Reverse Knowledge Management

by Stephen Shapiro

Last night I went to a seminar. On the whiteboard, the seminar leader drew an oft-used framework:

There are things you "know." - For example, I know I can speak English.

There are things you "know you don't know." - I know I can't speak Chinese.

And there are things you "don't know you don't know." - Obviously I don't have any examples of this.

But it got me thinking. There is one dimension that is never mentioned...

There are things you "don't know you know."

Inside of organizations, there is so much untapped knowledge. To combat this, over the past two decades, companies have invested millions of dollars in knowledge management systems. The objective has been to capture the company's knowledge.

The problem is, the knowledge management databases usually become so large and unwieldy that they are unusable. I can attest from experience that these systems often end up becoming digital piles of untapped information. Finding what you want can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Or, more accurately, it is like finding a specific needle in a stack of needles.

What's the solution?

You might call it, "reverse knowledge management."

Instead of posting knowledge which sits passively in a database waiting for someone to find it, you post your question to your "community" so that it can be answered at the time of need. Of course, asking the world for an answer to your question is not new. Yahoo/Google Answers did this a few years back.

But internally, especially when you have already invested in knowledge management systems, the dynamics can be quite different.

If you are using an internal collaboration tool like InnoCentive@Work, you might find that reverse knowledge management is an unintended benefit. When you have a challenge you want solved, the odds are, someone else within your organization has already solved a similar problem. But you probably don't know who knows the solution or where to find the solution.

Sometimes the solution can be sitting in your knowledge management system... and you don't even know it because it is too difficult to find.

Interestingly, "requests for information" posted on internal collaboration tools are sometimes solved not by the individuals with the expertise, by rather by the knowledge management team. When a question is posted, the knowledge management team masterfully scours their databases to find a solution. The advantage of this approach is that those with expertise in navigating the knowledge management systems do what they do best, thus freeing the rest of the organization to focus on what they do best. And it has the added benefit of breathing new life into your old knowledge management initiatives.

So, what is it that you organization doesn't know what it already knows?

P.S. I have to admit that I am a bit surprised. If you Google "reverse knowledge management" (in quotes) you will see that the only place this term is used on the entire internet is by me.


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Stephen Shapiro is the author of three books, a popular innovation speaker, and is the Chief Innovation Evangelist for Innocentive, the leader in Open Innovation.

Is China an Innovative Society?

by Stefan Lindegaard

I tapped into an interesting discussion on LinkedIn. Chris Gelken, who is host and co-producer of Today, a live news magazine, asked whether China is an innovative society.

Personally, I find the development of China to be both fascinating and a bit frightening seen from a Western perspective. Based on several visit, my take is that if China avoids too many financial bubbles, then the drive and ambition of the Chinese people to climb the value chain ladder will turn it into an innovation hotspot sooner than many think.

There are many great comments in the discussion and I have inserted snippets from a couple of them below. Check out the rest for yourself: Is China an Innovative Society? (requires group membership to China Networking Group)


Zhiyun Chen, Vice President at Pixelligent
I think as indivduals Chinese are very creative. It is result of strong natural selection by firece competetion in a closed society. The problem, though, is Chinese society still lacks mechnisms to channel the creativity of individuals into constructive innovations.

Edward Eng, Copywriter at Getchee
Rather than ask if China is innovate or not, people should focus on how China needs to improve its global marketing skills. The reason why many people think China isn't innovate is because no one knows what they are doing in China. People and businesses in China have great ideas and products but sometimes they just don't know how to effectively market them to the global consumer market. This is where China needs to strengthen its innovative juices.

John Walmsley, MD at Scot Lift Systems
They have the ideal situation for innovation as the Universities concentrate on designing and developing products which will meet a market need and not play around learning things which do not relate to Industry and Commerce. Where there is a gap is in Product design where they seem to lack the skills in making their products look modern and appealing. If they get that right then look out World.

Stephen DeKuyper, Managing Principal at CresaPartners
My experience tells me an overwhelming "no". Good at copying, good at driving costs down, but not innovative. I would be interested in seeing how many patents are applied for out of China. I guess it would be very low. I think with the size of the population, it will go up, but on a per capita basis, I think it will remain low. This does not equate to being smart or not. I just don't think there is an environment for innovation.

Bill Dodson, Principal at TrendsAsia
China excels at innovation, but not disruptive Innovation. "Small i" innovation is about patching and work-arounds. "Big I" Innovation is about changing the course of markets and even of societies. Chinese culture and history have always been supportive of "small i" innovation, due to the capricious nature of local government policies and decisions; and due to dramatic turns of events - revolts, revolutions, banditry, dynastic dissolution - that quickly destroy the fruits of labor. Hence, the tendency of so many constructions and creations in Chinese society to be just "good enough"; after all, who knows how long such works will be able to stand?


What do you think? Is China an innovative society?


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Stefan Lindegaard is a speaker, network facilitator and strategic advisor who focus on the topics of open innovation, intrapreneurship and how to identify and develop the people who drive innovation.

Role of Social Media in Creating Word of Mouth and Customer Experience

by Paul Williams


What's the role of social media in creating Word of Mouth (WOM)?

You could say there are two parts to WOM - the analog and the digital.

• Analog is person to person... face to face. I'll also put written and print media into the analog category.


• Digital WOM is converted and stored in a format that can be sent and re-sent electronically.

Social media refers to tools that allow us to easily spread the story electronically, digitally. Like a pyramid marketing scheme I tell my network, and they tell theirs, and they tell theirs... Social media tools (blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc) make the spread easy.

In fact, I may have to contradict my earlier statements indicating that Malcolm Gladwell and Seth Godin are the father's of Word of Mouth (WOM).


The REAL Originators of Word Of Mouth

I think the folks who wrote the Faberge Organics Shampoo commercials in the 80s invented it.

Do you remember those ads?

If you tell two friends about Faberge Organics shampoo with wheat germ oil and honey, they'll tell two friends, and so on... and so on... and so on...

Sorry about the poor quality - this is all I could find.


(Feed Link For Faberge Commercial)


Has the focus of Social Media had a negative effect on the Customer Experience?

I'll say potentially, YES. Marketers dazzled by the shiny object that social media is, may think they've solved their communication problem - or are engaging in a 'meaningful' way because - for example - they've created a Facebook Fan Page for their business.


False Sense Of Security

Let me pick on one of my favorite brands, Starbucks Coffee, as an example. Specifically, their "My Starbucks Idea" website. Through this site, Starbucks welcomes everyone to submit product, program, design, service, or ANY idea.

The My Starbucks Idea home page declares:


"You know better than anyone else what you want from Starbucks. So tell us. What's your Starbucks Idea? Revolutionary or simple - we want to hear it. Share your ideas, tell us what you think of other people's ideas and join the discussion. We're here, and we're ready to make ideas happen."

• Starbucks thinks they are listening.


• Customers think Starbucks is listening, and taking action.


• Starbucks thinks they've "checked the box" (to some extent) in being a social media player by having this site.


• Power to the people!

However, if you look at the "milestone" of the 50 Ideas Launched and Still Counting! - celebrating customer ideas implemented - Starbucks has technically only implemented six (6) ideas submitted by customers. If you dig into it - as John has on his Brand Autopsy site in his Tough Love For Starbucks post - you'll see that most ideas were already in the works, would have been done anyway, or aren't even customer-facing ideas (e.g. Employee discount on work clothes).

A problem with social media is that companies may think - simply by participating in the trend - that they're meeting customer need. Starbucks has invested in this suggestion site and believe they are checking the "we care and listen to customers" box. They think they've fulfilled the portion of their strategy, that supports the objective: to "Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time."

Starbucks isn't being as democratic with ideas as they claim (and think) they are. It really isn't "power to the people." Social media (or maybe improper use of social media) is giving Starbucks a false sense of security.

Social media isn't for everyone. To "engage in meaningful conversation" may actually mean a conversation. A face-to-face, human-to-human dialogue. For example, the kind a barista can have with a customer at Starbucks.


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Paul Williams is a professional problem solver at Idea Sandbox. He can help you create remarkable ideas to grow your business. You may read more at his website and find him Twittering as @IdeaSandbox.

Happy Holidays from Blogging Innovation

Just a short message to wish you a happy holiday season from the team here at Blogging Innovation.

As a special gift, we've made all of our white papers and case studies registration-free for your convenience. Just click to download.

If you're not already one of the 1,650+ members of our Continuous Innovation group on LinkedIn, we invite you to join the discussions and news item sharing that occurs there for the growing Blogging Innovation community.

May your season be full of time spent with happy and healthy family and friends.

All the best,

Braden

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Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

150,000 Good Ideas

by Kevin Roberts

Ideas are the currency of the future and can come from anywhere, and Google probably knows this more than anyone right now! To help celebrate their 10th birthday, Google invited people to submit their ideas to help make the world a better place for everyone with their special "Project 10 to the 100th."

150,000 ideas were sent in from people living in 172 countries, speaking 25 different languages. There were eight different categories that ideas: community, energy, environment through to health, education, shelter and opportunity, and not to forget the 'everything else' basket. The same people who submitted ideas were then invited to vote on the best ones that should receive the $10 million that Google are going to invest and which should be announced soon.

You can see the full range of ideas here. Some of the finalist ideas were:

• Support efforts to increase young Africans' access to quality education by creating "cyber schools"


• Create a fund to support social entrepreneurship by providing targeted capital and business training to help young entrepreneurs build viable businesses and sustained community change

Coordinate a rapid-response tool for natural disasters; introduce an ecological VAT instead of income tax

• Create an advanced health monitoring system


• Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists


• Create a transportation system that enables electric cars to run on a rail-type system

When so many ideas struggle just to see the light of day, it's wonderful how the project has given people the opportunity to spread their ideas. The project has just finished voting and winners should be announced shortly, when the ideas go to work they will surely help transform the way people live.


Image source: http://www.project10tothe100.com/ideas.html

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Kevin Roberts is the CEO worldwide of The Lovemarks Company, Saatchi & Saatchi. For more information on Kevin, please go to www.saatchikevin.com. To see this blog at its original source, please go to www.krconnect.blogspot.com.

What's Your Lifeline for Innovation?

by Stephen Shapiro

During dinner the other night, I compared crowdsourcing to the lifelines on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

Imagine you are sitting in the hot seat. The show's host asks you a question. You are nervous and can't think straight. You believe you know the answer to the question, but $64,000 is on the line. You are no longer that sure of yourself. You have all of your lifelines. What do you do?

A. Answer the question on your own.
B. Phone a Friend
C. Use the Fifty-Fifty
D. Ask the Audience

Let's explore each option...

You could of course answer the question on your own (A). You answered the previous 10 questions correctly doing it this way. But the stakes are higher now. Maybe it's time to get some help.

You could "Phone-A-Friend" (B). Based on the few times I watched the show (admittedly the last time I watched WWTBAM was back in 2001 when was living in England), this option rarely proved reliable. Of course, if your friend has access to Google and can search quickly, then it might be the best option. But if relying solely on brain power, this option is typically a dud. One extra brain helps little.

You could go for the "Fifty-Fifty" (C). Here, two incorrect answers are eliminated, leaving you only two choices. This is a great option. Unfortunately, according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, "the answers eliminated were not random but were pre-selected as the ones the contestant was least likely to pick." Well, that makes things a bit harder.

You could "Ask the Audience" (D). According to Wikipedia, "This is a popular lifeline, known for its near-perfect accuracy. (Regis) Philbin once said that the audience's answer is statistically 95% of the time correct." However, my research shows that for more difficult questions, the audience is often clueless. The problem is, everyone answers rather than only those who know the answer. This creates a lot of invalid noise.

In the current version of the show, there are other lifelines, including "Ask the Expert." You can guess what this is.

Ok, now, imagine you are in the hot seat at work. You are working on a pressing challenge. You think you know the answer. Or maybe you haven't a clue how to solve it. Regardless, how do you want to bet the company's money?


Lifelines in Business

You could Phone-A-Friend. That is, you could ask the people around your desk at work. This would most likely improve your chances. (and no, your friend can't use Google to solve real world problems)

You could do the equivalent of Asking the Audience by requesting, for example, customer feedback. MyStarbucksIdea simulates this concept. Unfortunately, as with the WWTBAM audience, you get a lot of "noise" in the responses because everyone wants to be heard.

You could Ask the Expert. To do this you might partner with a University or hire a consultant. Or maybe you outsource the challenge to a 3rd party who takes responsibility for solving the challenge.

Or maybe there is a hybrid solution. Call it the "Ask the Audience of Experts." This involves posting a challenge to a group of highly skilled experts; people who have a higher likelihood of solving your problems. You get the viewpoint of many people (much better than Phone-A-Friend), but you also eliminate the "noise" associated with a generic audience. This gives you the added bonus of using a "Fifty-Fifty" lifeline because you end up with fewer "wrong" answers.

Solving challenging problems requires a wide variety of techniques. No one technique is universally correct.

As far as I know, no one has ever won the million dollars on the TV show without using their lifelines. Why should your organization try to win its millions without using the best lifelines available to you?

So, what's the correct answer? E - All of the above. And yes, that is my final answer.

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Stephen Shapiro is the author of three books, a popular innovation speaker, and is the Chief Innovation Evangelist for Innocentive, the leader in Open Innovation.

New Feature - 'Innovation Perspectives'

Thanks to an idea/request from Jeffrey Phillips of OVO Innovation, we are starting a regular monthly feature here on Blogging Innovation called Innovation Perspectives.

The idea is to present our loyal readers with different perspectives on a single topic all in one place - from several different authors. This will give our innovation community the opportunity to compare, contrast and discuss them in the comments here on Blogging Innovation and in the Continuous Innovation group on LinkedIn.


This month's Innovation Perspectives topic for the week of August 17-23, 2009:

"Describe the importance of innovation strategy to the success of an organization's innovation efforts."

• Do companies need an innovation strategy?


• What role does it play?


• What are best practices in setting innovation strategy?


• How should organizations integrate their innovation strategy into their corporate strategy?

Several contributing authors will be writing articles on this topic, but you are also welcome to submit an article by the end of August 15, 2009.

I'll publish all of the accepted articles during the week of August 17-23, 2009 for discussion.

If you would like to suggest a topic for September, please leave a comment or contact us.

We look forward to sharing our innovation perspectives with you next week and hearing your thoughts!

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Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

Coming Next Week - Spigit Innovation Summit

Last week (July 28, 2009), I had the opportunity to attend Brightidea's Birds of a Feather 3.0 event.

Next week (August 13-14, 2009) I will endeavor to bring you live coverage of the Spigit Innovation Summit from the Four Seasons Resort Aviara in Carlsbad, CA.

Gary Hamel will be giving the keynote at the event, and will likely share his perspectives on corporate innovation gathered from his consulting work, his work with London Business School's Management Innovation Lab, and his research from his latest book "The Future of Management".

Over the course of two days, a range of innovation-related topics will be open for discussion with innovation leaders from a variety of companies. There will be sessions on best practices, use cases and internal innovation applications with specific examples provided by participants.

If you will be at this event and would like to share your thoughts about barriers to innovation (on or off camera), or discuss the possiblity of having your company's innovation case study included in an upcoming publication, please contact me.

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Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

LinkedIn or Ning for Innovation Community?

Which do people prefer for sharing interesting news, articles, videos, and all around community - Ning or LinkedIn?

I created an Innovation Community a year ago on Ning and to date it has 42 members.


Ning had a lot of promise when it first came on the scene, but I'm not sure that it has a bright future because it hasn't found a way to make itself an integral part of people's lives.

I created the Continuous Innovation group on LinkedIn two months ago and it already has 470+ members.


LinkedIn groups don't require people to join yet another social network and build yet another profile (most people are already members of LinkedIn - or should be). LinkedIn is part of many people's routine, and if it's not they can sign up to receive a daily or weekly digest of group activity by e-mail.

LinkedIn groups may not offer all of the functionality of Ning groups, but they do offer discussions, job postings, and the ability to share news articles or other links. I think that's good enough.

What do you think?

Care to discuss this in the Continuous Innovation group?

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Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

Blogging Innovation Now Part of Innovation Community

We'd like to announce that Blogging Innovation is now part of the exclusive Innovation Community, where you'll find feeds and videos from today's top innovation luminaries.

Members can contribute to the discussion forum, upload their favorite innovation videos, suggest books for the community book shelf, or start a chat with other online members.

Join the community now!

Announcing the Innovation Community

I am pleased to announce the launch of the new multi-author Innovation Community at http://innovationcommunity.ning.com

The Innovation Community provides:

1. A forum for people interested in driving business results and discussing innovation topics


2. Centralized access to the writings and videos of several visionaries:
   - Gary Hamel, Clayton Christensen, Geoffrey Moore, Michael Raynor, Braden Kelley, David Sable, Stephen Shapiro, and the minds of Ideo


3. Access to content from London Business School's Management Innovation Lab


4. A way for you to connect with other people interested in innovation


5. A place for you to share innovation content that others might enjoy

I encourage you to check it out and help make it your own.

Join the conversation at http://innovationcommunity.ning.com.