Innoveering Nebraska

We’ve struggled with the flu at my house during the last week.  The dog got sick and then the cat and I got stressed.  It’s been unpleasant and I’ve had enough of cleaning floors. 

On the positive side, it’s led to a lot of thinking about how all sorts of things are contagious – including ideas and skills such as entrepreneurship. 

Seriously, I think people might catch entrepreneurship.  Well maybe not catch it in a viral sense, but in the sense of “Hey, if my silly neighbor and idiot brother-in-law can both have an idea and sell a product or service, then I bet I can too!”  Or “Hey, I think I can do what my friend is doing in her basement only with this other product that I know more about!”

And when enough people start thinking this way, a whole physical region might get a reputation for being entrepreneurial.  Which would draw more infected or want to be infected people to the area. 

The question is how do you intentionally spread the infection?  And how do you spread the infection most effectively?  How many typhoid Marys do you need and what exactly do they look like?

I suppose the real question is whether you’re contagious enough to spread the ideas and skills to transform others into entrepreneurs.  In other words, are you an inspiring innoveer?

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I have a little dream and it looks something like this:

How I think about my work is indistinguishable from the way I think about my needlepoint or cooking: here is the project I’m involved in.  It is play.  In this sense all my life is spent in play – sewing or needlepoint, or picking flowers or writing, or buying groceries. – Diane Johnson

Is this impossible?  It has been for me so far.  But I continue to hope, work and dream with this destination in mind.

Below is one of my favorite pieces from Patricia Scarborough, a Nebraska woman who seems to have mastered the combination of work and play…

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Last night I took my beloved dog, Eleanor, to a fundraiser swim being held by the Omaha Humane Society at one of the closing city public pools.  We met our neighbors John, Norma and Bailey there - much to everyone’s enjoyment. 

The pool was one of the new kinds - with two water slides, a lake-like ramp in the shallow end and water fountains that shoot up and down in various locations.  Two little diving boards, but no high dives. 

Eleanor loves water and dogs and it was a lot of fun to watch her with the two together.  So I did a lot of watching.  It was fascinating.  The people interacting with each other, the dogs interacting with each other, people and dogs interacting together.  There was a lot of risk taking happening in all these interactions.  Lots of trust all around and occasionally some panic. 

The most fascinating was the two water slides.  It was impossible to predict which dogs would make it up the steps and down the slide. 

Which reminds me of people.  I think it’s difficult, if not impossible, to predict who will rise to the occasion, take the right series of risks and succeed in business.  This means we can continue to guess wrongly or we can choose not to pass any judgment and to maybe even offer a little encouragment to everyone we interact with to persevere with their ventures.  For me, the second option seems by far the more productive and compassionate.  I suspect your dog would agree. 

Below is Eleanor venturing forth to enjoy the water and other dogs.

The apparent lack of opportunities to practice taking risks (aka overcoming our fears) has been bothering me.  It seems dangerous to our survival as individuals and a society.  After all, innovation doesn’t happen without some risk.  If we’re not comfortable with taking risks, we’re not going to be very innovative. 

Which got me thinking that maybe the high dives have changed. 

Yesterday while I was running in the pool a little boy was learning to jump into the shallow end.  His father was standing two feet away from the side of the pool.  The kid was wearing armband floaters and an adorable dragon (with head) waist floater.  He was still really scared.  He still (eventually) jumped.  He also worked up the courage to get out and do it again and again, faster and faster each time. 

Also yesterday I bought crazy colors of cheap nail polish.  This is something I’ve never done and thought I should because I was so strongly opposed to the idea.  One of these is purple and seems to be pure glitter.   I have no idea how well the purple glitter polish will apply, but I am certain that my 12 year old cousin Florica is going to love it when she sees it on my toes.  (After an appropriately dramatic monologue about how she can’t believe I’m wearing it.) 

My point is that I think risks come in all sizes and shapes.  We just have to hunt for them a little harder now that so many of the obvious high dives are missing from our society. 

Happy hunting and happy risk practicing!

Below is the most conservative of my new polish colors – a bright metallic pink.  (I’m practicing and will work myself up to the purple glitter polish before our Frecks Ladies Weekend in two weeks.)

I’ve had a lot to think about lately so I’ve spent a lot of time running in the pool.  At least an hour a day. 

It’s also been really hot, so I’ve been noticing pools everywhere I go.  (Even on my deck and in my sunroom where I can see the neighbor’s fancy pool.)

Lastly, I’m going back to school for the first time in seven years which has me feeling and thinking a bit like a kid.   

In all this jumbled mess of thinking and pools and feeling like a kid, I’ve fixated on high diving boards. 

You see, so much of the last year has felt like jumping off a high dive to me.   Or rather jumping off high dive after high dive after high dive. 

Not that this is a bad thing.  In fact I think it’s been really good for me.  Maybe even really, really good for me. 

But it is scary.  The climbing the ladder, thinking about the commitment you’ve made to jump.  Facing your fear as you tremble at the end of the board realizing just what a risk you’re taking.  And the actual jump, hoping you land in a safe manner rather than a painful belly flop. 

What I’ve found is that it gets easier with repetition.  What I mean is that we can practice ourselves into taking risks.  Which seems counterintuitive, but I’m convinced it’s true.  There’s an “Oh that wasn’t so bad, I think I can do it again” component to the process. 

What worries me now is that all the pools have tube slides, mushroom umbrellas and cool water sprayers.  But none of them seem to have diving boards anymore, much less scary high diving boards.  And I fear this is indicative of society in general.  If this is true, what does it mean?  Where is the next generation learning to face their fears and take risks during their long summer moodlings?

If you know of a pool near Omaha with a high dive, please let me know.  I want to dive and jump off of one again for old times sake. 

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I recently tried to live entirely offline for a week.  I only lasted five days.  I missed email and Google the most.

I found myself doing all sorts of things I rarely or never considered doing before.  For example, I wrote a couple of blog entries by hand.  I also sent someone a handwritten thank you card.  I called people more often and even drove someplace specifically to confirm our bookclub plans. 

You might think that I saved all sorts of time by ”living life” rather than wasting time online.  In fact the opposite is true.  Hunting down facts and writing things by hand takes a lot of time.  Plus I had to buy some stamps which required a trip to the post office, waiting in line and an extremely odd conversation with a post office worker who was annoyed that I didn’t want Archie, Veronica and Bettie stamps.   

By day five I was feeling relatively isolated, pressed for time, extremely uninformed and quite frustrated by my inability to instantly access information (what was the name of that restaurant, how do I get there, does so and so have a new book coming out soon, how do I spell oh so many words, what time is the movie showing).  You know, the minutia that we normally don’t even think about any more. 

Well for five days I thought about it.  And now I appreciate it more – much more. 

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I like Jeff Bezos the founder and CEO of Amazon.  I’m also a fan of Amazon.  I like reviewing books, I like reading other’s reviews, I even like the emails I get from Amazon recommending books.  (Although I confess I nearly always check them out from the library, rather than clicking on the useful link and buying the book.) 

I’ve been paying attention to the press junket Jeff Bezos has been on promoting the newer and cheaper Kindle.  Not that I’m ready for a Kindle or any other electronic reader yet.  I still like the feel of paper too much and fear the technology problems that plague my on-line and computer lives.  I’m still amazed and filled with a sense of self-satisfaction each time I get a blog entry to properly post. 

But back to Bezos and all of his interviews.  I’ve been impressed by several of his talking points. 

First, I love this quote: “It’s not just a business for us, it’s a mission for us.  And missionaries build better products.”  He’s absolutely right.  I think it has to do with the Heath brother’s elephant and rider analogy.  If you have a mission you’re engaging both your emotional elephant and your logical rider.  In other words, you’re going to travel farther faster and build a better product in the process.  To do this, you have to feel passionately about your business and the mission you hope to achieve through it. 

The second talking point that resonated with me can be paraphrased like this:  Business isn’t a sporting event or any other type of competition.  No one has to lose for you to win.  The idea behind this is that markets are large and if you build a great product and provide  great service, you don’t need to worry about what the competition is doing.  This wasn’t always the truth, but the internet has leveled the playing field – or maybe it’s better said that the internet has given everyone access to the playing field.  Either way, you’re better off focusing on your mission and products than what the competition is doing. 

Lastly, Bezos has defended the design of the Kindle.  Apparently it’s a little basic and blah when compared to competitors.  The point though, is that the Kindle contains only what truly enhances and doesn’t distract from the reading experience.  For example, Kindle doesn’t have a touch screen because the layer of plastic needed for the touch screen adds glare to the screen which contributes to eye strain.  Another example is that Kindle doesn’t have color because this would dramatically decrease the device’s battery life.  Which would cause worry about the battery charge or the need to stop reading to recharge.  Both are distracting to the reading experience. 

All three points are related.  If you know your mission, it’s easier to know whether or not your product is achieving that mission.  If you’re achieving your mission, you’ve found a better way to meet your customers needs than your competition and so don’t need to worry about what your competition is up to today. 

This isn’t impossible to do.  In fact, we all have our own mission possible that our unique skills, passions and abilities enable only us to achieve.  What’s your mission possible?

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Click here to see one of my favorite Bezos videos.