Posts Tagged ‘innovation’
Senator McCain, CEO Tim Cook, Apple, Fashion, and God
Yesterday I caught some of the Senate hearings on Apple avoiding paying taxes. The issue of taxes aside, something that Senator McCain said gives great insight into his personality and perhaps a generation.
Senator McCain to the Apple CEO, Tim Cook:
Sir, there’s only one thing I really wanted to ask you today. Why do I keep on having to update all the apps on my iPhone? Can’t you guys fix that already?
Can’t you fix it?
Once and for all…
So I don’t have to get these updates…
Tim Cook replied that McCain’s iPhone got updates because Apple is making things better all the time.
The Static, Finished Universe
John McCain, like many, thinks in terms of a “static universe”. Things should work in a certain way and then stay that way forever. Change is bad; I am satisfied what with I have; why change it?
Perhaps such an idea is generational. McCain is of the generation who have one career, work at one place their entire life, and defend the status quo at all costs no matter what. I meet these people all the time in just about every organization.
Pre-rational belief systems
Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can or think you can’t – you’re right”
The idea is that your attitude has a direct effect on outcomes. If you think the World is static then it is; if you think it’s not then it’s not. These sorts of decisions are pre-rational. The outcome will be what your pre-conceived ideas make it. You make your own Reality.
God’s perfection
Perhaps we have been influenced too much by the traditional Christian theological position of the perfection of God. The idea that God, in his/her perfection is “changeless”. This is pure metaphysics. Why should “changelessness” be perfection? In the 13th century St Thomas Aquinas brought Aristotle’s metaphysics into the Catholic tradition. That’s the long and short of it.
A different idea
If you saw the movie The Social Network about Mark Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook then perhaps you remember this scene in the movie. Someone asks Zuckerberg this question, “When will Facebook be finished?”
Zuckerberg replies, “Facebook is like fashion, it will never be finished.”
It’s matter of perspective – and it makes all the difference in the world.
Like fashion, nothing should be finished. No idea, no concept, no product, no innovation, no organization,, and even your career – should never be finished. There is no life when one is finished.
The Take
McCain is probably not alone. Fix this software and be done with it. To change something implies that it’s broken.
Fashion is not broken. Innovation is only broken when it stops changing.
Traditional Theology got a shock in the 20th century by Process Theology. That movement in theology in the 1950’s “outted” traditional theological debt to Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas in the notion that “changless” is some sort of perfection.
Shocking as it might seem, the Process Theologians held that “God’s future is open”. God is not static and not finished.
As the McCain and Cook short exchange demonstrates, just about every organization, every government, and every social context is a collision between those who want to stop the world and those who want to change the world. Exchanges like McCain-Cook demonstrate how people differentiate themselves in thier pre-rational belief systems about change and what it implies.
There are insights every day about how people think, if you know where to look. Hopefully, McCain and Cook learned something interesting about themselves and their view of the world in this exchange. And now you know it too.
Insights from the difference between Jazz and Classical Music
I recently attended a week long conference. As part of the conference group dinners were planned for Thursday evening at a nearby restaurant. This is always a good opportunity to have some good dinner conversation late into the evening. The key is to find the right dinner partners.
Finding the right dinner partners is part plan and part serendipity. Some people I knew only by reputation. This was a business conference. But, the real find are those people who have interests, knowledge, expertise, and insights that would go far beyond the tip of the iceberg that were the planned topics of the conference.
Snagging the right dinner partners
I worked a bit to snag a table with a woman who I discovered, quite by accident, was a professional classical musician. The conference had nothing to do with music. I know nothing about music. I am 100% a consumer of music – I am not a producer of music nor do I have any musical ability whatsoever. To me, music is like magic. Who better to share a dinner table with than a trained professional classical musician? I would be in the company of someone, who for me, did something I could not do and found to be incomprehensible.
Professional classical musicians & Jazz artists
So, as luck would have it, the table of dinner partners had an extended conversation about music. During the conversation we found out that the woman who was trained and performed classic music had a husband that was a jazz musician. Further, she informed us, he could not read music. As if the gods were playing a joke in a marriage she informed us that she could not play without sheet music. For a musical family, what an interesting combination.
One other person at the conference picked up on this difference between classical and jazz musicians and related it to innovation. She wrote this on an internal corporate blog.
I agree jazz is a good metaphor for innovation. I’m not an expert on jazz, but I am a jazz fan. This is how I see it. Jazz has a basic framework for the music: a key signature (so notes will harmonize), a meter (a beat or cadence to set the speed of collaboration), and a basic melody line (that sets the theme). Within that framework, jazz musicians improvise to enhance the melody. Every musician will hear it and play it a little differently and all will contribute to a wonderful collaboration of sound called jazz. It can be relaxing or driving. It can be stimulating or sad (blues), but it is always an expression of the minds creating it. Many variations are produced, depending on who is playing and interpreting the tune.
Such is the case with innovation. With a framework as a guide, we “open our minds” to new ideas and concepts that could create a whole new offering. We generate new ideas individually and then collaborate to shape them into something special. For the ideas that don’t bear fruit, we simply enjoy the stimulating process and remember and learn from the experience and then move on and try again. Remember, Edison successfully discovered 99 times what would not work before he invented the light bulb.
Another person responded with this…
Following on with the similarity with Jazz which I absolutely agree with. It also demonstrates why some musicians are great at jazz with all the improvisations whereas many professional musicians would stay away from it and keep to formally composed music. So just because you can play music doesn’t mean you can do both.
In any company we must recognise that many individuals will be much “better” in either an innovative or standard environment
The real secret of LEGO’s, Tinker Toys, and Erector Sets
We can go a bit further with analogies of innovation. It applies to Tinker Toys, Lego blocks, Erector Sets, and the like. The key to the success of these toys are the pictures of what a child can build with these toys. Without a picture of what can be built many children don’t really know what to do with these things and lose interest. (See note below)
The Take
Some people can “make something out of nothing”. These are the jazz musicians, kids that successfully play with Lego blocks, tinker toys, and Erector sets, without a diagram. These people are also the innovators and entrepreneurs in business.
Other people need the sheet music, the script, or the diagram and the orchestra leader (manager) to get their work done.
The key is to realize that people are very different in their natural capabilities and talent. To put sheet music in front of a jazz musician would be as unnatural as trying to make a professional classical musician improvise.
The insight, for a company is this. Sort these people out – play to an individual’s natural strength. Don’t expect an innovator to play by the rules. Don’t expect people who need sheet music to perform without a very explicit plan in front of them and someone to orchestrate and manage the performance.
Why (Can’t we) ask why? Questions over answers
Seth Godin came up with a good list of questions (read the blog entry)
Why ask why?
“Why?” is the most important question, not asked nearly enough.
Hint: “Because I said so,” is not a valid answer.
Why does it work this way?
Why is that our goal?
Why did you say no?
Why are we treating people differently?
Why is this our policy?
Why don’t we enter this market?
Why did you change your mind?
Why are we having this meeting?
Why not?
That’s a good set of questions. Those are questions you ask inside an organization. How about some questions that you ask about an organization and what it does. Here are few that comes to mind, not asked nearly enough. They are about positioning, structure, and assessment.
- Where is our industry headed?
- What are we / can we be the very best at?
- What should we invest in?
- What is the best operating model that supports this?
- Who are the best leaders to put in place?
- What are the best metrics of our success and how do we measure them?
- What compensation and incentive systems support this?
- How do we continually monitor our progress and make adjustments?
- ( rinse, repeat – often, according to the clockspeed of our industry/business – the world)
In Seth’s set of questions, if you hear “Because, I said so” it’s a clear giveaway that you are in an environment dominated by political decision-making. In these environments it’s more important that someone gets their way as opposed to linking the decision to some measurable goal of the organization. In short, it’s about the demonstration and exercise of power rather than making the right decision for the organization’s stakeholders. (Why do some people make decisions to their own benefit when they know they undermining the organization’s stakeholders in doing so? Read some insights from clinical psychologist Martha Stout Ph.D regarding the “organizational bully” here. )
The second set of questions isn’t about political power, it’s about positioning. These questions are not asked frequently enough in a world of continuous change and opportunity. (One of my favorite answers from an entrepreneur when asked about his business model…. “You know that blind spot that you have when you’re driving.. that’s where we are”. Perhaps Borders Books and BlockBuster should have paid more attention to their blind spot to discern the likes of Amazon and Netflix. But now, this ability to see the blind spot or to “see around corners” is no longer needed by those companies – they are out of the race. Read more)
Teaching answers – not questions.
Today in schools we teach kids to show up on time, leave on time, memorize facts, be able to recall those facts on standardized tests, and to not question authority. It seems the perfect factory process to turn out factory workers that … show up on time, leave on time, do their work and only their work, and not question the boss or the company. The perfect factory education for the early 20’th century Industrial Age.
But what do we need now? Perhaps a focus on a new set of skills. What moves the world?
Can Innovation be taught?
Shouldn’t we be teaching our kids to be innovators as opposed to factory workers?
Gregersen and co-authors Clayton M. Christensen (professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School) and Jeff Dyer (professor of strategy at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School), believe that roughly two-thirds of the skills it takes to innovate can be learned. They point to historical research findings that concluded 25-40% of human innovation stems from genetics as evidence.
What are the skills for innovation?
In their own research involving hundreds of innovators and thousands of entrepreneurs, managers and executives from around the world, Gregersen, Christensen and Dyer boiled the formula of innovation down to five key skills:
- Questioning allows innovators to challenge the status quo and consider new possibilities;
- Observing helps innovators detect small details — in the activities of customers, suppliers and other companies — that suggest new ways of doing things;
- Networking permits innovators to gain radically different perspectives from individuals with diverse backgrounds;
- Experimenting prompts innovators to relentlessly try out new experiences, take things apart and test new ideas;
- Associational thinking — drawing connections among questions, problems or ideas from unrelated fields — is triggered by questioning, observing, networking and experimenting and is the catalyst for creative ideas.
The take
Do we teach any of the above in schools?
When I was a kid I used to watch Jeopardy. At the time, me and everyone else thought that those folks on Jeopardy were the smartest people in the world. But were they? What they could do is memorize a vast collection of facts and recall them on demand. Did we think that was intelligent or smart or showed a capability that would make them successful in the world?
What about today? Today everyone has a vast collection of facts at their fingertips – for free – on demand. We can ask Siri almost anything and get a raw fact-based answer (not an insight, not a deduction, not an induction, not a connection or association among facts) in a few seconds. The ability to recall facts is not smart or intelligent. You can imagine the trajectory of Siri and similar systems in the future of facts on-demand. It can only get better.
Wouldn’t it be better to focus more on the skills above?
The fist skill in the list is Questioning… challenging the status quo and consider new possibilities…
Perhaps if we taught kids the skills above then the questions that Seth posed above would be asked naturally by everyone – and Seth would lose a posting idea. The ability to challenge the status quo would reveal the power and political dimension of organizations that undermine outcomes for stakeholders and reveal the blind spots that exist in every organization that hide opportunities. The unique capacity of humans is imagination and the development of the skills above. So let’s use ’em.
Read more from Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericaswallow/2012/04/25/creating-innovators/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericaswallow/2012/04/19/innovators-dna-hal-gregersen-interview/
More from Seth on Education
Caine’s Arcade
If you have kids or just want to see innovation and entrepreneurship in action you might want to take a look at this short film (10 minutes) about nine year old Caine who lives in east Los Angeles.
http://vimeo.com/nirvan/cainesarcade
These are the things that came to my mind when I first saw this short film
- Caine, 9 years old, has tenacity. How many entrepreneurs give up if they are not immediately successful? How many people don’t even try a new endeavor or venture? How many people are out there “waiting” for someone to give them a job?
- Caine built the arcade himself. Imagination, innovation and committment required – for every new venture.
- Entrepreneurs help other entrepreneurs. Why was it only Nirvan that spotted Caine’s talent? How many people walked past Caine’s arcade without seeing what Nirvan saw? Some people can spot talent – other’s can’t. Part of leadership & entrepreneurship is spotting and developing talent no matter where you see it.
- Social media. The amplifying effect of social media. Nirvan used Facebook to spread the word and generate a flashmob for Caine’s arcade.
The net effect
Raised $176,000 (to date) to help kids like Caine go to college. 98,000 likes on Facebook. The Goldhirsh Foundation will match dollar for dollar contributions up to $250,000.
Goldhirsh Foundation – “The Goldhirsh Foundation funds that are providing the seed funds to create/incubate the Caine’s Arcade Foundation, which will help find, foster, and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in other innovative kids.
Visit Caine’s arcade on facebook – http://www.facebook.com/cainesarcade
Caine’s Arcade website – http://cainesarcade.com/
Interconnected – http://www.facebook.com/interconnected.is
Caine’s Arcade is a story worth telling… and passing along. Your turn.
Arthur C. Clarke, meet the Apple iPad 3
I stumbled upon an interesting video of Arthur C. Clarke on YouTube.
It’s an interview from 1974 where he was asked to say more about the world he portrayed in his 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. In that interview Clarke talks about computers and society in the future.
Keep in mind that this interview from 1974 is nearly 40 years ago from today in 2012.
At nearly the same time as this interview, Ken Olsen, founder of DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) made this prediction
There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.
Ken Olsen in 1977
So now we have this. More than what Clarke could imagine but in the same direction; Something that Ken Olsen could never envision
Differentiators
It’s interesting how some people can see the future and some can’t. What gives individuals this capability? Is it intellectual? Is it a result of experience? Is it a result of a particular education? Can it be taught?
What is the difference between Ken Olsen and Arthur C. Clarke that leads each of them to such a profound difference in what they see as the future?
Here are some related postings on those who “missed the boat” and those who could see what no one else could see.
https://frrl.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/of-telegraphs-telephones-radios-and-organizational-momentum/
https://frrl.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/the-history-of-communications-the-past-150-years/
https://frrl.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/releasing-innovation-by-breaking-paradigms-seeing-what-no-one-else-can-see/
More from Clarke on Global Communications – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aajlLeTgrEg
And the Future… Augmented Reality in an always-connected world
Read about Google Project Glass – http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/epicenter-google-glass-ar/
And watch the Video
Remix – Of Lions, Gazelles, Aspirations, and Globalism
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve…
…it doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or gazelle – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.
Remix
Heard that story a thousand times before? This story has been told over and over for decades to motivate teams, groups, organizations, divisions, and just about any group of people. The message is clear: no matter who you are – from the corporate executives to the mail room clerk – every day you have to run.
A couple of weeks ago I heard a few people talking about this story. People are amazingly creative. They took this story and remixed the meaning of it. Quite remarkable – at least to my way of thinking. But, perhaps typical – read on.
One of the people talking about the story of the Lion and Gazelle made an astute observation. The observation being that a gazelle really doesn’t have to run faster than the fastest lion as the story would have you believe – a gazelle only has to run faster than the slowest gazelle in the pack.
Remarkable!
So, lets see what some of the implications would be to this type of thinking and reinterpretation of the traditional story of lions, gazelles, and running to survive.
First the story of the lion and the gazelle pits a gazelle against a lion. In the remix by the astute observer the gazelle is compared to other gazelles – not a lion. Gazelles are not competing against lions – they are competing against other gazelles. So, your aspiration as a gazelle is not to be faster than the fastest lion just faster than the slowest, most feeble, and lame member of the gazelle pack in which you run. Nice!
Second, good for lions. Gazelles in the remix interpretation of the story have reset their standards downward. Once our astute gazelle spreads the idea to other gazelles and gets their acceptance of this new interpretation their aspiration won’t be to be faster than the fastest lions just one click better than the most broke-down gazelle. With lower aspirations, and lower achievement of gazelles, Lions may just have an easier time taking down Gazelles in general.
And third – think about this – a sort of butterfly effect. With lower Gazelle standards lions might get lazy. Since gazelles only run as fast as the most broke-down gazelle not as fast as the fastest lion then their prey is less competitive. If the prey is less competitive then lions have less incentive to be at the top of their running game.
So, it starts with one gazelle who changes the game from running against the fastest lions to competing against the slowest gazelle in the pack. What is the net effect on the ecosystem of lions, gazelles, running, and the competition for survival?
America – The State of the Union 2011
On January 25,2011 President Obama gave the State of the Union Address. Here are a few excerpts…
Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world. And so they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. They’re investing in research and new technologies. Just recently, China became the home to the world’s largest private solar research facility, and the world’s fastest computer.
So, yes, the world has changed. The competition for jobs is real. But this shouldn’t discourage us. It should challenge us. Remember — for all the hits we’ve taken these last few years, for all the naysayers predicting our decline, America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world. (Applause.) No workers — no workers are more productive than ours. No country has more successful companies, or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs. We’re the home to the world’s best colleges and universities, where more students come to study than any place on Earth…
The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can’t just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us, “The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.” Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age.
Connecting the dots
Vintage Steve Jobs: Good Artists Copy; Great Artists Steal
Watch and listen to some vintage Steve Jobs talk about his experience visiting Xerox PARC in the days before Macintosh. At PARC, Jobs saw three things: Smalltalk, ethernet, and a graphical user interface.
It’s not so much about the technology per se, or for technology as an end it itself. It’s about recognizing how to use technology to enable people to work, do things, and think things they never did or thought about before. This is what the folks at Xerox PARC could not see; but what Steve Jobs did see. And Steve took it all from them.
It’s about thinking differently, right? When Steve Jobs was a kid his father used to buy old cars, fix them in the family driveway, and then resell them. Steve was not so much interested in the mechanics of fixing cars; he was more interested in the types of people who originally bought the cars he saw sitting in his fathers driveway.
In the short video you will also hear Steve talk about John Sculley. Sculley was the CEO that the Apple Board brought in to run Apple in 1983 when they thought that Seve Jobs, at 28 years old, was not up to the task.
Take a watch
To get an insight into the early life of Steve jobs –
Steve Jobs, the Journey Is the Reward
More on John Sculley and Steve Jobs
https://frrl.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/notable-being-steve-jobs-boss/
Steve Jobs at Stanford – “How to Live before you Die”
https://frrl.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/steve-jobs-apple-ceo-how-to-live-before-you-die/
Think about it some more – Who owns creativity? Who owns Culture?
https://frrl.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/creativity-innovation-and-intellectual-property-lessons-from-fashions-free-culture/
https://frrl.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/who-owns-culture/
Quotable: On Creativity and Innovation
Sadly, this feels all too familiar. I think it is an almost inevitable result of too many years of focus on process standardization, repeatability, optimization, and all those other things that make us so good at being efficient workers.
I have a friend who teaches drawing. She has taught both children and adults. She says that children are natural artists, and accurately (if at times messily) draw what they actually see until about age 8, when they begin drawing what they think they see (and produce stick figures).
When she teaches adults to draw, she helps them recover the ability to perceive edges, spaces, relationships, light and shadow, and to draw those things instead of the cup or chair or face or mountain that they think they see. It takes a few days of practice, but eventually they get it, and they begin to draw like the artists that they always were by nature. (I haven’t yet had the chance to take one of her classes, so I can’t verify that they work for everyone!)
I suspect there is a parallel here with creativity and innovation in general. We are all strongly socialized to NOT be innovative. We have somehow come to accept that being creative is hard and dangerous work, when perhaps all that is needed is a shift in perception.
What if the walls of the box within which we think are not so solid as we perceive them to be? What might we see if we focused on the lights and shadows surrounding us, rather than the planes and surfaces that seem to enclose us?
— Lori (Learning Architect at a Fortune 100 company)
Quotable: Robert Moog on Ideas
I can feel what’s going on inside a piece of electronic equipment. I have this sense that I know, and to some extent, have control over what is going on inside the transistors and inside the resistors. When I am thinking about how to solve a particular problem I can think about it for days and weeks and nothing will happen. And, some day, when I am cutting the grass, or having a hamburger, or I wake up in the middle of the night, the idea will be there. I think it would be egotistical of me to say, “I thought of it”. What happened, is I opened my mind up and the idea came through and into my head. These ideas, I don’t have to dig up anything. Sometime I don’t even have to be thinking of them – and there they are. It’s something between discovering and witnessing.
Robert Moog (Moog Foundation, Watch a Minimoog demo – It’s all Analog, kids)
Inventory/Creator of the Moog Synthesiser
Fast Company: The 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2010
“This year’s 100 Most Creative People offers our own, idiosyncratic perspective on business.
The selections reflect the breadth of news ideas and new pursuits at play in our business landscape.
From interface designer Yugo Nakamura to HBO Documentary Films president Sheila Nevins to futurist Ray Kurzweil, we can attest that creativity is alive and well in 2010″
Check it out – http://www.fastcompany.com/100/2010
The Future of Cloud Computing
The future of cloud computing
Technology experts and stakeholders say they expect they will ‘live mostly in the cloud’ in 2020 and not on the desktop, working mostly through cyberspace-based applications accessed through networked devices. This will substantially advance mobile connectivity through smartphones and other internet appliances. Many say there will be a cloud-desktop hybrid. Still, cloud computing has many difficult hurdles to overcome, including concerns tied to the availability of broadband spectrum, the ability of diverse systems to work together, security, privacy, and quality of service.
Read the full report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project –
https://frrl.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/pip_future_of_internet_2010_cloud.pdf
Creativity, Innovation, and Intellectual Property – Lessons from fashion’s free culture
What is the ownership of creativity? Is copying “stealing” or a sign of the creators genius? Does copying within an industry destroy it or enhance it? Without ownership is there any incentive to innovate? Is there an innovation “knock-off”? What are the virtues of not copying? Does copying accelerate innovation? In an industry that has no intellectual property protection can you make things that can not be copied? What is an aesthetic and how can you use this to resist copying? Can white people play bee bop? In what ways are comedians like fashion designers? Are the most profitable industries those that have intellectual property protection of those that don’t?
So, what lessons can be learned from the fashion industry – which does not have copyright or intellectual property protection – about creativity, innovation, and the free culture? How will this inform other industries as they wrestle with the issues of ownership of creativity and intellectual property?
Another TED talk: Johanna Blakely: Lessons from fashion’s free culture
The iPad – Why ask why? It “revolutionizes it”
Are you a true believer?
Click this link to watch – http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1931968
Bonus – Steve’s next play, the iPhone OS 4 Event – http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1004fk8d5gt/event/
Positioning Companies to Compete in Turbulent Times
Some insights from Gary Hamel
Our premise is that a company can control its own destiny only if it understands how to control the destiny of its industry. Organizational transformation is a secondary challenge. The primary challenge is to become the author of industry transformation.
The real issue is whether transformation happens belatedly in a crisis atmosphere – or with foresight – in a calm and considered atmosphere; whether the transformation agenda is set by more prescient competitors or derives Not Only one’s own point of view about the future;
Only when restructuring and re engineering fail to halt corporate decline do most companies consider the need to regenerate their strategy and reinvent their industry.
The bullet list below are the sites of transformation, innovation, and corporate renewal that Hamel identifies as necessary to position a company for hyper-competition. The items on the left side are what most companies do now. To compete in the future, the “but also” needs to augment the traditional view.
Probably the most significant thing that Hamel points out is the need for the utter transformation of the traditional hierarchical corporate structure to a flattened or “lattice” organization. The “amalgamation of the collective intelligence and imagination of managers and employees throughout the company who must possess an enlarged view of what it means to be strategic.”
This all may seem to be far out stuff. But the number of companies that are hooked into these sets of transformations is growing. As far as this idea of an “amalgamation of the collective intelligence” this is already being enabled by Social Business Software with remarkable results at many Fortune 500 corporations.
Here’s the leverage…
The Competitive Challenge
- Not Only Re engineering processes but also Regenerating strategies
- Not Only Organizational transformation but also Industry transformation
- Not Only Competing for market share but also Competing for opportunity share
Finding the Future
- Not Only Strategy is learning but also Strategy is forgetting
- Not Only Strategy is positioning but also Strategy is foresight
- Not Only Strategic plans but also Strategic architecture
Mobilizing for the Future
- Not Only Strategy as fit but also Strategy as stretch
- Not Only Strategy as resource allocation but also Strategy as resource Accumulation and Leverage
Getting to the Future First
- Not Only Competing within an existing Industry structure but also Competing to shape future industry structure
- Not Only Competing for product leadership but also Competing for core Competence
- Not Only Competing as a single entity but also Competing as a coalition
- Not Only Maximizing the ratio of new products but also Maximizing the rate of new market learning
- Not Only Minimizing time to market but also Minimizing time to global Preemption
To compete successfully for the future, senior managers must first understand just how competition for the future is different Not Only competition for the present.
The differences are profound. They challenge the traditional perspectives on strategy and competition. Competing for the future requires not only a definition of strategy, but also a redefinition of top management’s role in creating strategy.
However lean and fit an organization, it still needs a brain. But the brain we have in mind is not the brain of the CEO or strategic planner.
Instead it is an amalgamation of the collective intelligence and imagination of managers and employees throughout the company who must possess an enlarged view of what it means to be strategic.
Read more on Social Business Software as an enabler of collective intelligence
https://frrl.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/gartner-2009-mq-social-software-in-workforce_1.pdf
https://frrl.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/forrester-wave-community-platforms-q1-2009.pdf
Read more from Gary Hamel on this topic
Leading the Revolution: How to Thrive in Turbulent Times by Making Innovation a Way of Life
Apple iPad Review: Laptop Killer? Pretty Close
For the past week or so, I have been testing a sleek, light, silver-and-black tablet computer called an iPad. After spending hours and hours with it, I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop. It could even help, eventually, to propel the finger-driven, multitouch user interface ahead of the mouse-driven interface that has prevailed for decades.
by Walter S. Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal
http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20100331/apple-ipad-review/
Innovation – Fresh Thinking for the Ideas Economy
Check out some videos from The Economist
Hacker Conferences – What is ShmooCon?
Different • ShmooCon is an annual East coast hacker convention hell-bent on offering three days of an interesting atmosphere for demonstrating technology exploitation, inventive software & hardware solutions, and open discussions of critical infosec issues. The first day is a single track of speed talks, One Track Mind. The next two days, there are three tracks: Break It!, Build It!, and Bring It On!.
Affordable • ShmooCon is about high-quality without the high price. Space is limited! ShmooCon has sold out every year, so unless taking a chance on an eBay auction to get your ticket sounds like fun, register early!
Accessible • ShmooCon is in Washington, D.C., at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, just a few steps from the D.C. Metro. Fly into DCA, IAD, or BWI, or take a train to Union Station, and you are just a quick cab ride away from the con.
Entertaining • Brain melting from all the cool tech you are learning? Check out some of the contests running at ShmooCon, including the Hacker Arcade and Hack-Or-Halo. In years past, we have also thrown massive parties at a local area hot-spot, so expect that to happen again too!
Forensic Hard Drive Recovery – More than you would ever want to know
Here are the first few parts – there are 7 parts total
Pocket protector required
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5crJ39tgDA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tPJ0ZkytxU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW10HNDGP1Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rXgcagdsW0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv77aiKer_E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CFk0MDs0ns
Find out more here including slides and videos of past conferences – http://shmoocon.org/
Strap on, my friends – http://myharddrivedied.com/presentations/
DARPA funding Boston Dynamics to build Legged Squad Support System
Finally, machines that can walk. Be sure to check out the video at the end of the article to watch this four-legged mechanical creature follow the soldier down the hill. How far are we from mechanized four-legged creatures that soldiers will ride into battle? The horse – your time is limited.
LS3 stands for Legged Squad Support System, and that pretty much sums up what the device is all about: It’s a semi-autonomous assistant designed to follow soldiers and Marines across the battlefield, carrying up to 400 pounds of gear and enough fuel to keep it going for 24 hours over a march of 20 miles.
LS3 is a direct descendant of BigDog, and it’ll be battle-hardened and clever enough to use GPS and machine vision to either yomp along behind a pack of troops, or navigate its own way to a pre-programmed assembly point. Yup, that’s right, LS3 is smart enough to trot off over the horizon all on its lonesome. That opens up all sorts of amazing military possibilities, like resupply of materiel to troops who are deployed in difficult remote locations, as well as the standard “If LS3 can offload 50 pounds from the back of each soldier in a squad, it will reduce warfighter injuries and fatigue and increase the combat effectiveness of our troops” as described by BD’s president Marc Raibert.
Living in an era of Idea Diffusion & the Remarkable Purple Cow
Another remarkable talk by marketing guru Seth Godin ( bio )
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html
And a little more wisdom from Seth…
… If you want customers to flock to you, it’s tempting to race to the bottom of the price chart. There’s not a lot of room for profit there, though…In a world that relentlessly races to the bottom, you lose if you also race to the bottom. The only way to win is to race to the top. When your organization becomes more human, more remarkable, faster on its feet, and more likely to connect directly with customers, it becomes indispensable….
…Second, the people that work for you, the ones you freed to be artists [i.e. creators of unique, compelling, and substantial value], will rise to a level you can’t even imagine. When people realize that they are not a cog in a machine, an easily replaceable commodity, they take the challenge and grow. They produce more than you pay them to, because you are paying them with something worth more than money….
… As a result of these priceless gifts, expect that the linchpins on your staff won’t abuse their power. In fact, they’ll work harder, stay longer, and produce more than you pay them to. Because everyone is a person, and people crave connection and respect..
On the power of being genuine and transparent: “Virtually all of us make our living engaging directly with other people. When the interactions are genuine and transparent, they usually work. When they are artificial or manipulative, they fail.
… The linchin is coming from a posture of generosity; she’s there to give a gift [no-strings support of your efforts to succeed]. If that’s your intent, the words almost don’t matter. What we’ll perceive are your wishes, not the script…
…This is why telemarketing has such a ridiculously low conversion rate. Why corporate blogs are so lame. Why frontline workers in the service business have such stress. We can sense it when you read the script because we’re so good at finding the honest signals…
Google Liquid Galaxy live demo at TED
Google’s Liquid Galaxy is engineer Jason Holt’s 20% time project, a wraparound view of 8 LCD screens providing a truly immersive experience of Google Earth and Street View.
A STRATEGY FOR AMERICAN INNOVATION
History should be our guide. The United States led the world’s economies in the 20th
century because we led the world in innovation. Today, the competition is keener; the
challenge is tougher; and that is why innovation is more important than ever. It is the
key to good, new jobs for the 21st century. That’s how we will ensure a high quality of
life for this generation and future generations. With these investments, we’re planting
the seeds of progress for our country, and good-paying, private-sector jobs for the
American people.
Read the report from the NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL – OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY
https://frrl.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/sept-20-innovation-whitepaper_final.pdf
Life is too short for social interaction” – Let Google live your life for you
Google Xistence
Check out the video –
Steve Jobs (Apple CEO): How to live before you die
Death is the single best invention of life . . . Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. . . . Remembering that you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose…”
http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html
Take a video tour of Googles Container Data Center
Google container data center tour
Fascinating –
Microsoft – “Me too! Me too!”
http://cnettv.cnet.com/peering-inside-microsoft-giant-data-center/9742-1_53-50077986.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10364746-56.html?tag=mncol;txt
Google’s Custom Web Servers, Revealed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgRWURIxgbU
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal
“The girls were both Asian, pretty, and a little overly made up for a lecture like this. The tallest of the two had long sable hair pulled back in a high pony tail and was wearing a short skirt and a white shirt open one button too far down the front. Eduardo could see wisps of her red lace bra wonderfully offset by her tan, smooth skin. The other girl was in an equally short skirt, with a black leggings combo that showed off some impressively sculpted calves.
Both had bright red lipstick and too much eye shadow, but they were damn cute – and they were smiling and pointing right at him.
Well, at him and Mark. The taller of the girls leaned forward over the empty seat and whispered in his ear.
“Your friend – isn’t that Mark Zuckerberg?”
Eduardo raised his eyebrows.
“You know Mark?” There was a first time for everything.
“No, but didn’t he make Facebook?”
Eduardo felt a tingle of excitement move through him, as he felt the warmth of her breath against his ear, as he breathed in her perfume.
“Yeah. I mean, Facebook, it’s both of ours – mine and his.”
“Wow that’s really cool,” the girl said. “My name is Kelly. This is Alice.”
Other people in the girls’ row were looking now. But they didn’t seem angry that the whispers were interrupting their enjoyment of Bill Gates. Eduardo saw someone pointing, then another kid whisper something to a friend. Then more pointing – but not at him, at Mark.”
The Neural Micro-circuitry of the Brain & Exceeding the Limits of Human Biological Intelligence
Suppose you could determine the basic structure of the human brains neocortex. Suppose you could understand the basic elements and connections that make up that structure. Suppose you could write equations that simulated those entities and connections.
Now suppose you you had the backing of IBM (Big Blue) and 10,000+ machines to run a simulation of the human brain. What would you find out?
Watch this 15 minute TED presentation with Prof. Henry Markram of the Neural Microcircuity Laboratory and wonder at the trajectory of brain research. Such research into the micro circuitry of the human brain may lead to the ultimate understanding of human perception (construction) of Reality, the origin of human consciousness, and perhaps signal an impending future when the capability of computers to simulate human intelligence in silicon may exceed the capability of human biological intelligence.
http://www.ted.com/talks/henry_markram_supercomputing_the_brain_s_secrets.html
The blue brain project – http://bluebrain.epfl.ch
Related –
The Singularity is an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today—the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity.
WiTricity – Wireless Electricity
Finally, 100 years after Tesla…
Early visions of wireless power actually were thought of by Nikola Tesla basically about 100 years ago. The thought that you wouldn’t want to transfer electric power wirelessly, no one ever thought of that. They thought, “Who would use it if you didn’t?” And so, in fact, he actually set about doing a variety of things. Built the Tesla coil. This tower was built on Long Island back at the beginning of the 1900s. And the idea was, it was supposed to be able to transfer power anywhere on earth. We’ll never know if this stuff worked. Actually I think the Federal Bureau of Investigation took it down for security purposes, sometime in the early 1900s.
What happened back a few years ago was a group of theoretical physicists at MIT actually came up with this concept of transferring power over distance…
Read about WiTricity and see it demonstrated…
http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiTricity
http://thefutureofthings.com/pod/250/wireless-power-demonstrated.html
Your Guide to “television” de-coupled from dedicated appliances and appointment viewing
Finally, here is is a “TV Guide” for television that is not television. Well, television that does not require a specific receiving “appliance” or “appointment viewing”. Uh, video, you know, “moving images” not on a television. Exactly what is going on here? Content decoupled from traditional reception appliances and appointment viewing – what will they think of next?
Here is your video “TV Guide” in the age of disruptive technology.
https://frrl.wordpress.com 