How to Activate Innovation in Your Organization

As you know, innovation is the buzzword in every war room these days.  It’s the northern star that everyone aspires for but most do not have a strategy or framework for accomplishing it.

The marketplace is made of two types of people; leaders and followers. The vast majority of executives reading this article are surrounded by followers. If we take a closer look at this group of followers, we see there are two subgroups revealed; thinkers and doers.  When it comes to your thinker-to-doer ratio, we are willing to roll the dice that it is likely 1:50.  That means if you do not have at least 50 employees then you are likely deprived of the thinkers required to effectively handle issues that inevitably arise.  This creates a massive burden for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives like you when it comes to solving problems, which is what you spend the vast majority of your time doing!

In this article we will unpack how you can position yourself to convert doers to thinkers, and spark the power of innovation in your organization in a practical way.  Taking the guesswork out of creating change and progress.

Floundering Executives are Tanking the Economy

Here are the facts, approximately 33% of the business (large and midsize enterprises) suffer from outdated hierarchical business structures, stifling the communication of creative ideas.  The toxic nature of micro-management, due to underdeveloped managers, creates cultures of fear and subpar performance.  This undercurrent often goes unseen because these institutions are self branded as “too big to fail.”  With no urgency for change or growth, mediocre performance is inevitable.

We are also aware another third of businesses (primarily small to- mid sized entities) suffer due to lack of knowledge. These are the reputable second and third generation companies with grassroots woven deep into the bedrock of a city’s tapestry.  The grandchildren and great grandchildren of Founders now lead some, others were passed on to successors who embodied the same leadership principles as the former leadership. Some are still led by those scrappy entrepreneurs that had the courage and intuition to create something out of nothing, whether by force or faith. In many instances, these companies have executive teams that lean to tradition, and have no foreknowledge of the principles we will share in this article.

The final third of the marketplace is steered by the vision of High-Performance Leaders, who are actively applying the principles mentioned below.  As a result, they consistently take the lion-share of economic impact, income, and influence. While this minority is laughing all the way to the bank, they don’t laugh long.  

Even these High-Performance Leaders do not have the ability to stabilize the calamity lying in wait for our nation. It’s going to require a collective effort of leaders doing their part to steer this ship.  One thing is certain, when it comes to economic stability, America is not the power it once was.  Proof is evident in the declining value of the USD de-dollarization in greenback, and record decline in foreign exchange trends.  This is a direct result of decision makers in government and the marketplace.  One obvious weakness?  The lack of proficiency in decision maker’s ability to solve problems.  This is innovation.

Activate the Principle of Creative Imagination

So what is the key to ensuring your organization does not fall subject to the crippling state of reality for over 66% of the organizations? This little known principle could be just what you’ve been looking for.  Insert the reigning principle of Creative Imagination, the secret of the world’s most decorated geniuses.

Creative imagination is actually a function of the brain, which allows us to see what is otherwise not present.  It is the unseen force behind one’s ability to form new ideas and concepts by combining existing elements in novel ways. It is a key ingredient for business leaders and executives who need to transform their organizations and overcome problems.  Creative imagination is not just about coming up with new ideas, but also about seeing the potential in existing ideas and finding ways to improve them.  While easier said than done, it happens best by leveraging well developed faculties of the mind.

It is likely you are using Creative Imagination when it comes to your most pertinent tasks like:

• Identifying new opportunities

• Developing innovative solutions to problems

• Improving existing products and services

• Creating new business models

• Inspiring and motivate employees

• Building a strong company culture

It is also likely you did not know there was a simple formula you could use to induce this capability into your organization, and lighten your load.  Creative imagination can be a powerful tool for overcoming problems. When leaders are faced with a problem, they can use their creative imagination to come up with new and innovative solutions. This can help them to find solutions that are more effective and efficient than traditional approaches.

A Simple Proven Model for Birthing Genius

Activating your genius, through creative imagination, to drive innovative change can be quite lofty without a simple, practical framework to achieve this.  Which is why we have provided a list of eleven of the most frequent mind stimuli used by our clients and other high-performance leaders to increase their brain’s vibration. Please note, the last three of the twelve stimuli are detrimental, and we do not recommend them. 

12 Most Frequently Used Stimuli of High-Performance Leaders:  

1. The desire for sex expression 

2. Love 

3. A burning desire for fame, power, financial gain, money 

4. Exercise, walking, and play

5. Music 

6. Friendship between either those of the same or opposite sex 

7. Mastermind or think tank

8. Autosuggestion

9. Travel and exploration

10. Mutual suffering, such as people who are persecuted (detrimental)

11. Fear (detrimental)

12. Narcotics and alcohol (detrimental) 

Proven Two-Step Problem-Solving Process

Every month we meet with eager executives in our Think Tank to help our clients apply a simple, proven, two-step process to activate the creative imagination using one or more of the stimuli.  It goes as follows:

1. Stimulate the mind so that it vibrates on a higher-than-normal plane, using one or more of the stimuli mentioned above.  
   

2. Concentrate on the known factors (the finished part) of the invention, and create in their minds a perfect picture of the unknown factors (the unfinished part) of the invention.  Then hold this picture in the mind until it has been taken over by the subconscious mind, and then relax by clearing their minds of all thought, and wait for the answer to pop up. 

When the answers, or ideas, flash into one’s mind, through what is known as a “hunch,” they come from one or more of the following sources: 

1. Infinite Intelligence

2. The subconscious mind

3. The mind of some other person who just released the thought

4. The other person’s subconscious storehouse

There are no other known sources from which “inspired” ideas or “hunches” may be received.  

When brain action has been stimulated through one or more of the twelve mind stimulants, it has the effect of lifting the individual far above the horizon of ordinary thought, and permits them to envision distance, scope and quality of thoughts not available on the lower plane, such as that occupied while engaged in solving the problems of business and professional routine. 

When lifted to this higher level of thought, through any form of mind stimulation, an individual occupies, relatively, the same position as someone who has ascended in a plane.  While still on the ground their mind’s eye can see over and beyond the horizon line which limits their vision.  Moreover, while on this higher level of thought, the individual is not hampered or bound by any of the circumstances surrounding everyday life.  They are in a world of thought in which the ordinary, workday thoughts have been as effectively removed as the hills, valleys, and other limitations of physical vision when rising in an airplane. 

The more this faculty is used, the more alert and receptive the creative faculty becomes to vibrations originating outside the individual’s subconscious mind, and the more the individual relies upon it and makes demands upon it for thought impulses.  This faculty can be cultivated and developed only through use.  At its optimal capacity, that which is known as one’s “conscience”  operates entirely through the faculty of the sixth sense.  Let’s take a glimpse into history’s noted geniuses for examples.

Dr. E.R. Gates: The Unsung Hero of Problem Solving

Dr. Elmer R. Gates, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, created more than 200 useful patents, many of them basic, through the process of cultivating and using the creative faculty.  His method is significant to anyone interested in attaining the status of genius, a category Dr. Gates unquestionably belonged.  Dr. Gates was one of the really great, though less publicized, scientists of the world.

In his laboratory, he had what he called his “personal communication room.”  It was practically soundproof, and arranged so that all light could be shut out.  It was equipped with a small table on which he kept a pad of writing paper. In front of the table, on the wall, was an electric pushbutton, which controlled the lights.  When Dr. Gates desired to draw upon the forces available to him through his creative imagination, he would go into his room, seat himself at the table, shut off the lights and concentrate on the known factors of the invention on which he was working, remaining in that position until ideas began to “flash” into his mind in connection with the unknown factors of the invention.  

On one occasion, ideas came through so fast that he was forced to write for almost three hours.  When the thoughts stopped flowing and he examined his notes, he found that they contained a minute description of principles that had no parallel among the known data in the scientific world. Moreover, the answer to his problem was intelligently presented in those notes.  In this manner Dr. Gates completed over 200 patents, which were begun, but not completed, by executives leveraging only their rationale (reasoning faculty), and not their creative imagination.  Evidence of the truth of this statement is in the United States Patent Office.

Dr. Gates earned his living by “sitting for ideas” for individuals and corporations.  Some of the largest corporations in America paid him substantial fees, by the hour, for “sitting for ideas.”

The reasoning faculty is often faulty because it is largely guided by our accumulated experience.  Not all knowledge that we accumulate through “experience” is accurate.  Ideas received through the creative faculty are much more reliable because they come from sources more reliable than any available to the reasoning faculty of the mind. The major difference between the classic executive, and a high-performance leader may be found in the fact that the high-performance leader works through his/her faculty of creative imagination, while the executive knows nothing of this faculty.  History’s most prolific inventors (such as Mr. Thomas Edison and Dr. Elmer Gates) made use of both the reasoning and the creative faculties of imagination.

Power Thought

In closing, we leave you with this thought, every problem and issue you are currently facing was created in the same darkness every solution will be birthed in. Use creative imagination to put the pressure on your mind and team to solve these problems. The greater good of our nation depends on it.

We are aware this will be perversely counterintuitive for some and revelatory for others, and we are willing to deal with those consequences for the sake of truth. The sad reality is that as a human race, we have not yet been able to unlock the complete power and potential of the mind. 

Currently, science knows less than 5% of the mind's capabilities, and many studies reveal the average person uses less than 10% of their mind on a daily basis. Not only will this process of ideation, innovation, and invention be the transformational factor in your organization, but it will transform your life.  Whether skeptic or ally, you owe it to yourself to maximize your potential and master success.  

Send this to an executive colleague leading a team of doers, overwhelmed with issues, and nothing to lose.  We are most certain they will thank you for it.  If you would like to have us teach you how to implement this, join us for our next Executive Think Tank here in beautiful Orlando, Florida. It is currently invite only, so send an email to our team at [email protected], be sure to title it Executive Think Tank, and refer to this newlsetter. An Executive Advisor will reach out to connect.