The Innovator’s DNA

To think differently successful innovators act differently. 

This was revealed in a long term, global research project called The Innovator's DNA.  The researchers studied the leaders of successful innovative companies to find out what they did differently than leaders of less innovative companies.  Their findings included:  

• The ability to generate creative ideas is as much a function of behavior as thinking.
• And there are specific behaviors the most successful business innovators practice more often than less innovative leaders.

Each of these behaviors, individually and in combination, increase the ability to make creative new connections: 

Questioning:  asking more questions more often, to better understand what is and what could be.

Observing:  engaging your senses to take in what's working and what isn't, across many different environments.

Networking:  frequently meeting people who are different from you, to learn more about what they know, do and think.

Experimenting:  creating pilot tests and prototypes, to test ideas, develop new insights and share ideas with others.    

The ability to make creative new connections, associating, is a cognitive skill that can be increased by practicing the four behavior skills.

Innovative entrepreneurs who are CEOs spent 50% more time questioning, observing, networking, experimenting and associating than CEOs with no innovation track record.  

Another interesting result?  If you want to increase your ability to think creatively, and encourage creative thinking in others, you only need to practice two or more of these skills more often.  

"Innovation is a habit," the researchers said. "And for these innovative entrepreneurs it's a way of life. It's the fabric of who they are. And for others who aren't that way, they could be: if they choose to act different to think different."

How to Get Unstuck with "Catalytic Questioning"

Ever have one of those challenges you're just sick of thinking about?  Where it seems that you're working too hard, and going nowhere fast?

Catalytic Questioning can help you get unstuck. There's a smart article on it in July's HBR that defines a process you can use individually and with teams. 

In a nutshell, here are the steps:

• Check to make sure all involved are intellectually and emotionally connected to the challenge, and truly don't know how to answer it.
• Sit or (better yet) stand in front of a whiteboard or several sheets of flip chart paper. Pick a scribe.  Before starting, take a breath, relax and set aside any mental distractions.
• One at a time, state a question related to the challenge.  The scribe simply writes each question.  At this stage, only questions are allowed - no explanations, comments or answers.  Each person works to provide interesting, provocative and/or important questions.  At times, the well will run dry.  Stick with it for 10-20 minutes, or until you have 50 - 100 questions.  Find the questions no one's asking ... yet.
• When you've exhausted your ability to define questions, take a quick break or stretch.  Come back and identify the most "catalytic" ones - the ones with the potential to disrupt the status quo, or provide entirely different perspectives or solutions. Narrow it down to the 3-4 that matter most.
• Now that you have 3-4 fresh lines of inquiry, go find some answers!  You can use Catalytic Questioning as often as needed to get unstuck and develop deeper insights and better solutions.

As an executive coach, I've seen over and over again how the right question can unlock new thinking, energy and solutions.  This question storming process can help you do the same.

Stress, Mindfulness and the Executive Brain

Stop for just a moment and take everything in, within and around you, noticing without judging. This is mindfulness.   

The NeuroLeadership Institute refers to mindfulness as "direct experience," focusing on the brain circuitry activated when you're being mindful.  Think of it as being a video recorder or a sensory satellite receiving dish.

So why is mindfulness important to leaders?   

Well, many workplaces create high levels of stress. Stress can trigger our "threat" circuitry ... quickly ramping up our "fight or flight" response ... simultaneously shutting down our prefrontal cortex (PFC), or executive brain. 

The PFC is where higher ordered thinking, like judgement, creativity and complex decision-making, occur.  Best to avoid shutting it down when possible. 

For most of us, our opportunity to "hit the brakes" as we experience a threat is fleeting.  Why?  Because these brakes are located IN the PFC! 

This is where mindfulness comes in.  Research has shown that those with a strong "direct experience" network have stronger braking systems and are better able to manage a "threat" state.  This translates into better access to the executive brain functions located in your PFC.  

"But I don't have time to meditate," you exclaim.  

That's OK. 

You can strengthen your direct experience network just about anywhere, any time: walking to a meeting, on a train, at a traffic light, during lunch, upon waking....  

Simply spend a few minutes noticing everything you're sensing, internally and externally, without judging.   

You can start small (a daily minute or two) and build from there. One study showed a dramatic improvement after practicing mindfulness for 20 minutes a day for only FIVE days. 

So if you want to work at your highest cognitive levels, take advantage of those fleeting moments and turn them into mindfulness moments.

[With thanks to this post's guest author, Paul McGinniss of the NeuroLeadership Group] 

Here's to You!

I get a kick out of being around people who are smart in different ways than I am - who have different kinds of interests and ambitions and impacts.  

It's invigorating to be around this capacity and learn from these mindsets and skills.

Which means that I'm very lucky - because as an executive coach I work daily with accomplished learners and leaders who like to work as hard as I do.  

They keep me constantly aware of how much more is possible.
  
Many times my work feels like a celebration:  of what my clients have learned and achieved and given to others - and how much more they will going forward.  

So this Quick Note will be my toast to them and to you:

Here's to the game changers

• the ones who persist in finding a better way
• and engaging others in making it happen.

Here's to the connectors

• who build networks that go up, down, sideways, and diagonally;
• who network to learn new perspectives and make new connections
• and who make sure that they give more than take along the way.

Here's to the long gamers

• who've learned that you can often get what you want - but maybe not quite in the way you thought you would;
• who know that if it's a worthwhile goal you persevere until you make it happen.
• Because living other people's goals doesn't work, but joining forces to meet a common goal does.

Here's to the listeners

• who understand how much more there is to really hear,
• who know how to draw out what others have to offer,
• and who make make time to listen for their own wisdom.

Here's to those that surprise themselves

• with what they realize they've accomplished;
• and then get curious, and then determined
• and ready to find out what they'll learn as they take on their next challenge.

Here's to you!

Getting Into A Better Frame of Mind

Think of a time when you handled a challenging situation exceptionally well... what kind of mood were you in as you did so?

Now think of a time when you responded poorly to a challenging situation  ... what kind of mood where you in then?

When I ask these questions, words like “confident,” “interested” and “engaged” are often used to describe the mood during the first situation.

And negative or extreme words like “anxious,” “angry,” or “excited” describe the mood during the second situation.

click here for a larger image

We know our moods impact our thinking, but what can we do about it?

Neuroscience, and the experts at the NeuroLeadership Group, tells us that we tend to do our best thinking when we’re in a slightly positive state.  

When the limbic system (where emotions rule) gets too fired up, we’re more likely to respond negatively, depend on automatic thinking and see connections where there are none.

Negative and extremely positive emotions trigger a limbic response that overrides our pre frontal cortex  - the “executive function” of our brains where decision making, new insights and problem solving occur.

This is a simple explanation of a complex function, but it’s enough to help us recognize the importance of shifting our thinking when we start to get too “fired up.”

There are some familiar techniques that help, like

• Reordering the situation:  “In the scheme of life, where does this fit?”
• Or repositioning it:  “How would (insert name of admirable person) handle this?”

I’ve also seen a less familiar technique, taught by the NeuroLeadership Group, work exceptionally well.  Ask:

• What one word would you use to describe how you feel about this situation?
• How would you rather feel?
• What’s another way to look at the situation that would bring you closer to feeling that way?

Using these questions in an internal dialogue can literally put you in a better frame of mind.

Negotiation: Turning Bad News Into Good

Picture this: "Time for my favorite thing in the world - negotiation!" crows Jack Donaghy.  30 Rock's Liz Lemon cringes.  And then a testosterone-infused skirmish produces an absurd outcome - as two combatants' need to win once again hijacks their common sense.

MJ Tocci, co-founder and executive director of the newly launched Heinz Negotiation Academy for Women, points out why this scene is both funny and familiar:  

"So many of us see negotiation as a competitive, conflict driven contest ... and the fear of losing can make negotiation daunting.  That brings bad news and good news.

The bad news is that negotiation is an essential skill for resolving conflict, building your brand, doing good work, managing deadlines, and  getting paid what you are worth.  

The good news is that there are many ways to get there.  I often ask my negotiation students to substitute the phrase 'creative problem solving' for 'negotiation' when they get stuck in their positions.  

Often what was competitive becomes more collaborative as you explore different options. Shouting or posturing is replaced by questioning and listening, assumptions are recognized and updated, and outcomes become more satisfying for all involved.  

Does this work all the time?  No, but it works more than you might think."  

The next time you are ready to ask for something you need or deserve, MJ recommends that you consider creative and strategic prompts like:

1. What's the outcome I want most?
2. Where am I if I don't ask for it ... and where am I if I do?
3. What are several different ways I could get what I want? 
4. What facts would make it clear that there is an advantage to both sides when we agree to pursue the outcome I am seeking?
5. What is the best timing for my request? 
6. Who can help me influence decision makers? 
7. What's my response to "no"?  

Your response to #7 is important - because in the world of negotiations, "no' is merely a position from which to negotiate again. 

Earning Optimism

There's a distinctive form of optimism shaping the mindsets of successful innovators.

  

It's more of a "follow your learning" than "follow your bliss" expectation.  This form of optimism is earned.  It's a by-product of taking on the big goals, managing through ambiguous situations and living by your results.  Knowing that you'll incorporate successes and failures and keep pressing forward fuels a grounded confidence.

Earned optimism is shaped by curiosity.  The kind of curiosity that compels you to keep asking questions, to find and learn from people who are different from you, to tinker and experiment until you get it right, and to commit to success.  Even if you're not 100% sure of what the success will look like ... yet.

In an interview in the Paris Review, Ray Bradbury said:

"I don't believe in optimism. I believe in optimal behavior. That's a different thing.... Test it. Find out. You don't know - you haven't done it yet. You must live life at the top of your voice!  At the top of your lungs shout and listen to the echoes....

Action is hope. At the end of each day, when you've done your work, you lie there and think, Well, I'll be damned, I did this today. It doesn't matter how good it is, or how bad - you did it. At the end of the week you'll have a certain amount of accumulation. At the end of a year, you look back and say, I'll be damned, it's been a good year."

What will strengthen your optimism today?

Innovation Leadership, With A Twist

You've learned core practices that build strong leadership, like setting the stage for your team's success, concentrating on what matters most, and leading by example.

  

Innovation leaders have the same kinds of practices, but they use them with a twist.

Innovation leaders set the stage for their teams by 

• consistently exposing them to new ideas and experiences
• protecting time to think
• building networks that include many different points of view
• and creating other interesting intersections, because that's where creativity occurs.

Innovation leaders pay particular attention to

• finding and spotlighting good questions
• looking for something they hadn't picked up on before
• seeing ways to create new combinations
• and highlighting the potential within fledgling ideas.

Innovation leaders set a distinctive personal example, of

• commitment to and passion for their work
• active experimentation, and effective uses of failure
• combining, building and improving upon ideas
• and celebrating once again finding an even better way.

If you want to build a stronger culture of innovation, start by noticing which of these practices come most naturally to you and then find ways to do them more, better or in combination with something new. 

  

Many innovation leadership practices are already in your grasp, you just have to use them with a twist.

Anti-Conventional Thinking

Want to try some unusually effective approaches to creative thinking?

Jeffrey Baumgartner studied the way “artists, writers, scientists and other creative geniuses” worked and noticed that they rarely followed the rules for brainstorming or creative problem solving (CPS).  Instead, they used intentionally unconventional approaches. 

They succeeded by using a provocative set of practices he summarized as “Anti-Conventional Thinking” (ACT)”   ACT encourages you to recognize conventional perspectives and then do something purposefully different. 

You can dip your toe in the ACT waters with some of the following practices.

When framing an issue:

If you’re stuck on a stubborn challenge, ask, “What’s a more extreme way to describe our goal?”  

So instead of asking, “How might we improve the customer experience with our services?” ask, “What would make our services as addictive as meth?”  or “How could we make our customers so happy they cry?”

Safer, more conventional ideas simply won’t work with these extreme statements, so you’re compelled to come up with more creative ones.  It’s OK if the provocative statement seems excessive, or if the ideas it prompts seems implausible.  It’s easier to tame down an outrageous but interesting idea than it is to juice up a bland one.

When generating ideas:

Only allow unconventional ideas.  Refuse to write down any conventional ideas.  You’ll get fewer ideas - but they’ll be more creative.

Encouraging respectful criticism of conventional or flawed ideas.  Criticism should be focused only on the idea.  The person giving the idea, and anyone else who’s moved to do so, is encouraged to defend and improve it. Again, you’ll get fewer ideas - but they’ll be better developed.

While brainstorming and CPS focus on generating long lists of raw ideas, anticipating that there will be a few gems in the midst, ACT aims to produce a few unconventional ideas that could have a brilliant impact.

When evaluating ideas:

Highlight the most unconventional ones and make them even better.  Consider potential weaknesses and how they could be addressed.  Find ways to make the ideas even more unconventional, and then identify how to make them work.

In other words, to get something different do something very different.  

Want to learn more?  You can read “ACT in a Nutshell” here. 

In-the-Moment Strategic Thinking

What's your first response in situations like  -  when an employee suggests a new, and somewhat risky, approach -  or a colleague is late with materials you need  -  or a customer requests a cut in rates? To stack the odds in your favor, don't respond to the situation.   Instead, think about the impact you want to create with your response,  and then choose your response. To paraphrase Peter Bregman, this means moving from the typical pattern of:        situation > response > outcome to:        situation > outcome > response. For example, when that employee suggests the new and risky approach (situation) if you want more of the status quo (outcome),  shoot the idea down (response). But if you want to encourage new and better ideas (outcome), have a PPCO conversation (response):             Plusses:  note what you like about the idea,             Potentials:  find ways to extend or build upon the idea,             Concerns:  only then - identify the drawbacks,             Opportunities:  and discuss ways they might be overcome. Responding to the outcome you want, rather than the situation itself, can help you amplify positive events and redirect less positive ones.        The more you practice a situation > outcome > response approach,  the more natural this in-the-moment strategic thinking will become, and the more time you'll spend on creating the outcomes that matter most.

Get a Grip on the Griping

Blamestorming can be seductive.  It's so pervasive that DIRECTV did a memorable spot on it.  It's just easier, not to mention self protective, to blame anyone but yourself for problems.  

Used judiciously, critical analysis reduces risks and improves ideas.  Used maliciously (for example, showing how smart you are by tearing down other's ideas) criticism saps energy, initiative and innovation. 

Whether it's a tolerated form of competitive positioning, a result of frustration, or simply a bad habit, the temptation to blame, vent and criticize is understandable.

And toxic.

So how to get a grip on the griping?

Here are three practices executives I've worked with have used productively: 

Refocus critical comments.  Diane Sawyer noticed that, "Criticism is just a really bad way of making a request.  So why not just make the request?"  Or, when someone else brings a criticism or complaint to you, shift the focus by asking what they want instead.

Check your intention.  Marshall Goldsmith recommends asking yourself three kinds of questions before voicing a complaint:  "Who will this comment help?  Is this comment the best way to help them?  Do I really believe what I'm about to say?"

Respect and practice the power of the positive. Shawn Achor researches positive outliers - people who are well above average.  He found that "...only 25 percent of job successes are predicted by I.Q. 75 percent of job successes are predicted by your optimism levels, your social support and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.... If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, what we've found is that every single business outcome improves."

Solving the Right Problem

Even the best problem solvers face chronic challenges.  If you're confronting one yet again, ask yourself if you've been finding the right answer to the wrong question.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's research found that Nobel laureates achieved breakthroughs by finding better ways to frame their problems.  The ability to reframe challenges is critical for all kinds of leaders.

Here's a reframing process you can use on your own, with others, or have several groups complete simultaneously:

1. Write your challenge in the form of a question:

    How to stop tactical work from crowding out time for more strategic 
    work?

2. Ask "Why?"    
   
    Why do you want time for more more strategic work?
   
    and turn the response into a question.
   
    So the answer "I need to develop a strategic plan in 90 days"
    becomes, How to develop a strategic plan in 90 days?

3. Repeat step 2, using the most recent question:

    Why do you want to develop a strategic plan in 90 days?

    "To have a stronger impact on the business planning process."

    Which becomes, How to have a stronger impact on the business 
    planning process?

4. Working from each successive response, repeat this process until
    you've asked "Why?" and turned the last response into a question
    five times.

5. Now return to the original challenge statement (Step 1)
    How to stop tactical tasks from crowding out time for more strategic 
    work?

    And ask "What's stopping you?"

    What's stopping you from stopping tactical tasks from crowding 
    out time for more strategic work?

    And turn the response into a question.  So the answer, "The skill set
    on my team isn't what it should be," becomes

    How to make the skill set on my team what it should be?

6. Repeat step 5, working from each successive response turned into a
    question, until you've asked "What's stopping you?" five times.

    What's stopping you from making the skill set on your team what 
    it should be? ....

As you review the questions you (or the different groups) created, which look like a more interesting or promising starting point?

What Kind of Failure Will Work?

Innovation leaders navigate a balance between understanding

-  the contributions failure can make in innovative processes
-  and the drivers of risk-adverse business environments.

So, taking a lead from the Eskimos' rich vocabulary for snow, Jamer Hunt proposed the following failure spectrum:

"Abject failure
This is the really dark one. It marks you and you may not ever fully recover from it. People lose their lives, jobs, respect, or livelihoods. Examples: British Petroleum's Gulf oil spill; mortgage-backed securities.

Structural failure
It cuts -- deeply -- but it doesn't permanently cripple your identity or enterprise. Examples: Apple iPhone 4's antenna; Windows Vista.

Glorious failure
Going out in a botched but beautiful blaze of glory -- catastrophic but exhilarating. Example: Jamaican bobsled team.

Common failure
Everyday instances of screwing up that are not too difficult to recover from. The apology was invented for this category. Examples: oversleeping and missing a meeting at work; forgetting to pick up your kids from school; overcooking the tuna.

Version failure
Small failures that lead to incremental but meaningful improvements over time. Examples: Linux operating system; evolution.

Predicted failure
Failure as an essential part of a process that allows you to see what it is you really need to do more clearly because of the shortcomings. Example: the prototype -- only by creating imperfect early versions of it can you learn what's necessary to refine it."

Yes, we can learn something from any type of failure.

But this kind of language goes further, by helping us recognize and optimize the kind of failure that just may work.

Sleeping Your Way To the Top

Many top performers have quietly discovered the same secret weapon: 

consistently getting eight hours of sleep.

Time and time again; we've learned that our brains go to work as our bodies rest - thinking differently than they do when we're awake:

• Broadening the tunnel vision that develops after concentrating on something for a long time.
• Making new connections among previously unrelated ideas and memories.
• Practicing and ingraining recently learned concepts and skills.
• Strengthening our ability to sustain our attention span and engagement when we're awake.

Although aggressive company cultures laud 24/7 availability and Type-A personalities boast about getting by on just a few hours of sleep, research has demonstrated that the less sleep you get the worse you perform. 

The National Sleep Foundation reports that Americans are averaging only 6.9 hours of sleep a weeknight - and think that they're getting by just fine.  But, in fact, they're not

 Thinking as clearly,
 Learning as quickly,
 Coming up with as many new ideas,
 Or performing as productively as they think they are.

They've simply lost their edge.

Unlike resilient achievers like Arianna Huffington, who have learned how to "Shut your eyes and discover the great ideas inside us."

Intelligent Memory

Conventional wisdom says that turning off our analytical, logical left brains and turning on our creative, intuitive right brains helps us come up with new ideas.

After all, Roger Sperry won the Nobel Prize for his right/left brain theory.

But Eric Kandel also won the Nobel Prize - for research disproving Sperry's theory. Kendal found that we don't think with a two-sided brain. We use recall and learning, throughout our whole brain, as we exercise "intelligent memory."

A strategy+business article explains:

From the moment you're born, your brain takes things in, breaks them down, and puts them on shelves.

As new information comes in, your brain does a search to see how it might fit with other information already stored in your memory. When it finds a match, the previous memories come off the shelf and combine with the new, and the result is a thought.

The breaking down and storing process is analysis. The searching and combining is intuition. Both are necessary for all kinds of thought. Even a mathematical calculation requires the intuition part, to recall the symbols and formula previously learned in order to apply them to the problem.

When the pieces come off the shelf smoothly, in familiar patterns ... you don't even realize it has happened. When lots of different pieces combine into a new pattern, you feel it as a flash of insight, the famous "aha!" moment.

To mine "intelligent memory" when your team needs better ideas:

Together, define and describe your challenge.

Separately, everyone researches, "Has anyone else in the world ever made progress on any piece of this puzzle?"

Continue this treasure hunt, alternating work with relaxation to encourage the subconscious use of intuition.

Bring your ideas back to the team. Work together to highlight, experiment with and improve the best ones.

Here's to your next "aha!"

Today's Work

What percentage of their time does your team spend doing things they know will be effective?

How much of their time is spent finding better ways to do things?

What's the balance of time you spend on each?

Sustaining success is a good outcome, it's just not good enough to stop there.

The question that shapes the work of today's leaders is, "Is there a better way to do this?"

The answer is almost always "yes."

Asking the question regularly increases the odds that you'll find increasingly powerful ways to do so.

"Build a Tower, Build a Team"

In 70 workshops across the world, Tom Wujec gave small teams 18 minutes to build the tallest freestanding structure they could ... using 20 sticks of spaghetti, a yard of tape, a yard of string, and a marshmallow.


This seemingly trivial challenge produced quick, relatable insights into drivers of productive collaborations.

For example, it showed the value of prototyping:

• Teams that oriented themselves to the challenge and roles, planned and built their right answer were ineffective.

• Teams that created quick, successive prototypes, applying what they learned from each iteration were the most effective.

Tom's data also showed the importance of

• including process-oriented team members (CEO teams with executive admins were more effective than CEO-only teams),

• and combining a high stakes prize with "how-to" knowledge. (Just offering the high stakes prize decreased performance, offering the prize and insights into the importance of prototyping increased performance.)

Prototyping is a more readily accepted approach in some work environments than others. You can keep it simple and scrappy, collecting responses to rough drafts of your ideas and using what you learn to improve each new draft.

It's a potent form of active learning that builds innovation mindsets and skill sets by

• encouraging curiosity,

• uncovering hidden assumptions,

• and helping teams think, feel and work in new ways.

Could it be a more effective approach to something you're working on today?

The Stories We Tell

Christy Uffelman is Vice President of Employee and Organization Development at Mascaro Construction, a regional general contractor based in Pittsburgh. She has an interesting story to tell.

If it was a cautionary tale about the struggles associated with

• being a female leader in a male-dominated industry

• bringing expertise whose value was not yet understood

• at a time when many construction companies faced restructuring and layoffs,

it would be understandable.

But during our conversation she told a more compelling story about building networks and leveraging strengths as she

• brought a fresh point of view and capabilities to the executive team,

• built credibility with an award-winning program that helps employees communicate and work well together,

• and partnered with founder Jack Mascaro to create an emerging leaders program that is transferring knowledge and experience from one generation of leaders to the next.

Her story is peppered with descriptions of the capabilities and character of those she works with, as well as her own learning. When Christy says, "I am not a character in the story of my life, I am the author," she positions herself to write a story of success.

Harvard's Howard Gardner says, "Stories are the single most powerful weapon in a leader's arsenal."

In the stories you tell yourself and others about your work,

What kinds of themes do you tend to emphasize?

What role do you typically play?

Whose capabilities are highlighted?

And, is there a bigger story you want to create and tell?

One Minute Wisdom from 'Rethink'

Good insights can be found in interesting places...

The Rethink Scholarship is awarded to art directors and designers on the basis of a sketchbook containing the applicant's most interesting ideas.

You can use their one minute video as a prompt for fresh thinking.

There's wisdom in the points they make, like:

- Don't fall in love with your first idea.

- Show people your work, see if they get it (repeat, repeat, repeat ....)

and the way they make them, including:

- Layered messages.

- Use of anticipation.

- Novelty combined with simplicity.

Their selection criteria (see How We Pick the Winner) provide self-checks to use as you prepare to present new ideas, highlighting the importance of:

Clarity: of your ideas, and how they are conveyed.

Relevance: speaking to what's most important to your audience.

Freshness: what's new and exciting?

Salience: no need to show every step or possibility, quality trumps quantity.

Craft and execution: how you present communicates as much as what you present.

Overlooked Excellence

If you're a sophisticated and seasoned professional

using world class tools,
with access to a large, diverse audience,
and ample time to demonstrate your capabilities ...

will your talents be appreciated?

Consider Joshua Bell's experience.

One of the world's greatest musicians, he's played before crowned heads of state and commands rates running around $1,000 a minute.

On one of the most valuable violins ever made,

he performed several difficult, elegant pieces
at a busy metro stop as 1,097 people walk by -
for 43 minutes.

The audience response was recorded by a hidden camera. Was there a problem with crowd control? Not exactly.

Six minutes passed before anyone stopped to listen.
Only seven people stopped and paid attention for a minute or more.
Twenty-seven gave donations, totaling almost $33.

98% of the people bypassed world class talent directly in their path.

This experiment reinforced several leadership lessons:

Strengths that are not marketed well will go unnoticed.

Capability isn't enough. You need to ensure that your strengths are recognized. One passerby had seen him in concert - she stopped to listen, thanked him, and left the largest donation.

Context matters.

If he'd been playing at a concert hall, his audience may have listened more appreciatively. Context determines relevance.

Time constraints limit our ability to recognize unexpected pockets of excellence.

If 1,000+ people were too intent on their destination to acknowledge the virtuoso before them, what else isn't registering? Allow yourself to stop and smell the roses, hear the music and make the most of what's right in front of you.