Over the last 15 years I have asked hundreds of people in workshops where they get their best ideas. The answers that come back follow a predictable pattern: in the shower, early in the morning, while driving, away from the office, when chatting with others and in the pub on a Friday night!

The fatal mistake many innovation mangers make though is to assume that this is the state they need to be in throughout the innovation process rather than just when they want to generate new ideas. Most of the innovation process requires determination, focus, energy, problem solving, influencing and tenacity. Quite the reverse of the drunken conversation in the pub on a Friday where all that has been achieved by Saturday morning is a hangover!