archive: creativity

Being the Best vs. Constant Improvement

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

kaizen

Just as we must be careful of the words we use with ourselves, so as not to unintentionally sabotage our own motivation; we must also be careful with the words we choose to exemplify our commitment to excellence inside our businesses. There is a big difference between a goal of being the best and one of constantly improving and learning. On the surface one might guess that being the best is always the best option, but I beg to differ. The difference is in the mindset. Being the best is a place to get to while always improving is a place to come from.

If your goal is to be the best, then what is there for you to strive for once you’ve reached that plateau? In the 20^th century, being the best was a title much easier to hang onto once attained because change occurred at a much slower pace. Today, you could loose such a tile in a day from one disgruntled customer who was savvy enough and creative enough to reach one million viewers on you You Tube with a story of how he was wronged by your firm. And the kicker . . . it doesn’t even matter if it is true.

If your goal is to be the best, then how do you and your employees feel when you are not the best? You probably feel as though you are failing in some respect. Sure, that bit of anger and resentment toward the one who is the “best” may fuel some extra time at the office, but it is also affecting your mindset and your ability to really come up with that next great idea that might in fact land you top of the heap.

If you goal is to be in a state of constantly improving and forever learning, then it really doesn’t matter who is perceived as the best on any given day, you and your team are always looking for that next edge. There is no anger, no resentment, and no feelings of failure to cloud anyone’s mind, judgment, or motivation.

Excellence comes from doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well with energy and enthusiasm as if they were the most important job in the world. This is the key to excellence. Everything counts no matter how big or small a role it plays. Little things add up to big things. Your energy when you complete the ordinary will dictate your energy with the extraordinary opportunities come your way. It’s the same reason why some people seem to get all the opportunities? They don’t really; they are simply ready to greet them when they arrive.

Never loose your desire to learn, or tire of improving yourself ~ from artist Jane Farr who has joined Ancora Imparo (Italian for I am still learning) and Kaizen (Japanese for being in a continual state of improvement) in the beautiful drawing above.

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Realistic Impossibilities

Friday, January 8th, 2010

This week YURU is guest blogging on Blogging Innovation, a leading innovation and marketing blog from Braden Kelley of Business Strategy Innovation. We are honored to be a guest blogger as this is one of the best places on the web to find latest discussions on business innovation.

Click here to read Realistic Impossibilities

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What Does the Debate on Climate Change Have to do with 21st Century Business Models and Global Economic Development?

Friday, December 18th, 2009

think create exp

The short answer is EVERYTHING. The long answer is what this post is all about. These are three of today’s most pressing issues that are all too often discussed in a vacuum. The best progress will be made at the margins where each of these pressing issues overlap. When we begin to see them each as an integral component of global economic progress and prosperity and not discrete issues, much will be gained.

Perhaps the inclusion of 21^st century business models is a surprise to many lumped in with the other two that get a lot more focus and media airtime, but please notice that I use the predication “21^st century”. If we want to do something about the ramped greed and selfish strategies that exist in many of today’s firms, then it must be added to the mix. If created correctly, new and improved business models can be a large part of the solutions to climate change, global economic development, and their own perils of decreased employee morale and disgraced public opinion.

They all require new, passionate, and innovative solutions. In fact, we must assume that the very best solutions are not yet known. Thus, the solution frameworks that are being bantered around today need to accommodate the unknown solutions of tomorrow. It’s beyond out of the box thinking and into a world without the constraints of boxes of any sort. It’s about unleashing the mass of untapped potential and productivity that lies dormant inside people and organizations around the world.

They are each integral to the success of the others. Slowing population growth in the developing world is one of the keys to avoiding a climate catastrophe down the road. Economic development and the creation of a middle class is the most effective way to slow population growth in the developing world. Private sector ingenuity is key to new technologies that will reverse the current trajectory of climate change as well as promote economic development in the developing world.

Alignment is key to effective solutions in each case. Businesses are learning how to align their shareholders, employees, customers, and the public in ways that will dramatically increase productivity. When transparent alignment and partnerships are created between foreign aid, domestic and foreign private investment, and public money, global economic development will become significantly more efficient and effective. Unless we properly align the big players in the world on climate change soon, it will likely suffer the same fate as the Green Revolution in Africa.

The most successful businesses models in the 21^st century will be those that realize contributing to the creation of new markets is a winning long-term strategy, that focusing on something besides growth and profits is the key to engaging employees and winning the hearts of customers (yours as well as your competitors), and that how you decide to be in the world can be just as important, if not more important, than what you sell.

Too often when these topics are discussed in the media, there is too much focus (in my opinion) on the facts known today which narrows the conversation and too little focus on what we want to create. In other words, discussions and potential solutions are being filtered based on what we know how to do today and not on whether or not they fit what it is we are trying to create. All great movements start with an unadulterated view of what should be created, if anything is possible. There isn’t much humans can’t do once they set their minds to it. Some things take a few months and others a few generations. The problem is that we sometimes lack the belief that it can be done, which ends up being the biggest thing that holds us back from succeeding.

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Thinking Without the Box

Monday, October 12th, 2009

WBF09-convert-2

QUESTIONS FROM THE WORLD BUSINESS FORUM 2009

Questions are so much more intriguing than answers!

We can’t create a new business model that will be effective in the 21^st century, accounting for its unique set of challenges, by “thinking outside of the box”. It’s high time to obliterate the box! As long as the box continues to exist, some form of the current outdated business model that has changed little in the last 150 years, will remain. That was my biggest take-away from this year’s World Business Forum 2009 held in New York City last week.

The program was impeccably executed with a tremendous variety of speakers all with very timely messages. And, Radio City Music Hall . . . well, it’s just hard to beat. Rich in history and character and perfectly suited for this event. If you missed the conference this year, be sure and sign up for next year, World Business Forum 2010.

So how do you go about getting rid of the proverbial box? It is hard enough just to get people to think outside of the box, how can we possible get rid of the box? The reality is, that the box is the very thing that is holding us back. The box is a framework that is often hard to look past when it is staring you in the face. We are stuck in a business model born 150 years ago during the Industrial Revolution, and it simply no longer provides what is needed for businesses to continue to flourish. It felt to me as if the World Business Form was challenging us . . . challenging us to have enough courage to ask the following question, and the creativity to experiment with the answers.

Is there a better model for business success that provides an environment where creativity and connectivity flourish and capitalism can better align with the innate well being of humans such that its full potential can be realized?

Let’s explore a new era of capitalism and what a new and emerging business model might look like. One that focuses on alignment and the inherent values and desires of human beings to not only be economically successful but also to be compassionate, responsible, and create connections to others in the world. Through such alignment we will actually become better capitalists because we will have exploited its full potential. When we realize that not using known medical technology to vaccinate children in third world countries against life threatening diseases because they cannot afford to pay full price is actually a choice, and not a permanent side effect of capitalism, then we are free to make a different choice.

Traditional business must adapt or it will perish. It can either embrace the change and garner all the goodness that comes with it, or it can go down fighting. Either way, a shift is in the making, and the corporate world will never be the same. And do we really want it to be the same? In fact, we’ll discover how a change in our mindset about business and capitalism is precisely what is required for the next wave of growth.

Without these changes, the next cycle of growth will be more like a small hill rather than the mountain we all hope it will be. We can all do better and learn together, because the reality is that we are all locked into a global economy whether we like it or not. An increase in productivity may be the only way to grow in the future for many industries, and we are not going to get there by any of the traditional methods. In the past we have been able to rely on finding cheaper inputs, dramatic increases in consumerism, and population explosions. In the twenty-first century it will take engaging an otherwise half engaged workforce who is secretly longing for the inspiration to put the pedal to the medal. It will also require engaging your customers and the communities in which we all reside.

The world is made up of evolving societies. As the desires and dreams of the individuals that make up those societies change, so must the businesses and economic systems designed to meet them. At the moment there is a bit of a disconnect. It is no longer about more stuff, but about deeper, stronger, and even emotional connections. Population trends, the evolution of human psychology, and passing the peak of consumerism will dictate this new direction.

What will drive the next big movement in the world of capitalism? What will create the next wave of competitive advantage in the market place? What will the next Microsoft do better than everyone else? What seems awkward now but will seem a no-brainer 20 years from now? What will make going to work an adventure instead of a chore? What will expand capitalism such that its benefits are more than we can currently contemplate?

An obliteration of the BUSINESS BOX and THE POWER OF CONNECTION!

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The Real Story Behind Commercial Real Estate

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Europe_2

What story? That’s the problem . . . commercial real estate development in the past several decades has lacked a story. A few have gotten it right, but many have not. Most of it is boring, boring, boring and it is all starting to look the same. When the commercial real estate market comes back, those who dared to be different and provide something new will be the clear winners.

Too many of the deals that were done in the past 6 years only made their investment hurdles because of the nice arbitrage that existed in financing the deal at a very high loan-to-value ratio and little recourse to anything except the underlying property. I’m afraid those days are over, which means that new real estate deals are going to have make sense and work standing on their own. If the financing isn’t going to get you over your hurdle, what will? Stronger, better, and deeper connections to the users and their communities is what I would bet on.

Someone recently asked me what I would do if I had access to capital and had to use it to invest in commercial real estate. My answer . . . I would focus on redevelopment and seek out opportunities where none of the competition has a story or something extra of value to offer. I would probably also pay attention to the areas where a city transitions from urban to suburban. There is a lot that can be done in a re-development in that kind of an area. You have the opportunity to attract people from both the urban side and the suburban side. The key is attraction. Forget about doing the same thing that worked so well on the other side of town. Find your courage and set out to do something unique and meaningful. Get out and talk to people, find out what they want in an office building or a retail center. Throw some ideas out; see what kind of reaction you get. Study how people live and aim to give them something of value.

Suburban development has been fraught with big-box, poorly constructed, cookie-cutter, concrete havens that are only really attractive to the black birds because there are now 100 more small trees equally spaced in the parking lot to hang out on. There is probably not going to be a lot of this stuff going up new for a while, but if you are thinking about it, or considering investing in one, please take a trip to Europe. I’m certainly not advocating that we all start to model ourselves after Europe, but at least have a look around and realize that development can have a story, be interesting and attract people simply for its “hang-out” factor. It doesn’t have to be extravagant or expensive to be appealing. It just has to be a cool place where you’d like to hang out.

The reality is that we’ve all gotten over the “Wow” factor of being able to walk into huge stores and see merchandise stacked 30-feet high up to the ceiling. Most of us are now looking for quaint, relaxing, different, more natural and smaller. We want something that is inspiring and has more meaning. We are tired of boring concrete . . . concrete . . . concrete. We are especially tired of those stores where they try to fake you out with a fancy front. Once you look behind the façade, you realize it was just a fake out; they were too cheap to build something with real character. Have the guts to be what you are trying to be.

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