If you’re like me, you’re still finding gift cards that you received last Christmas, but never used.

Oh joy, with Christmas 2011 only 11 days away, we’ll soon be starting the gift card mania all over again.

Try going to any store these days without being inundated by gift cards from scores of retailers. The supermarket. The drugstore. The office supply store. Even the 7-Eleven down the street has umpteen variety of gift cards. I guess that’s why we call them convenience stores. But is there such a thing as too much convenience?

Standing in the checkout line of any of these stores, you can find yourself an arms-length away from any number of brightly colored gift cards from places like Barnes and Noble, Applebee’s, Best Buy, and Bass Pro Shops. Hey, don’t snicker. Bass fisher men and women need a little love during the holidays too.

What happened to the good old days when you had to actually go to an individual store to purchase that store’s gift card, or God forbid, purchase a gift itself? And try giving someone a $50 American Express Gift Certificate these days, redeemable like a traveler’s check. They came in matching gold-colored envelopes and made a great Christmas or graduation gift. Nowadays, you might as well try giving someone a rotary dial phone.

I must admit that I too find it hard to resist buying a gift card or two each year for that special someone — or not so special. It’s easy, and requires little thought or planning. Isn’t that the American way?

Let’s try something bold and new this holiday season. Physically go to a store and actually buy a real gift for that friend or loved one. And pay extra to get it wrapped by a human being.

In fact, make it a point this year to demonstrate a little inconvenience. Go out of your way. And do the same with your customers and clients. You’ll enjoy the results and the good cheer it will bring.

It’s hard to add to what has already been said from so many corners of the globe about the enormous contributions of Steven Paul Jobs to the fields of technology, movies, music, telecommunications, and design itself. But I do feel compelled to say something about Mr. Jobs. We just lost our country’s Chief Innovator.

Steve Jobs was a once-in-a-generation visionary who demonstrated a unique blend of design, business, and marketing savvy. He took a quirky, irrelevant computer company named after a fruit, which he co-founded in the 1970s, and turned it into a global business powerhouse boasting the largest market cap of any other company on the planet  – equaled only by Exxon Mobil.

The last decade, in particular, has been truly impressive as Jobs led Apple as it redefined the music industry via the iPod, wireless communication via the iPhone, and more recently, the computer itself via the iPad.

Jobs didn’t always get it right. In 1985, after being fired by Apple, he started the NeXT computer company. NeXT folded in 1996 after shipping only 50,000 units, but its high performance personal computers impressed many, including Apple, which re-hired Jobs in 1997.

Most important, Jobs learned from his mistakes and he wasn’t afraid to make them. At every turn in his career, he ignored traditional business school dogma, and chose to take a different path – always guided by what he felt the consumer wanted.

Jobs concluded that consumers would be willing to pay more for a product if it was well-designed and simple to use.  He was right, and Apple and its shareholders have benefited handsomely.

Business schools will be studying the “Jobs Effect” and his hyper-successful business methods for years to come, and rightfully so.

At some point, there will be another Steve Jobs. He or she will also achieve success by eschewing the safe path. And most likely, he or she too will succeed as a result of a keen focus on innovation, smart design, and creative business approaches.

British painter and portrait artist Lucian Michael Freud died last week in London at the age of 88.

Not as famous as his grandfather, Sigmund Freud, Lucian was well-known nonetheless in the world of art for his “stark and revealing paintings of friends and intimates,” according to the New York Times.

Lucian Freud was born in Berlin on December 8, 1922 to Sigmund Freud’s youngest son, Ernst Ludwig Freud, who was an Austrian architect. Lucian’s mother, Lucie née Brasch, was German. As both parents were Jewish, the Freuds moved their family to the St. John’s Wood district of London in 1933 to escape Nazi Germany.

I know St. John’s Wood well and have walked down many of its streets given my grandfather lived in that district for many years. I also know the work of Lucian Freud and have always respected it for its thought-provoking nature. His earlier Surrealism works gave way to bluntly-presented nude portraitures by the 1950s, which served to shock the senses. For example, his “Naked Man with Rat” (1977-1978) depicted a man lying on a couch holding a sleeping rat.

The central figures of Freud’s paintings many times appear tired, aged, and distressed – which has unnerved some observers over the years, particularly in the United States. Yet, no matter what one thinks of Freud’s work, there is an undisputed market for it. In May 2008, his 1995 portrait “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” sold at auction by Christie’s in New York City for $33.6 million, which set a record for sale value of a painting by a living artist.

Conformity is the enemy to both the artist and the innovator. Corporations are generally expert at promoting conformity, but seldom proficient in providing for a culture that promotes creative thought and action. And they do so at their peril.

The next time you find yourself trying to conform, ask this question: “What would Freud do?” No, not the father of psychoanalysis, but his grandson.

On May 25, 1961 President John F. Kennedy spoke before a joint session of Congress and laid down a challenge to the country and the U.S. space program: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

With these words, the United States marshaled an unprecedented level of innovative and scientific forces to accomplish this seemingly unreachable goal. In doing so, new generations of Americans became interested in science and space. Educators, students, and the American society at large embraced this ambitious goal with a level of enthusiasm not seen before or since this period in history.

And eight years later on July 21, 1969 astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to step foot on the Moon.

Undoubtedly, this country’s excitement and focus on science and space in the 1960s helped plant many of the seeds that led to America’s leadership in technology over the next several decades, including the microcomputer, software, and the Internet.

With this week’s 135th and last launch of the U.S. Space Shuttle, I find myself longing for a new, seemingly unreachable goal that can spark this country’s ingenuity and innovative spirit once more. Else, I fear that we will continue to slip further behind other countries like China and India, which are turning out four times as many math, engineering, and science graduates as the United States.

Let’s hope our country’s next Moon shot comes sooner rather than later.

Inventor and entrepreneur, George C. Ballas, Sr. of Houston, TX, died this past week at the age of 85. You may not know his name, but you know his most popular invention – the Weed Eater.

His weed trimming device helped revolutionize lawn care in the 1970s. Ballas first introduced the product in the early 1970s, and by 1976, “he was selling $40 million worth of them annually,” according to the Associated Press. In 1977, he sold the company to the Emerson Electric Company for an undisclosed amount.

Eager to find a way to more quickly trim his three-acre yard, Ballas got the idea for the Weed Eater while sitting in an automatic car wash as he watched the large rotary bristles clean his car. His first version used wire attached to a popcorn can, which was then rigged to a rotary edger. He then worked with an engineer to substitute monofilament line as the lightweight and inexpensive cutting material. Ballas held several patents on the machine.

George Ballas also invented an adjustable table and marketed an early portable phone, but inventing was not his day job. Ballas was a professional dancer who owned and ran several Arthur Murray and Fred Astaire dance studios in the 1960s. He served as President of Fred Astaire Studios from 1960 to 1964. After getting out the service, he married a dancer instructor, Maria Louis Marulanda, who taught Ballas the tango. The couple later performed together.

His son, Corky Ballas, also became a professional dancer, as well as his grandson, Mark Ballas, who has appeared on seven seasons of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Mark Ballas partnered with Bristol Palin in Season 11.

You never know where creativity and ingenuity may come from or where it may take you. How many great ideas, like the Weed Eater, never made it to the production table because of lack of confidence, encouragement, or risk-taking?

The same holds true for creativity and innovation within a company. Make sure your corporate culture embraces the George Ballases within your ranks, even when their ideas may not fit neatly in their day jobs.

It could very well lead to a new patent for your company, an improved service, or a new dance move that’s bound to impress the judges (a.k.a. shareholders).

According to Investor’s Business Daily, biomedical company Edwards Lifesciences puts innovation at the heart of its corporate strategy. And Edwards should know something about the heart given it is a leading innovator in heart valve development.

Key to its success, Irvine, CA-based Edwards Lifesciences has continued to pump resources into research and development in recent years, while “many companies have cut back on R&D due to economic pressures.”

Edwards has gained market share against competitors like Medco Health, Boston Scientific, and St. Jude Medical because of its focus on quality and innovation in the heart valve and vascular market, according to medical technology research analyst, Ben Andrew.

Mike Mussallem, Edwards’ CEO, also notes that the key to innovation is the willingness to make mistakes. “What’s important is making mistakes, learning from them and making adjustments.” The Edwards’ maxim: “Don’t Blame, Learn.”

Other company managers and executives could learn from this maxim. Employees many times are too timid to try something new for fear of failing, and then being ridiculed and penalized. This type of risk averse/don’t fail corporate culture leads more often to mediocrity, not to innovative products and services.

Take a page from Edwards Lifesciences, and put learning from your mistakes at the heart of your innovation program. You may not save lives in the process, but you could save your company and put it on a much healthier course toward success.