Nickname: stiven

Review: Thanks Diego for a great article to forward especially inside large corporations in the middle of their design/innovation transformation. I have been consciously trying to tackle this elusive "flow" ever since I became aware of it. Time stand still and everything just makes sense. It's all about perception and state of mind. The same problem can be transformed depending on your current state of mind. When you are in the "flow", there is an overwhelming feeling of clarity combined with enthusiasm and passion. Here is a tip on how to package this state of mind and be able to turn it on at will. Try to be aware of when you are experiencing "flow" and really become conscious of it and associate an icon or place or person or feeling to it, a "trigger". If you keep building on that, you can eventually have more control of your state of mind and be able to use the trigger to bring you into this happy state. Clarity and innovation should follow. Thanks

Date reviewed: Aug 23, 2006 4:37 PM

Nickname: Tom

Review: Good article. I particularly relate to the stuff about jazz. I studied the subject at music college and know exactly the high flow experience he describes. Diego's happiness argument doesn't quite cut it with me, though. I think he has the causality wrong: Just because an innovative person is a happy one, it doesn't necessary follow that a happy person is going to be innovative! I work in a government department that suffers from a lack of innovative thinking, but I don't think the solution is to make everyone happy. Three ways for my agency to tackle the problem would be 1) to recruit for innovative qualities 2) to give people more challenges (as Diego suggests)--the culture here is to only allow somebody to do something once they have already proven they can do it! and 3) to reward those who produce innovative work--not just grafters. Any thoughts? Or job offers? I could really do with a new one. (tom.rogers81@yahoo.co.uk)

Date reviewed: May 5, 2006 10:40 AM

Nickname: Charlotte Krogager Hvid

Review: Wow -- that's why! What an ingenuous approach to innovation Diego Rodriguez is offering. I have been creating innovative teams for 2 decades now, with companies such as Philips, Pioneer, The LEGO Company and more, and most importantly in companies I built single-handedly. My most recently built company you may view at www.migraters.com. It's an innovative approach to executive search, targeting western companies in Asia, Asia-Pacific and the Baltic Sea area. Last week yet another sub-branch to that company took form. Way to go. Simple does it. Charlotte

Date reviewed: May 1, 2006 3:55 PM

Nickname: Alexander Kjerulf

Review: Excellent article, Diego. In fact, happiness at work is not only good for innovation - happy employees boost almost every conceivable aspect of a business including sales, quality, service, customer satisfaction, learning and indeed creativity and innovation. Thank you for pointing this out.

Date reviewed: Mar 9, 2006 8:53 PM

Nickname: Sal

Review: Great to hear from you Diego. As an ex flautist I know that space of flow and now work with music and inspiration helping organizations and individuals find excellence in their work. It is like finding the music inside of us all and whatever piece of music it is we flow more smoothly. Our working life becomes exciting and projects bring new life and excitement to an organization.

Date reviewed: Mar 9, 2006 5:31 AM

Nickname: Dr.YKK

Review: Great stuff relating happiness with innovation! There is now no excuse for any organization not to be innovative, if the leader subscribes to the idea of making his or her people happy. I do agree with this concept. It'll give a new dimension to my talks on creativity and innovation. So let's all flow and bring happiness to the workplace. Thanks for this wonderful and insightful article.

Date reviewed: Mar 7, 2006 11:53 AM

Nickname: Sandip

Review: Wonderful insight into how to keep employees "engaged" and thereby facilitating innovation. Hats off to companies like 3M, Google and HMC for their approach. It definitely reflects on what they have been delivering to us. I would like to add to Diego's idea that happiness, in addition to helping promote innovation, would help with the retention issues that all corporates are facing today. Thanks again for an interesting write. regards Sandip Mishra Hyderabad India

Date reviewed: Mar 7, 2006 4:34 AM

Nickname: Tom Guarriello

Review: Well said, Diego. I'd also point your readers to more than a decade of creativity research by Harvard's Teresa Amabile. Amabile's found that intrinsic motivation (doing things that make us happy and fulfilled) accounts for a far greater portion of performance differences than extrinsic motivation (money, status) in highly creative people. As you point out, Csikszentmihalyi's research goes further in describing key charactertics of the flow of creative experiences.

Date reviewed: Mar 6, 2006 2:08 PM

Nickname: shockbillboard

Review: Mr.Rodriguez has, in one article, perfectly laid bare the only solution to increased employee productivity in organisations. I wish Nigerian CEOs and MDs were listening. Oops! Only very few of them browse the Internet.

Date reviewed: Mar 6, 2006 11:29 AM