Embracing the Whole Picture

"We are grateful that he gave so much time coming to the poorer nations ... simply to teach us the Bible." Ajith Fernando about John Stott

Most people latch on to a specific idea and make it their life's mission. We are told at every turn to focus our efforts in order to create something truely unique and to get the attention of an increasingly distracted audience. So in the interest of efficiency and focus, we "zoom in" on what we believe we can offer to the world.

There is great value in focused work, but I worry that our persistent focus, and the pride that it so often brings, is causing us to lose site of the larger picture. We have all met those individuals who act like their cause or idea is the most important one in the world - to the exclusion of all others.

We need a broader more balanced approach to our efforts as innovators and Generous Minds. This was one of the main lessons that I took away from watching the interactions online after John Stott passed away recently. In the articles, videos and quotes that I saw, I got a sense for a man who saw the whole vision for the church so clearly. And this larger vision allowed him to focus in on specific ideas or efforts at certain times. But I get the sanse that he never lost the larger perspective on God's heart for His creation.

I think that is why so many of the reflections about John Stott speak about humility. Because his identity was not wrapped up in his particular agenda, God grew him into a humble man who was there to serve those around him. The quote from Adjith Fernando at the top of this article embodies that so powerfully.

Our best efforts can look like self-serving agendas and personal passions to the outside world. I would encourage you to read David Brook's article about John Stott to see how he was viewed differently than so many in the Christian world.

As I read David Neff's article at the time of John Stott's 90th birthday, I got another insight into this amazing servant of God. David zero's in on John's discipline. Incidentally, I saw a tweet from Billy Graham's grandson, Pastor Tullian Tchividjian, talking about John's discipline as well.

Not only did John Stott see the bigger picture and enter it with humility, but he was extremely disciplined in his very specific ministry efforts. I believe these factors held in creative tension were part of the reason that he is known as one of the fathers of modern evangelicalism.

Do we bring the balance between "big picture" and "focused effort" along with the "humility to serve" and "discipline to achieve"? These things will seem to pull us in very different directions at times. But all these things are important to God and He will give us the ability to embrace each for the benefit and blessing they bring to our labors.

Take some time to read the quotes from John Stott that I curated from twitter and the commemorative video that has been watched by over 10,000 people.

"We should travel light and live simply. Our enemy is not possessions but excess." John RW Stott

“God’s church means people not buildings, and God’s word means Scripture not traditions." -John Stott”

“The symbol of the religion of Jesus is the cross … not the scales.” (John Stott)

"The Gospel isn't good advice to men but good news about Christ; not an invitation to do, but a declaration of what God has done." John Stott

"Christians need to look like what they're talking about"-John Stott

"Until you see the cross as that which is done by you, you will never appreciate that it is done for You" - John Stott

Building Trains or Train Tracks

As many of you know I am currently investing much of my energy in creating innovation around publishing - specifically eBooks. This is a market that is changing dramatically each and every day. I call it the Wild West of book publishing. So in a space as in flux as publishing, how do you innovate intentionally?

Well, I got a key insight wen reading Kristin Butler's post on 7 Platforms that are Changing Publishing. This article is a must read even if you are not involved in publishing because of the creative innovations it highlights. So here is my thought for the day. When you are in a dynamic and changing field your innovation will either change the train or the train tracks. (Most of the innovations in the article are train innovations.)

If your innovation changes the train tracks, you are talking about the infrastructure that the whole new industry is riding on. In the eBook world the train tracks are the platforms (ie Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Google) that allow you to buy, access and read your books.

If your innovation changes the train, you are talking about products and services that ride on that infrastructure and utilize it to deliver things to customers at their point of need. In the eBook world a great example (listed in the article I mentioned above) is The Domino Project - an innovative publishing effort spearheaded by Seth Godin and delivered via Amazon's system.

As I considered this reality, it became clear that building train tracks is hard work. And beyond the huge time and money it takes, you have to win or you are relegated to the junk pile. When trains were a new innovation, there were different widths for train tracks in various parts of the world. But sooner or later most of those variations disappeared because people needed to get goods everywhere and various sizes and types of tracks were not a good idea (unless you wanted to keep people out).

Because of this, the players that can afford to innovate at the train track level will be very few and will involve incredible risk, investment and mass adoption. The area of innovation with much more room for creativity and the ability to build niche audiences is in the work of building trains. Once the train tracks are set, you can build all kinds of trains. Trains for circus animals . . . trains for coal . . . trains for people. The potential is only limited by the demands of those wanting to use that infrastructure.

This means that if you don't want to risk it all to set the standard for the train tracks you can still be a key part of the innovation in your industry. You can identify a group of people who want to use that infrastructure and build a train that will serve them well.

Even though the idea of building the infrastructure is a sexy one, the implementation is brutal with many harrowing stops and turns. But train building, while difficult and challenging, is much more likely to lead to success.

Can you identify the train tracks and trains in your area of innovation? What will be your focus?

What are you Hungry For?

Our minds imagine that those innovators who are very successful have an almost animal-like drive to accomplish their goal. They are focused, passionate and never satisfied with less than success. This is the picture that so many of us paint of successful innovation. And some of this caricature is valid.

But what about contentment? What about resting in Christ as you develop and design your innovation? To the world, that seems like a weak response to the challenges we face. But that is exactly what God calls us to do.

But what does contentment in light of innovation look like. One example is the story of Ron Pritz at OC International that we are highlighting on the Generous Mind Blog. Here is a man who gets to steward a 2 million dollar gift for the ministry and help OCI to innovate and do new projects, and what does he talk about? Contentment.

Most of us in his shoes would be focused on impact, results, opportunities and innovation. But if our heart is not focused right with Jesus in light of these things, then our innovations will not honor Him.

I hope you will read Ron's guest post and I am sure that you will be blessed by it.

Innovation as a Means of Grace

Innovation is simply seeing out ahead of the present, identifying a need and creating a unique way to meet it. The problem usually comes in the first part of that definition. When we try to see out ahead, sometimes we have moments of amazing clarity and see things as they will become. Other times we miss it entirely. Still other times we think our vision will happen more quickly than it does.

More and more I have been focusing on the process of innovation in the lives of those involved. We usually judge an innovation as successful by what it accomplishes in financial return or human progress. But what if we were to begin measuring how it changes the innovator? I think you would find a much lower rate of failure among innovative efforts if one of the prime criterion's for success was the growth and development of the innovator.

The term "means of grace" refers to an activity that is part of the process that Jesus uses to reclaim our hearts and grow us closer to Him. Any activity can be a means of grace if God chooses to use it that way.

But I think that innovations are very likely to be used as tools by our Heavenly Father because innovative efforts require risk and great effort. In those moments of innovation we are extremely vulnerable and our protective layers are peeled away as we strive and struggle to accomplish the task in front of us.

In those moments, Jesus can show us many things. He can grow us up, tackle self-deception, give us new insights, and so on. So here is the question. If you are in a time of innovation in your life, are you offering this unique time of your life up to God and asking Him to grow you close to Him as you work? I would challenge you to consider that approach to your efforts and you may just find that even if your innovation never makes it to prime time, that you have gained more eternal benefit than you could ever imagine

7 Ways to Stop a Movement

I found this great thought on Twitter that I had to share with you: "7 things stop a movement: big buildings, big programs, big personalities, big control, big money, big meetings, big policies." (via @floydmcclung) Isn't it amazing that the very things which are most likely to kill new ideas and movements are the very definition of success for many of us? Is that true for you? As you think about your innovation and the movement that you are seeking to start around your idea, consider how you are defining success. If you are dreaming about someday sitting in a corner office of a big building presiding over big meetings, you have not made the shift to a leaner and more networked dynamic that define innovations today. You may be wildly successful with your idea and always work out of your home. So don't buy into those old ideas of success and kill your innovation in the process. Be willing to redefine how your innovation might grow and develop into a movement.

Innovators Admit Failure

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. ~Henry Ford

We have become very good at hiding our failures. We hide them by blaming others, spinning the facts, avoiding the subject or finding a new project to focus on. However we hide them, we do ourselves and those around us a disservice.

I know why we hide them. Our culture has trained us to believe that failures mean personal weakness, ineptitude and humiliation. We believe as nonprofits that donors will only support us if we ride one success after another in the journey towards our charitable cause. We also struggle to believe that people will still value us if we have failed in our ministry efforts. We tend to think that failure is a sign of God withholding blessing because of our mistakes or miscalculations.

But below the cultural dogma of success and the misunderstanding of God's blessings, we really do know that failures are good for us . . . don't we? Sure we do. We know that failures help us understand the problem we are seeking to solve and give us new insights into what to try next. We know this because we see it in life. When a baby first tries to walk, there are many failures that slowly lead to learning and then to success. When we learned to ride a bike or drive a car, there were many crashes or grinding of gears before we masted the skill. Most of the time those teaching us did not reject us for those things or think less of us. Instead they encouraged us to persevere and learn from the challenge.

So, in the end, our efforts to hide our failures keep us from learning and growing with those around us and identifying new solutions. There is a new web site called http://www.admittingfailure.com/ that is seeking to help nonprofits get beyond this struggle. The site has been put together by Engineers Without Borders Canada and they are putting out a challenge for nonprofits to share their failures in an effort to learn from each other and create new and better solutions.

This is a powerful idea because it provides each of you with a chance to share a failure and see how that bit of learning will help others. I believe it is also cathartic because we can confess to each other our struggles and our failures and ask for their help and prayer.

Now here is the big question: "Will you be brave enough to selflessly share your failures with others?"

Make it work before you make a splash

Seth Godin had a great post today about launching innovations. Read here. His basic point is that some of the greatest innovations in our time launched in obscurity and then became known as they delivered value.

This sounds very practical and obvious, but have you noticed that we don't operate this way. Instead we tend to launch our innovations with as much fanfare as we can afford. If you stop and ask yourself why we do this, a few things come to mind:
1. We are insecure about our idea and we need others to affirm our efforts and sacrifice.
2. We think that if people know early they will be involved in our innovation.
3. We want to stamp our name on the idea before someone else takes it.
4. Our boss, investors, or board tell us we need to make the launch a big deal.

I'm sure there are other reasons as well, but these come to mind.

So next time you are in the planning stages for an innovation launch, consider taking the humble, quiet approach to your innovation and build success based on service rather than PR.

Are you providing Access or Process?

The currency of a knowledge economy is each individual’s learning and growth. Every time we click the mouse, interact with friends or read a book, we are receiving information and growing as we apply it. With the explosion of information technology and, more recently, social technology, we are seeing thousands of innovations focused on helping us take advantage of all the data and networks available to grow in our Christian lives.

In this post I want to share with you two schools of thought when it comes to learning innovations. I am defining learning innovations very broadly to include all those efforts that inform and develop a believer as they grow in their faith. As I share about these two approaches, it is necessary to generalize. These labels can be helpful or harmful depending on how they are used. They are a powerful tool when they help us to understand ourselves and our efforts. At the same time they can be very harmful if they put us in boxes that limit our potential for ministry. So my hope is that these generalizations will give you a framework for understanding your efforts and the efforts of others.

School 1: Access
This group of innovative projects focuses on giving people access to information, ideas, opportunities and experiences. If you talk with these pioneers their heart is to see people engage with the information and use it to bless their families, communities and the world. A great example of this is the Joshua Project—a site that provides access to information about unreached people groups. Their focus is stated clearly on their site,

“Joshua Project is a research initiative seeking to highlight the ethnic people groups of the world with the least followers of Christ. Accurate, regularly updated ethnic people group information is critical for understanding and completing the Great Commission.”

School 2: Process
This second group of innovative projects focuses on helping people develop as individuals and believers as they are involved in a process or activity. When you interact with these gifted innovators, they bleed discipleship and mentoring and desire to see people grow in Christ. A great example of this is Monvee—a site focused on helping you assess and track your spiritual growth. They describe their focus this way,

“Monvee exists in order to help people discover what is getting in the way of their spiritual growth and then craft a plan to address it. We believe every person who follows Jesus has what it takes to grow their relationship with Him in new and fresh ways. Monvee combines solid theology with innovative technology to deliver a tool that connects people with resources, ways to spend their time, powerful experiences, and relational connections that fit the unique way God designed them to grow.”

Both Access and Process are critical to Kingdom Innovation. However, if you are not clear on which type of innovation your project is designed around you will struggle to stay focused. They key is not to think about one as better than the other, but to understand how they are different and how Access or Process will drive your ministry efforts. This is one of those “Both/And” situations where it is critical to understand what each side brings to the effort and utilize them accordingly.

A good way to think of Access and Process is by considering Bloom’s Taxonomy. This famous chart has helped those involved in education and countless other fields to understand the progression towards learning. Bloom’s taxonomy says that learning starts with knowledge, moves on to comprehension, expands into application, formulates analysis and finally leads to synthesis.

As I have thought about innovators who focus on Access or Process, this chart has been very helpful. As you look at this chart, the Access Innovators live in the initial two areas of learning: knowledge and comprehension. They are focused on getting information to people in creative and user-friendly ways. They also focus on application as a way of measuring the impact of the information on the end user.

The Process Innovators tends to assume that the first two are happening. They really launch from application and focus on helping people achieve synthesis. The Process group is looking for ways to use creative new methods to help people grow and develop in their spiritual lives, relationships and ministry. They measure success based on the developmental progress they see in the lives of those using their tools.

So the application step is held by both groups and becomes the key point of continuity. In many ways the application step in Bloom’s taxonomy is the engine that keeps the entire process moving. It provides the impetus for someone to gain knowledge and then it provides the experience that begs for deeper understanding.

The greatest blind spot for both groups of innovators is that they assume that the other part is happening. This is each camp’s weakness. Process people fail to see the importance of access to critical information at the right moment in a person’s spiritual life and Access people assume that people will continue on to apply, analyze and synthesize the knowledge they are uncovering.

Once you have identified which camp your innovation fits in, here are some next steps to keep you focused and intentional:
1. If the DNA of your innovation is Access or Process, then own it! Don’t feel you have to do both to be of value to others and the Kingdom. Instead make sure that your mission statement and core values reflect the camp that is the driver behind your idea.
2. While you own your focus, don’t marginalize the other. Resist the “Either/Or” mentality and embrace the “Both/And” approach.
3. Don’t assume that the other part of the equation is happening. Partner with innovators in the other camp so that those utilizing your services will have ways to move up the ladder from knowledge all the way to synthesis.
4. See yourself as part of a whole process that is bigger than your service. If you are an Access innovation, find ways to make the information you are assembling available and useful to those working on the Process side. Likewise, if you are a Process innovation, find ways to utilize the processes that people are going through to provide ideas and data for the Access innovations to include.
5. Make sure as you build the framework for your innovation, that you design pathways to the other camp. So if you are an Access innovation, you need to provide clear ways for people to move beyond comprehension to application and analysis. If you are a Process innovation you need to make sure that people have a way to equip themselves with the knowledge and comprehension necessary to jump into application.

Another Twist
Now that I have taken some time to describe innovations in each of these groups and how they tie together to serve the believer as they seek to grow in their faith, I want to share a game-changing idea. These two camps exist because of the dualism of the 20th Century. We separated the acquisition of knowledge from the development of people using that knowledge. So from where we sit today, these two camps are very real. But do they have to be? Is it possible to design innovative solutions that provide both Access and Process in one coordinated approach?

Take a look at the life of Jesus. He told parables (information) to large crowds and then moved into the advanced phases of Bloom’s taxonomy in private with His disciples. He sent them out to apply what they had learned. Then in His last days He pushed into analysis and then allowed the Holy Spirit to bring synthesis as the disciples began to better understand their faith and their task.

Would it be possible to leave behind these categories and create innovations that move someone along the entire process of learning? Can we develop intentional and incarnational strategies that look at the whole scope of learning and guide individuals and communities through that process?

So start where you are, understand where your innovation fits, and then consider how your efforts could become more holistic as you grow in your understanding of the learning process.

Have You Misdiagnosed Your Innovation?

Just because you built a Web site doesn’t mean that your innovation is technological. The same would be true of footwear, sports or any other field. But this is a very common mistake. We look at an innovative product and assume that its core innovation is defined by it’s industry or market.

One example is facebook. It would be easy to say that facebook’s innovations are technological. However, as you listen to the recent 60 Minutes interview with Mark Zuckerberg, you begin to realize that the innovation that propelled facebook forward had more to do with sociology and connectedness than it did about code.

The same is true of Wikileaks. As a recent blog post from The Economist eloquently describes, the innovation in Wikileaks has nothing to do with technology. Instead the innovation is in how Julian Assange, founder of the site, strategically networked together servers within countries that have strong whistleblower laws and protections. Essentially, he has found a way to harness the globe’s legal protections in his fight to uncover secrets.

I have been fascinated with facebook and Wikileaks (see my recent post about Wikileaks and generosity) because these represent movements that have polarized people so dramatically but have not lost their ability to shape our relationships and our view of government and power. But as we get caught up in these dramatic stories of innovation, we tend to misdiagnose the innovative foundation. This can lead to a limited understanding of the innovation and how we can leverage it.

But more practically, it is possible that you have misdiagnosed your innovation! You may think that it is innovative for one reason, when really there is a deeper creative idea that is at play. Don’t settle for your assumptions. Dig deep into your idea and make sure that you understand your innovation and why it is unique.

Why the Word "Just" Scares Me

I have been thinking alot about this little word "just." It seems pretty innocent and it definitely doesn't feel threatening. However, this word is one of the most dangerous words an innovator can hear. Why is that?

Think about it. If you are in a brainstorming session working on your new idea and a colleague of your says, "I know how to solve that issue. Just . . ." A few things have happened in this moment:
1. A solution has been presented but minimized and made to sound simple or without difficulty.
2. Expectations have been set and people are expecting that "just" will turn into "done."

But we all know that no innovation every was "just" anything. There are thousands of rabbit trails, countless false starts and a myriad of failures along the way.

Next time you hear the word "just" don't ignore it. Stop the conversation and challenge the statement. An innovation culture is one where the word "just" is banned from the conversation.

What doesn't fit in a Safety Deposit Box?

I have a confession to make. We have a safety deposit box . . . and we have never put a single thing in it. It's one of those things that has been a mental block for me. What do you put in a little box somewhere that is supposed to be secure?

I guess the reason it is such a challenge is that the things we value don't fit in it. The experiences that we have as we grow in our walk with God, the people that are generous with us and those we get to show generosity to. The ideas that we have as we live life on mission. All those things don't fit in that silly box.

I've noticed that many people who are focused on innovation do know what to put in that little box. They put their secret soup recipe or the outline for their next major book in the box and make sure to hide the key. Why do innovators do that? Well, part of it is that they have invested so much in an idea that they feel compelled to protect it.

They identify what they believe to be the key to that innovation and lock it up tight. But I would like to ask you innovators to reconsider whether what is in that small box is actually the key to your innovation. The key question to ask is, "How did God inspire you to create what is now stored in that little box?" I'm sure there were key people you interacted with, events you participated in, classes you attended, etc. Could your innovation have come about without those influences?

So next time you go to that small box and check on your ideas, remember where they really reside - in your relationships and experiences that God brings into your life!

Redefining Experts

This blog post is going to be an event sandwich. I will start out telling you something I learned at the local Evangelical Press Association event last week and end up applying that lesson to the Lausanne Cape Town 2010 Congress starting tomorrow.

Well, I attended the regional EPA event last week with other media/communications/ministry people. It is always a good time to connect, brainstorm and engage with each other on key issues. One of the thoughts that came up was the question, "Who really is an expert anymore?" As we discussed and interacted the consensus was clear. The experts of today are not those who know everything about a particular subject. That is the 20th Century definition. Today's experts are those who can most effectively get the information needed on a given topic. They are the ones who know key voices on the subject, who have a solid foundation in the area and who can bring their knowledge and the information from others together into an answer to your question.

Wow, that is a huge shift isn't it. We used to think of experts as these eyeglass-wearing, socially challenged geniuses sitting in rooms with lots of books. But today an expert is ... well ... you. If you are involved in the community of people who care about an issue, if you have taken the time to build a foundation of knowledge and if know where you can look online and via different content streams for the right insights, then you are now an expert.

Now lets apply this very practically. Tomorrow the Cape Town 2010 Congress on Global Evangelization begins. This is the third congress - the first one in Lausanne was launched by Billy Graham and John Stott. This even brings together 4000 people from 190 countries in delegations. They have assigned tables and they are working on key issues that face the church today and in the coming years.

This event is your opportunity to deepen your knowledge, connections and information sources as an expert in various missions areas. By engaging in the event via the online tools I am going to share with you, you can tap into the key ideas and thinking that will allow you to be an expert for those in your sphere of influence.

Here is my challenge. I would like each of you to commit to listen/watch/read at least one piece of content coming out of Cape Town 2010 each day between the 18th and the 25th of October. Here is how you can do that:

Video:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LGC_CT2010video

Podcasts:
http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010/podcasts.html

GlobaLink locations:
http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010/globalink.html

Online Participation:
http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010/participate-online.html

RSS of CT2010 news (includes Lausanne blog)
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/lausannesite

Video Podcast:
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=397353785
direct link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CT2010VideoPodcast
note: video podcast is not compatible with older ipods.

Audio Podcast:
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=397353786
direct link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CT2010AudioPodcast

All congress video will also be added to:
www.lausanne.org/conversation

Email newsletter (for daily news summaries/highlights):
http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?llr=hr96nzn6&p=oi&m=1011244526119

You now have access to a flood of information that will help you to become an expert in key areas impacting the Global church. The only question is. . . will you take advantage of this opportunity

Every Discussion Counts

I don't know about you, but many times I do not see the potential in the people that God has placed in front of me. It is no critique of those around me at all - instead it is a critique on my own ability to see how God is working in other's lives.

So because of this struggle, I tend not to realize that those around me have so much to offer. Many times it is unintentional but it happens just the same. What I am realizing more and more as I go to events, work on projects and connect with new people, is that God has given each person we meet something to add to our lives, ministry and work. This is especially true of Christians who are listening to God and growing closer to Him, but I think God is even trying to teach us things through those people who don't know the Lord.

One of the qualities of an innovator is a person who is tuned in to what God is doing and saying through those around them. Innovators need new ideas, creative approaches and strategic thoughts if their ideas are going to be great. God is shepherding so many innovations towards reality through us and he is using these people to bring the creative solution together.

Do you listen to those around you? Do you pay attention to the ideas, talents and opinions of those that God has put in your life? Do you listen to those who are very different than you?

If you don't then you are missing out on one of the ways that God wants to communicate with you.

Redefining Entrepreneurship

A key part of understanding Kingdom innovation is your definition of entrepreneurship. To be honest, this has been a great challenge for me. One of the struggles I have continually had to work through is the idea that all innovators are entrepreneurs and all entrepreneurs own their own businesses.

The reason this assumption is challenging is that I'm not the business-starting type. I like to fit into a larger context and be a part of a team. I'm also don't have some of the savvy needed to run a business. So my thought immediately was, "I guess I'm just not an entrepreneur and if that is true maybe I am not a true innovator."

Since I edited a book on innovation and have been blogging on it for several years, you can imagine that this idea didn't sit too well. It was always one of those nagging things that I couldn't dismiss but I knew I just didn't have the full picture.

Well, recently I attended a seminar given by Mark Russell, a new friend who owns Russell Media. He has written a book called The Missional Entrepreneur and he provided some good insight. I will share several thoughts that he touched on in his talk over the next few blog posts.

But the one I want to focus on today is his definition of entrepreneurship. He defined it as . . . an innovative state of mind that results in productive action.


Lets break that down:

• innovative state of mind: That means that you are open to new ideas, asking questions and reframing the issues you face in unique new ways.
• results in productive action: That means that you take those ideas/questions/reframed issues and you do something with it.

I really love this definition because it does not mandate what kind of action results from your innovation. Instead it leaves that open to many contexts. That means you can be an entrepreneur inside an organization, on a team, or as you start your own effort.

I hope this is an encouragement to you as it was to me. Even if you will never start a business or run an organization, that has little to do with your ability to be an entrepreneur and innovator in your context.

So what do you think of Mark's definition?

What happens when we can only think at Starbucks?

It sounds silly but this is a serious question. As I make my trek through a liminal season between full-time jobs, I find myself working on contract work from many locations - including Starbucks. What I have seen has caused me to think.

As I go into these coffee shops and restaurants with free wireless, I see tables full of workers focused on projects, teams of collaborators discussing their work, business people in the middle of a meeting and HR people interviewing potential employees.

And the crazy thing is that this is all happening in each location at the same time every day!

So back to my question. When some or all of these people get the types of jobs they consider "regular" jobs, will they be able to function in the sterile world of cubicles that they once knew? I think that this will be a harder transition than they think. A Starbucks has legal stimulants, groovy music and plenty of noise. It is a fast changing environment and it reprograms how you go about work. I know, I have had to adjust my work still when I am in such a public place.

At this very moment a huge percentage of the workforce is being reconditioned to work in very different environments than the fortune 500 companies of America. This means that they are meeting new people, learning about new ideas, setting up new environments for innovation and creating a "new normal."

As businesses and ministries begin to rehire they will have to take this into consideration. The millions that were laid off will not go back into the workforce the same. Now that is not necessarily bad. The white collar workers who have been laid off have developed new skills, grown through their challenges and created new relationships.

All that can lead to new innovation as many of these "Starbucks workers" begin to come together around opportunities and new ideas. It can also be a huge benefit to organizations who hire these workers.

The key will be to realize that the transition has changed you the worker and that will change the company you eventually work for or start on your own. All this can lead to innovation if it is understood, processed and harnessed.

So are you a "Starbucks worker"? What has your experience been in this transitionary time? How will you harness what you have learned to create new innovations?

Are you a company or ministry looking to hire? What steps will you take to engage in this new reality?

Serving through An Interview

God give me work till my life shall end and life till my work is done. Amen. (Yorkshire Tombstone)

If you are in a career transition as I am, you are very aware that interviewing is a lot of work. You are networking, filling out applications, researching organizations, meeting with staff, praying about opportunities, taking assessments and the list goes one.

But for some reason we usually put interviewing and job hunting in a different category than "real work." We choose to treat it as a necessary evil that will hopefully result in meaningful purpose. But an innovator, if they are being intentional, will not view it that way. Instead, every job application, every hour of research, every in-person interview, is a chance for you to grow and develop your skills and ideas.

But more than that, every interaction with a potential employer is a chance for you to invest in them! If you are on a job hunt today, part of your job is to invest in those who are considering you. What does that look like? It might be the questions you ask in the interview. It might be an encouraging note or helpful article you send to the HR staffer you are working with. You might provide some key insight into that leader's challenges when he interviews you.

The challenge with viewing the job hunt as meaningful work is that you have to be satisfied with God's timing and results. If God's purpose in having you interview at a certain place was to give them an insight, then your work there is done. That is so hard for us goal-oriented people. We believe that the only worthy result of an interview is an offer. But in a day where offers are few and far between, I think we are realizing another level of how God can use this liminal time in our lives.

Is the job hunt the word God has set before you today? Don't waste this time of service! Look for every opportunity to serve God as you search.

E-book is the sexiest word in publishing

NOTE: I'm pleased to have Dave Sheets as a guest blogger for Innovation in Mission. I look forward to the discussion his post will generate. You can find more info on Dave at the end of this post. -- Jon Hirst

Amazon’s announcement last month that they had sold more e-books than hardcover books set off a blizzard of stories about e-books, the death of the printed book, and how the industry is going down the same path as the music publishers.

I, for one, am skeptical of a lot of what is being written, but it is important to note that e-book sales are growing and that they are changing the face of the publishing (and reading) industry. As noted, the news is full of big numbers and even bigger predictions. According to Amazon’s Kindle Vice President, Ian Freed1, “We're pretty sure we're 70 to 80 percent of the [e-book] market.” That is significant, even if there is disagreement as to actually how much Amazon owns. In fact, in addition to Amazon’s announcement about hard covers, they expect their e-book sales to eclipse their softcover sales sometime in 2011.

Does this mean the death of the printed book? Markus Dohle2, the head of mega publisher Random House recently was quoted as saying that even though e-book sales are growing “by leaps and bounds”, they only account for 8% of US revenues this year, and may exceed 10% next year.

Dohle, however, doesn't believe that the majority of book readers are ready to make the jump from books to bytes – something that Amazon has been suggesting3 over the past two weeks.

The e-book is today, what the cheap paperback was to the publishing industry 75 years ago. According the Guardian newspaper4, this new “disruptive technology” could carry the same results as the paperback book did – drive new masses of readers to content. But just as the paperback revolution did three quarters a century ago, the new e-book is threatening to drive prices down, which will be a paradigm shift for today’s content stewards.

According to the article, Jon Makinson, the chief of Penguin Publishing, echoes this shift when discussing how easy it is for readers to carry dozens of books with them on their devices. He says that this will "redefine what we do as publishers." The sales trend for Penguin is still growing. Even so, digital book sales are still less than 1% for the media giant, but the direction of the market is clear. In the US, digital books already account for 6% of consumer sales.

Malkinson5 goes on to say that publishers must embrace innovation: "I am keen on the idea that every book that we put on to an iPad has an author interview, a video interview, at the beginning. I have no idea whether this is a good idea or not. There has to be a culture of experimentation, which doesn't come naturally to book publishers. We publish a lot of historians, for example. They love the idea of using documentary footage to illustrate whatever it is they're writing about."

Digital books seem to be expanding the market according to some, while others say that the numbers show that e-books are simply moving the reader from one platform to another. As the sales continue to climb, studies will help publishers understand which of these cases is actually true. But for now, Malkinson shows his understanding of consumer behavior. "You have to give the consumer what the consumer wants – you can't tell the consumer to go away…if the consumer wants to buy a book in an electronic format now, you should let the consumer have it."

Where does that leave the book manufacturers? As I pointed out in a previous blog post6, the guys looking over their shoulders these days are the traditional long run printers. As e-books gain in popularity and sales, publishers are going to look at digital printing more and more, and for companies like Snowfall Press, this is wonderful news indeed.

What do you believe will happen to printed books?

1. http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20012381-82.html
2. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-07-29-amazon29_VA_N.htm?csp=obinsite
3. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/08/random-house-chief-sees-a-bright-but-worrisome-future-for-e-books/1
4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/31/editorial-publishing-industry-ebooks
5. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/29/penguin-john-makinson-ebooks
6. http://blog.outlawsalesgroup.com/?p=202
   
   Dave Sheets
   Business Development Consultant in Publishing and Printing
   Outlaw Sales Group LLC
   dave@outlawsalesgroup.com
   lessonsfromthesaddle.com

Sometimes you have to ignore your audience

"If I would have asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses ." -Henry Ford

I love this quote. Why? Simple, Henry Ford didn't have anyone clamoring at him to create the automobile. In fact it didn't make any sense to his audience. But he knew deep down somewhere that the car would create huge opportunities and propel the US forward.

In today's world of focus groups and audience response, we are so defined by what our audience wants. We cannot imagine a context that isn't defined by our customers. But the reality is that the really great innovations did not come about by listening to focus groups. They came about by people responding to that gut level feeling about what was needed "for such a time as this."

I'm not saying that focus groups are bad. But I am saying that just because people don't think they need an innovation doesn't mean you shouldn't develop it. Look at the world around you, look at the challenges and issues of your generation and create out of that opportunity!

Keep the Innovation . . . Loose the Pride

Have you noticed that so many of the most successful innovators are very self-confident? Well, it makes sense. If you believe that your idea can change the world – that takes quite a bit of confidence.

But here is the question, “How can you build the confidence you need to push new innovations through the pipeline without being prideful?

I wonder if it is possible. The reason is simple. If you spend all day telling yourself and those you are trying to convince that you have the solutions to their problems, you build yourself up until pride is a foregone conclusion.

This is especially true when others encourage you. In innovation work we seem to get two extremes. Either people think we are the best thing that has ever happened to our industry or people think our new ideas are completely worthless. There doesn’t seem to be much in the middle.

The funny thing is innovators have a way of staying confident even when the whole world thinks their innovation is absolutely worthless.

Here are some thoughts on how to remain humble as an innovator:

1. Hang out with people who are more talented than you are. This helps you see that while you are a very talented person, others are also gifted.
2. Read Proverbs and Ecclesiastes regularly . . . enough said.
3. Elevate the idea your innovation represents above your contribution to the idea. This helps keep the cause at the center and you out of that center spot.
4. Talk to your critics regularly and listen actively.
5. Ask God to remove pride from your life daily. I would even encourage you to write a special prayer that you put in your Bible so that you can pray an intentional prayer regularly.

Open Sourcing Your Innovations

As many of you know from my last post, we are in a ministry transition right now. Transitions are tough, but one thing they make you do is hone and develop the ideas you really believe in. That is what I want to share about today.

When you have a new innovation that you are nurturing one of the gut reactions is to hide it. You don’t want anyone to steal your idea or, even worse, make fun of it! So many times we develop innovations in secret and wait for the right moment to spring them on the world.

I would like to suggest that this thinking is actually counter productive. In an idea economy, your innovation has real value if it is viable. However, your idea is just that – YOURS. Only you have the experience, understanding, perspective and creativity to design your idea. Even if someone else were to take your blueprint and roll it out, it would be dramatically different from what you would do.

This means that innovative ideas need to be shared openly at the initial stages. Instead of worrying that someone will steal your idea, share it in such a way where you are the only possible owner. That uniqueness and creativity that you bring to your innovation will set it apart and set you apart.

Ok, but you might be asking, “If the idea is mine and unique to me, then why should I let it out there as I am developing it?” My answer is that while the idea is yours and it is very hard to really steal it in today’s idea economy, your idea is a work in progress. It needs refining and it needs other people’s experience and input - a little like open source software needs ongoing development. Your idea is not nearly as good as it could be if it was shared and refined!

Let me give you an example. I have some innovative ideas about the future of publishing in the 21st Century. I’m not sure what God is going to do with those ideas but I am passionate about them and willing to invest time and energy to see them become a reality. So what did I do? I created a white paper sharing my ideas and asking people to engage with me. Then I began to send it out to various people that I trust and that know the publishing industry. Each time they came back with input, I have thought it through, asked the hard questions and made a new version of my white paper. I’m several iterations into the document now.

Each time someone interacted with me on my innovation, my ideas have improved. I have developed a better understanding of publishing and of my unique perspective.

Now let me be clear, don’t hear me saying that you should share everything. If you have a unique business model or some key relationships or pieces of intellectual property that need to be protected, then you need to share those very carefully. However, that should not stop you from sharing your larger idea and being willing to learn from others.

Ok, so now I need to practice what I preach! I have this white paper on Cause-Oriented Publishing and if any of you would like to read it and give me input I would love to share it with you. You can email me at jonhirst-at-generousmind.com. But when you ask, it will come with an expectation:
1. That you will read it and consider the idea seriously.
2. That you will take the time to write me back and share your thoughts honestly.

I look forward to sharing with some of you about my latest innovation!