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I’ve commented recently on the need to retain an innovative mindset to make the best of the current economic situation. In fact I’m certain that those who are creative at this time are building innovative businesses for the future.

But what about everyone else? I’m not really a TV watcher but One Reality TV genre has me facinated and is providing some insights. It’s the “business makeover” show. You know the type – Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares, Ruth Watson as The Hotel Inspector, and Tabatha Coffey’s Salon Makeovers. I’m sure there’s others.

I know that these are highly produced and edited for dramatic effect – BUT – they all have a common thread.

The Boss is always the problem.

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1. Understand why customers choose you and make that experience better.
2. Value every customer and put a value on every customer.
3. Provides value to the customers (note: this does not mean cheap!)
4. Builds good people and trusts them to deliver.
5. Invests in quality infrastructure, systems and processes.
6. Looks for ways to maximize revenue.
7. Watches the pennies.
8. Builds trusted relationships with experts and advisors.
9. Doesn’t do things just because everyone else does.
10. Doesn’t over complicate things (keeps it simple).

All these characteristics create an environment where the objectives of the business are clear, risks are managed, and opportunities for creative thought are encouraged, welcomed, and actioned. So, if you’re the Boss get your head around this list. And you can’t don’t blame the troops, they’re doing the best they can in environment you’ve created for them. Go set the example and they will follow.

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I recently read a great article from Business Week‘s head economist Michael Mandel. In the article he looks at the impact – or rather the non-impact – of innovation in the United States and world economy. He even suggests that the lack of commerialized innovation over the last decade could be considered as a contributing factor in the prevailing economic climate.

I’ve read and listened to many good debates on the causes of the current economic climate (including this one from CUNY). This is the first time that innovation, or the lack of it, has been suggested to have had such an impact.

There have been many commentators appealing to the business community to keep investing in innovation. But if we take Michael Mandel’s assertions to be correct it leaves us with one important question:

Does “business” actually have the capacity to deliver on the innovation promise?

One good thing from the current financial situation that might help is that businesses are being forced to be more effective through efficiency. There’s no fat on the plate anymore!

This is and will continue to force changes in thinking, changes in business models, and hopefully changes in how innovation is viewed, valued and invested in by business.

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I recently wrote a post about collecting ideas. In that post I listed some reasons why collecting ideas and reviewing them can be a great source of inspiration when you need a creative push.

One of the inspiration techniques I suggested was to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into a new solution. It’s interesting when you see an innovation that has combines several ideas or trends to solve a problem, provide a solution, or approach an existing situation in an innovative way.

The concept of SPIN Farming is a fascinating example of how trends or ideas from unrelated areas have been applied to small scale farming.

I’m not suggesting that the inspiration for SPIN Farming came directly from looking outside of agriculture for new ideas, however it is a good example of trends from other industries combining to enable a whole new approach – in this case applied to farming. SPIN Farming is not a return to the methods of our grandparents, but a total re-think and application of new methods.

So what is SPIN Farming? SPIN stands for S-mall P-lot IN-tensive

SPIN is a non-technical, easy-to-learn and inexpensive-to-implement farming system that makes it possible to earn significant income from land bases under an acre in size. Whether you are new to farming, or want to farm in a new way, SPIN can work for you because:

• Its precise revenue targeting formulas and organic-based techniques make it possible to gross $50,000+ from a half- acre.
• You don’t need to own land. You can affordably rent a small piece of land adequate in size for SPIN-FARMING production.

What trends and ideas do we see applied in the SPIN method? An obvious trend is miniaturization. This directly challenges the large scale corporate farming practices and makes sub-acre sites into profitable enterprises. It even looks fun. Over the last two decades enhancements in technology have taken the power of large enterprise main frame computers down to very portable powerful and affordable laptop and hand held devices.

In recent years micro-financing has been very successfully applied in some of the worlds poorest communities. Again, this is an example of the large “lending beast” being scaled down, made more user friendly and made accessible to people who really need it.

Localization is another trend at work here. Farmers markets and localised produce have become very popular in many heavily urbanised areas. Interestingly there are many parts of the world where weekly local markets have never been out of fashion.

There are also similarities in the SPIN approach to just-in-time manufacturing processes. Conventional farmers sow a large crop at one time, then harvest a large crop at one time. The spin methodology has sequential sowing and sequential harvesting. The harvest is just enough to fulfil the market demand with no loss in productivity.

We can see that the SPIN farming technique combines several ideas that exist in other industries; miniaturization, localisation, and just in time production.

So what can you be inspired to do by looking around, observing, and collecting ideas. What ideas from outside your industry can be sliced and diced, combined, and applied to your business or project. Where will your next innovation come from?

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