Create Value Innovation

What happens when Blue Ocean Companies get together?

Some companies struggle to become innovative on their own.  What happens when two Blue Ocean innovators get together to combine their strengths?  That's what the hospitality industry is about to discover.

Nintendo and Westin Hotels announced a new relationship that will make Starwood's Westin chain (NYSE:  HOT) the first to bring the Nintendo Wii (tm) gaming console to its properties.  Nintendo created a Blue Ocean when it broke the industry's assumption that gaming is just for kids.  Nintendo has created a whole new category of gaming that has brought adults into the game.  I was at a meeting of about 200 executives last week and when the crowd was asked how many of them used the Nintendo Wii, about half of their hands went up.

That same group of professionals is right in Westin's sweet spot.  During the week, Westin can attract the busy executive who wants to stay fit, have fun and keep up their bowling form.   For women, this will be particularly atrtractive as hospitality research has shown they are less comfortable than men working out in public workout facilities.  During the weekend, Westin becomes a family destination without having to make significant investments in kid-oriented facilities.

What could be next?

• Wii-themed meetings and events.  The consoles wil now be on property.   Let's create some new activities for sales training and other meetings.
• Special weekend family packages.  Starwood has talked about their use of Blue Ocean Strategy in Europe to attract families to business hotels during the weekend.  Expect movement in that direction in the US.
• Employee training.  From practice carrying a loaded tray of drinks and dinner plates to resetting meeting rooms to speed-greeting at the front desk, only the best game developers know what's not possible.

Hmmm.  If Nintendo was able to create a Blue Ocean in gaming and Starwood is actively creating a Blue Ocean mentality throughout its organization, what could happen if they worked together to create yet another market space?  Stay tuned!

Curiosity before judgment

One of the keys to Blue Ocean Strategy or any approach to innovation is curiosity.  If we want to reach beyond existing demand, we have to suspend judgment long enough to see with new eyes.  Seth Godin says it well in this short video.  He explains the difference between fundamentalism and curiosity.  Enjoy!

Unlock Your Creative Mind

Idris Mootee says:

Ordinary people can find their creative side. If you lock into your own creative juices, you can become a better leader. Creativity can be as simple as new ways for old situations.

Amen, brother!  If you unlock yur creative juices, you can also become a better change agent.  In his recent post, Idris outlines 5 qualities of creative people.  Here, I build on his post to show how you can expand those qualities.

Nine ways to tell compelling stories

Storytelling is a powerful way to engage customers, coworkers and suppliers.  It is the difference between 5 bullet points on a slide, describing why you are a great company to work with - versus listening to a teary-eyed aircraft mechanic, telling a cameraman what it is like to work for Southwest, and how they supported him and his family through the aftermath of a devastating storm that put him and his wife in the hospital.

So how do you decide what kind of story to use - to engage people, to set change in motion, to help create alignment? Guy Kawasaki writes about Beyond Buzz:  The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing by Lois Kelly, and suggests that if you are not using one of the 9 story lines suggested in the book, you have a problem.

Here are the 9 categories:

Six reasons why I forward stuff

People who know me know that I am a scanner, synthesizer and sharer of ideas.  Mark Goren picked up on a post by Doug Walker about why people forward stuff they read.  They have some great thoughts on the subject. 

I believe that in sales and consulting, in particular, your brand is closely tied to your ideas.  Forwarding great ideas demonstrates that you don't always have to be the source, and that you are open to new ideas.  Here are six more reasons I forward stuff:

• Give a gift.  Knowing the receiver, you know they will simply love it.
• Create change.  Sometimes a new idea is just the thing that will inspire someone to get started.
• Ring their ears.  People love to know you are thinking about them, especially when it is a surprise.
• Connect the dots.  Sometimes you find that special post that elegently ties together three prior converstations.
• Feel the edge.  People love to explore new frontiers.  Sometimes a random idea affirms a hunch or encourages curiosity.
• Clarify.  When I find someone who distills an idea I have been fumbling with, I eagerly share and reference their work.

Now it's your turn.  Why do you forward stuff?  What memorable stories resulted from forwarding an email or an idea?  Please share.

Competing Values and First-Rate Intelligence

It is cold in Minnesota and although the days are getting longer, the weekend forecast is for single digits.  If I weren't heading to Milwaukee to watch Marquette take on Providence, I might consider finding time to curl up with a book.  Since I won't be reading, at least I can offer a qoute for today from St. Paul, Minnesota native, F. Scott Fitzgerald:

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time. . . (The Crack-Up (1936))

This quotation is often quoted, but mostly "under-quoted."  I suppose it is fairly easy for most people to consider the notion of holding two opposing thoughts.  Deeper and richer perspective comes when you include the 26 words that follow . . .

F. Scott Fitzgerald, photographed by Carl van Vechten

Adaptive Execution

Seth Godin captures the tension between innovation and potential:

Creativity

99% of the time, in my experience, the hard part about creativity isn't coming up with something no one has ever thought of before. The hard part is actually executing the thing you've thought of.

The devil doesn't need an advocate. The brave need supporters, not critics.

A new idea no one has thought of before - full of hopes, dreams, urges, choices and assumptions.  Aye, there's the rub - assumptions.  Assumptions are the huge rocks that lurk on the shoulders of a new idea.  Something that no one has thought of before simply carries with it too darn many assumptions.  And, therefore, there are not enough facts for investors, management or customers to simply believe.  Without money, backing or customers, execution is pretty tough.

So,I would add, the brave need plans to test their assumptions to give themselves their courage.  The brave must then go after their most dangerous assumptions first.  Then, the brave, upon proving their most critical assumptions were indeed true, possess the facts to share their confidence with the non-believers.  Along the way, the brave only asks the supporter to risk as much as their facts warrant. When it is clear that the idea is real and the plan to execute is well-crafted, it's all-in!

I think new ideas get acceptance when the risk terrain is reasonably well-understood and when the people guiding the execution machine have shown the necessary discipline to earn their supporters' trust.  Critics can serve a valuable role if their criticism can be viewed as another set of assumptions to consider in the execution plan -and so long as they agree that when it is time to go forward, they will hold their criticism and let folks work the plan.

What do you think:

• Can creative and innovative people also exhibit disciplined, adaptive execution?
• Is Apple brave to launch the iPhone, or is this a sure bet?  What are the most critical assumptions that remain to be proven?

99% of the time, in my experience, the hard part about creativity isn't coming up with something no one has ever thought of before. The hard part is actually executing the thing you've thought of.

The devil doesn't need an advocate. The brave need supporters, not critics.

A new idea no one has thought of before - full of hopes, dreams, urges, choices and assumptions.  Aye, there's the rub - assumptions.  Assumptions are the huge rocks that lurk on the shoulders of a new idea.  Something that no one has thought of before simply carries with it too darn many assumptions.  And, therefore, there are not enough facts for investors, management or customers to simply believe.  Without money, backing or customers, execution is pretty tough.

So,I would add, the brave need plans to test their assumptions to give themselves their courage.  The brave must then go after their most dangerous assumptions first.  Then, the brave, upon proving their most critical assumptions were indeed true, possess the facts to share their confidence with the non-believers.  Along the way, the brave only asks the supporter to risk as much as their facts warrant. When it is clear that the idea is real and the plan to execute is well-crafted, it's all-in!

I think new ideas get acceptance when the risk terrain is reasonably well-understood and when the people guiding the execution machine have shown the necessary discipline to earn their supporters' trust.  Critics can serve a valuable role if their criticism can be viewed as another set of assumptions to consider in the execution plan -and so long as they agree that when it is time to go forward, they will hold their criticism and let folks work the plan.

What do you think:

Can creative and innovative people also exhibit disciplined, adaptive execution?

Is Apple brave to launch the iPhone, or is this a sure bet?  What are the most critical assumptions that remain to be proven?

Evidence vs. Conventional Wisdom - With Respect

Bob Sutton is an advocate for "Evidence-Based Management."  Among other things, this is the simple notion that businesspeople "should subject their business practices and decisions to the same scientific rigor they would use for technical or medical issues."

As I have written before, there is an ongoing tension between simplifying work and rigorous thinking to yield valid insights.  For innovation, distinguishing between facts and evidence is critical to adaptive execution.  Conventional wisdom that is never re-examined prevents people from seeing opportunities, let alone acting on them.  When companies fail, Monday-morning quarterbacks point to faulty strategy.  But was it the plan that failed or simply poor execution?

What has Bob learned from his research with Jeffrey Pfeffer on making effective decisions?  They have found that there are three common and harmful decision habits:

• Casual benchmarking:  Copying others without knowing why it works
• Doing what (seems to have) worked in the past:  Maybe you were successful in spite of some policy or action
• Following deeply held yet unexamined ideologies:  For example, while many in the tech segment believe that the liberal and generous use of stock options helps drive stock values up, the evidence does not support that belief.

And until the bubble burst, the expectation that stock options would help tech salespeople cash out as millionaires was the major driver of compensation for many a software and hardware salesperson that I know and worked with.

Decisions based on hard facts and discipline will not guarantee success, however.  There is this leadership and people thing!  In the "Know-Feel-Do" sequence, too many people forget the "Feel" part of decision making.  This is about respect for people, not lowering standards. 

Sutton and Pfeffer debunk the "myth of the superhuman uber-executive" who wields magical decision powers that create amazing results with no input from "the mere mortals they tower over, inspire, and command":

. . . as leaders travel through their messy work lives, one of their most crucial chores is to display and promote curiosity - so that they and their followers will keep learning new skills . . .

Bob Sutton went a bit further when he recently posted his "Ten Things I Believe." I found these to be timely, valuable and simple insights to ponder as we kick off a new year: 

Ten Things I Believe

Bob Sutton

1.    Sometimes the best management is no management at all -- first do no harm!

2.   Indifference is as important as passion.

3.    In organizational life, you can have influence over others or you can have freedom from others, but you can't have both at the same time.

4.    Learning how to say smart things and give smart answers is important. Learning to listen to others and to ask smart questions is more important.

5.    You get what you expect from people. This is especially true when it comes to selfish behavior;   self-interest is a learned social norm, not an inherent feature of human behavior.

6.    Getting a little power can turn you into an insensitive self-centered jerk.

7.    Avoid pompous jerks whenever possible. They not only can make you feel bad about yourself, chances are that you will eventually start acting like them.

8.    The best test of a person's character is how he or she treats those with less power.

9.    Err on the side of optimism and positive energy in all things.

10. Work is an over-rated activity.

Stay tuned for Bob's upcoming book, "The No Asshole Rule."  Much more on numbers 6, 7 and 8 to come!

What do you think:

1. We often have a bias for action.  What examples can you think of where the right mix of thoughtful evaluation and rapid execution produced exceptional success?
2. What tools do you use to quickly and effectively test your assumptions?
3. Nardelli recently left Home Depot - with much celebration by many HD employees.  What price did he pay for his ruthless decision making that apparently was not matched with respect for his people?

Innovation is Everyone's Job

Innovation cannot be a hollow mantra, called upon only when leaders are trying to force change.

In early December 2006, Chuck Frey posed this question to InnovationTools readers:

"What is the most important lesson you learned regarding innovation during 2006?"  This reply came from Darlene Waldmiller:

In order for an Innovation program to work in any company, the innovation process must be a ubiquitous tool for all levels and all facets of the company, from the company maintenance worker to the CEO. No one can be excluded and no one is exempt. Everyone must try to contribute, to think in newly developed ways to incubate creative processes.

This is how any company will continue to foster growth and a climate of interdependence. It can never be us vs. them, whether the "us" is hourly manufacturing workers and the "them" is salaried marketing exempts, or the "us" is the company and the "them" is the competition. We are interconnected and must innovate systematically, utilizing all the parts and making a new engine together. Don't bash the competition, take what is working for them and build on it. Don't brush off an hourly worker's idea as a complaint about working conditions. Take the idea and polish and make it something really worthwhile. 

Do this together by really listening without judgment. The social interaction and value free considerations are what will really drive your Innovation process to become the force driving your company.

I love Darlene's idea of "listening without judgment."  I notice how often people react rather than really listen.  They sort information quickly into known categories rather than notice or explore what's different.  They see threats that do not exist, instead of exploring possibilities.  I call this the "USA Today" syndrome - people scan for headlines and feel they know what's happening.  Compare that experience to reading a book - digging into an idea deeply enough that it gets a chance to be fully developed, where we reach some new information and wonder whether it rings true, where it might apply, how it might help us explore new territory.  When we give ourselves the chance to really explore an idea and allow ourselves to be confused for a few moments, all of a sudden, new possibilities emerge.

To generate more innovative ideas, judgement must be temporarily suspended.  In the process, we become better innovators, better leaders, better salespeople and just a heck of a lot more fun to be around.

Happy New Year!

Salespeople are Change Agents

I am frequently asked by sales leaders to help their people handle objections more effectively.  This triggers a discussion about what kinds of objections their salespeople are facing, what might be triggering those objections and how they are currently addressing what turn into crucial conversations.

Most often, especially in large-ticket sales, I find that objections are created because salespeople simply ask customers to accept too much change, for the expected benefit or risk involved for the customer:

• Too big a change in routine for the customer, whether users, buyers or influencers
• Too much effort to evaluate the offer
• Too much time or effort to deal with the product
• Too much time or effort to deal with the supplier
• Too much change for the customer's organization to handle!
• Too much risk to implement, change behavior or to see impact

Numerous studies show that more than 70% of change initiatives fail.  Given that, why should salespeople expect that, as outsiders, that they can convince the customer to take the risk to change, let alone be successful in executing it?

When salespeople recognize that their success requires others to change behavior, they get a new perspective on selling and a fresh perspective on what they see as "objections."  Successful salespeople are change agents.  Unfortunately, people and organizations do not like change.   This is not to say that people are intentionally stubborn.  Saying "no" is simply one way that people cope with change.  When things get busy, people protect their routines and rituals.  Customer resistance often starts when salespeople carelessly consume customer time and ask customers to change their rituals without fair reward.

For example, when working with Rotary Club leaders on membership development, this thinking creates a shift in their conversation with potential new members.  Instead of just asking and asking (the sales training cliche equivalent of "close six times"), the club leaders focus much more on making their mission and impact clear to members, while making it very clear how they will help new members integrate into the club.  Why should anyone join a nonprofit and spend less time with their families, their hobbies, their work or any other volunteer activity?

When customers say "no!" they are just saying that they will not change their behavior.  So what can salespeople do about objections?  Prevent objections.  Don't deal with objections.  Start by looking at reducing the customer time and effort required to deal with you your organization:

1. Reduce their work.  How can you make it easier for customers to buy, implement, learn and use your products and services?  Have you communicated how simple it will be for them?  What can you do to reduce their work, whether it is directly related to your product or not?
2. Streamline the working relationship.  Customers develop a working rhythm with suppliers, whether they love them or not.  Why should they interrupt that rhythm to work with you?
3. Help customers connect.  One of the consequences of "too much work" is that people become disconnected from their own organizations.  Recently, getting sales to work more effectively with marketing is a hot topic.  What can you as a supplier to to help your customers connect?
4. Simplify your communication.  Bill Jensen has distilled the essence of change management into three simple ideas - Know - Feel - Do.  What do you want them to know?  How do you want them to feel?  What do you want them to do?

When salespeople realize they are change agents, I have noticed that they begin to shift their approach.  They use customer time more carefully.  They think through their actions and how their recommendations affect their customers - both in terms of results promised and in terms of the work needed to realize those results. 

Many salespeople are excited to tell me that their customers respond immediately - and positively when they make this shift in thinking.  Rather than try to do everything for the customer, why not help them do a few things really well, and make it easier for them to do their work - and in less time? 

• How have you simplified your products or your working relationship to make it easier for your customers to drive value from what you offer?
• Of all of the suppliers in your category, what can you do to be the easiest to do business with?