Downing Street

The British Government has launched its first Innovation Report I’m already wondering what the next one will look like given the economic downturn and hard hit recession in the UK.

Unions are the problem, the union of today is virtual

I’ve said before that the automobile industry is very mis-understood. There is more innovation in this industry than anyone gives it credit for. Today’s post on Unionlabelblog (don’t ask me how I found myself on this page today), exemplifies my point in a strong way.  It talks about the problem of unions being at the root of the industry’s struggles. It highlights how Ford’s Manufacturing plant in Bahia, Brazil is one of the most sophisticated and efficient manufacturing plants in the world – partly because of the non-issue of unions, the freedom this gives a company, how it operates, how its people work and are trained.

Now, coming from a family which relied heavily on unions for protection of rights and welfare (my grandfathers, uncles worked in the steelworks, coal mines etc) I know the value of unions but unions need to be modernized and re brand themselves. Of course, people should still have some protection and rights but really, are they as relevant? are they the institution which led to their creation in the first place? I haven’t spent a long times thinking about this but I’m inclined to think the answer is NO. Also in this day and age, technology and transparency has given individuals a stronger voice and issues are judged and “reasoned” by the voices of public opinion so today’s union workers will not loose out in the long term, but companies are released of their expensive burden. The workers will also work under the same competitive rules of today’s economy which requires nimbleness, quick decisions and thinking on our feet. The comparison of UPS (union) and FedEx (non-union) is a great example of how a company can better compete relative to one another.

So, again I’ve made this point about the burden of unions time and time again, the US industry is being forced to carry baggage that its competitors doesn’t have to. The same applies for health costs and retirement costs (side note, but this is why when Boeing workers recently went out on a month strike and argued for full benefits after retirement – I thought it was unacceptable, we don’t live in a society of yester-years, this model and these expectations are not scalable and is now how business is done today).  Stepping down the soapbox.

Let’s issue an RFP to test Volt Innovations

I have an idea that could help the US automobile industry and yes for the record I support a federal government bridge loan to US automakers (with some parameters) – this is an incredibly misunderstood industry!!! Anyway the idea:

The US federal goverment should issue an RFP for its ENTIRE fleet using the qualifications of the GM Volt to set the criteria. If the Volt wins, the US government would support adoption, could become part of the R&D advancement of energy efficient cars. This would be a strategic approach to supporting US industry and more than just throwing money at an inflated economic situation/crisis.

The Chosen Ones

Its still unclear if Obama will select a Chief Innovation Officer for his cabinet. In the meantime, Tech Daily Dose is reporting on  President-elect Barack Obama‘s technology, innovation and government reform working group within his transition team is being led by Sonal Shah, Julius Genachowski, and Blair Levin. I’ve been checking out the background on a couple of these folk.

Sonal Shah heads up global development of Google.org,  interesting post here about the controversy of the Indian American Economist’s appointment in India and Pakistan given her alleged ties to right-wing groups. In the scope of things … there is something in everyone’s closet – we still need to learn from the perspective and diversity.

Julius is touted as a business executive – not much exciting here, hard to see the compelling connection. Blair Levin is the managing director of Stiefel Nicolaus as the principal telecom, media and tech regulatory and strategy analyst. 

Dear Mr. President Elect Obama …

Navi Radjou “posted a “letter to President elect today on HBR. The piece is pretty deep and sophisticated, typical of Navi who is incredibly learned. To realize innovation strategy, I’d also ask Obama to read about innovation in the industrialization of the UK as much as he has been reading about FDR to learn about leadership. I might suggest picking up the phone to someone like my university professor Bob Fitzgerald, I’m sure he’d make himself available. Anyway, the main reason I say this. While it won’t provide him with a blue print for designing his innovation strategy – it will offer him some best practices and a priceless “aha” moment. By the time he reads about Britain in 2009, he’ll realize that he won’ t want to repeat the mistakes of what was once a GREAT, increadibly innovative country and so he needs some serious action and facilitate negotiation between government, business and academia to avoid writing what may be the last chapter of the book about US innovation, when Malia and Sasha look back in 50 years.

I’m sure many people have a lot of questions and suggestions for Obama, I hope Navi’s letter doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Snooze

I’ve been snoozing on the blog, but I’m awake and haven’t stopped thinking about what consumes my world everyday in my job, even though I stopped rat-tatt-ting on the keyboard.

Innovation as it applies to Europe has been on my mind, partly because I am going home this week and am excited, its been more than 9 months since being in the UK.  I’m also heading to Spain, not sure what to expect there is except for fun and sun. Anyway, global innovation has been on my mind because I’ve been working on developing a training curriculum, with a focus on innovation (culture, tools, examples etc). It will take a lot to beat the innovation in Sweden, which is endless. This article in the Economist about the Swedish Private Education Model underscores the passion, determination – it seeems so natural for the national culture to realize ideas that ignites growth. This is a great example where policy catalyzed innovation but equally threatens to strip the nation of innovation if the political climate changes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Lecture

In my eyes Randy Pautsch’s approch to his life’s challenges is admirable and innovative. He is an exemplary example of living life to the full, he has chosen to make the most of his circumstances and sought innovative ways to manage his life journey by teaching others, fighting pancreatic cancer and raising awareness, preparing for his children’s life in unqiue ways (when he won’t be around). The story is hard and the strength which he, his wife has shown is remarkable.  There is no doubt they face hard days together, when I watched the Primetime show this week with Diane Sawyer, I was inspired and sad. There are numerous videos on YouTube …

Innowashing

My answer is a resounding YES! Arguably, the word has been overused in the past couple of years in particular,  I’d definetly agree. For example, how many big brand corporations have used innovation in their tagline? I can think of at least 6. That said, I think its too easy to dismiss the word innovation as an overused marketing term, let’s call it innowashing  There’s no doubt that its become part of every organization’s vocabulary, for the sake of sheer existence, yet nobody has really cracked the nut. So we’re going to keep hearing the word. I’d equate it to the popularity of the terms Competitive Advantage. In fact I see these two terms living side by side quite comfortably.

Nobody has found the bullet proof recipe for being innovative, getting credit and reaping rewards. There isn’t a one fits all solution and that makes it perplexing for some but full of opportunity for others. I don’t think the word will be retired for some years but I do think we all need to use it a bit more sparingly and recognize the essence of what makes the notion authentic and credible. Its all about the substance.

The company I work for has worked with innovative organizations working to tell their stories – the good, bad, ugly. The reality is, innovation exists everywhere but only matters when it really has an impact. We talk everyday with organizations about how amazing, cutting-edge their products, services, etc are however if truth be told – we need to break the hard news more often and tell them that not everything is TRULY innovative, hence not everyone will care. This is ok, we are ok with this and they need to be ok with it and know that innovation is not a label for everything.  

p.s. As of today, April 7 2008, 6.02 p.m. PST innowashing didn’t generate a single search result in Google, maybe this blog will be the first!   

Love this new spin on all-in-one …

Over at OceanWaveBeaches blog there is a great example of ecoinnovation Sevin Coskun designed “The Washup” to wash clothes and flush the toilet and do so with a compact footprint. This is awesome.

Some of the best innovations come about by combining existing innovations. There are multiple examples, some may not be as explicit as this one but think about the infamous iPod. Apple brought the design and brand innovation ingredients but the rest already existed. WashUp is so cool!   

My future calling …

Chief Creatologist … I was reading more about Jon Batista’s job at HP. He focuses on C&D not R&D, i.e. connect and develop. Connecting HP, partners and customer DNA to create an innovation. How exciting! This is a different perspective of open innovation, definetly more strategic and concerted effort to churn out their daily 11 patents (although this is not the only measure of innovation, let’s be clear). My only question is why isn’t HP talking more about Batista and his successes? This is a type of management innovation but it isn’t part of their narrative, at least not from where I am sitting. Tell us more!