hat tip to good mate Al Mac for photo almackinnon.

com
 INTRO 1-2 / 20

Everyone is creative.

Anyone can be
an innovator.

You just need to

know how.

Start by innovating
Better Ideas. Faster.
 INTRO 3-4 / 20

The
Problem
Modern brainstorming has become
the default for real innovation.
Yes we solve problems through the
substance of our ideas.
But theres an expectation of brilliant
ideas simply because someones
booked a brainstorm.
Thats like trying to make a diary
appointment for a moment of
creative genius?!
 INTRO 5-6 / 20

the
Solution
Better Ideas. Faster.
By you.
Your team.
And your organisation.
On purpose.
Via shared values.
In a culture thats powering
innovative advantage.
 INTRO 7-8 / 20

Im the founder and creator of Ideas School.

Ive spent the past 20 years innovating with some the worlds
best known brands and businesses.
Im now focused on helping develop the next-generation of
global problem-solvers, by sharing what Ive learnt in ways that
others can do.

MY STORY
1985. New Zealand.
Fail final school year. Finish college
with University Entrance certificate.
Join NZ Forest Service as a Trainee
Forest Ranger. Work in newly formed
Dept of Conservation.
Leave to go attend University of Otago.
Study 1st year law! Fail all.
Go back part time. Drop out. Go
snowboarding.
Return to study Physical Education.
More interested in Natural Sciences.
Complete a Bachelor of Science in
Zoology.
Want to work in the sea everyday
- work & surf! Instead its all about
microscopes.
Get work in TV and Film Production as
a runner at Natural Film History event.
Make lots of coffee. Love coffee.
Continue to work in freelance film
production. Also work in ski field cafe
with film caterer. Making coffee. And
chips.
Spend 2-3 years serving the creativity
of film making - inspired to do some
creativity myself.
Dream up IndustryApproved - outdoor
film wear approved for
the industry.
Move from mountains back to the city.
Help a friend with his snowboard
clothing business.
Want to make IndustryApproved
Clothing Co happen.
Get a job as a Production Manager in
outdoor clothing business to learn
the ropes.
Inspire a new snowboard range. Goes
well. Keen to do more. Boss isnt.
Creatively frustrated.
Leave and go surfing in Indonesia.
Wander the world for a bit.
Arrive London - pit stop on way to
France. Never make it.
Start freelancing in print production
for Rimmel Cosmetics.
Continue through Safeway, Deloittes,
Bankers Trust (!!) and back to Rimmel.
Then Ray-Ban. Start as freelancer. End
up Marketing Manager.
Ray-Ban bought by Italians. Colleague
points me to Innovation agency.
Interview at WhatIf Innovation London.
1st person to be put on a 6 month trial
with Inventing. Pass with flying colours.
Then become a Creativity Trainer.
Life threatening illness - return to NZ
for 6 months R&R.
Not ready to leave London. Complete
recuperating and head back to Europe.
Return to WhatIf. Help lead development
of Cultural Innovation team.
Leading great cultural work for clients.
Sadly cant work out our own!
After 2 years decide to leave WhatIf
but not sure what to?
Pick up creative consultancy. First big
project is BBC Radio 1. Love it. Am
back in business.
Work with them on and off for 3-4
years. They put on 4 million listeners.
Continue with others on deodorants,
ice-creams, mobiles, tv, film, music,
charities, education, government et al.
Work out of London - around the
world. Learn by doing with different
industries and organisations.
Key Insight - its not the Idea, its the
organisations ability to accept the
Idea and do something with it! Thus
innovation is ultimately a Cultural
challenge.
Start innovating new approach for
real DIY innovation capability; Ideas +
People + Culture.
Work less having Ideas, more helping
others have Better Ideas.
Core work becomes increasing
peoples capacity for creativity and
confidence to apply it.
Develop Innovation into Accelerated
Innovation. Its awesome. It works
beyond expectations.
INTRO 9-10 / 20
Start having Ideas about how me can
support many.
New idea - democratise innovation
i.e. provide innovation smarts for the
widest possible audience, to help
develop next-gen problem solvers.
Develop strategy of learn, do, learn-
by-doing. Decide to start with do.
3 years of Test & learn collaboration
software development ends in failure.
Didnt fail fast enough!
Also learn that a tool is only as good
as the smarts to use it. My gold is
knowledge 1st - then tools.
Spend next 3 years downloading the
smarts of Accelerated Innovation in
parallel with client projects.
Move back to NZ for space to focus,
write, test & develop portfolio of
products for something really new;
an Ideas School.
Complete Innovation 101 draft.
New app design complete. Both in
development. Both need elegant
introduction.
Write Better Ideas Faster as intro.
Release as free ebook with associated
learning experience.
Time to launch Ideas School:
Innovation 101 program `
Masterclasses
App
Workshops
2015. London.
 INTRO 11-12 / 20

BETTER. FASTER.

Getting Better Ideas, Faster is to innovate Better Ideas, Faster.

The challenge is how to apply elements of fast innovation - what
I call Accelerated Innovation - without defaulting back to old
brainstorming ways.
Im going to show you exactly how.

START
HERE

START
ANYWHERE
 INTRO 13-14 / 20

Global
Problem
Solving

Accelerated Innovation is
the marriage of science and
art - of organised process and
spontaneous creativity. Ive
crafted it from thousands
of hours helping different
global brands, businesses and
organisations innovate new value.
The challenge for some
organisations is the need for
more science - for others its
more art. This thirteen minute
case study film shows 3-4 years
with Sony Music, working our
how to apply the right amount of
science to their art:
www.vimeo.com/51102555
 INTRO 15-16 / 20

you. innovating.
Innovation is the zeitgeist.
Whether its organisations trying to eat themselves before beng
eaten by the next version of Uber, or Gen-Zs starting up new social
enterprises that marry tech with purpose, innovation is todays
problem-solving skill required by all.
Thing is, too few truly understand innovation. For many its too risky,
for others its simply mistifying.
However, common to all work places is the constant need
for new creative ideas. And the common way of doing that is
brainstorming.
But brainstorming isnt working.
Better Ideas Faster (BIF) is a brand new approach to brain
storming. Its the easiest way to start doing Accelerated Innovation
in ways that every one can do - and add value to.
So, if youre a student with an idea, or dudes in a startup trying
to iterate your way forward, or youre in a small-to-medium
enterprise fighting growth fires, or youre in a large organisation
with no time for creativity
Welcome friend, knock yourself out :-)
 INTRO 17-18 / 20

IF YOU LIKE THIS,

YOULL LOVE
ideas school

This short ebook will introduce how to

stop unproductive brain-storming.
But for me its just the start.
My real interest is next-generation
problem solving.
To that end, Ive put together a
complete Innovation 101 program
to develop next-generation global
problem solvers.
Its called Ideas School.
Check last page for details.
 INTRO 19-20 / 20

As Ive said, Im Matt Hart. Im the founder of Ideas School and creator of
Innovation 101. Heres how you get Better Ideas, Faster (#BIF) in 3 Parts:

Part 1.
BETTER IDEAS
it all starts with process

Part 2.
FASTER
apply your creative smarts to
accelerate innovation

Part 3.
ON PURPOSE
using core purpose to
innovate ideas that are
on purpose
Part 1.
WHAT IS BETTER
IDEAS, FASTER?
Its not really inventing - but
there is a bit of that.
Its not advertising - although
there is some of that.
Its not incremental problem
solving - although thats there
too.
Its called innovation ...
 BETTER IDEAS 3-4 / 46

BIF is creating
better ideas
and making
the best ideas
happen. Faster.

At its simplest, #BIF innovating is

creative thinking applied through a
pipeline process to create Better
Ideas - and make the Best Ideas
happen - in ways that deliver
new value.
Next immediate question is
innovation for what? Here were
talking about innovation that
solves business problems and/or
takes advantage of new business
opportunities (including for-profit
and not-for-profit).
The #BIF approach for innovation
takes the fundamentals of
creative thinking and innovation
procress - and accelerates doing
better things with them.
Ergo ...the formal #BIF
methodology is what I call
Accelerated Innovation.
 BETTER IDEAS 5-6 / 46

ACCELERATED
Innovation is
PROCESS, THINKING
AND PURPOSE.
Often its really difficult to talk about
Accelerated Innovation when many people
havent got to grips with innovation - and here I
am suggesting we accelerate it!
So, lets start the journey of understanding
#BIF by focusing on the brainstorm - given its
the place most people experience so-called
innovation.
If you tease the brainstorm apart, what you find
is three core elements; some process, some
thinking and hopefully a sense of purpose.
Were going to explore each of these three
things through the lens of a transforming the
brainstorm into a #BIF brain-storm.
But do so knowing that a new kind of brain
storm is just the visible tip of the accelerated
innovation iceberg!
When you get really good at #BIF, what you will actually develop is the BETTER IDEAS 7-8 / 46
capacity to solve the right problem for the wrong reasons.
What the means is youll become confident in oblique strategies i.e. the kinds
of non-linear ideas that say if we want to get from A to B, going to C is the
fastest way!
 BETTER IDEAS 9-10 / 46

In Curiosity
WE Trust
BBC Radio 1 - the No 1 youth radio station in the UK - was my
first client program that step changed innovation for them
and me.
The Brief - as it turned out - was helping them reconnect
with their listeners over a 3 year period.
I worked to translate the science of innovation applied to
the art of radio & music.
I was a small cog in their big wheel that helped add circa 4
million listeners.
We started with trusting in curiosity of how one thing would
and could lead to another.
First I helped design and lead innovation procress to
innovate Better Ideas.
Then we trained people to increase their capacity for
creativity and their confidence to apply it on a daily basis. So
that it became Radio 1 people who were innovating Better
Ideas. And then learning how to do Better, Faster.
Then we evolved a Better culture through locking innovation
capability around Radio 1s purpose of connecting the best
new music to the widest youth audience.
Thats how Radio 1 started. Theyre still going strong today.
Curiosity. Cant #BIF without it.
 BETTER IDEAS 11-12 / 46

Brainstorms.
Its Where
Good Ideas Go
To Die!

This is our fight - the brainstorm.

It was popularised in the 50s
by some mad men. And later
by Edward De Bono to describe
using certain techniques for
generating Ideas.
Its become the default for
doing innovation i.e. a series of
brainstorm-meetings along a
project narrative in which the
future value of brand or company
X is going to be created.
Brainstorms are meetings
where bold ideas die. Along with
peoples creative confidence.
Its not the place for Better Ideas.
Thus, the brainstorm is dead.
Long live the brain storm.
 BETTER IDEAS 13-14 / 46

Think.
You know.

The Best Ideas dont get

generated.
I think generating is a weird
description that conjures closing
your eyes and mentally grinding
out ideas.
Our Best thoughts and Ideas
are spontaneous moments of
inspiration. Sometimes with
others but mostly on our own.
At moments when were in the
mode to hear them.
You know this. Youve
experienced this.
Why then do people still spend
hours in stale brainstorm
meetings and think its the best
way to create new Ideas?!
My #BIF challenge is to show you
a better way that you can do.
That you instinctively already
know ...
 BETTER IDEAS 15-16 / 46

IDEA DREAMING
you know when youve been driving
along
and you drift off, lost in some creative
place imagining all kinds of creative
things
and then you come back - and think
what the heck! who was doing the
acutal driving for the past ten minutes
(at least thats what it felt like, but was
probably seconds at best)
thats your creativity - open, fresh,
almost metaphysically wonderful
Now imagine using that talent at work?
Thats what #BIF is about!

hat tip to good mate Al Mac for photo almackinnon.com


No-one is Born
Knowing How
To Innovate.
Everything I know I learned.
I learned formally.
Mostly I learned through doing.
What is true is that we are all
creative. In some way. Dont
believe it?
Q. Do you have a brain?
A. Yes.
Thus you are creative. Fact.
The challenge is how to apply it in
ways that add value.
BETTER IDEAS 17-18 / 46
Most organisations describe
themselves as being innovative.
I can easily test that out by visiting
the work place and asking people
one simple question:
Who has had innovation training?
Most times the answer is no-one.
So either the organisation expects
people to just know how to innovate
- or it isnt truly serious about being
an innovative organisation.
 BETTER IDEAS 19-20 / 46

I dont have
time for
creativity
I hear this all the time. And I agree.
If I had to be in weekly brainstorm-
meetings Id be the first to say I have
no time for creativity .. not that kind
anways?!
The kind of creativity most people
have experienced in the context
of brainstorming is NOT the #BIF
creativity Im introducing.
In fact #BIF creativity is going to
save you time and deliver you
Better Ideas, Faster.
 BETTER IDEAS 21-22 / 46

Not every Idea

is a good idea
Modern brainstorms have rules.
Most say something along the lines
of every idea is a good idea.
What a load of rubbish. Its a false
positivity that doesnt serve us -
neither the problem nor enterprise.
Instinctively we know and feel when
were onto a new idea. Most of
these moments happen - come to
us - outside work!
Outside the brainstorm ...
 BETTER IDEAS 23-24 / 46

Ideas are not cheap.

Ideas are expensive.
A weak idea will cost you
a fortune.
A Better Idea will make you a fortune.

It pays to innovate
Better Ideas.
 BETTER IDEAS 25-26 / 46

The Problem
is not Ideas.
The Problem is
Better Ideas.
Unless you know better, you are unwittingly an innovation
2 stepper:

Whats the problem?

I know the solution!

Your brain hears the problem. In the blink of an eye youve

got a solution - an idea. And usually theres plenty of these
kinds of ideas floating about the business.
These kinds of ideas are not very good. Because ideas
generated in these moments are derived from what people
already know. Meaning theyre ideas based on things
people have already seen. In the past. Meaning theyre not
so much ideas as they are memory recall.
Yet there goes people running off making these assumed
ideas happen.
Its not their fault. Its how one part of the brain works.
Thankfully theres other parts that can help us - well
explore these soon.
For now, what we need is a way to prevent us rushing to
assumed solutions.
What we need is a process. A process that helps manage
our assumptions (sometimes they are needed). A process
that helps us point forward to create Better Ideas rather
than reaching back to what we already know.
 BETTER IDEAS 27-28 / 46

BIF
Innovation
process

Creativity needs discipline.

Innovation needs a
process.
Enough to discipline our
creativity.
But not so much to kill our
creativity.
#BIF starts with a simple,
disciplined process ...
 BETTER IDEAS 29-30 / 46

THE
BIF
six
STEPs
These 6 Steps are the foundation process for #BIF
Accelerated Innovation.
They have been crafted from working with lots of different
industries over the past 20 years. They worked for them.
Theyll work for you.
These 6 Steps narrate the process of #BIF innovation.
i.e. the step names describe exactly what to do:

Do a Brief
Get some Insight
Use to create Ideas
Test and learn to make the Ideas Better
Use Test learnings to Develop the Best
Launch the Best Ideas
Its this #BIF 6 Step process that applies an easy discipline to
creative efforts.

FMCG*
THE COAL FACE
OF BUSINESS
INNOVATION
I count myself lucky to have acquired innovation skills at the
business coal face of *Fast Moving Consumer Goods - think
anything that ends up on a supermarket shelf or corner dairy.
This is where the fight for audience attention and wallet is
most competitive.
The investment in ideas in FMCG businesses is fierce.
Unbeknown to most people, there is a world of science going
on to have you notice and choose brand X or Y.
So its a great place to learn innovation via so called NPD -
new product development. Its where you get to learn about
peoples needs, wants and behaviours. Its where you spend
time hanging out to observe what people actually do versus
what they say or think they do. Then use all this Insight to
inspire new creative Ideas, products, brands and services.
Its at this NPD coal face that I first intuited the 6 Steps of
#BIF innovation.
The opposite page shows the 6 Step summary for a
Magnum Limited NPD project 2005. This was prior to putting
accelerated into innovation - but it will give you a feel for the 6
Steps in action.
BETTER IDEAS 31-32 / 46
MAGNUM LIMITED INNOVATION 2005
BRIEF
The to-do; create a pan european Magnum Ice-Cream limited range for
launch summer 2005
New product range and creative campaign must do better than Magnum
7 Sins limited campaign 2003
Targeting young european women (profile & segmentation not shown) who
associate Magnum with a premium chocolate, sensual eating experience
INSIGHT
Pan-European consumer insight to understand Magnum moments for
use as springboard for Ideas
Learned that modern womens lives are very busy and as such they lose
connection with their inner feminine selves
Small sensual moments (bath, massage, hair salon, manicure etc)
reconnect women with their deeper feminine selves
IDEAS
Explored sensuality (and link into seduction) as Insight themes and
created 4 Idea concepts:
Show your True Colours - using colour codes to embrace different moods
5 Senses to Bliss - a magnum journey of sensual awakening
Art of Seduction - Magnum as seducer
Food of the Gods - Magnum co-opting Greek God status
TEST
Pan European qualitative testing, using interactive conversations with
target audiences
DEVELOP
Best Idea - 5 Senses to Bliss - the journey through 5 new products as
senses re smell/touch/smell/hear/taste is engaging & believable
Most easily supported through packaging and ingredients
However Bliss not believed - challenges about ice-cream giving you a
blissful moment
Drop Bliss. Develop 5 Senses proposition as the trigger to unleash the
unexplainable seductive power of sensuality by heightening each of the
five senses
LAUNCH
Activation strategy focused around highly visible, glamorous TVC that
make the products covetable. Also in-store activities supporting summer
competition (in some markets).
5 Senses limited product range & campaign returned the brand to its former
strengths and beyond; increasing sales overall by 6.2% vs 2004 and all
achieved on a budget that was 32% less than the budget for 7 Sins.
 BETTER IDEAS 33-34 / 46

SURE, Ideas are

the BIF Engine.
an engine
Powered by
insight

Innovation is ...ideas?
We talk about ideas because its the
easiest entry into innovation (Better
Insights, Faster?!).
Its true that ideas are the #BIF
outputs.
But not the inputs.
Mostly #BIF is about Insight; being
curious about everything that
surrounds us connects our creativity
to the here & soon.
Its from this Insight curiosity that
confident creative leaps are made.
 BETTER IDEAS 35-36 / 46

In the NOISE
OF EVERYDAY
The Future is
Emerging
Those that can see beneath today can get a glimpse of
the future. Because the future is being created today -
somewhere, somehow. Our job as #BIF innovators is to view
it and apply what we see to our work.
In one respect, Insight is a true science. We wont go there.
In another, Insight is simply observing the everyday i.e.
observing the noise that surrounds peoples lives.
And through observing it, we notice things.
And through noticing, we notice the important and the
interesting things.
Its these interesting and important things that are the
insights to inspire new and fresh creative Ideas.

My star graphic designer for this book /app and 101 manaul is Leah Shao. I found her fresh out
of design school. Shes awesome. Take a look at the Noise poster she did for this page - its a
beautiful work of art. http://bit.ly/XkHtR0
 BETTER IDEAS 37-38 / 46

SEEKING
Sticky
Insight
Youll always be innovating for a group
of someones - vs everyones.
Its on you to know your someones
well i.e. colleagues, audiences,
consumers, customers, fans, etc.
Through getting to know your
someones well - them & their worlds -
you identify their needs and wants.
Theyre called needs & wants. In
practice I prefer truths. You get under
the surface of things to discover
whats true - and truths you can use.
Get this right, and your resulting Ideas
will stick with the widest audiences.
 BETTER IDEAS 39-40 / 46

TEST &
LEARN
All the smarts the we learn
through doing:

a Brief
some Insight
inspiring Ideas

Coalesce into an approach of

iterative Testing and learning of
our Ideas.
We use the learnings to further
Develop our Ideas towards Best.
 BETTER IDEAS 41-42 / 46

The
SecretS Make new
of Failing. mistakes.
FAST. Its ok to fail.
CHEAPLY. Its definitely
not ok to
No-one ever asks the secret of failure because
most are too busy working towards assumed
repeat failings.
success.
With Ideas work, waiting around till your Idea is Always look
perfect often means the sticky zeitgeist moment
is gone. Or someone else has taken it. to make new
So you have to embrace failure. Which means
putting your unfinished, unpolished Ideas out for
mistakes.
Testing in low-fi, low risk ways - to knowingly fail.
But its failing fast. And cheaply. To learn faster.

Because In failure are the secrets of Idea success.

 BETTER IDEAS 43-44 / 46

Pipeline

Within innovation, the pipeline is a

metaphor that describes streams of
creative thoughts and ideas flowing through
a development process, towards the goal
of making Better Ideas happen.
It describes not only Better Ideas in
market, but lots of pipeline collaboration
across the business and outside the
business.
The innovation pipeline feeds ...innovation.
Youll find pipelines in the #BIF app.
Theyre designed for spontaneous
creative collaboration. In pipelines.
Nice.
 BETTER IDEAS 45-46 / 46

BIF Process.
Its a Good Start.
Thing is, others have processes.
Especially competitors.
Their process might be the same,
different, or worse. It actually doesnt
matter that much.
Some kind of process is required
becuase in the absence of it, its super
hard to even start. Or people rush to
assumed solutions.
Thus process is needed to begin.
But in and of itself - regardless of how
unique or obvious - process is not the
thing.
Its what happens within process that
truly matters.

Ernest Rutherford
New Zealand Farmer, first atom splitter,
nobel prize winner, named his own element.
Part 2.
 FASTER 1-2 / 28

Its the
Thinking
Applied
Through
Process
That
Matters
The #BIF 6 Steps are simply a platform that
narrate the key steps of innovation.
Our journey of work through the 6 Steps is
accelerated by the smarts of our thinking.
When we apply our thinking smarts
dynamically, the magic of getting Better
Ideas - Faster - happens.
 FASTER 3-4 / 28

BIF is
Science
Meeting
Art
The scientist types among us are all about the process. That
goes for people and organisations. They embrace pipeline
milestones and stage gates for added robustness. But often
these processes over engineer as to weed out the creative
and imaginative.
The artists among us are all about intuition. They abhor any
constraints on their creative prowess - especially process!
Yet intuition can be wrong, especially if mentally stuck in
familiar worlds.
The challenge then is to:
bring imagination where science dictates
and discipline where intuition rules

Its the creative discipline Ive mentioned; seeking to embrace

the tension between science and art.
Therefore, the DNA of #BIF Accelerated Innovation is simply ...
 FASTER 5-6 / 28

BIF
LOVES
Data
R&D is creating it.
Consumer research companies are
selling it.
Organisations are drowning under it.
Software companies are rushing to
crack the mining of it.
Social networks have it but dont
know how to monetise it.
And intuition is informed by it.
When all is said and done, data
is what drives #BIF Accelerated
Innovation.
Therefore, the innovator who truly
sees in the land of data is king.
 FASTER 7-8 / 28

SEEING
Data?
Data you see.
Data you hear.
Data you smell.
Data you touch.
Data you feel.
Data data - as in stuff trawled from
the interweb.
If you can gather all of this:
that which pertains to your projects
and the general stuff of the world
that surrounds you at any given time
Then you will gain Insight.
Which will inspire Better Ideas.
That you can make happen. Faster.
With others.
 FASTER 9-10 / 28

BIF is CatchING
& SharING YOUR
IDEAS WITH
OTHERS

Our creative thoughts & Ideas are

fleeting.
The #BIF creative discipline is to
catch our creativity:

what stimulated us
and what that made us think

Then share our thoughts and

Ideas with others.
So that we can collaborate around
them.
And truly co-create Better Ideas.
 FASTER 11-12 / 28

YOU. CREATING.
Collaboration is
A group of individuals
With different styles of thinking
And points of view on the world
All being equally valued
Collaborating around their
originality
In the pursuit of Better Ideas
 FASTER 13-14 / 28

your creativity IS NOT

WHAT YOU THINK IT IS

The conscious you who thinks all day long is not your
creativity. Your creativity is different from the everyday
monkey mind.
Brain science describes these different ways of
thinking as brain states - of which there are 4:
1. Beta the busy brain that gets things done in the
same known ways
2. Alpha our creative brain where new thoughts and
ideas happen (dreamy zen like, important for #BIF)
3. Theta the dreaming brain we know as REM sleep
4. Delta comatose sleep when body recovery
happens
The challenge for reconnecting and applying our
creativity is to increase our capacity for Alpha brain
time - to knowingly use it - and then transfer that
creativity into our Beta brain and do #BIF things with it.

Millions of people have watched Sir Ken Robinsons TED talk

on creativity and innovation. Make sure you are one of them!
http://ow.ly/otxyB
 FASTER 15-16 / 28

Being Open to New

is BEING IN alpha

When we hear things like out-of-the-box what

thats actually referring to is getting out of our
Beta brain. And being open to new thoughts and
ideas is actually referring to being in Alpha brain.
It also gets called open (Alpha) and closed
(Beta) thinking, or divergent (Alpha) and
convergent (Beta) thinking.
Weve all experienced spontaneous moments
when we slip into our own dreamy creative
mode and start thinking really creative thoughts.
Fresh, new ideas seemingly come to us without
any kind of mental effort or generation e.g.
listening to music, walking in parks, at the gym,
commuting, hanging in cafes, in the shower,
drifting off to sleep, etc.
#BIF 100% embraces this natural, innate talent
and makes use of it for Accelerated Innovation.
Our personal challenge is to become aware of
our Alpha-like states i.e. the things we do that put
us in our own creative mode where we feel full
of creative potential - and start using it for #BIF
purposes. Including new #BIF brain storms.
 FASTER 17-18 / 28

brain states THINKING For BIF innovation

FOR PROJECTs Within 6 Steps Better. Faster

A project flow should This opening out to close The progressive goal is to
always open out to close down thinking also occurs bust out of linear 6 Step
down. Its the macro flow within the #BIF6 Steps. process by trusting your
of divergent thinking Were opening out (Alpha) Alpha/Beta thinking smarts.
(Alpha) to explore and to explore each step in turn, Its ultimately this creative
create possibilities, then then closing down (Beta) on capacity that accelerates
convergent thinking specific outputs (the Brief, #BIF innovation through
(Beta) to decide, develop key Insights, Best Ideas, etc) trusting outputs and
and make the best to carry outputs forward following what they suggest
outputs happen. into next steps. is the next right thing.
 FASTER 19-20 / 28

beyond linear?
a bit like this

Linear 6 Steps would go - Brief, sets

up the Insight work, use Insghts to
inspire Ideas, then Test to Develop
the Best Ideas to Launch.

#BIF might still start with the Brief

which can throw up a stunning
Idea so jump straight to Test it,
which provides new Insight to
help Develop the Best to Launch.

#BIF can start with an Idea. Then

Develop it fully to be piloted in
a Test. From that you get robust
Insight that can inform further
Development for Launch.

#BIF is often a hunch - an Insight

- that inspires creative Ideas
you can Test. From the Test you
get more Insight, use this for
Development to go Launch.

#BIF through Testing is sometimes

Launching - to a closed set of
core fans - that gives more Insight
that can Develop more Ideas to
continue Testing.
Etc. Always Better. Always Faster.
 FASTER 21-22 / 28

Tatianas lounge
We took this picture in the course of doing
eastern european innovation for a global
deoderant brand.
It shows unused personal care products on
a shelf in the lounge of this womans home.
This single picture informed the key Insight
that underpinned our #BIF creative work.
It was a single, powerful observation.
Noticed. Applied. And later Launched.

Project case study:

http://ow.ly/otxJE
 FASTER 23-24 / 28

THE HEART OF BIF IS A

NEW KIND OF BRAIN.
STORM.

So, our challenge is how to best make us of

our individual creativity - our Alpha/Beta
thinking brains. Then collaborate this with
our colleagues and apply it through 6 Step
process.
The first thing to say is well still need
creative meet-ups. We still need to get
together, share and explore creative
thoughts and ideas to help determine the
next right things to do.
Heres how in the simplest of terms:
Dont diarise a brainstorm-meeting and
then do nothing, waiting and expecting the
solution to be generated in that meeting.
Do this instead. Pre-share everything a
week or more out and ask people to digest
the task; to start thinking about it and
importantly share their thoughts and ideas
prior to the creative session.
What that means is peoples creativity
(their Alpha talents) will make sense of it.
Encourage people to catch and share their
spontaneous thoughts that come to them.
Its a subtle but radical shift. It means
youre not trying to solve problems in a
brainstorm from 1st principles. Youre
picking up on thoughts and ideas people
have already had. Meaning Better Ideas.
Faster.
Its proven. It works. Its the #BIF brain
storm way called Prep/Meet/Follow-up.
1. Prep.
prepare minds by feeding the right data
then allow time for thoughts and Ideas to
come through
catch them
share them
virtually collaborate upon them

2. Meet.
meetup with others and collaborate
collaborate around the thoughts and Ideas
you and others have already had
and have been sharing
no need for generating anything
build on individual thoughts and ideas and
see where they lead

3. Follow-up.
allow time for all thoughts and Ideas to sink
into creative brains post meetup
share any final thoughts and Ideas
decide whats Best
go the next right Step
once were doing BIF
THE QUESTION THEN
BECOMES WHAT TO APPLY
OUR SMARTS TO?
We can use #BIF for new brands, products, services,
etc. Mearning we can have ideas about the real
problem, ideas about core Insights, ideas that build
on spontaneous Ideas weve been sharing, ideas
about how to Test, ideas for Launch, etc.
Then we get into ideas about how to increase our
capacity for having Better Ideas - how we all become
Ideas people in ways that work for different styles,
roles and needs.
Still further, what Ideas can we create that makes
for a place of work where Ideas are valued? An
environment where Ideas happen because of the
way we work.
Which leads to Ideas about being an Ideas business.
Which will have you exploring whats called Purpose.
Part 3.

Better Ideas. Faster.
You cant diarise the exact moment when your Ideas will happen.
But you can plan for Ideas to happen on purpose when theyre
needed i.e. do the Prep, organise the Meet and Follow-up.
ON PURPOSE 1-2 / 10
On Purpose.
This on purpose matters. Its not just trusting they will happen -
its trusting they will happen because of a sense of purpose.
Better Ideas that are on your core purpose will help connect
your Ideas with your fans who share a connection with the
same purpose.
Core Purpose is by definition the reason youre doing what youre
doing because it matters deeply to you.
Your fans engage with you because it matters deeply to them too.
Purpose can exist at the project level, the team level and the
wider organisation level.
When purpose is manifested in the surrounding environment it
becomes palpable - you can feel belief in the air.
When purpose informs what people do & the way they do it you
have yourself a culture.
When culture is informing Better Ideas Faster - On Purpose - you
will have the ultimate innovation advantage working for you.
That is, a process + thinking + purpose advantage that cannot
be copied, poached or replicated.
Getting all the above right is a cultural challenge.
Jim Collins is the guru on Purpose http://www.jimcollins.com
 ON PURPOSE 3-4 / 10

1. Live Your Purpose

Baking IN have your deepest beliefs infused
BIF InnovatioN through everything you do
Having Accelerated Innovation
deliver all it can requires creating a
place of work in which innovation
happens right through the
organisation. It means baking
2. Entrepreneurial Learning
creativity and innovation into the use real project work as the
DNA of the culture. Which is no
small task!
touchstone for learning-by-doing
From 20 years experience,
Ive distilled 5 charcteristics of
innovative cultures where #BIF
happens. These are them ... 3. Leading for Creativity
understand your creativity and be
a role model for leading creativity
in others

4. Be Social
be open, be honest and share
with others whats happening - so
people can get involved

5. Quantify the
Important Stuff
measure the inputs to the work
as well as the outputs - and
incentivise/reward results
 ON PURPOSE 5-6 / 10

BIF Stands on Shoulders

To truly create a culture that has innovation baked in its
DNA, a few things need to be in place.
Smart people have researched the foundations of
purposeful organisations - it goes something like this:

Core Purpose know your business truth (the why)

Values your enduring beliefs that inform behaviours
Strategies creative strategies and goals going forward
Success know what it looks like when you get there

If any of these arent known - or being lived - thats where

you start. Start the work to craft the above.
If you do know your core purpose & values & strategic
path etc, then you need to start somewhere slightly
different.
 ON PURPOSE 7-8 / 10

line of sight
innovation
The #BIF approach of getting on purpose is what I
call doing the first right thing.
This starts by using your purpose. Great brands,
people and organisations align around their core
purpose. But rather than hope this happens, they
internally innovate to make it culturally inevitable.
Using purpose in this way creates a clear line of sight
from the purpose, through the organisation and
outwards to customer and fan impact.
This corrals the business forward, helping innovate
#BIF Ideas on purpose - and importantly agree Ideas
that are off purpose.
Doing the first right thing? Its somewhere along this
line of sight. The task is to decide where to make the
greatest impact, how - then do.
Do that first right thing.

Missed the opening case

study? Cultural innovation will
make sense by viewing this:
http://vimeo.com/51102555
 ON PURPOSE 9-10 / 10

THEN
Do the next
right thing.
on purpose.

There is magic in finding the

first right thing to do. Because
through the doing of the first right
thing, the next right thing to do
becomes apparent.
Youre accelerating positive
change in the organisation by
using cultural Insight to inspire
cultural Ideas that change things
for the Better.
Then, your #BIF Ideas will
connect with target audiences
in meaningful ways. Theyll
understand your purpose -
maybe not literally - but they will #BIF is built upon the three
get it. Theyll buy you not just disciplines of Accelerated
because of what and how but Innovation; Ideas (process),
why. And then theyre a fan. People (thinking) and Culture
For life. (purpose).
This short eBook has been a
visual introduction to those
three disciplines.
My ultimate innovation goal
is less about the constituent
parts. Im more interested in
how they coalesce into next-
generation problem solving.
So that you can become a next-
generation problem solver.
 END OF THE BEGINNING ...

IDEAS SCHOOL
If youve come this far - then why not a little further?
Im launching an Ideas School - a global offering
with the sole purpose of helping educate the next-
generation of global problem solvers.
The core Ideas School program will be Innovaiton 101.
Buidling upon #BIF, Innovation 101 is a Learn by Doing
program, combining creative elearning with problem-
solving creative workshops. The full program is three
months - but as is the #BIF way it can be customised
to fit with needs and wants.
If thats of interest, drop a line and lets chat. In the
meantime, heres to you and your creativity.
Aroha,

Matt Hart
No more brainstorms