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nothing beats being on the front lines

by with No Comment Innovation News

Nothing beats – seeing, feeling and experiencing on the front lines. IMG_3063-small-15

If you are working on an innovation my advice is to make some, sell some and learn a ton! 

This past Saturday we opened our Brain Brew Distillery at the Eureka! Ranch just outside of Cincinnati.  After many months of “theory” (caused mostly because of the paperwork challenges of opening a distillery)  it all became very real very fast.  

During the Day we Learned – we Pivoted – we Adjusted – it was AWESOME. As Joe Girgash – Global Head of Operations said at celebration after party, “It’s so great to see the theory proven to be true!” 

The reaction to Crafting Your Own Family Bourbon was EPIC! 

The reaction to our Cincinnati Riverboat Whiskey Collection was OVER THE MOON!

The reaction to our Artisan Craft Cocktails was FANTASTIC!

So what are you waiting for – get up, get out and make your innovation real!  If you’d like to join us sign up at Craft My Bourbon.com  

Custom Whiskey Experience are at 4:00 and 7:00 and costs $35 per person. 

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It’s Important That Everyone Have Something Important to do

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“It’s important that everyone have something important to do.”    

Paul Schurke said this as we embarked on an adventure to recreate Admiral Peary’s Last Dash to the North Pole. As the expedition leader Paul explained that he didn’t want people on the trip who would take unreasonable risks because they had nothing to look forward to.

As is common with Paul there was also a deeper second meaning.   Paul was speaking about the importance of having great aspirations.  Paul dreams big and takes action on those dreams. Others feel exhausted by his energy – he fuels his soul with his adventures.  My trip with him was in 1999 – if you CLICK HERE you can see how he never stops.  

I was reminded of Paul today as I visited Bob Morrison and team at our new Brain Brew Custom WHISKeY distillery at the Windsor & Eton Brewery in Windsor just outside of London UK.  (That’s Bob and I in our small but mighty first packaging facility at our new distillery) During 2019, the year I turned 60 – my team and I have opened a distillery at the Eureka! Ranch and soon in the UK. Today we make products that are in 40 of the 50 US states and we’ve won Double Gold Medals and 95 ratings for our WoodCraft whiskey spirits.

Paul Schurke – changes the world by changing people’s perceptions of themselves and the planet. 

Our Brain Brew Crew changes the world by enabling whiskey to be of the people, by the people and for the people.  Because frankly, everyone deserves their own WHISKeY! And just wait till you see what important things we have planned for 2020! 

So what are you waiting for – as we say with Innovation Engineering – get up, get out and do Cool S#it that Matters!  

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Growing a Sustainable Culture of Innovation

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Imagine a world where across your 10K person organization you had 1K people innovating in their sphere of influence. They were consciously thinking smarter, faster and more innovatively about their daily tasks.
Research is finding that if you ignite just 10% of your people – you set off unstoppable momentum towards culture change.
If you try to change the culture without first igniting the people – you will fail.
This approach was inspired by conversations with Kevin Cahill – Executive Director of the The W. Edwards Deming Institute. He spoke of the need for enabling everyone. He said, “I believe that every single person, in every single organization, has some sphere of influence they can impact.
Quite simply when you light up the innovators and early adopters across your organization with training, tools and support you set off a chain reaction of growth.
Dr. Deming famously would push executives with his famous challenge, “By What Method” will you accomplish this.
In our case we’re finding 3 things are key to the method of transformation:
Academically sound, reliable and reproducible education,
Tools that enable the TEACHING to be made real, 
Activation & Reactivation of the training & tools till they become a cultural habit.
I’ll be talking more about this as we prepare to release a dramatic upgrade to our system for enabling leaders of teams, divisions, or companies to ignite a sustainable culture of innovation at the 7th Annual Digital Innovation Engineering conference being held on Friday, November 22, 2019 – MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

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INNOVATIONS IN SELLING drive higher PROFITS

by with No Comment Innovation News

This past weekend I learned the importance of SELLING INNOVATIONS on profitability.
The scene was the Artisan Market at the Kentucky’s Edge Bourbon Festival.  Our Brain Brew Custom WHISKeY team had a booth where we introduced our new Riverboat Collection of Craft Whiskies.   
We faced three solid competitors.  And it was a challenge as our drink price was $10 – versus $6 for our competitors.
In the OLD WORLD focus on simple product innovation – we would have pitched why our double gold medal, patent pending products were preferred versus others.
In the NEW WORLD view of innovations in product, production sales and marketing – we told about our product AND we offered consumers the opportunity to sample a “flight” of our 4 whiskies (1/2 ounce pours of each) using our patent pending Flight Trays. 
What would you rather be asked to do?
Option A:  Be asked to sell 4 Great Whiskies
Option B:  Be asked to sell 4 Great Whiskies WITH THE HELP of an Innovative FLIGHT TRAY Merchandising system.
BOTTOM LINE:  Based on visual observation we sold more than our three competitors combined AND at a higher price!   It transformed everyone working our booth into great sales people. 
So what are you waiting for?   Innovate on HOW YOU SELL to help accelerate the success of your innovative service or product.

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What are you doing today?

by with No Comment Innovation News

During a planning call for a conference I’m speaking at in Madrid. I was asked how I wanted to be introduced I said, “don’t say what I’ve done – that can be read in my bio.”
I went on to explain – “Instead of telling people what I’ve done tell them what I’m doing today.”
Right now I’m working with the Ranch team to change the world through systems that enable everyone to think smarter, faster and more innovatively.
The past has past.
The time to live is today.
If you don’t have a mission that matters to you today – then get one. Read books on mission, on mindfulness, on living in this moment. If you can’t find a book read Chapter 9 of Driving Eureka!. It defines a system for gaining alignment between you and your mission at this moment.
This message of living in this moment – not yesterday – is best articulated by Springsteen in his song, Glory Days. It’s reported that it was based on the true story of a random meeting he had with a friend from his youth.
I had a friend was a big baseball player Back in high school…Saw him the other night at this roadside barI was walking in, he was walking outWe went back inside sat down had a few drinksBut all he kept talking about was
Glory days, well, they’ll pass you byGlory days…
SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?