In order to develop creativity and innovation culture InSide organizations, I always, as an Entrepreneur and professional artist, suggest to the organizations that I am collaborating  with, to view every situation with an artistry eye and view, even if they have to create new services on new products, to solve complex problems, engaging with customers, partners or engaging executives and employees, to function sometimes beyond traditional ways, cause in my opinion every organization is like an entity, with its own characteristics, values and concepts.

For a leader and his/her team I believe the development of creativity and innovation derives from:

Asking questions (How about What IF…?), finding the barriers and start reframing them, developing creative environment and confidence, discovering insights and expressing them through action, being open to every idea and suggestion…

Innovation is a mix of older creations and new ideas like contemporary movements in art are a link and evolution of older artistic movements and creations.

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In my courses and other services through art/creative industry, I want also to highlight elements like, cultural values, senses, experience-making and meaning and emotional balance understanding, in connecting them with science and technology.

For developing Innovation somebody must learn how to collect and get inspired by different sources in our society and world. Cultural diversity is essential for achieving the purpose to innovate and motivating people to perform at their peak is especially vital in creative work.

I believe that innovation and creativity many times flourish in environments that are messy, that permit mistakes that allow people to step outside of their roles that involve people who wouldn’t otherwise be thought of as natural teammates… Just when there is an acceptable level of chaos I think that good things happen. The trick in encouraging creativity is being willing to tolerate chaos and that’s very difficult for us to do. It’s not first on our impulse.

Having an open and curious attitude is referred to as “beginner’s or child’s mind” — the capacity to bring fresh eyes to a problem and engage in new perspectives for how to solve it. By remaining open to experiences, we are more likely to make connections between seemingly unrelated/unconnected concepts, which is crucial to generating original ideas. Having a kind attitude is an aspect of self-compassion, which protects against harsh self-criticism and a fear of failure, inspiring people to take risks and explore uncharted territory, leading to novel solutions. Mindfulness supports both of these.

Scott Hartley, a venture capitalist who previously worked at Silicon Valley tech giants Google and Facebook, writes In his book, The Fuzzy and The Techie: Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World  "If machines keep getting better — and they will — humans must become better versions of themselves," says Hartley. "Being a techie is not the antidote to redundancy in tomorrow’s economy; being more human is."

I totally agree, innovation is based on creating more anthropocentric values InSide organizations respecting and accepting human elements.

I always mention ‘Kickstarter’ at my Keynote speaks, which is one of the most innovative firms, because you are/become a creator, seller, investor and buyer at the same time.

That is a key point… To success when you try to innovate you should have a spherical approach and function as a creator, seller, investor and buyer as well.

Innovation is Art… If you want to succeed in your project you must not view the world through Scarcity cause… Creative Leaders and Entrepreneurs give us a taste of the mystery and help make sense the world

For innovation, you must connect through polymath, diversity, constant communication and contact with various people and elements. 

Plus, through my conciliation, courses and services there are five important steps for creativity and innovation.

• Observation
• Questioning
• Associating
• Networking
• Experimenting

We must recognize and reward new ideas and their implementation. This means encouraging risk and expecting failures.

Recently I collaborated with a transportation company who wanted to show that their technological equipment is more developed than the others similar competing companies. I told them that we should not work on the basis of the other competing companies in their field, instead we should function like corresponding technology companies and assimilate them, at an innovation level.  Our project succeeded, cause this is a key element in approaching innovation. Connect the seemingly unconnected with diverse and divergent background. 

Some key questions for Innovation are….

Why we/you have to innovate? (Or why is the purpose to innovate?)  Who will innovate, and who will make the important decisions? How will we/you innovate, and how will we/you sustain it? What level of risk is appropriate? What will be the outcome of the innovation initiative? What will drive transformational change? These questions are essential for innovation strategy…

I suggest and mentoring my trainees to start every project with an intention and purpose. They already have some idea about the end product/service they want to create. To establish more flow in their project, the first step is to prioritize and focus on what is most important…

End of part 2

                                                                                      Frank Stella - 'Gobba, Zoppa E Collotorto', 1985

Innovation for an organization is a great…challenge. Innovation is the connection with our world, connection of the present with the past for/with the future. Connection of ideas, with people, elements, all Cs (Creativity, collaboration, curiosity, communication, connection, critical thinking, complex problem, cognitive flexibility, criticism, creative leadership etc...), diversity, divergent approach and knowledge.

Innovation Is also the connection of artful thinking and science’s way of study and research. Cause Innovation is…part Art, part Science

Innovation involves two stages—the generation of new ideas and the implementation of these ideas. Creativity is considered to be the first stage and the source of innovation.

Steps for Innovation are… Knowledge, Imagination, Creativity, Innovation

What is Invention and what Innovation? Or… What is the difference or the similarity between Invention and Innovation?

I believe the difference between invention and innovation, is the implementation and the realization of the idea and to succeed and transform it into innovation. In the end to go from invention to innovation, is the idea to resonate and to generate revenue.

This of course is also influenced by how we present the idea, how we communicate it, the time/period of its creation, the direct audience we present it, the social and economic elements which surround us etc.

As the founder of ‘Art InSide Business’ and as an artist, through my training courses and other services of my program and through my artistic work, my goal is always to boost and develop the creativity of my collaborators, co operations, participants as well as the viewers of my art. I always aim to use and express my innovative methods and practices by thinking that, in order to influence and develop innovation, it should be the trainer himself to set a prime example in order to convey the philosophy of innovation. In my courses for the development of innovation in particular, I use surreal titles and connections to inspire imagination and creativity.

“The most damaging phrase in the language of innovation is “We’ve always done it this way!”

Creativity which is the source of innovation is to see the world with a different eye, to create questions, to interpret and to simplify your feelings and the elements around you. It is the ground, the environment and the basic culture for the mind. The most important thing is to train our mind to make connections. Connections of ideas, people and things which surround us, customers and colleagues, connections approaching innovation…

For innovation, you must connect through polymath, diversity, constant communication and contact with various people from different background and elements.

Using divergent thinking and approach of the topics and purpose, as the process by which a person comes up with various novel and appropriate solutions for a single problem, is widely considered to be a source of creativity.

 For a leader to engage, embrace, inspire, motivate and help his/her team to innovate, many elements are needed to be expressed, which can be found in my previous articles, ‘Creativity and Leadership part 1 & 2’.

http://www.mikepetrakis.com/index.php/art-inside-business/a-b-c-art-business-creativity/37-creativity-and-leadership

http://www.mikepetrakis.com/index.php/art-inside-business/a-b-c-art-business-creativity/40-creativity-and-leadership-2

 As for Teams, they are more innovative when their members have a common understanding of the team objectives and are committed to them. Clear and valued objectives can create meaning and motivation for team members.

We must accept also the failure, failure, failure, otherwise we are not going to approach innovation.

As a mentor my advice is that You must retrain your brain to think like a genius. You can do that by starting to think about the world around you differently. Think in opposites, think in metaphors, and become more productive with your thoughts. And when ideas don’t exactly pan out the way you hoped they would, you must ask yourself not why it failed, but what did it accomplish, what did it prove?

And… Explore – express - experiment – execute and expand your ideas and creations.

One of the best examples for innovation is Google’s renowned ‘20% Time’ policy, which allowed its engineers to spend 20% of their time unleashing their creativity by taking on side projects. Though it has now made way for a new program called Diversity Core, the ‘20% Time’ policy resulted in some of Google’s most successful products, including Gmail, Google Talk and Adsense.

Other top brand firms like Apple, IBM, Silicon Valley, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Intel etc, have many creative projects using also artistic methods, to develop innovation within their organization.

Some of Apple's creations inspired by Bauhaus movement

To succeed in innovation, you need to connect the puzzles from different pieces, different elements and influences. Cause Innovation is not how the things are, but starting with how it could be, ending up to how it should be. 

‘Every Innovative creation is a work of art. Let use art as a medium of expression as a tool for the emergence of innovation, through the creative tools it provide us….’

End of part 1