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When is the best time to innovate?

Phil McKinney
Phil McKinney
1 min read
thirteeners book by Dan Prosser
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When is the best time to innovate?

  • Innovation is 24×7 .. not something that you wait “until your in the mood”
  • Some of the drivers that cause people/organizations to all of sudden change their view of innovation
    • Competitors … they are constantly beating you to market
    • Economic Trends … our old products aren’t selling – hurry up and come up with something new
    • Quarterly Results … we are having a tough quarter so lets pause on any new ideas/innovations
  • Just as great writers set down and crank a defined number of pages per day, the great innovators define a daily idea quota
    • 2 to 5 ideas per day
    • Set aside a time of day (for me, its morning)
    • Don’t filer when you are capturing ideas
    • Combine new ideas with ones already in your idea notebook
    • If you are having struggles to come up with your daily quota, use the killer questions from previous podcasts
    • Try to capture the inspiration for each idea (great use of photo’s)
    • Every week or two, prioritize the ideas in your notebook using the 5 key questions
  • If you do this EVERY day … you will …
    • Improve your own creativity (exercise that creativity muscle)
    • Build confidence that you can create great ideas
    • Get viewed by others as having and endless supply of great ideas
    • Become a key individual to your organization (key in these chaotic times)
  • If, as an organization, make innovation a 24×7 priority …
    • Your competitors are most likely NOT doing it
    • So .. you WIN if you do it right

Listener Question:  Do you have a process to create ideas every day?  If so, why not share your thoughts on the how and benefits you’ve seen.

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Phil McKinney is an innovator, podcaster, author, and speaker. He is the retired CTO of HP. Phil's book, Beyond The Obvious, shares his expertise and lessons learned on innovation and creativity.


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