Teams - the breeding ground of Innovation

For me Life is about learning. When I go with this quest, each experience becomes a lesson, and makes my life richer. The conclusions I draw are within me, I only need an igniter to put them into application. Each insight gives me new material to experiment with and expands my consciousness.

Teams - the breeding ground of Innovation

I came across a very practical application of the importance of Team work in creating Innovation. I had read an article sometime back by Barry Fischer “Modern Innovations Takes Teams Not Weirdos”. ( Full article also attached) The author brought attention to the fact that even great inventors needed teams composed of individuals to bring their ideas to fruition.
I saw a practical application of this concept in the play” Broken Images”. The play is a slice from the life of an author, played by Shabana Azmi. A beautifully written play and even more brilliantly enacted. Shabana plays 2 roles, that of 2 sisters, one who is physically challenged, is now dead; and the other who is physically perfect but suffers from feelings of inadequacy brought on by lack of attention from her parents. The play is a live conversation between the two sisters; both played by Shabana herself and both visible on the stage. You may think it an impossible task. Well how did the director do it?
He did it by taping the part played by the dead, physically challenged sister and the tape played on a TV screen along with the live performance of the other sister. The 2 performances were so well synchronized, the back and forth conversation and movements so real. There were times when both the characters were drinking water at the same time, and it seemed a mirror image. My intention here is not review the play, but to marvel at the precision with which author’s idea is translated into the director’s vision into perfect execution on the stage by the sound, light, props team.
The marvel for me is also the clock work integration between the different entities. All these individuals with different, perhaps conflicting beliefs, education, personalities and yet get conjoined by a common vision and a desire. Innovation achieved is by excelling not in 1 track, i.e. just acting or technology or communication, but integrating them to achieve a perfect clockwork whole.

Be Open to Learning as it alters the mix of ideas allowing new insights and experiences to yield True innovation.

“Firing” your “Opus”

Continuing on possibilities, I looked at cases of master piece performances, to find out the missing ingredient, the one that takes good performance to excellent or excellent to record breaking. I picked up 2 movies, “Chariots of Fire” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus”, depicting the journey of 3 ordinary people and “how” they achieved greatness in different fields – Sports and Music.


“Firing” your “Opus”

Selfless Eric and the competitive Harold Abrahams in “The Chariots of Fire”, and Glenn Holland in “Mr. Holland’s Opus”. Different personalities, who achieve fame and honour in their unique ways.

Eric and Harold are students at Cambridge, both born with a talent for speed with a will to win ONLY. While Eric wants to win for God, Harold wants to win ….for individual pursuit. Eric believes “God made me for a purpose and he also made me fast. I’m going to run for His pleasure”. For him, running is a way to spread Faith, a message that…..power comes from within.

Harold on the other hand believes “… in the pursuit of Excellence… I carry the future with me………..I even forget what I am pursuing”

Both prepare relentlessly for the Paris Olympics in 1924. Their preparation reflects their different beliefs about how they can get the best out of themselves. For Eric, spreading the Faith while for Harold it means hiring a good coach, who can help him improve his technique and make him “the fastest”.

While not all of us are like Eric, born with a special gift where “his feet are an extension of his spirit”, we are more like Harold, who looks at defeat not as a personal failure, but as an opportunity “I run to win…. It’s not Eric or the losing……. It’s me…… after all that hard work…….. I can’t run any faster…….” He searches for answers with his coach, to get that 2 extra yards with the same speed and time. His talent is just sufficient to get him an entry, but it is his determination, correction, practise, for that 10 second performance, which brings him glory.

Eric also wins, surprisingly. Unable to take part in the 100m heats because it is held on a Sunday, he takes part in the 400m and wins the gold, without practise, correction or analysis.

Mr. Glenn Holland on the other hand, was not even aware when his master piece was created. A composer, with dreams of writing his one piece of great music, one day, which will earn him a place among the greats. Unfortunately, life has different plans. Having to take up a music teacher’s job to make ends meet, as a “fall back option”, with zero commitment and interest, he redefines the meaning of “teaching”.

Change starts when he realizes how little an impact he is having on his students. Unable to digest the fact that the students do not “enjoy” playing music, he sets about getting each of them interested in music. Without any knowledge of motivational techniques, none in communication, he improvises different techniques to communicate with students in a way that they understand. One of his students, Lee who has been practising hard for 3 years, but still plays bad music, gives her an example, till she is able to get the connect, between, what she knows ( the notes ) and the source ( her love for music). With Russ, a wrestler, he lets him feel the vibration of the notes with his feet and on his helmet.

The goal of creating memorable music remains an unfulfilled wish. But what he does achieve is creating a love for music among innumerable students. Spreading what he loves doing, i.e. music, becomes his purpose and that is where he creates his masterpiece.

What I want to conclude it with, has been very aptly put by Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State during an address at the Colgate University in 2009. He calls it a “sense of purpose”. When imbued with this “sense of purpose” activities become achievements and the “means” emerge with clarity.

Be Purposeful to find the source of your “Opus”

Finding myAvatar

Welcome to my blog, filled with tips and lessons picked up from everyday situations, movies, experiences and of course books, your 15 minutes of learning as you go. No introductions, no structure, only essence.
Today I pick up insights from ‘AVATAR”, a movie transcending technology and special effects barriers, also transcending mental barriers. Therefore I find it a a strong concept filled with opportunities for developing and use in Training.

Read, share, distribute and respond!

Finding my true Avatar

Every person has some talent, unique quality, known or unknown to the person. When tapped, this is what drives innovative ideas and creativity at the work place. In “Avatar” Jake knew his. Finding ours is the key to unleashing passion and channelling it at the work place.

Avatar is a visualization of the individual’s transformation process. Jake Scully, Neyetri, Tsu’ Tey, Grace, Trudi, Norm are all characters who stand out because they stood up for their beliefs, managing to save the ecology and inhabitants of a “green” Pandora.

In the real world plans and expectations inspire action and results while Imagination creates possibilities, ignites desires and finding the true self.
The real world knowledge is limited..........by what exists and therefore self limiting. In the real world Jake Scully is handicapped and is part of the Abbatoir project only because of his genetic match to his brother. In the imaginary world, his passion drives him to become superhuman.

As material for developing potential, some of the points worth using are:

1. “Reality is an inconvenience” - As a go getter, Jake doesn’t need doctors to tell him what he CAN do, define his limits. Training has honed his instincts to such an extent, that in Pandora, his body decides what “it” can do.

2. “I was born to do ….. a stone cold aerial hunter” - Source of Jake’s strength is his strong heart which knows no fear, his mental attitude developed as a Marine, and ignorance of the dangers which lie ahead. This is what gains him entry into Pandora, take risks and finally lead the Na’vi into victory. He takes the initiative, becomes one like them and does what even the “aliens” could not do. Jake’s transformation / reincarnation comes from destroying the old self, the one with the handicap and adopting the self image of strength, talent and power.

3."Feel her heartbeat” - The critical lever in an Achiever’s performance …………Engaging people. To be accepted by the Na’vi, Jake has to develop Zahelu, the strong bond, with the ikran, the birds with the strong legs. These birds represent the team. As a leader, Jake ha to join himself with the ikran, and the bird takes him wherever he wants to go. Jake has to develop clarity on where he wanted to go, and the bird instinctively understood the destination. Jake’s clarity of his goal stands him in good stead, when Toruk, the divine bird accepts him as a rider and becomes his passport to gain the Na’vi’s Trust.

4. “I am a scientist, I don’t believe in fairy tales……………….I needed their help and they needed mine……. To do that, I have to take it to whole new level………….. it all boiled down to 1 bold move” - The road taken by an achiever, of discovery and risk taking. As humans our “cup is full”. If we want to discover, we have to empty our cup. Ignorance was critical in Jake’s journey, because it led to exploration and discovery. Whether as a scientist or a developer, or an engineer, any profession or background, these moments come in every person’s life, when decisions are not driven by our background or our training, but a vision of the possibilities.

If you find any point worth practising, let it roll................Believe in yourself !