Do you want to quickly improve the innovation power of your company? If so, start with the exact opposite: Imagine you want to creatively kill innovation in your company instead. You need to:
- Create an innovation sandbox. The borders of this sandbox are defined by Voldemort Boundaries: These are all the icky subjects which should never be mentioned in any serious business conversation, because it would go against good, established, and decent business practices. Typical examples of Voldemort Boundaries in business are to ignore social media, fire customers, raise prices, stop advertising, support competitors, decrease market share, etc.
- Allow frequent, spirited, and passionate discussions within the Voldemort Boundaries. Exact swift and brutal punishments for those individuals who dare to cross the line and bring up ideas outside the Voldemort Boundaries. A single public punishment example is usually enough to get everyone back into compliance.
- Watch and enjoy the frantic, yet useless activities. Claim a thriving culture of innovation. Relish the company wasting its creative energy on mediocre ideas, marginal improvements, and getting stuck.
Ask yourself: What would happen with the innovation power of your company if you would do exactly the opposite and focus on stimulating courageous conversations aimed at breaking Voldemort Boundaries instead?
If an idea doesn’t feel deeply uncomfortable at first, you’re probably not innovating.
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