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Defining Integrity

by Rick Baker
On Nov 18, 2010
On many fronts, Integrity is important to me.
 
Many who know me have heard about the Integrity Experiment we conducted in 2005.
 
Prior to 2005, I had this concern about business people and businesses using the word ‘integrity’.  My concern focused on the fact many people could not provide a definition of the word and even when others could define it the definitions were weak and different.
 
So, it seemed to me business people were confused about the meaning of Integrity.
 
So, the next time the topic of Integrity came up…I created a real-business-life Integrity experiment.
 
***
 
Five years later, this year, I wrote the Thought Post titled ‘A Definition of Integrity’, where I provided just that.
 
My definition was and still is…
 
Definition of Integrity
  1. When you know your Personal Values and
  2. When you can express your Personal Values in writing [showing how you think the think] and
  3. When you can talk with others about your Personal Values [talk the talk] and
  4. When your actions are consistent with your Personal Values [walk the walk] and
  5. When you acknowledge your think-talk-walk errors and strive to not repeat them
…then you have Integrity.
 
***
 
Still very interested in Integrity and what it means to other people…recently I found a CD.
 
Here’s an introduction to that CD on Integrity…
 
In 1983, at the age of 87, R. Buckminster Fuller began to share the details of his thoughts about the need for Integrity at “Integrity Days” sessions. His first session was held in Los Angeles, February 26th, 1983. I listened to a recording of that ‘classic’ session. Buckminster Fuller died 4 months after that first session.
 
At the February 26th, 1983 session, when asked to define Integrity “Bucky” paused for about 15 seconds then said:
 
“I find I have to use the word courage due to the circumstances of humanity …the courage to cooperate or initiate based entirely on the truth, all the truth, and nothing but the truth as the divine mind within you tells you the truth is…it does require a courage and a self-disciplining.”
 
Now, isn’t that quite a definition!

Tags:

Definitions - Spirited Words Defined | Values: Personal Values

People’s Strengths

by Rick Baker
On Oct 19, 2010
StrengthsFinder* presents Strengths as…
 
Strengths = Talent Theme + Knowledge + Skills
 
If I understand StrengthsFinder properly then our top 5 Talent Themes do not confirm Strengths, rather, they confirm Potential Strengths.
 
To create Strengths we need to:
  1. understand our Talent Themes,
  2. gain Knowledge related to the Strength we desire, and
  3. take planned action aimed at developing Skills that allow us to illustrate our Strengths.
I think StrengthsFinder is directionally correct. It is a tool that should not be used in isolation. It should be used in conjunction with other tools and guides.
 
For example, our ability to exhibit Strengths is influenced by many factors including:
  • Interest…Are we interested in, or passionate about, the end-goal that is the motive driving our actions? A strong and well-grounded Interest increases the likelihood a Strength will be developed.
  • Situation…does the situation allow us to act in accordance with our Strength? As Haidt and the Heaths* explained to us, situations can be designed to promote action aligned with Strengths.
  • Self-Esteem…the higher the self-esteem, the better we feel about ourselves, the greater the likelihood our Strengths will be realized
  • Confidence…if we perceive we can be effective at the task, in the given situation, then the greater the likelihood our Strengths will be realized
  • Mood…we all have good days and bad days…our Strengths tend to shine during our good days
Footnotes:
  1. Web link for StrengthsFinder
  2. Web link for Haidt
  3. Web link for Heath brothers

A Definition of Integrity

by Rick Baker
On Jul 29, 2010
After being inspired by Stephen Covey* and others, and giving it all some thought, I have come up with and adopted the following…
 
Definition of Integrity
  1. When you know your Personal Values and
  2. When you can express your Personal Values in writing [showing how you think the think] and
  3. When you can talk with others about your Personal Values [talk the talk] and
  4. When your actions are consistent with your Personal Values [walk the walk] and
  5. When you acknowledge your think-talk-walk errors and strive to not repeat them
…then you have Integrity.
 
*a link to Stephen Covey

Tags:

Definitions - Spirited Words Defined | Values: Personal Values

Innovation & Creativity

by Rick Baker
On Jul 1, 2010
During a recent strategic-planning session we discussed corporate Values and Culture. I mentioned Spirited’s corporate Values are: Courage, Confidence, Conviction, and Creativity. I also mentioned each of these words had been defined, discussed, and described in blogs…because it’s risky to use words unless those words are understood.
 
This meshes with our philosophy: Values – Culture – Communication – Value
 
Some discussion and lots of thinking about innovation and creativity ensued.
 
So, now I am writing to share more of my thoughts…
 
About Innovation
                       
Do some search-engine exploration. Or, check LinkedIn questions & answers. If you do this then you can find hundreds of definitions of innovation, perhaps dozens credited to Peter Drucker alone.
 
A couple of years ago, I blogged about Innovation
 
In that blog, I proposed the following definition for Business Innovation:
 
Business Innovation [def’n]:
 
a thing done or provided to add value by solving a customer’s problem or satisfying a customer’s need
 
That definition of Innovation still works for me.
 
But – perhaps that’s because I have drawn some clear lines between Innovation and Creativity.
 
What’s the difference between Creativity and Innovation? And, how do I define Creativity?
 
First, Innovation and Creativity have two very important things in common.
 
Each is
  • heavily grounded in Imagination and
  • closely tied to Change.
Creativity and Innovation also have in common, but to differing degrees, elements of Surprise. I argue Creativity contains more element of Surprise. In some cases the element of Surprise is too great to be tolerated [apparently they placed Marconi in an insane asylum when he created the vision which led to wireless communication]. In other cases the element of Surprise shows up in revolutionary art forms [such as the jump-shift of Picasso’s art and Mozart’s music].
 
While, to my knowledge, Napoleon Hill did not present arguments in this direction, I believe his description of the two types of Imagination - synthetic imagination and creative imagination - provides an excellent way to describe the difference between Innovation and Creativity.
 
Here is an excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, (1937):
 
Synthetic Imagination – Through this faculty, one may arrange old concepts, ideas, or plans into new combinations. This faculty creates nothing. It merely works with the material of experience, education, and observation with which it is fed. It is the faculty used most by the inventor, with the exception of the “genius” who draws upon the creative imagination, when he cannot solve his problem through synthetic imagination.
 
Creative Imagination - Through the faculty of creative imagination, the finite mind of man has direct communication with Infinite Intelligence. It is the faculty through which “hunches” and “inspirations” are received. It is by this faculty that all basic, or new ideas are handed over to man. It is through this faculty that one individual may “tune in” or communicate with the subconscious minds of other men.
 
My point is: when we have successfully used what Napoleon Hill called synthetic imagination the result is a thing of Innovation and when we have successfully used what Napoleon Hill called creative imagination the result is a thing of Creativity.
 
In simplest terms:
  • Innovation is adjusting or repackaging existing things.
  • Creativity brings new things.
Napoleon Hill described, as many others have done since [using different words], how to go about the processes of developing skills related to both synthetic imagination and creative imagination.
 
The process he outlined for developing skills related to creative imagination will not be well-received by some...perhaps many. For example, some people firmly believe Creativity is something you are born with...or not born with. That is, Creativity cannot be learned. Other folks, my favourite being Edward De Bono, prove through training Creativity can indeed be learned.
 
And, what about that Infinite Intelligence thing Napoleon Hill talked about? Some will be very comfortable considering that to be God. Some will be extremely uncomfortable with the whole chapter of the book.
 
Regardless, few will argue against the existence of the amazing human experience we call “hunches”.
 
That alone provides enough common ground for explaining the difference between Innovation and Creativity.
 
With all that and much more considered:
 
Innovation happens when we think. Innovation happens when we consciously engage the logical and deductive workings of our brains...and we might as well call that thinking process and the brain parts used in that thinking process our synthetic imagination. So, we can revise our definition of Business Innovation as follows:
 
Business Innovation [def’n]:
 
arranging old concepts, ideas, or plans into new combinations to solve customers’ problems or satisfy customers’ needs
 
And...
 
Creativity happens when “flashes of inspirations” or “hunches” come to our consciousness. Since it is nicer to think each of us possesses a level of creativity and it is nicer to think each of us can learn to be more creative...we might as well call “inspirations” and “hunches” gifts of our creative imagination. So, we can define Business Creativity as follows:
 
Business Creativity [def’n]:
 
using “flashes of inspirations” or “hunches”, the elite gifts of our imaginations, to solve customers’ problems or satisfy customers’ needs
 
***
 
Footnotes:
  1. The definitions of Innovation and Creativity contain the phrase to solve customers’ problems or satisfy customers’ needs. The phrase is a qualifier, intentionally added to draw attention to the fact business innovation and creativity must serve a purpose and that purpose must be tested in terms of ‘value added’ as perceived by customers. This is required under the Values–Culture–Communication–Value philosophy, which is introduced at https://rickbaker.ca/post/2010/06/17/Do-family-businesses-have-better-values.aspx
  2. Napoleon Hill link  http://www.naphill.org

People Networking…Succeeding in the 21st Century #5

by Rick Baker
On Jun 19, 2010
The purpose of this blog series is to develop a framework for best-practice people networking. That is, to provide those interested in succeeding at people networking with a guide…a guide to help them.
 
Not only are we trying to develop the How To Network framework, but we are doing it in a collaborative way. Business associates - LinkedIn friends - are sharing thoughts and exchanging input. This blog series presents some of the details of our idea exchanges. The full set of interactions can be found at LinkedIn.
 
My LinkedIn contact name is WFC Rick Baker.
 
Prior blogs can be found at these links [#1, #2, #3, #4].
 
At the Blog #4, I promised to adjust my definition of Networking and discuss the changes I make.
 
My first draft of the definition was:
 
Networking is meeting new people and re-meeting people in a business or social context
 
My LinkedIn friends felt this was not sufficient. The definition should contain a description of not just ‘what’ networking is by also ‘why’ we do it. We should define the purpose/goal of networking. While my LinkedIn friends had differing views about the purpose/goal of networking there was a common theme. The differences were more about the extent of the purpose than the direction of the purpose.
 
My LinkedIn friends felt the direction networking should take is delivering value. The purpose/goal should be to deliver value. My LinkedIn friends had strong views about making sure the value was given or exchanged rather than just taken. Some strongly felt giving value without expecting to receive value was the right starting mindset.
 
My LinkedIn friends had differing views about the extent value must be delivered. At one extreme, successful networking could be as small as helping the other person smile.  At the other extreme, successful networking could be as large as building a life-long relationship, a two-way commitment based on trust with an ongoing sharing of value.
 
I believe a one-way delivery of value to others could be sustainable for life. I mean, as long as we accept success happens when we deliver a small value to others there is no reason why we cannot keep delivering small value to others when they do not reciprocate. For example, we can smile at others every time we see them even if they never let us know they receive value.
 
My original definition did not attempt to incorporate success. I was trying to define networking in as simple terms as possible. I agree with my LinkedIn friends: in business we should not just do things, we should have some purpose behind the things we do.
 
So, on behalf of our group of LinkedIn friends, I have added ‘purpose/goal’ words to our 2nd draft definition, to ensure people know successful networking is about delivering value. However, we have not attempted to set limits on the extent delivering value must happen. If the delivery of value is as small as trying to help another person smile then that is successful networking. If much more happens and the exchange of value is as large as life-long shared commitments and value exchange then that, of course, is successful networking too.
 
Here is 2nd draft of the definition - Successful Networking:
 
Successful Networking is meeting new people and re-meeting people in a business or social context with the purpose of delivering and receiving value

Tags:

Definitions - Spirited Words Defined | Networking: The Joys of Connection

Innovation

by Rick Baker
On Apr 14, 2008

In one of my dictionaries, a Gage Canadian Dictionary, the word 'innovation' is defined as:

  1. A change made in the established way of doing things
  2. The making of changes; act of bringing in new things or new ways of doing things: He is strongly opposed to innovation of any kind.

At the front cover of his book 'Innovation', Tom Gorman uses the following Peter Drucker quote:

"Innovation is the specific instrument...that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth."

At Chapter 1, Gorman uses the title, 'Innovation = Problem Solving'. And, in a caption that appears to be a dictionary excerpt, Gorman provides the following definition:

in • no • va • tion

  1. A new product, service, process, or approach to a problem
  2. A new way of thinking about something
  3. The act of innovating, as in "Innovation occurs in every culture"

I know from recent experience, the discussion of innovation can very quickly get deeply philosophical. Here are some questions, which capture some of the differences in the ways people think about innovation:

  • Must innovation, by definition, be a physical/tangible thing? 
  • Must innovation, by definition, be linked to change?
  • Should innovation, by definition, be linked to problem solving?
  • What's the difference between creativity and innovation?

Perhaps, creativity describes new things that can be enjoyed for their own sake rather than for any change they may bring about? If that is the case then change may be an important facet of the definition of innovation but of little or no importance when considering a definition of creativity?

In other words - perhaps we should acknowledge utility is less tangible for creativity and more tangible for innovation?

Perhaps, for creativity utility can be so nebulous it should not even be a facet of definition?

Are creativity and innovation mutually exclusive? Or, is one a subset of the other? If so then which one is the broader thing...which is closer to concept?

***

Business and Innovation:

Overall, I'm wondering if one of the largest rifts between our thoughts about innovation is around technology. Must a business innovation contain some aspect of technology or can a business innovation exist independent of technology?

For business purposes, would it make sense to define innovation as 'a thing or action that solves a business problem'?

Maybe we should state innovation - a thing or action - must have the effect of creating a change...or, should we be more specific and state innovation must create a change of commercial value?

The 'change' part of that sort of definition is consistent with my Gage Canadian Dictionary. And change is simple and it is a broad enough thing (say, a concept) so it should not generate any confusion or controversy. However, the 'adding commercial value' part isn't so simple...it is a qualification but it is a subjective one. My Gage Canadian Dictionary does not express the nature of change it expresses in its definition of innovation. While we may want to assume Gage Canadian Dictionary intends the change to be positive rather than negative or of value rather than valueless, that isn't stated in my Gage Canadian Dictionary. In fact, the sample italicized in my dictionary definition - "He is strongly opposed to innovation of any kind" - provides a clear message that some people are opposed to innovation...presumably, that's the case because those people do not see innovation as either positive or value-adding. Or, perhaps the opposition is simply a resistance to change.

 

For business, could we start by considering the following type of definition:

          Business Innovation (def'n):

          A thing done or provided to add value by solving a customer's problem or satisfying a customer's need.

 

Embedded in this definition are:

  1. A business innovation must be tangible...a thought or an idea isn't enough to be considered a business innovation. Only when that thought or idea is converted into physical reality - a product, a service of action, etc - can it be considered an innovation. 
  2. An innovation in business begins with a customer need or problem...all business innovations should be traced to a specific, identified customer need or problem. 
  3. An innovation in business will cause and be a change. That change will be measured in terms of value added from the customer's perspective...as a specific, identified customer need is satisfied or as a specific, identified customer problem is solved. 
  4. So, to qualify as a business innovation the thing must be customer-centric. 
  5. A business innovation need not be tied to technology. Technological innovations in business would be a subset of business innovations. 
  6. Potential questions about 'direct' and 'indirect' value, as seen from the customer's perspective, questions about the ability to discover with precision customer's needs, and questions about the ability to measure the value added from the customer's perspective, etc. (Such is the essence and challenge of Marketing).

***

If we can agree on a definition of Innovation then we will have a solid footing upon which we can build as we answer other important questions, such as:

  • how do we want to define the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship?
  • how do we want to nurture and promote business-innovation processes in our workplaces?
  • how do we place ourselves in our customers' shoes and with precision understand their needs and problems then deliver measurable value through innovation?

Tags:

Definitions - Spirited Words Defined | Entrepreneur Thinking | Marketing

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