INSIDE THE

ENTREPRENEURIAL
MIND: FROM IDEAS TO
REALITY
Creativity and Innovation
 Creativity – the ability to develop new ideas and to
discover new ways of looking at problems and
opportunities; thinking new things.

 Innovation – the ability to apply creative solutions

to problems or opportunities to enhance or to
enrich people’s lives; doing new things.
Entrepreneurship
 Entrepreneurship – the result of a disciplined,
systematic process of applying creativity and
innovation to the needs and opportunities in the
marketplace.
 Entrepreneurs connect their creative ideas with the
purposeful action and structure of a business.
Failure: Just Part of the Creative
Process!
 For every 3,000 new product ideas:
 Four make it to the development stage.
 Two are actually launched.
 One becomes a success in the market.
 On average, new products account for 40 percent of
companies’ sales!!
 Creativity is an important source for building a
competitive advantage.
Can We Learn to Be Creative?

Yes!

By overcoming paradigms and by suspending

conventional thinking long enough to consider new
and different alternatives!
How Creative Are You?
Hundred   O
Chun Hundred R
Chun Hundred H E Umph Umph Umph Grace.
Chun Hundred S W Of the Spirit
Chun Hundred S

Stand S Media
I
Scholar
Intensity
2 1111 STO CK THEBLUEFACE S H E E T

Objection W E B Roll Roll Tomb of 210,N

Ruled Roy Roy
How Creative Are You?

Fortune 500 Scattered Triumph of the Grace Period

Showers Spirit

Rhodes Scholar I Understand Spring Break Media Bias

Two for One Blue in the Face High Intensity Spreadsheet

Stock Split

Objection Web Links Rolls Royce Tomb of

Overruled Tutankhamen
Right-Brained, Creative Thinkers
 Always ask, “Is there a better way?”
 Challenge custom, routine, and tradition.
 Are reflective.
 Are prolific thinkers.
 Play mental games.
Right-Brained, Creative Thinkers
 Realize that there may be more than one “right”
answer.
 See mistakes as pit stops on the way to success.
 See problems as springboards for new ideas.
 Relate seemingly unrelated ideas to a problem.
 Have “helicopter skills.”
Left-Brained or Right-Brained?
 Entrepreneurship requires both left-and right-
brained thinking.
 Right-brained thinking draws on divergent reasoning,
the ability to create a multitude of original, diverse
ideas.
 Left-brained thinking counts on convergent reasoning,
the ability to evaluate multiple ideas and to choose the
the best solution to a problem.
Left-Brained or Right-Brained?
Barriers to Creativity

 Searching for the one “right” answer

 Focusing on “being logical”
 Blindly following the rules
 Constantly being practical
 Viewing play as frivolous
Barriers to Creativity

 Becoming overly specialized

 Avoiding ambiguity
 Fearing looking foolish
 Fearing mistakes and failure
 Believing that “I’m not creative”
Questions to Spur the Imagination

 Is there a new way to do it?

 Can you borrow or adapt it?
 Can you give it a new twist?
 Do you merely need more of the same?
 Less of the same?
Questions to Spur the Imagination

 Is there a substitute?
 Can you rearrange the parts?
 What if you do just the opposite?
 Can you combine ideas?
 Can you put it to other uses?
Questions to Spur the Imagination

 What else could you make from this?

 Are there other markets for it?
 Can you reverse it?
 Can you rearrange it?
 What idea seems impossible, but if executed would
revolutionize your business?
Tips for Enhancing Organizational
Creativity
 Include creativity as a core company value
 Embrace diversity
 Expect creativity
 Expect and tolerate failure
 Encourage creativity
Tips for Enhancing Organizational
Creativity
 Create a change of scenery periodically
 View problems as challenges
 Provide creativity training
 Provide support
 Develop a procedure for capturing ideas
Tips for Enhancing Organizational
Creativity
 Talk with customers
 Look for uses for your company’s products or
services in other markets
 Reward creativity
 Model creative behavior
Tips for Enhancing Individual
Creativity
 Allow yourself to be creative
 Give your mind fresh input every day
 Observe the products and services of other
companies, especially those in completely different
markets
 Recognize the creative power of mistakes
Tips for Enhancing Individual
Creativity
 Keep a journal handy to record your thoughts and
ideas
 Listen to other people
 Listen to customers
 Talk to a child
 Keep a toy box in your office
 Read books on stimulating creativity or take a class
on creativity
 Take some time off
 The Creative Process

Preparation Investigation Transformation

Incubation Illumination Verification

Implementation
 The Creative Process

Preparation Investigation Transformation

Incubation Illumination Verification

Implementation
Preparation
 Get your mind ready for creative thinking.
 Adopt the attitude of a lifelong student.
 Read …a lot…and not just in your field of expertise.
 Clip articles of interest to you and file them.
 Take time to discuss your ideas with other people.
Preparation
 Get your mind ready for creative thinking.
 Join professional or trade associations and attend their
meetings.
 Study other countries and their cultures and travel.
 Develop your listening skills.
 Eliminate creative distractions.
 The Creative Process

Preparation Investigation Transformation

Incubation Illumination Verification

Implementation
Investigation
 Develop a solid understanding of problem,
situation, or decision at hand.
 Study the problem and understand its basic
components
 Careful observations of the world and then investigate
the way things work (or fail to work)
 The Creative Process

Preparation Investigation Transformation

Incubation Illumination Verification

Implementation
Transformation
 Involves viewing both the similarities and the
differences among the information collected.
 Two types of thinking required:
 Convergent – the ability to see the similarities and the
connections among various and often diverse data and
events.
 Divergent – the ability to see the differences among
various data and events.
Transformation
 How can you transform information into
purposeful ideas?
 Grasp the “big picture” by looking for patterns that
emerge.
 Rearrange the elements of the situation.
 Use synectics, taking two seeming nonsensical ideas
and combining them.
 Remember that several approaches can be successful.
If one fails, jump to another.
 The Creative Process

Preparation Investigation Transformation

Incubation Illumination Verification

Implementation
Incubation
 Allow your subconscious to reflect on the
information collected.
 Walk away from the situation.
 Take the time to daydream.
 Relax – and play – regularly.
 Dream about the problem or opportunity.
 Work on it in a different environment.
 The Creative Process

Preparation Investigation Transformation

Incubation Illumination Verification

Implementation
Illumination
 Occurs at some point during the incubation stage
when a spontaneous breakthrough causes “the light
bulb to go on”
 All of the previous stages come together to produce
the “Eureka factor” – the creation of the innovative
idea.
 Usually occur when an individual is away from the
problem
 The Creative Process

Preparation Investigation Transformation

Incubation Illumination Verification

Implementation
Verification
 Validate the idea as accurate and useful.
 Is it really a better solution?
 Will it work?
 Is there a need for it?
 If so, what is the best application of this idea in the
marketplace?
 Does this product or service fit into our core competencies?
 How much will it cost to produce or to provide?
 Can we sell it at a reasonable price?
 The Creative Process

Preparation Investigation Transformation

Incubation Illumination Verification

Implementation
Implementation
 Transformation of idea into reality is what sets
entrepreneurs apart
 “Ready, aim, fire”
Techniques for Improving the Creative
Process
 Brainstorming
 Goal is to create a large quantity of novel and imaginative
ideas.
 Key aspect of creative thinking and innovation
 Requires an open and non-judgemental environment
Techniques for Improving the Creative
Process
Brainstorming Guidelines
 Keep the group small – “Two pizza rule.”
 Make the group as diverse as possible.
 Company rank is irrelevant.
 Have a well-defined problem, but don’t reveal it
ahead of time.
 Limit the session to 40 to 60 minutes.
 Take a field trip.
 Appoint a recorder.
Brainstorming Guidelines

 Use a seating pattern that encourages interaction.

 Throw logic out the window.
 Encourage all ideas from the team.
 Shoot for quantity of ideas over quality of ideas.
 Forbid criticism.
 Encourage idea “hitch-hiking.”
 Dare to imagine the unreasonable.
Techniques for Improving the Creative
Process
 Brainstorming
 Goal is to create a large quantity of novel and
imaginative ideas.
 Mind-mapping
 A graphical technique that encourages thinking on both
sides of the brain, visually displays relationships among
ideas, and improves the ability to see a problem from many
sides.
Figure: Planning a Kids Party with a Mindmap
Techniques for Improving the Creative
Process
 TRIZ, a Russian acronym for
Theoria Resheneyva Isobretatelskehuh Zadach
(Theory of Inventive Problem Solving)
 A systematic approach designed to solve any technical
problem, whatever its source.
 Relies on 40 principles and left-brained thinking to solve
problems.
 Rapid prototyping
 Transforming an idea into an actual model that will
point out flaws and lead to design improvements.
Protecting Your Ideas
 Patent – a grant from the Patent and Trademark
Office to the inventor of a product, giving the
exclusive right to make, use, or sell the invention
for 20 years from the date of filing the patent
application.
The Steps to a Patent

Prosecute the patent application

Submit the patent application

Study search results

Search existing patents

Document the device

Establish the invention’s novelty

Protecting Your Ideas
 Trademark – any distinctive word, symbol, design,
name, logo, slogan, or trade dress a company uses
to identify the origin of a product or to distinguish
it from other goods on the market.
 Servicemark – the same as a trademark except that
it identifies the source of a service rather than a
product.
 Trademark Applications and Trademarks Issued

3 50 ,0 0 0

3 0 0 ,0 0 0

2 50 ,0 0 0

2 0 0 ,0 0 0
Trad emark Ap p licatio ns
Trad emarks and Renewals Issued
15 0 , 0 0 0

10 0 , 0 0 0

50 ,0 0 0

-
19 8 0 19 8 5 19 9 0 19 9 5 19 9 7 19 9 8 19 9 9 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Protecting Your Ideas
 Copyright – an exclusive right that protects the
creators of original works of authorship such as
literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works.
 Copyrighted material is denoted by the symbol ©.
Protecting Your Ideas
Protecting Your Ideas
Type of What It Time
Protection Covers Required Cost
Copyright Works of original About 2 weeks About $30
authorship
Trademark Logos, names, 6 – 12 months $900 - $1,500
phrases
Design patent Look of an Up to 2 years $5,000 - $20,000
original product
Utility patent How an original 2 – 5 years $5,000 - $20,000
product works
Business method A business 2 – 5 years $5,000 - $20,000
patent process
Source: Anne Field, “How to Knock Out Knock Offs,” Business Week,
Week, March 14, 2005.
Patents
 A right protecting an invention
 The deal – a patent affords a territorial
privilege or monopoly for a limited period –
in exchange for letting the world use your
invention after monopoly expires
 Maximum duration of 20 years in most
countries
Trademark

Anything which can be represented graphically

e.g. words (including personal names), colours,
slogan, logo, packaging, product shape,
holograms, smells, sounds…
E.g. Coca Cola, Lego, Kodak etc have
Design
 Protect the visual appearance of a product
 E.g. lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or
materials of product or its ornamentation

 Can cover whole or part of a product

 Protects against competitor selling a product that is
visually the same
Copyright
• Copyright resides in “original artistic, dramatic,
literary, and musical works…irrespective of
quality”

• Often described as “the expression of an idea” –

e.g. pictures/photographs, films, books, articles,
guides, instructions, music, lyrics, software source
code, graphical user interface etc.
Trade Secret
 Keeping information secret (e.g. process, recipe etc.)
E.g. Coca-Cola, KFC
 Hard to protect
 Only really useful if you can’t patent the idea and you
are completely sure you can prevent disclosure