HSM Inspiring Ideas

The Bloggers Hub Cap--Essentials from Top Business Blogs

Here are the can't misses in recent business blogs:

Economy, Trends, Change:

Bernanke Translated (WSJ Real Time Economics )

When U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke talks, people listen, though they may not understand what he says. On November 19, Bernanke spoke in Frankfurt to explain and defend the latest round of quantitative easing (QE2), as well as to assail China for failing to allow the Yuan to appreciate faster. If you're head is already spinning, Wall Street Journal economis editor David Wessel arrives to offer up some plain english for Bernanke watchers, juxtaposing excerpts from the Chairman remarks against the lay translation. Example:

• “The level of output in the advanced economies is currently about 8% below its long-term trend, whereas economic activity in the emerging markets is only about 1.5% below the corresponding (but much steeper) trend line for that group of countries. Indeed, for some emerging markets the crisis appears to have left little lasting imprint on growth. Notably, since the beginning of 2005, real output has risen more than 70% in China and about 55% in India.” TRANSLATION: “China, India and other emerging markets have resumed their rapid growth with surprising speed, but despite all my efforts the U.S. is mired in painfully slow growth — and Europe and Japan aren’t doing much better. Sigh.”

Enjoy.

Leadership, Performance, People:

How to Treat New Employees (Alexander Kjerulf--The Chief Happiness Officer)

"Studies show that new employees who have undergone a successful start-up process are 69% more likely to still be in the company after 3 years and they reach their full production rate 2 months faster." The CHO offers four tips on how your organization should treat new hires:

1. Be there for them the first day;
2. Have the practical stuff ready;
3. Give them a solid technical introduction; and
4. Lay down the culture.

Because it's never a good sign when the first day is the beginning of the end.

Strategy, Innovation, Communication:

What Makes a Great Tagline (Denise Lee Yohm--Brand as Business Bites)

The title says it all. Why do we remember "The Ultimate Driving Machine," while forgetting other marketing taglines that are, well, forgettable? While Yohn doesn't offer a precise answer to the question, she does review Forbes list of 25 "best loved" taglines (that BMW line gets number one honors) to determine if the best taglines share particular attributes. She can't detect any, which means that a great tagline may well be just a moment of inspired genius. So don't try and turn this art into a science; know your product and let the feelig express itself.

The Bloggers Hub Cap--Essentials from Top Business Blogs

Here are the can't misses in business blogs for the past week:

Economy, Trends, Change:

The 50K College Club (Paul Kedrosky--Infectious Greed)

Is there a higher education bubble? In an economy where education is more and more important, is it becoming ever more unattainable for most? And is your company positioned for a world in which education again becomes the domain of an elite and where the next, great manager might not be able to go to school? It might be time to give some thought to what the following means for the already displaced workforce: the new list of colleges and universities with an annual tuition in excess of $50,000.00 has been released, and now exceeds 100 institutions, many of which are not what you'd consider "elite" in any sense of the word. Along with the price of gold, this could be one of the top "eye popping" charts of the year.

Leadership, Performance, People:

Three Ways to Make the Workplace Richer in Feedback (Daniel H. Pink--danpink.com)

Is it time for managers to consign the annual performance review to the dustbin of "that used to work," or at least enhance it with new workplace feedback opportunities made possible by technology and a new generation of workers that crave, even demand more feedback? Daniel Pink thinks so. Millennials have been connected their entire lives--they've grown up in a constant feedback loop and expect more than an annual "how'd you do" when they show up for work. In light of technology, annual reviews are a vestige of a bygone time when frankly, offering feedback was more complicated. It doesn't have to be anymore. Feedback can be a regular process, and Pink offers three ways to make it so: "DIY performance reviews, peer rewards, and some groovy new software — to pump a little more feedback oxygen into our employment caves."

Strategy, Innovation, Communication:

Don't Innovate - Steal Ideas and Create Value (Caspar Van Rijnbach--Blogging Innovation)

Anyone with a memory or a few minutes on his hands knows or can deduce that the i-pod was not an original idea, in the sense of being first-to-market. So how did Apple succeed with borrowed technology where others could not, and how can this inform your innovative process? Steve Jobs is a believer in "stealing" ideas and using them to competitive advantage. With i-pod, "Apple combined all the ideas and inventions [that made up the MP3 revolution], incorporated them in the i-pod and i-tunes and did it a little better than anybody else (while making sure to stay ahead in the game). Besides that, the company knew how to market the innovation and how to protect it." Bottom line--you don't have to be Einstein to be a successful innovator.

 

The Bloggers Hub Cap--Essentials from Top Business Blogs

Here are the can't misses in business blogs for that past week:

Economy, Trends, Change:

Will the Verizon iPhone Cripple Verizon? (Nick Bilton--New York Times Bits)

The mobile wireless battlefield is heating up once again. For years, U.S. consumers have clamored for Apple's iPhone to be made available on a network other than AT&T, which has been jammed since the phone's debut. (Calling an AT&T iPhone owner can be nightmarish.) The question is whether the same will happen if/when Verizon introduces its long-awaited iPhone. And what does a new iPhone carrier mean for carriers in general--for AT&T, which might suffer abandonment, as frustrated users flock to the competitor, or for the second-tier carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint?

Leadership, Performance, People:

Howard Roark Would've Made a Great Football Coach (S.M. Oliva--Mises Daily)

Do ideas matter more than talent? Oliva examines that difference between entrpreneurial and bureaucratic leadership highlighting an October 31 NFL football game between the Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins--specifically Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan's decisions late in the fourth quarter to pull star quarterback Donovan McNabb and replace him with journeyman Rex Grossman. Answer to the question opening this paragraph? "Ideas without the talent to execute them are worthless in the marketplace. It doesn’t matter how brilliant an architect you are if nobody wants to buy and occupy the damn building."

Strategy, Innovation, Communication:

3 Steps to Foolish Marketing (Brian Clark--Copyblogger)

Applying the tactics of the highly successful Motley Fool investment advisory service, Clark highlights the differences between foolish online advertising (which most online ads are) and Foolish online advertising--that is, "without wasting your money and annoying people" (which most online ads do). This is all about the power of content-driven, opt-in, education-based strategies that cost little and guarantee you no income at first (because you're always giving something away for nothing). Your content replaces traditional banner and click-through ads. This works because online consumers want content; your educational content becomes your advertising. And eventually, you can pitch to your new, loyal students.

 

The Bloggers Hub Cap--Essentials from Top Business Blogs

Here are the can't misses in business blogs for that past week:

Economy, Trends, Change:

Pimco's Bill Gross: Dollar Could Fall 20% (Wall Street Journal Market Beats)

As the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank prepares to engage a second round of quantitative easing (i.e., turning on the printing press by buying bonds), money pros are speaking out, in particular PIMCO Chairman Bill Gross. The point of quantitative easing (QE) is to jump-start economies by making exports cheaper. But the bond-house big says QE2, as it is not so affectionately referred to, could lead to debasement of the dollar and then an all-out currency war as other nations, in response, try to protect their export base. What does it mean for business when countries begin a race to the "currency bottom"?

Leadership, Performance, People:

Efficient vs. Effective (N2Growth Blog)

While there's nothin wrong with efficiency efforts, Mike Myatt laments that, too often, they come at the expense of effectiveness: "If efficiency starts diluting productivity rather than increasing it something is woefully amiss." Sometimes, the innefficient process can leader to the most productive outcome.

Strategy, Innovation, Communication:

Managing Innovation is About Managing Change (Blogging Innovation)

Innovation always sounds great; we assume that innovative companies have a bunch of geniuses sitting around coming up with revolutionary products and processes that the companies seamlessly integrate into the business model. That may be so when it comes to what Braden Kelly calls "incremental innovation," which doesn't require much genius anyway. But in his new book, Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire (excerpted in this Kelly post), Kelly examines the difficulties presented to all companies by "disruptive innovation." The changes generated by such innovation "often disrupt not only the market but the internal workings of the organization as well – they also require a lot of explanation." And even more internal management of a company's entire "ecosystem."

The Bloggers Hub Cap--Essentials from Top Business Blogs

We're going to change it up at the Bloggers Hub Cap. Starting this week, the hub cap will highlight three of the best recent blog posts on the business web. Enjoy.

Economy, Trends, Change:

Power of Ten Interface (Thomas Frey's Futurist Speaker)

The distance between information and our brain is getting shorter. Twenty years the time between a request for information and finding the answer in the Library of Congress averaged 10 hours per question. We have shaved that time today to 10 minutes, and we are headed for a world in which we can find answers in as little as 10 seconds. "The ease and fluidity of our information-to-brain interface will have a profound effect on everything from education, to the way business is being conducted, to the way we function as a society."

Leadership, Performance, People:

Servant Leaders Outperform Because They Connect (Michael Lee Stallard)

Do certain types of leaders garner out-sized loyalty? Because they move people to “surrender the me for the we” and create "connection cultures," the teams of "servant leaders" accomplish more because they pull together rather than drift apart: the fascinating case of retired Chief Naval Officer Vern Clark, under whom re-enlistment soared from 38% to 56.7%.

Strategy, Innovation, Communication:

Top Ten Reasons Your Company Shouldn't Blog (B.L. Ochman's What's Next Blog)

Every company needs a blog, right? Maybe not. Companies need to consider whether they are willing to commit the time, energy and money to making a blog successful.  Leveraging your business by blogging takes a lot of work, and most company blogs are failures--not read, not interesting, not original and you can't expect them to drive sales.

Leadership, Crisis Management, Collaboration on Display in Chile at a Place Called (Camp) Hope #wbf10

And just like that, there were no more miners under the ground near Copiapo, Chile. They had all become temporary residents of Campo Esparanza (Camp Hope). Of course, the 24-hour, smooth as butter, rescue process now hides the 68 days of grueling, often halted, work that preceded it. Yesterday, I quoted David Gergen on leadership: "We have a crisis of leadership today. Business has failed. Governments have failed. People don't know who to trust." But watching Chilean President Sebastian Pinera drive the rescue efforts at the stricken mine, staying around the clock and then whooping and cheering and hugging every last miner who exited the torpedo-like escape pod, I decided that Gergen wasn't casting a wide enough net. Certainly, there are oceans where a crisis of leadership maintains today, but within those oceans are islands of cretive and decisive stewardship. And nothing proved that more than watching President Pinera. Already, commentators are asking what other leaders can learn from him. And while they're at it they can learn something about leadership from the miners as well. Their collective story says a lot about leadership, organizations and teamwork.

It was ironic that the recurring symbol of the rescue efforts in Chile was the turning of the wheel of the winch holding the rope attached to the rescue pod. As each miner entered the pod, the wheel would begin to turn, slowly at first, then steadily, as the pod made its way up the half-mile of rock to the surface. And Jim Collins WBF10 presentation kept coming to mind. What is leadership? What makes success? It's turning that flywheel (the wheel of your business), no matter how difficult the task, but slowly at first and then again and again until the momentum sustains itself, and even then, you don't stop. There was just something about that wheel over that mine.

When word of the mine disaster first hit the newswires, the presumption was that the miners were dead or would be soon. But President Pinera marshaled the forces of the world mining community, and he started turning that wheel, making the drive for success a collaborative one as well. Chile is a world mining powerhouse; its engineers designed and built the escape pod. But Pinera opened this rescue operation to the world. What is that Collins said (and fellow WBF10 speakers Jack Welch and Carlos Brito echoed)? Get the right people on the bus. That brought in a unique drill bit and drill rig manufactured by a couple U.S.-based companies; a Canadian company to transport the drilling equipment to Copiapo and an Australian drilling consultant, among others, to work alongside Chileans. And in the end, when the last miner (and the two rescuers who had descended into the mine to supervise the exit) stepped out into the night, the world was able to rejoice in the possibilities of collaberative effort. And it all started with truly inspired leadership.

 

Day 2 Agenda at #WBF10

Here is the rundown of speakers at Day 2 of World Business Forum 2010:

• 9:00 Steve Levitt
• 9:40 Joseph Stiglitz
• 11:00 Marvin Odom
• 11:15 Al Gore
• 2:00 A.G. Lafley
• 2:15 Renee Mauborgne
• 3:15 Vijay Govindarajan
• 4:20 Luca Majorski
• 4:30 Nando Parrado
• 5:05 James Cameron

Great Lineup!

 

Social Media and Your Business--Charlene Li Explains How to Give Up Control But Stay in Command #wbf10

One of the highlights of WBF10 Day 1 was social media guru Charlene Li. She explained that "the shiny new toy" was on the way to being a fundamental business tool that your business needs to begin to explore in earnest--and not as a throw away. And building a social media strategy means more than hopping onto Twitter and Facebook. It means reorienting how you deal with the business/customer relationship. That means you'll have to let go just a little bit. That is, the way to stay in command is to give up control.

Companies are beginning to find ways to make social media work. They can engage their customers in new ways, broadening the relationship, building trust, and cementing loyalty. One example Li cited from her own experience with it was My Starbucks Idea, which enables customers to submit ideas on hnow to make Starbucks better.

Social Commerce: If You Build It, They Will Come...Eventually #wbf10

You've set up your Facebook page; you hired some kids to Tweet and blog for you. And you have a "social media" strategy session every week. It's all well and good, but when do the dollars start to roll in, and how? We tend to be impatient with movements of any kind. Heck, it takes decades for one persecuted minority or another to achieve civil rights. But companies with stakeholders need change right away. And if you're going to have a social media strategy, it needs to pay off, like, yesterday.

But take a step back, and think about the process you're going through. Remember how long it took for eCommerce to take off? The zeitgeist had to catch up with itself. Back in 1999, start-up upon start-up assured investors that eProfits were right around the corner. Most of those start-ups went the way of Boo.com and Geocities. When the panic set in, Amazon's stock plummeted along with the rest. But look at Amazon today. Exactly what the seers predicted came about, and today, just ten years later, Amazon and scads of other survivors are a seamless part of the economic fabric and marketplace. Shopping online isn't even special anymore. The question you're asking is whether the social media revolution will play out the same way. When will your social media strategy turn into social commerce and justify the resources you're pouring into it?

Charlene Li thinks about this question on a regular basis. That's why we invited the Founder of Altimeter Group and resident of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People 2010 list to speak at World Business Forum 2010. Li knows everyone is desperate to figure out how to make a buck off social media. But she isn't afraid of the process--she revels in it. The author of Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Change the Way You Lead contends that to become as ubiquitous as simple eCommerce, social commerce must pass through four phases that constitute the The Rise of Social Media:

1. Social for the Sake of Being Social: This is where most companies are now;
2. Enlightened Engagement: "In this phase, social processes extend horizontally across the organization to spawn new outside-in processes.  Companies learn how to listen, test and learn and then respond.  Tactics include integrating social into a Web site, changing customer service to include social listening, and using community feedback in the design of products and services";
3. Store of the Community: "As product development organizations learn that they can trust the voice of the community, open innovation processes accelerate and your customers, suppliers, and partners all help to determine the four Ps of marketing. Which Products/services are delivered, what Price is paid, how it’s Promoted, and finally, how you Position within existing and new channels to maximize presence";
4. Frictionless Commerce: This is the final step, which, like eCommerce before it, will result in the "redesign of the shopping experience to improve the commerce experience."

So while there may be no definitive answer as to when your social media strategy will pay off, you have to be a little Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams about it (or more in the real world, a little Jeff Bezos). If you build it, they will come, eventually. As it was ten years ago, the zeitgeist has to catch up with itself.

A-Ha Moments Can Pass in an Instant if Your Organization Isn't Geared To Harvesting Them #wbf10

I was excited when I saw that Oscar-winning film director James Cameron would be  speaking at WBF10; indeed, he'll wrap the event on October 6. Having watched Avatar and Titanic and relived Terminator at least a dozen times, I'll be eager to hear from someone who defines innovation and creativity, particularly the ability to turn creative ideas into innovative products. This got me to thinking about creativity and why we peg some people as "creative types" when creativity is an inherent human trait. Some people may know how to foster creativity better, in themselves and others, but isn't there creativity all around us? I am curious about what Cameron has to say about that process.

Well, while I was mulling this over, I happened to land at The Heart of Innovation blog, where WBF10 Bloggers Hub member Mitch Ditkoff had just posted on the very subject. In "The Seed of Innovation Moment," Mitch hails, then laments, the creative moments that we all have that vanish into the ether because we don't harvest them, or we are not encouraged to harvest them--for business, this undermines the innovation process. As noted in this space last week, without an innovative innovation process, this is bound to be the case. Ditkoff takes it a step further. He urges companies to foster employees' a-ha moments, or what he calls the "seed of innovation." Those seeds are "inside the impassioned mind and heart of each person who works in your organization." So even if you have an innovative innovation process, it's easy to overlook the ideas your everyday employees have that can feed into that process.

Everyone is creative, innately, but most companies are not structured to engage that creativity. Think about all the times you've experienced walking down the street with a colleague, and in the midst of conversation about something unrelated to business, they come up with a random creative idea that might enhance business. I bet for most businesses, that idea never goes anywhere. But those ideas occur all the time because of innate creativity. I had the opportunity to experience creative outbursts recently at a company outing, curiously enough--the bus ride home, more curiously. After a long day of relatively structured activities, the bus ride became somewhat raucous, with a group of people breaking off into a game called "Celebrity," which required each successive player to name a celebrity whose name began with the first letter of the last name of the previously named celebrity. As the game progressed, and names were used and off limits, rather than slowing down, the speed at which people's synapses were firing became stunning, and the names conjured was breathtaking.

While a game of Celebrity will never solve anyone's business issues, the creativity on display, because that's what it was, was impressive. Similar scenes probably replay  at the functions of innumerable other organizations. And these very creative individuals sit and do their jobs everyday, competently and quietly. Yet that same creative process continues as ideas pop randomly into their heads, whether at the desk, at lunch, in the elevator, wherever. We know that most of these ideas fade into the ether because most work environments don't encourage blurting out spontaneous ideas, which for all anyone knows, might solve a critical business issue. And so those seeds are lost in the wind.

Ditkoff laments that companies don't take advantage of this creativity and offers three reasons why, each of which focuses on a different structural problem.

1. "People are moving way too fast to recognize the 'seed of innovation' moment." Unless managers and employees are encouraged to plant seeds, they will blow away.

2. "People rarely think it's their job to listen and respond to the ideas of others." Even when we hear interesting seeds, if they are not served up in a brainstorming session, we don't think to say, "Hey let's write that one down and see if it can grow into something."

3. "People don't know how to give meaningful, innovation-sparking feedback on the fly." This is the old "yes and" familiar to those who have ever been involved in improvisation games. Creative ideas need to be met with "yes, and..."; too often, our business structures respond "no, but..."

What structures can you create to avoid these roadblocks to innovation? How can we encourage employees and managers to catch creative moments (to plant Ditkoff's seeds) before they drift away? Let that fester, and if you want to see how fast your employees can think on their feet, try having them all play a round of Celebrity. I wonder if you created the same game about your business, the same seeds wouldn't fly.