the solution to a seemingly impossible challenge.
In the original Greek, “eureka” translates to “I have found it!” Legend has it that the Greek mathematician and physicist Archimedes coined the term after being stimulated in a hot tub.
Settling in for a long soak one day around 250 BC, Archie was preoccupied with finding a way to determine the proportion of gold to ordinary metal in King Hieron’s crown. Evidently, the king suspected he had been shorted by his royal crown supplier and was interested in ascertaining whether the crown on his head was mostly, if not all, gold or some cheap imitation. At the time, the weight of gold per unit volume was well known. But given the intricate nature of the crown’s design, with all its curlicues and whatnot, it was impossible to measure its volume.
So as Archie lowered himself into the tub, he noticed his bath water rise. The lower he sank, the higher the water rose, until it overflowed. The stimulus of the overflowing hot tub gave Archie an epiphany. He suddenly realized he could measure the volume of the crown by simply dunking it in a tub filled to the brim, then measuring the water that overflowed.
Archie leaped from his tub and ran naked into the street hollering “eureka!” Thus, in the grip of inspiration, he also invented streaking. And it didn’t end there–the hot tub revelation led him to the discovery of the law of specific gravity and the general science of hydrostatics.
Forty-something—From Idea Guru to Idea Factory Engineer
Eureka! success was tremendous. We had an industry-leading 88 percent repeat rate from some of the world’s most demanding clients. However, much of our success came from my personal ability to think bold thoughts. Or as Inc. Magazine described it: “Most of the winning creative leaps, most of the marketplace-driven reshaping of raw ideas, took place in the caffeine-stoked furnace of Hall’s own uniquely nimble mind, often at 2 or 3 a.m. during 72-hour sessions with clients. That’s when the real rubber hit the road.”
In the same article, writer John Grossmann described Eureka! as a professional practice not a reproducible business. “At the end of the day, Hall was no different from a doctor with a stethoscope around his neck or a wrench-twisting plumber. It all flowed through him. It worked because I ran around like the guy spinning plates on The Ed Sullivan Show,” I told Grossmann.
Near this time, I traveled to the North Pole by dog sled. It was a brutal 200-mile trip at 40 below zero. During the trip I came to the realization that my “legacy” to date included the creation of new types of tortilla chips, candies, caskets, credit cards, and cars. And while it made me laugh—it was not exactly what I had dreamed my impact on the world would be.
On the way to 90 North a new vision was born: a dream to translate what I’d learned into a reliable and reproducible business; to make the creative impact I delivered to my small, select group of corporate clients available to the masses of Real World entrepreneurs and corporations around the world.
When I returned to the world of the warm, every Eureka! session became a laboratory experiment. I became fanatical about measurement. We measured client teams’ states of mind before we worked with them. We measured them during the process of creating. We measured the end quality of all final ideas and their eventual impact on the world. We then did correlation and regression analysis to help us understand how to modify our actions to maximize client success.
The Eureka! method went through rapid transformations. As of this writing, we are at Eureka! 7.0—the seventh version in 21 years. Today’s approach reliably helps companies develop measurably smarter choices for growth. To be specific—Eureka! 7.0 develops some 12 times more “big ideas” than Eureka! 1.0.
Most important of all, it’s a reliable and reproducible system. This means that others can be trained to lead Eureka! Sessions with the same reliability as me. The chart below shows how even rookie facilitators generate results from each of the six cycles of a classic Eureka! Session that are nearly identical to those when I am in charge.
In effect, the system’s research over the past 10 years has removed the greatest barrier to growth—ME. I am fully replaceable. Instead of building an empire of thousands of staff members—I chose to follow the path of Ben Franklin for expansion. Franklin expanded his print shop throughout the colonies through dozens of partnerships with local partners. In exchange for Franklin licensing his expertise and assistance he received a royalty. So too, we are following that same path as we partner with other companies to bring Eureka! to thousands of companies around the world.
The turn from guru to idea factory engineer resulted in a No. 1 national business best selling book Jump Start Your Business Brain, an honorary doctorate from the University of Prince Edward Island, as well as television and radio opportunities.
David Wecker and I hosted Brain Brew, a radio program of ideas and advice for entrepreneurs, for three years. Public Radio International distributed the show nationally. You can listen to the show at http://www.brainbrewradio.com. In Canada, I hosted CBC-TV Venture specials, where I was dubbed the “Business Robin Hood” for my efforts to help small-business owners.
Fifty-something—Real World Entrepreneur and Educator
As I embark on my fifth decade, in addition to our continuing work with corporate leaders, I’m returning to my entrepreneurial and inventor roots.
It’s taken some time. Five years, in fact, of front-line testing and learning to help me regain my “feel” for the world of entrepreneurs (and detox myself from the corporate mindset). The result is a series of cost-efficient and effective programs called Eureka! Winning Ways.
We will soon have certified Eureka! Growth Coaches in all fifty U.S. states as well as dozens of countries around the world.
I recently had a wild ride as a judge on ABC-TV’s American Inventor produced by Simon Cowell. The experience opened my eyes to the plight of independent inventors. Invention promotion firms steal thousands of dollars from tens of thousands of inventors. One company took money from 1,950 inventors, and only 5 made back more than they paid in.
Over the next 10 years it’s my plan to create an HONEST and MEANINGFUL system for helping independent inventors clean, screen, and license their inventions to companies.
Lastly, it is my dream to create educational curriculum that can help students at universities, vocational schools and community colleges across the world “create and sell big ideas.” I believe that everyone, no matter what their profession, needs to understand how to create and sell their ideas for improving their company, community, or the planet. The greatest waste of resources in any community are the ideas thought of but not acted on.
Translating what we’ve learned from “big companies” to “small companies” was difficult. However, initial indications are that translating our learning to the world of education is even more difficult. Companies are generally easier to work with as they have the simple and focused mission of making more money by serving customers. Educational institutions are more challenging as they often have multiple, conflicting missions.
The Trained Brains
Through these pages, you’ll also meet my Trained Brains—the highest level of Eureka! Growth Coaches. They’re a collection of bold and brave thinkers who have demonstrated a reproducible ability to invent fresh and feasible ideas for helping clients grow their businesses.
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