A Look Back at TMRE 2009: Knocking Down Silos to Drive Innovation Momentum

The Market Research Event 2010 is taking place this November 8-10, 2010 in San Diego, California. Every Friday leading up to the event, we'll be recapping one session from The Market Research Event 2009.

Knocking Down Silos to Drive Innovation Momentum

Presenters:
Mike Maddock, Maddock Douglas
Javier Flaim, Maddock Douglas

Mike Maddock begins by stating "You can;t read the label, when you are sitting inside the jar" which many employees find themselves inside. It is important to understand that we all have different perspectives and see things differently. That is why it is important to not throw away ideas.

In the innovation process, Maddock Douglas has a Global Expert Network (GEN) of 6,000 innovators that they can look to for external ideas and innovation. It is not necessary though to have a GEN in order to have external ideas, as long as you are looking outside of the box. The speakers then moved on to an interactive session called the "toothpick" test where attendees had to remove toothpicks from a board in order to create squares. The purpose of the test was to see if anyone asked helped and no one did. The reason why they didn't ask for help was because before the test Mike mentioned to everyone that they are smart and didn't need help. This proves that by motivating employees and keeping their spirits up, much more can be done.