I would have once attributed the most important characteristic of an innovative individual as CURIOSITY, but after reading Jim Canterucci's book "Personal Brilliance" I feel that the 'most important' label should got to AWARENESS.

Once I was aware of Awareness as a catalyst to creativity, I saw it in every single one of the ideas I chose to develop.  Awareness is that internal radar that causes you to prick up your ears and squint your eyes as you look and listen intently to some 'thing' that has captured your attention and focused your concentration into a singularly specific topic.  Like dog hearing a high-pitched sound or a jungle cat hearing prey drawing near, you know this 'thing' is important -- but maybe not exactly WHY (at least at this point in time.)

You file this attention-collecting information away for future use. Sometimes it's merely mentally filed in the back of your mind, but you would be better served to physically record the information: bookmark a website, make a journal entry, or tear out a magazine article and put it in a file cabinet. Taking these steps will actually heighten your awareness to that specific topic the next time it enters your area of radar coverage -- encouraging to you make a further connection to the content through another act of Awareness.

A is for Awareness.
If you'd like additional ideas for increasing your personal effectiveness of this ability, I encourage you to read Jim Canterucci's article on the subject: "Seven Ways to Amplify Your Awareness."  You can also listen to more of my own views on Awareness in Jim's Personal Brilliance Podcast. My specific episode is located here.

Other words receiving 'Honorable Mentions' for the letter "A" were ACTION and ALTERNATIVES.  Do you disagree with my designation of AWARENESS for the letter "A?"  Want to suggest alternatives, or make a nomination for the word I'll select for "B" in my next post?  Leave a comment below!

Awareness Test
See if your Awareness skills are heightened enough to spot how this color changing card trick is accomplished...

For me, 2008 is turning out to be a year of going back to the basics in order to advance forward to the future.  I've been working in mass media for the last couple years, and it's a perfect example of an industry that has been around for so long that it has become rooted (mired?) in an almost mythic tradition that created a weighty and egotistical pomposity.  Newspapers, Television, and Radio (as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz would say -- "Oh, my!") 

Everyday you can read about (usually on the Web) another Newspaper ceasing production of their print publication and moving to a strictly digital distribution format.  Just the other day, giants of the newsprint industry united to create a digital ad network.  Radio and Television stations are creating YouTube channels and alternative web streams in an attempt to stay hip and relevant in the lives of their dwindling audiences.

As a big believer in the cliche "the more things change, the more they stay the same" I think the best way to move forward when confronted with such an overwhelming obstacle to your survival, is to go back to the basics that helped you first build to your success.  And what could be more basic than the ABCs?

Today I start a series to recreate the ABCs as they pertain to innovation.  Connecting sound advice for successful innovation to these 26 tiny symbols seems somehow appropriate, in that these symbols can be rearranged, reordered, and reimagined in an unlimited number of variations in order to created world-changing innovations.

The Declaration of Independence, the "I have a dream" speech from Martin Luther King Jr., Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Ghandi -- every great work, great author, great speaker, great thinker had (and has) access to these same number of letters and all have created legendary and life-changing innovations.  From the millions of letters used to create a set of encyclopedias to the 271 words in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to the 5 characters (counting the number and mathematical symbol) in Einstein's mass-energy equivalence explaining his Theory of Relativity -- these letters are powerful in any combination and quantity.

It all comes down to how you use the most basic of building blocks -- your ABCs.  Visit me next time when we start with the letter "A."

While this slideshow was originally created as a way to spot and develop trends, I think the content shares effective insight on how inspiring infectious innovation in any industry. These are ideas that will help prevent you from becoming "the best typewriter company in the world." Watch the slideshow for the explanation...

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Joseph Jaffe (author of Life After The 30-Second Spot and the new Join The Conversation) recently proclaimed the death of "The Big Idea" and the birth of focusing on the Small Idea.

Says Jaffe:
"I'm sick and tired of this notion that there is a singular BIG IDEA out there. Marketers demand it from their agencies and agencies in turn expect it from media sellers and technology vendors. And they all want it yesterday PLUS no one wants to pay for it.

Big ideas take too much time to find and we don't have the time to find 'em.  Big ideas are equated to expensive ideas...hence the word BIG. They're meant to create a splash; secure buzz; enrapture the masses with pomp, grandeur and ceremony."

He's right.
One of the most common client claims that I receive when working to develop new marketing or promotional ideas is that they want something big, something revolutionary, something no one else can compete with -- but that's not REALLY want they want.  Because they don't want anything that takes time to ramp-up or needs explaining to their target demo.  New stuff always needs explaining. That's why the Forefathers wrote down their big idea back in 1776 -- someone needed to explain their big idea to King George (talk about 'revolutionary'.)

The big new ideas are almost always more expensive to execute.  I just had a meeting the other day with a client to whom I'd just explained a recommended marketing campaign. He said it was too much and I needed to "sharpen my pencil."  I said that if you need to reduce the price, I'd cut this component (indicating one of the elements of the plan.)  He responded by saying "But, that the most innovative part of the project!"  I could respond "Funny how that works, isn't it?" and try not to smirk as I said it.

Jaffe continues...
"Ideas are about potential. As Victor Hugo once said, there is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come... but the idea is a catalyst; a conduit; a means to an end... and NOT an end unto itself.

Today, the only time BIG IDEAS are means to an end is when that end is winning a new business pitch or a Grand Prix at Cannes. Most new business pitch BIG IDEAS are unimplementable and how many Grand Prix winners at Cannes have gone on to change the world or transform businesses, business models and/or lives?

You won't hear me talking about THE BIG IDEA anymore, but rather MANY SMALL IDEAS...

It's time to get out of the business of desperately seeking the HAIL MARY or GRAND SLAM and focus on SMALL BALL or winning through a series of calculated gains of inch increments.
It's time to truly recognize the power of SMALL (being the NEW BIG as Seth Godin might say), which more often than not begins with one human; one individual; one life; one smile; one spark; one seed and grows and takes off from there..."

The Big Idea is Dead.
Long Live the Small Idea.

The original content is from Tom Peters, but I like John Moore's formatting better.

I've long believed that big success could be more easily attained in small business. Tom and John would seem to agree, as they posted this 16-point manifesto for microcorps to beat the bejeezus out of the big guys way back in 2005.

My favorites from the list are:
#1: Niche Aimed
Never try to be all things to all people. You can ask my friend Susan Friedmann for some great ideas on niche-focusing.

#3: Dramatically Different
Being significantly different within your community, your industry, etc. should be obvious, but this is where most companies (big and small) fall short.

#5: Emotionally Bond with Clients/Vendors
Treat your customers and suppliers like family -- maybe even better than family. Connect with their passions and find an alignment within your company's services and products that appeal and feed that passion.

John Moore created a great video primer on these techniques and called it "Jumbo Shrimp Marketing" -- I've embedded the video below.

In a brilliant act of confronting Apple with its own words (and then making them eat those words) a YouTube user with the screen name "KeeptheiPhoneFree" created a video mashup of all the third-party iPhone software that was effectively rendered useless when Apple released the firmware update 1.1.1.

The real act of brilliance was in using the audio from Apple's groundbreaking "Think Different" campaign. Listen to the narrator (who I think is Richard Dreyfuss) call out Apple's salute to "the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently." According to Apple's script they have no respect for the status quo -- yet that's just what Apple is trying to maintain by fighting the iPhone hack that allows for greater user ability by these self same "Crazy Ones."

So, according to Apple it is okay to Think Different -- just don't think TOO different from them.

I've been toying with a new concept for a while now, and I thought I'd share with all of you and get your opinion.

I am an avid reader with an entire room devoted to my books (as well as stacks and stacks of them in every corner of the Idea Guy headquarters!) I do my best to retain the morsels of information inevitably contained within each book -- but with so many concepts and so many books, that can be a difficult task.

I took to sticking Post-It notes on the important pages of each book, but that became messy and kind of a pain since it required referring back to the physical book itself. I tried jotting down notes in a book journal, but that was a nightmare when trying to find which page of the journal referred to which book -- plus I was a juggling act to read the actual book, then put it aside and open the journal to record the notes.

A possible solution arose when I began using an index card for a bookmark. I could easily jot notes on the index card and retain my place in the book. Once finished, the notecard could be stored in a plastic file box -- but the space on the index card wasn't sufficient to capture all the ideas in most of the books I read.

I finally decided to add a litle oomph to the index card concept and created the Novel Ideas Bookmark. It's a bright yellow 8x6 card that folds to 4x6 for easy storage in one of those index card storage boxes I mentioned above.

The front of the card is horizontal and contains spaces for book title and author's name to allow for easy filing. The card opens like a book and the inside is ruled to allow for journal-like entry of important points in the book. I list the page number and then the concept I wish to note. The back of the card includes additional ruled lines for final points.

I also included a spot on the front of the card to list the most valuable lesson I learned from the book, as well as a favorite quote. The bottom/right corner of the card front allows for a "1 of X" indication in case I need more than a single Novel Ideas Bookmark to record details -- but I have yet for this to happen.

Once a book is read, I can replace it on my bookshelf and file the card/bookmark in my office for future referral. I can file books on subject, author, or title -- and information is always on-hand.

If you'd like a set of my Novel Ideas Bookmark, you can purchase a pack of five for only $5.50 (free shipping in US) by clicking the button below, or you can print your own by downloading the PDF printing template available in my IDEAS4U Yahoo Group.

It's easy and FREE to join the IDEAS4U group (just click here!) Once you register, you'll find the template in the Bonus Freebies folder in the FILES section.

Let me know what you think!

My buddy (and fellow Marketing Geek) Jim Kukral wrote an excellent add-on piece to Steve Rubel's insight into the newly realized position of "Geek Marketer" in a recent AdAge column.  Geek Marketer is as good a title as any (although I tend to prefer my long-running "Idea Guy" moniker.) 

Jim agrees that the Marketing Geek role is in demand, but that most companies view rewarding this newly-minted marketing position with old ideas of remuneration.  Jim says: "They [agencies] are expecting to pay this person an average salary. Guess what?  We're way more valuable than that."

Jim makes a great point about most traditional businesses, agencies, marketing firms, etc. expecting to pay an 'average salary' for this above-average (and extremely valuable) new role.  In some cases, this single individual can make a significant difference in the success or failure (distinction or extinction) of a company stuck in the rut of old-advertising mentality.  BUT, it is my view that the true Geek Marketer isn't actually looking for a salary (average or otherwise) but is in constant search of the opportunity to work with cool people on cool projects.  Never before has the cliche of "do what you love and the money will follow" been more true.

By combining the artist's innate love of "The Cool Project" with the savvy of a marketing guru, you end up with a Marketing Geek who understands the value of the expertise they bring to the table.  They don't necessarily need to be paid a salary so much as rewarded in accordance to the value of the ideas and concepts they bring to the table -- as well as their ability to execute and implement those concepts in a successful (and profitable) manner.

The Marketing Geek isn't going to look upon a 'salary' as the thing that binds them to a company. It's more like the minimum retainer required for first access to their ideas.  The real reward needs to be connected to the profit and challenge in making those ideas a reality.  By all means, provide a salary (average or otherwise) when attempting to entice a Marketing Geek to work within the walls of your company (we've all got rent and car payments to make in between those world-changing ideas), but keep in mind money is not the true motivator that will ultimately keep them working for you (with you.)  There needs to be a connection to the profit in the end value of their concepts, and the freedom to explore undefined and dark alleyways to find the light (and the profit) on the other side.