Don't Be the Smartest Person in the Room

Here's a goal that should be a relief, but for many people, is incredibly challenging:

When you're in a meeting, make sure you're NOT the smartest person in the room. Huh?

When you're the smartest person in the room, all the responsibility's on you. Who else is going to come up with the best ideas, the most insightful analysis, the most stirring comments?

Nobody. How could they be expected to do it when you're the best? You the man (or woman)!

Seems pretty daunting.

Instead, make sure you surround yourself with people who are smart, creative, and dynamic. Ask a few questions and let them contribute their own perspectives. Build on their ideas, allowing them a strong sense of participation and ownership.

And guess what?

Not only will you get better answers and results, you can sit back and get smarter by learning from your team!

Thought Rivers - Guest Post from Gary Unger

Thursdays are turning into Guest Blogger Day. There continues to be some really cool innovation and strategy experts from Twitter stepping forward to share their perspectives.

Today's guest author is advertising consultant Gary Unger, author of "How to Be a Creative Genius (In Five Minutes or Less)." Gary's bio highlights 3 things that make him a natural to share his perspectives on Brainzooming:

1. He's done work for Chick-Fil-A, which would be the official restaurant of Brainzooming if there were one.
2. Gary’s creative work has earned him a place in the Levi Strauss T-Shirt Hall of Fame, which sounds pretty darn cool.
3. He has a great personal message which fits with Brainzooming's tone: Be yourself and have fun doing it!

Gary's sharing his take today on Thought Rivers:

When you talk to me, my mind instantly goes in a million directions with the words you use. Some call it Parallel Thinking. I call it Thought Rivers because there is nothing really parallel about the paths that will be taken. It's more of a twisting, double back, speed up, slow down, gets deep, then shallow, turns left, then right, and so on - just like a river.

You may say something like, “It's not very square,” and my mind will instantly relate square to a geeky person, and then to a pair of black thick rimmed glasses, then to black and white image of Roy Orbison singing on stage, which will make me think of the other man in black, Johnny Cash, who I think is an earlier version of Bruce Springsteen who is kind of the everyman who is not really top of the class “cool” but also not “very square.” And that’s just one Thought River stemming from the original comment. Yes, sometimes it is difficult having a conversation with me.

If you want to see an explosion in your creative thinking skills, practice with Thought Rivers. If it's difficult to do in your mind, write it out on paper. Do your best to not take the word, words, word term, or whatever subject you are working on literally; start looking for what can be rather than for what is. Ask yourself, "What else does this remind me of?" Make the leap from literal interpretation of the subject to every conceivable use of the word and its derivatives. Instead of stopping with the first dictionary term or literal translation, consider other uses of the word in your Thought River. For instance, the word “die” can mean or suggest the act of death, the singular of dice, to color something, a tool used to shape other materials, and even "to desire."

As you practice, you’ll eventually find your mind will do it automatically, and you won’t need paper to map out your thoughts. That’s the ultimate goal: to be able to do it in your head. And when you can do it all in your head, your creativity will have a genius quality you never imagined possible.

And, as a bonus you’ll have the admiration of your peers for being so brilliant. - Gary Unger

98 Pound Name Dropping Weakling

We all name drop at times since it can be useful in getting attention and pushing someone to do what you want them to do. There's just one problem. Name dropping makes you appear weak.

It says to the other party that you realize you don't have the clout, logic, or savvy to convince them why they should work with you and address your request. It also you realize this too - why else would you have to name drop? And based on a recent example where someone dropped my name without consulting me, it can also result in cutting off your support if the person whose name you dropped gets surprised by it.

Here's a better alternative: Talk with the person whose name you might drop upfront and ask him or her for their suggestions on how to get cooperation. They might be able to:

1. Suggest an alternative way to manage the situation.
2. Personally intervene on behalf of the request.
3. Provide some other way to show their support.

This approach means a little more work, but it's an investment in YOUR effectiveness in building relationships.

What's the Rest of the Story?

Today's video was instigated by realizing how many cars were parked pretty haphazardly at the hospital when I was visiting my father and thinking about what people were going through as they rushed to the hospital.

Saturday Special - Pushing Your Limits

This is a screen grab from my Tweetdeck this morning. The first three tweets of the day themed up nicely, so I wanted to share them, including the live link for the Brainzooming post on "Shooting for the Moon." Have a great weekend!

Strategic Creativity Isn't Expensive - A Brainzooming Rant

Many conversations recently have addressed the misperception that creativity, by definition, takes time, money, and effort that can't be afforded right now because of the economy. A couple of examples:

• Someone showed me a meeting announcement for an "ideation" session to which they'd been invited. It referenced the range of ideas under consideration as "creative and practical and everything in between."


• A tweet in recent weeks said that while the sender wouldn't reject innovation, he would "say no to unique creative thinking."


• Another forwarded email suggested a group shouldn't "over think" a topic "out of respect for time & resources. We can do that later when we can be more creative."

Arghhhhhhh!!!

Since when is practical the opposite of creative? And what types of pre-conceived ideas and misperceptions obscure the role creativity plays in contributing to business results?

The image below of three Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors is another exhibit in showing the fallacy of the "creativity only in selected instances" point of view. Ben & Jerry's demonstrates the myriad benefits of strategic creativity with ice cream flavor names that:

• Play on and twist the familiar (to help initial recognition and retention)


• Are funny (introducing emotion, another element in improved idea stickiness)


• On brand (completely consistent with something you'd expect from Ben & Jerry's)
  
  
  

These flavors had to be named something. It probably took little if any additional time to come up with names that clearly work for the brand's benefit vs. generic names that wouldn't.

The point isn't to go out and name everything and call it good. The point is that no matter what the economic environment, being strategic and creative doesn't decline in importance. It's MORE important.

Strong branding companies know this and act accordingly, while also-rans wait around for economic signals to suggest it's time to turn creativity back on. Their challenge is they probably won't make it until their creativity stop light flashes green again. And maybe that's just fine!

Innovation Tip: Start Acting Like a Two Year Old - Guest Post from Joan Koerber-Walker

This week's guest post is from Joan Koerber-Walker, MBA. Joan is Chairman of both CorePurpose, Inc and the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation. She's become a wonderful new member of the Brainzooming creative team via Twitter where she provides great insights under even more names than I do!

Based on the 140 character start to our interactions, I'm excited to have her share her perspectives today on what we can all learn about innovation from little kids (BTW, the photo of the cute little boy is her son Nicholas who is now 6' 6"!):

As leaders in the adult world, we are often expected to have all the answers, such as knowing "innovation" is doing something in a new way to make life better. But when it comes to actually being innovative, anyone who has spent time with a two-year old can tell you toddlers are the real masters of innovation.

The reasons are apparent, since two-year olds:

• Ask "Why?" - It's the ubiquitous word in any two-year old's vocabulary. Why do I have to do that? Why can't I do this? Why can't I have this? Why do I have to do it this way? Why, Why, Why....


• Aren't afraid of messiness - They have yet to learn you're supposed to color within the lines or get all the food into your mouth. They think building with blocks is exciting and are rarely concerned with following the rules.


• Find their own answers - Have you ever seen a toddler reading the manual or following instructions to solve a problem? Of course not. Unless they're prodigies, they can't read. Instead, they use their brains and figure out how to solve their own problems. And if they can’t do it alone, they don’t see anything wrong with asking for help.


• Are willing to embrace new ways of doing things - Even though they have done the same thing the same way their whole life, their whole life is two years, not decades. With some coaching and lots of encouragement, they'll readily learn and adopt new and innovative ways of doing things. And when they do, everyone benefits. Need an example? Think diapers!

So if you're trying to be more innovative, don't go to school on how executives in tall business buildings create strategies. Instead, find a preschooler on the floor who's playing with building blocks and creating fun!

Share Your Complete Message in a Powerpoint Headline

If you have to create a written report in PowerPoint, here's a good discipline to enforce on yourself for clarity and flow:

Write the headlines on each page in such a way that if they were the only things read, your audience would get the report's main messages.

Since many readers will do little more than a quick scan of the document, this approach creates a greater likelihood you'll get your points across to both skimmers and those who do spend more time with the report.

Talking Yourself Up

After last week's "Taking the NO Out of InNOvation" presentation for the AAFKC "Get Charged Up" Symposium, I was talking with one attendee about the challenge of promoting oneself. Even for people who are great at marketing other people, products, and services, selling yourself can be a daunting task.

In response to her question about ideas on how to approach it, here are three suggestions:

1. Do Some Homework - Invest time defining a personal category by exploring your distinctive talents and working through how you can accentuate them to set yourself apart.
   
2. Ask a Fan for a Recommendation - I wrote a sincere, very favorable recommendation letter for a long-time business partner recently. His response, "(This guy) seems to be everything I doubt about myself." Everything in my letter was true, but it was a lot easier for me to say it than it was for him. You may be in the same situation. If you are, reach out to someone who understands your skills and can succinctly package them in a recommendation letter. Ideally, it will provide the basis for words and phrases you can use to promote yourself.
   
3. Get Professional Help - If you're struggling with a resume, consider having a professional assist in preparing it. Select someone who puts you through the discipline of answering questions about your responsibilities and justifying the results you delivered. Being forced to think through answers to these types of in-depth questions is of value all by itself.

24 Hours of Innovation - Student Challenge: Music and Entertainment Meet the Auto Industry

Midnight on Friday, Nick Demey from The Board of Innovation direct messaged me on Twitter, asking if I could review two student presentations as part of 24 Hours of Innovation. The assignment had been to advance 3 new automotive concepts based on business models from the music/entertainment business.

One presentation was from a US team, the other from a Belgian team. I'd recommend taking a look at both. Pay particular attention to three lessons on presenting new ideas demonstrated by the Belgian students:

1. They show their mindmap - great for highlighting the transformative variables and range of ideas considered.
   
2. A single slide upfront contained short descriptions of all three concepts - a helpful reference to understand what was coming.
   
3. Each business model concept featured both text and visual representations - this provided a deeper sense of the concepts.

We can all learn from these techniques that make a document more likely to receive executive review. Thanks Nick for allowing me to participate in this hour of the 24 Hours of Innovation!

24 Hours of Innovation - First Half Innovation Pep Talk: Let’s Go Out There and Not Say What We’re Doing!

Here’s a potentially unusual theme for a 2009 half-time innovation pep talk: Let’s go out, boldly innovate, and not talk so much about it!

Let me explain the strategy. Many business innovators I've talked with in the past year have recounted their frustration with the negative economic situation, resulting short term management perspectives, and dwindling resources across the board.

So what is an innovator to do in the second half of the year?

You can close up shop and wait for better times. Alternatively, you can redouble your business case building efforts and take a run at getting some semblance of the funding you used to secure for formal innovation efforts. Or, you could go underground and create a more modest innovation approach.

Why go underground?

Going low-key can provide several advantages:

• It potentially lowers expectations and increases maneuverability. You’re asking for less, so there’s potentially less scrutiny. That can mean more freedom to experiment, make mistakes, learn, and still drive results.


• The parties who decide to participate are likely to be more committed and motivated. There’s a certain amount of risk in joining forces with an underground effort. People won't typically get in half-way.


• It forces more ingenuity – you’re going to be cut-off from some potentially fundamental resources. But at least you can understand limitations upfront and spell out a plan for what you won’t have. It may force you to innovate in new areas you wouldn’t have considered before.


• You may be able to focus more on creating deliverables than having to justify each step in the innovation process. For a challenged management team centered on near-term results, being able to provide a view of an innovation nearer to its potential implementation can be beneficial.


• You can get an advantage relative to competitors who may be taking a more traditional route to innovation or completely eliminating innovation programs.

An underground innovation strategy won't work in every business or for every type of innovation program. But if what you've been doing is stalled, it's a valid approach to try to keep innovation efforts moving forward in the second half of 2009.

Thanks to The Board of Innovation for the opportunity to participate in the 24 Hours of Innovation!

Strategic Thinking Snippets - Direction and Change

Here's another installment in Strategic Thinking Snippets - ideas first shared on Twitter and now collected and arranged for Brainzooming. This Strategic Thinking Snippet installment focused on identifying strategic direction and managing through change.

• A lot of effort gets spent solving wrong problems. Important Safety Tip: Invest the time to figure out the right thing to fix.
• If you don't start with questions, it's really easy to solve the wrong problem. Go ahead...ask questions.
• Without a strategic foundation, even bad ideas can masquerade as great ones. Don't skip the strategy step.
• Being able to recall past patterns is key to strategic thinking, no matter how you're able to recall them.
• As important as recall is for strategic thinking, looking at things anew is vital also. Together, they're transforming.
• Be careful of "never" & "always" statements. The real frequency is "almost always" between these 2 extremes.
• Sometimes you need a mini-crisis to drive change. Know how to create one, if necessary.
• Force yourself to put things you think are really good in new settings. You'll find many new ways to improve them!
• Get comfortable with the intriguing twists life takes that you could never anticipate. Simply enjoy them!

24 Hours of Innovation - Friday's Half Time Pep Talk

Be sure to check out tomorrow's Brainzooming post at 7:02 a.m. CDT. It will be part of the 24 Hours of Innovation effort as innovation bloggers from around the world offer "Half Time Pep Talks" for innovation. Click here to learn more about the project and to find out where you can track the posts worldwide.

The Power of Daydreaming - Guest Post from Tim Tyrell-Smith

The response to my Twitter-based request for guest posts has been incredible, with several cool strategic and creative thinkers writing their perspectives for Brainzooming.

Today's guest post is from Tim Tyrell-Smith, a 20-year CPG marketer and, during the wee night hours, an author of two blogs. The first, Quixoting™ - A Quest for New Ideas, presents the contents of his idea book and inspires others to take action on their ideas. The second, Spin Strategy™ - Tools for Intelligent Job Search, was the first idea he acted on from his book, covering the strategy and psychology of successful job search and includes a website and a LinkedIn group. You can also follow Tim on Twitter in two places: @Quixoting and @SpinStrategy.

Wow - a full time job, two blogs, Twittering under multiple identities. Sounds familiar, so I'm not sure when Tim has time to daydream, yet I'm really excited he took time to share his perspectives on its creative role with us today:

It can happen when you are supposed to be doing other things. It can happen while you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. For those of us busy thinking almost all day long, daydreaming can be an easy exercise to provide some quiet time upstairs. Think of it as slowing to a jog in the middle of a running race or letting your car's idle push you along a normally busy freeway.

The power of daydreaming is what it lets your brain do: create - on its own time and in its own quantity.

Ever try creating really hard? You clench your teeth and tightly close your eyes only to find emptiness on the page where the ideas were supposed to show up? We've all had creative blocks from time to time, but when the brain stops all together, it's time for a little R&R.

Sometimes my kids catch me staring off into the window behind them. They say, "Dad? Hello. Are you in there?" For a few blessed seconds, my brain was cycling at its own pace with no pressure to solve, compute, or judge - a rare break from synapses constantly snapping.

So I'm going to suggest something: Our brains have two optimum speeds - really fast and barely moving. I know mine works this way, and it's important to appreciate the differences.

Really Fast

Really fast feels really good on most days. On the right projects when your heart is lined up with your brain, there's nothing like it. Yes, your brain can work without your heart, but I don't think the content is as good. These are the days when your brain is most productive, leaving the table, whiteboard, or computer screen covered with the residue of great production. Think of a great thoroughbred halfway through the Kentucky Derby; like that thoroughbred, your brain is meant to run hard.

Barely Moving

Here I'm not talking about sleep. Sleep is sleep. While evidently very beneficial to maintain sanity, sleep is not my focus, although I've had some amazing dreams!

The time I'm referring to is called daydreaming or quiet production. It's the time when you let the brain do what it wants without cracking a whip against its hindquarters. There is no race this time, only the soft shifting of the brain, side to side. I do this sometimes when I drive and keep the music and cell phone off. The only problem with this example is that you might miss your freeway exit from time to time. Let your mind go for a walk and you'll see some great sights. It's how I get what are my best ideas. There and in the shower, of course.

So, whether you plan a good daydream time or have it come upon you without warning, please do me a favor. Enjoy it.

And know that your brain thanks you for a brief moment's rest. -Tim Tyrell-Smith

10 Ways to Learn with Fewer Training Dollars

Training budgets get cut in challenging times. Yet it's critical to continue growing and developing. If dollars aren't available for traditional training though, what can you do personally? Here are 10 ways to continue expanding your expertise when many aren't:

1. Select a topic and develop a presentation you can deliver at conferences. You'll typically get a reduced rate or free registration as a presenter. Contact conferences you're interested in attending and pitch your presentation well in advance.


2. Find out if your company has online training. This is a great way to improve your understanding of business basics in-house with minimal investment.


3. Participate in free webinars. One upside of today's economy is the large number of companies offering free webinars. I've participated in several this year and haven't come across a clunker yet.


4. Take a community college course. Our local college has an unbelievable array of business and professional development courses. They're affordable, often feature multiple sessions, and scheduled for people who work.


5. Attend local association seminars. As an example, my good friend Jay Liebenguth is presenting today at the Kansas City Business Marketing Association lunch on the importance of storytelling in business. For a nominal personal investment, these types of sessions are a way to learn and network cost effectively without travel.


6. See if outside partners will open their training to you. A consultant had its in-house presentation designer do a session for us on constructing a presentation's logic flow. It was fantastically valuable and something we couldn't have paid to attend. This could be a value-added opportunity for both: you get education and usually, a more educated client is a better client.


7. Get on Twitter - develop a network involved in your field, participate in chat groups, and network for new ideas. Twitter is the richest, most diverse interaction opportunity I've come across. In a short time, it's exposed me to many smart people around the world eager to share information, perspectives, and links.


8. Share your own expertise. Whether it's presenting, writing, or answering questions on LinkedIn, you always learn by teaching. Sharing knowledge forces you to be on top of your game, plus trading perspectives with your students exposes you to new learning also.


9. Agree to a sales call. I'm emphatic about not spending time with salespeople when there's no real opportunity for them. Recently, I've started to relax that. After an admonition that a meeting implies no near-term buying intent, I've invested time with potential vendors eager to share new techniques. The downside is dealing with follow-on calls.


10. Learn from others through effective networking. With any of the previous ideas where you're interacting with people, it's an opportunity to offer value, share expertise, and build a reputation for helping others.

Give any one or a combination of these a try, and you'll definitely realize some of the most cost-effective learning benefits available.

4 Easy Steps to Commenting on a Blog

Last week I did a Social Media 101 presentation at The Central Exchange in Kansas City. Good friend and social media networker extraordinaire Amy Hoppenrath asked for a focus on creating strategic, fresh blog content (btw - if you'd like to have me talk about a strategic approach to blogging / Twitter / social media with your group or organization, let me know).

In response to my expressed dissatisfaction with the blog eliciting infrequent comments, one attendee suggested a possible factor: readers are unsure or uncomfortable in leaving comments.

Reasonable point, especially for people new to blogging, so here are four basics on commenting applicable to most blogs:

1. To leave a comment, click where it says "0 (or some number of) comments" at the bottom of a post. Clicking will open a dialogue box where you can type and submit your comment.
   
2. "Thanks. This post was helpful." is a great comment! It doesn't have to be any more than that to put a BIG smile on a blogger's face for the rest of the day. If you want to do something more in depth, that's cool also.
   
3. Identify yourself with your name. You don't have to sign up for anything to leave a comment here, but it's great if you at least leave your name so follow up comments can be directed to you.


4. If you're really uncomfortable commenting, go ahead and send the blogger an email. Anything that provides some type of feedback and breaks the virtual silence is a positive.

Writing a blog can be a pretty isolated experience. Take 30 seconds to break through and leave a hint you visited and enjoyed what was there. As I said before, it will make a blogger's day!

P.S. If you're a blogger, visit this Chris Brogan post for a great overview of approaches to try and generate comments.

Creative Quickie Report Out - Here's How I Helped Someone Creatively

Everybody received an assignment Friday morning: look for someone to help with a creative challenge over the weekend and then comment here to create the Monday Creative Quickie post. The early submissions are included below. You can still add others in the comments section for today's post.

Mike Brown said...
My wife Cyndi honed her web skills by volunteering to do websites for our Church and her sorority. It helped both out and let her engage new areas of creativity. Mike

Jan said...
I'm helping my daughter who's away at college celebrate Mother's Day with us ... by breaking the rules. Instead of celebrating May 10, we'll observe Mother's Day May 17, after Kate's out of school and back home. It's important to know the rules, so you can choose to break them!

Terry said...
Today one of our field managers shared a great analogy comparing one of our old web tools to a simple remote control (you know, the kind that only has power, volume and a channel changer) with our new web tool that's more like a universal remote with more features. Envisioning a remote with thousands of buttons, I helped him take the comparison a step further by comparing our formerly separate online tools that required customers to go three separate places to my coffee table covered with separate TV, VCR and cable box remotes.

Amy Hoppenrath said...
I received a question from a professional associate today asking for advice about a project she is working on. She was stuck. After some discussion, we determined that before she would find the answers, she needed to ask more questions.

A Weekend Creative Instigation Assignment - You're Doing Monday's Post!

Don’t feel like you get enough opportunities to be creative in your job? Maybe so.

If that’s the case, here's an assignment for today and over the weekend: be on the lookout for an informal opportunity to use your creative talent to help someone else, then report back on it here by Monday.

Want a quick example - at a party earlier this year, one guest was talking about trying to come up with an intriguing name for her new business idea. I joined the conversation and offered to help generate some possible names. My motivation? I'd developed a new messaging ideation technique that hadn't yet been tested. This was a great low-risk way to see if it could really generate lots of cool ideas.

We both benefitted. She received more than a 100 possible names; I learned what worked and didn't with the new technique.

Be on the lookout for people with creative challenges this weekend and share a brief story in the comments section on this post, ideally by Monday. Let everyone know how you tried to help someone - either previously or over the weekend. And in so doing, you'll address another creative challenge: your comments will become the whole Monday Creative Quickie post!

So have a great weekend and report your successes in helping others with creative challenges on Brainzooming!

5 Keys to Managing By Example - Guest Post by FlyingSpatula

Today's guest post is from Eric, or @flyingspatula as I've come to know him. That's one intriguing aspect of social media: people can disclose as much or little about themselves as they're willing to reveal. Eric is manager of a reporting team in Toronto, and under the @flyingspatula Twitter name, he tweets an amazing stream of great quotes and insights into strategy and management topics.

His Twitter bio also says he's a "funk-tacular" person. I agree, and look for more guests posts in the future. Here, he shares his perspectives on the importance and approach of managing by example:

You may have green-fielded your team and picked the diamonds in the rough. Or maybe you’ve inherited a group of people (inmates). Regardless of your team's opinion, you are their leader. As such, you are the designate of the company. For all intents and purposes, you write their reviews, give them their assignments, and you sign their check.

So where does this leave you as a leader? You need to wrangle the broncos and lead this herd - regardless of their background or experiences. You are the leader because you have the skill set and attitude to manage these troops better than any of them do.

Now to deflate you a bit. Your team will mutiny if you waltz in and start bossing them around. You've got to be able to manage by example. Here are my top 5 tips to do it successfully:

1. Ask for Help

You don't have all the answers - don't pretend you do. Your people may have been doing the job longer than you have. It's okay to ask them for guidance on the day to day tasks. This doesn't show weakness - it shows that you're human. It'll also demonstrate that you acknowledge and respect your people.

2. Provide Direction but Let People Make Mistakes

You have experience on your side. Play that card. If you've inherited a team, you may not know the company as well as them, but you've seen certain scenarios play out over and over again. Guide and advise. Unless someone is going to cross the line, let them make mistakes. They'll see value in asking your advice in the future.

3. Give Up the Spotlight

Your team does wonderful work - partly because you're an awesome leader, but mostly because you realize you need to hire people smarter than you. Chances are you'll have to present their work to the "higher ups." That doesn't mean you get to pretend you did the work. I've got a team of programmers. I'm not about to pretend I know how to code in php and do loop-de-loops in MySQL. They do great work. My role was to pick them out from the crowd and let the glow of the spotlight fall on them.

4. Don't be Lenient

This is a touchy subject. I would caution that as a leader, you should have the trust of your team before you start waiving the big stick. In a new team, there will be some growing pains at first. Most team building books say you're going through the "storming" phase. Don't fall for this. If you let your team dictate the norms, they will walk all over you. Of course I'm being extreme, but seriously, if they step out of line, you need to reel them in. Make it clear that there are Dos and Don'ts in your team. If push comes to shove, they need to do what you ask.

5. Create Performance Measurements Together

As a new leader, you need to evaluate your staff. Engage them during this process. You want your people to realize that you're not an evil person - and you want a sounding board to make sure your goals and expectations are realistic and achievable.

Hope this helps! Good luck you super managers and gurus in training.

"Exploring Innovation" - Guest Post from Howard McAuliffe

It's exciting to have two guest authors this week, both in response to reaching out on Twitter for leaders in innovation and strategy to share their perspectives. Today's post is from Howard McAuliffe, a real estate and community development professional in St. Louis, MO.

Howard has worked in Real Estate Development and entrepreneurial endeavors since 2001. He holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning and Real Estate Development with a concentration in Community Development from Saint Louis University and has served on the Public Policy Committee for Metropolis St. Louis, including serving as the Public Policy Chairperson in 2008.

In a recent tweet, Howard mentioned his participation in an upcoming Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis innovation conference. I reached out, and Howard agreed to share his perspective on the speakers and conference content:

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis hosted a conference on community development titled "Exploring Innovation" on April 22-24. The conference comes at a time of economic hardship throughout the world. The Exploring Innovation Conference brought together grass roots practitioners and some of the top minds in the country to discuss, collaborate, and learn.

The term "conference" brings to mind a series of experts speaking at the audience. This, however, was far from a traditional conference. The audience was as vocal as the presenters, with a conversation and exchange of information. Stand out presenters and facilitators included:

• Alan Berube, a senior fellow and research director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program.


• Mark Pinsky, president and chief executive officer of Opportunity Finance Network.


• Ray Boshara, vice president of the New America Foundation. He has advised presidents, testified before Congress and given speeches all over the world


• Bill Strickland, CEO, Social Architect, Community Leader, and Visionary who has built a state of the art community center and major business incubator in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. He is using the arts to motivate the citizens that society has given up on to realize amazing accomplishments.

In addition to the world-class presenters mentioned above, some of the ideas and organizations that stood out to me were:

• Swamp Gravy, a theatre company, revitalized its small Georgia town through its performances. This resulted in some astounding economic benefits.


• The EAST Initiative, started in rural Arkansas, is a program that motivates children to work together to solve problems by addressing practical projects.


• The Cornerstone Corporation for Shared Equity has an innovative program that allows renters to earn equity in exchange for being a responsible tenant. This includes paying rent on time, participating in property upkeep, and staying in the building for an extended period of time.

This conference was definitely a memorable and educational experience because of amazing participants, presenters, ideas, and innovations. For those interested, you can find out more information on the conference, presenters, and tools that are relevant to community development.

Strategic Thinking Snippets - Collaboration

There are various sketchbooks in our home office loaded with ideas. Sometimes a good thought doesn't fill up a whole blog post right away, but it offers enough possibilities to work well on Twitter. This is the debut of a new feature offering collections of strategic thinking ideas tweeted first, but then grouped and arranged to make them more digestable.

This first group touches on strategic collaboration, a fitting topic since upcoming posts on Wednesday and Thursday are both from people I've met over the past few weeks on Twitter.
Collaboration

• Don't always answer a question for someone who already "knows" the answer. Let them own the answer.
• Take risks on determined people. Even when falling short, their tenacity will create something rewarding.
• Seek help. Don't try to understand or do everything yourself. There are people better prepared than you. Let them do what they know.
• Get input early from a boss that has an informed perspective. You'll benefit from doing so.
• Ask questions of experts. Chart their answers for agreement/disagreement. Pray. Then make your best decision.
• Ask someone completely new for help with a challenge. You'll appreciate the different perspective. They'll like helping.
• Go out of your way to (at least informally) mentor those eager to learn & grow.

Please let me know your thoughts on this new feature in the comments section!