Monthly Archive for October, 2006

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Is perfection possible?

Published on 16 October, 2006 in Creativity and genius, High performance and Self-awareness. 1 Comment

“You know you have achieved perfection in design,” Antoine de Saint Exupéry, the great adventurer, once wrote, “not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.”

While design and creativity are noble concepts and innovation a powerful notion, the reality is that it is very difficult to operationalise design quality. It seems self-evident to reduce such questions back to the desired values… but what are they?

While growth and development is part of education, discrimination remains one of the fundamental purposes… the challenge is how are we to discriminate fairly?

The power of technology

Published on 12 October, 2006 in Business and Science and technology. 1 Comment

In 1999, Peter Huber and Mark Mills projected that half the world’s supply of electricity is going to be consumed by our computers.

If you consider that the major search engines have about 2 million servers, each shedding about 300 watts each year, linked to hard drives shedding about 50% more than that again, and about half of the total is taken by the cost of cooling these great heat sources, which added to the system inefficiencies might add up to about 5 gigawatts. That’s about as much as Las Vegas on the hottest day of the year.

So whilst we are so concerned about sustainability, perhaps we might like to think about how we can design our computer networks to be more efficient… Bechtolsheim has a few ideas that could turn out to be interesting – and he’s done it before.
In case you missed out on Bechtolsheim, you might want to think about Cisco, Google, Microsoft and Sun. He provided the first outside money for Brin and Page, founded Sun, was a major early investor with Microsoft and invented some Ethernet switches that were bought  by Cisco… That a heck of a record for the German.

When asked whether the huge infrastructure overheads of the current IT regime gives an unassailable advantage to the big players, he responded, “Only if no one changes the game.”

Here’s the full story…

Because they want to, not because they have to…

Published on 12 October, 2006 in Business, High performance and Social development. 0 Comments

I’ve been reading the manifesto on the lessons to be learnt from starfish that I referred to in my last post. Here are a few cool insights…

The “primitive” Apache Indians fought the Spanish (and Mexicans and Americans) for two hundred years after the “advanced” Aztecs and Indians were defeated within a decade or so. It wasn’t that the invaders had got tired or worse at fighting, it was because Apache society had no political hierarchy, rigid structure or formal leadership, instead they had individuals (“Nant’ans”) who led by example, and who the people followed because they wanted to and not because they had to… the people were free to do as they wished: power lay with the people.

In a similar fashion, we have seen record labels trying to fight a series of file sharers. Starting with Napster, then Kazaa and eMule, the more they attack, the more decentralised and resilient the file sharing software has become. Not surprisingly, starfish organisations are very difficult to control (eg wikipedia and alcoholics anonymous).
Fighting a starfish is very difficult. But there are a few strategies that can have an impact:

  • Ideology shift
    Rather than fighting al Qaeda by blowing up mountains, what if we built schools and provided social services? For a success story, look at missionaries across the world.
  • Centralise
    The Apaches were ‘defeated’ by giving the Nant’ans cows that they had the responsibility to distribute amongst their people. Having control over a scarce resource gave them real power – not just symbolic – and became centralised and controllable. Look at how it’s worked in Ireland and even Palestine (bringing Sinn Fein and the PLO to parliament).
  • Decentralise ourselves
    Let’s get involved with what they are doing – infiltrate their ranks and understand their weaknesses.

Here are some ‘rules’ for the starfish game…

  • Small is powerful: Control the network that your users connect through, and you have power. You have power because you are lean enough not to pay large overheads.
  • Deal with chaos: Starfish are messy sources of creativity, innovation, destruction and crazy ideas. Good ideas will attract people, resources and support. Standardisation tends to follow – but it only should follow later. Israel was created because of a Starfish array of revolutionaries who were then folded into the Israeli army once their purpose had been fulfilled.
  • Beware of the hydra-effect: When you cut off the arm of a starfish, you can be left with two new starfish. Killing the ‘head’ of a starfish has no effect, other than to increase the danger and power that it possesses. There are ways to combat the starfish, but don’t try to just cut off its head.

Who wants to be a Bootstrapped Billionaire?

Published on 11 October, 2006 in Business, Creativity and genius, High performance and Science and technology. 0 Comments

YouTube cofounders Chad Hurley (29, right) and Steven Chen (27, left) in March 2006Sorry Eddie: being a millionaire just doesn’t cut it anymore… not when you can create a company that doesn’t make any money and become an overnight billionaire!

In case you missed it, the guys who founded YouTube.com just sold out their company – but not their concept for US$1.65b… sure, it’s not enough to live on, but consider for a moment that they each made a billion dollars for the 20 months that they put in to the company since it was started in Chad’s garage. That’s like AU$50m per month… in case you’ve missed the story, here ’tis. Entrepreneurs talk about focusing on adding value at a point of the value chain and getting others to do the rest – in a strange twist, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen just outsourced the ‘profit’ component of their business plan! I love it!!!

I do wonder how long it will be before Google runs foul of antitrust legislation though… I’m guessing a lot sooner than it took Microsoft.
A while back, I mentioned The Bootstrappers Bible – well it’s back online again here. I like it… and hope that it’s interesting or useful for you too… I’ve always loved the ChangeThis manifestos – here’s another cool one about group architecture, contrasting ‘spiders’ and ‘starfish’ – simple concept, but very useful.

JoinRed?

Published on 9 October, 2006 in Business and Social development. 1 Comment

Talk about using capitalism to advance social causes!

When you buy Red products, the companies that sell those products contribute part of their profits to charity. In a sense, it’s about making a social agenda into a marketing tool for influencing consumer behaviour, rather than just asking for a handout. ShirtsandSuits.com isn’t on their product list… yet.

Innovation notes and thoughts

Published on 9 October, 2006 in Business, Creativity and genius and High performance. 1 Comment

As a child, I was very much mathematical, logical and disciplined. My natural tendencies towards impulsiveness and passionate outbursts were channeled into socially acceptable (even desirable) vehicles, methods and mechanisms. As time has passed, I have grown more expressive, more biased (hell, today design is everything) and more intuitive, and has probably hindered my studies of psychology, law and business, yet impelled me towards the pursuit of personal genius, innovation and entrepreneurship.

They’re fun!!!

I came across a few articles that I decided to take notes from, and wondered if your notes would match up…

  • Connecting the Dots between Innovation and Leadership
    • Leadership + Innovation = Cool stuff… but how do we create it?
      • An insurer said it was about aligning the whole organisation (especially the oft-forgotten support staff like lawyers and financial officers) behind matching customer needs with the organisation’s systems, processes and activities… ie marketing. Being a leader denies you the opportunity to be a “Fast Follower” and try to copy the innovations of others; you have to be leading consumer behaviour.
      • Big is not necessarily better. Throwing more resources at a dead end doesn’t help… small teams will often do the best work.
      • Cultivate an innovative culture by rewarding and expecting innovation. Challenge people to reinvent themselves.
      • Passion is good, and often is the result of feeling a sense of ownership over the work that you do.
      • Capitalise on opportunities by being ready to act – fast.
    • Should you buy or build innovation?
      • If you build it, there’s a better chance of it matching the existing culture, and will help keep the organisation flat… though sometimes a highly targeted ‘rifle shot’ acquisition can work.
      • Select targets that have complimentary skills; where they’re great at something that fit with what you’re generally good at, but haven’t developed as highly in that arena.
    • India and China?
      • According to the panel, they’re great copiers, but haven’t really started innovating yet. Eg Chinese developers use international architectural firms to design the skins of buildings, though aren’t really innovating much beyond this.
      • In biotech, Indian innovation is suffering from poor intellectual property protection leading to decreased rewards for innovation and a consequential lack of investment. That’s changing though…
      • China and India are very different: We can’t just apply what works here! Take the time to get to know them.
      • There are huge opportunities for using India for clinical trials of new drugs. Their massive patient population is yet to be meaningfully tapped…
    • Managers need to remain fixated on customers (and social issues: cultural, generational) to keep in tune with customers and open to gain insights for innovation… (though disruptive innovation relies upon giving people things that they don’t yet realise that they’ll want)
    • Great innovators bring together technical skills with people skills.
    • Turn failures into success…
    • Execution is critical. Great ideas are cheap…
    • Business leaders change the world. Beyond dividends, business provides jobs and advancement to would-be terrorists… to give people a sense of hope makes the world better for everybody. This necessitates companies to act responsibly in building companies of integrity.
    • Part of innovation is being open to doing stuff when you have no idea what you’re doing.
      Peter Linnemann, Wharton finance professor.
    • Everyone wants the golden path. How you get there… is by doing a great job at what you’re doing. Stay in the moment instead of worrying about that next job.
      Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank America
    • You cannot really work hard at something that you don’t love, and you’re not going to succeed if you don’t work hard.
      Jeffrey Katz, CEO of Sherwood Equities
  • The Biggest Mind-Flip in Business Today
    • There is nothing more powerful than a truly original idea… something that redefines an industry or transforms a product category. Thought leadership through generating better ideas and making smarter improvements gives sustained advantage.
    • Entrepreneurial folklore gives the credit to the inspired visionary CEO, but the modern world is too complex: We need to develop teams of people who can work in parallel to be more creative than any single individual could be. This is expensive through the transactional costs of dealing with teams, but it’s potentially infinitely more powerful.
    • We need to create an architecture of participation – where contributing your ideas for problem solving and product development is fun (or at least interesting), easy and rewarding.
    • We’re talking about collective intelligence here… that comes from a different leadership style, one where the leader seeks to exude charisma, strength and intellectual humility, to be the sort of person with whom smart people will share their ideas, want to work with and contribute ideas, and to be as open and transparent as the other participants in their work.
  • Learning to Innovate
    • Business schools tend to teach how to teach ‘business-as-usual’. This is important in running successful businesses, though innovation requires people who are Masters of Business-by-Design. Stanford’s d.school has already started it… I wonder how long until the rest of us figure out that we need to design the way forward, rather than just measure what we’re doing.
    • Analysing a business situation is very different from how to create and execute a business innovation. A bunch of Stanford kids were asked to design a way forward for the web browser Mozilla. While the b-school kids would likely have used market size driven financial analyses to generate, develop and complete a new product idea. Instead, the design school was approached: They started with an ethnographic study of consumers and worked towards creating prototypes with potential features, iteratively returning with a succession of potential winners.
    • Without execution, great ideas are worth nothing… yet without ideas, brilliant execution gets outsourced.

While I continue to lament that despite his repetitive writing style, de Bono still ‘owns’ the concept of lateral thinking and even ‘creativity’ for a lot of people. But, in my view, his book on Value Medals is worth checking out if you want to think a little beyond the ‘bottom line’…

Great coffee…

Published on 7 October, 2006 in Business and Creativity and genius. 1 Comment

Why is it so difficult to make great coffee? The Coffee Club is a great place to meet, but sadly they typically cut so many corners in the training of the baristas that they just can’t overcome the ultra-cheap coffee beans that they use. By contrast though, right now I’m enjoying a $3.70 affogato from Zarraffa’s that is simply sensational.

It is served in a plastic cup, with a plastic spoon. Yet, the shot of espresso is magnificent, the atmosphere better and the experience one of enjoyment, rather than just one of drinking.

Great living comes from being totally focused in the moment; great quality comes from being totally focused on each customer… it’s not rocket science, it’s just about being there.

As a side note, Belinda (the lovely girl who took my order) just came over and asked me how I’d enjoyed it… not because she had to, but because she was genuinely interested – or at least seemed to be! To me, that’s the sort of thing that says a lot of GREAT things about the sort of culture of the company… and is very difficult to produce. Great work Zarraffa’s! (and they have franchises available in Carindale and Indooroopilly apparently)
In the current Weekend Australian (p20 of the Inquirer section) there is an interesting article entitled “Elite of the right kind”. Amongst a great deal of information on Quadrant magazine is a mention of how John Howard understands that to “win the battle of policy, you had to win the battle of history and fundamental ideas.” What a thought… to have our political leaders actually understand how the world works rather than just engaging in endless factionalism and petty point scoring.

Should Australia have a unified school curriculum? Ideally, we would have a unified set of educational outcomes, though until we can define those outcomes in terms of cognitive competencies, to interfere too much is likely to impair the diversity of outcomes that strengthen our nation even if they make it more difficult for individual students. If we are going to put education under the control of the Federal government, we need to be able to define the outcomes that we want; we don’t yet have that technology, and until we do, the Federal government should empower the States to do things their own way. Sorry Julie, but history and fundamental principles work against you this time… that said, anything is possible!

Making it matter in a beautiful changing world by letting go

Published on 6 October, 2006 in Business, Creativity and genius, High performance and Science and technology. 3 Comments

The other day, a friend was asking me whether I was going to expand and get myself an office. Really, I quite like keeping lean and using coffee shops and park benches as my office space… to me, I don’t really want an office at all! (Though my phone wants a tattoo…) And though there are teleconference challenges still to be overcome, security risks and self-management issues, but there are some perks to be able to go to work without having a shower, much less getting dressed…especially as the high-impact talent of today demands a better work-life balance.

I love how the economic circle turns… while we still have Indian students coming to study at our Universities, now our students are being tutored online by Indians in India! And the value for money that you can get is mind blowing… and is all the more important considering that India and China produce five times the number of science and engineering graduates as the United States. We need all the help we can get to keep up… And if the Australian government is serious about upping the birthrate, perhaps the baby bonus needs to be increased – for just a little extra, you can hire a uterus!

Having been involved with community groups for some time, one of the challenges that you face sooner or later is handing over control. This is especially a challenge when you’ve actually made a difference – where you’ve sought to lead the organisation in a particular direction. Studies of business development – like this case study from HBS – show how the ‘founder’ or early leader of a change is often replaced over time as the organisation moves to a different phase in development. The conclusion: Often, you can be the king of a small domain or the prince of a great empire.

My dad is getting close to retirement. He’s worked in the public circus forever and I struggle to see what he’s going to do with himself once he retires… maybe he’ll start his own company and become part of the wave of retirees flocking to create new wealth when they don’t really need to do it! My grandfather did it… so did the guy who created Dreamworld… Hopefully he’ll be a bit more sensible than the current array of media-tart-web 2.0 entrepreneurs.
I’m increasingly obsessed with design. To me, it’s where the value is being created today – it’s where it’s at. We have enough stuff, now we want it to deliver values… here are some of the Masters of Design… Jochen Zeitz (CEO, Puma AG), Steve McCallion (creative director
Ziba Design), Paula Scher (partner, Pentagram) and Clive Wilkinson (principal, Clive Wilkinson Architects).

It would seem that we could see more Fields Medalists (like a Nobel prize in maths) coming from outside the peer review system with the creation of internet-based journals that are peer-reviewed after publication like PLoS ONE and Philica. To me, this is very interesting, posing challenges to the existing publishers, though creating great opportunities for dynamic new findings and ideas – should be great to watch it grow. This direction has stimulated the venerable Nature already – they’ve started exploring how to maintain relevance with its own experiment in online peer-review. I wonder when we’re going to start creating concept maps of the concepts and supporting references though…

Priorities

Published on 2 October, 2006 in relationships and Self-awareness. 3 Comments

Our priorities can often get out of balance. I was just offered the following priority hierarchy:

  1. Health
  2. Integrity (honesty, trust and respect)
  3. Purpose (mission in life – some way to make a difference while serving the greater good)
  4. Relationships

This requires us to have a purpose of course…

Risks

Published on 2 October, 2006 in Creativity and genius and High performance. 1 Comment

“Risks, I like to say, always pay off. You learn what to do or what not to do.” Jonas Salk

As I was reflecting on the state of science in the modern world, I was called to remember these words. Bearing in mind that Salk went directly against the conventional wisdom of the age in order to produce his great achievement, I am prompted to ask what might inspire him. Such resilience and determination; one might question how he managed to do what everybody around him had told him was impossible and even wrong. Perhaps it is an example of how only unreasonable people are the only ones who change the world…
Really, he wasn’t that creative. He saw something that was working in one domain and simply applied it by analogy to another domain. What distinguishes him to me was that he saw possibility where others didn’t, and he had the tenacity to make that vision real.

Let us be grateful that most kids today don’t even know what polio is…

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