BROKEN BULBS: Innovation

Web site coming soon . . .

2009-08-20T18:50:00.004-04:00

I've decided to convert the content accumulated on this Blog into an Innovation Study Guide Web site -- something along those lines. Stay posted and if you'd like me to send you notification when it's up and running, just send me an e-mail: gordon[at]westportwire.com Thanks to everybody for reading this blog over the years!

Decline of the US?

2009-04-29T08:23:00.007-04:00

Remember all the talk about the so-called rise of Japan in the 80s? Replace those conversations today with China and you'll hear similar themes: the West, and particularly the United States, is past its prime etc. etc. There is little mention of two key issues in these discussions: the cultural attraction of the United States (including its brands) and its ability to attract the best and brightest from all nations. Look at any American university and you'll see a list of professor's names: Choi, Lee, Wang, Park, Fukuyama, Ibrahim . . .

I've been here in the United States for just over a year and I am completely blown away by how many people from all over the globe have found their home here. Now that is an innovation asset that is extremely hard to emulate. Like Japan, the rise of China may turn out to be something that we have to wait a very long time for.

What's wrong with being a sheep?

2009-04-13T08:28:00.008-04:00

We have this tendency in the West to think that being second, or a fast follower, is in some way taboo. Uncool. You know, you're not allowed to copy other people's ideas -- as if the original idea was idependent of either historical or horizontal inputs. This is MY IDEA and nobody else contributed in any way to its genesis. This view treats "first" as the ultimate achievement. Fine, but it's only one take on things. Others may view it as overly risky and, perhaps, downright dangerous. Here, second is a far more attractive proposition.

Being second has its advantages: you can avoid the headwinds of being first with something that requires considerable change of behaviour on the part of the market. Being second is like cycling directly behind Lance Armstrong -- let somebody else do the hard peddling. You also avoid the risk of developing something that has a good chance of flopping.

Yet, how many business owners/CEOs will stand up and say proudly: "Our innovation strategy is to follow the leader?"

Innovation Strategies

View more presentations from Gordon Graham.

Tactical Innovation

2009-04-08T20:10:00.001-04:00

Forget about all that strategy talk. How about some on-the-ground ideas from every member of staff?

So you're in an expensive five-star hotel and the hotel has those coat hangers without the hook. You know the ones: they are designed so that if you were ever to steal one, you would be unable to hang them on anything.

These coat hangers are an industry standard -- and reluctantly accepted by hotel guests. Imagine, though, if the hotel was to apply a bit of innovation to the hanger issue. Get rid of these hookless hangers and replace them with real hangers and a sign that says: "Coat hangers, $5 each. Help yourself."

[The hangers would be added to your bill like the drinks from the bar fridge]

PS. I read about this story in the Harvard Business Review magazine a while ago. I think it's a good example of how we can apply the innovation process to every part of a business.

Innovative ideas from old sci-fi shows

2009-03-29T09:30:00.006-04:00

There was a show I used to watch in Britain called Thunderbirds. It was about a group of international rescuers who were available to solve some of the world's most challenging problems. There were different Thunderbird vehicles for different technical problems and each episode would highlight a different member of the team and his special vehicle. My favorite was Thunderbird 2 by a long shot -- it was just so cool. Anyway, there is an interesting article here on how a common day-to-day problem, parking cars in a driveway with limited space, may have been solved using ideas from the show.

The funny thing is, when you see the solution, you are forced to ask, "Why didn't they think of that sooner?" Brilliant!

Innovation Video

2009-02-22T08:52:00.005-05:00

Haven't been blogging much about Innovation recently. I'm thinking about turning the blog into a Web site for business students doing business-related courses. Or engineering courses. Basically, I'll have all the definitions, steps and elements of innovation laid down on the site so that people can arrive at the site and get a handle on innovation quickly.

I've added another key element to the list I had before. In addition to trust, curiosity, a lack of fear etc., I have added empathy to the list of things that must be present if you wish to innovate at the individual or national levels. Why empathy? Because empathy leads to market insight. Human insight at the micro economic level.

Anyway, here's an interesting video on how one company creates a culture of innovation. Thanks. Gordon

HOW WE INNOVATE VIDEO

Innovation in advertising: copy the masters!

2009-01-11T15:11:00.009-05:00

One of the hardest things to do when establishing a brand is choosing the one idea that your brand stands for. Coming up with a list is easy. Narrowing it down. Rejecting. Now that's the hard part. I recently had to do this for a muffin business and it took a long time. In the end, though, it was a very satisfying experience and it really helps you clarify whatever you're trying to do with the business.

I came across an old ad for a breakfast cereal that exemplifies getting one idea across. I used to eat this stuff before I did my paper round in the morning before high school in Scotland. The cereal is called Ready Brek.

Check out the ad and notice two things:

1) The tagline: "Central heating for kids." It states who it's aimed at (kids). At the same time, it doesn't state that adults shouldn't eat it. Also, it positions itself as a hot cereal -- thereby re-positioning other cereals.

2) The ad exaggerates visually a key dimension of the brand. The kid who has Ready Brek for breakfast has a red glow around him. This is sometimes called "concretizing" and is something that often gets overlooked -- it's a powerful technique as it hammers home the message. You can do this with the following formula: It's so (adjective) that it/you (VERB). Just take it to the extreme and visualize. Enjoy the ad!

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What does it take to innovate?

2008-12-29T13:49:00.016-05:00

"An iconoclast . . . A person that does something that others say can't be done."

- Gregory Berns, Iconoclast

"Fear is the greatest inhibitor of innovation."

- Gregory Berns, Iconoclast

Anybody with even the tiniest interest in innovation knows the importance of "thinking differently" or "thinking outside the box." These phrases are often thrown about willy nilly without spending much time digging down to discover just how we actually go about thinking differently. Or, better yet, what stops us from thinking differently? I've worked in many business environments in different parts of the world and I can say from my own experience that, for the most part, it is continuity, not thinking differently that reigns supreme. In the context of innovation, this is the "C" word. Fear is the "F" word. Of course, continuity and fear are often garnished with the usual "we value our people" or "we are an innovative firm/city/nation etc." lacquer. Horse crap. As you can tell, I've become quite cynical towards this whole innovation thing. But we should also remember this:

"All businesses, no matter how strong they seem to be at a given moment, ultimately fail -- and almost always because they failed to innovate."

- Thomas K. McCraw, Prophet of Innovation

So we have a strange situation: we know we must innovate, but, at the same time, we are incapable of doing so. Unless . . . ?

Below is an interesting talk from Gregory Berns, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University, on what happens to individuals in group settings at the level of the brain. I love this bottom-up approach to innovation.

By the way, please note the new Blogspot address for my Blog: http://innovation-definitions.blogspot.com or simply http://www.brokenbulbs.com

Have a great, bold New Year. You deserve it!

Innovation's ingredients: imagination and trust

2008-12-16T17:00:00.009-05:00

Trust is at an all-time low here in America. People have been burned financially and it may take some time to get back to the good old days. Looking at many of the recent financial scandals, including the recent one concerning Madoff, it's worth pulling one of innovation's key ingredients back in from the cold: come on in imagination. Take a seat at the fire.

Remember those silly creativity games that people in workshops play: "Think of as many uses as you can for this toothbrush!" or "How would a heavy metal guitarist solve this problem?" You know: all that "airy fairy" stuff. The stuff that really hurts the brain to even think about. The stuff that adds nothing to the bottom line.

But, you know what, if somebody had actually asked some crazy questions, some people would still have a lot more money in their pockets. It's good to question "conventional wisdom": Maybe that guy in the suit is a fraud? Or maybe, even, all those Ivy League schools don't produce people quite as clever as we are all lead to believe.

You know that many in North Korea believe that Kim Jong-Il is an expert horseman and scored 11 holes-in-one in his first-ever round of golf? Yet North Korea isn't the only country whose people are force-fed fabrication.

Imagination. Trust. Never underestimate their contribution to innovation.

[Link]: Andy Xie, a U.S.-born Chinese economist, talks with Peter Day about the Chinese economy in the BBC's Global Business podcast.

[Link]: The FT comments on Madoff with an article entitled "No questions asked."

Brand innovation

2008-12-13T09:25:00.005-05:00

I remember hearing a podcast a while back and one of the speakers made a comment that has stuck with me for quite a while. He said that one of the problems with making money online is the fact that the psychology of the Web is different from more traditional retail spaces in that it is free. Yes, there is a tendency to expect stuff for free on the Web. There is also a vast amount of business knowledge out there and it has had a massive effect on people who previously wouldn't have been able to access it. It's all there for the taking. And people are taking, taking, taking. This is good (I think). It's pretty neat that somebody with a computer and the will to educate themselves can sit down and access a world of knowledge without having to pay a penny for it. Even if this humble little blog helps just one person learn something, it has served its purpose. Some people have asked me, "What's the point in blogging?" This usually pisses me off. Isn't it our duty to help people? And forget about giving money. I'd rather be sharing knowledge than sticking $5 in an envelope as a way to feel better about myself! Give a man a fish . . . and all that.

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: innovation branding)

Innovation training

2008-12-04T10:41:00.000-05:00

I came across this via the Stephen Shapiro Innovation blog. I thought it was hilarious. Some of the places mentioned are very local to England, but they really do get the message across. "The Watford Warrior Weekend" is irresistible to anybody who wants to succeed!

Innovation: definitions

2008-11-28T15:30:00.002-05:00

While writing a dissertation on Taiwanese firms' innovation strategies in international markets, I collected over 20 definitions of innovation from various books and journals (this took me forever). As you would expect, innovation means different things to different people.

Here are eight formal definitions of innovation from various sources (I haven't included the page numbers here):

1. " . . . introducing new commodities or qualitatively better versions of existing ones; finding new markets; new methods of production and distribution; or new sources of production for existing commodities; or introducing new forms of economic organization." (Schumpeter, 1942)

2. "An innovation is an idea, practice or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption." (Rogers, 1995)

3. "The intersection of invention and insight, leading to the creation of economic value." (U.S. National Innovation Initiative, 2005)

4. "An innovation is anything new that is actually used (enters the market place) - whether major or minor." (von Hippel, 2005)

5. "The adoption of an internally generated or purchased device, system, policy, program, process, product, or service that is new to the adopting organization." (Damanpour, 1991)

6. "Creating new and better ways of doing things that your customers value and that create value for your shareholders." (George et al., 2005)

7. "A new way of doing things . . . that is commercialized." (Porter, 1990)

8. "The successful exploitation of new ideas." (U.K. Department of Trade and Industry, 2003)

"I never could believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden."

- Richard Rumbold (1685)

To be perfectly honest, I think the theory of innovation is quite well developed in 2008. What is often missing is the will. What do you think, is there anything that we still don't know about innovation? What areas need further exploration?

The primitive brain

2008-11-22T09:42:00.015-05:00

There are many lateral thinking puzzles out there and I'm sure many of them are familiar to people interested in innovation management. Here's one that I have used quite a lot from the founder of the Destination-Innovation Web site:

"A man has a business where he buys chairs for $5 and sells them for $4 and becomes a millionaire. How come?" (This one always produces come interesting solutions. If you want one possible answer, go to the bottom of this post.)

This type of question reminded me of a couple of sentences that I saw years ago to show how schema can affect our reading comprehension. Read these sentences. Who's speaking? What are you imagining? You can get the endings at the bottom of the page:

A: "She was your typical blonde, she kept her nails . . . "
B: "Barrabus came by sea . . . "

So what's the point of using stuff like this? They can illustrate very clearly that our existing mental models/assumptions can be way off the mark -- miles off, and prevent us from solving today's complex problems. Another danger is equating experience and expertise with being right. And worse, equating confidence with being right. Have you ever noticed that all those talking heads on financial news channels talk with such confidence and, yet, at the end of the day, they don't really know what the hell is going on any better than the next man. Suit, loud voice, MBA and you've got it all figured out.

This is why I like Richard Branson so much: long hair, soft spoken, a little bit scruffy and not taking himself too seriously.

There's one more. Ignoring the lessons of history. Together, we have the toxic three: 1) confidence in lieu of substance 2) over emphasis on expertise and 3) an aversion to the lessons of history.

Answers:
The man had previously been a billionaire. [We assume that becoming a millionaire is a bottom-up process.] Of course, with today's stock markets being so low, a top-down path to having a million makes perfect sense.

A: ". . . all neatly lined up in jars in her basement."
B: ". . . his feathers were so dirty and ruffled after the long trip." [The text was taken from a young girl's diary about her canary arriving at the new family home in another country.]

Got any other good lateral thinking puzzles?

[Link]: The Economist writes about America and innovation.

Two become one: content and ads

2008-11-09T08:40:00.006-05:00

Do you remember when the line between a movie or television show and the ads was quite clear? Not so nowadays. Ads guised as content are widespread on the Web (check out some of the stuff on Yahoo's home page, for example). It's also evident on YouTube: "I used a [insert brand name] to take this video. Cool." And Blogs, too: I was asked recently to write a "review" of a company's new product by some marketing outfit. I declined not because I thought it is wrong, I just wasn't that interested in pretending to like something that I knew nothing about.

Last night I watched Run Fatboy Run with my wife. This film was quite enjoyable, but I started to notice that the "theme" of the movie and the brand represented frequently in the movie, through placement of the logo, were one and the same. The movie plot was highly formulaic in the sense that it contained many of the elements discussed by Joseph Campbell. There was the hero, the bad guy etc. etc. The plot was basically about a guy (the hero) who ran away from his pregnant girlfriend at the alter (separation) only to get jealous when he learns she has a new lover (the bad guy). The new guy is an avid marathon runner and with a race coming up, you can guess what happens next. The hero decided to train for and run in the marathon. During the marathon, the hero was tripped up by the bad guy but still manages to break through "the wall" (transformation) and finishes the race -- winning his girlfriend back in the process (return). Which sportswear brand does this storyline suggest to you?

Now there's nothing wrong with formula in storytelling. Most stories contain similar key elements and motifs, but the question I had when I watched this move was: which came first? Were the Nike placement ads built around the movie plot or was the movie plot built around the story embodied in the Nike brand? One thing I would bet on is that this movie involved close collaboration between the movie makers and the Nike marketing team.

Innovation: Can we all do it?

2008-10-28T13:45:00.004-04:00

I've blogged before about the difference between problem solving and creativity here and here. These two concepts are different but very much intertwined. Essentially, problem solving is a reaction to something external whereas creativity is a response to something from within. What that something is, however, is extremely hard to identify and I challenge anybody to identify what it is without raising a stink.

This leads to the question: Are some cultures more creative than others? Do some cultures feel more compelled to make the world a better place? Or are we all supposed to just extract as much out of the world as we can for ourselves? Personally, I believe that we all have the potential to be creative, but much of our upbringing, the culture in which we are immersed, our history, our physical environment . . . and other external factors have a bigger influence on our ability to do so than many people will admit.

Whatever. Innovation doesn't much require a few smart people at the top or the careful nurturing of "gifted" children (what a sham that is!). I've said it before, but the true measure of a nation's innovativeness needs to take into account those people at the bottom of the pyramid.

Magic Making

2008-10-26T11:36:00.000-04:00

This is a fantastic lesson for anybody working in marketing. There are so many themes here. Enjoy!

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Taiwanese brands: AG Neovo

2008-10-17T23:20:00.017-04:00

I had totally forgotten about this Taiwan-based brand, AG Neovo. This brand has actually been around for a long time (at least eight years), although it seemed to disappear off the radar for a few years. Why, I don't know. It seems to be making a reappearance, though.

I always thought that AG Neovo was a pretty good name choice. It connotes strength and confidence, don't you think? The AG element melded with the Neo element sends off a nice mix of past and future. Of course, the AG points to Germany, which is respected for its engineering prowess. And that abstract shape could be interpreted as a shield, suggesting that the brand has a heritage. Nice one! Does anybody know anything about this brand?

P.S. I just read in Obsessive Branding Disorder that in the former Soviet Union there were no brands -- at least in the form we have them today. It was essentially a brandless society. So what happened in this type of business environment? People learned that certain factories -- identifiable by a code on the product -- were better, or worse, than others at producing certain goods. Imageless commodities were pulled out and given one by the market -- they were branded. You can just imagine the dialogue:

A: This is a prime factory 03Z pork sausage my friend. I bought it especially for this occasion.
B: Gee, I can so not wait. Please pass the mustard.

[Note: I don't actually know if sausage was eaten with mustard in those days. It was a toss-up between mustard and mayonnaise.]

[Note: You can see a video from the author of Obsessive Branding Disorder, Lucas Conley, HERE].

Innovation and its antecedents

2008-10-08T09:55:00.008-04:00

I'm a big believer that certain countries are adept at particular things and weak at others. You cannot be an excellent sumo wrestler and ballet dancer at the same time. It is this simple fact -- and the trading derived from it -- that drives global business. It's a win-win situation. Or to be more topical, a lose-lose situation. Sure, India, Brazil, India and China (the BRICS) are developing fast in certain areas, but do they have the essential elements in place to produce the next Mick Jagger? What importance is placed on the art's contribution to innovation in these countries? When assessing a nation's innovativeness, this metric needs to be considered. Another important metric is the nation's ability to accept and assimilate new migrants. Japan is now suffering economically from its desire to be "Japanese" in its post-war development. By contrast, the Roman empire got this one right.

Nationalism in combination with a rapidly aging and shrinking population are lethal to economies. Schumpeter was right when he argued that the dangers to capitalism stemmed not from its weaknesses but its strengths. The "rationalization of life" and the childless nations that this produces are the lethal by-product of capitalism's successes.

Back to music. The singer below, Aruna, sings her vocal line from an electronic track produced by The Thrillseekers (compare the two versions). This is a great example of how innovation occurs at the intersection. Analogue and digital. Robots and angels.

[Link] There is an interesting series on music and technology on the YWNC radio station. Issues include IP ownership, distribution, sampling etc. Good stuff!

Brand innovation: what Taiwanese firms can learn from clothing brands

2008-09-30T10:36:00.015-04:00

When I lived in Taiwan, I would often read many articles on brands and branding. Just about every other week you'd have somebody rabbiting on about how Taiwanese companies need brands and innovation in order to "differentiate themselves." Wow! What a revelation! Many of these articles would be written by faceless, self-styled branding "experts" from global brand consultants or local universities. Because the advice offered by these gurus costs LOTS of money, Taiwanese firms accept it as being gospel. The only problem is that this advice is dished out to any company that was willing to pay for it. "Just give us the shareholders money and we'll give you a brand to slap on your commodity product. You'll be able to pretend that you're German because you're smarter than those silly customers over in America or Europe. They'll never know the difference." One of the biggest victims of this kind of thinking was Benq.

This is you
Here are two lessons in branding that are free:

1. The idea that country of origin doesn't matter any more is a myth (I should say, "misconception"). The truth is, country of origin is playing a bigger role than ever. Both in terms of the brands you buy and the companies for whom you work.

2. Forget about looking at other "tech" firms for inspiration. Take a look at other industries. Industries in which brands are the only thing companies are selling for a profit.

Below are two examples: 1. Howies and 2. Patagonia.

Look at the imagery presented next to these brands and compare it with your day-to-day surroundings. Look at the dreams. Look at how these brands don't tell you what they mean: they allow you to build the brand yourself. You're involved. Now, that's brand building.

[Update] Here is yet another article on Taiwan and branding in the Taipei Times. Note that nobody in the article is giving/sharing any insights into how to go about building a brand.

Innovator's Guide to Growth: Virtual Book Tour

2008-09-22T09:14:00.009-04:00

As part of the Post2Post Virtual Book Tour, we have an interview with Scott Anthony, President of Innosight, an innovation consultancy, and co-author of the Innovator's Guide to Growth. Enjoy!

1. Can you explain how disruptive innovation differs from radical innovation and incremental innovation, which are both sustaining?

Generally, sustaining innovations are about playing today's innovation game better. Incremental innovations involve playing the game a little better, radical innovations involve playing the game a lot better. Disruptive innovations are about changing the innovation game. Instead of competing on the basis of raw functionality, disruptors compete on simplicity, affordability, and accessibility.

The video game industry offers a clear example of this distinction. Sony and Microsoft are largely following sustaining strategies that appeal to fast-fingered teenage boys who want the most realistic game play imaginable. Nintendo is consciously trying to expand the market with its easy-to-use DS Lite and Wii products.

2. There are many well-known examples of incumbents being disrupted: Eastman Kodak and digital photography; full-service airlines and the no-frills carriers, full-service stockbrokers and the low-fee, low-service online brokers to name a few. Can you give examples where incumbents have successfully fended off disruptive innovators by disrupting their own business?

In the list you rattled off there is at least one incumbent success story: Charles Schwab. Schwab introduced its discount brokerage model in the 1970s, then created a separate online offering in the 1990s, which today constitutes a significant portion of its core business. Hewlett-Packard also successfully managed a disruption in its core printing business when it introduced inkjet printers, which were disruptive to laser jet printers. A third example comes from Dow Corning. Earlier this decade Dow Corning introduced Xiameter, a low-cost distribution channel that has allowed it to prosper in the commodity tiers of the silicone market.

Generally speaking, disrupting your own business is quite a tough proposition. We recommend that companies start by thinking about what other businesses they could disrupt. For example, Procter & Gamble has created about a $3 billion fine fragrance business by bringing its disciplined approach to brand management to "democratize" a high-end, fragmented market.

3. You are proponents of segmentation using a "jobs-to-be-done" approach. In "The Innovator's Guide to Growth" you describe a case where new car tires did the job of improving the acoustical environment in the car rather than solving the problem of a flat tire. Can you share other examples of products being used to do jobs that aren't immediately obvious?

Almost any product has non-obvious competition that becomes clear once you use the jobs-to-be-done lens. Take Baby Einstein, a line of videos produced by Disney. The relatively simple, 30-minute videos feature stimulating visuals backed by a classical music score. The entrepreneur who created the product capitalized on the so-called "Mozart effect" that suggests that listening to classical music boosts a child's mental development. Why do people hire Baby Einstein videos? You might say education, and that's part of the answer. But in reality, Baby Einstein is a guilt-free babysitter. The television itself is a great babysitter, but parents who use it are racked with guilt. Baby Einstein lets parents get 30 minutes of peace, without the guilt.

4. It could be argued that in 2008 the theory of disruptive innovation is well developed. If this is so, why do we continue to see so many incumbent firms ignoring the lessons provided in the disruptive innovation suite of books, including "The Innovator's Guide to Growth?"

This is a great question. I think there are two reasons. The first is that even though you know in the long-term disruption might get you, in the short term you can stick to "business as usual" without any pain. It's the same reason people don't exercise, or fail to routinely take preventative medication. Of course, the truth is signs of future trouble are almost always obvious if you look at business the right way, but it is too easy to ignore those signs.

The second reason is there still aren't sufficient examples of large companies that have "broken the back" of disruptive innovation. As that changes over the next few years, and as Boards of Directors increasingly recognize that the roots of long-term malaise are recognizable early, I suspect many more companies will seek to develop a competency in disruptive innovation.

5. As a small business owner, I have found some of the lessons and tips in "The Innovator's Guide to Growth" to be quite inspirational. It appears that if staff working for an incumbent describe my product offering as a "toy" or "crumby" relative to the incumbent's offering, I may be onto a good thing! What other lessons does the "The Innovator's Guide to Growth" have for the owners of small businesses?

Thanks! Innosight itself is a small (but growing!) business, and we follow the lessons in the book in our day-to-day work. We seek to understand the real job current and potential customers are trying to get done. We try to understand where we can be "good enough" compared to competitors, and where we have to be much better. Whenever we have a new idea, we try to find quick, simple ways to test it. And we always watch out to make sure we don't get trapped in our own paradigm by routinely bringing outside perspectives into the business. I think any small business owner can benefit from the discipline of trying to understand the true nature of market opportunity, to develop different ways to seize that opportunity, and to act in ways that allow you to prudently manage innovation efforts.

6."The Innovator's Guide to Growth" suggests that business schools need to be aware that they, too, are not immune from disruption. Are you seeing any evidence of this in 2008?

It is interesting. There are many more options for people to seek on-the-job training or develop particular skills in low-cost ways. Further improvements in technology and the spread of Internet-based video will only create more ways for people to learn without going to centralized, expensive programs for two years. Yet, applications to many top business schools surged in 2008 as the economy sagged. It will be interesting to watch what happens when the economy improves, because I suspect the conditions will be in place for many business schools to start feeling real pain. The schools that are most immune from that pain are those that provide difficult-to-replicate value, such as access to a network of graduates, or personal branding. Those that don't ...

7. In what industries do you expect to see more disruptive innovation in future?

In every industry! Seriously, we think that we've just seen the beginning of disruptive developments in the health care industry. Clayton Christensen has a book coming out in a few months on just this topic. I think other service-based industries, like education, consulting, and legal services are going to see some real changes brought along by disruption. Of course, energy-related industries have never been more ripe for disruption. Finally, I think the travel industry is going to see true transformation over the next decade with the rise of high-quality videoconferencing and convenient point-to-point air taxis.

Thanks Scott for sharing those insights.

Problem solving and creativity: think circles not lines

2008-09-13T10:47:00.010-04:00

In discussions on innovation, you'll often hear people mention the terms creativity and problem solving. These are often treated as distinct constructs, which, to some extent, they are. This is the typically Western, binary treatment of the world -- the scientific, "view from nowhere" approach.

Creativity can be viewed as an action or series of actions that:

1. is proactive
2. tends to produce a visible resource that previously didn't exist
3. from the human perspective, is motivated by an internal input that is hard to identify.

by contrast, problem solving can be viewed as an action or series of actions that:

1. is reactive
2. tends to be in response to an encountered resource
3. from a human perspective, is motivated by an easily identifiable external input.

Even though they are different, it's often useful to treat creativity and problem solving as the same thing and treat them as different starting points. For example, if you are an artist, you may feel compelled to draw whatever is in your head, but you will soon face the problem of what medium to use. You start at the creativity point on the circle. If you were commissioned to paint a portrait of somebody (as many famous artists were in the past), your starting point is problem solving -- after that, you will move towards creativity.

If you can think of any examples where problem-solving activities and creativity activities don't function in this way, fire away.

Five Misconceptions about China

2008-09-06T09:22:00.021-04:00

I was going to title this post Five of the Common Myths of Doing Business in China but decided that myth is not the best choice of words here. A myth is usually defined in one of two ways:

1. A commonly held belief that is not true. A misconception. For example, the myths in Scott Berkun's book, The Myths of Innovation.
2. A truth story. As in Icarus or The Rabbit and the Hare. Also, the universal truths embodied in "celebrity" brands.

I believe that the correct definition of myth is the second of these. Myths teach or remind us of universal truths. As Scott Berkun argues in his book, dull facts don't sit well with us and get replaced by myth-like stories. We mythologize the mundane, unglamorous process of innovation to pass on truths or, perhaps, to make life more colorful. As a result, the process of innovation appears magical and random, which it is not.

Why get my knickers in a twist over this? Well, hello, when we talk about innovation, it's important to have the vocabulary nailed. No ambiguity allowed. We need a vocabulary that will satisfy the most demanding of engineers and scientists. Dare I say that we need a language that would satisfy even the most demanding German or Russian engineer? We can't repeat innovation if we don't get the vocabulary sorted out once and for all. At the moment, the vocabulary of innovation remains still a problem at firm, regional and national levels.

Myth and misconception: not the same.

What are some of the most common misconceptions about China? Here are five (there are many more):

1. China has a centralized government.
2. Chinese culture is collectivist.
3. China is a young nation.
4. China is the world's biggest exporter.
5. The stock market in China is decoupled from the American stock market.

For an interesting video from INSEAD with the authors of The Future of Chinese Capitalism, check out the following link. The audio (MP3) can be downloaded here. Many of the areas mentioned during the interview by the authors have been covered before by Francis Fukuyama in his wonderful book, Trust.

What's your brand portfolio?

2008-08-31T15:19:00.004-04:00

I was reading some comments on the Idea Sandbox blog today that stopped me in my tracks (okay, slight exaggeration). The topic was brands: one person was slamming corporations and brands while shouting about how she was such a fan of Adbusters, itself a brand. Yes, we all love our brands, so, without thinking about it too much, I thought I'd write down five brands that I am somewhat passionate about in the sense that I make a point of using them or would like to use them in future:

1. Gillette Mach III razors.
2. Pioneer CDJ1000 MkIII CD turntable.
3. Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit.
4. Levis 501 jeans.
5. Marlboro Lights (when I used to smoke).

Believe me. There are many more.

Throw out the idea that you're above all this brand stuff and share five that are part of your life.

Bonus Link of the Week: London Business School Podcasts

Activa: End of Summer

2008-08-29T15:10:00.003-04:00

Nothing much to write today. Why not listen to a great piece of music from one of my favourite producers, Activa (Rob Stevenson), from the U.K. Enjoy, and I'm curious to know what you think of the track (these tracks have very long intros and outros because they're usually mixed with other tracks during live DJ sets).

Buying In

2008-08-25T22:25:00.011-04:00

One of the reasons I write about brands in this blog about innovation is the fact that innovation, or rather the outcomes of innovation, have made the world very complex. Brands act as a counterweight to this complexity. Similarly, globalization -- defined as an increase in trade across selected national and international borders by profit-seeking firms and nations -- has increased a sense of national identity. So, in addition to innovation, expect more on brands and national cultures in this blog.

Every now and again you come across a book that changes the way you think about brands and branding. Buying In, by Rob Walker, is one such book. I just stumbled across this book at my local library and I am so glad that I decided to pick it up and read it. It's a great book and I cannot praise it enough. Here are some of the views presented in the book. The ideas are the author's: I've just written down how I interpreted some of them.

1. Despite the fact that we think we are immune to brands, they are becoming a bigger part of our lives.
2. Rather than defining your brand identity tightly, allow some room for movement: consumers will happily fill the gaps.
3. Rather than making ethics central to your communications, how about making ethics central to the product and the way it is made?
4. If you think you are immune to brands in your life, you don't have a pulse.
5. While some brands are used to display our aspirations publicly, many are used to tell stories to ourselves in private.
6. Brands may be symptomatic of a sense of detachment from family and tribe. People want to belong.

After reading this book, I'm starting to appreciate that brands and their packaging work much like comic books or fairy tales. And we, as consumers, really are all "lovin' it" and "buying in" to it big time.