's amazing how many experts in one field focus only on happening in that field, and miss similar developments (that could help them) in other arenas.

In fact, the US military is a prime example of this.  Until very recently, the Navy, Air Force and Army each required completely unique designs for their planes despite sharing many of the same requirements.  And the Pentagon just ordered the Army and Air Force to develop their new unmanned aerial vehicles (which were both being made by the same company) together, instead of individually.

Paul Sloane's post Adopt, Adapt, Improve shares some historical examples of innovations that have come from adaptation. 

Did you know that:

• The idea for roll-on deodorant came from the ball point pen?
• Velcro was inspired by burrs tangled in a dog's fur?
• The telephone was modeled after vibrations made by the human eardrum?

It's amazing how being open to seeing parallels in other fields can lead to new solutions for the same problems.

As Kent suggested for Sprint's case, it may be as simple as changing the focus of the problem.

Going from:
"Customer service is costing us too much--so we need to get rid of existing customers"

To:
"We have this amount of money to spend every month for customer service--what can we do to reduce call volume?"

This may not seem like a huge difference....

Except the call center now has an incentive to get problems fixed and out of their hair.  It's to their advantage to make sure each customer's issues are addressed in the first call, and that the same issues don't reoccur every month.

It's the difference between requiring customer service reps to field customer problems versus requiring them to solve customer problems.

I would be very interested to see how this idea would work out.  From what Lean Solutions reports, Fujitsu has had a lot of success in reducing call center costs and increasing customer satisfaction by focusing on fixing reoccurring problems and locating the underlying causes.

Special thanks to Kent for his comment and for tipping me off to an interesting book!

                                                            Tunnel photo from Walter.

Innovation that's far more impressive than the best out of Silicon Valley

Forget about the multi-million dollar social networking sites springing up in California, and forget about the iPhone for a while.  Here's a story of real innovation.

Meet William Kamkwamba, a young man from Malawi:

Forced to drop out of school because it was too expensive, William resorted to reading the books at the library of his primary school.  There he read about how to build a windmill to produce electricity--which he decided to build himself!

With pvc pipes, scrap wood, the frame of an old bicycle, and a bicycle dynamo (the generator that powers bicycle headlights), William created a functional windmill that charges a 12 volt battery. 

That energy lights 4 lights in his house, 2 radios and a mobile phone charger.  It also has made his family energy-independent!

The total cost? Around $16.

(GDP per capital is only $596, so this is a more significant sum than it appears.)

What's so refreshing about this story is that it shows an intelligent young man who, when faced with a dead end, chose to use his creativity to find a new way forward.

Here's what he did:

For the original windmill blades, William sliced open a large pvc pipe with a hacksaw, and then heated it over a fire until the plastic was soft enough to be straightened.  To store energy, he attached an old car battery to the windmill.

It's also fascinating to see how he makes changes.  After the windmill blew over in a storm, breaking some of the blades, William decided that steel blades would be a more reliable option.  But he didn't buy them from a store.

On his blog, William writes:

This past week, while working on a project in my neighborhood, I took an old oil drum to the tinsmith at the trading center and asked him to help me cut it into new blades.

I bolted the new, metal blades to the tractor fan wheel that serves as the windmill blades' base, and hoisted them back into position.

Amazing, isn't it?

I have to admit, even though I adore market-changing innovations that take the world by storm, I'm always far more impressed with people who stretch their creativity to create things out of materials most of us would consider junk.

Please go over to check out his blog at http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/.

Have you forgotten to look for alternatives?

Sometimes, when a product or service performs well, people are satisfied to accept it as the only option.

But does accepting one option as the best blind people to other, just-as-good or better, options?

Consider the Seeing Eye dogs that do a marvelous job helping blind individuals get around. The dogs enable their owners to be much more mobility than otherwise possible.

Of course, guide dogs are not perfect.  The dogs only work until they are seven, training costs are high and some people are allergic to dogs.

Still, Seeing Eye dogs are highly regarded and definitely a service that will be in demand for years to come.  There is nothing wrong with the guide dog concept.

That doesn't mean though that fresh thinking about the subject is useless.

In North Carolina, however, Janet and Don Burleson are trying something a little different.  Instead of dogs, they train miniature horses to be guides for the blind.

The tiny horses are trained to the same level as dogs, and undergo the same riot training as police horses to make sure that they stay calm in all situations. 

They're also well-suited to the work--with the horses' natural protective instincts for taking care of injured "herd members", a lifespan of up to 50 years and a long memory.

In fact, many blind equestrians who ride regular-sized horses rave about how well their horses look after them.

Of course, guide horses are not perfect either, but many guide horse owners are thrilled with their miniatures.  It's a great alternative for people who have allergies, need a guide animal with a long lifespan, or simply love horses.

Creativity isn't always about fixing something that is broken. Creativity sometimes involves looking at a situation in another way and coming up with a new alternative that fills the existing need differently.

Unlike technical innovations, neither guide-animal option is likely to make the other obsolete because both have many strong benefits.  The fact is, however, that when two horse-enthusiasts took an open-minded approach to the concept of "guide animal", they created another viable option for people who have limited mobility.  And that's definitely a good thing!

(In case you're wondering: miniature horses can be housebroken!)

All the pleasure without the pain of a long wait.

Getting an iPhone on the first day was an activity that come with an unfortunate side effect for busy people--a long, excruciating wait.

But where there's pain, there's also opportunity.

In California and New York, college students offered their services as "waiters" through the online waiting service iWait. 

For the iPhone, students found places in line very early and then took bids online for their place as the iClock ticked down.  Some waiters earned up to $550 for their time.

But iWaiters aren't just exclusive to Friday's iPhone lines. They'll also help you hold that perfect vantage point for the San Francisco fireworks on the 4th of July, secure a copy of Harry Potter on that first day or be there for any other concert/product-release/big event that you don't want to wait for, but still want to have a great spot in line.  For a minimum of $50, a student will hold your place until right before the event, allowing you to sweep in at the last minute for that coveted spot.

I think this is a really great idea because it connects people who don't have much time but are willing to spend a little extra money for a prime location with college students who have the time and who usually need some extra funds.  An added benefit for college students is that they usually have textbooks to read or assignments they can work on during their waiting time--that is, if there's nothing interesting going on in the line itself!

iWait is a prime example of identifying an opportunity and then quickly mobilizing to take advantage of it.  While this isn't an idea that will change the world, it does fill a need and benefit the service providers.  That's the essence of fresh thinking!

Thanks to the Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog and ExperienceCurve Blog for sharing this service first.

Are you looking for blogs that make you think?

GetFreshMinds.com is a labor of love for me, so I'm always incredibly thrilled when I find out that someone enjoys my blog.

Last week, I was very pleasantly surprised with a Thinking Blogger award by Doug Meacham, author of the fantastic NextUp blog. 

Doug's blog, which I just discovered recently, is about consumer technology, customer experience and social media trends.  It's also fantastic and I recommend that everyone goes to read his series of posts on how Walt Disney World does an amazing job of creating positive experiences.

A quick background:

The Thinking Blogs Award was started in February 2007 by Ilker Yoldas of the Thinking Blog when he started highlighting blogs that he felt were truly “meaty” with great content.  The award is viral in that each Thinking Blogger is asked to give the award to five of their favorite blogs with their own readers.

So, here are five of the blogs that always make me think:

Selling to Big Companies :: Jill Konrath

I highly recommend the Selling to Big Companies blog -- and not just because it's written by my mom! There's nothing more frustrating than coming up with an amazing idea, and then not being able to do anything with it because you don't know how to sell it to people. 

Jill does an amazing job of teaching people how to communicate the value of their offering to key decision-makers  If you have an idea that you want to get attention for, the Selling to Big Companies blog and website are great resources.

Creative Think :: Roger von Oech

I was recently introduced to Roger von Oech's creativity techniques when I won a Ball of Whacks on Mark McGuinness's Wishful Thinking blog, and have had a great time reading his books and playing with my ball ever since.  I really like Roger's blog because he frequently poses creative challenges to his readers to get them thinking. 

Roger's posts are pleasantly short, colorful and easily digestible for busy people.  Additionally, his books are great sources for creative thinking, with fun exercises to get you going and a very approachable writing style that is easy to get into.

Asgeir Hoem | Design and Creativity :: Asgeir Hoem

Asgeir is a young Norwegian who is studying design in Australia.  I enjoy reading his blog because he has a great eye for finding quality advertisements and then writes short, engaging posts about them.  While I personally have no talent for graphic design, I appreciate those who do, and Asgeir really gets it. 

What particularly impresses me about him (and why he definitely deserves a Thinking Blogger award) is that he is also fantastic at thinking of ideas.  I love commenting on one of his posts and offering up a new idea because he does a great job of building on it in his response.  Asgeir would definitely be someone I'd like to collaborate with on a creative team.

The Creativity Coach :: Emily Hotchkiss

Emily Hotchkiss is a creativity coach whose blog I enjoy reading because it jolts me out of the serious thinking that reading so many blogs causes. In addition to some really good posts about creativity, she throws in a lot of fun elements like quotes from Dr Seuss or videos of parkour.

Why do I love that? Because, as she wrote recently, "regular exposure to fresh stimulus...forces the brain to ask itself 'where on earth can I file this stuff?' and, because the stimulus doesn't fit into a pre-existing category, the brain has to form new connections (technically called neural pathways) to assimilate the fresh stimulus." So, her fun fresh stimulus is actually helping my brain to think more laterally!

 

HELLO my name is BLOG :: Scott Ginsberg

Scott Ginsberg is the "guy with the nametag."  That's right, he's built a successful speaking, writing and coaching career by building off the fact that he worn a nametag 24-7 for the past 2,431 days.  What's so interesting about Scott's blog is that he always poses questions to his readers and challenges us to reach beyond our comfort zone in becoming approachable. 

I like how each and every one of Scott's posts gives us a chance to define ourselves better and clarify our thinking. And as a natural introvert, I love how his success has challenged me to think beyond my comfort zone to figure out how I can connect better with the people I meet.

Go check out those blogs and enjoy the different types of thinking they provoke!

Ever had trouble with a foreign language?

Thinking backwards can actually be quite brilliant.

Recently, I've been reading a lot and have come across some ideas that would normally prove that the creators are out of their minds.

The Freakonimics Blog shares a story about a gas station owner in California who had obviously let the high prices rampant across San Francisco go to his head.  His Shell gas station was charging $4.33/gallon of gas.  And it wasn't just the market price--the gas station across the street was charging $0.70 cents less per gallon.

Then, I read on the Fast Company Experts blog that some airlines, including British Airways, are literally thinking backwards.  They're exploring the idea of seating half the passengers backwards on their flights.

Finally, the New York Times reveals that when Whole Foods designed its new stores in New York City, the company deliberately made the check-out line long... very long!  Instead of having multiple checkout lines like all the other grocery stores in NYC, Whole Foods has only one winding line to service the entire store.

Luckily, those ideas aren't as nearly as crazy as they sound.

The reason gas prices are so high at that particular station is that the owner is protesting what he considers unfair business practice by Shell Gasoline.  He raised the prices so that the station wouldn't sell a thing and so customers would associate Shell's brandname with extremely high prices.

Nor is it so stupid to create alternative front-to-back seating on airplanes.

Not only are backwards-facing seats safer in an accident, the new arrangement would also give passengers 2 extra inches of legroom and a whole armrest to themselves (without the usual battle).

It would also allow airlines to add 50 seats to existing planes, which might make them stop complaining of bankruptcy. (Unlikely, but I can dream.)

And Whole Foods didn't commit market suicide in New York City by going down to one checkout line.

In fact, Whole Foods' customers are thrilled because they wait for less time.  That one line goes to multiple checkout stations, so customers never have the bad luck to get in the "slow lane".  Even when the line reaches over 50 people, Whole Foods customers usually breeze through their checkouts in about 5 minutes.

It's usually not a compliment to say someone is thinking backwards, but today I'm thrilled to make a couple exceptions!

Anyone else have any examples of fantastic backwards thinking?

What makes a restaurant deserve mention on a creativity blog?

Among all entrepreneurship ventures, restaurants have the highest rate of failure. Much of this is due to their high labor costs--but there's also the challenge of distinguishing themselves in a very crowded market.

It's rare to see a restaurant that is new and unique without also sporting a hefty price tag.  But it is possible.

Last week, my father and I traveled to Berlin and came across a new restaurant chain that not only thrilled us so much that we went back two more times, but also impressed me with their creative take on the dining experience.

The restaurant, Pasta Vapiano, bills itself as the future of "fresh casual dining". 

The food certainly is fresh--in fact, some of the herbs are picked off the plants as you watch--but that isn't the part that impressed me.

Vapiano is interesting because they have completely streamlined the dining experience.  There are no waitresses, reasonably-priced food is made to order as you watch, you can sit anywhere you find a space, and you carry around a little card that keeps track of your purchases.

Vapiano's innovative style gives them more of an advantage that you would think.  They've eliminated more than the cost of employing servers, they've also taken away most of the dining elements that annoy customers. Guests don't have to wait for their server, they aren't waiting for their food and they can see that it's fresh off the stove.  Plus, they don't have to sit in a "bad" location just because that's how the restaurant is seating.

What particularly impresses me, however, is that Vapiano has managed to use those characteristics to create a quality restaurant that doesn't feel like a cafeteria.  Its atmosphere attracts young people, businesspeople and shoppers, quite a different demographic from most self-serve restaurants.

One of my favorite parts of traveling is discovering new ideas and concepts, and it never hurts when that fresh idea is accompanied by great food.  It's very rare to encounter unique dining experiences at a price point that's affordable on a regular basis.

Quick and Simple Creativity

At its most basic, creativity is about solving problems. That's why this lamp from 5.5 Designers is such a good idea.

Anyone who has ever lived in a small space, or needed to unplug one thing to plug in another, or had to crawl beneath a desk to plug something into a power strip will see the practicality in this lamp's design. 

Of course, it's not the most beautiful desktop accessory.  It wouldn't take much, however, for a good designer to spruce it up.

It's just a simple idea that has value because it takes into account how people live.

 

Can risk-taking pay off big?

On Saturday, horse trainer Todd Pletcher took a big risk.  He decided to enter Rags to Riches, a top-ranked filly in one of the hardest and most important races for 3 year old horses--the 1.5 mile Belmont Stakes. 

The last and longest of the Triple Crown series, the Belmont attracts the top racehorses in America.  It's considered a particularly grueling race and most 3 year olds have a very hard time holding a winning pace for the entire distance.  In its 140 year history, only 22 fillies have ever been entered, and the last filly to win was Tanya in 1905.

But guess what happened... Rags to Riches won!  Going head to head against the fastest horses in the country, she became the first filly to win the Belmont in 102 years.

As tremendously exciting as this is, you're probably wondering how it relates to creativity and innovation. In fact, there are several important things that trainer Todd Pletcher did that are important things for innovators and entrepreneurs to remember.

Don't be Afraid of Failure

Todd Pletcher faced the very real possibility that Rags to Riches wouldn't perform well when racing against top-class male horses.  Fillies are usually smaller and less muscular than colts, and they're likely to defer to strong-willed male horses because of their herd instincts.  Rags to Riches, when faced with a strong-willed male competitor, could easily have backed off.

Take Calculated Risks

Even though Todd Pletcher was taking a chance by entering her in the Belmont Stakes, he was also very confident in Rags to Riches.  She was the top filly in the US who had won her last 5 races and her family tree is full of Belmont Stakes winners.

Rags to Riches is the daughter of Belmont winner A.P. Indy, granddaughter of Triple Crown Champion Seattle Slew and the great granddaughter of Triple Crown Champion and Belmont Stakes record holder Secretariat.  Her brother also won the Belmont in 2006.

Prepare for Success

Rags to Riches was in fantastic shape and was physically able to go the distance.  Her trainer was confident in her ability and had prepared her with multiple Grade 1 races.  He wasn't entering her in a race where she had no chance, he entered her because he knew that she was mentally and physically capable to compete at that level and knew that she had a real chance.

Go After Something Extraordinary

Even if she never raced against colts, Rags to Riches would still have been known as the best three year old filly in the country.  She could have won millions of dollars and many prestigious races during her racing years, and retired to be a valuable broodmare.

But Todd Pletcher decided to pursue history.  He knew that she was capable of running well in the Belmont and wanted to give her the chance to prove that she wasn't just the best filly, but also one of the best racehorses overall.

Most trainers of brilliant fillies never race them against colts and it took a lot confidence in Rags to Riches and plenty of courage for Todd Pletcher to decide to run her.  Beyond a doubt, however, it was the right decision!

Rags to Riches is now assured a place in the history books, her trainer won his first Triple Crown race, and everyone is delighted that the filly ran so well.  It's a perfect example of how calculated risk-taking can cause extraordinary results.

Don't forget to watch the Belmont Stakes video!

Special thanks to Yvonne DiVita for writing about Rags to Riches first on her fabulous Lip-Sticking blog and inspiring me to write this post!

Ads that add to their environment, instead of covering it up.

On the average day, most people are exposed to thousands of advertisements.  Consequently, it takes a lot for an ad to stand out.

However, I do have to give hat tips to the three ads shown below.  All three get attention by using the natural characteristics of their surroundings. 

I love the freshness of seeing ads that very effectively use everyday objects.  Ads are usually plastered everywhere, so it's a nice change to see a couple ads that create a visual that make me pause and to take a second look.

Unfortunately, I don't know where those ads come from, but if anyone can clarify, I'll happily update the post.

The first ad, which I found on the Mexican BriefBlog, plays off the very familiar image of Clark Kent tearing off his clothes to become Superman.

Next, two ads I found on Asgeir Hoem | Design and Creativity.

The grill one is just fun!  I'd laugh and remember it.

The last ad really got my attention.  What a simple way to depict smoking, while also associating it with the dirty fumes coming out of the bus.

Overall, a lot of creativity in those ads.  Using the ad's environment to communicate a message is definitely a novel way to get noticed.

Fun for Friday: A Great Problem-Solving Moment

Apollo 13 is one of my favorite movies because it has one of the greatest creative problem solving moments I've ever seen on-screen.  Creativity sessions rarely get more intense than when NASA has to figure out how to put a square CO2 filter into a round hole using very limited resources and in very limited time.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a video of this.  I did, however, find the directions for how to adapt a CO2 filter in flight, from Jerry Woodfill, who was one of the NASA engineers working to bring Apollo 13 home.  He was one of the scientists who was there.

So, to read an account of their fantastic creative problem solving, click here to learn how to fit a square peg in a round hole!  You know... in case you're stuck thousands of miles from Earth in a badly-damaged spacecraft with a limited oxygen supply.

Never hurts to be prepared.

Want to make people buy a business book?

Today, I want to share one of the most creative book reviews I've seen in a long time.  Kudos to Richard Pachter of The Miami Herald for writing this:

The Dip by Seth Godin

...The one possible weakness of this otherwise terrific little volume is that it is aimed solely at people who are creative, intelligent and want to succeed. Those who are mediocre, unmotivated or just coasting through life will probably not get much from Godin. He is not an elitist, but his message is squarely aimed at those who want to succeed or at least achieve excellence....

Seth Godin is a brilliant author and well worth reading--and that review is simply fabulous.  Richard Pachter cleverly twists the words to tell motivated, striving-for-success people that The Dip is for them in a fun way.

I love it when words are used in such an inventive way.

How to brighten up your customer's shopping experience

Finding great looking clothes can be hard enough, but there's nothing worse than buying an outfit that looks great in the store--only to find that it looks horrible in natural light.

Today, I just read about one company that has made shopping a better experience in their store. 

Josh at www.grokdotcom.com wrote that the last time he was at American clothing store J. Crew, he noticed a "Daytime" & "Nighttime" switch in the changing room. 

Flipping it changed the brilliance of the overhead lighting so shoppers could see how their clothing will look at different times of the day.

What a great idea!  Giving customers a chance to see their clothing in multiple ways before they leave the store.

Result 1: Happier customers who get clothing that they know looks good on them in all lighting.

Result 2: Fewer returns--the plague of every retailer--for J. Crew and the added bonus of showing their customers that they care.

Sounds like a simple way to enhance the customer experience.  Kudos to J. Crew for thinking of it.

Is conventional business wisdom the way to succeed in today's economy?

The almighty dollar reigns supreme in the quest for business success. Organizations today strive to squeeze every last penny out of their customers and maximize all profit possibilities.  That is simply the way of doing business. Right?

At the same time, however, the newswires are buzzing with tales of companies that are succeeding wildly beyond expectations by putting their customers first. A recent article in Fast Company magazine and a post at the Innovate Forum blog give two examples of companies that are succeeding wildly by breaking the rules.

Facebook has attracted nearly 19 million users in only three years by running an interactive social-networking website for young people.  They've done so well that recently they were offered a nearly $1 billion buyout offer. (Which they refused.)

Another unusual success is Craigslist, a website that flies against conventional wisdom by simply striving to connect sellers and buyers in the easiest way possible. And of course, it's a runaway success, with over 450 cities worldwide and over 7 billion page views a month.

Yet, all business logic says that a medium such as Craigslist shouldn't work.

No ads, a simple, very plain interface, and the only profit coming from bottom-basement fees for job listing in 7 cities of the 450 (the others are free), and apart listing fees for NYC.  And Craigslist barely does anything to promote itself.  In fact, it doesn't even have a logo!

Facebook doesn't look great from a business perspective either.  It has over three million users, but doesn't really make a direct income from any of them. Fliers, one of their purchase options, bring in a little money, but otherwise the site runs mainly on investments and sponsorships.  Bad business model or not, it seems to work for Facebook.  They're growing exponentially.

So, is Craigslist a freak success that inexplicably scrapes by despite its focus on the customer over revenue, or is it on to something? What about Facebook?  How in the world are they succeeding on business models that are completely "flawed"?

Or is it conventional business wisdom--the emphasis on profits over customers as the only way to succeed--that is misguided?

In very short amounts of time, Craigslist and Facebook have both grown dramatically while also gathering a fiercely-loyal following.  They've gained name recognitions and gotten their users to do their marketing for them.

Most regular organizations, on the other hand, are dying for innovations that will set them above the competition.  They're struggling to cut costs, spending tons of money on advertising to "differentiate" their products from their competitors, and irritating their customers when they send call centers overseas in order to cut costs.   And above all, they're desperately searching for the next great idea.

Perhaps the focus on profit isn't such a perfect strategy after all!

Are your laptop's new features good for you?

As computers become a commodity, manufacturers are scrambling to install new features that will give their laptops a competitive advantage. 

In the race for new high-tech add-ons, however, many companies forget to consider how useful flashy new features will be for the actual users.

Consider two innovations I've recently seen.

The Apple Macbook has a magnetic power connector that automatically detaches when pressure is applied to the cord.

The Toshiba Satellite has a fingerprint scanner designed to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the computer.

Are both of those inventions cool?  Of course.  But do they add value?

As a laptop user, it's not always possible to make sure my power cords are out of harm's way.  Therefore, the magnetic power connector has direct benefits for me as a user. 

It's wonderful to know that, even if someone does trip and yank on the cord, the worst thing that could happen to my laptop would be me forgetting to plug it back in.  The temporarily dead battery would be tragic, of course, but I'm sure I would survive.

On the other hand, I'm not thrilled with the fingerprint scanner.  As I am unfortunately not the CEO of a major corporation nor an exciting high-tech spy, I don't feel that a fingerprint scanner is necessary.

And the possible problems are glaringly obvious.
What if the fingerprint scanner breaks? Then I wouldn't be able to log-on.  What if the laptop breaks and I have to send it in for repair?  Then the repair facility wouldn't be able to log-on unless there's a back door into the computer.

And if there's a back door, wouldn't a hacker be able to figure that out? Then what's the point of a fingerprint scanner?

It feels to me that Toshiba added an expensive new gadget to accomplish a task that could be solved through a simple article in the user's manual about how to choose a very secure password.

Therefore, in conclusion:

Apple's magnetic power connector is a fresh new idea because it has a direct and tangible benefit for the actual computer user.

Toshiba's fingerprint scanner, on the other hand, is a not-so-fresh idea that goes for flash value instead of real value.

Both innovations add on to the cost of the computer. But are both worth the extra cost?  Which would you rather have?

Advertising that isn't just hot air!

Just saw this fantastic, fresh advertising idea by Toys R Us at the Bad Banana Blog. Instead of plastering the beach with 2D advertisements, the toy giant turned an advertising column on a beach into an air pump!

I love this idea because not only is it something completely different, it's actually useful! When was the last time an advertisement directly made your life easier? I can't think of a single time.

And that's the brilliance! Now, instead of ignoring Toys R Us' advertising as just another distraction to quickly pull their kids away from, parents will notice it, spend time in front of it, and walk away happy to have seen the advertising.  And I'll bet the parents even tell other parents about it.

What a great way for Toys R Us to prove that it provides an experience above and beyond toy competitors like Walmart.