Arthur D. Little has conducted a global survey of CIOs and CTOs (83 Chief Technology Officers and Chief Innovation Officers across Europe, US and Asia) to gauge their views on emerging trends over the next ten years in the area of innovation management.
Key findings in the survey include:
Share of products/services in new business areas expected to double from 20% in 2010 to 40% in 2020
Share of revenue generated from new products/services expected to increase from 30% in 2010 to 40% in 2020
Unit cost reductions achieved through innovation expected to increase by 50% in the next ten years
The most important area for innovation investment will continue to be gaining a deeper understanding of the customer
Integrating innovation across functions, and innovating in and for emerging markets are also set for significant investment increases in the next ten years
European-based companies expect increasingly to relocate their innovation capabilities from Europe & US to Asia & South America, doubling from 12% share in 2010 to 25% in 2020
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, was originally a very shy guy. In his book iWoz he writes, “Most inventors and engineer I’ve met are like me–they’re shy and live in their heads. They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very best of them are artists.”
Steve writes that, “artist work best alone–best outside of corporate environments, best where they can control an invention’s design without a lot of other people designing it for marketing or some other committee.” He does not believe that anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by a committee. Why? Because the committee would never agree on it.
Steve’s thoughts are perhaps against the mainstream that emphasizes teamwork and “innovation processes”. Steve promotes the idea of an engineer who thinks how to create the best possible end result with the fewest number of components. He says, however, that in his entire life he has only seen about twenty engineers who really exemplify that artistic perfection.
Steve gives his advice to “that rare engineer who’s an inventor and also an artist”. The advice is: work alone. He says that if you’re a young inventor who wants to change the world, a corporate environment is the wrong place for you.
“You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team. That means that you’re probably going to have to do what I did. Do your projects as moonlighting, with limited money and limited resources. But man, it’ll be worth it in the end.”
I have a considerable collection of business books. Only a small fraction of them are what I call handbooks. I won’t lend them. I reread them. And I have added Enchantment to that special collection.
Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, communicates the same feeling of humanity and business acumen that Guy is known for. He writes, “If you need to enchant people, you’re doing something meaningful. If you’re doing something meaningful, you need enchantment.” Enchantment is not manipulating people. It transforms situations and relationships, converts hostility into civility, and reshapes civility into affinity.
Enchantment is a practical guide and a great storybook at the same time. The book takes us on a journey through the development of things that people will love. You’ll have to achieve likability and trustworthiness before you launch. You’ll definitely need to overcome resistance. And you’re not there until you make enchantment endure. Enchantment is a process, not an event.
The book demonstrates how to use today’s technologies for enchantment. There are two ways of doing that: “Push technology brings your story to people. Pull technology brings people to your story.” Guy gives practical examples and tips on enchanting ways to use presentations, email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and so on. He hopes that Enchantment remains relevant for decades, so he lists general principles that should apply, even if technologies evolve.
Enchantment does not limit itself to creating new business. You can enchant your employees. You can even enchant your boss. But beware: the techniques of enchantment can be used for both good and ill. Robert B. Cialdini wrote in his bestseller, Influence, “how to say no” to those who use weapons of influence in a questionable way. Following in Cialdini’s footsteps, Guy calls his last chapter, “How to Resist Enchantment”.
Guy uses stories, images, and research results in a personal, entertaining and educational way. This book really makes you want to read it in one sitting. On the other hand, it contains so much wisdom that you’ll certainly want to keep it close at hand for a reread!
In 2007 I participated in a workshop on service innovation. It was facilitated by Tim Ogilvie and Stephen Ezell from Peer Insight. They introduced a framework for finding "innovation white space" in a business. It is The Ten Types of Innovation® by Doblin.
The framework consist of 10 opportunity areas in four domains:
1. Finance
Business model. How an entreprise makes money
Networking: Value chain and partnering
2. Process
Enabling process: Routine, non-differentiating processess often outsourced to others
Service / Product performance: Basic features and functions
Service / Product system: Structured offering with an array of tailorable, integrated components
Customer Service: Assistance provided to prospects and customers
4. Delivery
Channels: Conduits through which offerings reach customers
Brand: How value is communicated to customers
Customer experience: All aspets of customer interaction with a company and its brands
Evaluate how active the competition is in each of the 10 areas on a scale of Minimal/None to Non-stop activity. Where there's little or no activity, there is opportunity. I devised a quick analysis of Finnish construction industry just to visualize the principle. The white space is clearly visible.
Of course, all opportunities are not equal. Ogilvie and Ezell suggested that you ask the following questions:
Is it feasible? - Technical domain
Is it desirable? - Customer domain
Is it profitable? - Financial domain
You are probably onto something when you can answer 'yes' to all of the three questions.
