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By Josh Linkner
Behind only water, concrete is the second-most used material on our planet. It’s low cost, durable, and beneficial in a variety of construction applications. As our population continues to swell, demand is expected to skyrocket. But there’s a problem. As useful as concrete may be, the production of this sturdy material is responsible for eight percent of the world’s total emissions. To make matters worse, the water needed to make concrete each year is enough to fill a million Olympic-sized swimming pools. Yet with the obvious environmental concerns of polluting the atmosphere and consuming too much fresh water, concrete has been made about the same way since the Roman Empire. Enter an everyday innovator named Vahit Atakan. Sitting at the bar having a beer one day, Vahit was mesmerized by the fizzy beverage. Those bubbles got him thinking: If CO2 works in beer and soda, what if it could be used in place of water in the concrete manufacturing process? Vahit got to work, eventually co-founding a company called Solidia Technologies. He swapped out water for CO2 which reduced emissions dramatically. In layperson’s terms, he created carbon eating concrete while reducing the demand for fresh water. This substitution is so effective, it can reduce carbon emissions by up to 70%. If Vahit’s technology was applied to the entire concrete industry, it could reduce annual worldwide emissions by over 5%. That’s the equivalent of removing all the emissions from the UK, Italy, France, Poland, and Mexico combined. Talk about a breakthrough innovation! Yet words like ‘breakthrough innovation’ can seem overwhelming, risky, and out of reach. We all want and need fresh ideas but discovering them is often elusive. As someone who is fascinated with human creativity, I’ve searched high and low for simple ways to demystify the creative process to make it far more accessible to us all. Vahit used one of my favorite approaches: swapping. It involves deconstructing a product, system, process, or approach into its core components and then substituting one thing for another. He swapped water for CO2, but you could exchange any compound for another in your own field. Maybe you swap team members’ job responsibilities, or the order in which a technique is performed. Physical or procedural, swapping one component for another is a simple way to open your mind to fresh possibilities. Coca-Cola swapped out sugar to create the wildly popular Diet Coke. DoorDash swapped the idea of a customer driving to pick up carryout tacos for having them delivered from a mobile app. Tesla swapped out a combustion engine for an electric one, and Disney+ swapped paying one-at-a-time for movies to a monthly subscription. In our highly competitive business environment, we must find new ways to deliver value. Try swapping out old components for new ones, and you’ll be well on your way to the breakthroughs you seek. If you’re looking to innovate, swapping is certainly a ‘concrete’ approach. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success!
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By Josh Linkner
Getting someone to take a chance on you is one of the most important steps to achieving success in both business and life. Yet mastering the art of persuasion is often overlooked and misunderstood. Alexander Fleming, the inventor of penicillin, was especially bad at communicating his discovery, despite it being one of the most important scientific advances in history. As a result, over 10 years were wasted and millions of lives lost because Fleming lacked the skills of persuasion. In contrast, the nefarious founder of the Fyre Festival, Billy McFarland, was masterful at getting people to back his idea, which turned out to be a giant fraud. Why do some ideas get backed and others bounced? And how can we become better at getting people to take a chance on us? That’s the exact topic of author Suneel Gupta’s new book: Backable – The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You. Gupta researched the science of persuasion and deconstructed thousands of backable moments — from tech startups landing major funding to movie deals getting the green light — to illuminate the core principles of becoming backable. Most of us aren’t raising startup capital, but all of us can benefit from becoming more backable. For some, it’s scoring a long-overdue promotion at work. For others, it’s convincing your church or synagogue to embrace your new idea to grow membership. Being backable helps win the hearts and minds of clients, colleagues, business partners, investors, the media, neighbors, and even romantic partners. It turns out that being backable isn’t a unique genetic quirk but rather a learnable skill. Gupta goes on to share a specific methodology that any of us can embrace to become backable. Some of my favorite insights include:
Crucially, when we become more backable, we improve the outcomes of the things we care about the most. Before presenting your next big idea, first develop a concrete strategy to ensure you are backable. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Josh Linkner
We effortlessly perform the same morning ritual – rushing the kids off to school, gulping down the usual coffee, taking the standard route to work. When visiting our favorite restaurants, we gravitate toward the same menu items instead of trying something new. We listen to our favorite musical artists on repeat and then binge-watch our favorite shows. Following proven (and safe) routines is only natural. In fact, our brains are hard-wired to stick to the tried-and-true. When our ancestors discovered a safe route to find berries without getting eaten by a tiger, it made sense to stick to that plan instead of taking a dangerous risk for the sake of novelty. But today, our repetitive patterns can rob us of our creative potential… and even our happiness. Two weeks after buying that new car, you barely notice the aspects that once made your heart thump with excitement. Psychologists call this phenomenon hedonic adaptation. It’s the principle that our enthusiasm for something new (location, food, purchase, relationship, etc.) reverts back to the previous baseline once we get accustomed to it. As routine sets in, happiness wanes. The same forces can weigh down our creativity. The first day in a new office is loaded with fresh stimuli, electrifying our creative energy to new heights. But sit at the same desk for years, and the creative voltage can easily dissipate. This is why people often have their best ideas in the shower, on vacation, in nature, or enjoying live music … When we break free from our normal surroundings, we unlock creativity. While a change of venue can help, switching the scenery isn’t the only worthy approach. In fact, you’ll experience a direct creative boost when you do things in fresh, unexpected ways. To this end, try wearing your watch on the opposite wrist. For dinner, eat your dessert first and your salad last. Try a new genre of music or pick up a magazine that you’d ordinarily never consider. Even the smallest changes can elevate your creative output. In a recent study, researchers split a group of 68 participants into two groups. Each group was instructed to slowly eat a bag of popcorn, but one group was asked to do so using chopsticks. At the end of the experiment, the chopsticks-using group reported a significantly higher level of enjoyment than their traditional counterparts. The simple change in procedure yielded a big boost to their happiness. Musician and poet Tuli Kupferberg famously said, “When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.” So let’s change up our routines in order to unlock both creativity and happiness. Brush your teeth with the opposite hand. Reverse the order of your daily chores. Watch a brand-new TV show. Order something new from the menu. …And don’t forget the chopsticks. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! By Josh Linkner
We’ve all suffered through the misery of a typical brainstorm session. Flat, mediocre ideas tend to carry the day as the breakthroughs remain elusive. An incremental idea here. An obvious cliché idea there. Short on inspiration, the suggestions lack originality and potency. The culprit of bad brainstorm sessions is the deadly cocktail of fear mixed with historical anchoring. We’re afraid to share our whacky ideas, unwilling to risk the appearance of foolishness or an admonishment from the boss. In an effort to play it safe, we look backwards for a reference of what worked in the past rather than forging new ground for changing circumstances. In a nutshell, most ideation sessions revolve around what we ‘should’ do. At the risk of sounding cheesy, should is the enemy of good. ‘Should’ ideas are rooted in fear instead of imagination, thereby restricting our best thinking. As an alternative, swap out ‘should’ with ‘could’. This single vocab shift will unlock creative potential faster than a bank robber can crack a bike lock. When you focus on ‘could’, several things immediately change. First, you’re no longer responsible for the idea. You’re simply saying what might happen while providing no personal endorsement. You’re now absolved from any executional hurdles, funding challenges, or how the idea might be received by senior leadership. The pressure is off when you’re merely pondering. In addition, you now shift the reference point from the past to the future. From what was to what’s possible. When the anchor of the past is hoisted off the ground, your imagination is able to soar. The goal of any good ideation session is to push the boundaries of creativity, and the simple shift from ‘should’ to ‘could’ can push your thinking to the next level. What could be done if you had unlimited resources? What could happen if you could use technology that hasn’t yet been invented? What ideas could make you grow 500% in the next 24 months? Start with that beautiful, unrestricted ‘could’ and the ‘how’ will become apparent as you progress. Marconi wondered if wireless communication could happen. Picasso imagined what could be done to advance fine art. Lady Gaga just knew she could be a star, and let her vision guide her actions each step of the way. The history makers are firmly rooted in could. This week, let’s ditch the should in favor of the could. Let’s stretch our imagination beyond our norms to discover a fresh path forward. In today’s hyper-competitive environment… we really should could. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! |
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