February 22, 2009
I am reading a book called CATS: THE NINE LIVES OF INNOVATION, and one of my black cats, Jet, is on my lap. Which is very tricky, considering I am sitting on a ball. Cats prefer a box, and in CATS, we learn four challenges to innovation include getting out of the box, the normal. The other three challenges are overcoming your doubts and fears, creatively managing failure, and leading through change.
CATS is Stephen Lundin’s follow-up to the fabulous FISH! That was based on his observations of the workers in the fish market in Seattle’s Pike Place. If you’ve been to the market, you’ve seen a circus-like atmosphere, with fish being tossed in the air. It’s that looseness and free-flying energy that makes the market compelling. I interviewed Lundin about FISH in Portland, and despite his long hours and crazy-making schedule, he was generous, innovative and fun.
Curiosity killed the cat — not so, in Lundin’s book. CATS are playfully able to innovate — and they want to. Lundin believes in bottom-up, not top-down leadership, so everyone can enjoy being innovative.
Among the nine lives — CATS create an environment that is friendly to innovation, and they’re always prepared. Get out of your routine, to spark innovation. Invite physical, social and intellectual provocation. Linda Barry, the cartoonist, once told me that to write really creative stories, pull a word, any word, from a stack of cards or poke your finger in the book – and then write about that word. Like tooth. Or door. Or penny. Stories are pouring out of your brain right now, aren’t they? Back to CATS. To the failures you’re likely to have — and, by the way, best to do them early — you think how fascinating. Go with whimsy and learn from the mistakes. And, finally, play, using your natural energy.
Jet has leaped off my lap, indefinite though that space was, and is now sliding on the kitchen floor, playing with a mangled straw.
Lundin illustrates each of the Nine Lives — and one idea I love is to break free and just be physical. He runs. I dance. I went to Zumba today when my thoughts were jammed up, and I didn’t have the juice to create the perfect query letter for a writing project. Hips shimmying to wild Latin hiphop music — I was pulled up on stage to dance — my subconscious mind was free to create. When I got home, I pounced on my project, and the words came fluidly.
Jet has now taken a flying leap onto my glass desk, sailing under my mic and over my console. He lands in a slide, his paw claiming the mouse. It’s fun being a CAT.
