2008: Get ready for the year of infinity squared

Business News - Thursday December 20, 2007

2008: Get ready for the year of infinity squared

What do you expect for yourself and your business in 2008? Whatever your answer may be: bear in mind that what you see is what you get, and it's always what you get. I believe that the New Year will be a magical year for my idea company THINKERGY and myself. In fact, I expect magic to happen in the next twelve months. 2008 is a very, very special year: The Year of Infinity Squared. It will be the only year for the next thousand years where the infinity sign can be found twice in the number of the year. How is that? You can discover the first sign by combining each ''Zero'' with the other and the second sign by flipping the ''Eight'' on its side. Multiply them and you get infinity squared.

So how can you align yourself and your business to benefit from the infinite-squared opportunities that this magical year offers? How can you step into the creative flow of 2008? Based on the corporate values of THINKERGY, here are eight recommendations for you to make 2008 a magical year.

1. Become more curious, open and receptive: Commit today to regularly break your habits, and to become more open-minded and curious. In 2008, borrow a mindset from Albert Einstein, who commented on himself: ''I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.'' Meet new people, target new prospect customers, go to new events, fairs and conferences, travel to new countries, and try out new activities. Once you encounter new stimuli with an open, receptive mind, you dramatically increase the likelihood of gaining new insights, getting new ideas and spotting new opportunities.

2. Expand your mind: What new knowledge or skill _ if acquired _ would dramatically enhance your productivity? What topic or knowledge domain have you always wanted to learn more about? Make a commitment today to expand your knowledge and skills beyond your current area of expertise and proficiency. This will allow you to get meaningful great ideas and novel insights by connecting seemingly unconnected domains and concepts with each other. So in 2008, ask yourself at the end of each day: What have I learned today?

3. Focus on how you can create new value: Pledge today to reframe your thinking in 2008 from what you want to get from your customers and other stakeholders to what you want to give to them. Focus on how you can create new meaningful value for them. This requires you to invest much more time in better understanding the real needs and the wants of your target customers, and then creating and delivering corresponding value. You know that you are there when a prospective customer responds to your pitch not with a ''Yes'', and not with a ''No'', but with a ''Thank you''.

4. Move from satisfied to Wow! Would you be happy if your latest customer satisfaction survey reported that 90% of your customers are satisfied with what you do? You shouldn't be. In our current Age of Value Creation, where high quality standards are the norm and unique experiences are what customers really desire, ''satisfied'' means average. So in 2008, raise your standards and adjust the scale on your customer surveys to read as follows: Abysmal ... Bad ... Satisfied ... Excellent ... Wow!

5. Take action _ and plan to fail: If you watch a football game on television or in a stadium, you can't influence the result of the game. In football and in the innovation game, you can only score if you are on the pitch. So in 2008, commit to getting on the pitch and start playing the innovation game. Take action by participating in a premium creativity training, by starting a new innovation project, by establishing collaborations inside and outside of your firm, and so on. However, be aware that unlike in football, the quickest way to achieve results in the innovation game is by planning to fail. Creation and evolution is based on trial and error and the principle of negative feedback _ so the sooner you fail, the quicker you might find the winning solution.

6. Passionately accept new challenges: In an increasingly flattened world as described by Thomas Friedman, new challenges abound for businesses to master. Some challenges are good, and we call them opportunities. Some are bad and labelled as problems. Understand that every problem is an opportunity in disguise. Your problem is always an opportunity for someone else, but often actually an opportunity for you to move up to the next level. So openly embrace the challenges imposed by a flattened world, and passionately work on creating solutions either by yourself or with the help of partners.

7. Be good and do good: Have you ever wondered why the countries that top the rankings on innovation (such as the Nordic countries: Sweden, Finland and Denmark) are leading the tables of countries that most actively protect intellectual property and most vigorously fight corruption? Make sure that you and your employees follow high ethical standards in your business and personal interactions. A clear conscience keeps your mind free to focus on value creation. And once you've created value and been financially rewarded for it, share a portion for a good charitable cause.

8. Last but not least: Be happy and playful. Remember that we all live in the Land of Smiles. Make sure to spread an infectious smile wherever you go in 2008. Have some fun every day in the office and be playful in your personal life. This will help you to become a better creative thinker. Playing, enjoying humour, and creating fun are all mental processes that are situated on the right side of your brain and are different expressions of creative thinking. Remember that children have fun and play all the time. And aren't they amazingly creative?

Just one last thing: I wish all the readers of Creativity Un-Ltd. a Magical New Year 2008!

Dr Detlef Reis is a university lecturer for Business Creativity and Innovation Leadership at the College of Management, Mahidol University. He is also the Founding Director of THINKERGY Limited, a business creativity and innovation consultancy. He can be reached at dr.d

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