The Cranky Middle Manager Show #96 Surrounded by Geniuses Alan Gregerman
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #096 (MP3 12MB 34:31Min)
To Listen in Your Browser, Double Click the Icon Below
To Download For Later, Right Click Here
Okay, so are you surrounded by geniuses? Don’t laugh, our guest Alan Gregerman says we all are if we look around and try to see them. Some days it’s hard to believe, but I’ll try to have faith….
By the way, join the growing community of CMM listeners. Invite me to join you on Linkedin… check out our Frappr map or subscribe to the newsletter.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show Middle Managers…. yes you heard me, Middle Managers. We proudly reclaim the title used with scorn to keep us down.
2:18 The Quote of the Week is from Thomas Henry Huxley who knew a thing or two about looking at the world with fresh eyes.
3:15 Welcome Alan Gregerman of Venture Works… a cool book and a cool job description. Surrounded by Geniuses- Unlocking Brilliance in Yourself, Your Colleagues and Your Organization starts with a chapter called, “White People Swimming Slowly” so it’s definitely our kind of book. The point is that innovation isn’t necessarily something new, it’s just using something that exists differently. Just ask Elvis how well that works.
8:15 Inspiration can come from anywhere. You have to look outside of where you think you should look, though. Alan tells a story about a bank and some bad benchmarking. If your industry stinks…why try to be the best of a bad lot- go benchmark who are really good at something you’re not.
13:15 Okay, so you just look at everyday things and think differently about them… it’s that simple, isn’t it? So how do we do it? If it were that simple we wouldn’t be here. Alan tells another story about a bank that gets it.
16:26 I challenge Alan for a practical approach to this- so here we go: buy pizza, rent Spiderman 1, and think about “spider sense”. Stick with us, this actually makes sense. Imagine turning your call center into an information resource.
23:00 Managers get in our own way a lot when it comes to fostering creativity. Death by meeting also kills ideas. Get out of the office, take a field trip, go somewhere that has nothing to do with work. I confess a failing of trying to get my team to be more creative…. but I do write maybe the best line I’ve come up with in 96 episodes….. “with the exception of myself, nothing worthwhile was ever conceived in a hotel room…..”
30:05 Not surprisingly, the resources he’s going to recommend are different:
- Commit to reading something that has nothing to do with work
- Subscribe to travel magazines like National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast Travel
- Read the kid’s book, “The Phantom Toll Booth”
- And Alan’s two books, “Surrounded by Geniuses” and “Lessons From the Sandbox”
May 27th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Hello Wayne,
I so enjoyed this podcast. Genius really is everywhere. I tend to be reminded of that only when I get so tired and burned out that I hand the problems off to the first person I see. Am always pleasantly surprised at the (not my) way they approach and solve.
Keep bringing us more good stuff. Thanks. Tate