Have a MEETING DISORDER?
HOT TEAM Stops the War.

Innovation on Demand

Should you work strategy, concept, or implementation?

Innovation On Demand gives you the secret to
continuing creativity
and innovation.


CLICK HERE


"Innovation on Demand' will give you new insights into becoming more creative, managing more creatively and thinking way out of the box."

William Cunningham Cincinnati Post

Shell Oil reported saving $3 million for every team they trained to use the HOTS Team.

"The team has taken an amazing upward turn.
Senior Management is thrilled with the spectacular results
you created."
Nicole Ertas
Saran Wrap
Team Leader
S.C. Johnson Company

"Your presentation led to an idea that saved us millions."
Kent Baker
Senior Vice President
Maytag

"You gave our people energy, hope and fun."
Barbara Peat
Vice President,
Banker's Insurance Group

 

 

.

.

HARES:  Idea Machines (CREATORS)                       

Thinkers, with new behavior, Hares easily solve problems and come up with new ideas.  They see the larger context of a situation, and the variety of options available. Some of their ideas may seem outlandish, but many are potential home runs.

•  Hares break rules.  Just because a procedure has been followed the same way for years does not mean a Hare will do things that way.  Life is one big brainstorming session for them.  They enjoy stream of consciousness conversations, often changing the subject as new thoughts occur. These people see life in terms of solutions.  They love the creative process. The ideas never stop for Hares, but they can find it hard to choose one and follow it through to completion.

•  Hares despise details.  They can invent a revolutionary theory, but will rarely get around to balancing their checkbooks.

•  Hares do not want to hear about the holes in their ideas.  They get upset when traditional people point out the drawbacks to their breakthrough solutions.  Often, Hares enjoy having an idea and handing it off to someone else.  They like to see their brainchildren come to life as long as they do not have to deal with the details themselves. 

•  Hares sometimes find themselves categorized as dreamers, people who convey a sense that the sky’s the limit.  Hares may also come across as pragmatic idea people who find obstacles challenging rather than defeating. Without Hares, we would still be sitting in caves somewhere, without so much as a fire or wheel to our names.  As Hare Frank Zappa once said, “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. Albert Einstein also lauded the importance of out-of-the-box ideas when he asserted, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

Hares make good research and development people, inventors, consultants, litigation attorneys, and advertising writers.

Famous Hares include: Albert Einstein, Tom Sawyer, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Bill Clinton, Steve Martin, Ronald Reagan, Shakespeare’s Romeo, Phoebe from Friends, and Seinfeld’s Kramer.

The Hare Motto: “Don’t bother me with the details.”

OWLS:  On Their Way to the Future (ADVANCERS)               

As people who think in practical terms and are natural doers, Owls know how to get things done.  They can easily come up with ways to implement Hares’ ideas.  These people naturally plan tactics, make key phone calls, or introduce the right people to each other.  They have the ability to choose the best, most workable idea from many.  Owls keep their team from wasting time and money on ideas that won’t work. They also help avoid the other extreme of failing in the market with a clone concept that doesn’t stand out.

•  Owls enjoy selling an idea and putting it on the road to success.  

•  An Owl thinks a problem has been solved when a workable plan exists.  They like to achieve goals by providing direct, effective solutions.

•  Consummate planners, Owls are married to their “to-do” lists.  When you tell them you want to do something, they will tell you the five most effective steps to take and give you a list of six people to call who can help you.  They tend to be enthusiastic, persistent, and supportive. Owls are people of action.

•  The instinct to plan a course of action is so innate in Owls that they sometimes have difficulty hearing an idea without constructing a regimen to make it happen.  One Owl lashed out at her Hare C.E.O., who had been brainstorming in a meeting.  “Will you make up your mind?” she sputtered. 

“What are you talking about?” he asked in surprise.

“You’ve had six different ideas in the last twenty minutes and I’ve thrown away five almost complete implementation plans,” she explained in exasperation.  “Every time you have a new idea, I waste tons of work.” 

• Though Owls know how to get things done, they do not always think the original concept through completely.  Consequently, they can miss obstacles and drawbacks, so they sometimes take elaborate steps to implement an idea that has a huge hole in it. Having a very detail-oriented support staff can help them succeed.

  Owls make good producers, agents, politicians, campaign managers, mortgage brokers, and product salespeople. 

Famous Owls include: Dick Cheney, best-selling author Harvey Mackay, Hillary Clinton, actress/activist Susan Sarandon, Iran/Contra get-it-done guy Oliver North, and Hamlet’s Laertes are all examples of Owls.

The Owl Motto:  “What you need to do is...”

HARES/OWLS: The Dynamic Type

This very dynamic type has big ideas and enthusiastically pursues them. Hare/Owls make very successful salespeople and entrepreneurs. They network very well, have a great drive, and love to be in action. They ambitiously follow their dreams. Hare/Owls are the classic entrepreneurial type They can both come up with ideas, promote them, and plan strategy. These people get action and innovation moving, making things happen. Hare/Owls can get bored or impatient after strategy is implemented. They don't like running an organization once it's gotten off the ground. Hare/Owls work well with pure Hares and pure Owls. They also achieve more if they have an Owl/Turtle to handle their detail work. Turtles can help Hare/Owls see any danger that lies ahead. Unfortunately, they inherently clash with cautious Turtles because Hare/Owls want to charge forward, not put on the brakes.

Famous Hare/Owls include: Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, John Gray, and Tony Robbins.

TURTLES:  Protect by Finding Holes (REFINERS)           

This is the person who loves to make rules, and can get efficiency put into any process.  That is. as long as there’s an Owl/Turtle combination to do most of the detail work.

As people whose thinking and doing focus on the tried and true, Turtles recognize the weaknesses in a plan and enjoy doing step-by-step work.  Often seen as skeptics by others, they challenge new ideas.  They also love setting up routines and procedures.  Comfortable with proven, more traditional solutions to problems, these people view themselves as sensible and well-paced. 

•  Because Turtles instinctively want to make sure an idea is foolproof, they love to play the devil’s advocate and point out the drawbacks of anything new or non-traditional.  They are the wrong people to turn to if you just want a little encouragement.  

•  Turtles make sure a concept gets executed properly in the production stages.  Keen organizers, they easily see where current procedures are ineffective or not properly followed.  As one Turtle-manager put it, “I can be gone a week, and the moment I walk in I see what’s been done wrong.”  They can both strengthen new ideas and troubleshoot the current process.

•  If allowed to lead, Turtles can focus so much on what is wrong that the rest of the team feels stifled and criticized, paralyzing significant breakthroughs.  Hares often feel that Turtles are negative and uninspired.  Turtles can find Hares lofty, impractical, and disorganized.

•  Turtles sometimes benefit from learning to understand the value of other work styles.  They can also start to communicate their observations in more supportive ways.  For instance, instead of saying, “This will never work.  It’s illegal in three states,” a Turtle can ask a Hare, “What are your ideas for overcoming the fact that it’s illegal in three states?”

•  One Hare from the mid-west built his dream house, a half million-dollar project, with an Owl architect.  He never showed his mother, a Turtle, the plans, giving her a tour only when the house was complete.  At the end of the tour, she said, “It’s beautiful, but where’s the laundry room?”  It took over $20,000 to tear out the existing plumbing, walls, and basement to build that laundry room.  This Hare could have avoided all the trouble if he had just shown his Turtle mother the blueprint at the start. 

•  Turtles make good editors, accountants, tax and estate attorneys, financial planners, and managers of tradional processes.

Famous Turtles include: Simon from American Idol, Donald Rumsfeld, Jerry Seinfeld, Colin Powell, comedian George Lopez, and Felix Unger of The Odd Couple

The Turtle Motto:  “It’ll never work.”

HARE/TURTLES: Conceptual Thinkers

Hares and Turtles are both conceptual thinkers, so Hare/Turtles are more thinkers than doers. They have a Hare's ability to be creative and a Turtles caution and skill at sensing weakness. So Hare/Turtles can have innovative ideas, and can see what will go wrong with them. Hare/Turtles can also think of ways to improve upon current thinking. If they don't veto their own inspirations, they can use these skills to have well-thought out ideas. Hare/Turtles can make excellent inventors because they combine inspiration and perfectionism. They enjoy tinkering with something until it works. They can make great comedians because they creatively point out problems or inconsistencies. A Hare/Turtle will often wage their own internal battle, with the unlucky soul's inner Hare generating ideas and his or her inner Turtle killing them just as fast as they come. Hare/Turtles do well with an Owl to move them ahead and an Owl/Turtle to carry out the detail work. Hare/Turtles have their main conflicts with pure Hares, who move too fast for them. This combination style is used to having one foot on the brake. Hare/Turtles should hand-off picking ideas and strategy planning to Owls. Doing methodical work should go to Owl/Turtles.

Famous Hare/Turtles include: Thomas Edison, David Letterman, Bill Murray, Chandler from Friends and Mr. Subliminal from Saturday Night Live.

The Hare/Turtle Motto: "Great Idea. (No it's not.)
 

OWL/TURTLES: The Faction Taking Action (EXECUTORS)

Doers of both the new and the old, Owl/Turtles carry out processes. They put the will of their organizations into action, wanting to do what they see as "real" work. They prefer hands-on production to sitting in meetings. Owl/Turtles do not want to innovate or lead, comfortable, instead, with clear guidelines about what to do. They tend to resist change, but once change occurs, they institutionalize it. Owl/Turtles work best with clear, step-by-step procedures. Sometimes called bureaucrats, they are the ones in government agencies who follow the rules to the letter, deriving satisfaction from efficiently following a plan. Production and service in companies require Owl/Turtles.

A West Coast telephone company going through reengineering decided to lay-off all workers who seemed resistant to change. Service response time immediately went from 24 hours to nearly 30 days. The company had gotten rid of its Owl/Turtles, the people that made service efficient. Vital to an organization, Owl/Turtles are willing and thorough. They detect flaws in new processes early. Owl/Turtles need frequent direction because they can become so dedicated to the efficiency of the process that they forget to make sure the greater goal is reached effectively. For example, in a competitive service industry success requires customer satisfaction. If the company values service over flawless procedure, it needs to provide official ways for its service Owl/Turtles to make exceptions to the rules. For Owl/Turtles, if there is not a rule allowing exceptions, then exceptions cannot be made. Giving Owl/Turtles instructions requires detailed explanations and patience, making Hares a poor choice for the job. Turtles or Owls are better suited to working directly with an Owl/Turtle combination type. Owl/Turtles make good customer service representatives, repair technicians, pilots, ambassadors, administrative assistants, data entry workers, soldiers, and comptrollers.

Famous Owl/Turtles include: Al Gore, Joe Friday, Della Street from Perry Mason, Monica on Friends, and Forrest Gump.

Owl/Turtle Motto: "That's policy."

This
Funny Book
Will
Change Your Work.
CLICK HERE

"Allen Fahden’s books are written in a style perfect for the busy professional. It’s a quick read – but full of insightful points that are easy to remember and use within teams at work."
Shannon Schraeder General Mills

"We have received rave reviews from the people who read your book on the flight home. I look forward to your next book with anticipation!"
Anita Johnson Executive Director, National Center for Education Research and Technology

"I have recommended your wonderful book Is Half The World Crazy? to all of my friends."
Pat Burns, General Manager, The Millionaire Summit

 

 

.