How Inventor's Brains Work Like Steak and Potatoes

I find patterns in things. Spurious connections others often miss. It’s a trait many inventors share. It’s useful and you can learn it too. (If you’re interested in learning, comment below and if enough people are in I’ll hold a free call to skill you up. Back to the point of this article.)

While planning a dinner party I noticed inventions are like steak (or potatoes if you don’t eat meat). Weird, right? It’s just how inventor brains work.

How are inventions like steak/potatoes?

Here are four ways. (Add more in the comments if you’d like)

First, you can undercook or overcook a steak AND you can undercook or overcook an invention.

An undercooked steak is too raw for the person you’re serving it too. This doesn’t mean a rare steak. Many people love a rare steak. This means a rare steak served to someone who enjoys a well-done steak. They’ll hate it.

Same with an undercooked invention. Showing your invention too soon leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The demos are difficult because the prototype doesn’t work well. You don’t have answers to obvious questions. And frankly you look like silly; like Caractacus Potts. Be very careful who you show early versions of your invention to.

An overcooked steak is often dry, chewy or crunchy. The flavor profile is charcoal. No hint of savory umami hits your tongue. It’s not worth eating.

An overcooked invention is one the inventor obsesses about but for the wrong reasons. They work but never finish. They constantly make meaningless unnecessary changes. “Ohh, maybe we paint it blue no wait red.” Does the color really matter?

The best invention is one that works to solve a useful task for a wanting consumer. Adding useless bells and whistles won’t make the process more enjoyable. And remember, for each person who loves the color blue there is another who dislikes it.

Focus on making the innovation work. Focus on cooking it to culinary perfection. Not perfecting it. But making it enjoyable to consume!

Second, spices; salt, pepper, rosemary? Spices deepen your flavor profile. They turn a drab potato into a culinary experience, right?

There are inventive spices too. Think about the first iPhone you bought, remember the feeling you got when you cut the tiny plastic holding the box shut? Or the layers of plastic and paper meticulously organized to build excitement as you reveal your new time suck; magical! These packaging components were like the right amount of spices added to your meal. They enhanced the entire experience.

The third similarity is based on the idea that everyone likes their steak/potatoes cooked their own way. Some rare, some medium (pink center), and some well done. Some don’t want steak, they want potatoes. This is the same with inventions. You may be able to show your invention in its rare form to your engineer friends. But a focus group probably needs a medium-well version of it.

Fourth is plating. Yes, you can present your steak and potatoes on paper plates. If cooked well people will eat. But the whole experience is amped up or tamped down based on how you present. Paper plates at the BBQ is much different than wooden plates at the side of the rapids cooked where the meat was cooked over an open flame. And completely different when served on fine china in a banquet hall.

Show your invention in a way that is right for the environment. If presenting at a pitch meeting you’d better have a quick demo that shows the best parts first. If presenting at a training session to your sales reps you’d better have a well planned deep dive that keeps everyone awake while you skill them up.

Speaking of skilling up, what skills are you seeking? I may be able to help if I know what you need. Drop me a line and lets have a chat.

I hope you enjoyed this whimsical, yet informative (hopefully), article. Thanks for your likes, shares and comments.