10 Pebble Principles for Innovation

Thomas J. Buckholtz, former CIO of GSA under former President G. H. W. Bush, PhD in Physics from Berkeley, author of 2 books, gave a talk this evening at the EMC Leadership & Innovation Speaker Series. While Buckholtz structured his talk using his recipe for stories, the title of the talk, “One Pebble Creates a Ripple,” proved a rich organizing metaphor for my resulting thoughts about innovation and about what was created there. 

10 Principles of Pebbles:

1. Have lots of them
2. Re-launch them often
3. Watch the ripples to see where they go
4. Watch other people’s pebbles….want to make a ripple? Surf it or amplify it or join it or pass it along.
5. What entrenched relationships and processes/shorelines will this pebble unbalance/invade?
6. What’s the pattern?  What pebble would change the game? What ripple? From where/whom?
7. What’s the size of the pebble and the size of the tank?  Will it cause a storm in a teacup or splash in the ocean?
8. How you throw it makes a difference.   Hard, soft, short, long.
9. Learn from the landing for the next throw.
10. Skipping the rock from group to group makes more ripples.

Tom J. Buckholtz, the speaker, also provided a summary of the event from his point of view.