Last week, I posted the audio of an interview where I shared some thoughts about innovation in the speaking industry – and in general. You can listen to the audio, or read the transcription below.
Michael: With this month’s emphasis on innovation, I can’t think of a better person to speak to than leading edge keynote speaker, author and advisor on innovation, Mr. Stephen Shapiro. In a conversation I asked Stephen what does it take to set us apart and what do we have to do to stay on the innovative thinking edge. Here’s what he had to say.
Stephen: First of all, I know what sets me apart is my somewhat counterintuitive philosophies as it relates to innovation. I’ll say, “Don’t think outside the box. Find a better box.” People say, “Well we need experts.” I say, “Expertise is the enemy of innovation.” They say, “Hey, you should innovate everywhere.” I say, “No. Innovate only where you differentiate.” My differentiator, the thing that sets me apart, is around this mind set of counterintuitive, counter-cultural thinking.
I spend more time trying to think about that and build around that because it is what sets me apart. The things which everyone else does well, I might want to do them well, but they’re not going to be my top priorities. Everybody else is saying let’s do e-learning. Instead, I want to do something that’s fast, short, mobile, and something that people can do while they’re waiting in line for a coffee at Starbucks, while at the same time creating community, collaboration and competition amongst all the people in a company. It is still e-learning, but its a totally fundamentally approach.
Michael: You said something I thought was right down our alley because it’s a word that we use so often and that was expertise. You said, “Expertise is the enemy of innovation.” What does that mean?
Stephen: First of all expertise is extremely useful for most things that we create but its going to give us a limited peripheral vision. I love coming to the National Speakers Association (NSA). NSA is my home. It’s where I learn a lot. And at the same time I’m not going to be able to learn everything I want because if I’m only hanging out with speakers, I’m only going to learn what there is to learn from speakers.
I’m always looking at what I call purposeful tangents. This is something that’s related to what I’m doing but is in a different area. For example I talk about innovation. But I don’t go to innovation conferences. If I’m speaking I do, but I don’t go as an attendee. I have no interest. I don’t even go to network because I just don’t want to hang out with those people. Instead, I study neuroscience, psychology, sports performance, and magic. These all give me insights into the brain and the way people innovate.
In just a few weeks I’m spending a weekend with a world class magician in Las Vegas, learning magic and understanding how the brain gets fooled. Because if you understand how the brain gets fooled, you can apply that to innovation. Innovation is all about understanding your blind spots. That’s really all it is. Expertise creates blind spots. The only way to expand your peripheral vision is not to do random things necessarily, but to find those purposeful tangents. Things that are related to something you’re working on.
For example, a very purposeful tangent, is a group I love called “Pumps and Pipes.” It’s a group in Houston of cardiologists and gas pipeline engineers who get together to share what can be learned from the cardiovascular system and applying it to oil and gas transmission, and vice versa. That’s just a really cool radical way of learning, instead of just hanging out with cardiologists where you’re going to learn a certain amount.
What’s your purposeful tangent? It’s going to be different for everybody. That’s the reality. You have to decide what aspect of speaking you want to have a purposeful tangent around. You still want your core. NSA is the core so I will always come here. Clearly I love this place. I put my money where my mouth is. And I augment it. I have a couple of mastermind groups. One of them is made up of NSA people. But in my other mastermind, no one is a speaker. One is an entrepreneur, one’s in real estate, another one is an executive in multilevel marketing organizations, and another one’s in Hollywood. We get to connect the dots across different groups. It gives me new insights. Expertise is valuable but it will limit your ability to really expand your mind.
Michael: Who are you hanging around with? Who are you surrounding yourself with and who are you letting influence your innovation?
Stephen: If we understand the way the brain is… why to hang out with people who are like us and who we like? Because its natural and it’s comfortable and that’s just sort of this survival mechanism. If I stay with my tribe, all is good because we’ve got each others backs. The expression opposites attract has actually been scientifically dis-proven. Opposites detract. If opposites detract, well we’re going to want to become clicky and join small groups because that feels safe. It’s safe. We have to recognize that to do what we’re talking about here is a unnatural human act to hang out with people who aren’t like us.
Michael: Only for the brave.
Stephen: Only for the brave.