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Last week I wrote about the idea killing phrase “Yes, But”. The following evening I joined some colleagues to discuss an ecommerce project they’re working on.

And yes, you guessed it – I caught myself saying “Yes, but…” I was killing their ideas. The good news is that after the first occurrence I caught myself  and was far more supportive and constructive.

What struck me was how easy it was to be negative. Here’s why.

It appears that we are “hard wired” to be negative, or at least to be far more cognitive to the negative. It goes back to our our primitive beginnings when it was necessary for us, as a species, to be constantly on the look out for potential sources of danger.

According to Cognitive researcher Nancy Etcoff, in her Feb 2004 TED presentation

Our negative system is extremely sensitive. It is our sentinal. It is there to protect us from danger.

The following screen shot of one of Nancy’s slides points out the extent of our “natural” negative bias

What’s really interesting here is the (happy) Marriage Formula:

a ratio of 5 positive remarks or inter-actions to 1 negative remark or interaction.

If we extend this into our innovation and creative thinking environment we can see how damaging negative comments can be. We have to work 5 times as hard to overcome a single negative response.

Working to improve our power over our brain works is not easy. So finding ways to improved your brain power should be worth looking at especially if the payoffs far out way the effort. Take a quick look at this brain optimindation program. and let me know what you think (excuse the pun).

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In a recent post I posed  the question:

Does “business” actually have the capacity to deliver on the innovation promise? (click to read)

Often, when a business wants to jump into the innovation lane their first stop is a brainstorming session. “Ahhhhh, not again” I hear you say!! (No wonder innovation is so toothless….)

Well you are not the only one who cringes at the thought. I’ve seen quite a bit of commentary recently on the subject. A good article that discussed the Pro’s and Con’s was written by Mark McGuiness at Lateral Action. Another more recent is from Business Week – Brainstorming for Better Business – which gives some real life examples of brainstorming in action.

From my perspectives Brainstorming is an effective part in a process, and should not be viewed as a singular isolated event. By this I mean that there has to be some type of “focus” prior to the brainstorming to make sure it addresses the right problem. This helps keep the ideation on track.

Following the brainstorming is evaluation and the same people need to be involved. This helps train the participants to think of future ideas within the evaluation criteria – thereby improving the quality and effectiveness of future sessions.Those that use brainstorming regularly and embed it in their working practices become effective at it, and find it valuable. Those who view it as a chore or an ineffective practice end up making it so.

Several weeks ago I saw this illustration. In the accompanying article it explained how some items travel along a “Value” path and ultimately pass through a trough where they have so little value that they are actively trashed. I think that brainstorming is in this part of the cycle. Hopefully this useful tool’s value will again be appreciated.

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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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