Innovation is not always planned

I was interested in reading in Wired last month about the inventor of the Slinky!

In 1943, Richard James was working on instrumentation for WWII ships, when he knocked off a torsion spring from a shelf..... and it 'slinked' from shelf to books to table to floor. One patent and 300 million toys later it is as popular as ever!

Sometimes it is not about sitting down and having a brainstorming session, sometimes it is about using events that happen to come up with a new idea. It is about adapting those events to something that is commercial - thus the best tools for innovation, your eyes and your ears!

Carnival of Leadership Development

Welcome to the December 3, 2007 edition of carnival of leadership development.

Anna presents 10 Inspiring Thoughts on Leadership posted at The Engaging Brand

Stanimir Sotirov presents Motivation:Become a Leader posted at All About Your Body And Spirit, saying, "Learn how to become a leader the right way,not being the boss that everyone hates!"

Louise Manning presents Two visionary men posted at The Human Imprint.

Warren Wong presents How To Win Someone?s Heart posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, "Do you want to win someone's heart and gain their trust and loyalty? Here are some tips on how to go about doing it."

gamy presents Self Improvement Starts With Making Decisions posted at Mind Think Success, saying, "To have a positive change in your life, you have to decide you want a positive change, and this in itself is making a decision."

Terry Dean presents 80/20 Rule In Time Management posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

Wanda Grindstaff presents Success Through Service, the Most Important Component! posted at Creating Abundant Lifestyles.

Miami Phillips presents How Often Do You Change? posted at Miami Phillips - About Happiness.

Lodewijk van den Broek presents Does your (personal) leadership suck? | How to be an Original posted at How to be an Original.

GreatManagement presents The Rest Of The Company Does What? posted at The GreatManagement Blog, saying, "If you were to join the James Dyson Company, within your first week, if not first day, you will build a vacuum cleaner. This is whether you are an accountant, call centre operator and or any other job at Dyson’s."

Gavin Meikle presents It’s The Audience Stupid! | Reluctant Presenter's Guide posted at The Reluctant Presenters Guide, saying, "An interesting article on preparing for successful presentations and speeches"

David Kam presents Psychological Effect of 99-Cent posted at MarketingDeviant.com.

Matthew Spears presents Breaking through the chains of identity posted at Loving Awareness, saying, "Having a strong identity is greatly emphasized in this culture. We have expectation upon expectation placed upon us. This article explores what identities are, how they're limiting, and gives an exercise on how to move beyond some limitations."

Thomas D. Brownsword presents Where I Am, Where I Am Going, And How I Will Get There posted at Business Action Steps.

Dan McCarthy presents The Worst Leaders Of All Time posted at Great Leadership.

David B. Bohl presents Is it Time to Turn up the Heat in Your Life? posted at Slow Down Fast Today!, saying, "The inspirational message contained in the clip is that one extra degree of effort, in business and life, can separate the good from the great. The premise is a great one."

Andrew presents How to Become Great in any Field - Success Secrets Revealed posted at Personal Hack

Ivan Rios presents How to Win Negotiations By Seeking Differences posted at artofleading.net.

Raj Sheelvant presents Bottom up Management posted at IT Strategy, saying, "HCL Technologies, an Indian Info tech company is taking a unique approach to hold its management accountable."

Jay Gordon Cone presents Why Meet? posted at Interaction Associates - Thought leadership and practical tools for collaboration., saying, "According to Workforce.com, about 50% of leaders say the meetings they attend are not productive. What's a leader to do?"

Yazan Manasrah presents Uncluttering your mind posted at The Blasted Crossing, saying, "Want to find out how to gain the focus and mental energy to accomplish the daily tasks you must do?"

Dominic Tay presents Adopt a New Job: Entrepreneur for People posted at Personal Development Blog for Winners, saying, "Winners in life basically understand how critical it is to pursue personal development and become an entrepreneur for people. This entrepreneur is someone who knows how to take in control of his personality, knows his limitations and weaknesses."

Jeremy Neal presents You Are a History Maker posted at Thoughts on Quotes, saying, "There are many things for a which a generation of people may be known a hundred or thousand years from now, and you may be one of the few whose names are carried through to the future."

Moneywalks presents Road to Success: Setting your Goals posted at moneywalks.

The Career Counselor presents Seven Strategies for Coping with Personal Problems While at Work posted at ask the CareerCounselor

GreatManagement presents Successful Managers Share Information! posted at The GreatManagement Blog, saying, "We can share lots of different things with others, such as material things, money and time, but one of the easiest and most useful things we can share are thoughts and ideas."

Alvaro Fernandez presents Robert Emmons on the Positive Psychology of Gratitude posted at SharpBrains, saying, "can we enhance our happiness and health by nurturing gratitude?"

Michelle Cramer presents How Accessible are You? posted at GreatFX Business Cards, saying, "Customer service is a key element in the success of your business. That’s not news to anyone. But a crucial element of customer service, that business owners often overlook, is being readily accessible to your clientèle."

Alvaro Fernandez presents Cognitive Fitness, The Future of Work, and Concept Maps posted at SharpBrains, saying, "What the future may bring to enhance our productivity."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of leadership development using our carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Crisis? What crisis?

I love the Chinese symbol for crisis - it combines the characters for danger and opportunity. For me that beautifully describes a crisis. The danger is that you treat it as a MASSIVE problem and worry about what is going to happen. The opportunity is that you see it as a MASSIVE chance to show your strengths as a leader and learn a huge amount about yourself and those around you.

So when faced with a crisis...ask how can you turn these events into an opportunity...

Creativity in a Box

Michael Eisner the former head of Disney does not believe that throwing money at a venture breeds creativity. He likes to describe the need for creativity in a box - ie creativity but one that must come in on budget. He tells of the Raiders of the Lost Ark. This was a film that had been rejected many times but they decided to go ahead with it - on a strict budget.

Harrison Ford on the day of the sword fight was ill - and kept running to the toilet. They could not afford the delay with the filming - so changed the scene from a sword fight to Harrison Ford getting his pistol out and shooting the guy! This became a famous comic scene and added to the film...the creativity was forced on them by constraints.

I never mind a small budget for anything...because I know that others would fail, but I love the challenge of creating something wonderful with little resource.