Review Masterclass The Innovator’s Eye (by Nicole Kemp)

Last Wednesday Suzanne Merritt facilitated the Masterclass The Innovator’s Eye on Purpose Driven Innovation and the C.U.R.I.O.S.I.T.Y. framework. She was key note speaker at the Beat The World event, and de Baak invited her back to teach professionals from the Let’s Play Innovation network how to empower your workforce with a more innovative mindset. Master Student Nicole Kemp was there, and gives us her insights:

“Curiosity model and the 8 paths-to-purpose brings infinity to meaningful innovation”
Contradiction: I am speechless about this masterclass while I feel to shout out loud about it.
Universal: I am inspired by every single beauty who participated in this class and I am curious to the unknown beauty in the rest of the world.
Rules: This class makes me a stronger believer in “everyone’s beauty will save the world”. – Cristian Mihai Intersections: This class teaches how opportunities become attracting when two extremes (re)applied with pride
Ordinary: Suzanne Merritt let you play with Art in such away that it turns you in an extraordinary innovater
Surprises: The surprising effect of this class is becoming in one day an artists yourself and revealing the innovator in you
Invisible: Learn how to get an innovators eye by seeing through literally different lenses and angles (photography, poem, ..)
Transformation: Suzanne Merritt teaches you what you did not see before and “Let the beauty you love be what you do”. -Rumi
Yours: Your resources are infinite; they go beyond what you see at first sight, take a master class yourself and discover it.

Thank you very much Suzanne Merritt, but also everyone who participated and thanks De Baak, in particular Rutger, for organizing this.

An unforgettable lifetime experience.

Nicole Kemp is a Master student Business Administration – specialization strategy. Her Master thesis is on open innovation in the early stages of innovative large companies in the high-tech industry. “She did not know it could not be done, so she went ahead and did it” – by Almanac, Mary S. After her thesis she aspires to a management traineeship and to launch her pre-stage idea. 

 

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Everybody can jump with the right tools

A small tribute to Kriss Kross, to make you smile on a sunny Friday afternoon. 

‘Cause I’ll be kicking the flavor that makes you wanna Jump
How high? Real high
Cause I’m just so fly

Q42 – Kras op de planeet

Deze week was ik op bezoek bij het innovatieve internetbedrijf Q42. A happy place for Nerds, en prijswinnend als bedrijf om voor te werken. Met acht Q-ers gingen we in gesprek over wat innovatie voor hun is. Het simpel verlangen was een “kras op de planeet”. Daarmee was Apple met de eerste iPhone werkelijk innovatief, als zou je het kunnen zien als een slimme bijeenraping van bestaande technologieën. Dus wat kunnen we leren van Q42?

Leiderschap: Hoe kan ik jou ontzorgen?
De vraag die elke leider / manager aan zijn medewerker zou moeten stellen is: “Hoe kan ik jou maximaal ontzorgen, zodat jij je volle innovatiekracht kan inzetten?”. De leider als facilitator in plaats van aap op de rots. Je krijgt ook geen goede ideeën onder een douche die af en toe koud water doorlaat. Tegelijkertijd zullen er altijd gesprekken zijn over wie de afwas moet doen op momenten.

Regels: Alles mag worden veranderd!
Zodra we dingen vastzetten in regels komen we aldus vast te zitten. Het is aldus niet zo dat er geen regels geïntroduceerd kunnen worden, want de hoofdregel is dat deze aangepast mogen worden. Sterker nog, je bent verantwoordelijk om altijd de regels ter discussie blijven stellen.

Cultuur: Extern innovatief bouwt op intern innovatief
Elke organisatie die niet intern innovatief georganiseerd is kan ook niet met innovatieve producten of diensten komen. Culture eats …  for breakfast. De founding fathers van een organisatie zetten hierbij de trend, maar de huidige leiders moeten het lef en vertrouwen om deze ruimte te blijven geven. Mag ik iets radicaal nieuws doen, met het risico dat we een maand aan het puinruimen zijn, of moet ik me eerst maanden verantwoorden? Welk mandaat krijg ik hier? Bij Q42 gaat het soms mis door bijvoorbeeld vernieuwende technologie, maar het wordt altijd weer met elkaar opgeknapt.

Beheer: Beheer is remmend op innovatie.
Ik heb een situatie proberen te verzinnen waar de bovenstaande stelling niet opging. Volgens mij is het altijd zo. Als je als innovator met beheer aan de gang gaat, gaat je energie aldus naar beheer… En als je iemand aanneemt voor beheer, dan haal je een beheercultuur in huis. Dat kan een bewuste keuze zijn, maar heeft impact op de cultuur van de totale organisatie. Beheer introduceert regels om te behouden in plaats van te willen vernieuwen.

Focus: Wat is je innovatief referentiepunt?
Wat voor mij innovatief is, is voor jou wellicht oud nieuws, en voor mijn moeder onbegrijpelijk. Het is interessant om met elkaar in gesprek te gaan van wie we willen horen “dat is werkelijk bijzonder cool!”.

 

Veel medewerks van Q42 hebben ‘Q-er’ als functietitel op LinkedIn. Zij verbinden zich daarmee aan hun organisatie in plaats van aan hun hierarchische positie. Het belangrijkste is dat je passie en plezier in je werk hebt als je wil vernieuwen, en uit je comfortzone durft te stappen omdat je werkelijk iets nieuws wilt neerzetten, en het vertrouwen in je collega’s hebt dat ze er zijn ook als het een keer misgaat. Misschien is de strech vraag voor de directie van een bedrijf wel: mogen jouw medewerkers zich soms vervelen?

Oskar Fischinger experiments with Animation

Create the future by playing with existing elements and add something extra. I just visited the EYE in Amsterdam to see how Oskar Fischinger did just that 90 years ago, and helped to build animation. From abstract objects moving on music to “living” dinosaurs now. It shows again that connecting business to arts is a proven concept to innovate. But do you have the Innovator’s eye?

Let’s play with Pollution!

Today I went to the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven which has a great exhibition made by graduates of the Design Academy. One of the more “funny” contributions was created by Tomm Velthuis called Playing Food. Normally children aren’t allowed to play with their food, but he has made wooden packages to play with unsustainable environments like the meat industry. Or you can play with the Rainforest, including a tree and a chainsaw. Ok, it’s really cynical. Combining innocence and reality, but I like the over-the-top thinking and playfull approach of his work (Website). Who want’s to play with nuclear powerplants…?

Playfulness and Time: Slowing down to accelerate

Last Tuesday and Wednesday we had a strategy meeting at de Baak with all Program Directors and our new CEO Arko van Brakel. One of the things that he noticed being in the organization for 1,5 months was a roller coaster feeling. Not only in emotions but also in time pressure. Everybody is working really hard, but what does it do with the creativity of the organization if you don’t take the time to think a bit longer, to play some more minutes with the elements at hand, and to really listen to your environment? We decided to slow down to accelerate in times of Big Hurry. 

But how do I get more time?

1) Focus (10x)
2) Dare to be clear to your environment what they can expect from you (and what not!)
3) Schedule time to be creative (John Cleese “Boundaries of time and space”)

It isn’t that complex (rational), but it can of course difficult (emotional) to make it happen.

Have a look at this video about what time can do…, and notice that there are still boundaries, focus and clarity.

Back to Nature for Innovation

Last months I visited several modern art museums in the United States and The Netherlands. Two really intriging art ‘machines’ tried to copy nature: In Rhode Island they build a micro Glacier and in Utrecht four Stalagmites were live created from wax. Luckily for us they speeded up time, so you could watch them grow.

The only things that aren’t already designed by someone  can be found in nature (unless you believe in Intelligent Design). It is therefor logical to find inspiration there. To get a fresh view, created in millions of years. Mother Nature has had more time then we to come up with successful ideas for complex problems. Proven concepts. Not only if you want to build a submarine, but also how people can work together by looking at ants. The only thing you need is an open mind.

Central Museum Utrecht 

Rhode Island School of Design

 

 

Jetse Goris training Surgeons with the Wii (Dutch)

Jetse Goris is educational expert and he works at the Wenckebach Institute (UMCG) and specializes in ICT in education. He shows how fun in education can really benefit.

Meet him at Beat The World – Let’s Play Innovation Festival (11th of January 2013, Netherlands) to learn, play and exchange insights!

Trailer Beat The World – Let’s Play Innovation

Festival Beat the World – Let’s Play Innovation
Save the date: 11th of January 2013
Location: Driebergen, The Netherlands

During this festival (with partners like MIT Gamelab) we’re going to work with Playful methods and mindsets like Improvisation, Gamification, Rapid Prototyping, etc. etc. The goal is to find new ways to innovate to build a more sustainable society.

From Meet The World to Beat The World

What happens if you really want to work with partners in stead of contractors? Things don’t go as planned… and get better! From a Meet The World conference to a Beat The World Festival!

Meet The World
Every year de Baak organizes the Meet The World event which acts as a stage for actualities in Leadership that are important to the World, as Endurability, Entrepreneurship and Post-Crisis Leadership. This year it is about Playfulness. The world is rapidly changing and organizations struggle to find new ways to remain part of the game. The focus of the event is therefor on on Innovation and how Playfulness can help organizations in this process. How can we play with our surroundings to find new breakthroughs that our environment needs? Following our old patterns will get us where we already are.

 

Partners
So to find these next practices it was needed to meet up with new partners, who think differently and bring in new experiences. Last Thursday we had therefor our second co creation session at Deloitte Innovation, with attending partners Endemol, MadLogic, MAD Multimedia, and HKU (other partners like MIT, Knowmads, UMCG, etc. gave there impulses online). Filled with proud we presented  the new logo, framework, teaser, etc. etc. The only thing missing in our presentation were a troop of enthusiastic cheerleaders.We naively thought to have an easy afternoon in which we would just fill this framework and drink some coffee…

The thing with inspiring partners is that they  have other visions then you do. Maybe you recognize this from your situation at home… (beware otherwise). After a session full of new dreams, questions, a bit of dying, and enthusiasm we found a new playful goal for the Festival in which every partner wanted to invest as it was their own. As it is with rapid prototyping, we now have to change our logo into a more name that is congruent with the gamification vision on this event: Beat The World! I hope that we’re going to be able to create a challenging environment at this Festival with new partnerships as a result which can help to overcome the challenges that our society faces.

Beat The World ‘Let’s play innovation’

We set ourselves the goal to become the Number One Nation for Innovation before the end of this decade. Not because it is easy, but because we want to be an endurable community which inspires the rest of the world. To achieve this goal we have to find new ways of organizing, creating and delivering. We invite you to come and play with inspiring professionals from Governmental Institutions, Science, Creative Industries and Business. Cheat, hack, and go underground with challenging new concepts, and create tomorrow’s world.” 
(partners Beat The World) 

Please comment to bring it to the next level! You can join the Festival in two weeks at our new website