Everything is Amazing, Nobody is Happy

I saw this Conan O'Brien interview with Louis CK a while back, and it is hilarious.

I came across it again today and I thought I would post it on my blog because it is also something worth pondering at a deeper level. We too often take the innovations in our lives for granted, but if we reclaim that sense of wonder, we are actually more likely to create new innovations, not less.

The 20th and 21st century have been times of amazing innovation, that has quickened in pace and changed our lives for the better, forever. It is definitely worth the time investment. Check it out:

Everything's amazing, Nobody's happy


What do you think?

How can you make the world even more amazing (even in a small way)?

@innovate

Further Q&A from UTEK Gary Hamel Webinar

I received some additonal notes from Hallie Middlebrooks of UTEK Corporation from the Gary Hamel "Innovation in Tough Times" webinar on February 17.

After cleaning up what I got, it is my pleasure to present these additional questions and answers from both Tim Jones, Ph.D., and Regina Lewis, Ph.D., below.

Q: In the Economist a couple of issues back, it was suggested that companies are pulling back from innovation and re-focusing on the bottom line and conserving cash. Are you seeing this in companies you consult with?

TJ: Yes in some areas but not in others. It differs both by market and my management stance: we are seeing steel companies proactively invest for the future even when laying-off staff and seeing FMCG companies cutting budgets at the same time as having highest profits ever

Q: How can FMCPGs take advantage of people tracking technologies - or will it only be for the retailer partners?

TJ: It is fully joined up opportunities that are being explored so that the product and the person are interlinked. If you combine RFID and mobile technologies together you can tell where both people and products are and so better understand useage etc. In addition people behaviour anlysis from tracking is highlighting unmet needs for new products

Q: What are the ways in which large diversified companies fund new innovations that cross several divisions or business units?

TJ: Several different approaches in play, but worth looking at the likes of Philips which has central design and R&D resources that work on projects dedicated to and hence supported by business units but also do about 30% of their innovation at a cross sector/cross business level - and this is where the interesting stuff is happening - white LEDs, integrated medical devices, etc.

Q: What do you think about competitions for idea generation? Can you give some best cases/learnings regarding competitions conducted till date?

TJ: Good but only if focused around a specific theme or challenge, otherwise a waste of time. We found that Marks and Spencer, Nestle and Nokia have all introduced good approaches over the years that others now emulate

Q: How do we build people to think about business cases when even the mention of it makes them very sick ie. Most people come up with ideas, but not really business ideas, or business cases. When we ask for business cases, they tend to shy away from that and so how do we tackle this issue to change the mindset of people in organizations? My question is: How can we change people to think about "business ideas" rather than normal ideas which has to be refined to a "business idea" to make it an innovation

TJ: Get over the idea of a business case as a heavy document - it is better as a compelling story which could be a simple diagram. Key issue with business innovation is to give people examples from outside their sector, discuss and then put thru filter of 'how could this approach help us' and then scope the concept. We run 1 day workshops with companies which typically use 10 different examples in the morning to engage and stimulate and by lunch we have three identified as being potentially relevant. The pm session is then spent working these up, pitching them and refining so that company has credible understanding of opportunity, ROI and roadmaps, etc.

REGINA: My feeling here is that every org should have a dedicated strategy team - or person, at the least -- that moves "ideas" along the continuum from being just that to being development initiatives. Someone must "own" the innovation stage gate process, with all of its go/no-go gates.

Q: Do you have any ideas what companies are going to make it through this economic downturn -- maybe have each person answer three companies they think...?

TJ: My top three are Nokia, Reckitt Benckiser and H&M but all those profiled on innovationleaders.org are well placed to be ahead of the pack
REGINA: Mcdonalds, Walmart, IHG.

Q: What should B-schools be doing differently to better prepare employees for the innovation and critical thinking challenges of today's workplace?

TJ: My opinion is that they should get rid of 50% of what they teach and get MBAs experimenting more - if you look at how Lego is working with the London School of Economics and Copenhagen Business School that will show you way people could gain new experiences that will be valuable in practice

Q: How do you differentiate between a fad versus a large unmet need (sustainable trend is probably better than large unmet need)

TJ: Fads tend to be short term, trends are medium term extrapolations of today - the new unmet needs are to be found in neither of these areas - cross sector foresight is where we see companies from P&G, Shell to the BBC getting real insights to drive innovation

REGINA: Any longitudinal "pulse taking" can give you a sense for the rates and which people are coming on board and actually changing their buying behavior. For example, I have been following the "greening" trend for quite some time... and so have understood its momentum.

Q: What advice do you have for small organizations trying to make a 'many small bets' innovation strategy work during a down economy?

TJ: Get rid of 75% of the small bets by filtering against global not local leadership and then focus resource on the 25%

REGINA: I advise against a "many small bets" strategy. I believe companies must focus knowledgeably on those few big potential wins.

Q: Do you believe that the current economic situation is a structural versus a cyclical shift? What will be the impact and fall-out on companies on and their product portfolios?

TJ: Depends on sector - for some like pharma and energy it is just a cyclic issue. For others like banking this is clearly a revolution opportunity. Others are in between and the winner will be those that use this as a catalyst for innovation

Q: How will premiumization and mass luxurization be impacted?

TJ: The me-too brands will suffer as authenticity rides high: Rolls Royce sales are not suffering as the rest of the sector plummets - the same is true in fashion, travel and wine

Q: What are the basic bare bones of innovation process that anyone could apply to be a successful innovator in current economy?

TJ: Lots of people have different views. I prefer the approach used by Reckitt Benckiser who is easily the most successful FMCG company around - take a look at their performance and profile on innovationleaders.org. Basically they have two decision points: is this a good idea that is better than what we had before and consumers will probably buy - that gets it into development. Then after development question is - is this an even better idea than before that offers a reason to believe for consumers that they will pay more for - that gets launch approval

REGINA: Know your customer. Understand their unmet needs. Be aggressive in solving for them.

Q: What roles do normal people in organizations play in terms of making management innovation happen?

TJ: Depends on organization but everyone can have a contribution depends at what level - look at Tesco for great cross organization innovation around continued customer focus and then look at others on innovationleaders.org like Virgin Atlantic for innovation coming from expert group

REGINA: Everyone can play a role in innovation via passion for the customer, and an enthusiastic belief that we can create change.

Q: What are the different methods and principles using in separating ideation and innovation management?

TJ: Loads on ideatools.com

Q: Is innovation in products, services, business models, etc. being pushed down in importance as companies are focusing on cash flow and preserving capital in the current economic climate?

TJ: Depends on sector - it differs both by market and my management stance: we are seeing steel companies proactively invest for the future even when laying off staff and seeing FMCG companies cutting budgets at the same time as having highest profits ever.

REGINA: At IHG, innovation is the "hot topic" of the year, as we want to be at the forefront once conditions improve.


@innovate

Book Review - "Inside Project Red Stripe"

"Inside Project Red Stripe - Incubating Innovation and Teamwork at the Economist"
by Andrew Carey
Published by Triarchy Press

I've been reading the innovation tome "Inside Project Red Stripe" off and on for some time now and I must say that it is unlike any other book on innovation that I have read to date. Instead of espousing a single innovation theory and taking 300 pages to do so, the book attempts to provide a neutral, anthropological look behind-the-scenes into the journey of Project Red Stripe.

Project Red Stripe was the code name for a discreet innovation effort at The Economist that brought together six team members for six months to research, select, and develop an internet-related innovation project for The Economist on a budget of £100,000. The project's aspiration was to deliver the organization's next big thing.

I found the book to be very well-written, interesting, and definitely worth the read if you are an innovation practioner or are fascinated by important project deconstructions. There are a couple of things you should be aware of before you begin:

• The book is written in an engaging research observation style, not your typical narrative or essay styles.


• The book is organized unlike most books and often feels more like a web site as you select a topic to follow and then jump around to read the installments relevant to that topic.

It was fascinating for me to see the human behavior challenges the group went through in gathering, selecting, and developing their ideas, and the downsides of conducting their project in such a public way.

If you are currently planning an innovation project or culture change at your organization, this book is an essential read to help remind you of the potential pitfalls that await you in such an undertaking. It also serves as a reminder of the potential disconnects between innovation theory and practice.

I won't spoil the ending and tell you whether Project Red Stripe was a success or a failure. You'll have to buy the book and read it in order to draw your own conclusion.

If you've already read it, what did you think?

@innovate

Why can't we grow new energy?

Here is another very interesting video from Juan Enriquez, futurist, speaking at TED 18 months ago. The topic of this one is agriculture and energy, and whether or not we can approach hydrocarbons with biology instead of brute force in the same way that we have innovated in agriculture over the years, and as a result drive efficiency.

Check it out:



What do you think?

@innovate

Beyond the crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo Evolutis

Here is an interesting video of Juan Enriquez, Futurist, speaking about some of the startling things he sees in our future as innovations in robotics and the life sciences collide with our country's current financial situation.

Will our current innovation trajectory create a new hominid species capable of controlling its own evolution?

Check it out:



What do you think?

@innovate

Twitter's spectacular growth driven by unexpected uses

For those of you not yet familiar, Twitter is the online service that allows people to share news, insights, or their lives 140 characters at a time. My Twitter handle is @innovate if anyone wants to follow me. I typically share my thoughts on innovation and marketing, along with links to articles on these topics.

Here is an interesting video of Evan Williams, Co-founder of Twitter, speaking about some of the startling things he's learned from users, and the way they've driven his business forward. It's well worth the time investment.

Check it out:



What do you think?

@innovate

Is Electrolyzed Water a Cleaning Innovation?

Add salt to water, scramble its ions with a jolt of electricity, and what do you have?

Apparently a quite versatile cleaning solution. One that Russia and Japan have been using for over a decade.

Can such a simple cleaner get the job done and save the environment at the same time?

Check out the video and go here for more detail:



What do you think?

@innovate

The real crisis? We stopped being wise.

Here is an interesting video of Barry Schwartz making a passionate call for "practical wisdom" because rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world. It's well worth the time investment.



What do you think?

@innovate

Social Innovation Camp II

I love to support causes like Social Innovation Camp by doing what I can to help raise their visibility.

Social Innovation Camp is an organization in the United Kingdom that selects and brings together social entrepreneurs with ideas to help the participants for an intense 48 hours to help move their ideas forward into web application prototypes. Check out the video:


Social Innovation Camp II, Dec 2008 from The People Speak on Vimeo.

To find out more about Social Innovation Camp, please go here.

What do you think?

@innovate

Chocolate Milk Follow-Up

I got excited when I saw Alpenrose Swiss Supreme chocolate milk in The Creamery at Pike's Place Market the other day in Seattle. But, I was disappointed to find out that it still has carageenan (although farther down the ingredient list), AND it also has salt and artificial flavor in it.

Carageenan is a nasty thickener whose safety as a food additive is still being evaluated. It has no place in chocolate milk. And salt?

I wrote a blog entry about chocolate milk a while back.

I have been mourning the bankruptcy of Wilcox Farms for some time as they used to make an old fashioned chocolate milk that was to die for. It was much better than the chemical soups that I have to choose from now.

Don't consumers deserve a real chocolate milk?

I could probably help someone figure out a chocolate milk formula with no extra thickeners or flavors. Combine that with the right marketing, and you have a winner on your hands.

Anybody interested?

@innovate

Email is Still the King of Social Media

A new study is out from ShareThis that shows that when users go to share a web page, they still do so most often by e-mail (57.1%).

I would have thought it was something other than e-mail by now, but it's not. Facebook was the #2 sharing method via ShareThis at 21.2%, while Twitter only made up 0.50% of the sharing via ShareThis.

Even more interesting was that since August 2008, the following services lost share (ranked by the size of their loss):

1. Digg


2. Email


3. Other


4. MySpace


5. StumbleUpon


6. Technorati

While the following services gained share:

1. Facebook


2. Twitter


3. AIM

You can see the results in more detail here.

What do you think?

@innovate

Elizabeth Gilbert Thinks Differently About Creative Genius

Here is an interesting video of Elizabeth Gilbert speaking about the impossible things we expect from geniuses and artists. She also shares the radical idea that all of us "have" a genius. It's well worth the time investment.

Check it out:



What do you think?

@innovate

Arthur Benjamin and his Amazing Mathemagic

Here is an interesting video of mathemagician Arthur Benjamin races a team of calculators to figure out 3-digit squares, solves another massive mental equation and guesses a few birthdays. He tries to show you how he does it at the end, but I still can't imagine being capable of replicating the amazing feats he pulls off.

You have to check this out:



What do you think?

@innovate

Can a Virtual Career Fair Be Like the Real Thing?

I had the opportunity to be a fly on the wall at Top-Consultant.com's virtual career fair on February 20, 2009. It was hosted using technology from iCongo that attempts to virtually replicate the feeling of a traditional career fair, complete with:

• Lobby


• Exhibitor Hall


• Seminars

For the seminars there was integration of YouTube and other web sites like CNBC for "presentations" in the "auditorium".

The chat functionality (userplane av webmessenger) was capable of Audio/Video, but I didn't come across anyone using it. Nobody tried to engage me by A/V and the interface made me think that others didn't have the capability.

People manning the booths seemed to feel the event was successful for capturing profiles from a large number of candidates, but some hesitated to call the virtual event a success until they saw whether it resulted in real hires.

From an attendee perspective, each attendee was able to create a profile for their details and their resume, and to visit the company booths and start online chats with representatives there.

My personal experience of the event was that it felt very vacant, empty, and impersonal. There was no greeter or question desk, there were no avatars manning the booths, and only one person bothered to make a photo appear in their chat window. There was no indication of the number of chats that any of the "available" people in the booth were currently having. But more than anything, I was surprised that a vast majority of my chat requests went unanswered, even from large companies like IBM and PWC that had several employees listed as available. But I did manage to chat with representatives of Project One Consulting, MindBench and PA Consulting and found them all to be friendly, helpful, and responsive.

I wasn't there looking for a job, but I hate to say that if I was that I probably would have found the experience disappointing. For the future, iCongo should look at addressing some of these shortcomings and look at working with Top-Consultant.com at creating a more active customer on-boarding experience.

I didn't notice the demo in the confirmation e-mail, but did manage to figure out everything covered (though I didn't get anyone welcoming me). Being welcomed like this would have made it feel a little more personal. The demo and e-mails also failed to mention that I had a profile to fill out, and what the benefits of doing so might be. The benefits of filling out your profile should be at the very beginning of the demo, and of the registration process.

Overall, this virtual career fair was a good first step, and I imagine the next time Top-Consultant.com and iCongo hold a virtual career fair it will be much improved.

Do virtual career fairs have a future?

What do you think?

@innovate

David Merrill Demonstrates Siftables - The Toy Blocks That Think

Here is an interesting video of MIT grad student David Merrill demonstrating Siftables -- cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. Does this technology have any promise as an alternative human-computer interface?

Check it out:



What do you think?

@innovate

Interesting Wearable Computer from MIT Students

Here is an interesting video of a wearable computer from MIT students.

Enjoy!



What do you think?

@innovate

Visual Explanation of the Crisis of Credit

Here is a great visual explanation of the crisis of credit from Jonathan Jarvis. Apparently, he created it as part of his thesis work in the Media Design Program at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

Enjoy!


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

What do you think?

@innovate

UTEK Webinar Synopsis: Q&A Session

I had the good fortune to attend a three-part UTEK webinar yesterday featuring Gary Hamel "Innovation in Rough Times", Tim Jones "Future Catalysts of Innovation", and Regina Lewis "Adopting an Innovation Strategy", and will now share some of the notes, quotes, and key insights I was able to capture.

Gary Hamel has been called the world's most influential business thinker by the Wall Street Journal, and his latest book, The Future of Management, was published by the Harvard Business School Press in October 2007 and was selected by Amazon.com as the best business book of the year. Gary Hamel was a founder of Strategos, which was acquired by UTEK in 2008.

Tim Jones, Ph.D., author of Innovating at the Edge, (published by Butterworth Heinemann) and Managing Director of Innovaro, a division of UTEK, will discuss the future catalysts of innovation.

Regina Lewis, Ph.D., Vice President of Consumer Insights for InterContinental Hotels Group, will wrap up this informative webinar with her discussion on the impact of adopting an innovation strategy and its benefits to InterContinental Hotels.

Please NOTE: Because these are notes, they may be a little rough, but I've done my best to clean them up.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the Q&A session:

(Gary Hamel)
Advice for small companies - Innovation is going to need to be radical in a startup in order to force your way into the marketplace

(Gary Hamel)
There is an optimal time to put resources beyond an idea (Hotmail-few months versus HDTV-20yrs) - Key questions to ask yourself

• Does infrastructure need to be built?


• Is there built-in consumer resistance?


• You can't push an idea faster with more money and you will have a hard time catching up if you get there too late by spending a lot of money

(Gary Hamel)
It's no longer first movers versus fast followers, it's smart movers versus dumb movers:

• Dumb movers don't learn from early experimentation


• You must learn faster per unit of input than your competition

(Tim Jones)
Every industry has its own natural clock speed

• Different industries move at different speeds (FMCG 18-24 mos, Energy 3+ yrs, etc.)


• OTC pharmaceuticals were one of the drug companies' strengths and now you will find more FMCG getting into the OTC pharmaceuticals space and these companies have faster clock speeds than drug companies


• Nokia is shifting from product company to a service company and if they use their 6-month cycle in the service sector this will give them a 3,4,5 times the speed advantage over their competition

(Regina Lewis)
It is important for us to innovate in more than a me-too fashion

• We have to look to leapfrog our competition


• How can we lead again?


• There are always going to be un-met consumer needs


• Anxiety and loss of control in traveling is one key focus area

(Tim Jones)
A lot of airports are trying to expand their capacity (Heathrow, Frankfurt, Schiphol)

• One limiting factor is the ability of the airport to process people through security


• One way to overcome this limitation has come from looking not at other airports, but from looking at Disney


• Queues for experienced people versus families versus novice people


• Disney focuses very heavily on queue management and getting people spending more money, etc.

(Gary Hamel)
The tendency over time is for a company to become more incremental because they start talking to the same consultants and measuring themselves against each other

• Ask your employees to tell you about their fundamental customer experiences in different parts of your production chain


• What are the companies that are making the most dramatic changes in customer expectations?


• The key is to look outside your own industry - What has changed your employees lives as consumers and investigate that

I hope these notes have given you a good idea of some of what was discussed in the Q&A session at the UTEK webinar and what the key takeaways were. Please also see my blog articles on Gary Hamel's and Tim Jones' and Regina Lewis' portions of the webinar.

Happy innovating!

@innovate

UTEK Webinar Synopsis: Regina Lewis - Adopting an Innovation Strategy

I had the good fortune to attend Regina Lewis' webinar yesterday on "Adopting an Innovation Strategy", and will now share some of the notes, quotes, and key insights I was able to capture.

Please NOTE: Because these are notes, they may be a little rough, but I've done my best to clean them up.

Regina Lewis, Ph.D., Vice President of Consumer Insights for InterContinental Hotels Group, wrapped up this informative webinar with her discussion on the impact of adopting an innovation strategy and its benefits to InterContinental Hotels.

Here are some of Regina Lewis' thoughts:

We operate in a franchised environment, and when we come up with any new innovation or update, we have to sell that into the franchisees.

I oversee our innovation insights and innovation research work.

We cannot ignore radical innovations as incremental innovations may be ignored by customers.

We always begin looking at true unmet consumer needs:

• We look at secondary research with "futurists"


• We also look for unmet consumer needs through in-depth exploratory work with our customers via ethnography


• To innovate in hotels you need to have an understanding of how people live

Once we have ideas then we conduct quantitative research with consumers and ask them about the last time they stayed in a hotel and about the next time that they plan to stay.

What are those innovations that can predict increased occupancy?

• We need to go to pilot hotels with statistical choice modeling and a business case


• Then we can isolate the pilot hotels versus control hotels (tracking 1 pilot hotel versus maybe 20 control hotels) to see if it was our innovation that drove changes in occupancy versus some external factor


• We do not sacrifice art for the science to make sure that the fuzzy front end of innovation is driving what we do out there

We have to prove things in the pilor hotels before rolling ideas out globally.

Consumers will not come unless we are giving them something that either rationally or emotionally is important to them.

I hope these notes have given you a good idea of some of what was discussed in Regina Lewis' presentation of "Adopting an Innovation Strategy" and what the key takeaways were. Please also see my blog articles on Gary Hamel's and Tim Jones' portions of the webinar.

Happy innovating!

@innovate

UTEK Webinar Synopsis: Tim Jones - Future Catalysts of Innovation

I had the good fortune to attend Tim's webinar today on "Future Catalysts of Innovation", and will now share some of the notes, quotes, and key insights I was able to capture.

Please NOTE: Because these are notes, they may be a little rough, but I've done my best to clean them up.

Tim Jones, Ph.D., author of Innovating at the Edge, (published by Butterworth Heinemann) and Managing Director of Innovaro, a division of UTEK, will discuss the future catalysts of innovation.

Here are some of Tim Jones' thoughts:

Where are organizations now starting to place their bets?

• In this economic environment, people tend to switch back to short-term thinking and focus on making a quick buck

How do we overcome the uncertainty?

• Many of our clients focus on differentiating between what is possibly going to happen versus what is probably going to happen.




• It is important for people to not only look from the Market Now to the Market Future, but to take a more holistic look at how the World Now and the World Future will influence the Market Future


• Catalysts for Innovation (cut across many sectors)


• Short-term (already in play - carbon, web 2.0, biofuels, wellness, etc.)


• Should have already been looking at these for the last five years


• If you haven't been, then you probably have missed the boat


• Medium-term (Water, authenticity, embedded energy, tracking)


• Water is becoming more scarce


• Wikipedia and amazon reviews versus experts from your company


• How can you inject authenticity into your approach?


• Embedded energy


• How much energy does it take to make our products?

Water

• It takes 140 litres of water to make a single Starbucks cappuccino


• It takes 400,000 litres of water to build a car


• Although it is being investigated how to bring this down to 300,000 litres


• People are beginning to take notice of the water and embedded energy topic, and companies like SAB Miller are beginning to take efforts

People are being tracked by their mobile phone, even when it is off

• Japan - Doing away with train tickets


• You get charged when your mobile phone gets on and off the train


• Florida - A Healthcare Pilot


• When diabetics walk into one of twenty restaurant chains they can get text messages about what they should or shouldn't eat on the menu

It is no longer taken for granted that growth or innovation for companies will come from the first world:

• Kenya is the biggest growth market for Vodafone

What can we do right now using these catalysts to accelerate innovation?

• Which ones do we think are going to impact our sector?


• How do we take advantage of them?


• Where in the world should we launch them (tech, infrastructure, social impact, etc.)?

I hope these notes have given you a good idea of some of what was discussed in Tim Jones' presentation of "Future Catalysts of Innovation" and what the key takeaways were. Please also see my blog articles on Gary Hamel's and Regina Lewis' portions of the webinar.

Happy innovating!

@innovate

UTEK Webinar Synopsis: Gary Hamel - "Innovation in Rough Times"

I had the good fortune to attend Gary Hamel's webinar today on "Innovation in Rough Times", and will now share some of the notes, quotes, and key insights I was able to capture.

Please NOTE: Because these are notes, they may be a little rough, but I've done my best to clean them up.

Gary Hamel has been called the world's most influential business thinker by the Wall Street Journal, and his latest book, The Future of Management, was published by the Harvard Business School Press in October 2007 and was selected by Amazon.com as the best business book of the year. Gary Hamel was a founder of Strategos, which was acquired by UTEK in 2008.

Here are some of Gary Hamel's thoughts:

The tide is running out and the only way for companies to outperform their competition and market expectations is to continue to innovate.

The companies that win will have to create highly differentiated products and services, or build a radically-different cost structure compared to their competition.

In this market, innovation on the cost side is also important.

In the present market, companies face:

• Falling entry barriers (deregulation, digitization, new channels)


• Growing buyer power (more choices, better information, falling transaction costs)


• Hyper-efficient competitors (labor arbitrage, zero legacy costs, new business models)

There is no other area in business where the correlation is weaker between inputs and outputs than in innovation.

So how can you maximize your investment?


Five drivers of innovation efficiency (ratios):

1. No. of Radical Ideas/No. of Ideas (or incremental ideas)


2. No. of Innovators/No. of Employees


3. Ideas from Outside/Ideas from Inside


4. Learning/Investment


5. Commitment/Time

Additional Commentary on Driver #1 (No. of Radical Ideas/No. of Ideas):

• Most new ideas are incremental, but outlier ideas are the only ideas with the capaibility of delivering extraordinary profits


• The need to increase the proportion of radical ideas, doesn't imply taking radically more risk - there is not a direct correlation


• Does it have the power to change customer expectations? (Paypal, online news, etc.)


• Does it have the power to change industry economics? (eBay, IKEA, etc.)


• Does it have the power to change the basis for competition? (does it wrongfoot the competition)

Additional Commentary on Driver #2 (No. of Innovators/No. of Employees):

• Where does innovation come from?


1. Challenging unexamined orthodoxies


2. Exploiting unnoticed trends


3. Leveraging unseen capabilities


4. Meeting unarticulated needs


• Only a certain number of employees are truly innovators


• Key question - How many people have been trained to be business innovators?


• The answer most managers give mystifies me


• Every employee should be trained in the same way that Toyota trained every employee in quality control methodologies


• Toyota received 540,000 suggestions last year for improvement


• What is your company's average number of ideas/employee?


• 5-6 per employee per year should be the minimum but most companies are not anywhere close


• Companies are generally disappointed with their new electronic suggestion boxes (very incremental or flights of fancy)

Advice from Braden Kelley: Companies should not set idea submission goals, but they should train all employees how to be business innovators and have the strategies, policies, process, and systems in place to encourage idea submission and more importantly, the infrastructure to support idea implementation and communication of results

Additional Commentary on Driver #3 (Ideas from Outside/Ideas from Inside):

• View everyone as a potential partner


• Leverage the competencies/assets of other organizations where possible


• Recombination - Nike/Apple example


• Create platforms for 3rd party innovators (Microsoft, Google Maps, Apple AppStore - 50,000 apps)


• Get your customers to innovate (Dell IdeaStorm - 11,000 suggestions)


• Troll the world for good ideas (entrepreneurs in residence around the world, trolling patents, IBM's open-sourcing of its strategy)


• Bid out problems - Innocentive - was mostly technology - but now Chicago Transit Authority and others are putting up business problems

Additional Commentary on Driver #4 (Learning/Investment):

• How many things do you try?


• How quickly do you learn?

Additional Commentary on Driver #5 (Commitment/Time):

• Consistency over time is important, try not to have huge shifts in innovation effort


• Commitment is about persistence and perseverence not how much you spend


• Companies too often lose patience with an idea


• Nespresso took about 20 years for that product to become a significant business for Nestle (lots of evolution in the business model, the product, etc.)


• How engaged are people?


• This varies by country (Companies in Asian countries tend to have highly disengaged employees in comparison with western countries)


• People don't tend to feel engaged - Less than 1 in 5 people feel highly engaged in their work


• Obedience -> Diligence -> Intellect -> Initiative -> Creativity -> Passion


• Those things at the top (initiative, creativity, passion) are gifts from employees


• We are now in the creative economy


• How do I build an organization that elicits these extraordinary gifts that these employees can give?

I hope these notes have given you a good idea of some of what was discussed in Gary Hamel's presentation of "Innovation in Rough Times" and what the key takeaways were. Please also see my blog articles on Tim Jones' and Regina Lewis' portions of the webinar.

Happy innovating!

@innovate

Special Event Coverage Tomorrow - "Innovation in Tough Times"

Hello all,

Tomorrow I have been invited to attend the $199 UTEK webinar on "Innovation in Tough Times" and I will bring you the key insights from Gary Hamel, Tim Jones, Regina Lewis following the event.

"Renowned business strategist Professor Gary Hamel will present the inaugural topic, "Innovation in Tough Times," on Tuesday, February 17th, at 1:00 PM EST. Gary Hamel has been called the world's most influential business thinker by the Wall Street Journal, and his latest book, The Future of Management, was published by the Harvard Business School Press in October 2007 and was selected by Amazon.com as the best business book of the year. Gary Hamel was a founder of Strategos, which was acquired by UTEK in 2008.

Tim Jones, Ph.D., author of Innovating at the Edge, (published by Butterworth Heinemann) and Managing Director of Innovaro, a division of UTEK, will discuss the future catalysts of innovation.

Regina Lewis, Ph.D., Vice President of Consumer Insights for InterContinental Hotels Group, will wrap up this informative webinar with her discussion on the impact of adopting an innovation strategy and its benefits to InterContinental Hotels."

There is still time to register for the event here.

Anything in particular you are curious about should I have the opportunity to ask questions?

@innovate

iPhone Pro in June 2009?

Ok, it was a year ago now that I started making noise about the iPhone Pro that I expected to arrive, based on the underwhelming iPhone 3G launch.

I, of course, thought that the iPhone Pro would make its appearance by Macworld in January (not the iPhone Nano thought other people were suggesting would be introduced), but neither was released as Apple announced that the iPhone was on a June annual release cycle.

Now it's February. The speculation is mounting on what Apple might release in June. Some people are theorizing that Apple will introduce a new $99 iPhone.

I can see a $99 iPhone happening, but I'm not sure I can see Apple investing in building an entirely new design to sell at that pricepoint, given the limitations that the iPhone 3G already has.

Apple will definitely introduce a new iPhone in June, but I still believe it will be a new high-end design, not a new low-end design. If there is a new low-end design it will, in my opinion, only be modestly different than the current iPhone 3G.

Instead, Apple will be looking to reclaim its design leadership with some new capabilities to delight customers, and to provide application developers with some new possibilities. In the past year the Blackberry Storm, the 3-megapixel Sony Xperia X1, the 5-megapixel Nokia N97, and the 8-megapixel Samsung Memoir have all come on the scene to provide attractive alternatives to the iPhone.

I still believe the main new features will be a 5-megapixel swivel video camera (or a front/rear facing camera combo) and a video iChat application for the iPhone Pro.

As a recap, here are the features that I predicted almost two years ago for the third version of the iPhone (noting those achieved), which I now believe will be the iPhone Pro that will launch in the June timeframe:

• 5-megapixel swivel camera (or paired with a 2-megapixel screen-side video-enabled lens)


• Video iChat capability (iChat AV)


• Next generation Bluetooth


• DONE - Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR


• A slightly bigger screen (every millimeter counts) - if the bevel can be reduced


• 16gb or 32gb of flash memory


• Hopefully a faster 3G or WiMax network connection


• DONE with 2nd version


• 802.11n WiFi


• Faster processor with lower power needs


• Improved battery life


• Lower price - $299 or less


• 2nd version hit $199-299 - I now think iPhone Pro will also be priced at $199-299 and the iPhone 3G will drop in price to FREE-$99

So, who thinks I'm right?

Note: These are purely my opinions based on my understanding of technology and of strategy, and are not based on any inside knowledge. For someone else's view on possible specs, see here.

@innovate

Enhancing the Enhancement Request Process - Mentor Graphics

I had the opportunity to attend the Brightidea Innovation Leaders "Birds of a Feather" Conference. The event was a peer-to-peer discussion on innovation management among innovation executives and managers at top global corporations. The conference provided a forum to exchange ideas and best practices on implementing innovation in large organizations, and there were presentations by WMS and Mentor Graphics. This is the second in a series of two articles highlighting the key takeaways from the two presentations, based on the notes I took at the event.

The Mentor Graphics presentation was given by Kim Kelley, Service Delivery Program Manager.

Mentor Graphics is a leading player in the electronic design automation (EDA) market. They are engaged in developing, manufacturing, marketing and supporting of EDA products. The company's software and hardware solutions enable integrated device manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers and semiconductor foundries to develop electronic products.

Situation

The old process of managing enhancement requests wasn't working and was impeding Mentor's support process. All the enhancement ideas were going through the same rigorous ticketing scenario as a customer support issue.

Solution

To resolve this issue, Mentor decided to use BrightIdea to manage the process and out of their 600 products, Mentor zoomed down to 1 or 2 product lines to get their feet wet, and pursued the effort in primarily a top-down approach.

Similar to WMS, Mentor pursued a structured launch process including some of these key components:

• Identify a face to the customer


• Seeded the site with 26 initial ideas from existing ideas (top ones they were considering)


• Set up a badge for Mentor Graphics submitted ideas


• They pre-launched with selective key customers (people involved in betas, valuable customers)


• We worked with legal and got a terms of use put in place that gives us ownership of any idea submitted


• We also implemented a privacy policy


• We use Google Analytics and the reporting capability in BrightIdea to track our site usage

Learnings

Some of the learnings they had from their launch process and usage of the tool include:

• The software worked, but our pre-launch customers were stronger contributors (so next time we increased pre-launch size)


• The tool is definitely solving the problem we had between support requests and enhancement requests


• Financial incentives were not necessary, people feel ownership of their ideas


• The power of the community or the wisdom of the crowd is starting to have an effect on product development


• People are having candid debate around other customer's ideas and even offering alternative solutions


• Interestingly the seed ideas that we put in initially are not the ideas that customers really want (highest ranking is #5 now)


• We are not only looking at the top ideas, but also looking at ideas that go with them (and combining them at the back end)


• We also have learned that employees should also be able to put in ideas (but not vote) and otherwise contribute


• Seeding the site was important as a way of setting the tone - but of course it is important for people to see changes that have come as a result of their contribution

All in all, a great success for both the customers and for Mentor Graphics.

What do you think?

@innovate

Building an Innovation Culture in Gaming

Introduction

I had the opportunity to attend the Brightidea Innovation Leaders "Birds of a Feather" Conference. The event was a peer-to-peer discussion on innovation management among innovation executives and managers at top global corporations. The conference provided a forum to exchange ideas and best practices on implementing innovation in large organizations, and there were presentations by WMS and Mentor Graphics. This is the first of a series of two articles highlighting the key takeaways from the two presentations, based on the notes I took at the event.

The WMS presentation was given by Shridhar Joshi, VP, Global Product Strategy, and Al Thomas, Executive Director, Advanced Game R&D.

WMS has sprung forth from the loins of Williams Bally Midway combination and its heritage of pinball machines to become the dominant player in the video slot machine business.

WMS leadership set innovation as a core principal in an attempt to establish a culture of innovation. They set out with two key questions:

• How do we make every employee feel that innovation is part of their job?


• How do we maximize our innovation potential?

To achieve their innovation culture goals, WMS had to establish certain focus areas, had to establish certain structures that allowed somewhat for spontaneous formation of cross-fuctional teams, and had to form an advisory panel of experts to lead, guide, and evaluate innovations. In addition to creating on-boarding training on innovation for all employees, WMS also had to put training in place to replace panel experts over time.

Other foundational pieces include:

• A process for what to do with ideas that people submit (internal and external ideas)


• Training on the idea submission system along with training on how to innovate


• A reward and recognition program


• Quarterly innovation awards luncheon


• An annual innovation awards dinner


• Marketing team publishes a quarterly innovation newsletter

Seven keys to success:

1. Building a program formally before launching it


2. Launching it with the full support of top management and a communications plan to support the launch


3. Participation - People want to participate (75% so far) - we're tapping the brain of the entire company


4. Consistency - We have been able to maintain involvement over time


5. Fearless Leaders at the top


6. Light-hearted approach makes innovation accessible


7. Having a tool at the backbone has been key (shows that we have a process to manage the ideas that come in)

As a result of the foundational pieces and keys to success coming together, WMS has been able to create a "Culture of Systemic Innovation" because of the following:

• They didn't create artificial financial metrics


• Employees are free to do (submit) what they feel is important


• Panel of experts are responsible for evaluating the financials


• We find the organic innovators in the company and make them the spokespeople

WMS has built an innovation portal, of which Bright Idea's idea management system is but just one part:

• "I have an idea" (submission)


• "I'm in need of a solution" (search and innovation challenge creation)


• "I'm new to this site" (tool training)


• "Be a better innovator" (innovation training)

And a few final takeaways:

• The promise of financial rewards are not key, in fact they might hamper participation


• It is important to also provide the ability to start a specific innovation challenge for problems people are seeking a solution to


• The BrightIdea solution does not replace any existing departmental solution (i.e. new game idea submission from game designers)


• The BrightIdea system helps to make the IP group more efficient in some ways by helping to shape ideas before they get to the IP group (curtails hallway conversations, etc.)


• A lot of the ideas are about things like improving manufacturing, hr benefits, etc.


• Rather than setting aside a certain amount of time every day for innovation, it is more important for managers to be flexible and help promising projects succeed


• It is important to allow ideas to gather strength on their merits, to allow people to comment and vote on ideas, and to provide mentors to help shape promising ideas


• Breaking the surface tension is one of the keys to sparking innovation


• Getting participation is a function of how committed you are to giving people proof points that you are listening (moving the cafeteria soda machine example) vs. The suggestion box is a paper shredder


• Inviting the third person to the idea session often creates a third idea that the first two would have never imagined

Conclusion

All of this comes together to reinforce the difference between innovation theory and practice. Innovation and working with clients are, of course, my passions. After listening to WMS I came away with the feeling that they "get it" and that they are making a lot of the right moves to set themselves up for success, but I also noted that there are numerous other parallel "innovation" tools and processes that may be an area of great opportunity for increasing their chances of achieving continuous innovation.

I would entreat all of you out there in formal or informal innovation management roles, to not only give yourself a broad base of knowledge in innovation theory, but to also seek out other companies ahead of you on the path and learn from their successes and mistakes. Innovation is a dirty business, an emerging discipline, and the reality is actually far more interesting than the theory. For another inside peek into practical attempts to create innovation, I encourage you to check out a book with an unusual (or possibly innovative) organization scheme I am currently reviewing - "Inside Project Red Stripe: Incubating Innovation and Teamwork at the Economist".

So, if the people at WMS keep it up, chances are that every time you go to a casino and play the video slot machines, you (or the casino) will have a better experience than the time before.

What do you think?

@innovate

My Experience with Cisco TelePresence

I had the opportunity to experience a conference today using Cisco's TelePresence to connect four locations (New York, New Jersey, Seattle, and Silicon Valley) and Cisco's WebEx to connect scores more people on the internet. It was supposed to be five physical locations, but London got ten inches of snow overnight and so they did not join.

The conference ran for five hours and I must say that the high definition video ran flawlessly, and there were only minor glitches in getting people's computers synched up with the projector. The system seamlessly switched amongst the four locations on our three flat panels, based on who was talking, and the sound was crystal clear.

Not bad for $300,000 (for the 3-screen Cisco TelePresence 3000). I'm sure it will get cheaper over time, but I can only imagine that there must be renewed interest with the reduced travel budgets at most companies today.

It is hard to fully explain the experience, but life-size imagery and high-definition with directional audio is a leap ahead of any video conferencing system I've experienced (including Microsoft Office Roundtable). The additional benefits of Microsoft Outlook integration, screen sharing and easy operation would make it a very intriguing purchase for any company with distributed teams.

Additional Links:
On-stage experience
Promotional Video (more details)

What do you think?

@innovate

Tomorrow - Bright Idea Birds of a Feather 2.0 - Innovation Conference

Tomorrow I will be lucky enough to attend an international innovation conference via Cisco's TelePresence solution. Brightidea, the software provider behind the successful Cisco I-Prize, is sponsoring the conference with Cisco tomorrow, February 2, 2009.

This Innovation Birds of a Feather conference will bring together innovation leaders both online and via Cisco TelePresence locations in Seattle, London, Silicon Valley, New York, and New Jersey.

The Brightidea Innovation Leaders "Birds of a Feather" Conference is a peer to peer discussion on innovation management among innovation executives and managers at top global corporations. It promises to provide a forum to exchange ideas and best practices on implementing innovation in large organizations.

Companies represented will include: American Express, Astra Zeneca, Safeway, Unilever, Travelers, Merrill Lynch, and more.

The conference will also feature three authors including:

- Mike Kanazawa - "Big Ideas to Big Results"
- Gregg Fraley - "Jack's Notebook"
- Joe Wheeler - "The Ownership Quotient"

I'll try and report on some high level takeaways after the event.

Braden Kelley
@innovate
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