Join me as I interview serial entrepreneur, Chris Hawker (part 4 of 4) about how Chris uses the Personal Brilliance catalyst Initiative in his successful life. I have some ideas on Initiative for you as well.
Chris Hawker is the CEO of Trident Designs, LLC. a modern invention lab transforming every day tools into something more exciting, something worth getting excited about! Chris has a lifelong passion for design and function, a passion which he has channeled into the creation of products that reflect his optimistic world view and belief in a better future.
Chris and his team have invented some really cool consumer products like the PowerSquid, The Onion Goggles, The Thirsty Light, and many others.
His products are featured at major retailers like Walmart and Target and have been featured in all the major media. Chris has both licensed his inventions as well as taken them to market himself from idea, through design and production and into distribution. Chris says, "If we aren't learning something new, we are wasting our time."
Some of this episode's highlights:
- An idea is worth very little
- Feeling brilliant isn't the goal
- Action moves you down the path
- One foot in front of the other
- Inventions can take years
- An invention services company isn't necessarily the answer
- It's definitely not easy
- Perfect - how do you define it?
- Getting the product to market
Listen right now using the Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical On Demand web site. Also, catch up on past weekly episodes and see show notes.
You can also subscribe via iTunes or RSS with the buttons below.
I had the opportunity to speak with a group of undergraduate honor students recently. One of the things we talked about was the paradox that all brilliant people face – how to fit in AND stand out.
It's easy to stand out when you're bringing the new ideas, getting things done, changing the status quo. Sometimes that's what's necessary.
But to really get things done, it's important to also fit in. To be able to bring the fresh ideas and approaches to an organization that has a history much longer then your tenure.
Do you know when to corral your excitement? Do you know when to take the lead in brainstorming? Do you know how to set up an idea without looking like the know it all? Can you influence a group to a position, having them think it was their idea?
Does this sound manipulative? Well, if the alternative is not having your ideas implemented, learning the techniques to mobilize a group to your ideas is important.
It's OK to be smart. It's not OK to be lazy. Lazy is using an example from your past to make a point; smart is finding the example of someone else to make the point so you don't appear to be the prima donna. I know it seems like a waste of time, why don't we just get to it? But understand that very few ideas turn into innovation without a team of people energized around the idea.
Don't dampen your enthusiasm but be cognizant of those around you and build a strategy to help the group move forward. Don't worry, your brilliance and wisdom will shine through, naturally as the results are realized.
Photo credit jasminhunter photography
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Join me as I interview serial entrepreneur, Chris Hawker (part 3 of 4) about how Chris uses the Personal Brilliance catalyst Focus in his successful life. I have some ideas on Focus for you as well.
Chris Hawker is the CEO of Trident Designs, LLC. a modern invention lab transforming every day tools into something more exciting, something worth getting excited about! Chris has a lifelong passion for design and function, a passion which he has channeled into the creation of products that reflect his optimistic world view and belief in a better future.
Chris and his team have invented some really cool consumer products like the PowerSquid, The Onion Goggles, The Thirsty Light, and many others.
His products are featured at major retailers like Walmart and Target and have been featured in all the major media. Chris has both licensed his inventions as well as taken them to market himself from idea, through design and production and into distribution. Chris says, "If we aren't learning something new, we are wasting our time."
Some of this episode's highlights:
- god is in the details
- Integral design
- What's the guiding principle?
- Is the lone inventor an old idea?
- The inventor's primary purpose
- Visualization techniques
Listen right now using the Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical On Demand web site. Also, catch up on past weekly episodes and see show notes.
You can also subscribe via iTunes or RSS with the buttons below.
In an episode of Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical - Jennifer Laycock talks about the great training that being a busy mom provides that 20 minute chunks of focus are necessary to be able to get things done given the natural interruptions that we all face. It's just not possible to focus on anything for hours at a time without a special effort.
W. Edwards Deming said, "The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which 70% have nothing to do with work." I think the number of interruptions we face is increasing exponentially with time.
A lot of time management and efficiency experts seem to preach avoiding interruptions or at the very least treat them as a necessary evil. I feel differently about interruptions.
Yes, when you've worked hard and are just about to finish the difficult writing project and the last, defining thought is wiped out by an interruption it's frustrating. But most of the time I embrace the interruption as a possible new perspective on an idea.
For example, I was working on a plan for a big Personal Brilliance speaking event for my alma mater. The result of the immediate work is a hefty detailed plan. But, the mail came, and my Alumni magazine caught my eye. The magazine had a great example of brilliance at the university. I decided to blog about the story and then send the blog post ahead of my detailed plan. It gave the plan credibility and reinforced what we're going for in the event. If I was so laser focused on getting the plan out the door and looked at the magazine later, the plan would have gotten by of course, but the interruption made the overall result much better.
My friend and mentor Nido Qubein, who wrote the foreword to Personal Brilliance, speaks eloquently of congruence. If all of our seemingly disconnected activities are in fact congruent with each other, ultimately the direction and velocity of our actions is improved. We'll talk more about congruency maps soon.
If we are in fact going to have interruptions, and if they are valuable, then training ourselves to focus in workable chunks is imperative to innovation, brilliance, and success.
Join me as I interview serial entrepreneur, Chris Hawker (part 2 of 4) about how Chris uses the Personal Brilliance catalyst Curiosity in his successful life. I have some ideas on Curiosity for you as well.
Chris Hawker is the CEO of Trident Designs, LLC. a modern invention lab transforming every day tools into something more exciting, something worth getting excited about! Chris has a lifelong passion for design and function, a passion which he has channeled into the creation of products that reflect his optimistic world view and belief in a better future.
Chris and his team have invented some really cool consumer products like the PowerSquid, The Onion Goggles, The Thirsty Light, and many others.
His products are featured at major retailers like Walmart and Target and have been featured in all the major media. Chris has both licensed his inventions as well as taken them to market himself from idea, through design and production and into distribution. Chris says, "If we aren't learning something new, we are wasting our time."
Some of this episode's highlights:
- Curiosity = Opportunity
- Mundane = Interesting ???
- Prototyping
- Engineering is not design
- Are you ready for the answer?
- The mindset for feedback
- The stepping stone to an idea
- What's the purpose?
Listen right now using the Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical On Demand web site. Also, catch up on past weekly episodes and see show notes.
You can also subscribe via iTunes or RSS with the buttons below.
Ok, you have an idea. What do you do next? The creativity process gives us brainstorming. Brainstorming is fun. You can freely go off on tangents using your sense of wonder.
But remember the fourth catalyst of Personal Brilliance – Initiative. We need to take action. So, how do we use curiosity to lead to initiative?
I work with executive teams a lot in a process called Executive Leadership Circle. See one of our web sites we don't talk about much here, corpchange.com for more details. Picture a room of the 10-12 senior executives who report to the CEO. The combined salaries in the room are in the millions. These folks are inpatient. I love it, but facilitation is a challenge in this setting. Frequently I'll hear the impatience with phrases like, "How do we get to actions? Let's stop talking about this and get something done." Here's a trick I use.
One of the great ways to identify the actions that need to be taken is to ask questions. What I'll frequently do with a problem or opportunity or idea is write down as many questions as I can without trying to answer the questions. Just one question after another, into the dozens.
A direction emerges. Getting answers to the questions become 'to do' items. The dependencies and priorities become apparent.
If you were to categorize the questions, these categories may give you some direction.
Questions might be in the area of:
- Clarification of the problem or idea
- Possibilities if everything went perfectly
- Areas of resistance to the idea
- What your experiences and capabilities are relative to the idea
- Testing the idea
- Moving the idea to implementation
- Communication requirements
You can see that it's not that hard to come up with a bunch of questions. Each question gives you an idea of what needs to be done.
For example, recently for a new idea with this type of curiosity and deep questioning process, I recognized that if I took a piece of technology in a certain direction I will need to learn Word Press (See ELCircle.com) to build the underlying web site. There's a to do. It helps define the timeline for the effort. As a result I generated 10 or 12 to do's that included finding who the best resources are to help me pick up the knowledge I need.
Ask questions, be curious. It leads to action and getting to the innovation and the resulting value.
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Join me as I interview serial entrepreneur, Chris Hawker (part 1 of 4) about how Chris uses the Personal Brilliance catalyst Awareness in his successful life. I have some ideas on Awareness for you as well.
Chris Hawker is the CEO of Trident Designs, LLC. a modern invention lab transforming every day tools into something more exciting, something worth getting excited about! Chris has a lifelong passion for design and function, a passion which he has channeled into the creation of products that reflect his optimistic world view and belief in a better future.
Chris and his team have invented some really cool consumer products like the PowerSquid, The Onion Goggles, The Thirsty Light, and many others.
His products are featured at major retailers like Walmart and Target and have been featured in all the major media. Chris has both licensed his inventions as well as taken them to market himself from idea, through design and production and into distribution. Chris says, "If we aren't learning something new, we are wasting our time."
Some of this episode's highlights:
- Eyegasm???
- F.I.P. - Fun, Impact, Profit
- Your own annoyance as opportunity
- How a market matures around your product
- Drawing distinctions
- Problem vs. Solutions based inventing
Listen right now using the Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical On Demand web site. Also, catch up on past weekly episodes and see show notes.
You can also subscribe via iTunes or RSS with the buttons below.
We tuned in to YouTube and discovered not just one commercial but an entire marketing campaign revolving around the "Palace of Light" – the original Post Shredded Wheat factory – and boss Frank Druffel. Here's some of Frank's homespun wisdom:
"Historically, civilizations are destroyed by achievement. The Romans took a bad turn on the road to ever-onward. And no sooner had the Pharaohs built those jumbo triangles and giant cement cats than they flushed themselves down the Nile.
When it comes to food, progress has pushed molecules ahead of meals, hormones over homegrown, and our cattle have become clones.
That's why progress plays no role at the Post Shredded Wheat Company.
Here, we put the "no" in innovation.
Henry Perky created the Original Shredded Wheat in 1892. One man. (Him.) One ingredient. (Wheat.) One machine. (The machine.)
And although many back then thought the idea of pouring milk over food was foolish, today we see all sorts of chemically enhanced, artificial fiber-infused, carb-refused cereals – a far stretch from simple, honest nourishment."
As Lou Paglia puts it in his blog post, "How ironic. An innovative ad campaign saying 'no' to innovation." I couldn't' have said it better myself.
...]]>Check it out. You can listen online to the entire hour. Let me know if any of the ideas reonate with you.
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Why does everyone need a "how to"? What happened to watching, listening, asking questions, experimenting and building your unique way?
I asked this question on twitter last week. (Are you following us on twitter? @Canterucci) Most of the responses agreed with my lament that building your own way is being lost. Responses focused on the connection to the entitlement attitude that is becoming more prevalent and that inquisitiveness is not encouraged.
Look, there's nothing wrong with shortcuts and learning from other's mistakes but it can't come at the expense of thinking for yourself. This thinking for yourself is the magic ingredient that allows you to not only add a new skill to your repertoire but to also master the skill.
I recently conducted a behind the scenes look at my business for some fellow professionals. I purposely made it "graduate level" in that I didn't focus on 'how to' for the audience but rather told them how I did it and why and allowed them to find what paralleled to their needs and experience. Most loved it. Some however had a very hard time. They wanted me to tell them specifically what to do.
Unfortunately, while they were being frustrated by the fact that I wasn't spoon feeding them they weren't listening and weren't learning.
I seldom recommend not asking questions but here's an exercise for you this week. Identify something you want to learn. Find an expert who knows what you want to learn. Now, observe them doing what you want to learn. Don't discuss it with them, just observe and determine how you will apply what you learn in your world.
After the exercise is over, please add in the discussion with the expert and observe how the interaction is different after your observation experience.
This exercised is designed to hit those muscles of observation that may decline with all the quick-hit how to information we're used to.
Let me know how it works for you.
You're Brilliant!
Photo credit RalphHockens
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Join me as I interview serial entrepreneur, James Weddle (part 4 of 4) about how James uses the Personal Brilliance catalyst Initiative in his successful life. I have some ideas on Focus for you as well.
James Weddle lives in a suburb of Austin, TX and is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in web and mobile application development, program development, economic development, marketing, communication and leadership development.
He has initiated, built and sold two separate IT consulting firms and has invested and/or led several other ventures in industries that include professional services, environmental services, and retail.
Collectively, his entities have served large, international market leaders such as Lockheed Martin, governments and institutions such as the State of New Mexico, and Sandia National Labs, small amd medium sized leaders such as Administaff and R&A CPA's and hundreds of entrepreneurs and early-stage companies.
His current venture is Share Once LLC. For more information, visit James on LinkedIn.
Some of this episode's highlights:
- Leading by example
- A culture of risk taking
- Taking yourself out of the equation to promote initiative
- Motivation to take action at the idea stage
- Embrace the risk
- Ego is not a part of the entrepreneur skill set
- Seeking financing - an innovative approach
Listen right now using the Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical On Demand web site. Also, catch up on past weekly episodes and see show notes.
You can also subscribe via iTunes or RSS with the buttons below.
Are you up for an assignment today?
What I'd like you to do is ask 5 questions today that you normally wouldn't ask. They don't have to be 5 in a row. Pick your spots. Maybe one or two in each meeting or encounter today. See what happens. Here are some questions for you to analyze in your Personal Brilliance Notebook later:
Was each question a great question? (I've found they don't all have to be.)
- Did a follow-up conversation ensue as a result of your question? Did the topic go deeper?
- Did you learn anything? Did others learn from you as a result?
- Was it difficult or easy to come up with the extra question?
Try this out today and maybe for the rest of the week and note the impact on your personal brilliance practice.
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Join me as I interview serial entrepreneur, James Weddle (part 3 of 4) about how James uses the Personal Brilliance catalyst Focus in his successful life. I have some ideas on Focus for you as well.
James Weddle lives in a suburb of Austin, TX and is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in web and mobile application development, program development, economic development, marketing, communication and leadership development.
He has initiated, built and sold two separate IT consulting firms and has invested and/or led several other ventures in industries that include professional services, environmental services, and retail.
Collectively, his entities have served large, international market leaders such as Lockheed Martin, governments and institutions such as the State of New Mexico, and Sandia National Labs, small amd medium sized leaders such as Administaff and R&A CPA's and hundreds of entrepreneurs and early-stage companies.
His current venture is Share Once LLC. For more information, visit James on LinkedIn.
Some of this episode's highlights:
- Knowing when to shift focus
- Leaning on trusted advisors
- Can you learn focus?
- How the idea occurs
- The transaction
- Life balance for the entrepreneur
- Entrepreneurship for kids
Listen right now using the Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical On Demand web site. Also, catch up on past weekly episodes and see show notes.
You can also subscribe via iTunes or RSS with the buttons below.
Mariane's motto was to never wait. If you want to experience something in life, do it now. Thank goodness she lived that way and didn't wait. She packed a great deal of life in her short time and I'm grateful for knowing this brilliant soul.
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Join me as I interview serial entrepreneur, James Weddle (part 2 of 4) about how James uses the Personal Brilliance catalyst Curiosity in his successful life. I have some ideas on Curiosity for you as well.
James Weddle lives in a suburb of Austin, TX and is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in web and mobile application development, program development, economic development, marketing, communication and leadership development.
He has initiated, built and sold two separate IT consulting firms and has invested and/or led several other ventures in industries that include professional services, environmental services, and retail.
Collectively, his entities have served large, international market leaders such as Lockheed Martin, governments and institutions such as the State of New Mexico, and Sandia National Labs, small amd medium sized leaders such as Administaff and R&A CPA's and hundreds of entrepreneurs and early-stage companies.
His current venture is Share Once LLC. For more information, visit James on LinkedIn.
Some of this episode's highlights:
- The importance of curiosity
- The impact on your time and leadership - a caveat
- How to ask the questions - teaching curiosity
- Team based curiosity
- Agile development
- Understanding the customer
- How to teach curiosity
Listen right now using the Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical On Demand web site. Also, catch up on past weekly episodes and see show notes.
You can also subscribe via iTunes or RSS with the buttons below.
It's natural to do the presentation piece and take a, 'thank goodness I got through that breath.' But the real meat happens in the Q&A portion. It's make or break time.
Don't let your guard down. The number one key to successfully answering questions is empathy. You have to get into the shoes of the person asking the question. Understand the motivation behind the question. What does the person really want to know? What are they really concerned about? Most times there is more to the question than the words being spoken.
Without empathy you appear defensive. I've witnessed some answers to questions recently that caused the person asking the question to actually become angry as a result. This is unnecessary and counter to your goal in discussing your idea.
Rather than thinking in terms of a question and answer session, it should be a conversation that everyone else can witness. Always remember the goal of your presentation. Reinforce that goal with each answer.
Remember you're not trying to just get through it. You are communicating. The audience questions can be the perfect lever to reinforce your message if handled correctly. If not, audience questions can undermine all of your hard work.
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Join me as I interview serial entrepreneur, James Weddle (part 1 of 4) about how James uses the Personal Brilliance catalyst Awareness in his successful life. I have some ideas on Awareness for you as well.
James Weddle lives in a suburb of Austin, TX and is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in web and mobile application development, program development, economic development, marketing, communication and leadership development.
He has initiated, built and sold two separate IT consulting firms and has invested and/or led several other ventures in industries that include professional services, environmental services, and retail.
Collectively, his entities have served large, international market leaders such as Lockheed Martin, governments and institutions such as the State of New Mexico, and Sandia National Labs, small amd medium sized leaders such as Administaff and R&A CPA's and hundreds of entrepreneurs and early-stage companies.
His current venture is Share Once LLC. For more information, visit James on LinkedIn.
Some of this episode's highlights:
- ShareOnce - a new venture
- Success for an entrepreneur
- Finding your awareness strengths
- Reason requires a balanced perspective
Listen right now using the Personal Brilliance - Up Close and Practical On Demand web site. Also, catch up on past weekly episodes and see show notes.
You can also subscribe via iTunes or RSS with the buttons below.