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215: Stay Relevant, Sense What's Next, and Solve Difficult Problems with Stephen Shapiro

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Why are so many of us allergic to the word innovation, solving the wrong problems, and experiencing idea-fatigue? Because, as Stephen Shapiro brilliantly shares in his new book, Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems, what we’re really aiming for is relevance.

How can you apply the 5D’s of disruption to solve difficult problems? We dive into that and so much more during this conversation—one I can’t wait to listen back to at least twice more to absorb all the powerful pivot-related concepts! I’ll tell you one thing: you’ll never brainstorm the same way again . . .

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/215

More about Stephen Shapiro

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Stephen Shapiro cultivates innovation by showing leaders and their teams how to approach, tackle and solve their business challenges. Applying the knowledge he has accrued over decades in the industry, Stephen is able to see what others can’t: opportunities to improve innovation models and the cultures that support them.

The first innovation opportunity Stephen spotted was the opportunity to innovate within his own life. Halfway through his 15-year tenure at Accenture, while co-leading the company’s business process reengineering practice, he realized he no longer wanted to be responsible for people losing their jobs. So he did exactly the opposite by building Accenture’s thriving 20,000-person process and innovation practice focused on growth and job creation. Today we’re talking about his latest book, Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Problems. (If you get the hardcover edition, there’s a Lenses Cheat Sheet foldout. 

Topics Covered

  • Personality Poker: Are we playing with a full deck? 

  • Coronavirus challenging assumptions about work, business, life

  • What assumptions has it revealed in his life?“problems magnify during a recession” - with Mitch on March 8 how to solve difficult problems during these difficult times.

  • Pain vs. Gain lens: people more likely to take action to minimize a loss rather than maximize a gain; “solve a pain and they will come”

  • Reflecting during the pandemic, how he is shifting/evolving: “I am a problem-solver, and I help people solve their problems”

  • Virtual facilitation: don’t even try to replicate what you’d do on stage. What’s the outcome you want to create? How can you reverse-engineer that? 

  • Put a pause button to stop and say: who am I really? What am I doing? What am I creating?

  • Expertise is the enemy of innovation

  • Pivot vs. divot

  • One word can change question / outcomes

  • Reactionary innovation that comes from survival vs. starting with true outcomes

  • Innovation: starts with left brain problem solving, ends with the creation of value (not just for the super creatives)

  • “Although you likely have been told to think outside the box in order to find creative solutions, the reality is that you want to find a better box. The better box is that well-framed challenge that drives high-value innovation.”

  • “Instead of trying to solve every problem, you want to innovate only where you differentiate.”

  • 5 D’s: distinct, durable, disruption-proof, desirable, disseminated

  • “To stand the test of time, you need to make sure your differentiator is disruption-proof” — biggest competition might be economic and societal shifts

  • Yes and - yeah but - bigger enemy of innovation: that’s a great idea!

  • “Past success is a really good predictor of future failure” - leads only to incremental innovation

  • Confirmation bias with under-sampling error - "best practices are stupid” 

  • Goal-free living, meandering with purpose

  • Idea-fatigue: instead, become masters of small, scalable experiments

Resources Mentioned

Check out other episodes of the Pivot Podcast here. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen, and if you enjoy the show I would be very grateful for a rating and/or review! Sign-up for my weekly(ish) #PivotList newsletter to receive curated round-ups of what I’m reading, watching, listening to, and new tools I’m geeking out on.