Why “new math” won the election and what it means for business

We’re just recovering from a crazy election. One that took a lot of people by surprise. People paid extremely close attention to the numbers, the polls, and the television ads, trying to tune into the pulse of the American voter. Pundits representing every political persuasion studied numbers religiously, plotting their moves, readjusting the dollars they were spending, and redirecting their strategies trying to lead their chosen candidate to victory.

The problem for many people who got it wrong couldn’t be attributed to not trying hard enough. It was a matter of trying extremely hard to execute a strategy, equipped with antiquated perspectives and tools that were not designed to reach a large percentage of today’s voters.

There are two great books that explain the Continue Reading…

How my first fly fishing experience changed my view of business

Catching (and then releasing) a beautiful cutthroat trout rejuvenates innovation

First, a disclaimer. I swear that this is not an essay written simply as an excuse to write off a fishing vacation. Before I went to the ranch, writing about it was the furthest thing from my mind. The concept was: escape, rejuvenate, and refresh. Period. I cleared my mind, packed my bags, and headed off for a few days of trail riding and fly fishing—neither of which I’d ever done before.

I loved the idea that I’d be doing things that were so unfamiliar that I’d be forced to take off my judgment hat and just plunge into the experience. I relished the sensation of disconnecting from everything that seemed familiar. It seemed as if on some levels, there might be lessons that could apply to other aspects of my life, but that was not the goal. All I wanted to do was go with it, enter virgin territory, and connect with nature.

Since I work in the area of helping people come up with strategic business innovations, I find myself parroting lines to clients like, “It’s ok to feel uncomfortable” and “Since we’re entering unfamiliar territory, you’ll have to design a new rule book for the next initiative.”

But, it had been a long time since I’d put myself in uncharted waters, so being able to do that with a fly fishing rod in hand (for the first time ever), ended up offering me poignant moments of insight, resulting in this list of Rejuvenation: Lessons in Innovation, a list of tips Continue Reading…

Pecan Street in Austin is a living laboratory for the future of energy

When a company wonders about how consumers will respond to a new idea, they have a few options. First, they can guess—invent it or build it and pray that people will come. They can also let the crowd weigh in—platforms like Kickstarter can test the waters by seeing if an inventor’s concept has legs before it goes into production. With Kickstarter, support from the online community can fund production, leading to successful new products like the LunaTik Nano watch and dozens of other new products. There’s also the option of “social product development” with platforms like Quirky.com. Social product development lets people conceptualize the product online, with collaborations and conversations that bring an idea through to the prototype stage. If the ideas are popular with potential customers (and other inventors), the product comes to life, influenced by the tweaks and reconfigurations that were inspired by the community.

Then there’s Pecan Street, a live community in Austin, Texas where real people live their normal, daily lives. Under a sort of microscope. With companies like GM/OnStar, Intel, Sun, Oracle, Landis Gear, Sony, Best Buy, Texas Natural Gas, LG Electronics, Landis + Gyr, Lockheed, Oncor, and Whirlpool watching. The goal is to design a new ecosystem of energy use based on conservation, innovative rethinking of products like home appliances, automobiles, as well as buildings themselves (like LEED platinum hospitals and green office complexes). And the 1,000 plus residents of a community built on the grounds of what had been the Mueller airport, have signed up to be studied, monitored, and observed.

I talked with Brewster McCracken, the Executive Director of Pecan Street, who described their approach. “As a country, we’ve been wrestling with what the killer apps are in the area of clean energy and sustainability, but our thinking was largely based on theory. Plus, decisions were being made in silos—consumers and companies didn’t Continue Reading…