Limits to Creative Energy
In my experience, there are limits to creative energy. Sometimes in a very short period of time I can prepare a great speech, powerpoint or article. Other times, it takes me five times as long to produce quality material(or it never gets produced).
And what I have found is these creative periods tend to be short. Of course my goal is to make them more and longer.
Some tricks I try are:
1 - The old timer trick. Set my Blackberry timer for 25 minutes. And just do it. 25 minutes is short enough that I can do it any time.
2 - Stimulation. I find reading often acts as a stimulus. I take notes while I read.
3 - Rest. Obvious but I am more creative if I am rested.
4 - Health. I am more creative if I am healthy.
5 - Exercise. A good run or weight lifting session can inspire.
6 - Setting goals. I always work better with
goals. Creative goals work for me.
Off for another busy day.
Babylon Dirty Sock Run and the Skinny On
I ran a 10K race this morning in Babylon. Weather was great. Overcast and a bit of light rain on and off. Running is a great way to feel more connected to the elements and to come to respect how small of a range we are comfortable in.
I love the race route. Through a woods on a wide trail and around a lake. The only obstacles are dodging the odd horse manure (horses use the trail sometimes) and parts of it are sandy which makes it hard to run (the key is to try to find firmer ground).
My final time was a disappointing 53:56 (my slowest 10K ever) a minute and a half slower than I ran the
Dirty Sock last year. Still finished in the top third which I guess is OK.
Running a race is a very inefficient way to run a 10K (or any other distance). It kills a morning which is much longer than the actual time running. But there is something to be said for race culture during the pre and post race. I see friends and acquaintances and the more I race, the more people I know.
Then I had an afternoon nap which would be OK except it was more than 20 minutes. 20 minutes is a perfect time. I awake refreshed and not draggy. Longer and it is more of a sleep than a nap.
I think the race, travel and hay fever made me tired. Perhaps I need to read a good book on Willpower (see below).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This afternoon, I read a series of books today called "The Skinny On". My expectation was not high when I got these but they really pleasantly surprised me. The material and ideas in most of them were right on.
These books are more like a series of PowerPoint presentations than an actual book. There are 2 slides per page. This format makes them very easy to read quickly.
Most of what is covered is stuff I know but I like reading things that reinforce good knowledge and inspire action.
The one on Willpower had a list of 15 points for improving willpower and self discipline:
1 - Be sure you are totally committed (This one I believe. I have fond the goals I do not achieve are the ones that I lacked commitment. One trick I use with goals is to drop anything off my goal list that I am not prepared to spend at least an hour per week on)
2 - Prepare for a difficult journey (I do not like the negative connotation here)
3 - Reduce incidents where you need to exert willpower (this is one of my favorite ways. I eat right if the garden is overflowing (as it is now) with good vegetables)
5 - Break the challenge down into small pieces.
6 - Maintain vigilance over thoughts.
7 - Control your dominant thoughts
8 - Frame you challenges as pleasant not painful. (I love proper framing)
9 - Pick your spots
10 - Visualize the end
11 - You already have more willpower than you think
12 - The more you use willpower, the more you will get.
13 - Turn positive activity into habits. (of course I am a big believer in
success habits)
14 - Self Discipline is not Self-deprivation.
15 - Strong Willpower can take you to new heights.
Leverage The Best - Ditch the Rest
Leverage The Best - Ditch the Rest is the title of a book by Scott Blanchard and Madeline
Homan. The subtitle - The Coaching Secrets Top Executives Depend on.
I loved the title since I am a big believer in working on your strengths and spending a much time using them as you possibly can. That tends to be the way people add the most value.
I think the key to weaknesses is to do just enough to minimize them. But spending a lot of time trying to be good at something you are weak at only gives you some stronger weaknesses.
The book is written as a workbook. Lots of exercises. The exercises reinforce everything I know like
have goals (written and specific of course), have good
success habits etc.
I loved the chapter on Name and Claim Your Standards. Standards can be great. But they can also be a limit. More people fail from perfection than fail from speed. I know in my own life, my standards have often caused me undue stress.
I loved the chapter on Eliminate Your
Tolerations. Basically - what are those things you "put up with". One way I know a book is good is if it actually causes me to take action. One thing I have tolerated is messy bookshelves. I am inspired to tidy them today. So the book must be a success.
Now off to organize my bookshelves.
Business Intelligence Success Factors
Back from travel at least for now. I had a productive morning so allow myself a break now.
She talks about the Seven Business Realities that Jeopardize Business Survival (from
Information Revolution). Stuff like business cycles are shrinking and globalization helps and hurts.
The book ties in nicely with the recent books I have been reading like
Smart Swarm and
The Whole New Mind. It speaks of collective intelligence. Interconnectedness increases this collective wisdom.
She has a good list of 11 ways to avoid failure with collaborative teams (like replacing management controls with online collaboration tools).
She has 10 Principles for Leading a Dynamic Organization (like create adaptive strategies)
There was an excellent section on closed loops and feedback. Closed loops are a great way to solve problems. I am not an advocate of paperwork and admin but one thing I like about ISO9000 is the closed loop they advocate. IE - not only solve the problem but look to why there was a problem in the first place and put in place processes to solve that.
Good book - better than the title.
The Smart Swarm
I have been busy so today I quite enjoyed having time just to kick back and relax.
Weed the garden a bit. Harvest lots. A friend of mine calls it garden therapy. Great way to reframe weeding.
I loved it and found it captivating.
The book explains how things like ant colonies interact (more interesting than you would think). First thing in the morning the scout ants take off. When they return, the gatherer ants leave but only if there is the right number of scouts returning - not enough or too many at once - danger. And if they find food, they carry it back to the nest and release a scent that other ants follow to find the food. Fascinating.
Ant colonies accomplish great things (especially termites that build termite hills to vent the carbon dioxide from the colony and provide fresh air from the wind).
Although colonies accomplish great things, the individual ants are not too bright.
Case after case in the book (like why birds that flock don't bump into each other) point out the intelligence of the group even if the individuals only focus on the few individuals around them. They are leaderless groups. Even the bee hive does not have a leader. The queen lays eggs but does not decide where they live or where the food is. Specialists each do their job.
So how does this relate to business? Studies have shown that the collective group is more intelligent than the individual.
So what does this say about the CEO or leader? As I always knew - often a leader can hinder decision making. It is incumbent on the leader (whether by formal position or just by reputation/expertise) to make others feel worthy of speaking up. And in many senses, minimizing themselves so the group can make the best decision.
Awesome book - captivating read.
More on Daniel Pink
I was in Ottawa yesterday. I do my sightseeing at dusk.
I reviewed "
A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink a while ago. A friend emailed me a
talk he did on motivation that I thought was excellent. It is 10 minutes which is a bit longer than I like but the message is excellent, thought provoking and controversial.
What I find interesting is people are not even clear in their own mind what motivates them and often say it is money when really it is not.
Short blog post today because I believe in the
power of brevity (and I am busy).
Efficiency Tips While Traveling
One of the cardinal rules of blogging is to be regular. So I apologize for being less regular than usual. I have been traveling.
I am just back from London (and a day trip to Edinburgh).
When I travel, I tend to be less efficient than when I am in my office. Part of this has to do with the "lost" time caused by waiting. Part of this has to do with time zones.
So of course I have been thinking how to be more efficient when I travel and came up with the following ideas.
1 - Use a Blackberry (ok perhaps a bit self serving) And of course make sure your carrier/model supports local networks.
2 - Use an "air" card. I happen to have one from Verizon that works fairly well (although they are not really well clued in about people traveling outside of the US - they left me a toll free number to call that only works in the US when they knew I was traveling.
3 - Reset your time zone clock. I really dislike drugs but do use an over the counter sleep aid the first couple of days to get my system on the right zone.
4 - Exercise. This is my cure all for many things. It is great for resetting your clock or waking you up.
5 - Try to eat right. I always eat way better when I am home especially at this time of year when most vegetables come from the garden. But planning and choosing right still works.
6 - Plan. I love to have all my files/meeting goals organized in advance.
7 - I have my bag packed with toiletries and everything I need to just grab and go. I can pack in about 3 minutes for a week trip.
8 - I prefer going carry on. I learned a lot about packing light and small from canoe tripping. Outfitters and running stores sell light and quick dry clothing. EG - I usually carry a thin singlet rather than a tshirts to work out in - wash and hang - they dry fast.
9 - I try to spend a bit of time outside. Good blog post on that
here.
What are your travel efficiency tips that I have forgotten?
Be Bodacious
I read an interesting post by
Golden Seeds director, Angela Haines on
starting an entrepreneurial tech venture "mid career". It seems to me the best time to start a business is now regardless of your age or experience.
I am just back from travel. Beautiful sunrise in the big sky of Calgary.
I need to strive for higher productivity while I travel.
I feel I am way behind in my blogging. I have read lots of books that I need to share.
When I was first given it, I was not sure I should be caught reading it on the train, thinking bodacious meant voluptuous or sexy. But I checked Websters and found it also means "Remarkable, noteworthy" as well.
The book is written in story or fable format. The main character learns a series of "secrets" or lessons from a fictitious mentor called Cowboy. At first, I was not impressed since the "secrets" seemed almost trite - be extraordinary, be unrestrained, be bold. But the book went on to lay out some great self development truths set out in a number of challenges.
Most of the analogies are cowboy. Like the 8 second rule in bull riding. You get no score unless you beat 8 seconds. The lessons - you need to pay a price to enter the competition and you need to finish the ride. And know there may be some discomfort.
Or catching chickens. It pays to focus - chasing more than one chicken at once does not work.
Be Bodacious is a quick engaging read. The secrets are valid. They reinforce what we should all be doing.
Invaluable Book Review
I am just back from whirlwind travel. Feeling I need to get more productive when I am on the road. There are always things I leave for when I am back in the office which I would prefer to just have dealt with.
I read a great little book -
Invaluable - The Secret of Becoming Irreplaceable by
Dave Crenshaw. He wrote
The Myth of Multitasking which I also liked even though I had written about the
power of multitasking, Crenshaw and I agree.
I had a negative reaction to the title because I believe everyone is replaceable and greatly dislike those that hoard information and knowledge which is how some choose to be more irreplaceable (and that method does not work).
But that is not what the book is about. It is about
Time Management (so of course I love it). The gist of the message is "spend your time in your most valuable area (he calls them MVAs)". This has to do with knowing your unique strengths and understanding the value of them.
I have always worked on knowing my strengths and working in them. Part of it though is to also look at those things you do which are lower value add and figuring out how to reduce or eliminate them. Coming off a travel week, I really see a lot of low value time (like waiting in lines etc.).
So I heartily agree with the thesis. And it re-emphasizes all that I know.
It is written as a story or parable which I do not particularly like (although many people prefer that). I just like the facts.
I think this book will inspire people to spend their time better.
The Power of No
I have been traveling on business. And I have been working on interesting but very time consuming deals. In short, I am feeling swamped.
I have never been good at saying no to people. People call and want to meet with me, arrange for a call, get me to speak etc. People send me emails that need replies. I usually say yes.
Part of it is Canadian politeness. It seems rude to turn people down. Part of it is I am an optimist and see the good in everything and everyone.
In order to focus on my priorities (and focus is a major skill that can move you forward), I realize I need to say no to people. As with many things, it is easier to go completely cold turkey. So I am now in a NO phase. I am turning down every opportunity for the next month (and part of my guilt is I see everything as an opportunity).
This will allow me to focus.
No can be your best time management tool.
Beth Estill and Chris Mitchell Wedding
My daughter Beth was married yesterday to Chris Mitchell.
The day went perfectly.
Perfect couple Chris and Beth.
Other Photos - Beth and her brother David, Beth and her sister Laura and Beth and I.
In my toast I quoted Benjamin Isreali (British Prime Minister in the 1800s) who said "we create our own circumstances" so now it is time for Chris and Beth to go create their own circumstances...
And if it is a boy, they can call it Jim
Consumed - A book review
Surprise - I have a book review today.
The thesis put forward is people will slow consumption based partly on a tight economy and based partly on a backlash to overconsumption. People are getting sick of being marketed and sold.
I can certainly see why this should happen. Overconsumption certainly is a huge source of stress. I always suggest that one of the keys to lower stress is living within your means. Consumption is also a huge source of dissatisfaction.
So if the world becomes non-consumers (and I really do not think it will although a part of me hopes it pulls back a bit), how do companies thrive? This is what the book attempts to explain. The authors are not trying to pass judgement on if it should happen.
I tend to be more judgmental that we should moderate our consumerism. I wonder is consumerism is the opposite to humanism. And if w should not moderate for inner peace, we should moderate for world peace. And if not for ourselves, for the environment and the world.
So what do companies do as we become non-consumers? I would have to type the whole book but some things(these are in my words - not theirs so there is some interpretation):
1 - reconsider what value really is for the consumer. Then sell to that.
2 - recognize the non-consumer trend and develop products that cater to that (EG smaller, thriftier, less waste)
3 - Work at connecting with customers.
4 - be genuine and real. People see through gloss.
Great quotes from the book:
"It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - British Philosopher Bertrand Russell
"People will buy anything that is one to a customer" Sinclair Lewis
The book was thought provoking - therefore it was good.
Zilch - The Power of Zero in Business
I read an awesome book by Nancy Lublin called
Zilch - The Power of Zero in Business.
I have a lot of respect for Nancy from the charity she started called
Dress for Success. Normally I have a negative reaction to dressing for success and tend to like to understate (OK I am not a good dresser). Part of this is my frugal nature. Partly it allows me to learn more from people. And partly I like to be comfortable and partly I just like to be me rather than wear a prescribed costume at a prescribed price point.
Dress for Success supplies outfits for women who are looking for work who would not otherwise be able to afford them. So this Dress for Success is different.
Nancy uses examples of how non-profit charities can do a lot with almost nothing. And it is amazing if you think about it. Many companies want to get people to be more engaged on the job and think this means they need to pay more. Charities get engagement and they do not even pay.
Staff are inspired to work for a great company. Ideally with a noble purpose. I have seen this. Poorly run companies have to pay more to keep people generally.
She is an advocate of social media. Because it is new, it tends to be the most cost effective way to market things. I have seen the power of social media in
non-profit fundraising.
She believes in brand as a way to extend reach. Good brand is an intangible that has great value but really does not cost much (or can cost a lot depending how you do it).
She believes in creating ambassadors. Malcolm Gladwell would call these Mavens and Connectors. Basically be awesome so people do your selling for you and refer people to you.
Having started a business from zero, I have a keen appreciation for what she is saying. There is power in having little. I have seen this often in venture capital and start up situations. If the cash is too available - it gets spent. I even often suggest to entrepreneurs to either not raise money (just grow within profitability) or raise less.
The book is well written and easy to read. The stories she intersperses keep it interesting and at times funny. At the end of each chapter are a list of questions to spur thought.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And my time management tip of the day which flows from Zilch is "owning things costs time".
The Power of the Power Nap
I am just back from fishing for a few days in Haida Gwaii (used to be called the Queen Charlotte Islands - in Northern British Columbia). Caught lots of salmon, halibut, ling cod and rock fish. I actually grand slammed (meaning I caught the limit on every fish on my licence) and will soon have a freezer full of fish (330 pounds pre cleaning).
I arrived home to find the garden bountiful (or overrun depending on which plants you look at). I had a great dinner of rock fish that I had caught, beets, turnips, radishes and beet and turnip greens. And there is lots ready that I did not eat like the zucchinis pictured here, peas and blueberries.
There is something about eating food you grow yourself to make you feel healthy. Not sure what the time management trade off is but if I think of the time I saved having to stop by a grocery store and combine that with thinking of it as a hobby - perhaps...
And coming back on a holiday (July 4th in the US anyways) meant my day has been a slow re-entry which is good.
My time trick for the day is to take a nap. I found after a nap(I was tired from my trip due to time zone changes and waking up with the sun - up there, the sun rises at 4), my creativity soared. I managed to plow through a ton of backlog in a very short time.
Our work spaces are not designed for napping and neither is the "tough" business world where even I have been known for saying "sleep is for wimps". But in my heart, I know adequate sleep actually helps productivity and creativity. And it helps health. Lots written on the
health benefits of sleep.
One of my key values is health (partly because it supports another key value - Time Management). Sleep is the main health thing I have not been good at for years.
Like sleep, the vacation was also good for me.
The Power of the Few
I am so disappointed by the violence at the G20. A few misguided people managed to damage the reputation of Canada and Toronto.
I hope the G20 has the sense to hold future summits either on a ship or at a military base.
So the question is - can the same impact be done by a few good people doing good things?
Perhaps I am an optimist but I think they can. Good seems to have a longer term impact than bad. And like many things of value, good can take time and persistence.
Peace.
Work Your Strengths
I read an awesome, well researched book called
Work your Strengths - A Scientific Process to Identify Your Skills and Match them to the best Career for You by Chuck Martin, Richard
Guare and Peg Dawson. The author team has an impressive track record in research and psychology.
Through a questionnaire, they get the prospect to identify their strengths on 12 different scales that they have identified as being crucial for success.
The 12 key executive skills include:
1 - Response Inhibition - the ability to think before you act (I am weaker on that one than the rest)
2 - Working Memory. The ability to remember things while doing complex tasks. I often call this innate intelligence.
3 - Emotional Control.
4 - Sustained Attention. (I have often thought I was a bit ADD but I actually score high on this scale. I am thinking despite handling multiple things at once, I do tend to keep my focus)
5 - Task Initiation. I am great on this. I like to start things and I do. This is the one area I often coach people on - Just Do It.
6 - Planning/Prioritization.
7 - Organization
8 - Time Management - I hate to say I told you so but
Time Management is one of the critical skills for success. To summarize the key point of the book - you should buy my
Time Management Book (or at least that is what I took away from it)
9 - Goal Directed Persistence. This is one of my big strengths. I believe in and practise
goal setting.
10 - Flexibility. I have often seen executives struggle with things when circumstances change without warning.
11 - Metacognition. This is the ability to take a birds eye view of of yourself in a situation and understanding what you need to do.
12 - Stress tolerance.
My initial inclination was to figure out how I could be stronger in each of these key areas.
What I notice is many of these overlap. EG - Being able to have Goal Focused Persistence ties to Sustained Attention. Strength in one area is often used to handle a challenge when it could also use strength in another area to handle the same issue.
Strengths are shades of grey. Not Black and White (at least not in most cases)
The one part that I had a knee jerk negative reaction to was "you cannot change your strengths". But as I read the book, I actually came to agree with what this book calls a "truth". I know innate intelligence cannot change.
My technique for dealing with challenge is to study and learn. Learning does not change inherent strengths but can give us systems and processes to deal with an area. One reason I wrote my
book on time management is that I am not naturally good at it. So the book is mostly about tricks, systems and processes on how to cope so you can appear "good" at it.
Work Your Strengths then goes on to review dozens of jobs and areas/industries and point out what areas need key strengths can tolerate certain weaknesses. They list 3 key must have Executive Skills, 3 that are ok with be weak in and then one area that is called a "determining trait" where the theory is having that strength differentiates the true achievers in the field/position.
The research the book is based on is impressive. There are pages of companies that participated in the study. They do 2000 surveys every 2 weeks.
What I learned is I would be a good CEO/Leader especially in a marketing role.
Web 3.0 and Enterprise 2.0
Today must be my day for social and new media. I read 2 books on it.
It was not clear to me where Web 2.0 becomes Web 3.0. The book says Web 3.0 is about mobile, twitter, texting, video etc. It has one title "From Blogging to Microblogging(like Twitter)" - I do not believe one replaces the other (and the book also advocates both) - they just have different purposes. And I do both.
The book is written as a how to guide which would make it useful to the novice. It also has many calls to action and correctly notes that knowing and not doing is the same as not knowing. So get out and do.
My experience with media is the newer the media, the better value it tends to offer since people do not yet understand its value. So it is logical to me to understand newer medias as a way to get marketing value.
In addition to Blogging and Twitter, the book explores some areas that I do not yet do much with like:
1 - Mobile Marketing
2 - Virtual worlds
3 - video marketing (I know this is huge - I am just not a video person)
4 - Open source code
5 - Web Apps
The book ended with a chapter called "The Art of Giving Back". When I was reading the chapter titles, I assumed he meant giving back value through posting things of value. My personal social media strategy is to try to add value 95+% of the time to the reader and only ask for the readers to buy or help me at most 5%. And I reviewed a book recently on
Internet for Non-Profits on the Karma411 site and thought it might have to do with that.
But the final chapter was really about charity and donating. He advocates generosity. Interesting way to end the book and it did make me feel warmer towards the author.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This book was more about the tools of collaboration like wikis, Google Wave etc and how they can benefit a company.
To me, he is preaching to the converted. I use Enterprise 2.0 tools. He used a number of case studies to get his case across. Good book to give to anyone who does not yet believe in the tools.
I really liked one section he had on the dangers of using social media in public companies, banks etc. Paraphrased "Social media like blogs and twitter are public for all to see so everyone can see if there is an issue and work to correct it" "Contrast that to IM or email. Many companies keep copies of these and have the right to read it but rarely do because of the volume. Since they are largely invisible, it is tough to correct and detect inappropriate behavior".
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And if you are interested in social media, Myventurepad is having a free webinar this week on using
Twitter to Grow your Business. Should be interesting.
Achieve Anything In Just one Year
I received Jason Harvey's
Achieve Anything In Just One Year: Be Inspired Daily To Live Your Dreams and Accomplish Your Goals.
As the title implies, this book is meant to be read over 365 days but of course, being an impatient reader, I read it in an evening. The title reminds me of a quote "we tend to overestimate what we can accomplish in a day but underestimate what we can accomplish in a year".
Each day starts with a quotation which of course I love. For those connected to me through linkedin or following my Twitter stream, you get my daily quote. This book gave me many more that I will use.
For example, Day 12:
"Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time...The wait is simply too long"-Leonard Bernstein.
Each quote is followed by a discussion of what the quotation might mean and what to do. So the page following the Bernstein quote talked of ways to "inspire" yourself and how to set up systems and process to stay or get inspired.
Each day is about a page so it only takes a minute or two to read.
Some of the days I liked were:
Day 23: "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be"-Abraham Lincoln. The gist of this is that we choose whether we want to be happy. Make the choice to be happy.
Day 38: "Speak little, do much"-Benjamin Franklin. The quote says it all. I could write several paragraphs on this one, but...
Day 46: "A person's faults are largely what make him or her likable" -Anne Lamott I always wondered why I was so likable.
Day 91:"In life as in football, fall forward when you fall"-Arthur Guiterman. This ties into my
Fail often, fail fast, fail cheap.Day 221 "I always wondered why somebody didn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody"-Lily Tomlin. So now I better move on and start doing something.
It is a good book. A gem each day for a year.
The Art of Innovation and Wired to Care Reviews
I feel like I'm way behind in posting my book reviews. I thought I would get 2 done at once.
One great book I read was
The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley. Kelley works at IDEO, an award winning design and development firm. Best known for bringing the Apple mouse to the world, but also known for bringing Polaroids instant access camera, palm handheld and hundreds of other cutting edge products to market.
What I got from the book is, despite being wildly creative, IDEO has a method or process for innovation which is laid out in the book as follows:
1) Understand the market, the client, the technology, and the perceived constraints on the problem. Later in a project, we often challenge those constraints, but it's important to understand current perceptions.
2) Observe real people in real-life situations to find out what makes them tick: what confuses them, what they like, what they hate, where they have latent needs not addressed by current products and services.
3) Visualize new-to-the-world concepts and the customers who will use them. Some people think of this step as predicting the future, and it is probably the most brain-storming-intensive phase of the process. Quite often, the visualization take the form of a computer-based rendering or simulation, though IDEO also builds thousands of physical models and prototypes each year. For new product categories we sometimes visualize the customer experience by using composite character and storyboard-illustrated scenarios. In some cases, we even make a video that portrays life with the future product before it really exists.
4) Evaluate and refine the prototypes in a series of quick iterations. We try not to get too attached to the first few prototypes, because we know they will change. No idea is so good that it cant be improved upon, and we plan on a series of improvements. We get input from our internal team, from the client team, from knowledgeable people not directly involved with the project, and from people who make up the target market. We watch for what works and what doesn't, what confuses people, what they seem to like, and we incrementally improve the product in the next round.
5) Implement the new concept for commercialism. This phase is often the longest and most technically challenging in the development process, but I believe that IDEO's ability to successfully implement lends credibility to all the creative work that goes before.
Later in the book they talked about inspiration by observation. Which allowed them to develop a bigger toothbrush for small hands (kids).
Wired To Care: How companies prosper when they create widespread empathy Dev Patnaik was another great book. It wasn’t really what I had expected. I had expected much more touchy feely on how we treat the people that work in our firms, rather more it was thinking about our companies and products and services from the point of view of the customers.
"Companies prosper when they tap into a power that every one of us already has-the ability to reach outside of ourselves and connect with other people.""The quickest way to have empathy for someone else is to be just like them. For companies, the answer is to hire their customers.""We've seen how empathy can be a driving force t develop more prosperous, more ethical, and more enduring companies. But it also has the power to hep us see how we can change the world for the better. Ultimately, every single one of us is biologically wired to care. Scaling that ability to the level of an organization can transform its mission. When we develop real empathy for the people we serve, our jobs start to become callings. There are no low-interest problems-only problem-solvers who don't have strong connections to the people they serve. Companies can serve a higher purpose than just making money. They can create wealth by enriching the wider society we all live in. Empathy can awaken us to the power that we have to change the course of everyday life. But only if we're willing to step outside of our own preconceptions and see the world through other people's eyes."
The Art of Innovation and Wired to Care Reviews
I feel like I'm way behind in posting my book reviews. I thought I would get 2 done at once.
One great book I read was
The Art Of Innovation by Tom Kelley. Kelley works at
IDEO, an award winning design and development firm. Best known for bringing the Apple mouse to the world, but also known for bringing Polaroids instant access camera, Palm handheld and hundreds of other cutting edge products to market.
What I got from the book is, despite being wildly creative, IDEO has a method or process which is laid out in the book as follows:
1) Understand the market, the client, the technology, and the perceived constraints on the problem. Later in a project, we often challenge those constraints, but it's important to understand current perceptions.
2) Observe real people in real-life situations to find out what makes them tick: what confuses them, what they like, what they hate, where they have latent needs not addressed by current products and services.
3) Visualize new-to-the-world concepts and the customers who will use them. Some people think of this step as predicting the future, and it is probably the most brain-storming-intensive phase of the process. Quite often, the visualization take the form of a computer-based rendering or simulation, though IDEO also builds thousands of physical models and prototypes each year. For new product categories we sometimes visualize the customer experience by using composite character and storyboard-illustrated scenarios. In some cases, we even make a video that portrays life with the future product before it really exists.
4) Evaluate and refine the prototypes in a series of quick iterations. We try not to get too attached to the first few prototypes, because we know they will change. No idea is so good that it cant be improved upon, and we plan on a series of improvements. We get input from our internal team, from the client team, from knowledgeable people not directly involved with the project, and from people who make up the target market. We watch for what works and what doesn't, what confuses people, what they seem to like, and we incrementally improve the product in the next round.
5) Implement the new concept for commercialism. This phase is often the longest and most technically challenging in the development process, but I believe that IDEO's ability to successfully implement lends credibility to all the creative work that goes before.
Later in the book they talked about inspiration by observation. Which allowed them to develop a bigger toothbrush for small hands (kids). So observation is also part of their process.
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"Companies prosper when they tap into a power that every one of us already has-the ability to reach outside of ourselves and connect with other people."
"The quickest way to have empathy for someone else is to be just like them. For companies, the answer is to hire their customers."
"We've seen how empathy can be a driving force to develop more prosperous, more ethical, and more enduring companies. But it also has the power to hep us see how we can change the world for the better. Ultimately, every single one of us is biologically wired to care. Scaling that ability to the level of an organization can transform its mission. When we develop real empathy for the people we serve, our jobs start to become callings. There are no low-interest problems-only problem-solvers who don't have strong connections to the people they serve. Companies can serve a higher purpose than just making money. They can create wealth by enriching the wider society we all live in. Empathy can awaken us to the power that we have to change the course of everyday life. But only if we're willing to step outside of our own preconceptions and see the world through other people's eyes."
Jeff Hollender and Robert Brunner
Jeff Hollender wrote the
Responsibility Revolution. I had heard of him and had great expectations for another great environmental lecture. He works with some of the big companies like Walmart. Working with huge companies can allow him to have great impact. If you can save 10% of a big number, it has a lot more impact than 50% of a small number.
His comments:
Why should companies care? No one wants to show up at a party now and say they work at BP.
Measurement counts - so measure it
Radical transparency works
Dialog cannot be controlled. People will always talk.
Sustainability needs to be real. You cannot fake it. Mission matters.
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"What did you do in the war" will be replaced by "what did you do when the world was in environmental trouble".
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The final speaker was
Robert Brunner a famous designer, professor and blogger.
Design strategy is far too important to be left to the designers.
Unfortunately I had to leave before he finished.
Joel Makower - Green Business
At World Innovation Forum,
Joel Makover, writer and green guy spoke. His latest book is
Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business. This is a contrast to one of his previous books that Rolling Stones called the "definitive book an Woodstock" (not the one I grew up in in Ontario, Canada - but the rock concert).
He suggests many companies are doing random acts of greenness. Some things here and there but not any coordinated approach. I know from my time at SYNNEX, it is tough to be able to afford a coordinated effort. Fortunately SYNNEX was big enough to have a Chief Environment guy. In contrast to the, EMJ did not have one - we were too small. But that smallness allowed us to be fast at implementing and decision making.
I am an environment guy - drive a Prius (and had one of the first one), started the first recycling program at University of Waterloo Coop Residence, one brother in the wind business, one in the biodiesel business and a son in solar power. For some reason, it runs deep in the Estill blood.
He is a good speaker. Points "it is about doing less bad", "have a plan", "Innovation can be the key", "Green wins as long as it is truly better".
With more than a dozen previous books, including "The Green Consumer", already on corporate and small-business bookshelves, Joel Makower has become a master green business analyst. This book draws on his knowledge and analytical skills, with market research assist from Cara Pike, and his talent for clear writing to provide business executives a set of insights they need in planning green strategies.
Makower came onto the scene at about the same time that business was being shocked into dealing with stratospheric ozone damage from CFC emissions, and he has come to know the movers and shakers from all the communities engaged in greening over the years. This book looks forward, to show why corporate greening will endure (even if media's attention wanes), citing climate change as a major spur. He notes a parallel shift: the environmental movement morphing into the climate movement and business coping with carbon constraint linked to climate change.
Problems for greening companies include a lack of standards by which to judge "how good is good enough", leaving the bar free to drift higher; an escalating investor intensity for companies to acknowledge, reduce and report on environmental risks (which I would connect with corporate governance influenced by climate change activism); and the erosion of "sustainability" as a green leadership characteristic.
As he has done in his Greenbiz.com commentaries, Makower makes business choices easy to grasp. On energy use and climate change, he makes it simple: reduce the amount of energy used, buy more renewable-source energy, and remedy climate impact of even the renewables by moves such as carbon offsets.
Business opportunity -- starting with GE's "green is green" -- and communications are focused through the perspectives of context, relevance and good, plain talk. Easy to read, well organized, with nearly 40 short chapters, this is Makower's best book yet for corporate C-suite green strategists.
Ursula Burns - Xerox CEO
Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox was interviewed at World Innovation Forum.
I am impressed by Xerox. I knew Burns predecessor -
Anne Mulcahy (Anne was awesome and responsive -
SYNNEX was a huge Xerox reseller). Must be something at Xerox that fosters(or does not limit) leaders without thought of gender or race. Good for them. I would say more companies should copy Xerox but it seems to me Xerox already copies a lot.
Xerox files 10 patents per day! 5% of sales spent on R and D.
As expected, she is a good speaker - poised, natural etc.. All great leaders are (which is why I always suggest all aspiring leaders take
Toastmasters)
Some of her points:
(Crisis) is the greatest motivator in the world
Xerox is in the problem solving business
Assume most people you talk to are intelligent.
People don't always know. Henry Ford heard "faster horse" but he gave them a car. Are you really listening? Get close. Solve real pain
support user centered design process. Involve the customer in 'dreaming' early and often
Xerox is a green company already
Theme based research is how Xerox is mobilizing it's staff.
Xerox can print on anything.
Xerox does a lot in nanotechnology
Company culture is the people so changing the culture means changing the people
Wendy Kopp - Teach for America
Wendy Kopp (
Teach for America) spoke at
World Innovation Forum about the major challenges education faces. Your education opportunities depend on where you are born. How fair is that?
Teach for America's mission (from their web site)
Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation's most promising future leaders in the effort.
We recruit outstanding recent college graduates from all backgrounds and career interests to commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools. We provide the training and ongoing support necessary to ensure their success as teachers in low-income communities.
The challenge is to change things at a system wide model. There is evidence that it is possible.
It is appropriate for her to be speaking at an Innovation Forum.
She is trying to change education. She speaks to having 10's of thousands of Teach for America alumnus who will change the world.
She does preach optimism and feels there is a solution and that it is not rocket science - it is about leadership, accountability, culture, continuous improvement etc. Sounds like running a great company.
Brian Shawn Cohen - next technology
World Innovation Forum speaker was
Brian Shawn Cohen.
Interesting to me since he is an angel investor.
Why companies fail.
They confuse clear vision with short distance (just because you can see the goal - does not mean it is easy)
Ego and greed
Does not create understanding of product
Does not iterate well. Most successful companies need to iterate to succeed. Iteration is the new innovation.
Angel investors invest $20B in 55,000 deals vs $3B by VCs.
Not smart fast enough.
What he said about how good angel investors are is accentuated in a
study on Angels.
Seth Godin - Marketing Innovation
I am blogging live at day 2 of
World Innovation Forum.
The day started with a demo by Panasonic of an awesome (but $30,000 per site) video conferencing system. Awesome 1080 resolution, perfect audio and no choppiness. It takes 3 megabytes of bandwidth. I look forward to these becoming pervasive. It helps communication, time management, and the environment. Seems compelling.
The first speaker was prolific author, speaker and thought leader
Seth Godin. He is a marketing genius and a leader in social media. I have heard him speak before and we have even traded some emails.
Seth says:
I can't give you a map, but I can point you in a direction
People think - if it was not impossible, someone would have already done it
TV attracts "average" people.
You cannot interrupt your way to success
Old fashioned marketing is rude
Tribes are groups of people with a connection - traditionally - work, church and community now circles of people who spread ideas that matter. We have a need to connect.
Marketing is not about spreadsheets. It is the act of a human being who changes things. A genius is a human being who is genuine.
Instead of trying to find customers for our products, we should find products for our customers.
An innovator at school gets a D.
Art is about creating something unique that people resonate with.
Competence is no longer a scarce commodity
The only thing we need to teach people is to solve problems and to lead
Companies will always pay for the impossible
His advice:
Make art
give gifts
do work that matters
go make something happen
He believes this is the era of the artist. We went from hunter to farmer to assembly worker to information and now we are going to creativity. He would agree that we are going to soon
value the left brainers.
You really had to be there to fully grasp what he was saying. Not sure my notes here do him justice.
Andreas Weigend - Marketing and Web 3.0
Andreas Weigend, previous chief scientist from Amazon spoke at World Innovation Forum. History for him:
1800s - Transport energy - Industrial revolution
1900s - Transport Data - Information revolution
2000 - Create Data - Social Media revolution
All the statistics are available on the web (including your competitors). But with the overwhelming amount of data, can you properly analyse it?
Data doubles every 1.5 years. That works out to 100 times more data in 10 years.
It is all about the data. What did people buy? What did their friends buy? What did other people who bought what you bought? What did people search for? Identifying who you are - your interests, your purchases etc. You tend to buy what your friends buy.
His talk is enough to instill a bit of indignation about invasion of privacy combined with a reaction that I do not want to be typecast.
It is about Content
- Context
- Connection (this provides market targeting)
- Conversation
"Twitter works because of the illusion of an audience." (I wonder if blogging is a bit like this)
Bridging he digital and the physical is a big thing. Chips (like GPS) in devices, cars etc.
"You do not own your customers anymore. Same with the brand."
We have moved from eBusiness to meBusiness to weBusiness. It is now about community.
He is an interesting speaker. Inspires thought.
Chip Heath (one of my favorite authors) started by scaring us with some hard facts:
Change is hard.
Change is feudal.
People resist change.
But is that true? Many changes like the change from ketchup being the number one condiment to salsa today actually happened. Or the biggest change in life - having kids.
The bottomline - we like some changes.
When is life hard and easy?
He talked about his rider(will power, limited, overthinks, overanalyses) vs elephant(automatic - hard to change). (This is one of his great concepts that really resonates.)
The key is to use the strengths of both sides of the brain if you want action to occur. The elephant needs the incentive and encouragement. Make things easy for the elephant. (I call these
Success Habits)
I like his concept of "bright spots". Look at those things that are working and then see how to replicate or expand on them. For example, even someone who eats poorly sometimes likely eats some things that are good. Focus on the good and just do a bit more of them.
There was a health study in West Virginia. Researchers determined that just changing people from drinking one glass of whole milk to 1%. To move the "elephant", they connected by explaining that one cup of whole milk has as much fat as 5 strips of bacon. By spending 10 cents per person, they were about to communicate the message and change behavior. That small thing beat the food pyramid in impact.
Script the critical moves (and they are few).
Chip used a examples from his book. I am glad I had read it (although I think his talk would have held together well even without that). I respected Chip before hearing him talk (from just a couple of emails and from reading his book) and respect him even more now.
Jeff Kindler - Leading Change
Jeff Kindler is CEO of
Pfizer. He was interviewed today at the
World Innovation Forum.
On "how do you reward innovation at Pfizer?"
He spoke of the power of the small with the scale or the large. It is about balancing. (I have always said "The goal is to be a big company but act like a small one").
Of course he talked about healthcare again - continuing the theme from this morning.
He spoke of the high rate of that change and also pointed out that there is nothing he can do about that rate of change. His suggestion "face reality and have a mindset that you will get ahead of those changes"
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This was followed by a stats presentation on innovation by Cap Gemini. % of companies who view innovation as strategic vs their success. Interesting stats but too tough to repeat here.
Engaging customers in innovation improves the quality of the innovations and the value created by them.
Michael Howe - Minute Clinic
The speaker now at World Innovation Forum is Michael Howe - former CEO of
Minute Clinic. He took it from 19 clinics to 500. This is a clinic located in CVS drug stores that eventually sold to CVS that does no appointment health care appointments. This innovation has been touted by Forbes Magazine as the biggest (or only) healthcare innovation in America.
One challenge or concern when this was implemented was that prescriptions would soar. They did not increase.
It makes so much sense. Make it convenient. They use doctors and nurse practitioners.
Howe says part of the reason for Minute Clinic is the younger generation (millennials) who accept it more than some of the older people. I am thinking
Time Management people would also value these clinics.
He did talk about the pace of technology advance. 9 months for Facebook to hit 1,000,000 users.
Howe:
"Need clarity of purpose". "Most environments today stifle innovation". " Not all changes are good". "You need a mechanism for capturing innovation". "Encourage people to understand their gifts".
He asks good questions that spawn innovation:
Purpose
What are you doing? Why? How?
Acceptability
Who are you serving? What are their needs
A culture of accountability
We are responsible.
External Influences. What needs to be dealt with in the environment to make it work. Minute Clinic had lots of regulatory barriers to overcome.
