It seems I've valued my ability to play Devil's Advocate a bit too highly. According to Thomas Kelley, in his latest book Ten Faces of Innovation, I may have had a hand in quashing new ideas rather than enouraging them.
Not that there's anything wrong with playing Devil's Advocate, but why limit yourself to a single role? You could become typecast as an idea-killer -- a singularly difficult rut to get out of.
Kelley outlines ten other roles -- "Faces" -- that you can adopt when going through the creative process. Anthropologist, Experimenter, Cross-Pollinator, Hurdler, Collaborator, Director, Experience Architect, Set Designer, Storyteller, and Caregiver. Each Face falls into a persona category of Learning, Organizing, or Building.
While no single Face is going to make your ideas any more successful than another, being able to play each role (or assemble a team with a complementary strength in each role) will only increase your chances for success, and make your ideas stronger than ever.
The Ten Faces of Innovation also gives you an excellent response to that guy (that guy who is no longer me!) who says "Let me play Devil's Advocate a moment..." and proceeeds to rip into your idea and rain on your parade. Simply respond with "Well, let me play Hurdler a moment and tell you how we can get around that problem." or "Let me play Anthropologist for a minute and tell you what I've found while observering our customers."
The Ten Faces of Innovation basically gives you the ability to tell the Devil's Advocate to "Go to... Heck" -- and that can be pretty satisfying.
Buy the book at Amazon.com, or visit the official site at www.TenFacesofInnovation.com.
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