Mystery wedding video - do you know this couple? I've been busy over the last several months, digitizing family video.
In doing so, I've come across a clip from 2003 of a wedding. Right after it ends (about 10 minutes) there is regular video of my family.
We have absllutely know idea who the wedding party is. We don't remember lending our video camera out; it is possible that someone loaned us a tape that had already been used.
We do know this from watching the video:
- they were married by a Reverend Terry Hope
- their names are Nancy and John Prince
- they were going to Honeymoon in Niagara Falls
If you have any insight, please email jcarroll@jimcarroll.com
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Increasing the stakes - why innovation is gaining more traction
As we end the first six months of 2009, one thing is clear: people are realizing that innovation is more than a buzzword. It's a critical component of an organization's success: it's the lifeblood that makes the organization tick and survive a world of high-velocity change.
As someone who spends a lot of time helping some of the world's largest organizations adapt to and understand the new high-velocity economy, I've long realized that there are big, creative-stumbling-blocks that have restricted the type of thinking that is necessary to "doing-things-differently."
Yet, I am encountering a new group of leaders who know that the emergence of the high-velocity economy means that they must have a a team that can constantly adapt and evolve, coming up with a regular stream of new ideas on how to better run the business, grow the business and transform the business.
There are several reasons why innovation will be the primary area of focus for every business, going forward:
- people are finally "getting it": They are realizing that innovation isn't just about new products ; it's also about looking at what you do, how you do it, and how you can do it better.
- people are realizing that innovation isn't optional: They have come to realize that in the fast paced world in which we find ourselves, with multiple competitive threats and unprecedented new opportunities, those who can think differently and who can do things differently will be those that make the leap from potential failure to massive success
- people are realizing they can "do" innovation: they're realizing that innovation isn't some dark, mysterious ancient ritual: they're realizing that it simply a mindset that involves constant probing to see how we can fix things, find new things, or transform things: whether those things be business processes, customer service methods, new products, marketing and distribution channel concepts, or just about anything else.
- people know that innovation is driven by extreme velocity: In every industry, the certain minimum expectations which have long existed are now constantly rising. Whether it issues of cost/price, customer service/support, logistics/delivery, brand coolness or new products, the rule is simple: to compete today, you have to keep up with high-velocity change. If you don't innovate to maintain the same velocity as everyone else, you get left behind. It's that simple.
- people know it becomes easier to be innovative if you plug into the global innovation idea loop. What has happened in the last decade is quite simple: there is now a huge and massive global discussion underway. If you can learn how to tap it, you can discover a wealth of innovative ideas and thinking, new knowledge, wonderful insight and creativity.
- people know that demographic change brings about more innovative thinking: quite simply, as change adverse baby-boomers begin to retire, they are being replaced by change-adept Gen-Connects: individuals who view innovative opportunities in the context of connectivity. They are always asking themselves, how can I do something cool with this business problem if I layer connectivity on top of it? Whether it's supply chain reorganization, collaborative tools or something else, they bring a whole new innovative perspective to the game.
- people are learning that innovation is not a one time thing: when it comes to innovation, the idea of a "suggestion box" is just so "20'th century." There is now an understanding that a company must live a culture of innovation: everyone must be completely and fundamentally focused on the new things we need to do to stay in the game, and excel at what we do.
- people know that innovation has gone mainstream: Everyday people are starting to use the I-word in conversation, and it's becoming natural. Innovation has left the realm of the esoteric, and has become the next natural area of focus in business.
- management is now focusing on the attributes of an innovation team: agility, insight and execution have become their guiding principles. They know that they must have agility to respond to the rapid change that constant innovation demands; they know they need depth of insight to discover where innovative ideas can work; they know that it isn't just coming up with the ideas, but making them work, that is so critical to their innovation success.
- people are seeking a head start on how to make the leap to innovation: A guy like me, who makes his living helping organizations understand innovation, now finds his agenda heavily booked. Management everywhere has put innovation on the agenda for the upcoming months, and they're doing what it takes to get a kick-start on the process.
People have come to realize that being innovative is just plain fun.
That fact, more than anything else, signals that innovation is becoming critical.
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Major trend - the emerging smart energy infrastructure For years, I've been advising my clients that one of the biggest trends for the next decade is the rapid emergence of an intelligent energy infrastructure.
It's happening now -- it's happening all around you -- and the implications are pretty huge in terms of economic growth.
Here's a video that was filmed two years ago, in which I talk about what happens "when thermostats join the cloud."
Today, I bought the new ipThermostat app for my iPhone; it provides instant, seamless access to the two Internet-enabled Proliphix thermostats in my home and ski chalet/cottage. I've written about these devices previously on this blog. (I could link to my thermostat before, but it was via a Web page. iPThermostat makes it seamless and fast.)
Such connectivity allows me to actively manage my energy spend, and better manage my own little environmental footprint. Take us into a world in which hundreds of millions are doing the same thing, and you put a serious dent into heating and air conditioning spending.
Device connectivity is but one small trend in a number of major trends that are coming together all at once:
- HVAC 2.0: major industrial players are adding intelligence to the next generation of commercial, industrial and resident heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment. We're seeing remote monitoring and management; better analysis and insight into ; rapid response to out-of-norm operations. All of this allows people to more actively control overall energy usage
- increasing energy / electrical system demand: quite simply, despite the recession, the demand on our electrical grid continues to increase. This demands new solutions, with the result that a lot of people are putting a lot of mindshare to the issue of how to squeeze more out of our existing energy infrastructure.
- the new NIMBYismm : one impact of social networking is that it is far more difficult for any utility to build a new power plant. The new activism can slow and delay such efforts, and often, successfully shut them down. This only makes the challenge of doing more with what we have now ever more important.
- Energy grid 2.0: do a search for "smart grid" and you'll see a flood of news stories. There's a tremendous amount of hype, but much of it is real. Cisco recently suggested that the connectivity component of the infrastructure will be worth more than $100 billion over five years. That's some serious spending.
- the impact of analytics: raw computing horsepower will help to build the smart grid -- companies like Google are aggressively involved. The same horsepower will help consumers and users better understand their usage, and allow more intelligent demand. Big, big trend!
As thermostats plug into the cloud, everything changes.
More information:
- iPThermostat app from Our Home Spaces
- Blog post When thermostats get connected
- Blog post Silicon Valley: Is Innovation Dead?
- Blog post HVAC 2.0
- Trends document (big PDF); page 3 Analytics & the energy grid
- Proliphix Internet enabled thermostats
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Innovation and the future of energy
I spent some time with the CEO and senior management team of a large global energy company.
They engaged me to provide them with insight on the trends which will impact the global oil, natural gas, energy and distribution sectors in the years to come.
It was a small, intimate get-together with about 40 senior executives; I provided my insight into the trends that I believe will have the most impact. That was followed by about an hour of very intense, deep probing discussion; I obviously stirred up some creative thinking within the group.
While not going into the specifics, the broad brush strokes of what I covered off included my observations that they should be thinking about these issues.
- presume massive market disruption: Think GoogleCar: don't limit your view of the future as to what might transpire. The future of any industry will likely bear no resemblance to the industry structure of today. Future competitors will probably come from completely outside of an existing industry. Challenge every assumption that you have about the future.
- prepare for significant transformation: realize that existing insurmountable challenges are simply a big opportunity to someone else. Someone, somewhere, is going to figure out how to plug hundreds of thousands if not millions of small, local, home based renewable energy sources into the energy grid. It's mostly a computation/mathematical issue: the energy grid was not designed for two way electricity transmission, and so there will have to be an intense amount of computational dynamics to structure a solution. Result? An organization that is a master of massive computational capabilities --- and hence, grid management -- might very well be the new energy company of the future.
- find opportunity in scientific rapidity: we're in the era of global collaborative knowledge generation, and R&D is rapidly externalizing. The infinite global idea loop means that scientific discovery is now happening faster than ever before, which provides for more product and market opportunity. Innovative organizations plug in, ensuring that all staff are in tune with the rapid rate of scientific advance that surrounds them, and are prepared to ride new emerging ideas as soon as they begin to emerge.
- capitalize on skills fragmentation: the war for talent will define future success. We're entering a time of massive skills specialization and ever smaller knowledge niches. As I covered off in my keynote to a global financial audience in the Cayman's, it's the organizations that can build a culture, structure and flexibility to attract and retain skills that will find the key to success in the high velocity economy.
- structure for volatility: extreme volatility is the 'new normal.' If you have the capability to quickly adjust strategy, structure, plans, skills, projects and teams, you've got the right stuff for the new world of constant change.
- prepare for business intensity: innovative organizations plan for more rapid entrance and exits from new markets. They do so through flexible structure. Partnership takes on new role in era of exponentiating, fast complexity and the rapid emergence of new opportunities: if you can scale up, you can win big.
That's the bottom line for innovating in the high velocity energy industry.
Related posts:
- The Google Car and massive market disruption
- Global infinite idea loop
- Talent, not money, is the new corporate battlefront
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Video - "Re-engage yourself with the future!"
The motivational wrapup to a recent Las Vegas keynote - advising the audience to "re-engage with the future."
This is based upon my "10 Great Words" document which you can find here, in a big PDF.
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Live poll - When will we see an economic recovery? I'm doing a keynote for a leading global loyalty management company on Thursday; I'll be incorporating several live text message polls into the talk, in order to have a truly interactive experience on the stage -- this is something I do quite often.
In advance, I'm running a brief test of the polling service I use. Please participate in this poll to help me ensure I've got things scaled correctly.
POLL NOW CLOSED; THESE ARE THE FINAL RESULTS!
Simply use your cell phone to send in a text message to 99503, with the text response (i.e. ONEYEAR) in the body of your message (no charge for the poll from me!) or go to http://poll4.com on your Web browser and type in the one word response.
Keep an eye on this blog entry, as the results should update dynamically.
N.B. The chart is small; we've contacted tech support to see if we can scale it!
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Trend: The emergence of the Chief Momentum Officer
One of my key themes through the years has been that "faster is the new fast" -- that the biggest challenge that organizations must face is how to keep up with the high-velocity economy.
I'm now observing that in many markets and industries, the pace of change is so fast that we need to put in place a senior executive whose sole area of responsibility is ensuring that the organization can keep up with ever-increasing rates of change.
Organizations need to adapt to all kinds of different issues when it comes to the velocity of change: rapidly changing business models, the emergence of new competitors, ever shrinking product lifecylces, a faster pace of new product development, furious rates of technological innovation, furiously fast new trends in terms of customer interaction, the decreasing shelf-life of knowledge and the more rapid emergence of specialized skills: the list could go on!
Hence, the likely emergence of the new position of "Chief Momentum Officer."
This individual will carry a number of responsibilities, such as:
- managing the product innovation pipeline, so that the organization has a constant supply of new, innovative products, as existing products become obsolete, marginalized, or unprofitable
- managing the talent pipeline, so that the organization has the ability to quickly ingest all kinds of specialized new skills
- managing the technology pipeline, so that the organization can adapt itself to constantly improving and ever-more sophisticated IT tools that will help to better manage, run, grow and transform the business
- maintain and continually enhance brand and corporate image; as I've written here many times before, brands can become "tired" and irrelevant if they aren't continually freshened and refreshed
- ensuring that the organization is continuing to explore new areas for opportunity, and that it has the right degrees of innovation momentum
- that the business processes and structure of the organization are fine-tuned on a continuous basis so that it can keep up with all the fast-change swirling around it
- ensuring that a sufficient number of "experiential" programs are underway with respect to product, branding, markets, and other areas so that the overall expertise level of the organization is continually enhanced
- keeping a fine tuned eye on the trends which will impact the organization in the future, and which will serve to increase the velocity that the organization is subjected to and;
- keeping their hands on the appropriate levers throughout the organization such that it can keep evolving at the pace that these future trends will demand.
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Video - "The impact of social networking on brands"
There are 147 million people interacting on social networks through mobile devices today - expect that to grow to 1 billion within 5 years.
A clip from a recent keynote in which I outline the dramatic impact that social networking -- Twitter, Facebook, etc -- is having on brand image, relevance of brand, and longevity of brand.
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Video - "The time to invest in the future is now!"
Enough said. Get over it. Get out and innovate.
Think growth!
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"Recessions provide 'tremendous opportunities"
Recession or not, the future belongs to companies willing to adapt to rapid change, Jim Carroll, a trends and innovation expert, said in London yesterday.
ENTREPENEURS: Recessions provide 'tremendous opportunities,' trends expert says
London Free Press, May 28, 2009
Jim Carroll, speaking at the TechAlliance annual meeting yesterday, says smart businesses must look past the recession.
"Recessions provide tremendous opportunities for growth because everyone else is scared to do anything," Carroll said at the annual meeting of TechAlliance.
Carroll, who grew up in London, is an author, columnist and speaker specializing in new trends and technologies affecting the business world.
He said even when the economy is being "pummelled by negativity," smart businesses are looking past the recession for growth opportunities.
"Recessions are cyclical. I've seen this movie before. I know how it ends," he said.
He said at least one billion people in Asia are entering the middle class, providing new markets for agriculture, technology and other sectors.
Carroll said global food production will have to double in the next few decades, boosting opportunities for agricultural areas around London.
He said health care, another major sector in London, would soon undergo a major shift toward preventative care, aided by genetic testing and diagnostics.
"We will know what you are likely to develop in your lifetime and we will treat you before you develop those conditions."
He said medical care will enter an era of "bioconnectivity" in which expensive hospital beds will be replaced by remote technology allowing for care in the community or home.
Carroll said businesses have to adapt to a "high-velocity economy" driven by technological change. He said the shelf life of a digital camera model has shrunk to a few months while most of the sales on a video game are made within the days of release.
Carroll said business is entering an era of "pervasive connectivity" in which all industries will be transformed by smart communications technology."Everything in our lives is plugging into everything else."
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Accountancy in the Twitter era
One of the columns I write on a regular basis is for CAMagazine, which goes to about 100,000 professional chartered accountants. My big secret? Despite the fact that I spend my time advising some of the biggest organizations in the world on strategies for innovation and creativity, I'm also a professional accountant. I spent some 12 years way back in the 1980's which one of the world's largest professional services firm.
My June column is out -- and it talks about the challenge of trying to reconcile the emerging demands for more financial disclosure with the short attention spans that come with the Twitter era.
You can access the full article below; but here's a few excerpts:
We stand at a seminal moment - a crossroads as it were - between what we might call the new age of disclosure and the new era of inattention.Read the article Accountancy in the Twitter era....we will see all kinds of new rules and regulations within the financial sector and beyond, including most of the business world. Let there be no doubt, in the year to come we will witness a new, onerous set of regulations surrounding financial disclosure....
On the other hand, while we ponder an emerging need for more detailed disclosure, media reports seem to indicate that the general populace is rushing off to Twitter-ize itself.
So here's the thing: to satisfy the demands of angry investors, the typical 10Q and SEDAR filings will have to quadruple in size, if not more. Pretty soon, a typical public company will need to file several thousand pages of disclosure documents to keep up with regulations. Financial statement footnotes will become complicated enough to deserve their own dead tree. An army of accountants will find itself dedicated to the cause of digging deeper with every single sentence.
At the same time, the audience for whom these lengthy documents are targeted is concentrating on writing 140-character texts.
So, the big question is, what is the relevancy of accountancy in the Twitter era?
Might you instead find yourself one day writing a financial disclosure that goes like this: Qlfd opn'n. Gng Cncrn vr m2m vln on unreal(dude!)ized rvnu.
If you understand that, then your brain synapses have shrunk enough to fit the speed of information in the modern age
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"What am I going to do today to kill new ideas?"
Here's a video clip from a recent keynote in Las Vegas.
I was on stage in front of an audience of 4,000, speaking for a global organization.
In this clip, I'm speaking about the challenges that organizations face with innovation -- and in particular, the fact that every organization has people who wake up each day and ask themselves, "what can I do today to kill innovation?"
Do such people exist? Are there really attitudes like this out there with such high-velocity change in the economy out there? You'll realize the answer to this question is yes, as soon as you hear the list of the "innovation killers."
Think about what they say:
- "We've always done it this way"
- "It won't work"
- "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard"
- "That's not my problem"
- "You can't do that"
- "I don't know how"
- "I don't think I can"
- "I didn't know that"
- "The boss won't go for it"
- "Why should I care?"
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A conscious decision - don't take part in this recession!
I led a small workshop last week after an event, focused on the issue of "how can we establish opportunities for growth during an economic downturn."
The cover of my handout was titled, "It's January 15, 2020: What did we do to move through the great recession of 2009." Inside, I presented a number of scenarios that challenged the participants to think about innovation strategies that could be pursued right now, in order to provide that growth.
The concept resonated extremely strongly. All around me, I see opportunities for growth in a wide variety of industries. And what is becoming obvious is that some organizations are aggressively adopting strategies that involve "aggressive innovation" to change their direction now, rather than later.
Since last year, when the recession began, I've seen some of the best and worst approaches to how organizations are dealing with the challenges in the economy. And I go back to a previous blog post, in which I identified a list of 10 more things that smart, innovative companies do to create an overall sense of innovation-purpose. It's still a great list, and is worth repeating.
- Heighten the importance of innovation. One major client with several billons in revenue has 8 senior VP's who are responsible for innovation. And the fact is, they don't just walk the talk -- they do it. The message to the rest of the company? Innovation is critical -- get involved.
- Create a compelling sense of urgency. With product lifecycles compressing and markets witnessing fierce competition, now is not the time for studies, committee meetings and reports. It's time for action. Simply do things. Now. Get it done. Analyze it later to figure out how to do it better next time.
- Ignite each spark. Innovative leaders know that everyone in the organization has some type of unique creativity and talent. They know how to find it, harness it, and use it to advantage.
- Re-evaluate the mission. You might have been selling widgets five years ago, but the market doesn't want widgets anymore. If the world has moved on, and you haven't, it is time to re-evaluate your purpose, goals and strategies. Rethink the fundamentals in light of changing circumstances.
- Build up experiential capital. Innovation comes from risk, and risk comes from experience. The most important asset today isn't found on your balance sheet -- it is found in the accumulated wisdom from the many risks that you've taken. The more experiential capital you have, the more you'll succeed.
- Shift from threat to opportunity. Innovative organizations don't have management and staff who quiver from the fear at what might be coming next. Instead, they're alive from breathing the oxygen of opportunity.
- Banish complacency and skepticism. It's all too easy for an organization, bound by a history of inaction, to develop a defeatist culture. Innovative leaders turn this around by motivating everyone to realize that in an era of rapid change, anything is possible..
- Innovation osmosis. If you don't have it, get it -- that's a good rule of thumb for innovation culture. One client lit a fuse in their innovation culture by buying up small, aggressive, young innovative companies in their industry. They then spent the time to carefully nurture their ideas and harness their creativity.
- Stop selling product, and sell results. The word solution is overused and overdone, but let's face it -- in a world in which everything is becoming a commodity and everyone is focused on price, change the rules of the game. Refuse to play -- by thinking about how to play in a completely new game.
- Create excitement. I don't know how many surveys I saw this year which indicated that the majority of most people in most jobs are bored, unhappy, and ready to bolt. Not at innovative companies! The opportunity for creativity, initiative and purpose results in a different attitude. Where might your organization be on a "corporate happiness index?" If it's low, then you don't have the right environment. Fix that problem -- and fix it quick.
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Where's the growth? Rethinking long term opportunity
I wrote this PDF report last spring, before the recession set in. Yet I still think it makes for a lot of powerful arguments as to where we will see industrial and market growth in the future.
From the introduction: Gloom has set in on global markets. Volatility rages. Some organizations have gone into a mode of "aggressive indecision," deferring action while they try to figure out "what comes next." A pretty lousy strategy that is doomed to fail in the longer term.
Future oriented leaders understand the reality of growth. They know that we live in a time in which opportunities for growth abound. They've aligned the mission of the organization so that they are capitalizing on real opportunity, not short term economic challenges.
Growth is everywhere
It's easy during a time of economic volatility to lose sight of where the global economy is really headed. Yet while stock markets might rock, innovation thrives.
New ideas continue to be explored, markets grow, and industries emerge. A variety of trends indicate that opportunities for growth continue to surround us.
- Global food production must double in the next twenty years to match population growth. There's nothing but upside in agriculture!
- New industries and markets continue to emerge as advancements in the science behind energy, infrastructure, connectivity and health care drive fascinating new areas of growth.
- Many simple and obvious trends drive growth. Generational growth drives the rapid emergence of new markets: by 2020, 17% of the global population will be 65 years or older. Someone will sell a lot of phones with really big buttons!
Think growth. Think opportunity. Innovate for future, don't stagnate with the past.
More information:
- Read Where's the growth : global innovation opportunities for the long term
- Read Infrastructure is the new plastic
- Read 7 Things to Do Right Now as the Upturn Begins
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Playboy, innovation, and brands from the 1950's
When you travel a lot like I do, you end up doing a lot of reading. One of the books I've been reading provides a fascinating look back at the fifties and sixties: Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream. (No, I didn't buy it for the pictures, because there are very few.)
I was struck by paragraph that spoke to how the company worked hard to get advertisers on board in the early years. It took some time, but eventually, they began to sign up some of the leading brands of the time.
Home amenities also abounded, with promotions for everything from Crosswinds House beach towels and robes to Scintella Satin BedSheets, Lektrostat Kit record cleanerss to Mansfield Holiday II 8-mm. cameras, Leslie Record Racks to the Electro-Voice Musicaster (an outdoor "high-fidelity speaker system for relaxed enjoyment at the patio or pool"). personal accessory plugs included the Ronson Electric Shaver, Max Factor crew-cut hair dressing, Rogers "Rocket Flame" cigarette lighter, Merrin Gold Jewelry, and English Leather aftershave and toiletries. Ads focusing on romance promoted such items as Coty Perfume ("Nothing makes a woman more feminine to a man) and the Batch Book, "a new and modern address book that lets you list every pertinent detail - the surest way to avoid social errors."
Ask yourself this question when you read that paragraph: how many of those brands actually still exist? Very few of them. Some disappeared due to changing societal norms, others due to technological change.
Regardless of the reason, very few products and brands have any type of longevity in the marketplace. That's why continual product and brand reinvention is really, really critical. Even more so today than in the 1950's!
Which is why, when I'm speaking and working with my clients on the need for constant brand innovation, I always challenge them to ask themselves if their brands are from the "olden days."
I wrote about this in a blog post some time back, noting that brands can become old for a variety of reasons:
- Your brand looks tired, because it is tired
- Customers see a lack of innovation
- Lousy, ineffective customer service
- You don't know that you customers know more about your brand than you do
- A lack of purpose or urgency
- A lack of market and competitive intelligence
- A regular series of fumbling missteps
- Recognize that brand longevity is now a critical issue
- Ensure your sales, marketing, development and customer support team are relentlessly focused on the currency of the brand
- Make sure that continuous brand innovation is part of your corporate mantra
- When confronted with the new and challenging customer, learn from them rather than running away
- Be incessantly focused on the likely innovations that will come to impact your brand
- Learn to think five to six product lifecycles in advance -- and plan to do them all within six months.
- Make forward oriented intelligence a critical aspect of what you do.
More information
- Is your brand from the olden days?
- Your customers are high velocity. Are you?
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Imagine the hospital of 2020! I certainly can!
I'm at the airport in Austin, Texas, having just delivered the opening keynote for Facilities '09: National Association of Children's Hospitals Design conference.
The room was full of CEO's, board members, architects, and managers responsible for transitioning the physical infrastructure of these facilities into the modern hospital infrastructure of the 21st century.
I've just discovered that someone from NACHRI is live-blogging the event, and they covered my talk. I'll have more to write about this later, but there's a quick summary of the challenges I raised to the crowd here.
Jim Carroll's keynote at NACHRI: So the question becomes: what mindset should we have going forward, and what are we doing for the future?
"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the changes that will occur in the next ten years. Don't let yourself be dulled into inaction." -- Bill Gates
You can access the full live blog below.
You can also read where I think we'll be with health care in the future. The key for organizations struggling to get through this economic mess right now is to focus on the huge variety of future trends that will impact you, understand them, and innovate from them!
Think growth!
More information
- It's January 15, 2020: Do you know where your health care system is?
- Facilities '09: Rethinking the hospital
- Live blog updates from Facilities'09:
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Followup to BCAMA conference - Keynote feedback!
Some very nice feedback from my keynote for the BC American Marketing Association Big Ideas conference last week; my theme was "Moving Beyond the Meltdown: Aligning Yourself for Growth Through Innovation."
Susan Kirk blogged about it in her summary, noting:
Futurist Jim Carroll started his presentation with a cool text/sms poll (poll everwhere) asking the audience when they think the economic recovery will happen. No surprise the majority said 1-2 years. He's a great speaker and talked about innovation and the necessity for a relentless focus on growth and continuous improvement. Here's a quote from his website:There's a very interesting blog post by Michelle Evans over at her blog, "im.seeking.balance" -- she summarizes the key points of every speaker at the conference in a very comprehensive summary."Forget about the concept of innovation as simply involving the design of cool new products. In the high-velocity economy, where faster is the new fast, it's your ability to adapt, change, and evolve, through a constant flood of new ideas, that will define your potential for success." (From the opening chapter of Jim's newest book, Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast) http://www.jimcarroll.com/keynotes.htm
Her summary comment from that page on my presentation:
I loved this session. Even thought the key take-aways seem quite simple, it was a very inspiring presentation. It made me feel like I'm on the right track with my goals and philosophies. So here's what I got from this: Now is the time to innovate. Evolve your brand. Move towards mobile. Connect. Engage. Try new things. Keep learning and changing.It's always tremendously refreshing to see feedback like this; I went out on stage with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, determined to build a positive message for people who are looking for inspiration in these difficult economic times. With feedback like this -- and with comments made in the #bcama Twitter stream, it proved to be a great success!
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The Internet economy: How it will drive recovery
From my May CAMagazine column.
As we worry and wonder about the state of the global economy, we should remind ourselves that one thing is certain. At some point in the future,newspapers will run banner headlines featuring the words "Economic Recovery."
The challenge with this particular downturn is that every single event -- downsizing, layoff, missed earnings target or corporate bankruptcy -- is now repeatedly examined in depth on 24-hour news channels. As a result, it's easy to lose sight of the following key trends, which will help lead us into economic recovery.
Infrastructure:: There is no doubt there will be a significant national economic stimulus due to infrastructure spending, but I believe we're entering the era of smart infrastructure, which will involve more than shovels and buckets. For example, roadworks projects will use smart-highway technology, such as the linkage of spatial databases (think Google Maps) to GPS technology embedded in cars. It won't be long before you can put your car on autopilot, so to speak, carefully keeping up with traffic flow as measured by highway-embedded sensors. Science fiction? I don't think so. Put it this way: every bit of new infrastructure will be integrated with the Internet, and that will provide for some fascinating opportunities.
Healthcare: The ramp-up in healthcare spending that will occur as boomers age will be staggering, and this will perversely drive job growth at the same time it strains the budget. In the US, healthcare spending could equal 60% of gross domestic product in some states within 10 years. Such stark realities are driving furious rates of business model, technological, structural and other innovations in healthcare, much of which will involve sophisticated Internet technologies. For years, I've been talking about the potential for bio-connectivity devices: smart home-based medical monitoring technologies doctors can use, via the Internet, to monitor noncritical-care patients. Such innovations will drive a variety of growth-oriented markets.
Environment: Despite the slowdown, there is no pullback in major efforts to deal with challenging issues, which means ecological spending will continue to drive growth markets. McDonald's is investing in a new company-wide intelligent energy infrastructure management system to deal with annual energy costs of US$1 billion. It expects to reduce overall costs by 20% by having the ability to remotely manage and monitor fryers, air conditioning, water usage and other devices throughout thousands of its restaurants. This will involve using the Internet as a backbone to a sophisticated global energy management system.
Industry reinvention: Similarly, connectivity will play a key role in the reinvention of products and industries. There is a lot of talk about the concept of Car 2.0, which involves a fundamental reinvention of current transportation mind-sets. There is a strong belief that we will see a reinvention of the auto industry, particularly as Silicon Valley begins to laser-aim its focus at the next generation of automotive business model. The next-generation automobile, if it emerges from the land of high-tech, will have "connectivity" as its middle name.
The change agenda of Generation Y: As I described in last month's column ("They'll spice up your systems," p. 14),the members of this technologically aggressive, entrepreneurial generation will completely reshape the fundamentals of every industry, driving economic growth.
All in all, my view is that beyond a three- to six-month horizon, we will start to realize areas of economic growth, and the Internet will continue to play a key role.
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I read a book today, oh boy! "Bothered by My Green Conscience"
Fifteen years ago, I met Franke James -- a brilliant designer, artist, and creative thinker. At the time, she had been the lead designer for a conference program for which I was the lead speaker.
Our paths diverged, and I had not seen her for some time, but was aware of her ongoing work. In 2004, I needed a cover design for my upcoming book, "What I Learned From Frogs in Texas: Saving Your Skin with Forward Thinking Innovation."
I thought of Franke, met with her again, and contracted her on the spot. Her design was unequivocally brilliant.
Paths diverged again -- and then she's back. Last night, I read Franke's new book, "Bothered by My Green Conscience: How an SUV-driving, imported-strawberrty-eating urban dweller can go green."
It's an absolutely stunning, delightful, colorful, inspirational and thought provoking romp through Franke's unique adventure to change her life to pay more respect to the environment. It's artistic, creative, and unique. I don't think I've quite ever read a book like this.
It's not really a book that you read; it's more of a colorful diagram that you work your mind through. Franke's unique skill has always been her ability to draw her thinking. And that's what she does in this book -- it's an absolutely fascinating display of what can be done when a truly unique, creative mind sets out to tell a story in a unique and innovative way.
You really need this book - both for the unique creative way in which she tells her story -- and for the importance of the message that it provides. Inspirational!
More information
- Buy Bothered by My Green Conscience on Amazon
- Learn more about Franke James
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Time for a little innovation oxygen? Why wasting time is a GOOD thing.....
When my friend Scott Kress summited Mount Everest last year, he used a little bit of oxygen for the final push. Many climbers do -- sometimes you need the extra energy to accomplish something massive!
So it is with innovation -- sometimes you need some help to accomplish great things. I've written an article this morning, "Time for a little oxygen?" that offers some thoughts on you can kick up your innovation efforts a bit more. Here's an extract:
To get into a frame of mind of acting fast, everyone needs to be able to learn a lot, very quickly. One way of doing that is by encouraging people to "waste" time. That's right - I really recommend that as a business strategy.. As for Scott, his time spent summiting Everest certainly wasn't a waste of time. He's an Executive MBA teacher, consultant and speaker, and the experience has given him a unique message on leadership, teams, and effective strategic planning!How can people understand the high velocity change in markets, business models, competitive challenges, the emergence of new means of marketing and branding, and all kinds of other issues, if they are restricted to formal education programs? How can they learn about the new products that they need to sell when those products are coming to market so quickly? How can they learn new methods of dealing with a customer by taking an in-house course that was developed over a year ago, when the market was completely different from today?
That's where frivolous education comes in, as a complement to traditional, formal corporate education programs.
Why not establish some "playtime" with your sales force, with the purpose being to try out a multitude of new technologies: encourage browsing through industry magazines, surfing the Web for market research, etc... Such activities may help bring understanding to how the customer is changing. So in fact, what may appear to be "wasting time," really is not so
More information
- Read the article Time for a little innovation oxygen?
- Learn more about Scott Kress
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10 Things You Need to Do to Innovate in a Recession
Business Week ran an article in January, "10 Worst Innovation Mistakes in a Recession."
It's easy to point out mistakes. It can be harder to indicate what you should be doing.
I've been out speaking to organizations about trends, the future, innovation and creativity for fifteen years. Since last year, when the meltdown began, I've been keynoting events worldwide, rapidly adjusting my theme to one of "how you can innovate during a recession." I've had the opportunity of seeing first hand quite a few very innovative strategies from CEO's and others in a wide variety of events, and I keep modifying my message at rapid speed to incorporate a vast variety of ideas.
So I just took a few minutes to post a comment to the Business Week site, and I'll post my quick thoughts here too. Here's a list of 10 off the top of my head:
1. Focus your team -- relentlessly -- on growth. I keynoted a global organization in Las Vegas in February. The CEO got on stage before me -- and spoke about the recession for one minute. He then spent 19 minutes speaking to the growth opportunities that the organization could pursue. That's what everyone needs to do right now. There are growth opportunities in every industry. Focus on them!
2. Respond faster. When I keynoted a food industry summit in New York, we spoke of the need to respond faster to the fact that consumer preferences were changing more rapidly than ever before. More people eating at home, sensitive to dollars, looking for food-comfort. Reformulate new brand and product options faster. Just do it. Don't study -- do.
3. Invest in the brand. Brands can become weaker in a recession, particularly as consumers scramble for value. Decide where you want to reposition your product/brand, and act fast to do it rather than studying it to death.
4. Mix it up. Don't assume that worked before the recession will work now. Try out a lot of ideas, particularly around value. “I'm experimenting rapidly with price points and product mix."
5. Invest in experience. Lots of your staff will be down in the dumps, and are spinning their wheels. Get a message out that NOW is the time to invest in experience. Try things out, to build up the collective experience of your team.
6. Kill off the innovation killers. Reframe your team, so that they are thinking "what a great idea," rather than viewing with suspicion any new ideas. Remember -- everyone is worried about being laid off, and paranoia sucks the life out of innovation faster than anything else.
7. Collaborate within the industry. When I keynoted the American Nursery and Landscape Association recently, I stood in awe of the blog they were running that was offering practical, on the ground, easy to implement ideas that retailers could put into their stores NOW.
8. Seek ideas. Go knowledge farming once a day, looking for ideas on customer service, operations, IT strategies, and just about anything else. There's a flood of ideas out there -- now's a great time to chase them down and do things.
9. Partner up. Sure, resources are scarcer during a recession. That's why you can speed up innovation with anything -- from advertising, to customer service, business model implementation, IT strategy, opportunities for operational excellence or just about anything else -- by seeking partners to help you out. That will help you achieve key goals faster.
10. Get over it. Lots of organizations are still stuck in the anger and denial phase of the Seven Steps of Economic Grief. Make a decision to get into the acceptance stage, and move on. This will recession will pass, just like every other one.
There are dozens more.....
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"Opportunities 2009" - the workforce of 2020! I was the opening keynote speaker yesterday for Opportunities 2009, a conference in Ontario, Canada, that was focused on workplace trends to 2015.
The keynote description went like this:
What Comes Next: And What Should We Do About It?Is there a future out there? Definitely yes, but a constant drumbeat of negative news can cause people and organizations to lose sight of what will happen with careers and jobs in the future. That's where Jim Carroll comes in -- this noted international futurist, trends & innovation expert spends his time with globally innovative leaders. He's gained keen insight into some of the key trends which will impact industries, organizations and careers in the next few years to come, in a wide variety of industries from health care, to technology and manufacturing, to the skilled trades. Jim is a passionate believer in the reality that every career and profession is in the midst of a transition, and that additional, new careers are being born before our very eyes.
Jim Carroll will challenge you to focus on the opportunities of today and tomorrow, rather than the challenges of the past. Jim will provide an outline of how the economy will evolve from this point out -- and how we should be planning and acting in order to innovate in career development ahead of fast-paced events. He'll provide us a look at "what comes next, and what we should do about it.
"
In the coming weeks and days, I've got a lot to blog about this keynote: I took a good hard look at emerging careers, transitioning careers, and how existing careers are changing as a result of ever-increasing velocity.
The talk was extremely well received -- probably because I focused the 700+ people in the room on the opportunities of the future rather than the current economic muck of today.
What was interesting was that for the first time, one of my keynotes was tweeted from the room - you can read the thread here.
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It's January 15, 2020 : Do you know where your healthcare system is?
Grab the PDF by clicking on the image on the right!
The world of healthcare and medicine is on the edge of a period of massive transformation.
Do you have any idea as to how sweeping the forthcoming changes are?
Maybe not -- the future of healthcare is often lost in a raging debate that focuses on the current challenges faced by the system.
But if you step back and think about where we'll be in 2020, then you can appreciate the scope of the trends which are now underway.
Rapid technological development and relentless innovation are the two key trends that will provide for a forthcoming massive transformation of our health care system.
I've learned that sometimes, it is easier to open up the minds of people to big trends by taking a look *back* rather than by taking a look forward. When I was the closing keynote speaker for the 4th Annual World Healthcare Innovation & Technology Congress in Washington DC last December -- one of the world's premier health innovation events at the cusp of innovative healthcare thinking -- I took the approach of looking back from 2020, to see what happened in the last 10 years.
It was a great talk -- with lots of wonderful feedback. So I wrote it into a research report in a PDF, that you can share around. Maybe this can help you to stir up some creative and innovative thinking!
After all, when it comes to future trends, you've got to work to open up the minds of people!
So let's say it's the year 2020. Let's say you've looked at the big changes that occurred in healthcare from 2010 to 2020.
What do you see? Take a look.
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The Shed Project - How to Move a Shed 20 feet - Intact? So let's really try out the power of social networking, and see if it can apply it to practical, everyday problems.
Our backyard shed needs to move about 20 feet, in order to expand the basketball area. Preferably, we'd like to do it intact, rather than disassembling it and rebuilding it.
One suggestion was to dig under the corners, shore it up, put some rollers underneath, lay down pipes and "roll it across" -- just like the Egyptians did. And as seen here.
But maybe there is a better way. If you are a really smart engineer, or have a great idea, or have done this yourself, please follow me on Twitter and tweet me a suggestion. Or send me an e-mail at jcarroll@jimcarroll.com. (My blog isn't set up yet for comments, but I'll post the solutions offered here later...)
(Suggestions to just buy a new shed are welcome, but not terribly innovative.)
Must get back to work now.
Update: We managed to get the shed moved. We essentially jacked it up, put some heavy pipe under it, and rolled it to the new location. The actual heavy-lifting work was coordinated by a friend of mine, who brought in some really big burly guys to do the deed. It worked like a charm!
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Good jobs in Bad Times - I'm interviewed on PBS on future career trends
WKSU, the PBS affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio, has been running a series this week titled "Good Jobs in Bad Times." It's a serious look at current and future job and career trends. Topics include "high-paying tech jobs, careers that don't need a four-year degree, the re-growth of agriculture as industry, working part-time full-time, career makeovers, the truth about healthcare, bridge jobs after graduation and the future of the NE Ohio employment outlook."
I'm interviewed in the final segment, "What's next:Jobs of the future will likely refine the jobs of today."
Here's an extract: you can visit the site and listen to the series at the links below. I'm on at 2:58 on the timeline.
Jim Carroll of Toronto is a futurist who studies trends and tries to predict what lies ahead. He believes the growing interest in alternative energy and "green" products will generate new jobs in coming years, but not just in obvious ways such as building wind turbines and solar panels.
For example, "there's a lot of very unique research and development occurring out there having to do with packaging," Carroll said. "And what that leads to is new products coming to market. It involves new companies, it involves new growth industries. ...So, what you're going to have is the emergence of new companies with a new mind set developing these new products to meet new societal demands. And when you look at that, that's where some of the job growth is going to occur."
Carroll said companies must closely watch for trends that can be turned into new jobs. But, not everyone has the resources of a big company to find and capitalize on the next big thing. For individuals planning to train for new careers, Carroll advises they pursue jobs that are evolving in areas like health care. "Patient navigators," for example, are increasing in demand.
"It's a doctor or a nurse or a medical professional or someone with specific training who simply steers the patient through the complexity of the increasingly complex health care system," Carroll said. "It's estimated there's about 18,000 of these people in the US health care system today. It's estimated that number will grow to about 180,000 by the year 2015. That's the emergence of a new career.
"And if you're thinking, 'Where are the jobs going to be in the future?' It's in things like that."
It's a time series and interview, because on Monday I do a keynote for a group of HR professionals, community leaders, social innovators, career development and employment preparation practitioners, labour market experts and employers, on the theme of "Careers 2015." It will be a real, practical look at what we can expect in terms of career transitions, new careers and job opportunities a half decade out.
Think growth!
More information:
- Go to the Good Jobs in Bad Times site
- Go to the What's next:Jobs of the future will likely refine the jobs of today section
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You need to have a relentless focus on growth -- RELENTLESS!
I was interviewed some time last month by FoodProcessing.com - this was related to their discovery of the keynote I did for the Readers Digest / EveryDay with Rachel Ray team food industry summit in New York last fall.
They ran a short article, "March of the New Machines: The Future of Food Processing" -- and ran my comment on what I've seen in terms of CEO's who have relentless focus on growth. Many of my recent keynotes -- several in Las Vegas, Austin, Miami and New York -- have been focused on how to maintain a growth strategies during an economic contraction.
Here's an extract from the interview. Some good food for thought on the need to be RELENTLESS on the future and opportunities.
In a tough economy like this, it's time to hold the line on spending and to be especially cautious of leading-edge technology. Right?The article at FoodProcessing.com itself takes a look at the technologies, production platforms, processes, ideas and methodologies which can provide for innovation in terms of market growth, product development, cost management and other areas. There's no shortage of opportunity for innovation in the food and consumer product sector - or any other industry.History's full of companies that leapt ahead of competitors by increasing spending, especially on innovation, during down times. Jim Carroll (www.jimcarroll.com), author and innovation consultant, recalled a speaking engagement in which he followed the CEO of a global restaurant chain, who spoke for a brief but powerful 20 minutes.
"For the first minute, he spoke about the global economy and the meltdown. He then spent the next 19 minutes identifying eight growth opportunities and how this organization could do great things if they relentlessly obsessed over them.
"How cool is that?" asks Carroll. "All these other companies are retrenching, pulling back, and here's a guy who's saying to his team, 'Let's focus on growth.' "
He says growth plans and strategic if judicious spending is mandatory for managing during a downturn. Companies that aren't paralyzed by total spending freezes can get the jump on those competitors who are. And when the economy is back on track a year or whatever from now, Carroll says only then will we be able to point to companies and say which ones lagged and failed and which ones "took risks and did great things.
"
What is missing right now for many organizations is the COURAGE TO TAKE RISKS and INVEST!
Innovators focus on the future, they focus on growth, and they focus their team on opportunity. That's a key message, and you'd do well to obsess over it.
Think growth!
More information:
- Read March of the New Machines: The Future of Food Processing
- Read the RDA Food & Entertainings Consumer Food Symposium summary (PDF)
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HVAC 2.0 - Thoughts on my Las Vegas keynote
I just came off stage in Las Vegas from an opening keynote for a group of about 500 representatives for Trane / Ingersoll Rand, and their key contractor partners. My keynote was to focus on "7 Things They Should Do Right Now to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast."
Certainly it can be tough in the construction industry right now, and particularly so for contractors. They're witnessing a laundry list of challenges, including:
- Project deferment, postponement and cancellation
- Prevalence of below-cost bidding
- Financing is vanishing
- New demands for cost-cutting and project management
- A capital spending freeze at many organizations
- A looming funding crisis (e.g. university endowment collapse means less college and university construction in the future)
First off, there's a lot of fiscal momentum, with the stimulus spending including some:
- $6.4 billion for water projects
- $50 billion for energy programs (efficiency & renewable energy)
- $11 billion on a "smart electrical grid"
- $4.5 billion on federal building energy efficiency
- $47 billion in state fiscal relief, with permission to use funds for school modernization/repair
Beyond that though, the future looks tremedously bright for the HVAC industry because of what we might call HVAC 2.0. In a nutshell, the industry is going to play a huge role as we work to fix the big societal problems of energy and the environment.
And that is going to happen with the rapid emergence of highly intelligent building infrastructure; ten years out, most buildings will be smart buildings; the Internet and IP will be the backbone to a system that provides for intelligent energy management, monitoring and usage. Silicon Valley and HVAC are getting married, and the result is going to be remarkable.
The National Institute of Building Sciences comments on the impact of this trend, noting that "...an economic expansion based on emerging green markets would create an estimated 3 million jobs ... and help establish communities with high-performance buildings that are both economically advantageous and environmentally conscious."
The trend is driven by two things that have undeniable monentum: the need for energy savings, and the green building movement. Consider the health care sector. Green specs in health care / hospital building projects has gone from 13.3 percent in 2006, to 37.6 percent in 2007, to an even higher percentage in 2008. There's a bit of pullback in 2009 as projects are deferred, but the increase will continue to come at us with a vengeance.
So as a contractor, how do you innovate? By keeping on top of fast pace trends in your industry in terms of methodology, ideas, technology, new design thinking -- high velocity change!!!!
So what I suggested to them was that, for example, they could get out in front of tenant / building manager needs, with this line of thinking:
- when times get tough, quality, service and relationships rule
- success is found not by competing on price, but through partnership: ie. 'we've got the latest strategies to help achieve cost savings' (i.e. remote energy management)
- key attitude? "we're on top of fast paced developments with building management, so you don't need to!"
I do a tremendous of research when I go in to keynote a group. That's why I've got such a solid, blue chip, global client list. Real innovation takes real thinking, with an alignment of existing and forthcoming trends to innovation opportunities.
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The explosion of mobile banking! My upcoming Texas keynote ....
I'm off to Austin, Texas today, where I'll be the closing keynote speaker tomorrow for the annual meeting of the Texas Credit Union League.
My role is to motivate and challenge the audience to continue to focus on applying innovative and creative ideas to their businesses, given that there is constant change within the financial sector. Not just due to the financial crisis, but also due to rapidly shifting consumer behavior, the rapid emergence of new technologies, and the extremely fast development of new business models.
Particularly with the idea of mobile banking!
Take the story of Wizzit (which boasts the slogan, "With Wizzit, you have your bank in your pocket"), based in South Africa. 200,000 South African's have signed up for the service, in which they pay bills, store cash like a debit card, transfer funds, and send remittances. Wizzit is completely text messaging based. Accounts can be opened in 30 seconds via a call center, and are sold via Wizzkids (It's based upon the JetBlue model - with these representatives working at home). Plans are to expand the business model into Eastern Europe, according to Bank Technology News.
Then there is the story of Guaranty Bank in Turkey, which boasts $61 billion in assets. They set up a mobile banking portal -- and in the first two months, saw 1 million page views, 50,000 customers, 30,000 transactions and $24 million in transaction volume.
Today, they've got 1.3 million mobile banking customers, and believe that the service is accessible on 5,100 cellphone models.
Quite clearly, mobile is going to play a huge role in financial services, and it's happening NOW!
On stage, I'll be challenging this group to realize that their future success will come from their ability to respond to rapidly changing products, markets, business models, rapid economic trends, and competitive. In that way, innovation isn't just about new products -- it's about responding to the reality that in every industry, faster is the new fast.
More information
- Wizzit Web site
- Innovation in the financial sector - related post
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When do you innovate? The New Yorker has a great article out, "Hanging tough," about how some companies choose to ensure that they stay innovative in recessionary times.
That's the theme I've been focused on for the last 8 months on stage. Here's a clip from a recent Las Vegas event for a global organization, addressing the theme, "Innovators get out in front of the recession"
People seem to be catching on to the idea that now is not the time to hunker down, but to push forward, innovate, change and adapt. More information
- New Yorker article, "Hanging tough"
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For those who were asking - 12 year tradition continues Yup, we were in!
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Follow me on Twitter .....
I've been online since 1982, which is a relatively long period of time. (27 years!)
I signed up for a Twitter account in 2008, but never bothered using it.
I've finally succumbed, and am now using it to post updates about new blogs, my travels, who I'm keynoting to and things like that.
Follow me if you like!
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Thinking big - the transformative ideas that will shape our future
In the interview just posted on my site ("What is a futurist"), I commented that "we live in transformative times -- we'll look back at 2009-2010 as the period of time in which we started to apply really transformative thinking to solving some of the big problems we have in health care, energy and the environment."
I find that a lot of people don't think about the major changes that are going to occur over the long term. Bill Gates caught this reality when he observed that “we always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten."
I followed this line of thinking when I was the opening keynote speaker for the Alberta Senior Citizens Housing Association two weeks ago. The challenges faced by the industry are pretty stark:
That's simply not going to be the case -- the simple demographics of North American society indicate that society and retirement savings won't be able to pay for this reality. Get into other areas of the world, including Asia, and the crisis in seniors housing is going to be even bigger, particularly that some countries aren't even yet to the unit-level that we have in North America.
So what's going to happen? We're going to see big, transformative thinking. Rather than placing seniors in retirement homes, why not extend the retirement home concept into their own home. Community and family care is going to play a huge role here,
Technology will also play a big role in this transformative change, as it will move us to the concept of the "virtual retirement home." By 2020, most seniors will live in their own homes, and their health conditions will be actively monitored through a network of intelligent bio-connectivity and other devices. We won't have a lot of senior citizen homes -- we'll have virtual seniors networks.
In my keynote, I spoke about research that is underway now into this concept. (US Fed News, February 2009 Health-monitoring technology helps seniors live at home longer, University of Missouri Researchers find"). Two key points:
When I look around me at the deep problems our world faces, I see a lot of innovative and transformative thinking, with big ideas as to how to solve those complex problems.
Transformative thinking -- it's all around you -- you need to start watching.
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What does it mean to innovate at high velocity?
One constant is that I always challenge my audience to think about how to become an agile, high velocity, innovation oriented organization. This isn't simply an organization that has a constant stream of new products : it's an organization that also responds to all the rapid change that is swirling around it.
From my slide deck, I'm outline that high velocity innovative organizations prepare for:
I've long been suggesting that the financial sector is soon going to find a tsunami of change as our iPhones, Blackberries and other mobile technologies become the new form of credit card payment technology.
The New York Times reported on the trend this weekend, in an article, Visa introduces a credit card on a phone.
The rush to "contact-less payment technology" is going to happen, and it's going to happen faster than most people in the financial sector think. It's being driven at the speed of Silicon Valley, and some financial institutions -- and many many credit unions -- are still operating at a far slower pace. As a result, they can often be caught flatfooted by dramatic technological change, and end up having their business model disrupted in a substantial way.
On stage, I challenge this senior level type of audience to realize just how quickly everything around them is changing. In order to be innovative, they need to understand the new technologies that will impact them, and be prepared to ingest them at the rate that the market demands.
That's a critical form of innovation, and sadly, there continue to be a lot of organizations who aren't into that reality. That's why there are so many organizations having me in to talk about how to become an "innovator in the high velocity economy."
More information
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Video clip - "What is a futurist?"
Apparently, I'm a member of "one of the world's oldest professions." Hmmm...
That's from the opening from this 10 minute clip from the CBC in which I'm one of four futurist interviewed (one of the others being Faith Popcorn, who coined the phrase "cocooning" during a previous economic downturn.)
The broad themes address what a futurist does, how we identify trends, and what we think might come next in terms of energy, the environment, the automobile and other issues.
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Jim Carroll's innovation theater
i've had the chance to use iDesktop.TV's new beta video theater.
With it, I've created a quick little video theater with some recent clips from various keynotes in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Enjoy!
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Hunting innovation : I'm keynoting a QSR global leadership conference
I've been confirmed to be the opening keynote speaker for next a global leadership/franchise conference for a company in this is industry. This is really quite an honor, and I think is indicative that my theme that "organizations need to stay on the innovative edge despite the recession" resonates strongly.
Every industry is changing at a furious pace, and the quick service food industry is no exception. We're seeing rapid change in terms of branding and marketing, particularly in terms of outreach and interaction with the new mobile consumer. There's a lot of fast paced change in terms of consumer preferences. If we think about issues of restaurant design and construction, there are fast and furious developments in terms of energy usage and environmental footprint. The list goes on and on - there is no shortage of opportunity for new and innovative thinking.
I'll set the stage by challenging the audience to focus on growth, focus on opportunities, and think about how innovation can become a core component of how they progress into the future.
I wrote about these trends in a previous blog post, High velocity change in the food/consumer products sector.
(p.s. I found the photo on iStockPhoto, and dreamed up the "hunting innovation" title. It seemed kind of fun!)
More information
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Are you paying attention to your economic brand?
I spoke to a wide variety of issues, but one theme that I emphasized that one of the most important things that politicians, economic development officers, community leaders, boards of trade executives and others should be thinking about right now was their "brand image." Given the rapidity of the meltdown and changing circumstances, regions that were once seen as vibrant, progressive, growth-oriented, are suddenly finding themselves with a different "brand."
Success in the global economy as the rebound comes about will go to those regions that can continue to draw growth industries, specialized skills, and global attention. That's going to involve a lot of effort to freshen up a brand image that might have been hurt. Or, it will involve ongoing effort to ensure that national or regional attributes are pushed out as part of the branding process. My fear is that with the downturn, some political, civic and business leaders are losing sight of this important reality.
After the call, I dug into this theme a little bit more. Turns out that Dubai had just gone and hired itself to hire a PR firm for a 'makeover." He didn't lead me in our conversation, but I guess I was hitting on a key issue!
WPP Group's (LON:WPP) subsidiary Finsbury will be entrusted with handling the emirate's global financial communications amid the downturn that has hit the city state.
-- Dubai hires PR specialist to improve image, British Business Monitor< Two years ago, I keynoted a global financial conference in the Cayman Islands .... and part of my theme was that one of the key battlegrounds for nations in the 21st century will be the war for talent. Those who can get appropriate momentum behind their "brand" -- that are seen as progressive, fast to change, and rapidly respond to challenges -- will be the ones to thrive. Now with the downturn, that type of thinking is becoming more important than ever before.
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Article - "Are you ready for financial mashup widgets?"
In January, I was invited to address a group of CIO's and CFO's from some of the world's largest insurance companies -- a pretty heavy duty crowd. My challenge? Get them away from focusing just on the here-and-now, and think a bit about some of the challenges that tomorrow will present.
Part of my voyage took them into a view of what their industry might look like ten years out. Here's a few extracts:
In the next few years, we are likely to enter the world of the “accounting mashup,” in which customers, suppliers and business partners start to interact with you through online widgets. As this happens, you’ll discover new business models that will provide sales opportunities, streamline customer support and reduce operating costs.
Young people entering the workforce are able to instantly and easily reshape information so that it is more accessible, shareable and far more interesting. They’ve taken to the world of music and video and have learned how to reassemble bits and pieces into something new.
My favourite music mashup, from years ago, came from a DJ group known as The Kleptones. Their "A Night at the Hip-Hopera" remix took a swath of music from Queen, wrapped it around other sounds and songs, all in a story about early attempts by the music industry to shut down music sharing.
So what does this have to do with accounting? Who is to say that the Facebook generation isn't going to look at the Best Buy Remix idea and rethink the whole concept of an accounting system in light of that? Why would we expect them to sit in front of a boring web browser, reviewing data on a boring ERP screen? Why would we not consider the possibility that they might write a tool that gets things done in a different way?
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Video - "Learning is what most adults will for a living in the 21st century"
In February, I was the closing keynote speaker for the American Nursery and Landscape Association. This was a second booking by this group; they had me in previously for a leadership meeting in Vail.
Here's a clip in which I'm setting the stage for the rapid changes occuring in their industry: in the context of how quickly basic knowledge is evolving, suggesting that "learning is what most adults will do for a living in the twenty first century."
Does this line of thinking apply to garden store managers/owners? You bet -- individuals in the nursery and gardening industry indeed have to be masters of fast knowledge. There is a regular and ongoing release of new products; new store formats; new retail and branding methodologies; not to mention the need to have a lot of innovative strategies as to growing the business during a recession, or managing costs to survive challenging times. It's all about learning, sharing ideas, and gaining new insight. Continually learning.
If you've been reading the press, you know that recently, many meetings and events have been under attack, driven by what has come to be known as the "AIG effect." Quite a few organizations have cancelled leadership meeting, fearing that it might look bad. Yet any politician or journalist continuing to beat up on the meetings industry should watch the video that "Today's Garden Center" magazine has put online; it's a video called "What I Learned at ANLA Management Clinic 2009."
In it, we've got nursery, garden and landscape managers from across the US -- small business owners -- talking about the things they've learned at the conference; the ideas they're taking away; the specific actions they're going to pursue from what they've learned.
It's a pretty compelling video, and if anything, it really puts into perspective what these events are all about.
More information
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Growth strategies - What I've Seen From the CEO's
Here's a brochure extract from another upcoming conference. The theme : "Moving Beyond the Meltdown: Focusing on Growth Through Innovation."
It's been a busy six months since the meltdown.
Throughout this time, I've been keynoting events all over North America, for organizations and events large and small, focused on the theme of innovation and working our way through challenging economic times.
What has been fascinating is that in sharing the stage with a variety of CEO's, for both massive, global organizations and smaller associations and businesses, there are many who share a relentless focus on opportunity.
There's no doubt that there is lot of pain and retraction and pullback out there. But my experience in the last six months indicates to me that there is an equally fast pace of innovative thinking, as to 'what should we be doing with these new realities in which we find ourselves.'
My most favorable moment comes from one particular event: before I went on stage, the CEO of one particular global organization went on to give his "call to action" to his team.
He spoke about the challenges of the global economy for a little less than a minute -- and then went on a fascinating 20 minute outline of the great things that the company could accomplish with revenue growth by focusing on 8 succinct strategies.
I now use his story (and many other similar stories) when I'm on stage, in order to get people thinking about GROWTH again.
What I'm out there talking about are the real, practical strategies that organizations are pursuing to stay focused on opportunity. There are dozens of things I'm seeing happen first hand. Some of the other strategies, off the top of my head (most of which I've written about in this blog):
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Innovating for the future: Think "Experiential Capital"
In my book Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast, I made this observation: "Innovation comes from risk, and risk comes from experience. The most important asset today isn't found on your balance sheet – it is found in the accumulated wisdom from the many risks that you’ve taken. The more experiential capital you have, the more you’ll succeed."
In this clip from a recent keynote, I speak to why experiential capital has become even more important with the economic downturn.
I close with the observation: "Investing in experiential capital is one of the more important things you can do." When people ask me about the "secrets" of innovative organizations, this is one of the key attributes I outline. They realize they are immersed in a world of fast-paced ideas -- and they take on many different projects, some of which are doomed to fail, in order to build the overall experience of the organization.
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Keynote : Facilities 09: Rethinking the hospital
They're running with my "Moving Beyond the Meltdown: Aligning for Growth Through Innovation" topic. It's another group who finds that in order to move the their association forward, they need to move them beyond their current mindset. They're using the keynote description:
Look, here's the thing: at some point, whether it's one year, five years, or even ten years, we'll be back into a growth economy. People will be busy rethinking business models ; they will be aggressively transforming business methodologies to achieve cost savings; they'll be partnering in new ways with new partners in order to achieve new goals; they'll be busy implementing a flood of new ideas driven by rapid science.
In terms of the future of health care facility design, there is no shortage of ideas in terms of design momentum: green building concepts, hyperconnected energy management systems, the concept of the virtual hospital with remote patient management, and the need for rapid implementation of new medical treatment capabilities. All of which (and many more) pose the challenge of : how we design in the context of high-velocity change? And how do we get our mindset out of the challenges of the "here-and-now" so that we're focused not just on managing the current challenges, but are fully prepared to attack with zeal the opportunities of the future?
That's the mindset and message that I'll carry into Austin, Texas in two months.
Think growth!
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Rethinking innovation : how to energize your corporate idea machine.
Here's one thing I've been stressing to many of my clients during keynotes, leadership and workshops: organizations need to work hard to ensure they establish an overall culture of innovation. What does that mean? Everyone throughout the organization has a mindset that they are equally responsible for innovative ideas; they're colaborative with those ideas; and they focus on three key questions: how can we run the business better, grow the business, and transform the business.
Here's a clip from a recent keynote in which I explore this theme
IBM seems to like my ideas; they put out a white-paper in January of this year, and included a quote that catches the key theme in this video clip:
More information:
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"Thriving in turbulent times " - interview on Cognos Radio
The key theme of the interview: "Author and Innovation Consultant Jim Carroll explains how avoid "aggressive indecision" and why now is the perfect time to forge ahead with new ideas".
Here's an excerpt:
Jim Carroll: They're like deer in the headlights. They're so focused on the headlines, they're so focused on, you know, every single twist and turn of what's going on with the economy and if you sit back and you think about the industry you're in, there's probably lots of potential for growth. What we've got to do is we've got to get people beyond this paralysis and get them focused on the future again. You know, I coined the phrase a few years ago when we had the last downturn after, you know, the dotcom collapse. I said that people were going into a state of aggressive indecision. You know, they just decided to not to make decisions about anything. You know, they just, sort of everybody went on pause and I think we have to recognize we've got to get beyond the pause button. We've got to press the play button and start doing things. We have to keep moving forward."
More information
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Change? Deal with It!
One of the events I have coming up is in May in Las Vegas; I'll be the opening keynote speaker for a global organization, with about 3,500 people in the room.
It's interesting to learn that one of the things that caught the attention of this group was my "Change: Deal with It" video.
My sons and I filmed this a few years ago; we put some signs up along what we call the "squirrel highway" in the yard; we left the camera on for an hour; and we caught this little fellow and the interruption to his routine.
It's kind of a cute video, and since I'm on March break this week skiing and not thinking too much, I thought it would make for a great blog post! Enjoy!
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Things You Need to Do Right Now to Focus on the Future!
I'm also keynoting a group of companies involved in the fast paced senior citizens housing industry. The keynote description just came out in their brochure, and provides a good overview of the types of things I'm focusing on today:
Innovative organizations succeed by mastering the pace of the new high velocity economy. And in an era of economic challenge, they focus on discovering opportunity! That means learning how to turn ideas into action!
Taking advantage of new continuing care strategies as an opportunity to be pursued rather than a challenge to be overcome. In an era in which boomers will demand more choice in retirement living, customer service strategies become essential, and operational and service excellence become new critical success factors.
As an author, columnist, media commentator, and consultant, Carroll is completely focused on creativity and innovation, insight that is captured in his books, Ready, Set, Done! How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast and What I Learned From Frogs in Texas: Saving Your Skin with Forward Thinking Innovation.
In this keynote, noted futurist, trends & innovation expert Jim Carroll will challenge you to focus on the opportunities of today and tomorrow, rather than the challenges of the past. Jim's client list includes the BBC, the Walt Disney Corporation,and Readers Digest Food & Entertainment group, the publisher of Everyday with Rachel Ray.
Jim will bring us customized insight, wisdom, and inspiration to help us achieve breakthrough innovations and absolutely compelling levels of creativity
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iPhone / PDA version of JimCarroll.com launched
It was time to put in place a version of the site that was friendly to iPhone's and PDA's. It's great to surf a Web site with Safari on an iPhone, for example, and zoom in to particular sections of a Web page. Yet, an increasing number of Web sites are also launching specially iPhone/PDA formatted versions. I wanted to do that!
After trying a number of things in a dizzying project of exploration, I implemented a quick microsite this way:
You can access the microsite directly here.
(If you try that link in a regular browser, you'll get a simple basic Wordpress page)
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Keynote: ".... a whirlwind of a speech...."
This organization represents stock photographers : the folks who supply the amazing shots and footage used by advertising agencies, publishers, magazines and countless other groups in need of great creative. A vastly diverse group, ranging from global powerhouses like Getty Images and Corbis, to small boutique specialty photographers. They've had a bit of a struggle as of late: advertising is down with the recession; they're impacted by the emergence of new cost competitors; and ongoing challenges with copyright infringement.
I did a tremendous amount of research into their industry, and really walked off stage thinking I hit a home run. That's why it's nice to find this feedback from one of their recent newsletters:
He started the session by asking members of the audience NOT to switch off their mobile phones, but to use them to text their responses to an instant SMS poll which was projected onto the screen in real time. The poll covered current issues that might be of most concern to the stock licensing business. However the point of the exercise was not really about the outcome measured onscreen, but more about the current use of interactive technology.
This is the way we can expect to operate in the future: very speedily and using communication methods which might not be familiar to all of us. One statistic, which surprised, was that there are supposedly more text messages sent each day around the globe than the number of people alive. No wonder our childrens’ phone bills are so high.
In a whirlwind of a speech, made while moving constantly around the stage, Jim took us through the 7 key issues he believes we need to focus on to stay not just in the game, but ahead of the pack, at a time when not only is technology moving fast, but product cycles are getting shorter and shorter as customer demands increase.
Jim claims to be hugely optimistic about the state of the world, having witnessed three or four previous recessions. He figures that this one may be over quicker than we might have imagined. That would be nice.
He also pointed out that while ten years ago there might have been a few thousand buyers of images worldwide there are now potentially 3 billion users. So there is cause for us to feel optimistic too. Well, I will—if we can get this great new potential market to understand that images actually belong to creators and that 'copyright' doesn't really mean it's 'right to copy' (editorial aside).
A few observations Jim made which were interesting to hear:
What do innovators need to do to stay ahead of fast-paced events? Jim gave us 7 (actually 8) ideas which we need to consider in order to meet the challenge of the future:
And BANISH the innovation killers in your company who tell you it can never be done, it won't work, and you are crazy.
Noted the executive director of PACA in a followup message: "Thanks so much for an excellent presentation! We are already talking about having you return in a couple of years to re-access what has happened in our industry....... I'm happy to give a rave review to anyone who is considering your services."
Think opportunity. Think growth!
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Video clip - "How do innovators stay out in front?"
Another clip from a recent keynote in Las Vegas.
Quite a few global organizations are bringing me in these days to inspire their leadership team to stay focused on growth, opportunity, and innovation.
In this clip, I talk about these issues, and put some perspective on dealing with challenging economic times.
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Video - Reinventing brand relevance in the era of social networking
Here's a clip from a recent keynote in Las Vegas.
I'm challenging the audience to think about the issue of maintaining brand relevance, in the era in which customers increasingly influence the perception of brands through social networking tools.
The key challenge today is preventing a brand from becoming "from the olden days." I emphasize this with a quote from Multichannel Marketing, April 2008.
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This type of research is real, and when we look back from 2019 or 2020, we'll realize that this was the type of transformative thinking that would help to bring about a solution to a pretty big problem. And it's important to realize that there's a lot of activity going on in this particular field. Notes one key researcher from Intel, speaking about the research they are doing in this area:
“We have the potential to aim our innovation engine at the age wave challenge and change the way we do health care from a crisis- driven, assembly-line, hospital approach to a personal-driven approach, with people taking care of themselves with help from family, friends and technologies.“
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I was the opening keynote speaker for a major credit union conference l : in the room were the CEO's and Board members for several hundred small to medium sized CU's. This coming week on Friday, I'll be the closing keynote speaker for the annual conference of the Texas Credit Union League in Austin. I spend quite a bit of time speaking throughout the financial sector.
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There are two types of organizations in the world today: those have retrenched, shut down their idea machines, and are trying to coast through the recession. Then there are those who are making sure that they keep their team focused on the future, opportunities, and the need for innovative thinking.
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I had a long conversation with a Dubai-based journalist yesterday ; he was seeking my insight for an upcoming article on what a nation, city or economic region should be doing to ensure that it can remain competitive in the global economy in these challenging times.
Apr 2, 2009 - Dubai has hired London-based public relations expert Finsbury to help the emirate improve its image and offset the effects of the negative media coverage of its economic problems, the Financial Times reported.
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My latest CAMagazine article is out.
Are you ready to open up your accounting and financial systems to the Facebook generation? In 10 years, that won’t seem like a silly question. But even today, it’s an issue you should think about
Predicting the future often involves the extrapolation of current trends. Given that mashups are a big part of youth culture, it shouldn't be surprising that we'll find the concept making its way into business in the next several years. Get ready!
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The list goes on. The key thing is: when do you innovate? You do it NOW. Watch this Youtube clip.
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I've been confirmed as the opening keynote speaker for "Facilities 09", a conference organized by the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions, to be held in Austin, Texas in mid-May.
"In the face of widespread economic volatility, organizations have three choices: they can panic, making rash decisions on structure, markets, investments; they can freeze and do nothing; or they can respond to rapid change through innovation, particularly with respect to strategies, structure, capabilities, markets, products, and activities. Jim Carroll, one of the world's leading futurists, trends and innovation experts with clients such as Lincoln Financial, Caterpillar, the Walt Disney Organization and Nestle, will share his insight on the strategies that leading edge organizations are pursuing to stay ahead of the economy."
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According to futurist Jim Carroll, transformation is very doable for many businesses: "They are realizing that innovation isn't some dark, mysterious ancient ritual: they're realizing that it's simply a mindset that involves constant probing to see how we can fix things, find new things, or transform things, whether those things be business processes, customer service methods, new products, marketing and distribution cannel concepts, or just about anything else."
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IBM's Cognos division has put up an interview with me on their BIRadio site, which focuses on business intelligence.
Kelsey Howarth: You write that the danger is an idea recession, or innovation paralysis. Do you think companies are still in that shock phase?
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I've got a tremendous number of keynotes coming up for April through June, ranging from a global leadership meeting for a world QSR company, to meetings with Trane (Ingersoll Rand), Rockwell Collins, the Texas State Credit Union Cooperative, to the National Association of Children's Hospitals (both of the latter events being in Austin, Texas.) Among many others!
Innovating at high velocity is vital to turning challenge into opportunity. Jim Carroll believes that organizations that focus on staying ahead of fast paced economic trends can "ride this thing out," and can position themselves for growth. It's a fast paced world -- and that's why leading edge organizations are focused on key leadership strategies that provide for a fast paced future.
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I was examining my Web traffic yesterday, and it is obvious that the number of users hitting the site from iPhone's and PDA's is increasing significantly.
I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out, and will continue to build it out. If you are on an iPhone, Blackberry or PDA, please let me know your feedback. I'd also love screenshots from Blackberry and PDA users. (I'm an iPhone user.)
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Back in November, I had the honor of providing the opening keynote address for the Picture Archive Council of America, at the 13th Annual PACA conference, in November in New York City.
Jim Carroll describes himself as an 'International futurist, trends and innovation expert' (and nice guy) and works with a number of large corporations here in the US and in the UK commenting on media trends and advising organizations on coping with rapid changes in the market place.
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"In some ways, brands are like people. They get stuck. They have habits that are hard to break. They don't always see their blind spots, and they lost touch with their core essence. They resist change. They become irrelevant"
Innovative organizations realize that they need to continuously address the issue of the relevance of their brands, and must work harder than before to keep them "fresh."
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