what happens in the innovation tank.” Or, “That’s what happens over in that skunkworks group.” I think sometimes we don’t utilize or tap into or benefit from the insights, the gifts, and the talents of people that are absolutely on the front line and who perhaps aren’t at the innovation center or the labs. Here’s a specific example. Here in San Diego,
there’s a health-care system that is on fire in terms of creating service experiences for patients, physi- cians, administrators, and anybody and everybody that the system touches. One of the ways that they do that is that they get into the hearts and minds of all the people, places, and all pockets of the sys- tem. If you are trying to create an experience for everybody that you touch, everyone in the system has to be thinking about ways that they can create an experience. So the phlebotomists realized that a number of
the people that they perform blood draws on are senior citizens and elderly. They have to get to the hospital, find parking, get from the parking lot to the building, and then into the phlebotomist and have their blood drawn. And then they have to get back to their cars. So what the phlebotomists decided they would do is a drive-through phle- botomy. So if you or I were elderly, or not able to really get in and out of our car easily, we call and we say, “Hey, I’m going to be driving up at 10:20 today. Here’s my name and license-plate number. Can you be there?” And so the phlebotomist comes to them. That’s innovation. That is what happens when
everybody in a health-care system realizes that it’s little things that make a difference. That doesn’t take an experiment in a lab or in a center. It took people who were noticing. Innovation happens when people at all places, in all levels, notice. Then they lead a charge or an initiative to make the change happen, which is innovation. And then they disrupt the current process or the current system.
Do you think that meetings play a role in innovation, and if so, in what ways? Yes. Underlined, bolded, highlighted — yes. The reason why I say yes is because innovation tends to happen when we’re not stuck, frustrated, stressed out, or overloaded, but when we are pas- sionate, alive, learning, on fire, excited, or drawn to something that we feel like we can make a dif- ference in. And I think when we get to meetings, we are cleared from the clutter.
‘I think that when we get the chance to go to meetings, we are sharing in an environment that allows us to “what if.” ’
They give us an opportunity to rub shoulders
with other people who are making a difference and who are looking at the world in slightly differ- ent and in sometimes radically different ways. So it changes and shifts our paradigms. I think that when we get the chance to go to meetings, we are sharing in an environment that allows us to “what if.” Innovations happen when we “what if” pos- sible challenges to life, instead of “yeah, but” them to death. Meetings invite us to open our minds to new ideas, strategies, and insights. And that’s the feeding ground for innovation.
Are there ways that you can think of that meetings can better support that kind of innovation, to be better feeding grounds? I think that words are powerful. And I don’t think we utilize the strength and the power of words enough. What if you open a meeting and said, “Okay, you’ve all come with a lot of stress and maybe a lot of baggage. We’re going to invite you right here and right now to leave that baggage at the door. We want you to begin this meeting with a clean slate, a fresh perspective, and a new lens through which you get to look at the way in which you lead, and the way in which you bring ideas to life or not. Let’s start the meeting off that way.” I think that there are a number of innovative approaches to meetings where this is happening. They are not just fire-hosing people with, “Bring in a bestselling author and let them speak to their content. Bring in an industry expert and let them speak to their company. Then let’s have a panel discussion, and let them talk to you.” What if the meeting became a little bit more
balanced every time you have a session? If the lunch conversation was, not being talked to again, but having a dialogue or discussion. Asking,
“What are you going to do with this information? How are you going to take it away?” Then cre- ate accountability partners and say, “I’ve never met you before this conference, but let’s keep an email relationship going and tell me how you’ve applied it, where it worked, and tell me where it didn’t work.”