1. Lego, Innovation, Design
Comcast Academy
Lego, Innovation, Design
Thinking
Matt McConnell
Kerry Plemmons
5th color is black

2. Agenda – October 23 – Noon Lunch
12:30 – Share your Innovation Homework: 90 seconds each for picture and a story.
1:00 - Creativity, Innovation Content – Kerry
2:15 - Break
2:30 – Lego Case – Matt Leads this Discussion
3:45 – Break
4:00 – Application of Lego and Design Thinking to Comcast – Matt and Kerry
4:15 – Define the Challenge for Action Learning Projects in Teams
4:45 – Report Back on ALP Plans – Donna and Leslie
5:00 – Finished
Happy Hour with the Cohort

3. Take your portrait and the machine spits out the Legos to build your portrait.

4. Agenda – October 23 – Noon Lunch
12:30 – Share your Innovation Homework: 90 seconds each for picture and a story.
1:00 - Creativity, Innovation Content – Kerry
2:15 - Break
2:30 – Lego Case – Matt Leads this Discussion
3:45 – Break
4:00 – Application of Lego and Design Thinking to Comcast – Matt and Kerry
4:15 – Define the Challenge for Action Learning Projects in Teams
4:45 – Report Back on ALP Plans – Donna and Leslie
5:00 – Finished
Happy Hour with the Cohort

5. Are you Creative?
What is innovation?
Who is your favorite innovator?

6. Divergent Thinking Indexing Creativity

7. Divergent Thinking
A process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. Opposite is convergent thinking, linear

8. Practice: You have 60 seconds to write down 15 ways that cats are like refrigerators.

11. I plan teach others about the
Design Thinking Model and specifically practice
Divergent Thinking in three areas of
our business:
Solving for client and business needs
Improving our Sales and Marketing Approach
Driving Innovation for our Business

12. A Whole New Mind – Daniel Pink - 2006
Left Brain, Right Brain
Left Brain
Controls Right Side
Sequential
Text – Facts – Logic
Details
What is said
Right Brain
Controls Left Side
Simultaneous
Context – Meaning
Big Picture
How it is said

13. High Concept – High Touch
High concept involves the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new.

14. A Whole New Mind – Daniel Pink - 2006
Future Success Portfolio
Symphony
Story
Design
Meaning
Play
Empathy

15. “The Creative Brain”, Dr. Derek Schramm
“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.” Einstein
“The Creative Brain”, Dr. Derek Schramm

16. The Innovator’s DNA
Harvard Business Review, December 2009, Dyer, Gregersen, and Christensen

17. The Innovator’s DNA* Innovative Business Idea Questioning
*Dyer, *Gregersen & Christensen (HBR Press – 2011)
Dyer, Gregersen and Christensen (2012)
Courage & Culture Behavioral Skill Cognitive Skill Result
Questioning
Challenging the status quo
Observing
Associational Thinking
Taking risks
Networking
In his book, Clayton Christensen of Harvard calls this skill “ASSOCIATIONAL THINKING”
But to think different, the authors noted that all of these leaders also had to ACT differently.
Start with Culture. If you don’t have that culture in place, Innovation will be extremely difficult. And potentially career-ending. (Lots of time with potential entrepreneurs reviewing their non-compete agreements in this area).
Critical insight: “one’s ability to generate innovative ideas is not merely a function of the mind, but also a function of behaviors.”
This is good news for all of us because it means THAT IF WE CHANGE OUR BEHAVIORS, WE CAN IMPROVE OUR CREATIVE IMPACT.
Experimenting

18. Discovery Skills Skill 1: Associating
The ability to connect seemingly unrelated questions or ideas
Omidyar launched eBay after associating:
A fascination with more creative markets
His fiancee’s desire to locate hard-to-find pez dispensers
The inefficiency of local classifieds in locating these items
Steve Jobs has a very diverse background in calligraphy, meditation, and the fine details of Mercedes-Benz

19. Discovery Skills Skill 2: Questioning Skill 3: Observing
The difficult job is not the answer, but asking the right question
Ask: ‘Why?’ and ‘Why not?’ and ‘What if?’ Challenge assumptions.
Imagine opposites. Play the devil’s advocate to synthesize options.
Embrace constraints. Use ‘What if?’ questions to force innovative thinking.
Skill 3: Observing
By observing others, innovators act like social scientists
Innovators say: ‘Why do they do that? That doesn’t make sense.’

20. Discovery Skills Skill 4: Experimenting Skill 5: Networking
The world is the innovator’s laboratory
Innovators engage in active experimentation such as intellectual exploration, physical tinkering, or engagement in new surroundings
Experimenting allows failure, while harvesting the learning
Skill 5: Networking
Innovators go out of their way to meet people with different ideas and perspectives to extend their knowledge domains

21. Put a Ding in the Universe
Innovators actively desire to change the status quo Innovators regularly take risks to make the change happen Innovators tend to be motivated to ‘make history’, ‘put a ding in the universe’, and ‘be disruptive, but in the cause of making the world a better place’ Mistakes are an expected cost of doing business, and innovators must rely on their ‘courage to innovate’

23. The LEGO Case: Managing Sustainable Growth Really is 4 Cases in 1:
Shows how to build a great company with one of the best known brands in the world
Describes how LEGO’s management tries to accelerate growth, leverage its brand, but fails
A new leader (Paul Ploughman) is brought in to turn the company around, but instead drives it to the brink of bankruptcy
35-year old Jorgen Knudstrop becomes CEO and transforms LEGO’s business system. In less than 10 years, the company becomes the world’s most profitable toy maker.

24. Lego start at 1:45 End at 11:30

25. The LEGO Experience
Question: “How many of you grew up playing with LEGOs?” “What was your favorite LEGO moment?”

26. LEGO’s Decline
What went wrong?
External Factors
Internal Factors

27. What went wrong? LEGO’s Decline External Factors
Retail channels consolidated rapidly
Demand for toys had become more volatile
Global competition had increased
Birth rates in core LEGO markets had fallen

28. LEGO’s Decline
What is Complexity?

29. How many ways can you combine two 8-stud bricks?
Complexity
How many ways can you combine two 8-stud bricks?
Three bricks?
Six bricks?

30. Distinct Configurations
Number of 8-Stud Bricks
Distinct Configurations 1 2 24 3
1,560 4
119,580 5
10,116,403 6
915,103,765 7
85,747,377,755

31. LEGO’s Decline
What is a Core?

32. LEGO’s Decline Mr. Fixit’s (Paul Ploughman) Turnaround Attempt
What did he do?
Why did it fail?

33. The LEGO Board Games Decision?
No! Don’t go outside the core.
Yes! Launch the new board game line.
No! Don’t go outside the core.

34. The Turnaround CEO Jorgen Knudstorp “Putting the Pieces Together”
Start Video at 1:45 and end at 11:09 (right after he mentions IDEO)

35. The Turnaround
What were the elements of the turnaround?

36. The Turnaround Elements of the Turnaround: Operations were fixed
Innovation was reorganized and refocused
Retailers were treated as both customer and partner

37. Managing Sustainable Growth: Complexity
What is complexity?
Study of complex linkage and interactions
Complexity can destroy value
Its consequences are difficult to predict
It is difficult to control (keep outputs within a desirable range).
It is difficult to manage (link cause & effect)

38. Managing Sustainable Growth: Preserve Core, Stimulate Progress*
Complexity: watch closely, metrics.
Core: deviate carefully, definition.
Customers: involve early, engagement.
Competition: differentiate, distinctive brand
*Jim Collins, From Good to Great