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!
It’s time to abandon the thinking that has had you anchored firmly to the past – and to shift your focus to the future, with enthusiasm, motivation andimagination.
You can do this by abandoning any pretense that the skills of yesterday will be important tomorrow. Figuratively and literally, it is time to move beyond the thinking that has led us to a world of MBA’s – Masters of Business Administration – and focus upon the critical skill that will take you into tomorrow.
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....
Through the next ten years, we'll see a few other economic challenges along the way; various regional economies and sectors will be impacted; yet innovation will abound. That's why I've also indicated that a key leadership mantra for the high velocity economy is this: "volatility is the new normal." That's a topic I covered in a recent economic interview.
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.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
