The Re-Invention Framework

How to navigate and flourish in chaos

Decoding “The Power of Different”

Chapter 1

Background..............

Over the last week I have been inundated with calls from people all across Australia in response to my entrepreneur and business rescue project. I have virtually met with people from different walks of life, people with different aspirations, values and circumstance, but people with a common concern, one built on navigating and surviving in a world in chaos, transformation or change.

A world where each person I spoke to has had their value proposition changed or devalued through external forces outside of their control. The result of this, for these people, is work drying up or the industry they are in being in complete freefall.

All of these people are looking for ways to realign and reconnect to value, reinvent themselves, transform themselves where they can be the best they can be, for themselves and those around them, where their skills combine and reignite into a new horizon where they can grow, evolve and be passionate and excited about their future.

Over these calls, I articulated a process that I have used and developed over 30 years, one which helps foster creativity, innovation and imagination, one that builds emotional intelligence, resilience and empathy, one which I would like to articulate for you, the reader of this article, in the hope that it may give you some tips on your own re-invention.

If you don’t have the patience to read this article, as it is long, “and I know we all like quick answers”, go right to the end where it is summarised.

Chapter 1 : The beginning......

We are all educated into a world where knowledge is attained through defined categories of logic, categories formed to help craft us, into useful members of society.

We infuse our passion against this logic and gravitate towards a category so as to craft a career path and or lifestyle which is supposed to serve us for our life.

There is an accepted societal baseline (safety net) which has us believe that if we attain enough knowledge in a specific category, that knowledge, will give us a foundation in which our life and identity can be crafted around. 

And so we choose a category develop the skills and begin something called “A Career.”

The categories chosen for us to learn, are ones that fit pillars in which society operates. 

As society has changed, so has the pillars in which it builds its base on, yet for the most part the categories in which we are educated have remained much the same.

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Change is a category that has traditionally, been seen as hard to understand, as its endpoint is one that is hard to define, unless you are following a path of change which has already been defined by others. 

We as people, have been educated in a system where evidence rules, as such we often avoid change as much as possible, as change is a topic that brings fear, fear of the unknown. Change is also a topic that has a perception that it can fundamentally threaten all our life’s work, work in building a belief system based on a set of educated rules, work that has brought many accolades and defined our identity

Without understanding change, one misses the understanding that change can bring. Change can be the most powerful opportunity to rapidly accelerate value in both a stationary and transforming world.

It is the “untapped unfair advantage” in a rapidly changing world IMHO.

Common sense would dictate that not changing, in world that is changing is a sure fire way to obsolescence.

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 Chapter 2: Sun TZU & The Art of War 

As you may be aware Sun Tzu published "The Art of War" during the 5th Century BC, this framework for success, has many great quotes, like the one above. The strategy is loosely defined as 

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things”

• How do we subdue the enemy without fighting?
• What if our enemy is our own mind, our belief system, one cultivated and curated in a world where the belief system holds diminishing, little or no value?
• What if the things we fear are the very things that help us transform our lives, connect with our purpose and amplify the value we provide to ourself and the greater world?
• “Are we the Elephant, who is chained to a post with a piece of string, can we easily break that string, and set us free, but are too afraid or just don’t know how?”

The “Art of War” like every other good framework follows a process to achieve its outcome. The Power of Different (which you will get to Shortly) is no different in that regard.

Let’s Analyse the two

Art of War

1 Planning

2 Character 

3 Using Advantages 

4 Alliances 

5 Deception 

6 The Use of Spies 

7 Strength & Weaknesses 

8 Energy 

9 Communication

10 Winning

The Power of Different

1 Discovery

2 Filter

3 Organise

4 Prototype

5 Validate

6 Unite

7 Encode

8 Communicate

9 Re-invention

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Chapter 3: The Power of Different.

The power of different is a framework I have used and developed over 30 years as an entrepreneur, and over the last 8 years used to facilitate re-invention for companies  and organisations, big and small, both in the US and Australia. 

The “Power of Different” helps you see, previously unseen artifacts, helps you remove the fear of the unknown, helps you make better “informed decisions”, and helps harness uncontested market leading opportunities for your business and life.

Spoiler alert

The Power of different is NOT designed so as to completely change direction, it is designed to acquire a deep understanding of the current landscape when it comes to value, and through the reassembly of existing skills, technologies and experiences  recreate a value proposition which drives revenue, satisfaction and culture.

In essence “The Power of Different” applies a Puzzle Based Gaming Method to re invention, one where the players uncover the pieces to be used for re invention, via solving of puzzles,  then learn the skills required to assemble a series of different realities or futures, futures built on real world value based artifacts.

In the Art of War listed above, Step one  is planning, in the Power of Different, planning is only possible once you know the data that matters.

Think of it like this. You become a detective on your life and future. A detective that needs as many clues or pieces of evidence as possible to create a hypothesis. Whilst this might seem obvious, The Power of Different employs hybrid thinking techniques to reveal evidence that is previously uncovered.

Hybrid thinking is a culmination of 

1 Critical Thinking

2 Design Thinking

3 Lateral Thinking 

4 Improvisation

5 Storytelling

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Chapter 4: The Process

1 Discovery

The discovery process is one in which  

The existing organisation, it’s people, it’s customers, it’s, customers customers, market dynamics /trends are disassembled into artifacts based on value. 

2 Filter

The Filter process is one where artifacts, collected through discovery, which DO NOT translate to value are discarded

3 Organise

The organise process is one where value based artifacts are collated into groups

4 Prototype

The Prototype process is one where artifacts are assembled together (Selected artifacts from different groups) in different sequential orders, to prototype scenarios, products, opportunities.

5 Validate

The validate process is one where the  different prototypes created in the above step are validated against other data sets, sets which include customers, customers, market trends dynamics etc...

6 Unite

Unite is a process whereby a central united vision is created. A vision on what re invention looks like, why it is valuable and how it will be effective in creating value for its customers.

7 Encode

The Encode process is a process which applies a series of final filters that further validated the reinvention, it’s narrative to different customers and value to shareholders.

This is a hardenening process which forms the future.

8 Communicate

The communicate process is one in which the draft press release is created by all those involved. This further unites the team and hardens the ability for all thise involved to  sing from the same hymn sheet when it comes to the value the reinvention creates.

9 Re-Invention

This process is the process where the timeline to execution is developed and engaged.

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Chapter 5: Conclusion

To quote the late great Steve Jobs 

“you cannot connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect the dots looking backwards.”

In this scenario, what are the dots?

To me the dots are the pieces of evidence. If we use the same evidence over and over again and do not have to tools to assemble this evidence in new and novel ways, we will surely stay the same.

To reinvent the future, harness “The Power of Different” for it is a framework for times such as these, a framework that utilises the power of human and machine driven intelligence to synthesise creations that are based on evidence, evidence based on value.

The “Power of Different’is NOT hiring some crazy creative types of people to come up with ideas, it is the opposite. It is a framework, one used by those who want to be the detective in their own personally or companies lives.

Remember 

During any crisis, it’s important to keep a cool head. Making decisions based on emotion or randomly trying ideas is a sure fire way to stress and failure.

Make informed decisions, use a process where evidence is validated, based your decisions on credible data and use a framework designed to foster innovation, develop creativity, harness empathy and most importantly of all deliver value consistently to an ever evolving landscape.

I wish you all the success if you are looking to re-invent yourself, and hope that you can step out of the fear and recognise the power that is at your comment through "The Power of Different."

Finbar O’Hanlon