We are not prepared for 2.0!
Wednesday: August 1, 2007 6:30 AM
According to the US Department of Labor, we will need to retrain 75% of the workforce in new technology and new methods of doing business. 80% of all jobs will require some form of post secondary education by 2015. The time of abundant resources is gone and most companies have to look overseas to locate educated, productive, and available resources. We are not prepared to grow our companies unless we turn the tide of Executive MBA educations which may take us to a more efficient but irrelevant company. The only clear driver for competitive advantage will be innovation; collaborative innovation.
Don’t take my word for it; I am just some IT person trying to survive the onslaught of transformation and merger mania. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen said it wonderfully: “Good management was the most powerful reason leading firms failed to stay atop their industries. Precisely because these firms listened to their customers, invested aggressively in technologies that would provide their customers more and better products of the sort they wanted. They lost their positions of leadership”.
The iPod didn’t emerge from trying to improve the MP3 player and the iPhone wasn’t trying to make a better phone. I doubt many customers actually asked for the at&t experience store but now, couldn’t see any other way to buy our products. Did the Boeing 787 emerge from customer focus groups or from a collaborative environment that spanned the globe? That’s what innovation is all about; failing, failing, failing, failing, and then winning BIG. So what can we do to move in the right direction? I don’t know the answer is to that question but I can tell what NOT to do to.
1. Don’t innovate or reward people for innovation.
2. Don’t develop your people; assume they will train themselves.
3. Don’t bring in new talent and don’t toss out the underperforming ones.
4. Stop investing in Information Technology and taking risks on people’s ideas
5. Assume that great ideas only come from Architecture or Labs (Positional Power).
6. Assume that great ideas only come from Consulting companies
7. Don’t share knowledge and continue to hold it close to the vest
8. Don’t Communicate, Don’t Coordinate, and Don’t Collaborate
9. Don’t embrace the new Web 2.0 technologies inside or outside the corporation
In the old days, we had 20-30 years to perfect a product or service. The barriers of entry were enormous. To replicate large factories or locate near abundant resources was nearly impossible and the first mover had an enormous advantage. Today, your product or service can not only be replicated but completely replaced in a matter of months. Innovation is longer a luxury but a necessity.
According to the US Department of Labor, we will need to retrain 75% of the workforce in new technology and new methods of doing business. 80% of all jobs will require some form of post secondary education by 2015. The time of abundant resources is gone and most companies have to look overseas to locate educated, productive, and available resources. We are not prepared to grow our companies unless we turn the tide of Executive MBA educations which may take us to a more efficient but irrelevant company. The only clear driver for competitive advantage will be innovation; collaborative innovation.
Don’t take my word for it; I am just some IT person trying to survive the onslaught of transformation and merger mania. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen said it wonderfully: “Good management was the most powerful reason leading firms failed to stay atop their industries. Precisely because these firms listened to their customers, invested aggressively in technologies that would provide their customers more and better products of the sort they wanted. They lost their positions of leadership”.
The iPod didn’t emerge from trying to improve the MP3 player and the iPhone wasn’t trying to make a better phone. I doubt many customers actually asked for the at&t experience store but now, couldn’t see any other way to buy our products. Did the Boeing 787 emerge from customer focus groups or from a collaborative environment that spanned the globe? That’s what innovation is all about; failing, failing, failing, failing, and then winning BIG. So what can we do to move in the right direction? I don’t know the answer is to that question but I can tell what NOT to do to.
1. Don’t innovate or reward people for innovation.
2. Don’t develop your people; assume they will train themselves.
3. Don’t bring in new talent and don’t toss out the underperforming ones.
4. Stop investing in Information Technology and taking risks on people’s ideas
5. Assume that great ideas only come from Architecture or Labs (Positional Power).
6. Assume that great ideas only come from Consulting companies
7. Don’t share knowledge and continue to hold it close to the vest
8. Don’t Communicate, Don’t Coordinate, and Don’t Collaborate
9. Don’t embrace the new Web 2.0 technologies inside or outside the corporation
In the old days, we had 20-30 years to perfect a product or service. The barriers of entry were enormous. To replicate large factories or locate near abundant resources was nearly impossible and the first mover had an enormous advantage. Today, your product or service can not only be replicated but completely replaced in a matter of months. Innovation is longer a luxury but a necessity.
