Creative People Must Be Stopped (31 page)

About the Author

David A. Owens
is professor of the practice of management at Vanderbilt's Graduate School of Management, where he also directs the Executive Development Institute. Specializing in innovation and new product development, he is known as a dynamic speaker and is the recipient of numerous teaching awards. He provides consulting services for a wide range of clients around the world, and his work has been featured in the
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, London Guardian
, and
San Jose Mercury News
, as well as on NPR's
Marketplace
.

Owens has consulted for NASA, the Smithsonian, Nissan LEAF, Gibson Music, American Conservatory Theater, Alcatel, Tetra Pak, Tennessee Valley Authority, Cisco, LEGO, the Henry Ford Museum, and many other organizations. He has done product design work for well-known firms including Daimler Benz, Apple Computer, Dell Computer, Coleman Camping, Corning World Kitchen, Steelcase, and IDEO Product Development. He has also served as CEO of a large consumer electronics firm, Griffin Technology.

Owens earned his PhD in management science and engineering through a joint fellowship program between Stanford's Graduate School of Business and its School of Engineering. He holds an MS in engineering product design and is a registered professional electrical engineer (PE). In his current work, Owens focuses on concrete strategies for creating positive change in all types of organizations.

He lives in Nashville with his wife and two daughters.

Index

A

A-12 plane story

Abate, Tom

Adams, James L.

Adobe Photoshop 1.0

Adobe Systems

Alignment issue

Amabile, Teresa

Amazon

American Cheerleader
(magazine)

American Foreign Service (AFS)

Ancons, Deborah Gladstein

Anderson, Steven M.

Apollo 13 crisis story

Apollo 13
(film)

Apple Computer: “fail forward” work provided to employees by; iTunes music service; Macintosh Bootcamp program, of; Macintosh computer of; as new entrant into mobile phone market; Steve Jobs's role in removing structural constraints at; Steve Wozniak on overcoming resource constraints at; Xerox PARC scenario and role play by

Apple II computer

Apple's Lisa computer

Articulating ideas

Assess Constraints phase

Avis

Avoiding mistakes

B

Bank of America's Keep the Change program

“Barriers to Innovation and Inclusion” (video parody)

Bell Labs

Belliston, Larry

Benyus, Janine

Bezos, Jeff

“Big-toe” data

Biomimicry
(Benyus)

Blickensderfer, George

BMXer
(magazine)

Boisselier, Brigitte

Boorstein, Michelle

Boyle, Alan

Brainstorming ideas: culture constraints to; description of; emotion constraints to; environment constraints to; IDEO rules for; process constraints to; ShowArts story on.
See also
Ideas

Branson, Sir Richard

Bricklin, Dan

Budget

Budget issues

Business-speak terminology

Buzzword communication

C

Caldwell, David F.

Campbell, Bill

Canon

Capital: getting needed; overcoming constraints of; true cost of using “other people's money”

Celebrate failures

Challenger
disaster (1986)

Change: changing perspective; choosing to; doing “good”; example of resistance to innovation and.
See also
Innovation

Changing perspective

Chapter reflections: on group constraints; on individual constraints; on industry constraints; on organizational constraints; on societal constraints; on technological constraints

Children's museum

Christensen, Clayton M.

Civilian Conservation Corps

Clark, Ronald W.

Clichés

Clonaid

Cohesion: culture constraints which impact; description of; overcoming culture constraints to

Coke

Collaboration: environment constraints to; overcoming environment constraints to

Columbia Phonograph

Comcast

Communication: facilitating multiple modes of expression and; failure to share or document insights; failures of; having only one “language” for; insufficient vocabularies for; using limited media for; overcoming expression constraints to; on the risk of the strategy; stay mindful of your favored ways for; telling the organization strategy story; verbal; visual

Compaq and Hewlett-Packard merger (2002)

Competition: constraints to; description of; digital camera; don't ignore the market by watching the; relationship between innovation and

Competition constraints: competition among strong rivals; Industry Constraints Diagnostic Survey on; overcoming; radical innovations by new entrants; substitutes for your product; summary on

Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas
(Adams)

Conflict: avoiding good group; have a good fight to clear the air; process; relationship; task; tendency to avoid group

Conflicting values

Conner

Conscious competence

Conscious incompetence

Costs: legacy systems and adoption; of using “other people's money”

Court reporters

“Cowboy City” (Xintang, China)

Crawford, Matthew

Creative people: personality myth of; reward both success and failure; support your innovators; when to stop

Creative personality myth

Creative Whack Pack
(von Oech)

Creativity: expression constraints to; intellection (thinking) constraints to; perception constraints to; perception, intellection, and expression core components of

Cringely, Robert X.

Criticism (fear of)

Cultivating dissent

Culture constraints: adhering to traditions and taboos; cohesion and meaning as; enforcing a shared sense of meaning; forming homogeneous groups; Group Constraints Diagnostic Survey on; overcoming; summary on

Customers: demands for lower price and higher performance by; grab 'em and keep 'em; learning gap of; redefining performance for; using social media to; tell them what's new

D

Data: “big-toe”; broaden your sources of; limiting universe of “relevant”; not getting close to the

Datsun “Z car”

“The Deep Dive” (
Nightline
segment)

Defense Department

Dell Computer

Demaine, Erik

Dernbach, Christoph

Design innovation phase

“Devil's advocate” work

Digital camera competition

Digital Equipment Corporation

“Dignitas Personae”

The Doblin Group

Documentation: automating; of insights and ideas; security issues of; wikis

E

E. Remington & Sons

Eastgate office building (Zimbabwe)

Eastman, George

Edison Phonograph

Edison, Thomas

Efficiency: capital resources required for; don't overinvest in; having the right people required for; price of

Ego: criticism as threat to; as emotion constraint

Electronic Arts (EA)

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Emotion: creativity and innovation role of; group constraints to; overcoming group constraints to

Emotion constraints: avoiding good conflict; avoiding mistakes; ego and social status as; fearing criticism; Group Constraints Diagnostic Survey on; overcoming; summary on

Empathy (practiced)

Enriching work environment

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Environment: constraints to; different types of; glass-enclosed conference rooms; overcoming constraints to; psychologically safe group

Environment constraints: comfort versus collaboration; communicating using limited media; Group Constraints Diagnostic Survey on; not sharing or documenting insights; overcoming; spaces that impede interaction; summary of

Ethical controls

European Union

Expertise: solving technical problems by investing in; understanding when you need to hire

Expertise investment

Exploitation mode

Exploration mode

Exploring ideas: having only one language for; searching for answers versus

Expression: constraints to; as core creativity component; facilitating multiple modes of; “thought experiment” sketches for

Expression constraints: difficulty articulating your ideas; failures of communication; Individual Constraints Diagnostic Survey on; Individual Constraints Diagnostic Survey to assess; insufficient vocabularies; overcoming; summary of

F

Facebook

Failure celebration

Failures of communication

Fanning, Shawn

Fatwa No. 21582 (Islamic Fqh Academy)

Faulkner, William

FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

Fearing criticism

“Feature creep”

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Feedback loops

Fluid structures

Frankston, Bob

Fry, Art

G

Gaines, Brian R.

Game Pro
(magazine)

Gates, Bill

General Motors (GM)

Generate Ideas phase

Gibson Music

Glass-enclosed conference rooms

Goldberg, Adele

Google

Group cohesion: culture constraints which impact; description of; overcoming culture constraints to

Group conflict: avoiding good; cultivate dissent instead of; tendency to avoid; types of

Group constraints: chapter reflection on; culture; diagnosing failures related to; emotion; environment; factors which can impact creativity; Group Constraints Diagnostic Survey; innovation proposal that considers; Keep the Change program's overcoming of; process; ShowArts story on; story example of; summary of; Venn diagram of

Group Constraints Diagnostic Survey: using the results; taking the

Group culture: enforcing shared sense of meaning in; forming homogeneous groups to reinforce; traditions and taboos of

Group identity: homogeneous; traditions and taboos creating

Group members: cultivate dissent among; encouraging interaction among; homogeneous; mixing up

Groups: cohesion of; conflict in; cultivate dissent in; exploration mode and exploitation mode of; forming homogeneous; mixing up membership of; process of; USENET

Guilds

H

Hanks, Kurt

Harmon, Jay

“Has Kodak Missed the Moment?” (2003)

Hertz

Hertzfeld, Andy

Hewlett-Packard: Compaq merger (2002) with; HP DeskJet inkjet printer

History constraints: inertia of what people already know; overcoming; the past isn't dead—it isn't even past; persistence of historical standards; Societal Constraints Diagnostic Survey on; standards, conventions, infrastructure words associated with; summary on; working with (or around) those things already in the world

Hitachi

Homefront (Xbox 360)

Homogeneous groups

Homophily

Howard, Ron

HP DeskJet inkjet printer

Hughes Aircraft Company

Hulu

Human body touch-sensitive nerves

Human cloning bans

I

IBM: IBM PC; IBM Selectric; old room-size computers made by; PC-DOS software licensed from Microsoft

Idea egotism: description of; suppressing

Ideas: assessing constraints and; developing new test for new; difficulty articulating your; Generate Ideas phase of innovation; generating huge number of; generating multiple; having only one language for exploring and expressing; innovation perceived as creative; keeping a master list of; not sharing or documenting insights and; selling your; “strategic fit” with organization.
See also
Brainstorming ideas; Solutions

Ideation goal

Identify Problems phase

Identity.
See
Values and identity constraints

IDEO: brainstorming rules of; enriching working environment of; informal weekly gatherings at; problem solving “method cards” released by

IKEA

Implement phase of innovation

Individual constraints: chapter reflection on; description of; diagnosing failures related to; expression; Individual Constraints Diagnostic Survey to assess; innovation proposal that considers; intellection (thinking); Keep the Change program overcoming of; perception constraints; Sow-N-Gro product; story example of; Venn diagram illustrating

Individual Constraints Diagnostic Survey: functions of the; using the results; taking the

Industry constraints: chapter reflection on; competition-related; diagnosing failures related to; Industry Constraints Diagnostic Survey on; innovation proposal that considers; Keep the Change program overcoming of; Kodak Eastman story on; market-related; Sow-N-Gro product; summary on; supplier-related; Venn diagram illustrating of

Industry Constraints Diagnostic Survey: using the results; taking the

Innovation: acknowledge the threat of your; constraints on the adoption of; examining why organizations kill; a general framework for understanding; leading the process of; managing the process of; mixed messages organizations send about; outsourcing; relationship between competition and; seven phases of; six perspectives on; story example of resistance to change and.
See also
Change

Innovation constraints: Assess Constraints phase of innovation; description of; group; identifying the “showstopper”; individual; industry; organizational; Sow-N-Gro; societal; technological; Venn diagram of all the

Innovation failure: Apollo 13: when failure was not an option; diagnosing; general framework for diagnosing; some examples of reasons for; summary on the six perspectives on

Innovation perspectives: of innovation as being creative ideas; on innovation requiring a specific group climate; market economics perspective of innovation; organizational approach to innovation; on social values required for innovation; summary on the six different; technological approach to innovation

Innovation phases: Assess Constraints; Design; Generate Ideas; Identify Problems; Implement; Refine; Set Direction

Innovation proposals: creating a persuasive; group constraints considered in; individual constraints considered in; industry constraints considered in; organizational constraints considered in; societal constraints considered in; technological constraints considered in

Innovation scenarios: Kodak Eastman; Lockheed A-12 plane; NASA's Apollo 13 crisis; Segway Inc.; ShowArts; 3M's Post-it; Xerox PARC

Innovation strategic leadership: build a portfolio; constraints on the adoption of innovations issue of; don't extend projects beyond their life; innovative organization role in; intervene in errant groups; managing or leading innovation issue of; NASA's Apollo 13 crisis; presenting persuasive proposal for innovation; reward both success and failure; set expectations; start small; support your innovators; Venn diagram illustrating; when to stop creative people

The innovative organization: primary characteristics of; resources of; strategy of; structure of; when to stop creative people

The innovative organization resources: intervene in errant groups; setting expectations

The innovative organization strategy: build a portfolio; don't extend projects beyond their life; start small.
See also
Organization strategies

The innovative organization structure: reward both success and failure; support your innovators