Creativity and Innovation: Selling Your Value Proposition

Ideation in industries is challenging but the bigger challenge is converting ideas into actions, executing those ideas and also convincing peers and investors to buy into your ideas. Our ideas remain worth a sneeze if they can't be converted into value propositions and tangible, measurable products, processes or projects.

Yesterday, at a workshop I was asked..."How'd you get peers and investors to buy in?"

Here are three, really, quick tips.

Step 1:
Sneak the idea, subtly, into their mind-environment like fragrance, like mist, like a dainty little butterfly. CEOs, CIOs, Investors, like all of us, probably a bit more, are busy and pre-occupied. Sneaking in an idea into their environment makes them feel they thought about it, they came up with it, thus, they will want to own and invest into it.

Do this through a press leak, a tweet, a hand-written note. Or, speak to your companion, in an elevator, in hushed tones within their earshot. Essentially, let the idea seep into their system without having to work through natural human resistances.

Step 2:
Assuming this gets you into their boardroom for a "little" chat about a new idea, go prepared to go for the jugular and make major impact.

Carry, a less than 3 minute presentation/chat/proposal which...
Describes the proposition in crystal clear terms. Edit it a thousand times for impact and clarity.

Keeps your proposition irrefutable and backed up by proof or testimonials from valid or respectable sources.
Has an underlying agenda and a visible agenda that is ethical and delivers a greater good...in alignment with corporate vision and values.

Step 3:
Offer to participate and drive the execution of the idea and stay with it till its launch and, inevitable, success. Rarely do people want to buy into and invest in an idea until it seems to them that the person proposing is committed to it and will stand behind its execution.

Think of innovation as new action and a put in conscious effort to sell and execute your ideas.

HeART SmART™ Creativity & Innovation
Raju Mandhyan

pit bulls & entrepreneurs:identity: conversations about it.

Identity: the distinguishing but consistent character or personality of an individual in constantly changing circumstances.

Identity is a mental model of one’s self. It relates to an individual’s self image, self esteem, and uniqueness. It contributes to how that individual views one’s self as a person and how he or she stands in relation to others around him. The more assured and accepting a person is of one’s own self image, the more peaceful and stable one’s behavior and performance are in all aspects of life.

Actions:

The pit bull’s not-so-attractive appearance may induce hysteria. Yet it actually translates to practicality and economy. A pit bull requires minimal grooming and maintenance. Its nature and eating habits are simple and predictable. It has no fancy needs and doesn’t demand much attention like labradors, pomeranians, or poodles do. It is also reputed to be very hardworking and frugal, and it knows its position and purpose in life.

Just by being simple, rugged, and consistent, the pit bull can be very comforting company. His earthy nature lends an air of comfort and support to others around him and even provides a sense of therapy to those who need healing.

A few years ago, Cody, a pit bull puppy, was picked by members of the Even Chance Pit Bull Advocacy of San Diego when he was seen limping around an abandoned shelter. At the rescue veterinarian’s office, his chances didn’t look too good when he was diagnosed with a congenital deformity called ectrodactyly or “lobster claw.” Kind donors, through Even Chance, paid to have an orthopedic surgeon correct Cody’s paw. His two split toes were fused together with the surrounding skin, transforming his “lobster claw” to a “mitten.”

Cody was undergoing water therapy when his nature was discovered to be earthy, simple, and very loving. It was as if his past and pain had softened him rather than traumatize him. Soon, he was adopted by Barbara Sullier, a parent of one of the interns at the clinic.

Barbara described Cody as “a sweet, little, loving boy with a charisma that pulls people over to talk to him. He loves all people and wants to make them happy.” Cody still continued to limp due to missing bones and muscles in his right foreleg, but that hardly affected his style.

His personality and traits soon led him to be trained and certified, at age one, as a therapy dog by the Los Angeles based New Leash on Life’s “Lend a Paw” program. During wheelchair tests, Cody would reach up gently and kiss people with disabilities. Children with physical disabilities would easily relate to him and get their spirits boosted by his consistent kindness and even nature.

Through all prejudices and hardships against him, Cody never lost sight of his own, true image. He knew exactly who he was and what his purpose in life was.

Source: Hollow, M. “Pit Bull Stories” July 12, 2010. (http://petnewsandviews.com/2010/07/pit-bull-stories/)



Conversations:

The value of a clear self identity lies in the fact that once you know, understand, and accept who you are; it becomes easy to distinguish between what you want and what you need in life. With an enhanced self perspective, our goals acquire a precise image and definition. Our purpose in work and life becomes crystal clear.

Most of us spend large portions of our lives trying to figure out what it is that we want, what life and career paths to choose. Having a correct self image ensures a clear set of personal objectives. It allows us to invest our energies in the right places and at the right time. Our internal and external resources fall in place, start complementing each other, and empower us to achieve fruitful and effective results.

What can we learn from Cody and Mike? How can we be clear about our identity, and consequently, our goals?

• Know yourself. And in getting to know yourself, refrain from letting your ego and a false sense of who you are influence your choices and decisions in life and business. Knowing, understanding, and accepting yourself as you are needs a powerful combination of humility, awareness, and personal strength.

• Practice being completely at ease with yourself, your background, and your culture. Honestly and objectively recognize and then appreciate your strengths. No two people in the world have exactly the same genetic structure, breeding, and experiences. If our backgrounds differ, naturally, our actions and results should also be different. Refrain from being unduly impressed by the shape, size, and the sizzle of the successes of others around you.

• Consolidate and direct all your energies and all your entrepreneurial efforts in the direction of your true choice at a steady and a consistent pace. Erik H. Erikson, in his book Identity and the Life Cycle (1995), claims that a clear sense of identity provides one with the alacrity and ability to experience one’s self, to have consistency and continuity, and to act according to one’s calling.


• Grow gradually. Being successful as an entrepreneur will take a lot of effort and sacrifice. Leap for growth and greater heights only after you have reached the easily scalable ones at a steady pace. My grandfather, who was born just before the Great Depression, had failed and succeeded at many businesses in his lifetime. In his seventies, in India, he had become well off, stable, and happy with his life. He used to say, “In business and in life, one shouldn’t make any sudden and sharp u-turns.”

• Clarify your values. All clear choices, creative strategies, and conscientious efforts are bound to bring success and glory. Ironically, continuous success might derail our progress if we fall to the temptation of recklessness. As your horizons expand, you may change strategies and tactics but must continue to lean on core values which, originally, made you “YOU!”

Authentic Impact

In the usual rush of our youths we do not, many a times, give much thought to the subtle, the soft and the subjective elements of our people to people interactions. That is to say we do not much consciously give attention to these elements but at a subconscious level the impact of these interactions get imprinted and stay embedded until, much later, our conscious mind, as we mature and grow, starts to pay its respects to the power of the unconscious mind

One such interaction particularly remained embedded in my mind, until recent years when I uploaded the files and viewed them from a much experienced, and much matured a perspective as concerns people to people interactions.

In high school we had all kinds of teachers. Some were big, some were small, some slow and others fast and fun. Here, I don’t mean to disrespect teachers and the noble profession of teaching, considering that I am a teacher of sorts myself, but only want to make a point that we are all different, and we have different speeds and approaches towards life. In the language of Neuro Linguistic Programming we have different internal clocks, time-lines and different programs.

One of our teachers--let’s skip his name lest some readers do some detective work and pass this article on to him. Also, taking note of my own greying hair, chances are he may have moved on to a better place in life. Yet, you never know, someone might still pass on this newsletter to the next of his kin. This teacher worked, taught and managed his classrooms much too differently and carefully compared to others. Let’s name this teacher “Easy.”

One day, Easy’s class full of young, teenage boys had gotten out of hand and were being really naughty. They were screaming, shouting, shooting paper aeroplanes, breaking chairs and being boys just like boys are supposed to be, wild and unmanageable. Easy, as usual, was having a hard time getting a handle on this crowd. He shouted, he screamed, he banged his wooden walking stick on the table but to no avail. He threatened suspension for the whole class but the chaos and cacophony just wouldn’t subside. The class room had turned into a regular fish market.

Hearing the noise, another teacher, D.N. Irani, walked in from a neighbouring classroom and stood by and next to Easy. Teacher D.N. Irani was tall, lean, had a firm jaw, a high forehead with a closely cropped head of thick, salt and pepper hair. By the side of Easy, Teacher D.N.Irani just stood there, ever so quietly, right up and in front of the class. He said nothing, moved not bit, gestured nothing but stood there tall, quiet, simple and solemn. All he did was peer right into midst of the ruckus the boys were creating and one by one, through each one of the boys’ eyes, he peered down into their hearts, steadily and peacefully.

Very slowly and very surely the boys, one boy at a time, began to quiet down and then sneack up and into their individual desks. In less than two minutes, which, of course, seemed like much more under the steely gaze of D.N. Irani, the class suddenly had become so quiet that had a pin dropped it would have been heard into the next town.

At the end of this seemingly, eternal, thundering silence, Teacher D.N. Irani, said a few words that might have started with... “If I was you and if I were behaving the way you are behaving, I would have been totally ashamed...” After a few minutes, after just a few laconic words and after having us, honestly and earnestly, apologize to Teacher Easy, Teacher D.N. Irani walked out of our classroom and, literally, rode away into the sunset of the day at Sardar Dastur Hoshang Boys High School in Pune, India.

In this recollection, I am probably forgetting some of the details, but I am definitely and totally not forgetting the impact Teacher D.N.Irani had on us boys then and still has on my personal psyche until this day. Also I, absolutely, cannot rule out the fact that I may have been thinking, wondering and mulling upon the question as to what did D.N.Irani do differently compared to Easy.
Today, nearly 40 years later, I am convinced that D.N. Irani may not have been, formally, trained to make higher and authentic impact, he may not also have been privy to the principles for higher impact I am about to share with you. At a very primal level, at a very instinctive level he knew the power of authenticity, he knew the power of silence and true influence that can be learned and practised using one and all of the following three principles.

Congruence:

Teacher D.N. Irani knew the power of alignment between his internal thoughts and external behaviour. He knew that the values he espoused and talked about were the values that he lived and performed regularly and consistently. He knew that being peaceful, and in control on the inside helped him manage chaos and uncertainty that, usually, does occur and exist outside.

When in congruence, we are in total rapport, and in trust, with our own self. Our self-esteem and self image is at a personal high. The highest order of congruence occurs and is sensed and read by others, by our audience. They notice and sense that in this time we are totally aligned, in behaviour and attitude, all the way up to our values and aspirations.

Existence of, and practice of, extreme congruence delivers and creates authentic impact on our worlds powerfully and for a long time.

Presence:

Besides being in total alignment with his inner being, Teacher D. N. Irani was also a master at generating presence and being present through mind, soul and every single cell in his body. Presence and “being present” implies a holistic and high-powered awareness of our own thoughts, intelligence and also of the external stimuli. Presence gives respect to all that surrounds us, acknowledges it and then discerns as to what needs to be assessed, analysed and acted upon. But, way before assessment, analysis and action to be taken for or against external stimuli, presence means awareness, acknowledgement and respect.

Presence not just professes but practices, with deliberation, physical, mental and emotional awareness of what is, what exists and what transpires and grows around us. Presence also, because of the respect factor, always perceives positive possibilities and potential for what we regard and behold with our senses and in our thoughts and emotions.

Those rowdy boys back in the day, including me of course, complimented respect in favor of respect granted them by D.N. Irani. They knew that D.N.Irani did not look down on them and neither did he despise their core, their humanity. He adored and respected them but was in awe and shame of their actions, of their rogue behaviour at that moment.

Presence is and will remain a powerful precursor to creating authentic and powerful impact on others.

Precise Language:

Teacher D.N Irani, like Clint Eastwood a bit, was a man of few words. His language, his tone and his choice of words were never minced, general or contained motherhood statements. He made very few assumptions on people. He also did not exaggerate or understate a thought. He called a spade a spade in the most polite, proper and assertive way as possible. Every time he expressed his thoughts, he’d take his time. He used to choose his words, consider all possible interpretations and impacts on his audience and then, only then, speak up slowly and clearly. Every time he spoke,
I remember as a class, we used to give him a 100% attention and more. His influence on us was strong and it stayed with us long after he’d moved on.

Precision language from the perspective of Neuro Linguistic Programming does not make assumptions, does not generalize, does not chunk up or chunk down thoughts and ideas unless there is a specific purpose for doing so and the outcome of that action is for general good. In precision language a spade is always referred to and understood as being a spade. I am, of course, over here, creating a metaphor. What I mean is that thoughts, ideas and feelings are first clarified, verified and analysed thoroughly for effect, internally, before being expressed.

Being correct, precise, polite and confidently assertive with our expressions and our language is an art and a science that is a major requisite for leadership and authentic impact..


Today, years later, I would not have been able to share these stories and these well-known secrets about authentic impact with you, had I not been inspired and moved by D.N.Irani’s behaviour and successful usage of them back in the day. I also apologize to Teacher Easy for having used him as an example and a reference point to build my story.

Raju Mandhyan
Authentic Impact
www.mandhyan.com

what you focus upon becomes your reality

On the February 19, meeting of the Association of Appreciative Inquiry, Philippines, [www.aiphilippines.org]I was to explain the concept and the methodology of Appreciative Inquiry in less than 30 minutes to newcomers and guests. I was challenged because I knew thirty minutes wouldn’t do justice to the beauty and the essence of Dr. David Cooperrider's work. It is totally unfair to read off a list the principles and the method for something that can be so powerful and effective in creating deep transformations for individuals and communities.

Choose your words and structure, said my conscious mind and my left brain. Be comprehensive and tactical, said my left and right brain together, ask questions and involve your listeners. Use a story, said my heart and my right brain. All that you need to tell them already lies buried within the depths of their intelligences. They already know what you want to tell them. Just let their deeper wisdom surface and let it dance with what is on your mind.

I gave heed to my right-brain’s thinking.

So there was this King, I said, the father of the person who built the beautiful Tajmahal. He was a Mogul and he ruled India in the 16th Century. He was kind, benevolent and referred to as Akbar the Great. The period in Indian history before and after his death was known as the Golden Age of growth and prosperity. Besides being a good and powerful king, Akbar loved dialogues, debates and dabbling in the arts.

He had a Hindu counsellor by the name of Birbal whose character; personality could be compared to that of Solomon the Wise. Akbar and Birbal fables are popular in India and they work the same way as Aesop’s fables do for the rest of the world. Akbar and Birbal liked to keep each other intellectually challenged and sharp during times of peace and calm in 16th century India.

One freezing evening in Delhi, Akbar looks out onto the royal gardens and wonders out aloud, “Birbal, do you think that there could be a man who would dare step into that freezing pond in our gardens?” Birbal from experience knew that this was bait to one of their famous mind games. He figured, he might as well take it up right away rather than wait for the King to push further. “Oh, sure, your majesty, for a fair purpose and under pressure any ordinary person can last a night standing in the freezing pond,” he replied.

“I dare you, Birbal for a bag of gold that you cannot!” exclaimed the King. Birbal smiled and took up the challenge for a bag of gold coins.

In a matter of minutes, the scene was set. Birbal wrapped in a Gandhi-like loin cloth stepped into the icy cold water as the sun disappeared over the horizon and the moon began to rule the night. In the palace balcony, the King lit a lamp, ordered a sumptuous meal and some drinks. He perched himself onto a large, warm sofa to watch Birbal’s pride and honor freeze and crack in icy waters of the pond. Birbal found the centre of the pond and stood chest deep in the water as the moon began to brighten and the night’s temperature began to plunge. This was showdown at high moon!

All night long, the King puffed away at his Hookah, drank wine and kept propping himself up to enjoy the show. His servants and guards dozed off on their spots but Birbal stood steady and deep in the water that was getting cold by the minute. Hours later, the moon surrendered to the dawn’s light and as the sun peeped out from the east, Birbal, to the awe and surprise of the King, slowly stepped out of the pond, put on his shirt and turban and walked up to the King for his bag of gold.

“In the name of the Almighty, how did you do it Birbal?” roared the King, “What’s your secret? Did you consume some special herbs, a magic potion that kept you warm? How?”

“No secret, your Majesty, it is all in the mind, it is all in the power of focus. What you focus upon, O King, becomes your reality. If you focus upon the cold you will feel cold, if you focus upon the darkness you will be lost and if you focus upon failure then you will fail. That is the secret, your highness!”

“What did you focus upon Birbal?”

“Sire, the little lamp that you lit by the side of your sofa as you sat down to watch me, I focussed upon that. All night long, with all my heart and my entire mind I saw nothing but the lamp; I sensed nothing but the warmth that radiated out of it. I saw nothing but light and I felt nothing but the comfort from its glow.”
That is the power of focus. That is the way of those that appreciate what is good, what is powerful and what is life-giving. That is the essence of being inquisitive and being curious about what CAN be improved rather than what needs to blamed and repaired. That is the power of looking at life and systems as secrets to be unfolded instead of problems to be solved. Appreciation represents love, forgiveness and gratitude while inquisitiveness represents curiosity; curiosity ignites creativity and creativity builds and constructs.

Out of sheer habit and past conditioning most people look for things that do not work, things that they fathom to be problems. We focus, many a times, on the tunnel at the end of every light; we focus on a little chip, a crack on a marble masterpiece rather than appreciating the rest of the beauty and marvel that the work of art represents. When a child is weak in arithmetic we pressure her to become better at it rather than focussing and strengthening her skills in music, arts and literature for which she might have a natural aptitude and a passion.

In his book, How Full is Your Bucket, psychologist Tom Rath talks about how his Grandfather and the rest of his family focussed on his strengths as a kid rather than his weaknesses thus letting him lead and succeed at a life of his own choice and happiness.

Focussing on strengths and on what gives life is more than plain positive or proactive thinking. It aligns itself totally with the value and the psychology behind why successful corporations across the world invest so much in articulating and refining their vision and mission statements. It aligns itself totally with what Peter Senge in his book; the Fifth Discipline refers to as creative tension. We, as people and groups, are drawn towards what we like and hope and we are also driven away from what we dislike and fear. Both these tensions are powerful and both of these natural forces create the environment and the energies for our success. The only minor difference in favor of what we are drawn to is that “what we like” can be placed on a distant horizon while what we dislike and move away from disappears from sight and sense after a certain distance and time. One more factor in favor of a distant, powerful, distant vision is that it can be moved further up and away when we reach the first horizon.

A living example of this power of the positive vision pull, this power of focus towards a bright horizon is the life and the success of Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao. As a kid he dreamed big and in his youth he achieved it. Recently, after winning dozens of fights and being declared a billionaire, in an interview with Ms. Dyan Castillejo he was asked what lay ahead for him and he smiled and replied in English, “Let’s just say I have reached my horizons and then suddenly my horizons, I realize, have expanded!”

That is the power of focus towards the positive, towards the light, towards Birbal’s lamp and in the essence of all of Dr. David Cooperrider’s principles.