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Lateral Thinking leads to Underwater Hockey

Photo courtesy of the SF Sea Lions and the MN Loons. Taken by Adam Lau.

This past weekend, I spent 3 days playing in an underwater hockey tournament as a member of one of the Minnesota Loons teams.

“What in the world is underwater hockey???” you’re probably wondering. Right? I don’t blame you – it’s right up there with cheese rolling and ferret legging as one of the world’s weirdest sporting events!

Underwater hockey is a game where two teams of six battle on the floor of a pool to knock a hockey puck into a goal.  The hockey puck is weighted so it stays on the bottom – and it’s the goal of the players to spend as much time on the bottom – in play – as possible.

(Players train both to hold their breath longer and to quickly grab a breath while getting back down to the bottom quickly. They wear snorkels, diving masks, and fins – and teams are apparent by the colors of their sticks and caps.)

Still not picturing it?  Take a look at the championship bout at last weekend's CanAm Midwestern Championships:

What’s fascinating to me about this sport – besides it being tons of fun to play – is how the game began as an innovative solution to a snorkeling club’s problem!

The whole story reminds me of “PO”, one of innovation guru Edward de Bono’s creativity techniques.

“PO” is a tactic where you take a statement that leads to a dead end, and then revise it to figure out ways to move forward.

Still unclear? Let me teach you about this technique through underwater hockey’s creation story.

Almost 60 30 years ago, a new snorkeling club in England found themselves facing a vexing situation.  They had just spent all summer attracting new members to their club – and then it became too cold outside to actually go snorkeling! 

Not surprisingly, interest in the club quickly waned.  Plus, members who stuck with the club during the winter got out of shape and lost significant lung capacity because they weren’t motivated to work as hard in a boring pool as in the open (and much more interesting) water!

So, the snorkeling club's dead-end statement was “Our members don’t want to snorkel in a pool."

Is that statement true? Absolutely.  But it leads right to a dead end.  There's no point in coming up with ideas for snorkeling in the pool because everyone already knows their members won't like them.

In the creation story of underwater hockey though, several leaders of the snorkeling club decided that they wanted to push beyond that dead end.  So they challenged themselves with the statement “PO: Our members look forward to snorkeling in a pool.”

(Let’s all imagine they added the word “PO”.)

As a result, this avenue of thought is no longer closed off and they have permission to think of ideas for snorkeling in a pool.

Then, the snorkeling club members could start coming up with ideas for fun things they could do in a pool to get their members excited about strapping on their snorkels and spending time holding their breath underwater in the winter. 

And thus underwater hockey was born! 

Today, underwater hockey is played all over the world.  Local clubs scrimmage regularly, with teams in over 30 countries and dozens of clubs in the US alone.  And every 2 years, the best players compete to represent their countries at the World competition.

All because a new snorkeling club in England said “[PO] Let’s figure out a way to make our members want to go snorkeling in a pool in the winter.”  

Cool, huh?  Lateral Thinking definitely leads to fun possibilities!

Education 2.0

A local Minnesotan school district is experimenting with a novel way of educating students. Instead of teaching math to kids while they're at school, and expecting them to complete the assignment at home, the school flipped things around.

Lessons are pre-recorded and students are expected to watch the lessons at home. Then during the regularily-scheduled class time, students work on their math assignments individually or in small groups with the teacher standing by to help.

So far, the approach seems to be working extremely well. Teachers quickly learned how to teach to the camera, dvds are available for students without home internet access. And (unsurprisingly) it's dramatically increased the amount of time teachers are able to focus on helping students!

To me, it's shocking that more schools aren't doing things like this. In today's world, the knowledge-dispensing aspect of what teachers do has become a commodity.

The whole model of students quietly learning while a teacher instructs is a relic of a bygone time when that was a student's only way to learn. Teachers were the gatekeepers and they held the keys to knowledge in a world where only a few were truly educated.

But today, acquiring information is not the hard part. Students can spend 20 minutes online and learn how to solve a math problem, or learn about the history of the United States or even dive into the latest scientific breakthroughs.

What the web doesn't offer (yet) is help understanding and synthesizing the knowledge out there. A Wikipedia entry can't sit down with a student, find out why they're struggling and ask the questions that help the student solve the problem on their own. Nor can Google provide encouragement when a student hits a wall or push an outstanding student to challenge themselves.

Those are why teachers are so valuable to schools - not because they can dutifully show a class how to solve a multiplication problem!

Bravo to the Stillwater Area Schools for taking this fresh approach to teaching that takes the realities of the modern world into consideration!

Solutions, Solutions for one and all!

I feel it's time to finally come clean here on this blog. For a long time, I've been keeping a secret - much like I hide the fact that I did indeed watch the full last season of the Bachelorette! (Whoops. Cat's out of that bag too!)

Every month at work, I have to admit I eagerly await the arrival of a certain glossy piece of literature. Even more that I await National Geographic - or the latest gossip mag that keeps me more up-to-date about celebrities than I am with many friends.

No, this piece of literature that I snatch every month is none other than the Solutions Catalog!How can I love a catalog so much? Because it's all the cool solutions people have found to vexing problems!

Isn't that exactly what creative thinking and innovation is all about? See a problem - find a way to fix it. And Solutions Catelog is an entire mini booklet FULL of problems that people have solved!

It's so fun to read through this catelog, see a new product and have a lightbulb go off in my head that says "I get it! I have that problem too and it drives me insane!"

And to make it even better, every single item in the catelog has a headline that clearly states exactly the problem it solves.

For example, have any of you ever wanted to:

• Chill wine bottles fast & keep them at serving temperature?
• Save money on your water bill without giving up a luxurious shower flow?
• Quickly turn light strings into neat, ready to store bundles?
• Hide plunging necklines with without wearing a bulky tank top underneath?
• Keep your cat's litter box from ruining the decor of your small apartment?
• Play Fetch with your dog without getting dog drool all over your hands from throwing the ball?

Guess where you can find solutions to those problems and many more! (And if you don't like getting snail mail, they even have the url www.solutions.com! Jealous!)

Plus, I love all the whacky solutions people come up with - especially the seasonal ones. Who doesn't want to put up window hangings that make it look like monster eyes peering out of your house? Or glow-in-the-dark nail polish markers to make spooky fingernail designs???

Anyone else love the Solutions Catalog? What's your favorite solution?

A novel way to keep Alzheimers patients from leaving... by making them feel they can.

There's a news article that's been making the rounds about a German Nursing home that has found a unique way to keep their most forgetful residents from trying to leave*.  I want to share it here because too often it seems we gravitate towards punitive or restrictive measures in order to stop unwanted behaviors - especially in people with conditions like Alzheimers - and this is nothing of the sort.

Instead...the nursing home has found a way to use the natural behaviors and reactions of their residents to keep them from "escaping".

 
The Benrath Senior Centre in Düsseldorf, Germany got the local public transportation network to install a bus station directly outside of their building, in plain sight of the residents. 

This seems counterproductive to their goal of keeping their residents from wandering - except for the fact that the bus stop... isn't! It looks exactly like one, but no buses ever come.

So, when a resident decides to leave, they head out the door and wait for a bus.  Then, someone from the Senior Center waits a couple minutes before heading out to apologize to the resident that the bus is running late - and to invite them in for a cup of coffee until the next bus comes.  The resident, who has likely already forgotten why they were there in the first place, happily comes back into the Senior Centre of their own free will.

There are no alarms as a resident passes a doorway, no Senior Center staff chasing after a resident, no calls to the police and frantic searches, and no defient residents struggling on the way in.

It's a beautifully-simple solution.  And better yet, it doesn't leave the residents feeling like they're in a prison - like locked doors and ankle bracelets do.  Instead, when a nice person comes out to the bus stop and invites them in for a cup of coffee, the resident feels taken care of, and happy to come inside.

That's really important, because there are studies that show that while Alzheimer's patients don't always remember much from moment-to-moment, they do continue to feel the same emotions that they were feeling before.

I wish more organizations would take human behavior into account to come up with fresh solutions that make life less stressful for vulnerable adults (and the people who care for them)!

 

*A frequent problem with Alzheimer's patients - who decide they'd much rather be someplace they remember from their youth, instead of the Senior Center.  It's especially dangerous when those places no longer exist, or when the Alzheimer's patient forgets where they are going en route.

The Postal Service 'Stamps to the Rescue' of Shelter Animals

I'm very much in favor of adopting animals. My last two cats were rescues, and they were/are wonderful pets.  And in a couple months, I'm hoping to begin fostering shelter cats while they wait to be adopted.

But, there's only so much adopting a single person can do if they don't want to get the dreaded label "cat lady"!  (And the dating challenges that result!)  So it's nice to see other ways that I can help.

Take this creative “Stamps to the Rescue” campaign between the USPS and Ellen DeGeneres' Halo Pet Foods.  The Post Office is launching a commemorative stamp collection that features happily-adopted pets. At the same time, Halo Pet Foods is launching a drive to donate 1 million meals to shelters around the US - with easy activities that fans can do to donate a meal. 

It's a good idea because it's quick and easy for people to do, gets attention for pets needing home, and provides multiple incentives to get involved. Kudos to USPS and Halo for the idea!

How they could have taken it to the next level:

Instead of featuring 10 happily-adopted pets on the stamps... the USPS's stamps could show adoptable pets that are still waiting for their forever home and provide a link on both the USPS and Halo websites to a website to adopt the postage stars.

Then, they could do a follow-up campaign a few months later showing the postage stars in their new homes. Food for thought for next time...!

Live-streaming... not just for broadcasters anymore.

There are two types of innovation. One is the blue ocean innovation that creates something completely new out of nothing.

The other type of innovation happens when someone sees something cool in a field different than their own, and then brings that technology or system innovation back to their area.

For example, the roller ball technology used in pens is also the same for roll-on deodorant. And the assembly line innovated by Ford was based on a "disassembly" line where animals in a slaughterhouse were systematically taken apart piece-by-piece.

What I like about that style of innovating is that anyone can do it just by keeping their eyes open.  And it doesn't have to be a huge innovation or change to have a BIG impact.

Here's a cool example I just encountered:

Not long ago, online broadcasting platforms such as Ustream made it possible to do live web shows.  Almost instantly, a whole group of broadcasters signed-up, and started performing live, broadcasting sporting events and showing live videos of adorable puppies.

And this spring, the Raptor Resource Project in Decorah, Iowa, is using that same broadcasting technology to show a pair of bald eagles hatch three eggs.

 

It's a great marketing tactic for a small nonprofit that builds and protects nests for rare raptors. Instead of just telling people what they do, the Raptor Resource Project can actually show the results of their work - live!

<Disclosure: the bald eagle cam is hosted on Luther College's website, my alma mater.>

The live broadcast started earlier this spring and has shown the bald eagles building their nest, courting, laying eggs and now hatching their young.

* Click here to view the live camera. *

In 2009, the eagle cam was viewed over 3 million times by people from 102 countries.  This year, the broadcast is hosted on the website of nearby Luther College (which has higher bandwidth) so even more people will be able to see.  This past Sunday, the eagle cam had over 70,000 page views!

In my opinion, this counts as great innovative thinking not because it created something new out of thing air, but because the Raptor Resource Project saw an opportunity to use existing technology in a new way to greatly expand its reach, get lots of attention, and educate thousands about their mission.

Bringing an innovation to the masses.

Time Magazine recently unveiled its Top 50 Inventions of 2009.  While many of those inventions are really useful, or very cool, or are destined to save the world, my favorite is one that many of you might overlook.

That is the Dow Powerhouse Solar Shingle, which is basically a solar panel that has been turned into a regular roofing shingle.

Solar panel technology has been around for years, but it's still very rare to see (especially in the Midwest).  That's because solar panel installation is prohibitively expensive (frequently over $30,000), requires special installation and takes decades to pay off the original investment.

Plus, normal solar panels are ugly, and (if the owner wants to maintain the curb value of their house) are limited in where they can be installed.

The new solar shingles could solve many of these problems.  They'll cost up to 15% less than traditional solar panels and can be installed much more easily.  They're small, so homeowners can start with just a few solar shingles and install new ones gradually (instead of taking the costly plunge all at once.) Plus, as you can see from the photo above, they blend right into the roof of the house.

The reason I love this idea so much though is because it means that the solar panel is finally becoming approachable - and that means this innovation is finally about to take off and become really useful.

A new invention can be very cool, such as the new technique for cloning puppies or the Human-Powered vending machine (two other inventions on the list), but until that invention becomes a reality for real people in their everyday life - it's still just a cool science project.

Ear Candy: An idea that is music to my ears!

A long time ago, in a place far, far away, I played the French Horn.  It's a tough instrument, and I wasn't very good at it for the first couple years.  In fact, I believe my loving mother said my playing sounded a lot like a "moose in mating season" during one of the many times she tried to convince me that I really didn't have to be in band if I didn't want to.

(If you want to hear how I sounded: )

Unfortunately for her and our neighbors, I was dead set on playing the French Horn and I continued blasting away all the way from sixth grade until I graduated high school.

After high school though, I realized a very important thing: musical instruments (and French Horns in particular) are REALLY expensive!

At my high school, we were able to participate in a fantastic music rental program.  For $50 per year, we could take home one of the school's instruments.  The students who played larger instruments even got to keep one instrument at home, and another at school so they didn't have to cart their tuba on the bus everyday.

Now, my high school didn't have a lot of money and the band program was continuously in danger of being cut.  We were lucky though that we had more than enough instruments for every student who wanted to play. If we didn't have those instruments, however, I can tell you with absolute certainty that our band program would not have survived!

That's why I'm really impressed with Ear Candy, a nonprofit in Arizona I learned about last week.

This nonprofit is cool because it collects unused and forgotten instruments and gives them to struggling school music programs. 

What I really like about Ear Candy is how they made a connection between two common music problems:

Problem 1: Many music students purchase their own instruments, and then abandon playing when they go to college or enter the workforce.  Most of the time, they have no idea what to do with their instrument, and hope one of their relatives will take up playing the trumpet (or whatever) so they can pass it along. Meanwhile, it just sits there with an accusing look - reminding them that they stopped playing.  

Problem 2: Many schools are cutting music programs because they do not have enough money to run them. One of their biggest expenses... take a wild guess... musical instruments!  Needing to buy new or used instruments can often be the straw that breaks the camel's back and dooms the band.

So Ear Candy collects these abandoned instruments and gives them to programs who would not otherwise have them. Over 85% of the instruments given to Ear Candy were in someone’s closet collecting dust! That's a lot of instruments that were given a second life.

To make it even better, Ear Candy even tracks where the instruments go - so donors know exactly who they're helping.  Pretty cool, huh?

Here's the innovation lesson from this: Sometimes, a fantastic solution to your problem could just be sitting in someone's basement.

A lot of people think they need to fix a problem from scratch. Many times though, a good solution to a problem is already out there - it just needs to be found.

So, if you're facing an innovative challenge, stop trying to reinvent the wheel and start looking around you. 

If you're lacking something... think about who might have a surplus.  If you need to get rid of something, think about who might benefit from it.  Figure out a way to create a symbiotic relationship with someone who has the opposite problem from you.

And, if you're looking to get rid of that trumpet you bought years ago when you were still convinced you were going to be the next Louis Armstrong... Ear Candy could be a great solution for you!

Finding a solution in what's already there.

As I'm sure many of you already know, I live in Minnesota most of the time.  And, as anyone who watches the weather on TV know... Minnesota gets REALLY COLD at times!  Below zero (Fahrenheit/-17°C) is pretty common here in the winter, and it can get worse.

Luckily, we Minnesotans know how to make the best of it.  We insulate our houses and our bodies, and have perfected the mad dash from our door to the car.  And we come up with creative ways to do our favorite activities when the weather doesn't permit.

In the 1980s, in one of the most famous examples of Minnesotan inventiveness, two local hockey players invented Rollerblades so they could practice hockey in the summer.  The skates quickly grew in popularity all over the US, and developed their own following.  Soon, many Minnesotans (not just hockey players) were rollerblading all over the state during the warm season.

But then (ironically) inline skaters in Minnesota ran into a problem: how to keep practicing their favorite sport in the winter!

Finding a solution for the inline skaters, however, didn't require creating anything new.  Actually, the answer was found by looking at an existing facility in a new way.

In the picture below, you can see the solution to all the MN inline skaters' problems:

At the beginning of the 1990s, someone noticed that the Metrodome - a heated indoor sports facility in downtown Minneapolis home to Vikings football (and previously Twins baseball and Gopher football) - was surrounded by two levels of very smooth concrete.  And although the playing fields were frequently in use for team practices and exhibitions, the hallways of the 'Dome were empty on non-game-days.

And so the "Rollerdome" was born! 

Every year, the Metrodome opens its doors several days a week from November to April to inline skaters.  Over 50,000 Minnesotans visit every year - from beginners to speed skaters.  There are lessons, a live DJ playing music, concessions, and even the world's only Inline Marathon held indoors.

The Rollerdome is a great example of how someone came up with an excellent solution to challenge of enjoying inline skating in a state with uncooperative weather simply by looking at what's already around them in a different way!

A lot of times, we think of innovation only as creating something new.  But that's not always necessary.  Sometimes though, the best solution comes from looking around to see what's out there, and figuring out how existing resources can be used to solve a problem.

Rollerdome Photo Credit: Darlene Prois

Disclaimer: I have a season pass to the Rollerdome, so I'm obviously in favor of it. But I've not been paid in any way to write this post. However, if anyone from the Rollerdome reads this and wants to discount my skating...  I wouldn't be opposed! ;-)

How one author is getting people talking, before his book is even available!

Just heard about a really great idea that I absolutely have to share.  Why?  Because of what's in it for me!  (And anyone else who wants to jump in on this deal too. Hint. Hint...)

Andy Nulman is giving away 200 free copies of his book, Pow! Right Between the Eyes: Profiting from the Power of Surprise to any legitimate blogger who wants one and who writes that request on their blog.  No strings attached.

So Andy, I'd like a copy of your book, please!

I'm excited to read what he writes about surprising people... he's already doing a good job with this promotion!

This is a great example of doing something unusual to get people talking.  Not many authors give away 200 books, and especially not to just ANYONE!

Congrats to Andy for his original idea.