Futurist Jim Carroll focuses on innovation to help those affected by economic hardship
The futurist Jim Carroll has found a new sector in the world of self-help: with the hopeful title “10 Great Words for Innovation” he is creating motivational rules, aimed at awakening the public of its current lethargy and make people envision a brighter future.
In recent years, a myriad of self-help books, lectures, and motivational videos have arrived on the market to assist those who have been hit hard in the recent economic crisis. Jim Carroll, one of the world’s leading futurists, trends & innovation experts, has written “10 Great Words for Innovation”. This document, written to get people on the right track, focuses on ten important words: Observe, think, change, dare, banish, try, empower, question, grow, and do.
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Some of the world’s largest organizations, such as the Walt Disney Corporation, CapitolOne, Nestle, and Visa, all turn to Jim Carroll when seeking insight into the future. He has become internationally recognized for his cutting edge insight. He was named by Business Week as one of four leading sources for insight into creativity and innovation, and was a featured panelist on the CNBC prime-time series, The Future of Innovation, with host Maria Baritoromo.
According to Carroll, in these uncertain times, it is important to change one’s attitudes, actions, and approaches. Using the words and guidelines outlined in “10 Great Words for Innovation”, people can learn to develop new skills in a new market, and to challenge inherent assumptions.
Jim Carroll offers new positive ways to look at the future. We should look forward to new possibilities instead of fearing what may happen. Perhaps we can change things by simply having a better outlook on life.
Innovation Expert Gary Hamel Discusses the Restructuring of Management
Innovation and strategy expert Gary Hamel shares his view that management itself needs to be reinvented in order to accommodate the new needs of business.
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Gary Hamel, among the biggest experts worldwide of strategy and innovation, entices us to reflect upon the necessity of a renovation of management in order to organize and mobilize human capabilities. The Wall Street Journal recently ranked Hamel as the world’s most influential business thinker, and Fortune magazine has called him “the world’s leading expert on business strategy”.
Gary Hamel, among the biggest experts worldwide of strategy and innovation, entices us to reflect upon the necessity of a renovation of management in order to organize and mobilize human capabilities. The Wall Street Journal recently ranked Hamel as the world’s most influential business thinker, and Fortune magazine has called him “the world’s leading expert on business strategy”.
According to Hamel, the past certainties that every one carries within have had damaging effects in the organizational realities of today and the managers have to have new principles in order to overcome the difficulties that the economy foresees. Moreover, the web is demonstrating an incredible force when it comes to modifying inefficient organizational systems that become consolidated with time.
The authentic innovation is not that of products, process or strategy. The competitive advantage that lasts longest is that which derives from innovation of the organizational methods and the capacity of the people that head the agency.
It is difficult to imagine how something that has remained unchanged for so long could all of a sudden transform. However, we can’t ignore the changes that technology is bringing forth to the organizational structures, changing the relationships of those in power, democratizing the decision-making process, and counting on an ever more refined system of collective intelligence.
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Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google Inc., Stresses the Importance of Innovation and Technology in our Future
At Carnegie Mellon’s 112th Commencement Ceremony, Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google Inc., stresses the importance of technology and innovation in our future. According to Schmidt, we need to start using the abundance of information that we have in order to make our own opportunities and learn from our mistakes.
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At Carnegie Mellon’s 112th Commencement Ceremony, Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google Inc., leaves the graduating class with some very sound advice: “Mistakes allow you to learn and to innovate and try new things.” As the CEO of Google, and a former member of the Board of Directors of Apple, one could easily make the assumption that Schmidt has a passion for technology and information. In fact, he believes that information itself will make the world a more global and productive place.
Why is it important to have an unlimited source of information? Beyond the fact it makes life more functional, information serves as an equalizer. If everyone in the world had the same access to all information, we would finally be able to solve the world’s problem of inequality. We live in a culture of innovation, where we can find most of the answers to our problems, and make our own luck and opportunity.
Schmidt stresses the importance of using the information that we have to take chances and mistakes, because it is through mistakes that we can learn and improve. He addresses the graduating class with a quote from John Lennon: “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.” By living life and foregoing fear, we will be able to be more innovative than ever before.
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Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired and creator of the long tail theory, predicts a world in which everything will be free: “Zero dollars is the future of business”
Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired and creator of the long tail theory, predicts a world in which everything will be free, without even the need for advertising. The web will change the world and every digital sector will become free.
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We are always looking for ways to spend less money, and get the best deals. We compare prices and wait for products to go on sale. Every opportunity to save money is a good one. But what about spending no money at all? According to Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired and the mind behind the long tail theory: “if free is what you’re looking for, then free is what you’ll get.”
Chris Anderson explains the new zero-cost business model. It has little to do with the current way we live where advertising guarantees revenue; instead, it is based on a new reality in which we will not even have need for advertising. “Everything will end in this economy of waste”, says Anderson. It is his belief that products become so easily produced that they become wasted. How is this possible?
Chris Anderson uses nuclear energy as a prime example. If electricity had been too cheap to meter, to the point where it could just be thrown away, we would have an electric economy. Everything would run on electricity because it would cost us nothing.
This is what is happening today with the technology revolution. In fact, Chris strongly believes that free is the future of business. All of the technologies of the computer revolution are too cheap to meter. As more businesses become digital, services and products will become available through software and downloads. This will lead to everything becoming free.
Companies such as Google and Yahoo, that make billions of dollars, are built upon the business model of giving away things for free. This Gift Economy is based on free labor, and no advertising. “Every industry that becomes digital, eventually becomes free”, concludes Chris. Therefore, we should look forward to a future that is more digital, and more importantly, free.
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Interview with Joey Reiman: “Having a home office breeds creativity and liberates ideas.” This is the real future of business
In an interview with CNN, Joey Reiman talks about his innovative vision for the future of business. “In the future, it will no longer be necessary to go to the office every morning, and we will work only six hours a day for four days a week.”
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For those who wonder whether or not it is possible to be both the manager of an up-and-coming international company and a dedicated and present father, the answer is yes. It was in this commendable way, in fact, that Joey Reiman became so successful. His office, located in the middle of his beautiful backyard, was once an old square-dancing hall, and the photos of his family that are scattered all over the room makes it look more like a living room rather than a place where a manager conducts business on an international scale. Joey Reiman is the CEO of BrightHouse, the first ideation corporation in the world.
The project’s idea is based upon Reiman’s firm conviction that innovative ideas, which are born freely from creative minds, truly drive today’s market. These ideas are the most important component in business, and are perfected and implemented everyday in order to respond to specific human needs.
Reiman has dedicated himself for years, if not for his entire career, to the study of the mechanisms that advance the creative process. One of his recently published books, Thinking for a Living, is the fruit of all of his research and analysis. He believes that observation, ideation, and implementation are the three phases of the birth of a good idea. You cannot rush creativity (Reiman often boasts that he is the head of one of the slowest yet one of the most effective companies in the world). Instead, creativity can be best stimulated in a familiar environment, where we feel comfortable and thoughts can flow freely. So what does this all have to do with our homes?
This is Reiman’s idea for the future: jobs will be an interesting and stimulating part of our day, a part of our life that can be shared with the people that we love, in the comfort of our homes. The timeframes, rigid guidelines, and rules that turn an office environment into an alienating experience, will soon become a thing of the past.
The true key of innovation can be found in the simplicity of the small moments that occur in our everyday lives. These small moments are normally eclipsed by the stress from the work world, and from the general attitude of earning as much as possible the in shortest amount of time.
Reiman reminds us that ideas are not created from money, but that money is generated from ideas. The best ideas come from the most open minds; minds that are free from outlines and preconceived notions.
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Daniel Burrus foresees a revolution of the manufacturing industry generated by technological innovation and the mix of generations
According to Daniel Burrus, a leading technology forecaster and business strategist, the manufacturing industry will be reinvented by a collaboration of four generations. For the first time, we will see a partnership between the old and new generations, as technological advancements and experience becomes the core of the new global market.
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It is no longer unusual for an employee to have a boss half his age, or to find a company that has employees ranging from early twenties to around sixty years of age. For the first time in history, four generations will work together; future workers will mix with past workers. Daniel Burrus, one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and business strategists, discusses the future of the manufacturing industry. In the near future, businesses will have to be rebuilt based on the principle of collaboration and being relatable. The young will have to use their technological and cooperation skills, and the old will have to impart their wisdom and experience. The need to work together will put an end to the professional competition between the young and old.
The winning strategy of businesses will be to understand beforehand, thanks to the symbiosis between the generations and new technology, what problems clients will face and be able to solve them by means of a product or service. According to Burrus, noted as a business guru by the New York Times, relationships will be one of the most important aspects for a global market, and therefore people need to focus on reinventing manufacturing through collaborations.
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Interview with American entrepreneur Russell Simmons: “If you have ideas, then you have to have the courage to share them with the rest of the world.”
“Ideas allow you to become what you want, and to begin to start now.” In an interview for the Wall Street Journal, Russell Simmons talks about his passion for music, which is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and foundation for his innovative business.
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“I was very lucky that I found a passion in music, and that music caused me to want to share it.” Effectively, it seems that Russell Simmons has the gift for music, in the form of rap and hip-hop, in his DNA: his older brother is Joseph Simmons, otherwise known as Run, from Run-DMC. By the time that he was in college, Russell had already dedicated himself to organizing concerts and sponsoring local emerging groups. By 1984, he had a record label, Def-Jam, which he founded with Beastie Boys’ DJ, Rick Rubin. His knack for business alone was not the reason for his great success: the courageous and innovative ideas are what make the real difference in the business world. This was how Rush Communications was created, a successful company that produces film, magazines, clothing, and TV programs, such as Def Comedy Jam.
According to Simmons, having courage is the key to success: it is important to always be yourself, and to share your nonconforming and innovative ideas with the world. Unlike other African American artists, who try to imitate their Caucasian counterparts, Russell Simmons has always focused on the black community and style. He has put a lot of time and effort into connecting especially with the young black community, in order to help them realize their dreams. Russell strives to be a figure that younger people from all races can respect and emulate.
Russell Simmons has been able to create a successful business from the expressive force of a poor minority. He has been reaching out to children in the poorest neighborhoods that their aggression, their music made up of rhythms and rhymes, can be a lifestyle, a job, and the road to success. Young people are the most profitable investment. They are a resource of energy and ideas, which are always projected towards the future. More than any other group, they need confidence and support in the choices that seem most improbable.
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Advertising guru Rory Sutherland: “A change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider ‘real’ value.”
“Often the persuasion of a business is more important than the quality of the product.” At a conference for TED, a non-profit association that promotes and spreads innovative ideas, advertising guru Rory Sutherland demonstrates how advertising alone is an effective means of modifying a consumer’s perception of a product.
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In order to explain his idea of successful marketing to his audience, Rory Sutherland uses the weapon of irony: Why spend millions of dollars on tracks for high-velocity trains from Paris to London, when you could spend half of the money employing top supermodels to walk up and down the trains throughout the journey? It would cost less, and people would actually request that the train slow down. With a series of entertaining and provocative examples, Rory explains the importance of advertising and the extraordinary effects that it can have on the perception of a product.
Rory Sutherland begun his career as a teacher and successfully became a copy writer for Microsoft. He was a pioneer of the Internet, as he was one of the first in the field of advertising who strongly believed in the web’s potential. He foresaw the advantages for advertising that would arise from the internet’s success. His intuition played a large role in his success. Social networking was his new frontier: he is the author of a blog, he has a column “The Wiki Man” at The Spectator, and his Twitter account is constantly being updated.
“The tangible values of a product require many elements: planning, expenditure of money, and the use of sometimes limited resources”. Advertising, according to Sutherland, does not have to be considered a solution to all of these problems, but it is at least a great opportunity to simplify them. Sutherland uses breakfast cereal as an example: in order to re-launch a breakfast cereal as an entirely new product on the market, all that had to be done was to change the image on the box and the name of the cereal. The consumers, who were interviewed after a taste test, swore that the “new” product was more appealing and appetizing.
According to the research done by the Advertising Man, as his colleagues like to call him, the advertisements that are the most effective as the ones that amuse the public, and through content originality, make a product more desirable to the public. Rory Sutherland believes that the future of marketing will be pure entertainment.
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- http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man.html
- http://rorysutherland.blogspot.com/
Don Tapscott explains Wikinomics and the Smartest Generation at the Innovation Forum
We’ve all heard the terms ‘generation Y’ and ‘millennium generation’ be used to explain this technology-savvy generation. Don Tapscott, the author of Wikinomics, has a new term to describe this phenomenon: the smartest generation. In an interview conducted at the Innovation Forum in Milan, Italy, Tapscott explains the key points of his famous book, as well as our relationship with technology.
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During the Innovation Forum 2008, which is held every year in Milan, Italy in March, Tapscott explains the key points of Wikinomics and the “smartest generation”.
When the internet was born, it was a platform for content. Today, it has become a platform that creates services for the mass public, a giant network that updates itself constantly. Today, the digital native have a close relationship with this technology and many use it without thinking of the ingenuity behind it. Some call them the millennium generation, others generation Y. For Tapscott, it has become the “smartest generation”.
Don Tapscott is a Canadian author and consultant specializing in business strategy, organizational transformation and the role of technology in business and society.
Tapscott has authored or co-authored thirteen books on the application of technology in business and society. His most famous book, co-authored with Anthony Williams and published is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, the best selling Management book in the US of 2007.
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The Top 10 Best Innovation and Design Books of 2009 according to BusinessWeek Editor Helen Walters
It is important to think smart and read smart. Helen Walters, the editor of BusinessWeek, has already done half of the work for us, by outlining the 19 best innovation and design books written in 2009. Our top 10 list highlights the best of the best in innovation and design thinking.
What do contemporary T-shirt graphics, Brooklyn-based design companies, and animated short films have in common? For one thing, they’ve each grabbed the attention of Helen Walters, editor of Innovation and Design at BusinessWeek Magazine. Helen has used each of these diverse topics to illustrate the ability innovative design techniques have to change the world around us.
Recently, Helen has shifted her focus from producing original work to publicizing and critiquing the work of others. Her survey of the 19 best innovation and design books written in 2009 is a helpful guide for anyone looking to become more informed on this year’s innovation innovations, for lack of a better phrase. 10 of these books stood out to us as especially interesting or unique:
- Change by Design by Tim Brown – a persuasive argument for the necessity of maintaining a well-functioning design department to succeed in tomorrow’s business climate.
- The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage by Roger Martin – a practically applicable guide to creating and maintaining a quality design department written by one of the most respected people in the field.
- A Fine Line: How Design Strategies are Shaping the Future of Business by Hartmut Esslinger – Frog Design’s founder’s personal entertaining and informative anecdotes of his time spent at companies including Apple, Disney, and SAP.
- Design-Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean by Roberto Verganti – a revolutionary look at the field that focuses on companies’ ability to manipulate markets by using innovative design to alter customer expectations.
- I Miss My Pencil by Martin Bone and Kara Johnson – an exercise in innovative design itself, this uniquely formatted book emphasizes the non-traditional aspects of the field in a very interesting and accessible manner
- Discovery-Driven Growth: A Breakthrough Process to Reduce Risk and Seize Opportunity by Rita Gunther McGrath and Ian C. MacMillan – an executive’s handy-book to implementing innovative designs without creating excessive risk written by professors from Columbia and Wharton.
- The Age of the Unthinkable, Why the New World Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It by Joshua Cooper Ramo – a survey of disruptive innovation as it has manifested itself in the business community and the world at large, emphasizing its inevitability and potential to be positive.
- Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities by Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich – two Wharton professors’ academic look at the way innovation can be encouraged and managed through the use of certain business practices.
- Clever: Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones – a persuasion piece arguing that brilliant, difficult people are going to be the primary source of innovative and economic growth in tomorrow’s economy.
- Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life and Maybe Even the World by Warren Berger – a look at individuals that the author sees as important to changing the field of innovative design, and consequently the world, that pays special attention to designer Bruce Mao
More Info:
- http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/12/1216_best_design_innovation_books/1.htm
- http://www.helenwalters.com