Play it Again, Sam ...

I was watching a rerun of the 2004 Mark Twain Award presentation to Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live fame on PBS the other day. Referring to his groundbreaking concept to bring a live comedy show back to television, a presenter quoted Mark Twain:

“A man with a NEW IDEA is a crank until the NEW IDEA SUCCEEDS.”

"Not bad," I thought. And I began to look for what else Samuel Langhorne Clemens might have had to say relevant to innovation ... I found these gems ...

“Name the greatest of all the inventors -- ACCIDENTS.”

Amen. If only we did a better job of keeping an open mind about our "mistakes" and would reframe them.

“Necessity is the mother of "TAKING CHANCES". Often.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is one very good way to do this.

“DO THE THING YOU FEAR MOST and the death of fear is certain.”

Going at your fears works -- Amazingly. Although you don't need to do the Gordon Liddy thing and eat a rat or something like that.

"All you need in life is ignorance and confidence. Then success is assured."

This reminds me of what Napoleon described as the key to success: "Audacity". One thing's for sure, nothing happens unless you take a risk and take an action.

“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”

Laughter is essential to creativity. It shares the same DNA. It is at once core building block material and a potent lubricant of prodigious ideation.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

This one inspired me to take risks and seek to live out my life's purpose with passion - Creativity.

“Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough.”

Do I need to explain this one? Speaking of which, The Innovise Guys are looking very much forward to working with Wine Australia in San Francisco in September. And we'll continue to serve wine (Australian you can bet) as we record our podcasts.

Doug Stevenson for The Innovise Guys