b.cognosco

Amazing Discovery - Innovation Is Not A Strategy

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Thu, 17 May 2007 21:34:13 GMT

The cover story for the May 3 issue of BusinessWeek was "World's Most Innovative Companies" The big point was that the idea of running around as a multi-millionaire CEO chanting the word innovation as if it would magically alter your organization has now been recognized as another in the long line of stupid management fads.

[...] At the behest of an "ideation" consultant, he donned a blue superhero costume—cape, tights, and all—to put a little extra oomph behind the company's innovation-boosting campaign. "I guess the thinking was that if you free people from the norm, you'll unleash a torrent of creativity," says Scott Anthony, president of Innosight, a consulting firm co-founded by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. Anthony refused to name the company because it was a client. "Innovation Man led to a lot of laughs," he quips, "but it didn't lead to a lot of innovation."

The same might be said for many gimmicks that companies have tried over the past few years in their attempts to boost growth. Suddenly trendy, innovation took on the flavor of an elixir, as companies raced to hire "chief innovation officers" and build innovation centers complete with purple-painted walls and conference rooms with funny names. Ford Motor Co. (F) boasted in a press release about its new Innovation Acceleration Center in Dearborn, Mich.: "It's amazing what a room filled with radio-controlled cars, a 3-ft. Statue of Liberty made of Legos, and some comfy couches can do to stir the imagination." [...]

According to the article many CEOs, having failed at turning their billion-dollar behemoths into innovation engines, are experiencing "innovation fatigue." I am shocked! Shocked, I say. Shocked to learn that innovation is not a commodity that can be ordered up like Papa John's Pizza. Shocked to learn that innovation doesn't exist on its own like, say, cotton.

It turns out that innovation is actually a result - something that happens after you change every aspect of your stodgy, corrupt, inefficient, overbearing, outsourced, badly managed global corporation where everyone spends 80 percent of their time in meetings, 20 percent of their time doing reports, 10 percent of their time fixing stuff someone else did wrong, and 5 percent of their time doing something valuable that a customer will actually pay for. (I know, that's 115%. That's called increasing productivity. Guess which 15% gets dropped when your average, everyday human realizes they can only give 100% today.)

And this turns out to be very, very hard.

But there are a few innovative companies. And they're innovative because, well, because they just are. Because they actually do the hard things most companies can't, or won't, do. Because they focus on things far more tangible than "being innovative." Things like finding and hiring talented employees and then not stomping on them or burning them out. Things like actually listening to employees with good ideas. And things like not letting the accountants and lawyers decide about what does and does not get done.

Mostly, innovators just seem to understand that innovation is a fundamental result, that comes from getting the fundamentals of running a business right. What a shocker.

Private CIAs

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 15:22:15 GMT

John Robb, independent military analyst, futurist, and author of “Brave New War,” on Friday posted this interesting tidbit on Friday regarding the move by GlobalCos into the intelligence and security space:

JOURNAL: Private CIAs

By John Robb

A strong sign that the nation-state is in decay is the frequency we see announcements of companies that are replicating some of the most sensitive government services. The most recent mover is Walmart, which is in the process of putting together its own intelligence arm (it's being built by a former CIA/FBI officer Kenneth Senser). For those unable to afford their own global intelligence unit, Blackwater's Cofer Black is building one called Total Intelligence Solutions.

If you want to get up to speed quickly, the background for this is available in BNW.

This makes sense, of course. As these companies plan long-term deployments across the globe they can little afford not to know the risks involved. And the intelligence fiasco of Iraq WMDs showed how unreliable government intelligence can be. This looks, to me, like another area where oligopoly control of a market makes sense. I wonder how the potential for shared intelligence organizations, and perhaps shared risk, will alter the oligopoly landscape?

Antergy

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:34:41 GMT

What’s the opposite of Synergy? It’s Antergy. Oligopoly Watch coins a new term for the cyclic stupidity of the corporate world. And, as is always the case, CxOs and consultants make beaucoup bucks on both ends – buying up things that don’t work together under the pretense of synergy, later selling them off on the pretense of releasing value. One metaphor for this is the human body. The body takes in various foodstuffs, holds onto them for a while, strips out the valuable components, and excretes the remainder. Somewhere in the process energy is created and we, the owners of the body, benefit from the process with health and life. So it is with corporations, except the CxOs and consultants are the ones who absorb all the energy in the form of bonuses and fees. The customers, employees, and shareholders often get only the excrement that comes out at the end.

Time-Warner sells book unit
One day after we note the frantic rush by the media oligopolies to spin off non-core assets then it happens once again. Time-Warner, under heavy pressure from a small group of determined investors, announced it has sold off its book division, to France's Lagardere, in a $538 million deal.

This is no big surprise. Time-Warner shopped around the book division three years ago, but has not until now found a buyer at an agreeable price. Reports are that the book division had a record year in 2005. Imprints owned by Time-Warner include Warner Books; Little, Brown & Co.; Arcade; Back Bay; and Bulfinch Press

Time-Warner was a second-tier player, #5 in the US publishing industry, considerably smaller than Bertelsmann (Random House) and Pearson (Penguin). That industry shows little added growth, making opportunities for growth without acquisitions unlikely.

Lagardere is best known for publishing magazine like Elle, Car & Driver, and Paris Match through its Hachette Filipacci division and books through its French-based Hachette division. The company has some online and newspaper interests as well. It also has minority holdings in such unrelated industries as aerospace and cable TV. It will become the #3 book publisher worldwide after the deal. Lagardere bought British publisher Hodder Headline in 2004.

For Time Warner it's yet another sell-off of a division. The company has sold off the Warner Music Group, its share of Comedy Central TV station, and some sports teams. It entered into an alliance over AOL with Google, and rumors are always strong that it will sell off the whole AOL division (if it can find a buyer). In addition, it recently combined its WB network with Universal's UPN in a 50/50 split.

The Time-Warner proxy rebels led by Carl Icahn have announced they want the company split even further, into four new firms, namely Time-Warner Cable, motion pictures and TV networks, magazine publishing, and AOL. As with Viacom, the idea is to "release" a lot of pent-up value, the very opposite of synergy, namely antergy.

Survey Your Customers Early and Often

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 02:33:23 GMT

Short article on the using low-cost customer surveys over at CNNMoney. Made me think. [via TP Wire Service]

Customer surveys on the cheap
Want to find out what your customers are thinking for less than what a Madison Avenue consultant spends in a year on his lattes? Consider the case of Konstantin Guericke, the co-founder of LinkedIn, an online network that professionals can use to find new clients or pick up leads on jobs.

Eliot Spitzer's Golden Rule

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 16:26:25 GMT

Cover story in the current issue of Business 2.0 is My Golden Rule, where 30 leaders offer their best one-liner pieces of wisdom. NY AG Eliot Spitzer's is:

Never write when you can talk. Never talk when you can nod. And never put anything in an e-mail.

Ummm.

Trend Watchers Resource List

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 17:57:18 GMT

A list of resources for trend watchers, from Gerald Celente, founder and director of the Trends Research Institute. Published at StartupJournal. [via TP Wire Service]

Recommended Reading For Trend Spotters
Current events form future trends, says Gerald Celente, founder and director of the Trends Research Institute, which has been tracking business, consumer, social and lifestyle trends since 1980.
[...]
Here is a selection of books Mr. Celente counts among the exceptions, as well as his daily online reads for spotting trends.

The Secrets of Economic Indicators: Hidden Clues to Future Economic Trends and Investment Opportunities by Bernard Baumohl. "Whether you're tracking pop culture, high fashion or health care, all things are connected, and economics is the tie that binds them all."

The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism by John C. Bogle. "Tracking trends is a way of seeing where we are, how we got here and where we're going. And John Bogle's new book does just that."

China, Inc. : How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World by Ted C Fishman.

The Chinese Century: The Rising Chinese Economy and Its Impact on the Global Economy, the Balance of Power, and Your Job by Oded Shenkar. "I'm among those who believe that while the 20th century was America's, the 21st will be China's."

The Big Book of Self-Reliant Living: Advice and Information on Just About Everything You Need to Know to Live on Planet Earth by Walter Szykitka (Editor). "One of hottest trends we see is the rapidly growing desire of more people to be self empowered, non-reliant, and 'off the grid.'

Haaretz, Al Jazeera, the Independent and China Online. "These four are our daily must-read news sites."

Drudge Report and the Raw Story. "We log on to these two Internet sites daily because they generally span the ideological spectrum."

Euan Semple Discusses Real-world Use of Blogs, Wikis, and Social Software in Business

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 03:04:35 GMT

Just had a listen to Euan Semple, International Information Industry Awards 2005 Information Professional Of The Year, on BBC Radio Five Live talking about the process of managing internal blogs and wikis within the BBC. Interesting stuff.

Me on the radio
I have just been interviewed by Chris Vallance for the Pods and Blogs section of Up All Night on BBC Radio Five Live. It is meant to be going out live at 2.50 am GMT but when it gets to "Listen Again" I'll post a link.

I listened to the show live. I guess we'll have to wait a bit for the archive link to be posted. I listened to a little bit of the subsequent segments out of curiosity - a bit on Indian music podcasts and some news about UK taxes on oil companies. Pretty good stuff. I rarely listen to news anymore, or watch it on TV. Just too tiresome.

On Value Transactions for "Free" Content

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 22:32:39 GMT

If you have not yet checked out the Morespace project please do. I have enjoyed each of the nine business essays in the book and have added each author�s blog to my regular RSS scanning. (If you don�t know what Morespace is, it�s a business book written by nine individual authors, each of whom has useful, worthwhile, and helpful things to say despite having never been published in HBR, Sloan, s+b, etc.) A few days ago project coordinator Todd Sattersten changed the requirements for downloading the books essays for free:

Openness

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I got a long email from one upset reader. The title to the email was "More space registration procedure is annoying, insulting, and ultimately of no positive benefit". The person felt we were really missing the boat by asking people for their email address in exchange for access to the free content. [...]

Todd, after discussion with the authors, decided to drop the registration requirement, allowing anyone to download the book for free without providing anything in return.

There are only two comments on Todds post, both of which support the idea of getting a little info in exchange for giving people something really valuable for free. I admit that I favor getting an email address or something in exchange for something substantial, assuming the following conditions are met:

what you offer is genuinely valuable and substantial (i.e. the whole book as opposed to a chapter or two)
what you request is not inconvenient or excessive (i.e. a valid email vs. a lengthy and annoying demographic survey)
what you do with what you get is not evil (i.e. statistical study or controlled use vs. list sales, broadcast e-mails, etc.)

Some people may not want to give you anything in return for your work. This may be a legitimate part of your market and you may want to reach out to them anyway. There are any number of reasons to do this, and as many different ways to go about it. But there is nothing inherently wrong with either choice. So pardon me whilst I dissect the essential complaint from Todds reader.

Annoying: Its easy to see how some people the ones who dont want to give you anything for your work may be annoyed if you require something of them, no matter how small. If this group is important to you then you must accommodate them. If they dont matter you ignore any complainers and move on. I am routinely annoyed by NYT, WSJ (which I pay for), WP, etc. primarily because they are selling me to advertisers. But if their content is important enough I acquiesce to their requirements.

Insulting: How you can be insulted by having someone ask for your email address? No rational person could trot out the this is insulting whine over something like this. If youre insulted by someone asking for your e-mail address in return for free content then maybe you should be seeing a psychiatrist instead of wasting your time surfing the net. You have some self esteem issues that no business book in the world is going to address. Annoyed, yes. Insulted, no.

Were not talking about restricting speech here, or the other common issues that get in the way when people have to sign up to contribute blog comments. Were also not talking about advertising-supported news outlets, where the product being sold is actually your eyeballs.Were talking about an exchange, a transaction, a commercial venture where someone invested time, effort, and money with the intent of delivering a product for sale to you. If you dont like it, go away. Its simple enough to get a free, anonymous email address if you dont want your name associated with the transaction, and if you arent smart enough to do that then you arent actually worried about identity anyway. The real issue is that you are a professional whiner, constantly on the lookout for something about which to be insulted. Go do it somewhere else.

No positive benefit: All benefits are, by definition, positive and there are any number of them that can accrue to the collection of data. Not all of them are evil and not all of them benefit only the company. The act of submitting a small amount of valuable data shows you attach some value to the product. Remember, this is a value transaction and helps the company establish generalized value for its product. While web stats and download stats give gross information on traffic levels, they do nothing to help establish the value of that traffic. A list of e-mail addresses says these people liked the product enough to give us some contact info. This can help a speculative effort like Morespace substantiate itself to potential business partners in the future. Also, some registrants may want to hear about future products, or be given special privileges such as input on future projects. Even if this list is never used to contact anyone, its existence is something Morespace can point to as a legitimate market indicator. If the project is good, and the product is good, then the very least I can do is contribute a valid e-mail address to the cause.

Todds decision to remove registration is the right one for his objectives. There is a balance to be struck between the philanthropic and capitalist natures of the net, and it varies based on the specific needs and goals of a business. But, it is not wrong to require a value transaction for free content, as long as you understand what you want, why you want it, and what the market consequences of your approach will be.

BusinessWeek Podcast on Peter F. Drucker

terrywfrazier@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 21:56:27 GMT

BusinessWeek has begun a series of podcasts that go behind the scenes of a key cover story each week. I've listened to a half-dozen of them so far, and can recommend them all. Interesting, insightful, with high production values that make listening a pleasure.

For this week the cover story is the late Peter F. Drucker, probably the most influential management thinker of the last century. The Man Who Invented Management lets us see why Drucker was so valuable, so insightful, and so far ahead of everyone else. BW editor John Byrne spent lots of time with Drucker over the past 20 years, and offers his experience and insight into the man everyone in business will miss.