Creative Genius : Interview with Peter Fisk

www.theGeniusWorks.com

“Creative Genius” by Peter Fisk

Interview with the author What was the background to you writing Creative Genius?

I was astounded by Leonardo da Vinci. From sculpture to geometry, anatomy to

mechanics, he embraced the border crossing principles of the Italian Renaissance to

transform art and science.

400 years before Newton, 200 years before Corpernicus, from helicopters and

submarines, he saw things differently – placing context above subject, recognising the

power of paradox and parallels, embracing fusion and design. He was a man truly ahead

of his time, and with the help of art historian Michael Gelb, I explore the “seven secrets”

of da Vinci which are most relevant to business today.

We live in what you might call a “VUCA” world – volatile, uncertain, complex and

ambiguous. Nothing is certain any more. And the strategies, products and business

models which have made our businesses great are by no means passports to future

success. We need to think more openly, more discontinuously.

But it depends on how you see things … VUCA can also mean vibrant, unreal, crazy and

astounding … welcome to a physical and virtual hybrid, where power has fundamentally

shifted, geography is irrelevant, as are most of the other rules of the industrial age. This

is a world full of technicolour opportunities ready to be exploited by those with sufficient

boldness and imagination.

Today’s winning companies think differently. They have bigger ambitions, more

innovative strategies, and take bolder actions. From Apple to Zappos, Air Asia to Virgin

Galactic, they have embraced a more innovative approach to every aspect of their

businesses.

The best companies see things differently, and think different things.

These companies understand the wider impact they can have, on customers and

society more generally … how they can enable people to do more, and ultimately

make life better.

They recognise that competitive advantage is about being different, not just

through stronger brands and better products, but by understanding the future

better than others.

They value ideas and innovation as the essence of business … shaping markets in

their own vision, rather than living in the shadow of others.

For me, innovation is my first love, and so the book I have always wanted to write. From

nuclear physics to managing the Concorde brand, I have had a yin-yang business

career, working with some of the world’s biggest and most entrepreneurial businesses.

Each experience offers something new, and it is the fusion of these insights and ideas

which is most inspiring.

Creative Genius is the fourth “genius” book that I have written – a series which I hope

people find more inspiring than your average business book … Stretching and

challenging for organisations and individually, alongside brilliant stories from


businesses around the world, and practical tools and processes to make new ideas

happen. This for me, is the last and best of my “genius” books.

Business Genius challenged business leaders to lead with their heads up in a changing

world, making sense of change, and inspiring their people to think differently; Customer

Genius urges them to work from the outside in, fundamentally on customer’s terms;

Marketing Genius explored the left- and right-brain challenge of competitive and

commercial success. Each book has around 50 case studies, and around as many

practical tools.

You can find a more detailed summary, key principles, case studies and toolkits for each

of the books from my website www.theGeniusWorks.com

Who should read it, and why?

Creative Genius sets out to be “the essential innovation for business leaders, border

crossers and game changers”. It’s for people who want to do more – to take their

business to a new level, to develop ideas beyond our current imagination, and to make

things happen, that have never been done before.

Big ambitions, I know … But why else do we lead a business, embark on new projects, or

study to improve ourselves?

The book is intellectually stretching and stimulating – it doesn’t try to be too academic or

technical, but it does explore the most detailed approaches – the creative journeys of

Jobs to iPad and Branson to space travel, the intriguing principles of Christensen’s

disruption and Maeda’s simplicity, juxtaposed with the disciplined processes from NASA

to 3M, and the rigorous demands of venture capitalists and stock markets.

Creative Genius is for

Leaders who seek a new perspective, have bolder ambitions, and want to create

step-changes in their business performance.

Managers who want to drive innovation in every aspect of what they do, to

embrace creativity, design and accelerate ideas to market.

Entrepreneurs who seek inspiration and direction, into a how the business world

is not just about money, but a fantastically exciting voyage of discovery.

What surprised you the most when researching it?

Whilst innovation is so often called the lifeblood of organisations, the top priority when

talking to investors, the rallying call of leaders … then inside the vast majority of

organisations it goes little beyond the brainstorm. What amazed me of many of the

companies I visited was the lack of disciplined innovation strategy, process and co-

ordination. Too often it is still seen as focused only on products, a subordinate activity of

marketing, a nice to have.

People are confused between creativity, and design, and innovation.


What surprised me even more is the speed of change in the outside world. Whilst Coke

is tinkering with its flavours, Microsoft preparing for its next release, even Apple on its

relentless gravy-train of fantastic devices, the world is moving even faster.

Small companies understand the scale and direction of the changing world better than

large companies, particularly in the emerging markets of Asia and South America where

networks and technologies enable the tiniest business, with the brightest brains, to out-

think and out-manoeuvre the lumbering supertanker of the last century who are caught

between old and new markets, legacy capabilities and future opportunities.

But perhaps the biggest surprise was how much business can learn from other places.

Lady Gaga might seem a youthful irrelevance to many business leaders – but consider

how she came from nowhere to global dominance in 24 months. On the very week that

Lehman Brothers crashed amidst financial crisis, Stefani Gremanotta, and her mentor

Akon, were launching The Fame Monster. Bold and provocative, maybe even mind

bending, she harnessed the world of social media and digital downloads to make herself

a global superstar. What could your business learn from her?

Add many others to this. What could you learn from Damian Hirst about contextual

pricing? How can you resolve a paradox like rocket man Burt Rutan? And when science

says no, like it did to Zaha Hadid when designing the London 2012 Aquatics Centre, how

can you overcome the challenge? What is the secret of fusion according to Paul Smith?

And when it comes to social impact, look east to the fabulous business model of Aravind

Eye Care, or west to the social renaissance inspired by the Guggenheim.

These are just some of the more inspiring stories I came across.

You say, “Reductionism, incrementalism and efficiency: the enemies of effective

innovation in business today”. Can you expand on this for us?

Markets are changing at such incredible pace, with fundamental shifts in culture and

technology, attitudes and expectations. Consumers are in control, and it’s not how big

you are, but who has the best ideas.


From west to east, big to small, business to consumer … the hot fashions are in Buenos

Aires, the best green tech is in Shanghai, the top web designers in Mumbai, and the most

venture capital in Shenzhen.

Are you focused on the big opportunities? Over the next 5 years, female consumers will

grow faster than China … by 2020 there will be 50 billion devices, creating an intelligent

cloud accessible to everyone anytime. By 2025, the economies of the E7 will be bigger

than the G7, renting will replace buying, water will be the new gold … and on …

Too often, we have our heads down in our spread sheets – trying to optimise what we do,

reducing the costs, improving the margins, enhancing the product or service levels.

Doing things right, but are we doing the right things? As a scientist I appreciate the quest

for optimisation … the precision of segmentation, the productivity of supply chains,

balancing portfolios and scorecards, budgets and service levels, net promoter scores

and stock prices.

Working harder rather than working smarter. Extending life rather than creating new.

Imitating others rather than thinking different … We have become too left-brained for

our own good – analytical, logical, reductionist. We need to reengage our right brains

too – intuitive, holistic and exploratory.

Why should we “embrace paradox”?

Paradoxes throw up some of the best opportunities for innovation. They emerge when

something currently seems contradictory, incompatible, not possible.

Nintendo Wii resolved the paradox of playing computer games (geeky,

unhealthy, antisocial) and being good for you (socialising, healthy, sporty).

Swatch resolved the paradox of having a cool, high-quality, designer watch, but

still be so affordable that you can buy a new one every year.

Tesla is resolving the paradox of how to have an environmentally friendly, electric

or hybrid car, but still have the speed and styling of a Ferrari.

Setting out to resolve a paradox requires new thinking, to challenge the conventions that

led to its inherent conflict, and to explore how a positive combination of two opposites

could be valuable.

What, for you, are the five factors that will define the future of businesses?

Success in the 20th century was characterised by size and scale, in the 21st century it is

defined by ideas and impact. The five factors that will define the future of business are

1. Ideas. The new currency of success – individual and collective imagination is

determined by how well a business seeks and stimulates them from many

different sources, including customers and partners, how well a business

connects them together into richer concepts, and then is able to turn them into

distinctive realities that are practical and profitable.


2. Purpose. In a world of infinite possibilities, any business can do anything.

Capabilities can easily be sourced, and any audience reached. Therefore rather

than being defined by what you do, a business needs a better sense of being – a

more inspiring purpose. Beyond the pursuit of profits, what is the distinctive way

in which the business seeks to make life better?

3. Networks. The ability to connect markets with infinite reach, to connect people

with people rather than just with companies, enabling collaboration like never

before - enabling audience and content, interaction and involvement. The most

authentic content is user-generated, the best marketing is word of mouth – digital

and physical, low cost and more trust, fast and global.

4. Enablement. Brands are not about what business does, but what customers aspire

to achieve. Products and service are not about sales transactions, but about what

they enable the customer to do, which they were never able to do before. Build

your own house, design your own website, run faster, enjoy life more. It’s all

about enabling people to do more.

5. Innovation. Relentless, significant, and holistic. The ability to continually renew

itself will be the ability of a future business – to anticipate and respond to

accelerating change, to embrace new technologies and behaviours, to

collaborate with partners and customers, and to balance development with

delivery, ideas with impact, purpose with profit.

Can you define your concepts of „future back‟ and „now forward‟?

Start with the impossible than work out how to make it possible.


“Future back” is about leaping into the future, to imagine more clearly what it might be

like, without the prejudices and limitations of today, and then work backwards to connect

it to the present world.

“Now forward” is about taking decisions, investments and innovative actions that are

guided by a better view of their implications and what will happen next, and innovate

less restricted by what we currently know, think and do.

This was the real genius of da Vinci, but can equally be seen in the bagless vacuum

cleaner of James Dyson, the Virgin Galactic space ship designs of Burt Rutan, or the

electric charging networks of Better Place. Dyson was relentless in his experimenting

and prototyping until he broke all the rules of his market. Rutan played with paper

aeroplanes to perfect his idea of a mothership launch pad, whilst Shai Agassi has a vision

where electric cars will be the norm, and the person who runs the charging network will

dominate the market … the iTunes of the car industry, and more, in the making.

You quote an interesting statistic in the book, “3M estimates that it needs around

3000 clearly specified ideas, from which emerge around 300 prototypes, from

which they get 30 strong concepts, which are eventually whittled down to three

market entries, in order to get one successful innovation”. Why do so many ideas

fail?

Many ideas fail because

1. They are not relevant – they are driven by technological possibility, rather than

potential consumer demand, they are designed by scientifically rather than

ergonomically, they are focused on their function not their differentiation, on the

product not what it enables. Innovation starts with the customer, not always what

they need or can even articulate, but with a clearly defined way in which they will

add practical, relevant value to people’s lives.

2. They were not big enough – ideas need to be big enough to withstand the

inevitable practical and commercial filters put on them, to outweigh the risks and

uncertainties which they inevitably bring, and to stand out from the crowd and

support and price premium. Bigger ideas emerge from the fusion of smaller

ideas, so the real story is not always about eliminating the ideas, but about

connecting them like molecules to create something better and stronger.

3. Market entry is seen as the end point – all the brain power and resources goes

into getting the new idea to market, to launching it. But that is just the starting

point. More important to the success is how it penetrates the market, moves from

early adopters to mainstream, how people use it rather than just buy it, what they

say together and how reputation spreads. Sustaining an innovation in its first year

is perhaps the most important, and most neglected phase.

4. Creating a profitable business model – most creative effort still goes into the

product, less into the service, even less into the channel and broader customer

experience, and hardly any thinking goes into the business model. The old make

and sell model is increasingly irrelevant. Leasing, subscription, replacement are


all increasingly popular models – why buy a car when there is Zipcars, why buy a

magazine when I can subscribe online, and so on. There is an inverse relationship

between the types of innovation, and the impact they can have.

But having said all that, 3M has a good, disciplined innovation process. Imagine if you

had a less good one – even more failures. The reality is that you need an awful lot of

ideas in order to find success. James Dyson had well over 5000 prototypes before finding

the right solution.

Most people just don’t spend enough time generating enough ideas – a quick brainstorm

with 20 random ideas in 30 minutes is certainly not enough. A one-day team workshop is

not enough either. The ideas are just starting to flow when everyone goes home.

Innovation is serious business. It needs real effort, hard work, time, and lots and lots of

ideas, together with a disciplined process to make them happen.

What are the „opening up and closing down‟ processes?

“Opening up” is the creative process of generating as many ideas as possible.

The phase inevitably, and quite acceptably, starts with a bit of fuzziness. This is because

the first creative challenge is to define the question – the problem or opportunity to be

addressed. Whilst a leader, or sponsor, might state it upfront, it is often what sits behind

that is more interesting. Therefore spending a bit of time exploring, shaping, even

redefining the question is good.

Once we have a clear starting point, then it’s about opening up as far as possible on this.

A wide range of creative techniques exist to explore the obvious possibilities, and then

the less obvious ones. A quick brainstorm is certainly not enough. The challenge is to be

divergent. Learn from the margins not the mainstream, from parallel markets that have

similar situations, from nature, or sport, or the arts.


“Closing down” is when we start focusing in on the best ideas. This is achieved in two

principle ways – by fusing together ideas into stronger concepts, and through filtering

these concepts. A range of different evaluation filters should be used to find the strongest

ideas, but care should be taken to ensure that old-mindset filters don’t block out new

possibilities

For example, a concept might never be a big revenue driver, but maybe given away free

and with the support of a business model based around advertising, it could be very

successful - online gaming for example, refillable cartridges, or razor blades.

Innovation is about making ideas happen profitably, creative and commercial, and is

therefore an opening up and closing down process.

What are the “three levels of innovation intensity”?

The intensity of innovation relates to how ambitious it is - how much time and resource,

cost and risk it embraces – and how greater impact we seek in the market and bottom

line as a result. There are three levels of innovation intensity

Incremental: innovation as improvement, keeping pace with change and

expectation, adapting designs and applications to evolving needs. In the car

market we see a new version of the same car emerging frequently, maybe with

slightly enhanced features.

Next generation: innovation as change, moving ahead of the competition to

define a new level of performance, tapping into emerging needs and exceeding

expectations. In the car market, this is a significantly new model, launched every

few years, with a new brand name.

Breakthrough: innovation as revolution, changing the rules of the market,

challenging the behaviours of customers, maybe redefining the market altogether

– “game-changing”. In the car market, this is the SUV or the hybrid engine,

creating a new genre, a new category.

You need all of these innovations – a balanced portfolio of innovation projects at each

level being developed simultaneously. Incremental innovations keep you in the market,

little noticed and quickly imitated. Next generations get you ahead for a short-time,

maybe opening up a new revenue stream. Breakthroughs are what make you famous,

shaping your markets. They inspire customers, attract investors, and deliver leaps in

value creation.

What is the „Genius Lab‟?

When I work with organisations today, I focus on facilitating and accelerating their

innovation process We use a process of three intensive two-day workshops. During each

workshop, with a cross-functional team of their most interesting people and some

outsiders too, we focus on what matters, what’s possible, and what extra-ordinary (yes,

anything but ordinary) things they can do, in extra-ordinary ways. We capture the

insights and ideas, decisions and plans in words and pictures, photos and movies,

leaving the teams to do their specific tasks, before we meet again.


The three phases of “The Genius Lab” defines the majority of the Creative Genius book –

the Ideas Factory, the Design Studio and the Impact Zone. An apparently simple process,

but with much underneath – taking ideas from the future back, as well as the inside out

and outside in, using left- and right-brain approaches, creativity and innovation, in order

to make the best ideas happen “now forward” and to deliver extraordinary results.

Phase 1: The Ideas Factory

This is about insights and ideas – from the future, in partnerships with customers

and experts, and our own imagination – from which we develop understanding

and inspiration, direction and hypothesises.

We explore the possibilities, based on future scenarios, customer immersion,

parallel worlds, emerging trends and creative ideas. Insights emerge out of the

collation of knowledge from different perspectives - “flashes of inspiration” or

“penetrating discoveries” – which are then fused with creative thinking.

Insights are much more than information, and create new platforms from which to

generate stronger ideas. Ideas are much more than actions, but concepts for

making life better. By understanding the problem or opportunity better, we have

more chance of creating successful solutions. By focusing on real insights, we

develop better ideas that are distinctive and powerful.

Phase 2: The Design Studio

This is about creativity and design – shaping the best ideas into more concepts

that are compelling, practical and profitable – articulating, testing and evaluating

each of the best concepts.

We work at the best ideas and hypothesises – reframing the context in which they

are positioned, fusing ideas together into richer molecular structures, considering

the function and form of these bigger ideas, enhancing their practical usability

and aesthetic appeal.

Concepts work beyond products and services - they emerge as propositions,

solutions and experiences, perhaps requiring new business and market models. It

is then about evaluating each of the best concepts for their value potential for

customers and business, how they will make people’s lives better, and how we

can make them happen distinctively and profitably.

Phase 3: The Impact Zone

The ideas factory The design Studio The impact zone


This is about development and commercialisation – making the ideas happen,

launching them into the right markets, making them contagious and sticky, and

ensuring they deliver sustained results.

We creatively focus on the opportunities that will deliver the most return, the best

markets, customers, and solutions. Don’t try to do everything for everyone, do

things which are significantly different and better. And we don’t stop at market

entry - that is the starting point for bringing ideas to life, changing people’s

attitudes, encouraging new behaviours.

Delivering sustained results is about finding space in the market that you can

make your own, defend and grow. That is achieved by telling your story, in ways

that are compelling and contagious, and shaping markets in your own mind rather

than being a slave to somebody else’s vision, stretching and evolving ideas so

that can have even more impact, and stay a step or two ahead.

You explore eight „worldviews‟ to give us new perspectives on age-old problems

and opportunities. What are they, and how can we apply them?

Innovation requires new perspectives - finding new insights, better ideas and the best

opportunities. Whilst the future offers most stretch forwards, there are many other

perspectives, or worldviews, worth considering – separately and then collectively

considering the viewpoints of customers, business, competitors, parallel markets,

technology, responsibility, finance and the future.

The eight “worldviews” to help us see problems and opportunities in broader, richer

and new perspectives are

Future world – exploring future scenarios based on emerging trends, pattern

recognition and random possibilities that might be driven from science or sci-fi.

Customer world – exploring the needs and wants of diverse individuals, their

experience of you and your competitors, their frustrations and aspirations, trust

and loyalty.

Business world – exploring the drivers of business performance, key issues and

opportunities, assets and capabilities, assumptions and employee ideas.

Competitor world – exploring the strengths and weaknesses, postures and

differences, strategies and potential actions of direct and indirect competitors.

Parallel world – exploring how companies in different markets address, or have

addressed similar issues; who won and who lost, and what did they do; and even

extreme situations.

Technological world – exploring the emerging fields such as networking

technologies, computing, mobile technologies, artificial intelligence, biotech and

nanotech.

Responsible world – exploring the increasingly vital issues of environment,

ethical practices, fair trading, human rights, local communities, well-being and

transparency.


Commercial world – exploring the consequences of changing price, costs,

profits, market share and the wider implications of changing regulation,

governance and competition.

These perspectives provide a wealth of discontinuous and complementary insights.

They can also be fused with existing knowledge – customer behaviour, market research,

employee surveys, boardroom thinking, business performance, industry reports,

technological insights, analyst reports, and catalytic thinkers.

What is „getting out there‟, and why is it important for the innovation process?

“Getting out there” means rolling up your sleeves and spending time in the market,

watching and talking with real people to understand the issues and opportunities in more

detail. It might include

Customer immersion – spending time (a day, a week, even longer) with real

customers, and non-customers, not just asking them what they think of you, or

want – but observing how they live and work, talking about their motives and

influences, understanding their issues and aspirations. This is much more

insightful than superficial average-seeking market research.

Business partners – likewise spending time with suppliers, distributors, existing

and potential product and service partners who currently or could serve the same

customers.

Specialist experts – likewise learning from academics, technologists, extreme

users and others

Parallel markets – likewise learning from companies in other markets,

geographies or sectors, which have similar issues or been through the same

change. Banks learning from retailers, telecoms learning from energy. Ask to

meet with you peers in non-competitive companies from these other markets, to

learn what happened, and how to succeed.

Marginal markets – likewise learning from related markets where people have

been more deviant, for example they have improvised because of lack of

resources, or they are adopters of more advanced or deviant behaviours – m-Pesa

in Africa, skateboarders in inner cities, fashion from junk shops.

Random inspiration – sometimes just do something a little less normal. Get the

perspective of somebody completely different, read a magazine you’ve never

read before.

You talk of the hidden patterns that are all around us, and of blinkered, reactionary

thinking, that blinds people to subtle shifts in the zeitgeist. Can we train our minds

to be more open and recognize these patterns and trends?

In simple terms, it’s about spending more time with our heads up, rather than heads

down. More time out there in the world where customers live, rather than inside our

business. Think about what you watch on TV, where you shop, what you read. And be

more observant, more curious.

I am intensely curious. Yes, I can travel to places all around the world, talk to an eclectic

range of people, and wonder the towns and cities with eyes open. But it can also be close


to home. Watch the Simpsons or Al Jazeera news, read New Scientist or a range of online

blogs, download some TED Talks or some interesting looking apps.

Jeff Bezos, Ratan Tata, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson … they all say that their secret is to be

intensely curious. They deliberately take themselves out of their normal spaces, to meet

new people, to be inspired by new environments. They take a notebook everywhere

they go, they draw pictures rather than write words, they talk and think, and try to make

sense of change.

More tangibly, a range of future scoping and pattern recognition tools helps to make

sense of weak and strong signals – bringing together all the little behaviours and fads to

interpret fashions, and likewise looking at the broader direction of fashions to

understand trends.

A whole industry exists on trying to decode such patterns – from the Institute for the

Future, to Trendwatching, Now and Next to The Future Exploration Network. Of course,

the challenge is not just to observe a whole range of behaviours, adding fun names, but

to find real insight, implications and opportunities.

How can scenario planning support managers?

Scenario planning is built on systems thinking, the recognition that many factors may

combine in complex ways to create surprising futures due to the non-linear “feedback

loops” of causes and effects. Rather than just simulating futures based on today’s factors,

scenarios can also embrace new factors – new technologies, deep shifts in social values,

new regulation or disruptive innovations. Systems thinking used in conjunction with

scenario planning leads to plausible “stories” based on relationships between the many

factors.

The process starts with two types of knowledge - things we believe we know something

about, and things we don’t. The first type of knowledge, typically in the form of trends, is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_thinking

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedback_loop

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedback_loop


based on projecting the past into the future – demographic shifts, emerging

technologies. The second type of knowledge, the uncertainties include factors such as

interest rates, fads and fashions, and politics. The art of scenario development is in

blending of known and unknown knowledge into a limited number of views of the future

that together embrace a very wide range of possibilities.

The process helps managers to make better decisions

Where are the biggest challenges and opportunities likely to emerge, and what

factors will be most important in shaping them?

What are the risks and rewards of seeking a particular direction, how can I

mitigate these risks and what other options exist?

Which scenarios do I like best, do I want to make happen, and how can I shape it

to my advantage through actions and investments today?

I want to take a „deep dive‟ into a „blue ocean‟ – should I pack scuba gear? Do I

need to be wary of sharks if I go swimming in a „red ocean‟?

Yes! Business is full of language that seeks to capture new ideas … but let’s unpack this

one for you, before you start pulling on your swimming gear …

“Blue oceans” are the new or unexploited marketspaces that lie beyond the

conventional domains. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne have created a whole

industry out of getting companies to look beyond the red oceans, the hyper-

competitive battle grounds of today, to find new customer needs and wants.

Computer games that allow interaction, wines that are simple to understand. Nice

concept, but companies struggle to make it happen without two more ideas …

“Deep diving” is a research approach that immerses yourself (and team of

dreamers, decision makers, and doers) into the new spaces, to understand them

more deeply – what people really want, why and how. Conventional research is

not enough because people cannot rationalise the unrealised. Tesco’s leaders, for

example, spent three months living with families in North America to understand

the unique family lifestyles, influences and culture, before attempting to open a

new range of supermarkets called Fresh n Easy.

“Sharks” are the big companies who want to reach these new waters. But they

often need help, from smaller specialist companies who are local or know the

uncharted territories better. Rather than the huge time, risk and costs of entering

new markets in total, better is to find yourself a “pilot fish”, one of these

companies who can do things you can’t, but work with you. Likewise for small

businesses, finding your partner shark is a great way to reach places you couldn’t

ever get to otherwise. Think about Intel, YKK, Hella, Lycra and more.

What is your view on „open innovation‟ and „co-creation‟?

Open innovation is a popular theme, every company is talking about it, even more every

academic. It isn’t that magical, or that difficult – but it can deliver more interesting results

– and should be an essential part of any innovation programme.


It is simply about open your mind, and opening your doors, to ideas and capabilities

from other places – from customers, from suppliers, from partners, from academics, from

entrepreneurs. The mental shift is that you don’t know best, and it’s just possible that

having lived and breathed your market, you might actually be less able to innovate

within it than somebody who brings new experiences and perspectives. As well as

collaborative creativity and development, it’s also about shared risk and reward.

Co-creation is one component of open innovation.

Lego Factory is a co-creation facility, physical and online, where consumers work with

others, and the building-block designers to build future products. Ducati’s Tech Cafe is

where bikers hang out and design the next generation of superbikes. IBM’s Innovation

Centres are where clients run facilitated innovation programmes, and Samsung has a

Virtual Product Launch Center where you can find the coolest newest devices.

Whilst some companies have hi-jacked the “co-creation” word to redefine customer

research techniques such as focus groups and immersion, others recognise that it is a

bigger approach, engaging customers as partners in a journey from ideas to

implementation

Co-thinking. Working with customers to understand their needs and wants, but

also to develop new ideas and possibilities, using collaborative creativity

techniques. This is similar to “crowdsourcing”, but more personal. P&G take

consumers away to hotels for weekends, or go to their kitchens, to explore better

ways to do washing or cleaning.

Co-designing. Problem-solving together, by better defining the issues and

potential solutions, maybe encouraging people to submit new designs both in

terms of the business, and the style of products in the way Threadless rewards the

best submitted t-shirt designs, or Jones Soda prints your photos on their bottle

labels.

Co-evaluating. Testing ideas with customers, building advance customer

networks, getting their feedback for improvement whilst also turning them into

lead-user ambassadors. This might involve extreme users, for example Nike

working with elite athletes to evaluate new shoes designs, or Gore working on

new fabrics with emergency services.

Co-developing. Customers can be as skilled and fanatical as your own

technicians in being able to develop better products, or specify better services.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was developed in partnership with customers, Nike

ID design studio is at the heart of Niketown, and IKEA “allow” you to find your

products in the warehouse, and build them yourself.

Co-communicating. Customers can be your best, and more trusted, advocates.

They might write reviews on your website, or on other directory sites such as

hotel customers on Tripadvisor. They might even develop user-generated

advertising for you, like made possible with Scrmblr, and demonstrated by

Converse’s social ads campaigns.

Co-selling. People are much more likely to buy from friends and others like

them, rather than some anonymous salesman. “Customer get customer” in return


for a case of wine or iPod is familiar to us all, as is the pyramid selling models

championed by Avon and Oriflame, which has even turned some of their most

active customers into millionaires.

Co-supporting. When something goes wrong, particularly when trying to use

technological devices, you need help and fast. User guides are gobbledegook,

so you get online and ask other users for help. Apple have utilised user

communities to great effect, ensuring that you get an answer to your question in

minutes and in language which you actually understand.

Co-creation is a creative process, tapping into a diversity of customer backgrounds and

utilising a range of innovation techniques. It also needs to be carefully facilitated as it

opens your business to customers in a way they have never seen before, so

professionalism and reputation still need to be managed. It also helps you build

relationships that no longer depend on direct mail or loyalty cards.

Can you define „Koinonia‟ for us?

“Koinonia” is about mutuality, intimacy and participation, and about achieving more

together.

Choosing the right partners for development or distribution gives you the flexibility and

reach, capabilities and courage to thrive in fast changing markets. Partners might offer

some specialist component to your solution, essential to your success – the high-speed,

ever-smaller microprocessor from Intel, for example. Or they might complement what

you do in some way – such as Rolls Royce engines being an essential part of the Boeing

design and manufacturing process.

Partners might improve your access to the market – such as iPhone working with

exclusive network partners such as AT&T and O2 for the first few years after launch. Or

they might make your brand more compelling and relevant to your target audience -

such as famous designers working with H&M to improve their designs, but also to hugely

enhance your brand kudos.

Few companies can survive, and even fewer thrive, without partners today. Such

partnerships are rarely formalised as companies, not even joint ventures which they

tended to be in the past. Increasing confidence in working with others, means that most

companies are now happy to work contractually but not structurally together.

Licensing and franchising, brand alliances and affinity brands, endorsement and

ingredient brands, exclusive distributors and guest designers, these are the new models

of partnership which we explore and compare in Creative Genius.

What is the „hype cycle‟?

The “hype cycle” was developed by Gartner to reflect the evolution and adaption of

specific technologies. Since 1995, it has been used to characterise the typical over-

enthusiasm or "hype" and subsequent disappointment that typically happens with the

introduction of new technologies. The real purpose of the cycle, however is to separate

the hype from the technology’s more useful reality. The curves also show how and when

technologies move beyond the hype, moving from abstract possibilities into relevant

innovations, offering practical benefits and become much more widely accepted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology


In Creative Genius explore the five phases to Gartner’s hype cycle:

1. Technology trigger - the first phase after technological breakthrough, product

launch or other events that generates significant press and interest.

2. Peak of inflated expectations - a frenzy of publicity typically generates over-

enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations, perhaps with a few successful

applications.

3. Trough of disillusionment - technologies lose their shine, they fail to meet

expectations and quickly become unfashionable, and the press usually abandon

them.

4. Slope of enlightenment- whilst the hype has blown over, some businesses continue

to explore the technology, to understand the benefits and practical applications.

5. Plateau of productivity – the technology becomes robust and accepted, evolving

into second and third generations, the height depending on whether it has broad

or niche application.

Your book contains many examples of hand-drawn-style diagrams that describe

processes and concepts. Do you advocate a move away from PowerPoint decks and

written reports?

Yes please!

Every business case at P&G must be express on one page. Words are not enough. And

therefore posters become the new media to convey ideas – visions, diagrams, mind

maps, flow charts, business models and more.

We talked about blinkered, “heads down” thinking, about being unable to escape the

conventions of today, and death by incrementalism … long written reports, and

monotonous bullet pointed slides are symptoms of this world.

Forget flipcharts and use Lego for a creative break. Get people to build models that

reflect the problem they are trying to solve, or the idea they want to express. The models

will be bad, and funny. But that lightens the spirit and loosens people up. It’s what they

say, and how it helps the team think, that matters more.

Time to express yourself, your ideas, your passions, your creativity … think carefully

about the words and images you use, because they matter. But most of all, focus on the

idea and how you can shape it, own it and make it happen.

“And finally” as Steve Jobs loves to say, any last thoughts?

I love this book. I loved researching, writing and rereading every page of it.

There are hundreds of amazing entrepreneurs and innovators out there, each with a

great story, and something we can learn from them.

From disruption and provocation of Lady Gaga to the user-generated T-shirts of

Threadless, From Skype’s Niklas Zennstrom, to China’s firework artist Caio Gio-Qiang, I

loved bringing together 50 great stories to inspire you.


But more than anything, my inspiration came from a man truly ahead of his time. In

today’s ambiguous yet awesome world, we can learn much from the 7 secrets of the

creator of the Mona Lisa and the Vitruvian Man.

I hope that Creative Genius inspires you to think differently, to use your imagination with

more confidence - to shape your future, and start making it happen - to deliver better

ideas, faster innovations and extraordinary impact.

Will you be the Leonardo da Vinci of our times?

Be bold. Be brave. Be brilliant.

Find out more

Peter Fisk is a best-selling author and inspirational speaker, an advisor to leading

companies large and small, and himself an experienced business leader. He is an expert

on strategy and innovation, brands and marketing, and has worked with companies

including Coca Cola and Microsoft, Red Bull and Virgin.

He leads the GeniusWorks, a business dedicated to inspiring business leaders to think

differently, and was also the transforming CEO of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

He was recently described by Business Strategy Review as “one of the best new business

thinkers.”

He is the author of five bestselling books, which have been translated into 32 languages.

His new book “Creative Genius” describes a process of accelerated innovation, bringing

together rockstars and rocket scientists, entrepreneurs and designers to understand how

to make better ideas happen faster.

Find out more at www.theGeniusWorks.com

and at www.CreativeGeniusLive.com or email him at [email protected]

http://www.thegeniusworks.com/