What Innovators can Learn from a Snake

I don't know if you have followed the drama in New York this week, but it seems that many people are caught up in the news story about a missing Egyptian Cobra that escaped from the Bronx Zoo. It is probably a mixture of fear and humor that keeps this story alive, but today I want to talk with you about an innovative individual who stepped into the Cobra's news cycle and started something viral. Someone, realizing the opportunity for humor and attention, set up a Twitter account called @bronxzooscobra soon after the story hit the national headlines. They proceeded to share humorous short posts about what the cobra might be doing in New York City without the proper supervision. That simple twitter feed went from a few thousand followers on Monday to over 100,000 followers by the end of the day on Tuesday. What caused that kind of growth and what can we learn from our friend the cobra? Here are a few key things that the cobra's twitter crew did right: 1. A Real Event: They realized that as long as the cobra was loose it would be a story. This meant that they could tie their humor and content to a real event with real drama. 2. Authenticity: The people running the twitter feed are obviously from New York. Their content is authentic to the city with mentions of bakeries, famous people in New York and so on. 3. Quality Content: The writing is good and the humor is hilarious. That is the most important differentiator. They are not just posting random thoughts. The humor and the writing are well thought out and done in such a way as to appeal to different audiences in the city and around the world. So the next time you want to launch a viral marketing campaign to engage people with your new innovation, make sure to take these three pointers from our friend the cobra!

You Don't Get Authenticity By Association

I recently wrote a guest blog post for David Sheets. My post is about how you can't be authentic by association. That means that just because you spend time in a community, it doesn't mean you are an authentic part of that group. I specifically speak about this in relationship to engaging people with new ideas. Read on . . .

David runs Outlaw Sales Group and describes his work this way:

Outlaw Sales Group LLC (OSG) was formed to drive start-up ventures and established companies to excel in sales and business development. From consulting on sales plans, to helping set-up sales organizations, OSG brings experience and passion to each client relationship.

A Crisis of Context

One of the greatest challenges to innovation in mission today is our crisis of context. What does that mean you say? Very simple...almost all of the ideas and thinking that circulate today are in snippets.

Think about it:

1. A quote on twitter is just 140 characters of a larger thought.
2. A song on itunes is just one piece of the artist's album
3. A Bible verse taken without those around it share an incomplete truth

And on and on...

Innovation desperately needs context. It is the side stories and the small details around the big idea that inform the new and innovative things. We settle for the soundbites but really what we need are those full body ideas with all of the nuance and the perspectives.

But nuance and perspective take time, consideration and thought. We are short on those things today and thus our innovation suffers.

Here is my challenge to you today:

Pick a key idea that you want to learn about and study it in full...read the whole article...look at a few perspectives...ask a few people what they think.
Your next innovation will be much more significant if you have the context that surrounds it!

You will know them by their tweets . . .

Part II of "What do green, twitter and innovation have in common?"

As we continue to explore how information is validated and affirmed in this brave new world, I stumbled across a powerful example as I was following www.twitter.com/persiankiwi. This person consistently shared the reality on the ground in a powerful and honest way. You felt their pain as they saw fellow countrymen beaten, their fear as they had to move locations to avoid detection, their anger as they shared about perceived injustice, and their joy as they imagined what might be. As I followed along with their feed, I saw that these people were for real. I wasn't the only one. On Tuesday of last week they had 8,000 followers and now they have over 30,000!

But then something strange happened, the Iranian secret police started infiltrating twitter and other social media sites to spread disinformation and catch this new generation of journalists. As this began to happen, @persiankiwi shared the following stream of tweets:

ok - tonight twitter is full of gov usernames. all users IGNORE all post
except from reliable sources - #Iranelection

IMPORTANT to all tweeters in iran - follow my next message carefuully -
#Iranelectionabout 2 hours ago
from mobile
web

do NOT follow any instructions on twitter except from the trusted sources -
cont...... #Iranelectionabout 1 hour ago
from mobile
web

ignore all instructions from new twitters or twitters with no history of
accurate posts - cont.... #Iranelectionsabout 1 hour ago
from mobile
web

i cannot name the reliable sources because we are now the main attention of
censors - but .. cont.... #Iranelection20 minutes ago from mobile
web

you will know them by looking at their past tweets -
cont.... - #Iranelection6 minutes ago from mobile
web

When I read this, I couldn't help but think about the profound statement that these simple little phrases had made. What they were saying was simple - look at what the person has said over time and if there is truth there follow them.

In other words, find those authentic voices around you and stick close to them. But what makes a voice authentic? What makes it true? Websters Dictionary defined authenticity as:
–conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features
–made or done the same way as an original

In our lives as Christians, authenticity means "conforming to" Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives and representing that to others. Just like the Iranian twitterer who challenged us to look for those voices who were speaking truth about the situation in Tehran, we are challenged to be voices that represent Jesus.

In Acts 6:3 the disciples realized that they were not taking care of the needs of the believers adequately. So, in order for them to focus on preaching, they looked around for some authentic Jesus followers to take up this task. The result was the choosing of Stephen and his preparation for the ultimate sacrifice.

The apostles knew that only an authentic voice could carry out the mercy ministries in a loving and compassionate way. They looked for someone who was conformed to Jesus to "be Jesus" to others.

What a challenge. This isn't a challenge to do nice things or to look smart. This is a challenge to be the truth of the Gospel in our relationships with others. Just like Jesus represented God's love incarnate, He has now commissioned us to represent His love through our lives (although we are far from perfect as He is).

I love John 17:22-23 where Jesus prays, "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

As I have been processing these ideas, I went to lunch with a new friend and a wonderful generous mind - Eric Foley. We talked about this idea of truth through relationship and how we can be Jesus to others and bring His truth to others in powerful ways. Eric definitely brought truth to me that day over an amazing lunch of asian cuisine.

So what does this have to do with innovation - besides the reference to twitter? Well, plenty. What is innovation? It is bringing a new idea - a new reality - into the world. If you are not an authentic voice with a long history of truth-telling in your life, then no one will be interested in your ideas. Only authentic voices have the opportunity to help bring innovations into this world.

What is your track record like? If your life was posted on twitter, would your tweets show a life that represents Jesus? What would people say about that long stream of thoughts, feelings and actions? Would they say, "Wow, I want to know that Jesus!" or would they say "What is this person all about - I don't get it?"

An authentic trail leads to many new opportunities . . . an innovator's dream. But a trail of lies, double-talk and selfishness leads to more of the same - a focus on self and little chance to bring new ideas into the world or impact the world in any useful way.

So are you an authentic voice?

What do green, twitter and innovation have in common?

The world is a-twitter about http://www.twitter.com/. And as with any hype, this is all we are hearing about. Twitter has eclipsed facebook as the tool of the moment. But we know that in 6 months there will be another tool that is getting all the attention.

But this week there is a convergence that represents a new innovation that has great potential for ministry. As many of you have been following along with the turmoil in Iran, you have undoubtedly heard about the opposition's use of twitter, facebook and other tools. In a wired world, this is one of the most dramatic examples to date of a people using social media to take their cause to the world.

I followed along captivated to www.twitter.com/persiankiwi (one of the more reliable feeds) as they shared about speeches, beatings, moving to new hideouts and finding new cracks in the blanket Iranian police were trying to put over the Internet. I also watched as they went from 8000 followers on Tuesday to almost 30,000 on Saturday.

As @persiankiwi along with many others began sharing what was going on people started to put #iranelections at the end or beginning of their twitter or facebook posts. This tag allowed all the feeds that included it to be searched and streamed together. You can go to: http://search.twitter.com/search?lang=en&q=iranelections to see the constantly growing list of messages with this phrase.

What this did was unite thousands of people - some in Iran getting out messages and others in various parts of the world sharing those messages or responding with their encouragment.

This feature has become a key part of mobilizing people around events and ideas. So I gave it a try early this week. On Tuesday morning I started using #iranprayers and encouraging others to do the same. You can now go to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=iranprayers and see over 6 pages of messages with that tag.

One of the innovations in technologies like twitter is the ability to have countless people anywhere in the world engage in one discussion. This is a powerful tool for ministry. Where before we tried to beam messages about missions to people we had to push them out and hope that someone listened. Now we can launch a message and then watch as the world jumps in. For instance, you can connect with countless people talking about missions by searching http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23missions.

Now think about your cause - whatever it is. How could you harness the power of these tools to begin a global conversation about your cause and to raise awareness just as people are doing about the protests in Iran? How could you build your tribe of people with a passion for your cause using tools like this?

Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

Innovation in Short Term Missions

A lot has been written about Short Term Missions for sure. We have heard the good and the bad. Whatever your experience has been, the movement has impacted global missions in a significant way. Lately it has all seemed to be the same old . . . but a member of our facebook group connected me to a new innovation in short term missions.

The site is called www.onlinemissionstrip.com. Their tag line is "Sharing Christ through social media." Here is the amazing thing about this site. They are organizing a global mission trip where youth groups can sign up to do missions on facebook and other social media.

The experience is completely virtual but has all the components of a typical trip. You get training through January 31. Then the trip goes from February 1-14. After that the group is organizing online follow-up events to disciple new believers.

They are signing up youth groups who are going to take this on as a project. One youth pastor named Brad Cooper wrote:

"God didn’t allow the internet to be created so the whole world could be addicted to pornography…

He has much bigger plans….

Im hoping we wont miss the opportunity He’s giving us!

Innovative… I think so…"

Usually the Internet evangelism efforts have been spread out and ongoing. The innovative elements of this are:

1. They are giving it a beginning and end to build it as an event.

2. They are signing up youth groups to do online evangelism together

3. They are offering training and follow-up materials to help people engage those they reach.

4. They are using all of the new tools strategically. They have YouTube videos, twitter feeds, facebook apps, and on it goes. So many times we try to use old school tools in new environments.

One of the most innovative pieces is the accountability. As I mentioned above, because it is being done in youth groups, there will be local/live interaction about the ministry effort. Instead of being isolated by technology, this group is using it to give youth groups a plan and an strategy for their outreach.

Take a look, what can missions learn from an effort like this?

Pencils, stones and good friends

I was recently corresponding with a member of our Innovation Team on facebook and a very cool insight on innovation happened. We had begun the conversation about a book but then when I asked him to share about his particular innovation that he was working on, he sent back a summary of the last year's progress.

At the end of the summary he shared how helpful it had been to write it down and how surprised he was to see that more progress was being made that he had ever imagined.

When we are in the middle of a major innovation effort, we can't see how far we have come. The daily challenges mount and keep our eyes focused down on the ground. We can become so focused on the project that we don't see when major shifts happen. We may have taken our idea in a whole new direction and not even realize it.

So I would like to share three things that can keep us plugged into the bigger goal while we are slogging through the daily struggles.

Pencils: Journaling, blogging, twittering are all ways that you can share where you are at. The ability to write down what is happening will help you to process it and look at it in the bigger context.

Stones: When you hit a milestone (it is good to identify some of them at the outset) you need to put a stone (figuratively or literally) there and celebrate that step. Those stones are key to giving us perspective.

Good Friends: Who are you sharing about the progress of your innovation with? Do you have some good friends and colleagues that are dialed into your journey? They give you perspective because they are looking at your process in a new way.

Blessings as you set your innovation in perspective today!

30 Ideas in 30 Days

A key part of innovation is learning and sharing new ideas. What does it look like when you are disciplined about that process?

In our efforts to share practical ways to be a generous mind, we are twittering 30 ideas in 30 days. It's simple: go to www.twitter.com/generousmind and follow our twitter to get these practical ideas. At the end we will document them all on this blog as a summary.Blessings as you are generous today!