My thoughts on #Innovation.

Footprints in your mind

From the moment we are born, we only have a short time to make an impact on the fabric of humanity, to share one of the rare gifts that is unique to each of us - our imagination. 

So whilst looking at yourself in the mirror, ask you self this question - “Do I see someone remarkable, or do I simply see a person who has unconsciously forgotten the thrill and adventure in a new idea”? Try to quantify for just a moment, what the paralysis for following up each idea has cost you so far in your life. If you had chased every innovative idea with passion and courage where would you be today. Maybe you have or maybe, you like so many people are beginning to focus in on the blurred image of your past potential successes that never were - but by no means never will be. You see all the ideas we have ever had are like footprints in our minds. They might get buried in the complexity of our day to day activities and become faded, but they never completely leave us, and that is their miracle. They are saved for times when we feel brave, when we have had enough and the pain of normality becomes more than we can bear.

As children we would get excited by things that fail to inspire us as adults all the time, and if we react in a similar fashion as adults we are called childish. So the reward for expressing your passion for what’s new is socially discouraged, in essence our creativity is stifled by outdated social rules of behavior. Have you ever tried to share a great idea you have had with someone? They smile, but their eyes don’t lie and are often calling you things that don’t inspire confidence. Of course not everyone reacts this way - but many people are so de-sensitized to innovation, that they can’t react or simply don’t quite know how, and seem uncomfortable with it.

Speaking to people who live within the corporate spheres of professional life, you quickly begin to see that they are not very good at embracing and adopting new ideas. Worse still, when a good idea does come along they are unable to label or embrace it as such, completely missing the opportunities that the new idea offers. What’s sad is that people from these backgrounds who do try to do what they’ve always wanted, carry this resistance with them into any new endeavor to their detriment.

What needs to happen is a change in the way we view and reward innovation. We can change society, but realistically its ourselves that we can change more easily. It’s so simple that it sounds ridiculous to propose it. We need to take greater pride and greater strides in the way we respond to new ideas, so that we can find a path that rewards ourselves and those around us more positively. We need to encourage innovation and embrace those that show promise and talent at propagating it.

If we could harness innovation within ourselves and within our organisations more effectively we would become the giant killers - the game changers of tomorrow. If you listen to any great speech on innovation you will almost certainly hear about the telephone, the car, and other great things like the mobile phone, all innovations that at their inception were viewed as pointless and unnecessary by commentators trusted by the masses.

New ideas are free, but the cost of losing them can be unimaginable. We are taught to save our money, invest wisely and enjoy the gifts of our hard work in later life. Isn’t it about time we started saving and investing in our ideas? Our own Innovations and dreams will always reward us sooner than the innovations of others and will never leave us wondering - what if?

Just My Thoughts - please share yours.

(Source: plus.google.com)

Stars in a Sky of Mediocrity

*What makes an #innovator ? Passion. Why?* 

If you have been wondering why you are so damn miserable, or just mediocre then maybe this will help.

For thirty years it seemed I had passion all worked out - it was about romantic naughty things. In essence I had no clue what passion really meant, until the day I worked it out and my life made a complete and positive u-turn - my life would never be the same again.

Many years ago a friend asked me to answer a simple question  ”what are you passionate about”? What surprised me was my pause. I sat there in complete confusion, not just because I had no real idea about what I was passionate about, but because I could not define within me what passion actually meant beyond my romantic notions.

Seriously though, I am not alone, so many people just don’t get it, understand it or for that matter can even connect with it. I now ask people all the time and it’s amazing how many people have never been asked that question. They do exactly what I did and go blank. Followed the question - “what do you mean”? Should a question this important to happiness, excitement or flow - depending on your your own understanding of your desired destination in life, really be so hard, that it needs clarification?

When I set out on the journey to discover what passion was and how I could define it for myself, the driving force behind me was my desire to get the answer to another important question - “If I don’t understand what I’m passionate about, how can I ever be truly happy, fulfilled or make a difference”?

Some weeks later, whilst listening to a talk by +Tony Robbins it suddenly clicked and fell into place. So for those of you searching for answers to similar questions, here is what finally ticked all the boxes and changed the direction of my life.

The First Step

Answer these questions.

What makes you angry, really angry and frustrated - I mean really gets you riled up?

What makes you cry, turns on the water works, and leaves you breathless with emotion?

What exhilarates you, makes jump up and down with excitement and laugh till you cry?

When you answer questions like this you begin to uncover and understand what passion is for you. You begin to engage with the creative genius and innovator inside you. The reason is that these emotions are clues to our individual passions because emotion is driven by passion. What +Tony Robbins said was “Passion is the genesis to genius”.
 
The Second Step

The next time something doesn’t work, turn up on time, gets you cross, frustrated or upsets you - stop and ask yourself questions like “What would make it better”?  ”How could I change this”? In this way your PASSION is guiding you. By connecting with yourself in this way you will begin to see more opportunities and reveal solutions that can make a greater difference to yourself and others than you ever thought possible.

The Final Step

Don’t throw away good ideas - act on them. You have seen something, identified why an aspect of it has triggered a passionate response and you have asked yourself questions that reveal a solution. Don’t walk away from a great solution, where it can improve something. All improvements have value and that value can make you a fortune. A fortune you could use to transform your life and that of others. You can make a difference and your passions are your guiding light.

Innovators are the unreasonable minority - stars in a sky of mediocrity. We see and sense the opportunities through our passion, and once you connect with this and act on it, you become a natural and intuitive innovator.

I hope this helps you.

+Simon Berenyi

(Source: plus.google.com)

I was listening to an account told by Tony Robbins about a time he once spent on a plane with former Russian President, Mikhail Gorbachev. This was what I remember of it.

After many hours of talking, Tony once again asked Mikhail “at what point did the world change?” 

Suddenly A big smile rose across Mikhail’s face and he said:

I remember the moment now! - I was in a meeting with your president Reagan, and we had been in unproductive discussions for many hours. Then the president spoke, saying “look, this isn’t working”. He stood up and said - “how about we start fresh?” He then held out his hand to me and said - “Hi - my name is Ron.”

Mikhail said with a warm smile on his face, “That was the moment the world changed”.

What a lovely story of a moment in time that shaped history.

So here I am new to all this stuff - just when you think you know alot you quickly realise that too many good ideas with lots of money behind them just don’t make life easier for anyone wanting to join the social media frenzy and distinguish their own voice from so much noise.

I now feel a conection though, A place and a calling - I don’t know why but something just feels right. Something inside is screaming for me to explore the noise and I think its because massive change is happening and the innovation I have been so excited about and passionate about my whole life is now here and its accessible to me and the masses.

The world as we new it has gone and with it we all seem to be looking back into our past to find answers, to find lost connections the people who made us who we are - weather it’s for the right reasons or not no longer matters because the last twenty years of corporate sterility is ending and the voices of seven billion people on the planet are wanting, and finally able to be discovered.

technology is gifting us with the ability to extract the collective brilliance of this new global resource of ideas, theories and talent.

people are pissed of with complicated corporate contracts, with call, centres that don’t give a S###. We want to be heard, we want to belong and we want life to be as simple or complicated as we choose. 

So what will happen next you ask. Well I think it’s very simple. The front runners and we all know who they are. Will diversify and try and protect profits - they will probably fail because they are protecting number one and not improving anything or anyone quickly enough. The only true value in the social revolution will be the ability of people to meaningfully connect with those who can help make life more exciting, interesting and easier.

Can you remember what it feels like to get something right, to feel connected, to feel loved, to feel integrated, invested and needed by others, simply because you did the right things at the right time - it feels good - it feels great and just sometimes it feels awesome to know that you can make a difference - that you count!

This all comes with a warning though. In terms of winners - well if you sit on your arse and help no one you will be left behind - far behind. But lets suppose you want to help those around you or within your new social families in every way imaginable then there will always be a warm welcome at the table of reciprocation.

You will be ranked, not how many people you are connected with but by how much of a contribution you have made to them and vice versa.

You can’t fake the difference you make to others anymore - too many people are watching from too many angles. You need to be authentic.

So where is the money in all of this? Simple you want to sell crap - fine. But within a social setting interwoven with a rock solid constitution on reciprocal contribution. you will only need to screw people over once or twice and you will lose your place at the table - and it’s privelages.

I think people will trade with each other more, I think that contribution is currency and i think money will be more evenly distributed than it is today with our current corporate, social architecture.

Five years from now things will change massively - they already are from five years ago, but the pace is going to peak quite soon as people become overwhelmed by what is being thrown at them. As this is happening people and organisations are running for shelter, looking for ways to survive the changes taking place without losing out. The big social brands will need to quickly figure out how to price this new era.

Money makes the world go round and this will not change as quickly as our social interactions. Private, privileged and exclusive networks will spring up yet getting rich will be tougher than at any other time, because of the growing reciprocation culture. Profit margins will be defined by value, not  hype and certainly not by bull###t.

The big money will be made those who can engineer the complex systems required to serve up product to these new super social networks. Food, drink and product of every kind will be consumed in bulk and at discount for distribution to members.

the supermarkets will need to start working on this now while they have the money to do it.

People don’t want much. They just want to be treated with respect and rewarded in all its forms for doing what feels good and what feels right.

Someone once said “Be the changes you want to see in the world”, so it’s time to decide to be authentic, to be passionate to be expressive - to be the person you want to be and not the person you are expected to be. To do the things you love and are passionate about and not the things you are expected to do.

Be your self, for your self and share your passion with a hungry audience just waiting to welcome you in.

Simon x