Perhaps one of the reasons someone ≠ us is that the perceived risk of ‘doing’ diminishes our courage.  Perhaps innovators and entrepreneurs aren’t more risk-o-philic, they just define risk differently – not following one’s passion and purpose is a greater risk than financial or reputational security.  Perhaps this is a basis for Rebellious Optimism.

As some of you know, I’m so enthusiastic and hopeful about our future because of the people I’m serendipitously meeting, of all ages, shapes, sizes, creeds, and colors.  Let me highlight 3 companies, separated by 162 years:

NBA Math Hoops: What do you do when you’re 19, in college, and have a burning passion to help underprivileged kids learn math using their passion for sports?  You create a scalable solution! Meet Khalil Fuller.   The NBA has given him a free license agreement, Hasbro’s committed $100,000 to make the game, and Echoing Green named him as a finalist for their prestigious fellowship.   A national pilot with a majority of free/reduced-lunch students shows significant improvement in 51% of the math scores and improvement in attitudes about math – for both boys and girls.  Khalil is preparing for a 2012 Fall launch.

Lesson:  Get out, meet some Gen-Zs and Millennials.  We can all learn from their transformative innovations.

Thogus:  You’ve just spent big bucks getting ISO certification for half your revenue stream, the Big-3 Auto guys; but you’re tired of being their “bank”.  So you fire them!  Now what? 3^rd Generation Matt Hlavin decided to create a 61yr old startup. He reinvented the entire business model and the company is growing exponentially.  What was a ‘job shop’ is now a high-tech and biomedical design and engineering company with rapid prototyping/additive manufacturing up to full-scale injection molding capabilities.  Matt is using design to balance the experience of age with the freedom of youth, from their gym to the plant floor to employees themselves.

Lesson: A key to success is the 21^st Century is embracing, leveraging and balancing paradox. 

Menasha Packaging: Meet the163-year-old family-owned company who’s leadership team reinvented their business model and re-invigorated their culture 7 years ago, putting their careers on the line.  What drove this level of risk? Stewardship & Optimism. They view themselves as stewards of their customers, their employees and families, their economic and social community impact, and the family legacy.  They have Rebellious Optimism that they can and will succeed.  Menasha’s ongoing success, even in the recession, is testimony for “doing what is right”.  They are well known for bringing some of the most innovative, effective solutions to market.  They are hiring talent and growing.  And, as I post this, we are in the sunny Wisconsin woods, continually innovating the future.

Lesson: Don’t use a company and management’s age as artificial constraints for innovation.

What examples do you have of Rebellious Optimism? Please share and think about telling your story at Rebels At Work!!! 

So, I’m going to regularly share “Optimism Greatest Act Rebellion Stories” with you and ask you to share your Optimism stories with the rest of us!  Let me start with an incredible young woman I met this past weekend at the Celebration of 120 years of Women at Brown.

Kona Shen graduated in 2010 with an honors thesis on the impact of foreign aid on Haiti’s environment and ways the international community could improve aid efforts.  Not your average thesis.  But moreso, Kona is not your average 24yr old - her poise, wisdom, leadership, business acumen and management skills are on par As a C.V. Starr Fellow at Brown, Kona was already drawn to Haiti and wanted to blend “social” and “entrepreneurship” to make a difference. After graduation, she founded, and runs, GOALS Haiti, a self-sustaining non-profit in Haiti that uses kids’ obsessive passion for soccer to engage youth in community work and education, improving their quality of life while teaching them leadership.  Children are taught how to create safe, clean, healthy environments and bodies for playing soccer.  The teams (adults, counselors, and kids) clean up their neighborhoods, collecting litter, trash collection, recycle, plant vegetable gardens, access mobile clinics, and build temporary shelters and public sanitation facilities.  GOALS Haiti uniquely emphasizes developing local capacity and youth leadership so its efforts are sustainable.  Currently, over 600 children are served a month in Haiti which also impacts their families, currently improving the lives of over 3500 Haitians a month.

There are many more fabulous stories of Rebellious Optimism to share.   One of my favorites is Runa, a B-Corp started by some Brown soccer players, classes of ’08.  Their story of doing well and doing good is one of the most powerful I’ve seen in blending innovative business models, techniques, processes and social impact.

So, if you’re worried about where this country is going, about our seemingly gridlocked government, relax a little.  There are amazing young people usurping government’s roles in productive, efficient and effective ways.  Perhaps Gov. 3.0 will be back in the hands of the people!  

Please contribute your own stories of Rebellious Optimism!

That’s why I was thrilled when my friend and one of business model innovation’s gurus, Saul Kaplan, wrote a must read book sharing his real world experiences - The Business Model Innovation Factory.  Long before it became fashionable, Saul was leveraging the power of business models in his career.  His organization, The Business Innovation Factory (BIF), is a vehicle for sharing real life stories about business models that have transformed industries and lives.  If you want your organization to survive and thrive well into the 21^st Century, read this book.

Saul’s definition of a business model is simple and straightforward: “A business model is a story about how an organization creates, delivers and captures value.”[1] It is simple, but not easy and in today’s world very short-lived.  Business models used to last decades, now sometimes barely years.  That’s why we see so many good ideas either not make it to market or not for long.  It’s why just because you can make a great omelet doesn’t mean you can make 30 great omelets at once in your restaurant.[2]

Most organizations think of innovation in terms of creating value:  products, services and experiences.  Yet few are really good at truly understanding what the customer needs. That’s why there are many inventive organizations, but few innovative ones.  Saul quotes Theodore Levitt (Harvard Business School Professor), “People don’t want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole.”  Clayton Christensen, an advisor to BIF, taught us that customers are hiring companies to “do a job” for them.  Saul cites Whitney Johnson’s description of what jobs social media does for her[3].   There is more to doing a job for a customer than just creating the solution – you have to actually get it to them.

Saul emphasizes a very critical, and almost always overlooked, component of business models - the HOW of delivering value.  We know the importance of a living, adaptable, actionable strategic plan.  It focuses the organization on the WHY and WHAT of value creation.  It provides everyone with a common mission and purpose.  Saul urges us to also create a shared operating model on HOW value will be delivered.  This is a very powerful way to align everyone on the activities and resources, a way to let people see and understand how they can and do contribute to actually delivering value to their customers. A shared operating model enables people to “collaborate with a shared purpose for value delivery.”[4] A shared operating model helps the organization identify the most important capabilities (not necessarily core competencies) and provides a roadmap for networking these capabilities to deliver value to customers.  I think this is one of the most important areas for an organization to focus and shows why strategy & execution need to be interwoven.  Those that take this recommendation seriously will be significantly advantaged.

So how do we do this? Saul is a man of action, so he provides actionable principles for business model innovation, also known as the BIF Genome – Connect, Inspire, Transform.  We need to iteratively experiment with business models.  For many, this is frightening.  Saul’s recommendation to build a business model innovation factory in the organization comes from the many real-world experiments he and the BIF team have run in BIF’s experience labs.

As we move further into the 21^st Century, we need to shift our thinking from just pouring money, time and people into R&D for ‘stuff’ to also putting money, time and people into R&D for business model innovation.  Saul’s book is a much-needed guide to doing just that.  Seeing a real life business model innovation factory in action can help too, so take a trip to Providence, RI.  I’d suggest you organize that around BIF-8 – so you can not only see, but also hear, learn, discuss from and with those who have and are doing it.

Thank you, Saul, for sharing your years of learning, of failures and successes, and of wisdom with us.  I hope we heed your recommendations to Connect, Inspire and Transform.

[1] Kaplan, Saul. The Business Model Innovation Factory.  (New Jersey: Wiley & Sons, 2012),  pg. 18.

[2] (Kaplan, 2012), pg. 23.

[3] (Kaplan, 2012), pg. 20.

[4] (Kaplan, 2012), pg. 29.

Some organizations have an innovation process that includes assessment of successes and failures – but they measure what’s already gotten into the innovation pipeline, not what didn’t even make it in!  Innocide is pre-process murder.  It’s subtle, pervasive, socially acceptable and pernicious…which makes it hard to measure and harder to fix. 

Since this is difficult, how can we start to reduce our organization’s (and our own) Innocide rate?  Start identifying Innocide when you see it!  You could create a cadre of Innocide Detectives!  I bet you already have some – the ones you tend to dismiss or view as radical, rebellious, heretical or ‘out there’.   Give it a try.  This week, start listening for key phrases like But, Ought.  Try asking “What if” or “Why not” or say “Yes, and” – see what happens.  Perhaps you can reduce your Innocide rate before you even know what it is!   Please let me know how it goes!

Last week, I was privileged to tag along with the Oberlin College Enterpreneurship Scholars on their trip to NYC visiting “Obie” alumni.  These kids were at different stages of developing or executing their businesses.  The alumni gave their own stories and then critiqued the kids’ plans.  It was interesting to see what the kids listened to and what irritated them.

It’s so easy to turn someone off when they disagree with you; “They just understand the real needs; they don’t know that market; they don’t see it on the ground like I do.”  Sound familiar?

One of the alumni told the kids to stop and think about what is really irritating them about the advice or suggestions.  Great advice!  So, when you are getting feedback (which may be criticism) on your idea, instead of turning that person off, stop and think about what it is that really bugs you about their feedback.  By analyzing what is really bugging you, you can hone your passion and purpose behind the idea. 

This week, find people who are great irritants (shouldn’t be too hard for some of us!).  Share some of your ideas. While they may view your cup as half empty, they just filled it up half full for you! Give it a try and tell us how it goes!

In November, I spoke with Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault Systèmes, (DS), creator of 3D simulation products for manufacturing to life sciences. Insourcing is a key component of Dassault and Bernard’s personal values: a company’s role includes contributing to society and the economy through the business itself.

I’ve wondered about the cost-benefit equation of in vs. outsourcing for a while.  Most cost-benefit analysis focuses on tangibles: lower labor rates, higher freight, etc.  Are 2^nd and 3^rd order effects accounted for in the equation: benefits of training and professional/career development, adjacent businesses in manufacturing or services, other opportunities?  I don’t know.  And what about innovation?

I agree with many who believe we learn by doing.   Many innovations arise by trying to do something one way and figuring out a better way or an entirely different way to do it.  If we’ve outsourced the ‘doing’ doesn’t it follow that we’ve outsourced the ‘learning’?   I wonderful how many opportunities for innovation we’ve lost because we weren’t ‘doing’.   In the NYT article, Apple’s executives said the reason for outsourcing went beyond cheap labor; overseas factories could scale faster and workers were more flexible and skilled than in the USA.  Perhaps because they learned to?

While ‘learning from doing’ is not easy to quantify and add into the equation, it needs to be.   Isn’t that an important part of the ‘business case’ for insourcing?  Perhaps it wasn’t viewed as important in the last century, but it sure is for this one. As we rapidly move from knowledge stacks to knowledge flows, per John Hagel, the ability to capture and apply learning becomes one of customer, and competitive, advantage, if not survival – of companies, economies, societies.

So, have you tried to quantify your ‘learning by doing’? Have you made it part of any business case for out/insourcing?  Please share – these are important and valuable lessons.

Recently, my mentoring has increased.  In addition to mentoring Brown seniors and startups, I’m mentoring Oberlin College students applying for a fellowship to start their business after graduation in May.  Many of these kids were in my recent Business Model Innovation class. They are eager for advice and guidance.  They really listen! For some reason, the stakes seem higher to me than in mentoring 'adults'. For these kids' their first entrepreneur experience will shape their view of entrepreneurship, innovation, success and failure.  That's part of why they are making me a better mentor.  How? They make me challenge my own ‘status quo’ views and improve my ability to ask dumb questions.  Here’s what I have (re)learned from them:

• Status Quo is a powerful Siren Song: It’s so easy to succumb to the status quo; though I fight it, it’s the boiled frog syndrome – and it’s so very human.  When you’ve been doing, investing in and supporting startups and consulting with businesses for a long time, it’s easy to get lulled into thinking you know a lot; and you do, but not everything and not forever.  In our dynamic world, the lifespan of knowledge is increasingly decreasing. I have to challenge my own reasoning and ideas;
• Paradox of Inexperience and Experience:  The blank slate, the fresh naïve perspective these kids have creates innovative solutions to real needs with non-traditional business models for non-traditional customers and markets.  I learn so much about different perspectives, shifting my lens so I see the ‘usual’ in unusual ways. And my clients will benefit from lessons I’ve experienced from the inexperienced.
• Mentor Mentors: Through the network of alumni mentoring women at Brown and my friend Whitney Johnson’s insightful, must read posts about mentoring, I’ve learned how to be a good mentor: what does/doesn’t work, when, why, in which circumstances.  This has also broadened the network I can share with my mentees – teaching them the importance of The Network.

So, take some advice from these kids – start mentoring.  It will stretch you in ways you can’t imagine, let you to share your learnings with others for their success, and provide life-long experiences to be shared, imparted and enjoyed.

Work has a lot to do with Christmas and Chanukah.  Our work creates gifts and capital for gifts.  It’s not just ‘stuff’.  Work creates products, services, capital…and relationships – with colleagues, employees, bosses, peers, service providers, and suppliers and of course customers.

Bear with me, this may seem circuitous but it ‘works’.  One of the Hebrew words for work (used in the 4^th Commandment) is Melakah: work, occupation, business, workmanship, service, purpose.  Melakah has the same root as mal’ak, which means messenger or angel. Talk about work with meaning and purpose!  

For me, work is a way to deliver a message, it’s a ‘calling’.  To me, melakah implies the actual work AND its outcome.  If we aren’t providing meaningful, purposeful outcomes that meet or exceed our customers’ needs, we won’t be around too long.  Work is about ‘thou’ (other), not about you and me. Which gets back to relationships, doesn’t it?

So, as we prepare for Christmas and Chanukah, take a moment to thank G-d for the gift of work and the gifts of our works.  When we unwrap our gifts, think about the hands that designed, built, packaged, shipped, shelved and wrapped it – rejoice and give thanks.  And, as we prepare for 2012, let’s think about the message we will deliver to those who receive the gifts of our work – and how we can better their work and lives. 

p.s. A special thanks to my friend Michael Stallard for turning me onto Skip Moen’s site which prompted this post.

There are some great ways to do spur creativity and innovate, but I don’t think there is ‘the’ way.  One of the very freeing things about innovation is that it’s a continuous experiment; what works today may or may not work tomorrow (if you have kids, you know this well).  It’s good to innovate how you innovate!

I always get concerned when a vocabulary coalesces into jargon* and it seems like that’s happening with innovation.  The era of everything being prescribed, of best practices, are coming to an end.  While there are some absolutes, I believe success, intangible and tangible, will go to those who can experiment, learn, apply and iterate the fastest and most purposefully.

Do you agree? Am I over-reacting? Let me know your thoughts.  And, if you can, just I asked you to watch out for ‘but’ last week, this week, listen for ‘should’, ‘ought’ and ‘the’ - and when you hear it, challenge it, because, Innovation and Status Quo should truly be oxymorons.

*Jargon – Old French jargon “a chattering” (of birds) from mid-14^th C “unintelligible talk, gibberish, chattering, jabbering” also from English gargle from which we get gargoyle! 

I've been collecting some phrases I hear from Status Quophiles (SQ) and the rare responses from Innovators (I), Status Quophobes.  Do these sound familiar? If you can add any, please do so in the comments!

SQ: Could be a major breakthrough, but your predecessor tried that a while ago, and that’s why you’re here now.

I: Could be a major breakthrough, and we’ll support you in trying it.

SQ: That could work, but we risk not being able to get the coating on a reliable and consistent basis if the world blows up.

I: That would work, and we can diversify our coating suppliers to assure quality and price.

SQ: Wow, cool, but that’s going to be a problem for our customers.

I: Wow, cool, and that’s going to let us help so many more customers and markets than we can now!

SQ: Appreciate your enthusiasm and ideas, but once you’ve been around a bit longer and know how we do things here, you’ll understand the challenges involved.

I: Appreciate your enthusiasm and ideas, and the breath of fresh thinking and perspective is just what we need!

SQ: This makes sense in the long run, but remember, we are measured on quarterly results.

I: This makes sense in the long run, and we can show some benefits even in the short term by applying our learning early on.

SQ: Nice idea, but we have to recognize the sunk costs of our existing fixed assets.

I: Nice idea, and let’s face it, sunk costs are, well, sunk!       

SQ: We should pursue this, but let’s make sure it’s 150% vetted and tested and has met all the criteria before we start the project, let alone release it, even for a beta.

I: We should pursue this, and figure out how to prototype and test as we go along to make sure we get it right.

SQ: Interesting, but things are going so well, we’re profitable and growing so we must be on the right track.

I: Interesting, and that will let us start adapting to our customers changing needs while we have the resources and loyalty.

Here's my challenge to you to try for just a few days.  Listen for the 'but' in meetings and discussions.  Count them.  Then, listen for the 'and' and count those?  Which do you hear more? And (ha!) what can you do to change that (perhaps starting with yourself!)?  Please share what you hear, your count of but & and, and what you can do to change it!  Learning is no good if its not shared!