Making generations work - Cardboard people and plasma people
Can you innovate across the generations? If you can't -- then you've got a big problem to fix!
I do a tremendous number of keynotes that focus on the issue of "managing millenials," and the complexities of change occurring in the workplace. See, for example, my blog post, "Don't Mess with my Powder, Dude." (below)
Yet organizations need to move beyond the staffing issues that come with new generations: they must also ensure that they can innovate at the rapid rates demanded in our new world, and they need to do that by keeping up with the new ideas and innovations occuring with younger staff.
In this video clip, I take a look at the story of the "plasma people" and the "carboard people." Innovation occurs when different generations -- with different attitudes to change -- can cooperate and see eye to eye, and take advantage of different strengths. In this clip, I tell tjhe story where this clearly wasn't the case!
This is a video clip from a recent keynote that I gave for hundreds of executives from the grocery and consumer products industries, titled Faster is the New Fast: Innovating for the New. High Velocity Customer . This story also became the opening chapter in my book, Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast.
Watch the video clip 
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How can you be innovative?
You become innovative by identifying obvious and not-so-obvious trends that will impact your business or organization -- and then undertake change and actions to deal with those trends.
Earlier this summer, I taped a podast for Applix; they're a business intelligence company, that was bought up by Cognos, which was then bought up by IBM for $5 billion just over a week ago.
The podcast focuses on my ideas of the need for corporate agility in the high velocity economy. I cover a lot of ground here in terms of concepts of innovation. In particular, I stress that I think a lot of organizations that I deal with aren't really thinking about "what comes next?" - which means they are missing the very essence of how to start thinking about innovation:"
I think we’re still very short-term minded out there. I think a lot of organizations are just going from quarter to quarter.What should forward oriented organization be thinking about? Several things:
How quickly is our marketplace changing? How quickly are our products changing? What do we need to do from a cultural perspective and an organizational perspective, to be able to deal with a world in which our product life cycles are collapsing? A lot of organizations who don’t appreciate the new forms of competition that can walk into their marketplaces’ business models continue to evolve.How do they do that? By making innovation core to their "soul."
The word ‘innovation’ has to be a part of the responsibility of everybody in the organization and that’s what I find goes wrong in a lot of companies. I think what has happened is people have made innovation out to be one of these special things that it’s the people in the back room who design new products – that that’s innovation. To me, innovation is so much more than that.
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Health care trends and innovation
I was the opening keynote speaker yesterday in Dallas for a get-together of the Strategic Marketplace Initiative. This is a group that represents a variety of health care providers and hospitals, as well as pharmaceutical companies and other health care suppliers. There were some heavy hitters in the room -- even WalMart was there, which is indicative of the role it is seeking to carve out in the pharmaceutical side of things.
The group is devoted to trying to continue to improve the efficiency and quality of the supply-chain within the health care industry. My talk examined the future of health care; I've done such talks recently for the Blue Cross Blue Shield National Office, the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Providence Health Care and the American Society for Health Care Risk Management.
There are certainly some big challenges. Consider these realities:
- total health-care spending - by individuals, companies, the government - reached $2.3 trillion in 2005
- health care spending is set to double to 20% of GDP within the next 10 years
- 400,000 nurses are set to retire by 2010
- 76 million baby boomers will be flooding the system for care
- lifestyle diseases wlll continue to drive stress into the system
At the same time, the health care system must innovate at a furious pace to keep up with the trends that are set to impact it in a significant way, such as:
- the rapid emergence of new technologies
- massive skills challenges (both demographic and scientific!)
- new business models and “competition," particularly as retail concepts come to the industry, and "customer" expectations continue to increase
- combined with the rapid emergence of new knowledge, methodologies, treatments, pharma, driven by rapid science
The sad thing is that little of the political debate occurring in the US on how to fix the system has to do with the real trends which are occuring; it tends to focus only on the difficult and challenging issue of insurance and coverage.
My talk stirred a lot of debate, and was very well received. There's an overview of some of the trends that I covered in my FUTURE MEDICINE Prescriptions for 21st Century Healthcare trends summary.
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Future trend - The Future of Governance
I was in Colorado Springs yesterday, as the opening keynote of the Leadership Institute for Directors for FCCServices -- they're the business services arm of the US federal Farm Credit System.
In attendance were members of the Boards of Directors for a wide variety of state and community farm credit co-ops; these folks are the backbone of the US farm lending infrastructure. The Directors are local farmers, community leaders and business executives, and hence, need to be aware of the trends impacting the local and global agricultural industries, so that they can plan accordingly, assess risk, and make sound business decisions with respect to their co-ops.
My keynote took a look at "what comes next in the agricultural sector" - it's one of many talks I do within the industry. And agriculture is certainly subject to high velocity change: there's rapid evolution in science (bio-crops); new markets (bio-fuel) ; rapidly changing skills; new direct to consumer market opportunities; globalization (current food production must double in the next 30 years to keep up with global population growth.) All of which could spell opportunity if approached correctly -- or turmoil and challenge if ignored.
The intent of the talk -- and the overall theme of the leadership conference -- was to ensure that these folks have the insight to direct their organizations into the future. That's an important and critical role for Boards; and FCC Services is an example of an organization that has made sure that the "future" is closely linked to the issue of "governance."
I think there are too many organizations that don't do this. Sadly, with all the current focus on "compliance," I've come to believe that there is a critical lack of future planning on many other corporate boards around the world. The result is that potential risks are often ignored; then things go wrong; then the company gets sued for significant sums of money. Is this Board negligence? That's an interesting question, isn't it!
Here's an example: years ago, I wrote an article indicating that one of the critical CEO/Board level issues that must be addressed had to do with network security; certainly, everyone knows that organizations should properly secure their information assets. Yet in the article, I suggested that I believe that many Boards aren't dealing with the issue, and that it was an area ripe for future exposure, noting that:
"If I were a tort lawyer, I'd be licking my lips in anticipation of the opportunities to come in the next few years."
Boards and CEO's should ensure -- as they are required to do with financial controls -- that the information assets of the organization are properly locked down. They must understand obvious future trends, and ensure that management has planned accordingly. I strongly believe this to be the next wave in Board responsibility.
Do many Boards of Directors ensure that the organization is properly preparing for the rapidity of trends? Not many. Witness the shenanigans with the TJX Group, which had its corporate network hacked and millions of credit card numbers stolen. (The company runs HomeGoods, Marshalls, A.J. Wright, Bob's Stores and The Maxx stores; in Canada the chain consists of Winners and HomeSense.) Now comes news that a group of banks want to sue the company with respect to the issue.
I can only imagine the questions that the Board of TJX is now asking!
Currently, much of the focus of board governance has to do with "compliance" -- how well are boards, and the companies they are responsible for, dealing with the new realities of the post-Enron era.
I believe that within the next decade, we will see Board responsbility quickly evolve into a new and much more complex era than simply making sure that "i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.' All we need are a few savvy lawyers to launch a few negligence suits against a few public companies, alleging that a Board failed to develop a plan for and respond to obvious future trends.
It's a trend worth watching.
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My Dad
It's Veteran's Day in the US, and Remembrance Day in Canada.
Every year as November 11 approaches and we remember wars past, I put up a TV clip featuring my dad. Al Carroll was a World War II veteran, and was proud of the service he gave to his country.
He never really talked about the war too much -- but certainly made sure that young people understood what it was about.
He was involved in a junior high school program just before he died 9 years ago ..... doing just that. It's worth a watch.
Watch the video clip 
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Update: The Google Car
The nice thing about being a futurist is that you're right -- much of the time!
Back in 2002 or 2003, I started talking about the concept of the GoogleCar while on stage; my theory was that we would see an organization like Google enter the automobile industry; they'd do this through the rapid assembly of disparate resources and partners, assembling the necessary expertise.
As I noted in a keynote in Tampa early in 2006:
"Given rapid science, hyper-innovation, low cost offshore production, and the slow response of other traditional business models ... every industry today is ripe for massive disruption and the rapid emergence of new competitors. A big part of the equation is avoiding 'legacy costs' both in manufacturing as well as sales and support. Think FedEx, not car dealerships. Think smart engine modules that pop in and out, not auto mechanics. Think WalMart, not ReadyLube. It's all there, and someone just has to pull it together.
Today, the leading paper covering Silicon Valley finally picked up on the idea in an article. And I can tell you -- traffic to my website is exploding today, because it seems everyone on the Web is searching for the concept of the GoogleCar.
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10 Rules for Working at Home
In the area where I live, the school system has an annual "take your kid to work day" for Grade 9's. Today was the day for my eldest son -- and since I've been working at home for 18 years, I suggested it might not be a good idea to have him hanging around here for the day watching TV!
So we sent him off to work with the local grocery store......
18 years is a long time in a home office. Back in 2003, I wrote an article, "10 Rules for Working At Home." Here's the short list; you can also link to the full article.
- Make a daily plan, set a commitment. You've got a job like anyone else, and quite simply, you have to get things done.
- Make space. Your home office has to be just that -- an office. ... do things to ensure that your office is "someplace separate."
- Don't feel guilt Don't feel bad if you take some private time here and there! It's part of the balance...
- Set boundaries. Learn to shut the door. That's got to be the most important thing when it comes to developing a healthy separation between your work day and your home life.
- Kick back. In your home office, you'll have a desk. That doesn't mean you have to do all of your work there!
- Educate your coworkers. Working at home means that you are in the vanguard of a workplace revolution.
- Talk to your mailman. When you work at home, you've got to make sure that you replace water-cooler chit-chat with something else. Get out and talk to people!
- Appreciate the rewards! Love your job! Realize that you've got the best of both worlds -- you've got a great career, and you get to spend time with your family.
- Plant flowers outside your window and buy a birdfeeder. Take the time to make a home office that will drive you to results, and that will spur you on to enjoy your work!
- Recognize that you get a lot more done. That's a simple truth.
- Have a laugh. Did we say a list of 10? I have 11!
More information
- read the full article, 10 Rules for Working at Home
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High velocity trends in the pharmaceutical industry
I'm here in Las Vegas today, about to provide the opening keynote for Pharmalink 2007.
This is an annual meeting of senior executives -- mostly C-Level, Sr. VP's -- from major pharmaceutical companies. It's a forum where they can examine the challenges, issues and opportunities that come from a greater integration of the supply chain within the world of health care.
It's a tough issue to crack -- there are a lot of vested interests, long-standing business models, inertia towards change, and built-in routines. There's a lot of sophisticated technology that is and can be used ; and yet, there still remains a tremendous amount of inefficiency in the U.S. health care system.
My keynote will focus on the theme, "what do innovative organizations do", and will play into several trends:
- concentrate on adaptability: in the longer term, change resistance retires out of the economy. The current generation of 35 and under staff in the health care system will rapidly adopt EHR (electronic health records) and all other forms of technology. Initiatives to date have been held back because of slow-to-act, change resistant boomers; however, as they leave the system, the rate of adoption of new ways of working will soar.
- prepare for intensity: business cycles are getting faster, and R&D is too. It's the ability to adapt to the sudden emergence of new markets and products that is critical
- attitude with agility: business models are set to change; any industry that has a lot of wholesalers and distributors will find massive, fundamental, structural change to be a given on a 10 year horizon. Understand that, accept it, and work with it.
- massive connectivity changes everything: pharma will be impacted in a huge way as everything, including drugs themselves, has sensor, location and intelligence awareness built in. Innovative around that -- and the concept of bioconnectivity, and big opportunities can be found
- structure with flexibility: volatility is the new normal. Think how quickly China and quality became linked; build a team and structure that can act fast, think fast, and react fast.
There's an entire theme on these issues in my Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast book -- so it ties in nicely!
More information
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Innovating at high-velocity
A recent client asked for some background on some of the events I've been doing through the last year.
I put together an Acrobat file that features some of the brochures for a few of the major conferences I've headlined: the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations; the World Congress on Quality; the National Home Furnishings Association; the National Association of College Stores; and a few others.
The theme of linking innovation to the high-velocity change that surrounds you is a common one in all of these keynotes; people are realizing that as everything around them changes -- business models, competition, customers, markets -- they need to continuously innovate simply in order to keep up, if not to get ahead.
It's a big file -- 4mb -- but grab it if you want it. 
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