The Truth About Ideating - Aditya Yadav

1. *
“Running an Agile Fortune 500 Company”
Aditya Yadav, aditya.yadav@gmail.com
in.linkedin.com/in/adityayadav76

2. * A Typical Global Company
* Fortune 500/1000
* 200 Divisions
* 40 Countries
* 25000 Employees
*

3. *
@ Acme Inc.

4. * Original Question “We are not innovating
enough. What should we do?”
* The Correct Question - “Innovations start with
Ideation. Lets start with that and build up a
better funnel of Invention and consequently
Innovation, cetris paribus.”
*

5. *
And The Philosophy Behind The Answer

6. * We have heard how much Self
Reflection/Introspection is a need for Innovation
* We have heard statements like Every Innovation is
Incremental
* We have seen advertisements from Innovative (!!!)
Consulting Companies laying emphasis on Group
Ideation as the Secret Sauce to Innovation
* Instead of debating whether Innovation is
Incremental or Radical, Derivative or Creative…
* Lets start from the absolute basics… the source…
*

7. * I hate to talk about Religion or Politics very openly because they are my personal views
for which I cannot offer much Facts. But bear with me while I try to make a point
* Hindu mythology says “God has a huge book with everyone’s life detailed out with
absolute certainty”
* Physicists know about Uncertainty Principle’s when a System is Observed
* But is the Universe Deterministic? The answer could have serious implications on
Society and Law amongst many things. Hinduism takes the Deterministic view of the
Universe in majority of its writings
* In knowledge work Employees control “The Means of Production” which is more or less
their Brain
* A lot of scientists like to assert that there is inherent Randomness in the Universe and
that our Brains have some sort of Consciousness
* Whatever be the reality. I take this approach to explain ideation
* Rather than the approach of Reflection, Introspection, etc. etc.
* Obviously if you are tired, exhausted, have no free time you might not end up
innovating much.
* But my framework leads to a very important conclusion
*

8. * In that order: Ideation -> Invention -> Innovation…
* The conclusion of my framework is that Ideation is in-deterministic from the perspective of the Human Being.
* Ideas happen to emerge out of nowhere at random times, when you are about to sleep, during a bath, in the bus,
while smoking…
* Conclusion: You cannot Plan and Organize Ideation
* You cannot get everyone into a room to ideate. You can discuss what you already have. You cannot ask people to
“Think out of the box at that moment” you can remove the boundaries that normally box ideas from people, but
you just have to wait for people to come up with ideas and get back to you.
* And the best way to Utilize Idea’s is to note then down immediately as they emerge before they vanish away never
to return again
* This is in stark contrast to the Intelligent Conscious Human Brain Hypothesis.
* Have you observed that idea’s appear out of nowhere at random times, and vanish to never come back or come
back after years perhaps.
* Have you noticed you have no control over idea’s and how and when they emerge?
* Have you noticed you cannot even recall most of them after a few minutes if you don’t note them down that very
instant, to refer to them and develop them later?
* You need Rich ideation to fuel your inventions which when commercialized will perhaps lead to Innovations
* Golden Rule: When Ideas emerge, use post-its, sms/email yourself from your phone even if you have to wake up
from the bed or get out of the bath note ideas and go back in again.
* Its an uncomfortable disciplining. But this is the biggest secret to Invention and Innovation
*

9. Aditya!!!
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