Each one gives a valuable lesson in where we can all go wrong when creating our next product or service. Perhaps the most important lesson of all though is that no work is wasted.

Everything involved in a project that "fails" can influence where we go next.

Mobile ESPN

Back in 2006 ESPN launched their mobile-only service in the pre-iPhone era. They leased cellular coverage and released a purpose-built phone that customers would need to purchase to supposedly access "all sports all the time in the palm of their hand".

According to the exhibition listing at MoX: "The phone gave exclusive access to score updates, video content, highlights, and continuous sports news, but apparently, sports fans weren’t given much credit for having taste. The phone was an ugly, clunky, flip phone, and customers weren’t willing to pay for the expensive plans that ranged from $65 – $225 per month. Talk about a fumbled pass!

Mobile ESPN failed 9 months after its launch, and cost the company millions of dollars. ESPN should have listened to Steve Jobs when he told the company’s president “Your phone is the dumbest f***ing idea I have ever heard.”

Leveraging failure

The biggest product failure in ESPN's history would actually provide them with a head start in delivering digital sports coverage to a mass market. Mr Jobs might also admit that the type of features ESPN imagined (24-hour coverage, push notifications and exclusive content) may well have directly influenced what iPhone and its associated content services would go on to become.

The Museum of Failure has a number of global pop-up exhibitions including Shanghai and Hollywood.

Their collection is also free to view online.

Before you go...

CurveFinder Programmes help people and businesses adapt more skillfully to the modern digital market. We help remove the fear of failure, taking lessons from the past and building value in the future.

Get in touch if you'd like to place an innovation engine at the core of your business. Together we can create products and services that matter.

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I love the honesty and humour of this video about creativity from Oscar-winning director Taika Waititi.

No matter what job we do, we're all trying to create something and the process can be lonely, baffling, and disorientating at times. Someone like Waititi, given his success, could well allow his ego to tell him he had it all worked out. That he was the master of his own creative process all along.

But his self-deprecation about how he "fell into" filmmaking and what he goes through to create his work is guidance for us all.

Similarly, he talks about how important momentum is.

"Don't get too comfortable... keep moving".

And how being nervous can be a good thing.

"You've got to be nervous... If I'm nervous enough then I know I'm going to scramble and potentially make something good".

This is an important point. When taking on challenging work, we all suffer nerves or from imposter syndrome. Even Oscar winning directors.

When helping people innovate themselves and their business I often talk about the practice of acknowledging nerves as a positive force. They are simply an indication that we're doing something that matters. We can only be at our best when being pushed to adapt and evolve.

The world of music and film is full of examples of people who apply a creative process and allow themselves the structure, intensity and space to do their best work.

If you find this interesting, you might like:

Getting white hot and passionate with Nick Cave and Roald Dhal

How Jack White uses restrictions to drive creativity

David Lynch on where ideas come from

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Jason and Yvonne are on a mission to encourage 10 families to move to the Scottish island of Tiree. The island is a beautiful but difficult place to live at times and this comes with economic challenges.

Having moved to the island themselves to start a new life and enjoy early retirement, they happened upon an opportunity to make a difference in an unexpected way.

By getting to know a crofter neighbour they found out that many lambs from flocks on the island are orphaned. They become too expensive to care for and are effectively left to die. So, they set about hatching a plan to save the orphaned lambs and use their considerable skill set and network to create a new brand. This would be a brand that had a purpose at its heart. One that is good for the animals but also good for the humans of the island.

Wind forward a few months and Jason and Yvonne have created WELAN. A sustainable fashion brand making ethical, high-end wooly hats.

During our time together business has started to boom. After loads of great coverage from the UK national press, sales have rocketed.

Future plans include a kickstarted campaign, a micro-mill, and attracting an army of makers interested in creating ethical fashion.

Jason and Yvonne have been superstars to work with. I've had the pleasure of seeing their story resonate with so many people. They're doing work that matters. Of course, there is more work to be done and I look forward to supporting them on their journey.

To find out more check out their website .

Find out more about Pathfinder.

Who Cares Wins: an ongoing study of the people who decided to make the leap and do work that matters.

These are the people who have set about building businesses, big and small, that have a purpose at their core. By innovating themselves they subsequently inspire others. For them, winning isn’t about building million-pound revenue streams (although I guess that would be nice). No, for them it's about creating something that intrinsically transcends money. Subsequently, it becomes something far more soulful.

Further reading:

The art of making more than just a product by Otter Surfboards

Maker and studio owner, Tori Gray, used her ‘creative frustration’ to launch a new venture

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In a previous article, I wrote about the strong scientific evidence to suggest that having a purpose in life and work can have a profound effect on our wellbeing as individuals. Indeed having a purpose in life appears to widely buffer against mortality risk across our adult years.

So, it stands to reason that businesses that operate under a true purpose tend to do well.  In a 2016 study, the Korn Ferry Institute found that businesses who operate under a true purpose far outperform their competitors. “We have found that organizations that take the challenging steps to define their core purpose and values, and integrate these throughout their operations—beyond slogans or advertising gimmicks—see not only strong bottom-line results, they also find this approach transforms all aspects of their business,” said Elaine Dinos, principal of Korn Ferry’s Global Consumer Market practice.

Similarly, across a four-year study, Deloitte found that the employee-work contract has changed, compelling business leaders to build organizations that engage employees as sensitive, passionate, creative contributors. In his summary of the study, Josh Berin tells us "When you offer people a mission and purpose greater than financial return, you attract passionate individuals who want to contribute. And that brings a level of commitment and engagement no compensation package can create.".

Having a Purpose is food for the soul and good for business and it can be a catalyst for innovation.

You can't have true innovation without purpose

Both are inextricably linked.  One can't exist without the other. Put simply, innovation can't happen without having a true purpose at its core. Innovation is the combination of creativity and implementation, to solve a human problem and therefore critically, to create meaningful change (the purpose).

Any innovation of significance that any human has achieved both on a personal and/or a business level has been because they have been driven by a purpose. Our purpose is our north star.  Our guiding light.  Try not to mistake purpose for mere tasks, though. Tasks are things we need to do. Our purpose is something that we have simply got do - sometimes at all costs. It's our raison d'etre and it speaks to the core of our very existence.  It nourishes us in the dark times.  Sheds light when we've lost our way and stimulates growth even in the most barren of landscapes.

It takes a people-first approach

True purpose (and therefore innovation) starts with empathy.  By walking in the shoes of others we can then recognise their needs and problems.  Through adopting this posture we can focus on connecting the dots that just might solve the problem.  This requires us as individuals (and businesses) to put our ego's to the side and take an outside-in view of the world.  If a project, product or service is to succeed it must solve the problems and fulfill both the functional and certain emotional needs of the people we wish to make change for. Taking an inside-out view, no matter how experienced we are in our field, will only get us so far.

Can businesses's really have a purpose to innovate on?

Yes, businesses can have a purpose that drives innovation but ultimately this purpose must come from the very people within the business who want to create that meaningful change for themselves and others around them.  In case you're unclear, creating profit isn't a purpose, it's an outcome. Equally, let's not fool ourselves into thinking that unbridled ambition is an actual purpose. Solving real-world problems through creativity and collaboration. Creating something that didn't exist before that has a level of care and finesse that can surprise and delight people.  Something that has a positive impact for others and that (even in incremental ways) changes our culture for the better - that's purpose-led innovation.  By taking a generous and creative posture we can find meaning, meaning gives purpose.

A 10-minute exercise on how to define a purpose for you or your organisation

I've designed this 10-minute exercise to help anyone define a purpose on which to innovate.  It can apply to an individual or a collective.

Follow the prompts in each of the six stages.  Try not to ponder too much.  Approach it with a light playful mindset if you can and see where the answers take you.  If the ultimate answer doesn't resonate with you or stir up motivation within your very being, then it's worth going deeper with the practice.

Free tool - Purpose Setting Canvas

To help with the exercise, I've designed this Purpose Setting Canvas.  Print it out A3 size and grab some sticky notes. Play with different answers, moving your stickies around or replacing them with new ones as you refine your answers.

Purpose Setting Canvas

If you like it, let me know.  All feedback welcome.

The post Purpose: Why it's good for business and how it can stimulate meaningful innovation appeared first on CurveFinder.

"A small but very confident step to make our world a little better."

At the age of 17 Michael Vaga managed to make a breakthrough that many people can only dream of making in their lifetime.  After producing countless prototypes, touring Europe collecting customer feedback and iterating many times on his original idea, Michael produced a breakthrough innovation.  It's called HandEnergy and it harnesses human movement to allow anyone to charge pretty much any type of device.  The device contains a gyrscope that collects power as the user rotates it. It takes about an hour to fully charge a smartphone.

“HandEnergy preserves energy inside of itself, that's why you can use it any time you need it. And of course, you can charge your device during the rotation of HandEnergy as well. It may be a surprise, but the rotor which is inside the HandEnergy device rotates with the average speed of 5000 turns per minute."

What makes it a breakthrough innovation?

We've all been in that situation where you feel like you're on a never ending quest to charge your smartphone.  But what's really exciting about Michael's innovation is its potential to help isolated people and communities harness power in a way that could make a meaningful difference to their lives.  On top of that there are the eco-friendly advantages.  With the help of HandEnergy you generate green, eco-friendly energy, which doesn’t bring harm to you or the surrounding environment. Michael describes it s "A small but very confident step to make our world a little better." I couldn't agree more.

Who Cares Wins: an ongoing study of the people who decided to make the leap and do work that matters.

These are the people who have set about building businesses, big and small, that have a purpose at their core. By innovating themselves they subsequently inspire others. For them, winning isn’t about building million pound revenue streams (although I guess that would be nice). No, for them it’s about creating something that intrinsically transcends money. Subsequently, it becomes something far more soulful.

More in the series:

The art of making more than just a product by Otter Surfboards

Maker and studio owner, Tori Gray, used her ‘creative frustration’ to launch a new venture

Outdoor clothing company Patagonia proves that caring is very good for business

The post Who Cares Wins: Michael Vaga the teenager harnessing human energy appeared first on CurveFinder.

Who cares wins

The outdoor clothing brand, Patagonia, has hit the headlines recently.  They decided to stand up to the President of the United States because they felt that he had illegally reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments for, you guessed it, the financial gain of big business.  Not content with promoting their views, they've taken the matter into their own hands and have filed a lawsuit.  I guess when you read their mission statement or watch any of the promotional material they release, it's not so much of a surprise.  For 30 years they have been a business that cares.  What's also interesting is that   According to a recent article in GQ, after Patagonia decided to file their lawsuit, sales increased considerably.  It turns out that caring is good for business and that who cares wins.

Patagonia's mission statement

Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

Main picture by Derek Liang on Unsplash

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There has been loads of coverage recently about the rise of AI.  The general view is machine learning will eventually take over vast swathes of jobs on a global scale and many wondering "will AI take my job?".  A site I found called willrobotstakemyjob.com made me smile and sent a shiver down my spine all at once.  Go ahead, drop in your job title and see how "doomed" you might be. Heads up - if you're an accountant, perhaps best not.

This kind of hysteria could run away with you if you let it.  The thing is, I don't buy it. Well, not fully at least. Now, as someone who leads on Digital Innovation in a 200-year-old business, I'm fully aware of the power of computerisation and the algorithms we rely on every day to power the tech we love.  But these are simply tools.  Used wisely they can provide wonderful breakthroughs that make meaningful differences to human life.

"Value isn't created by technology alone. This is where our opportunity lies."

It still takes a human to apply that wisdom.  To find that creative spark.  It took at least one human to conceive the iPhone and lots of other humans to use the technology to make it a reality. People make those connections that can form something truly unique. In this context, the machine and its algorithms are merely tools in our creative process.  Value isn't created by technology alone. This is where our opportunity lies.

When was the last time an algorithm welled up when it played the perfect record?

As I busied myself this morning, I caught a promo for my favourite radio station here in the UK. It provides an analogy that sums that opportunity up well.  As I listened it struck me that there is wisdom here we can all apply to our own projects, big or small.  To the creative posture we take in our work and home life and to the changes we seek to make for ourselves and others.

People are always going to make unexpected, weird connections and be more surprising and complicated than you would imagine." - Lauren Lavern

Listen to the promo:

A brief transcript:

Steve Lamacq "I'm quite addicted to it... searching for new bands... looking for music I like. Not just music I like but that you think other people will like as well."

Mary Anne Hobbs "Music is one of the greatest human expressions...and a human can always bring context passion, and a greater understanding."

Marc Riley "When was the last time an algorithm welled up when it played the perfect record?"

Lauren Lavern "It's really important to listen to  what other people are playing... people are always going to make unexpected, weird connections and be more surprising and complicated than you would imagine."

Celebrate your version of weird

If we're hoping to thrive in the tech-driven age, then we each have an opportunity - maybe even a responsibility - to find the weird connections and new contexts that deliver something remarkable. We all have the opportunity to do work that matters. To interpret.  Translate.  To create whatever it is that moves people using the vast numbers of free tools at our disposal - in our own unique way.  The machines will rise, but through applying context, passion and a deeper understanding our creativity can rise higher

Like this?  How about...

...some wise words from actor Jeff Goldblum?
or
How a 40 something Manchester Poet turned a sideline into a career.

Main Photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash

The post Man vs Machine: Why the rise of AI is an opportunity for human creativity appeared first on CurveFinder.

I happened upon an interesting site belonging to a local brand agency here in Edinburgh.  Contagious, specialise in working with big multi-national drinks brands. As you might expect their site has the usual HD images and case studies showing off some of their award-winning work.  I've seen my fair share of slick agency sites (as a client) and I tend to look at these with a slightly withering eye.  But this one caught my attention for a different reason.  Nestled amongst the high-spec artwork is a page entitled 'Applied:Dreaming' which has the outline of a creative blueprint we can all learn from.

Conjurers of ideas and manufacturers of dreams

I have to admit, aside from observing it as a nicely written piece of copy, I found the description of Contagious' creative approach and ethos to be quietly inspirational.  "Between dreams and reality is where our expertise is applied", they say.  Describing themselves as "Conjurers of ideas and manufacturers of dreams" they "dream dreams" then build them by being "insightful, refreshing and brave."

we all have the opportunity to fill the gap between dreams and reality with our own individual form of expertise.

It struck me that we could all take influence from their ambitious and inclusive approach.  Surely we can all decide to accept that, in any line of work, and with any task we face, we all have the opportunity to fill the gap between dreams and reality with our own individual form of expertise.  And even if we don't have all of the tools or skills, we can find co-conspirators to help create our own brand of 'applied dreaming'.

Let me take nothing away from Contagious though.  From the quality of their work, it's pretty clear that they might well live up to their name.

Photo by John Baker on Unsplash

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My own talk focused on 'How creatives can thrive in a corporate environment'. Delivered from the POV of a business owner/leader it is designed to help creatives (either in-house or freelance) find better ways of landing their ideas in businesses big and small.  I'll share more on this later (I have an e-book in the making).  Check out their website which has a load of insightful videos and articles that will be of interest to designers at all stages of their careers.  I managed to get a chat with Paula and Olga and we talked about how they've created such a vital organisation and found ways to turn a sideline into a career.

"We planned to make a small conference for 50-70 students, but over 800 people applied to take part in it."

How did you guys meet?

We studied Graphic Design together at the University of Arts in Poznań (Poland). We decided to make a conference together as our bachelor project. We designed the visual identity and organized the whole event.

What was 'the spark' that helped you make a start on the project?

As students, we had so many questions and doubts about the designer's profession. We didn’t really know how to deal with clients, how to deal with copyrights, what kind of contracts should we sign, how to cooperate well with other people, how to negotiate etc. We needed someone with the experience to answer them. Together we decided to invite a few great designers to do it. I guess it was our dean that encouraged us to take it one step further and make an event out of it.
We planned to make a small conference for 50-70 students, but over 800 people applied to take part in it. We realised that many designers have the same needs as we do. Now we have 2300 attendees, most of them are professional designers who want to get to know the experience of others in the industry, to see their point of view and to get inspired.

Have there been any times when you felt like giving up but managed to turn it around?

There was one time when we didn’t know if we would be able to make another edition of the conference. It was last year when we were finishing our studies and conference hasn’t brought us any money yet. We couldn’t keep organizing the event non-profit. We decided to move from Poznań to Warsaw, change the name (from the Polish “Elementarz Projektanta” to Element Talks), and for the first time, to invite international audience and speakers. We increased the ticket price and for the first time started looking for bigger sponsors. We knew that it could have been the last edition, but we had to take this risk. I think that what gave us the energy to turn the situation around was a huge belief in the idea of our event and a thought that people really count on it to happen. Fortunately, we managed to find funding and we can now spend our time organizing the conference and everything around it. We have plans to expand our activities online and to organize our events in other cities.

"I think that what gave us the energy to turn the situation around was a huge belief in the idea of our event and a thought that people really count on it to happen."

What helps you keep going?

People - our attendees. We have such a supporting audience. 2 days of conference give us the energy to keep going for the whole year. It’s also a real pleasure to cooperate with such great people around us: designers, business specialists, our sponsors and partners. We learn a lot every day.

What advice would you give others looking to find their way with new creative projects?

Don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice!

What is the best advice that someone else has given you?

It's hard to choose one, there were so many of them. In the beginning, we were completely inexperienced in organizing events. We asked for advice from everyone that we could. For the first two years we did it non-profit, so later we needed some business advice to help us make a living. We are really lucky to have supportive friends and attendees! Many times people helped us just because they believed in our conference, they liked our enthusiasm and wanted to support young entrepreneurs. It’s truly a great experience to see how people want to help each other and share their knowledge.

The post Element Talks, Warsaw: insights from the founders - turning a sideline into a career - creating a vital European design event appeared first on CurveFinder.

Empathy is the currency of all change. Without taking the time to walk in the shoes of the people we are trying to affect, how can we expect to succeed?

This canvas is derived from a similar tool used in agile methodology, developed by David Gray. The original version is designed to help product development teams empathise with the end-user or customer segment they are developing for.
Using similar principles, my version is designed to help provide a framework to allow for greater empathy with a colleague, client or co-worker. It’s a tool for problem solvers, collaborators, makers, and doers and is intended to help you get to a place of deeper understanding of the very people you are trying to collaborate with in order to make change happen.

Empathy is the currency of all change. Without taking the time to walk in the shoes of the people we are trying to affect, how can we expect to succeed?
Spend some time working through each stage of the framework. Reflect on each question with an open mind and jot down your answers. Proceed with kindness and an open mind.

Empathy Canvas from CurveFinder

For more reading on empathy check out An open letter to ‘Mr. Status Quo’.

If, like me, you’re into using a canvas to frame your thinking, check out my ‘Goal Setting Canvas’.

Think there is a way to improve these tools? Have you had results using them that you’re willing to share? Please get in touch hello@curvefinder.com on Twitter @curvefinder or LinkedIn

Sign up to my newsletter to receive (irregular) insights on inspiring people, creative endeavor, self-development, and leadership.

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