Returning To Your Innovation Center

by Mike Brown

HBO ran a program on preparations by four-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson and his team for racing in the 2010 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

At the first 2010 team meeting, Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus called the team's attention to the bare walls in the meeting room. He highlighted the absence of all the awards and pictures celebrating the team's fourth NASCAR championship in 2009. Knaus let the team know it is on the hook to perform at a level in 2010 to allow them to fill the walls once again with racing successes.

Maybe a move like that is easier when you've won 4 NASCAR championships in a row!

But it's a great reminder for any of us:

• Don't rest on your laurels. Instead, get motivated for the successes that lie ahead of you.

So when you look around your office, what do you see?

Are you stuck in past wins, or do you have motivators for the greatness that's yet to come?


Editor's Note: I love the point of this post. Leaders celebrate when it's time to celebrate, but are never satisfied, and always stand ready for the next innovation challenge. One of the things that makes Tiger Woods so great is how fast he can return to center - whether he has just hit his best shot - or his worst. Companies that don't celebrate their innovation victories demotivate people - you have to make time for it - but companies that celebrate their innovation victories too long are soon passed by those eager to push the boundaries even farther.

Are you satisfied?


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Mike Brown is an award-winning innovator in strategy, communications, and experience marketing. He authors the Brainzooming TM blog, and serves as the company's chief Catalyst. He wrote the ebook "Taking the NO Out of InNOvation" and is a frequent keynote presenter.

Speed vs Strategy

by Steve McKee

Cristobal Conde is CEO of SunGard, a leading global software and IT company. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Conde was asked what has been the best move he's made during the downturn. He answered, "We could have generated more earnings by having more layoffs. We wanted to protect R&D. We wanted products ready to go at the end of the cycle. I saw a huge competitive opportunity to protect programmers when others weren't."

Conde's perspective is smart, but rare. Our research shows that most companies overreact to a downturn and cut not just fat, but muscle. If they go beyond what's absolutely necessary, that can easily compromise their future. Conde turns the fear on its ear by asking his employees "What is it you need to do now so you will remember the crisis as a gift?"

Chilean by birth, Conde has developed a taste for a uniquely American institution: NASCAR. Perhaps it's because he sees in racing similar patterns to those of business. "Going into the crisis is not that different from going into a turn," he says. "You slam on the brakes. In the turn, the most important thing is your position relative to other cars. I've been telling people, 'Focus on our relative market shares rather than overall volumes you can't control. What are we doing to improve our position?' After the turn, you take that better position."

Conde can't guarantee that SunGard will come out of the recession a winner, just as even the best NASCAR drivers don't know when they'll cross the finish line first and when they'll come up short. But races are decided by the strategy of the driver as much as the speed of the car.

Drive smart.


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Steve McKee is a BusinessWeek.com columnist, marketing consultant, and author of "When Growth Stalls: How it Happens, Why You're Stuck, and What To Do About It." Learn more about him at www.WhenGrowthStalls.com and at http://twitter.com/whengrowthstall.