JimCarroll

Innovation, the auto industry and the new reality

November 25, 2008 by JimCarroll

I’ve been talking to my clients for years about the problems with the auto industry manufacturing model, comparing the slow, ponderous mass-manufacturing techniques of Detroit to the faster, more nimble overseas competitors.

I dug this clip out from my July 2008 keynote in Sydney, Australia — it’s a good, quick hit on the different approaches to innovation in manufacturing.

Way back in 2003, I started talking about the “car company of the future,” in the context of a “Google car.” The clip seems timely now, as does a posting in July related to the video clip.

read Faster is the new fast: also in auto

It’s January 15, 2020: What Have We Learned About Healthcare in the Last Decade?

November 25, 2008 by JimCarroll

On December 8th, the 4th annual World HealthCare Innovation and Technology Conference 2008 will open in Washington, DC. The afternoon keynote address, by Newt Gingrich, former Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives, is built on the theme of “Innovation, Technology and Competition: Transitioning to a 21st Century Intelligent Health System.”

I’m quite certain that Mr. Gingrich will offer some compelling thoughts on how to fix health care. And yet I’m certain that the prescription he offers will be much of the same old thinking that seems to dominate the health care agenda.

I’m the closing keynote speaker, on Wednesday, December 10th. I’m honored to speak at an event that includes Mr. Gingrich and other luminaries such as Scott McNealy, Chairman and Co-Founder, Sun Microsystems and Colin Angle, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, iRobot.

What am I focussing on? My keynote will stress that right now is the time for big, bold, transformative thinking in the world of health care. We’re on the edge of something pretty big, both in terms of the depths of the challenge, and yet with the scope of the innovative solutions and thinking that are coming to the marketplace.

That’s an important message, because it’s hard to be an innovator right now anywhere, particularly within the health care industry.

Part of my job is to transform ideas — so I just wrote an entry for the blog for this global conference, writing from the year 2020, looking back at what we learned in the previous twelve years.
Here’s what I wrote in 2020 about why the mindset of 2008 made for difficulties with innovative thinking:

At the time, the economic malaise that was settling in had caused most innovators to shrink away, convinced their ideas for the future had no place and time for consideration. Fear, mediocrity and staid thinking ruled the health care agenda; everyone spoke of applying the same old band-aid solutions in a different way to the same problems, with no obvious results in sight.

But where did we really end up with health care by 2020? Take a look and read the blog.

What’s next with financial, insurance and banking services?

November 24, 2008 by JimCarroll

This dude to the right? He’s about to inherit a whole whack of money.

Indeed, before the financial meltdown in the last month, the slides I used at a wide variety of financial, banking and insurance conferences noted that the issue of inter-generatlonal wealth transfer is a huge challenge and opportunity. Estimates suggest that we’ll see $12 to $18 trillion in money moving from one generation to another in the next 12 years ….. put that up against US GDP of $12 trillion. Cut in half for the stock market crash, and it is still a staggering number!

By 2053, the number will total $130 trillion – and the funds will move to a far more independent, financially savvy, technically sophisticated generation.

How do you maintain your relevance to this next generation customer? Through innovation.

Here’s something of interest: despite the caustic conditions throughout the global banking and insurance industry, there are still a huge number of senior executives who are focused on the key trends that will impact them in the future. They do know the one thing that I know to be true: one day the volatility in the banking and insurance sector will have gone away. Things will have calmed down, and we’ll have a banking, insurance and financial sector that is “back to normal.” Or, at least, a “new normal.”

And we also do know this: once we come out of “this thing,” organizations will be back to the old-fashioned, pre-hedge-fund-derivative-fuelled ways of making money: by coming up with innovative new financial products and services that solve the problems of customers; by excelling at customer service; by launching and nurturing innovative new brands that resonate with customers; through deep, fast and transformative marketing campaigns that form unique relationships with customers. In other words, innovation will be the most critical measure of future success in the banking and insurance sector.

So how do we get there? I’ve had a few leadership retreats in the last two months with a number of global and national financial groups who are already thinking about these issues; they’ve asked me in for my thoughts on linking future trends to an innovation agenda as part of a leadership offsite. (Obviously, given fast paced trends, I’m not going into a list of companies. Suffice it to say, there are some senior leadership teams who are busy ensuring that their companies are ready for the next phase in financial services.)

What am I speaking about? Grabbing bullets from a few of the slides that I used:

Agility defines capability

success is defined by ability to respond to rapidly changing products, markets, business models, rapid economic trends, competitive moves, skills issues
innovation moves from more than just “products” to process, ad analytics, methodology, structure, capabilities, scalability, collaborative ability …. productivity

It’s about staying out in front of client / broker expectations. That’s why you need to be able to

scale faster
deploy faster
focus narrower

Certainties we know going forward: we’ll be in an era in which we have to constantly rebalance strategy, because of certain certainties five years out:

business models will be continually redefined
category dynamics and distribution models will be transformed and subject to external pressure
products will be re-invented at a more rapid pace, particularly with fast changing actuarial assumptions
brand perceptions will shift quicker, particular as new “influencers” in branding come to be more prevalent (Web 2.0 etc)
target customers will be more challenging and far less loyal

What do you do about this? One of my closing slides had this to say: “To grow in fast paced, volatile markets, focus on strength through partnership..” That will get you there quicker.

Key point: financial services, banking and insurance innovation hasn’t gone away. It’s going to come back with a roar, and the leaders in this industry are positioning themselves now.

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

November 24, 2008 by JimCarroll

That’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

November 21, 2008 by JimCarroll

Think 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!

November 20, 2008 by JimCarroll

I’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

JimCarroll

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.

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.