It is important to work to understand as many of the working pieces in your craft but true genesis lies beyond words and true creativity is creating something where there is not.  Nobody can tell you where your own success lies and you won't find success in the place it is not.  There's a Japanese proverb that says "The Reverse Side Also Has A Reverse Side."  These words mixed with Buddha's last - "Conditioned things are perishable; with vigilance strive to succeed" have inspired the notion behind this post as I relate them to myself, creativity and the things I pragmatically work thru on a daily basis.  So let's step back and dispel some conventional thinking first.

Four hundred years ago, Francis Bacon warned that our minds are wired to deceive us. "Beware the fallacies into which undisciplined thinkers most easily fall--they are the real distorting prisms of human nature." Chief among them: "Assuming more order than exists in chaotic nature." What he was getting at is that we place too much weight on the odds that past events will repeat themselves.  So if that sounds interesting, then let's explore that for a moment, shall we?

Predictive Models Are Overrated

Have you ever taken some time to consider that in marketing, advertising and business in general (or government for that matter), there is an enormous amount of time, money and resource spent on prediction.  There is a power law distribution for every PowerPoint and every occasion. As humans, our brains are wired for linear instead of exponential outcomes or statistical uncertainties.    We end up looking for simple stories to tell ourselves that explain the complex things we don't--and, most importantly, can't know.

Accept That Order Is A Short-Lived Illusion

The flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas.  You've probably heard of "The Butterfly Effect."  The whole notion is that we live in a "dynamical system" where small variations of "initial conditions" can create huge variance in the long-term behavior of that system.  In fewer words, there is no way of knowing the affect of a single action due to the infinite variations and unintended consequences of the re-action in an environment where change is constant.

Personally, I believe that we are all part of a system where if we were in a position to know the state and flux of all variables including the infinite number of changing variables that occur every split second and how those variables affect the corresponding infinite variables that there is a predictive model that has no differential equations and works to a reliable certainty.  Unfortunately for all of us this falls in the category of "Divine Providence."

So how do we create order in a such a complex world?  Forget about it.   I'm up for a different approach, how about you?  To me, the tension is prediction vs preparedness where success lies in preparing for and embracing uncertainty.

You Must Have Chaos Within You To Give Birth To A Dancing Star

That was written by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.  Nietzsche loved to dance.  He believed that dance was the most genuine expression of the soul; our souls being as complex of an environment as the universe itself.  What I take this to mean is that success, creativity and happiness itself is more about embracing the unknown than making calculated and deliberate actions toward a preconceived outcome.  I think this is his way of defining "the passion quotient" that virtually every writer of success points to as it's basis.  Find what makes you happy and you will find where your creativity and pathway to success is.  Embrace your "self" and have faith in the uncertain.  It kinda goes hand-n-hand.  Passion and faith in your passion is the foundational piece to overcoming any obstacle life throws at you.  So now that we've "Embraced Chaos" and found our passion, how do we pragmatically conquer our uncertain world.

Passion Breeds Preparedness

So maybe you have found your passion.  Maybe you, like me, were told as a child "you can be anything you want to be (or do anything you want to do) when you grow up."  A more correct answer is "you can do anything you are PREPARED to do." It was Thomas Edison who said "Genius was 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."  Passion goes a LONG way.  However, in Edison's case, it was only 1 percent of the equation.  Now I don't necessarily agree with his equation but his point is valid.  My equation, especially in today's ever-changing and complex world, is a little different.

Preparedness Breeds Awareness And Opportunity

I have talked with many extraordinary and successful people.  When asked, pretty much every one of them told me that the events that made the most profound difference in their success were not created by their will to succeed but by being in the right place, at the right time, with the right tools and the right domain expertise -- domain expertise developed thru passion, awareness and preparation.  In other words, any amount of pontificating or previous research could not have created or foretold of the opportunities that actually made a difference in almost all the cases I've come across.  Success is about stumbling on the right opportunity at the right time with the right skillset and the right perspective to notice it.

Being prepared in a chaotic world to deal with complexity to create and facilitate value is the key.  So luck DOES have a LOT to do with it.  But you don't get lucky sitting on the couch - no matter how much talent you have; which brings us to the next rivalry....

You Can't Rely On Talent

I just got thru reading Malcom Gladwell's latest book Outliers: The Story of Success.  One chapter is devoted to time.  Time & practice being the great equalizer.  Time spent practicing or in "preparation."  It's about the notion that; no matter how talented you are on day one, after 10,000 hours of practice, the talent you had or did not have on day one becomes virtually irrelevant.  Take Tiger Woods.  He had an obvious talent for golf at an extraordinarily young age.  Where do you think we would be if Tiger wasn't just as legendary in his work ethic and didn't put in years and years and years of practice?  We would have never heard of Tiger Woods.  So what is it that can take a talented child and drive them to become the best of the best?  It still comes down to preparation.  There are golfers out there, who never had the God given talent Tiger had that are competitive and in many times, surpasses him in the sport.  Preparation overcomes all.

Don't I Blog About Digital Media, Interactive Marketing & Flat World Implications?

I wrote this post because I have been working on building an extraordinary team.  There has been a lot of discussion on what type of people to look for when it comes to building products in the digital space.  I want to work with people who are creative and do not need to be managed.  People who, as a group, can be pointed in a direction and succeed; more times than not.  In today's flat world, any less won't cut it.  So yeah.. I do blog about digital media, interactive marketing & flat world implications

Innovation refers to incremental, radical, and/or revolutionary change.  Change in thinking, products, processes, and/or institutions & organizations.   It's fueled by creative people on an unending journey to make things faster, smaller, cheaper, cleaner, simpler; people who put their heart and soul into their craft without regard.  Institutions or organizations are deliberately and intentionally created by people.  The development of functional institutions in society in general may be regarded as an instance of emergence; meaning, institutions arise, develop and function in a pattern of social self-organization, which goes beyond the conscious intentions of the individual humans involved.  It is the mechanical and traditional way effort is coordinated.

We live in exponential times.  Innovation grows in an exponential manner.  It's not linear.  We think and intuit in a linear fashion.  For example, if you walk 30 steps linearly (1,2,3.... 30) you've taken 30 steps.  If you take 30 steps exponentially (2,4 8 16.... ) you get to a billion.  Quite a difference, no?  So if we live in exponential times, what's the future hold for innovation as well as institutional organization?  Again, if we are to look ahead, we need to look to the past for some perspective.

Why Create An Institution?

How do we get anything done - traditionally speaking?  If you want to coordinate the work of a group of people, you start an institution.  You raise capital, develop resources in order to coordinate effort; basically, you start a company.  The company can be private or public.  So thinking of a company as an institution, you use the charter of this institution to coordinate the effort needed to create output.  What we are talking about are coordination costs.  As part of creating an institution in order to coordinate effort, part of that coordination costs includes the collaboration and innovation required to re-invent and stay relevant in your market.

Institutional Extinction?

We've seen the imploding of institutional imperatives coming to fruition for awhile.  I believe there is more to this than what this post is addressing (such as institutional anonymity leads to moral ambiguity).

Institutional failures are happening all around us.  In a nutshell, there is no faith in our government institutions, financial institutions, educational institutions or our corporate institutions.  The net outcome creates an environment ripe for solutions.  Small grass-roots solutions that have the ability to spread globally in seconds, take root in weeks and evolve tangentially into real organic solutions devoid of institutional friction or myopic disconnects.  There is also a pattern of indifference until it's too late which reminds me of a great quote:

"Every CEO will at least give lip service to the idea that the world is moving faster and that we need to do a better job at innovation. But if you go into an organization and ask people to describe their innovation system, you get blank looks.  They have none."
-- Gary Hamel

"Built To Last" Doesn't Mean What It Once Did

The problem with the traditional institutional model more relevant to this post is that it is outdated.  The fundamental requirement for innovation is communication.  Communication between the "creative people on an unending journey to make things faster, smaller, cheaper, cleaner, simpler."  Another problem is, this model is not well suited for the "people who put their heart and soul into their craft without regard."  There is institutional friction that is unavoidable and deflating to the best and the brightest.  Don't believe me?  Look at what's has been happening over the past 80 years.  You cannot help but notice the lifespan of an average institution is falling thru the floor.

This graph is powerful, no?  Notice how the market corrections are a big driver.  So why else do you think this is happening?  You agree that we live in exponential times, right?  Well if we live in exponential times, then the speed at which we need to adapt, relearn, change or in essence, Innovate, doubles every year or two.  Larger institutions, by their very nature, are incapable to respond.  Consider that in many cases that takes at least one or two years to recognize there is a problem to even begin to solve it.  By the time many of them solve it; well guess what.  They're stuck solving a problem that is now irrelevant and distracting them from solving the new issues at hand.

The Lack Of Institutional Effectiveness & Agility

What else has happened during this timeline?  Think about the methods and means at which we are able to communicate.  Telegraph, Telephone, Travel, Logistics, Radio, Television and now cram all of the affect of those communication tools into the internet and you have increased the effectiveness and cut the cost by almost a trillion.  There is "Flat World Coordination" that has real potential to allow smaller companies to better serve the larger's customer base at a fraction of the cost while adding more product and/or service value.  It's this "Flat World Orchestration" that is changing the competitive landscape for the larger institutions.

Are You Saying That Institutions As We Know Them Are Dead?

Successful ones as they traditionally operate?  Yes.  I am saying that in shorter and shorter lifespans become... dead (hence the above graph).  Traditional institutions will survive and thrive when management, board members and/or shareholders are able to step out of the "what we did yesterday will work for us tomorrow" mentality.  In order to survive for the longterm, one has to recognize that the things that got you where you are will not get you where you optimally should be.  I was asked by a mid-market CEO recently about what are the most important things to understand in order to adapt and compete.  I came up with 6 that I feel are undeniable and universal:

• Institutions Are Inherently Exclusionary - Solve This
• Your Best Ideas Aren't Necessarily Your Own - Accept This
• Innovation Is Now A Global Collaborative - Leverage This
• The Tools Of Innovation Are Ubiquitous - Believe This
• Combine The Best Talent And Tools Without Institutional Regard - Break Down Silos
• Your Best Agent Of Change Is Probably Already Working For You - Forget Consultants

Embrace This Paradigm And You Will Stumble On Bigger And Better Opportunities.  Plan, Do, Study, Act... Repeat.  So what else is happening in market corrections?

Small Will Be More Influential And More Plentiful

So stepping back a bit, what are the type of companies that are winning in this environment?  In 2 words, Small Business.  What to you think the net outcome of layoffs from the financial mess?  It will be more small business who are more capable to adapt and who will drive us out of our current situation.   Look in the troughs in the above graph that represent market corrections.  People are still working, more and more companies are being created.  Every correction leads to wider acceptance of newer innovations and knowledge that people take from their corporate institutional jobs they lost to their new ventures as business owners.  The other paradigm is the concept I put out as "The Rise Of The Individual In A Flat World."  There is a great book that will describe this phenomena better than I called Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself.

There is a huge upswell of activity and opportunity for entrepreneurial groups and individuals who find themselves either inspired to and/or laid off and in a different predicament due to mass layoffs.  As history begins to repeat itself, this is the best time to find your niche and create now and competitive value.  Small business activity flourishes in economic downturns and it has every single time there has been one.  So if you are recently laid off or are worried you might be.  Start taking some bold actions toward finding what you can put your heart and soul into without regard.  Rest knowing that there is no better time to be an entrepreneur.  Small IS your competitive advantage.