Being introspective is a vital perspective that's part of your personal innovation strategy and your innovative character. You have to know what your most creative talents are (and aren’t) along with being able to understand the natural perspectives you bring to any creative process.
Feel like you could know yourself better to improve your creative skills?
Here’s a creative approach to shed light on what might be your most effective personal innovation strategy:
- List your 5 favorite movies (okay, if you’re like me and don’t see many movies, you can throw in a TV series or two).
- Step back and ask, “What do these five movies have in common? What’s similar about the characters and their situations?”
The professional actor who shared this technique said it’s used by actors to help identify what types of characters and roles they should be seeking.
When I did the exercise originally, the common thread through my then favorite movies (including “Broadway Danny Rose,” “The Truman Show,” “The Sting,” and “Dead Poets Society”) was an underdog story with an outsider or someone overlooked trying to get on top against big odds.
This came up the other day talking with Alex Greenwood about careers. I told him the underdog theme has characterized much of my life and career, and certainly infuses the perspectives in “Taking the NO Out of InNOvation.” Having to work hard to overcome situations where an innovative strategy wasn’t appreciated has led to my preference to have a diverse creative team around me. The team not only challenges and stimulates my creative juices, it adds impact to challenging the thinking of those who prefer the status quo without innovation.
So what do your favorite movies say about your creative perspective? And how can you use the insight to improve your innovation efforts? – Mike Brown
