February 1, 2024 • 36 mins
Sip into innovation with us as we explore the unexpected ways one can leave a mark on the world without crafting inventions from scratch. Over a glass of 1792 Sweet Wheat Whiskey, we unravel the common myth that only inventors can be innovators. Our conversation weaves through personal stories, demonstrating how visionaries can spark change by collaborating with skilled professionals to manifest their ideas into reality. Whether you're an artist, an architect, or someone with a dream, this episode will inspire you to see the possibilities beyond the workbench.
This week, the legacy of Maria Montessori serves as a poignant reminder that expertise in one realm can revolutionize another. As we dissect the success and evolution of standing desks, we celebrate how innovation often comes not from the creation of the new, but the reinvention of the old. Montessori's journey from medicine to education showcases how applying knowledge in new contexts can transform the way we think, live, and learn. Join us as we navigate the history and implications of these educational and design revolutions.
We wrap up this roundtable with a heart-to-heart on the essence of passion in driving success. Forget the old adage of climbing ladders and checking boxes; we delve into the power of genuine enthusiasm and personal resonance in our professional endeavors. And don't miss next week's episode featuring John Jeremilo, where we continue to demystify the process of spotting the innovators among us. So grab your headphones, pour yourself a neat bourbon, and get ready to be motivated by the untold stories of innovation that's happening all around us.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
There's a difference between innovation and invention
.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
This is Innovate Everything,the podcast where we unpack and
explore innovation as innovators.
I'm your host, John Mowed.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And I'm your other host, Katie Mowed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
And what we want to talk about today is those of you
who are out there who maybe youlistened to the last episode
and you're like wow, john, it'sawesome that inventors are great
people, but now, what do I doif I am not a tinkerer?
I don't build things, I'm notgood with my hands.
Well, you're in luck, becausethere are so many opportunities
in life to innovate.
Innovators don't have to beinventors, but we're going to
(00:39):
start off how we start everyweek taking the things that we
enjoy and enjoying them while wedo the things that we love.
And if we do that every day, Ithink we'll be happier people.
So we are starting out todaywith a 1792 Sweet Wheat Whiskey.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It's a experiment.
It's a five times fast 1792Sweet Wheat Just a sweet wheat,
part Sweet wheat.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It's actually a bourbon, but it's one of my kind
of favorite little.
I don't want to call it whitewhales, because you do, you can
find it, but it's not one thatyou find all the time, and so
it's a mash bill.
That's got a little bit heavieron the the weeded mash bill,
but it's still 1792.
So you still get some of thoseprofiles.
So let's get a tasting andSmells sweet.
(01:22):
And maybe a little bit of wheat.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
But I think that's just a little bit of inception.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Smells like sweet wheat.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Sweet wheat.
I smell the sweet wheat.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So, katie, give me your, give me your notes.
No, we can't do this.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I am very much a rookie when it comes to bourbon
tasting.
It smells sweet, it looks likewheat, it looks like a sunrise.
Actually, it's very golden, Ifeel like, compared to other
bourbons.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It does have a nice amber color.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It is very that's a better word.
Is that like more of a bourbonword?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, it's kind of yeah, amber.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Not golden like the sunrise.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
You know there's no wrong answers in bourbon.
So golden like the sunriseworks for me.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, that's definitely my kind of bourbon.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, so Katie tends to like younger age profiles a
little more on the wheated side,and so I kind of picked this
one specifically for you.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Oh, it's a great pick .
It's light too.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It is.
It's one of those I call it'smore of a daily sipper.
So you get a lot of that oakyprofile, a lot of the front of
the flavor profile oaky, you'vegot that sweetness.
It kind of washes your tongue,but there's an expression in
bourbon and whiskey that you'llsay it's oily and oily kind of.
What that means is it kind ofsets on your tongue and it
(02:35):
almost like if you had like achili oil or something else, or
just kind of sits on your tongue.
It's a little bit oily.
It's not very viscous, it's notvery syrupy, it's very light,
very smooth, kind of floats onthe tongue.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
To our male listeners if you have a wife or a
girlfriend or someone in yourorbit that's a female and you
want them to drink bourbon, Ithink this would be a good one
to try.
It's because of all thosereasons.
It's not thick, really heavy.
It tastes fresh.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, it's not, as they say, bourbon-y,
bourbon-mick bourbon.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's not heavily bourbon-y.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I gotta come on bottle on a shout out for that
one.
That's kind of his thing, butit's yeah, it's a lighter note.
You're not going to find thisone on the shelves as much 1792
Sweet Wheat.
You can find it.
It's not like an impossible tofind bottle, but if you just
show up at your liquor storeit's probably not going to be
there.
If you want something kind ofintro to your, you know, to get
(03:33):
someone into bourbon, maybe it'syour wife or your girlfriend or
a friend that never reallyliked bourbon I would start with
some of the stuff that youactually like a lot.
I think you had last week.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
St Augustine.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
St Augustine, florida Straits, or maybe Heaven Hill
has one that's toasted.
It's a toasted barrel.
It's really really good,something like that.
That's a lighter profile, sowe're going to sip on this as we
talk, but today I want to getinto those of you out there who
are not.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Inventors.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Inventors right so.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I'm not an inventor.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, like, for example, right Katie, every time
she needs anything built ordone and it has instructions or
more than five screws she putson a DIY to-do list for me and I
just kind of do it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Honey-do list.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And so there's those people out there, and so all you
use you as a perfect example.
You have an incredible abilityto see things and you know what
you want, you know what wouldmake it better and you know kind
of how you would innovate it,but you just can't speak to that
build.
You can't sketch it out like Ido and just be like, all right,
this is what I want, and then goin the garage and just kind of
(04:42):
make it happen.
You don't have that ability andthat's okay.
There are so many times in ourtime together where you've had a
great idea and I've sketched itand you're like, no, no, no,
change this.
No, no, no, change that.
And I think there's a lot ofinstances where there's so many
good artists and sketchers andarchitects and all those people
out there that can do thedrawing, they can take your
(05:03):
words and they can turn theminto pictures.
That's a skill in and of itself.
It's an art form.
You don't have to be able to dothat or build it yourself or
any of that to be an innovator.
And so if you're sitting thereand thinking to yourself, well,
I've got great ideas, andeverybody knows somebody who's
like I got an idea for an app.
Everyone's got an idea for anapp.
(05:24):
Everyone's got an idea for this.
If someone made something tosolve this and they know, it's
on the tip of their tongue.
They know what they want to fix, but they don't know how to fix
it.
Sometimes you can take a walkaround and look at what other
people have done, and I know,with Innovate, the Ordinary, a
huge chunk of what we do.
There's so many people outthere solving problems and
(05:46):
building things that you canjust reallocate something
they've already made.
What makes your standing deskspecial?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It allows me to get off my butt.
No, seriously, I read anarticle I think we've all read
this article a few years agothat said that sitting is the
new cancer and we're all hunchedover our devices, even if
you're not I hate thisterminology, but there's no
(06:17):
better one a knowledge worker orsomeone who works on the
computer.
We sit a lot.
We drive, we commute, we sit atour desks and it's really bad
for your entire bodily system.
And so having a standing desk,it gets me up.
It also helps me get createdbecause I'm changing my posture,
(06:41):
I get little breaks and once Iget tired of standing I can sit
back down.
It's just such a a duh type ofinvention.
Like, yeah, of course, whycan't my desk go up and down and
move depending on how I'mfeeling in that moment and
especially being on meetings allday?
I take a lot of meetings andbeing able to stand up and just
(07:03):
move around instead of likesitting in my chair and getting
really fidgety and I end upsitting on my feet and that's
really bad for your back and youknow, it's just nice to be able
to stand up and again, it makesme more creative because I can
pace and house a blood flow, allthat stuff.
So I like the flexibility thatit gives me to accomplish more
(07:24):
on my day because I am moreproductive, not just sitting in
my chair for eight hours.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Now.
So let's play a little game.
So we are currently sittinginside of our podcast studio
slash office.
We call it a layer A layer.
So we've got the closet thatwas in one of our bedrooms and I
converted it into a podcaststudio and then I put a drop
down ceiling a false ceiling ontop of it, and everything that
was in the closet before is nowstored above our heads using a
(07:53):
like a common winch you order onAmazon for 30 bucks.
That's what holds it up, that'swhat brings it up and down, and
it's just.
It's just basically a piece ofwood.
There's nothing fancy to it.
A piece of wood with a winch inthe middle and some slide rails
to keep it from leaning leftand right, right.
There's nothing terriblycomplex about it.
Below is everyone's doors.
Well, after they walk in, theysee it, but there's nothing
complex about it.
So I want to do a littleexercise.
(08:14):
Katie, turn around and look atyour standing desk.
It's behind you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I'm looking at my standing desk.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Okay, when you look at that, do you see like, how
does that work?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Oh, my goodness, you're asking me to describe how
it goes up and down.
It has a motor.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Has a motor yep.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And a hydraulic system of some kind, and the
energy source, electricity, andwhen I push a button it goes up
and I push the other button, itgoes down.
Pretty much it's very simple.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It is.
And so if I told you, A there'sno hydraulics in that at all
and B, that the how they havethat going up and down is just
like a threaded rod, it's thesame thing they used in
industrial applications foreverA little DCAC powered motor that
spins a little gear, that spinsa little threaded rod and
(09:06):
there's threaded bolts on thebottom each of those legs, and
as that rod spins, just like ascrew coming in out of a hole,
it goes up and down.
That's all it does.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
There's no hydraulic.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
There's no hydraulics in everything that.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Which is why it's so cheap.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, exactly Well, and every single piece of that
desk is.
You can buy that at Home Depot,including the little controller
that makes it open.
Now.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
The technology has gotten a lot cheaper.
I mean, you can buy a standingdesk for a lot of money but I
did not and you can get themvery economically priced.
But now that it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, and generally speaking, and I'm not I'm gonna
speak for every standing deskout there and if any standing
desk companies want a male maywant to prove me wrong, they're
welcome to.
But the only benefit you'regonna get when you spend more
money is they're gonna hide morecomponents and they're gonna
make them quieter and or faster.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
You also get more options, for example this desk,
because it is.
It is like an entry levelstanding desk with no bells and
whistles.
There's an up button.
It's a down button.
When I take my finger off thebutton it stops.
So I can set it any level, butI have to do it manually by
holding my finger on that button.
If you go up in price and get afan to your desk, you can set
(10:16):
presets.
So if I was sharing that desk,for example, with yourself and
you're much taller than I am,you could set your preset.
I could set my standing presetthat way or not, constantly like
trying to find the sweet spot.
So there are additionalelectronic features, memory etc.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, some small timers and things.
There's nothing crazy.
We talk about the standing deskfor a very good reason.
What we have is something thatsomeone like Katie and maybe
I'll go through and look up thehistory of the standing desk and
get a little bit moreinformation on this.
But someone like you went outand said, okay, I wish my desk
(10:55):
was taller or shorter.
I hate the littlescissor-leggie options that
people just put on top of desks.
I don't like those.
I wish it was electronic.
And somebody else said I canget everything that can do that
at Home Depot.
And I almost guarantee you theinitial iteration instead of an
up-down switch, it was like alight switch or just touch the
wires together and make it workor something like that, because
(11:16):
all you're doing is reversingpolarity, and so it's a very
simple design, something thatwas easy to make with
off-the-shelf components.
The person who thought of theidea is the innovator.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Anyone can build that right, right, the person who
thought of it probably wasn'tthe tinker they could be.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
They could be, but the innovator is the original
idea.
The innovator is the person whosees something.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Is the vision.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yep, they see something and they wanna reapply
it.
So NetVisual about Akverb.
I think you have anotherinstance where somebody saw
something and reapplied it.
I'd love for you to dive intothat.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yes, so this is only our second episode in the series
, but you all catch on to thefact that I love history.
If I could find a job insomething like this, I would
take it in heartbeat.
So we're going to go oversomeone today.
That, I think, illustrates thepoint we're trying to make that
(12:18):
you don't have to be an inventor, a tinkerer, someone who's
crafty, to innovate.
And I think this will be areally good call out, because,
although I love your standingdesk example, it still is an
invention, right.
And that does intimidate peopleLike I.
Have to take even off the shelfcomponents like, ah, I can't do
that.
(12:38):
I would be very overwhelmed bythat type of task.
So I'm going to talk about awoman whom everyone will
recognize her name.
Her name is Maria Montessori.
You've heard of her, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I know I don't make enough money for my kids to go
to her school.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
We do not make enough money to send our kids to
Montessori school.
But yes, that's exactly right.
Maria Montessori is credited asthe birth mother of the
Montessori program, which veryhigh level quick recap of what
that is, before we jump into herand what she did.
Montessori school is a programwhere kids are allowed to free
(13:20):
play and be more active, engagedwith instruments, instead of
sitting at a desk and beinglectured to, which is how our
traditional education system ispresented.
Today has been, for you know,50, 200 years.
So this system is verydifferent.
It's like I said, it's more, itleans more into play and
(13:42):
curiosity and going at your homepace, and I'm pretty sure most
Montessori schools don't haveformal exams or even grades to
some degree.
So it's very disruptive to, youknow, the normal education
system.
So Maria Montessori, I think,is really interesting because
(14:02):
she actually was a medicalprofessional, she was a doctor
and she was the first woman togo to medical school and to get
her doctorate degree in Italy.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
That makes so much sense because everything is like
pastel painted wood.
It kind of all, like all thecolors, remind me of a doctor's
office.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Well, I don't know if the color palette is a direct
descendant of Maria Montessori,because it's been a couple of
generations, but that is aninteresting observation.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I know we need painted pastel blocks, wood
painted with pastel colors tomimic a doctor's office as much
as humanly possible.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
So she went to medical school in Italy.
She was the first woman in herclass.
There is a rumor that the Popehimself was the was an advocate
for her and the only reason shegot into that school?
Because she was previously toldthat she would never they would
never allow a woman to enroll,and she ended up enrolling.
There's a big gap in therecords as to why they let her
(15:05):
in, but there are some rumorscirculating that she had
connections, we know, to thePope and that he had taken an
interest in her studies.
So she, she was a medical doctorand she was visiting an asylum
for young children as part ofher degree track.
She was.
She went to you know, give themcare, essentially and she
noticed that the kids at thisasylum, they didn't have any
(15:30):
education or training at all.
They were treated like animalswhich, if you go back in the
history books and you, you godown that rabbit hole of asylums
and mental health.
That is very common for for thetime and we're talking, you
know, the late 1800s.
So that's very, very common forpeople with mental health
(15:52):
challenges to be treated likeanimals and to be locked up.
So that's what she A lot ofhistory we're not proud of A lot
of history, yeah, and we won'tbe proud of you know that we're
doing.
Now I digress.
So she noticed that these kidswere not being trained or
educated in any way and she justthought this is really
(16:15):
interesting that these kids arebeing left in the care of
physicians, like myself, when Ithink they should be in the care
of educators and teachers.
So she just started readingabout this issue and about what
could be done, and shediscovered a lot of
philosophical works and a lot ofideas, some from Edward Seguin
(16:38):
Seguin, but during that SeguinSeguin, who his work was on
dividing learning into stagesand he had developed apparatuses
to simulate learning in youngkids.
She also discovered works byJean Jacques Roussaud, who said
that the role of a teacher is tounlock the ability of the child
(17:00):
that's already innately there.
And these are just two examplesof a bunch of philosophers that
she read up on and she studiedand was learning about
play-based learning, which,again, this is our point right
this was already an idea thatwas floating out there in the
philosophical realms but notbeing applied in any way.
So she learned about these andshe decided let's do this.
(17:24):
So she started advocating forthese kids and these asylums,
she realized that there was awindow between the ages of two
and six where this was really,really effective.
So she was able to put all thistheory she learned to the test
and she opened a school forspecial needs kids.
It was totally experimental andit was a massive, massive
(17:44):
success.
And it shocked everyone thatthese kids were learning, that
they were doing better they were.
Some of them were even able tobe integrated into a normal
school system after goingthrough her program, and they
were previously just locked upin an asylum and left to play
with crumbs on the floor as toys.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Can you imagine being so as a parent, you think of
everything through thisparenting lens, right?
Can you imagine being a parentand basically being told your
kid is unsavable, just go aheadand throw him an asylum?
As a parent, you're gonna takethat moment.
When someone comes up with anidea and someone says, hey, I'm
trying this new thing as aparent, I'm like it's better
(18:23):
than an asylum, I think, right,I mean let's give it a shot.
I mean at this point it's worthit.
Right, let's try.
You have the observation whichis she says, okay, here's the
problem.
And then she is identifyingsome options where she looks at
what other people have done.
And that's where you can lookout and say you can gain from
the experience of others and saythis person's doing this, this
(18:44):
person's doing this, and thenwe'll do what I call kind of
solve it your way.
Right, just put all thattogether and kind of find a
solution and then test andimprove.
So now we're gonna be kind ofin the test and improve section
here.
But if I was a parent that mykid was had no choice but to get
locked up in an asylum and haveto learn there, which is
incredibly stressful.
It is.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Well, they weren't learning.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
They were basically treated like future criminals.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
For a four to six year old.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Two to six year old.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Two to six year old.
That's like unthinkable.
I think of my two year old andas spunky as she is, and if
somebody was saying, oh you know, she's untrainable, she's
uncoachable, just go ahead andlock her up, she's never in a
mount to anything.
I, as a parent, I refuse tobelieve that.
You can't believe that that'snot, there's no way.
And so you give this personcomes out with this idea and
(19:34):
this is for Madame Montessorihere.
This is probably her bigmarketing moment, and so I'm
interested to hear what happensnext.
Sorry, I meant to interrupt you.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Well, yeah, I think you're overlooking a big
cultural implication of the time.
You wouldn't have had a choiceif you had had a child who was
severely mentally handicapped orhad any type of disability.
In that way, that child,especially if you didn't have
any economic resources rightLike you're working, your spouse
(20:05):
is working, or maybe you're asingle parent.
You've got other children, andprobably a lot of them, because
people had more children in the19th century.
So you would have to send yourchild somewhere and if they
can't integrate into the normalschool system, this is where
they would end up and it wasconsidered normal.
So it's hard for us to thinkback on this and be like no way
(20:26):
I'm not putting my kid in thesilent, but that's just what
happened.
And this program which, again,which was incredibly
experimental, was a mass success, was the birth of Montessori
program.
And I think it's fascinatingthat she took a philosophy, or
multiple philosophies that saidthat kids learn better when
their hands are on, when they'reallowed to be creative, when
(20:48):
they're allowed to go at theirown pace.
And that wasn't even directedat kids who had mental handicaps
.
Right Like it wasn't like shewent looking for how do I teach
kids like this?
She just went looking for adifferent way to teach kids,
applied it to kids who had thesestruggles and now it's been
rolled out to anyone who canafford it.
(21:11):
So you know, it's just, shedidn't reinvent anything.
She found the solution, she wasinspired, she applied it and
now it's still a very reputable,sometimes controversial program
that is highly regarded and Ithink that it's because it was.
(21:31):
If you can take kids who can'tsit still in a classroom which I
mean we have a four year oldmost kids can't sit still in a
classroom.
You're talking about one typeof student that can sit into
that mold, fit into that moldand be successful.
And if you plug in other kidswho aren't the sit listen
auditory learners, it's going towork and that's why it's still
(21:55):
around to this day.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
It's almost, I think, a little bit like the keto diet
.
The keto diet started out withit was a treatment for epilepsy,
and this doctor basically kindof purged them of their bad diet
by heavily limiting what theycould eat, which just happened
to put them in ketosis, whichjust happened to improve
epilepsy.
And now again, it's availablefor anyone who could afford it
(22:22):
or is willing to restrict theirdiet.
Which I think is fascinating,right, because that's the that,
to me at least, is that that'sthe turn where you go from
innovation and a great idea tothe capital market, or, you know
, capitalism to the market,where someone says, okay, love
the idea, now let's make itexpensive.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah Well, and also I think it's important to call
out that you can innovatesomething that's totally out of
your field or even your interest, right?
Maria was a physician, her lifewas medicine and she went down
in history as the mother ofeducation.
So she didn't set out to dothat, she wasn't looking for
(23:05):
that.
She found something and itinspired her and it lit
something in her and she solvedit and she went down in history
as the person who came up withthis program.
So you don't have to stay inyour lane, is what I'm trying to
say.
If you have, if you see a needand you have an idea, you can go
ahead and cross those intodifferent lanes and explore.
(23:28):
I mean, I think it'sfascinating that people most
people probably wouldn't knowthat she was a physician first.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yeah, I always naturally just assumed, I
actually was an educator.
To full disclosure I thoughtMontessor was the first name, so
I assumed it was a man.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
So I thought which would be a good assumption
because of the time and, yeah,the time that Maria lived women
women writers, for example wouldwrite under pseudonyms because
it was un-ladylike to be awriter.
So like, yes, that would makeperfect sense, but no, she was a
(24:05):
she's a Joan of Arc ofeducation.
Yeah, she was the first womanphysician to graduate from her
university, which is just veryaccomplished lady.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And I think that there's a couple pieces to some
takeaways from that.
One is, I would say obviously,follow your passions, be
passionately curious about whatit is that you find interesting.
Don't even hold your back.
Obviously, as a father of twoyoung girls, I think for me it's
yeah, go forth and be something, go, push the envelope, try
(24:37):
things that you love, gain thatexperience and don't let anyone
hold you back.
I'll support you all day long.
But I think that the otherpiece of that is don't feel so
burdened with the idea of beingan innovator.
Don't be so burdened with thethought that I have to change
something.
So if you're starting abusiness or you're starting a
(25:00):
new job, I have to come in hereand make an impact, have to
change something.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
The number of Impact for sake of impact.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, I mean the number of times that in my work
life, in my design life, whereyou have somebody new that joins
an organization, and usually inleadership, when they come in
and say, well, I'm going to makean impact and they just start
changing things.
And oftentimes you get into themeeting with these people and
it's tone deaf, it's tone deafor it's.
(25:27):
Well, I want to make a name formyself.
I want to change the way we'redoing something, and oftentimes
they have a vague idea.
And I do some consulting withthem and they have some vague
idea of what they want, but theydon't know exactly what it is
that they want to change.
They just know they want tochange something and I identify
a problem, but I haven't takenany time at all to look at
(25:51):
alternative solutions yet.
It's just.
Here's the problem.
I'm going to change it.
And one if you're not passionateabout it, you're not going to
spend the extra time to look atthe solutions.
Think of the thing in life thatyou're the least interested in.
Oh hey, I think that kickers inthe NFL have this great
(26:11):
opportunity to kick the ball 15yards further if they put their
foot like this.
I couldn't have lost you anyfaster, saying that you just
don't care.
So if you are somebody who washired to contribute to the NFL,
that's not probably what you'regoing to pick.
(26:31):
You're going to go formarketing something else.
And so if you're starting outand you're saying I want to find
something to improve, if you'reout to just change something
and it's not something thatbrings about the spark of
wanting something better.
You're just gonna changesomething for the sake of
changing it.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
So and you're not gonna follow through because I
think that there is a really biglie that we have consumed and
maybe we can cover this in afuture episode of you know you
have to succeed at this,otherwise it doesn't matter, and
fill what this is in foryourself, whether that's
(27:10):
pursuing a specific career,getting to a certain level in
that career industry, inventingor innovating something that
disrupts this many people Likethere's this pill that we've
taken.
That's like innovation.
There's a hierarchy ofinnovation and there's a
hierarchy to success and youknow, that's why our culture
(27:33):
consumes these ideas in theseself-help books that are like
how to get your grit back andyou know how to be a successful
salesman or marketer.
I mean, I've seen the booksthat you have and I've got them
too, and they're all like theself-help how to just be better
at your craft, which are great.
But it's like the people who gothe Maria Montessori's the
(27:56):
world.
Like you said, they have apassion for something and
nothing is going to stop themfrom accomplishing that, and
they may not accomplish whatthey set out to accomplish, but
they're gonna do work andthey're gonna do good work
because they got a horse in therace, they got skin in the game
and they're there for they'renot just doing it because
they're like this is what I'msupposed to do, and maybe this
(28:18):
should be another episode,because I think we could go down
a very, very, very long rap, awhole, talking about you know,
do what you love and don't beafraid to get really into what
you love.
A great example of this and I'mgonna just call him out, not by
name, but he'll know who he iswe have a good friend who
studies reptiles, snakes andthings.
(28:39):
He's a herpetologist and I haveno idea how he does that.
I have no idea.
Like, if you told me that to besuccessful and to be, you know,
respected, I had to do that, Iwould fail every single time,
every single lifetime you gaveme.
I would not be able to do it,but he has such a passion for
that, that area of study, thathe is willing to go anywhere and
(29:05):
make it work because that'swhat he loves and I think that's
really important.
Like, I wanted to be a marinebiologist until I got into it
and realized, oh, I don't likethis as much as I thought I did.
It wasn't a failure for me toswitch into something new.
It would have been a failure tostay, because I thought I had
to succeed at it, because Ithought it was what I wanted to
(29:25):
do.
It's not so.
If you don't have a passion,you're not in love with
something.
It doesn't spark inspiration.
You don't need to push yourselfto be an innovator or to be the
best in that Like that's not tosay you shouldn't do good work
and you shouldn't work hard atwhat you do.
But I just think that we are.
(29:45):
We're all a little confusedsometimes on what it means to be
an innovator and how that'ssupposed to look, and that's the
model you need to follow.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, and remember, we'll get into this a little bit
in that future episode, butthere is an arc specifically.
There's a principle out therethat specifically says when
you're learning something newand you're trying something new
In the very beginning, finallyyou feel like you understand it
and you're the most passionateabout it and the more you learn,
the more you realize you don'tknow.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
You don't know correct.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
And then there's kind of a pit of despair where
you're like, well, I guess I'llnever get this.
And then by the time you're anexpert, you're understanding
that you don't know as much asyou.
You'll never know it all andthat's okay, but now you know
more than most people becauseyou took the time to get through
that pit of despair.
So just be aware that if you'retrying to solve a problem and
you're trying to figure out howto solve something, there's a
(30:34):
clear and defined line whereyou're gonna be at your.
You're gonna feel like, well, Ithought I knew what I was doing
, but I think I'm a completeidiot and I have no idea and
I'll probably never learn it.
It's way too hard to figure out.
And then as you push throughthat, then you start kind of
leaning towards expertise.
So that would be the takeawayfrom this episode is you don't
(30:55):
have to be.
You don't have to be someonewho can build it.
You just have to know what theproblem is and let other
people's solutions to problemsthat they've seen solve your
problem for you.
And I think the best example Ican give in our line of work is
we have a customer that theywanted to have a very clean,
(31:16):
minimalistic.
They wanted a cooler on wheelsis basically what they described
, but they wanted to make itlook like an ottoman or
something and like kind of theydon't want people to see coolers
.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Oh, coolers are ugly.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
They are, and they're hideous, actually, right, as a
rule.
I mean, there's some prettycoolers out there.
For the most part, your effortis to hide a cooler or just have
leave it out in the open soeveryone knows exactly where it
is.
They want to be found, right.
And so, as we talked to thisminimalistic design, the idea of
kind of storing them in theground and having me push a
(31:46):
button and have them pop up cameup, and that was one of those
things we talked about and I waslike well, what if you store
them in the ground and we setoff to build this custom thing?
And you don't have to buildthis custom thing.
There's a guy in Germany thatmade one.
He made it specifically forlike a couple of beers, right,
but the mechanisms are all there, the general ideas all there,
(32:09):
so there's no need to reinventthe wheel.
Somebody has already solvedthat problem on some scale.
Take the design, re-outfit itfor your needs.
You might have to rebuild someparts for it, but re-outfit it
for your needs and then use it.
And so a big, a huge part ofwhat we end up doing at Innovate
the Ordinary is findingalternative solutions that
already exist that we canre-outfit for that need.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
That's right.
There's nothing new under thesun, the end of the day.
So go find that person who'salready done it, go find that
philosopher who's alreadythought it, and then make it
applicable to what you're tryingto do, and that's what we do
here.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Find your Rousseau to help you set up your Montessori
school, and then we can all sitdown and paint wooden blocks
together and let the kids playwith them.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
And I have to go back and find out who made that
design call, because I have afeeling it's probably not
connected to her.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
That's when the marketing got involved right.
These colors bring out joy andspark intuitive desire to be
creative for children, orsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I've never been in a Montessori school, but I have
friends whose kids are inMontessori school, so I'm going
to ask them because I bet I'd bewilling to bet anything that
that color palette changesdepending on what's fashionable,
and right now, as millennials,we love the soft pastel, Like.
(33:30):
That's very millennial.
So I bet you that's a bit of anewer palette for Montessori and
I bet you in 20 years it'll becompletely different Because it
is a marketing.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Yeah, that's an innovative twist all in all of
itself, right.
So you're looking at thisMontessori school and I got to
remarket it and rebrand it.
I want to make it into anexpensive thing, but it's just
kids sitting on the floorplaying with sticks.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Well, I think that's a bit reductionist, but yes.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Well, as you're trying to market it, you're like
all right, Is kids playing withsticks and ball bearings on the
floor?
How do I make this marketedtowards something better or
something completely?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
different, Like if you own a Montessori school, or
you own a Montessori school oryour kids go to a Montessori
school.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
we are not knocking Montessori by that statement.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Absolutely not, and we have no idea what the
curriculum really is, because wehave not been that involved.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I'm sure it's lovely and that's exactly it, right,
we're not knocking the program.
I couldn't speak to it enoughto know, we just know the
history of it, right.
But as we're looking at it itseems to be kind of what it
seems to be, based on ourobservations from the outside.
I'm happy to.
I'm sure that we could probablydo a whole episode on how
(34:40):
Montessori school works and whyit's so groundbreaking and we
know that it's a groundbreakingway of teaching children from
two to six, because obviously itworked it does work.
Right.
So that's certainly not anindictment on the idea or the
schools at all.
It's more of me just beingsilly on how the wires.
Why is there anything coloredin pastel and made of wood?
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Why is this stick pink?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, I'm marked.
It's just that comes off asmarking to me.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
We're going down the, we're going down to the pit
here.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Well, thank you so much.
This has been John.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
And Katie.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
And we are Innovate Everything.
Join us next week for aninterview with John Jeremilo and
I for the next two weeks, wherewe're going to break down
finding innovators in theworkplace, and then Katie and I
will be back shortly thereafter.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
See you next time.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
See you next time.
There's a difference between innovation and invention
.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
This is Innovate Everything,the podcast where we unpack and
explore innovation as innovators.
I'm your host, John Mowed.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And I'm your other host, Katie Mowed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
And what we want to talk about today is those of you
who are out there who maybe youlistened to the last episode
and you're like wow, john, it'sawesome that inventors are great
people, but now, what do I doif I am not a tinkerer?
I don't build things, I'm notgood with my hands.
Well, you're in luck, becausethere are so many opportunities
in life to innovate.
Innovators don't have to beinventors, but we're going to
(00:39):
start off how we start everyweek taking the things that we
enjoy and enjoying them while wedo the things that we love.
And if we do that every day, Ithink we'll be happier people.
So we are starting out todaywith a 1792 Sweet Wheat Whiskey.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It's a experiment.
It's a five times fast 1792Sweet Wheat Just a sweet wheat,
part Sweet wheat.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It's actually a bourbon, but it's one of my kind
of favorite little.
I don't want to call it whitewhales, because you do, you can
find it, but it's not one thatyou find all the time, and so
it's a mash bill.
That's got a little bit heavieron the the weeded mash bill,
but it's still 1792.
So you still get some of thoseprofiles.
So let's get a tasting andSmells sweet.
(01:22):
And maybe a little bit of wheat.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
But I think that's just a little bit of inception.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Smells like sweet wheat.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Sweet wheat.
I smell the sweet wheat.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So, katie, give me your, give me your notes.
No, we can't do this.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I am very much a rookie when it comes to bourbon
tasting.
It smells sweet, it looks likewheat, it looks like a sunrise.
Actually, it's very golden, Ifeel like, compared to other
bourbons.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It does have a nice amber color.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It is very that's a better word.
Is that like more of a bourbonword?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, it's kind of yeah, amber.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Not golden like the sunrise.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
You know there's no wrong answers in bourbon.
So golden like the sunriseworks for me.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, that's definitely my kind of bourbon.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, so Katie tends to like younger age profiles a
little more on the wheated side,and so I kind of picked this
one specifically for you.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Oh, it's a great pick .
It's light too.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It is.
It's one of those I call it'smore of a daily sipper.
So you get a lot of that oakyprofile, a lot of the front of
the flavor profile oaky, you'vegot that sweetness.
It kind of washes your tongue,but there's an expression in
bourbon and whiskey that you'llsay it's oily and oily kind of.
What that means is it kind ofsets on your tongue and it
(02:35):
almost like if you had like achili oil or something else, or
just kind of sits on your tongue.
It's a little bit oily.
It's not very viscous, it's notvery syrupy, it's very light,
very smooth, kind of floats onthe tongue.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
To our male listeners if you have a wife or a
girlfriend or someone in yourorbit that's a female and you
want them to drink bourbon, Ithink this would be a good one
to try.
It's because of all thosereasons.
It's not thick, really heavy.
It tastes fresh.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, it's not, as they say, bourbon-y,
bourbon-mick bourbon.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's not heavily bourbon-y.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I gotta come on bottle on a shout out for that
one.
That's kind of his thing, butit's yeah, it's a lighter note.
You're not going to find thisone on the shelves as much 1792
Sweet Wheat.
You can find it.
It's not like an impossible tofind bottle, but if you just
show up at your liquor storeit's probably not going to be
there.
If you want something kind ofintro to your, you know, to get
(03:33):
someone into bourbon, maybe it'syour wife or your girlfriend or
a friend that never reallyliked bourbon I would start with
some of the stuff that youactually like a lot.
I think you had last week.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
St Augustine.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
St Augustine, florida Straits, or maybe Heaven Hill
has one that's toasted.
It's a toasted barrel.
It's really really good,something like that.
That's a lighter profile, sowe're going to sip on this as we
talk, but today I want to getinto those of you out there who
are not.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Inventors.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Inventors right so.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I'm not an inventor.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, like, for example, right Katie, every time
she needs anything built ordone and it has instructions or
more than five screws she putson a DIY to-do list for me and I
just kind of do it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Honey-do list.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And so there's those people out there, and so all you
use you as a perfect example.
You have an incredible abilityto see things and you know what
you want, you know what wouldmake it better and you know kind
of how you would innovate it,but you just can't speak to that
build.
You can't sketch it out like Ido and just be like, all right,
this is what I want, and then goin the garage and just kind of
(04:42):
make it happen.
You don't have that ability andthat's okay.
There are so many times in ourtime together where you've had a
great idea and I've sketched itand you're like, no, no, no,
change this.
No, no, no, change that.
And I think there's a lot ofinstances where there's so many
good artists and sketchers andarchitects and all those people
out there that can do thedrawing, they can take your
(05:03):
words and they can turn theminto pictures.
That's a skill in and of itself.
It's an art form.
You don't have to be able to dothat or build it yourself or
any of that to be an innovator.
And so if you're sitting thereand thinking to yourself, well,
I've got great ideas, andeverybody knows somebody who's
like I got an idea for an app.
Everyone's got an idea for anapp.
(05:24):
Everyone's got an idea for this.
If someone made something tosolve this and they know, it's
on the tip of their tongue.
They know what they want to fix, but they don't know how to fix
it.
Sometimes you can take a walkaround and look at what other
people have done, and I know,with Innovate, the Ordinary, a
huge chunk of what we do.
There's so many people outthere solving problems and
(05:46):
building things that you canjust reallocate something
they've already made.
What makes your standing deskspecial?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It allows me to get off my butt.
No, seriously, I read anarticle I think we've all read
this article a few years agothat said that sitting is the
new cancer and we're all hunchedover our devices, even if
you're not I hate thisterminology, but there's no
(06:17):
better one a knowledge worker orsomeone who works on the
computer.
We sit a lot.
We drive, we commute, we sit atour desks and it's really bad
for your entire bodily system.
And so having a standing desk,it gets me up.
It also helps me get createdbecause I'm changing my posture,
(06:41):
I get little breaks and once Iget tired of standing I can sit
back down.
It's just such a a duh type ofinvention.
Like, yeah, of course, whycan't my desk go up and down and
move depending on how I'mfeeling in that moment and
especially being on meetings allday?
I take a lot of meetings andbeing able to stand up and just
(07:03):
move around instead of likesitting in my chair and getting
really fidgety and I end upsitting on my feet and that's
really bad for your back and youknow, it's just nice to be able
to stand up and again, it makesme more creative because I can
pace and house a blood flow, allthat stuff.
So I like the flexibility thatit gives me to accomplish more
(07:24):
on my day because I am moreproductive, not just sitting in
my chair for eight hours.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Now.
So let's play a little game.
So we are currently sittinginside of our podcast studio
slash office.
We call it a layer A layer.
So we've got the closet thatwas in one of our bedrooms and I
converted it into a podcaststudio and then I put a drop
down ceiling a false ceiling ontop of it, and everything that
was in the closet before is nowstored above our heads using a
(07:53):
like a common winch you order onAmazon for 30 bucks.
That's what holds it up, that'swhat brings it up and down, and
it's just.
It's just basically a piece ofwood.
There's nothing fancy to it.
A piece of wood with a winch inthe middle and some slide rails
to keep it from leaning leftand right, right.
There's nothing terriblycomplex about it.
Below is everyone's doors.
Well, after they walk in, theysee it, but there's nothing
complex about it.
So I want to do a littleexercise.
(08:14):
Katie, turn around and look atyour standing desk.
It's behind you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I'm looking at my standing desk.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Okay, when you look at that, do you see like, how
does that work?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Oh, my goodness, you're asking me to describe how
it goes up and down.
It has a motor.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Has a motor yep.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And a hydraulic system of some kind, and the
energy source, electricity, andwhen I push a button it goes up
and I push the other button, itgoes down.
Pretty much it's very simple.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It is.
And so if I told you, A there'sno hydraulics in that at all
and B, that the how they havethat going up and down is just
like a threaded rod, it's thesame thing they used in
industrial applications foreverA little DCAC powered motor that
spins a little gear, that spinsa little threaded rod and
(09:06):
there's threaded bolts on thebottom each of those legs, and
as that rod spins, just like ascrew coming in out of a hole,
it goes up and down.
That's all it does.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
There's no hydraulic.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
There's no hydraulics in everything that.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Which is why it's so cheap.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, exactly Well, and every single piece of that
desk is.
You can buy that at Home Depot,including the little controller
that makes it open.
Now.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
The technology has gotten a lot cheaper.
I mean, you can buy a standingdesk for a lot of money but I
did not and you can get themvery economically priced.
But now that it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, and generally speaking, and I'm not I'm gonna
speak for every standing deskout there and if any standing
desk companies want a male maywant to prove me wrong, they're
welcome to.
But the only benefit you'regonna get when you spend more
money is they're gonna hide morecomponents and they're gonna
make them quieter and or faster.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
You also get more options, for example this desk,
because it is.
It is like an entry levelstanding desk with no bells and
whistles.
There's an up button.
It's a down button.
When I take my finger off thebutton it stops.
So I can set it any level, butI have to do it manually by
holding my finger on that button.
If you go up in price and get afan to your desk, you can set
(10:16):
presets.
So if I was sharing that desk,for example, with yourself and
you're much taller than I am,you could set your preset.
I could set my standing presetthat way or not, constantly like
trying to find the sweet spot.
So there are additionalelectronic features, memory etc.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, some small timers and things.
There's nothing crazy.
We talk about the standing deskfor a very good reason.
What we have is something thatsomeone like Katie and maybe
I'll go through and look up thehistory of the standing desk and
get a little bit moreinformation on this.
But someone like you went outand said, okay, I wish my desk
(10:55):
was taller or shorter.
I hate the littlescissor-leggie options that
people just put on top of desks.
I don't like those.
I wish it was electronic.
And somebody else said I canget everything that can do that
at Home Depot.
And I almost guarantee you theinitial iteration instead of an
up-down switch, it was like alight switch or just touch the
wires together and make it workor something like that, because
(11:16):
all you're doing is reversingpolarity, and so it's a very
simple design, something thatwas easy to make with
off-the-shelf components.
The person who thought of theidea is the innovator.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Anyone can build that right, right, the person who
thought of it probably wasn'tthe tinker they could be.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
They could be, but the innovator is the original
idea.
The innovator is the person whosees something.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Is the vision.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yep, they see something and they wanna reapply
it.
So NetVisual about Akverb.
I think you have anotherinstance where somebody saw
something and reapplied it.
I'd love for you to dive intothat.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yes, so this is only our second episode in the series
, but you all catch on to thefact that I love history.
If I could find a job insomething like this, I would
take it in heartbeat.
So we're going to go oversomeone today.
That, I think, illustrates thepoint we're trying to make that
(12:18):
you don't have to be an inventor, a tinkerer, someone who's
crafty, to innovate.
And I think this will be areally good call out, because,
although I love your standingdesk example, it still is an
invention, right.
And that does intimidate peopleLike I.
Have to take even off the shelfcomponents like, ah, I can't do
that.
(12:38):
I would be very overwhelmed bythat type of task.
So I'm going to talk about awoman whom everyone will
recognize her name.
Her name is Maria Montessori.
You've heard of her, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I know I don't make enough money for my kids to go
to her school.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
We do not make enough money to send our kids to
Montessori school.
But yes, that's exactly right.
Maria Montessori is credited asthe birth mother of the
Montessori program, which veryhigh level quick recap of what
that is, before we jump into herand what she did.
Montessori school is a programwhere kids are allowed to free
(13:20):
play and be more active, engagedwith instruments, instead of
sitting at a desk and beinglectured to, which is how our
traditional education system ispresented.
Today has been, for you know,50, 200 years.
So this system is verydifferent.
It's like I said, it's more, itleans more into play and
(13:42):
curiosity and going at your homepace, and I'm pretty sure most
Montessori schools don't haveformal exams or even grades to
some degree.
So it's very disruptive to, youknow, the normal education
system.
So Maria Montessori, I think,is really interesting because
(14:02):
she actually was a medicalprofessional, she was a doctor
and she was the first woman togo to medical school and to get
her doctorate degree in Italy.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
That makes so much sense because everything is like
pastel painted wood.
It kind of all, like all thecolors, remind me of a doctor's
office.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Well, I don't know if the color palette is a direct
descendant of Maria Montessori,because it's been a couple of
generations, but that is aninteresting observation.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I know we need painted pastel blocks, wood
painted with pastel colors tomimic a doctor's office as much
as humanly possible.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
So she went to medical school in Italy.
She was the first woman in herclass.
There is a rumor that the Popehimself was the was an advocate
for her and the only reason shegot into that school?
Because she was previously toldthat she would never they would
never allow a woman to enroll,and she ended up enrolling.
There's a big gap in therecords as to why they let her
(15:05):
in, but there are some rumorscirculating that she had
connections, we know, to thePope and that he had taken an
interest in her studies.
So she, she was a medical doctorand she was visiting an asylum
for young children as part ofher degree track.
She was.
She went to you know, give themcare, essentially and she
noticed that the kids at thisasylum, they didn't have any
(15:30):
education or training at all.
They were treated like animalswhich, if you go back in the
history books and you, you godown that rabbit hole of asylums
and mental health.
That is very common for for thetime and we're talking, you
know, the late 1800s.
So that's very, very common forpeople with mental health
(15:52):
challenges to be treated likeanimals and to be locked up.
So that's what she A lot ofhistory we're not proud of A lot
of history, yeah, and we won'tbe proud of you know that we're
doing.
Now I digress.
So she noticed that these kidswere not being trained or
educated in any way and she justthought this is really
(16:15):
interesting that these kids arebeing left in the care of
physicians, like myself, when Ithink they should be in the care
of educators and teachers.
So she just started readingabout this issue and about what
could be done, and shediscovered a lot of
philosophical works and a lot ofideas, some from Edward Seguin
(16:38):
Seguin, but during that SeguinSeguin, who his work was on
dividing learning into stagesand he had developed apparatuses
to simulate learning in youngkids.
She also discovered works byJean Jacques Roussaud, who said
that the role of a teacher is tounlock the ability of the child
(17:00):
that's already innately there.
And these are just two examplesof a bunch of philosophers that
she read up on and she studiedand was learning about
play-based learning, which,again, this is our point right
this was already an idea thatwas floating out there in the
philosophical realms but notbeing applied in any way.
So she learned about these andshe decided let's do this.
(17:24):
So she started advocating forthese kids and these asylums,
she realized that there was awindow between the ages of two
and six where this was really,really effective.
So she was able to put all thistheory she learned to the test
and she opened a school forspecial needs kids.
It was totally experimental andit was a massive, massive
(17:44):
success.
And it shocked everyone thatthese kids were learning, that
they were doing better they were.
Some of them were even able tobe integrated into a normal
school system after goingthrough her program, and they
were previously just locked upin an asylum and left to play
with crumbs on the floor as toys.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Can you imagine being so as a parent, you think of
everything through thisparenting lens, right?
Can you imagine being a parentand basically being told your
kid is unsavable, just go aheadand throw him an asylum?
As a parent, you're gonna takethat moment.
When someone comes up with anidea and someone says, hey, I'm
trying this new thing as aparent, I'm like it's better
(18:23):
than an asylum, I think, right,I mean let's give it a shot.
I mean at this point it's worthit.
Right, let's try.
You have the observation whichis she says, okay, here's the
problem.
And then she is identifyingsome options where she looks at
what other people have done.
And that's where you can lookout and say you can gain from
the experience of others and saythis person's doing this, this
(18:44):
person's doing this, and thenwe'll do what I call kind of
solve it your way.
Right, just put all thattogether and kind of find a
solution and then test andimprove.
So now we're gonna be kind ofin the test and improve section
here.
But if I was a parent that mykid was had no choice but to get
locked up in an asylum and haveto learn there, which is
incredibly stressful.
It is.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Well, they weren't learning.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
They were basically treated like future criminals.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
For a four to six year old.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Two to six year old.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Two to six year old.
That's like unthinkable.
I think of my two year old andas spunky as she is, and if
somebody was saying, oh you know, she's untrainable, she's
uncoachable, just go ahead andlock her up, she's never in a
mount to anything.
I, as a parent, I refuse tobelieve that.
You can't believe that that'snot, there's no way.
And so you give this personcomes out with this idea and
(19:34):
this is for Madame Montessorihere.
This is probably her bigmarketing moment, and so I'm
interested to hear what happensnext.
Sorry, I meant to interrupt you.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Well, yeah, I think you're overlooking a big
cultural implication of the time.
You wouldn't have had a choiceif you had had a child who was
severely mentally handicapped orhad any type of disability.
In that way, that child,especially if you didn't have
any economic resources rightLike you're working, your spouse
(20:05):
is working, or maybe you're asingle parent.
You've got other children, andprobably a lot of them, because
people had more children in the19th century.
So you would have to send yourchild somewhere and if they
can't integrate into the normalschool system, this is where
they would end up and it wasconsidered normal.
So it's hard for us to thinkback on this and be like no way
(20:26):
I'm not putting my kid in thesilent, but that's just what
happened.
And this program which, again,which was incredibly
experimental, was a mass success, was the birth of Montessori
program.
And I think it's fascinatingthat she took a philosophy, or
multiple philosophies that saidthat kids learn better when
their hands are on, when they'reallowed to be creative, when
(20:48):
they're allowed to go at theirown pace.
And that wasn't even directedat kids who had mental handicaps
.
Right Like it wasn't like shewent looking for how do I teach
kids like this?
She just went looking for adifferent way to teach kids,
applied it to kids who had thesestruggles and now it's been
rolled out to anyone who canafford it.
(21:11):
So you know, it's just, shedidn't reinvent anything.
She found the solution, she wasinspired, she applied it and
now it's still a very reputable,sometimes controversial program
that is highly regarded and Ithink that it's because it was.
(21:31):
If you can take kids who can'tsit still in a classroom which I
mean we have a four year oldmost kids can't sit still in a
classroom.
You're talking about one typeof student that can sit into
that mold, fit into that moldand be successful.
And if you plug in other kidswho aren't the sit listen
auditory learners, it's going towork and that's why it's still
(21:55):
around to this day.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
It's almost, I think, a little bit like the keto diet
.
The keto diet started out withit was a treatment for epilepsy,
and this doctor basically kindof purged them of their bad diet
by heavily limiting what theycould eat, which just happened
to put them in ketosis, whichjust happened to improve
epilepsy.
And now again, it's availablefor anyone who could afford it
(22:22):
or is willing to restrict theirdiet.
Which I think is fascinating,right, because that's the that,
to me at least, is that that'sthe turn where you go from
innovation and a great idea tothe capital market, or, you know
, capitalism to the market,where someone says, okay, love
the idea, now let's make itexpensive.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah Well, and also I think it's important to call
out that you can innovatesomething that's totally out of
your field or even your interest, right?
Maria was a physician, her lifewas medicine and she went down
in history as the mother ofeducation.
So she didn't set out to dothat, she wasn't looking for
(23:05):
that.
She found something and itinspired her and it lit
something in her and she solvedit and she went down in history
as the person who came up withthis program.
So you don't have to stay inyour lane, is what I'm trying to
say.
If you have, if you see a needand you have an idea, you can go
ahead and cross those intodifferent lanes and explore.
(23:28):
I mean, I think it'sfascinating that people most
people probably wouldn't knowthat she was a physician first.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yeah, I always naturally just assumed, I
actually was an educator.
To full disclosure I thoughtMontessor was the first name, so
I assumed it was a man.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
So I thought which would be a good assumption
because of the time and, yeah,the time that Maria lived women
women writers, for example wouldwrite under pseudonyms because
it was un-ladylike to be awriter.
So like, yes, that would makeperfect sense, but no, she was a
(24:05):
she's a Joan of Arc ofeducation.
Yeah, she was the first womanphysician to graduate from her
university, which is just veryaccomplished lady.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And I think that there's a couple pieces to some
takeaways from that.
One is, I would say obviously,follow your passions, be
passionately curious about whatit is that you find interesting.
Don't even hold your back.
Obviously, as a father of twoyoung girls, I think for me it's
yeah, go forth and be something, go, push the envelope, try
(24:37):
things that you love, gain thatexperience and don't let anyone
hold you back.
I'll support you all day long.
But I think that the otherpiece of that is don't feel so
burdened with the idea of beingan innovator.
Don't be so burdened with thethought that I have to change
something.
So if you're starting abusiness or you're starting a
(25:00):
new job, I have to come in hereand make an impact, have to
change something.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
The number of Impact for sake of impact.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, I mean the number of times that in my work
life, in my design life, whereyou have somebody new that joins
an organization, and usually inleadership, when they come in
and say, well, I'm going to makean impact and they just start
changing things.
And oftentimes you get into themeeting with these people and
it's tone deaf, it's tone deafor it's.
(25:27):
Well, I want to make a name formyself.
I want to change the way we'redoing something, and oftentimes
they have a vague idea.
And I do some consulting withthem and they have some vague
idea of what they want, but theydon't know exactly what it is
that they want to change.
They just know they want tochange something and I identify
a problem, but I haven't takenany time at all to look at
(25:51):
alternative solutions yet.
It's just.
Here's the problem.
I'm going to change it.
And one if you're not passionateabout it, you're not going to
spend the extra time to look atthe solutions.
Think of the thing in life thatyou're the least interested in.
Oh hey, I think that kickers inthe NFL have this great
(26:11):
opportunity to kick the ball 15yards further if they put their
foot like this.
I couldn't have lost you anyfaster, saying that you just
don't care.
So if you are somebody who washired to contribute to the NFL,
that's not probably what you'regoing to pick.
(26:31):
You're going to go formarketing something else.
And so if you're starting outand you're saying I want to find
something to improve, if you'reout to just change something
and it's not something thatbrings about the spark of
wanting something better.
You're just gonna changesomething for the sake of
changing it.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
So and you're not gonna follow through because I
think that there is a really biglie that we have consumed and
maybe we can cover this in afuture episode of you know you
have to succeed at this,otherwise it doesn't matter, and
fill what this is in foryourself, whether that's
(27:10):
pursuing a specific career,getting to a certain level in
that career industry, inventingor innovating something that
disrupts this many people Likethere's this pill that we've
taken.
That's like innovation.
There's a hierarchy ofinnovation and there's a
hierarchy to success and youknow, that's why our culture
(27:33):
consumes these ideas in theseself-help books that are like
how to get your grit back andyou know how to be a successful
salesman or marketer.
I mean, I've seen the booksthat you have and I've got them
too, and they're all like theself-help how to just be better
at your craft, which are great.
But it's like the people who gothe Maria Montessori's the
(27:56):
world.
Like you said, they have apassion for something and
nothing is going to stop themfrom accomplishing that, and
they may not accomplish whatthey set out to accomplish, but
they're gonna do work andthey're gonna do good work
because they got a horse in therace, they got skin in the game
and they're there for they'renot just doing it because
they're like this is what I'msupposed to do, and maybe this
(28:18):
should be another episode,because I think we could go down
a very, very, very long rap, awhole, talking about you know,
do what you love and don't beafraid to get really into what
you love.
A great example of this and I'mgonna just call him out, not by
name, but he'll know who he iswe have a good friend who
studies reptiles, snakes andthings.
(28:39):
He's a herpetologist and I haveno idea how he does that.
I have no idea.
Like, if you told me that to besuccessful and to be, you know,
respected, I had to do that, Iwould fail every single time,
every single lifetime you gaveme.
I would not be able to do it,but he has such a passion for
that, that area of study, thathe is willing to go anywhere and
(29:05):
make it work because that'swhat he loves and I think that's
really important.
Like, I wanted to be a marinebiologist until I got into it
and realized, oh, I don't likethis as much as I thought I did.
It wasn't a failure for me toswitch into something new.
It would have been a failure tostay, because I thought I had
to succeed at it, because Ithought it was what I wanted to
(29:25):
do.
It's not so.
If you don't have a passion,you're not in love with
something.
It doesn't spark inspiration.
You don't need to push yourselfto be an innovator or to be the
best in that Like that's not tosay you shouldn't do good work
and you shouldn't work hard atwhat you do.
But I just think that we are.
(29:45):
We're all a little confusedsometimes on what it means to be
an innovator and how that'ssupposed to look, and that's the
model you need to follow.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, and remember, we'll get into this a little bit
in that future episode, butthere is an arc specifically.
There's a principle out therethat specifically says when
you're learning something newand you're trying something new
In the very beginning, finallyyou feel like you understand it
and you're the most passionateabout it and the more you learn,
the more you realize you don'tknow.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
You don't know correct.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
And then there's kind of a pit of despair where
you're like, well, I guess I'llnever get this.
And then by the time you're anexpert, you're understanding
that you don't know as much asyou.
You'll never know it all andthat's okay, but now you know
more than most people becauseyou took the time to get through
that pit of despair.
So just be aware that if you'retrying to solve a problem and
you're trying to figure out howto solve something, there's a
(30:34):
clear and defined line whereyou're gonna be at your.
You're gonna feel like, well, Ithought I knew what I was doing
, but I think I'm a completeidiot and I have no idea and
I'll probably never learn it.
It's way too hard to figure out.
And then as you push throughthat, then you start kind of
leaning towards expertise.
So that would be the takeawayfrom this episode is you don't
(30:55):
have to be.
You don't have to be someonewho can build it.
You just have to know what theproblem is and let other
people's solutions to problemsthat they've seen solve your
problem for you.
And I think the best example Ican give in our line of work is
we have a customer that theywanted to have a very clean,
(31:16):
minimalistic.
They wanted a cooler on wheelsis basically what they described
, but they wanted to make itlook like an ottoman or
something and like kind of theydon't want people to see coolers
.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Oh, coolers are ugly.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
They are, and they're hideous, actually, right, as a
rule.
I mean, there's some prettycoolers out there.
For the most part, your effortis to hide a cooler or just have
leave it out in the open soeveryone knows exactly where it
is.
They want to be found, right.
And so, as we talked to thisminimalistic design, the idea of
kind of storing them in theground and having me push a
(31:46):
button and have them pop up cameup, and that was one of those
things we talked about and I waslike well, what if you store
them in the ground and we setoff to build this custom thing?
And you don't have to buildthis custom thing.
There's a guy in Germany thatmade one.
He made it specifically forlike a couple of beers, right,
but the mechanisms are all there, the general ideas all there,
(32:09):
so there's no need to reinventthe wheel.
Somebody has already solvedthat problem on some scale.
Take the design, re-outfit itfor your needs.
You might have to rebuild someparts for it, but re-outfit it
for your needs and then use it.
And so a big, a huge part ofwhat we end up doing at Innovate
the Ordinary is findingalternative solutions that
already exist that we canre-outfit for that need.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
That's right.
There's nothing new under thesun, the end of the day.
So go find that person who'salready done it, go find that
philosopher who's alreadythought it, and then make it
applicable to what you're tryingto do, and that's what we do
here.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Find your Rousseau to help you set up your Montessori
school, and then we can all sitdown and paint wooden blocks
together and let the kids playwith them.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
And I have to go back and find out who made that
design call, because I have afeeling it's probably not
connected to her.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
That's when the marketing got involved right.
These colors bring out joy andspark intuitive desire to be
creative for children, orsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I've never been in a Montessori school, but I have
friends whose kids are inMontessori school, so I'm going
to ask them because I bet I'd bewilling to bet anything that
that color palette changesdepending on what's fashionable,
and right now, as millennials,we love the soft pastel, Like.
(33:30):
That's very millennial.
So I bet you that's a bit of anewer palette for Montessori and
I bet you in 20 years it'll becompletely different Because it
is a marketing.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Yeah, that's an innovative twist all in all of
itself, right.
So you're looking at thisMontessori school and I got to
remarket it and rebrand it.
I want to make it into anexpensive thing, but it's just
kids sitting on the floorplaying with sticks.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Well, I think that's a bit reductionist, but yes.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Well, as you're trying to market it, you're like
all right, Is kids playing withsticks and ball bearings on the
floor?
How do I make this marketedtowards something better or
something completely?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
different, Like if you own a Montessori school, or
you own a Montessori school oryour kids go to a Montessori
school.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
we are not knocking Montessori by that statement.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Absolutely not, and we have no idea what the
curriculum really is, because wehave not been that involved.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
I'm sure it's lovely and that's exactly it, right,
we're not knocking the program.
I couldn't speak to it enoughto know, we just know the
history of it, right.
But as we're looking at it itseems to be kind of what it
seems to be, based on ourobservations from the outside.
I'm happy to.
I'm sure that we could probablydo a whole episode on how
(34:40):
Montessori school works and whyit's so groundbreaking and we
know that it's a groundbreakingway of teaching children from
two to six, because obviously itworked it does work.
Right.
So that's certainly not anindictment on the idea or the
schools at all.
It's more of me just beingsilly on how the wires.
Why is there anything coloredin pastel and made of wood?
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Why is this stick pink?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, I'm marked.
It's just that comes off asmarking to me.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
We're going down the, we're going down to the pit
here.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Well, thank you so much.
This has been John.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
And Katie.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
And we are Innovate Everything.
Join us next week for aninterview with John Jeremilo and
I for the next two weeks, wherewe're going to break down
finding innovators in theworkplace, and then Katie and I
will be back shortly thereafter.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
See you next time.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
See you next time.
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