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The Business Model Innovation Factory by Saul Kaplan (Book Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:38:00 +0000

As a culture, we strive for personal transformation. Whether it's eating better and getting fit, redefining our professional value proposition through training and education, or simply trying to be kinder and gentler, we're constantly reinventing who we are and what we can do. We may not be successful all the time, or achieve breakthroughs like those featured on The Biggest Loser or facilitated by Tony Robbins, but millions of people successfully transform and reinvent themselves every year.

Unfortunately, the very organizations where we work generally do not do the same. As Saul Kaplan elaborates in The Business Model Innovation Factory, most organizations struggle to transform from their core, initial business models and tend to become stagnant and vulnerable to disruptive competitors.

The example Kaplan leads with is Blockbuster, which for a time owned the brick and mortar video and DVD rental space, until they were "netflixed" by a disruptive competitor (Netflix) with a radically new business model that challenged and eradicated Blockbuster's traditional model.

Just as individuals must continuously reinvent themselves, Kaplan urges organizations to nurture and try out alternate business models separate from their original models. Kaplan makes the point that this is different than invention and traditionally accepted innovation, which often amounts to introducing tweaks or improvements at the margins of traditional business models. Business model innovation means trying something different, developing a wholly new way to "create, deliver, and capture" value. Think Apple and how it invented the iTunes ecosystem to supplant traditional distribution channels for music.

In the third section of the book, Kapan recommends strategies for creating new business models. Here, the author cautions not to setup a business model to compete directly against a traditional model. Traditional models, vulnerable though they might be to disruption, are still often represented by people with vested interests and sufficient power to block alternative business models and maintain the status quo. The author cites the example of the auto industry which to date has kept at bay a system change to all electric cars. A better approach, Kaplan contends, is to develop new business models alongside existing models, in the adjacent possible, and to test those models in the real-world.

I've tried to capture the essence of The Business Model Innovation Factory, but there's much more in the text that will reward your reading investment, so I urge you to read the book.

You can read more about The Business Model Innovation Factory and read the introduction for free at http://bmif.businessinnovationfactory.com/.

Full disclosure: I know Saul Kaplan personally and have previously attended the BIF summit that he hosts. I also received a complimentary copy of the book. However, these comments and opinions are mine and were not reviewed, influenced, or impacted in any way by the author.

Miracle for Mitchell

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:22:00 +0000

In a December post, I mentioned how a local sports team brightened the burden of a boy with a degenerative liver condition. Unfortunately, while the gift made a big difference, the boy's medical problems have worsened and he now awaits a new liver.

At this time, I would like to introduce you to the boy. His name is Mitchell Simon, and he is an 11 year old who resides just outside of Buffalo, NY. Mitchell was born with Biliary Atresia -- a congenital liver disease -- and the disease has progressed rapidly over the past year such that a transplant is necessary.

Because medical and related expenses for a liver transplant recipient typically exceed $100,000, the family is accepting donations and a fundraiser benefit will be held on June 2, 2012 to help defer costs for the transplant.

DONATIONS

You may send donations to the address below or donate online at http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforMitchellS/.

Miracle for Mitchell
10595 Miland Rd.
Clarence Center, NY 14032

MIRACLE FOR MITCHELL EVENT INFORMATION

Date/Time:
Saturday, June 2, 2012 @ 4-9 PM.

Location:
Our Lady of Pompeii Ministry Center Hall, 86 Burlington Ave
Depew, NY 14043

Event Details:
The event will be hosted by local radio personality and stand-up comic Rob Lederman, and there will be live music and a buffet dinner.

Tickets:
Tickets to attend the benefit are available for a donation of $25.00 per person. Each ticket includes one chance for a door prize. Children under12 years of age are free. To obtain tickets, please contact Diane Moyer @ 716-741-4047.

DONATION CONTACTS

Diane Moyer
716.741.4047
lmoyer006@aol.com

Evelyn Simon
716.983.1695
evelyn29simon@yahoo.com

Uprising by Scott Goodson (Book Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:26:00 +0000

We live in an era of sweeping change and uncertainty. There's economic nervousness and under-employment, climate change and wild weather, concern over peak oil and the future of energy, globalism and a flat world, and a dizzying array of social networking tools for connecting like never before.

Such a mix creates both strain in the system and new opportunities to connect, and this has led to a dramatic rise in cultural movements, including the recent Arab Spring and Occupy movement.

In Uprising: How to Build a Brand--and Change the World--By Sparking Cultural Movements, author Scott Goodson looks at movements from a marketing perspective and offers a fascinating survey of recent movements as well as an elaboration of how marketing and business are beginning to add value and collaborate with movements, without co-opting them. Goodson terms this new marketing "movement marketing" and cites several examples, including the Pepsi Refresh project, the InnoCentive movement, Tom's Shoes, and the massively popular Livestrong movement.

I've only scratched the surface of what you'll find in Uprising, but if you have any interest in cultural movements or branding, you'll probably find this compelling. The book also built well on previous works about social technologies and branding, especially Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody and Rob Walker's Buying In.

You can also learn more about the author and the text at http://www.uprisingmovements.com.

Full disclosure: The author did send me a complimentary copy of the book, although he never mandated or requested that I review the book. These comments and opinions are mine and mine alone.

The Coming Jobs War by Jim Clifton (Book Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:27:00 +0000

Gallup chairman Jim Clifton offers a timely and compelling exploration of the urgency of job creation and the current "all out global war for good jobs". Jobs are critical, Clifton contends, because they underpin societies and allow people to prosper, thereby creating well-being and fostering new achievements in all areas of human development.

Unfortunately, we face a global job shortage approaching 2 billion with no apparent driver for jobs imminent. The country that does the most to enable job growth will become the next economic superpower. The text explores the multifaceted dimensions of this topic, with plenty of corroboration from Gallup data.

As an American, Clifton admits to a U.S. bias and speculates on what America must do to maintain its predominant economic position and prevail in the coming jobs war. His ideas include encouraging job creation in cities, emphasizing entrepreneurship over innovation, drastically cutting healthcare costs, improving employee engagement, creating friendlier economic conditions for small businesses, encouraging American business to do more to establish global customers, and promoting the need to increase exports several-fold during the next decade and beyond.

Article on 12 Most

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:54:00 +0000

Check out my new article on 12 Most that compares technology companies to countries.

12 Most Striking Comparisons of Technology Companies to Countries
http://12most.com/2012/02/21/comparisons-technology-companies-to-countries/

In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives (Book Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:43:00 +0000

In little more than a decade, Google has grown from a smart, disruptive search company to an Internet behemoth, with over $39 billion in revenue and a product portfolio now spanning advertising, mobile, cloud computing, and video.

Since Google's inception, millions have used its search engine and services and come to rely on the company for fast, reliable information. Indeed, the company name itself is now a verb meaning "to search".

Steven Levy's In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives chronicles the story of Google, from its origins and founding, through its incorporation and rapid growth, and to its ascendancy as one of the biggest and most influential companies on the planet.

I found the text well-crafted and fascinating. Though a work of journalism, the narrative flowed very much like a story, with Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt cast as the main characters. The book elaborated all the major developments in the company's history, including the founding, the maturation of search and advertising as major revenue streams, "Don't be evil" and the distinctive company culture, incorporation, the acquisition of YouTube, Google's moral dilemma in China, and the company's recent challenges with privacy and social media.

I highly recommend In the Plex for anyone interested in learning more about the history and DNA of Google.

You can read more about In the Plex at http://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/books/in-the-plex.

Remember Win?

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:07:00 +0000

Super Bowl week can be tough on Bills fans. On the one hand, the coverage and retrospectives force reflection on probably the greatest run in the franchise, but one that did not end with a championship. Lately, Super Bowls are a reminder of how irrelevant the Bills have become and how far they are from even competing for a playoff spot, let along reaching a Super Bowl.

It’s now been twelve years since the Bills last played a playoff game. This was the “Music City Miracle” against the Tennessee Titans that was played on January 8, 2000. Think that was long ago? The last time the Bills appeared in a Super Bowl was eighteen years ago, in Super Bowl XXVII, when the Bills lost to the Cowboys, 30-13. The date of that game was January 30, 1994. Since then, seventeen Super Bowls have been played, with another one coming this Sunday.

To crystallize the long run of Bills futility and remind everyone how long it's really been, I’ve listed 46 facts about 1994. One for each Super Bowl.

In 1994, Bill Clinton was President of the United States, George W. Bush was preparing to run for Governor of Texas, and Barack Obama was teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago.
Windows 3.1 was the current Microsoft operating system. Windows 95 would not be released for another year and a half.
Reality TV was just starting, with shows like MTV’s The Real World beginning to define the genre.
The average cost of a gallon of gas was $1.09.
There was no Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Google.
Wayne Gretzky was a member of the Los Angeles Kings.
Tiger Woods would enroll at Stanford in the fall of 1994 under a golf scholarship.
The movie Forrest Gump would be released in the summer.
Nancy Kerrigan would be attacked at a practice session during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
A few months after the Super Bowl, the Buffalo Sabres would win a 4 OT game against the Devils but ultimately lose the playoff series.
Seinfeld was on top of the sitcom world.
New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was four years old.
The population of the city of Buffalo was approximately 310,000 (today it is around 260,000).
The 1994 Winter Olympics would take place in Lillehammer.
In November of 1994, George Foreman would win the WBA and IBF World Heavyweight Championships.
Five months after the Bills’ fourth straight Super Bowl loss, OJ Simpson would flee law enforcement in his white Ford Bronco.
There were only 28 teams in the NFL.
1994 was the year of the Rwandan Genocide.
The cost of a Superbowl ad in 1994 was $900,000.
Arkansas would win the NCAA Tournament in 1994.
Michael Jordan had retired, and the Houston Rockets were preparing to take advantage of his absence to win their first title.
There were no iPads, iPhones, or iPods, and Steve Jobs wasn’t even working at Apple.
In July of that year, Brazil would win the 1994 FIFA World Cup, defeating Italy by 3–2.
The Internet was just forming, and there were under 10,000 websites.
Anthony Masiello was the newly elected mayor of Buffalo.
The Sabres were still playing in The Aud.
Grunge was popular, but Kurt Cobain would commit suicide.
The Swedish band Ace of Base would achieve international fame with their hit “The Sign”.
Very few people had mobile phones.
The Bon-Ton would buy local Buffalo department store chain AM&A’s.
Encyclopedias were physical books.
The New York Rangers would win the Stanley Cup, and NY would celebrate an NHL championship for the first time since 1942.
The movie Pulp Fiction was released.
Chatting meant talking to someone.
A players' strike would end the MLB season prematurely on August 11, 1994, and there would be no postseason or World Series.
In the mid-term election in November 1994, the Republicans would gain control of both houses of Congress.
People still used typewriters.
In 1994, all of these teams were active in Buffalo: Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bisons, Buffalo Bandits, Buffalo Stampede, and the Buffalo Blizzard.
Popular television shows of the day included Seinfeld, ER, Home Improvement, Grace Under Fire, N.Y.P.D. Blue, and Murder, She Wrote.
Irv Weinstein was an anchor for WKBW.
Bruce Springsteen would win a Song of the Year Grammy for "Streets of Philadelphia".
The events of 9/11 were still six years away.
Nelson Mandela was elected the first black leader of South Africa, after the country had its first free multiracial election.
Star Wars was not yet sullied by the prequels.
Doug Flutie was playing for the Calgary Stampeders (and threw for 5,726 yards in 1994).
None of us thought it would be more than a decade -- and conceivably a quarter century -- for the Bills to reach another Super Bowl.

Thank You, Sabres

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:17:00 +0000

The measure of an organization is often what it does when no one is looking. This week, I was fortunate enough to experience this firsthand from a local organization.

It all started when I learned last week that Jake* -- the 11 year-old son of some family friends -- was experiencing serious health problems due to a degenerative liver condition. I was told that Jake had been in and out of the hospital for the past few weeks, and that the prevailing opinion was that he would need some medical/surgical intervention or a liver transplant. Understandably, Jake was a little down and out of sorts because of all the health complications.

I was saddened by the news but resigned that there was little I could do to help or improve the situation. Then I recalled that Jake loved the Buffalo Sabres, and I thought perhaps I could contact them. I'd heard Ted Black speak on WGR-550 and was very impressed with his willingness to make himself available and always answer questions.

So I contacted the Sabres and told them about Jake and mentioned that he was a huge Sabres fan and asked, could they perhaps mail him a holiday card from the Sabres or something?

Not only did the Sabres respond, but they sent a package to Jake the next day that included a holiday card, an autographed yearbook, and other memorabilia. As it turned out, Jake was returning home from the hospital when he received the items. He was simply ecstatic, and at least for a little while forgot all about his health problems.

I know the Sabres chose to do this and did not ask for any acknowledgement in return. But I was so impressed by their kindness that I felt compelled to post about this.

Thank you, Sabres.

* Name has been changed

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Acknowledgements

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:42:00 +0000

To close out this blog series, I wanted to express my appreciation for everyone who's stopped by and provided feedback. Thanks so much. Writing a daily blog post about a different BIF speaker every day turned out be more difficult and time consuming that I thought, and I appreciate the interest.

In addition to a general thank you, I also want to call out four people:

Sandy Maxey - For all the RTs and mentions. Thanks!
http://sandymaxey.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @sandymaxey

Jessica Esch - For sharing her wonderful BIF sketches that helped jog my ossifying memory as I was writing the recaps.
http://www.sayitbest.com/
Twitter: @jesch30

Amanda Fenton - For those crystallizing and invaluable mindmaps that captured the essence of each BIF storyteller and help me refine the posts with appropriate detail.

Twitter: @AmandaFenton

Deborah Mills-Scofield - For promoting BIF like no other and tweeting all my posts. Thanks, ninja fairy god mother.

Twitter: @dscofield

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 +1 - Saul Kaplan

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:35:00 +0000

You can't do a blog series about BIF without mentioning Saul Kaplan and the outstanding BIF team.

Saul self-identifies as the "Chief Catalyst" of the Business Innovation Factory, but he's much more than that. He's smart, professional, friendly, inventive, and, most of all, always open to "random collisions of unusual suspects".

There was a telling moment toward the end of BIF-7 when the audience stood as one to show appreciation to Saul with a standing ovation. Saul looked horrified, but not because he's uncomfortable with public speaking. He's just the kind of leader who would rather deflect praise to his team, or talk about the inspiring stories shared at BIF, or make that next connection with a suspect he hasn't met yet.

Thank you, Saul, and thank you, BIF team.

The BIF Team

Saul Kaplan
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/about/leadership-team/saul-kaplan
Twitter: @skap5

Christine Costello
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/projects/elab/about/team/christine-costello

Tori Drew
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/about/leadership-team/tori-drew
Twitter: @toridrew

Jeff Drury
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/about/leadership-team/jeff-drury
Twitter: @druryjeff

Christine Flanagan
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/about/leadership-team/christine-flanagan
Twitter: @chrisflanagan

James Hamar
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/about/leadership-team/james-hamar
Twitter: @jameshamar

Katherine Hypolite
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/about/leadership-team/katherine-hypolite
Twitter: @KatherineBIF

Samantha Kowalczyk
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/about/leadership-team/sam-kowalczyk

Eli Stefanski
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/about/leadership-team/eli-stefanski
Twitter: @elithechef

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 31 - Dan Pink

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:18:00 +0000

I don't know how much Dan Pink personally likes Halloween, but it sure corroborates the talk he gave at BIF-7. People love to innovate and push the envelope with costumes. Just on our street this Halloween I saw someone dressed up as a cell phone, a meticulously made up geisha, and a Facebook profile page. Some of the creative costumes worked and others failed, but the point is that creative thinking and a willingness to try new things accompany innovative costume-making.

This is strikingly similar to the point Dan made at BIF-7, that unconventional and non-commissioned work can lead to breakthroughs and innovation. As an example, Dan cited Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov who won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for groundbreaking experiments with graphene during their free "Friday evening experiment" time. (Note: Dan explores the potency and value of non-commissioned work in more detail in his newest book, Drive.)

Most unconventional and non-commissioned experiments do not lead to breakthroughs, though, and Dan indicated that the failure rate might be as high as 90%. This recalls Sturgeon's Law, the famous adage from American speculative fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon that states "ninety percent of everything is crap".

Dan deftly closed out BIF-7 by relating how Andre Geim previously won an Ig Noble Prize (years before he won the Nobel Prize) for work on the magnetic levitation of frogs. Dan's conclusion: "If you really want to change the world, you need to levitate some frogs".

Additional information:
http://www.danpink.com/

My Review of Drive:
http://ravenhost.blogspot.com/2010/12/drive-by-daniel-pink-book-review.html

Dan Pink on Twitter:
@danielpink

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/dan-pink

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 30 - Duncan Watts

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:24:00 +0000

I would love to listen to a debate someday between Duncan Watts and Malcolm Gladwell. Because, in his BIF-7 story, Duncan came across very much as an anti-Gladwell: precise, deliberate, and respectful of the difficulties and complexities involved with attempts to influence and predict behavior.

During his BIF-7 talk, Duncan talked about the problem of obviousness and common sense -- basically, that "the way we make sense of the world can actually prevent us from understanding it." This is also the hypothesis Duncan delineates in his new book, Everything Is Obvious: *Once You Know the Answer.

As Duncan elaborated, we are susceptible to errors of reasoning when we rely on common sense:

When we think about why people do what they do, we place too much emphasis on incentives, motivations, and beliefs, and not enough on the thousands of other influencing factors
Groups are extremely complicated to predict -- we erroneously apply the logic of "individual" action to groups
We learn much less from history than we think and are prone to make the same mistakes over and over

The way forward, Duncan intimated at BIF and flushed out in Everything Is Obvious, is less reliance on common sense and more on psychohistory-like computational social science.

Additional information:
http://research.yahoo.com/Duncan_Watts

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/duncan-watts

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 29 - Jim Mellado

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:50:00 +0000

What are the greatest innovations and accomplishments from organized religion?

I ask this question as a response to Jim Mellado, who in his BIF-7 story talked about how the church can be a contributor and innovator to society. Jim's claim was fascinating and foreign to me, as I've always equated the church and organized religion with the status quo (at its best) and repression (at its worst).

My intent with this post was to list out the most commonly agreed upon innovations/accomplishments of religion from a number of sources. Unfortunately, my searches turned up very little about this topic. I've reproduced the best items I could find, but I welcome additions to this list:

Preservation of historical documents
Preserving writing and intellectual inquiry in Western Europe after the collapse of Roman administration
Revived interest in Classical Greek and Latin from the lead up to the Protestant Reformation
Islam: the notion and push for universal education, algebra, the mathematical concept of zero
China: orderly civil administration via Confucianism

Note: This list was summarized from this extended Reddit thread about the Accomplishments of Religion.

Additional information:

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/jim-mellado

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 28 - Matthew Moniz

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 02:52:00 +0000

Matthew Moniz's story was probably the most heartwarming and life affirming of all the stories at BIF-7. An accomplished mountain climber at 13, Matthew described the major peaks and summits he's climbed, including Everest and 50 peaks in 50 states in 50 days. It was even more revealing when Matthew talked about one of his best friends with a medical condition and symptoms that ironically emulated the effects of high-altitude environments Matthew typically encounters while climbing.

Like everyone in the audience at BIF, I was pretty much blown away by Matthew. He was so focused, yet modest; engaged and driven to be great.

As the days passed and I reflected about Matthew and his story, I realized that one of the reasons his story stood out is he's exceptional, a true outlier, and I wondered why that is. Why aren't more kids like him?

Is it that schools educate for compliance and not creativity and innovation? It's noteworthy how much Matthew has learned outside of the traditional classroom.
Is it that many of Matthew's peers are now medicated, for ODD or other disorders?
Is it that media consumption -- encompassing television, computers, and cell phones -- helps pacify and subdue kids?
Is it consumerism, which weakens self-reliance and independent decision making?

I don't know, but as a parent, I'll continue to think about Matthew's story and possible reasons more kids aren't like him.

Additional information:

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/matthew-moniz

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 27 - Christopher Meyer

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:46:00 +0000

Talking about the evolution of capitalism seems like a daunting task, even for an innovator. But that's exactly what Christopher Meyer did at BIF-7.

Capitalism is moving, Chris suggested, and the genome is going to shift as emerging economies like Brazil, India, and China grow and begin to dominate the global economic system. Organizations that maximize growth in change over time, Chris suggested, will benefit the most from a new prevailing version of capitalism.

I brought up Isaac Asimov and the Foundation Series in reference to another BIF storyteller, and I thought of speculative fiction when Chris presented as well. Here, it was China Mountain Zhang, by Maureen McHugh, a celebrated near-future novel where America has gone through a socialist revolution, China is the new superpower, and a hybrid of capitalism and socialism has become the major economic system. The future described in the book seemed to fit the evolution Chris described.

Additional information:
http://www.monitortalent.com/talent/Christopher-Meyer-Profile.html

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/christopher-meyer

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 26 - Whitney Johnson

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:13:00 +0000

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets, rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

You look up from the two documents on your desk. One is a business plan, and the other is a resignation letter. You are anxious and diaphoretic. Totally afraid of making the wrong decision. Of failing.

As you acknowledge your fear of failure and let it sit for a while in your gut, you begin to calm down, and then, eventually, smile. Because, in the words of Whitney Johnson, "If it feels scary and lonely, you're probably on the right track."

During her BIF-7 talk, Whitney focused on disruption as a key trigger for personal transformation. Fittingly, her anchor quotes crystallized her points and recalled some of the other BIF speakers.

"If it feels scary and lonely, you're probably on the right track"
We work to build up financial stability and status, and eventually accrue dependents and responsibility. It takes courage to make a change, especially mid-career, but if we don't, the odds are high that we'll eventually stagnate. This point made me think of Angus Davis and his emphasis on embracing failure.

"Be assured that you have no idea what will come next"
Because disruption dislodges us from embedded roles, environments, and situational patterns, anything is possible. We can't predict with any reliability what will happen or who will figure prominently next in our life. In this context, ambiguity and uncertainty fuel innovation and personal growth. Here I recalled Mari Kuraish, who literally had no idea where her path would lead.

"Throw out the performance metrics you've always relied on"
Whitney cited Moneyball and mentioned that for 90% of successful ventures, the strategy that leads to success is not the strategy originally pursued. This brought to mind Dennis Littky who -- like the GM of the Oakland A's -- recast the methods of nurturing talent and growing value.

"Your odds of success will improve when you pursue a disruptive course"
The differentiator here, as Whitney elaborated in her talk, is to disrupt in new versus established spaces. Alexander Osterwalder would no doubt agree, who achieved a business bestseller by finding a niche in book creation: collaborative authoring and publishing.

You can read Whitney's blog post that was the basis for her BIF-7 talk about disruption here: http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/2011/08/disrupt-yourself.html

Additional information:
http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/

Whitney Johnson on Twitter
@johnsonwhitney

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/whitney-johnson

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 25 - Angus Davis

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:22:00 +0000

Though a successful entrepreneur by any measure, at BIF-7 Angus Davis talked repeatedly about failure. Like Graham Milner who emphasized that innovation can take multiple tries (sometimes 40!) before a breakthrough, Angus went even further and indicated that the secret to success is failure and managing your fear of it.

In this context, failure is to be expected and even embraced. It's an interesting notion -- and given that Angus has been failing (and then succeeding) since the early days of the Internet when he worked at Netscape as an intern -- I don't doubt the veracity of the claim. I do wonder though if this might suggest that some people are more likely to succeed at entrepreneurship and innovation not so much because of attributes like creativity or imagination, but because of a heightened capacity to accept failure and move on.

Additional information:
http://angusdavis.com

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/angus-davis

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 24 - Alex Jadad

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:43:00 +0000

I searched for definitions of "health" on the Internet today. Below is a sampling of the top results:

The state of being free from illness or injury: "he was restored to health"; "a health risk". A person's mental or physical condition.
- from http://www.takesteps.univerahealthcare.com

Health is the level of functional and (or) metabolic efficiency of a living being.
- from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health

The condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; especially : freedom from physical disease or pain.
- from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/health

And, now, here is the definition of health offered by Alex Jadad during his BIF-7 talk:

"The capacity of an individual and a community of people to adapt and direct their own lives."

This sentence explodes the old, normative definitions of health because Alex and innovators like him in the healthcare industry have crafted it deliberately by rebuilding the notion and language of "health". This shift in the definition of health expands from semantics to the paradigm of what's expected and possible in healthcare, including "creating a platform for wellness instead of sick care" and attempting to "turn unavoidable suffering to meaning".

For Alex Jadad, this mission has taken form at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation in Toronto where he works to help create “... a world in which people, regardless of who they are or where they live, use state- of-the-art information and communications technologies (ICTs) with enthusiasm, proficiency and confidence, to achieve the highest possible levels of health and to help health systems make the most efficient use of available resources.”

Additional information:
http://www.ehealthinnovation.org

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/alex-jadad

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

Guest Post on Career Rocketeer

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:16:00 +0000

Check out my guest post on Career Rocketeer:

Recession-Proof Yourself
http://www.careerrocketeer.com/2011/10/recession-proof-yourself.html

For more of my guest posts on other blogs, access my Writing page.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 23 - Andries van Dam

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 03:05:00 +0000

Think about the last time you visited a museum and the painting that most interested you. Now imagine you can view that artwork in a digital display using touch screen technology and pan and zoom the image as much as you want.

Thanks to Andries van Dam, this kind of interactive technology is becoming viable for access in museums and other exhibit spaces.

Andries van Dam enticed the audience at BIF-7 with a demonstration of the software (Microsoft Surface) he and his Brown students are employing to display images the size of "a football field" and zoom in "as close as digitization allows". It was pretty cool and, along with the smaller-scale iPad, a glimpse into the future of display technology.

Additional information:
http://www.cs.brown.edu/~avd/

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/andries-van-dam

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 22 - John Hagel

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:17:00 +0000

I was fortunate enough to hear John Hagel speak at BIF-6 and BIF-7. During both of his talks, he shared personal stories that helped contextualize and illuminate the framework of pull, which he has elaborated (with co-authors John Seely Brown and Lang Davison) in The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion.

For anyone reading this who hasn't heard of John Hagel or The Power of Pull, I encourage you to research the text and consider reading it. In brief, the authors posit that social media and collaborative technology platforms have fundamentally changed the rules and costs of exchanging information and forming groups. The consequence of this shift is that people are now able to "pull" information/resources they require as needed and on-demand instead of in the old "push" model, where organizations disseminated information to clusters of people, often based on forecasts, market research, and guesses.

Additional information:
http://www.johnhagel.com/

John Hagel on Twitter:
@jhagel

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/john-hagel

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 21 - Chris Van Allsburg

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 03:06:00 +0000

Of all the BIF-7 storytellers, Chris Van Allsburg stood out as the only author who wrote fiction (children's fiction, specifically). Naturally, he was an accomplished storyteller, with most of us familiar with his crowning work, The Polar Express. But did that make him an innovator? I wasn't sure.

As it turns out, during his BIF-7 story, Chris's revealed that he knows a few things about innovation.

First, there was the focus of his talk, his new book, Queen of the Falls. This is a children's story about Annie Edson Taylor, the sixty-two-year-old charm school instructor who became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel. Annie's plan to go over the Falls was conceived to earn her fame and fortune, but there's no doubt that it was audacious and innovative.

Chris's conceit to spin a mature story about a confidence woman as a children's book was also innovative. On the surface, Annie's story is not really suitable for children, and without a happy ending, but Chris found a way to make it work.

Finally, the scale and grandeur of the Falls themselves forced Chris to innovate and experiment in the illustrations for the book. He faced a tough challenge to represent the size and height of the Falls and used juxtaposed buildings to depict relational scale.

Additional information:
http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/chris-van-allsburg

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 20 - Dennis Littky

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:43:00 +0000

I have to be honest. When Dennis Littky walked across the stage to speak at BIF-7, I was a little scared. The signifiers perplexed me. He looked happily crazy, and had on tie-dye shoes of sorts. I could only think, "here comes a seriously worked-up ex-hippie."

But then he started talking about kids and school and it became evident immediately that he was committed to bringing dramatic change to education. At one point, he pulled out all these little pieces of paper and started tossing them into the air. Every 12 seconds, he related, a kid drops out of school. 9,600 drop out every 24 hours.

"Something's not right about that," he said.

The good news is that Littky created an organization to help stem the tide of dropouts by "encouraging, inciting and effecting change in the U.S. educational system." The Big Picture Company was founded in 1995 and now has 72 high-schools across the country. Littky is now also involved with collegiate education reform via a College Unbound collaboration with Big Picture Learning.

Note: During his BIF-7 talk, Dennis mentioned that he's always looking for e-mentors for students and encouraged anyone interested to tweet at him @dennis_littky and let him know.

Additional information:
http://www.bigpicture.org/

Dennis Littky on Twitter:
@dennis_littky

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/dennis-littky

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 19 - Byron Reeves

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:19:00 +0000

You start up and get an instant message almost immediately:

"Quest notice: find all 14 unclaimed invs and bring them back to _Reeves (Player 411) for processing to Accounting. Time completion bonus and one hidden power up."

You gear up and prepare your Avatar, and then head toward the center of town where transport rigs can take you anywhere you need -- to the Tea Room, where you can meet up with co-workers, to the Library containing every administrative and quality form, and to the Towers, residence of the c-suite.

Game on. Time to track down and pay those vendor invoices.

If only work were as enjoyable as exploring a MMORPG. But might it become so?

During his BIF-7 talk, Byron Reeves elaborated the growing phenomenon of gamification and explored the prospect of interjecting gameplay into traditional work modes and processes. Byron summarized the reasons we enjoy games (achievement, immersion, exploration, competition, and socializing) and posited that the same base dimensions apply at work such that gameplay can make work more enjoyable.

For corroboration, he listed several examples from the edge of this space, how sales people are gaming at Cisco, how IBM has used games for client meetings, and how Oracle has experimented with several game applications.

Additional information:
http://www.stanford.edu/~reeves/Byron_Reeves/Home.html

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/byron-reeves

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 18 - Rebecca Onie

noreply@blogger.com (Raven) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:30:00 +0000

Sometimes I wonder how anyone can muster the energy to work for change in our massive, bureaucratic, and sometimes sisyphean healthcare system. But then I hear people like Rebecca Onie speak, who helped found Health Leads, and I get inspired that you can reform from within.

Health Leads mobilizes volunteers in urban clinics to connect low-income patients with basic resources, including food, housing, and heating assistance. This works with a simple resource checklist: physicians can check food, housing, health insurance, job training, fuel assistance, or other resources their patients need. Health Leads volunteers then work to connect patients with key resources.

It's a classic case of shrinking change to a small and manageable scale.

Additional information:
http://www.healthleadsusa.org/

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/rebecca-onie

This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.