A few years back I got this remark from a colleague in the industry, "You're always like that.  You love to break things apart and create a new 'whole' ".  She was referring to the pen I had in hand but made allusions to the way I worked within the industry.  The pen was actually a hybrid of sorts having the body of a Parker yet having unique self-styled inner workings and a more fluid, non-Parker gel cartridge.  I have never heard of the term pen-smith but I'd have to tell you that if it were guns we're talking about, I'd be a gunsmith.

I love to fashion my own pens.  Some time back, I would periodically hear my friend/colleague/boss, Cookie Bartolome say, "That's a nice pen." after letting her sign agency documents with the pen I'd hand her.  The secret is now out, the pens I'd have in my pocket would always be one of a kind.  The moment I take them out of the red plastic bag of National Book Store, I would immediately get to work on it with my pliers and other tools in my desk drawer to create the writing instrument which suits me best.  For the fashionista readers of this blog, think of the term "alterations".  Ahhh now we're connecting!

Yet, this blog post is not about pens.  This blog post is really about my "problem".  The problem with me is that I often break up the system and create a new norm.  I am a non-conformist to the core.  An OOH media vendor once said to another in my presence, "masyadong malikot ang utak nito".  My former boss, Venus, also said in a meeting we had some months after I had resigned, "Naku, kung ano-ano talaga ang mga napagiisipan nito".  She was saying that as we were laughing in her office because I had identified a new and uncharted income stream.

I just have to state it bluntly.  I confess.  Malikot talaga ang utak ko.  But then when you come to think of it, that's what we really need these days.  The word "malikot" sounds quite negative given its connotations of mischief.  But when we begin to translate that in English as "innovation", now we're talking!  Of course the innovation needs to be used for the good of all rather than wielding it a la Lex Luthor.

I was spurred to write about this for two reasons.  One, I am about to embark on a new consulting stint with a company whose Business Development Officer isn't inherently "malikot" (sigh).  Two, the two books on my desk:












Making Innovation Work (How to Manage It, Measure It, Profit From It)...published by Wharton School Publishing, and







The Innovation Killer: How What We Know Limits What We Can Imagine -- and What Smart Companies Are Doing About It














So much about "My Problem".  Now if you'd excuse me, I need to jot down a few new ideas :-)