• 5 Minutes To New Ideas With Phil McKinney

  • By: Phil McKinney
  • Podcast

5 Minutes To New Ideas With Phil McKinney

By: Phil McKinney
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  • Summary

  • A podcast for the creative mind with a short attention span. Each episode will challenge you to create ideas by asking unique, funny & sometimes crazy questions. With this short-format show of 5 minutes, you can spend more time innovating and less time listening. The show's host, Phil McKinney, is an award-winning innovator whose technologies and products are used by 100's of millions of people every day. He is the host of the award-winning podcast, Killer Innovations, and author of the award-winning book, Beyond The Obvious. Phil retired as the CTO of HP at the end of 2011. This show is produced and distributed by The Innovators Network.
    The Innovators Network, LLC and Phil McKinney
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Career Success Economics Personal Success
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Episodes
  • The Overlooked Secret to Innovation

    The Overlooked Secret to Innovation
    Aug 10 2020

    As a society, we have a problem. 

     

    Some years ago, the late Nobel Prize winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer was asked by a reporter, “Doctor, what’s wrong with people today?” The famous doctor was silent for a moment, then he said, “People simply don’t think!”

     

    Why do some not use our brains and think? The brain is a fabulous mechanism. It is capable of processing eight hundred inputs per second for seventy-five years without exhausting itself.

     

    Scientists tell us that humans use approximately 2 percent of the brainpower available to us. We are all equal. We all have the same 2%. 

     

    As a society, some of us have chosen not to use this powerful tool. We let others do our thinking for us. Why?

    Conformity

    Rollo May, the distinguished psychiatrist, wrote a book called “Man’s Search From Himself,” and in the book, he says, “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice .. it is conformity.” And there you have the reason why some people choose not to think for themselves. Conformity.

     

    [QUOTE] If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking. [QUOTE]

     

    They handed over their ability to succeed and fail by conforming to others. Conformity allows them to coast through life or so they believe. They wonder why they are not as successful as others. 

     

    Have you wondered why innovators are different? Innovators are anything but conformists - coasters. Innovators are driven to solve problems, to invent, to make life better for everyone. 

     

    Why do innovators seem to have the magic touch? Why are Elon Musk or Dean Kamin so successful? They didn’t start out as billionaires. They started out just like the rest of us. 

     

    Being a highly successful innovator is available to everyone. No constraint. No skill or ability beyond what you have available to you right now. 

    Overlooked Secret

    So what is the overlooked secret to being a successful innovator?

     

    Having goals. Innovators with goals succeed because they know where they are going. They have a focus to apply their 2% of brainpower. 

     

    Think of driving a car. If every time you come to a red light you make a left turn, green light you go straight, and at stop signs, you turn right. Where would you end up after driving for an hour? Who knows. Your path is randomly chosen by the timing of lights and the appearance of stop signs. 

     

    If on the other hand, you have a destination and load the address into the GPS. You now have a plan to get there. While you may run into obstacles such as traffic or road closures, you can adjust your plan and still arrive at your destination. 

     

    Having a goal, like a destination, is the overlooked secret to success for innovators. Without it, your success is based on random chance. 

     

    So decide now. What is it you want? Plant your goal in your mind and commit to applying your brain’s 2% to achieving it. 

     

    Do you want to invent a solution to a specific problem? Do you want to be an entrepreneur and start a business around one of your innovations? Do you want to be a famous innovation coach?

     

    To succeed, commit to that goal. Reflect on it every day, and it will become a reality. 

     

    It not only will -- there is no way it cannot become real. 

    Don’t Settle For Less

    We are where we are, because we were willing to settle for less. What is it you are settling for? Each of us lives off the fruit of our goals, because the goals set today, tomorrow, next month, and next year will move your life and determine your future. You are guided by your goals. 

     

    The moment you decide on your innovation goal, you are instantly stepping ahead of most everyone else, and you are in that rare group of people who know where you are going. You have set your destination. 

     

    Do not concern yourself on how you are going to achieve your goal. Leave that to your human ingenuity, and the power of the self-conscious. All you have to do is know where you are going. The answers as to what to do next will come to you at just the right time. 

     

    Setting a goal and having the tenacity to stick with it is hard. Conformity will look easy while sticking to your goal will have its struggles and frustrations. 

     

    As Frederick Crane said, “Individuality is the mark of genius. Mediocrity finds safety in conformity.” 

     

    You deserve what you are willing to settle for. Are you willing to be mediocre or are you out to change the world with your ideas?
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    5 mins
  • TNI-Affordance

    TNI-Affordance
    Jul 13 2020
    On January 13, 2018, the people of Hawaii woke to a shocking alert on their phones and TVs. An incoming ballistic missile was on its way and that the warning was not a drill. It was 38 minutes later that the alert was retracted. During those 38 minutes -- panic set in. People were trying to figure out what to do. People drove their families to highway tunnels in hopes it would protect them. We can only imagine the fear that raced through the population of more than a million people.  How did this happen? Hawaii Emergency Alert System The alert was accidentally triggered by a state employee who was attempting to perform an internal test. As the Washington Post reported, the user interface for the emergency management system had a drop-down menu with two choices -- TEST MISSILE ALERT and MISSILE ALERT. The two options worded almost identically and with no confirmation required.  It is harder to erase a photograph from your phone that it was to scare the citizens and tourists in Hawaii. The designer did not consider the confusion of choosing the wrong menu option. There were no signals to the user about the action they were about to take.  What if the same lack of thought and consideration has been applied to airplanes, water treatment facilities, or nuclear power plants? It isn’t restricted to exotic or high-risk areas. You experience these signals every day.   Office Affordance Have you ever walked up to a door and instead of a door handle, you were presented with a flat panel area where the door handle would normally be? What do you do? You push and the door opens.  This signal of the properties of the door, in this case, to push, is called affordance. Affordance can also signal what not to do with the door. With no handle, you are not to pull on the door.  In our office, there is a conference room near my cube. On the glass doors are handles. I invariably grab the handles and pull. What happens? Nothing. To open the door you need to push. So after I pull, then I push. While I’ve been in this conference rooms hundreds of times, I pull each and every time. The visual queue, affordance, overrides my memory of the last time I tried to enter the conference room -- and I pull on the handle.  While we may chuckle at these design oversights, the use of affordance can give customers a clear signal of how-to, and how not to, experience a product or service.  Sony Walkman Affordance In 1980, I got my first Sony Walkman. This innovation had quickly become “the tech” everyone had to have. It allowed you to take your music with you. At the time, I was into DJing and making my version of mixtapes. The walkman allowed me to enjoy my music wherever I went -- to the annoyance of the then-girlfriend and now wife.  What I found intriguing with the Walkman was what it didn’t do -- as much as what it did do. Yes -- it was the first highly portable way to listen to recorded music. What it did not allow you to do was record music.  That’s right -- you could listen to music but you could not record it. Why? Up to that time, every cassette player allowed you to record.  Sony made the clever design decision to not have a feature to signal to customers what it was -- a portable music player. This decision had other benefits including reducing complexity and lower intimidation that technology can sometimes cause.  This design decision by Sony is another example of affordance. It signed what you can and cannot do with a Sony Walkman.  Affordance applies to all kinds of products and services. McDonald’s Affordance Have you ever wondered why McDonald’s does not offer cutlery? I can honestly say that I’ve never been tempted to use a fork and knife to eat a Quarterpounder.  In its early days, McDonald’s didn’t offer cutlery as an affordance signal to its customers in how they were to enjoy their meal -- with their hands.  For companies, paying attention to affordance can create highly differentiated customer experiences that create brand loyalty.  Apple Affordance Apple is one such company. By limiting options, radical simplicity, and clear signaling of what every action will be, Apple has created a cult following.  Ignoring affordance can lead to customer confusion and frustration which will open the doors to others to your market.  Ask yourself -- what affordance signals are you sending to your customers? Maybe it is the front door? Or a user interface in your mobile app or website? Or maybe a feature available or unavailable with your product? How do you find these affordances that you can fix or leverage? By testing with your customers. Remember, you are not a proxy for your customer. Affordance is in the eye of the customer.  Be more like Apple - and less like the Hawaii Emergency Alert system.   
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    7 mins
  • TNI - Exceptionally Normal

    TNI - Exceptionally Normal
    Jan 9 2020
    It is normal that no two people are exactly alike. Not even twins. So the word normal should not be confused with the word average. If you leave your fingerprints on something, you might as well leave your name and address since no two people have the same prints.  You hear music and see a sunrise differently from any other person. You might enjoy a movie that your spouse would do anything to avoid. You might like being in a crowd of friends while your spouse prefers an evening being just the two of you.  When you say, “I want my child to be normal,” you don’t mean average, and you shouldn’t. What you mean is that you want your child to grow up with their own abilities, talents, likes, and dislikes. So to be normal is not to be average; it is to be different. But for some reason, we are not comfortable showing our differences because we think society is expecting something we are not. We present one face to the world, as a rule, and another one to ourselves. There are millions of people who feel inadequate just because they’re not like what they think they see around themselves. They’re not inadequate at all. It’s just that they've never understood that we’re not supposed to be like everyone else because no one is. We’re supposed to be ourselves and realize that we are distinct individuals. Face it, we are all quirky. Take a look at the great thought leaders: Socrates stood for hours in the snow, oblivious to the wind and cold, working out a philosophy problem; Churchill walked into the bedroom of the president of the United States with only a towel wrapped around his waist; Einstein could go a whole lifetime without giving a thought to whether or not he needed a haircut. Are these people normal or abnormal? They’re normal. That is the way they do things -- which is their normal.  I’m sure there are lots of people who are keeping themselves from something they’d like to be doing because none of their friends are doing it. The truth of the matter is that they would be normal to follow their own natural inclinations, since no two people are alike, and they are in fact being abnormal in copying their friends.  If you try to conform to the crowd, you’re trying to act as people act on the surface. It isn’t you. What’s normal for you, for me, is not easily discovered. It is not found by looking around at other people. It is found only by inward searching, by the knowledge of “who I am,” not by watching “others.” Each of us is outstanding in some way. Every person on earth has a superpower for something. When we find it, life takes on a new meaning and excitement. When you committed the effort to develop your superpower, a lot of other people will wish they were like you. But they shouldn’t. Being normal is being what you are as an individual. This applies to everyone including those that society labels as “not normal” such as those on the autism spectrum. Rather than someone on the autism spectrum trying to act like people who society thinks of as “being normal”, what is wrong with them being themselves and acting their normal? We as a society have defined normal based on some artificial standard we see around ourselves. Society has never understood that we’re not supposed to be like everyone else because no one is. We need to realize that each person is a distinct individual. So what are the steps to being content with being ourselves?  Everybody Knows: You can't be all things to all people. You can't do all things at once. You can't do all things equally well. You can't do all things better than everyone else. Your humanity is showing just like everyone else's. So: You have to find out who you are and be that. You have to decide what comes first, and do that. You have to discover your strengths, and use them. You have to learn not to compete with others, Because no one else is in the contest of “being you”. Then: You will have learned to accept your own uniqueness. You will have learned to set priorities and make decisions. You will have learned to live with your limitations. You will have learned to give yourself the respect that is due. And you'll be a vital part of society. Dare To Believe: That you are a wonderful, unique person. That you are a once-in-all-history event. That it's more than a right, it's your duty, to be who you are. That appearing normal is not a puzzle you need to solve. And you will be comfortable being your unique self and not someone else.   Each and one of us is a mystery and a miracle. What a shame it is to try to paint over the amazing you with a likeness of someone else.  To be normal is to be ourselves — and never to be average.   
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    7 mins

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