People who conclude that more money is needed before they can launch innovative projects, may be asking the wrong question. Recent cognitive discoveries suggest that money actually robs motivation and tends to decrease inventions. In reality, when you focus on money - you simply become more focused on money. It's how the human brain can diminish innovative initiatives, and work against renewal efforts that would otherwise set your business apart. Apply that propensity to make money as a focal point in organizations, for instance, and you’ll soon spot instances where green backs hamper creative brainpower. Take tenured or senior workers say, who feel threatened by new talents that upset traditional routines. Or observe top executives who care more about personal compensation over time, than about supporting workplace innovation. Consider government leaders who perform more to please funding sources than to serve their voters. Take start-ups who worry more about finding dollars to launch innovations, than about inventions that require risk for human capitol they already possess.
So where does innovation fit?
It started as an ordinary high school basketball game, in one entrepreneurial teenager’s approach, and ended as a top national news story of innovative wonder. An autistic teenager, Jason McElwain, scored 20 points in the final four minutes to win the title for Greece Athena High School. Nobody except J-Mac expected it to happen. Denied a place on his dream team, J-Mac agreed to serve as water boy, cheer leader, and captain of the team. In each role however, this lover of basketball, refused to let go of his dream, What if I could play in a real game with my team?
An uncluttered what if question led J-Mac to win gold, on his first time off the bench. It also inspired him to write a best selling book with Daniel Paiser titled, The Game of My Life: a True Story of Struggle, Triumph and Growing Up Autistic. You may not end up on CNN as J-Mac’s story did, but imagine the windfall if today could offer you a similar slice of brilliance.
What if you could accomplish something never before accomplished by using parts of your brain never before used? It rarely takes as long as people think, and often comes with more missteps than most expect. J-Mac put it this way, “My first shot was an air ball. Then I missed a lay up., and then as soon as the second shot, as soon as that went in, I started to catch fire.”
The key to innovation without money, is to think like a genius, ask what if, and jump in with two feet? Yes, engage two feet to power up both sides of your brain, as J-Mac did in last few seconds of that losing game. When the coach finally called him off the bench to suit up, others saw this autistic player enter a lost game. J-Mac, though, spotted a moment of opportunity.
Ask yourself what if a genius guided my talents today? Then watch for that J-Mac-break to pop up as you chase your what if question. Forget past failures, or lack of funds.
Instead, rev up winning brainpower as this teen did, by mentally reinventing your approach to a problem that holds back those who wait for more money to fund their actions. Two-footed, what if questions open success opportunities, one brain cell at a time. How so? In this case, one foot stirs curiosity as the left brain wonders about neuro facts with rewiring potential. The other foot tosses in brainpower from the right brain’s creative capability to convert brain facts into winning strategies.
Brain gurus would say J-Mac generated new neuron pathways to achieve his dream. Whatever you call this mental reboot, it takes less money and adds more dividends to a day than most people predict. What if you triumphed, as J-Mac did, over a challenge you face today? Imagine the impact of innovation – with invigorated brainpower that could begin to replenish our shrinking public purse.
Expect the best and stay in the game until it comes - Starting as water carrier is rarely easy when many in this recession enjoyed finer heights. In each role toward innovation, there will be challenges until a win comes.
Ask what if - Then explore how you can accomplish something never before accomplished by using parts of your brain never before used. That may mean new approaches to solve old problems - in novel ways.
For Example:
- What if - peace rather than war would reallocate money to strengthen caring and innovative communities? (See articles at http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/category/peace/ )
- What if - A new conversation began to reconsider the distribution of wealth that a flawed money system created, with opportunities for innovative change in how we frame, define, and apply financial guidelines that work more for Main street than for holding together broken systems on Wall St? (See articles at http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/?s=finance )
- What if we supported more innovative communities such as the MIX and offer diverse views to ensure the impact of innovation – with invigorated brainpower that could begin to replenish our shrinking public purse?
In the book, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, David Korten calls for a turn away from the false capitalism which led to wealth for a few only, and away from socialism that people fear for its concentration of wealth to a few only. Somewhere in between - where we build communities of care, and refuse to build the world around money as wealth (which is a false notion) Korten claims, lies real wealth for an entire prople.
A must read for further reading on the many integrated parts of the brain that relate to innovation, risk, rewards, and new possibilities for rewiring, is The Brain the Changes Itself, by Dr. Norman Doidge (MD). His is not so much the role to engage skeptists about newly discovered brainpower opportunities - as to tell stories of innovative leaders who acted innovatively far more on what they knew and discovered. Wonderful stories of innovation, without money , and against a backdrop of naysayers - who act less and doubt more. Innovation takes application of what we do know to improve what we've flawed. That is a daily research/practice task of possibilities for innovator such as MIX members who take risks, apply what they learn and make a difference to rewire broken systems.
Interestingly, in Tom Wujec's experiment in the TED vieo below - Build a Tower - Build a Team, when money was offered to the winning team, people did far worse, as yet another example of money proven to be less reward for innovation than one may expect.
Money never got me out of bed in the morning expectantly anticipating what pieces I could add to an innovative project underway at the MITA International Brain Center. I notice that many inventors and innovators, have an inner drive to create a new product that works in amazing new ways. They often sacrifice and put their last dollar behind what they believe. Without people with this amazing inner drive, we would not be where we are as a nation. Thanks for thoughtful personal contributions to bring out "What if..." possibilities to keep the flame burning for others.
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For instance, while money may not be a change driver, assessments can be. My question is how can we better align assessments to drive and inspire the organizational change many here so crave? Thoughts?
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Hi Ellen
"Brain gurus would say J-Mac generated new neuron pathways to achieve his dream."
Amazing! Which brain gurus?
Kind regards
Geoffrey
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Good question and thanks for asking, Geoffrey, yet, I smiled when I first read your question - because you've likely heard the humorous definition of "expert' (X equals the unknown in algebra & SPURT equals a drip under pressure) Thus - X-SPURT :-).
By gurus here though, I am referring to folks far smarter than me who have taught me so much from their fast growing fields in the cognitive and neuro-sciences. I have tended to take the least controversial facts – that many agree upon, and simply apply these to build strategies for leading and learning in innovative ways.
What I refer to here comes from quite standard facts though, and in fact I purposely stay away from controversial findings or those still being tested and argued, as I am far more interested in helping leaders and learners with applications that are commonly accepted.
In this segment I am referring to the reconfiguring of dendrite connectors – that occurs nightly in the human brain as we sleep in REM. Those new neuron pathways are connected in ways that reflect what you did the day prior, and this young man constantly lives for his dream – even when diminished by others in his communities. Yet, the constant doing of key tasks related to basketball, and holding onto his dream of playing, allowed those dendrite cells to connect for that winning shot nobody expected on the first time he was permitted onto the courts. What an example to people like innovators – who often get stepped on by communities of “experts,” and yet hold on to their vision and find supporters such as the MIX community to discuss innovative opportunities. Nuff said – and you likely knew the dendrite connection relation anyway. Thanks though for reading my 2-bits and raising it Geoffrey.
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Ellen -
Great story! Thanks for sharing it!
Another way to look at it is this: Don't stop if the door is closed. You can break it, find a key, climb through the window or over the wall, blow it up, remove the lock, etc. When people see problems, they often stop. But there are 20 ways to solve a problem people don't even consider.
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Thanks for your kind words, Matt. What a thoughtful way of putting it - you said it better than I did!
You also raised the very key issue that MITA Brain Center addresses. Intelligent folks STOP and run, rather than solve the problem innovatively. That habit holds an entire nation back – at the very moments we need brilliant insights from one another to move us all forward. There are reasons for people quitting – or wasting mental power fighting naysayers. These including practices we've taught and sadly tolerate - that work against the human brain's proclivity to "hang in, find serotonin that comes from support of others, and take risks to make mistakes necessary for amazing results.
Imagine if we were to learn simple strategies that project good tone (see http://xrl.us/bgst2w) so that we add sparks to further brainpower for creativity. Instead we’ve learned and often use cynicism http://xrl.us/bexft5 that shuts out mental equipment and blocks brainpower from building solutions together. What if we regularly offered helpful suggestions that would build on others ideas, or if we asked 2-footed questions that promote views on the other side of issues? What’s been aptly described in the recent book “Caustic Colleagues,” would soon be replaced with practical strategies for working with others toward innovative wins. We call these brain based strategies.
At the MITA International Brain Center, we certify university faculty and top business leaders to show practical strategies for disagreeing in ways that promote goodwill, by strategies for using good tone that prevents cortisol that diminishes brainpower. We help people to build new neuron pathways to innovative brilliance, in ways that J-Mac modeled in his winning shot.
Have you seen tone tactics, and genuine supports, work with top leaders who instigate vibrant communities that create new solutions?
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Ellen,
You wrote in your leader piece, "Recent cognitive discoveries suggest that money actually robs motivation and tends to decrease inventions." Is this statement based on published research, and, if so, can you cite the source(s)? Thanks.
Mel Perel
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Mel, thanks for this thoughtful question which opens yet another segue into innovative ways to build brainpower together forward for a new era.
Recent research suggests that money can actually rob creativity and make you unhappy, for instance. See http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/general/focus-on-funds-for-downfa... with a link back to this research. It’s quite significant to innovative change.
The connection here is that when recession first hit my area, most leaders demanded lower expenses from their employees and then tossed higher prices at clients to cover any loss. Wegmans food chain did the opposite.
It’s really cool how the human brain comes with unique equipment to build and sustain innovative cultures, where design leads to profitability. See links to research here. http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/general/innovation-design-and-the...
I point out that to kindle and design ideas such as these top creative moments that hit new heights in the last decade, takes connecting the art and science from your left and right brain. (See http://www.fastcompany.com/pics/decades-14-biggest-design-moments#9 )
The manifesto we build on here at MITA International Brain Center relates to how innovation is often gained or lost by the way we use or block brainpower http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com/change/mita-brain-manifesto/
While I have been studying innovative leadership and brainpower connections for a lifetime, I like to convert only undisputed brain facts into doable strategies for leading innovation. I tend to skip disputed new discoveries, until these are more widely accepted. That way folks enjoy implementing brain based tools we facilitate with leaders – and that win good results for them, and we lose less time debating the validity of uncertain or newer brain discoveries.
Thanks for allowing me the privilege to think deeper on a key topic, Mel. Would value your own thoughts on the innovation opportunities for the new era we face.
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Good question, Mel. There are several recent studies that support this fact, and it's best to start in the neurofinance research. See http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2004/08/09/what_is_neurofinance.php Further to that there are studies reported in Science Digest that show people were not motivated by money. See also studies at http://www.experiencefestival.com/motivation_-_is_money_a_motivator . Leaders at http://www.employer-employee.com/howtomot.htm have used the studies also and their strategies may interest you.
Whenever applying neuro-discoveries to adjust practices, it's best to go with the research, but track your own growth and advances - since much of this recent research will gain benefits over time - as longitudinal stories. There is no need to wait to apply recent research, for those who wish to try the ideas and gauge the results.
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Ellen, as a place where science may be in conflict with popular myth, this is a crucial frontier. Like people in the US heading west during the nineteenth century, this one is likely to be accomplished in waves, with explorers, pioneers, and finally the bulk of settlers taking to their wagons -- with some tories continuing unchangeably to believe in the myths we have all grown up with. Of those on the move some will be motivated by possibility, the what if's, some will be motivated by the opportunities (another set of what if's), and some will come, perhaps, only when there are so many stories that it seems like a sure thing.
Belief in money as central motivator is a heck of a drug. How can a brain infected with this belief -- which is, I believe, an unhealthy brain -- become healthy? How can an addicted brain decide to undo the addiction? Gabor Mate in his beautiful book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts (http://www.amazon.com/Realm-Hungry-Ghosts-Encounters-Addiction/dp/155643...), suggests there are few ways out, but the opportunity for genuine reflection may begin to be one of them. I don't think the science by itself will do it. It will have to come from centered questioning and from personal experience, and maybe a sense of deeper choice about issues of comfort and fulfillment. It certainly can involve moving to a new standpoint about life, and what a good life means.
This reminds me of Carol Pearson, writing in her book on archetypes, Awakening the Heros Within (http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Heroes-Within-Archetypes-Ourselves/dp/00...). She talks about the problem in this way:
"The Creator [archetype] pushes us out of our inauthentic roles to claim our identities. When this archetype is active, people are as consumed with the need to create a life as artists are with the need to paint, or poets with the need to write. Just as great painters and poets will be willing to give up money and power and status to create their art, when the Creator is active in our lives, we are pushed at least to decide to be ourselves, even if it means that we will die unknown, poor, and alone. Usually, of course, people who begin to act out of their authentic selves do not pay this price--indeed many are well known, wealthy, and surrounded with friends and loved ones. However, the only way to be able to be true to oneself is to know that one will do so whatever the costs."
"It is ... essential ... to have the sense that there is something encoded in your cells that you must do, something that is your basic reason for being on the planet. It may be a particular vocation, a contribution to society, a person or people you must love, becoming healed in some way, learning a powerful lesson; but it is also, simultaneously, about your evolution."
"Each of us has a piece of the puzzle of solving the great world problems of our time and creating a more just, humane, and beautiful world. We know what our part is by what feels not just familiar, but deeply true and right when we do it. We know it by what we love and what makes us feel fulfilled. We know it by what we cling to when everything around us and sometimes in us is falling apart."
"If everyone who loved to create beauty did so, we would live in a beautiful world. If everyone who loved cleanliness and order, cleaned up, we would live in a clean and orderly world. If everyone who yearned to heal the sick did so, we would live in a healthier world. If everyone who cared about world hunger shared his or her creative ideas and acted to alleviate the problem, people would all be fed."
"If we could learn that the wisdom of the Self coded in each of us is never wrong, that what we yearn to do is what we are to do, we would co-create a better world. But that does not mean that your conscious mind knows the answer. Certainly few of us are given a map. To the degree that we trust our own process on a moment-to-moment basis, doing what seems right and authentic, we will grow into what we are meant to be."
I want to build on your notion here, Ellen, of focusing on the what if's. The what if's are fabulous because they can release the energy to change a life. To me that's the challenge here. It's not just a challenge to the way we think -- that's first -- but, then more essentially to the way we live, if we let them in far enough. What if the brain could heal itself from even its own worst addictions? Isn't that an intriguing question?
Best to you
Dan
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What an interesting thought, Dan … “some will come, perhaps, only when there are so many stories that it seems like a sure thing.” An innovator will likely not be among those who wait it out.
Wow – I have to read these books! Loved the notion, "Each of us has a piece of the puzzle of solving the great world problems of our time and creating a more just, humane, and beautiful world. We know what our part is by what feels not just familiar, but deeply true and right when we do it. We know it by what we love and what makes us feel fulfilled. We know it by what we cling to when everything around us and sometimes in us is falling apart."
Thanks for building here Dan, especially on the “what ifs.” You are right that the what if's are fabulous because they can also change and remap the human brain for the innovations we are all talking about here at MIX. It’s not a case of just money or no money – as much as it’s the sustainable innovation that builds prosperity for the wider community, and ensures others’ needs are also met. We in US, for instance occupy 5% of the world, and yet consume 21% of the world’s energy. Innovation can turn that around so that we are contributing to a finer future for those who have less.
So I agree that the “what ifs” are the real challenge here, and it’s connected essentially to the way we live.
Loved your question, as it is one we deal with often at the MITA Brain Center: What if the brain could heal itself from even its own worst addictions? But that’s another hack, at another time. Love the way your reflections build better ideas at the core and leave one on a note of curiosity! ‘Nuff said, except to offer appreciation for the way your mind moves ideas forward, and adds value to other’s foundations, Dan.
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