Ideas Are the Easy Part

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One of the best aspects of my role as Fahrenheit 212’s COO is that I’m the first person candidates meet when they’re interviewing for a job. No matter how many people I interview, I am constantly astounded by the ideas they bring to our conversations. Amazing, amazing ideas with clear market opportunities.

Drinks that prevent hangovers.

Athletic clothes that go beyond wicking and actually hydrate.

A service called Dial A Mom that would provide all the services you want when you’re sick –making doctor appointments, picking up your prescriptions, even sending chicken soup. And the best part is the business would be staffed by actual retired moms. They would get paid for doing what comes naturally and sick people would get what exactly what they want at exactly the right moment. Genius!

The point is, great ideas are everywhere. Online, off line, even in a line at Starbucks, today’s culture consists of people who are constantly dreaming up new things that should exist. And as a result, I think most readers would likely agree that the old adage is true: ideas can indeed come from anywhere.

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About the Author

Pete Maulik is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at innovation consultancy Fahrenheit 212. He is instrumental in the development, evolution and actualization of clients’ innovation efforts. His experience includes leading innovation projects in the alcohol, technology, FMCG, software, beauty, financial services and hospitality categories. Pete is responsible for unleashing the potential of the Fahrenheit 212 organization. This includes finding world-class people, giving them a structure in which they can perform at their peak and ensuring Fahrenheit 212 is delivering transformational innovations on every project.

Pete has spoken on the power of bringing creativity to business at Columbia Business School, Pace University, American Marketing Association’s Quarterly Meetings, The Art Director’s Club of New York, ESSEC and Fordham Business School.

He holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Lessons From Scrabble: Learning How to Win the Strategic Game

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This past Thanksgiving, my eight year-old-son convinced me to play Scrabble. Some members of my family love board games, but me… not so much. I usually just watch. However, with the spirit of the holiday swirling and the smell of pumpkin pie in the kitchen, a game of scrabble at the kitchen table oozed with twinges of Norman Rockwellness and seemed all too appropriate.

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About the Author

Shelli Stinson is the VP of Business Development at WealthBridge Connect. She brings experience from education, sales and marketing as well as project management. Most recently, Shelli was the employee wellness manager at Northern Kentucky University. In this position, she learned how much influence that leadership has on the physical, emotional and mental wellness of employees in the workplace. After graduating from NKU with a Masters degree in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change, she joined WealthBridge Connect. In this new role, she hopes to influence businesses to invest in their employees through comprehensive leadership development initiatives, promoting healthier and more productive workplaces- from the top down and the inside out.

The “Vision Thing”: How to Find It, Frame It, and Live It

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In the absence of a great dream, pettiness prevails. – Peter Senge

At some point in his or her career, every politician gets tarred with a catch phrase – and usually not a flattering one.

George Bush, Sr. is stuck with two. There was “Read my lips, no new taxes,” of course. But only slightly less unfortunate was his dismissal of what he called, “The ‘vision thing.'”

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Roxanne Emmerich’s Thank God It’s Monday!: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon bestseller. Roxanne is renowned for her ability to transform “ho-hum” workplaces into dynamic, results-oriented, “bring-it-on” cultures in a day. Listen to the free 60-second audio with teammates each Monday to clean up the craziness in your workplace and focus on getting massive results. Sign up today at www.ThankGoditsMonday.com.

Strategy – Understanding the Art of War

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In business we all have a secret weapon. Strategy is quite possibly the strongest resource in your business arsenal. Regardless of which area strategy refers to – whether it be “communication”, “brand planning” or “sales” – without a clear-cut strategy, you will more than likely not succeed to the level that you expect.

Yes, strategy requires many hours of well-spent time researching the landscape in which you may find yourself. This implies understanding your product or service inside and out; your competitors – a SWOT analysis at this point is masterfully useful – and also defining a clear path to that which you hope to achieve.

It has been proven that those who have a clear vision for their goals achieve them nine times out of ten, whereas those without a vision only hit the mark half the time.

Defining the Vision
The “vision” quite simply put, is that which initially drove and inspired you to take the plunge and launch your idea.

There is no need to put the vision together in detail at this initial stage; bulleted lists will more than suffice. Fill out the details once you are comfortable with the general overview of your vision. This will assist you as well as any other potential investors or partners to understand your own goals coherently. It will also allow for you to plan carefully around the existing landscape.

It is important to stay focussed on your idea and vision throughout the initial life cycle no matter how difficult this may be. New ideas will arise as you put thought into practice. Some of these ideas may be feasible, but others might lead you astray. It is important that when such distractions come into play you are ready for them. Understand them for what they are and know how to deal with them. Some find it helpful to employ the services of specialist consultants to steer them through the clutter of these initial steps.

In Japanese philosophy there is a word that captures this phase of constant vigilance, “Zanchin”.

Awareness, determination and perseverance lead to success.

The Art of War
In a competitive landscape with few refreshing new ideas many businesses find themselves at war with one another. That is the true definition of the word “strategy” after all – “the art of war”.

A well known writer by the name of Sun Tzu wrote a book on this principle which is easily adaptable to any situation in which you might find yourself. We are all warriors in the greater scheme of life, fighting to keep our entities afloat and successful.

“People should not be unfamiliar with strategy, those who understand it will survive, Those who do not understand it will perish.” From Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.

Five Elements of Strategic Planning
In his book, Sun Tzu outlines the five elements of strategic planning as he sees them. These elements are;

  1. The Mission – Your vision: the business, the people, the clients and your role.
  2. The Climate – Creating the opportunity. The timing and trends that provide you with opportunity.
  3. The Ground – The area of your business where you choose to compete.
  4. The Leadership – Great leaders inspire followers. Ensure that your leadership style buys into your vision.
  5. The Methods – The way in which you choose to run your business, a mastery of certain skills and processes.

“Until we equal or exceed our opponent’s score in these five elements, we do not challenge or begin our venture or even respond to our opponent.” From Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.

Sun Tzu further explains that it is from here that we advance our position by understanding the five elements of strategic planning. It is the foundation from which we know our strengths and set our goals and vision to overcome our opponent. This is a way to secure success in the challenge before it has commenced.

Leverage Thought Leaders
We are very fortunate that the Internet has made it possible to find and follow the strategies and philosophies of many great thought leaders from around the world.

Although we are not able to speak to Sun Tzu directly, there are many great leaders that have adopted his principles and have built successful empires in the modern world. Google and Nokia are amongst these.

There are many websites that specialise in putting you in touch with the right people in this modern age. Some are so well connected that they are able to bring you a handful of those people and get you guaranteed one-to-one sessions with such gurus of industry.

When it comes to strategy in a competitive landscape, two heads are better than one. Ensure that you follow the basic principles to set the foundation and where possible leverage from the experience of those that have gone before you to build successful business strategies.

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About the Author

Shoulders of Giants is an online business resource, showcasing the top business thinkers in various business related topics, such as strategy. These topics are discussed by renowned thought leaders and business gurus such as Mark Earls.

Develop A Process For Continuing Business Model Innovation

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In recent days, Apple announced that co-founder Steve Jobs would be leaving the company for a time to deal with some health issues. Investors and analysts closely eyed how the stock price responded.

In interview after interview, people wanted to know whether Apple could maintain its cutting edge innovative abilities while Jobs is out of the picture. Isn’t that interesting? Why wouldn’t Apple continue to innovate? Or will it?

Now, ask yourself how well your organization would do in making business model innovations if you weren’t available? Hopefully, it wouldn’t make any difference and your business model would be continually updated without you.

For most organizations, however, that’s not the case. The “solitary genius” toils seemingly alone (or at least doesn’t let anyone else make a decision) in many companies. When that person dies or retires, everyone knows that the glory days are over.

Whatever happened to Edwin Land’s Polaroid?

You get the idea.

Most organizations are led by mere mortals, and they look to create a systematic source of success. A few organizations are blessed with geniuses who can continue to find more successful business model innovations. That blessing, however, turns into a curse if the genius stops delivering or leaves.

While one person does all the thinking, others daydream about what they will do after work rather than coming up with their own business model innovations.

A better approach is to install a process that engages lots of people in proposing and testing potential business model innovations. Examples where continuing business model innovation had been made into day-to-day work are few and far between. Typically, however, when the leader left who had organized the innovation process, business model innovation for that organization ended.

During a time of economic crisis like 2009, most companies will stumble because they will keep doing what they’ve always done . . . even if that approach stops working. Boards of directors will be shouting for better cost controls, for stronger balance sheets, for more influential leaders. And those won’t help if the business model is broken.

Wake up! Smell the coffee.

If you don’t have a process to upgrade your business model by the end of 2009, you are in trouble.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

  1. Have lots of experiments going that don’t cost very much.
     
  2. Cut off experiments that don’t seem to be going where you want to go.
     
  3. Share insights into what kinds of improved business models might work.
     
  4. Watch progress on developing new business models very carefully.
     
  5. Invite stakeholders to participate.
     
  6. Consider running global contests to get lots of help from the world’s best thinkers.
     
  7. Let non-experts have a crack at making improvements, too.
     
  8. Focus on innovations that will expand the market by providing new reasons and opportunities to do business with you.

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About the Author

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through and receive tips by e-mail through registering for free at http://www.fastforward400.com.