creativity – Page 18 – Disney Creativity and Innovation Keynote Speaker

What happens to creativity and innovation when there’s no urgency?

Bicycle parked near USATF van — Official USATF van. Official MLC bicycle.

What happens to creativity and innovation when there’s no urgency?

What happens to you when there’s no creativity and innovation urgency?

Recall what you accomplished when you had something super urgent?

Write it down now: What was it, why was it urgent, what was the outcome and why?

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Trapped by our continuous improvement culture comfort?

Disney memorabilia — Lower right. Spot Jungle Jeff? circa 2005+-.

Trapped by our continuous improvement culture comfort?

The creative and innovative organization we could become will always be trapped by what we are unwilling to give up.

The trap revolves around the effort we will need to summon. This universally feels like too much energy, time, money, and discomfort.

So we don’t do anything.

Even when we choose not to decide, we still have made a choice.

What kind of creative and innovative organization do you long to become?

What’s missing from making that happening?

What are you willing to change?

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It doesn’t matter what you look at

Disney Institute in the news. Actually, it’s the leader that’s in the news.

It doesn’t matter what you look at, what matters is what you see

When we focus on the surface, we risk missing everything else.

Imagine that for a moment.

You may marvel at Disney’s world-famous grooming guidelines and completely miss the fact that grooming guidelines aren’t the insight.

The insight is Disney’s uncompromising focus on delivering what the Guest wants.

The Guest wants something Magical, something no one else in the world provides.

And prior to Disneyland, the American standard for a Family outing was an Amusement Park, a Circus, a State Fair, a Carnival.

The American Carnival was a traveling show. Descending on a town, the Carnival would quickly set up in a vacant field or empty parking lot.

The mechanical rides never won awards for passenger safety.

The Carnival workers, known as “Carnies”, had a reputation for being unkempt.

Walt Disney ruptured the negative stereotypes and reinvented the industry, including the workers, becoming a category of one.

Why?

Because the Public would pay for quality, return often, and tell their friends.

Is there any creative idea that isn’t worth pursuing to innovate any aspect worth enhancing?

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Make an uncommon creativity and innovation book

quote dwell in hope — And, dwell in gratitude.

One of the ideas was making an uncommon book

Make a creativity and innovation book that flies in the face of what normal books look like?

Are you crazy?

What if people shun it?
What if it doesn’t work?

You can feel the logic in those questions because they’re no-brainer questions, questions every smart leader would ask.

But what about these.

What if people love it?
What if it works better than your wildest dreams?

Of course, there’s no guarantee either way.

This is why most people, and most organizations, stay on the tried and true path of good and very good.

The commitment to make excellence the only goal is scary for most.

Why?

Because it requires risk.

Risk scares people and organizations.

This is fundamental, elementary even.

And true.

But what if instead of being scary, risk was embraced as essential to your health and the health of your organization?

Not until leaders, and organizations, desire to make creativity and innovation risk-taking mandatory will cultural transformation start spreading its wings.

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Creativity and Innovation Next Steps activity

Disney creativity and innovation author Jeff noel's business card — Creative, and innovative use of Disney DNA, without crossing any lines.

Bicycling near Disney University — Commuting to work.

Creativity and Innovation Next Steps activity

Strike while the iron is hot. Iron is easily malleable when hot, and impossible to shape when not.

Now (yes, right now) is the time to write down some important, top-of-mind creativity and innovation thoughts.

Make a few lists and don’t fuss over minute details – this is high-level, very rough-draft thinking. Have fun, and don’t over-analyze. This should be quick:

Who (whom should you involve):

What (what needs to be done):

Where (where will the work occur):

When (when will the work happen):

How (how will the work be accomplished):

Why (why is this important; what’s to be gained by doing it, what’s to be lost by doing nothing):

How’d that feel?

Have you perceived what’s happened in the past few minutes?

You’ve just started planting, on paper, the seeds of intentional creativity and innovation behavior that will facilitate the slow and steady path forward to creativity and innovation transformation.

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