From New Orleans, opening WEFTEC 2012 in front of about 3,000. Your morning motivation!
Keynote: Process Excellence (PEX) Week – Innovation Insight: What World-Class Innovators Do That You Don’t
Jim Carroll was a keynote speaker at Process Excellence (PEX) Week in 2013, organized by the founders of the world’s largest Process Network with over 98,000 members. PEX Week is the premier global gathering for business process management, continuous improvement, and operational excellence professionals — Lean, Six Sigma, and BPM practitioners from some of the world’s largest organizations. Jim’s session, titled ‘Innovation Insight: Find Out What World-Class Innovators Do That You Don’t,’ challenged process professionals to think about innovation as a disciplined capability that the best organizations build systematically. His reputation as a ‘World Renowned Speaker and Innovation Expert’ was highlighted in the conference brochure alongside sessions from Best Buy vice presidents and leading process practitioners.
Article: “Detroit isn’t keeping pace with innovation, says futurist Jim Carroll”
Canadian Auto Dealer News, January 2013
by Todd Phillips
Futurist and retail expert Jim Carroll will take the stage at the CADA Summit on Feb. 13 in Toronto and give dealers a wake up call about how quickly their world is about to change. “The pace of innovation in the automobile or truck that they are selling has shifted from Detroit to Silicon Valley,” says Carroll in an interview with Canadian auto dealer. “That’s a huge and seismic change.”
Carroll is one of the keynote speakers at the one day summit event created by the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association. “Detroit is losing control of its innovation future as it shifts to the technology industry,” he says. “The industry is going to innovate at the speed of Apple, Google and high-tech companies as opposed to the speed of Detroit. There is a massive and sudden acceleration of change that comes with that.”
Shifting customer expectations are driving part of that change as drivers will now expect their vehicles to be as advanced, easy to use and even as “replaceable” as their smartphones and tablet devices that are so central to their lives.
He says dealers need to ensure their staff is ready to adapt to the change. “A car you sell today might be out of date two years from now,” he says. “How do you keep your salesforce and service force up to date with that speed of change?”
“Some people see a trend and see a threat. Real innovative people see the same trend and they see opportunity. That’s what dealers need to ensure they do when they think about this very fast paced future,” says Carroll.
Mobile will also forever change the retail experience and dealers will need to adjust to provide better customer experiences. “I will talk about the changes going on in retail,” says Carroll. “Mobile is the big story.”
He says social media and mobile shopping is having a huge impact on purchasing decisions. “There is a lot of technology that is coming that will link to mobile.” These new technologies will forever change the customer interaction with retailers. “It’s happening very, very quickly,” says Carroll.
Carroll is one of more than 20 speakers and panelists who will be featured at this one day summit aimed at helping Canadian dealers get a glimpse of what lies ahead so they can be better prepared.
After his keynote address, Carroll will join a panel of recognized dealer retail experts for a discussion about these trends. The retail panel is hosted by Canadian auto dealer columnist and industry expert Chuck Seguin. CADA Laureates Christian Chia, Trevor Boquist and Paul Shaw will be on the panel.
Another high profile keynote speaker is Bob Lutz, former vice-chairman of GM, and an auto industry insider who is highly regarded and whose views are much sought after. President Obama’s former Car Czar Steven Rattner is also a featured keynote speaker.
Sessions at the CADA Summit range from updates on economic trends, retail and consumer trends, a panel of manufacturers featuring the Canadian leaders of Ford, VW and Kia, insights from the elite of Canada’s auto dealers — the CADA Laureates, perspectives from media pundits, and more.
Paul Clark, President & CEO, TD Auto Finance will present economic insights as part of the morning session. TD Auto Finance is the exclusive CADA Summit sponsor.
10 Small Thoughts on Big Innovation!
One of my favorite innovation phrases that I always use on stage or in a CEO off-site is “think big, start small, scale fast!”
So I woke up this morning and came into the home office, and was thinking about the “start small’ part of that phrase. And quickly jotted down a list of small ideas.
Here goes!
- do small projects: too many innovation efforts get bogged down, bloated, and blow up due to big scope and size!
- celebrate small wins : not every innovation effort needs to be a home run
- learn from small failures: I love the phrase fail early, fail often, fail fast; you can do that better if your project is small
- scatter your team for small exploration: there is so much going on in so many industries that is so tiny but has huge implications, you’ve simply got to let your people explore!
- reframe the idea of small: put into perspective how small changes can have a big impact
- look for small winners: for example, there are tremendous innovations in manufacturing concepts with small manufacturers — learn from them!
- give a small bit: in an era of open collaboration and global insight, giving back some R&D can be a good thing
- seek small heroes: in the global economy, there is probably a small 1 or 2 person company who is doing exactly the cool, innovate thing you need. Find them!
- establish small decision groups: destroy committees; if there has to be one to make a decision, limit it to 1 or 2 or 3 people.
- focus on the power of small: one person can change a company, an industry, a country, a world!
Of course, my ideas aren’t original. The original concept of small perhaps came from the greatest advertising campaign of all time — for the VW Beetle, Think Small.
It’s a powerful concept. And while I was writing this post, I was looking for an image related to that campaign — and came across this ad from a small California design firm — one that extolls the power of their smallness.
It’s right there : “Small teams work best.”
In my case, the entirety of my career as a global keynote speaker, futurist, trends and innovation expert is that it’s me, and my wife, and a small home office that is plugged into a great big world. From here, I serve up insight and guidance to a vast range of global organizations, associations, CEO’s and leadership teams. Thinking big, starting small, scaling fast.
Perhaps the real secret to succeeding in a world where the future belongs to those who are fast!
“Empower people with niceness” – PEX Network Special Report on Customer Relationships
Next week in Orlando, I’m set to be the opening speaker for the 14th Annual Process Excellence Week 2013 in Orlando – with folks from most global Fortune 1,000 organizations in the room.
The focus – aligning fast paced change to a customer centric world, and the need to align business process to market, customer, technology, business model change.
There’s a lot to cover
and a lot to talk about — and I’ve got 45 minutes to get these folks fired up about the fascinating opportunities unfolding in their future as we devolve to a world in which the future belongs to those who are fast!
The folks at PEX have just released their seminal 2013 white paper, “Transforming customer feedback into opportunity.”
And they were kind enough to ask me to consider writing a Foreword for the report — to which I responded with an unequivocal yes. I pride myself as a speaker on the obvious need to go above and beyond client expectations — it’s not just about the keynote, it’s about an opportunity for transformation of a profession! And turning customer feedback into opportunity!
You can read my Foreword from the report by hitting the image.
You can also request a full copy of the report here — you will need to register.
Three of my favorite comments from my Foreword:
Fix things fast
When things go wrong with a customer relationship fix them fast. Have a communications plan.Be prepared to reassure the customer quickly. In this new era of hyper-information feedback, don’t let the customer sit and stew for a moment — proactive information and proactive action is the only weapon you have, and you have to use it.
When things go wrong with a customer relationship fix them fast. Have a communications plan.Be prepared to reassure the customer quickly. In this new era of hyper-information feedback, don’t let the customer sit and stew for a moment — proactive information and proactive action is the only weapon you have, and you have to use it.
Admit that mistakes will happen
It’s ok. It’s the 21st century. Bad things go wrong all the time. Accept that, and use that as a go- forward strategy.
“Things will go wrong and we will work to fix them fast” is a better strategy than “we plan on rolling it out and holding our breath that things don’t get messed up.”
Empower people with niceness
Customer-centricity and the instant-age demands that the customer be made happy — quickly.
Give staff who have not previously had the authority, the authority to do things to the customer that are nice. That will help to ease the early part of the “pain process.”
Every company in every industry is in a situation in which the customer is more empowered than ever before. Accept that — work with it — learn from it — and use it as the base for innovation!
“The Future is Yours: 2013 Key Trends That Will Impact Your Business!”
IIC Partners is one of the world’s Top 10 executive search organizations, with 55 offices in 39 countries. They operate in the Industrial, Financial Services, Consumer & Retail, Energy, Life Sciences, Technology, Board Search, Higher Education, Infrastructure and Human Resources sectors.
Pretty well everyone that I’ve been busy focusing on trends and innovation for close to 20 years.
So I was thrilled when they interviewed me for their Executive Lounge, which is made available to an extensive number of senior executives worldwide. The result was this article, which is a good summary of some of the big trends I’m thinking about for 2013.
“The Future is Yours: 2013 Key Trends That Will Impact Your Business!”
by Polly Stewart, Named by BusinessWeek as one of the leading sources for insight on innovation and creativity, futurist Jim Carroll’s clients include NASA, Walt Disney Corporation, the International Association for Human Resource Management, VISA, KPMG and Microsoft – to name but a few.
Jim shares his views on the six key trends for 2013 and beyond, executives need to know about, exclusively with IIC Partners Executive Lounge members.
1. The Moore’s Law Effect
“With computer processing capability doubling every 18 months to two years, technology will impact on every single sector. Business leaders in every single sector are going to find that they are being exposed to this same accelerating rate of change.
“Take healthcare, which is moving into a world of DNA-based diagnosis and treatment. Strands of DNA can be used to predict and treat conditions. The cost it took to develop the human genomic sequencing machines was $US3 billion – now it costs a thousand bucks. Genomic medicine is driving the health care revolution because of the exponential increase in processing speed of these machines – and that’s just one example, in one sector.”
2. Loss of Control
“Most industries are losing control of the pace of innovation. Take financial services and insurance for example, Insurethebox [which allows people to control their car insurance insurance premiums via a GPS that reports back safe driving metrics], and digital wallets appearing on cell phones. There is Square – a little iphone credit card device and all I need to do to take credit card payments is plug it into my iphone and hey presto I am in business and can take payments. Previously setting up merchant accounts to take credit card payments was like pulling hens’ teeth. But it wasn’t the credit card companies that invented this little device – they are way behind.
“What’s happened in these cases is that the insurer or the bank or the credit card company is no longer controlling the speed of innovation, so when it comes to motor insurance or mobile payments, the insurance companies and banks have lost control of the spend. Tech companies innovate a heck of a lot faster than any other company in any other sector and so technology is setting the agenda.”
3. Product and Service Reinvention
“Traditional products are being reinvented, again it’s down to technology. Think about the thermostat in your home. It’s been the same type of device for 50 years. Now there is Nest, a learning thermostat designed by one of the key designers of the ipad. It’s a fast learning device that has an intelligent iphone app and it sells for $US250. Tech companies environments are not encumbered by history. A lot are small and are start-ups are very collaborate and actively seek knowledge and insight.
“Some organisations have a culture that stifles innovation. Innovation is not an age thing, it’s a culture thing. All organizations need to be aware they may need to reinvent business models very quickly.”
4. Revolution in retail
“Traditional retail is fascinating right now. It’s about interaction and interactive experience. The Apple checkout process has even done away with cash registers and they have digital display screens all over the place. Watch this space – traditional retailers are learning how to compete successfully against internet retailers.”
5. Career Reinvention
The economy is coming back to strength but in the industrial sector, what is happening is brute force labour is being replaced by robotics. Where can you find people with the skills to control those robots? I have client who told me it’s almost to the point where the people they are hiring they almost have to be able to do trigonometry in their heads. This is happening in a lot of jobs and it comes back to technology. From retail to banks and manufacturing to farming – even farmers need knowledge now about bio-genetics.
“How do people train their minds to think beyond their routine and job description? Organizations are not charging their people to think about future trends, to think about future innovation. Everyone needs to be involved: Where are the trends going? Where the competitors will come from? How many people have the word ‘innovation’ in their job description?”
6. Hyper connectivity
“Looking beyond 2013 to 2014, hyper connectivity is key. Everything in our lives is becoming plugged in to everything else. The status and location and IP address of every devise we use will create threats and big opportunities.
“I can see the day when I get up in the morning, go and weigh myself and the bathroom scales send a message to my refrigerator saying, ‘Don’t let Jim in – he’s broken his end of the deal!'”
Find out more about Jim’s predicitions at
By Polly Stewart
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