34

Zenstorming

• Censoring the Censor – The Key to Increasing Creativity 11 May, 2012, 11:01 pm
  Paying attention to what's being censored is key to increasing creativity.
• Is There a Will For The “Why?” – Uncovering Innovative Product Opportunities 4 May, 2012, 8:45 am
  One simple question can uncover amazing product opportunities! Do you have the fortitude to see it through?
• What Makes Successful Products, Services and Brands? 27 April, 2012, 8:30 am
  Insights into designing innovation from Sartre and cake
• How Not to Brainstorm – Lessons from Suburgatory 20 April, 2012, 9:00 am
  Brainstorming is about more than just getting your friends together in a bathroom...
• Want to Uncover New Product Opportunities? Try Archaeology 14 April, 2012, 9:00 am
  Instead of looking to consumers for insights into new products, try the archaeological approach and focus on the product.
• A Trio of Manifesto’s For Creative Inspiration – Rock the World with You! 4 April, 2012, 9:00 am
  Words for your edification
• Steal Like an Artist (Or a Blues Musician) 31 March, 2012, 10:27 pm
  Some pearls of wisdome from Austin Kleon's, "Steal Like an Artist."
• How To Build an SMS/Text Support Group to _________(Lose Weight, Stop Smoking, Be Green…) 25 March, 2012, 12:26 am
  These eight steps can help you build an SMS support group.
• When Inspiration Meets an Apron 18 March, 2012, 1:26 am
  Janette Gerber, of the 'Women's Journey in Fiber Project', shares some insights into the creative process through her art.
• Simulating Systems with This Intuitive (and Free!) Tool 8 March, 2012, 4:41 pm
  Modelling systems enables us to increase our understanding and see opportunities for innovation. This free tool can help.

34

Innovate on Purpose

• Innovators: stand on the shoulders of giants 15 May, 2012, 1:03 am
  I had a nice meeting today in Johannesburg with an individual I met through Twitter.  We talked about our shared interest in innovation.  When I queried him about how he became interested in innovation, he told me that he started out in his company's process improvement team, and innovation just seemed like the next logical step.  Innovation, in his eyes, built from incremental changes to ever increasing radical or disruptive ideas.  This discussion led me to think about the advantages of starting innovation late.Innovation, like any other science or capability, is evolving.  In the example above, many organizations start innovation based on incremental changes, which spawn new ideas about bigger and riskier change.  Further, many organizations start innovation activities by querying their employee base and asking for ideas.  As the innovation activity matures, these firms realize that open suggestion systems often don't provide the insight and value desired, so they shift to what we call "directed" innovation - asking for ideas about a specific problem or need.  So you can see evolution and learning at work in real time.  The evolution involved in the shift from incremental ideas to radical or disruptive ideas, and the shift in focus from suggestion systems to directed innovation.What's interesting is that many firms follow these paths, starting with incremental suggestion systems and slowing discovering that more formal directed systems are more practical.  What I don't understand is why so many firms fail to understand the best practices and learning that exist. Why recreate the wheel when the evidence is available in the marketplace?  Most firms starting innovation activities today should build from years of experience available in the marketplace, and should "leapfrog" generations of innovation activity, skipping over the less valuable suggestion systems about incremental ideas to a more formal innovation activity addressing specific company strategic needs.  In the same way that we see many countries using advanced wireless telephony to overcome missing or outdated landline service, we should see new innovation entrants capitalizing on existing innovation knowledge and best practice.  These firms should be leveraging the benefits of prior experience and scaling the learning curve much more quickly than the firms that preceded them.  Yet in many cases this doesn't happen.  Why this is the case is a head scratcher for me.Plenty of best practice is documented for innovation.  Hundreds if not thousands of innovation experts, consultants and practitioners exist.  Thousands of books are written about innovation.  Innovation conferences and training programs abound (cough, cough).  It's not as though the best practice doesn't exist - its as if people willfully ignore it or don't seek it out.  There are only a couple of plausible explanations for this behavior:People don't believe there is such a thing as innovation "best practice"People believe they must take every step in the evolutionary journey in order to be innovativePeople don't want to take the time to learn the best practices and dive in at the shallow end of the poolPeople don't believe innovation will have a long life in their organization, so understanding the best practices isn't worth the timeInnovation isn't expected to have a big impact - it is for "show" rather than having an impact, so any activity is validTo paraphrase Dean Wormer in Animal House, cynical, uninformed and unmotivated is no way to go through innovation.  Anyone in any firm can learn what works and what is valuable in innovation, and leapfrog the early inefficient activities to move onward to more effective innovation.  The reasons I've listed above reflect a lack of investigation, a lack of emphasis and time, a cynical attempt to quickly deliver some "innovation" regardless of outcome.  What other reasons could exist for a failure to fully understand what's successful, and what isn't, in innovation.Here's an analogy to prove my point.  I recently led a workshop on open innovation with several dozen people who claim to be active in innovation, who have a stated interest in open innovation.  When we examined some of the different styles of open innovation, I recommended that they look at IdeaStorm, Dell's open innovation portal.  When asked, only 2 of over 30 people were even aware of Dell's IdeaStorm, perhaps the most public open innovation activity, in a room full of people who want to do more open innovation.  Why would a room full of self-selected innovators, many of whom use Dell products, be unaware of what is perhaps the most widely touted open innovation platform?  Is it a lack of interest?  Clearly not.  Is it a lack of research?  Perhaps.  Is it a failure to understand that they can learn from what firms that are further ahead have done?  I really don't know.  Our thinking about open innovation is freely available on this Slideshare presentation.But I do know that firms that understand that innovation is an evolutionary activity can learn from those that have gone before, and leapfrog to a more robust innovation platform.  As Newton said, if I have seen further it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.  There are innovation giants on whose shoulders you can stand, if you care to find them.
• Five Factors that drive the need for more innovation 11 May, 2012, 3:56 am
  Every agrees, on the whole, that we need more innovation.  The real questions are "Why" and "How much" innovation we need.  Like other patently good things - love, chocolate chip cookies and exercise - we could all stand a bit more innovation.  It's just never clear how much we need or what the real benefits are, at least to many organizations.I'm going to focus today on five drivers that will require you to do more innovation.  You can look at the list and decide how much each one of the drivers individually, or in combination, will affect your business.  Then, based on the influence of these five drivers, you may be able to decide not only how much innovation you need, but how soon you need to get started with a more concerted effort.  We believe the answer to that question is:  yesterday.There are many forces at work that will drive the need for more innovation.  The five I want to describe today are:Falling Trade Barriers.  Even in a tough worldwide economy, trade barriers are falling, not rising.  In the last few months the US has signed new free trade agreements with countries in South America and Asia.  As trade barriers fall, new products and services from many more competitors enter the market, to compete with existing products and services.  Increased competition, especially from countries where costs are lower or technology emphasis is higher, will either drive down prices or increase customer demand for more features.  Both will increase your need for innovation.The increasing rate of change.  The lives of people in the late 1800s and the early 20th century changed, but changed slowly.  Many people never traveled more than 100 miles from their homes.  Many never heard a radio, never saw a TV show, and few experienced the luxury of an automobile.  In the mid-20th century, many people had access to basic necessities and some luxuries, but their standard of living and access to information pales in comparison to what we expect on a daily basis.  The pace of change is ever increasing, and with it expectations of new products, new services and new features.  We expect more as customers, demand more, and product lifecycles are ever shorter.Customer Expectations Increase.  We may not always know exactly what we want, but as consumers we are aware of more competitors, more channels, more offerings than ever before.  Some of this is clearly stoked by rising living standards, some by improved marketing.  But our expectations about our quality of life, and the products and services we need to "keep up with the Joneses" is ever increasing.Increasing access to information.  Everyone, everywhere, now has the same ubiquitous access to information everywhere.  Look no further than the recent news that Stanford and MIT will place their best classes online.  Hundreds of thousands of people are signing up.  There's no monopoly on information, or what can be done or discovered with information.  That means smart people, everywhere, are going to leverage their access to information to create new products, services and insights.  Thus, new and interesting concepts will be available from more sources, at an ever increasing rate.  Education is also much more widely distributed, so more people will receive more education and have more access to information, which will mean more and better products and services.Decreasing cost of entry.  Thanks to the internet, I can purchase goods and services from people on any continent.  What would have once been difficult to find or transact is now much simpler, and eventually will be transparent.  Any individual or small company can access almost any market, as the internet reduces marketing barriers and global financial programs reduce financial risk and barriers.  Anyone can enter and sell in any market.When you consider these drivers in the aggregate, it should be clear that any firm that thinks it can sit idly by, resting on its laurels, is sadly mistaken.  Your pace of innovation is insufficient now, and if you can't at least match the increasing pace of innovation that is created by these five drivers, your company will rapidly find itself and its offerings obsolete.  You don't have to like these forces or approve of them, but you need to understand and respond to them.  Historically the pace of change and its impact weren't as rapid and immediate.  But they are both now.
• "Never" restricts innovation 9 May, 2012, 8:10 am
  There are a couple of really famous sayings that incorporate the word "never".  For instance, Satchel Paige is supposed to have said "Never look back - something may be gaining on you".  Or, "never judge someone until you've walked a mile in his shoes".  Or, finally, Einstein: "I never think of the future - it comes soon enough".  What risks we place on our thinking when we use a definitive word like "never" and how frequently we are wrong.  Let's examine what's wrong when executives, managers or innovators start with "never".For instance, we worked with an insurance firm in the states and created a number of interesting new ideas.  We were told that they were "impossible" to implement because regulations created by Congress change so infrequently.  Well, the ongoing debate and new regulations and legislation about healthcare has made many things that were once unthinkable, thinkable.  What things do you take for granted?  What things does your business model assume will "never" change?  Those blind spots will allow competitors to sneak up on you.Or, consider "never look back" or Einstein's "never think of the future".  Most corporations are firmly rooted in the moment.  The clocks are set to ring every 90 days, and then reset for the next 90 day interval.  Few firms look back at their beginnings, except in colorful coffee table books in the lobby, or look further ahead than the fiscal year.  Most organizations could learn a lot about themselves by looking back at the creation of the business, to understand the drivers that led to the creation of the business and the risks that those early innovators took.  Everything is not the same as it has always been.  Further, executives and managers need to look ahead, much further ahead.  The accelerating pace of change means that what seems a distant future is much, much closer than expected.  Like the saying on the rear view mirror, objects in the future are much closer than they may appear.  If you don't look back you'll miss a lot of what made your company great, and innovative, early.  If you don't look forward you'll miss the opportunities to thrive, and cede them to your competition.Or, never look "down".  Many firms, once they reach a certain size, forget that they too once were small, scrappy competitors seeking to unseat the big boys.  Once a firm gains some requisite size, it becomes a "big boy" and ignores all competitors and entrants that are small.  But as Christensen has ably pointed out, disruptive innovation usually comes from underneath, and from outside, not from equally competitive firms and rarely from within the industry.  GM and Ford ignored Honda and Toyota.  Big Steel ignored Nucor.  Who are you ignoring? Next, never judge until you understand the situation or context.  Most product managers have never met a customer in the customer's context. Oh, they read reports from market researchers and sit in on a focus group or two, but never "walk a mile" in their customers' shoes.  How can we judge what people want, and what they need, without getting in their situations and contexts?  I'm convinced that many new products fail in the marketplace because they seem right in the product development team conference room, but don't match to customer needs or expectations.  If you never meet with a customer, you cannot be an innovator.Finally, while there isn't a great quote about it, many innovators and product managers never network, meet or interact with people outside their industry, geography or job description.  Isolation isn't a means of innovation.  Good ideas happen at the confluence of people, ideas and interactions.  If you never mingle with people outside your sphere of influence, never go to conferences or tradeshows, never discuss issues with individuals in adjacent markets, you are missing many innovation opportunities.  Good innovation rarely wells up from within an industry or firm - it is adopted from other uses or situations.  Knowing who to interact with and what matters is half the battle.  If you never meet people outside your network, or fail to extend your network, you will fail to innovation.Perhaps no other word should be anathema to innovators as the word "never".  Never is such a restrictive, convergent word.  It is often used to shut off debate or discussion, or to insist that something won't possibly change or occur.  In many cases whatever we argue will never occur often immediately does.  What "nevers" in your business are blocking innovation?  The assumption that the industry will "never" change?  The assumption that current conditions or market fixtures will never fall?  The assurance that smaller competitors and new entrants will never provide a product or service as good as yours?  The thinking that your firm will never embrace that much risk or uncertainty?
• Clarity accelerates and sustains innovation 8 May, 2012, 7:13 am
  Unfortunately, when many executives and politicians say "let me be clear" they mean to emphasize what they want to communicate.  It's not necessarily clarity they seek, but emphasis of a certain point of view.  Clarity in innovation, like sunshine in politics, is the best disinfectant. Why, given the amount of education, communication channels, and "intentional" discussion and dialog are we left with so little clarity about innovation?  We are constantly told it is important.  Survey after survey reinforces what CEOs think about the importance of innovation.  Vast numbers of executives, managers and staff talk about innovation and the impact innovation could have to their businesses.  We have more communication channels - written word, spoken word, voice mail, email, social media, etc - than ever before.  Yet nothing about innovation seems clear.In many innovations there are a number of places where clarity breaks down:The linkage between corporate strategy and the role of innovation to support that strategyHow much risk and change an organization is willing to bear when innovations are deployedWhat timeframes and horizons innovation teams should exploreWhat the criteria are for evaluating ideas once they are generatedWhether or not to explore ideas that may cannibalize existing products and servicesHow much time and money to spend on innovation effortsWhat tools, techniques and methods are acceptable to use to spot needs, generate ideas and manage them effectivelyWhether or not to work with clients and business partners to generate ideasIn a world where nearly everything is certain, planned and the unexpected is viewed with distaste, clarity of purpose, clarity of action, clarity of decision is paramount.  We live in pre-planned, pre-destined workforces where little is unexpected or allowed to change.  We have well-defined processes and policies that govern how we work and what we work on.  Yet innovation constantly protrudes into this well-defined, neatly ordered world, and it seems dangerous.  Because nothing about innovation is clear.So you have an option.  You can keep innovation, like mushrooms, in the dark, covered in manure, hoping something positive will spring up.  Or you can create more clarity about innovation.  This will require work.  Work on the part of executives to support and sponsor change, and the disruption that innovation will have on the business initially.  Work on the part of managers to define new workflows, new teams, new tools and new reward structures.  Work on the part of the rest of the staff to think about new ideas, new opportunities.  But none of that work will happen without clarity.Innovation, left to its own devices, is uncertain, risky, unfamiliar.  Much of the reason innovation is risky and unfamiliar is because there's no clarity about it's importance, tools and validity.  Further, if innovation is attempted occasionally with little preparation, it is not likely to succeed.  Thus we sweep the small failures under the rug.  This eliminates any chance of learning or improving.Innovation clarity looks like this:  executives who state what they want, what they can endure in terms of change, and what they are willing to invest.  Managers who define which tools and techniques are valid, the timeframes and commitments necessary to succeed.  Teams that welcome "wild" ideas and actively seek customer insight and input.  Clarity requires a communicated scope, a defined innovation budget, rewards and recognition for the participants.Lack of clarity looks like this:  no one is sure what the executive wants other than a "new" product.  No one is certain of the investments, budgets or staffing.  People are distracted by their existing work because no one has made it clear that innovation is more valuable.  No one owns the idea, no one is certain how it will be commercialized, and everyone is afraid that it will damage something that already exists.  No one is certain if the concept will meet existing or new client needs.  Everyone can't wait for innovation to be over, so they can get back to their "regular" work.
• Innovators: Humble Servants and Bold Warriors 7 May, 2012, 4:35 am
  Thanks to Jorge Barba I'm free of my writer's block that had stymied my writing about innovation.  Jorge noted a post in the HBR blogs by Harry West of Continuum entitled Innovating in the Scary zone.  Harry starts his post talking about the need for humble servants who can understand customer needs, and why the usual picture of innovators is one of hipsters who have excellent insights, cool attitudes and hip eyewear.I think Harry is on to something.  We tend to immortalize people who create really interesting ideas, but in all truth many skills and attitudes are necessary for innovation to be successful.  In fact you could say that innovators need to be:As insightful as AesopAs humble as a servantAs creative as MozartAs tough as nailsAs bold as PattonOf course, the people you choose to emulate may be different than mine.The idea of innovators as humble servants is an interesting one.  But if we stand in our ivory towers and project our knowledge of customer needs without going out to meet customers, our arrogance will defeat us.  We have to be good listeners and willing to hear what customers need, and able to anticipate what they will need that they can't even imagine.But beyond humility we need creativity.  Simply having good insights and understanding of customer needs isn't enough.  Innovators need to associate disparate concepts and ideas to create interesting new products and services.  There's rarely a straight line from a need or insight to a product or service.Corporate innovators also have to be tough and bold, to see ideas through to completion.  Humility in gathering insights is one thing, but humility is often not so useful when asking for resources or budgets for an uncertain idea, especially when times are tough.  There are many obstacles and many doubters.  Innovators have to answer or deflect the doubters, and have the courage of their convictions to press on even when others in their own organization doubt them.The need for all of these characteristics signals why innovation teams are so important.  It is difficult to find one person who emulates all of these characteristics, but a team of people who believe in ideas often will possess a range of skills and perspectives that will encompass all of the characteristics I've defined.  Just as one person on the team tires or discovers a gap in their skills, another team member can step up to offer his or her skills and support.  Perhaps not everyone is humble or a good listener, just as not everyone is good at generating ideas.  Innovation is clearly a team sport - know the skills that are necessary and understand where and when you can offer your skills to help a team succeed.There was only one Steve Jobs and while we are told to emulate him, we'd probably do better understanding the breadth and depth of roles innovators must hold and understand the conditions and perspectives necessary in every part of the journey.  Rather than attempt to fill all of these roles, find the ones you do best and discover team members who can fill the skill or interest gaps you leave open.Insight, humility, creativity, development, persistence and boldness.  These are the skills that move an idea to a new product or service.  In the right measure, and at the right moment.
• Innovators aren't cynics 27 April, 2012, 5:15 am
  I was talking with a potential client who seemed cynical about innovation.  In fact, most of our clients are both equally cynical and hopeful about innovation.  They are cynical because innovation has often failed to deliver extravagant promises, and hopeful because innovation is one of the few tools that firms have to grow, to differentiate and to disrupt.People are cynical about innovation because innovation often hasn't delivered what has been promised.  But looking more closely at the reasons why uncovers some basic truths.  One, many promises have been overstated, by people with a vested interest in promoting innovation.  Yes, even us innovation consultants can get carried away, but often executives turn to innovation and make promises.  Even politicians make promises about innovation.  Yet those promises neglect some vital aspects.  Often when executives or politicians promise great returns from innovation, they fail to support, fund, resource and sustain innovation.  Blaming innovation for failing to deliver results when programs aren't adequately funded or resourced is like blaming your car for failing to start when you neglected to fill up.Two, people are often cynical about innovation because they realize it is occasionally used as a scapegoat or "flavor of the month".  Executives rush in, talk about innovation without intent to deploy anything, and then drop innovation to pick up another management credo to pronounce.  Everyone realizes that innovation will be hard work, and everyone knows the differences between innovation as a talking point and innovation as a funded initiative supported by executives.But there's a deeper point to made here about cynicism.  We've learned, through books, through movies, through corporate examples, that business people lend a critical eye to everything.  We business people are cynics by nature - looking for the challenge or failure in any product or service.  Many businesses deliver products that HAVE to work - I want cynical engineers designing my bridges and airplanes.  But cynicism is deadly to creative thinking and innovation.Don't get me wrong - the best innovators, Jobs for example, are a masterful combination of wonder, empathy and cynicism.  Wonder and empathy to imagine and create, cynicism to design, build and deliver.  Edison, perhaps our first significant innovator, was devastated by the failure of his first invention, an automatic voting machine.  He swore he would never again create a product that he didn't know if he could sell.  But he obviously balanced his market cynicism with passion for experimentation and discovery.  No cynic could attempt hundreds of experiments.But what about the majority of us in business, in politics, in academia?  We are notorious cynics, but we cannot afford to be.  How many times have you said "I've seen this before" or "This didn't work the last time we tried it"?  How many times have you turned a cynical eye on a new idea, not giving it the consideration it deserves?  My favorite is "well, I've seen it all".  No, sorry, you haven't.  You can't possibly imagine all of the possibilities, and the disruption around the corner in your market will surprise and amaze you.  Because someone with less cynicism and more wonder and optimism simply asked the question:  why not?Until you recognize that you haven't seen it all, that you can't even imagine all the opportunities, that cynicism is a set of blinders meant to keep you in line, you are definitely correct:  you can't innovate.  There is no more self-fulfilling prophecy than a cynic who boldly declares that he or she "can't innovate".  They are exactly right, and self-reinforcing to boot.  Get rid of your cynicism, approach innovation opportunities with a sense of wonder, enthusiasm, possibility.  Yes, that means shedding your green eyeshades and corporate cynicism.  Don't worry, we won't hold it against you.
• Getting Innovation Backwards 25 April, 2012, 5:03 am
  So I had lunch today with a friend who described another friend's innovation approach.  It boiled down to "lets go generate a lot of ideas".  The theory being that once they had a lot of ideas they'd find a valuable one that would be important and relevant.  This approach always reminds me of the story of the little girl digging in the horse barn.  Her father spots her and asks "why are you digging in that pile of horse manure?" (PG for mixed audiences).  Her response?  If there is all this manure here, there must be a pony in here too.  Corporate innovators are often like the little girl, digging in a manure pile of ideas, convinced there's a pony there somewhere.Far, far too many organizations, when given the chance to innovate, rush out to generate a bunch of ideas.  There are several reasons they do this:They are familiar with idea generationIt feels like they've accomplished something - a list of ideasThey now have a pile of stuff to wade throughThey've been told that generating lots of ideas is important (and in context, it is)Management wants to see ideasWhat they are doing, basically, is generating ideas, searching for an answer.  Which is exactly backwards.  What they should do is identify an answer (significant opportunity or challenge) and then generate ideas (solutions).But this seems counterproductive.  Identifying answers - opportunities or challenges means taking time to research existing business challenges, prioritizing needs, understanding customer requirements.  This doesn't seem like "innovation" and doesn't deliver quick ideas.  So, after a month or two of following this path impatient management, not understanding the approach asks "where are the ideas?".  So, far too many firms follow the first approach, since they think they understand the tools and know they need to deliver quickly.But delivering poor, misaligned ideas quickly is just another way to deliver rapid failure.  When your ideas aren't relevant or valuable, no matter how quickly you generate them, or if they fail to attract powerful sponsors or funding, who cares how quickly you generated them. As with many things in life, received wisdom has it exactly backwards.  Identifying the key challenges, understanding the links to strategic goals, deciphering customer needs leads to understanding the potential answer.  Only then are you ready to generate ideas that matter.  Or, as Einstein said "given an hour to solve a major problem I'd spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes working on the solution".  Once again, our approach is exactly backwards, which is why so many idea generation activities fail to deliver great solutions.If you generate a lot of ideas without clear context or in answer to an important strategic question or need, you are simply shoveling the manure, looking for the pony that has already left the barn.
• The Wizard of Innovation 23 April, 2012, 5:48 am
  I've been thinking a lot about how the Wizard of Oz reflects so much about innovation.  Not the story per se, but the setting and the characters and how they represent attributes or characteristics innovators must possess.Take, for example, Dorothy's three key companions - the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man.  These three each personify a key trait that innovators must possess.  The Scarecrow is looking for a brain.  From an innovation perspective, we'll translate this as "insight" - the ability know what customer needs are unfolding and the willingness to learn new methods and approaches.  The Cowardly Lion is looking for courage.  Innovators must be courageous, to stand up to the challenges that they will face when trying to innovate, which bucks the business as usual mentality.  The Tin Man was looking for a heart.  Innovators need a big heart - a heart full of courage and commitment, but also a heart full of empathy.  Anyone can dream up new ideas, but its only when you have empathy for the customer that you discover important needs. All of the characters who journey with Dorothy are capable of doing what they need to do, and discover their abilities in the journey.  This is often true with innovators - people who don't think they are "creative" or who don't have the right status are often great innovators if they allow themselves to be.Or, consider the Wizard, the man behind the curtain.  The wizard is never presented until the very end, and is considered a very powerful force.  When finally unmasked, he turns out to be much less powerful than he appeared.  In the innovator's world, the Wizard correlates to the corporate culture.  The culture is a seemingly powerful force, ephemeral but always present.  But when a powerful innovator confronts a corporate culture with the right backing and the right ideas, the culture can be tamed.Dorothy represents another facet of the innovator must possess - determination and focus.  No matter what happens, Dorothy seeks to return home.  She has a clear goal and pursues it regardless of the obstacles, regardless of the circumstances.  She confronts all of these forces aligned against her, including the Wicked Witch, who personifies all of the nay-sayers, the status quoers, the let's leave well enough alone types.  These people constantly confront an innovator, seeking to distract, delay and derail an innovation effort because they want to protect their products, their status or the existing status quo.  No matter the obstacle, no matter how compelling Oz may seem, Dorothy stays true to her goals and convictions.  So too must innovators have a clear goal and stay true to their convictions.Innovators need bold ideas and clear thinking that come from an engaged brain, and bold actions and confidence, as well as empathy, that come from a big heart.  They need courage to confront all that faces them in an existing business as usual culture.  They need determination to face the faceless but seemingly powerful corporate culture and the slings and arrows thrown by the people who don't want change or are afraid of change.
• How to tell if you are an innovator 17 April, 2012, 9:01 am
  In a world of celebrity driven Twitter, "reality" shows and always on news, Andy Warhol was only partially right.  We'll all be famous for 15 minutes.  Unfortunately some people seem to get their 15 minutes over and over again for all the wrong reasons.  Luckily for us, however, most innovators toil away from the spotlight.  In fact many people who are innovators don't realize who and what they are.Innovators are born and made.  Innovators are people who have good ideas or sometimes just good insights.  Innovators are people who aren't happy with the status quo, and are willing to do something about it.  Herewith, seven factors that will tell you whether or not you are an innovator.  Take the assessment, but know this:  anyone can be an innovator.  Read on and I'll tell you how.Innovators:Think a lot about the future.  They wonder not about the next calamity, but what the future will be like and how they can impact the future.  They wonder about emerging trends.  They wonder what consumers will want next.  Safety and security in today's world doesn't interest them.  They are eager for what's next.Aren't satisfied with the status quo.  They are constantly trying to improve things - even things that don't seem to be broken.  They want to know how to improve things, eliminate obstacles.  As Shaw said, all progress is due to the unreasonable man, since reasonable people accept shortcomings.Are empathetic.  Innovators can get into other people's lives and shoes.  They can virtually walk a mile in your moccasins.  This doesn't necessarily mean they are "nice", just able to understand issues and challenges better than the average joe.  Are playful, in the best sense.  By this I mean they are open to new experiences, are willing to test and prototype, and open to discovery.Are stubborn and driven.  If innovators don't have a stubborn streak, then their ideas won't progress, because many people will resist even good ideas initially.  It's not easy advocating for a new idea.  Innovators have to be committed to their ideas.Are open to exchange of insights and ideas.  While stubborn and driven, they understand that the best ideas are emergent and based on the kernal of good insights and ideas from a broad range of settings.  They are willing to listen, to absorb and to incorporate inputs from a wide variety of sources.Want to solve real problems.  The difference between science fiction and innovation is that while innovators joke about jet backpacks, they want to solve real needs and offer real solutions.  Some of those may be incremental in nature - the next product release and some may be disruptive - the next jet backpack.  But only if the jet backpack solves a real, important, relevant need and is viable and adoptable.So, how did you do?  If the profile I've described feels right, you have all the proclivity to become an excellent innovator.  Don't think you aren't creative enough or don't have enough time or energy.  If this profile sounds like you, get moving.  You are an innovator whether you like it or not. If this doesn't sound like you, but you do want to innovate, the great news is this: nothing in this list can't be learned.  These are a series of behaviors and perspectives that anyone can adopt.  Stop telling yourself you aren't innovative.  You weren't born with the gene, you build it from your experiences, interests and perspectives.  Just exercise your attitude and become more open to the possibilities.
• Book Review: Beyond the Obvious 16 April, 2012, 7:38 am
  Over the years I've had a chance to interact with some really insightful innovators.  I've been fortunate enough to meet and interact with individuals like Steve Shapiro, Paul Sloane, Paul Hobcraft, Alex Osterwalder and James Gardner.  These individuals have all contributed to the pantheon of great innovation insights and writing.  As have good friends and mentors like Tim Hurson, Gary Hamel and Peter Schwartz.  The amount of material written on innovation is growing exponentially, but the amount of valuable material within that exponential growth is essentially flat.That's why I was pleased to see Phil McKinney's new book, Beyond the Obvious, and have a chance to read it.  McKinney, until recently, was the CTO for Hewlett-Packard and led a significant amount of innovation at H-P, and in roles prior to H-P.  McKinney is unusual for a senior corporate executive, in that he has traditionally been very open with his thoughts, publishing a blog and a series of podcasts about innovation.  So I looked forward to his book.Beyond the Obvious, Killer questions that spark game-changing innovation, takes a new and unique approach to the challenges presented by innovation.  Rather than present a specific methodology or toolset, McKinney starts at an almost philosophical position by asking questions.  You have to like any management book that starts with a quote by Voltaire, rather than Drucker or Porter.  Phil states early on that "the first step to freeing yourself to find innovations is to recognize that the knowledge you currently have is insufficient, and that you need to go out and discover new information that will lead you to new products or concepts".  This is exceptionally important.  Many organizations want to start from a position of certainty.  They make statements rather than ask questions.  Good innovators are naturally curious and willing to learn more.  The best way to do this is to explore and ask questions.  Yet asking questions is not in our corporate nature, unless we already know the answer.Phil talks about challenging assumptions, getting beyond "business as usual".  In Relentless Innovation I defined how powerful business as usual is, and what a barrier it can be to innovation activities.  Phil describes business as usual as mental "handcuffs" that keep people locked into the way they've always worked.  Questions break this cycle.Phil also talks about "jolts" and weak signals - basically a way of talking about disruptions and spotting them by watching for trends.  Jolts are disruptions but also opportunities for innovation.In the final sections before diving more deeply into the killer questions he addresses the issue of corporate antibodies - those people and beliefs that stifle innovation.  He addresses four kinds of corporate antibodies for innovation:EgoFatigue (tried that before)No risk ("no ROI", "no funds available")Comfort ("don't rock the boat", "we've always done it this way")These beliefs and innovation responses will be familiar to anyone who has attempted innovation.In the next section of the book Phil defines his FIRE methodology:  Focus, Ideation, Ranking and Execution.  Basically a high level innovation methodology. Focus is about making the right decisions - key questions: who (customer), what (product) and how (function).  Phil argues too much emphasis is placed on customer and product, and not enough on function. Ideation is about generating ideas based on key questions.Ranking is, as its name suggests, ranking or prioritizing ideas, especially weeding out influence and biasExecution described a gated funding system to advance good ideas while keeping costs and risks low.Once the FIRE methodology is introduced, Phil shows how each step of the process is managed and governed by asking good questions.  Who is your customer?  What criteria do they use to select your product?  Who is using it in unanticipated ways?  What is your offering? and so forth.  A lot of good questions to use to drive the ideation and ranking of your ideas.Toward the end of the book Phil provides insights into how he runs innovation workshops and then provides a couple of very nice case studies where his Killer Questions approach has been used.My Take:Phil hits the nail on the head when he advocates approaching innovation from a discovery and questioning point of view.  Far too often many firms attempt to start from certainty and move to certainty, rather than starting from questions and exploration.  Phil's Killer Question approach is very helpful, using key questions and changing perspectives and assumptions.   This is a methodology that can be used by individuals or by a large group.Phil incorporates a lot of innovation best practice, including trend spotting and scenario planning, and even incorporates questions that begin to uncover customer needs that may be unclear or hidden.  His advice on execution, using a gated funding model to keep costs and risks low, is in line with best practices.There's much to take away from Killer Questions, especially the questions, but I think Phil's informal style is suitable only for people who are exceptionally skilled or confident in an innovation leadership role.  I can easily see an innovation consultant leading a client through this process, or a very senior executive who buys into the questioning approach.  There's not enough detail or definition to build an innovation capability or discipline based on what Phil has written.  It would be difficult for a firm to adopt this model without strong facilitation, since there's little definition of the process.Phil's Killer Questions and his questioning approach will definitely be adopted by many firms.  I'll be incorporating some of his questions and his approach in our OVO innovation methodology.  However, without a strong, confident innovation leader who can encourage people to question their assumptions and work within this approach, it may be difficult for some firms to replicate Phil's success.

33

Endless Innovation

• Facebook Unlike and Internet Schadenfreude 16 May, 2012, 8:02 pm
  “Facebook is worth $100 billion, but all I got was this lousy status update.” That just about sums up the type of public sentiment that has been inundating the Internet over the past few weeks. Facebook’s much-anticipated $100 billion IPO is almost ready to hit the market after a circus-like ...Read More
• The Cleanweb: Green Energy Meets Moore's Law 15 May, 2012, 1:43 pm
  By embracing new Web and mobile technologies, green energy companies are creating a new Cleanweb movement in which formerly expensive alternative energy sources - such as solar power - are suddenly accessible to the masses at a significantly lower price point. Think of the Cleanweb as what ...Read More
• The Internet's Battle For Our Digital Souls 10 May, 2012, 7:05 pm
  Harvard neuroscience researchers have just confirmed what many of us have suspected all along: social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are “brain candy” for Internet users. Every status update, every tweet, every pin is a micro-jolt delivered squarely to the pleasure ...Read More
• Is That a Drone In Your Backyard? 4 May, 2012, 7:53 am
  We are rapidly turning into a nation of drone enthusiasts. According to a recent Freedom of Information Act request from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), there are now 63 drone launch locations scattered around the United States. These range from those controlled by academic research labs ...Read More
• How to Build the 100-Year Company 2 May, 2012, 6:08 pm
  The 100-year company is the rarest of all organizations in Corporate America – a company that has somehow managed to survive the ebbs and flows of multiple business cycles, the appearance of radically disruptive technologies and the changing tastes of entirely different generations. While very ...Read More
• The Robotic Future is Fast, Cheap and Out of Control 26 April, 2012, 8:09 pm
  The robotic future is here, and it looks nothing like we thought it would. Instead of humanoid, highly-intelligent robots that do our bidding, the future is increasingly one of robotic swarms, robotic quadrotors, and tiny robots no larger than insects that perform surgery. The robotics ...Read More
• Think Green, Drink Brown: Recycled Water 24 April, 2012, 8:08 pm
  Slate recently highlighted the fastest-growing industries in the USA - everything from hot sauce to self-tanning products to 3D printers to generic pharmaceuticals. Here's one industry they missed: the recycled water industry. Within the next decade, people living in U.S. cities such as Los ...Read More
• Mobile is So Money: The Future of the Internet 18 April, 2012, 9:11 pm
  Across Silicon Valley, companies like Google and Facebook are waking up and realizing that the future of the Internet is no longer taking place on the desktop or laptop - it is taking place on the tablet and smartphone. As a result, there has been a huge land grab in 2012 to control the future ...Read More
• Meet the Urban Datasexual 16 April, 2012, 8:40 pm
  The same cultural zeitgeist that gave us the metrosexual - the urban male obsessive about grooming and personal appearance - is also creating its digital equivalent: the datasexual. The datasexual looks a lot like you and me, but what’s different is their preoccupation with personal data. They ...Read More
• Will the Robo-Driver Save Detroit? 10 April, 2012, 8:04 pm
  As of March 1, Nevada became the first state in the nation where it is legal for driverless cars to take to the roads, provided they identify themselves with red license plates. In addition, there are a growing number of influential states – including California and Florida – that are now pushing ...Read More

32

principledinnovation

• P.I. Podcast: Interview with author Daniel Burrus 7 March, 2011, 3:33 am
  It’s very exciting to be a part of the latest Post2Post Virtual Book Tour, organized by Paul Williams of Idea Sandbox.  I’m particularly happy to be leading off this tour with a podcast interview with Daniel Burrus, author of Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible.  Daniel is one of the world’s foremost thinkers on the impact of new technologies on organizations, so it was a great pleasure to speak with him. In our interview, we talk about what flash foresight is, and why it is important to organizational leaders, as well as a couple of the seven key principles Daniel explores in detail in the book.  We also discuss some of the specific challenges facing associations, including the impact of mobile and the future of events.  It was a great conversation and, in the end, I certainly agree with Daniel’s sense of excitement and possibility for the future of the 21st century association, but not for associations that remain entrenched in 20th century thinking. I highly recommend you pick up your copy of Flash Foresight as soon as possible.  And when you do, be sure to visit the book’s website to find out how you can receive bonus resources valued at over $20,000!  In the meantime, here is the blogger lineup for the rest of this week’s Flash Foresight Post2Post Virtual Book Tour, including links to Twitter: Tuesday, March 8:  The Fresh Peel (Chris Wilson) Wednesday, March 9:  Brand Mix (Martin Bishop) Thursday, March 10:  Make It Great (Phil Gerbyshak) Friday, March 11:  Rajesh Setty Blog (Rajesh Setty) This podcast (23 MB download) is approximately 25 minutes in length.  Please e-mail me if you have any comments, questions and suggestions for future guests.  Please don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, and be sure to join the Principled Innovation Facebook fan page. Download audio file (burrus.mp3)
• Getting ready for Great Ideas ‘11 6 March, 2011, 1:56 pm
  Another Great Ideas Conference is almost here, and I wanted to post a couple of time sensitive announcements for those of you who are going to be at the conference. +On Monday, March 14, I am leading a four-hour Business Model Innovation Workshop beginning at 1:30 pm in the Robert Trent Jones Room in the Spa & Golf Building.  If you’re planning to attend the workshop, please e-mail me ASAP so I can send you information on how to prepare for the session.  This preparation is really important, so please do not delay in reaching out. +On Tuesday, March 15, I will facilitate an informal group discussion of the new book, The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business by Umair Haque on Tuesday, March 15, beginning at 2 p.m. in Colorado Hall Room E.  I recently posted a podcast interview with Umair on this blog, and I have been blogging about the book on ASAE’s Acronym Blog.  Below are links to the first three Acronym posts, and the last post will be up on Tuesday. Disruptor or disrupted? Hunter or captain of an ark? Constructive advantage for associations Everyone is welcome at the group discussion, regardless of whether you’ve read the book.  We will use Umair’s thinking as a lens for viewing the challenges and opportunities facing associations over the next decade and beyond. Finally, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to listen my podcast interview with Matthew May, the Great Ideas conference opening keynote speaker.  Whether you’ll be at the conference in person, or monitoring the happenings from wherever you are, I think you’ll enjoy my conversation with Matt. I’m really looking forward to seeing many long-time friends and colleagues in Colorado Springs.  Travel safely everyone! Please following me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pinnovation.
• P.I. Podcast: Interview with author Matthew May 2 March, 2011, 6:28 am
  As many of us prepare to head to the Great Ideas Conference in Colorado at the end of next week, I wanted to chat with author Matthew May, the conference’s opening general session speaker and a guest on the P.I. Podcast in July 2009.  I really enjoyed my first conversation with Matt, and I was so grateful when he agreed to take a few minutes to speak with me again. In this new 20-minute podcast, we discuss the state of innovation today, the key themes from Matt’s March 13 talk at Great Ideas, his latest book, The Shibumi Strategy: A Powerful Way to Create Meaningful Change and how to shift organizations away from the default setting of “doing more with less.”  If you’re looking for a quick and interesting way to get ready for the Great Ideas Conference, or if you can’t make it to the conference and want to get a flavor for the discussions we’ll be having there, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to listen this interview. If you’re going to be at Great Ideas, please be sure to say hello.  I look forward to seeing you soon! This podcast (22 MB download) is approximately 24 minutes in length.  Please e-mail me if you have any comments, questions and suggestions for future guests.  Please don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, and be sure to join the Principled Innovation Facebook fan page. Download audio file (matthewmay11.mp3)
• P.I. Podcast: Interview with Umair Haque 7 February, 2011, 3:00 pm
  Quite some time has passed since my last podcast, so I really wanted to start off 2011 with a completely awesome guest.  Fortunately, I was able to make it happen, and it certainly was a great thrill it was for me to interview blogger Umair Haque, author of The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business from Harvard Business Review Press.  BIG WIN! I’ve been wanting to interview Umair for years, but we were unable to connect before now.  For me, the conversation was totally worth the wait, and I hope you’ll agree.  This is one of my long-form podcasts (more than one hour running time), so it will be an investment on your part.  But it’s a rich conversation and I’m confident that if you take the time to listen to it, you’ll take as much away from it as I did. During the podcast, I mention author and blogger Stephen Denning’s review of Umair’s book.  You should read the whole review, of course, but let me share Steve’s “bottom line” with you: Overall, the book is courageous, thought-provoking, profound, incisive, daring, brilliant, trail-blazing, witty and ethical. In accordance with its own principles, it gives us value that matters, value that will last and value that will multiply. For anyone who cares about the future of the human race, a must read. WOW!  That is a remarkable endorsement, and in my view, completely deserved.  The New Capitalist Manifesto is an extraordinary book filled with insight, foresight and powerful original thinking about what is possible (and necessary) if we’re going to build better organizations and a better world. To bring the conversation I began with Umair into our community, I’m very pleased to announce that I’ll be guest blogging about The New Capitalist Manifesto on ASAE’s Acronym blog throughout the month of February.  So go ahead and listen to the podcast today, and look for my first blog post tomorrow! This podcast (61 MB download) is just over 60 minutes in length.  Please e-mail me if you have any comments, questions and suggestions for future guests.  Please don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, and be sure to join the Principled Innovation Facebook fan page. Download audio file (umairhaque.mp3)
• Innovation for Associations: Part Two 20 January, 2011, 12:00 pm
  This is the second in a series of three posts in which I react to the “Innovation for Associations” white paper from the Wisconsin Society of Association Executives.  Please read this post from Eric Lanke on the Hourglass Blog for more information on our plans for this point-counterpoint series. Here is my first post in the series, and Eric’s response. Today’s post: What factors prevent associations from making innovation an on-going priority? The “Innovation for Associations” white paper proposes four barriers to innovation in associations:  diffuse leadership, low tolerance for risk, unwillingness to commit resources and complex organizational structures.  While these barriers certainly exist to varying degrees in most associations, they are not the real root causes of our community’s continuing struggle with innovation.  Throughout my career working in and with associations, I have observed four other deep-seated obstacles that have rendered the phrase, “association innovation,” something of a contradiction in terms. Sameness–Sameness is the defining characteristic of the association experience.  Associations bring together people who are alike in more ways than they are different:  same fields, same jobs and, thus, similar ways of seeing and thinking about the world.  Sameness also shapes the typical association value creation process itself:  everyone must be treated the same, receive the same benefits and participate in the same activities.  Unfortunately, this homogeneous way of being engenders an inherent resistance to radical and disruptive thinking that is very hard to overcome.  Innovation thrives in vibrantly imaginative environments filled with diverse experiences, divergent points of view and the creative friction they inspire.  The native sameness of associations makes it hard to spark these conditions in the first place, and difficult to sustain over time. Politics trumps everything--Politics exists in all organizations, and certainly can be an obstacle to innovation in any setting.  But it is the unique role politics plays in both the selection and decision-making of voluntary association leaders that creates special problems for making innovation a priority.  In far too many associations, political considerations trump all other factors, including individual capability, in determining who will occupy critical leadership roles.  The rise to office of politically-popular leaders, often as a result of contested elections, is rarely good news for the pursuit of innovation.  Senior voluntary leaders have no real incentive to jeopardize their standing within a status quo they helped to create and over which they now preside by embracing so-called “risky” ideas.  Leaders elsewhere in association hierarchies take their cues from the top and tend to favor more conservative courses of action to ensure their future political viability. Markets vs. membership–For better and for worse, for-profit companies live in the world of turbulent markets and, as a consequence, use continuous innovation as a strategy for anticipating and serving rapidly shifting customer needs.  In contrast, associations exist in the more proscribed world of membership and, as a consequence, try to meet the needs of vastly smaller self-selected groups of stakeholders with similar (see above) and often more conventional attitudes and preferences.  For most associations, member loyalty, rather than sustained new value creation through innovation, has been the historic driver of both strategic and financial success.  Over the last 10 years, however, the end of any credible belief in unquestioned member loyalty–a belief that blinded both leaders and organizations across our community for a very long time–has left associations with no alternative but to consider how to deal with unfavorable market realities from which they were previously insulated. Plans matter more than possibilities–Contrary to our community’s conventional wisdom, strategic planning has done more to squander association potential than it has to harness it.  Indeed if the Task Force is correct, and a low tolerance for risk and an unwillingness to commit resources are two major barriers to innovation in associations, much of the blame goes to our continued use of strategic planning as a tool for “creating the future.”  Through an endless series of strategic planning processes, association leaders have learned to value the plan above all else.  Planning is about creating certainty by requiring all answers upfront and eliminating all risk.  Innovation leverages risk to create new value.  Planning is about prioritizing the operational needs of the organization ahead of the profound challenges facing association stakeholders.  Innovation builds on empathy and learning to create new value.  Planning concentrates organizational efforts on achieving the feasible.  Innovation expands organizational capacity to embrace the possible.  So, exactly what kind of future are associations trying to create for themselves and their stakeholders? In my final post next week, I will address how associations can embrace innovation more easily and turn it into a genuine strategic priority. What do you think?  Why isn’t (or why is) innovation a priority in your association?  Please join this important conversation by sharing your thoughts below.  Back to you Eric! My final post:  How can associations embrace innovation more easily? Join me in February for “From Tradition to Transformation: Building the 21st Century Association to Thrive,” a three-part Power Learning Series presented by Peach New Media. Please follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pinnovation.
• Innovation for Associations: Part One 12 January, 2011, 6:45 am
  This is the first in a series of three posts in which I react to the “Innovation for Associations” white paper from the Wisconsin Society of Association Executives.  Please read this post from Eric Lanke on the Hourglass Blog for more information on our plans for this point-counterpoint series. As we begin this series, I would like to thank Eric Lanke, chair of the WSAE Innovation Task Force, and all of the Task Force members for their excellent work in creating this white paper for the benefit of the entire association community.  It is a terrific conversation starter that leaves plenty of room to explore divergent perspectives on the critical issues of association innovation, and I’m really pleased to be able to make a contribution to the dialogue.  Please make your contribution by sharing your thoughts in the comments below. In this initial post, we will consider the following question: Why is innovation critical to the future of associations? It comes as something of a surprise that the white paper is silent on this specific question, given the lack of consensus in the association community about the need for innovation.  The white paper states as its goal the desire “to define an evidence-based model of innovation for association community,” but does not make clear why such a model is necessary.  It also offers a fairly generic definition of innovation–a process that effectively generates and applies creative ideas to the achievement of defined objectives–that does not explain why associations need to make innovation central to their work over the next ten years and beyond.  Perhaps the Task Force did not want to advocate too strongly on behalf of innovation, or perhaps it felt the rationale for the pursuit of innovation is self-evident.  Either way, I believe it is a missed opportunity to help “make the case” for innovation with associations that still do not fully grasp the strategic and operational significance of this conversation to their future success. According to the late Peter Drucker, innovation is “change that creates a new dimension of performance.”  It is an amazingly simple and insightful definition, yet it is incomplete because it does not recognize the core argument for innovation in any context:  new value creation for stakeholders.  The association blogosphere’s vibrant discussion on the value of membership has revealed the steep price associations are paying today for the failure to innovate over the last ten years.  And in the turbulent decade ahead, associations face unprecedented and serious challenges that will not be solved through conventional approaches.  What will we do when “what we’ve always done” not only doesn’t work, but makes things worse? As the white paper suggests, the sustainable pursuit of innovation is as much a matter of organizational culture as it is of capabilities and resources.  But associations cannot wait for the hard work of changing stubbornly traditional cultures to take hold before embracing the pursuit of innovation.  The idea of building an “evidence-based model of innovation” for our community is intuitively appealing and a worthy long-term goal.  What associations need right now, however, is a genuine commitment to an accelerated and intensive process of continuous experimentation, shaped by empathic understanding, driven by meaningful co-creation with stakeholders and constantly attentive to the power of serendipity.  In Part Two of this series, I will explore some of the reasons why making this kind of deep commitment is so difficult for associations. The next post: What factors prevent associations from making innovation an on-going priority?   Join me in February for “From Tradition to Transformation: Building the 21st Century Association to Thrive,” a three-part Power Learning Series presented by Peach New Media. Please follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pinnovation.
• Paying the price for the failure to innovate 7 January, 2011, 7:39 am
  Several years ago, I attended an innovation master class presented by guru Gary Hamel.  Hamel told us that today’s operational challenges typically begin as strategic challenges 3-5 years before, offering yet another reason for continuous innovation.  After all, why would you allow unsolved problems to damage your core business if you have an opportunity to address them before they become critical?  The recent blogosphere conversation on the value of association membership, inspired by association professional Joe Flowers, is further proof of Hamel’s point and, unfortunately, clear evidence that associations are now paying a price for the failure to innovate more aggressively. For as long as I have been a part of this community, association leaders have been wringing their hands about the necessity of innovation, and they have made every conceivable excuse for why it cannot be done.  It’s too risky, it’s too expensive, it’s too difficult they say.  But over the last ten days or so, the conversation about association membership has revealed how much riskier, more expensive and more difficult the consensus choice to preserve the status quo has become.  Membership has been, and continues to be, the core business of associations, and it is in peril.  This danger is created not simply because of a more social web, but a more open and social world.  Many of the technologies that amplify connection, cooperation and collaboration online have enter the consciousness of our community over the last 3-5 years, but most have been around in different forms for an even longer time.  Over much of this same period, we dismissed the impact of these tools on our work, inexplicably assuming that what we do is so unique and special it is immune to the powerful forces reshaping the rest of society.  As we have learned, it isn’t. So what do we do now?  Instead of the reflexive recriminations this conversation has surfaced, what we need is empathic understanding.  As I read through Joe’s original post, the comments and what others have written in the days since, it occurred to me that no one asked him a pretty fundamental question: If the value you received for your $100 dues payment was insufficient, what kind of value would you pay for?  What really matters to you? I e-mailed this question to Joe yesterday and he graciously took the time to respond.  I’ll let him decide if he wants to post the specific thoughts he shared with me, but what I took away from Joe’s response was a deep desire for a vibrant professional learning experience grounded in meaningful peer and mentor relationships, something he ultimately discovered by associating with colleagues in online social spaces rather than through his professional association.  This is an important empathic insight that associations can use to rethink the value and business model of the traditional membership offer.  For every Joe out there with the willingness to express dissatisfaction in a public forum, I believe there are many others who feel the same way, but never say anything about it.  We need to access these hidden perspectives to build a more intimate understanding of the kinds of relationships our stakeholders would like to have with us. This is the time for deep experimentation in every phase of association work.  It’s actually something we should have done years ago, as Gary Hamel suggests, but now that we have arrived at a true inflection point, we can no longer ignore the absolute necessity of undertaking a serious innovation effort that will help our organizations thrive in the years ahead.  Thanks Joe for reminding us why innovation is so important to our future success! Join me in February for “From Tradition to Transformation: Building the 21st Century Association to Thrive,” a three-part Power Learning Series presented by Peach New Media. Please follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pinnovation.
• What is it going to take to thrive? 19 December, 2010, 6:58 pm
  It’s an important question for associations, and one I’ll be asking often, as well as trying to answer, in 2011.  To help get this critical conversation started, I’m extremely pleased to be collaborating with my friends at Peach New Media on an exciting three-part “Power Learning Series” in February 2011. The series is called “From Tradition to Transformation: Building 21st Century Associations to Thrive,” and it will be a high impact learning opportunity for all association leaders.  Instead of the traditional webinar format, we’re using flip thinking to create a deeper, richer and more meaningful experience that will help you build the right capabilities to lead your association into the next decade of the 21st century. You can find more information on the Power Learning Series by visiting the registration page.  I hope you will consider joining me in February! Please follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pinnovation.
• Check out my CSAE cover story 16 November, 2010, 12:30 pm
  This afternoon’s trip to the mailbox held a very exciting surprise for me.  My article, “The New Work of Governing:  Leading 21st Century Associations into the Social Future,” is the cover story in the October/November issue of Association Magazine, the publication of the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE).  I knew the article would appear in this issue, but I didn’t know it would be the cover story until today.  Way cool! My friends at CSAE have kindly provided me with a PDF of the article that you can download.  Please share your thoughts below.  What’s also cool is that my original text is translated into French, so if any of you read French, please share your reactions to that version as well.  Looking forward to your comments! Please follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pinnovation.
• Mobile apps ARE NOT a waste of time for associations 11 November, 2010, 5:00 pm
  Earlier today, my friend and colleague Lindy Dreyer argued in a blog post that mobile apps are a waste of time for associations.  It probably doesn’t come as a surprise to P.I. readers that I see it differently.  Below is the comment I posted in response: Provocative post Lindy, but I completely disagree with your take. Mobile app development is not at all a waste of time for associations. On the contrary, I think it is a critical element of 21st century association strategic thinking and business model innovation. Let me briefly respond to each of your points above: 1. This summer, the Apple App Store reached 5 billion downloads and the current count of app downloads from the Android Market is more than 2 billion. So I guess I don’t see any actual evidence of barriers to use. 2. There is a long tail marketplace for mobile apps, and associations don’t really need to be concerned about competing with “lifestyle” or gaming app developers who want to be at the head of the tail. The goal of mobile app development for associations is to create a meaningful mobile presence that delivers unique and enduring value to its stakeholders. Association apps will always be niche offerings, and that’s not a problem as long as they are well done, useful and serve a strategic purpose. 3. We cannot say with any degree of certainty that association members aren’t using apps, but we can say that there have been fewer smart phones in use than feature phones. According to comScore, as of this summer, more than 50 million smart phones were in use in the United States, and while feature phone use is on the decline, smart phone use is growing dramatically. As the number of smart phones in the marketplace increases over the next few years, I would expect to see significant increases in app use (see below), which makes this exactly the right time for associations to create apps that serve their stakeholders. In addition, while texting is a convenient and very popular communications tool, it does not offer a rich experience to users. It is the pure mobile equivalent of e-mail and listservers. It’s ubiquitous because it is simple, but it is clearly insufficient for building deeper relationships. 4. It is premature to declare that native mobile apps will be in decline in the next few years. This summer, Juniper Research reported that mobile downloads should reach 25 billion per year by 2015. The arrival of app-based tablets in the marketplace is likely to spur new growth in apps as well, and thus new opportunities for associations. Web app development with HTML5 is definitely a promising direction to explore, but the experience with apps developed in this way is not as seamless and rich as native apps. The technology will improve in the years ahead, but during that time, the native app marketplace will continue to grow. 5. We agree that associations should do a complete exploration of the mobile space to determine the best opportunities for meaningful value creation. I wholeheartedly endorse the idea of gaining more information on their members mobile behavior and I have created a list of 12 questions that associations can use to get this kind of information. Those questions can be found online at http://bit.ly/12mobilequestions. Until we build our understanding in this area, I don’t believe we should be rejecting mobile app development out of hand. Let me add that we cannot overlook apps for tablets, the growing adoption of iPhones/iPads in the enterprise or the equally impressive growth of mobile outside of North America. All of these trends create new opportunities for associations willing to invest in mobile app development as part of their strategy for value creation. Lindy, I can recall a time no so long ago that we were all looking at data showing the low adoption of social technologies, and yet we were rightly arguing to associations that they should embrace these tools because they were going gain more traction. Given the huge growth and innovation in the mobile space, I believe that associations will benefit by being more proactive now instead of playing it safe, which is the default setting of most organizations in our community. We need to encourage more disruptive innovation in associations, not less of it, and I am convinced that mobile app development is a important part of building a future in which associating is mobile. What do you think?  Please share your thoughts as comments below. Please follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pinnovation.

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• What’s it like to take part in an accelerator? 18 May, 2012, 6:18 am
  Ever wondered what it’s like to join an accelerator program? If you think you’re ready to apply to MaRS’ new accelerator program, JOLT, but would like to know what you’re in for, read on. The following post is courtesy of entrepreneur Winston Mok, CEO of Simply Good Technologies, a company working on mobile couponing based on influence. Originally from Toronto, Mok headed to Boston in January to participate in the TechStars accelerator program there. His company was the first from Toronto to be accepted into the program. Here’s his account of the accelerator experience. Out of 1,000 applicants for the TechStars Boston startup accelerator program, we were fortunate enough to have been one of the 13 startups selected. My perseverance and passion led me to say to Katie Rae, the managing director of TechStars Boston: “I know applications have long closed, but I want this. And if you’re willing to consider us, I will be back here first thing tomorrow.” Little did I realize that was just the beginning—and over the span of 100 days our business would go through an amazing transformation. At TechStars we were surrounded by great mentors, including Bill Warner, the founder of Avid Technology Inc., and Fred Destin, a partner at Atlas Venture. Through strong mentorship, an amazing network and a collaborative environment, we were able to quickly pivot our startup’s core proposition and establish significant traction. I vividly remember a pivotal mentor session with TechStars founder Dave Cohen in which he said: “Embrace the market you want to pursue—and crush it.” In addition to all of the entrepreneurial classes that were offered (investments, legal, public relations and more), one of my favourite events was the weekly closed-door, no-tweeting-allowed inspirational “founder story” session. Guest speakers included Eran Egozy, the co-founder and chief technical officer of Harmonix Music Systems (the creators of Guitar Hero), and Nabeel Hyatt, the founder and CEO of social gaming company Conduit Labs, now Zynga. These sessions gave a true behind-the-scenes look at technology entrepreneurship from some highly recognized companies. Ever wonder what it feels like to cash a $175 million cheque at your local bank? Just ask Eran. For the program finale—Demo Day—the CEO of each startup had a five-minute presentation to pitch to hundreds of investors. Leading up to “D-Day,” these founders practised their pitches daily, getting feedback from mentors. I had a grueling time with our pitch. With only one week to go, I completely blanked out during a practice, which was a major wake-up call. A blessing in disguise, it pushed me to persist and persevere, and my presentation ended up stronger than ever. In fact, it was selected as Demo Day’s opening pitch! Looking back, one of the most valuable parts of the TechStars program was spending time with the other startup founders. We formed a sort of bond, as if we were all part of a “summer camp” for startups. We hosted our own barbecues, house parties, bar gatherings and dinners, which helped create a clear line of trust between us all, sort of like a startup support group. We’d often share information in confidence—collectively giving us strength, unity and a balanced perspective—not to mention way too many man-hugs. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to meet with MaRS advisors Susan McGill (the Executive Director of JOLT) and Ryan Poissant to share my experiences about being the first Toronto company to participate in TechStars. I’m thrilled to hear about the JOLT accelerator program and how it will mirror many of the experiences we had in Boston, especially because I think this is something Toronto really needs. With the wealth of great talent and ideas in this city, JOLT is set to be the catalyst that pushes Toronto’s startup community to the next level. Interested in seeing how JOLT can accelerate your startup? You have until May 30, 2012 to submit an application.
• The MaRS Mavens Launches – A Network of Engagement All-Stars and What “Innovation is” 17 May, 2012, 8:20 am
  If you want to be successful in any organization, it’s imperative that you surround yourself with the most interesting big thinkers and with leaders who can push you, challenge you and pull you into the future. The adage “You are the company you keep” is particularly apt when it comes 48 hours in the valley,to innovation. Think Frederick Banting and Charles Best. Think Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Think Sergey Brin and Larry Page. We’ve embraced this notion at MaRS from the very beginning, collaborating with some of the “best of us” across private and public sectors, academia and entrepreneurship, and spanning capital, corporate and social innovation arenas. MaRS is now at an interesting pivot point, both physically and as an organization. For those of you in our neighborhood, you may have noticed an edifice rising up at Canada’s epicentre of innovation: College Street and University Avenue in Toronto. This Phase 2 expansion, which will be completed by September 2013, will double the footprint of our physical space as a “beacon of innovation.” And as exciting as that this, our ambitions for what Canadian innovation can be—and how we can support it—likely outstrip that physical growth by a significant exponential factor. So as we launch and tell the story of our next chapter of innovation, we at MaRS recognize the need to engage and collaborate with all of our stakeholders more deeply, more creatively, more broadly and more geographically wide. With that in mind, we have invited 20 external leaders of the corporate, digital, media, marketing, creative and design industries to join a hothouse of 12 MaRS staff to produce innovation wonderment. We call them the MaRS Mavens. We’re already so grateful for their investment of time and energy, and would like to credit them here publicly. Paul Barter, vice-president, research, T4G Jennifer Bell, vice-president, communications, Toronto International Film Festival Group Willa Black, vice-president, corporate affairs, Cisco Canada Mary Jane Braide, principal, MJ Braide Lisa de Wilde, CEO, TVO Ferg Devins, chief public affairs officer, Molson Coors Canada Nicole German, head of marketing, LinkedIn Barry Hillier, founder, Dashboard Mary Keating, senior vice-president and national practice leader, technology communications, Hill + Knowlton Strategies Alison King, president, Media Profile Amber MacArthur, founder/TV host, MGI Media/“App Central” Stuart MacDonald, chief marketing and revenue officer, FreshBooks Idris Mootee, CEO, Idea Couture Tony Pigott, president and CEO, JWT Duncan Stewart, director of research, Deloitte Canada Kevin Stolarick, research director, Martin Prosperity Institute Max Valiquette, managing director of intellectual property and content, Bensimon Byrne Brenda van Ginkel, MaRS advisor Scotty Vanderwel, vice-president of corporate strategy and planning, Rogers Communications Inc. Kim Warburton, vice-president, communications and public affairs, GE Canada We are currently prioritizing what top engagement challenges this group will bite into, but we know sparks will fly. We also fully expect that, over the course of the year, this group will expand to include other subject matter experts who are stoked by the cause of leading the new generation of Canadian innovation. Let us know if you’d like to throw your hat in the ring. We asked the MaRS Mavens what they thought of the open-ended question “Innovation is….” Have a look at a cross-section of what they came back with below. MaRs Mavens Speak – “Innovation is…”      
• Top 10 tips for a successful B2B sales meeting 16 May, 2012, 12:36 pm
  Note: This post originally appeared on the Venture Accelerator Partners website. It has been reposted here with permission from the author. Meetings are often one of the most important components of a B2B sale. Roughly half the sales effort is attaining the meeting and the other half is what you do in the meeting.  What you do before and after the meeting are important, but don’t minimize the meeting itself. Below are my top 10 tips for a successful sales B2B meeting. Goals Make sure that you have goals for the meeting. These goals should help you move the opportunity towards being closed. Goals could include both understanding the buying decision and validating a prospect’s interest in your solution. It was a successful meeting if you achieve your goals. Next steps At the end of each meeting next steps should be discussed with the customer or prospect. Next steps can include a proposal, meeting with a decision maker or a demo of the solution. Ask questions At the start of the meeting, ask a lot of questions so you can better understand the target’s pain, environment, and goals. This will help you to align your solutions to the targets interest. What is in it for them Always ensure that you understand why the customer called the meeting. You will want to meet their needs for the meeting as well, not just your agenda. Don’t interrupt If the customer is talking don’t cut them off.  First, it is rude and second, they could be about to say something that would significantly help the meeting. Research before the meeting There are many sources available to research a customer before a meeting. Research the customer and contact through the company site, search engines, and through social media tools like LinkedIn, all of which can significantly help the meeting. Focus on what you have learned Take what you have learned in the meeting from the customer to alter your pitch and focus. Target the things that the customer is interested in versus going through all your products and features. Create pauses Don’t forget to stop talking and allow for comments from the customer. This gives them the opportunity to ask questions or provide comments. Introductions There may be new people in the meeting that you have not met before. Introductions help to understand why they might be in the meeting and the role they could play in the decision. Don’t be late There is nothing worse than being late for a meeting. Always focus on being early; Canada deals with poor weather and traffic conditions, therefore plan your trip ahead by leaving yourself ample time. Before the meeting, find the closest coffee shop with wifi to spend extra time if you do arrive early. If you would like some help with setting up a team strategy in order to get the most out of your meetings or would like some help booking meetings, please connect with me and we can discuss your needs.
• Calling all future leaders! Apply now for our entrepreneurship boot camp 15 May, 2012, 6:45 am
  A new entrepreneurship incubator has popped up in San Francisco to pump even more startups into the crowded ecosystem of Silicon Valley. BizWiz teaches customer development, financing basics, project management and marketing. The attendees aren’t Stanford University grads, though—they’re eight-year-old children. BizWiz is part of a growing realization that if we truly believe that innovation and entrepreneurship represent the next big wave of economic development, we need to start teaching entrepreneurial skills early on, and often. In Canada, we desperately need to change the public’s attitude toward entrepreneurship as a legitimate career choice. We need to start this conversation early: before students have locked in any preconceptions about career paths and before their own creativity has been stifled by a school system created in the industrial revolution. To that end, MaRS Education is pleased to announce the launch of MaRS Future Leaders, an entrepreneurship boot camp for students ages 13 to 15.  For one week this summer, students will invent and develop their own business ideas, test their assumptions, meet customers, and work one-on-one with mentors and successful entrepreneurs. Attendees will learn skills critical to their future success, including communication, teamwork, perseverance, creativity, critical thinking and goal-setting. In his new book, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World, prominent educator Tony Wagner profiles several young people who have grown into dynamic entrepreneurs, applying critical-thinking skills to the problems they encounter, and creating businesses and campaigns for social change. The one thing these young people have in common is that, from an early age, their parents and educators tapped into a sense of “intrinsic” motivation, and gave them the freedom to explore. Less motivated by grades, these kids want to change the world, and truly believe they can do so. “Merely giving students more of the same education will not create students who can innovate,” writes Wagner. “For students to become innovators in the twenty-first century, they need a different education, not merely more education.” Let’s start thinking about how we can create more of these kinds of students, the next generation of entrepreneurs. Apply now for the MaRS Future Leaders summer program, taking place July 23 to 27 at MaRS Discovery District.
• Ontario is leading the way to a clean energy future 14 May, 2012, 5:26 am
  As a new member of the MaRS Cleantech team, I’ve quickly come up to speed with the latest news and information regarding the global energy industry and Ontario’s energy industry in particular. I’ve been delighted to learn that Ontario is paving the way for cleaner, more sustainable energy generation with many initiatives and incentives for both homes and businesses. Ontario is Canada’s solar and wind power leader, housing the four largest solar and wind farms in the country. (See Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan for more information.) Ontario is developing a smart electricity grid to integrate the thousands of megawatts of renewable energy generated. Ontario leads the pack in North America in renewable and reliable energy with $1 billion in investments to deploy smart meters for homes and small businesses. The strength of Ontario’s energy sector is also highlighted through the province’s electricity exports. Ontario’s electricity market generated $13 million in December 2011 by exporting electricity to other provinces and states. Since 2006, the electricity market has generated $1.8 billion from exports, which helps keep costs down and allows Ontario to develop modern and clean electricity systems for the future. The future of Ontario energy exports should focus on exporting equipment and innovations that will complement electricity exports. By 2030, it is predicted that Ontario’s population will rise by 28%, increasing by almost 3.7 million people. With our growing roster of talented, innovative cleantech entrepreneurs, Ontario has created a strong manufacturing, service and financial presence in the clean energy sector and now has the opportunity to create a sustainable position in the enormous global export market. It seems I’ve joined MaRS and the energy sector at the right time! MaRS, in co-operation with local and international energy leaders, will host the Future of Energy Summit on June 8, 2012. This one-day summit will investigate ways of developing the technologies and talent required to improve energy networks and create a future of clean energy. The summit will focus on five main themes: Using the power of Ontario’s energy data to drive wider innovation and economic growth Designing the grid of the future to enable distributed generation and improved efficiency Combining different energy sources and considering the future roles of natural gas and electricity Emerging energy generation and storage technologies, including exploring the commercialization path for competitive and reliable energy storage systems Supporting the commercialization of new energy technology, including both public and private sector initiatives to commercialize Canadian energy innovation If you are a stakeholder within the energy industry, we hope to see you at the Future of Energy Summit in June!
• Mompreneur is not a four-letter word 11 May, 2012, 12:44 pm
  In the world of startups, referring to someone’s business idea as a “mompreneur model” is usually intended as a slight. Mompreneurs are seen as business-light, hobbyists or bored “housewives” who take on a little side project to keep themselves busy. The reality, of course, couldn’t be further from the truth. I recently interviewed three very smart women—all mompreneurs—whose recent ventures have taken off for them and who all have a history of successful enterprises behind them. Their businesses may be different, but fundamentally the three women share a number of common threads: they’re smart business leaders, determined entrepreneurs and stunningly successful. First I met with Jaime Martin, who was bitten by the entrepreneurship bug when she bought her mother’s retail store at the age of 19. While she owned the business, she won recognition awards and became a speaker for the local economic development office. The accolades were free flowing. Her store was turning a profit, but it wasn’t big enough to enable her to hire additional staff to help free up some of her time so she could focus more on her family. After five years, Martin decided to sell the business. Following a year at home with her first child, she took on a secure full-time job at a local hospital. After her second child was born, Martin realized that due to her lack of seniority in her job, she was missing out on events in her children’s lives, like her daughter’s first birthday. That’s when her priorities started to shift. It was during her last maternity leave that she knew she needed to make a change. Martin was invited to an Arbonne party hosted by a friend—a senior graphic designer who had a secure job and who was also on maternity leave, but “was selling lipstick” on the side. Martin couldn’t figure it out. Multi-level marketing was something that she was very skeptical about, but after being sent home with a sample pack she became a serious fan of the products. That’s when she considered Arbonne as an opportunity for her to “play business again.” It took Martin only six months to replace the income that she was earning from her full-time job, enabling her to focus on Arbonne full time. Now, 19 months later, she works her business 90% in “nap time” and is a regional vice-president. Some months she can earn anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000. She is successful beyond what she ever thought possible with this business model. Next, I met with Kristina LaCourse, who also started her entrepreneurial career in the traditional bricks and mortar retail model. She and her husband self-financed and opened up a children’s consignment shop. For almost four years, the award-winning business grew and it came to a point where the business needed to “go big or go home.” LaCourse knew she had to make a decision about whether she would tie herself to a $40,000 line of credit and expand the scope of the business as well as its size. After not feeling well for a consistent period, she realized she was pregnant again. She couldn’t fathom being able to afford having four kids in daycare, so she decided she needed to sell her business, which she did, for a profit. LaCourse stayed in the vertical she had just left and worked from home for the next three years as a sales rep for distributors of children’s products. A changing marketplace made it more difficult for her to make a consistent income and she realized that she needed to make a change for the sake of her family’s financial well-being. She took on a full-time, community-based role that had her spending time away from her family too often on evenings and weekends, and that took its toll on her own emotional well-being. She wasn’t happy. It was a friend from her former network of consignment store owners who introduced LaCourse to Stella & Dot. LaCourse thought that “she was pretty much crazy for getting involved in direct sales,” but saw that this friend was making up to $5,000 each month from her own sales and the sales of those women on her team. LaCourse loved the jewelry and was initially looking at the business as a “fun hobby” and a way to get free goods, but within three months, she was able to quit her full-time job. Now she builds her business mostly around her husband’s schedule and she has never needed child care to support her Stella & Dot venture. Due to LaCourse’s success in her retail and social selling businesses, she splits her time between coaching and managing a team of stylists, as well as acting as a business consultant for entrepreneurs of all stripes through her local economic development office. Finally, I spoke with Julie Cole. A lawyer by trade and a mother of six, Cole is the co-founder of Mabel’s Labels. She and three friends created the company when they saw that there was a clear need in the market for their product. These moms saw that families were using permanent markers, masking tape and other less than stellar solutions to tag their children’s clothes, sippy cups and toys before sending them off to play dates, school and camp. Mabel’s Labels are well known for being dishwasher, microwave and laundry safe, ensuring that the multitude of children’s items that leave home actually return. It took Cole and her partners about a year and a half from concept to launch, with many iterations of product testing. “I had items sitting in my dishwasher for over a year!” Julie told me. “It was a good idea that kept nagging at us, and we were all looking to leave the traditional workforce and try to find some flexibility in that ever-elusive quest to balance family, work life and professional aspirations.” Like many startups, they weren’t able to immediately leave their full-time lives. Two of the founders were on maternity leave and the other two were still working full time. In the early days, “there was a lot of working full time, raising kids and working at Mabel’s Labels from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.” To the startup community, this will sound all too familiar. Before you’re inclined to dismiss these businesses overall, let me share with you the following statistics. In 2010, Arbonne had almost 669,000 independent consultants globally. They paid out $21 million to those consultants in Canada alone. In 2011, Stella & Dot received a $37 million investment from Sequoia Capital, one of the world’s leading venture capital firms. The company started in 2004. In 2010 their revenues were $104 million, and they have paid out commissions to their stylists in excess of $50 million. Nine years after launching, Mabel’s Labels has been profiled in Forbes magazine, and in 2009 reached revenues of $9 million. According to the Direct Selling Association, $28 billion is spent annually on products sold directly in the United States, and there are 16.1 million sales people, of which 81.8% are women. There are a number of reasons why these businesses are successful. Social selling is the main driver here. “Moms talk about the products like it’s their job. They talk about it when they do the school drop off, they do it at the sides of the soccer fields,” said Cole. Word of mouth evangelism is as strong a movement as ever, especially now with the advent of social media. You can read more about the impact of social selling in the MaRS series “Merchants of Social.” This is how all of these female entrepreneurs have built their businesses, both on the micro and macro level. They’re successful because they love their products; they are the ultimate brand ambassadors. And so are their customers, both in real life and online. What other factors affect their success? They’re all smart managers—not only with their time and resources, but also in how they support their networks. They schedule regular coaching calls and, when they can, meet up face to face. And they’ve smartly integrated social media into their business strategies.entrepreneur, funding Why do these women consider themselves successful? Because they’ve met their goals of maintaining the integrity of their commitment to their families, as well as driving substantial incomes that enable vacations, renovations and savings. “I’m supporting a family of three and helping 50 other women support their families,” said Martin. This idea of women leading differently and shaping a better experience is explored in another female entrepreneur’s venture, Natalie MacNeil’s She Takes on the World. If these stories resonate with you and you feel you are ready to take the first step in changing your own future, MacNeil’s book is a great resource to help you get started in taking those first steps. Clearly, there are worse things to be referred to than a “mompreneur.” Really, you should be so lucky.
• Entrepreneurship empowers everyone. Startup Canada showcases entrepreneurs from coast to coast 11 May, 2012, 6:32 am
  There has recently been a lot of buzz about Startup Canada, a volunteer-led Canadian organization that is creating a national movement of celebrating, promoting and supporting entrepreneurship across Canada. Startup Canada’s ambition is to shed light on Canadian entrepreneurship and to work with community members to foster innovation and provide the support that entrepreneurs need. But how is Startup Canada taking it to a national level? They’re spending seven months touring across each province to determine the challenges facing entrepreneurs across Canada. They’re also bringing awareness to various community partners, like MaRS, by providing an additional online platform showcasing over 250 Canadian entrepreneurs and engaging 25,000 Canadians in over 130 events. Of these events, their signature town halls keep with their grassroots effort by enabling local entrepreneurs to come together to develop action plans and solutions to issues that they face in their communities. Startup Canada kicked off their tour in Nova Scotia in March and held an official national launch on May 2 in Ottawa. The excitement around their initiative was felt throughout the day’s events with over 450 attendees and the support of many government officials, including John Baird and Stephen Harper. After a visit to Prince Edward Island, they will be heading back to Ontario over the next two weeks, and then again in September. They will be visiting MaRS on May 18 to meet with our entrepreneurs and advisors. Their Ontario tour schedule is as follows: May 2: Ottawa national launch May 14 and 15: Toronto May 16 and 17: Waterloo May 18: Toronto May 22 and 23: Windsor May 24: Markham and York Region September 3 and 4: Sudbury September 5: Kingston September 6 and 7: Ottawa For more information on Startup Canada, including town halls in your area and how to get involved, visit their website at www.startupcan.ca. You can also follow their Twitter updates along the tour at @startup_canada.
• Food for thought from Geoff Mulgan’s whirlwind tour 10 May, 2012, 6:27 am
  Last week, Geoff Mulgan, the chief executive of Nesta in the United Kingdom, visited Toronto for a whirlwind tour that included an awe-inspiring 22 commitments in four days and four public talks. The diversity of his speaking topics is worth noting: aging, social entrepreneurship, public strategy, and innovation and austerity. The tour was organized and presented by Social Innovation Generation as part of its Inspiring Action for Social Impact speakers series, in partnership with MaRS, the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy & Governance, and the Centre for Social Innovation. Two of Mulgan’s talks were held at MaRS: one was the closing keynote of the Business of Aging conference, and the other was the MaRS Global Leadership lecture on innovation and austerity, the highlight of the trip. As a frequent advisor to the UK government, Mulgan is familiar with austerity, and as a leader within the think-tank Demos, The Young Foundation and, currently, Nesta, he is also a leading social innovator. It was no surprise, then, that the MaRS Auditorium was packed full of Canadians fearing the pinch of budget cuts as the government tries to bring down a deficit. Indeed, this was a truly pan-Canadian conversation, with attendees watching a livestream from nine cities, as far away as British Columbia and Nova Scotia. Mulgan, however, was a man on a mission: to reframe the debate around austerity and show that fear and fatalism are flawed responses to the crisis at hand. Rather, he posited, embracing the possibility of failure and creating safe spaces for risk are key to dealing with spending freezes and building a sustainable future. Mulgan began his talk with the question: “Is innovation a luxury of the boom years, or does it become more important during times of austerity?” He proceeded to note that while the private sector routinely leverages innovation to increase productivity and savings, there are no equivalent measures for the public sector. The government usually thinks of research and development, but only a fraction of the benefits from innovation can be attributed to R&D. This highlights a glaring gap between how we think of innovation in the economy and how it is practised by the public sector. There seems to be a lack of new ideas that can drive positive change, as evidenced by a chart in Mulgan’s presentation showing that as healthcare spending has risen in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, adult mortality rates have actually gone up, instead of down. To deconstruct different approaches toward austerity and highlight opportunities for innovation, Mulgan presented a framework of 12 economies that governments pursued. These can be divided into three broad groups: Traditional, such as selling off assets and freezing hiring Organizational, such as aggregating back-office functions, automating work and reducing failure demand (preventative investment) Relational, such as empowering citizens through community asset transfer, reducing regulation and tapping into social enterprise Clearly, there are opportunities, but how do we make the most of them? The audience was taken through a six-step process for doing just that, starting with prompts for innovation and leading toward systemic change as the selected approaches scale. Throughout, Mulgan presented a number of practical tips and examples of how Nesta has applied these six steps to a range of problems in the UK. One tip, for example, was using competitions and prizes to incentivize and foster creative thinking. There are a number of resources available to speed up the prototyping process as well. (See Mulgan’s presentation embedded below for more examples.) One of the most relevant aspects of the talk was how closely it aligned with current MaRS initiatives. For example, Mulgan emphasized the importance of investing in social innovation—which the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing is encouraging by supporting social enterprises and providing recommendations to unlock private capital for public good. He also highlighted the need for institutionalizing innovation in a safe space for failure, and the upcoming MaRS Solutions Lab is as good a start as any, borrowing from the best ideas around the world. The thing is, shortcuts don’t really work, and innovation is at least partly about destroying things that we love—which is a hard but necessary pill to swallow. Ultimately, Mulgan’s point was that the economic crisis is an opportunity for transforming public service, and that looking at this change with hope, rather than fear, can enable a different—and ultimately more productive—public discourse about austerity. Below are the slides that Geoff Mulgan used in his presentation:
• From Chile to Toronto, startup acceleration 9 May, 2012, 6:46 am
  Recently, I was fortunate to be part of the judging panel for Start-Up Chile, one of the largest government-led acceleration programs in the world. Its mission is to attract early-stage, high-potential startups, offering entrepreneurs the chance to bootstrap their companies in Chile and proving a platform to go global. Selected entrepreneurs are given a visa, some cash and access to the best of the Chilean investment and social communities. Similarly, in Toronto we’ve recently launched JOLT, an accelerator based here at MaRS. Our goal is to foster the success of the best high-growth web and mobile companies, with a clear emphasis on designing ‘wickedly good’ user experiences. In addition to workspace and seed capital, JOLT startups gain access to an incredible network of 80+ industry experts, entrepreneurs and investors, all offering their expertise with an emphasis on accelerating growth. JOLT workspace — 5,500-square-foot space with 75 co-working seats Interested in joining an accelerator program? My advice to those interested in these types of programs is to not only think globally in terms of the programs available, but to also clearly define how the program will help you turn your vision into reality. I recommend you keep the following in mind when evaluating an accelerator: The types of capital and terms being offered, and how they will help your startup’s development. The breadth and depth of the advisory team as it relates to programming. The industry experts on the accelerator’s roster in terms of how they can help you. The types of networking opportunities the accelerator offers. Next, I suggest you assess how the accelerator program will help guide you through the ‘customer discovery’ process. The steps are captured nicely in Steve Blank’s The Startup Owner’s Manual and summarized here: Customer discovery: Captures the founder’s vision and develops a plan to test the business model. Customer validation: Tests whether the resulting business model is repeatable and scalable. Customer creation: The start of execution, it builds end-user demand and drives it into the sales channel to scale the business. Company-building: Transitions the organization from a startup to a company focused on executing a validated model. In a startup, the founders define the product vision and then use customer discovery to find the customers and market for that vision. As a result, your choice of an accelerator may also depend on its proximity to the market where you will turn your vision into reality. Last, but not least: The application Lastly, you have to think about the accelerator application itself. Besides being ‘ready’ in both your personal and professional life, you will have to complete an in-depth application and be ready for rounds of reviews. This must be taken seriously, no ‘ifs, ands or buts’ about it. My colleague, Ryan Poissant, Advisor in the MaRS ICE practice, provides four key tips on completing accelerator applications in his JOLT blog, Getting in: Four keys to writing a solid accelerator application: Team and traction trump everything. Get in early! Do the legwork. Honesty is always the best policy. Once you’ve reviewed the steps above, you just might be ready to change the world, and an accelerator program might help you do so. But first, you have to apply! Interested in seeing how JOLT can accelerate your startup? You have until May 30, 2012 to submit an application.
• MaRS, creating opportunities for clusters to thrive 8 May, 2012, 9:23 am
  Michael Porter, a professor at Harvard Business School, recently addressed a full house of primarily business leaders at the Toronto Board of Trade’s 2012 Toronto Region Economic Summit. In his presentation, “Regional Competitiveness:  The Role of Clusters,” Porter argued that clusters are critical enablers of competitiveness. He started off by remarking that this meeting would not have occurred 20 years ago because the focus would have instead been on what governments should do to create competitiveness. In light of the austerity budgets at the provincial and federal levels, Porter’s message is timely: Businesses must work together to enhance regional competitiveness. But what does he mean by the term “competitive”? Porter considers companies competitive when they can compete globally and when they can support the raising of wages and living standards. This message certainly resonates with us at SiG@MaRS. Businesses should not be engaged in a race to the bottom to try to reduce wages and appear competitive; rather businesses should realize that competitive companies mean prosperous citizens. We need well-developed clusters for startups to flourish What we need—and what MaRS has been promoting—are well-developed clusters: collections of like firms in close proximity to one another and supporting each other’s success. For example, when you visit a city, you find hotels, sightseeing companies, restaurants, souvenir shops, foreign exchange services and other services needed by tourists, all clustered together within walking distance of one another. So what happens when you apply this same strategy to startups? Research shows that startups emerge more quickly within a cluster and that they succeed longer. Other outcomes include faster job growth, higher wages, more patents, new business formations, more rapid growth and longer survival. But there are other factors that affect competitiveness. At the national level there are issues of tax policies and intellectual property, and there are similar policies at the provincial level. Interestingly enough, Porter argues that policies at the municipal level are key drivers of competitiveness. By municipal level, he does not necessarily mean cities; rather he means “regions,” as “economics does not care about borders.” Porter argues we should follow the natural patterns of trade. The strength of regions depends on the strength of clusters The strength of regions depends on the strength of clusters, and each region needs its own strategy, including effective policy co-ordination. Our own regions don’t currently collaborate particularly well. Porter outlined the Massachusetts biopharmaceutical cluster as an example of success: Support services Health and beauty products Diagnostics Medical devices Products Hospital (teaching) Biological products Biopharmaceutical products Research Organizations Specialized business services Risk capital Services Labs This creates opportunities for venture capital to congregate. Porter encouraged the audience to think differently about competition, to try to attract more companies to their cluster, to create a more vibrant community and to not try to keep competition out of the region. Not that this will happen overnight—it can take a long time to build clusters and competition. For example, it took the Australian wine industry 20 to 30 years to become a leading exporter. So what are Toronto’s high-potential clusters? Financial services Logistics Hospitality Education/knowledge Biopharmaceutical/medical devices Information technology Entertainment However, the type of cluster is not as important as achieving scale in any one cluster. Developing clusters can provide an opportunity for collaboration with unusual stakeholders, including government, educational institutions and firms of all sizes, and clusters can facilitate investment. The point is, businesses can take action. Creating competitiveness is not up to government alone—it’s an opportunity available to all of us. Watch the video below for highlights from the Toronto Region Economic Summit, including keynote speaker Dr. Michael Porter.

25

business-strategy-innovation

• What It Takes To Innovate 19 May, 2012, 9:00 am
  In this keynote, Frederick details the critical points of change that corporations need to address in transforming their culture from laggards to innovative leaders. As enterprise businesses consider what social media and the concept of real-time can do to their brand, Frederick shares the technical secrets of what it takes to scale the challenges technically. Continue reading →
• Beliefs Govern Ideas 19 May, 2012, 5:00 am
  Some ideas are so powerful they change you. More precisely, some ideas are so powerful you change your beliefs to fit them. These powerful ideas come in two strains: those that already align with your beliefs and those that contradict. Continue reading →
• Gently Turning Down Ideas 18 May, 2012, 11:00 am
  Ideas are going through the innovation funnel and only few percent will reach the end. What's happening with the army of ideas lost inside it? How will their creators find out what happened? Continue reading →
• Did You Confabulate Today? 18 May, 2012, 8:00 am
  Confabulation happens all the time in the business world. And it’s no laughing matter. Tweet me your confabulation sniglets. Once we compile them, I’ll publish them in a future blog. Continue reading →
• Tax Innovation – The Path to Long-Term Prosperity 18 May, 2012, 5:00 am
  We Americans need to wake up – now -- and stop acting like spoiled, immature children. Elected officials need to put aside partisanship – now – and do what’s in the best interest of our country and speak the truth to the electorate. And we all must do this without fostering and perpetuating certain convenient misconceptions and without coddling us like soft, over-indulgent parents afraid to say “no.” Continue reading →
• Framing the Strategic Innovation Discussion 17 May, 2012, 2:00 pm
  What I am offering here is an innovation conversation framework, on how we can approach different strategic value propositions, and where we might need to debate these across the organization, as the points of impact so we can make this move towards a higher degree of innovation alignment. Continue reading →
• Innovation in Education from UC Berkeley 17 May, 2012, 11:00 am
  A whiteboard style discussion from an independent study by Sara Beckman. It outlines what she believes to be true innovation in the educational space, currently being spearheaded by UC Berkeley. Continue reading →
• How To Tell If You Are An Innovator 17 May, 2012, 8:00 am
  In a world of celebrity driven Twitter, "reality" shows and always on news, Andy Warhol was only partially right. We'll all be famous for 15 minutes. Unfortunately some people seem to get their 15 minutes over and over again for all the wrong reasons. Luckily for us, however, most innovators toil away from the spotlight. In fact many people who are innovators don't realize who and what they are. Continue reading →
• Media & Entertainment Reimagined by Collaborative Innovation 17 May, 2012, 5:00 am
  Established firms in the media & entertainment space struggle to prosper in the Digital Age. New business models, enlivened by technology, erode traditional sources of profit. What possibilities for reimagining the business exist? In this article, innovation architect Doug Collins suggests one avenue to pursue: consider the benefits that come from learning how to convene a community on the critical question by embracing the practice of collaborative innovation. Apply the practice to help people work to their potential. Continue reading →
• Do You Organize Your Business for Innovation? 16 May, 2012, 2:00 pm
  Before innovation happens, there are two very important steps which are often ignored or are not executed properly. Continue reading →

23

innovationtools

• How could your company benefit from crowdsourcing? 16 May, 2012, 6:05 am
  Crowdsourcing continues to be a good tool for innovation. And, you could participate on either the challenge end or the participant end. If your organization hasn't found a way to try it, here's a good example.
• Accurate problem definition is critical to effective problem solving 16 May, 2012, 5:05 am
  In business and in life, clear and accurate problem definition is an essential prerequisite for effective problem solving. This may sound obvious, or even trite, but this simple truth can be overlooked by those with pressing needs and a bias for action.
• Demystifying the path to technology partnerships 10 May, 2012, 6:05 am
  There is often a considerable amount of ambiguity at the outset of open innovation partnerships. Quite often, the technology customer is considerably larger than the provider and is being pursued versus being the pursuer. The technology provider almost never knows the full extent of what needs to be demonstrated in order to earn a customer's business commitment. They are also quite often reluctant to ask so as to avoid offending the other party or seeming ignorant or unsophisticated. How can this situation be improved?
• Transforming a classic industry with innovation 3 May, 2012, 9:05 am
  What technology could be older than making glass? The history of glassmaking can be traced back to 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia. So what are we to make of the headline of a current Mike Elgan piece in Computerworld: "Consumer Electronics Glass Innovation to Transform Industry."
• A promising approach to finding technology solutions: Supplier summits 3 May, 2012, 6:05 am
  Given the relatively small number of qualified solution providers for any given technical challenge, one fairly productive and successful problem solving approach undertaken by corporate technology seekers is to organize "supplier summits."
• Who is your personal innovation hero? 25 April, 2012, 11:05 am
  On the occasion of the release of TIME Magazine's 2012 Top 100 List, Ruth Ann Hattori asks, who is your personal innovation hero?
• Using behavior as a lever to drive innovation in large companies 25 April, 2012, 6:05 am
  How can your company use behavior as a lever to improve innovation in a complex organization? This upcoming webinar aims to find out.
• Can companies sidestep disruptive innovation? 11 April, 2012, 5:05 am
  Can companies sidestep or blunt the effects of disruptive innovation? It's possible, but not likely, explains Steve Denning in a recent Forbes column.
• (Social) networking and problem solving 11 April, 2012, 5:05 am
  Networking involves utilizing our connections to reach the solutions we seek. Do you and your company fully utilize your networks to help solve your challenges?
• Up Your Impact website launched; book due out May 1 5 April, 2012, 5:05 am
  A lot has happened since the last update on my new book, Up Your Impact: 52 Innovative Strategies to Add Value to Your Work.

23

My Brain Blog

19

creativityandinnovation

• How To Appeal To Investors: Top VCs Reveal The Anatomy Of A Successful Entrepreneur 15 May, 2012, 4:21 am
  http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/14/vcs-at-work-the-anatomy-of-a-killer-startup/A great post on what Top VCs behind the most successful startups look for...
• Facebook’s New Timeline Design and Small Business Social Media Marketing 13 May, 2012, 4:07 pm
  Facebook’s New Timeline Design and Small Business Social Media Marketing Facebook has emerged in recent years as the preferred site for social media marketing. Creating a Facebook Fan Page allows businesses to connect with their customers at minimal cost, helping boost sales as well as building customer loyalty. In addition, a Facebook page is also a great SEO strategy since it makes it more likely that your home page will rank highly on search engine results pages. Recently, Facebook announced that it was introducing a mandatory new Timeline design for its fan pages that reveals the entire history of the user on the site. While the new layout has raised many privacy concerns among users, many small business owners have embraced it as an opportunity for improved small business social media marketing. The new layout rolled out last month, and here are some of the things you should do to enhance your Fan page: Since your Fan page will now contain a new billboard-sized cover photo that is 851 pixels wide by 180 pixels long, take the opportunity to upload a striking image that will give visitors a strong first impression of your brand or business as part of your small business social media marketing efforts. And since it is easy to change your cover photo, why not consider changing it regularly to make your Fan page look constantly fresh? Take a look at oGoing Facebook pageYou can pin a post to the top of your Fan page for up to a week. Why not use this opportunity to alert readers to new content, and also highlight older content that you think visitors might be interested in but which was harder to find in the old layout? Since you can retroactively add content such as photos or videos to your Timeline page, why not take the opportunity to add content related to milestones of your company’s history. This will enhance your relationship with your customers by telling them something about yourself they may not have known, but could be interested in discovering. In addition to preparing your new Facebook Timeline page, why not link it with an oGoing account? It will surely enhance your small business social media marketing efforts on Facebook by allowing your Facebook and Twitter updates to automatically be shared to your oGoing contacts, while your oGoing updates will also be seen by your Facebook fans and Twitter followers. oGoing even lets you create multiple small business accounts on these social media sites using a single e-mail address and then link them together. And most importantly, you can create a small business profile on oGoing with your Facebook account. oGoing is the fastest growing small business social network that integrates business networking, social networking and social media marketing. Join oGoing today!Check out Marketing for Small Business
• Marketing For Small Business 5 May, 2012, 11:30 pm
  Using social media for small business marketing is, however, not as simple as you might think. You can't just sign up with a network and assume that you are good to go. A piece of advice – before you jump into a social network, you should make sure that you will have the time to actually use and be active in it. There is no point in joining a social network if you aren't going to utilize it for what it is worth. So many business owners make the mistake of signing up with every network that they come across. This is great if you actually use them, but it's a waste of time if you don't use them. With that said, it is recommended that you should focus all your efforts on just a few networks. This way, you will have the chance of using them for their full potential. You will have the time to really use the tools and resources that the social networks offer. Quick Tip: You must spend at least five hours a week on each social network to get good ROI.
• Steve Jobs is World's Favorite Innovator 3 May, 2012, 11:41 am
  In an open poll on this blog on Creativity And Innovation Driving Business, people all over the world voted on who is their favorite innovator.It is indeed amazing that Steve Jobs is voted the King of Innovation, the World's Favorite Innovator! (We miss you Steve!)The poll:Which of these ten best innovators have made a huge difference in your lives? Select your favorite innovator today!Innovators included (by alphabetical order): Mukesh Ambani, Reliance; Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com; Richard Branson, Virgin Group; Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway; Larry Ellison, Oracle; Bill Gates, Microsoft; Steve Jobs, Apple; Barack Obama, U.S.A. President; Larry Page, Google; Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook . Voting is now closed!Here are the results (poll was closed after 1,000 votes):Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of Apple, ran away with 508 votes out of 1,000 votes or slightly more than 50%. Bill Gates, Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of Microsoft, was second with 111 votes or 11%. The battle for the third position was quite close. However, Larry Page, Co-Founder and CEO of Google, edged out Mark Zuckerberg, Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of Facebook, with 84 votes or 8% for the third position. Mark Zuckerberg was fourth with 74 votes or 7%. Rounding out the top five was Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group, with 59 votes or 6%. It is interesting to note that Steve Jobs had more votes than the rest of the top nine innovators combined! WOW!!Share your thoughts and comments about these favorite innovators! All real comments will be published here.Thank you everyone for voting and participating!!Check out my eBook on Apple's Innovation Strategy, and learn to innovate like Apple and Steve Jobs.
• Hello Google Drive 25 April, 2012, 9:41 pm
  Google has a potential Dropbox killer for consumers and small business customers. The new Drive is bold and gives you instant access everywhere: from all your devices (iOS access is on the way). Access your documents wherever you are, at home, in your office, on the beach, while traveling... And Google has done something cooler! You can share your docs the way you want to share: read only, read and write, or just comments. And by the way, Google drive comes standard with Google Docs. So you can have all your docs in one place, ready to edit, ready to share, ready to redline, ready to comment and ready to finish! But wait, there's more. Instead of attaching a bulky document to an email, just send a link from the Google Drive in your Gmail and everyone has the same file and same version. That's cool. Say you upload your videos and pictures to the Drive. Now you can share them with your circles in Google+.Google Drive comes standard with the powerful Google Search. This alone can be huge! Imagine the ease of finding any file by name, who made it, who edited it, when made, keywords, images, last used and more. Finally Google has gone back to its roots and integrated its bread and butter search engine!Hello Google Drive! Take it for a test drive today! It comes standard with 5GB (wish Google had upped it to 10GB). You are going to love it! Just go here: http://drive.google.com/start
• Will Apple Quarterly Earnings Amaze? Again! 20 April, 2012, 6:14 pm
  Apple is set to report its quarterly earnings on Tuesday April 24 after market close. Apple stock has been seesawing during the last few days in anticipation of the quarterly earnings, suggesting an overly anxious sentiment. If you listen to some of the CNBC announcers, they are merely sharing information based on how the stock is moving, rather than the real fundamentals. There are many buy-side and sell-side analysts who have made their bold projections about Apple stock. Some believe it could be the first $1 trillion company by market cap, and that Apple stock could hit $1,000. How can an individual investor make sense from all this?What we do knowApple's CFO Peter Oppenheimer projected this in the January earnings press release: “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50.”Wait a moment! Back in October earnings press release, Oppenheimer projected: "we expect revenue of about $37 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $9.30" Apple then posted record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share, easily beating their own sales estimates by over $9 billion and earnings by over $4.50.Apple is thus low-balling their current quarterly sales and earnings in a big way. But we knew that!!Global Momentum Apple is on a high growth drive.  There is an insatiable demand for Apple products worldwide. Apple international sales are about 60% of the total sales. People around the world love to buy and use Apple products. Buying an Apple product overseas is akin to buying a really cool, "Made in America" product which the owner is very proud to own and show off. Is Apple becoming synonymous to buying an American product? Perhaps! Further, since Apple integrates the hardware, software, content and shopping experience, the customers are really happy to own a physical, tangible product that generates a sort of sensual response. There is no stopping the Apple juggernaut in 2012. The world economies are improving, many countries are just waking up to Apple, and people find an iPad for $399 or $499 quite affordable.My predictionLast quarter, a holiday quarter that had 14 weeks, Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads, 5.2 million Macs and 15.4 million iPods. There is an outside 10% chance that Apple may repeat that feat based on the huge demand worldwide, and growing demand here in the U.S. When I visited New York last week, I went to the Apple store on Fifth Avenue. I was amazed to see the massive crowd on a regular week day afternoon. There was standing room only! And this is a huge store. Even on a conservative basis, I think Apple can sell over 35 million iPhones, 12 million iPads, 4.5 million Macs and 10 million iPods - totaling over $42 billion in sales and at least $11 in earnings. There you have it! Apple could deliver a whopping $42 billion in sales. That would be amazing indeed!If Apple indeed posts such a big quarter, Apple stock could fly to new heights! Can it go to $700 by May 7?Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a top twenty innovator of the Innovation Index.Learn how Apple innovates. How Steve Jobs made Apple the best innovator in the world! Learn more
• ABAOC Small Business Day - April 19, Anaheim 5 April, 2012, 8:33 am
  Are You Ready To Boost Your Business In 2012?ABAOC presents our annual signature event dedicated for Orange County Small Business Community!When: April 19, 2012 from 7:30 am to 2 pmWhere: Anaheim Marriott - Convention CenterWho should AttendSmall Business, Business Owner, Startup, Entrepreneur, Emerging Business, Aspiring Business Owner, or Professionals who do business with the small business.Why AttendLearn from real business owners and industry experts on how you can start up, manage and boost your business in 2012!!1. Real insights, best practices and business experiences will be shared. Come ready to take notes with your iPads, tablets and laptops.2. In just five hours of workshop sessions, you will take away key tools and techniques to grow your business! 3. Small Business Development Day will provide learning, networking and marketing opportunities for your business. Bring lots of business cards!4. Google is hosting live, hands-on workshops to stimulate your small business online!       5. Young Entrepreneurs Forum for young enterprising individuals to create next generation businesses.What You will LearnPART I: Learn how to properly start your business. What do you need to create your new company, including registration, business plan, market research, counselor, legal and tax, risk and health insurance, financing and more. What are the T's and C's to get you started!PART II: This session will focus on helping company bring their business to the next level. This training offers structural knowledge and understanding of financial operations & its impact; how to prepare sales, marketing strategies and proposals; and organization and communication skills.PART III: Learn from experts who are doing business with the government, major corporations, banks, and other private sectors. Our panel of experts will give pointers on getting into certification, RFPs, and products and services in high demand.SpeakersMike Brenhaug, The Focus CoachMark Hartsell, Sales & CEO AdvisorDon Kasle, Commercial Bank CEOIrving Katz, Family Business CoachLily Otieno, Small Business ExpertTarang Shah, Author and Venture Professional Sanjay Dalal, Small Business Social MediaGoogle Hands-On Workshop Google will be delivering live hands-on workshops to help grow and stimulate your business online! More detailsYoung Entrepreneur ForumThe Young Entrepreneurs Forum is an opportunity for young individuals to learn about the resources that are available to them to make their business a reality and subsequently a success. More detailsEvent Chair: Sanjay Dalal, President-Elect, Tom Nguyen, Board MemberWe thank our title sponsor Wells Fargo, gold sponsor Disneyland, and contributing sponsor Southwest Airlines for their generous support 
• The Innovation Index 2012 31 March, 2012, 5:24 pm
  Introducing The Innovation Index for 2012The 2012 Innovation Index comprises of the following twenty American Innovators:Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)Apple Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)Costco Wholesale Corporation - (NASDAQ: COST)eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)Facebook - (NYSE: FB)General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)Intuit Inc. - (NASDAQ: INTU)Johnson & Johnson - (NYSE: JNJ)McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD)Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)NIKE, Inc. - (NYSE: NKE)Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)Priceline.com - (NASDAQ: PCLN)Starbucks - (NASDAQ: SBUX)Verizon Communications - (NYSE: VZ)Whole Foods Market - (NASDAQ: WFM)The Innovation Index Report will incorporate the following objectives and will be released quarterly:1. Report, analyze and project the stock performance of the Top 20 Innovators in North America every week, and compare their performance to S&P, NASDAQ and Dow Jones indexes.2. Compare and contrast best practices, initiatives, new products, successes, strategies, stories, leadership and insights on Creativity and Innovation at these Top 20 Innovators.3. Showcase Disruptors challenging these Top Innovators, their disruptive innovation strategy, and their current and potential impact on the Top 20 Innovators' customer base and market share.About The Innovation IndexThe Innovation Index is a compilation of the Top 20 Innovators in America. I launched the Innovation Index in 2006. As you can see, few old innovators from the 2006 index are no longer in the current index. Some of the Innovators of the 2012 index are prestigious companies including GE, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, McDonald's and Proctor & Gamble who have created numerous innovations and shaped our lives over the past fifty plus years in critical areas such as travel, power, healthcare, information technology, food and consumer goods; three of the 20 innovators have risen to prominence in the last forty years including Nike, Intel and Starbucks and have changed the way we wear shoes, use computers and consume coffee; two innovators, Microsoft and Apple, that got launched in the mid 1970s changed the way we use software, and use computers and electronics; six innovators that started in the 1980s changed the way we consume groceries, purchase airlines tickets, buy discounted food and consumer goods, use phones and cell phones, do small business accounting, and connect computers and servers through networks - Whole Foods Market, Priceline.com, Costco Wholesale, Verizon Communications, Intuit and Cisco Systems respectively; the 1990s brought three Internet innovators that withstood the dot-com crash and emerged victorious, and changed the way we shop for products online, trade and shop goods online, and find information online - Amazon.com, eBay and Google. Finally, one innovator that started in 2004, and now has over 800 million registered users worldwide, quickly became the world's largest social network. Welcome Facebook!About Sanjay Dalal, Founder of The Innovation IndexSerial entrepreneur on a quest to create the best social network for small business, Ogoing! Passionate about social media, innovation, education, mentoring, community service and my family! Founder, CEO, Ogoing; Innovator, InnovationMain.com; Rotarian, New Generations Director; ABAOC, President-elect. Created and Launched collaboration software WebEx Training Center and WebEx Sales Center, used by over 10 million professionals since launch. Launched Visual Rendezvous, collaborative whiteboard, first cross-platform collaboration software. Author of market leading Innovation eBook & Resource Kit, Apple's Innovation Strategy and WOW! Product Guide used by 15,000+ innovators worldwide.
• iPad for Small Business - Ten Benefits 29 March, 2012, 8:45 pm
  How can your small business benefit from the Apple iPad, iPad 2 and the newly launched iPad? Can you use the Apple iPad for doing real business? Is the iPad the best thing to happen to small business since sliced bread?Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is the top innovator of the Innovation Index!Apple iPad is a serious device for small business owners, entrepreneurs and startups, owing to the built-in tools and services available on the latest iOS, the iCloud, available small business applications, and real mobility.I am a small business owner myself, working on my latest startup Ogoing, the fastest growing small business social network (which you can access from your iPad browser). I have been using the iPad since 2010 for both my small business and personal needs. Here are the ten benefits of using the iPad for my small business:1. Communicating. I have connected both my company emails, and also my personal email through the iPad. iPad allows you to choose several default email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Exchange, etc. If you have a company email like me, you can setup by going to Other email. It just takes five minutes to setup your email. Once setup, using emails on the iPad is an absolute delight! It is very easy to send and receive emails, copy and paste images from your iPad, documents or web, and communicate with your contacts just about anywhere! I use emails for my business needs by sending product bug reports using the snapshot feature (just hold down the Power switch and Home button at the same time), getting status on the latest release, sharing important tasks and follow up action items, non-profit business board meetings, marketing my small business, answering support questions from customers, and staying in touch with my family and friends (on my personal email)! It is as easy as 1-2-3 to take a photograph on your iPad 2 or the New iPad, and email that photo to your friends and family directly from the Photo app. You can also share that photo as an iMessage or attach it to your Twitter or social networks update (including Ogoing). iPad email is a critical communication tool for every small business owner!2. Note taking. Thanks to the iPad, I see myself taking more notes at meetings and conferences, adding more interesting information to review and follow up, jotting down inspiring ideas as they happen, copying and sharing quotes of famous people, writing down past experiences, and even noting things that I may otherwise forget. I love the built-in iPad Notes notes taker which allows you to type notes using the virtual keyboard, and I use it quite frequently. You can write notes in both portrait or landscape mode (I prefer the landscape mode since it allows you to have the keyboard spread out across the whole screen). I also use the small business apps Notability and Penultimate where you can write notes in your own handwriting, and even add photos and cool things to your notes. For instance, I have used Notability to take a screen shot of a product feature, and added my comments to that. And all I have to do next is email that as a PDF doc to my team. It is that easy to take notes, annotate, and share notes with your team or family. Sometimes, I have taken notes while in a meeting about a personal matter that I suddenly thought of. Has the iPad made me smarter and more organized? Definitely (to the more organized part) :) And the new iCloud allows me to share my notes with all my linked iOS devices! No more forgetting where you made that note... It's everywhere!3. Reading. The iPad contains the addictive iBooks reader for browsing eBooks, articles, PDFs. The latest iBooks reader is interactive! Not only can you read static books, but also experience books that are engaging and interactive with multi-touch! Some of the latest eBooks have immersing simulations, beautiful videos, detailed photos, and even built-in quizzes and tests (for those using eBooks for education). Am I reading more due to my iPad? Absolutely. I have pretty much stopped reading regular newspapers, books and periodicals (except when I am visiting doctors' offices). The readability of the text on the iBooks reader is visually appealing (retina display), and perhaps creates more memory retention. The next time you get an email attachment that is a PDF file, just open it with the iBooks reader (instead of reading it within your email). You will see the difference. Another benefit: By opening this email document in the iBooks reader, you automatically add it to your collection of PDFs. And you can quickly build a selection of PDF documents that you can read later, anytime. When you read eBooks that you buy or download from the iTunes iBookstore (over 700,000 eBooks), you get more features such as highlighting, note taking, sharing, bookmarking, search, dictionary and even voiceover (have the iPad read that book to you). Did you know that the iCloud allows you to share all your eBooks to all your linked iOS devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, and the Macs? So if you buy your new eBook on the iPad, you can read it later on your iPhone as well!4. Browsing. Whether you have the iPad with 3G or 4G LTE, or just Wi-Fi, you can browse the Internet everywhere using the built-in Safari browser. You can browse any website. One thing I noticed that on the latest iPad, the websites appear visually striking and amazing! Everything appears so clear and concise! It's like you are practically there at the website! Thanks to the retina display, the websites with photos and videos appear dramatically better! What that means is that you enjoy browsing various websites for your work, research and education. Searching and finding that useful nugget of information online is no longer a chore, rather a delight on your new iPad. There is a Reader icon that allows you to simply read the article as is without anything else! The browser is fast, has multiple tabs, remembers your seven day history, and makes pages built for the regular website appear great! Safari browser allows you add bookmarks, add websites to your reading list, add shortcuts to websites on your home screen, email a link to the current page you are browsing, and even Tweet and Print your web page (through AirPrint). What I do often though is copy and paste something I love from a website to my iPad Notes, and then review this later! If you like a photo on a website, you can simply press it down a bit longer, and the iPad allows you to save this photo to your Photos album or copy it! The iCloud allows you to share your Reading list and bookmarks to your linked iOS devices. No more fumbling around and thinking hard about that site that you saw earlier in the day.5. Writing. The iPad is not just for reading. It is fast becoming a useful tool for writing and creating new documents. There are many apps available for writing and editing documents, presentations, spreadsheets and more! Apple provides its own suite of applications for these called Pages, Keynote and Numbers respectively (which you can purchase from the App store). I have been using Pages on my iPad. First thing I noticed is how easy it is to use Pages! It has the essential features of a word processor, but removes the complexities that you don't need. And Pages launches super fast! Using Pages, I can create great looking documents with visuals, media, tables, charts, shapes and more, open and edit Microsoft Office Word documents, and email my documents in Pages format, Word format or PDF format. I can also print my Pages documents using AirPrint, share documents using iWork.com, iTunes, iDisk and WebDAV. If you have the iCloud enabled, all the documents are automatically backed up on the cloud, and available for use anytime, and any linked iOS device! If you are planning to write serious documents, I recommend buying an external wireless keyboard for your iPad. In essence, the iPad can become your document writer! I bought the keyboard which puts the iPad in Portrait mode for typing, on the built-in stand. So do you really need a separate laptop or desktop for your small business? Perhaps not!6. Seeing. Video is everywhere! Websites, YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, and even eBooks! But that is the video you watch on your iPad. This works great on the iPad! However, the iPad 2 and the New iPad have built-in FaceTime Video calling. Now you can show yourself to your co-workers, friends, and family, and talk to them live in real-time. Not only can they hear what you are saying, but also see how you are doing! Using FaceTime, you can also share what you see... perhaps you are showing a new office, a potential home for a new buyer, an outdoors shopping center, or the beautiful nature! FaceTime does require a fast WiFi connection, and both you and the participant need to have an Apple ID. So the next time you are communicating with your co-worker, go FaceTime! And see the difference! You might be surprised how much more effective a video call is versus just a phone call. Video calling for your small business can be a serious business tool. The person receiving the video does not need to have an iPad. They can be on an iPhone, iPod touch with Video, or a Mac. Video calling is great for family use also. Share you and your family with your parents, grand parents, relatives who are far away, or friends! iPad with FaceTime Video makes this possible in a heartbeat.7. Essentials. No small business is complete without essential tools such as Calendar, Reminders, Contacts, and Messages. You know where I am going here. The iPad includes all these tools for your increased productivity. Calendar to keep up and on time with your meetings, appointments, anniversaries, birthdays, conferences: What I particularly like is the alerts that I can setup multiple alerts to help remind me of upcoming appointments. And since I use the iCloud, if I setup a meeting on my iPad, it is automatically available on my iPhone. Same thing with alerts! iPad Reminders ensures that you don't miss out on your To-Dos, Deadlines, Goals and Tasks! It is a very handy tool. I use it remind me of what's important! Contacts is great since on the one hand all my contacts are synchronized across all my iOS devices; on the other hand, Contacts allows me to add vital info to my contacts such as birthdays, websites, nicknames, etc. It is quite easy to search for your Contacts, and when you are emailing someone, you can simply type in a few characters of your contact's name, and it brings up their complete name instantly! But what about messages? The latest iPad on the latest iOS includes free iMessage. Which means, you can fire away your text messages to anyone who owns an iOS 5 product including an iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Isn't that cool? No more spending money on your texts. I don't text! But now I use iMessage with my family members and with contacts who use iOS products. Can the iMessage be used for groups? Absolutely! You can send messages to multiple contacts at once! Can the iMessage include photos, videos, contacts, locations? Yes! You can attach them with your iMessage. iMessage is really a multimedia messaging tool which can be essential for your small business!8. Doing. Is there more? If you are a small business in a particular industry, there are many business apps available to help you do business! For instance, Roambi turns your data into secure mobile dashboards and views up-to-the-minute company information. WebEx for iPad takes mobile web conferencing to the next level. It includes real-time two-way group video on iPad. Thus whoever is speaking takes center stage, and everyone stays on the same page! Meetings and Videos, all in one! Do you like to draw floorplans with your fingers? Check out TOTAL. It is a fully customizable field app for appraisers, and makes data gathering and onsite inspections simple. You can map your subject and sync QuickLists to your computer to eliminate redundant note-taking. Need an app for brainstorming and sharing? How about a whiteboarding app that allows you to share ideas with your co-workers by creating diagrams, process charts, website wireframes using easy multi-touch gestures. Check out OmniGraffle! The truth is that for any industry, there is an iPad app available today! Simply go to the App store, and do a search by category or vertical. There are apps available for education (have you heard of this amazing app, Star Walk? If you just point your iPad skyward, it identifies every star, constellation, planet, and satellite you see!),entertainment (I use Netflix, and it works great! On the latest iPad, the movies look incredible), games (I love Temple Run, Need for Speed, Angry Birds), lifestyle, finance, music (check out the GarageBand which is now available on the iPad. I use Pandora to listen to music while I work), networking, news, productivity, sports, travel, and more! If you are a retail business, there are many apps available to take payments from your customers via your iPad.9. Learning. No, you don't need a university education to use your iPad. However, on your iPad, you can bring the university and professional education to you! iTunes University allows you, the small business owner and entrepreneur, to review and check out specific business classes, lectures, videos and tutorials to help you build and grow your business. If you lack a particular skill, say on "how to be a great boss", there is a whole video series available on the iTunes U. If you want to be a better businessman, there are videos and workshops for free! There is a lot of free, high quality education available for you on contracting, consulting, economics, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, finance, leadership, management, marketing, and much more to access anytime, anywhere, on your schedule! Using the iTunes University, you can become a smarter small business owner today! 10. Portability. The biggest reason I use the iPad though could be its portability. How easy it is to move it around and move around with it, how much lightweight it is, and and how you can carry it practically everywhere! My iPad can be found on my living room sofa, on the dining table, next to the TV, on the bed, on the side table, on the office desk, on the office chair, in my office bag, in the back seat of the car, in the front passenger seat of the car, in my hands, at my customer's office, in the lobby, at the conference, in my customer's hands, in the plane, on the train, you get the picture! The iPad is so portable, it can be found just about anywhere!Still not convinced that the iPad can become the must-have Small Business device? Give me a shout, and I would be to happy to show you how you can use your new iPad! Best of all, the iPad is very easy to use! Connect with me on oGoing here using your new or old iPad! Want to learn how Apple innovates? How Steve Jobs made Apple the best innovator? Check out Apple's Innovation Strategy.Sanjay DalalSmall Business EntrepreneurCEO & Founder, oGoing
• iPad Small Business 27 March, 2012, 5:30 pm
  How can your small business benefit from the Apple iPad, iPad 2 and the newly launched iPad? Can you use the Apple iPad for doing real business? Is the iPad the best thing to happen to small business since sliced bread?Apple iPad is a serious tool for small business owners, entrepreneurs and startups, owing to the built-in tools and services available on the latest iOS, the iCloud, available small business applications, and real mobility.I am a small business owner myself, working on my latest startup Ogoing, the fastest growing small business social network (which you can access from your iPad browser). I have been using the iPad since 2010 for both my small business and personal needs.  Here is how I use my iPad for my small business: 1. Communicating. I have connected both my company emails, and also my personal email through the iPad. iPad allows you to choose several default email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Exchange, etc. If you have a company email like me, you can setup by going to Other email. It just takes five minutes to setup your email. Once setup, using emails on the iPad is an absolute delight! It is very easy to send and receive emails, copy and paste images from your iPad, documents or web, and communicate with your contacts just about anywhere! I use emails for my business needs by sending product bug reports using the snapshot feature (just hold down the Power switch and Home button at the same time), getting status on the latest release, sharing important tasks and follow up action items, non-profit business board meetings, marketing my small business, answering support questions from customers, and staying in touch with my family and friends (on my personal email)! It is as easy as 1-2-3 to take a photograph on your iPad 2 or the New iPad, and email that photo to your friends and family directly from the Photo app. You can also share that photo as an iMessage or attach it to your Twitter or social networks update (including Ogoing). iPad email is a critical communication tool for every small business owner! 2. Note taking. Thanks to the iPad, I see myself taking more notes at meetings and conferences, adding more interesting information to review and follow up, jotting down inspiring ideas as they happen, copying and sharing quotes of famous people, writing down past experiences, and even noting things that I may otherwise forget. I love the built-in iPad Notes notes taker which allows you to type notes using the virtual keyboard, and I use it quite frequently. You can write notes in both portrait or landscape mode (I prefer the landscape mode since it allows you to have the keyboard spread out across the whole screen). I also use the small business apps Notability and Penultimate where you can write notes in your own handwriting, and even add photos and cool things to your notes. For instance, I have used Notability to take a screen shot of a product feature, and added my comments to that. And all I have to do next is email that as a PDF doc to my team. It is that easy to take notes, annotate, and share notes with your team or family. Sometimes, I have taken notes while in a meeting about a personal matter that I suddenly thought of. Has the iPad made me smarter and more organized? Definitely (to the more organized part) :) And the new iCloud allows me to share my notes with all my linked iOS devices! No more forgetting where you made that note... It's everywhere!3. Reading. The iPad contains the addictive iBooks reader for browsing eBooks, articles, PDFs.  The latest iBooks reader is interactive! Not only you can read static books, you can now experience books that are engaging and interactive with multi-touch! Some of the latest eBooks have immersing simulations, beautiful videos, detailed photos, and even built-in quizzes and tests (for those using eBooks for education). Am I reading more due to my iPad? Absolutely. I have pretty much stopped reading regular newspapers, books and periodicals (except when I am visiting doctors' offices). The readability of the text on the iBooks reader is visually appealing (retina display), and perhaps creates more memory retention. The next time you get an email attachment that is a PDF file, just open it with the iBooks reader (instead of reading it within your email). You will see the difference. Another benefit: By opening this email document in the iBooks reader, you automatically add it to your collection of PDFs.  And you can quickly build a selection of PDF documents that you can read later, anytime. When you read eBooks that you buy or download from the iTunes iBookstore (over 700,000 eBooks), you get more features such as highlighting, note taking, sharing, bookmarking, search, dictionary and even voiceover (have the iPad read that book to you).  Did you know that the iCloud allows you to share all your eBooks to all your linked iOS devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, and the Macs? So if you buy your new eBook on the iPad, you can read it later on your iPhone as well!4. Browsing. Whether you have the iPad with 3G or 4G LTE, or just Wi-Fi, you can browse the Internet everywhere using the built-in Safari browser. You can browse any website. One thing I noticed that on the latest iPad, the websites appear visually striking and amazing! Everything appears so clear and concise! It's like you are practically there at the website! Thanks to the retina display, the websites with photos and videos appear dramatically better! What that means is that you enjoy browsing various websites for your work, research and education. Searching and finding that useful nugget of information online is no longer a chore, rather a delight on your new iPad. There is a Reader icon that allows you to simply read the article as is without anything else! The browser is fast, has multiple tabs, remembers your seven day history, and makes pages built for the regular website appear great! Safari browser allows you add bookmarks, add websites to your reading list, add shortcuts to websites on your home screen, email a link to the current page you are browsing, and even Tweet and Print your web page (through AirPrint). What I do often though is copy and paste something I love from a website to my iPad Notes, and then review this later! If you like a photo on a website, you can simply press it down a bit longer, and the iPad allows you to save this photo to your Photos album or copy it! The iCloud allows you to share your Reading list and bookmarks to your linked iOS devices. No more fumbling around and thinking hard about that site that you saw earlier in the day.5. Documents. The iPad is not just for reading. It is fast becoming a useful tool for writing and creating new documents. There are many apps available for writing and editing documents, presentations, spreadsheets and more! Apple provides its own suite of applications for these called Pages, Keynote and Numbers respectively (which you can purchase from the App store). I have been using Pages on my iPad. First thing I noticed is how easy it is to use Pages! It has the essential features of a word processor, but removes the complexities that you don't need. And Pages launches super fast! Using Pages, I can create great looking documents with visuals, media, tables, charts, shapes and more, open and edit Microsoft Office Word documents, and email my documents in Pages format, Word format or PDF format. I can also print my Pages documents using AirPrint, share documents using iWork.com, iTunes, iDisk and WebDAV. If you have the iCloud enabled, all the documents are automatically backed up on the cloud, and available for use anytime, and any linked iOS device! If you are planning to write serious documents, I recommend buying an external wireless keyboard for your iPad. In essence, the iPad can become your document writer! I bought the keyboard which puts the iPad in Portrait mode for typing, on the built-in stand. So do you really need a separate laptop or desktop for your small business? Perhaps not!6. Video. Video is everywhere! Websites, YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, and more! But that is the video you see on your iPad. This works great on the iPad! However, the iPad 2 and the New iPad have built-in FaceTime Video calling. Now you can show yourself to your co-workers, friends, and family, and talk to them live in real-time. Not only can they can hear what you are saying, but also see how you are doing! Using FaceTime, you can also share what you see... perhaps you are showing a new office, a potential home for a new buyer, an outdoors shopping center, or the beautiful nature! FaceTime does require a fast WiFi connection, and both you and the participant need to have an Apple ID. So the next time you are communicating with your co-worker, go FaceTime! And see the difference! You might be surprised how much more effective a video call is versus just a phone call. Video calling for your small business can be a serious business tool. The person receiving the video does not need to have an iPad. They can be on an iPhone, iPod touch with Video, or a Mac. Video calling is great for family use also. Share you and your family with your parents, grand parents, relatives who are far away, or friends! iPad with Video makes this possible in a heartbeat. 7. Essentials. No small business is complete without essential tools such as Calendar, Reminders, Contacts, and Messages. You know where I am going here. The iPad includes all these tools for your increased productivity. Calendar to keep up and on time with your meetings, appointments, anniversaries, birthdays, conferences: What I particularly like is the alerts that I can setup multiple alerts to help remind me of upcoming appointments. And since I use the iCloud, if I setup a meeting on my iPad, it is automatically available on my iPhone. Same thing with alerts! iPad Reminders ensures that you don't miss out on your To-Dos, Deadlines, Goals and Tasks! It is a very handy tool. I use it remind me of what's important! Contacts is great since on the one hand all my contacts are synchronized across all my iOS devices; on the other hand, Contacts allows me to add vital info to my contacts such as birthdays, websites, nicknames, etc. It is quite easy to search for your Contacts, and when you are emailing someone, you can simply type in a few characters of your contact's name, and it brings up their complete name instantly! But what about messages? The latest iPad on the latest iOS includes free iMessage. Which means, you can fire away your text messages to anyone who owns an iOS 5 product including an iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Isn't that cool? No more spending money on your texts. I don't text! But now I use iMessage with my family members and with contacts who use iOS products. Can the iMessage be used for groups? Absolutely! You can send messages to multiple contacts at once! Can the iMessage include photos, videos, contacts, locations? Yes! You can attach them with your iMessage. iMessage is really a multimedia messaging tool which can be essential for your small business!8. Business Apps. Is there more? If you are a small business in a particular industry, there are many business apps available to help you do business! For instance, Roambi turns your data into secure mobile dashboards and views up-to-the-minute company information. WebEx for iPad takes mobile web conferencing to the next level. It includes real-time two-way group video on iPad. Thus whoever is speaking takes center stage, and everyone stays on the same page! Meetings and Videos, all in one! Do you like to draw floorplans with your fingers? Check out TOTAL. It is a fully customizable field app for appraisers, and makes data gathering and onsite inspections simple. You can map your subject and sync QuickLists to your computer to eliminate redundant note-taking. Need an app for brainstorming and sharing? How about a whiteboarding app that allows you to share ideas with your co-workers by creating diagrams, process charts, website wireframes using easy multi-touch gestures. Check out OmniGraffle! The truth is that for any industry, there is an iPad app available today! Simply go to the App store, and do a search by category or vertical. There are apps available for education (have you heard of this amazing app, Star Walk? If you just point your iPad skyward, it identifies every star, constellation, planet, and satellite you see!),  entertainment (I use Netflix, and it works great! On the latest iPad, the movies look incredible), games (I love Temple Run, Need for Speed, Angry Birds, lifestyle, finance, music (check out the GarageBand which is now available on the iPad. I use Pandora to listen to music while I work), networking, news, productivity, sports, travel, and more! If you are a retail business, there are many apps available to take payments from your customers via your iPad.9. iTunes University. No, you don't need University education to use your iPad. However, on your iPad, you can bring the university and professional education to you! iTunes University allows you, the small business owner and entrepreneur, to review and check out specific business classes, lectures, videos and tutorials to help you build and grow your business.  If you lack a particular skill, say on "how to be a great boss", there is a whole video series available on the iTunes U. If you want to be a better businessman, there are videos and workshops for free! There is a lot of free, high quality education available for you on contracting, consulting, economics, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, finance, leadership, management, marketing, and much more to access anytime, anywhere, on your schedule! Using the iTunes University, you can become a smarter small business owner today! Still not convinced that the iPad can become the must-have Small Business device? Give me a shout, and I would be to happy to show you how you can use your new iPad! Best of all, the iPad is very easy to use! Connect with me on Ogoing hereSanjay DalalSmall Business EntrepreneurCEO & Founder, Ogoing

18

businessweek

• Architecture's 2010 Hot Shop Wins A Billionaire Patron 25 August, 2010, 5:31 am
  Plenty of architecture's biggest names have been laid low by the Great Recession, as I wrote recently in Bloomberg Businessweek. One partnership has never had it better, however: New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro. On Monday, the 60-person shop was named chief architect of billionaire Eli Broad's $80 million-plus art museum in downtown Los Angeles, beating out a collaboration by starchitects Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry. The commission came just two months after the boutique was chosen to design an arts and film center for the University of California in Berkeley. DS+R had a dizzying 2009 as well, completing two high-profile projects in New York: the High Line elevated park, which was created from a long-abandoned railway line, and the redesign of Alice Tully Hall in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The studio's partners--Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, who founded it in 1979, and Charles Renfro, who joined in 1997--may busy again in 2011. DS+R, which got its first big assignment with the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, which opened in 2006, is completing a museum on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach and a media studio in Abu Dhabi. It is also in the running for three projects, including a factory in China. (Yes, that's right, a factory.) The firm's payroll has grown from 25 six years ago, with plans to expand at least another 15 percent next year. Revenue should surge 150% this year. "We have to wonder that if there wasn't a building bust, would we be winning even more?" Renfro says. "We're thankful that we are bucking the trend. We're not getting rich, nor are we starving." I caught up with Renfro, 46, as he took a train from his office on Tuesday. Here's an edited transcript of what else he had to say: Q: How do you explain your winning streak? A: The obvious answer is that we finally created several major commissions and people have heard of us and they hadn't before. Not until the last four years have we worked on complex jobs and proven that we could pull them off. Q: The firm has been around more than 30 years, though. Is this an example of perseverance? Or is it just good luck? A: I wish I could provide you with a silver-bullet answer, but I think it's a combination of all that. I also think our approach toward building and design is much more sympathetic to the economy. It's no longer the go-go '90s or even the 2000s. We're operating at the crossroads of making an icon and a very thoughtful response to clients' problems. Q: Is it harder to do architecture in 2010? A: It's probably harder for some people. There are many architects who are used to working on high-profile jobs, making iconic architecture. I think you will find them getting fewer commissions in this day and age. Maybe we're reaping the benefit of the downturn in this way. It's not harder for us. Q: How would you describe the firm's design philosophy? A: We take our inspiration from the context of the project. Having said that, we're very interested in pushing the limit of technology, of form-making, of structure. Q: Has it become a challenge to manage the firm as it has grown so fast? A: It goes without saying that anytime there's a quick jump in the staff of any business, there will be growing pains. We operate like a family. I think we're going to continue to operate on a similar manner. Q: What would advice would you give to a student who is thinking of becoming an architect? A: Go into law. Q: And if he doesn't listen? A: There are many other kinds of outlets that have become available to architects, from making shows to getting into museum and exhibit design to getting into writing online. Hope is not lost. The money is down, however. We were never a well-paid profession, much to a lot of other people's surprise. Definitely, there's less money out there to build buidlings. So we all have to be more creative.
• LED Maker Illumitex Hopes for a Spotlight 28 July, 2010, 9:07 am
  At the 2010 Lightfair trade show in Las Vegas (how fitting), 40 percent of the nearly 500 exhibitors were showing off LED devices. Matt Thomas has hopped on the bandwagon. His startup, Illumitex, entered the commercial lighting market in April, and he says he intends to have a display booth at the 2011 Lightfair. But what makes him think his little company will stand out? Thomas gave me his pitch after flying from Illumitex's HQ in Austin, Texas. First of all, he says, the company's products are better than lots of the other new stuff out there. Competitors typically array their light-emitting diodes on disks. Illumitex places them in squares or rectangles to better illuminates all points of such common surfaces as billboards, parking lots or office interiors. Second, the market is so new and fast growing that makers of commercial lighting fixtures haven't become married to their suppliers, giving everyone a fighting chance. I found his third argument the most persuasive--Illumitex's investors. Since Thomas, a mechanical engineer by training, cofounded the company with chief scientist Dung Duong and Paul Winberg, its engineering vice president, Illumitex has raised $22 million from venture capitalists, led by New Enterprise Associates. Among others: DFJ Mercury and Applied Ventures, which is Applied Materials' in-house VC fund. VCs aren't oracles, of course. But NEA has backed more than 650 startups since it began in 1978, and boasts that two-thirds have been acquired or gone public, including 3Com and Tivo. A sponsor like that suggests that Illumitex may have a chance.
• Groupon's Management Secret in Two Words 22 July, 2010, 7:27 am
  Andrew Mason, founder and CEO of social-shopping site Groupon, was part of a panel discussion at Google's Chicago office last night on innovation and startups. One of the questions he was asked was to sum up his management credo in just two words. "Cultivate ownership," Mason answered. Then he told a quick story. When Groupon was launched in Chicago in November 2008, the seven employees were "just a bunch of rascals." They included one twentysomething guy who, though "supersmart," had so little gumption that Mason thought he'd end up working at Shoney's when he was 45. But given responsibility for a specific area, the guy flourished and now manages a staff of 65. Mason also gave a shoutout to Eric Lefkofksy as the outsider most responsible for Groupon's success. Lefkofsky is a Chicago-based serial entrepreneur who, though his Lightbank venture capital firm, was Mason's original backer and adviser. Groupon is en fuego. It is up to 11 million subscribers, offering group coupons for restaurants and retailers in 160 cities in 22 countries. In its 20 months, Mason said, the site has saved customers $300 million with its daily deals. It also has its own pilot fish, according to this post on WiseBread. Say you can't use your Groupon discount or you think it's worth more than you paid, you can sell it on sites such as CoupRecoup and DealsGoRound. The discussion was organized by the Chicago Innovation Awards--Groupon was a 2009 winner--and hosted by Google, which is one of the contest's silver sponsors this year.
• Michelin Restaurant Guide Comes to Chicago; Who's Next? 14 July, 2010, 11:34 am
  Michelin is becoming more American with its restaurant guides. The tire company just announced it will publish a guide in November for Chicago, its third U.S. city. (New York came first in 2005, with San Francisco the next year.) The dining directories, begun 110 years ago, are based on secret visits by a staff of 90 trained critics, a method that seems increasingly old-fashioned--and costly--as other ratings outfits from the Zagat Survey to Yelp rely on volunteers. While Michelin executives were in Chicago to promote its latest edition, I caught up with Parmeet Grover, chief operating officer of Michelin's Travel & Lifestyle unit in North America. Grover does not have a gourmand's background. He hired on with Michelin's U.S. subsidiary in Greenville, S.C., in 1996, after receiving a PhD in engineering from Georgia Tech. He moved into his current role last year. Grover says he's been a "foodie" from way back, however. "If you go back to Renaissance times," he told me, "being technical doesn't prevent one from having other interests that range quite widely," Here's an edited version of our conversation: Q: With Chicago, the guide will be in three cities in the U.S. What's the plan for expanding further? A: Globally, this will be our 26th city. And in the U.S. there are some large cities we're looking at. You could imagine they'd be in the vein of the ones we've already done. Q: Do you see adding another city in 2012? A: I can't comment on that right now. Q: How has American cuisine changed in the last several years? A: I think changes in American cuisine represent the changes in our society. If you look at the diversity of the country, it has increased over the last two decades. As a result, there is a lot of fusion cuisine. But I think we may be onto another important trend, which is using a lot more natural ingredients, locally sourced ingredients. I see this even in Greenville, S.C., where my family is based. Q: Michelin is doing things the way it's done for more than a century, sending in trained reviewers anonymously. Aren't you behind the times now that everybody is doing crowdsourcing? A: In terms of the wisdom of the crowds, we respect it. But I think what we bring is another perspective that nobody else has. We are using professionals who know cuisine very, very well. What we have developed over the last 100 years is a process that's worked very well. When we say it's one star or two stars, whether it's in London or Tokyo or New York or one day somewhere in Africa, it means the same thing. Q: So that's your advantage--you can get consistency because you know who your raters are? A: Exactly. We are a company of engineers, so we have a process that is followed rigorously. And we never compromise. Q: Is there any built-in bias in that training, however, that would favor a traditional French restaurant over another? A: Not at all. I go back to something in the DNA of our company. We have five values, and I haven't seen too many companies with this fifth value, which is respect for facts. When we go in to rate a restaurant or award the stars, it's purely objective, based on what is in that plate, what has been cooked that day. Q: How many times is each restaurant visited? Ten times sometimes. And it's not the same person. We have many different people that go, and all of the information is put into a data base and analysis is done. Q: Your employees have been out eating in Chicago restaurants how long to get prepared for the new guide? A: It's been two years now. We take this very seriously. Q: So I take it you've got employees in other cities that we don't know about doing the same sort of covert operations. A: That is correct. And what's funny is that some of the families don't know either what they're doing. They need to maintain their anonymity. We are very serious about the confidentiality of it, which is the key to staying objective. Even at Michelin, everybody has never met these people. My first impression was that they would all be rather heavy-set men. But that's not true. We have men, and we have women, and they seem to be normal. You wouldn't be able to guess what they really do.
• Most Innovative Does Not Mean Best Investment 12 July, 2010, 6:44 am
  It's reality-check time for the 2010 Most Innovative Companies ranking, and for now, at least, reality is that while the list may spotlight the world's best generators of fresh products and services, these are not the best investments. We published this year's roster three months ago. The list is based mostly on a survey of top executives around the world conducted by our long-time partner in the annual project, Boston Consulting Group. But the lineup is adjusted for financial performance including stock return. If we were presenting the ranking today, it undoubtedly would look different. Of the 23 publicly traded companies in the Top 25, 13 underperformed the Standard & Poor's index of 500 stocks over the past three months. (And it's not that the S&P 500 has done all that well; it's down 11 percent since mid-April.) Just three honor-roll members were actually up: Apple, BMW, and Hyundai. By sector, only automotive came out ahead. The laggards included seven of the Top 10, with every one of them--Google, Microsoft, Amazon.com, LG Electronics, BYD, General Electric, and Sony--down 18 percent or more. The biggest loser overall was 23rd-place Nokia; its share price has tumbled 45 percent since it was named one of the Most Innovative Companies of the year. I'll check back in three more months to see if our ranking correlates more with stock performance. Meantime, what do you think this says about the power of innovation?
• Meet Google's $700 Million MIT Math Whiz 2 July, 2010, 1:30 pm
  As my Bloomberg colleague Brian Womack reported yesterday, Google paid $700 million for ITA Software, a 16-year-old company that has provided the flight-booking software for Orbitz since it opened for business in 2001. The acquisition brought back memories for me. I profiled ITA's founder and CEO, Jeremy Wertheimer, in 2000 for BusinessWeek.com. The MIT PhD was brilliant back then, if still cash-strapped--he came up with the $100,000 to start his Cambridge, Mass., company by maxxing out his credit cards and borrowing from his parents. Today, he's undoubtedly still brilliant and rich, too. Click here for the full profile.
• Gen Y Unplugs Cable TV 1 July, 2010, 2:34 pm
  Generation Y has already upset plenty of media businesses with its unconventional consuming habits. Another sector may be about to get smacked--cable and satellite television. Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at USC, made that call in his dinner speech for a group of chief marketing officers last night. The dinner was part of a conference in Chicago sponsored by Bloomberg Businessweek. People in their 20s and younger no longer buy print newspapers, music CDs, land-line phones or watches, Cole noted. (I don't think they listen to over-the-air radio, either.) Now, Cole said his research has detected that they're not signing up for cable or satellite TV like prior generations. Instead, they're watching video on laptops or even their cell phones. Cole also predicted that most newspapers have just five more years before they're killed by the Internet. (Cue up Ziggy Stardust.) A handful will survive: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Washington Post. Women's magazines will live on, too, since readers buy them as much for the ads as the editorial content. He didn't give odds for us.
• The Modern Corporation: It's About People, People 29 June, 2010, 12:15 pm
  As turmoil continues to roil economies both large and small, as politicians struggle to figure out how to deal with the conditions of the 21st century, and as the United States and the West heads into what Paul Krugman describes as no less than "The Third Depression", a new way of thinking about management and innovation is making the rounds. It's about people, people. Instead of thinking about the corporation as an amorphous entity, executives need to remember the individuals at the heart of every organization. Ok, so it's not exactly an earth-shattering insight, but it's a sign of how far we've drifted that people's health, hopes, insights, and talents have come to be seen as mere grist for the grinding wheels of capitalism. Three moments emphasized this shift for me recently: 1. John Hagel, co-author of the recent, highly recommended book The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made Can Set Big Things in Motion, talks about the "red queen effect", where executives are running faster and faster to stay in the same place. The problem is, they've essentially already lost this particular race, and trying the same old techniques only means they'll fall further behind. Now, says Hagel, is precisely the time for executives to figure out what, precisely, their firm is really about. And while Ronald Coase may have won the Nobel Prize in 1991 for his theories of efficiency within the industrial organization, executive focus in 2010 has to be on talent development. Not, says Hagel, simply a cursory nod toward human resources but a concerted effort toward making a focus on talent integral to every part of an organization. 2. At the recent New York Forum, I sat in on a breakout session about how large corporations should handle the challenge of disruptive innovation. Truthfully, there wasn't much consensus; it mainly seemed like an opportunity for panelists to trumpet their fervent support for and dedication to the discipline of innovation, the definition of which was unclear. But Glenn Kelman, CEO of online real estate company (and would-be industry disruptor) Redfin, had some insights that have stuck with me. "The number one thought I have every day is how do I make Redfin the best place to work for engineers," he said. "One great engineer is worth 10 mediocre engineers. And a great engineer won't work somewhere that engineering isn't valued." For Kelman, the future, intuitively, lies with people. Make them happy; watch your company thrive. 3. I've recently been reading The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems. I've written about PD before; it's a curious philosophy of examining the behavior of outliers to see how they've intuited a better way of doing something than 'most everyone else in their same society. The most frequently cited example of PD in action comes from two of this book's co-authors, Jerry and Monique Sternin, who documented it in action while working for Save the Children in Vietnam. By looking at what a few individual parents did with the same resources in the same situation as an entire community (in this instance resulting in healthier children), positive steps for all could be identified—and rolled out for the wider benefit of the inhabitants. But PD isn't limited to developing markets, and the authors include some potent examples from business, too, including from within giants such as Merck and, believe it or not, Goldman Sachs. The former company tried PD as a last resort in Mexico, where it brought about the resurrection of sales of the drug Fosamax, a miracle osteoporosis drug that reps had nonetheless struggled to sell. Manager Andres Bruzual called his district managers for a meeting, outlined the principles of PD and told them to have at it. As the book's other co-author, Richard Pascale, outlined to me on the phone: the managers were initially both skeptical and horrified. But once they realized that the onus really was on them to figure out the next, best steps, they rose to the challenge. By allowing individuals to feel like they had some say in how they should best do their job, Merck Mexico pulled off a seemingly impossible success story. In an age where people can work anywhere, on anything, and for a generation that hasn't grown up with the promise of a job for life (and is probably horrified at the very idea of it), the real challenge is for the corporate supertankers of our time to prove they can turn away from the very real threat of being out-maneuvered on all sides. Thoughts on which companies might prove the Titanics of the age? Or which behemoths have the chops and the wherewithal to adapt in time?
• The Designer Behind Top Chef Izard's New Room 29 June, 2010, 9:17 am
  Over her 10 years as vice president of design at 555 International, Karen Herold has produced interiors for nightclubs in Las Vegas for Playboy and N9NE as well as retail space for Chanel, Valentino, Armani, and the Dallas Cowboys. She's proud of every one of them, of course, but she notes that they're really the taste of her clients, especially the flashy casino venues. Now Herold says she finally has a room of her own. Actually, the new place, a Chicago restaurant called Girl and the Goat, will be identified with Stephanie Izard, the 2008 winner of television's Top Chef, who'll be managing the kitchen when it opens shortly after the Fourth of July weekend. And financially and legally, Girl and the Goat belongs to Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz, a duo who already own three other restaurants in Chicago. But the interior design is Herold's throughout. "This is exactly how I wanted it," Herold says. "I wish I could buy a house right now. I would make it the Goat house. Everything I would have in my house." Herold, a 38-year-old Dutch native, showed me around the 150-seat dining room the other evening, as workers were still installing light fixtures. It is purposely anti-Las Vegas--Izard, whose previous restaurant, Scylla, was often described as cozy, and her backers had made "no glitz" a hiring condition. But the space does have some dazzle, which I'll get to in a moment. (Sorry, no photos yet.) Girl and the Goat is made to feel comfortably worn, lived in. It is Old World heavy and dark, from the 10-seat communal tables made of thick, weathered oak planks and lit by clear incandescent bulbs in antique glass fixtures to the back bar, which is made of 14 iron fireplace grills from the early 1900s that were sandblasted and fitted in a two-row span. Colors are muted. The seat cushions on the steel-brushed oak chairs are so deep green they look black. The fireplace grills, which will be backlit when everything is up and running, are one of Herold's three big statements in her design. Another is a brightlly colored, boozy painting of a girl and a goat that measures 7x7 feet and commands an exterior wall. Izard (the wild-haired girl in the painting) personally commissioned Quang Hong to do the work, based on a smaller one he had done for Scylla. The other is a pitch-black screen in the center of the room. It's what's left of the supporting wall that had bisected the 116-year-old structure. Rather than leave the exposed bricks, Herold decided to encase them with cedar boards--after setting them on fire in a big parking lot to char them and then coating them with resin. Herold says Japanese builders have used this technique for ages, though she had never done it anywhere before. "It is very bold without being loud," she says. "I wanted to make strong statements without being in your face about it." Until now, neither Herold nor 555 International has had much of a profile in Chicago, though the design and custom-furniture firm has been based in the city since 1988, when it was founded by industrial designer James Geier. Herold, an interior-design graduate from the Institute of Fashion and Design in Amsterdam, hired on in 2000. In all, Boehm and Katz have spent $1.6 million to create Girl and the Goat. Boehm says it was well worth it. "I always expected it to be really cool and really authentic, but I didn't expect it to be sexy."
• Architecture's Long Fade 23 June, 2010, 8:06 am
  Architecture just might be this season's Biggest Loser. The Architecture Billings Index, a gauge the American Institute of Architects uses to show the industry's strength (or weakness), indicates that business has now been in decline for a record 28 months in a row. Moreover, in issuing its latest report today, the institute reports that May's rating fell from the month before. The weakest area geographically is the West. By sector, it's institutional. In an email to me, Clark Davis, vice chairman of HOK, writes: "I believe this will be a very slow recovery in the private sector, because businesses are still very reluctant to add people--and job growth is the single largest driver in commercial real estate, design, and construction." Since payrolls peaked in mid-2007, the nation's architecture firms have shed a quarter of their employees. And at least some still collecting a paycheck have too little to do, says Phil Harrison, president of Perkins + Will. "Design firms are holding onto staff, even without sufficient work to keep them busy, because staff are so valuable and there is a hope that work willl pick up," he says in an email. Harrison predicts the rut (or rout) will last another two years. "The combination of three factors--expensive marketing, lower fees, and excess staff--is causing many firms to operate at significantly lower levels of financial performance, which is likely unstainable," he says. And I thought the media biz was in bad straits.