Notes on My Innovation Journey

By Dennis Kennedy on January 31, 2021

Posted in #blogfirst, Announcements, Courses, Exponential Legal, Innovation

A work in progress

Part of my #blogfirst approach and an introduction to what I’m now doing at Exponential.Legal (launch date February 1, 2021).

Apollo 11 commemorative glass
Whitney Johnson has said that our “superpowers” are the things we often get complimented for and routinely deflect the compliments because “everyone can do that.” People who are known for generating lots of ideas or being innovators often fall into that pattern. They downplay their superpowers.

I reflected on my own innovation history and the story I have made out of that history when I was writing my book, Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law. Note how I separate “history” and “my story.”

It’s hard for me to think of “innovate” in the present tense.

For me, “innovation” is something that you see looking backward. It’s hard for me to think of “innovate” in the present tense. With very few exceptions, what I now see many innovations arose directly out of addressing real-world problems right in front of me, often with constraints that would make others give up. I sometimes like to say that innovation happens when you have no budget. Or a very small one – one software license, budget to attend one event or conference, the price of a book or two.

Looking back on my innovation history now, I see much more innovation now than I once did. A good deal must remain confidential, but some goes back a long way and I talk about them regularly, like automating all of my firm’s estate planning documents in 1990.

I’ve also, perhaps too slowly, moved from the common perspective that ideas are magical and intuitive and that some people are uniquely gifted to have more ideas than others. I lived in that world for a long time.

In recent years, I’ve realized that this perspective downplays the learning, collaboration, and plain hard work that characterizes ‘idea people.’ And the willingness to move out of their own silos to get and bring back insights.

There are three things that characterize my use of ideas and the value I bring to ideation, and none of them is the large volume of ideas people often associate with me.

There are three things that characterize my use of ideas and the value I bring to ideation, and none of them is the large volume of ideas people often associate with me.

First, I always pull from areas outside the focus area or silo. That’s essential for me.
Second, ideas are just ideas, not parts of me. A criticism of my idea is not a criticism of me. I can move forward and help us keep improving ideas. Sometimes, it bothers me that people don’t like my favorite idea, but it’s usually not the right forum and I can use it later elsewhere if I want.
Third, Mike Cappucci, a while back, referred to me as an “idea therapist.” I like to help people question their ideas, evolve them, and achieve their potential by asking questions and making small suggestions to change someone’s perspective.

In the last few years, I began to realize that the “magical” approach to innovation was both not right and kind of lazy on my part. Was I supposed to just sit around and wait for inspiration to hit me? If my best ideas came to me on bike rides or in the shower, did that mean I should just take more bike rides or showers?

The “bolt of lightning” for me was the realization that innovation and all that associated with it was a discipline that people had been working on for many years and there was a lot of literature and learning out there. In fact, it was a mature field with lots of giants already leading the way once I got out of my legal silo.
And that’s where I’ve concentrated. I saw that much of what I thought I had created out of thin air reflected standard innovation practices and my own variations of standard innovation tools. There were systematic processes and approaches that showed up, often in sloppy ways, in my efforts. My time with the people in the Mastercard Digital Payments and Labs group taught me a lot about practical innovation skills.

I began to adopt the innovation processes I found that fit me best and follow and learn from, dare I say it, innovators in the field of innovation. I’ve put a lot of that, along with quite a few experiments, into the law school classes I’ve taught.

Working intensively for several days with Mike Cappucci and Dean Khialani gave me the chance to be involved with two people thinking deeply about productization of legal services as a form of innovation in law. Having them tell me that one of my articles on productization of legal services inspired them was flattering, to be sure, but I appreciated getting to see the early stages of the Launch Lifecycle approach that you will find in the Exponential Legal course.

I decided a while back that I wanted to refer to myself as a “consulting innovator,” playing off Sherlock Holmes’s job title: “Consulting Detective.” However, Holmes had Watson, Mr. Hudson, Lestrade, the Baker Street Irregulars, and many more.

And that also forced me to confront one of the biggest aspects of innovation that I’ve been trying to fool myself about: No matter how much I’d like to convince myself that I can do innovation all by myself, it truly is a team game.

I decided a while back that I wanted to refer to myself as a “consulting innovator,” playing off Sherlock Holmes’s job title: “Consulting Detective.” However, Holmes had Watson, Mr. Hudson, Lestrade, the Baker Street Irregulars, and many more.

I’ve learned from hundreds of innovators over the years. Collaboration is essential. Because Tom Mighell and I wrote a book called “The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies,” you might have thought that I would have had that realization a bit earlier than I did.

Whenever I talk with other people doing innovative things in law, they often seem to be working alone, under-appreciated, without recognition. The word I most often hear from this group of people: “frustrated.” I’ve been there.

Fortunately, the other Exponential Legal founders, Mike Cappucci, Christie Guimond, and Marc Lauritsen, have both pulled me into the very cool Exponential Legal project and helped me realized important (and fun) it is to be part of a great team. I can’t wait to see how this evolves.

The takeaway: Innovation is a discipline. It can be learned and be made repeatable. The Exponential Legal course, I’m convinced, is a great way to do that in law, especially in the area of productization, which is more important than ever. We can also build a community of innovators in the process. I’m excited about that. If you might be too, check out Exponential.Legal and join us on this great journey.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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