Ability to Perceive, Courage to Act by Michael Perman, Dean of Innovation at Gap, Inc.

Ability to Perceive, Courage to Act 


My definition of innovation is: the ability to perceive and the courage to act upon alternative realities that lead to growth. All of our programs are devoted to helping people discover what’s really new and provide them the agility to navigate the challenge of bringing new into the world.  While some people think of innovation as “risk”, we think of innovation as a continuous experiment.  We’re constantly learning and constantly evolving.
 
At Gap Inc., “inspiring creativity” is one of four cultural pillars that help to guide the way we interact with each other in the course of doing business.  Why? Because we believe creativity leads to innovation and innovation leads to growth.  We also view creativity as a way to inspire new thinking on a daily basis—a motivational magnet for our 136,000 global employees.
 
With this in mind, the company created an innovation program in 2011 called Mindspark and has subsequently launched two additional innovation initiatives - INNOVATION ACROBATS and DESIGN LAB - which complement Mindspark’s idea generation engine through a comprehensive, capability-building ecosystem.
 
As a major retailer that operates more than 3,000 stores worldwide, our highest priority is delivering a superior experience and trend-right products.  In order to grow, whatever we deliver to our stores today has to be better than what we delivered yesterday. This requires a constant flow of new ideas that drives traffic and enables customers to leave delighted with what we brought them and eager to return. 
 
Great ideas, however, are not enough. A constant flow of lofty, new ideas must also have sustainable and systemic value. We will be better, smarter and more delightful than our competitors because we have the foresight to anticipate the longevity and viability of a good idea. To this end, Mindspark and our other initiatives provide a forum to experiment, learn, evolve and prosper together, building an innovation ecosystem.
 
The Mindspark program was originally established to spark a “creative revolution” at Gap Inc.  Mindspark is a three and a half day multi-sensory event that enables 30-40 people of all skills sets and hierarchical levels to create solutions for our greatest innovation challenges. Our goals are to create a culture of innovation and develop high-potential commercial and organizational ideas. 
 
In these three and a half days, we work on one central innovation task, always framed as a “how might we” question.  We work with our CEO and brand presidents to identify the highest priority business challenges. For example, “how might we create a cultural phenomena for our brand?” Or “how might we provide a seamless, robust omni-channel experience for consumers?”
 
We believe in activating multiple parts of the brain since innovation often emerges from the intersection of operational and creative mindsets.  We engage the pre-frontal cortex, where empathy, insight, narrative, imagination and intuition operate. We force connection-making with the amygdala, where “meaning” is established and decision-making is triggered based on experience. We enable Mindspark participants to draw from sub-conscious references – thoughts and ideas that are usually dismissed as daydreams and doodles. We recognize that these random thoughts actually have meaning and they are the nucleus of new ideas.
 
As a result, about 50% of the session is filled with external stimuli—entertainers, expert speakers, tastes, smells, textures, sounds and interesting things to look at.  We bring in speakers who have relevant expertise. The expert in “creating cultural phenomena,” Craig Tanimoto, for example, spoke to us about his original “Think Different” marketing campaign for Apple. We invite people who push our spectrum of thinking— for example, Ilise “the Lady Aye” Carter, a sword swallower; Noah Scalin, who designed a different skull every day for a year; a chocolate maker who used to be a bicycle messenger.  We celebrate people who have made significant transitions in their lives because transition is the nature of innovation.
 
We’ve produced six Mindspark events to date and now have more than 150 motivated alumni who can use new innovation skills every day.  We’ve also developed a “creative catalyst” program for 30 of the alumni who developed additional skills in facilitating group creativity so any meeting on any topic can become an innovation session. 
 
One insight from our Mindspark program is that, while the three and a half days are exciting, it’s challenging to keep the glow after the event is over.  So, to complement the Mindspark experience, we developed two additional programs.  Our INNOVATION ACROBAT program works closely with eight high-potential innovation leaders and provides more intensive learning experiences in Consumer Insights, Story Telling, Design Thinking and Facilitating Group Creativity. Graduates in this program will be certified innovation leaders and will drive the development of new ideas.  We also initiated a DESIGN LAB phase, which provides an untethered workshop environment that brings ideas from “fuzzy to fruition.”
 
We’re in the early stages of building a holistic innovation ecosystem at Gap Inc., with Mindspark as the centerpiece. This requires the dedicated development of an architecture of innovation. We believe that everyone has creative potential and, with the right skills, methods, tools and freedom in place, this creativity can be transformed into sustainable innovation.