tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38978253031766225652024-02-18T20:27:53.061-08:00Think with me: The Center10 Blogroopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-83831489534771861672021-12-13T20:23:00.008-08:002021-12-13T20:25:10.815-08:00Think eco-smart when gifting this holiday season<p> </p><p>I'm hoping my friends and family will accept my decision this year to switch to a more eco-smart gifting approach. One way to reduce waste, of course, is to NOT gift - maybe just hand some cash over for essentials! But that could result in some disappointment....</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyNXimJA9IuadGMxdCvD6W3BCfpzgBX8aIrXjbobPSCyGiuVR0vgxUGO-kIVOw8ynBWt1zpBZ8_H7jBxXxZdxFWNB4zgyO0Uh74TGh1kiEvS3wdb6__L7yvDN8JMbZzX6WOpEFbn2PLW-pJyKl6lvZjDwIyW6bjePZGQCJ4Jp8crqDLkD4xYwZFQ=s259" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyNXimJA9IuadGMxdCvD6W3BCfpzgBX8aIrXjbobPSCyGiuVR0vgxUGO-kIVOw8ynBWt1zpBZ8_H7jBxXxZdxFWNB4zgyO0Uh74TGh1kiEvS3wdb6__L7yvDN8JMbZzX6WOpEFbn2PLW-pJyKl6lvZjDwIyW6bjePZGQCJ4Jp8crqDLkD4xYwZFQ=w318-h238" width="318" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So here are a few of my strategies for this holiday season.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Share memories in exo-friendly material, like these products from <a href="https://www.paperculture.com/eco/eco-friendly-gifts-c-372.html?utm_source=ADW&utm_medium=PD&utm_campaign=60209-ADW-ho-PerfMax--Pros-2111--50P&utm_content=62161&gclid=CjwKCAiA-9uNBhBTEiwAN3IlNDuhkHg6RVJXxElRrGLE_ZvwdN0wiYa9rwTl0qNulFfSnNXpiHlNmBoCV4cQAvD_BwE" target="_blank">Paper Culture</a>. The personalized memory cards are cute.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqlrN-wfaR2bQo9PuGr9qfsHB978zcC7NgFq-9hpz_x39q45yVnFn3KZepPepo7b6SZwBlg1FV3Zf0AA7_lB5V8ocWLkR2Menxlucs_g6_obwL1sngsAwL8H2Hn2N6NHl6ZDhWn27s4lbdxk_hi4G7BH6Yg_DOzw2gSuJN_xPM_u6Z8-rsXmwaAQ=s2384" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="2384" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqlrN-wfaR2bQo9PuGr9qfsHB978zcC7NgFq-9hpz_x39q45yVnFn3KZepPepo7b6SZwBlg1FV3Zf0AA7_lB5V8ocWLkR2Menxlucs_g6_obwL1sngsAwL8H2Hn2N6NHl6ZDhWn27s4lbdxk_hi4G7BH6Yg_DOzw2gSuJN_xPM_u6Z8-rsXmwaAQ=w402-h144" width="402" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>For the grandparents and relatives, we've made some nice collages from <a href="https://www.canvaspeople.com/create-your-canvas?utm_campaign=AQU_PS_99&utm_source=google&utm_medium=psearch&utm_content=Google/cpc//Brand-EX--117278588357&keyword=People%20canvas&gclid=CjwKCAiA-9uNBhBTEiwAN3IlNHQufQhdResvEdMrPXrfN_ksUFJ3P1PiUizEyahMjABgy6Xawcqb1BoC1NQQAvD_BwE" target="_blank">Canvas people</a>. Quick tip: sign up for their newsletter, since they run some fabulous deals all year round.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFVUY1mlyz3PZ6YTp1cmf7bwZdvArTSZPmBIjuuA2U1Lkj89TDFJjKZyY0bdhnr1kIXH7zBiLKrQkQJwXEf9xtXbzvW_6ua4A_bAhRqPNzXSmqFCfwScXSNCTVsLErpxT_LbMj0Ml_84j_FfRx3Jo8j8Ev_RHfq1vCvAzg4LdOb4w0BZDhQ7ME8A=s1756" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="1756" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFVUY1mlyz3PZ6YTp1cmf7bwZdvArTSZPmBIjuuA2U1Lkj89TDFJjKZyY0bdhnr1kIXH7zBiLKrQkQJwXEf9xtXbzvW_6ua4A_bAhRqPNzXSmqFCfwScXSNCTVsLErpxT_LbMj0Ml_84j_FfRx3Jo8j8Ev_RHfq1vCvAzg4LdOb4w0BZDhQ7ME8A=w521-h179" width="521" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><p>And now, my personal favorite, that almost-new Chanel scarf and Hermes bracelet from <a href="https://www.therealreal.com/?sid=pxogmz&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Search&utm_campaign=US_Brand_Alpha&gclid=CjwKCAiA-9uNBhBTEiwAN3IlNCupV-hDJ2ixHvJE3GO3PBlfaUJ1UtDN7-xAGmtUR61Uea-RZxJ1yxoCN10QAvD_BwE">The RealReal.</a> The consumer and fashion victim in you can thrive, while still limiting the waste in the system. Win-win!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJGv6OJJUppNirvnkAt1zzApv_o-c67IDAaFt7h9K24RnGgozDRtxpv_HLJ0EPzSWmFKaaE8jCtj5CTFyOvAsaxOnpjnwAJFXU4HDEzGV0RwqTA7Fy4wOd6kpPAHvi1UZdBnm63tvv4qFDHzEvJlGHgyccaWBszFLzGImhQclRYmJYuapy6BenRQ=s2468" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1126" data-original-width="2468" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJGv6OJJUppNirvnkAt1zzApv_o-c67IDAaFt7h9K24RnGgozDRtxpv_HLJ0EPzSWmFKaaE8jCtj5CTFyOvAsaxOnpjnwAJFXU4HDEzGV0RwqTA7Fy4wOd6kpPAHvi1UZdBnm63tvv4qFDHzEvJlGHgyccaWBszFLzGImhQclRYmJYuapy6BenRQ=w372-h170" width="372" /></a></div><br /><p>You can also try other auction sites like <a href="https://auction.housingworks.org/auctions">Housing Works </a>- but it will take some patience and persistence to get the item you want. </p><p>Enjoy!!</p></div>roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-1920543688708964252021-09-28T07:33:00.009-07:002021-09-28T08:34:51.497-07:00EASI does it: Putting the citizen in the center of greenfield cities<p><b style="font-size: small;">EASI does it newsletter: </b><span style="font-size: small;">I'll be sharing every so often about Effective, Affordable, Sustainable and Innovative ideas, products and services. Happy to consult with companies who are building out their innovative sustainability plans.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqbgRY-FyLrwTzeDZTft91nlEEtHUrjbQ_Ftb99pepB4ODuInla3cILFX2Yq8LMwq5qu-zZt70qMYG2L0uJTYenVljscjAFaZCKoKndv7gv1HTGqLN98lX3jmiV6xbd2ef_JD7nI46/s331/C3EF93B2-88DE-4F6E-AAC8-0BCA84D2CE44.GIF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="171" data-original-width="331" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqbgRY-FyLrwTzeDZTft91nlEEtHUrjbQ_Ftb99pepB4ODuInla3cILFX2Yq8LMwq5qu-zZt70qMYG2L0uJTYenVljscjAFaZCKoKndv7gv1HTGqLN98lX3jmiV6xbd2ef_JD7nI46/w464-h236/C3EF93B2-88DE-4F6E-AAC8-0BCA84D2CE44.GIF" width="464" /></a></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span>Gif: 15 buildings being demolished in Kunming, China<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><b>Lessons from a non-citizen-centered approach in China:</b> <br />Build it, and sometimes they won't come.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span>Are Greenfield cities working hard enough to understand the citizen who will live, play, work and evolve in their neighborhoods? China (where the above gif is from) which boasts a record number of ghost cities may have something to teach us. While the drivers of construction of these cities are complex, they often took a <i>Build It and They Will Come</i> approach. Something to guard against in the new smart cities emerging around the world today.<br /></span><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Are we building in Citizen Learning Journeys into the city visioning-planning-implementation-sustainment roadmap?</b></div></span><p></p><b>Last </b>week, I was able to go on my first conference in months - <a href="https://events.bizzabo.com/greenfieldcitiesalliance">The Greenfield Cities Alliances Dialogue 2021</a> at the impressive CornellTech Verizon Conference center in NYC.<p></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-giambrone-mba-bb38ba30/">Adam Giambrone</a> shared the vision and construct of <a href="https://www.neom.com/en-us/whatistheline?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=2195_AO_RPL_Search_Clicks_SA_CPC_Text_T1_EN_27Apr21_30Nov21_3242_T1&utm_content=brand&gclid=CjwKCAjw-sqKBhBjEiwAVaQ9a1FjkqkKHyzu7CLx-he06cm_R5f8yv51XyTfyYcMP-72wXaidiHTqxoCsiYQAvD_BwE">Neom</a>, the inspired greenfield city on the coast of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. </p><p>- The mobility geek in me was super excited by the thoughtful approach to integrating various forms and modalities of transport</p><p>- The autonomy optimist in me was happy to see assumptions of autonomous transit (drones, delivery, passenger pods, etc.) fully captured in the vision</p><p>- The pedestrian-first plan was inspired</p><p>- The recognition that sustainably servicing the space and attendant smart technologies will be key segment to plan for was clearly a stand-out (often an after-thought in city planning)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZim_UfPVivriG_FqJDMf-fEVcCDJ8LGn7XnCP531kizcvDHp3T7Ydz2go2XDILXYUIh583x0noOC4BO6TQgPQOFSuXc6CB31pp8-dmTSenI77l3C5ZL7waqZwsKEOrgIjrAnLKs_7/s1528/IMG_1837.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1528" data-original-width="1528" height="495" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZim_UfPVivriG_FqJDMf-fEVcCDJ8LGn7XnCP531kizcvDHp3T7Ydz2go2XDILXYUIh583x0noOC4BO6TQgPQOFSuXc6CB31pp8-dmTSenI77l3C5ZL7waqZwsKEOrgIjrAnLKs_7/w495-h495/IMG_1837.JPG" width="495" /></a></div><p>We were also treated to a panel where <a href="https://www.itdp.org/">Heather Thompson, CEO of ITDP</a> made the case of fewer (or perhaps, no) greenfield cities, pushing for investments to improve and evolve existing cities instead. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5HfshfxVl3ovAhgurPqWkejPMskswcUU_VK1zOp1Symv85CLieM7I2QQO1phqKC3nUu5mumGdzUkbjWAZubZMCBHqoMEDTKm7YHnfai2aa-CGOpgfzNZYlYyleJqdqZ1LmLr9BdUv/s1192/Screen+Shot+2021-09-28+at+10.01.12+AM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1192" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5HfshfxVl3ovAhgurPqWkejPMskswcUU_VK1zOp1Symv85CLieM7I2QQO1phqKC3nUu5mumGdzUkbjWAZubZMCBHqoMEDTKm7YHnfai2aa-CGOpgfzNZYlYyleJqdqZ1LmLr9BdUv/w262-h164/Screen+Shot+2021-09-28+at+10.01.12+AM.png" width="262" /></a></div>While I appreciate the spirit of Heather's plea - we need to improve conditions where people are today - the rate of urbanization we're looking at suggest that this is an AND situation. We WILL need new, well-designed cities and communities as the world evolves from having 4B in cities in 2010 to 7B+ in cities in 2050. My personal bias comes from living in NYC and having grown up in Chennai - both cities that are constantly evolving, but whose infrastructure is always close to bursting. Between transit issues and water access, these are cities that prove the case for the need for productive cities and communities that can evolve and emerge beyond current constraints.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj38kGbQ6gIjbulG55uYcKV3CC_jPfiQJMP-p_6ZBllODlw1FK5nUZ4cQ4WFA5fVgXY75gk1Mw5MhKD7wJZuosU-fydH0Adt25XxoO5KsTAa6QPltodEbcKAjFQ_8Baj_Eh6YhXjiTi/s794/Screen+Shot+2021-09-28+at+10.15.40+AM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="794" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj38kGbQ6gIjbulG55uYcKV3CC_jPfiQJMP-p_6ZBllODlw1FK5nUZ4cQ4WFA5fVgXY75gk1Mw5MhKD7wJZuosU-fydH0Adt25XxoO5KsTAa6QPltodEbcKAjFQ_8Baj_Eh6YhXjiTi/w189-h166/Screen+Shot+2021-09-28+at+10.15.40+AM.png" width="189" /></a></div>I was glad the <a href="https://twitter.com/vdadmahi?lang=en">Van Espahbodi</a> of <a href="https://starburst.aero/team-members/jongwon-jp-park/">Starburst</a> was very much in the AND category, as well as agreeing with my core thesis that getting the citizen deeply involved in Greenfield city planning is going to be key. I know that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/world/europe/boaty-mcboatface-what-you-get-when-you-let-the-internet-decide.html?.?mc=aud_dev&ad-keywords=auddevgate&gclid=CjwKCAjw-sqKBhBjEiwAVaQ9a4SvLgX59uUqPkqdsDWzrHXyBRSQHl2rT1WPI7MGWHxJgAe7UfAD0xoCnUEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds">the fiasco</a> that was Boaty McBoatface may have scared some folks off from citizen engagement (smile!) but there's a lot to be said for a constant engagement with your aspirational target citizen. Every employee should have a picture in their mind of who their citizen is - and their designs and plans should keep them deeply in the center. <p></p>Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the idea of NEOM. They are innovating on so many critical levers. I just want to make sure that the CITIZEN is the animating soul of these projects, not just the technology and planning.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4EYMWYYp7Uq1UH8cR6jSOH_55F2RHghvOAG1g6xte8P6AYaHo9pf3eYP7xxgI76GsiDmdM3kTlJV_Q9cSbDAVBYmYbug2Y1LANg203t-nat2T_cJKh13L-M7lBSFGbtPTKZFCS-ol/s2752/Screen+Shot+2021-09-28+at+11.29.22+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="980" data-original-width="2752" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4EYMWYYp7Uq1UH8cR6jSOH_55F2RHghvOAG1g6xte8P6AYaHo9pf3eYP7xxgI76GsiDmdM3kTlJV_Q9cSbDAVBYmYbug2Y1LANg203t-nat2T_cJKh13L-M7lBSFGbtPTKZFCS-ol/w522-h186/Screen+Shot+2021-09-28+at+11.29.22+AM.png" width="522" /></a></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpn3uawjHP68kGXQoqubYLaoHbB9LL9TEFDjCVFR6kXdf4IZNWAHSIw3uLYeCJazuP818183nia_IWTkRZf3wdaAWjCt1zTwpiQXlYx-3A5hvLLNhyPT98BgJkbMGaer7lONEwe13a/s2048/IMG_1836.heic" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpn3uawjHP68kGXQoqubYLaoHbB9LL9TEFDjCVFR6kXdf4IZNWAHSIw3uLYeCJazuP818183nia_IWTkRZf3wdaAWjCt1zTwpiQXlYx-3A5hvLLNhyPT98BgJkbMGaer7lONEwe13a/w366-h275/IMG_1836.heic" width="366" /></a></div>Let's take the micro view - I'm a tech strategist married to a digital innovator - I'm assuming we'd be great targets for Neom. However, I love it when my parents come to visit. Guess what their favorite part of NYC is? The bus journeys they take to far-flung corners of the city. They enjoy watching the buildings fly by, watching city life, deciding on the meal they will have then they get to an interesting park or plaza. Neom's public transport is all planned to be underground. Would engaging with a citizen like me (or a 100 of us) have triggered a different plan? Their North Star might be the number 50 - that's the number of underpopulated ghost cities in China today!<p></p><p>I can't wait to see Neom come to fruition - I will visit certainly. The question is, would I ever live there? Would you?</p></div></div>roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-2994504006683142982020-09-03T09:55:00.000-07:002020-09-03T09:55:23.222-07:00Think Eco With Me<p> I was triggered this summer.</p><p>Not by a word, and not in the soul-searing way that crimes against minorities in the US, healthcare disparities and the absolute obtuseness of those who don't care enough about the world to wear a mask. </p><p>More in the sense of a quiet despair. <br /><span style="text-align: right;">And the trigger was the humble baloon.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgON2bsW3FR3mcLiy3OUnrWFbA8Ey7SocOnViXbVgK9B9Yks5t8leh3T0HwtmK2Fp69nqUS_5zunRpTsOfoTB7P-PrUFTXD_TrZoLcDaEY239_2tjs0GPnqvNirRhQUFvTIp8b6fOjN/s259/baloon1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgON2bsW3FR3mcLiy3OUnrWFbA8Ey7SocOnViXbVgK9B9Yks5t8leh3T0HwtmK2Fp69nqUS_5zunRpTsOfoTB7P-PrUFTXD_TrZoLcDaEY239_2tjs0GPnqvNirRhQUFvTIp8b6fOjN/s0/baloon1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Kicking around the sand on Fire Island at 6am with my dog<a href="https://www.instagram.com/the.tara/"> @The.Tara</a> should have been absolute fun. It was fun, until I'd stumble upon the daily harvest of 5 to 20 bits of junk. And I'd pick them up to ferry to the garbage bin. Crushed cans, plastic spoons, straws, and plastic toys were part of the daily haul. But every day, there were the balloons! </p><p style="text-align: left;">Why?! I would shake my fist into the skies. Why do we need all these ridiculous temporary symbols that for one red-hot minute helped mark birthdays, exhortations to get well, baby announcements and graduations. And then they floated away, to choke dolphins and kill seabirds. (<a href="https://balloonsblow.org/the-ugly-truth/">See some home truths here</a>.)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/roopaonline/status/1283377013580091399"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="607" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8q_AG_WN3haV6yQx_7eUZ2LfUOssi83jiwCqtSzrJzdz_H7xAgzVPRkcuuN8IxbsBbiC_SVvpjHGBzpLDNVLoRGrO16UjdiQ5qsBK9cGIw0MnHbTytQuVz08Q9Az-7bMum_V8Hlfp/s320/baloontweet.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;">Here's a <a href="https://twitter.com/roopaonline/status/1283377013580091399">link to my tweet</a> - the thread goes on to reflect: <span style="background-color: #f5f8fa; color: #14171a; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I walk, I imagine that the post apocalyptic civilization that emerges after our demise will consider the Great Pacific Garbage Patch our version of the pyramids</span><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've always been a 'light eco-friend"...i.e., where possible, I tried to reduce my plastic footprint. But once we got back in August to NYC, I've tried a little harder:</div><div style="text-align: left;">- I've signed up for a weekly grocery delivery service that reduces wastage by making "ugly" or off-spec product usable, saving as much 139 Million pounds of food to date</div><div style="text-align: left;">- Changing my personal care products to more eco-friendly options</div><div style="text-align: left;">- Shifting to reusables where possible</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Since I stopped consulting via Center10, I've not been as prolific as a writer. But COVID-19 has had me reflect on how I use my weekends better. I've started working on a novel that is an homage to my parents. And I'd like to start talking about some of the products that I'm experimenting with. What's working, mostly, and how to access them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Access is the key. We've been lulled into habits driven by ease. So much easier to pack things into disposable plastic bags, then using a reusable bag that might need to be rinsed and dried later. What if the reusable bag was strong enough to be machine washed and dried? Products exist, and can be found. I'm hoping to be able to direct you to them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And maybe some fun ideas? How about making it fashionable to celebrate your ailing friend's health with 1 beautiful flower? Maybe one that you've grown? </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Mind.Blown. Eh? </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So, when we're back to visiting each other, don't be shocked if I come bearing a solitary sunflower, or a bag of oranges in a tote. It shows I truly, truly love you! Enough to want you and your children and grandchildren to have a more beautiful earth to live in.</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><p></p>roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-19485023014300739532017-02-13T07:44:00.002-08:002017-02-13T07:44:22.162-08:00On Writing A Book & Learning to Love My Inner Skeptic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Career Catapult hits the shelves on March 20th, 2017!!<br />
(See more <a href="http://thecareercatapult.com/">here</a>, and pre-order on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Career-Catapult-Shake-up-Professional-Trajectory/dp/1632650843/ref=la_B01MYBZWR9_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485521700&sr=1-1">Amazon</a>.)<br />
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Writing a book is exhausting - not just the actual effort of putting words on paper, but the mental tussle as I wrote each word. Quelling the inner skeptic has always been a tough job for me. "Is this new? Does this story really need to be told? Is it helpful?"<br />
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Guess what? I love my inner skeptic. Especially when it harped on the "keep it helpful" part of it's rhetoric. The book is a working document - it's something that is set up to help the reader (or listener) take concrete actions to build habits that are meant to strengthen career possibilities.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dig Deep<br /><i>Illustration by Srushti Hebbar</i></td></tr>
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The best way to engage with a slightly exhausting inner skeptic? Acknowledge that voice, invite it out to speak at the beginning of a writing session, note down what it's saying, and make sure to answer it. In my case, I captured it on a post-it that remained stuck on my computer all those months - "New, Needs to be told, Helpful".<br />
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Towards the tail-end of the process, as I tried to finish the book before starting on my new job, I know I'd have loved to slow down and push the writing further. But when the luxury of leaning back had disappeared, the simple triple exhortation helped me get the essentials down on the page. Thanks, little voice!!<br />
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Apart from my inner skeptic, here are the people who helped me get there!<br />
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Dedicated to </div>
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My father, whose vision and work ethic is, and always will be, a key motivator </div>
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My mother, whose steel backbone and determination is part of my core </div>
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Sree, Durga and Krishna who surround me every day with sheer joy </div>
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Jalal uncle, who taught me the special magic of the shooting sport </div>
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TP and Lekha who have been like an added set of parents to me </div>
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My siblings, who taught me to keep my chin up, always </div>
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And a special thanks to the global community of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), Ray and Steph, who supported my research efforts immensely</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-300141507501267052016-07-27T13:48:00.001-07:002016-07-27T13:48:48.766-07:00How Audio Giant Harman Broke Down Silos to Spark Innovation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Noted turnaround specialist Dinesh Paliwal is transforming Harman International, an audio solutions company behind such iconic brands as Harman/Kardon, JBL and others. As Harman’s chairman, president and CEO, his mission in the digital age has been to transform the company from a founder-run, top-down culture to one that is customer-centric and driven by innovation. Paliwal has instituted major changes, including breaking down silos, adopting elements of a startup culture and setting up internal crowdsourcing — all with a relentless focus on reinventing the business. Innovation, he says, is not just about breakthrough scientific ideas. It’s about processes, too, such as making customer service better and running projects more efficiently in a new way.</em></div>
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I <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">recently interviewed Paliwal on behalf of Knowledge@Wharton to talk about Harman’s transformation. What follows is an edited version of that conversation.</em></div>
<span style="color: #191a1a; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>This interview appeared in K@W on June 14, 2016. You'll see me showing up as "Knowledge@wharton."</i></span><div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knowledge@Wharton</strong>: Tell us a bit about Harman. When you came in, this was a very different company. You have really made a transformation happen. So talk to us a little bit about what it was, where it is today and where you see it going.</div>
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<b>Dinesh Paliwal:</b> In the past eight years, Harman has totally changed. I joined the company eight-and-a-half years ago and it had excellent brands like Harman/Kardon, JBL and many others. However, innovation had completely stalled, and there was nothing happening. We had about 1,700 patents, but they were also getting dated and there was nothing new coming out. You cannot [rest] on your laurels. After a while, those patents and brands [become less] relevant. To keep our business relevant and also to understand where the technology was going, we needed to do something. We were known as an audio company. I still get introduced as the CEO of Harman Kardon, which is not correct. We are Harman. Audio is only $3 billion out of the $7 billion of the company’s revenue.</div>
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So what did we do? I said the first thing we need to do is to create a structure where people can talk. I always believed if you cannot collaborate around your ideas, you cannot create. That means communication has to be, first and foremost, the platform. We had nothing but silos. Each brand was a company. They were so silo-driven that they had no standard email exchange. Different business cards, different email service. It was like the United Nations — the countries didn’t talk. United of nothing.</div>
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The first thing we said was destroy the silos. Put [everyone on] one unified email and communication network. I started writing letters to every employee, every week: a company-wide letter to bring them up to speed on what we were doing. I told them how bad certain things were. I also gave them respect for the company’s legacy. The No. 1 thing I said was this: if we don’t innovate, you can cut costs and live for another two or three years, but you will die because cost [reduction as a strategy] has a limit. In the end, it’s innovation [that will propel us forward].</div>
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<a class="fyc_printfriendly tweetthislink" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fknowledge.wharton.upenn.edu%2Farticle%2Faudio-giant-harman-broke-silos-spark-innovation%2F&url=http%3A%2F%2Fknlg.net%2F1WMHs5E&source=tweetbutton&text=Harman%20CEO%3A%20To%20create%20value%2C%20we%20must%20innovate.%20Customers%20are%20willing%20to%20pay%20for%20value%20%40whartonknows" style="-webkit-transition: 0.5s; background-color: #efefef; color: #aa3d3d; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 2px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.5s;" target="_blank"></a></div>
<a name='more'></a><a class="fyc_printfriendly tweetthislink" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fknowledge.wharton.upenn.edu%2Farticle%2Faudio-giant-harman-broke-silos-spark-innovation%2F&url=http%3A%2F%2Fknlg.net%2F1WMHs5E&source=tweetbutton&text=Harman%20CEO%3A%20To%20create%20value%2C%20we%20must%20innovate.%20Customers%20are%20willing%20to%20pay%20for%20value%20%40whartonknows" style="-webkit-transition: 0.5s; background-color: #efefef; color: #aa3d3d; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 2px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.5s;" target="_blank">If we don’t innovate, it means we do not create value. It’s value that customers are willing to pay for.</a> So I said, value-based selling starts with innovation. You need to give our sales people, our customers something they can say “wow” about. That’s the wow factor.<br />
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How do you start innovating? Well, I had a lot of things to take care of. So I’ll be honest with you, innovation wasn’t the first priority. The priority was, let’s destroy these silos. We then said, now we’re going to invest in R&D, in new innovation centers. We installed a chief technology officer. Then we put rewards in place. Innovation is not just about a new scientific idea. Innovation is about processes. Innovation is about how you do customer service better. How do you run projects more efficiently in an innovative [way]?</div>
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Countries like China and India are traditionally blasted for being copycats. “They don’t know how to think.” This is completely wrong. Today, fast forward, one-third of our early filings and patent early identification filings are from China and India. This is quite remarkable. I’m very happy.</div>
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“If we don’t innovate, it means we do not create value. It’s value that customers are willing to pay for.”</div>
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This year, we finished with nearly 6,000 patents versus 1,700 eight years ago. We have been monetizing our patents. We sell patents to Samsung and Bay Area companies — Google, Apple and many others.</div>
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How did we get there? A number of things. It starts at the top — with me. I go on worldwide town-hall meetings and I always talk about the fact that if we don’t innovate, we have no future. I repeat [legendary former CEO of GE] Jack Welch’s mantra: You’ve got to be the cost leader to be the profit leader. These two things have something in common. You have to keep reinventing yourself.</div>
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So now we have an innovation studio. We have crowdsourcing. We have internal crowdsourcing. We have the power of 27,000 people. So we’re getting ideas. Initially people thought they won’t care. When they started to see that we select (the best ideas), the funnel gets shorter and shorter. We actually announced, ‘These are the top 100 ideas, the top 50 ideas.’ Then we started rewarding the people who were coming up with ideas.</div>
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The third thing we did was the Shark Tank idea [TV show in which entrepreneurs seeking funding pitch their business ideas to a team of angel investors]. At Harman, we have hungry tigers and hungry cubs.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">nowledge@Wharton</strong>: I hadn’t heard about the cubs.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paliwal</strong>: Hungry cubs is the feeder for hungry tigers. Tigers are already middle managers. You have to step on a few toes; it hurts. You are a hungry tiger because you are brave, you have courage, you have risk appetite and you’re asking for change. Otherwise, you will leave. Basically, I want to know these people because I don’t want to lose them. I want to give them opportunity, more space, more money and the freedom to do things. So the hungry tiger program is working.</div>
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But the innovation process is a continuation. I think we have just started scratching the surface. Other than that, we joined Singularity University (an institute that aims to educate people about technology to beneficially impact society). Four times a year, we send our people — five people each time. They come back as changed people. And we’re a lot more outward customer-centric, listening to the market, and allowing people to take risks.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knowledge@Wharton</strong>: So to help the reader understand this a little, your customers are a mix of individuals as well as businesses? I can understand it’s easier in many ways to innovate to a consumer, the Joe on the street, but how do you bring your business consumer along?</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paliwal</strong>: We have four businesses in Harman. Out of $7 billion, our largest business is the $3 billion plus connected-car division. This is the whole cockpit electronics and software in the car, which we do. That business has been under development for two years. Then it gets into the car and you see it. So it’s already three years old by the time you and I, the consumers of the car, will see it.</div>
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“Innovation is not just about a new scientific idea. Innovation is about processes. Innovation is about how you do customer service better.”</div>
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Then we have the audio business, including car audio and consumer audio. Consumer audio has a lifecycle of 12 months. So you have to always innovate and, every 12 to 18 months, you have to have a new product. Car audio has a longer shelf life, and there we talk a lot about a system on a chip. We implement changes in the audio listening experiences, providing individual sound zones, providing different experiences in the car, in the home, on the go.</div>
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Our third business is professional solutions, including pro-audio, video controls, automation and lighting. We do banks. We do entertainment venues.</div>
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Our fourth is connected services. We work with Microsoft, Intel and Cisco on cloud-based applications and analytics, understanding the customer/consumer data and analyzing it. So the spectrum of innovation is very short-term innovation. It may not be a lot of radical, fundamental research for consumer audio. But the radical fundamental game-changing research has to happen for our long-cycle business of connected car and connected audio.</div>
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This is where we want to get in the minds of BMW and Audi and Tesla and Daimler. I just came back from Munich where we celebrated 100 years with BMW. The theme was not the past 100 years but the next 100 years. So they talked about what the future-generation car would look like. They actually shared that with us. And we want to be the player in that car.</div>
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So we’re trying to bridge Silicon Valley and the car companies. There’s a huge divide. Silicon Valley is ‘let’s do it today, let’s try it.’ Car companies want to deploy technologies which are well proven over three, four, five years because technologies in the car can mean life or death. But now the shift is so seismic that you don’t have four years to prove it. Consumers will say, “I have my ecosystem whether I use Samsung, Android phone or iOS or Blackberry. But my lifestyle encompasses my home, office and car. It can’t stop at the car.” So that’s where Harman is playing and investing.</div>
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At the Geneva auto show recently, we launched our car, which had personalization, the highest productivity and a fully autonomous driving experience. This requires artificial intelligence for machine learning. And once you free up a lot of time from driving, you need to bring in all the office productivity. So we launched Office 360 in the car, Microsoft, audio/video conferencing, your Outlook calendar, totally synced. You now have an intelligent assistant with you in the car, keeping you on track and interactively working with you. So this is where our research is going – cognitive load.</div>
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… Five years from now, you will have the choice. You can drive your car or you can let the car drive you. So cognitive load is very important – as well as the bunch of sensors, because a lot of data is being collected. We’re going to be in the middle of managing the data.</div>
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So picking the right partners, making those choices is going to determine winners and losers. I’m very happy that we are actually collaboratively working with Google, very tightly in a strategic partnership with Microsoft, with Silicon Valley vendors like Intel and many others, and the car companies as well.</div>
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“It starts at the top — with me. I go on worldwide town hall meetings and I always talk about the fact that if we don’t innovate, we have no future.”</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knowledge@Wharton</strong>: You’ve talked about Google, you’ve talked about the autonomous car. What will happen if a big accident happens? How will the industry react? Who takes the liability? I think that whole area is open for discussion. Where do you stand on that?</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paliwal</strong>: We just saw Google come out and say, “Listen we own this. We’re responsible.” I think we’re going through a complete phase shift. It’s not incremental. There are 35,000 to 37,000 deaths on the road today. They’re all due to human errors for a variety of reasons. There are 800 million cars today on the road. They’re all human driven and they’re not ready to be deployed to be called autonomous driving because they don’t have the right sensors and software and technology. These cars will be on the road for the next 10 to 12 years. The cars in the production line will continue to come out for the next three to five years; they’re also traditional cars with some intelligence. So you’re definitely in for 15 to 20 years (with traditional cars).</div>
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Then the shift will happen. In the green lane in big metropolitan cities, you can have autonomous cars drive literally inches apart. They know each other; they’re talking to each other; they’re totally smart. But the accidents or liability part is very tricky.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knowledge@Wharton</strong>: What do you think are the key drivers for Harman, for the industry, for the U.S., for the world? What are some of the key drivers that are going to shift the way we work and exist and innovate?</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paliwal</strong>: I’m going to start with a cliché. I’m sure you’ve heard it hundreds of times. IoT, right? Internet of Things. … IoT for us means a lot — in the connected car, connected driving. It means a sense of fusion in the car. The lighter and the laser, the ultrasonics and the night visions, a lot of safety, vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to infrastructure, vehicle to cloud, which is infrastructure. That’s where I think we are doubling down.</div>
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In the past two years, we at Harman have made five acquisitions of more than $1.5 billion, which is a lot of money for our size of company. We have acquired 9,000 software engineers and architects. We have now phenomenal capability in cloud-based applications and analytics. We have acquired three companies in Israel in safety.</div>
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“We’re trying to bridge Silicon Valley and the car companies. There’s a huge divide.”</div>
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The next thing is cyber security. Imagine the implication of connecting these cars to a big pipe, whether it’s Vodafone or AT&T or Verizon. You have network vulnerability. So we have been acquiring expertise in-house as well as externally in cyber security.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knowledge@Wharton</strong>: It’s interesting because you’re talking within the context of Harman. But also it’s across health care [and other areas].</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paliwal</strong>: Across industries. Across health care. I sit on the Bristol Meyer board. We see the same thing — data management [and] how wellness, how patient care will be totally seamlessly integrated, all the way through the pipeline.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Knowledge@Wharton</strong>: The flip side of that, what keeps you up at night?</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paliwal</strong>: A number of things. It’s not the technology, it’s not that we will run out of cash or the challenges of competition. It’s finding the people, those who can move with the speed that I want to move.</div>
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I am generally paranoid. My communications people tell me I should not say paranoid; say healthy paranoia. The same thing applies to our business. To drive that sort of healthy paranoia in innovation, in watching who might disrupt our value chain, who might disrupt our product line or our technology direction. That keeps me awake. But finding people, those who can do something about it, there are not too many people, unfortunately. It’s a talent war. With our immigration policy as stupid as it is right now, we’re struggling. It is becoming a crisis.</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-12062476661850183212016-01-26T07:09:00.004-08:002018-06-06T11:08:32.704-07:00From Personal Pain, The Motivation For Business Innovation…. Aetna’s CEO Mark Bertolini, on remaking the healthcare system<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">From Personal Pain, The
Motivation For Business Innovation….<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Aetna’s CEO Mark Bertolini, on
remaking the healthcare system<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I had the chance to connect with Mark
Bertolini at the WOBI <a href="https://wbf.wobi.com/">World Business Conference</a>
in New York City and get his insights on how he is driving change in the
industry.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The conversation was published in two parts in the </span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><i>Knowledge@Wharton website. See <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/aetnas-mark-bertolini-new-definition-success-health-care/">Part I</a> & <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/aetna-ceo-on-leadership-yoga-and-fair-wages/">Part II</a> here.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
So I am here today with Mark Bertolini, the CEO of Aetna which is now poised to
be the biggest healthcare company in the U.S..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mark
Bertolini: Well, it depends on -- yeah, but we'll be close.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Well, you're close.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
We'll be big.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
You will be very big.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
We'll be a Fortune 20 and a FTSE 30 company. So yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Fantastic. It's a nice place to start from.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
It is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
So you've been called many thing including "Healthcare's Mr. Fix-it."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Sure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
And how do wear that mantle given that you've been in this healthcare economy
for a while now? You've seen it from your perspective in the trauma care center
when you were working there and now you're a CEO. How is it evolving?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Yeah. Well, I think, you know, through all of my experiences, in a level one
trauma center as an EMT, Emergency Department Coordinator and, working in the
hospital industry, working in the early days of managed care back in the 80's
and then my own personal experiences with my son and myself in the healthcare
system -- I realized that it wasn't getting any better. And actually in the
late 80's and early 90's I had a set of these acetates. Remember when we used
to have overhead projectors with acetates?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
And I pulled them out and I was talking about the stuff back then and it's nice
to see, you know, almost 25 years later we're finally getting around to it and
I think the issue is that we define health the wrong way and it became
incredibly apparently to me when my son battled with cancer for quite some time
and when I had my ski injury where I broke my neck the system wanted to fix the
medical issue but wasn't at all concerned about the individual they put back
into society. And so for me it was my pain and my limitations, my physical
limitations trying to get my life back which you never really do. For my son,
you know, it was his whole journey for a year-and-a-half, two years with cancer
and then, you know, I gave him a kidney in 2007. It was just this whole journey
where they just wanted to get rid of the cancer and once the cancer was gone
they were done with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
And so I came to this conclusion that were a whole lot of things wrong with
that but probably the most important thing was -- what do we define as success?
And success is really healthy individuals are productive, productive
individuals are economically, culturally, socially and spiritually viable and
viable people are happy. And if we can do that individual by individual and
community by community we'd have a much better world. And so how do we a design
a system around that is really the point, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right. And how does that change how you think of Aetna's products and services?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
So one of the things -- when I put my son into hospice in July 2003, July of
2002 -- July 15, 2002 -- I had to admit he was going to die in six months and
he couldn't get curative services anymore. And when I got out and he was home
and he graduated from hospice and today, you know, he's 30 and a productive
human being in society, I was working at Aetna and I went to -- I was working
with Jack Rowe and I said to Jack, "You know, we should change the way our
end of life care program works. And let's waive the requirement that you have
to admit you're going to die and let's allow people to get curative services
while they're in hospice." And when we did that, we did a study for two
years with self-funded customers because we weren't sure what -- we weren't
sure if it was going to be a run on the bank and what we found was that instead
of 25 percent of the people dying at home, 75 percent of the people died at
home and we saw an 89 percent reduction in inpatient bed days and we saw 75
percent reduction in costs. And the families and the feedback we got on the
program was, "This is incredible."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
For non-U.S. listeners -- you're talking about employers who actually take some
of the risk of insurance, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
You're really engaging with people who have a stake in this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
A stake in it. And it worked. And so now today every Aetna customer gets that
product.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
That's amazing. How does the average employee who has an insight like this, has
an experience like this -- surface an idea at Aetna?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
We actually have what we called the "Aetna Way Excellence Awards,"
and we reward employees for our values, each of our values – aligning it to our
values but also on being transformative in their thinking. And so every year we
have employees nominate other employees. So it can't be management.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Ah, nice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
And we have an employee committee that evaluates them and people get Silver
Awards -- there are probably, you know, 1,200 people that get Silver Awards and
then there's about 40 people that get Gold Awards which is a nice check and a
plaque and a visit to Hartford for three days and dinner with the management
team, that sort of thing. But then all those 40 of those folks with a significant
other go to a cool place. Like last year was the Bahamas -- and for a weekend
and we give away ten Platinum Awards which is a very nice piece of crystal and
a $5,000-dollar check. And for these folks it's meaningful money, right? And
it's all built around these things that people come up with that are just
really great ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
And you have a good history of actually implementing these ideas?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
We do. They're easy to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
They usually are, aren't they?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
They're very easy to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Particularly when they come from people on the front lines who are actually
doing the real work and know what doesn't work, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right. And they can make it work. So, have you seen a difference in the type of
people who want to work for you given the changes you're putting into place?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Definitely. I mean I -- when I joined Aetna in 2003 I worked for a sleepy,
insurance company that was, you know, struggling to figure out whether or not
it was going to survive and when I took over as Chairman in 2010 -- we were a $30-billion-dollar
company and in July of next year we'll be a $125-billion-dollar company and
part of that has been our ability to be a thought leader and go out into the
community and talk about what could be better. And now we have students -- I
mean healthcare is one of the biggest budget busting problems in the world, in
every country and people want to fix that. And when you look at the
millennials, they want to be involved in a big, hairy problem that they can
actually an impact on. So we have people lined up to come to work. I just hired
Gary Loveman, the CEO of Caesar's. Just came to work for me because he wants to
be involved in the consumer part of the healthcare revolution. So all of a
sudden all of these really big folks, and great folks, and smart people want to
come to work with us because we're about solving a big problem and everybody
wants to be a part of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
And so you're creating a bit of a roadmap that people can believe in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
A key thing about healthcare is the interconnectedness, certainly in the U.S.
and in many parts of the world -- the interconnectedness of various
institutional players. Have there been partnerships that you feel have helped
or others you like to see in play? What's going to be the next big shift?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
So solution number one -- when you step back from the problem itself and you
admit that your value chain is on fire which is what the Affordable Care Act
did, you have to say, "Okay, if I've got an opportunity to grab one or two
things out of my burning house, what do I do?" And I grabbed those things
and I let the rest of the house burn and then I take those important things over
to the new value chain. So it causes you -- when there is a disruption -- you
can do two things when there's a disrupted economy or industry. One, is you can
put your thumb in your mouth, get in a fetal position in the corner, cut your
costs and hope you're the last person standing. That's what U.S. Steel did,
that's what the auto companies did --<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
… and they're still doing it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
They're still doing it. Or what you can do is you can say, "Okay, there's
a new value chain. What is it? And what is it that I do in the current value
chain that has some value and can be repurposed there?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Absolutely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
So when we did that we looked at the provider systems and what we could do to
provide them with skills and capabilities that we had that they didn't and they
couldn't afford to build on their own. And the view was that we had multiple
economic models in the industry that didn't work well together. Doctors work on
a cash basis, hospitals work on a revenue basis, device manufacturers, pharma
and the insurance industry work on a margin basis. So it's a wonder any of that
worked together. So we have to do is get people on the same economic model. And
our view was -- is that every good organization regardless if it's for profit
or not for profit, has to make a margin to continue to invest in its business
fundamentals. And so investing in those business fundamentals requires you to
generate that margin and let's get everybody on a margin model. And let's
convince them that that's the best way to run their business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
And how does that help the patient?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
So the margin model -- the only way the margin model works in a hospital or in
a doctor's office is that if I get paid upfront to insure the health of an
employee or a person and I make the right investments to do that -- I get to
keep the rest. It's a margin, right? And so versus the other way around which
says I make a margin on everything I do and so if I do more things I make more
margin and we know that doesn't work. That's way too costly. And so this whole
idea of getting everybody on a margin model said, "Well, you know, what
the hospitals don't know -- how to manage risk, how to underwrite, they don't
have the risk-based capital like we do and access to the markets, they've got
all this real estate," excuse me, "And so what can we do to share
that with them?" And if we can build what I call a health plan in a box --
a toolkit for health systems to begin to make that change and doctor groups to make
that change -- then we can make headway in changing the system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So we
have relationships like that all over the country. It's called value-based
insurance design. We're doing that in Qatar, we're doing that in China, we're
doing that in the Middle East as we start to show them how, you know, don't
follow the West. Go to where the puck is going to be versus where it is now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right. Leapfrog, right? Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Absolutely. It’s been noticed that Aetna exited a few health exchanges. What
does that mean for the big healthcare experiment that's going on in the U.S.
right now?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
So we're still the largest provider of health insurance exchange products and
it was just that in those markets we could not provide a product that was
valuable or affordable for people. And so why continue to provide it? We should
be in the markets where we can provide something of value. And instead of
expending our resources everywhere and trying to make it work everywhere. So we
actually exited three markets but we entered two. And so, you know, we're just
switching it around. I think the bigger issue with the Affordable Care Act is
that in every other major social program this country has ever enacted -- we
tweak it every year. Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, right? PDP. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Yeah. You don't give it time to set in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Right. And we have not touched the Affordable Care Act for five years because
politically it's a third rail. And so if you open up any part of it --
everybody will rush in to change all of it or repeal it. And so this administration
for good reason has decided that they don't want to do that. I think whoever
becomes President --<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
They should start there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
-- that they should start there and they're going to have make promises to get
the Presidency because I don't think there are a whole lot of people happy with
the program as it is. And I think that'll be the next big step. And so we're
two years into it. It's six percent of our revenue. We don't make any money on
it but it's not breaking our bank. So either -- why not continue to experiment
and see if it works?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right. What we're seeing is whole new populations coming in. That six percent,
I assume, is not cannibalized - six percent!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Right, right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
So tell me a little bit about your vision -- so beyond sort of the payment
equation, what else do you think needs to shift for us to see change -- in many
ways with the advanced technology, our demographics, etc., our outcomes don't
say that great story, right? So what else needs to change?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Yeah. So a couple of things. First of all, we waste IOM -- Institutes of
Medicine run by doctors puts the waste in our system at thirty percent. So
there's, you know, on a good day $900 billion dollars that if we got out of the
system we could use to pay for everybody's insurance without raising the dollar
or tax revenue, right? So why don't we do that, right? Number one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right, right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Number two -- people have talked a long time about racial and ethnic
disparities in healthcare and, you know, Aetna was one of the first companies
to come forward and say we needed to do that. In 2002 we did that. We collected
the data. But the most recent study on middle-aged, white males and their
rapidly rising rate of mortality is pointing to another important thing and
it's a social determinance of health. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
And the reason that alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide is increasing in the
middle-aged, white population is a socioeconomic problem. It's not a racial or
ethnic problem and if we look at that and then we look at countries around the
world, the OECD nations, you'll see that the total spending on healthcare and
social programs as a percent of GDP is about thirty percent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Okay. And for us?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
And for us it's about thirty percent but we're ninth -- we're ninth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
But that's right -- with the population we have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
We're ninth and when you look at healthcare -- healthcare's 19 and social
programs are 11. So we've got the balance wrong. There's no safety net. And so
back to the exchanges -- when we look at the people that are buying our
policies -- they're not buying our policies so they can get a healthcare card
and run off and get healthcare costs and get a prescription. They're buying our
policies because they've worked hard to achieve a standard of life for them and
their children that they don't want to lose if they get sick. So they're buying
peace of mind. They're buying a home mortgage policy from us is what they're
buying -- their mortgage insurance is what they're buying from us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Agreed. And it is strange to think about us as the most advanced economy in the
world. So when you work with other emerging economies, for example, where are
you seeing the most innovative spirit in the industries?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Middle East<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Yeah?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Interestingly enough. And we went into Qatar four years ago at the request of
Sheika Mozah bint Nasser, the Queen to help build out a maternal health program
-- as the first program for universal healthcare in Qatar. So we think about that
-- women, right? You know, in an Arab nation, in the Middle East and we've now
grown that program to a full blown healthcare system that we're working with
them on. So we're finding a lot of innovation in the Middle East. We're finding
some spontaneous innovation in China but it's not quite there yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
In the community centers, yeah?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Yeah in the local provinces have seen a lot of interest. I think, Western
Europe, the United States and South America suffer from very big entrenched
economic and political interests that are going to be very difficult for us to
change and I would actually proffer that we'll probably do something in the
Middle East and China and in India before we get something done in the United
States or the Western developed countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Sort of backward engineering the innovations later to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Yeah. That's right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
And I know that were in the news a year ago, where you tried to make sure that
every employee of yours could afford your programs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Yeah. That was January -- that was the beginning of this year. Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
So why did it take this long is a question one has to ask? But I know --<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Well, so first -- first and foremost it was working with my own team to get it
done. Because, you know, in any large organization there is a very strong
resistance to dramatic change. And that there are a lot of people in a very
large organization that try to protect the company from the nut in the corner
office. And so just getting the data and going through the analysis was a very
difficult thing to get done where I finally got frustrated -- it took us almost
two years to get it done. But we got it done and now we have a, you know, a way
of approaching it. We've shared it with other companies. Other companies have
followed us and used our material and worked on it. But it was a long time
coming, too long for me and I was talking about two years ago. I think incoming
quality was not as a big deal in the, you know, in the economy but I think as
it became more pressing, I think people, you know, people were finally sort of
were receptive to the idea. And then when I pushed it it happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
So I had the pleasure of working, you know, with Jack Rowe who was CEO before
you, and who brought you into Aetna.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
I'm going to date myself but at least about ten years ago, maybe 12. And I do
remember the long halls and the fact that on average your employees had been
around -- I want to say 20 to 25 years. Is that still the case? Has it since
evolved?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
No, it's not, interestingly enough. So I did an early retirement program when I
took over in 2010. We had about 3,900 employees with more than 20 years. About
half of them left at that time and then it's dwindled from there. So out of
50,000 employees -- we probably have less than 1,600 employees who have been
with the company longer than 20 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
So it must be refreshing to have people with different insights?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Well, you know, there's always this fine balance between having institutional
knowledge and a strong support for the legacy of who we are as a company. And
so you have to find that right balance and when we did the ERP program in 2011,
the beginning of 2011 -- there were some people that put their hand up and we
said, "Oh, no, no. You can't leave." And we actually paid them more.
[LAUGHTER]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Well done. So what's it like? I mean so you've lived your life in this highly
regulated industry -- have you ever dreamed or, you know, woken up thinking --
what if you weren't this regulated? Or has it been invigorating to innovate in
this kind of space?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
I think the -- so in 1983 as I was coming out of graduate school I, you know,
was top of my class, finance and I had lot of opportunity in Wall Street. And I
was looking at that and then a friend of mine called and he says, "You
know, we have $12 million dollars of other people's money. Do you want to start
an HMO?" And I said, "What the hell is an HMO?" And, you know,
he sent me the red herring from U.S. Healthcare's Perspectives when they went
public. And I said, "Well, this is pretty cool. I can go home to Detroit
(which is where I was raised) and we started the company and my friends in
graduate school said, "You're crazy. The big insurance companies control
97 percent of the market. They have all of the political and economic capital.
They'll crush you guys." And a decade later most of the large insurance
companies were gone. And it was -- I mean you could feel at that moment that
there was going to be sort of this tidal change in the industry. This moment
feels like that again. And boy, you don't want to get that -- you're lucky if
you get it once in your career. If you get it twice, it's like really cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right. And is this all about the big data play? Is that what's going to be the
driver?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
I think it's really -- yeah, I think it's really about personalized medicine. I
think it's about understanding the consumers of buyer-retail healthcare. It's
about, you know, a fundamentally different service model. I mean it's a whole
lot of things that, you know, very rarely do you see an industry go from B to B
to B to C pretty quickly but we've got some good lessons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Medicare
Advantage is largely a B to C customer market. Prescription drug programs are a
B to C market. Medicaid to some degree is a B to C market. So we have a lot of
test beds out there that we've tried that have worked pretty well. I think
instead of trying to create level risk pools, getting paid for the risk you're
assuming is a whole different model in healthcare. And if you pay me for the
risk and I really am about improving quality -- than I should be willing to
take it. And so it's a very different way to run the business because you could
actually say, "Well, and this is what happened with Medicare Advantage.
75-year-olds with three kinds of co-morbidities could be very profitable if you
just took care of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right. But who -- are your stakeholders willing to go there? I mean are the
doctors and hospitals getting there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
We're getting there slowly but surely. But we say that -- we can pay the DRG
for, you know, DRG, XYZ. You know, no matter what it's the same number but if
you got paid for the risk of the people you were taking care of?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right. Then will you behave differently?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
And, oh by the way it's a better deal from a market standpoint.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Knowledge@Wharton:
And the other consolidation of hospitals -- how is that affecting your own business?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
You know, everybody is consolidating because number one, we have too many
hospitals. We don't have enough doctors. And so, you know, doctors are going to
work for healthcare institutions and I'm not quite sure that's the right model.
We'll see. But I think in the end analysis – a patient-centered retail market
place will generate a very different delivery model. And I see a time when --
if you think about this and this is a Clay Christensen idea -- the cheapest
place to provide healthcare is in the home. And the cheapest person to provide
it is the family or a neighbor. And so if we were able to create an uber
economy at the local community level and we were able to have nurses walk
around the corner to take care of a neighbor and get paid for it as an independent
contractor instead of having to go to work for a home health agency and collect
a paycheck and pay taxes -- why couldn't that work for healthcare? And why
couldn't that be a great way to reestablish community at the local level?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
So how do you, where to the core of what you do is managing risk <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">-- in a
world where people are talking about 3D printing pills and ZocDoc's and, you
know, all of that -- how do you manage risk and manage quality?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Right. Well, I think it's about managing quality. So in the past we've created
level risk pools that allowed us to have a cross-structure that gave a price to
clear into the market and allowed us to grow a little bit, right? So it's about
balance risk pools. Today what we have is we have a model is that -- and in
that model you controlled incidents -- so it was utilization management. In the
new model it's about accepting the incidents as it is and managing the
severity. And so it's a longer term investment in the individual and if you pay
me for the rest and I do the right thing for the individual in improving the
quality of their care, the quality of their life -- but if we margin in that
they'll stay with me longer and I'll see the benefits from it. So it's a very different
undertaking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right, right. So you're making a long-term bet in many ways, right? Yeah?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Well, it beats the alternative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
So, you know, we've got a few more minutes. I'd love to understand -- so what
does Mark Bertolini, himself, do to keep the innovation spirit going? I mean
what is it about your personal habits that keep it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
Well, you know, I have a yoga practice. So I get up in the morning and I do,
you know, Viniyoga. So, you know, it's the more traditional -- my partner, she
trained with Krishnamacharya in Madras back in the day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Yeah, which is my home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
And so, you know, when she was a Colgate student. So she, you know, truly, you
know, helped introduce me to the eight limbs of yoga which is not about the
exercise. It's about motion initiated by breath to still the mind and the body
to be able to sit in mediation for a long period of time, to reach ultimately Samadhi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
I'm impressed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
And so, I, you know, read the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Upanishads</i>,
the Geetha and all of these, you know, the Panchabitha Hrudayam and all of the
Tantric texts and all of those sorts of things. And I now, you know, and in
this journey understand that all of this is illusion, right? You and I are the
same thing. The journey is an inner one and if I understand that inner journey
well and I treat others well, I'm treating myself well. And in that it makes me
stress free. It makes me be much more considerate of others and their needs.
And there is no good or bad. The idea is to find out what that person is trying
to teach me that I don't understand and -- and, you know, losing attachment to
things that are not material or everything. And in that whole way you come to
your work very differently as a leader and as a person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And the
joy of my journey has been trying to help other people see that and engage in
it and learn from it. But, you know, I also ride a road bike, I ride my
motorcycles, I still ski, I do all of those sorts of things because, you know,
the object is use this vessel up before I have to give it back. And so I'm
getting rid of it a piece at a time. [LAUGHTER]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Yeah. I see that you're pretty active on social media. It's not often that you
see a lot of CEO's doing that and it's interesting to see all of the places
you've biked to. Like, "Wow. That's seems painful. But good painful, I
assume."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
It is, it is. It's good for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa Yeah. So the Knowledge at Wharton audience tends to be, you know, inquisitive,
curious, you know, forward thinking -- one of -- I mean I think what you just
said was very inspiring. Other things that you want them to think of and do as
they think of their own industries?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
So the secret to leadership and to being successful has nothing to do with who
you work for and how you fit a mold. There is no prescribed ladder to the top.
The ladder to the top is in building followership, being selfless for the organization
and the people you lead, and having the courage to make decisions in spite of
how difficult that may be. And in doing that you come across as authentic and
authenticity builds followership and creates leaders. And a lot of people don't
think that way. They think you've got to wear a tie every day and you've got to
shave. And I don't do -- I'm authentic, this is who I am and there isn't
anything to hide. And I think when leaders become too aloof and too remote and
they're surrounded by security and they live these very sheltered lives and
don't interact with the world around them -- I think it's a mistake. I would
also say that in the educational environment we're not educating our business
leaders really well because we're focusing on the short term, on a set of
metrics that are not really relevant in the long run. And they don't really
create value in the long run. And I think also we focus too much on the stem
skills of business and not enough on the liberal arts and the whole idea that
having heuristic in your head, an aesthetic in your head that's build on a
level of worldly knowledge that is beyond the numbers that you've been taught
to manipulate and the spreadsheets you've been taught to build is really the
most important thing because in the end it's not the numbers. It's actually
your ability to see the world in a very different way and when you see it in a
different way, then you can start moving the numbers to help support that and
then build a followership and make the tough decisions necessary to make it
happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roopa:
Right. So last question then because that is a fantastic way to think of the
world and sometimes tough to enunciate it in a way that doesn't make them think
you're a kook, right? So what is it that was about the Aetna board, for
example, when they saw you walking in the door that they said, "Fantastic
leader." How did that happen? Because it's not the average board, is it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bertolini:
No. And, you know, and I said to them that I wanted to do three things when I
became CEO. One was -- and the company was 160 years old back then. So I've
been CEO for five years. So I'm sort of getting long in the tooth for CEO's
but, you know, I wanted to make sure the company was around for another 160
years. So part of my responsibilities, my accountabilities should be making
sure that the company is on a glide path to do that, that I give it it's very
best shot to do that. The second was that I really wanted to make healthcare
reform work and so, you know, we were going to have make investments and take
risks but I thought that that was important because it's criminal that this
country has people that don't have coverage for healthcare. And then the third
was I wanted to re-establish the credibility in corporate leadership in the
eyes of the American public and that I was going to do things and behave in
ways that probably wouldn't fit the mold. And that if they were comfortable
with all of that - -then I was willing to do the job. Now performance matters.
Right? And so the company was, you know, $29 dollars a share when I took over
and we're $105 dollars a share today. We were $120, you know, three months ago.
That performance matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And so
that gives me a lot of latitude and a lot of room to be able to do the things I
want to do because I'm delivering. So we can't underestimate that and my team's
a great team to be able to help me do that. But, you know, it's -- in the end
analysis, authenticity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-83037336936161860782015-09-29T06:11:00.004-07:002015-09-29T10:50:25.798-07:00The Brave Insider - A Fit Counterpart To The Honest Outsider<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Note: This article was published in the <a href="http://www.rediff.com/getahead/column/how-not-to-be-a-mountain-monkey/20150929.htm">"Get Ahead" section of Rediff.com (September 29, 2015)</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Last year, I wrote a piece on the<a href="http://www.rediff.com/getahead/report/career-what-can-a-leader-learn-from-honest-outsiders/20140107.htm"> Transformative Role Of The Honest Outsider</a> - and one of the examples I cited was that of <span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Dr Bennet Omalu, a brilliant forensic pathologist who first identified </span><span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">the traumatic brain condition that is commonplace among American football players, CTE. He was reviled and mocked, but prevailed. His story is now being told in the upcoming movie, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io6hPdC41RM">Concussion.</a>..and he's played by Will Smith. I can't wait to see the dramatic rendition of this remarkable human, who persevered in telling the truth, for the wellbeing of the players at large.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I was reminded of that post this morning.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">I almost fell of the elliptical machine in the gym - I was watching Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha and was struck by the scene where General Yamagata goes on a tirade at his liege the powerful warlord Lord Shingen Takeda. Here was a general who truly respected his master - who comes into the abode and takes a deep bow. However, when he hears Takeda go off on a tangential rant about another group that left the battlefield out of fatigue, he gets truly riled up.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">"How old are you, sire? 53, as I remember. But here you are, acting like a 5 year old. People gather and disperse, following their interests. That is not surprising. But then I find you like this! with such narrow min, you must not dream of rulership. Go back to your own domain. You are a mountain monkey. You should be gathering nuts in the mountains of Kai.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Or you can remember what we are trying to do here."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The startled warlord Takeda first grimaces, grins and finally bows down to the General's heart-felt rant. Here is his advisor, cutting through the nonsense to remind him what he is trying to do.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">When discussing the honest outsider, I mentioned that there were some best practices for being a good honest outsider, and also for being the insider who hears and uses the insights that the outsider brings to the table. </span></span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Be true to the vision and ultimate goal - make sure your intent is true</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Don't be afraid to speak your mind - while I haven't ever used the "mountain monkey" analogy, I've often found myself using the "rather than this, be that" exhortation</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Be aware of context and space - if you were to watch the movie on Netflix, you'll see how General Yamagata comes in and is clearly deferential, then lets rip when he hears Warlord Takeda's shortsighted complaints, goes into his rant...and then resets as soon as the warlord smiles and gets back to the true business at hand. All this occurs in a closed room. You know that this particular conversation would never have occurred in the presence of any other person. This is about two people who can be extremely candid with each other.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Use your emotion well. My own vedanta guru would say, "Anger should be like a hand-kerchief. Take it out of your pocket, use it, and then return it to your pocket." As soon as Takeda shows he's listening, you see Yamagata relax and get back to talking in a reasonable voice. It's almost like the rant never happened. A laser-precise cut!</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">If you're a leader, reflect on those you have around you who could (for the right reason) call you a mountain monkey. Then take them out to a meal and thank them!</span></span></div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-34084009774447776122015-09-09T11:28:00.003-07:002015-09-09T11:46:25.869-07:00The Magic Of A Moment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5KDDERwGyYSL1GRjUzC5d9FjSGIJ8nKKslKbHzveOyxikL1WFu0rtMXlNgMz2S43nbKl7QkzB7RFK9YZJT_y2FC-n4RwzxkO0eJ0JapuOCqQxWyDW62HgYl5GOgBSK-N8bm1tVwi/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-09-09+at+2.27.07+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5KDDERwGyYSL1GRjUzC5d9FjSGIJ8nKKslKbHzveOyxikL1WFu0rtMXlNgMz2S43nbKl7QkzB7RFK9YZJT_y2FC-n4RwzxkO0eJ0JapuOCqQxWyDW62HgYl5GOgBSK-N8bm1tVwi/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-09-09+at+2.27.07+PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Collage from various sources</td></tr>
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Today, I was reminded of the magic of a moment. A New York Minute - a second which can shift perspectives - the golden moment, if you will.</div>
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It's the second day of jury summons - to those of you who haven't experienced this American civic duty, it's an interesting milieu of slight irritations, frustrations and adults behaving very well and not so well as we wait to see if we'll be placed on juries (about 200 of us across 3 galleries). The court houses have made the experience as comfortable as they can, though - there's wifi, snack dispensers, three types of spaces for different types of work and rest, etc.</div>
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Having rushed downtown to get to the courts, I logged on and started a search for some trends analysis... and saw the new Google logo. As the usual commentary came flooding in "what's the change about, anyway? I miss the old one, etc.", I suddenly put on the mental brakes, took a deep breath, closed my eyes and reopened them. I looked at the new logo like I was seeing the Google page for the very first time. This time I LOVED it - the clean lines almost reached out and pulled me in. </div>
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I couldn't help but wonder whether we change consultants and strategists might be able to find ways to get change-resistant partners to do this more often. While there's a lot for these folks to hang on to and a lot that keeps them invested in the old way of doing things (the status quo), having them take a personal moment to stop and reflect from a clean slate. "What if this is the first time you were using our services? What if this was the first time you heard about this company? What if this was your orientation day?..." Would they like the new idea/new company/ new vision that was being proposed?</div>
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Over lunch, I was again reminded about the magic of a moment when I read Atul Gawande's Postscript piece on Oliver Sacks in the New Yorker. The fabulous author writes about how he had initially dabbled in writing, but a chance encounter with the great Sacks, who remembered one of Gawande's old articles resulted in a eureka moment for him. "I do remember the shift in me that came from our brief conversation....because Sacks seemed to be holding my work to a higher standard, I realized that I needed to as well."</div>
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How magical a moment can be - let's harness them for the insights that can spring from each one.</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-68712988540830356622015-08-20T08:09:00.001-07:002015-08-20T08:09:17.425-07:00Building Your Online Brand & Voice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #161212; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">We were honored to be invited to contribute to the newly launched Tory Burch Foundation's site - as expert advisors for entrepreneurs growing their businesses.</span><a href="http://center10.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=a58fd921b1954d965dd922f37&id=2ccf9adf1e&e=7b80181f33" style="background-color: white; color: #6dc6dd; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Here's the article on the site</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #161212; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">.</span></i><br />
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As an entrepreneur, in many ways you’re selling the idea of you, not just your products and services. Your clients aren’t buying from a big corporate brand, so they need to get a sense of you – what you represent, your values and your beliefs. They want to know that they can do business with you. Making sure you represent that story and voice on all your online spaces can be the difference between excellence and confusion.</div>
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As in all cases, it’s about the what, but also the how.</div>
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Just like in real life, active networking is a key strategy to building a core personal and business brand. It does mean stretching yourself, as in real life, to take action and in some cases to push yourself into taking that extra step. There are, among us, the gregarious, externally oriented folks who are energized by the prospect of meeting new people and engaging with old contacts. For those of us who may be a little uncomfortable with networking, you may find yourself better motivated by giving yourself specific goals to that networking effort. Consider all your online platforms – your website, blog, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter – as tools for appropriate networking. In each case, you set forth a personable and engaging personality, listen to those who engage with you on each platform and respond effectively. By the way, you don’t have to do all of them! Find the ones that make the most sense for your industry and your workflow-and your life-flow.</div>
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Just like in real life, active networking is a key strategy to building a core personal and business brand.</div>
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What does it mean to establish and display a consistent and authentic online personality? It starts with knowing what you would like to stand for. In Roopa’s case, as she developed her online brand, she set out to be thoughtful about innovation, leadership, strategy and business culture. She is also a coach, so her efforts often drive her to help her clients get to the answer themselves, not just telling them the answer. Her consulting hinges on having a nuanced understanding of all of these organizational drivers. In addition, her real-life and online personality melded – her intent is to be helpful and thoughtful. So her online voice is personified by her asking a thoughtful question about interesting phenomena she sees or articles she finds. Spend some time on her blog or Twitter feed and you’ll see what we mean.</div>
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Also recognize that this effort will take some time and discipline. In Sree’s case, this means a strategic use of a series of tools – Hootsuite, Crowdbooster, SocialFlow – and he likes to remind people that his tweets can take three-six minutes to craft. Getting 140 characters to truly represent your best thinking is not a trivial task. If you can, try and schedule a set time on your calendar, maybe even a 30-minute block first thing in the morning, to set up a Hootsuite (or Buffer) feed that will automatically post throughout the day – setting up your insights to hit your different networks at appropriate times during the work day.</div>
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Experiment and take chances – there are many free platforms out there for you. Find out where the right customer groups and eyeballs live for your specific business. For example, if yours is a fun product that is publicly used, maybe an Instagram and Pinterest feed that shows your product being used in fun and funky ways. If it’s about thought leadership, marshall the resources of LinkedIn, join the right groups where your thinking will be seen and recognized for its expertise. Watch the take-up of your work and then refine your use of the platform to put your best personality and assets forward.</div>
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Now take that big next step – let your physical and virtual worlds collide. Find those people you meet in routine and professional events, online. Engage with them, watch them, be supportive of them. Then draw the insights you see online into real life.</div>
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Always remember, online platforms are not just broadcast platforms – they are listening posts. Be expansive, listen to the topics that charge you up, and that are relevant. Sree recommends obsessing about “followees” as much as followers, because they will serve up extremely rare nuggets of information. In the end it’s not who follows you on social that matters – it’s who follows who follows you. Find and connect with influencers in your field.</div>
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Some concrete steps for you to take:</div>
<ol class="sweet" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #454545; counter-reset: li 0; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Identify your brand drivers: What do you and what do you want to stand for?</li>
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Recognize your voice: Be clear on how you want to sound online – thoughtful? irreverent? provocative? helpful? It doesn’t matter which – it should just be authentic to you or who you think your brand would be.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Be clear on your goal: Are you selling or influencing? Both are important, but branding is about the latter, not the former.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Experiment with platforms: test platforms on a trial basis to see what suits your target customers and influencers</li>
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Choose a few paid tools that can make your work easier, including Crowdbooster, Hootsuite, SocialFlow (depending on your budget).</li>
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Remember it’s about a suite of platforms: Things change online, and you shouldn’t be dependent on one platform. More importantly, each platform has its strengths, so make sure to use them well.</li>
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Study Sree’s social media tips, which he’s been posting on Twitter with #LearnSocMedia and collecting at <a href="http://bit.ly/sreesocmedia" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #f9791c; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/sreesocmedia</a></li>
<li style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Have fun: See Sree’s Social Media Success Formula</li>
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<img alt="Sree Social Media Success" class=" wp-image-15801 aligncenter" height="297" src="http://www.toryburchfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Sree-Social-Media-Success-Formulas-300x229.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.4em auto 1.6em; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="389" /></div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-26555758351625552142015-07-08T23:54:00.000-07:002015-07-09T00:09:37.478-07:00Try Something New: The Follow The Lights Strategy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When I first moved to New York City sixteen years ago, I knew no one in the city apart from colleagues at the consulting firm I was recruited into. They were a fun crew, and weekday evenings were pretty well taken care of - between late evenings at work and team dinners. The weekends were a little more of a challenge.<br />
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Of course, New York has no dearth of activities and programs. It's really more about making the choice of what to do among the myriad opportunities.<br />
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<b>Bottling Serendipity:</b><br />
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That's when I came up with a strategy that I continue to this day when I am in an unfamiliar city or find myself at a loose end. It's a way of capturing serendipity.<br />
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I'd take the subway to a neighborhood I'd wanted to explore. Getting out the subway station, I'd walk to the nearest traffic lights and then let the algorithm of the lights guide me. I'd take whichever green light came up, turning to make sure I wan't waiting at any point. Inevitably, I'd find a museum, art gallery, park, show, place to eat, or some hidden gem that would eat up the rest of my day. In a couple of weeks, I felt like I know Manhattan - Harlem, Soho, UES, Central Park, UWS, Brooklyn. I've done this in Paris, Istanbul, London...never regretted it!<br />
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It often reminded me of the meandering route I take with the Sunday Newspapers. Rather than finishing a section, i find myself following the "Turn to page..." approach to guide my reading. Once I move to a new section and finish the story, I move to the next article in that section. Lots of fun. Works online too, I'm sure.<br />
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<b>Try this</b> - whether it's walking round a city or life in general, trying something new because it's presented to you serendipitously can be a fun way to mix up your routine and open yourself up to new ways to thinking and being. Bon Chance!!</div>
roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-47028986897589161852015-07-06T01:52:00.000-07:002015-07-06T01:52:28.142-07:00Middle East: Innovation For The Grass Roots<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This article was published in <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/matching-talent-with-jobs-one-click-at-a-time/">Knowledge@Wharton </a>on July 2, 2015<br />
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Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of traveling in the UAE to visit family. I happened to also have the opportunity to delve into the nature of entrepreneurship, especially the work of women entrepreneurs in the region. I had the chance to meet and talk to a series of startup founders, and below is an article about one of the innovators I met while there.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">There tends to be a rather uni-dimensional
view of women in the Arab peninsula. It’s not quite one of a hard-charging
innovator and business leader. However, that’s certainly a dimension that needs
to be added to the global picture of the Arab woman. In 2014, Knowledge@Wharton
published a ground-breaking book on just such women. A chance trip to Dubai and
Abu Dhabi in January provided me the opportunity to meet another tranche of
these trailblazers – the women entrepreneurs who have used global digital
platforms to drive transformational enterprise of their own. In many ways, the
internet has empowered women in ways that go beyond education and the ability
to organize socially – they are recruiting, developing products, communicating
across global markets, fundraising and delivering services in ways that
transcend conventional barriers. Without an exception, these are business
leaders who also aspire to social impact – as individuals as well as for
societies around them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">One of the young digital entrepreneurs who
melds a social impetus into her commercial vision is LouLou Khazen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Below is the article that ran in <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/matching-talent-with-jobs-one-click-at-a-time/">Knowledge@Wharton</a>.</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0-FMyh_kycc8bW6o6cJP8WX1UdbqNbCvy25NtkhEtmHCaiql3p7kie-lwvVrnpSx5u8-GMeeA455ipZa5d_JbZBWLHWAwTISERgMuU4caaDDCCEPbhtwehQo20S0Qt3TytXJ2rkO/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-06+at+10.42.14+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0-FMyh_kycc8bW6o6cJP8WX1UdbqNbCvy25NtkhEtmHCaiql3p7kie-lwvVrnpSx5u8-GMeeA455ipZa5d_JbZBWLHWAwTISERgMuU4caaDDCCEPbhtwehQo20S0Qt3TytXJ2rkO/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-07-06+at+10.42.14+AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Internet has empowered many Arab women entrepreneurs to
transcend educational and other conventional barriers — they are recruiting,
developing products, communicating across global markets, fundraising and
delivering new services in growing numbers.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Loulou Khazen Baz is one of these digital entrepreneurs. In
2012, Khazen Baz’s online job market — Nabbesh.com — went live. Nabbesh (which
means “search” in Arabic) is the Arab world’s first online employment
marketplace. Founded in Dubai, UAE, it aims “to address the Arab World’s
unemployment challenges by virtually connecting expert regional talent with
flexible work, online jobs and opportunities to work from home.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In a region where talent faces significant barriers — travel
constraints, safety issues, social limitations and a dearth of job
opportunities — Nabbesh allows companies to micro-source critical capabilities
from across the Middle East and North Africa region. The drivers of Nabbesh’s
business are similar to those of firms like elance.com and guru.com, which
deliver the same type of services in the U.S.: The opportunity to source
expertise flexibly, affordably and especially around projects that need
point-in-time work with little face-to-face contact. Add to that factors such
as the region’s high unemployment rates and political issues that cause severe
economic distress, and Nabbesh.com could be viewed as serving a social and
humanitarian purpose as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #98abc4; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><a href="http://adclick.g.doubleclick.net/aclk%3Fsa%3DL%26ai%3DBvUNCXj-aVd2UNIO28QPGiajIDMHZ-8UGAAAAEAEg4fHuHzgAWInfs6fjAWD9opqElBKyARtrbm93bGVkZ2Uud2hhcnRvbi51cGVubi5lZHW6AQlnZnBfaW1hZ2XIAQnaAVlodHRwOi8va25vd2xlZGdlLndoYXJ0b24udXBlbm4uZWR1L2FydGljbGUvbWF0Y2hpbmctdGFsZW50LXdpdGgtam9icy1vbmUtY2xpY2stYXQtYS10aW1lL8ACAuACAOoCGy8zNDU1ODg3My9LV19BcnRpY2xlX0ZyaWVuZPgCgdIekAPIBpgD4AOoAwHQBJBO4AQBkAYBoAYf2AcA%26num%3D0%26cid%3D5Gip1Yg1UexuYDzQ8pl0SNNP%26sig%3DAOD64_2euYzAPeHiVRY22W3ytlubwCY-iw%26client"><span style="color: white; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Learn more.</span></a></span><span style="color: #6d6d6d; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Khazen Baz launched Nabbesh through a combination of strategic
capability, vision and some serendipity. Her presentation of the concept behind
Nabbesh won her 1 million dirhams (around US$272,000) in the inaugural season
of the reality TV show, <i>The Entrepreneur</i>. That “lucky break” plus her
savings from over a decade got her started.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #223554; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In a region where talent faces significant barriers, Nabbesh allows
companies to micro-source critical capabilities from across the Middle East and
North Africa region.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That year, Khazen Baz had just left ActiveM, a VC firm where she
mentored and helped launch a series of start-ups. Like many of her
entrepreneurial peers, she had held a series of corporate roles that benefitted
her growth, but left her feeling like there was more to a career than a slow
climb up the corporate ladder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Khazen Baz’s strong aspirations are rooted in her childhood and
education. Since her early years in Broumanna, Lebanon, she has been a driven
activist of sorts. While she herself doesn’t remember specific incidents, her
mother insists that she never eased up on her assertion that she had a right to
equality with her two brothers. It may have helped that they were 10 and 11
years older than her, respectively; as the baby of the family, she ended up
having more freedom than many of her classmates and friends. However, she remembers
being angered by the differentiation in treatment that she perceived around
her. “It’s almost as if less [was] expected of us [girls],” she says.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Completing her bachelor’s degree in hospitality in Australia
proved a truly transformative experience. She remembers being in awe of a
university system where people talked to professors like they were almost peers
– using their names, rather than honorifics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Returning home, though, Khazen Baz found that opportunities were
scarce. This drove her decision to move to Dubai in 2003 — a common choice
among female entrepreneurs — where she started as a project manager at
DaimlerChrysler Financial Services. A few years later, she moved to a real
estate firm, where she sharpened her management skills. “From simple approvals
to complicated implementation strategy, she always found a way to juggle her
company’s best interest and ours at the same time,” notes one of the
contractors who worked with her while she was at Dubai Properties. “Loulou has
a natural energy that is translated into every little e-mail and every long
conversation, given she is excited and believes in what she is working on. Once
you see her in action during the early stages of a brand launch or the
last-second stage of a campaign launch, you’ll be surprised at the kind of
pressure she can take, and she manages to do so with a smile.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The Dubai ecosystem, with a common set of experiences and social
venues that draw young professionals, helped Khazen Baz build a strong network.
She continued to develop that network when she transitioned to working with
founding partner Salam Saadeh in creating ActiveM, which offers management,
financial advisory and consultancy services to early-stage companies and small
to medium-size enterprises. While there, Khazen Baz was introduced to
entrepreneurship firsthand. She also became excited about the prospect of
building an organization with real social impact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #223554; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Khazen Baz’s experience across multiple geographies has been an
asset in building her enterprise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Too Few Opportunities<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Khazen Baz’s own experiences had shown her that there were few
opportunities for talented young people in many Middle Eastern and North
African countries, and she became convinced that she needed to address the gaps
in the employment marketplace. Social and political unrest had blighted
businesses, and certainly limited the number of high-tech companies that could
employ the young people who often graduated with technical degrees from
regional and international graduate schools. In addition, the needs for
technical skills in established businesses were variable, since the general
level of tech adoption was slower, and companies did not generally build out
large internal teams. This made it possible for Khazen Baz to start crafting a
series of corporate partnerships that would be natural clients for the talent
represented on Nabbesh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Given the status quo — a market that had never seen such a
platform, and where the “single employer” model of people staying with one
company from their first post-college hire to retirement was common — Nabbesh’s
success is striking. The site currently has 61,523 members, and
8,176 freelance jobs posted. Historically, more than 40% of the jobs
posted and filled on the site have been creative or design-oriented commissions.
Business services and administrative support come in second at 23%. Its early
successes were around translation gigs, as well as specific technical skills
sets, such as programming for mobile platforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Among the site’s users, more than 62% are undergrads, 22% are
graduates or some 85% have tertiary education. Khazen Baz isn’t surprised by
this. “The opportunity is massive,” she says. “It’s a market of more than 20
million people across just five key markets — UAE at the forefront,
followed by Saudi Arabia, which is the largest e-commerce player, followed by
Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.” Yet, Khazen Baz doesn’t plan to limit her options:
In the future, Nabbesh.com may expand beyond the region.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">According to Khazen Baz, success for Nabbesh also depends on an
understanding the region’s complexities. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),
which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is
distinct from North Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, etc.) and the Levant
(Syria, Lebanon and Jordan). Each hosts different types of skills and business
partners. Khazen Baz’s experience across multiple geographies has been an asset
in building her enterprise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #223554; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Framing the potential of her start-up beyond the borders of the
Gulf Cooperation Council was part of the success story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Framing the potential of her start-up beyond the borders of the
GCC was part of the success story — conventionally, businesses see themselves
within the framework of the five countries, but in reality, the region’s online
platforms can, and should, target all 22 nations of the Arab world, since they
have common characteristics that can be leveraged: language and social mores,
for example. This expands the potential reach of such platforms to more than
400 million people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Looking for Capital<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">One challenge that Arab women entrepreneurs often have is hiring
technical talent. However, Khazen Baz has benefited from having a wide network,
especially given her previous role at ActiveM. She now runs a nine-person team
supported by more than 10 freelance experts, and is looking forward to
expanding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131414; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">A more significant hurdle, she says, is limited access to
capital. The investment community in the Arab world is relatively immature when
it comes to understanding and valuing digital and online business concepts and
platforms. Additionally, more traditional real estate and infrastructure
investments involve ingrained expectations and metrics that don’t translate
well into the more agile, pivot-oriented world of online businesses, where
communities and click-through rates are the most tangible markers of success.
This has given rise to a series of interesting VC firms and incubators, but
many are seen to be taking larger equity stakes for their investment and
support than their Western counterparts. “They’re certainly getting their pound
of flesh,” Khazen Baz notes.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-64921233418663144942015-05-27T19:47:00.001-07:002015-05-27T19:47:25.463-07:00Chia puddings and steamed chicken....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 19px;">A second into opening the Fresh Direct box, I knew something was off. I've NEVER ordered sweet potatoes, steamed chicken, or chia pudding...! For that awful second, I thought I'd had some kind of psychotic break...and then the delivery guy rang the bell and apologized for the snafu....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 19px;">It did get me thinking, though. That split second of absolute incomprehension had been followed by a real sense of curiosity about Andre C (the person who the mis-delivered box was meant for). Here was someone who made almost diametrically different choices - not better or worse, just different. Yes, when we talk about choices, we tend to talk about differences in decisions as somehow better or worse. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, lucida grande, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">How different would Andre's decisions be about savings, health, holidays? How about investing in new ideas? How often have we been in situations where decision-makers can't quite bring themselves to invest in a new idea, because they don't see the relevance of the idea or product.... Next time I run into that situation, I'll be sending them a box of miscellaneous products from Fresh Direct, just to jump-start their curiosity!</span></span></span></div>
roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-74492713437014887292015-03-02T10:21:00.001-08:002015-03-02T10:24:50.491-08:00Salon Chez Nous: Ben Parr's Captivology<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After a hiatus, the Salons Chez Roopa and Sree has started up again in 2015. We've enjoyed hosting some of the amazing thinkers, artists and writers in our network, and are happy that the first salon of 2015 showcased Ben Parr, who has his fantastic new book coming out on March 3rd.</div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 14px; padding: 0px;">
Ben's book <i>Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention </i>is a treasure-trove of research and insights from his years of capturing your attention.</div>
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Ben's years as the editor of <em>Mashable</em> helped him hone his methods and insights, and he's bottled them for those of us who need to draw and retain attention for our ideas, work, messages and hopes!</div>
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 14px; padding: 0px;">
Ben interviewed more than fifty researchers, business and cultural leaders including Sheryl Sandberg, Steven Soderbergh, Jeff Weiner, Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, Reddit's Alexis Ohanian, and others. From highlighting the best colors to grab attention (red if you are a woman hitchhiker, any bright color if you are a male, and a red border around your photo if you want to be picked from a mass of resumes), as well as tactics (harnessing the human mind's need to solve mysteries, for example.) I know I'm currently thinking through Center10's colors - very orange right now. Ben's research shows that while blue suggests competence, orange suggests the opposite. Watch this space!!</div>
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<a href="http://www.captivology.com/pre-order-captivology-and-i-wi-993944998.html">Consider buying Ben's book </a>- you may qualify for some of his cool perks!</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-84973698034097453192015-02-04T12:05:00.005-08:002015-02-04T12:05:56.787-08:00The REAL Moneyball?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This post was posted in <a href="https://www.umbel.com/blog/">Umbel </a>originally</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimk9Iz2s-pYso2I9amRuR-8rnNn34rMFeoVzHL1eGoVEwWIbRE7mPrgTlW0vmxiUQJ3nzEtiSn0Tyxb9rjVFrTRyQnIwJAF4T72lwENFCLzQw9veQT4WtKw8mrmuIv5N4Cvji6QHkn/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-03+at+3.48.55+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimk9Iz2s-pYso2I9amRuR-8rnNn34rMFeoVzHL1eGoVEwWIbRE7mPrgTlW0vmxiUQJ3nzEtiSn0Tyxb9rjVFrTRyQnIwJAF4T72lwENFCLzQw9veQT4WtKw8mrmuIv5N4Cvji6QHkn/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-03+at+3.48.55+PM.png" height="145" width="640" /></a><i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b>Data helps your favorite pitcher, so why not
empower your employees?</b></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The 2011 movie Moneyball got us all hot and
bothered about the use of data to drive breakout performance for a baseball
team. I’m still waiting for Moneyball 2 – where a visionary leader uses data to
change the effectiveness of his company. Something tells me I’ll be waiting a
long time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b>What’s good for the Oakland Athletics is good
for you too!<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Of course, sports data is worlds apart from
organizational data. There’s transparency, for one thing. A lot of what a
sportsperson does is on display and can be tracked closely. Secondly, there is
a clear alignment of interests – the sportsperson, their coach, the team and
franchise all want the ultimate win. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, tracking input metrics (basic ability,
training hours, type of training, etc.) and output metrics (goals, passes,
speed, shots on goal, etc.) are watched, parsed, correlated and shared. And
then there is the environmental data (location, morale, fan support, weather)
etc., many of which can and are endlessly parsed to predict future
possibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As a sports-obsessed country, we’ve been
primed and educated in the language of sports analytics. I’ve now worked in and
advised at least 20 companies and institutions – global behemoths, nonprofits, and
startups. It’s never too much of a reach to get to external metrics – for
innovation, for example, I like to track what percentage of revenue is driven
by new products launched in the last five years as an indicator of ideas
brought to market effectively. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">However, once I try to get into input metrics
– the percentage of concepts that make it to market vs. the total generated and
progressed for review – things get murkier. For one, there is less of a
discipline in the early stages of ideation monitoring, and secondly, there is
less energy and leadership time spent on it. The dollars and the shiny new toy
is so much more fun to contemplate than the hard work that goes into getting
there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Yet, innovation metrics are worlds ahead of
people management metrics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><i><b>Why aren’t you using your data?<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It’s a rare company that truly mines
leadership and management metrics. Companies have made a science of reviewing
revenue and Cost Of Goods. SAP and various ERP systems can tell you exactly how
many widgets and man hours go into the last car/headphone/jar of grape jelly
produced. How about the quality of management that went into crafting those
products and services? A plethora of information exists on what makes for good
management and great teams. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It’s often not too much of a stretch to
identify the exemplary employees and managers in an organization – but rarely
do we take a data-focused approach to understanding and using those insights.
For example, it’s not a stretch for us to posit that managers who have high
retention rates, larger percentages of team members promoted relative to
others, higher revenue and productivity metrics, higher diversity, greater
throughput of ideas, more invitations to advice on cross-functional and cross-company
issues are possibly doing the right thing. You can easily see how all of these
metrics can be captured and surfaced – wouldn’t it be useful for each employee
to know where they stand against the exemplars? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b><i>Arm your people with their data.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We’re good about giving our 11-year olds a
sense of where they stand against their peers in their proficiency at various
subjects, as well as tracking key input metrics like class participation. Isn’t
it only fair that we provide that kind of transparency to managers in our
organizations, given how much of an impact they have on the bottom line. We’ve
known the key drivers for a while. For example, in the </span><a href="https://hbr.org/1998/01/the-employee-customer-profit-chain-at-sears/ar/1"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">1998 study</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> of Sears by Rucci, Qirn and
Quinn, they found that when employee satisfaction improved by 5%, customer
satisfaction improved by 1.3%, which led to a .05% improvement in revenue. At $50
billion annual revenue for Sears at that time, that came to an extra $250 million
in sales. A </span><a href="https://hbr.org/2014/05/how-four-talent-practices-add-up-to-big-revenue-gains/"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">2014 study</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Harter and Beck has shown
that 4 people practices related to managers – selecting managers who are
engagement oriented, the manager’s ability to hiring for skills, feedback to
their teams on strengths, interest in people management – can drive up to a 59%
increase in revenue for the team, ergo the company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><i><b>What’s stopping you now? Get beyond it.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">With that kind of impact possible, why
haven’t companies stepped up to the plate? They engage in once-a-year polls, of
course. But how about using the great analytic tools we now use on consumers,
internally? If a company can truly create a trusted relationship with managers,
where the focus of such tracking is on development, rather than being punitive,
perhaps we can use email tracking, sentiment tracking, feedback loops, etc. to
better capture and understand their effectiveness. I’m not talking about the
kind of radical transparency that can sometimes drive vulnerability – take </span><a href="https://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffer-including-our-transparent-formula-and-all-individual-salaries/"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Buffer.com’s salary transparency</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> or </span><a href="http://www.bwater.com/home/culture--principles.aspx"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Ray Dalio’s principles</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> – this is
more about giving your employees, managers and leaders useful and current data
about their own skills, practices and abilities, so that they can strive
towards excellence and impact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">There’s a lot of $$ at stake here – let’s
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-51069737183145355272015-01-21T07:15:00.000-08:002015-01-21T08:20:25.165-08:00Get the monkey off your back with little experiments<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidR6LZ4rRdlTdWqS_kHzn9WjUuSftfal76GbQdK4KD4ytDo84YY8t31GFtxFcIwFSFe2Kq9_AYuuf_sQrESKa89NNgdCDN7fUYpe9VPJ9t4kHDG6VXrSkLBhVemTq3sO6pZ6CmESrY/s1600/Monkey2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidR6LZ4rRdlTdWqS_kHzn9WjUuSftfal76GbQdK4KD4ytDo84YY8t31GFtxFcIwFSFe2Kq9_AYuuf_sQrESKa89NNgdCDN7fUYpe9VPJ9t4kHDG6VXrSkLBhVemTq3sO6pZ6CmESrY/s1600/Monkey2.jpg" height="640" width="340" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Capuchin On My Back...At Florida's Jungle Adventure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>While I loved the capuchin monkey I met at Jungle Island in Miami (pictured here), my goal in 2015 is to get every other monkey off my back.</i></span></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As you go into 2015, is it worth thinking through what your "monkeys" might be? I mean those issues, habits, untried ideas that sit on your shoulder, weighing you down.</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">5 things to do now:</strong></div>
<ul class="ul1" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 30px 40px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="li1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Give yourself permission:</strong> To reflect for 15 minutes - this may be when you're out on a jog, meditating, having a quiet soak in the bath...wherever you can separate yourself from the flow of external ideas and information.</span></li>
<li class="li1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Listen to yourself:</strong> Now let your mind do its thing - watch the parade of thoughts that flow through your mind.</span></li>
<li class="li1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Capture them:</strong> Once you are back to your desk, make a like of all the ideas and issues that reared their head - things undone, experiences not tried, conversations not had, etc. Some technology tools you could try: <a href="http://any.do/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7b539d; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Any.do</span></a> is a simple extension on Chrome that will keep track of your list, then there are cross-platform apps like <a href="https://www.wunderlist.com/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7b539d; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wunderlist</span></a> and <a href="https://en.todoist.com/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7b539d; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Todoist</span></a>. These can keep them fresh and front of mind for you.</span></li>
<li class="li1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Plan: </strong>Here's a short set of options to manage your list - Do, Delegate, Experiment.</span></li>
<ul class="ul2" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: disc; margin: 0px 0px 30px 40px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="li1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do it now!! Many of your "monkeys" can just be acted on - for example that short email introduction you can provide but that you've put aside in the search for the perfect framing. Remember, the perfect is the enemy of the good.</span></li>
<li class="li1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you know there are issues that someone else could address, or opportunities someone else might act on for you, go ahead and delegate.</span></li>
<li class="li1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Finally, there are those "monkeys" where there isn't a simple action. This is where you might want to start making small bets and experimenting - see my earlier post to plan some small experiments.</span></li>
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<li class="li1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="s1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Act, at the right pace:</strong> Make a rational timetable for acting on the list. Be ambitious, but also be kind - to yourself! This is about continuously increasing your effectiveness and your peace of mind, so don't let the list be a monkey - just a guide and tool to help you along.</span></li>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-78471127287290826122014-12-19T03:35:00.002-08:002014-12-19T03:35:18.379-08:00The future of retail is here...and it looks like a steal!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/05/us/bush-encounters-the-supermarket-amazed.html">Allegedly</a>, in 1992, as he sought re-election, George Bush Sr. was surprised by a scanner in a simulated grocery line at a DC convention of grocers. The mechanics of the bar code reader left him amazed, and shaking his head.<br />
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I had a bit of a reprise of that moment today, as I walked away from the UWS apple store with an adaptor for my apple computer, never having stood in line, never having handed over a credit card or cash to any shop assistant. I'd popped the little white box into my purse and walked out. This must be what shop lifting feels like, I thought.<br />
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OK, I exaggerate.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM_m2moRLhUTMnQ0MJnazMTv80h2ibcNU_TAS5NuHZ0oxti22DiQv4MfpAg2iemG3l3_lnrIkwbhN631noHJYyPpYvs1wfrSKYE7invjKFoFpdBvL7IQHFlEU6hbb-YG_Rop5XPDWe/s1600/IMG_3346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM_m2moRLhUTMnQ0MJnazMTv80h2ibcNU_TAS5NuHZ0oxti22DiQv4MfpAg2iemG3l3_lnrIkwbhN631noHJYyPpYvs1wfrSKYE7invjKFoFpdBvL7IQHFlEU6hbb-YG_Rop5XPDWe/s1600/IMG_3346.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>Apple's app has freed us to be as introverted as we want to be, enjoying retail therapy without the potential pitfalls of engaging another human! If you have the app running in the background, you're greeted with a welcome message as soon as you walk in the door. It's a non-creepy version of the constant messaging you'd see in a movie version of a Philip K. Dick book like the Minority Report.<br />
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There are greeters everywhere, but there is a simplicity to the Apple store that allows you to wander and find. It took me less than a minute to locate the adapter.<br />
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I so wanted this to be a magical, futuristic experience.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGw5wAUnsVgOYKHlk7eOswxvGxDL4yi9EM17x-JEmGImfJ9Gs4h1cZA4icyD9HyK-CD3-fKAGLtQf33CfCRGCzkm8j9zNbUmf1nRFofNkTGYRORdpdy4UUEv-Sc4Sz1g9w3s3rbkfi/s1600/High1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGw5wAUnsVgOYKHlk7eOswxvGxDL4yi9EM17x-JEmGImfJ9Gs4h1cZA4icyD9HyK-CD3-fKAGLtQf33CfCRGCzkm8j9zNbUmf1nRFofNkTGYRORdpdy4UUEv-Sc4Sz1g9w3s3rbkfi/s1600/High1.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
It was not to be.<br />
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I looked skyward. I'm 5 feet 4, so while not a giant, I'd say I'm average height. So looking up at the shiny white box up in the sky, I signed, stood on tiptoes, tried a little jump in my stylish heels. My quest for the non-intermediated experience was shattered. I made eye-contact with the pleasant sales associate and glanced upwards. "I'll bring the ladder", she said...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQvlhGexWPX4YpONEQVHP6e8TiWziSovguivpoDoRflzPYqda-B_eCruBNC3_Z37JRr5eZLStjRD1qDX4YqO5HYGqvhzZLw9CQwc7JlyqXEGrBl_0AEZ6gIV-E5CMMOmQ_I170S-d5/s1600/High2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQvlhGexWPX4YpONEQVHP6e8TiWziSovguivpoDoRflzPYqda-B_eCruBNC3_Z37JRr5eZLStjRD1qDX4YqO5HYGqvhzZLw9CQwc7JlyqXEGrBl_0AEZ6gIV-E5CMMOmQ_I170S-d5/s1600/High2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>While I waited for my sales associate to find a ladder, I watched another one lug a bunch of supplies and a ladder along so she could stock them sky-high. Here's a tip, Apple. If your associates need ladders to stock the shelves, then chances are, your customers will not be able to get hold of those products either. Seems intuitive? And that puts a kibosh on them experiencing the self-checkout app, doesn't it?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOKSr3Lw2MfygM96LHgbEJkgcCwbQmcG62wdL-pzmd3B4fZinbE_hWX1sUWVf5jNI9alGiltYYMKqB27a3ZSDKBvRHFJVfECbsjt_I37bcStvhjLLiCR5WOEbNF6xNPlFD5n80v6vs/s1600/IMG_3347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOKSr3Lw2MfygM96LHgbEJkgcCwbQmcG62wdL-pzmd3B4fZinbE_hWX1sUWVf5jNI9alGiltYYMKqB27a3ZSDKBvRHFJVfECbsjt_I37bcStvhjLLiCR5WOEbNF6xNPlFD5n80v6vs/s1600/IMG_3347.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a><br />
Despite that little hiccup, I've got to say I rather enjoyed the experience with the app. You click the little shop button at the bottom of the screen, and you get the option to shop with <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/1163471/apple_store_app_adds_in_store_pickup_accessory_purchase.html">easypay</a>, Apple's payment system. It opens up a QR code reader. In my case, it took some time to get it to read, and I landed up having the shopper standing nearby hold the box while I scanned. Up popped my hame and saved credit card number. I was asked to enter the code at the back of my card, and voila, all done!<br />
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So...not quite a magical experience yet, but I can see the possibilities.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5eUqiP4Pcg_rUFAD12rQUw8kkQONn0HD3-galWKX1X7pU7U7VLnFJItNQYP1aiVgq6WZugm6i-ve1RGW0iSMbxwz0SLJ1t8IDxKgOzfDPkyhVrsvn5r60qBgU2lLCXZWIOfgoPUlV/s1600/IMG_3348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5eUqiP4Pcg_rUFAD12rQUw8kkQONn0HD3-galWKX1X7pU7U7VLnFJItNQYP1aiVgq6WZugm6i-ve1RGW0iSMbxwz0SLJ1t8IDxKgOzfDPkyhVrsvn5r60qBgU2lLCXZWIOfgoPUlV/s1600/IMG_3348.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a>I know my local CVS launched it's self checkout a while back. But the enormity of the shift we're talking about here is the "trust and verify" element at play in the case of Apple. You're not hunched over a large checkout machine, or stuck in the line waiting to check out. I suspect, if I'd been a 6' 4" giant, I'd have been in and out in five minutes. Being more on the compact side, the whole experience took 5 minutes plus another 5 minutes waiting for the ladder. Not bad, considering....<br />
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It's also a case of the company leveraging all it's technology to great effect. Most of us have smartphones, and we're app-addicted. By leveraging their app for education but also for the purchase interface, Apple has given me control over yet another slice of the value chain. I'm loving it.<br />
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You're probably out there, buying holiday presents. Take a gander at your nearby Apple Store and give the app a try. It's a breeze.</div>
roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-57926101419352915132014-11-20T12:19:00.001-08:002014-11-20T12:20:01.828-08:00Is Innovation increasingly becoming state-less?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal;">How virtual collaborations and
mobile capital may make innovation hubs a thing of the past</span></i></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: normal;">This oped was published in <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/nurturing-innovation-geography-matter/">Knowledge@Wharton</a> on 20 November, 2014</span></div>
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On October 29, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the New Brunswick, N.J.-based pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer goods giant, announced the launch of its Asia Pacific Innovation Center. Located in Shanghai with satellites in Singapore, Australia and Japan, this unit extends the J&J innovation network beyond its original chain of facilities in London, California and Boston. While laudable, J&J should think more innovatively about how it might source innovation. Some of the more interesting consumer and digital plays continue to come from unexpected places. In today’s age, it is time to start thinking about virtual networks rather than centers that require personnel and capital-intensive investments. Instead of a chain of pearls, a more appropriate metaphor might be a net of diamonds — with links in Africa, Asia and the Nordics, underpinned by a big data center that leverages customer data and the web.</div>
<a name='more'></a>A report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on the most innovative companies shows an increasing vitality around innovation investment in rapidly developing economies (RDEs) such as China, India, etc. In addition, two-thirds of breakthrough innovators surveyed by BCG said that they often generate new ideas for products and growth from social media and big-data mining. Innovators who have introduced distinctive products have been identified as casting a wider net and building a culture more attuned to breakthroughs than incremental innovation.<br />
What we’re seeing here is a paradigm shift that goes beyond the current approach that looks for hotbeds of creativity. <a class="fyc_printfriendly" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fknowledge.wharton.upenn.edu%2Farticle%2Fnurturing-innovation-geography-matter%2F&url=http%3A%2F%2Fknlg.net%2F1uXFGQe&source=tweetbutton&text=Why%20does%20geography%20feel%20less%20critical%20to%20innovation%20these%20days%3F%20" style="color: #026ad9; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><span class="text-node">Why does geography feel less critical to innovation these days? </span><i class="ss-icon ss-social">Twitter</i> </a>The reason, in part, is that all elements of innovation — the innovation value chain, as it were — are slowly decoupling from their traditional physical underpinnings. The innovation value chain — insight, inspiration, design, development and implementation — is shifting to become increasingly virtual and personal.<br />
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Traditionally, universities and large companies were seen as the seats of capability building and insight development. This view has been the core of much writing, such as <em>The Geography of Innovation</em> by academic Maryann Feldman, which asserts that product innovation forms clusters in regions that provide access to knowledge and commercialization tools. But a lot has changed in the two decades since this work was published. While traditional centers of innovation such as Silicon Valley or the Route 128 corridor near Boston continue to draw upon the resources of institutions such as Stanford University or MIT, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem that has grown up around them, today that bedrock of knowledge is shifting.</div>
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For example, MOOCs (massive open online courses) allow free access to training from the world’s top universities. As these courses proliferate, they will rapidly increase the geographic reach of cutting-edge thinkers and teachers traditionally bound by the high walls of academia. At last count, 2.7 million students used Coursera’s technical courses worldwide. Partnerships have emerged that bow to the power of these tools — for example, Georgia Tech, Udacity and AT&T have teamed up to offer an online master’s degree in computer science. This is a whole new way to advance knowledge and skills. More importantly, there is an emerging group of players who are much more focused on specific competency building — data management, data security, etc. — and they are set to change the paradigm of learning. Rather than front-loading education (getting that master’s degree), will more talented young students opt to build their capabilities along the way through these resources? In a fast-changing world where new paths emerge and old ones wither away almost every day, wouldn’t that seem to be the more rational option?</div>
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<i>The emergence of reverse innovation and big data is about finding new spaces for breakthrough innovation.</i></div>
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The emergence of reverse innovation and big data is about finding new spaces for breakthrough innovation. Of course, they take work; it’s not as easy to identify unmet needs as with tried and tested consumer research efforts — shadowing buyers in London department stores, for example. In fact, it’s getting much more interesting to go back to the method’s anthropological roots — to follow the community health worker in India. This is what inspired the insight that it would be best to equip community workers in India with tools to treat patients locally rather than try to transport them to far-away hospitals. Similarly, as data becomes more accessible and diverse, insights are no longer the stronghold of R&D departments.<br />
Design and development have also drifted into the virtual space of the web. For example, collaborators from Chile and Germany engaged with data and insights virtually to create a very real product that addresses the needs of premature infants and their mothers. BabyBe UG created a product that is brilliant in its use of data, sensors and new materials. It consists of three modules: a bionic mattress with a skin-like gel surface that takes on the temperature and gentle shapes of the mother; the “turtle” that rests on the mother and captures her breathing rhythms and heartbeats, and the control module that makes the connection between the turtle and mattress. Neither of the co-founders of BayBe hail from the health care industry; they have sourced their expertise from a virtual network and built from insights generated by data and a deep knowledge of materials. They have spanned the globe as they’ve designed, developed and implemented their product.</div>
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<strong>Challenging Barriers to Entry</strong>Similarly, outsourced development shops, whether factories-for-hire in China and India or sites like Quirky.com, have challenged traditional barriers to entry. Quirky.com evaluates, selects and funds innovation production based on the wisdom of the community. Thousands of creative people around the world have submitted their ideas to be evaluated by Quirky, and participants can vote for those with the most potential.<br />
Finally, centers of influence have been crafted around access to capital, technology and talent — the building blocks of implementation. Capital access is being transformed. The extreme case is, of course, Kickstarter. This is not just a way to get the recording of a new song financed. In 2013, a record $10.3 million was raised by the Pebble smartwatch, which caught fire due to its design and compatibility with multiple platforms, including Android and Apple’s iOS. Not only did this peer-to-peer financing approach deliver the capital, it built a following as evidenced by the fact that Best Buy began selling the Pebble in July 2013, and was sold out in five days.<br />
At the more sophisticated end of peer-sourced capital, Sand Hill Exchange is an aggregating marketplace for users to trade startup futures. Sand Hill allows investors and non-investors alike to participate in the growth of emerging companies. By crowdsourcing sentiment, they provide transparency to the startup valuation process. The exchange also clumps similar startups together, creating a view of where transformative efforts are focused. Additionally, it provides a new mechanism to funnel capital to startups, rather than tapping the usual suspects — venture capitalists and institutional investors.<br />
As for company investments, BCG’s study shows that firms in emerging markets are outpacing those in other nations at increasing R&D and innovation funds; almost three-quarters of companies located in RDEs expect to increase spending on innovation next year, compared with only 57% of companies in developed countries.<br />
Technology is increasingly accessible through software as a service, and cloud computing is redefining the “company.” End-users access cloud-based applications through a web browser or mobile app while user data is stored on servers at a remote location. So, one-member or small organizations now have professional management, communications, CRM and financial systems that were hitherto the realm of large enterprises. As a result, more than a third of all Americans are classified as freelance or “independent” workers.</div>
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As for talent, when the New York Federal Reserve Bank named Freelancers Union founder Sara Horowitz last year to its board of directors, it sent a signal that the ranks of the self-employed are growing in the halls of big finance. In this new world, these young innovators remained in their milieu, met online, designed a concept, prototyped, produced and got a product into production without the supply chain management issues or billing conflicts that often plague larger enterprises.</div>
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<b>So, where does that leave us?</b><br />
Practically, of course, large companies tend to be key drivers in the economy. Their genius lies in reach (scale), governance (regulation) and operations (manufacturing, brand-building and sales). But more and more, as the “big whales” of innovation get rarer, and as innovations become more dependent on weak signals, entrepreneurs are the innovators of the economy. Large companies may provide for 99% of the economy’s actual wealth and productive work. However, the 1% of entrepreneurs who succeed has the potential to set new directions.</div>
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<strong>A Portfolio Approach to Innovation</strong>Environments that provide entrepreneurs with access to the capital, infrastructure and policy support they need are in essence putting into place their version of a portfolio approach to innovation. Entrepreneurs are the test balloons for future growth, and they are rarely sticking to specific geographies. UNESCO sponsors an innovation observatory called Netexplo, a network of more than 200 journalists, scientists and academics who detect outstanding initiatives in the Internet and digital technology. Since 2008, this group has recognized 100 digital innovators, who it says have spurred some of the most significant changes in their environments or in changing the assumptions of an industry. The top six are recognized with awards, and the top of that list is proof positive that geography may be replaced by platforms and networks.<br />
Entrepreneurs are the test balloons for future growth, and they are rarely sticking to specific geographies.</div>
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For example, the non-profit Ushahidi was born to address a specific crisis –the violence that broke out after Kenya’s disputed election in 2007. Co-founder Ory Okolloh called for a simple tool to map violence anonymously and hence help to prevent it. Post-crisis, Ushahidi set out to build a product that solves the problems created when digital infrastructure is spotty. Ushahidi’s robust, beautifully designed BRCK wireless network generator isn’t the only sensation, however. Ushahidi has come to represent the people behind a platform that powers the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists. The website has 45,000 users in Kenya. Since early 2008, Ushahidi’s efforts have grown from an ad hoc group of volunteers to a focused organization of individuals with a wide span of experience ranging from human rights work to software development, as well as a strong team of volunteer developers primarily in Africa. This ecosystem of innovators has developed seven innovative products and services that are focused on doing good, but are also easily leverageable commercially.<br />
Other Netexplo award winners come from emerging innovation ecosystems, such as the justice crowdsourcing site and app Social Cops from India, or the digital taste generator called the “digital lollipop” from Singapore. The former has a global advisory board, and the latter was developed at the National University of Singapore by Sri Lankan researcher Nimesha Ranasinghe.</div>
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<b>What’s the next iteration of the Innovation Center?</b><br />
Lately, I’ve spent at least some time each morning on a small number of websites that get the juices flowing. Producthunt.com and Sandhill.Exchange are two examples of a whole new generation of innovation ecosystems.</div>
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Product Hunt is a curation of the best new products emerging every day. It helps you discover the latest mobile apps, websites and technology products that are in early stages, and the magic in the system lies in the insights that the founders of these startups get from functional and industry experts who are invited to be contributors in the system.<br />
These are the types of innovation ecosystem disrupters and platforms that allow a lone Icelandic innovator to dream global thoughts. Maybe Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley should consider how companies and individuals the world over are using the tools these firms have developed in past decades to create a network of innovation that is sensitive to the inspiration and innovation happening across the globe. Open up your minds and purses, I say. More importantly, don’t keep trying to get these amazing enterprises to come to you — find a way to get to them.</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-42763433996125040042014-10-29T10:22:00.001-07:002014-10-29T22:54:46.305-07:00Want to switch jobs? Do these things first<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>This article was first published in <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/want-to-switch-jobs-do-these-things-first-2014-10-28?dist=beforebell">Marketwatch</a> on October 28, 2014</i><br />
<i>Sital Patel (<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=sital&src=typd">@Sital</a>) interviewed me on how to start a job search in the current environment, and be innovative about it....</i><br />
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As the job market improves, it’s tempting to jump at the next best offer. But career coaches say don’t jump before considering some important factors.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Stalk trends, and be the panther in your job search!</b><br />
<i>Illustration: <a href="https://www.behance.net/SrushtiHebbar">Srushti Hebbar</a></i></td></tr>
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“We work on a series of assumptions at work and at home,” said the career coach. </div>
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Before making any dramatic changes, focus on what you are doing, what you want to change and what the best way is to change that, said Roopa Unnikrishnan, <a class="icon " href="http://www.center10.com/" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #648c94; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_new">career consultant with Center10 Consulting</a>.</div>
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“Be ready to make the jump by looking at the options out there and the capabilities you have been building over the last few years,” says the career coach. </div>
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Unnikrishnan says there are a few important steps to consider before taking a leap.<br />
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<b>Evaluate your situation</b></h4>
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Before you do anything, you need to dig deep and understand your situation and why you want to switch jobs, said Unnikrishnan. Ask yourself whether your lack of fulfillment in the situation you are in or the lack of motivation from yourself to make the most of the opportunities presented by the role you’re in, said Unnikrishnan. “Be thoughtful about your current situation.” You don’t want to leave opportunities on the table. In digging deep, if it turns out it’s time for you to leave, you have your motivations and goals clearly thought out for when you speak to a potential employer, she said. It will be a more thoughtful story, where you have learned, delivered, can do more, says the career coach. Figure out what you are passionate about. “When push comes to shove, it helps to be convinced about the product or service you are providing or interested in.”<br />
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<b>Assess your capabilities and passion</b></h4>
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Next, ask yourself if you have the capabilities and passion to stay and grow in your work at your current job, says Unnikrishnan. Capabilities are divided into emotional and technical. Emotional capabilities are about working with people. Technical skills are about being able to do the core of what you want to do. “It can’t just be about a job on LinkedIn that has your search terms in it,” said Unnikrishnan. “What you want to do is it start from a core of “what am I here to do on this planet.” When looking at a position, think about whether the job could be done better, faster and maybe even cease to exist at some point. “With every move, you are making some bets,” said the career coach. “You are going in wanting to believe it will work out, but put on a skeptical hat” before you take it.<br />
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<b>Be like a panther</b></h4>
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Third, Unnikrishnan says visualize yourself as a panther. It’s about watching and waiting, she said. Once you have realized what you’re passionate about and what your goals are, stalk the trends and gather information, she says. It’s impossible to know everything out there, but look at trends around you that pertain to your career, she says. Whether you are talking to people, reading the papers, walking down the street, it’s about recognizing trends. For example, if you can’t go to industry conferences, look up the agenda and look at the topics of discussion for trend ideas in your space, says Unnikrishnan. “But don’t expect it to happen in a moment. This is about 25 things happening over time, that will [lead to] your light bulb moment,” said Unnikrishnan. Once you start seeing trends that could affect your career, ask the question: Why is this relevant? Why could this be relevant? Says Unnikrishnan.<br />
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<b>Start the job hunt</b></h4>
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Once you have done all of this, then you can hunt, said Unnikrishnan. Pretend you have been offered the job and think about what a week in that position would look like, she said. Consider what the routine of your day will look like so when you go into an interview, you can ask the questions that you need to, said Unnikrishnan. Don’t just focus on achieving a bunch of goals, think about how it all will work together. Imagine what your life will be like and if you’ll like it. “If you like to do things fast, maybe a start-up is the right place for you,” she said. </div>
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The last step is to “live it,” says Unnikrishnan. Network, meet up with people in the industry to gather more information, she says. And don’t just ask them to tell you about it, have them walk you through it so you get it, adds the career coach. Start living in the space before you start actually looking for a job in that space, said Unnikrishnan. For example, if you are interested in a chief innovation role, look up the top five chief innovators on LinkedIn and talk to them . You must build a relationship with them before you can ask them to spend the time with you, said Unnikrishnan. “You can really test and be ready in a much more meaningful way for your new role.”</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-48672807406944121142014-10-23T01:04:00.002-07:002014-10-31T04:45:47.353-07:00Malcolm Gladwell on the key to success: don't be afraid to look like a fool<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Note: This article appeared in <a href="http://qz.com/283945/malcolm-gladwell-on-the-key-to-success-dont-be-afraid-to-look-like-a-fool/" target="_blank">Quartz.com </a>on October 23, 2014</i><br />
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I had the chance to sit down with Malcolm Gladwell and a few others just before he went on to speak about <em>David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants </em>during the World Business Forum “Provocateurs” conference. It was easy to slip into a casual, free-wheeling chat, and we touched upon everything from success and socialization to his infamous 10,000-hour rule.</div>
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Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for clarity:</div>
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<i>Q: A lot of your writing talks about how to succeed—in your mind, what is critical for success overall?</i></h2>
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<strong>MG:</strong> Capabilities—if you want to be a basketball player you need to be tall. And of course, desire and passion…(frowns and smiles)… except if you’re a lawyer, where theres probably no overlap between desire and success. (chuckles)<br />
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<i>Q: What makes you successful, in your mind? </i><strong> </strong></h2>
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<strong>MG:</strong> Not sure if it makes me stand out. What I try to do—try to be—is unafraid of making a fool of myself. Often I will often say something that later I consider wrong. I don’t mind changing my mind. The older I get, the more I’ve come to understand that the only way of pursuing valuable things and saying valuable things is if you lose your fear of standing corrected. Especially as a writer. I’m not making fiscal policy for the United States where an error is catastrophic. I’m provoking people to think. An appropriate mindset to have if that is your job, is to be unafraid. It’s about trying an argument out in front of intelligent people. There’s a 40% chance I’ll be wrong, but that’s OK. That’s the mindset you need to have.<br />
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<i>Q: Let’s talk about fear. What is the most powerful weapon against fear? </i></h2>
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<strong>MG:</strong> The most powerful weapon against fear is forgiveness. If you are part of a community or a context or a world that is comfortable with the idea that people are sometimes fearful, sometimes make terrible decisions, and sometimes don’t do what they are supposed to do—and you continue to support them—then it becomes a lot easier to overcome fear. The key to overcoming fears is your understanding of what happens after you have done or not done something—and if you know that what happens next is that you will continue to be supported, that makes it easier to do the right thing. I think of things not in terms of the individual but of what surrounds the individual.<br />
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<i>Q: In David and Goliath, you explore the idea of the advantage of disadvantage. How can you create strategic disadvantage deliberately?</i></h2>
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<strong>MG:</strong> Part of this is making people comfortable with their imperfections. I am constantly hearing about a person seen inside organizations as being disruptive, but is nonetheless highly valuable to the organization. My sense is, if you are inside the organization and you’re discomforted by this person, get over it. It should be fine. Not every relationship has to be smooth sailing. Part of what makes a lot of people good at what they do are their flaws, their compensations for their flaws. My favorite example was a person I used to work with, a great investigative reporter in the Washington Post—one of the greatest of his generation. He was also exceedingly difficult to work with. They drummed him out, but they didn’t realize that you can’t get this great investigative reporting without the obnoxious personality.</div>
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The people around the weirdos have to be patient. It’s all a matter of how that’s framed. To think about my example: had the editor stood up and said, “Look we need him. Come to me if things are really difficult, but he’s not going anywhere.” If that conversation took place, it makes it easier. In <em>David and Goliath</em>, I talk about [Dr. Emil J.] Freireich, this tempestuous, difficult, impossible man. He had a boss at the National Institutes of Health who made it possible for all this great work to be done battling leukemia—he knew his job was to harbor and protect obnoxious and brilliant people. He woke up in the morning knowing it was his job to protect the brilliant people from the people they drive crazy.<br />
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<i>Q. And what happens in schools—how does this reflect on what happens there?</i></h2>
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<strong>MG:</strong> When it comes to children, it gets more complicated. You’re trying to socialize them, and educate them. With adults, we’ve kind of given up socialization. I worry sometimes that we have gone too far in the direction of socialization. Skilled teachers and principals try to find the right balance. We promote socialization over independent mindedness. I am the millionth person in my generation to object to the way competition is handled in schools today. It’s a really healthy thing to have winners and losers. You learn more when you deal with the real consequences of a loss than if you pretend there is no loss.<br />
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<i>Q: Tell us about the 10,000 hour rule.</i></h2>
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<strong>MG:</strong> People have consistently misinterpreted it. It’s not about sports—it’s about cognitively complex disciplines... and running and basketball are not cognitively complex disciplines. It’s not an either/or situation—10,000 hours cannot substitute for talent. If you are doing something complicated, how much time do you have to spend—the minimum amount of time necessary to express your innate talent? Even the most talented surgeon in the world cannot do amazing brain surgery at 21—what the rule tells us is that it takes a long time. Once you understand how long it is, then you understand the idea of patience in organizations, and the importance of organizational support for talent development. Talent development is a hugely critical element of any successful organization.</div>
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The correct response to a world that is growing more complex is to delay specialization, not to advance it. People think, because it takes so long to be good at something and jobs are so complex, I need to specialize earlier. No. Start later. The fact that skill levels in sports is rising means you should start practicing one sport later, not earlier. Because the question of fit is more important than ever. You can’t tell if you’re good at something at five, you can at 12. Play seven different of sports between five and 12. Same is true of education and careers. Slow down a little—learn your larger set of skills and then you can hone in and specialize once you have that broad set of capabilities and know where your fit and passion lie.</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-1119169588175838682014-10-01T12:54:00.002-07:002014-10-29T22:53:51.521-07:00When customization leaves the customer out of the frame<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 25.4545440673828px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">A version of this post was published in Quartz Magazine on September 25th, 2014. </i><a href="http://qz.com/272210/what-my-custom-vans-and-adidas-taught-me-about-customer-satisfaction/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #ff5800; font-family: arial, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 25.4545440673828px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Click here for the article.</a></div>
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This year, as our 11-year old twins prepared to go back to school, they convinced my husband and I that they deserved something special for their 5th grade and middle-school entrance test results. Each had set their heart on customized shoes. I had been curious about how these services had evolved in recent years, so I decided to set up an experiment of sorts.</div>
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The criteria we established were simple: speed, concept delivery, no spam. The unsaid factor, of course, was customer satisfaction.</div>
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We started with a general search for customized soccer cleats for my son and sneakers for my daughter. After some price and value research, we decided to go with Vans for the sneakers and Adidas for the soccer cleats. Among the soccer shoe providers, Nike and Adidas have done the most to offer the greatest level of customization. Vans stood out as the only one, apart from Nike, that seems to provide customized casual keds. Toms, a leading contender provides artist-designed shoes and monogrammed pairs, but don’t get to the level of customization we were looking for. Of course, there’s a lot of speculation around 3-D printable shoes—I looked at a couple of options like the <a href="http://3dprint.com/5749/3d-printed-shoes/"><span class="s1">MiMiniFactory</span></a> and <a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2014/03/12/3d-printed-shoes-scrunch-up-to-fit-into-pockets/"><span class="s1">Dezeen</span></a> shoes, but it wasn’t easy to find anything practical and that didn’t require a lot of work to get set up, printed and tested. But I suspect my <a href="http://www.continuumfashion.com/shoes.php"><span class="s1">next shoe</span></a> will come hot off a press somewhere near me.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJB3b07c5jhhwa6AB0aswCOZIYM1sqTu4gXIbqZkjAuh7JK7Xhh1ZE2H6L8K8GuqM-wyutVNcnI0nB6c3iCHLew974dv-Ri-0Ad7gauIpvbT75oaeD6Kwx3QUvVIAa-j3zaHtD7BcR/s1600/miadidas2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJB3b07c5jhhwa6AB0aswCOZIYM1sqTu4gXIbqZkjAuh7JK7Xhh1ZE2H6L8K8GuqM-wyutVNcnI0nB6c3iCHLew974dv-Ri-0Ad7gauIpvbT75oaeD6Kwx3QUvVIAa-j3zaHtD7BcR/s1600/miadidas2.jpeg" height="261" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After we selected Vans and Adidas, came the family mix-and-match fun, after
which we had a couple of impressive looking shoes designed. Both websites
(vans.com and adidas.com) did well as far ease of use goes. However, Adidas won
when it came to the types of customization you can incorporate (the player’s
name, a country flag, etc.) As we hit the order button, we were surprised at
the expected time to delivery – 4 weeks for the MiAdidas, and 7 weeks for the
Customized Vans. Not to put too fine a point on it, but given the difference in
the types of shoes we’re talking about here – cleats seem to be a slightly more
complex product than Vans keds – this seemed a bit off. I get a sense that
there’s a huge opportunity to simplify and speed up the process at Vans!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The criteria
we established for the experiment were simple: speed, concept delivery, no
spam. The unsaid factor, of course, was customer delight and surprise.</span><br />
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<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Adidas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Vans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Customization
Site<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #CCFFCC; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lots of
options, including names and initials, flags, jersey number, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Mostly
materials, not many true personalization options<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Speed of
delivery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #CCFFCC; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">4 weeks
estimated, arrived in less than 3 weeks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: red; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">7 weeks
estimated<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Concept
delivery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #CCFFCC; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Fantastic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">TBD<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Ongoing
engagement (no spam)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: red; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">17 emails
in 19 days , only 2 about my order<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">9 emails,
2 about my order<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Customer
delight<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Meh –
nothing special<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: yellow; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Not
hitting anything out the park as yet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b>Overall</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b>B+ / A-<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 2.05in;" valign="top" width="148"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b>B</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">At the time
of writing this article, we’ve received the customized miAdidas cleats and they
are fantastic to look at. They arrived a week earlier than promised, as well. On
the other hand, the Vans team responded to my request for a status update to
say that they need the full seven weeks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Unfortunately,
Adidas earned my ire by bombarding my email Inbox – 17 emails in 19 days, only
2 of them related to my order. In comparison, Vans restrained themselves to a
slightly more modest, but equally irritating, 8 emails in that same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My most significant
issues, through this experiment with customization, was not the basic execution
but the opportunity both companies left on the table. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In the midst of all the excitement around customizing their product,
these companies seemed to have forgotten their customer.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I was
surprised at the many “leaks” in the process there were – so many opportunities
to delight and surprise the customer, all left by the wayside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let’s look
at the information they had, and what they could have done:</span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">A
“back to school” upsell deal on the shoes I was buying: Start with the date of
the order, and the average start of school. It’s possible that once I hit
order, they could have taken a look at my web history (I’d logged in at both
websites since we had saved designs in each case) and intuited that the order
might be for a child, so offering me a special deal to expedite the order would
likely have tempted me to spend the additional fractional amount. That’s especially
easier once the order button has been pressed, since the big spend decision is
out of the way.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Engage
me in the product I’ve </span><u style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">already</u><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> bought: How easy would it have been to
send us a quick snapshot about the 4 to 10 specific elements we’d chosen – over
the time it took to bring the shoe together, tell me when the materials came
together, what’s great about the soles, where we are in the process, who the
designers are…whatever. But make it about the shoes I have bought already.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Get
me behind the scenes: This doesn’t even need to be hugely personalized. Tell us
a little about what it takes to make a personalized shoe – maybe a snippet on
how the little flag is sourced. How easy it would be to personalize that email
– just pop the picture of the flag we’d chosen into a standard fact-filled
email and I’m already hooked, right? Better yet, show me the face of a
shoe-smith, or a shot of the machine that’s handling my MiAdidas. I’d have felt
like I was somehow getting to be inside the process.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Acknowledge
the special role of the customized product: So, here’s a customer who took the
time and spent the extra money to create their special shoe. What’s the tone
you want to set? Not “The wait is over.” </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> This is not the second coming of Christ. The tone
should be “Dear Krishna (they know the name, since it’s printed on the shoe!!),
we are delighted you chose us, and we hope these cleats brings
you many soccer
victories.” How cool would that be?? Why not ask me what I’m hoping to do with
the shoe as I check out – it would have been fun to see that played back in
some interesting twist. When I’ve been on a site customizing a product, I’m in
a mood to share – use that power well.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuqpd4nQsniim4tI9E2VsMOzHuczKy1dk7FMhyzE5bNZLQ4uazDIm4we4NY3ErYH9F_arAtY8l4EEhrOOHnTgM76r8BPKiY-9N8Doy_G09LYZtUhxYirh4ah15yMu4svtCH3U2D9CO/s1600/miadidas1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuqpd4nQsniim4tI9E2VsMOzHuczKy1dk7FMhyzE5bNZLQ4uazDIm4we4NY3ErYH9F_arAtY8l4EEhrOOHnTgM76r8BPKiY-9N8Doy_G09LYZtUhxYirh4ah15yMu4svtCH3U2D9CO/s1600/miadidas1.jpg" height="84" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">DON’T
try to make me buy something right away. I’m not sure why retails miss the
opportunity to truly understand their products and their value to the customer.
That’s what big data is about – if I buy cleats, maybe you give me a second to
breath after plopping all that money on a big tab, and after a decent interval,
say a week or so, send me information about great insoles, shin guards, soccer
socks that coordinate with the shoe colors…. I’m NOT going to use a 15%
discount coupon on another shoe right away, even if you send me that coupon 15
times!!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Don’t respond to a query with a rote response:
Dear Vans team, if a customer writes in to check on an order status,
acknowledge that they are excited and impatient, and explain WHY they need the
7 weeks.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Speed is a key element to delight: Timeliness is critical. So, imagine my chagrin when I saw this on the UPS page - the shoes had been ready for pickup 10 days (yes, 10 days) before they were finally picked up to send on to us!!<br /><span id="goog_2042096803"></span><span id="goog_2042096804"></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8AobpiXAPTLTMMdqq8-fHu5wzrC0lPmk0kbfODGcKEwguiWFAR6fqwSQjTTupwkj1KCnViqcc5v1D3S7GhPVI3vw7CfqnBflFgUfUREFh_Ynhas2S1ys-iP6vHIFlPOj1TZHUEUAt/s1600/miadidas.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVhiY5aTfEZBVpmGLWnysLlnAQ6JmUHzls8JL3TWpgzWGj8LQgX5EcyP_MRguC3zPQu1bS5u7oAXZzAvtbEvxMBhwQxgvFxYZDb2LKrcjLu022c8HtxobTkHr00MpwYHj1QsRXJtxJ/s1600/vans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVhiY5aTfEZBVpmGLWnysLlnAQ6JmUHzls8JL3TWpgzWGj8LQgX5EcyP_MRguC3zPQu1bS5u7oAXZzAvtbEvxMBhwQxgvFxYZDb2LKrcjLu022c8HtxobTkHr00MpwYHj1QsRXJtxJ/s1600/vans.jpg" height="116" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
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retailers who have embraced technological advances to provide customization,
but didn’t quite bring their teams together around the table. They didn’t use
their customer insights folks or strategic marketers to look at how they could
make the whole customer experience reflect the promise of customization. Customized
retail is not just about the cool product, this is about the customer getting
deeply invested in the company that provided them this exciting, deeply
personal product. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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For now, we’re looking at B+, Adidas. And Vans lags with a B. These are fantastic shoes, and a great idea. A few process tweaks and they’d have a first class, truly customized, customer experiences.</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-81290573251999322332014-09-25T08:58:00.002-07:002014-10-01T19:38:25.720-07:00How to save your Preemie: Wrap her in a Robot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>A version of this post was published in Quartz Magazine on September 25th, 2014. </i><a href="http://qz.com/270149/how-to-save-your-preemie-wrap-her-in-a-robot/" target="_blank">Click here to see the article.</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifuLjuA7TBiu0e2A4zkdubr22Esl16kQKRsoYp9yH-LL5n5Khyg_okv610fimoCx3AAqij5LxtdEhSvoRG3Xit0UMwVCJnPDsaYQRc8XmGKmkDcr-n2N9zT732Kp-MZBUJ6T4kg5V/s1600/terminator_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifuLjuA7TBiu0e2A4zkdubr22Esl16kQKRsoYp9yH-LL5n5Khyg_okv610fimoCx3AAqij5LxtdEhSvoRG3Xit0UMwVCJnPDsaYQRc8XmGKmkDcr-n2N9zT732Kp-MZBUJ6T4kg5V/s1600/terminator_4.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>To listen to Hollywood's Sci-Fi machine, AI (artificial intelligence) is going to change the world. Unfortunately, it's a bleak tale - the earth is either an all-out dystopia or a fragile fantasy of happiness that is shattered when the heroic protagonist realizes that after all, it's rotten to the core. Whether you're a battery suspended in gel to feed the machines in the Matrix, or a rebel fighting a last ditch battle against the T800 Terminators, it's not looking very good for you, feeble human!!</div>
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This week's NYT has an article by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/magazine/why-is-our-sci-fi-so-glum-about-ai.html" target="_blank">Jayson Greene</a> reviewing just this generally dismal vision. He references Arthur C. Clark's essay, "<a href="http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/Sci-Tech-Society/stored/futurists_hazards_of_prophecy.pdf" target="_blank">The Hazards of Prophecy</a>" where he posits that it's the failure of imagination and the failure of nerve that results in such fatalistic views. We fail to envision a hopeful future, because we imagine the worst. Beware the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminator" target="_blank">Terminator</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000" target="_blank">Hal</a>, <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_robot/pictures/movie-26151/" target="_blank">NS-54s</a> and <a href="http://wallaceandgromit.wikia.com/wiki/Preston" target="_blank">Preston</a>.... Of course, they're all about power and control. The assumption seems to be that AI will drive to our baser instincts. </div>
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Star Wars had a different take, though. Apart from C3PO and R2D2, there's Chroon-Tan B.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEGx_JMfXgzSGoGaGYJRZMTC01aRvqjuxIzwZRCVuo3U3og0icassad5CLudc0Pl8C1EC1q3IPPthdpqQjXdJJKfk5qhsUAIKINL4xtmwAn3Dp2SiolOG2iKVHZxbctAlsPEgIe6oz/s1600/birthing+robot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEGx_JMfXgzSGoGaGYJRZMTC01aRvqjuxIzwZRCVuo3U3og0icassad5CLudc0Pl8C1EC1q3IPPthdpqQjXdJJKfk5qhsUAIKINL4xtmwAn3Dp2SiolOG2iKVHZxbctAlsPEgIe6oz/s1600/birthing+robot.png" height="289" width="640" /></a></div>
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In 2005, Chroon-Tan B made an appearance in the public consciousness as the midwife robot in<i> Star Wars III; Revenge of the Sith</i>. She, because she definitely sounded like a she, crooned softly as she gently cradled the newborn twins Leia and Luke, as their mother was unceremoniously and traumatically despatched to film heaven. An odd little gentle interlude before the gory scenes that followed as dad Anakin was despatched limb by limb to his Darth future....<br />
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Imagine my surprise earlier this week when I found BabyBe on AngelList. Chroon-Tan was here, and maybe was better for not having taken the momma out of the picture. Instead, it was clearly a device created by engineers who understood the role of mothers in the lives of preemie children.<br />
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Take a look here for what BabyBe does - their tag line is <i>Soft Robotics for neonatal healthcare.</i></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/91584776" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>
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<a name='more'></a>It's a brilliant use of data, sensors, and new materials that make the preemie child and mother's experience so much more fulfilling, and I suspect ensures better outcomes for the life of the child.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bGvsRiFqZcyy0DtgUqFs4knfNXWYhaI-qdAqUfYIMKlLe0ZxDscGiNwTSB1IYjs3RucU2jcuO80GdJQ2pkGkW871MScIuecd6vpL3FzD17CDnjwCPE6vBhHqKoaP3HBmzRqyCryR/s1600/babybe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bGvsRiFqZcyy0DtgUqFs4knfNXWYhaI-qdAqUfYIMKlLe0ZxDscGiNwTSB1IYjs3RucU2jcuO80GdJQ2pkGkW871MScIuecd6vpL3FzD17CDnjwCPE6vBhHqKoaP3HBmzRqyCryR/s1600/babybe.jpg" height="185" width="320" /></a></div>
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It consists of three modules:<br />
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<li>A Bionic mattress whose skin-like gel surface takes on the temperature and gentle shapes of the mother</li>
<li>The mother "turtle" that rests on the mother and captures her breathing rhythms and heartbeats</li>
<li>A control module that makes the connection between Turtle and mattress</li>
</ul>
Here is a robot that has the wellbeing of mother and child squarely in mind and design. Rather than imagining the worst like Hollywood does, BabyBe's creators imagined the best - they have FDA approval for their materials, they work not only with maternal data, but maternal feelings, they prioritize not only the child's vitals but the her emotional well-being. Here's a huge virtual hug from a mom to you, team!!<br />
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And what is my take aways about innovation from all this?<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>There are opportunities all around you. Hospital care has prioritized diagnostics and surgical innovation, but this is all about patient engagement and emotional wellbeing.</li>
<li>Nothing should be considered sacred. The mother-preemie space has evolved, but mostly in mechanical ways that work towards infection prevention with walls and transparent dividers and carefully monitored, limited skin-to-skin interactions. By asking some key questions - what if the mother could be channeled, for example - BabyBe has established a whole new paradigm.</li>
<li>Stay open to the relevance of innovations out there. The BabyBe is a wonderful amalgam of cutting edge materials (the gel), mechanics (sensors), robotics (variable movements in the supple mattress) and psychology (the emotional interplay of shape and human emotion.)</li>
<li>Be bold. I can't imagine that positing a whole new interface between mother and child was an easy argument to make...but they've done it, and crafted a robotic solution that is customer centric as well as deeply advanced. All that's good about AI</li>
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As all the great information of generation 1 of BabyBe's comes together, I could see a version 2 or version 20 that is an amazing version of Chroon-Tan that can preserve and save lives in whole new places. Imagine opening up your Fedex box, popping out a mini Chroon-BabyBe, and having your baby in your remote Indian village. Dare to dream.</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-13208066143427990142014-08-18T04:28:00.001-07:002014-09-26T10:35:34.357-07:00The 3 most important drivers of innovation…. location, location, location? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>There are reflections from my reading of Indian PM Modi's Independence Day Speech delivered August 15, 2014.</i><br />
<i>See the original article printed in the <a href="http://qz.com/249866/with-the-right-culture-india-can-be-a-hotbed-of-innovation-breed-apps-that-can-change-lives/" target="_blank">Atlantic Weekly's online publication, Quartz.</a></i><br />
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Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s independence day
speech from the Red For set a distinctly modern tone. This was a speech focused
on the realities of India, and its modern aspiration: Women’s rights and
safety, manufacturing and banking for the poor, ubiquitous broadband and
access. He underscored reforms such as the disbanding of the Planning
Commission, and its replacement with the National Development Reforms
Commission.<o:p></o:p></div>
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These are all strong building blocks for a resurgence, but
it's also time for a deep review of India’s general business culture. The new
commission must give real thought to what it takes to get a creative, innovative
culture buttressed by entrepreneurial activity.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Modi's primary hook is education. One can’t argue with that.
Building core skills and capabilities can only result in real progress. However
there’s more to the innovation puzzle than an informed population.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What’s really needed is that stepsister of innovation and
creativity—entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship helps build capability across
communities. It’s been the most progressive force in societies, beyond
education. Indeed, female street vendors make up to 15% of the labor force in
some African countries, which has shown a correlation with social change. I
believe that what India needs is much more of a focus on growth-oriented
startups that aim to build out technological and technical capabilities, hence
growing long-term jobs that are truly value-added.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The three elements that India’s business culture will need
to develop are:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><o:p> </o:p><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A tolerance for experimentation and the taking
of small bets and risks to drive to big transformations in aggregate.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A portfolio approach to investment, which often
allows for such experiments. We need funders who can provide entrepreneurs the
guard-rails of functional expertise and advice, while also taking the long view
so that it’s not about sure-wins, but about making enough investments and
giving the startups the leeway to pivot and grow.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Vibrant forums that will provide the
connectivity and energy to innovate.</span></li>
</ol>
These are the elements that are displayed in some of the
most creative pockets of the globe—Silicon Valley and Alley, for example.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Practically, of course, large companies tend to be key
drivers in the economy. Their genius lies in reach (scale), governance
(regulation) and operations (manufacturing, brand-building and sales). Some
companies have actually made real investments in innovation–either through
investment funds that are tracked and allocated according to risk profiles, or
perhaps companies like Google who encourage the use of talent and time to
employees to experiment. A small percentage of those experiments to make it to
the public sphere, but a rash of billion-dollar acquisitions in the Valley show
that even yesterday's startups like Facebook know that they are getting too big
to innovate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Essentially, entrepreneurs are the innovators of any
economy. Large companies will provide for 99% of the economy' actual wealth and
productive work. However, the 1% of entrepreneurs who succeed have the
potential to set new directions. Countries that provide entrepreneurs with
access to capital, infrastructure and policy support they need are in essence
putting into place their version of a portfolio approach to innovation.
Entrepreneurs are the test balloons for future growth.</div>
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<b>Is geography important?</b></h3>
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If creativity is a critical element of entrepreneurship,
then geography seems to play a critical role in it as well. In a February 2014
survey, Fast Company identified New York as one of the world's most creative
cities (according to 34% of respondents), lapping San Francisco at 27% and
London at 6%. The value proposition is different in each case—while San
Francisco’s VC has a proven talent in identifying software and technology
breakthroughs, it seems to lack the vision to get into more diverse spaces. On
the other hand, as a magnet for diverse disciples, New York has developed a
brand that constantly attracts to its shores a cross-section of driven artists,
designers, high fashion startups and engineering talent. In parallel, it is the
heart of the corporate northeast corridor, with the discipline to cultivate
professionals who know how to make financially savvy choices, scale
effectively, and know how to build out and make an innovation work within the
system.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yet, laggard cities and countries need not despair. UNESCO’s
NetExplo observatory is a network of more than 200 journalists, scientists and
academics who detect outstanding initiatives in the internet and digital
technology. Since 2008, this group has recognized the 100 most significant
innovations that signify the big picture of changes already at work in society.
The top six are recognized with awards, and the top of that list is proof
positive that geography may be replaced by platforms and networks. The BRCK is
a wireless network generator created by Ushahidi in Kenya. It was designed in
recognition of the increasing need for steady connectivity for many jobs, even
when infrastructure is spotty due to wireless connections, intermittent power,
or devices that can’t share connections. Seeing this, Ushahidi set out to
redesign connectivity. The robust, beautifully designed BRCK isn’t the
sensation, however. What’s notable is Ushahidi, originally a website and
on-the-ground volunteers developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after
the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. Since then, “Ushahidi” has
come to represent the people behind the “Ushahidi Platform”, that powers the
collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists. The website had 45,000 users in
Kenya, and has grown from an ad hoc group of volunteers to a focused
organization with experts in areas as varied as human rights work to software
development, in Africa, Europe, South America and the US. This ecosystem of
innovators has developed seven innovative products and services, focused on
doing good, but easily leverageable commercially. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Other Netexplo award winners come from emerging innovation
ecosystems, such as the justice crowdsourcing site and app Socialcops from
India, or the digital taste generator called the digital lollipop from
Singapore. The former has a global advisory board, and the latter was developed
at the National University of Singapore by a Sri Lankan researcher, Nimesha
Ranasinghe.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hence, while geography plays a part, one need not be
fatalistic – there is no set pre-destiny at play. It is possible to design
environments where there is significant creativity at work, the key is making
sure that creativity breeds sustainable growth-oriented enterprises. In fact,
it is possible that a place like India could drive truly transformative
start-ups, because we’re not looking at the kind of social apps we’re seeing
coming out of silicon valley, but technology or start-ups with a purpose that
can drive change from the get-go. There is a need, and there is capable talent
– what we’ll need to see more of is the culture of investment and
experimentation to drive transformation<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Nature or nurture?</b></h3>
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The “DNA” of an entrepreneur tends to be a complex double
helix of characteristics. Central to this is a high tolerance or appetite for
risk. In addition, they tend to be flexible, with successful entrepreneurs
tweaking their businesses and pivoting to account for what the market and their
customers need. They have the fortitude required for selling their ideas and
themselves, and the motivation and engagement with their environments to generate
innovation. None of these characteristics are inherently unlearnable.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another indicator is the fact that in the US, a quarter of
all new businesses in 2012 were started by people between 55 and 64, up from
14% in 1996, according to research by the Kauffman Foundation. Even when
they’re not starting new businesses, it appears more people are getting
interested in entrepreneurship later in life. There is no indication that they
fare any better or worse that young entrepreneurs– most, though, bring a wealth
of experience to the table that may reduce the technical risks of the new
enterprise.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A country or region that has the tolerance for the high
churn in entrepreneurial ventures, the long-term vision to attract and develop
strong technical talent (which spans industrial design, art, electronic and
mechanical engineering, among others) and the vision to support the funding and
resourcing of these enterprises can sustain a network of entrepreneurs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, what does this mean for Modi? Yes—focus on education at
the primary and secondary level. But also, ensure that you put in place
incentives that make it easy for entrepreneurs to experiment and raise funds
for their innovative enterprises. That’s probably what’s going to make a real
difference at the end of the day. A strong ecosystem of entrepreneurs is a
strong marker of vitality and innovation in an economy. As the economy evolves,
entrepreneurs tend to be a simple and direct way to test for the potential
opportunities opened up by new technologies and macro trends like
globalization.</div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-29203848527546335272014-08-01T10:25:00.004-07:002014-09-26T10:35:52.446-07:00Resiliency - Reflections During The Commonwealth Games<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRI75ERJa-s92ZUAdE2fR-5LT2EGaP9LQioaifYxjyD17bSS6_iwQWHgwdK0Uk70Gs1I2uay7KoLrB6vO8fYjUgLm2J_0i8aUOUfP3gN0XV8n1flboMziqeNBsOwYnLUPX6uPlS6sN/s1600/TOI+story1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRI75ERJa-s92ZUAdE2fR-5LT2EGaP9LQioaifYxjyD17bSS6_iwQWHgwdK0Uk70Gs1I2uay7KoLrB6vO8fYjUgLm2J_0i8aUOUfP3gN0XV8n1flboMziqeNBsOwYnLUPX6uPlS6sN/s1600/TOI+story1.jpg" height="400" width="395" /></a></div>
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<i>I was asked a series of questions by the Times Of India about my sporting days when the current Commonwealth Games swung around (I was a gold medalist and record holder in rifle shooting for India), including the inevitable "why did you leave?" question. Here is my original response the the questions:</i><br />
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“Don’t dwell on the past, or worry about the future - just
take the shot at hand.”</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Maintain your equanimity - no need to celebrate the great
shot, or fret about the bad one. Just learn from the last shot and keep
going.”</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
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The coaching instructions from my coach Mr. A.J. Jalaludin
often had a layer of wisdom that spanned beyond the sport into life. Playing a
sport in India, especially if it is not cricket or maybe tennis, used to
require a certain amount of philosophical resignation, at least when I was in
the thick of things in the 90s and early 2000s. There was much effort, the ones
closest to you made significant sacrifices, the larger polity made judgmental cracks,
and the broader system seemed to actually be working against your success. I am
happy to see that things seem to have shifted to the positive for my own sport
- rifle shooting. I am amazed and hopeful, and have long since taken a bit of a
yogic view of my years of hard work at the shooting ranges.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<br /></div>
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My parents, Unnikrishnan and Jayasree, first introduced me
to shooting when I was around 12. Having had the chance to try a shot while
visiting a police range, I was hooked. Annie Oakley was certainly on my mind,
as I pestered my father to take me to the shooting club in Chennai. The warm,
welcoming MRC (Madras Rifle Club) had a lovely group of senior shooters. Using
an open-sight rifle that all beginners started with, and under my father’s
guidance, I seemed to magically get 10-shot cards that were tightly grouped
around the center. My first true competition was at MRC, where I used Mr. A. R.
Krishnamurthy, who lent me his old Anschutz after he saw my well-grouped cards,
and I landed up getting a stack of state juniors awards, and womens trophies.
We still laugh, because at one point in the match, people got up and ran, but I
kept shooting. It turned out that that a snake had slithered past, but I was so
focused on the shots, I didn’t see it or pay any attention to the general
melee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I continue to be thankful - that there were those who could
be so supportive, and that we had any clue of whether there was any accuracy in
my shooting. I say that, because the only bullets we had access to, and could
afford were the Kirkee fire Indian shots which had a 50% chance of having too
much or too little gun powder in them<span style="font-family: "Libian SC Regular"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Libian SC Regular"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">, </span>I.e., shooting high or low
on a target.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next big step-change for my shooting was when the father
of three shooters, Mr. A.J. Jalaludin, saw my shooting scores and decided that
he would take time every Saturday and Sunday morning to include me in his small
group of kids to coach. As a 12-year old girl who was attentive and quick to
act on his insights, I trounced some of my talented friends - young boys who
sometimes just needed to let off steam and run around while I was quietly doing
Jalal-uncles bidding, including hours of shot visualization, and
“dry-practice”, which entails walking through the whole<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
shot sequence from prep to shot to follow-through, without
actually firing<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a live bullet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks to my mother and maternal uncles all pitching in, I
had my own rifle and all the shooting equipment once I had my first national
medal in the bag. The whole thing put them back a tidy sum, and I will forever
remain indebted to them. As I reflect on the network of family and friends who
have supported without any call for recompense, it always surprises me when I
meet an Indian who¹ll blatantly ask me how I could stop shooting. “You owe the
country” they say<span style="font-family: "Libian SC Regular"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Libian SC Regular"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">…</span>and
I bite back a sharp retort. I owed my family and friends - and I delivered what
I could - SAF games and national records which stood for decades, Commonwealth
Games golds, records and silvers, World shooting standing - the fact that these
are not even remembered by India is not a reflection on me, it’s a reflection
on the Indian sports system and Indian fascination with a small number of
sports. We treat our talent like gladiators - grist in a mill, not valuable
contributors to our Nations story.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along the way, there were those who did what they could to
help me along. Then-police Commissioner Walter Davaram heard that I
couldn’t get enough practice (MRC was only open on weekends) and so made a
special case of getting me out to the Avadi police range to get an hour of
shooting practice - an hour and half to the range, the hour of shooting and
then all the way back. All this after school. Now that I think about this period,
I can’t believe what it took to make it all come together. A friend who had the
vision to reach out with help, a family who had the right priorities and made
mountains move, and a gal who didn’t really need to see movies, hang out with
pals or generally “time pass….” Supporters like Dr. Sivanthi Adityan and Haribhaskar who made
sure that I wasn’t impacted by the politics that plagues our sports federations
were part of that wind beneath my wings.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I still remember when I flew out right after my MBA exam,
knowing on the flight from UK to Langkawi, that I’d be shooting at the
Commonwealth Games the next day. On an early morning call, my father from India
reminded me to shoot with joy, keep the negative thoughts aside and enjoy the
sport. That’s the day I established the record and won the gold. This was a
step up from the silver in Victoria, Canada at the previous Commonwealth. Of
course, that was a medal that I hold dear because of the fact that it truly
gave me the conviction that I could take on the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Shooting was indeed my pathway to the globe – I saw much of
the world. Russia, Ukraine, Canada, Italy, Germany, UK, Japan, China, Thailand,
Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The Flowers Trophy in the UK Nationals – three years
in the row – was a validation as well. The extraordinary Oxford Blue – Shooting
is a half-blue sport unless you had international medals and contributions to
the Oxford team – is close to my heart. These are memories that keep me
smiling. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The fact that all the educational institutions I had the
good fortune to attend – Good Shepherd’s convent, WCC, Ethiraj, and Oxford –
supported and made accommodations for my studies. They weren’t going to make it
easy as far as standards went, but they gave the time to practice and were the
places where friends provided the coverage to keep the work going. I hope
Indian schools will have the vision to support their youngsters as my schools
and colleges supported me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a mother of twins who are themselves developing their own
personalities, likes and dislikes, I try to help them find their passions and
pathways in the world. My son plays soccer, and I am thankful that there is a
path to greatness blazed before him by thousands of young players. If he can
make it, then there is the possibility of some form of payback. My daughter the
artist loves her painting, and maybe there’s an avenue there. In my case, I
shot because I loved the sport. Apart from jobs in the railways, CISF, or one
of the armed forces, it was never clear that there was an Indian path to
success based on the sport. To me, it was always clear that I’d need to be
multi-talented. My shooting camp trip and my flights to international sporting
events didn’t excuse me from school work. My books were my constant companions.
I must have been 11 when my father first opened up the encyclopedia and we read
the entry on Cecil Rhodes together - and we chatted about the Rhodes
scholarship. I was trying to be a painter at that time, and he would drive me
to my painting classes, and my dance classes<span style="font-family: "Libian SC Regular"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Libian SC Regular"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">….</span>He was the first to get me
to write poetry<span style="font-family: "Libian SC Regular"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Libian SC Regular"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">.</span>
When my shooting skill emerged, he of course gave up his golf so that we could
use our weekend mornings at the shooting range, and we could afford the kirkee
fire bullets! One can never really repay that kind of love and dedication.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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What did the broader Indian system do? The visionary, if
controversial TN chief minister Jayalalitha did reward my commonwealth games
silver with a check for importing shooting equipment and a commitment to
support my travel. It took a LOT of work to get the IAS officer who held the
budget to actually make good on her word, but the CM’s heart was in the right
place. On the other hand, as an FC who had “only” 96% in my exams, I was told
by Anna University’s interview board that Shooting was not in their list of sports<span style="font-family: "Libian SC Regular";">…</span>this
was after I had already started winning medals for India. They sniggered at my
certificates and medals. That year, they selected a district-level rower and a
tennis player. Where are they now, I wonder?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The struggle was intense, and it was the passion for the
sport that kept me going. I made it through the rigorous Rhodes Scholarship
interviews, and went on Oxford. There I found a kindly town shooter at the Oxford
Rifle Club, John Sims, who would ferry me out to remote shooting fields and
we’d shoot in the freezing cold twice a week. There were practice sessions in the
dark, indoor tennis courts of the University sports grounds - all make-shift
efforts to keep up the sport. Biking out in the late evening, alone in the
world, I never questioned why. I wanted to win, I wanted to make my family and
Jalal-uncle proud, I wanted India to have a medal. Very much in the spirit of
not “asking what the country can do for me, but what I can do for my country.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then came the day I won the gold medal at the
Commonwealth Games in 1998. I came back to India two days after the medal
ceremony, and some small part of my heart hoped that at last there would be
some kind of recognition. I got off the plane, and there they were - the same
people who had been there through thick and thin - my family, Jalal-uncle, a
few friends and one person from the Madras Rifle Club at the airport.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I suspect that was the last straw for me. In many ways, I
had worked hard to keep playing the sport for my country while also keeping my
education going. The scales tipped that day in Madras airport. My letters to
Tatas was rewarded with a ltter from Ratan Tata and a check for Rs. 5000, and
one to Indian Bank asking for support for my shooting netted Rs. 50,000. That
was it. The media continued to spit forth the annual story of some Arjuna award
winner who had to pawn his or her award to make ends meet. At this juncture, when
I received an offer to work in New York, I knew it would be hard to keep
shooting, but I had to make the choice to invest in myself. I had to think
small for once, not big.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I kept shooting while in the US, and would go in for US
shooting competitions. In 2003 I tried to send in my scores for an Indian trial
and was told that only scores recorded in India would be considered. That was
the end of my shooting efforts for India. The Arjuna award in 1999 had been a
great high, and my only sadness was that there was no recognition for my coach
Jalal-uncle, who was not given any credit for his hard work. I wish there was a
way to give him the real Dronacharya award.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do I regret anything? I’m happy to say that like the French
singer Edith Piaf croons, “Je ne regrette rien.” Given the lack of financial
support from government or companies, given the hard work of my family and
friends, given the sacrifices I made, I think the awards I got at a time when
India was not winning anything in the international arena is a personal triumph.
I wish India could appreciate it, but as Jalal uncle says, “don’t worry about
the last shot. Just look forward."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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I believe that Indian shooting has come a long way. However,
it continues to be a slightly hap-hazard system. If you can get the attention
of a kind supporter, or have a family who can support you, then you are in
luck. If I had my druthers, I’d love to help establish a corporate-supported
fund that could support state-level training programs. Let’s use the tools of
today – I’m happy to run a MOOC that focuses on the critical element of
shooting – the Mental Game. The mind is where every shooting match is won. The
body just gets you there. I’d love to see a space where we have thousands of
strong shooters who have the mental discipline that comes from that kind of
training, physical stamina that will come from physical exercise that could be
managed on a plan based at home, a subsidy from a central fund to make sure
they have the right diet, and finally, equipment that can be leased at a
reasonable rate from state associations. Add to that a network of thoughtful,
caring coaches who have been trained by someone like Jalal-uncle, and then
you’ll have the machine that could get us going. Let’s also establish a
trans-continental set of shooting matches, where local teams across the globe
can compete virtually. Just shoot 30 shots on the same day and let’s scan in
the cards. That kind of exposure can build real confidence. The cherry on top
of the sundae? If the confederacy of corporations would be open to creating
internships – maybe a 100 across 20 companies – that could help these young
athletes build out their potential further – and then we’ll be making a dent.
I’ve had my hand up for a while, folks. Happy to help!! <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-34520400635888683552014-06-14T10:28:00.000-07:002014-09-26T10:36:06.117-07:00The Art And Science Of Placing Little Bets: A Conversation With Peter Sims<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Note: </i>This article was published in <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/emerging-businesses/entrepreneurship/five-mantras-for-entrepreneurs-by-peter-sims-a-venture-capitalist-and-believer-in-little-bets/articleshow/36526131.cms" target="_blank">The Economic Times on June 14, 2014</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from PeterSims.com</td></tr>
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This week, I spent some time shooting the breeze with <b><a href="http://petersims.com/" target="_blank">PeterSims</a></b>, Venture Capitalist and serious believer in “Little Bets”. In his recently
published book “Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small
Discoveries”, Peter examined what Apple CEO Steve Jobs, comedian Chris Rock,
and other greats have in common. In essence, he posits that all of them have achieved
remarkable results using a surprisingly similar approach: methodically taking
small, experimental steps. Rather than believing they have to start with a big
idea or plan a whole project out in advance, trying to foresee the final
outcome, they make a methodical series of little bets about what might be a
good direction, learning critical information from lots of little failures and
from small but significant wins that allow them to find unexpected avenues and
arrive at extraordinary outcomes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the past, <a href="http://bit.ly/1iNEnus" target="_blank">I’ve exhorted young Indians </a>to open their minds
up to the entrepreneurial opportunities around then. Peter, similar, talks
about the emerging generation of entrepreneurs around the world – and he’d like
to see them take little bets along the way. He should know, given his past
success in funding start ups in California and Europe. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from PeterSims.com</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Sims, who was a speaker at the <a href="http://www.wobi.com/" target="_blank">World of Business Ideas (WOBI) </a>conference in New York, spoke to me about the emerging generation of entrepreneurs around the world - and why he'd like to see them take little bets along the way. He should know, given his past success in funding start-ups in the US and Europe. Here are his five mantras for entrepreneurs: </span></div>
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<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Entrepreneurial leadership: Companies that have
founders or co-founders still at the helm tend to have an advantage, in that
these entrepreneurs naturally have an instinctive understanding of their
customers and their needs…or have learned to keep the customer in focus. They
tend to retain their ability to evolve their companies to deliver value to the
customer.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Maintaining a discovery mindset: Peters believes
that companies need to maintain the people with a strong product instinct -
companies lose out when all key decision-making is left to marketers and MBAs.
These analytic folks sometimes are constrained and cannot make the intuitive
product leaps and testable experiments that result in innovative offerings.
When lawyers take on leadership roles, they are motivated by metrics and
measurable impact, and less by a true instinct for what the market wants and
needs.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Immersion and observation: In Peter’s mind, this
allows for the continued evolution and testing of an idea. This is what
entrepreneurs naturally, they are constantly testing and refining their ideas
and offerings. Peter’s experience on the GE Innovation Advisory board showed
him how often there is a tendency to have solutions before knowing whether
there really is a need. As Peter says, this is not about the elegantly
constructed spreadsheet – rather than falling down an analytic trap, if you spend
90% of your effort immersed with the customer and understanding their needs,
and then 10% on rough prototyping…then back to testing the prototype with
customers to continue refinement – that’s when a superior product comes into
existence. Unfortunately, we are taught to be deductive, making inferences that
are linear, rather than more intuitive, making connections to develop whole new
constructs. “The best innovators can do original observation and experiments to
create data for their business case, not just mapping existing data.”</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Design thinking approach: I have written about
the importance of a design mindset in this column before (</span><a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-07-16/news/40613431_1_product-design-jugaad-teavana" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">link
for online version</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">.) In essence, retaining the vision of the value and
customer experience as the product or service is designed will help drive to a
truly effective offering</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A learning mindset: The best entrepreneurs and
companies maintain a learning mindset. They never assume they have all the
answers, they ask questions and watch for new insights all the time.</span></li>
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As we chatted, Peter talked about some of the companies he’d
highlight for their exemplary practices. In many cases, he found the key
differentiator to be leadership and culture, not any specific process. Large
companies have become so oriented to operationalizing and using their left
brain, that it’s left to the skunk works to innovate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is fine if the culture allows them to demonstrate
smaller wins, then then build momentum. Finally, he hasn’t seem many companies
that incent people to make mistakes – for example, what if you had a field in
your review form that asked you to identify mistakes you made and what you
learned in the process? One company does do this – Amazon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At Amazon, Bezos meets with his S team to identify whether
the ideas coming through the system have the potential to become a $10 million
revenue business. The team and he need to trust their assumptions and hunches,
and if that’s the case, they put their best people on the job to develop the
ideas and product, testing and iterating as the data comes together about the
product construct and value. This is what has helped drive ideas like Amazon
Prime, a blockbuster for the company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s not all about new companies, though. 3M continues to be
an innovation powerhouse, mostly because there is a strong culture of
innovation. Additionally, it’s a decentralized business where the smaller
divisions are able to make small experiments happen, and where a small
experiment can deliver value to the business even if it’s not a mega-hit. In
essence, innovation happens because they have been shown to help each units
revenue goals. Once proven, these products then were launched in new markets or
used to evolve existing products, expanding their potential. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Google has been my personal favorite on innovation, with
Larry Paige’s return continuing to strengthen their focus. However, Peters
observes that while the company has grown on advertising around it’s core
business, senior Googlers have made the argument that the culture itself has
become less experimental. It’s not clear what impact the 10% rule or Google X
products have had on the company’s revenue, even as they continue to push the
industries they touch. Google X is the skunk works that has worked on such
projects as the driverless car, and the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>previous 10% policy allowed all Googlers to invest 10% of their time on
personal ideas and projects. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Open innovation is another feature that companies can adopt
as they learn to experiment. When GE set out to revolutionize imaging
technology and practices, they were able to use their brand, scale and
platforms to build an ecosystem of technical innovators, doctors, capital
providers and partners to create a series of local experiments which they
scaled as the evidence came together about their possibilities. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally, it’s important to retain your talented mavericks as
they experiment. P&G goes as far as to establish a career path and title
for these “black sheep” who have earned the right to experiment by showing past
results, but are not constrained by the company’s larger organizational and
operational priorities. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We ended on the insight that as we forge into a global
economy, with almost unlimited access to opportunities and information, Indians
can truly leverage their capabilities without borders. As I mentioned in my
<a href="http://bit.ly/5trendsC10" target="_blank">review of trends</a>, young Indians
can be found in all the key platforms, be it Linkedin or People Per Hour. As
companies and entrepreneurs become much more comfortable with sourcing
capabilities globally, it’s time for young Indian to embrace the idea of
constant experimentation and growth. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3897825303176622565.post-70779577595491124262014-06-09T07:01:00.002-07:002014-08-23T18:52:48.570-07:00Retail As Storytelling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Note: This ran in edited form in <a href="http://qz.com/217962/brick-and-mortar-retailers-need-to-make-customers-feel-theyre-walking-into-a-website/" target="_blank">Quartz Magazine</a></i><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhQGaJFFCCnmOanqXOk2rakVd4_ItpGCeOvKNs-YlcqQrsgeum7B2R4diGqgwLm6wtw6VLrS_TiIOfdxjLSOpHehg3VoO2hyHxWtRdLGVHkFAtb90iKLTnd055WM3rKDxoqK5D2r3/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhQGaJFFCCnmOanqXOk2rakVd4_ItpGCeOvKNs-YlcqQrsgeum7B2R4diGqgwLm6wtw6VLrS_TiIOfdxjLSOpHehg3VoO2hyHxWtRdLGVHkFAtb90iKLTnd055WM3rKDxoqK5D2r3/s1600/3.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When Fantasy Meets Retail Showrooms, Do Your Online Platforms Follow Suite?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: left;">The best retail firms have always been great at
storytelling. I remember my first weekend in NYC, fifteen years ago, when I
stopped dead in front of a Saks 5</span><sup style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: left;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: left;"> Avenue display window and was
enveloped by a fantasy woodland tale. Yes, they were selling the evening gown,
shoes and clutch, but they were accessories to the story of luxury, confidence
and power.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">These days, that kind of retail story bleeds into
more than a display window.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">While less than 10% of US retail purchases are made
online, given how many online shoppers use these sites for research and
exploration, you can see why creating a compelling and cohesive experience can
make financial sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There’s also a more porous customer experience
emerging. In the increasingly ADHD world, the retail experience means being
inspired around the dinner table, a quick inspired search on a mobile phone,
deeper research late that evening on the website, and then possibly a visit to
the store over the weekend to test it out…oh, and that may not be the end of
the line. Sometimes, there’s the urge to research further and do some price
comparisons, which takes the customer back online….it’s a dizzying world out
there. How’s a retailer supposed to keep up?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Current research on US retail trends show that
around 68% of online carts abandoned, and 25% of customers surveyed say that’s
because the navigation was too complicated. Creating a sticky, productive
online experience is not a simple task, but is possible if companies don’t
truncate their marketing into channels, but focus on the customer story and
customer needs. That clarity and designing around the customer can drive growth
and innovation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The access retailers have to customer behavior data
– through cookies, loyalty programs and mobile connections can be harnessed for
effective segmentation and for developing clear nuances and elements of the
storyline. But the core of the story needs to be anchored to the value you
provide to the customer. Around that clear sense of value, you loop around the
brand, the style, the target customer’s lifestyle aspirations and the history
of the retailer that resonates with the customer. <span style="color: #c0504d; mso-themecolor: accent2;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I’ve written before about Uniqlo, my favorite
example of a company that achieves a consistent and differentiated storyline.
Walking into the NY flagship store of this trendy retailer, you’re reminded by
embedded screens everywhere that this is all about fashionable, affordable
clothes and outerwear made of highly innovative fabrics. The website-like
experience is underscored by the subtle use of color and space – each step
takes you into a new color zone or related line of clothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Customer service is always a “click” or step
away – the store attendants carry handhelds and can tell you where your dream
Uniqlo coat is – downstairs or on the web. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Apple has perfected this as well, though their
incursion into partner accessories has been a little less coordinated. There’s
a sense of dependability and style that reflects the Apple product, but the
coup de grace is the inspired Genius Bar. These focused problem-solvers
underscore the storyline of technology first, and customer pretty close behind.
All eyes are peeled to see how they will evolve their presence, now that they
have hired Angela Ahrendts to lead it’s retail operations. Ahrendts was
previously the CEO of Burberry, another interesting storyteller. Ahrendts was
at the helm when she and her Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey
transformed Burberry from a tired, remote brand to a compelling luxury leader,
and she’s been quoted as saying that their flagship in London’s Regent Street “brings
our digital world to life in a physical space.” They have used social media to
round out this experience, with more than 10 million Facebook followers who
they engage, entertain, and interact with around “the ultimate online luxury
shopping experience.”<span style="color: #c0504d; mso-themecolor: accent2;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">What would I want to see? More companies bottling
what makes them special. I’d like to see Saks add their special sauce to their
website – could they bottle Jasmine, the woman who got me hooked on an thorough
skincare regimen 15 years ago, which almost broke the bank of the young analyst
I was then? Will Ikea step up and transform their engagement with social media
and their website – could they walk me through my needs the way they do so well
in their stores. They are currently stuck in a search format, while their
stores are arranged around clear mini-stories that help you see yourself in new
formats and options of kitchen, dorm rooms, living rooms and out at picnics.
C’mon, folks. Step up!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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roopaonlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575231407167426050noreply@blogger.com0