BIF Speak - Business and Economics
Kaplan in New BizWeek Column: The Innovator's Vulnerability
In his latest BusinessWeek column, BIF's Chief Catalyst Saul Kaplan asserts that the most distinguishing characteristic of an innovator is their vulnerability:
"If you hang around innovators long enough, it’s pretty clear they all have a deep-seated confidence in both their ideas and their ability to turn ideas into reality. The best innovators are able to do this on a regular basis, delivering value along the way. To some, they may seem invincible, impervious to the naysayers, roadblocks, and intransigent systems in their way. But I believe that this confidence, however valuable, is not what distinguishes a great innovator. Instead, innovation requires a level of vulnerability with which most are uncomfortable."
June BIF Bookgroup Selection Is In! Reading Jeff Jarvis' What Would Google Do?
The June BIF Bookgroup selection is in. This month we will be reading What Would Google Do? by noted blogger, digital journalist and BIF-5 storyteller Jeff Jarvis. The book chronicles Jeff’s effort to not only reverse-engineer the success of Google in the Internet economy but also help people apply those laws and lessons to their own industry, company or career.
Competing Against Non-Consumption
Disruptive innovations infiltrate existing markets in amazing ways. At the World Innovation Forum this week, BIF research advisor Clay Christsensen talked about the importance for established companies to compete against non-consumption and reliably plug growth gaps to routinely surprise the market.
Competing Against Non-Consumption
Disruptive innovations infiltrate existing markets in amazing ways. At the World Innovation Forum this week, BIF research advisor Clay Christsensen talked about the importance for established companies to compete against non-consumption and reliably plug growth gaps to routinely surprise the market.
Changing Business Models: Clay Shirky on why media is a triathlon
Last weekend I was watching Costas NOW on HBO and heard a tirade against blogging like no other. Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights unleashed a fury against Will Leitch, editor of the popular sports news site DeadSpin.com. From bloggers' writing skills, to their ethics deficiencies to their lack of credentials, Bissinger believes our moral fiber is in jeopardy because of the dearth of consumer-produced sports media. “I think blogs are dedicated to cruelty, they’re dedicated to dishonesty, they’re dedicated to speed,” Bissinger said.
Innovation Process: The Art of Building Creative Tension
I can't imagine a more difficult job than working to transform Ford Motor Company. Sunday's New York Times had a good profile of Ford's new CMO James Farley. Hired six months ago, this former marketing whiz from Toyota has a daunting job ahead of him :orchestrate a comeback for the struggling automaker which lost $15.3 billion during the last two years.
BIF Research Advisor Andrew Hargadon on the Design of New Ventures
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n anticipation of our workshop on the design of networked innovation, bestselling author Andrew Hargadon passed along an article he wrote a while back called Leading with Vision: The Design of New Ventures. Great primer before our hands-on workshop next Thursday, April 24th.
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New Book by P&G CEO A.G. Lafley
Bruce Nussbaum of BusinessWeek has written a glowing review of A.G. Lafley's new book co-written with Ram Charan called "The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation." Writes Bruce: "Lafley, the remarkable CEO of Procter & Gamble, gives us the state-of-the-art in innovation. It tells you exactly what the best practices are in the one non-techie company that has embraced innovation as a total corporate strategy and as an organizational culture."
Kelly Space & Technology Cites Innovation Capacity as Driver in Decision to Open East Coast Operation in Rhode Island
The BIF team was excited to learn that Kelly Space & Technology,Inc., a San Bernardino-based California company focusing on aerospace,energy and homeland security technologies, is establishing an East Coast operation in Rhode Island. The high-tech company cites Rhode Island’s capability to serve as an innovation laboratory and foster innovation as key drivers in its decision to locate in the Ocean State. Kelly learned about BIF while evaluating possible locations for its East Coast operations.
New BIF Project: Introducing the Nursing Home of the Future
In case you missed it, the Business Innovation Factory is partnering with the Tockwotton Home, Quality Partners of Rhode Island and the MIT AgeLab to create a real-world laboratory for developing and testing new solutions, products and models for improving elderly care. Leveraging the BIF Experience Lab platform, the "Nursing Home of the Future" will create a platform for innovators and industry partners to transform current approaches to elderly care in assisted living and nursing care facilities.
Meet BIF-4 Storyteller Marc Ecko: Fashion icon turned business mogul (with heart)
I first met Marc Ecko last year during a symposium I attended in Providence on vocational and technical education. You might think it a strange place to be for a billion dollar fashion empire mogul but quite refreshingly, Ecko was low-key, down-to-earth, and really passionate about the youth development program he created called Sweat Equity Enterprises.
This fall, Ecko will take the BIF-4 stage to share his personal story of innovation: Although it may not be the case that everything Marc Ecko touches turns to gold, it sure does seem that way.
Irving Wladawsky-Berger on the LIfe-Cycle of a Business
This is well worth a read:
A Delicate Balance by Irving Wladawsky-Berger
Irving just wrapped up his first semester teaching at MIT and managed to succinctly condense thirteen, three-hour seminars into a nice post. The seminar was about technology-based business transformation and he examined how companies can leverage emerging, major technologies to significantly transform a business or even a whole industry. There are so many factors that go into developing a business based on technologies as broad and complex as the Internet and in his post Irving talks about the delicate balance that exists within the life-cycle of a business:
Charting an Innovation Direction...The Eli Lilly Way
Lois Kelly of BeeLine Labs wrote recently about a conference she attended at Columbia University where Mark Kershisnik, the executive director of Eli Lilly's market research and US marketing services, spoke about his company’s innovation mission. Kershisnik said that Lilly’s sustainable success is rooted in a shared, common purpose that everyone in the global company is passionate about:
Back to basics: For a good time, call Zappos.com
Four million pairs of shoes of all shapes, sizes, colors and trends currently reside in a warehouse in Kentucky. Twenty-four hours a day the shoes are being shipped out to consumers all across the country to the comfort of their own homes. Don't like the pair once they arrive? No problem. You can ship them back, free-of-charge. That's the allure of online retailer Zappos.com.
Tony Hsieh is Zappos.com's rising star CEO and he'll be sharing his story at the BIF-4 summit in October. His back-to-basics approach to company building has propelled Zappos to the near billion dollar mark in revenue sales.
Rhode Island's Bid to Become Technology Hub
Staff reporter Carolyn Porco of the Boston Globe wrote a great article last week on Rhode Island and its emergence as a hub for technology and innovation. I have to give her props - she uncovered activities here in the state that I wasn't even aware of - which furthers our rationale that Rhode Island as a high-tech hub is more than just an aspirational goal, it's quickly becoming reality.
John Kao Q&A: How the U.S. Can Reclaim its Innovation Edge (and why Rhode Island may hold the key!)
Today’s conversation on innovation typically focuses on individual companies or market sectors, but with his new book, Innovation Nation, Business Innovation Factory Research Advisor John Kao takes the talk to a whole new level: how can you innovate a country?
Kao may just have the most interesting–and diverse–resume of anyone I’ve come across. A celebrated jazz pianist, he’s toured with Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention band, produced several movies including sex, lies & videotape, taught at Harvard Business School for 14 years, wrote a best-selling book called Jamming, founded a few firms and consulted to big companies, small start-ups and government agencies around the world. Along the way, he also trained in philosophy with a B.A from Yale, psychiatry with a M.D. from Yale Medical and also business with a M.B.A from Harvard Business.
BusinessWeek Assistant Managing Editor Bruce Nussbaum Joins BIF Research Advisory Council
I have exciting news for the BIF community: Bruce Nussbaum has been appointed to our Research Advisory Council. Bruce is an assistant managing editor for BusinessWeek, responsible for coverage of design and innovation.
For years, Bruce has been at the center of a global conversation on the discipline of innovation and is a fierce advocate of the field of design thinking. He has written extensively about how organizations,both inside and outside the corporate sphere, should apply design thinking concepts to their innovation strategy. His blog, NussbaumOnDesign reflects his personal and provocative take on what smart companies are doing (or should be doing) in the U.S., Asia and Europe.
Increasing the Ripple Effect of Green Design
Last Thursday, 60 or so green designers gathered at BIF member Continuum’s Newton, MA offices to spend the day talking about green design. Included in this conversation were 8 green believers who are trying to change the world. They came from all walks of life and from their stories, we were all trying to answer two big questions: what is sustainable design and how do you build (or evolve) a business model around it?
Memo to Established Companies: It's OK to Rewrite the Playbooks
Within the cubicle environments of most large organizations, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing change is difficult or that the rule book can’t be adjusted. In 2003, amidst the backdrop of corporate scandals like Tyco and Enron, Vice President of Corporate Communications David Yaun was part of an IBM Corporation management team driving a massive, company-wide dialog to identify the company’s core values.
The Wisdom of Crowds Unhinged?
BIF Research Advisor Bill Taylor wrote a provocative piece on Xconomy asking a very simple question: How hard (bordering on impossible) it is for companies to keep new products simple and to focus their innovations on simplifying existing products?
His question stems from Jason Fried's story at the BIF-3 summit a couple of weeks ago. Jason's business advice: do less than your competition, spend less money, hire fewer people, work fewer hours and, offer fewer features.
Marc Ecko, the Cultural Navigator for Young Men by Adrian Chernoff
"Making something from nothing.” “It’s not what you make, it’s how you make people feel.”
For me, “there is something very powerful about objects.” There is something very powerful of learning about objects. Demystifying the object; what’s under the hood.
How did you come up with a Rhino logo? It all started growing up in a lake in New Jersey. Yes, it started in a garage, half a nautical themed bar and half a workshop where Marc drew and airbrushed t-shirts. It was in this garage where his father kept a collection of sand drift rhino’s and Marc used the Rhino with a Hans Solo Star Wars action figure, both of which he brought to BIF-4, to play games with his neighbor as a kid. The Rhino was as he calls it is a closet Tan Tan from Star Wars.
Jason Fried, Software biz kid talks about becoming a better cook by Adrian Chernoff
He begins with a quote from Thomas Edison “There ain’t no rules here, I’m just trying to accomplish something.”
Jason continues with, “I don’t build stuff that is real. I work in pixels. What I work with has no mass or weight.” That’s why he took on learning about how to cook.
BIF Research Advisor Bruce Nussbaum on the need for a national innovation policy
BIF-4 co-host and BIF research advisor Bruce Nussbaum writes about America's need for a national innovation policy. In Time For a National Innovation Policy. McCain And Obama Need To Get Real Bruce challenges his readers - and our presidential contenders - to start a conversation in earnest on the need for a policy that goes beyond federal government support of technology, math and science.
Here at the Business Innovation Factory, we believe our entire nation must compete in an increasingly complex, global economy where innovation and knowledge are the primary drivers of growth. It is not technology that is getting in the way of progress in the areas that matter most: like health care, public safety, education, and quality of life. It's people. Humans and the organizations we live in are stubbornly resistant to change and do not know how to work and play nicely together across boundaries. What else are we missing? A road map for systems level experimentation.
Innovation and Collaboration: The BIF Way
An interview with BIF Chief Catalyst Saul Kaplan is posted on Steve Hardy’s Creative Generalist blog where the two talk about everything from Rhode Island’s position as a national innovation hot spot to the real world innovation lab BIF is developing to what it takes to really drive systems change.
Save the Date: BIF Advisor Diane Hessan to talk community on March 26
Make the most of your lunch hour and join us on Thursday, March 26th for a casual meet-up with BIF Research Advisor Diane Hessan who will share her thoughts on the role of community in the social media landscape. Diane is the President of Communispace, one of the fastest growing social networking companies in the country. Over lunch, she'll talk about her experiences building purposeful networks—networks that go beyond the high-gloss buzz of social media—that bridge across geographies, cultures, and topical areas to help companies really listen to their customers.
Friday Linkage from our BIF community
Following are a few noteworthy blog entries from members of our BIF community reflecting processes of innovation which I don't think get enough attention these days: talent and trust.
Developing New Networks of Talent and Resource Should Be Driving Force for Ailing Auto Industry
Great op-ed piece in the New York Times yesterday called "Have You Driven a Bus or a Train Lately?" by guest contributor Robert Goodman.
In the midst of the current debate around bailing out the auto industry, Goodman argues that as a condition of financial assistance, Congress should insist that automakers shift from manufacturing just cars to becoming innovative "transportmakers."
"As transportmakers, the companies could produce vehicles for high-speed train and bus systems that would improve our travel options, reduce global warming, conserve energy, minimize accidents and generally improve the way we live."
Sharing is Winning: Open Innovation Case Study at Nestlé Co.
Nestlé Co has a case study in this month's Food Technology magazine highlighting some of the steps and processes the company is applying in their open innovation strategy. The article also suggests several recommendations concerning the paradigm shift required for organizations to go from a "not-invented here" mindset to a "sharing is winning" culture.
BIF Bookshelf: Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work
It's no small feat to add to the body of work created by BIF research advisor Clay Christensen. It's been more than 10 years since Christensen changed the innovation landscape with his seminal work on disruptive innovation called The Innovator's Dilemma. Since then, he's published two additional books on the subject and co-founded a successful consulting firm Innosight.
Now, three members of Innosight - Scott Anthony, Mark Johnson, Joseph Sinfield - and Elizabeth Altman of Motorola have written a new book called The Innovator's Guide to Growth which takes Christensen's theories and puts them into practice. Through frameworks, tools and templates, the authors provide an accessible roadmap for transformation that any corporate manager or entrepreneur can follow.
Ripples in the Pond
A point of view is a terrible thing to waste. It should be shared as broadly as possible and improved with vigorous and diverse input. Only then will a point of view have a chance to become shared and an actionable platform to make things happen. I recently asserted in a BIFspeak post Creating a Passion Economy that we must move from a knowledge-based economy to a passion-based economy. I claimed that we could create a more prosperous economy and stronger communities if we enable connections between passionate people and create an environment where innovators can more easily pursue their passions.
Video: BIF Advisor Clay Christensen on Rearchitecting Healthcare and Education
The ability of technology to “disrupt” long-established business practices—dramatically changing the landscape of industries by increasing access, cutting costs, and revolutionizing delivery—has long been accepted and adopted by businesses large and small. Unfortunately, BIF research advisor Clayton Christensen has observed these radical, innovation-driven transformations have been largely absent in the education and health industries, perhaps the two most important areas of everyday life. (And certainly the areas most in need of deep change.)
This clip, from Christensen's appearance at our BIF-3 Collaborative Innovation Summit, is a real gem. Recorded just prior to the publication of his latest books, Disrupting Class and The Innovator’s Prescription, Christensen addresses how new technology can upend familiar institutions and fundamentally alter the way schooling and health care are delivered.
A Simply Better Way
My dream for the future is that we can come together as a connected community with a shared purpose for a simply better way. It is both a blessing and a curse to always think that there is a simply better way. It is part of our human heritage and culture. It is our DNA. It is who we are. There is always a better way.
Near Death Experince as Catalyst for (Great) Change
Earlier this week, BIF chief catalyst Saul Kaplan called for the creation of a “passion economy” to unleash both a new era of prosperity and solutions for the big issues of our time. How many times since President Kennedy rallied the collective passion of our nation to send a man safely to the moon, have you heard someone say, 'Where is our moon mission?'
BIF-3 Storyteller Irving Wladawski-Berger Named to Obama Innovation Team
BIF-3 storyteller Irving Wladawski-Berger was recently named to President-elect Barack Obama's Technology and Innovation Panel which will oversee his "Innovation Agenda," a set of policy proposals that will aim to make government operations more transparent, use high-technology to create jobs and get average citizens more involved in government.
Irving is a great friend of BIF and highly qualified to this post. Through his nearly 40-year career at IBM Irving has been involved with everything from the dawn of supercomputing, to the rise of Linux and open source and the birth of the Internet. Over the years, he's driven several of Big Blue's core business strategies and helped the company evolve into the powerhouse it is today. A couple of years ago he "partially retired" and headed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to teach his first graduate seminar on advanced technologies, business transformation and innovation.
Register for Steven Johnson's Book Talk on March 16th
Author and outside.in creator Steven Johnson returns to Providence on March 16th to discuss his latest book The Invention of Air. Like his recent bestselling work, The Ghost Map, Johnson uses another little-known historical story to explore themes that have long engaged him: how innovative ideas emerge and spread in a society.
Steven Johnson: The Actionable Network Key to Innovation
It was a great pleasure to welcome Steve Johnson to BIF yesterday for a conversation about his new book, "The Invention of Air." In a forum with a few dozen members of the BIF community, Johnson discussed the story of Enlightenment-era innovator Joseph Priestly and the emerging social networks that enabled his ideas to flourish.
April BIF Book Group Selection: The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz
April's BIF book group selection is here. This month we're reading Jacqueline Novogratz's new book The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.
Jacqueline is a social entrepreneur and the CEO of Acumen Fund, a private equity company she founded in 2001 that has invested in 32 entrepreneurs who are building systems to bring affordable basic services to low income people in India, Pakistan, Kenya and Tanzania. By applying business metrics to philanthropy, she is fundamentally changing the model for catalyzing change in developing countries.
Video Podcast with Innosight's Scott Anthony Now Available
Earlier this month I sat down with Innosight President Scott Anthony to talk about Scott's upcoming book The Silver Lining: An Innovation Playbook for Uncertain Times. (Hint: The scarcity resulting from the current economic crisis is actually a good thing for innovation.)
Innosight is a consulting firm founded on the backbone of BIF research advisor Clayton Christensen's disruptive innovation theories and Scott co-wrote two of Clay's landmark books on the subject. In our interview, he shares some interesting insight into today's economic turmoil which he aptly dubs "the great disruption." How should you prune your innovation and business portfolio prudently? How important are strategic experiments in mitigating innovation risks? Will this tumultuous time period change or is it here to stay? Scott has decidedly upbeat things to say and our conversation wraps up with a lengthy discussion about business model innovation and what it takes to create systems-level transformation.
Podcast with Communispace CEO Diane Hessan Now Available
Last month we were fortunate to welcome BIF research advisor and Communispace CEO Diane Hessan to our office for a memorable event with more than 50 friends of BIF to talk about the role of community in the social media landscape. In this edited podcast, Diane draws upon her own experiences. Since 1999 her company has created and managed more than 300 private online communities for clients such as Hallmark, GlaxoSmithKlein and Hewlett-Packard. Diane purposefully sidesteps the technology platform questions and instead provides us with unexpected insights into the development of Communispace. How do you build purposeful networks that foster strong relationships and long-term engagement? Some of her advice might just surprise you.
Shuffle Up and Innovate
Innovation is a better way to deliver value. Often it doesn’t require inventing anything new, just recombining existing capabilities in new ways. CVS Caremark and Blockbusters offer two contrasting stories.
CVS has come a long way from having 17 drugstores in 1964. Today, the company has over 6300 drugstores in the U.S. and is very good at store operations and integrating new stores into the network after several large drugstore chain acquisitions. CVS has to work its bricks and mortar business model hard to deliver customer value, continue to grow, and to stay ahead of Walgreens and other retail competition. But that is not the entire story.
Law of Large Numbers
Imagine needing to add $5-6 billion in new revenue this year just to meet corporate growth expectations. That’s about $16 million in new revenue every day including weekends. It is also Nestle’s 2009 corporate revenue growth target. Accorded to Helmut Traitler, Vice President for Innovation Partnerships, Nestle has about $100 billion in current total revenue and a growth plan calling for a 5-6% revenue increase. Just the incremental growth revenue in Nestle’s plan would land a company on the Fortune 500 list.
I had the opportunity to spend time with Helmut at an Open Innovation forum in Cambridge hosted by the Swiss Consulate’s swissnex program this week and to learn about Nestle’s Innovation Partnerships initiative. Nestle expects to get half of its growth revenue as a result of it’s innovation program so I was very interested in Helmut’s talk and the ideas he shared with me about how they plan to achieve their growth objectives.
BIF Founder Saul Kaplan Sounds Off in Business Week
BIF Founder and Chief Catalyst Saul Kaplan was recently invited by Business Week to pen an article outlining his thoughts on our country’s need to create a national innovation agenda. In this piece, Kaplan discusses the perils of using stimulus cash simply to shore up outmoded education and health-care systems, rather than take the bold steps needed to transform our economy and social systems.
When Product Innovation Isn't Enough
At the BIF-2 Summit U.S. Representative Jim Langevin took the stage in his iBot wheelchair to introduce lengendary inventor Dean Kamen. It's a moment that really stuck with me. The iBot allowed Langevin to do things he previously only imagined - from stair climbing to rolling over curbs to raising himself eye-to-eye with a standing world. The power of the product innovation genuinely touched me. It's potential to help so many individuals move freely into areas previously out of reach seemed limitless. That was three years ago. Today, the iBOT wheelchair is dead.
Escaping Karma-Vertigo: There is a Silver Lining
So many of today's companies have become paralyzed by the economic crisis - suffering from what Jaron Lanier calls "karma-vertigo" - capable only of slashing costs indiscriminately in a hail Mary attempt to survive through to the other side. And with a nod to Karl Marx who said “the philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it, ” we’ve seen several great academics (like BIF research advisor Clayton Christensen) develop theories around how to innovate. But the point is to actually do it. That’s where Scott Anthony’s latest book (and first solo endeavor) The Silver Lining comes in.
New Podcast Interview with Roger Martin
In this podcast, I talk to Roger Martin (Dean of the Rotman School and BIF Research Advisor) about his latest book The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage. Roger is a leading proponent of design thinking at business schools and was recently named to BusinessWeek’s list of The Most Influential Designers in the World.
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