JimCarroll

The Masters in Business Innovation

March 13, 2008 by JimCarroll

Years ago, I wrote of the need for a new type of business degree: a Masters in Business Imagination. I’ve also called it a Masters in Business Innovation.

I wrote an article around the theme, and it remains one of the most heavily trafficked pages on my site. I’ve wrapped it up in a PDF : feel free to read it, share it, distribute it, and encourage people to think about it.

It opens with these observations: “COMPLACENCY In a time of rapid, disruptive change can be a death sentence – not only for organizations, but for the careers and skills of those who work there!

It’s time to abandon the thinking that has had you anchored firmly to the past – and to shift your focus to the future, with enthusiasm, motivation andimagination.

You can do this by abandoning any pretense that the skills of yesterday will be important tomorrow. Figuratively and literally, it is time to move beyond the thinking that has led us to a world of MBA’s – Masters of Business Administration – and focus upon the critical skill that will take you into tomorrow.

The world doesn’t need more administrators. It needs more MBI’s – Masters of Business Imagination!

Access The Masters of Business Imagination PDF

Leading in turbulent times: how to innovate during the recession!

March 5, 2008 by JimCarroll

Even as news and financial pundits endlessly debate the question, let’s face reality: the US economy is in a recession.

Given this reality, the key question going forward is: what do you do now to ensure that you remain innovative, competitive, and forward-oriented?

Innovate for the upturn! That’s the key message I focused on with my clients in 2002-3, and the same message holds true today. And that was the focus of a keynote last week when I spoke to one of the largest US commercial / industrial real estate brokerage groups. There were several bits of insight I shared with them:

Put sub-prime into perspective
One of my first comments for this audience of senior executives? We need to think about the sub-prime mess in the context of a longer term view. In the last ten years, we’ve been through many economic challenges:

the 1998 Asian currency collapse
the 2000 dot.com meltdown
the 2001 global telecom restructuring
from 2001 to 2003, the impact of 9-11 and economic uncertainty
2007 to 2008, the march to $100 oil
and now sub-prime….

Sub-prime is a big issue, but it’s just another blip in the grand scheme of the churning engine that is the global economy. Through the next ten years, we’ll see a few other economic challenges along the way; various regional economies and sectors will be impacted; yet innovation will abound. That’s why I’ve also indicated that a key leadership mantra for the high velocity economy is this: “volatility is the new normal.” That’s a topic I covered in a recent economic interview.

Keep focused on the longer term view
I tend to be an optimist: that’s because I think in a longer term perspective. Think about it: over the next 10 years, there are several certainties:

scientific discovery will continue to advance at an ever increasing pace, opening new markets, evolving existing markets, and establishing countless new opportunities
global collaborative knowledge communities will continue to lead to faster innovation in every industry and market
new products, methodologies, skills, ideas, organizational structures will continue to evolve at a fast pace; agile organizations will continue to come out on top
the transition of economies in the Mid-East and Asia will continue despite regional economic challenges
rapidly aging economies in North America and Europe will drive rapid spending, innovation and knowledge discovery in the world of health care
global energy conciousness will continue to lead to ever more rapid evolution of “green” solutions
1/2 of the global population is under the age of 25. They’re change aggressive, and will continue to lead to the rapid adoption of new ideas.
growth in markets is a simple reality: in agriculture, global food production still has to double in the next 25 years to keep up with population trends. Sub-prime has no impact on this reality.

Don’t let aggressive indecision take over your thinking

To innovate in the upturn, don’t let a short-term vs long-term trend disconnect take over your strategic thinking. Already, I can see the signs of some companies heading into an innovation rut, their staff and executives encumbered by a dangerous state of complacency, while other companies innovate, change, and adapt to the “new normal” that is now our reality.

In the last recession, “aggressive indecision” became a driving cultural and leadership trait. Organizations that fell into this funk fell behind. Innovative companies didn’t permit that to happen then, and you shouldn’t let this happen now.

Read Global Economic Trends: An Interview with Jim Carroll
The reality of future trends: grab the What Comes Next trends overview
Read my 2003 article about “aggressive indecision”
Read my Credit Suisse interview for my thoughts on “growth”

When FedEx Fails: What happens when customer service breaks down?

March 4, 2008 by JimCarroll

It’s long been touted as one of the greatest innovation success stories ever: FedEx.

It’s had the tag line, “when it absolutely, positively has to be there.” It obviously has a track record and customer service record that is unparalleled.

What happens when FedEx fails? Absolutely, I don’t really know. They didn’t.

I was ready for them to fail. I had a keynote with a global metals company today; they had arranged to distribute a copy of my book Ready, Set, Done to all the members of their leadership. The books left the office here last Thursday in two boxes.

One box made it; the other did not. I was ready to write a furious post lambasting FedEx for failing to deliver them. FedEx? Failing to deliver!

And yet, something funny happened on the way to the post. A few calls from our office to FedEx main call center got us in touch with their ground operations at the location city; who quickly found the box in a local FedEx office. Turns out the conference hotel had asked yesterday that the box be picked up AFTER it had already been delivered. The receiving department at the hotel screwed up!

And FedEx did not hesitate for a moment to rush them back to the hotel within a 20 minute time span, as the conference was winding down.

In other words, what happens when FedEx fails? I don’t know — because they pulled a customer-service rabbit out of a hat on this one! Since I focus on innovation, what have I learned from this experience, that can apply to the overall issue of customer innovation?

the customer can sometimes be wrong. BusinessWeek just ran an article about the new “empowered customer.” Sure, customers can take their issues online. But their first impressions might be the wrong impression. FedEx blew me away in this case. Maybe customers are too empowered today?
staff empowerment is still critical. The local FedEx person our office was in touch with — “Cynthia” — was on the case immediately, and did not hesitate to concur that the box of books had to get there, and did what she had to do to make this happen. She was actually out of breath at one point, as she was rushing back to the phone after find the box. If she didn’t have the right to make such a decision, the customer relationship/service would have failed. Let staff decide, and give them the power to do what needs to be done to keep the customer happy.
customer service still matters. Our office inquiries were smoothly transitioned from global operations to local staff in a matter of minutes. The execution of followup was almost flawless. In these recessionary times, companies might be tempted to manage costs by cutting customer service staff. That would be a critical mistake. Innovative organizations focus on growth, despite economic challenges. Growth continues to come from exceeding customer expectations.

What happens when FedEx fails? I don’t know — and I think there is a lot of inspiration that can still be found with this innovative organization.

Future careers: Knowledge explosion is key

February 22, 2008 by JimCarroll

Career issues are hot! And one of my favorite ways to open a keynote or executive session is by quoting from an Australian study, which indicated that sixty-five percent of the kids who are in preschool today will work in jobs or careers that don’t yet exist.

I passionately believe this to be true: and I’ve seen the trend occurring in countless professions and industries.

This week, I keynoted a Career Day event at Capitol One in Richmond, Virginia ; the focus was on the rapid emergence of new careers, and the rapid evolution of existing skills. My message, in looking at the future career opportunities, was that there’s nothing but upside, as long as people keep reinventing their skill set.

The topic of the future of careers is a big one these days; I’m being called into many organizations and events to talk about the issue, particularly in the context of recent economic trends. Some of these events have been local economic development conferences. In one talk in January, I spoke to an audience of executives and educators in an auto-sector city ; a group of people caught up in the throes of economic restructuring and turmoil.

Talk about an audience in the midst of challenge! Yet when you are in that type of economic bubble, it can be hard to see the future career opportunities that do exist. That’s why I didn’t focus on the short term economic turmoil, but instead, on the real, practical trends that are defining the careers of tomorrow.

Many sectors of the global economy: and in particular, the manufacturing and financial sectors, are being hit hardest by the US recession, the sub-prime meltdown, and global competition.

The auto-town event got covered in the local paper: and the story ended up being reprinted throughout the Canadian press, including in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and Montreal. One of the key observations I made in the article: “We have to figure out how we can continue to move up the knowledge ladder because there’s going to be a massive shortfall in specialized skills because of the rapid growth of knowledge.”

That’s an important issue to think about, and the article is well worth a read.

Read Knowledge Explosion Key to the Future
Read Global Economic Trends: An Interview with Jim Carroll
The reality of future trends: grab the What Comes Next trends overview

What do innovative organizations do?

February 12, 2008 by JimCarroll

One of my recent keynotes for a global organization focused on the issue of high-velocity change. No matter who you are and what you do, there are certain realities: your markets, customer expectations, competitors, cost structure and business model continues to change really, really fast, and will continue to do so. This little video clip captures that message.

Innovative organizations recognize this reality, and orient themselves to a state of constant, forward-oriented innovation, not only to keep up with but to exceed the constantly rising bar of innovation that surrounds them. They do this by subscribing to several key ideas. Innovative companies:

adjust to rapidly evolving markets: it doesn’t matter what industry: consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, electronics, industrial supply, construction. Every industry is impacted by massive and sweeping change, in terms of product innovation, customer expectations, new business models. Look around you, and there’s fast paced change.
re-align for new workforce realities. With new career attitudes, the migration to the global, contingent workforce, and increasing skills specialization, deploying the right skills at the right time for the right purpose is becoming a core focus of innovation efforts.
jump on rapidly emerging trends: new ideas now evolve faster than ever before because of the global infinite idea loop. New products, markets and innovation can now go from concept to market in a matter of months or weeks. Innovative organizations know where they are headed, because they are tuned into the global idea loop that envelopes them.
track the impact of fast-science on product innovation: billion dollar markets are being born through global collaborative science. It’s a trend I explore in my Future Trends document on this blog. Understand it, and innovate from it.
generate ideas through generational collaboration: innovative organizations recognize that different generations have differing attitudes towards change. Rather than battling this reality, they work to ensure that they are getting the best ideas from the experience of longer term staff, combining that with the inspiration and innovative ideas coming from what I call Gen-Connect. Watch the cardboard people/plasma people video on this blog: it provides a good example of what can happen if you don’t capitalize on generational insight.
streamline process: innovative organizations focus on the concept of “agility” — structuring themselves for rapid response, fast solutions to emerging challenges, and quicker focusing of resources on the changes occuring within the high velocity economy. Search this site for the phrase “agility,” and you’ll find a wealth of ideas.
innovate upside down: innovative organizations recognize they can’t do it all. They seek partners with everything they do, recognizing that there are of lot of really wonderful innovative ideas that transcend their organization and their culture. This allows them to discover new innovative ideas they hadn’t thought of before; a process I call upside down innovation.
continue to innovate in times of stress: it goes back to my recent blog post, Leading in turbulent times: How to innovate through the recession. Some economies might be in recession: but innovative organizations are already focusing on innovating for the inevitable upturn.

Learning how to innovate — through skiing!

February 10, 2008 by JimCarroll

It’s a Sunday afternoon, and a full day of skiing is done: and all the roads home are closed because of the snow. So we’ve settled in for an evening in the chalet with blankets of snow falling outside.

Skiing provides a wonderful metaphor for innovation; it involves taking risk, trying to do things you haven’t done before, and always seeking for improvement. When you ski, you are constantly exploring new territory, examining new methods of doing things, and making discoveries that lead to something unknown. Skiing involves constant skills upgrading; there’s no end of opportunity for new ideas by examining what others are doing on the hill.

The same type of thing you do when you instill an innovative mindset, either on your own or within an organization.

Two years ago, I keynoted an audience of thousands at the Swiss Innovation Forum. In my closing remarks, I linked the innovation theme to skiing — because I was leaving from the event to ski the Swiss Alps. That for me was a huge achievement – because I didn’t know how to ski less than 9 years ago.

I’ve caught that little video clip — it’s a little bit inspirational, and perhaps a little bit hokey, but captures for me, the importance of the link between innovation and skiing.

Related postings:

Blog post – The future of skiing
Jim Carroll on “the future of skiing” in the San Jose Mercury Post
read Don’t Mess with My Powder, Dude!

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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.