Generating Leads As a Police Detective Would

Published on June 18, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Change your character, Creativity, Diversity, Innovation, Marketing, Strategy, Tools

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Based on a reader’s recommendation, the request for your comments on what works and doesn’t work on the blog is being sweetened. One person who offers a Plus-Minus-Interesting-Recommentation comment on the Monday, June 16 post by next Monday, June 23, 2008 will be selected to receive a copy of the book, “Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter’s Guide” by Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway, and Jon Warshawsky. So please share your perspectives! Thanks!

Police detectives are responsible for identifying and developing leads, often with little actual information to go on, and successfully solving cases. The challenge is not unlike the effort required to find and develop solid leads for business development purposes.

Next time you’re faced with that task, delegate your challenge to a police detective and see how their methods could help you solve the case of the missing customer. Detectives:

  • Interview witnesses & knowledgeable people for clues
  • Gather evidence
  • Check for & analyze fingerprints
  • Perform forensic analysis
  • Search databases for suspects in previous similar cases
  • Work with other related agencies
  • Tap phone lines
  • Conduct surveillance
  • Ask the public for help

Once again, try to generate three ideas for each of the police detective approaches above. And be careful out there!

Note – for the previous post on how to use the Change Your Character technique, click here.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

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A Week of Struggling for Simplicity – Change Your Character – Forrest Gump – “Simple Is as Simple Does”

Published on June 11, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Change your character, Creativity, Diversity, Innovation, Special Week, Strategic Thinking

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No matter what you think of the character, Forrest Gump’s approach to the simplicity of life found him at the center of most major events of the second half of the twentieth century. When striving to simplify some of your complex problems, it would be interesting to see what possibilities would emerge by applying his outlook. Try it, seeking three new ideas from each of these perspectives that Forrest Gump applies:

  • Listening to his mother’s advice
  • Not having a lot of expectations
  • Being open to new experiences
  • Seeing all people the same, without prejudice
  • Not making demands on others
  • Not being judgmental
  • Finding the good in negative situations
  • Maintaining a positive outlook
  • Being loyal to his friends
  • Following simple philosophical principles
  • Doing the basics that make a significant impact
  • Being good hearted and generous

Note – for the previous post on how to use the Change Your Character technique, click here.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

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Change Your Character – Bart Simpson, Chief Strategy Officer

Published on June 4, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Change your character, Competitive Strategy, Creativity, Diversity, Innovation, Strategic Thinking, Strategy, Tools

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There’s been perhaps no greater disruptive force to come on the scene in the past 20 years than Bart Simpson. And in a business environment where disruptive strategy might be the only thing you can do to gain a near term advantage, couldn’t we all learn a thing or two if Bart were the Chief Strategy Officer at our company.

So as a result, let’s kick Bart upstairs and see how disrupting life in Springfield can be applied to disrupting competitors and markets. Try to generate at least 3 new competitive strategy possibilities from each approach Bart employs:

  • Having an “in your face” attitude
  • Not being restricted by respect for authority
  • Displaying a very sharp wit
  • Showing some signs of good behavior and character
  • Using a healthy dose of street smarts
  • Making friends with less popular people
  • Devising elaborate and complex pranks
  • Continually getting into something
  • Playing jokes on people over the phone
  • Mooning people
  • Displaying some unexpected talents
  • Becoming easily distracted from the task at hand
  • Using an alias to hide his part in creating mayhem
  • Reveling in his mischief and rebellion

One caution: using Bart Simpson in the Change Your Character exercise will lead to ideas that could be illegal, immoral, or create such bad PR that you’d never pursue them. Yet, those possibilities may have the seeds of really great strategy. Use the Shrimp exercise discussed in a previous post to turn outlandish Simpsonesque ideas into more practical ones.

Note – for the previous post on how to use the Change Your Character technique, click here.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

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Change Your Character – Letting Cheerleaders Support Your Team

Published on May 28, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Career, Change your character, Communication, Diversity, Implementation, Innovation, Tools

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It can be daunting to build excitement within a team that’s faced with maddening business challenges. Fortunately, if you face such a situation, you can delegate your duty to a cheerleading squad to help you out in the ways that only a cheerleader can by:

  • Exhibiting a winning spirit
  • Being a great team member and leader
  • Going to camps & clinics to improve their performance
  • Dressing in team colors
  • Inviting people to join with them in the cheers
  • Focusing on motivating others – both the team and the audience
  • Smiling all the time
  • Using a variety of talents to perform the cheers
  • Performing catchy, easy to remember cheers
  • Cheering for the team, no matter what
  • Having cheers suited to specific situations
  • Including a mascot as part of the squad
  • Being active during the game and during time outs

O – K.
For each idea above,
Gimme three ways,
The squad will cheer your team up,
On any tough day!
YEAH!!!

Note – for the previous post on how to use the Change Your Character technique, click here.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

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Change Your Character – Managing Multiple Priorities As an Air Traffic Controller Would

Published on May 21, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Change your character, Communication, Implementation, Innovation, Tools

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Air traffic controllers shoulder tremendous public safety responsibilities. They have to process various information sources and flawlessly coordinate many airplanes trying to move through the same airspace.

Change “airplanes” to “priorities” and “airspace” to “resources,” and it all of a sudden sounds a lot like having to manage competing priorities in business.

To get a few new ideas, delegate your project and priority management challenges to an air traffic controller and see how they’d handle it. Shoot for 3 new ideas from each method below that air traffic controllers use:

  • Undergo rigorous training & certification
  • Employ a specific organizational method
  • Follow rules to keep things separated from one another and avoid conflicts
  • Remaining flexible while applying the rules
  • Incorporate & process information from various sources
  • Maintain an orderly flow of activity
  • Communicate precisely
  • Communicate regularly with everyone in their areas of responsibility
  • Speak in special terms & language known by participants
  • Display exceptional listening skills
  • Visualize what they’re controlling
  • Continually monitor each element of a situation without overly focusing on any single one
  • Focus on preventing potential future problems
  • Take breaks to deal with stress and to refresh their perspectives
  • Stay current by practicing / using their skills regularly

Note – for the previous post on how to use the Change Your Character technique, click here.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

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Change Your Character – What To Look for in Prospects

Published on May 14, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Change your character, Creativity, Diversity, Implementation, Innovation, Strategic Thinking, Tools

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Baseball scouts review many talented players, narrowing prospects through successfully anticipating which have the talent to perform at the highest levels of the game.

You can benefit from generalizing their selection criteria in the “Change Your Character” exercise to strengthen the prospect assessment criteria that you’re called on to perform in your job. Your prospects may be employees, customers, vendors, or other parties in business. Baseball scouts look for the following types of characteristics in their best prospects:

  • Have strong interest in success
  • Are always aware of what’s going on and what the right thing to do next is
  • Are dedicated and loyal
  • Are easy to be around and are strong influencers
  • Can make things happen & produce consistently
  • Have the skills to turn apparent failure into success
  • Field whatever comes their way
  • Never give up
  • Will follow through and give everything they have

Next time you have to develop criteria to assess prospects, identify three new ideas from those used by baseball scouts. And to get more background on how to use the Change Your Character technique, click here.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

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Change Your Character – Exercise to Reduce Waist and Waste

Published on May 7, 2008 by in Brainzooming - All Posts, Change your character, Diversity, Implementation, Innovation, Strategic Thinking, Tools

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For this Wednesday’s Change Your Character exercise, let’s look at exercise and doing it successfully. Specifically, someone exercising usually works with a trainer trying to trim their waist.

So let’s think about how we can apply a successful exerciser’s approach to trimming wastein a business setting. A successful exerciser:

  • Sets a realistic, aggressive goal
  • Works with a trainer to increase their knowledge, accountability, and results
  • Exercises regularly
  • Varies the workout to stay motivated
  • Pushes to achieve better performance all the time
  • Tracks and records their activity
  • Consumes less food
  • Monitors food intake by counting calories
  • Measures progress toward the goal

Next time you’re charged with reducing something at work (costs, unnecessary process, re-work, etc.) generate at least three potential new ideas for each of the steps above to help you improve your odds of successfully trimming fat.

Note #1 – Today’s post is dedicated to Jenn Oxler, my trainer for the past two years. With her help (and her repeated questions about my food intake), I’ve lost nearly 30 pounds and have gotten into the best physical shape of my life. Thanks Jenn!

Note #2 – for the previous post on how to use the Change Your Character technique, click here.

Mike Brown

Founder of The Brainzooming Group, and a huge fan of strategy, creativity, and innovation. Mike is a frequent speaker on innovation, strategic thinking, and social media.

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