Futurist Keynote Speaker Jim Carroll: Disruptive Trend & Innovation Expert

Futurist Keynote Speaker,  Author, Innovation Expert. 

DAILY
MOTIVATIONAL
INSIGHT
FROM
JIMDaily motivational insight from Jim Carroll
JIM’s
HIGHLIGHTSJim Carroll event highlights
FOLLOW MEFollow Jim Carroll

JimCarroll

“I’ll pay you a premium if you can save me money!”

by

08MoneyBag.jpgThat’s the new value proposition for today, and you’ll do well to think about the phrase as you look to grow or maintain your top line.

The number one concern for many organizations today (beyond mere survival for some) is cost reduction.

If you can give them the chance to do this quickly, they’ll be willing to pay you a premium to do so.

This line of thinking came to line when I spent time two weeks ago in Silicon Vally. I was there to speak to a group of CIO’s from throughout the hi-tech industry.

I met a client from a few years back in the hotel lobby while checking in. He’s now involved in a different IT venture. While catching up on things, I realized that this was the exact value proposition that his new organization was selling.

They’ve got a solution that, when implemented, can help organizations save quite a bit of money on their overall technology spending. Given the scope of the potential savings, and the fact that this company has maintained growth despite economic turmoil, they’ve got a key innovation strategy nailed.

You can learn from this line of thinking. The key things to think about:

  • how can you partner up with your customers to help them achieve cost savings with what they do?
  • how can you help them quickly achieve those cost savings : faster, say, than in the alternate economy of a few months past? Remember, faster is better.
  • are there changes that you might make to your product/service line that can help to accelerate cost savings?
  • can you innovate like mad — thinking about what you do and how you do it — to generate cost savings for those who rely upon you?
    you do it — to generate cost savings for those who rely upon you?

Think about it in the context of any industry. If you are in travel/hospitality, and you offer cost savings with what you are selling, you’ve got a leg up on the competition. If you are selling a service, get the potential cost savings that the service provides out front, and clearly defined — highlight them. If you are selling an industry solution, re-examine the cost savings that your solution provides — and see what you can do to make them bigger.

Think about the phrase, and look for opportunity in it.

100 Days of Innovation: #4 – Innovators master faster markets because they master fast failure

by

100Days4.jpgThink about it.

Google announced today that they were shutting down Lively, their Second Life ‘wannabe.’

They brought the product to market earlier this summer. So it survived only about four months, before Google decided it wasn’t going to work, and moved on. Noted Google’s blog: “We’ve also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off.”

I was on a mailing list today where some folks were discussing this; they seemed to be shocked that Google would make such a decision in haste.

I wrote back, with what I think is a critical lesson on innovation.

  • Innovators fail fast.
  • Innovators who fail fast learn faster.
  • Innovators who learn faster from faster failure master faster markets.
  • Innovators master faster markets because they master fast failure.

Maybe that’s my Dr. Seuss moment, but study the four points, and its’ perfectly clear.

And that’s all you need to know about innovation. Or at least, one critical bit of knowledge in an ongoing commentary around 100 Days of Innovation.

Kicking off 2009 with innovation as the CORE STRATEGY!

by

08Fast.jpgI’ve been confirmed as the opening keynote speaker for the 14th Annual Portfolio Management for New Products & Services Conference in Fort Lauderdale, February 2009.

The event is sponsored by the Product Development and Management Association, the membership of which are individuals responsible for product and service innovation throughout the corporate world globally, as well as from within the world of academia. It’s a pretty influential crowd, and I’m honored that I will be able to share my insight with them. Previous keynote speakers have included G Lafley, CEO, Procter & Gamble; Mads Nipper, SVP of Product & Marketing Development, Lego Group; Gary Loveman, CEO & President, Harrah’s Entertainment; and Tom Stewart, Former Editor in Chief, Harvard Business Review, among others. The PDMA is the publisher of the renowned Journal of Product Innovation Management, which is arguably the must-read academic journal that covers the latest issues with new product and service development.

This year, the conference theme tends to revolve around my entire focus on “innovating faster” — “creating a high performance environment to fuel strategic growth and operational excellence.”

“In the changing global economy it gets harder every day to develop winning portfolios that drive long term business value. The 14th Annual Portfolio Management for New Products & Services Conference will present a critical 360 degree view of portfolio management from the discovery phase straight through to commercialization. Learn to innovate faster, optimize resources, select the right projects, and ultimately develop a high performance environment that fuels growth & organizational excellence regardless of the economic conditions”…

The issue of faster time-to-market has become increasingly important with fast-paced economic change. With all the volatility, consumer choice can change quickly ; brand image can shift radically ; execution becomes critical. I’ll focus on a variety of themes as to how I see organizations doing this.

Here’s a key message in advance of the conference: it can be tough, right now, to be an innovator, particularly as organizations deal with the economic crisis. But, the big question is: do you start/continue to innovate now, or do you wait until conditions improve?

To me, the choice is obvious. I detailed this in my blog post, The Seven Stages of Economic Grief. I also addressed the issue in another earlier blog post, A Memo to the CEO, in which I stressed the need for a continued focus on innovation despite challenging times.

I think they are well worth a read again.

:

  • Innovation and the “Seven Stages of Economic Grief?”
  • Read the Memo to the CEO

Retail and consumer product innovation: a report from NYC

by

RDA-08-KLJ.jpgA few weeks ago, I keynoted an event for the Readers Digest Food & Entertainment group (who publish Everyday with Rachel Ray, and own and manage the popular online social network recipe site, AllRecipes.com) in New York City. The audience consisted of executives and creative types from Madison Ave advertising agencies, food and packaging companies and other organizations.

They’ve released a summary of the overall day; in addition to my own insight, participants included Katie Lee Joel (pictured on the right), author of the Comfort Table; as well as “supermarket guru” Phil Lampert.

I spoke to a variety of trends that are impacting retail and food markets; for example, the trend in which in store display technology — a “new influencer” — will come to influence how shoppers shop, faster than we think:

This new shopper is not only more scattered and more connected, but also faster — scanning 12 feet of shelf space on average per second.

In-store influencers will now evolve at the pace of the iPhone and the Blackberry, challenging marketers to keep up with the pace. Faster is the new innovation and innovation isn’t just about new product design – it’s about responding to fast-paced consumer change.

Marketing Implication: Marketers must work harder than ever to capture the attention of the consumer and make a connection. Brands must keep up with the pace of consumer change in order to stay relevant.

 

 

:

Read the RDA Food & Entertainings Consumer Food Symposium summary (PDF)

Silicon Valley : Is innovation dead?

by

leadership08.jpgLast week, I spoke in Palo Alto for a a small, intimate dinner of a number of CIO’s for a variety of companies based in Silicon Valley. The focus of the talk was “how to provide for a culture and focus on innovation during a down market?”

I spoke to this issue from a number of perspectives. One issue I touched on was the inevitability of a rebound in the fortune of IT. If we cast our minds out two to five years, or perhaps even sooner, there are certain key trends in which we see a massive amount of innovation:

  • pervasive connectivity: we’ve barely scratched the surface of the era in which everyday devices gain connectivity and intelligence. The Internet enabled thermostat in my home is but a harbinger of what is yet to come. With it’s own Web browser, it has become a fascinating tool by which energy usage can be more closely monitored. The same device is deployed throughout the Arby’s chain, and offers a significant new method of controlling energy-spend.
  • continued growth of mobile: One recent survey of consumers suggested that while they might be willing to give up buying the latest plasma TV, there was no way they’d give up mobile or the Internet. Mobile is weaving itself into daily life, sophisticated platforms are finally here, devices are fashion, developers are on board in a big way, and the emerging applications are either real and useful, or just a tremendous bit of fun.
  • location intelligence: we’re barely scratching the surface with this one. Every device around us is becoming connected (pervasive connectivity), and we’ll gain knowledge as to its status through sensory awareness. Not only that : we’ll know exactly where it is. Search for “location intelligence professionals” online, and you’ll discover a group of people who understand how unique our future is set to be.
  • computational analytics: I’ve written about this before, in the context of this being “the next billion dollar industry.” Some of the biggest challenges we face and the solutions that we find for them — in terms of transportation, energy and the environment — will come from applying massive computing power and complex alogorithms to them. Think about smart highway infrastructure as an example: it would be ludicrous to not believe that we will see 5, 10, 15 or 20% incremental increases in energy conservation that will come from ever-more
    automated traffic systems.
  • staggering new mass markets: six months ago, it was believed that in the next 10 years, 1 billion people worldwide would move into the middle class. Maybe it’s only half that now : who knows? But 500 million is still a staggering number. There is plenty of potential for connectivity, mobile, hardware and software to newly emerging mass markets.
  • bio-connectivity: if I were a betting man, I’d have my money on this trend. Simply put, the global health care system is massively broken. Ten years out, home health care will pre-dominate, supported by a sophisticated infrastructure of smart health care energy devices. Yes, I’ve written about this trend on this blog too; see below.
  • transformational thinking: an entire generation has been stuck in an older paradigm of how to network; the election of a younger President, wired to the nation and the world, who thinks, interacts, moves, plans, and acts differently, sets even more velocity to the power of connectivity. The Internet, mobile, social networking and blogs changed an entire presidential race; they’re set to change everything else in society on a continuous basis.

Like everywhere, Silicon Valley is being impacted today by a focus on the downside. This happened in every earlier recession; but at the same time, innovators toiled away, coming up with the next amazing devices, concepts, software, ideas and infrastructure that later boggles the mind. We’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of what comes next.

:

  • Read about what happens When Thermostats get connected
  • Read the article about bio-connectivity, The Doctor is in around the clock
  • Read the article Minds of their own
  • Read “Bioconnectivity and the rapid emergence of new markets”
  • Read the article Command and Control – Opportunity Awaits Companies that Master Hyperconnectivity

The economy and leadership: strategy meetings are happening NOW

by

leadership08.jpgI continue to see a lot of activity with inquiries and bookings for senior management / CEO leadership meetings.

This confirms my belief, which I have been posting in this blog, that there are many organizations out there who are determined to stay ahead of fast paced economic trends. Here’s an example of a client request that came through this morning; they are looking for insight on:

  • how can an organization succeed given the current world and marketplace realities by thinking and doing things differently relative to the following:

  • how to use, and deploy and share resources in new creative ways from a variety of places to serve the most critical needs or during the most critical times
  • how to employ a a non-traditional structure or organization design that is creative, flexible, different and nimble to support critical business priorities


  • how to leverage key capabilities in new and different ways, either through developing them internally, outsourcing them or partnering in a type of hybrid manner

These are all issues I covered off in the Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast book.
They are looking for:

  • someone who will provide a thought provoking point of view, with inspiration around new and different approaches to achieving the above

  • can speak to trends in this topic arena, yet also cite some examples of companies that are acting or behaving in some of these innovative ways to achieve results
  • someone who can push the thought agenda yet provide information that is deemed doable, possible, realistic and not too extreme of an approach

  • a person who can deliver the information in a small group/ intimate setting with a “working session” format vs a large key note “speaker” address forum

That’s exactly what I’ve been out there doing for the last ten years, and so it continues to be a fascinating time to be out there.

I’m off later today to keynote just such a leadership meeting for a major accounting firm in the DC area; I just returned from Palo Alto where I gave a similar talk to a high-level group of Silicon Valley executives. More on that particular talk later, because I’ve been busy writing a post about “what comes next with tech.”

GET IN TOUCH

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO ARE FAST features the best of the insight from Jim Carroll’s blog, in which he
covers issues related to creativity, innovation and future trends.

VIEW OTHER BOOKS
Definitions: Core • Deep Dive I • Deep Dive II
Series: 2026 • Megatrends • Forward • Tomorrow