Once you know what you want to do it is time to build ideas that have a chance to deliver on your objectives. Contrary to the belief that the ability to build ideas is limited to a select few, there are tools, techniques that can help any team build better ideas.  Better problem formulation Effectuation (looking for ideas at home with the resources you have) Systematic search for stimulus and diversity Techniques to continue building ideas With these tools and techniques the process is clear, but clear does not mean easy. Removal of fear and an ongoing action focus is the “secret sauce” that can pull everything together. Deliverable: New ideas that have a good chance of being on strategy; meaningful and unique

1. Cycles
The simplest, proven way to
build your business.
EDHEC Course Build
www.tiny.cc/ABCS3/

2. What you can expect today..
• What is really known about Idea Building
• Simple ways to generate more ideas
(P.S. More almost always leads to better..)
• Break
• Student Presentation / Link to today’s work
• Tips for you Sprints final presentation
• Work on Sprints with time for Q & A
Theory
Coffee
Case

3. Building Ideas

4. Questions on readings
What is a Spark Deck ?
Why Useful ?

5. Quick Recap
Increase your odds
of working on the
right things
Clarity to move
forward

6. My Personal Views
• We dramatically overrate the value of ideas
• You shouldn’t worry about people stealing your ideas
• It is not the easiest step to outsource
• Alignment takes strategic insight
• Communication and checking usually requires domain expertise
• Systems thinking takes time
Idea Building is easy…. and the easiest to outsource

7. 2 similar views
Steve Jobs Interview
It is the process of building
It is the execution that counts
It is not about what you have, but what you
make out of it

8. What we really know
about idea building…

9. 9
“Inventions Are IdeasThat
Have Sex”
Some say everything has
already been invented.We
are just looking for new
combinations

10. MU =
S
F
D
Meaningfully
Unique Ideas!
Leverage
Diversity
Drive out Fear
=
Explore Stimulus

11. 11
Ways to build better
ideas
7 + 1 because you’re smart

12. 12
Stimulus is critical

13. More
Stimulus
More Ideas
(Quantity & Quality)=
Where to go
on vacation?

14. Better = Associations
Spain + Foodie +
Budget
of a
student

15. Best = HARD Associations
“How could you do it
for free”
“How could you get
paid”

16. Insert MATT video

17. It is more impressive than you think
• Stride Gum
• Visa
• Samsonite
• Make a wish
foundation
• Plus speaking
Estimates:
€ 600-800 K / year
plus expenses
More stops than leading bands

18. 18
Imagine this…
BMW has some of the best
designers in the world and
sells their designers by the
day
below cost
Why?
To build creativity…

19. 19
The world’s biggest
ideas are built
around needs

20. Better ideas are about
1. Staying focused on consumer (customer) value
2. Being committed to better satisfy unmet
unarticulated needs
3. Working to build insights

21. Why?… Needs first, not ideas first !
Success
rate *
* According to Strategyn research on outcome driven innovation…
5 - 10%Develop
a solution
Find
a need
Find
a market
IDEAS
first
70%
Find
a need
Develop
a solution
Find
a market
NEEDS
first

23. It is more than
talking to
consumers
today’s
business
Mobile phone
Computers
Internet…

24. It is about hard
questioning…
You can't just ask consumers what they want
and then try to give that to them.
Sometimes (actually often)
they don’t know what they want.
It is often about “golden questions”.

26. 26
Bad and / or unoriginal
ideas are as important
as good ideas

27. The big innovation Paradox
Whoever Makes the
Most Mistakes Wins
Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes

31. 31
Ideas come
when you have time
to think…

33. Your new creativity office

34. The test, solve a difficult task while…
Reading emails or smoking
marijuana…
Test 1
Test 2

35. A few simple
ideas • Stop the email notifications
• No internal email Fridays
• 5,10,20% time like 3M,
Google
• Get people to block (and
keep) time for creativity in
their agendas

36. 36
Execution is often
more important than
the original idea

37. The danger of Internet
Someone
has done
it already
Look it
up on
the
Internet
a big
IDEA

38. How many people
think
Apple invented the
MP3
player?
almost
50%of US consumers

39. More memory
More features
Better song management
Simplicity
and
coolness

40. More examples

41. 41
Diversity Drives
Creativity

42.  
BEST
20 agents
RANDOM
20 agents

43. The IQ View
Alpha Group
121
132 155
139
135
137
Diverse Group
121 84 111
105 135 95

44. The Toolbox View
Alpha Group
ABD
ADE BCD
ABC
BCD
ACD
Diverse Group
AHK FD AEG
EZ BCD IL

45. “Bringing new members into the
organization, even if they’re less
experienced and less capable, actually
makes the group smarter simply
because what little the new members
do know is not redundant with what
everyone else knows.”
James Surowiecki
author Wisdom of crowds..

46. A UCLA MFA 3 X
harder to get into
than Harvard MBA
The bigger surprise…
Average starting
salaries for MFAs are
now higher than
MBAs
* MFA = Masters of Fine Arts

47. What you can do..
DIVERSITY
INDEPENDENCE
AGGREGATION
EFFECTIVE
GROUPS
wise crowds

48. 48
Persistence
Counts

49. Why Persistence
• 80% of the big ideas are after day 1
• Ideas need time
• Ideas need to grow
• Quantity is the best predictor of quality
• Pottery / Photography / Ideation Examples
• Persistence is what makes less creative people usually better
idea builders

50. What is Persistence?
• Modify expectations short-cut to long haul
• Learn to love NO’s and failures
• Think in terms of progress not perfection
• Focused, relentless idea building
• Act until Echo
Then repeat

51. What do you think is the
biggest difference
between highly creative
people and others ?
51

52. 52
Problem finding
instead of solution
finding…

53. Different Mindsets
Average Idea builders
• Let’s get started
• Where have I seen similar
problems
• What solutions come to mind
Pattern Seekers
Solution Addicts
Source: Csikszentmihalyi and Getzel

54. Different Mindsets
Average Idea builders
• Let’s get started
• Where have I seen similar
problems
• What solutions come to mind
Pattern Seekers
Solution Addicts
Expert Idea builders
• Why is this a problem?
• Do we understand this issue
correctly?
• Are there other ways of
looking at it?
Pattern Breakers
Problem Finders
Source: Csikszentmihalyi and Getzel

55. Facts to
Practice
7 Steps
1. Familiarize yourself with the
objectives and challenge
2. Challenge the problem
definition
3. Effectuation
4. Stimulus Mining
5. Individual brain writing
6. Group Work
7. Re-work

56. Familiarize yourself with
the Objectives
and the
Challenge

57. Start with a few questions..
Why do people really dislike standing ? (See text)
Questions to ask someone else
• What do you do when you can’t find a seat ?
• When you’re standing and see someone sitting what do you
think ?
• What would it take to get you another train if you knew no seats
would be available ?

58. Sutherland, Rory. Alchemy (Kindle Locations 732-757). William Morrow. Kindle Edition.
Why don’t people like being made to stand on overcrowded trains?
I once asked this question in a meeting with a rail company. Everyone looked nonplussed; I mean, it’s
obvious that standing has to be worse than sitting, right? Maybe so. But why? And if standing is always
worse than sitting, why do people standing on trains regularly continue to stand after seats become
available?
There could be a whole variety of reasons but, fascinatingly, passengers themselves do not really know,
even if they are able to supply plausible post-rationalisations. But asking this question more broadly might
lead to interesting new railway carriage designs that nobody has yet thought of, or it might be solved by
differential pricing. We don’t know yet.
So let’s ask again – why might people hate standing on trains? Is it about feeling cheated? After all, you’ve
paid for a seat on the train, and the rail company has taken your money and not given you a seat. Is that it?
In which case, might you try offering standing-only carriages for shorter rail and tube journeys? People
using them could be refunded part of their fare, or rewarded with points towards free journeys. Would they
feel happy then? We could find out. Or perhaps it’s because it is tiring; it’s not just about having to stand,
it’s also about having to keep your balance. Or that, once you have to hold on to a pole to stay upright, you
can no longer use a mobile phone, read a book or newspaper or drink a coffee, so the journey becomes
boring.
If these are the reasons, then a series of bum-rests might help. Perhaps it’s because they have nowhere to
put their bags or they are paranoid about people stealing from their backpack. Maybe though, it’s more a
question of status; the people who have a seat have a view, control of their personal space and space for
their bags – while the people who stand get nothing. There is no story they can tell themselves about their
predicament that puts it in a better light. But this raises an interesting question: what if there were some
benefits to standing? In other words, is there a role for alchemy?
Imagine if commuter rail carriages were designed with the seats down the middle, with places for
passengers to stand down each side, next to the windows. People sitting might have cup-holders but
nothing else; people standing would have a view out of the window, a cushion to rest against and a shelf
for a bag or a laptop, with two USB charging sockets.
Now there would be some clear advantages to standing over sitting, to a point where standing could be
perceived – by others and by oneself – as a choice rather than a compromise. Plans such as this only
emerge when people ask a dumb question with an open mind. The commuter knows he hates standing,
but he does not really know why; if you ask him, he will demand more seats, but the only way to provide
them is through the huge expense of running more trains. The reason we do not ask basic questions is
because, once our brain provides a logical answer, we stop looking for better ones; with a little alchemy,
better answers can be found.
A few facts on standing inTrains
1. Less than 20% of commuters have to stand, but it is
almost always the same commuters (people at the
last stations)
2. 2/10 people will volunteer to give up their seat to an
elderly or handicapped person. If asked, 6/10 people
will give up their seat
3. For a typical commuter, the cost of traveling by car
is 40% higher and 50% longer
4. People complain, but don’t change their actions
(see actions in India , Japan , China where there is
severe over-crowding)
5. Standing is only required at peak times
6. At present, less that ,1% of train journeys are too
crowded to get one

60. TRUE Truly Simple Fix the standing issue
N
Narrative. Why it is
important (the story)
If we don’t change something, more people standing will get
more and more frustrated. This will lead people to choose other
methods of travel and increase road traffic.
O Objectives
How to reduce
1. standing issues and / or
2. negative feelings associated with standing on the train
R
Restrictions: We are not
interested in
Something that will take more than 2 years to implement
T Tactical Constraints: No new capacity (already full)
H Here is the place to start
Load Management via pricing / other techniques
New train design
Make standing more attractive
Make it easier for people that really want to sit to sit
Product
objective

61. Target
3 ideas

62. Challenge the problem
definition

63. Elevator Example
A big NYC apartment building with
slow elevators. People complaining.
Solutions
1. New faster elevator
2. Second set of elevators
3. Ask people to take the stairs
A psychologist found another
solution by re-framing the
problem
How ?

64. How to reduce
1. Standing issues
and / or
2. Negative feelings associated
with standing on the train

65. 1. Change the desirability of standing (make
standing better in some ways)
2. Change perceptions (are people really
standing as much as they think they are?)
How to reduce
1. Standing issue
and / or
2. Negative feelings
associated with
standing on the train

66. Effectuation

67. CAUSAL vs EFFECTUAL REASONING
FIRST FIRST
GIVEN GOAL GIVEN MEANS
M1
M2
M5M4M3
M1
M2
M5
M4
M3
MANAGERIAL THINKING (causal)
Accumulate means necessary to achieve a
pre-determined goal.
THEN ACCUMULATE
MEANS
ENTREPRENEURAL THINKING (effectual)
Imagine many possible new ends using a given
set of means.
THEN IMAGINE ENDS
CAUSAL vs EFFECTUAL REASONING

68. Making a meal
Traditional
• Who is coming
• What will they like
• Plan a menu
• Go Shopping
• Make the meal
• Enjoy
Effectual
• What is in the Fridge ?
• What can we do with that
• Guess what is for dinner ?
• Enjoy ?

69. 4 Concepts of Effectuation
• Bird in the Hand: What’s in the fridge
• Make Lemonade: So pickles and peanut butter
doesn’t work, but sour and sweet seems to work
together..
• Affordable loss: Starting within budget (knowing you
can do it several times)
• Crazy quilt: I have got a few friends downstairs
maybe they can help

70. What can we do better
without any investments?

71. Stimulus Mining

72. Idea Starters
1. Would an early bird
ticket be enough ?
2. Could they also
increase motivation ?
Rail overcrowding has become endemic for many major cities. Solutions
are problematic because they require substantial funding and years to
implement. A new approach implemented in Melbourne,Australia, called
the early bird ticket, offers passengers free rail travel if trips are completed
before 7:00 a.m.The program costs 6 million Australian dollars (US5.64
million; AU1 = US.94, 2010) per annum in lost fare revenues.
Approximately 8,000 to 9,000 passengers use the ticket each weekday.
Some 23% of these passengers have shifted the time of travel (2,000-
2,600 passengers) by an average of 42 min.This shift has reduced demand
during peak time between 1.2% and 1.5% from previous levels and is the
equivalent of a maximum of five average train loads (or 3% of total peak
trains). Demand growth during this period has far outweighed this effect;
overloading increased after the early bird program was introduced. Its
effect was to reduce the scale of increased overloading.Overall, it is
unclear to what degree the early bird ticket program has acted to reduce
overloading. Peak travel during the less critical 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. peak time
has been reduced; however, its effect during the critical 8:00 to 9:00 a.m.
peak time is low. Regardless, the program pays for itself by providing relief
equivalent to 2.5 to five peak train loads. Economic benefits are likely to be
higher.When considering the alternatives, there is no equivalent measure
that could be implemented at such cost so quickly.

73. Idea StartersFlexible chairs => 30% more space
1. Better seats
2. Better train design
3. But why haven’t they
done it ?

74. Idea Starters
1. Could a good PR
campaign be enough ?
2. It is really a problem
that needs to solved ?
It is not that bad in Belgium

75. Idea Starters
1. How can we make the
train journey ‘fun’?
2. How to make the train
journey a place to meet
new people and start
unique friendships?
FUN and EXPERIENCE make
people pay a lot of money to
stand for hours at their
favourite music festival
TOMORROWLAND

76. Individual Brain Writing
(there are hundreds of ideas)

77. Write your
Ideas..
Share with
A team
member

78. Group Work

80. www.cyclesbook.com
Cycleswww.cyclesbook.com
Cycles
Payoff
Dramatic difference
how is their life
and better
Proof
Reason why should they
believe you and
dramatic difference

81. Get feedback
Clarity
Meaningful
Unique
2 Golden rules
If Clarity < 7
 Write it again
If [(Meaningful * .6 )
+ (Unique * .4 )] < 6
 You probably got a loser
One Suggestion

82. Don’t ask to get confirmation
Ask to get information (and ask often)
That’s great
son…
Please tell me:
If this business failed
Why did it fail
3 ideas for
improvement
Hey mom
what do
you think
?

83. Summary by
Arthur B VanGundy

85. Bonus : how to run an
idea building event

86. How to run an event
1. Prepare
1. Alignment (What and why)
2. Problem statement
3. Spark Deck
2. Audience Immersion
1. Your challenge
2. 15 minute introduction maybe a few sparks
3. Question the questions
3. Individual Brain dumps
4. Work in groups
1. 1 or 2 - 30 minute ideation cycles
2. Feedback
3. Re-work (maybe ideation cycles)
5. Communicate
1. Present / Vote
2. Death Threats
6. Personal reflections
80% of the work is preparation
The best are several day events
Interim period
Build ideas +Test if possible
Day 2
1. Audience Immersion
1. Key Learnings
2. Key challenges
2. Individual reflection
3. Question the questions
4. Work in groups
5. Communicate
6. Personal reflections
Then as they say.. Rinse, repeat