KNOWLEDGEECONOMYCHILDREN

EFFEELLE EDITORI

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About the illustrations:

The world is now our manageable landscape with connections madeEast-to-West, North-to-South. Our future depends upon the degree of shared insight, interaction and imagination resident in the minds, hearts and hands of people around the globe. These graphics were designed tocapture the history of art and represent diverse backgrounds, ages,periods and nations. The childlike calligraphy is intended to illustrate the atmosphere – in imagery and meaning – that captures the magic of seeing good ideas realized.

In Search of InnovationA book for children and leadership executives

By Debra M. AmidonIllustrations by Ron & Arye Dvir

Dedicated to the youth of the world

especiallyClint who keeps the child in me alive and

Kendra who makes life worth living.

Foreword Where do we find the pioneers and innovators of tomorrow? Who might we consider the guardians of our future – our Futurisers? Most of them are actually still very young. If they were to climb upon the shoulders of current leadership, they might reach out quicker, broader and with more impact. Most of all, they will get a better perspective and outsight into the opportunities ahead. This book is an invitation to a collaborative work to turn the Future into an Asset. Children already have dreams waiting to be visualized or given shape. They need our nurturing. In Search of Innovation is the story of one child who had one idea. Her long journey to turn her idea into a shining result – in this case graphically in the form of a diamond - and share it with the world is full of joyful moments as well as frustrations, dead-ends, ignorance and misunderstandings. But isn’t this the universal story of all dreamers and innovators, children and seniors? There is a victory at the end, which is the result of the hero’s hard work, persistence, imagination and help from some good friends.  This story was written one afternoon several years ago in a train station in Stockholm. When Debra showed me the text – now complete with the drawings, I found it a simple story with truthful words. The joyful colours and imaginative visual metaphors touch the heart and experience of the reader crystallizing the universal story of the search of innovation. I also met the artists, Arye and Ron, father and son, some years ago, when they applied the same artistic spirit to shine another idea. This is exactly what the child in the book does, when she invites her artist neighbour to add colours to her idea. She imagines, she shares with others, she learns, she does. Most compelling, she realizes that any good idea needs be adapted and adopted by others. In short, we innovate our future together – one idea at a time.

Let me share with you an example of how a dream in Norway came true. In year 2002, I had an experience in a small village called Helgeroa where I was invited by a group of dreaming teachers to inaugurate a Brain-Stilling Room in a kindergarten. After only one year they managed to get the city council to give them a budget to realise their dream of a retreat cottage for the small children. The idea was to have this little pavilion as a freeport for both young and grown up, as a space for creativity, reflection, calmness, pausing and good dialogues. It is located on the schoolyard but close to the forest and nature. Inside the almost round space there is a sofa along the walls and one large round table in the middle. The colours are very harmonic with windows on every wall creating lightness and transparency towards nature. The kids are very eager to get there for reading, listening to narratives and settling down in peaceful small conversations. It is a mental retreat for the youngster for nourishing their mental future, like a room with a view towards the future. This is now a symbol that can be multiplied all over the world, with the important message of giving our next generation a healthy mental space for nourishing and cultivating their brainpower of innovation to our collective benefit. I invite the readers of the book, children and adults alike – who may need to renew youth experiences - to enjoy the journey, the colours, the adventures, and the surprises. I think that that this book will inspire and provide courage and even comfort to all dreamers. Welcome to your personal search for innovation. Leif Edvinsson, August 2003

I HAD AN IDEA

...A GOOD IDEA.

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I SHARED IT WITHMY FRIEND JOSE.HE SAID,

"IT'S A VERY GOOD IDEA!"

SO I SHOWED IT TO KENDRA.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING.

WHAT A CRAZY IDEA!"

I felt like letting go of

my idea…

BUT, IN MY HEART,I KNEW IT WAS A GOOD IDEA.

I COULD ALMOST SEE IT grow.

SO I DREW A PICTURE OF THE IDEA AND SHOWED IT TO MY CLASS.

SOME CHEERED; SOME LAUGHED. A FEW SAID, "HUH ?" THEY COULDN'T SEE HOW MY IDEA SHINES THE WAY I COULD.

HOW CAN I HELP THEM SEE IT, too?

I NEEDED A BETTER PICTURE,

TO SHOW HOW THE IDEA

COULD WORK.

SO I SPENT ONE WHOLE SATURDAY

ADDING TO MY PICTURE

UNTIL IT WAS

PERFECTLY CLEAR -

-- BUT ONLY TO THOSE

WHO COULD IMAGINE

USING THE IDEA

THEMSELVES.

How can I draw th

is idea

so everyone can lo

ve it

the way I d

o ?

She said,

"Red will get their attention; but don't make it all red.Add some

Green makes things grow.

And blue - blue is

deep, like the sky."

MY PICTURE LOOKED BETTER TO SOME OF MY FRIENDS.

My sister was willing to help.

green.

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ONE SAID,

"I WISH I HAD MADE THIS IDEA."

ANOTHER TRIED TO STEAL

THE IDEA, AND TURN IT INTO

SOMETHING DIFFERENT... AND KEEP IT FOR HIMSELF.

But

I held onto my idea…

I SHOWED IT TO MY NEIGHBOR, THE ARTIST. HE SAID, "TRY ADDING

YELLOW

NO, GOLD

--STAR-GOLD WILL WARM

PEOPLE'S HEARTS.

BUILD A NEST AROUND IT IN SHADES OF PURPLE - VIOLET TO FUCHSIA SO THAT PEOPLE WILL KNOW THIS IDEA IS

ALIVE.”

WHEN PEOPLE SAW IT

THEY CLAPPED AND SAID,

"YES! THIS IS A GREAT

IDEA-PICTURE.

WE LOVE IT!"

AND SO, I TOOK THE IDEA –

NOW WEARING A RAINBOW OF

COLORS -

TO EVERYBODY I KNEW AND EVEN

PEOPLE I DIDN'T KNOW.

Everyone loved it...

well, almost everyone.

“cute idea, but it's

not worth much."

"MAYBE I NEED TO

NOT SO GREAT."

LET GO OF THIS IDEA

I THOUGHT,

MAYBE IT'S

BUT JUST AS I LET GO,

AN AMAZING THING HAPPENED.

PEOPLE STARTED TO NOTICE IT

AND TALK OF ITS

POSSIBILITIES...

THE IDEA BEGAN TO GROW INTO

A SPARKLING PICTURE

THAT TWINKLED WHEN PEOPLE TALKED ABOUT IT

AND GREW BRIGHTER WHENEVER IT WAS DISCUSSED.

My idea had

to grow in other

people

to truly shine.

NOW,

IT WAS READY

TO SHOW TO THE WORLD.

AND PEOPLE CAME

FROM ALL AROUND

TO SEE IT SPARKLE.

“MAYBE ITS MAGNIFYING GLASS AND A CRYSTAL..." "CAN YOU MAKE ONE FOR ME ?”

"ME, TOO!“

HOW COULD I MAKE SO MANY IMAGES OF MY IDEA ?

NOW,

IT WAS READY

TO SHOW TO THE WORLD.

AND PEOPLE CAME

FROM ALL AROUND

TO SEE IT SPARKLE.

“MAYBE ITS MAGNIFYING GLASS AND A CRYSTAL..." "CAN YOU MAKE ONE FOR ME ?”

"ME, TOO!“

HOW COULD I MAKE SO MANY IMAGES OF MY IDEA ?

HOW COULD I

SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD?

I INVITED EVERYONE

I KNEW… AND EVERYONE I

DIDN'T KNOW

TO BRING A MIRROR AND CAPTURE THE IDEA FOR THEMSELVES.

When we gathered together the colors

flashed back

and forth and

my idea became

OUR idea.

"Now,

we CAN innovate the

world!"

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I knew it was a good idea.

A VERY good idea.

What is YOUR idea?!

EpilogueUps and downs, dark and bright, one and many

The intensive weeks of working on the illustrations for Debra’s book added up to a fascinating period for me and for my artistic father, Arye. The work on the book invoked lots of thoughts and reflections on the nature of the flow of ideas.

Towards the end of the period, whilst found in one of the weekend magazine the true story of a young doctor called Ofer Yodfat. The story begins in 1997, when an idea “came” to Ofer’s mind to create a filter that could prevent embolic strokes. However, success was not forth coming, Ofer encountered an incredible number of big failures and hundreds reactions to the idea that mainly consisted of “are you crazy”, “don’t call us” and “NO!”. He faced many personal moments of despair and even considered “maybe they are right – it will never work”.

In spite of these set backs, Ofer managed to find small number of people who said “interesting idea; let’s explore it” and following several successful experiments the story has a happy ending. In June 2003, 6 years after he started his journey, the largest medical products company in the world, Medtronics, bought into his idea and will soon commercialize the product. Imagine the potential innovation impact of his original idea!

Reading the article, there was a clear sense of a story full of ups and downs, dark and bright colors, which starts with a single idea in the mind of one inventor, and gradually becomes and innovation when the idea is accepted by (and acted upon) by others…and in this case eventually benefits thousands of people. BINGO! This is the essence of ‘In Search of Innovation…’ There are many case story examples of dreamers and ‘ideas-people’ who have their knowledge realized through the innovation of others. Is it your story? Ron Dvir

The people behind this book

Her newest release - The Innovation SuperHighway (2003) – was reviewed as “the innovation book of the decade.” Her first book, The Ken Awakening, provides the “how to” nuts and bolts of modern management. An enthusiastic advocate of the innovation strategy, Debra has served as Senior Research Fellow for the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas, Austin and on the faculty of Tilburg University (The Netherlands), IPADE (Mexico), The Banff Centre (Canada), Tartu University (Estonia) and the International University of Entrepreneurship. Debra holds degrees from Boston University, Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. debra@entovation.com

Debra M. Amidon, Founder and CEO of ENTOVATION International, Ltd., is a visionary and architect of the knowledge economy. She has consulted globally to organizations, including the Asian Productivity Organization, World Bank, European Union, and the United Nations with keynote presentations throughout the Americas, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. A prolific author, her books and articles appear in multiple languages.

Ron Dvir has the strange habit of inventing (or co-having, or sometimes joining) what he thinks are “good ideas”, and then trying to bring them to life. So it was with the idea to start the first organizational knowledge management program in Israel; the idea to leverage the Knowledge Management and Quality Management national professional communities by inviting them to exchange intellectual capitals between them; the idea that an artistic touch can vitalize large-scale European research projects; and the idea of “Future Centers” as an ecology for innovation.

Ron finished his Ph.D. in “Enterprise Integration” at Cranfield University. Ron worked as a senior researcher in many international large scale projects focused on Knowledge Management and Innovation, e.g. NIMCube and Disrupt-IT. He co-edited the book “From Knowledge to Value - Unfolding the Innovation Cube”. Ron is the founder of Innovation Ecology Ltd., which focuses on visual management, knowledge management and innovation-encouraging environments, processes and tools. ron@futurecenter.co.il

Arye Dvir’s nick name, as a child, was Picasso... Arye studied Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California, Berkeley and University of Pennsylvania. For many years he was the Chief Architect of the National Parks Authority of Israel, responsible for the planning of some major world- known national parks, such as Massada, Old Jerusalem Walls National Park, Mount Carmel, and Roman old town of Caesary.

As an enthusiastic landscape architecture teacher in the Technion and other institutes, he coached many students in

their innovative projects. In what ever he is involved, Arye applies his artistic talent to communicate ideas by means of

friendly and cheerful illustrations. In the recent years he collaborates with his son, Ron, in multiple knowledge

visualization projects.

Global Knowledge Leadership

They come from around the world – every walk of life…loaded with insights, intuition and imagination.

They interact with one another to learn how to innovatetheir enterprises and nations.

They touch - and are touched by – others in ways that build a more sustainable future.

They are all In Search of Innovation…

Clinton C. Ackerman (USA) l J.O. Akinboye (NIGERIA) l Verna Allee (USA) l Joel Alleyne (BARBADOS) l Abdulla M. AlSubyani (SAUDI ARABIA) l Debra M. Amidon (USA) l Mark Anielski (CANADA) l Angel Arbonies (SPAIN) l Tom Asacker (USA) l Jerry Ash (USA) l Parthasarathi Banerjee (INDIA) l Christopher K. Bart (CANADA) l Manuel M. Benítez Codas (PARAGYUAY) l Alex & David Bennet (USA) l Nick Bontis (CANADA) l Manfred Bornemann (AUSTRIA) l Marcos Luis Bruno (BRAZIL) l Yvonne Buma (The NETHERLANDS) l Gerardo Calderón Malagamba (MEXICO) l Javier Carrillo Gamboa (MEXICO) l Rory Chase (UK) l Jin Chen (CHINA)l Fernando Chiaromonte (ITALY) l David Coleman (USA) l Neila C. Viana da Cunha (BRAZIL) l Pedro das Neves (PORTUGAL) l Bryan Davis (CANADA) l Ross Dawson (AUSTRALIA) l Edward DeBono (IRELAND) l Waldemar de Gregori (BRAZIL) l Sante DelleVergini (AUSTRALIA) l Joachim Doering (GERMANY) l Phan Dung (VIETNAM) l Ron Dvir (ISREAL) l Leif Edvinsson (SWEDEN) l Michele Denise Egan (USA) l Lilly Evans (UK) l Stefan Fazekas (AUSTRIA) l Alejandro Fernández (VENEZUELA) l Piero Formica (ITALY) l Bob Franco (USA) l Luis Ovidio Galvis Caro (COLOMBIA) l José Gasalla (SPAIN) l Christopher Geary (UK/SAUDI ARABIA) l David Gibson (USA) l Charles Goldfinger (BELGIUM) l Konstantin Golubev (UKRAINE) l Carol Kinsey Goman (USA) l Elena Granell (VENEZUELA) l David Gurteen (UK) l Markus Hegi (SWITZERLAND) l Stuart Henshall (NEW ZEALAND) l Brian Henshall (NEW ZEALAND) l John Hibbs (USA) l Antonio Hidalgo (SPAIN) l Antonio Holgado (CHILE) l Shi- Chang Hou (CHINA) l Akira 'Stony' Ishikawa (JAPAN) l Karmen Jelcic (CROATIA) l Zhou-Ying Jin (CHINA) l Ken Johnson (AUSTRALIA)

Keith Jones (CANADA) l Anne Jubert (FRANCE) l Susanne Justesen (DENMARK) l Samina Kamal (PAKISTAN) l Gulgun Kayakutlu (TURKEY) l Michael Kelleher (WALES) l Blaine Kennedy (CANADA) l Esko Kilpi (FINLAND) l Vidyaratha Kissoon (GUYANA) l Lars Kolind (DENMARK) l Silvard Kool (USA) l Christian Kurtzke (GERMANY) l Chin Hoon Lau (MALAYSIA) l Jean Marc Le Duc (FRANCE) Baruch Lev (USA) l Ali Liban (SOMALIA) l Claudia Loebbecke (GERMANY) l Bob Logan (CANADA) l Thomas Philip Maciejewski (POLAND) l Doug Macnamara (CANADA) l Darius Mahdjoubi (CANADA) l Tom Malone (USA) l John Maloney (USA) l Luis E. Malpartida-Carpena (PERU) l Eunika Mercier-Laurent (FRANCE) l Judith Meskill (USA) l Kevin Meyer (USA) l Larry H. Mohl (USA) l Teboho Moja (SOUTH AFRICA) l Prodromos Monastiridis (GREECE) l Ricardo de la Caridad Montero Martínez (CUBA) l Sally Ann Moore (SWITZERLAND) l Monica Moso (SPAIN) l Vikas Nath (INDIA) l La Van Nguyen (VIETNAM) l Ikujiro Nonaka (JAPAN) l Parry Norling (USA) l Ravi Palepu (ZIMBABWE) l Edna Pasher (ISRAEL) l Leonardo Pineda-Serna (COLOMBIA) l George Por (CANADA) l Kenny Preiss (ISRAEL) l Ante Pulic (CROATIA) l Delfin Rabinovich (ARGENTINA) l Dragana Radovanovic (SWEDEN) l Madanmohan Rao (INDIA) l Pieter M. A. Ribbers (The NETHERLANDS) l Frederic Richard (AUSTRIA) l Frank-Jurgen Richter (SWITZERLAND) l Gregoroio Rivera (MEXICO) l Tomasz Rudolf (POLAND) l Hubert Saint-Onge (CANADA) l Olimpia Salas (VENEZUELA) l Onesimo Sanchez (PANAMA) l Charles M. Savage (GERMANY) l Carlos Scheel (MEXICO) l Lynne Schneider (USA) l Hanne Schou-Rode (DENMARK) l Oliver Schwabe (GERMANY) l Wilfried Sihn (GERMANY) l Averylon (Chick) D. Simons (BERMUDA) l David J. Skyrme (ENGLAND) l Karen Speerstra (USA) l Janis Stabulnieks (LATVIA) l Joerg Staeheli (SWITZERLAND) l Xenia Stanford (CANADA) l Elisabeth Sundrum (GERMANY) l Rod Sutherland (IRELAND) l Karl-Erik Sveiby (AUSTRALIA) l Serafin Talisayon (PHILLIPINES) l Raivo Tamkivi (ESTONIA) l Sheridan Tatsuno (USA) l Sylviane Toporkoff (FRANCE) l Edward Truch (UK) l Frances Tsakonas (GREECE) l Mark Turrell (USA) l Ramiro Wahrhaftig (BRAZIL) l Bob Wiele (CANADA) l Karl M. Wiig (USA) l Teri Willard (CANADA) l Larry Todd Wilson (USA) l Joon-Soo Youn (KOREA)

IN SEARCH OF INNOVATION IS A BOOK DESIGNED TO UNLEASH THE EXPLORATION

PROCESS IN US ALL. IT IS A STORY THAT AFFIRMS THE NEED FOR PERSISTENCE,

SELF-CONFIDENCE AND COLLABORATION. INNOVATION – PUTTING KNOWLEDGE

INTO ACTION – REQUIRES DYNAMIC INTERACTION WITH OTHERS. FOR CHILDREN

OR LEADERSHIP EXECUTIVES, THE DISCOVERY PROCESS CAN BE BOTH EXITING

AND FRUSTRATING – THE SIMULTANEOUS DELIGHT OF ACCEPTANCE…AND THE

AGONY OF REJECTION. FOLLOWING THE FLOW OF AN IDEA THROUGH

COMPLETION, THOUGH, IS THE ESSENCE OF PROGRESS, SUSTAINABILITY AND

TRUE ECONOMIC WEALTH. IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY, WE ARE DEPENDANT

UPON THE REALIZATION OF GOOD IDEAS…AND ON A GLOBAL SCALE. AS YOU

TAKE THIS JOURNEY, WHAT IMAGES COME TO MIND OF TRUE INNOVATORS FROM

AROUND THE WORLD?

KNOWLEDGEECONOMYCHILDREN

EFFEELLE EDITORI

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