Jeff Davidson - The 60 Second Innovator. Sixty Solid Techniques for Creative and Profitable Ideas At Work

The 60 SECOND
INNOVATOR

Sixty Solid Techniques for Creative and
Profitable Ideas at Work

JEFF DAVIDSON

Copyright 2009 by Jeff Davidson
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Poem copyright 1993, by Portia Nelson, from the book Theres a Hole in My Sidewalk. Reprinted with permission from Beyond Words Publishing, Hillsboro, Oregon.

Published by Adams Business, an imprint of Adams Media,
a division of F+W Media, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 10: 1-60550-659-1
ISBN 13: 978-1-60550-659-3
eISBN: 978-1-44051-371-8

Printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Brenna Leath, Tracy Anderson, Cat Hickey, Colin Lalley, and Michael Schmidtke helped me in the research, editing, and overall preparation of this book. Peter Archer, my editor and the driving force behind the 60 Second series, offered his usual dose of high energy, enthusiasm, and expertise. Thanks as well to Paula Munier, my editorial director, as well as Beth Gissinger and Jaquinn Williams in publicity, Phil Sexton in sales, and Chris Duffy in international rights and distribution. All have played key roles in the success of this venture. Thanks also to Scott Watrous for his long-term service and guiding hand during challenging times for publishers, and to Bob Adams for his creative vision so many years ago.

Id also like to cite several subject matter experts, including Scott Burrows, Paul Sloan, Grace McGartland, Richard Connor, Laura Reed, Dan Janal, Robert Ringer, and Scott Adams, for their observations, insights, assistance, and other contributions to other specific tips.

Foreword

If you want to increase your skills and reputation as an innovator at work, Jeff Davidsons book, The 60 Second Innovator, is definitely for you.

Jeff has pulled out all the stops to impart the insider knowledge and crucial observations he has amassed over the years to help you become a great innovator. Just watch your coworkers jaws drop when you are able to come up with one innovative solution after another on the job.

This handy, eye-opening, active minireference tool contains sixty nontheoretical tips to help increase your innovative potentialand each tip can be absorbed in a New York minute.

Whenever you find yourself needing a burst of energy, a touch of creativity, or simply a new way of looking at the issues you face, just flip through this book and youll quickly find numerous tips that fit the bill.

If youre the trailblazer at work devising bold and innovative steps to accomplish tasks, better a situation, or introduce change to the skeptical, you will find that The 60 Second Innovator can and will support you in wondrous ways.

If you are just starting on the path to becoming known as an innovator, you can read sequentially to derive a broad swath of benefits. In any case, make sure you keep this book close at hand to consult any time you need to take a novel approach to some challenge you face on the job.

As with his previous books in this series, including The 60 Second Self-Starter and The 60 Second Organizer, Jeff has arranged The 60 Second Innovator into six sections: The Quest for a Better Way, Upping Your Innovation Quotient, Carving Your Path to Innovation, Preparing for the Unexpected, Embracing Your Personal Power, and Coaching from the Masters.

These six sections will help you to stay innovative when facing challenging situations, hurdles, or impasseslarge and small. Depending on what you are up against, any single one of these tips can help you carve a new path on the high road to resolution.

Jeffs sixty tips run the gamut from traditional techniques for being more creative, creating bold new ideas, to helping career professionals soar to greater heights, all assembled in a lively, compelling, humorous, and down-to-earth style. Dont be surprised if you feel as if Jeff is talking directly to you from right across the table.

Whether you find yourself boxed in on the tiniest of tasks or on complex, long-term projects, youll soon discover that The 60 Second Innovator is both a valuable resource and a daily action guide to help you to become a more creative, resourceful, and valuable member of your organization.

Give yourself an added edge. Put your own personal English on Jeffs tips. Good luck on your personal journey as you discover the large benefits in store from reading this little book.

Richard C. Levy
Author of The Complete Idiots
Guide to Cashing In on Your Inventions

Introduction

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.
Linus Pauling, PhD, winner of two Nobel Prizes

Wouldnt it be something to be an innovator at work whos highly regarded for creative solutions to pressing problems? This book is all about how to release your inner innovator!

Youre capable of coming up with a wide variety of solutions to the challenges your team, department, division, or organization faces. In fact, youre a walking, talking, thinking innovation machine.

From the time you get up in the morning to the time you retire at night, you constantly encounter challenges. Most are small and fleeting, many are significant and lingering, and a few are huge and seemingly insurmountable. Yet, little by little, one by one, we devise methods not only to cope with our challenges but often to overcome them and then thrive in the face of them.

From how we arrange our homes, cars, and offices, to the products and services we acquire, to the habits and customs we adopt, we constantly adjust and respond to the world as we find it. More times than not, were able to make the best of the situation. Whether its arranging the items on your desk for optimal performance, or creating rosters and checklists to guide you in specific situations, you devote much of your day and certainly much of your work day to finding solutions to the challenges that confront you.

The sixty tips offered in this book range from the simple to the outlandish. By the time you put down this book, I think youll have found that this diminutive text packs a large punch.

Have you ever stopped to think how you approach a tough question at work? You are capable of looking at the problem from several different angles and figuring out potential solutions. Your mind is your workshop. In this day and age the most vital resource we bring to our careers is brain power. On any given day, your job description can be as simple as meet challenges, find a better way, establish and enact a plan.