InnovatorsDigest

Favorite Thinkubator Experiences: Karaoke-ate, Oxygenate, & DISCOvate to Innovate

"If you want to think outside of the box, you should not put brains in a box," states SolutionPeople's Gerald Haman, who first created their Chicago innovation center in 1992. Since then, over 10,000 people have experienced the "unbox-like" Thinkubator in Chicago's west loop. Guests are encouraged to share feedback and rate their favorite resources.

Here are 8 of people's most memorable Thinkubator experiences:
1. Oxygenate-to-Invigorate: Relaxing while breathing pure oxygen at the Oxygen Bar
2. Karaoke-ate-to-Collaborate: Singing from a collection of thousands of Karaoke tunes
3. DISCOvate-to-Celebrate: Celebrating results while dancing with real the Disco lights turned on
4. Blue Sky Brainstorming while inspired by the Thinkubator's skyline views and rooftop decks
5. Exploring the Albert Einstein and John Travolta-themed areas
6. Sitting on the thought-provoking furniture and art from world-famous designers
7. Playing with the creative brain games and gadgets
8. Tasting the fine cuisine from the award-winning restaurants within walking distance of the Thinkubator
Use these links to take a virtual Thinkubator
Tour and review partial list of Thinkubator Resources.
If you want to learn how to design your own innovation center or creative space, enroll in a Decorate-to-Innovate webinar or schedule a team planning facilitation at the Thinkubator.

Decorate-to-Innovate: 8 Great Questions to Plan Creative Spaces (Download Free Poster)

"If you want people to think outside of the box, don't put their brains in a box," states Gerald "Solutionman" Haman. However, most people meet in traditional box-like conference rooms and hotel ballrooms. Haman has helped many organizations design spaces or facilities that inspire innovation and creativity. Since 1992, his Thinkubator in Chicago has inspired thousands of people to think outside of the box.

While facilitating innovative design sessions for Hermann Miller, Capital One, the Singapore Quality Centre and several conference centers, Solutionman developed Question Banks of over 1,000 provocative space design questions. The "Space Design Question Banks" helped architects, interior designers, facilities managers, and customers "collaborate to decorate to innovate" while reducing costs. Do you want to start designing your own creative space? Here are some questions to begin creating your dream environment.

8 Questions to Help You Decorate-to-Innovate
1. Where do people do their best thinking?
2. How do/does environment and space impact creativity and innovation?
3. Where are people when they think of their most creative and innovative ideas?
4. Who works in environments or spaces that inspire creativity and innovation?
5. What characteristics, elements or resources from other people's environments might be applied in your spaces?
6. What might be changed or improved in the current environments and spaces to inspire more creativity and innovation?
7. How would you describe the ideal personal environment that might inspire you to be highly creative or innovative?
8. How would people describe the ideal environment that inspires collaboration and teamwork to produce more creativity and innovation?

Download a pdf of your FREE color posters of the "8 Great Decorate Questions" and "Quotes on Space Design" by clicking HERE. Take the 8x11 inch posters to your next meeting to stimulate some very provocative innovation conversations.

Get more information on the Decorate–to-Innovate™ Method by registering for webinars listed on our Innovation Calendar. Get more information or request to register by clicking HERE to send an email.

My Thinkubator Experience - a Review by "Experience Economy Expert" Bill Gibeault

Gerald Haman loves questions. In fact, his favorite question is "What is your favorite question?"

So here was my question. How did he and his company, SolutionPeople, get me to travel half way across the country to attend his Accelerated Innovation & Creativity Workshop in Chicago?

 

Throughout my years in corporate America, I have experienced learning and training encounters in virtually every shape or form you can think of – leadership, selling, negotiating, public speaking and streaming media. Why was this going to be any different?

In their bestselling book, The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre and Every Business a Stage, Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore ask a series of great questions. In a world where most products and services have little differentiation, what would customers really value? Better yet, for what would they pay a premium?

The answer is experiences—how companies engage customers in an inherently personal and memorable way. The buzz on Haman's Accelerated Innovation Workshop was that it wasn't the traditional lecture and 3-ring binder snore, but a real EXPERIENCE.

This was a big lure for me. I had just became was certified by Pine & Gilmore in the theories and models of The Experience Economy. I wanted to discover if the Thinkubator "experience" lived up to its impressive word-of-mouth billing.

Located in a spacious loft in Chicago's West Loop, the Thinkubator is a truly innovative venue. Festooned with toys, games, large-screen TVs, Aeron chairs, light bulbs in various shapes and forms, bean bags, sofas and sculptures, it invites you into a world that definitely isn't business as usual.

Haman's opening act is literally transforming. It's called the "Know Your Brain Game Experience." It's a quick, but amazingly accurate "brain scan." I won't spoil the surprise, but attendees gain some insight into how their brain works and how they can use this knowledge to become more consistently innovative. The game is a highly interactive experience and sets the stage for the introduction of SolutionPeople's 4-quadrant brain model and 4-state Accelerated Innovation Process. (Investigate, Create, Evaluate and Activate). At this point, every participant gets a KnowBrainer® Innovation & Creativity tool. The brainchild of Haman, it's an innovative hand-held tool that uses a combination of questions, words, quotes and images to help people think through all the stages of his proven creative problem solving process.

Cool fact: Tests by students at Northwestern University and Wayne State University found that the KnowBrainer tool increased creativity levels by over 500% versus traditional brainstorming with flip charts. In just the first 3 hours of the Innovation Workshop, SolutionPeople delivered a memorable experience – engaging clients with entertainment, education and a dynamic venue.

A great experience? Most definitely. One of the most remarkable accomplishments of SolutionPeople is that the "experience" has fueled the growth of the organization. Haman hasn't relied on traditional advertising to get clients; growth was a result of word of mouth and the continuing story amazing Thinkubator experiences.

Author's Footnote: SolutionPeople's Gerald Haman recently invested an entire week with Joe Pine & Jim Gilmore to become a Certified Experience Economy Expert. He is already making plans to enhance the Thinkubator Experience by applying new ideas inspired by his interaction and discussions with Pine & Gilmore. Haman has organized a new LinkedIn Experience Economy Networking Group for fans and practitioners of The Experience Economy.

Twitter-ate-to-Innovate: 10,000 People Join New Linkedin Group for Twitter Innovators

You can learn a lot about Twitter and Tweeting by joining one of the fastest growing Linkedin Groups.

Over 150 educational discussions have already been posted, including over 100 comments answering the question, "How might Twitter foster more creative and innovative thinking?"  To join the new Linkedin Twitter Innovators Group Click HERE.

Follow The Tweeter.  Gerald "Solutionman" Haman is just getting started with his 3 new Twitters. Click on each of the 3 links below, and select "follow" under the pictures to subscribe.
www.twitter.com/Solutionman
www.twitter.com/SolutionPeople
www.twitter.com/KnowBrainerTips

 

More Creativity from Obama’s Inauguration: See Earrings Pitch on YouTube!

The humor continues as we share another video from Solutionman's adventure in Washington, DC for President Barack Obama's Inauguration. Gerald's 8 year-old daughter Olivia was persuaded by street vendors to purchase some genuine earrings with the image of the new president.View the video of the Obama earring street vendor by clicking HERE or on the image below.

 

If you missed the other video of
Olivia's Barack Obama hand puppet click HERE.

Creativity at Obama's Inauguration: Presidential Puppet Pitch YouTube Video!

Solutionman's week in Washington, DC for President Barack Obama's Inauguration was memorable in many ways. Millions of people were persuaded by thousands of street vendors to buy hundreds of interesting souvenirs.

Solutionman was accompanied by his 8 year-old daughter Olivia, who was intent on shopping for the most interesting things to share with her 3^rd grade class at Francis Xavier Warde School in Chicago. What was one of Olivia's favorite souvenirs? A hand puppet of Barack Obama!

Click HERE to watch a YouTube video of the passionate Presidential Puppet Seller persuading people to buy!

Caffeinate-to-Innovate: How Starbuck’s is Getting Back Mojo with My Starbuck’s Idea.

A year ago, a leaked memo from Starbuck's founder Howard Schultz was a clarion call for change. The subject line of the memo was "the commoditization of our brand. Stores no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store."

 
The good news is that Starbuck's has begun a new effort to reconnect customers with the original culture. They've launched "My Starbuck's Idea" – a website that invites consumers to help shape the future of Starbuck's by sharing their ideas.

The site has an engaging promise. Share. Discuss. Vote. And see. The "see" is the critical element – Starbuck's is actually putting the ideas into action. What's more, all ideas have an equal chance in the marketplace because each idea is voted on by the public.

The ideas from the public are percolating.

Here's a recent idea that made the most "popular" list with 23,230 points: (votes) "I work at home as a remote employee. There have been many times that I have wanted to treat a co-worker to a Starbucks for helping me out on a project, or just to brighten their day. Wouldn't it be neat if you could purchase a drink for someone via the Starbucks web site? The recipient gets an email stating, for example, "Suzanne bought you a drink!" The recipient prints the email (with a barcode) and takes it to their nearest Starbucks to redeem."

Another simple idea received over 29,000 points. "For the iced coffee drinks. Make them with ice cubes made from coffee. This way the coffee does not become diluted and tastes so much better all the way to the bottom of the cup!"

The thousands of ideas so far range from creating healthier drinks and food choices to avant-garde ways to enhance the "in store" experience. The real mojo is that Starbuck's is once again becoming an idea driven company and it is inviting customers to be involved. Thousands of ideas are pouring in and it's a win-win for Starbucks. Customers are getting a voice and the company is getting a nation-wide marketing department.

QUESTIONATE:

1. How might you make your customers a loyal part of your marketing team?
2. What might be some smart ways to get ideas for your company?
3. How might you create better experiences that turn customers into true evangelists?

Check it out. http://mystarbucksidea.force.com