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Andrea Kates Speaking at the TED Conference

March 5, 2012 in Business Genome, Secret Sauce with 1 Comment

Last week I had a wonderful opportunity to speak at the TED Conference. Thomas Stat and I shared the stage for something new, something innovative… two TED talks at the same time. An excerpt from the TED blog with full article link is below.

Dueling TEDTalks: Thomas Stat and Andrea Kates at TED 2012

Photo: James Duncan Davidson

A ‘scheduling snafu’ led to two speakers being booked for the same slot, but Chris Anderson felt he had to honor the comittment to both, so Andrea Kates and Thomas Stat both took the stage and delivered a TEDTalk, at the same time.

Kates and Stat begin tossing out phrases, backed by slides, the nature of which slowly becomes clear.

Stat: The universal hunger for connection.

Kates: The power of analogy…. The universal hunger for connection.

Both: The beauty of metaphor.

Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Then, Kates says, “Shakespeare explored deeply human themes,” while Stat simultaneously claims, ”Roddenberry explored deeply human themes,” and it becomes clear what this is about: Shakespeare vs. Star Trek: is one better, or are they the same.

They choreograph lines weaving the adventures of Kirk and Macbeth, Spock and Prospero.

Kates: Julius Caesar questions relationship in the face of conspiracy.

Stat: Sabatoge and blind judegment… [ Read the rest of this post on the TED blog here ]

“The Steve Jobs Diet” 10 Essential Business Takeaways

February 27, 2012 in Business Genome, Business Strategy, Secret Sauce with 14 Comments

Every time I meet an especially fit person, I’m prone to ask them, “What’s your secret?” I also have to admit that part of my fascination with biographies of accomplished individuals stems from a very basic urge to discover what it was they did that I could do to yield the results they achieved. Would an “early to bed, early to rise” lifestyle transform me into a renaissance man like Ben Franklin? Would adopting a vegetarian diet help me become more Gandhi-like?

So, when I read Walter Isaacson’s 630-page book, Steve Jobs, I sought answers to the basic question, “Which combination of intakes fed his appetite for invention and yielded the type of talent that many of us would like to emulate?” In other words, what was the Steve Jobs “diet”?

What do business leaders working for large companies need to understand about how he juggled diverse groups of talented individuals to drive relentlessly toward a new vision? How can entrepreneurs and mavericks craving an insider’s view of what it takes to spurn traditional rules “eat what Jobs ate” to transform their garage band level ideas into innovative products with mass appeal? And what can everyone with even a touch of pirate within include in our daily regimen to fuel our never-ending, Steve Jobs-like zeal for invention?

Without attempting to over-simplify a complex life or reduce a 630-page book into too handy of an at-a-glance list, let me present what I believe comprise the basic elements of the Steve Jobs “diet”—the core ingredients that seem to have fed Jobs’ inner engine:

1. Love of tinkering. From a very young age, Jobs sat at his dad’s side at the car-fixing workbench. He migrated to tinkering in the world of electronics, cutting his teeth on assemble-it-yourself kits for making ham radios and “other electronic gear that were beloved by the soldering set.” Being situated in Silicon Valley exposed him to neighbors who worked in holographs, lasers, and other new technologies and a high school teacher who introduced Jobs to transistors, coils, and circuit boards.

2. Dues paying. Despite a reputation for being an overnight Continue Reading…

Be Great Even When No One’s Watching

February 13, 2012 in Business Strategy, Secret Sauce with 5 Comments

Leadership from the heart – doing the right thing, just because.

Steve Jobs’ dad taught Steve a simple lesson:

Paint the back of the cabinet even if no one else will ever see it.

Great business leaders do the right thing, even when no one’s watching

In an era of business downsizing and economic stress, Steve Jobs’ dad would no doubt find it hard to justify the extra can of paint to do the job right. But, years later, as Steve incorporated that level of perfectionism into his Great business leaders do the right thing, even when no one’s watching, he’d prove that in fact his dad was right—it’s worth the extra can of paint to do the right thing, even when we think no one’s watching.

I always wondered if successful business leaders operated on a different frequency than the not-so-successful ones. Was it a degree from a particular university or one element of experience—like a military background or a track record in sports or some special personality style–that separated the run of the mill manager from the true leader? What are the leadership traits that really matter?

So, starting about 10 years ago, I began to take mental notes. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF. Despite popular slogans to the contrary, leaders have to sweat the small stuff. Especially when it really matters. A couple of years ago, I walked into a room an hour before a strategy session was about to begin. I saw a guy in a suit, on his hands and knees under the table, messing around with wiring. It turned out it was the Continue Reading…

The Top 4 Tips for a Perfect Super Bowl Pitch

February 6, 2012 in Business Strategy, Secret Sauce with 0 Comments

Based on lessons from the 8th Graders who won the bid…

Whether we want to land a great job, promote our ideas to our colleagues, successfully sell our services to a new client, convince a funder to support a new startup, or just win people over with our ideas, we all need to master the art of the pitch. It turns out that Indianapolis figured out how to win the bid to host the Super Bowl (after a losing effort for 2010) by tossing conventional wisdom aside and digging into their city’s true points of distinction to drive their message home: Indianapolis has a refreshing approach to hospitality and would bring a breath of fresh air to the 2012 Super Bowl.

Everyone who ever has to pitch anything can learn great lessons from Indianapolis, their team of eighth grade ambassadors, and their secret weapon for winning the bid: authenticity.

Behind the scenes of the winning bid to host the Super Bowl we learn lessons for every business pitch we’ll ever make

I’ve been an informal student of the pitch process for years, studying the perspectives from both sides of the table—pitch team and decision maker. I thought I had read every piece of advice on the perfect pitch, until I heard about how Indianapolis was chosen as the site of Super Bowl XLVI (A.K.A. Super Bowl 46). It turns out that the city’s secret weapon was none other than Midwest charm and a heartfelt story delivered by a team of, well, eighth graders.

John Branch wrote a great behind-the-scenes look at how the bid was won titled, Indianapolis Did Its Homework—an illuminating story of what really Continue Reading…

Business Genome Interview with The Engaging Brand

January 24, 2012 in Business Genome, Business Strategy, Competitive Advantage, Innovation, Interviews and Media, Organizational Growth, Product and Service Innovation, Secret Sauce, Small Business Growth, Social Media, Talent and Leadership with 0 Comments

I recently was interviewed by Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand. It was a great time with many helpful insights shared. You can listen to the recording online here. Below is a description of the interview.

Andrea Kates joins Anna Farmery to discuss how to discover and exploit your business genome. Andrea is the founder of the Business Genome® project and author of the bestselling business innovation book, Find Your Next.

What you’ll learn during the interview:

  • Why you should be finding your next…rather than looking at the past, in business
  • What is the business genome?
  • Is there one business genome or a collective genome based on the leadership.
  • Why you should take a fresh look rather purely rely on the data.
  • How to look outside your industry for new ideas
  • 4 steps of developing the business genome – sort, match, hybridise, adapt and thrive
  • Why you should use your hunches rather than always data.
  • How do you ensure that you match what your business genome should be rather than what you want it to be?
  • Are there a risks from new thinking as well as opportunities?
  • Is the secret sauce relevant across products rather than the product itself?
  • What are the elements of your business genome?
  • Take the diagnostic test online to find your next?
  • How you turn from looking back to looking forward – trendability is the most important factor!

Listen online here or through iTunes here.