If I ran your company, here's what I would do!

Supertramp -- a band from the 80's -- had a minor hit with the song "On the Long Way Home," which featured the memorable line, the line, "when you're up on the stage, it's so unbelievable."

It is, quite. And when you're up there, you realize how lucky you are to be able to share with the audience the wisdom you've picked up by observing some of the world's top innovators.

Recently, after a presentation to an audience of 3,000 people, I was approached by a CEO who was quite inspired by my remarks. He then asked me a fascinating question: “what would you do if you took over the leadership of my company right now?” We chatted for a while and I believe I provided some pretty succinct insight; but since then, I’ve been thinking about that question. Here’s a part of my answer.

• maximize your best revenue opportunities. I’d make sure that any existing revenue relationships remain intact, and then some. I’d work on having my team obsess on growing existing high value customer relationships through service excellence. Let’s make sure that we meet their needs. It will likely be easier to keep existing revenue grows flowing rather than finding new ones, particularly through a time of economic challenge.
  
• obsess over time to market. I'd work hard to accelerate product innovation; market life-cycles are collapsing, and I'd make sure every member of the team reoriented themselves to that reality. I'd focus on getting R&D to think in terms of faster cycles; I'd ramp up sales force education so that they were better aware of what's coming next. I'd have the team thinking in terms of 3-6-9-12 : here's what will be doing in the marketplace 3, 6, 9 and 12 months from now. I'd layer on top of that some insight into 1-2-5-10: what we might be doing 1, 2, 5 and 10 years from now.
  
• reduce product costs through process improvement and better project execution: there is no shortage of innovative ideas, structures and concepts involving process and production methodologies. I’d make sure we were looking at finding those who are doing leading edge work in this area, inside or outside our industry, and learn from them.
  
• reduce structural costs through collaboration: at this point in time, in a global world that allows for instant, smart collaboration among teams, there is no reason for massive duplication of skills and talent throughout an organization. I’d start a rethink those silos, and restructure for a new skills deployment approach. Right off the bat, I’d encourage a few cross-organizational collaboration efforts, to get people used to the idea of tackling fast new problems rather than arguing about structure and hierarchy.
  
• focus on the pipeline of talent innovation: I've said it before and I'll say it again. The depth the bench strength is critical to future success. I’d have everyone take a good look at our pipeline, to see if it will meet upcoming needs. If not, I’d get a program in place to fix that fast.
  
• relentlessly and aggressively chase costs: I'm not talking about spontaneous slash and burn spending cuts: I’d refocus on transitioning the role of staff from tactical efforts to a strategic role. I’ve spent time with the CIO's and CFO's of some pretty major organizations: Hunt Oil, Adobe, J Crew, Under Armor. All of them have provided in-depth insight onstage during customer panels that have focused on the role of IT in the business to run the business better, grow the business and transform the business. There remain countless opportunities for IT oriented innovation to rip unnecessary costs out of the business, and it involves this tactical to strategic transition.
  
• enhance quality and reliability of product: Last year, I spoke to 2,500 global quality professionals on the challenges that the high velocity economy presents to the concept of quality. The fact is, new issues hit us in the marketplace faster than ever before. And the global idea loop means that quality challenges can become a sudden, massive worldwide PR nightmare faster than we've ever been prepared for. That's why avoiding quality problems remains a critical focus. I’d take a look at how well we’re dealing with quality issues, and whether we’ve got the agility to respond in this new world of heightened PR challenges. I’d also have a group prepare an immediate outline of challenges and problems with customer service and satisfaction.
  
• capture new emerging growth markets faster: I’d begin to orient the team so that we knew about which market opportunities might come next, and then spend time aligning ourselves to innovate faster in such markets. I recently spent some time with one client, and the focus of our discussion was how a new market was set to unfold in the next three months. Expectations were that the market -- for a unique consumer product, with potential sales in the billions of dollars -- might last for a period of eighteen months, before being eclipsed by the next stage of development. Essentially, the CEO was looking at a situation where they had to figure out how to jump into this new fast market, and make the most of it in an extremely short period of time. That's a new skill structure to wrap an organization around, and one that every organization must learn to master.
  

Oh, and one of the first things I'd do? I would immediately convene a senior management/leadership meeting, and bring in a futurist and innovation expert to wake my people up to the potential that can come from energizing ourselves towards future opportunities.

Led Zeppelin Leadership: How do you innovate when you're dazed and confused ....

At a particular keynote last week, I met a number of senior executives who certainly agreed with my message - we need to constantly realign our company to the reality of change that surrounds it. That's where innovation comes from. But they also also indicated that they found it increasingly difficult to keep up with the rapid change occurring all around them.

There's been an increasing number of these individuals, and I've come to call them the Led Zeppelin refugees: they're simply dazed by the changes occuring in the high velocty economy, and are confused about what to do next.

That's why there's such a good question that flows from this: just how do you become an organization that is focused on innovation?

One of the easiest methods is simply by identifying the obvious and the not-so-obvious trends that will impact your business or organization -- and then taking the time to figure out what actions you must undertake to deal with those trends.

Ask yourself this question: are you prepared for what comes next in terms of your business? The likely answer is no: my experience is that many organizations still have a very short-term minded outlook. They're caught in an innovation rut, simply doing day by day the same old things they've always been doing, day in day out. And they don't really think about how their world is going to change.

That's why you should undertake a "trend-and-innovation" audit of your organization: quite simply, figuring out what comes next, and what you need to do about it.

How can you do this? By asking yourself a series of questions:

• How quickly is our marketplace changing? How quickly might it change in the future? What's the impact on what I sell, and how I sell it?
  
• How are our products changing? Willl they change faster in terms of features? Will support become easier, or more complex? Can we manage to operate in a faster market?
  
• Are our products moving upscale, or are they becoming commodities,such that you'll be forced to compete on price? Can we do something so that there is more of a service element to our product?
  
• What new competitors are appearing, or might emerge in the future? Is the basic business model threatened? Is there more likelihood of direct outreach to the consumer rather than through an existing distributor/wholesaler network?
• What moves could we make to make sure we can remain competitive? You really must ask yourself some probing questions as you go through this process. You need to challenge yourself and think what might really be different in five years, in terms of what you sell, who you sell to, how you sell it, and who you are selling against.

And therein lies the rub: I think a lot of organizations fail to do this type of simple analysis. There are too many who sit back and react to change instead of thinking: "ok we know some big change is coming what the heck are we going to do about it?" Think of it is a forward-oriented innovation: it's a simple concept, and one of the most important things you should be doing.

A Mac made in heaven

My latest CAMagazine article, "A Mac made in Heaven," published May 1, took a look at my recent move to a Mac notebook and desktop. I switched to a MacBook Pro last summer, and then purchased a Mac Pro desktop in March. Most of my work is now done in OS/X Leopard. Like many people, I just didn't feel right with the stories floating around about Microsoft Vista.

Seems that more people are feeling the same way, as outlined in a fascinating cover story on Business Week this week. ("The Mac in the Gray Flannel Suit")

It's not like I didn't know what I was doing in making the switch. I've been using computers since 1982 -- and Windows since it first came out. I have a number of Linux servers in my basement, and a fascinatingly complex home network. (A magazine covered this topic in 2002, with the headline: "Is this guy crazy, or just way ahead of his time?")

I believe that Microsoft, with Vista, has created a real disaster on the desktop, and that they have truly lost their way. Which begs the question: what innovation lessons can we learn from the Vista debacle?

I suspect that this question will be the focus of many a business book in the years to come, but probably the most important one is this: market leaders can never be complacent about their business.

We are in the era of rapid market and industry transformation. People still think my story of the Google Car to be a ridiculous one, but it need not be. Organizations that can tackle existing markets with innovative new ideas that work well have the opportunity to displace entrenched leaders. That's always been the case in the past, and will continue to be in the future.

More information

• Read A Mac made in heaven by Jim Carroll
• The concept of the Google Car
• Article:Is this guy crazy or just way ahead of his time?
  

Leadership insight: study air guitar!

My blog posting ten days ago (a "Memo to the CEO") stirred up quite a bit of interest and response. In the item, I noted that the most important thing CEO's "can do *right now*, as you work to navigate your way through the challenging economic shoals that surround you, is to make sure that you don't kill innovation in its tracks.

A few readers asked, "ok, so what do we do to ensure we keep innovating?" I had an teleconference with a client today, planning for an upcoming leadership event. Here's what I came away from the call with -- my ideas on bringing some focus to their innovation mindset -- based upon the rapid market change they are encountering:

• Study air guitar: there's innovation, and then there's market transformation. While Sony and Microsoft spent their time developing a faster video game machine, Nintendo transformed the video game marketplace with the Wii by introducing wireless 3-d spatial action to video gaming. That helped to refresh enthusiasm for the already-popular GuitarHero game -- since people could now do wireless GuitarHero. An entire generation of baby-boomers who mastered air guitar in the 70's who could never figure out an X-Box controller -- are now video game customers! Search YouTube for grannies playing Guitar Hero, and you'll see the results organization that has taken innovation to the next step! Not just innovation, but transformation.
  
• Energize your brand. If your brand looks tired, your customers will see it as tired. Once that happens, you'll start to lose all the equity you've built up. Brands today need to be full of energy; I spent time with a company6 last week that is re-approaching the world of brand-image with enthusiasm and passion. There was a lot of energy, and I suspect we will see that continue over time.
  
• Fail faster. Imagine that you are a company that has some stuff that will help to make the next market of LED TV's happen fast. Imagine that you can't decide whether to get involved or not. Imagine that your competitor has already worked on three prototype projects with the new platform. Who is going to win?
  
• Check your bench strength. Really smart people with the ability to get into self-assembling project teams are your best hope for the future. And the fact is, their skills are continuing to be in extremely short supply as everybody becomes more of a specialist. If you don't have an organization that can expand, contract and collaborate at will, drawing the capabilities of your A-team, you've got a big problem.
  
• Scare yourself. Do you know who your new competition will be five years from now? Think Google Car, iPlane, WalMart Hip Replacements. I know I've used this example before, but markets and industries are seeing big transformations with the rapid emergence of new competitors, and you need to be thinking about that.
  
• Check your speed. How fast can you innovate? Perform? Undertake miracles? Tackle a problem? I'm still on a mailing list for the Sporiting Goods Manufacturing Association; I keynoted their conference last year. This week, members are scrambling to deal with a fast new environmental challenge. Surviving todays' economy is all about how quickly you can assemble and reassemble your team to fix fast problems; that the SGMA is doing this is indicative of an industry that is learning to think and act fast.
  
• Invest in experience. Get a bit crazy. Try things out. Study my "Where's the Growth" document, and find out where your own market growth potential is. Rush a few new products or services to markets, and find out what you learn from the process. The insight your team gains in learning how to innovate will be extremely valuable. It's called experiential capital, and it's the new currency of the 21st century. The more you have, the better you'll be positioned. Innovation isn't something you just do: it's a culture, and a mindset that you invest in. By doing things.
  
• Set the tone. If you let the current economic headlines drive your corporate spirit, you're sunk. You have to keep people focused on the future -- otherwise, your team will smell your fear. Leadership is all about keeping your team focused on opportunity and goals, not on ongoing and regular ("new normal" volatility.
  

Branding in the high velocity economy

Last week, I gave the opening keynote for a leading global auto collision repair group, Fix Auto, which has locations throughout the US, Canada, the UK and France.

I opened with one of my favorite quotes from Rupert Murdoch: "The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.”

What precisely does that imply? In this case, those who can spot the opportunity for rebranding of an industry sector, and who can pull off such a rebranding quickly. If you think about auto collision repair shops, there are a number of areas where we are seeing "high velocity change": customer expectations in terms of service quality are going up; there is a focus on cost reduction as insurance companies become more sensitive to increasing accident claims; rapid change in the very technology that makes up an "automobile" today. Each one of these areas of change can be spun into an opportunity through some unique business strategies.

My focus for the audience was to realize that we we live in a time in which we are seeing the:

• rapid emergence of new markets
  
• fast opportunities for arrival of new brand images
  
• new ways of achieving customer awareness around those brands, and
  
• significant opportunity to transform old, stale market and business structures to vibrant, new brands

Thinking ahead: knowledge delivery in the high velocity economy

I'm one of the keynote speakers today for the grand opening of Virtualis, which bills itself as "the largest and most meticulously designed convention center in the computer-generated world of Second Life."

Virtualis features ballrooms, breakout rooms, and an extensive trade show floor. I'll be speaking in the Grand Ballroom at 4pm EST; my own "trade show booth" (pictured here) features links to my blog, books, and to streaming video from strategically placed video screens on the wall.

Will such "virtual worlds" come to play a role in the meeting and convention industry? The media seems to have been quite down on Second Life as of late; at one recent digital marketing conference, it was dismissed as a waste of advertisers time, and the biggest project sinkhole in the last year. (See The Client Side blog link below).

Maybe so. Maybe not. I don't know whether that is true or not.

But I do know this. Ten years ago, we didn't have a Google; five years ago, there was no FaceBook. New methods of interacting are emerging at a furious pace. Ten years from now, we'll be in an economy in which organizations will have to figure out how to "deliver knowledge quickly." I think we will see a wide variety of platforms and methods of accomplishing this -- and that's why I'm spending some of my time exploring the opportunity within Virtualis.

I'm a big believer that meetings and events will continue to be a "key strategic component of an organization's success" in the future, because they involve the delivery of knowledge.

And there's going to have to be a lot more of that in the future. Organizations must deal with the fact that their world is becoming faster: they must deal with innovation time compression, the rapid emergence of new markets, fast opportunities for emergence of new product or service branding, increased skills specialization, rapid business model transformation and the emergence of new competitive challengers.

The impact is quite simple: rapid market, business, industry, and skills change leads to a need for faster “knowledge delivery.” We might need to upgrade the knowledge of a sales force for a new emerging market; help a leadership team focus on a new business competitor, or steer a project team towards dealing with a new industry challenge. Whatever the case may be, knowledge delivery is key to success in the future.

I think we'd be fools to think that we won't do a lot more of this online. Hence, the importance of new explorations such as Virtualis : it helps to solve a fundamental purpose, and plays a key strategic role, just as real-world conferences and events do. And so this is a critical and important first step.

It's all about innovation and trying things out. And as Larry Ellison of Oracle stated, “when you innovate, you've got to be prepared for everyone telling you you're nuts.”

More information

• Read Meetings.Net report on Virtualis launch
• Virtualis advertisement
  
• The Client Side Blog: The Hype Wagon Loses a Virtual Wheel
  
• Jim Carroll digital content solutions
  

Five secrets for creating a culture of innovation

The April issue of the Advertiser magazine ("The Voice of the Marketing Community") from the Association of National Advertisers features an article, "Five Secrets for Creating a Culture of Innovation."

I'm quoted in the article with two key observations, on the issue of "taking risks and learning from them." My concerns?

• "...he sees too much 'bandwagon innovation" in marketing these days. Consider the rush by brands to launch viral videos on YouTube. 'That's not what innovation is ... it's admitting that everything we do -- how we are marketing to the customer, what the brand means to the customer, and what we do to update uniqueness and freshness of brand -- has to constantly change because everything around us is constantly changing."
  
• I also talk to the importance of taking risks: "CMO's who aren't afraid to focus on 'experiential capital', as Carroll calls it, or encourage innovative thinking by taking calculated risks, regardless of the outcome, stand a better chance of being successful over the long run.

It's a good article: there's no doubt that the high velocity economy results in rapid change of consumer brand perceptions. Leading edge marketers work hard to beef up their innovation capabilities simply in order to keep up with consumers who are charging forward at a furious pace!

More information

• Read What a great idea!
  
• Why bandwagon innovation doesn't work
  
• Is your brand from the olden days?

A memo to the CEO: Innovation matters more than ever

Memo

To: CEO's worldwide,
       (particularly in the financial sector)

From: Jim Carroll

-------------------------
I know things are extremely busy, particularly given our economic climate, but I think there's a key issue that you need to make sure is on your agenda.

The most important thing that you can do *right now*, as you work to navigate your way through the challenging economic shoals that surround you, is to make sure that you don't kill innovation in its tracks.

In the last few years, you've nurtured and created a core group of people in your organization who have become relentlessly focused on innovation. They've been obsessively focused on process, service and product innovation. They're matching the needs of customers, are taking you in to new markets, and are figuring out what to do in an economy that changes at a furious pace.

In the months and years to come, these executives are going to be some of the most important and critical individuals on your team.

Leaders set the tone. The tone you need to set for your leading innovators is that innovation matters now more than ever.

I know it's a tough sector to be in right now; there's a lot of bloodletting underway, and there's likely more to come as hundreds of billions of dollars of losses are absorbed. Yet you'll likely get through it, and you are going to have to be relentlessly focused on meeting customer needs, open new markets, and continually re-orient your business models to continue to focus on growth.

In January 2008. I was honored to be one of the judges for the annual Monarch Innovation Awards. We examined various innovative service and product offerings from such major financial institutions as Wachovia, SunTrust, USBank, Bank of America, WellsFargo and others. The key goal of the awards, sponsored by Barlow Research, was to "recognize financial institutions that provide the most innovative products to business customers" and to "recognize risk takers in the financial services industry who create/promote innovation within their organizations."

Throughout the financial sector, there are innovation heroes like those who won the Monarch Innovation Awards. These are the folks who are willing to stick their heads up, take a risk, and do something new and dramatic.

It's your innovation heroes who will help you open the future.

You must ensure that they still have the courage to take risks. To open new markets. To do innovative things that will solve customer problems. To realign the business for the future.

Celebrate them. Elevate them. Make their contributions known.

As the CEO, you set the tone for your organization. You have a momentary chance to ensure that you stay focused on the opportunities that come from your innovation heroes.

If you want to chat about this, give me a call. I'm at 905.855.2950. Or just send me an email: innovationmatters@jimcarroll.com

Sincerely,

Jim Carroll

--------

More information

• Print A memo to the CEO: Innovation Matters More Than Ever
  
• Marketwatch press release: Barlow Research Monarch Innovation Awards

Innovating in a flat world - the jewelry industry

I keynoted the 2008 Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America Expo New York yesterday, on the theme of ""How to Unlock Your Potential in the High Velocity Economy." Just about a week from now, Dubai will hold a similar event. The challenge for the AJMA members is that they now find themselves in a world that has gone massively global and is far more competitive; and as the world has flattened, so too have their challenges. They're competing not only against the City of Gold, but countless other highly innovative jewelry centers.

The focus of my keynote: what to do after the world gets flat! How can they innovate to deal with the unique challenges of today? Most certainly, the challenges go far beyond just globalization: rapidly changing consumer attitudes are also playing a key role. I used some recent insight from research firm Mintel UK, which provided a few fascinating nuggets:

• only 5% of all the customers surveyed buy jewelry frequently - compare that to the trends with consumer electronics spending - a lot of discretionary spending now goes to the latter, and not the former.
  
• 22% compare prices before they buy
  
• 15% buy online
  
• 17% of women are finding jewelry sold in supermarkets an "increasingly attractive" option

How do you innovate your way out of this? The advice I included in my 75-minute talk covered a vast number of issues; here's a few of the things they should focus on:

• faster time to market : fashion happens faster; they need to deal with this. If P-Diddy appears with a new ear-stud and it gets noticed, kids will want it. Agile jewelers align themselves to such instant production, by revamping their process and cost structure.
  
• innovate upside-down. Adopt new design philosophies: rather than innovating, focus on upside down innovation. Work with their retail partners to restart the design process. Innovative organizations recognize they can't do it all. They seek partners with everything they do, recognizing that there are of lot of really wonderful innovative ideas that transcend their organization and their culture. This allows them to discover new innovative ideas they hadn't thought of before; a process I call upside down innovation.
  
• revamp manufacturing capabilities: a lot of these folks manufacture to inventory, and with the high and fluctuating cost of gold and other metals, that's an expensive business model to maintain, particularly in the context of increased global competition. Leading edge manufacturers are using CAD/CAM tech to change their design process and are learning to shift their business model as a result.

More information

• Read the MJSA article Change Your Mind: Staying One Step Ahead
  
• Read What do you do after the world gets flat? Put a ripple in it!

Where's the growth?

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.

Read this document to get in the right frame of mind for the future.....and think growth. Think opportunity. Innovate for future, don’t stagnate with the past.

Download Where's the Growth? Global Innovation Opportunities for the Long Term

10 Great Words: inspirational innovation insight

Years ago, I wrote a little article, "10 Great Words," as a way of summarizing how to instill an innovative mindset.

It remains one of the most heavily viewed pages on my site. I use the words within my keynotes, providing motivational guidance to people on how they can challenge assumptions and eliminate habits.

I often notice people in the audience quickly writing the words down; I've heard of others who have printed off the list of 10 words and have posted them to their cubicle. Simply as a way to stay focused on creativity and innovation.

The list also made it into my Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast book.

I've just wrapped it up in a new PDF ; feel free to share the document with your staff, team, and leadership; it's proven to be a wonderful summary of how to stay motivated and focused on opportunity!

Download the 10 Great Words document

High velocity e-commerce: a keynote for VISA

I'm about off to keynote a conference for Visa. With executives in the room from Apple, Sony, Ticketmaster, HomeDepot and other organizations that are e-commerce heavy hitters, I'll be focusing on the message, "what do high velocity companies do to stay innovative?"

Much of the conference so far will have focused on the high velocity change that swirls around the issue of e-commerce: the rapid emergence of new payment technology (i.e. cell phone payment infrastructure), continued market growth as e-commerce becomes a routine part of daily life, and internationalization of market and opportunity (China now has the largest Internet population, with 250 million users.) There's also a significant platform shift as mobility takes on an increasing role: Investors Business Daily just reported that already, 16% of US cell phone users do online banking with their device, and 25% shop online. Such numbers pale in comparison to even more rapid change in Asia and Europe.

How do you stay innovative in a world of fast change?? I have several messages:

• prepare for market / product / infrastructure rapidity: fast innovators make sure they have a collaborative team structure that can assemble into fast-teams, ready to tackle new projects, demands, market shifts and other changes. It's all about corporate agility.
  
• structure for intensity: prepare for the rapid emergence of new technologies, and organize yourself with partners to help you nail implementation. Mobile payment technology is going to have a sweeping impact, and it's rollout will occur in but a few short months. That's the new intensity of business cycles.
  
• empower for quality: if you shop online, you expect operational excellence, no questions asked. You can only do that by empowering staff to act on the ground, making quick decisions so that quality of experience is not compromised. Read my When FedEx Fails post of a few days for an important lesson on today's empowered consumer.
  
• enhance capability from generational diversity: Older generations are still struggling with fast pace change: that's one of the key trends I identified in my most recent Future Trends report. Savvy organizations are learning to implement fast by combining the different talents of different generations; by providing for cross generational collaboration, they are drawing upon a set of unique skills to act even faster, thus managing to stay ahead of the pack.

You stay innovative by structuring yourself to stay just one step ahead of the future.

High velocity leadership: how to stay focused on growth

Organizations today are looking for deep insight into the trends that will affect their markets and industries. CEO’s are focused on the need for innovation, knowing that a world of high velocity change requires that they respond to opportunity and challenge in an instant. They are looking for guidance on establishing high-performance, innovation oriented teams that are focused on achievement.

I've been doing quite a bit in this area; the other day, I spent time with a global organization, for a full day, with a keynote and workshop focused on the issue of "growth." It's easy -- in a challenged economy -- to lose sight of opportunities for growth. That's what I talk about in the recent interview by Credit Suisse.

With this particular client -- and many others -- I went beyond a keynote, and participated for the balance of the day through a series of workshops. This new document outlines what I do: I'm often called upon to deliver unique, half day or full day executive retreat, leadership oriented programs.

More information:

• Read High Velocity Leadership
  
• Read my Credit Suisse interview for my thoughts on "growth"

The Masters in Business Innovation

Years ago, I wrote of the need for a new type of business degree: a Masters in Business Imagination. I've also called it a Masters in Business Innovation.

I wrote an article around the theme, and it remains one of the most heavily trafficked pages on my site. I've wrapped it up in a PDF : feel free to read it, share it, distribute it, and encourage people to think about it.

It opens with these observations: "COMPLACENCY In a time of rapid, disruptive change can be a death sentence – not only for organizations, but for the careers and skills of those who work there!

The world doesn’t need more administrators. It needs more MBI’s – Masters of Business Imagination!

• Access The Masters of Business Imagination PDF

Leading in turbulent times: how to innovate during the recession!

Even as news and financial pundits endlessly debate the question, let's face reality: the US economy is in a recession.

Given this reality, the key question going forward is: what do you do now to ensure that you remain innovative, competitive, and forward-oriented?

Innovate for the upturn! That's the key message I focused on with my clients in 2002-3, and the same message holds true today. And that was the focus of a keynote last week when I spoke to one of the largest US commercial / industrial real estate brokerage groups. There were several bits of insight I shared with them:

Put sub-prime into perspective
One of my first comments for this audience of senior executives? We need to think about the sub-prime mess in the context of a longer term view. In the last ten years, we've been through many economic challenges:

• the 1998 Asian currency collapse
  
• the 2000 dot.com meltdown
  
• the 2001 global telecom restructuring
  
• from 2001 to 2003, the impact of 9-11 and economic uncertainty
  
• 2007 to 2008, the march to $100 oil
  
• and now sub-prime....

Keep focused on the longer term view
I tend to be an optimist: that's because I think in a longer term perspective. Think about it: over the next 10 years, there are several certainties:

• scientific discovery will continue to advance at an ever increasing pace, opening new markets, evolving existing markets, and establishing countless new opportunities
  
• global collaborative knowledge communities will continue to lead to faster innovation in every industry and market
  
• new products, methodologies, skills, ideas, organizational structures will continue to evolve at a fast pace; agile organizations will continue to come out on top
  
• the transition of economies in the Mid-East and Asia will continue despite regional economic challenges
  
• rapidly aging economies in North America and Europe will drive rapid spending, innovation and knowledge discovery in the world of health care
  
• global energy conciousness will continue to lead to ever more rapid evolution of "green" solutions
  
• 1/2 of the global population is under the age of 25. They're change aggressive, and will continue to lead to the rapid adoption of new ideas.
  
• growth in markets is a simple reality: in agriculture, global food production still has to double in the next 25 years to keep up with population trends. Sub-prime has no impact on this reality.
  

Don't let aggressive indecision take over your thinking

To innovate in the upturn, don't let a short-term vs long-term trend disconnect take over your strategic thinking. Already, I can see the signs of some companies heading into an innovation rut, their staff and executives encumbered by a dangerous state of complacency, while other companies innovate, change, and adapt to the "new normal" that is now our reality.

In the last recession, "aggressive indecision" became a driving cultural and leadership trait. Organizations that fell into this funk fell behind. Innovative companies didn't permit that to happen then, and you shouldn't let this happen now.

More information:

• Read Global Economic Trends: An Interview with Jim Carroll The reality of future trends: grab the What Comes Next trends overview
• Read my 2003 article about "aggressive indecision"
• Read my Credit Suisse interview for my thoughts on "growth"

When FedEx Fails: What happens when customer service breaks down?

It's long been touted as one of the greatest innovation success stories ever: FedEx.

It's had the tag line, "when it absolutely, positively has to be there." It obviously has a track record and customer service record that is unparalleled.

What happens when FedEx fails? Absolutely, I don't really know. They didn't.

I was ready for them to fail. I had a keynote with a global metals company today; they had arranged to distribute a copy of my book Ready, Set, Done to all the members of their leadership. The books left the office here last Thursday in two boxes.

One box made it; the other did not. I was ready to write a furious post lambasting FedEx for failing to deliver them. FedEx? Failing to deliver!

And yet, something funny happened on the way to the post. A few calls from our office to FedEx main call center got us in touch with their ground operations at the location city; who quickly found the box in a local FedEx office. Turns out the conference hotel had asked yesterday that the box be picked up AFTER it had already been delivered. The receiving department at the hotel screwed up!

And FedEx did not hesitate for a moment to rush them back to the hotel within a 20 minute time span, as the conference was winding down.

In other words, what happens when FedEx fails? I don't know -- because they pulled a customer-service rabbit out of a hat on this one! Since I focus on innovation, what have I learned from this experience, that can apply to the overall issue of customer innovation?

• the customer can sometimes be wrong. BusinessWeek just ran an article about the new "empowered customer." Sure, customers can take their issues online. But their first impressions might be the wrong impression. FedEx blew me away in this case. Maybe customers are too empowered today?
  
• staff empowerment is still critical. The local FedEx person our office was in touch with -- "Cynthia" -- was on the case immediately, and did not hesitate to concur that the box of books had to get there, and did what she had to do to make this happen. She was actually out of breath at one point, as she was rushing back to the phone after find the box. If she didn't have the right to make such a decision, the customer relationship/service would have failed. Let staff decide, and give them the power to do what needs to be done to keep the customer happy.
  
• customer service still matters. Our office inquiries were smoothly transitioned from global operations to local staff in a matter of minutes. The execution of followup was almost flawless. In these recessionary times, companies might be tempted to manage costs by cutting customer service staff. That would be a critical mistake. Innovative organizations focus on growth, despite economic challenges. Growth continues to come from exceeding customer expectations.

Future careers: Knowledge explosion is key

Career issues are hot! And one of my favorite ways to open a keynote or executive session is by quoting from an Australian study, which indicated that sixty-five percent of the kids who are in preschool today will work in jobs or careers that don't yet exist.

I passionately believe this to be true: and I've seen the trend occurring in countless professions and industries.

This week, I keynoted a Career Day event at Capitol One in Richmond, Virginia ; the focus was upon the rapid emergence of new careers, and the rapid evolution of existing skills. My message, in looking at the future career opportunities, was that there's nothing but upside, as long as people keep reinventing their skill set.

The topic of the future of careers is a big one these days; I'm being called into many organizations and events to talk about the issue, particularly in the context of recent economic trends. Some of these events have been local economic development conferences. In one talk in January, I spoke to an audience of executives and educators in an auto-sector city ; a group of people caught up in the throes of economic restructuring and turmoil.

Talk about an audience in the midst of challenge! Yet when you are in that type of economic bubble, it can be hard to see the future career opportunities that do exist. That's why I didn't focus on the short term economic turmoil, but instead, on the real, practical trends that are defining the careers of tomorrow.

Many sectors of the global economy: and in particular, the manufacturing and financial sectors, are being hit hardest by the US recession, the sub-prime meltdown, and global competition.

The auto-town event got covered in the local paper: and the story ended up being reprinted throughout the Canadian press, including in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and Montreal. One of the key observations I made in the article: "We have to figure out how we can continue to move up the knowledge ladder because there's going to be a massive shortfall in specialized skills because of the rapid growth of knowledge."

That's an important issue to think about, and the article is well worth a read.

More information:

• Read Knowledge Explosion Key to the Future
• Read Global Economic Trends: An Interview with Jim Carroll
• The reality of future trends: grab the What Comes Next trends overview

What do innovative organizations do?

One of my recent keynotes for a global organization focused on the issue of high-velocity change. No matter who you are and what you do, there are certain realities: your markets, customer expectations, competitors, cost structure and business model continues to change really, really fast, and will continue to do so. This little video clip captures that message.

Innovative organizations recognize this reality, and orient themselves to a state of constant, forward-oriented innovation, not only to keep up with but to exceed the constantly rising bar of innovation that surrounds them. They do this by subscribing to several key ideas. Innovative companies:

• adjust to rapidly evolving markets: it doesn't matter what industry: consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, electronics, industrial supply, construction. Every industry is impacted by massive and sweeping change, in terms of product innovation, customer expectations, new business models. Look around you, and there's fast paced change.
  
• re-align for new workforce realities. With new career attitudes, the migration to the global, contingent workforce, and increasing skills specialization, deploying the right skills at the right time for the right purpose is becoming a core focus of innovation efforts.
  
• jump on rapidly emerging trends: new ideas now evolve faster than ever before because of the global infinite idea loop. New products, markets and innovation can now go from concept to market in a matter of months or weeks. Innovative organizations know where they are headed, because they are tuned into the global idea loop that envelopes them.
  
• track the impact of fast-science on product innovation: billion dollar markets are being born through global collaborative science. It's a trend I explore in my Future Trends document on this blog. Understand it, and innovate from it.
  
• generate ideas through generational collaboration: innovative organizations recognize that different generations have differing attitudes towards change. Rather than battling this reality, they work to ensure that they are getting the best ideas from the experience of longer term staff, combining that with the inspiration and innovative ideas coming from what I call Gen-Connect. Watch the cardboard people/plasma people video on this blog: it provides a good example of what can happen if you don't capitalize on generational insight.
  
• streamline process: innovative organizations focus on the concept of "agility" -- structuring themselves for rapid response, fast solutions to emerging challenges, and quicker focusing of resources on the changes occuring within the high velocity economy. Search this site for the phrase "agility," and you'll find a wealth of ideas.
  
• innovate upside down: innovative organizations recognize they can't do it all. They seek partners with everything they do, recognizing that there are of lot of really wonderful innovative ideas that transcend their organization and their culture. This allows them to discover new innovative ideas they hadn't thought of before; a process I call upside down innovation.
  
• continue to innovate in times of stress: it goes back to my recent blog post, Leading in turbulent times: How to innovate through the recession. Some economies might be in recession: but innovative organizations are already focusing on innovating for the inevitable upturn.

Watch the video

Learning how to innovate -- through skiing!

It's a Sunday afternoon, and a full day of skiing is done: and all the roads home are closed because of the snow. So we've settled in for an evening in the chalet with blankets of snow falling outside.

Skiing provides a wonderful metaphor for innovation; it involves taking risk, trying to do things you haven't done before, and always seeking for improvement. When you ski, you are constantly exploring new territory, examining new methods of doing things, and making discoveries that lead to something unknown. Skiing involves constant skills upgrading; there's no end of opportunity for new ideas by examining what others are doing on the hill.

The same type of thing you do when you instill an innovative mindset, either on your own or within an organization.

Two years ago, I keynoted an audience of thousands at the Swiss Innovation Forum. In my closing remarks, I linked the innovation theme to skiing -- because I was leaving from the event to ski the Swiss Alps. That for me was a huge achievement - because I didn't know how to ski less than 9 years ago.

I've caught that little video clip -- it's a little bit inspirational, and perhaps a little bit hokey, but captures for me, the importance of the link between innovation and skiing.

Watch the video clip

Related postings:

Blog post - The future of skiing

Jim Carroll on "the future of skiing" in the San Jose Mercury Post

read Don't Mess with My Powder, Dude!

Permanent link to this item ...posted at 03:48 PM...February 10, 2008

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Small business oriented videos - Cisco/MSN

Some months ago, Cisco and MSN engaged me to provide a series of short videos, with issues that small business might be thinking about from a strategic perspective. We filmed 16 short clips; 9 of them can be found here. I'll add more as additional items are posted with their online campaign.

I also wrote, in addition to the video clips, a series of articles concerning innovation; I'll like these to this blog post as well when the articles are posted.

Nomadic Workforce	Rethinking Innovation	Marketing
Innovation Killers	Hot Times	Rapid Science
The Future of Small Business	Connectivity	Social Networking

Credit Suisse Bulletin: Success Comes to Those Who Evolve

Credit Suisse, headquartered in Zurich, is global financial powerhouse operating in 50 countries; 48,000+ employees, assets of $75 billion US, and net assets under management of $1.345 trillion.

They've just released their 2008 Bulletin magazine, a publication provided to key investment banking, private banking and asset management clients worldwide.

They've include a fairly lengthy Q&A with me, in an article titled Success Comes to Those Who Evolve, in which they wanted wide-ranging views on the word "growth." It came out well: my key message has always been that we must always link the concept of innovation to rapidly emerging trends in order to constantly change what we do -- often simply to keep up, or attain competitive advantage.

Here's the key point: So what’s the recipe to kick-start innovative thinking? I think it’s about having your entire organization understand everybody is responsible for constantly figuring out how they need to change to keep up with the rapidly changing world. They need leadership that supports and encourages them to be open and share ideas, and that leadership needs to hammer home that message on a regular basis."

More information

• Read: Success Comes to Those Who Evolve
  

Which way forward? An economic interview with Jim Carroll

Jim Carroll is frequently approached by global news organizations to comment on economic issues. He was recently interviewed by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) for his perspective on how the Canadian economy will be impacted by recent global events. This document summarizes key components of the interview.

The interview includes a variety of topics, including this one: How can an economic region discover opportunity? From Jim’s perspective, it’s through skills transformation. He recently keynoted a community economic development summit in an auto-industry dependent city. He comments about the challenges that exist in the manufacturing sector: and how some regions are turning challenge into opportunity.

You'll also find a news report that ran in newspapers across Canada after this economic development conference; you'll find some unique views on the types of careers that are emerging in the future.

More information

• Read: Which Way Forward: An Economic Interview with Jim Carroll
  
• Read the news cover: "Knowledge Explosion Key to the Future"
  

Innovating locally in a global economy

I spent the day yesterday with management executives and store owners of DoItBest, one of the largest US hardware retailers. It's a fascinating organization, because in the midst of the current economic challenges in the US, it's managed to grow its profit at the same time that it saw a dramatic revenue decline.

As with all the keynotes that I do, I undertook an extensive amount of research into the company and industry before I took to the stage; this is combined with the fact that I have keynoted dozens of retail oriented conferences through the years.

What I found was a really cool, and extremely innovative organization. Their online Web site has seen a sales increase of 60%; they've included an option where shoppers can have orders sent to their local DoItBest store (of which there are 4,000+). The site is price competitive with Target and Amazon. They are doing a lot in terms of supply-chain, online store portals and rebates. They've rolled out three different store designs, and are discovering new micro-markets. All this, while they've seen sales fall to $2.81 billion from $3 billion from the year before -- and yet, they also achieved record profitability.

In my mind, there are a number of innovative strategies that the organization has pursued that any organization can learn from:

• rapidly transition challenged product lines: lumber saw price declines of 25%, and panel prices dropped 60% according to an article in Home Channel News. Do It Best stores responded by focusing on all kinds of other lines in hardware and new market opportunities such as home-decord
  
• be relentless on customer service: a search of news articles shows any number of articles in which customers rave about the knowledge that a staff member in a Do It Best store has when it comes to hardware, tools, home renovation and just about everything else. They've maintained a relentless focus on customer service, even as the big-box chains have lost site of its importance. If you need a power tool: these folks know power tools.
  
• recognize that micro-branding works: the new store format design has three components: one for those fully within the DoItBest brand, one that is sort of halfway, and one for those stores that want to maintain a distinct, local, "general store" type of image. The fact is, in this era of homogenized big-box brands, some folks like the feeling they get from a small, local hardware store brand. “Do It Best owners understand the micro-economy” -- that's what Jeff Prupis, of Pomona Paint & Hardware, a Do It Best store in Pomona, NY, stated in another Home Channel News article.
  
• when markets commoditize, specialize: at their trade show yesterday, they were featuring a "Christmas in January" theme; with various vendors showing the unique Christmas offerings they might be thinking about. Everywhere you look, you can see some of their stores learning about and experimenting with new premium markets and service opportunities.
  
• make life easy for customers: We're time compressed. We're in a hurry. We need solutions. We want "fast." That's why the comment from Joe Talor, CEO, Taylor’s Do It Center, Virginia Beach, is so appropriate. “We’re like the 7-11 of the hardware industry. You can get in, get out, and get back home to enjoy your weekend.”
  

All in all, a tremendous amount of fun, and a wonderful organization to spend some time with!

"Here we are now, entertain us" - Decoding Gen-Connect

One of my latest columns focuses on what will likely be the corporate issue of 2008 - managing generational challenges in the workplace.

In the column, "Here we are now, entertain us," I take a look at the unique attitudes that Gen-Connect is now starting to bring in to the workplace. There are several key observations from the article that are critical to understanding the future of the workforce:

• What is clear is that we are witnessing the death of the long-term career and corporate loyalty, which will soon be but a quaint memory from the previous century.
  
• I often tell the story of a young engineering graduate who turned down a job with an architectural firm because its 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. work hours conflicted with the time he expected to be carving arcs into deep powder in the mountains. It’s a real attitude, and it’s already happening around us. The challenge, when such trends are so patently obvious, is trying to figure out what to do about it. And a good part of the solution will come through the transformation of rewards and remuneration.
  
• Gen-connect has very little patience, particularly when it comes to being rewarded for good work or significant effort. These youngsters are used to instant rewards: their Xbox/Wii video-game-oriented world has them accomplishing a goal, moving up a level, and earning some points or other valuable form of currency that helps them accumulate additional armour, weapons or whatever else is needed to accomplish the game’s next challenge.
  
• That’s why, at a recent conference, I framed the issue of rewards transformation to an audience of financial professionals this way: “Organizations that can attract, engage, retain and amuse an increasingly complex workforce will be the ones who find success in the rapidly evolving global economy.”
  
• Put the emphasis on the word amuse. Today’s Gen Y doesn’t, and tomorrow’s Gen-connect certainly won’t, have any patience whatsoever for slow and steady career paths.

Article: Here We are Now, Entertain Us

Related article: Don't Mess with My Powder, Dude!

Keynote topic: What's Happening with Our Workforce: Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Skills Agility

Critical Trends Analysis: 10 Unique Characteristics of 21st Century Skills

Permanent link to this item ...posted at 06:34 AM...January 07, 2008

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