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Dream Big -- Before Your Competitors Do

April 8, 2011
Best Plants: Author, entrepreneur urges manufacturers to take risks and tap into their creativity.

At the conclusion of his keynote presentation at IndustryWeek's Best Plants Conference in Atlanta, Josh Linkner told the audience to open the small manila envelopes that had been placed on each table.

The envelopes contained get-out-jail-free cards. Printed on the cards were three messages meant to inspire the several hundred manufacturing leaders to tap into their powers of creativity: "Try new things. Take responsible risks. Let your creativity shine!" Linkner's point is that we need to be emboldened to think creatively -- without fear of reprisal if we screw up.

Linkner: "Traditions are great in families, but they can be deadly in companies."

Unleashing the creativity that exists in all of is the key to attaining the competitive advantage that we all seek, Linkner asserted. "Originality is craved for," Linkner said, pointing to companies ranging from Groupon to a new startup that sells mismatched socks. "That's what people are willing to pay for." Unfortunately, our culture -- from our classrooms to our boardrooms -- doesn't encourage people to be creative, he said. In our schools and our jobs, we don't learn to create. We learn to follow instructions. "We don't grow into creativity, we're growing out of it," Linkner said.

'More Classical Than Jazz'


Creativity, according to Linkner, is 85% learned behavior. Unfortunately, our culture discourages creativity in a number of ways, such as labeling and restrictive environments. For example, musicians play for a living; the rest of us "go to work."

Linkner, a successful Internet entrepreneur and part-time jazz musician, wonders if we should change our label from "work force" to "play force."

"What if we had play force management and not work force management?" Linkner asked. Environment plays a role in harboring creativity, Linkner noted. So it's counterintuitive that many of us assemble in drab conference rooms to come up with ideas. A boardroom, Linkner asserted, is a "sensory-deprivation chamber." Those sensory-deprivation chambers are just one of the constructs keeping many organizations stifled, and one of the reasons Linkner believes companies have "become more classical than jazz" in their thinking.

That kind of thinking leaves them vulnerable to the "disruptive creativity" percolating in some startup companies. Linkner pointed to Wikipedia -- which wiped Microsoft Encarta off the map -- as an example of "disruptive forces coming at increasing strength and increasing force."


"Startups eat the lunch of big companies because they think like jazz musicians," Linkner said, noting that jazz musicians are celebrated for experimentation and risk-taking.

By the way, Linkner believes that it's "only a matter of time" before the next disruptive idea displaces Wikipedia.


A Better Way to Carve a Pumpkin

So how can companies inspire the kind of disruptive creativity that's making multimillionaires out of startup entrepreneurs with original ideas? Linkner, who is the author of "Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity," said it starts with awakening our curiosity -- the building block of creativity.

We do that by asking three questions: "Why?" "What if?" And "why not?" It also helps to get out those sensory-deprivation chambers.

"If it's time to come up with some fresh new ideas, go on a field trip," Linkner said.

Another useful exercise to try with your team members is something Linkner calls "The Opposite." Take a blank sheet of paper and draw a vertical line dividing it in half. On one side of the line, describe the way you've always done things. On the other side of the line, write down the opposite of the way you've always done things.

"Traditions are great in families, but they can be deadly in companies," Linkner asserted.

He offered one example of how thinking in the opposite fashion can yield innovative results. When he asked business partner Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans, for a better way to make a jack-o-lantern, Gilbert suggested starting by carving a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin -- the opposite of how most people do it. What's the benefit of Gilbert's approach?

You can use gravity to help extract the guts of the pumpkin, and it's easier to light the candle without burning your fingers.

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About the Author

Josh Cable | Former Senior Editor

Former Senior Editor Josh Cable covered innovation issues -- including trends and best practices in R&D, process improvement and product development. He also reported on the best practices of the most successful companies and executives in the world of transportation manufacturing, which encompasses the aerospace, automotive, rail and shipbuilding sectors. 

Josh also led the IndustryWeek Manufacturing Hall of Fame, IW’s annual tribute to the most influential executives and thought leaders in U.S. manufacturing history.

Before joining IndustryWeek, Josh was the editor-in-chief of Penton Media’s Government Product News and Government Procurement. He also was an award-winning beat reporter for several small newspapers in Northeast Ohio.

Josh received his BFA in creative writing from Bowling Green University, and continued his professional development through course-work at Ohio University and Cuyahoga Community College.

A lifelong resident of the Buckeye State, Josh currently lives in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland. When the weather cooperates, you’ll find him riding his bike to work, exercising his green thumb in the backyard or playing ultimate Frisbee.  

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