What a month April was! I was on the road every week with challenging projects and the opportunity to present, teach and apply my ideas! It was a golden chance to see action around concepts and projects. From Seattle to Orlando I was bouncing coast to coast.

ANNOUNCEMENT: For the first time in the 24 year history of CREATIVE VENTURES, I will be conducting a public workshop, teaching our core curriculum on communication and thinking skill sets. I have made the announcement in my blog and the response has been fantastic. Mark your calendars for July 15 in Dallas, TX for the first OPEN workshop. We are limiting the number of participants due to the design of the exercise portions of the program. The program is a full day interactive, multimedia learning experience. Interested? Contact my business manager Chris Ryan at 214-697-2700 or cryan@paredigm.com

June is the month set aside for building client projects and launching new rich media platforms. I love the creative side of my business, and the teams working on these projects are fantastic talents!

One of the defining elements to the success of any idea or project is ENERGY. I know, it sounds obvious, but consider for a moment the projects you have been involved in that simply didn’t work. What were the reasons? Poorly thought out plan, wrong time, lack of resources or lack of commitment from both the organization and the participants? Did the project simply lack the energy to get it done?

Think about energy. It is a term often relegated to the physics gang, but the reality is that it is the key element in making things happen. It makes your car move, your hair dryer blow, your iPod play and your eye’s blink. It comes from the Greek word for activity, energy is all about the art of DOING.

Now lets get back to that project of yours. Imagine the power that would be generated if a strong and steady course of energy were fed into it. Even projects with long horizons feed on the energy of the participants. It drives success. Good leaders are energy sensitive and know when to step on the energy gas pedal and when to pull off.

The average Pixar animated masterpiece takes 4 years to go from idea to the theater. 4 years! Imagine the energy needed for this type of process. From the story you have years of meticulous work by hundreds of artists locked in an all consuming process of creating a wonderous reality. Everyone dedicating untold amounts of energy to the project. The results of their focused energy speaks for itself: 8 Academy Awards! I can’t wait to see their latest, Wall-E.

Yves Behar is the design genius behind everything from Aliph’s Jawbone Bluetooth device to FootPrint shoes for Birkenstock. His organization commits huge amounts of energy to any design project they accept. They know the successful result of design hinges upon energy. They never take on an idea without the whole team understanding they are in it to the end, no matter how long or repetitive the process becomes. They commit energy like a resource. One of their most famous designs, the leaf lamp for Herman Miller took 4 years from concept to completion. That level of commitment is a huge energy consumer and needs a leader who can rally the troops when things lag. It’s all about the energy of the project

So, how are you managing the energy connected with your projects? Think about this, maximum energy can only be committed to a limited number of good ideas. Once again MORE is the death of energy. Choose your projects based on IMPACT, VALUE and SEPARATION FROM THE COMPETITION.

Oh yeah, energy is a people thing. Choose your team wisely and get going!

HIGH GAS PRICES = OPPORTUNITY: I am always fascinated by the connected nature of things. In fact, I look for these patterns all the time. Sure high gas prices suck, but I have seen the positive-impact-pattern emerge and it will be no surprise to you. Bicycle sales have more than doubled and will exceed $6 billion this year. Follow that line along its obvious path and you will see Vespa Scooter sales up 40% and motorcycle sales jumping 50%. That pattern doesn’t stop there, the Los Angeles rapid transit system, perhaps the most underutilized in the country has seen a 14% jump in ridership in the last 4 months. In the grip of a downturn, there will always be a corresponding pattern of an upturn. You just need to know to look!

3 COMPANIES WITH IDEAS: Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey whose natural grocery stores showed a 9.3% Q1 2008 same store growth, says the commitment to high-quality prepared foods is attracting more shoppers. It was a new idea for them. J. Crew CEO, Mickey Drexler, who led a 17% growth rate in 2007, said that the winning combination is in the innovative process. Create unique, high quality products and train your sales staff to develop a winning combination. Hewlett Packard CEO Mark Hurd, knew economic conditions are unsettled at best, but led his 38% profit growth in Q1 2008 by recognizing that despite economic conditions, we control many of the levers that drive our performance. Everything is not at the whim of outside forces. Smart companies!

ACT 2: Thinking about doing something different? Johnny West did. He quit his job, took the money he and his family had saved for re-landscaping and adding a pool to start Maku Furnishing (check out the way cool stuff on their web site www.makufurniture.com). Here are his rules:

• Find Your Motivation – This is an energy issue. He has hung the plans for their pool on the wall of his home office for motivation:
  
• Build New Ideas From Old – I wanted simple, elegant furniture like the design of surfboards,
  
• Start Studying – I had no experience in the furniture market so I learned. Anyone can learn with the right effort.
  
• Build Strong Partnerships – I needed to access skills I didn’t have, so I built teams.
  
• Take The High Road – I use only reclaimed teak from Indonesian buildings. Good rules and he has a great product. Keep an eye on Johnny!

CONTACT: Interested in these ideas?

You can contact Steve at steve@creativeventures.com or give him a call at 972-490-7717.