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In: Innovation

Synopsis of an article from InnovationAus by James Riley Published 20th July 2020 This article is based around an interview with Kevin Bloch who is leaving his current position as Cisco’s regional CTO to form a technology advisory firm. The key premise put forward is that Artificial Intelligence is going to have a larger impact on the global economy and society than the internet and that many firms are massively under investing in appropriate R&D and innovation to take advantage of this transformation. Most Australian firms invest less than 5% for revenue back into R&D, this compares with 10-30% for global technology leaders. “The question now is how do we get our business leaders in this country to really understand what AI is. If they don’t, their companies will at best be less competitive and at worst they won’t be around any longer,” Mr Bloch said. Kevin Bloch Read moreContinue Reading

In: Innovation, Innovation Systems

Synopsis of an article from Entrepreneur.com by Tiffany Delmore, Published 15th April 2020 In this short article the author points out that most companies do not have an effective way to prioritise or select where to invest in innovation aligned with the corporate strategy. Without a proper system in place, you end up chasing hundreds of goals and failing to achieve any of them. Tiffany Delmore To be effective at innovation it is important to build a system that can make the hard decisions – easy. Here are some ways to help you build the process for identifying, validating and priortising innovation opportunities and ensuring you spend more time facilitating aligned initiatives and avoiding the “pitfalls of time mismanagement”. Translate purpose into action Having clarity of purpose for your company provides a set of guide rails that helps weed out those that do not match your business vision. Set asideContinue Reading

In: Innovation

Synopsis of an article from Fast Company by Nick Wolny, Published 19th July 2020. This article explains that anger and frustration can be harnessed and have potential to be transformed from a negative emotion into a powerful tool that empowers us to pursue desired goals. “If you’re angry about something, your brain is wired to make you want to move toward the emotion and fully engulf yourself in it.” Nick Wolny A study on the impact of emotions on creativity in 2014 identified that positive emotions can constrain creativity whereas negative emotions and in particular anger facilitates and fosters creative performance. Anger can catalyse innovation, channeling your emotions into a productive source of creativity. How to Channel Your Anger Nick suggests three ways to harness your energy and build ‘fuel for our creative fire’. Stream of consciousness writing – the classic brain dump that you may have learned how toContinue Reading

In: Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Virtual Teams, Working From Home

Synopsis of an article from Inc. by Anne Gherini, Published 15th July 2020 This article points out that EQ or Emotional Intelligence has been recognised as more powerful predictor of an individual’s success as a leader than IQ. As we continue to work fully remotely what do you need to do to dial up the EQ. “High EQ individuals who display empathy, confidence, and comfort with their own limitations will be able to thrive and emerge as leaders in the pack.“ Human Centric Management Empathy – being aware of how others are feeling and coping. For some working from home can be lonely and feel overwhelming. Not everyone has the best home office set up, they may have to share it with others or have to manage home schooling – be aware. Anne points out that you need to make time for check-ins, with out an agenda to have a basis forContinue Reading

In: Effective Communication

Synopsis of an article from Fast Company by Jessica Thiefels Published 9th July 2020 Effective and compelling communication is a critical skill, you need clarity, persuasion and effective story telling to make sure your audience is fully engaged. Use Prompts for Creative Writing Build creative writing skills that you can apply to your business writing, there are tools available that can help you build the capability and remember practice makes perfect. Applications that can help include Writing Prompts (Android) or Daily Prompt (Apple). Boost Your Persuasive Writing Skills One of the most in demand skills today (see LinkedIn’s 2020), Persuasion is about your ability to effectively engage with your audience and to influence them to align to the views you are explaining. As a business leader being able to explain a vision, strategy or mission is a core competence. Become a Better Storyteller People engage with stories, when telling your story think aboutContinue Reading

In: Emotional Intelligence, Motivation

Synopsis of an article from Forbes by Rasmus Hougaard, with Nick Hobson and Paula Kelley Published 8th July 2020 Rasmus Hougaard is the founder and managing director of the Potential Project, an organisation focused on building mindful leaders and organisations. In this article he makes the slightly contentious point that leaders often mistake empathy for compassion. Empathy is a foundational emotion for human connection, it is the spark for compassion but they are very different. With empathy we understand the suffering of others but with compassion we ask how we can help. For leaders recognising the differences is critical for “inspiring and managing others effectively”. Empathy is impulsive, compassion is deliberate Our empathetic feelings are an unconscious bias, they originate from the emotion centers of our brain and therefore we are less aware of and less intentional about those decisions. Compassion is deliberate and reflective response from the cognitive partContinue Reading

In: Collaboration, Effective Communication, Virtual Teams, Working From Home

Synopsis of an article from Harvard Business Review, by by Justin Hale and Joseph Grenny, Published 9th March 2020 The authors make the argument that too often meeting attendees check out. When everyone is in the same room there are techniques we all use to bring the attention back to the speaker but how do you do that on a virtual meeting. Here are 5 rules that can really help sharpen the focus in your next virtual meeting. The 60 second rule – In the first minute of the meeting do something with the group to make them experience the problem. It might be a dramatic story, compelling statistics or a powerful analogy. The goal is to ensure that the group understands the problem before you discuss or try to solve it. The responsibility rule – when attending a meeting we all have a role, you need to provide clarity on the engagementContinue Reading

In: Innovation

Synopsis of an article from McKinsey, by Jordan Bar Am, Laura Furstenthal, Felicitas Jorge, and Erik Roth, Published 17th June 2020 “Prioritising innovation today is the key to unlocking post crisis growth” In a recent survey of over 200 organisations more than 90% of executives surveyed, said they expect that the COVID19 crisis will fundamentally change the way they do business over the next 5 years. 75% believe that the crisis will also create significant new opportunities for growth. Executives are weighing up the current choices on driving productivity and cutting costs against investing in innovation led growth. Many are focused on core business and are planning to recommence innovation programs when the ‘path forward is clearer’. The McKinsey team went on to interview more business leaders on current priorities; the insight is that companies are de-prioritising innovation in order to bring greater focus to core business, grow the known opportunities, conserveContinue Reading

In: Leadership, Teams

Synopsis of an article from The Startup by Mathilde Collin, Published 3rd May 2019 This story is about software startup – ‘FRONT‘ which is an email and collaboration platform but what they do is less important to the article, which is about the culture of the organisation. Written before CoVID this article talks to the importance of having quality one-on-one meetings. The goal is to ensure that people are working on the right things and that they properly understand the business priorities. The result very high employee engagement (NPS 97) and retention. Preparation The regular 1:1 meetings have a clear cadence, they are weekly, monthly and six monthly. And the key is to have a clear agenda that is shared with both participants before the meeting (so they can prepare appropriately) and either party can put items on the agenda at any time. Weekly meetings is focused on work; reportingContinue Reading

In: Innovation

Synopsis of an article from Visual Capitalist by Jeff Desjardins Published 1st July 2020 This article is built around an excellent infographic built on years of in depth research from innovation firm Doblin (owned by Deloitte). They have observed that there are 10 types of innovation that can be categorised with specific dimensions, which can then be used to analyse competition and test for product vulnerability using their strategic framework. 10 Types of Innovation Profit Model – How you make money Network – Connections with others to create value Structure – Alignment of your talent and assets Process – Signature of superior methods for doing your work Product Performance – Distinguishing features and functionality Product System – Complementary Products and Services Service – Support and enhancements that surround your offerings Channel – How your offerings are delivered to customers and users Brand – Representation of your offerings and business CustomerContinue Reading