IN THIS ISSUE:

• Letter From Sarah
• Feature Article - The Innovation Power of Uniqueness
• Out of the Box
• Events and Resources
• The Edison Awards
• About Sarah Caldicott

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Dear Innovator:

One of the most important business acronyms I learned in my first marketing job was USP: "Unique Selling Proposition." After graduating from business school, I began my career as a marketing assistant at the Quaker Oats Company (now Pepsico). I landed in a unique area of Quaker: the Pet Foods division. A world apart from the highly corporate environment of oatmeal and Captain Crunch, Pet Foods was entrepreneurial, bold, and daring. This gave us newbie's a chance to powerfully express our personal uniqueness at an early stage of our business lives.

I was reminded on a daily basis of how crucially important it was not only to know the USP of my assigned Pet Foods brand - Kibbles 'n Bits 'n Bits 'n Bits - but to ensure the USP was reinforced by all the brand's messaging. Without a USP, the brand would experience a horrible fate: it would "blend in" and be indistinguishable from its competitors. Without a USP, it could never become what Edison would call a Market-moving Brand.

As innovators, it's important that we have not only a USP for the brand, business, or team we're working on - but to have a USP for our daily lives. We need a USP for ourselves! We must remember to PRACTICE uniqueness every day. Being unique, knowing your uniqueness, and illustrating it in the world is an excellent way to ramp up your innovation success.

"The Freakazoid"

EXPRESS UNIQUENESS IN YOUR PERSONAL AND WORK LIFE
One way Edison embraced uniqueness in his personal life was by becoming a master jokester and storyteller. Deaf in his left ear, telling stories helped him attract new friends and converse with them more easily.

He translated this personal USP into his work life by learning to "tell the story" of his inventions in compelling and charismatic ways. The uniqueness of Edison's products was matched by the uniqueness of his stories. Investors and employees alike were enthralled by Edison's descriptions of what his products could do.

 

In this way, Edison aligned facets of his "business" USP with his personal USP.

 

Sometimes though, our work USP is distinct from our personal USP. Here's a real-life example.

 

My son Nicholas (Fathead poster at left) is a college junior who plays Strong Outside Linebacker for the Butler Bulldogs. He was named Defensive MVP for the 2009 football season, when the Bulldogs won their conference with a record-smashing performance of 11 wins and 1 loss.

 

An admiring fan (no...it wasn't me) gave Nick a "Fathead" poster of himself, taken during an actual game. He has the poster mounted in his dorm room to remind him of his USP on the field. Nicknamed "The Freakazoid" by his teammates, his USP embraces the following 3 unique qualities:

• A stance creating high acceleration from the line of scrimmage
• Quickness plus outstanding upper and lower body strength
• Strong ability to "see the field" of play.

I would summarize Nick's USP this way: "I can explode off the line and power-tackle opponents even on the opposite side of the field from me."

 

Off the field, Nick's USP is different. A humble servant leader, he offers deep insights to others but does not "come on strong." Instead, he finds that others seek him out and ask him to lead. At a young age, Nick has begun developing a Market-moving Brand for himself.

 

Knowing your USP "on and off the field" gives you an innovation edge. It allows you to powerfully access your natural innovation wiring. In this issue, read in the feature article about how you can identify and exercise your uniqueness at work and in your personal life. The Out-of-the-Box segment describes how improv techniques expand two abilities Edison felt were crucial for every innovator: imagination, and seeing patterns and analogies. Read in the Edison Awards segment about how women PhD's are finding it difficult to innovate, and what's being done to help them think in new, unique ways.

 

Next month I will be attending the 2010 Edison Awards, so check out the May issue of Edison's Notebook for photo highlights of this outstanding day of innovation! I hope I can find a unique dress!

To your innovation success,

PS: Please share this newsletter with a co-worker or a friend!

Feature Article - The Innovation Power of Uniqueness

(click here to view past newsletter issues)

The first two 2010 editions of Edison's Notebook focused on two core themes: Creativity and Risk-taking. Perhaps more than any others, these two qualities define the Innovator.

Today's article drills into one specific characteristic which research tells us is deeply linked to creativity: Uniqueness. Although most of us feel that we are unique in SOME capacity, studies reveal that over 60% of us say "NO WAY!" when asked if we're creative.

This is a real puzzlement, since our brains are actually wired to drive creativity. The right and left hemispheres are set up to power major flows of information which - when harnessed - deliver deeply creative concepts. Edison felt each person was capable of unique thoughts and huge potential, saying "If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

By focusing on what makes us unique, we can drive toward the creative and the astonishing!

In this issue, I'll offer several ways you can think about what makes you unique, and develop your own one-sentence Unique Selling Proposition - or USP. Developing a USP for yourself and your business is the first step toward creating a Market-moving Brand, one of Edison's keys to driving innovation success. I'll cover:

• The power of uniqueness in your work environment.
• Establishing uniqueness in your personal life.
• Coming up with catchy "nicknames" that powerfully encapsulate your uniqueness.

EDISON LEVERAGED HIS UNIQUENESS AS A WAY TO STAND OUT AT WORK
For this discussion, let's define uniqueness as "a willingness to express or appreciate atypical qualities in ourselves and others." And indeed, it's often the combination of qualities that drives what makes us - or our products and services - unique.

This was certainly true for Edison. After years of traveling from town to town working as a telegrapher during his late teens and early adulthood, Edison became accustomed to acclimating himself to new work and social environments.

An Illustration of the Wizard of Menlo Park

Edison intentionally harnessed the combination of these unique qualities so he could generate revenue from inventing. Early on, Edison realized that solving complex problems while creating new concepts that customers wanted got him noticed. It got him noticed by important peers - like Alexander Graham Bell and Lord Kelvin - as well as presidents of big companies like Western Union.

Over time, the public noticed, too. A savvy journalist actually gave Edison a nickname for his unique abilities, dubbing Edison The Wizard of Menlo Park. So while Edison detested this nickname, it also captured the uniqueness of his masterful abilities in just a few words.

This is ultimately what you want to do as well when considering your own USP: use it to create a nickname for yourself as an ongoing reminder of your unique abilities.

UNIQUENESS IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Edison, when constructing the Menlo Park laboratory brought together metal-cutting, wood-working, and chemistry equipment which had never been housed under one roof before. This unique combination of resources immediately set Menlo Park apart from other laboratories, and also enabled Edison to recruit the best people.

Below are four examples of companies which have creatively combined basic concepts to build a unique work environment which - in turn - draws out maximum results from its employees.

Think about the points of uniqueness in your own organization's work environment, and what type of results that environment inspires. Think as well about what "nickname" you could give to these USP's:

• Zappos (leader in online shoe sales): Our employees handle incoming customer calls without being required to use pre-set scripts.
  
  
• Google (leader in search engine technology): Our employees can set their own work hours, and access all the amenities they need (food, sleep, laundry, gym) at no charge while remaining on the Google campus.
  
  
• IDEO (leader in industrial design and Design Thinking): Employees working on project initiatives co-locate in a specific project room for the duration of their projects.
  
  
• Rio Salado College (leader in community college education in Arizona, and 2009 Edison Award winner): Our faculty and staff access a common, modular collaboration facility to power the exchange of innovative ideas.

Imagine the innovations you could generate if you worked in these environments!

UNIQUENESS IN OUR PERSONAL LIVES
Many times, it is our own persona which drives our uniqueness. In some instances, we bring this same persona to work, while in other instances we develop a completely separate persona for work. As I noted in this month's Letter from Sarah, athletes - for example - often are different when they're competing than they are during their free time.

There was a high degree of continuity between the persona Edison displayed at work and the persona he displayed at work. But at home, he had more time for jokes and storytelling, to the delight of his family and relatives. So Edison's USP for his personal life might have been: I can tell a story anytime, anywhere, and make people laugh.

We can look to Hollywood and politics for examples of USP's that differentiate famous people:

• Elie Wiesel or Nelson Mandela: I inspire others by forgiving those who have committed great wrongs against me.
  
  
• Madonna or Lady Gaga: I capture headlines by pushing the boundaries of personal style while delivering cutting edge music and entertainment. (Like these two high octane celebs, some stars have actually immortalized their USP's by leveraging their NICKNAMES...consider Prince, Sting, Snoop Dog, etc.)
  
  
• Shaun White: I push the boundaries of what's possible on a snowboard, flying higher and faster than anyone ever believed possible. (NICKNAME: The Flying Tomato.)
  
  
• Walter Cronkite (late television anchorman): I deliver all the news of the day, truthfully and without sensationalism.

What would your USP be for your personal life? How would you describe yourself in these terms? What would others say about you? How are these descriptions compelling or differentiating?

Consider the value to you of generating a USP for your personal life. Imagine how you could look at each day in a different light if you viewed it from the lens of your own uniqueness and creativity. Edison consistently exercised his creative juices this way!

WHAT YOU CAN DO STARTING NOW

Out of the Box

LIVE FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE...IT'S YOUR ENGINEERING CLASS!

Would you have paid money to become an engineer in graduate school...by learning stand-up comedy?

Chances are if you are a student at the renowned Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth (in Hanover, NH), your answer would be an enthusiastic "Yes!"

Peter Robbie, a Thayer engineering professor, teaches a course in Design Thinking at the school's MacLean Engineering Sciences Center. Professor Robbie draws principles from the comedy world of improv to help students become more robust thinkers, and better engineers.

Robbie believes improv helps students connect with their environment, and consider the needs of their audience - their users. He states improv actors "...never say no. They never miss a beat. Improv requires players to accept what they are given, build on the ideas of others, and encourage wild ideas..."

Edison would consider this an excellent way of illustrating a core principle of his fifth competency of innovation: Super-value Creation. Edison believed that to create a market-moving brand, the innovator must uniquely connect with customer needs, and make each solution memorable and impactful. Improv brings these principles of uniqueness to life!

Here's one example of an exercise Robbie created to get his students into "improv mode." (Hint: Try this with your co-workers...)

Rearrange your chairs to make space for a stage. Pretend you are in a restaurant. One by one, leave your seats and create a restaurant scene. If you are seated as a patron at the restaurant, eat with an imaginary knife and fork. If you are cooking, imagine you are stirring a pot of food. If you are waiting on tables, use invisible trays. Begin your conversations now.

One Thayer student comments on the uniqueness of Robbie as an individual, and the power of his course to teach real-world principles: "Technical aspects of design really have to meet human needs, and Peter has this really interesting perspective that he brings to any classes that he's taught here having to do with design. He lives between the fine arts and engineering in his outlook and perspective and the kinds of things he brings to our courses. He's a unique individual in that sense."

To read the full article on Professor Robbie's class which appeared in the March 9th edition of the Fast Company newsletter, click here. Try an improv session at your next weekly meeting, and see what happens!

Events and Resources

The Edison Awards
Dedicated to America's Innovation Competitiveness in the 21st Century

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS BEING TOO SMART TO INNOVATE?

How many college degrees did Thomas Edison receive during his lifetime? Do you know which U.S. college he attended?

Surprise...!! Thomas Edison actually only spent about 3 months in school. Around the time when Edison was 10 years old, Edison's mother - a retired school teacher - pulled Thomas out of a traditional classroom learning environment. She was distressed to learn that his teachers felt Thomas's brain was "addled" because he asked so many questions. They were certain he wasn't listening!

Nancy Edison took it upon herself to home-school Edison. She realized Thomas's endless questioning and curiosity were really his attempts to "go to the heart of facts." He was a kinesthetic learner who needed to touch and experience his environment - to take things apart and put them back together. In this unique way Edison realized he could "make facts his own."

Edison's ability to use all his senses as problem-solving tools helped shape his unique ability to see and experience the world. His curiosity and unique way of viewing challenges became one of the most important contributors to his success as an innovator.

WOMEN PhD'S CHALLENGED BY INNOVATION
Edison would thus be distressed to learn that, in an era when women are receiving more PhD's than men in the biological sciences, few are commercializing their technologies.

Recent findings of the Kauffman Foundation - which supports diverse entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives - indicate that while women "have been educated to become scientists, few have been educated as innovators."

Government projections show that between 15% and 18% of GNP will be comprised of life science-related activities over the next 20 years.  It's thus crucial that women PhD's become skilled in innovative thinking!

EDISON ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER IS A LIFE SCIENTIST INSPIRING INNOVATION
Women PhD's seeking to learn how to think like an innovator can draw inspiration from Thomas Edison's Five Competencies of Innovation™ as a beginning point. But they can also study the example of one of this year's 2010 Edison Achievement Award Winners, Dr. Susan Hockfield - the first life scientist (and the first woman!) - to serve as President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Click here to listen to a two-minute video featuring Dr. Hockfield's views on innovation.	Click here to listen to a 1-minute description of the challenge facing women PhD's as described by Leesa Mitchell of the Kauffmann Foundation.

About Sarah Caldicott

Sarah Miller Caldicott is a great grandniece of Thomas Edison, a 25-year marketing veteran, and co-author of "Innovate Like Edison: The Five-Step System for Breakthrough Business Success." She has assembled teams of highly experienced consultants and trainers to assist her in bringing Edison's Five Competencies of Innovation™ to organizations of all sizes. Sarah and her teams are capable of addressing business challenges from a diverse array of industries, in either a business-to-consumer or business-to-business environment.

Sarah is a dynamic and award-winning speaker, whose engaging style combines substantive business content with humor. Her invaluable experience offers an ideal resource for organizations seeking innovation success in today's rapidly integrating global marketplace.

Born and raised in the Midwest, Sarah received a BA from Wellesley College, where she was named a Wellesley College Scholar. She also holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Sarah resides in Oak Park, Illinois, and has two teenage boys, Nicholas and Connor. For additional information on Sarah, click here.

©2010 by Sarah Miller Caldicott. All Rights Reserved.