It’s hard to not be moved by the cri de coeur (cry of the heart) of the Egyptian people. A cry for freedom so loud the borders of Egypt can’t contain it. I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic in saying we are witness to the rise of a new world order. An era defined by entrenched public and private sector institutions is giving way, right before our eyes, to a new era defined by self-organization. While we have sensed the trend for a while the clarity and immediacy of the tangible quest for freedom in Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square is riveting and marks a global inflection point. There is no turning back. Not in Egypt and not anywhere in the world. Self-organized purposeful networks enabled by social media will not be stopped. Fasten your seat belts.

Clay Shirky had it right when he warned us, Here Comes Everybody. An era defined by self-organization is an equal opportunity disrupter. No institution will be unaffected. Any government not reflecting the will of the people isn’t sustainable. Equally unsustainable are education systems not reflecting the will of the student, health care systems not reflecting the will of the patient, corporations not reflecting the will of the consumer, and economies not reflecting the will of the entrepreneur. Our social systems and institutions need transformation not tweaks. Clay Christensen taught us that institutions do not disrupt themselves. Institutions will not lead the inevitable 21^st century transformation, self-organized groups of committed and passionate people, like the crowds in Tahrir Square, will. Read more

I’ve been asked to visit the Bluegrass Region in Kentucky on February 7-8 to help catalyze a community conversation on turning the region into an entrepreneurial and innovation hotspot.  Why is it you can stand on your head and scream from the rooftops in your own hometown, with few listening, while the same message resonates in the community right next door?  I guess it’s true when they say the grass is always greener, or in this case bluer!  I can’t wait to visit Lexington and Louisville to spark an important conversation among the many passionate entrepreneurs, innovators, and community leaders who are working hard to transform their local economy.

One of the essential ingredients to transforming any economy is an optimistic and passionate group of change agents and catalysts.  The Bluegrass Region is fortunate to have many including Eric Patrick Marr the founder of LeXenomics, who I ‘m convinced will stop at nothing to help transform the region’s economy.  I first connected with Eric on Twitter where I’ve been inspired by his energy and passion and then in person when he attended BIF-6, our Collaborative Innovation Summit last September.  Eric has rallied the local troops for my upcoming visit including meetings with Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, leaders from the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville, public and private sector leaders from across the community, and lots and lots of local entrepreneurs and innovators.  I am grateful for Eric’s enthusiastic support (he would make a great personal agent!) and can already feel the innovation vibe from the community.  With a welcome as warm as Kentucky’s I may have to consider traveling more.

To the entrepreneurs and innovators of Kentucky I offer the following question as fodder for our upcoming conversation. Read more

Beware of random collisions with unusual suspects.  Unless, of course, if you want to learn something new.  In that case seek out innovators from across every imaginable silo and listen, really listen, to their stories.  New ideas, perspectives, and value creating opportunities are in the gray areas between unusual suspects.  It seems so obvious and yet we spend most of our time with the usual suspects in our respective silos.  We need to get out of our silos more.

It’s human nature to surround ourselves with people exactly like us.  We connect and spend time with people who share a common world-view, look the same, enjoy the same activities, and speak the same language.  We join clubs to be with others like us.  I want to belong to the non-club club.  The only tribe I want to be in is a tribe of unusual suspects who can challenge my world-view, expose me to new ideas, and teach me something new.  I founded the Business Innovation Factory to enable random collisions of unusual suspects.

I am reminded of the power of this simple idea as my friend Bill Taylor launches his new book, Practically Radical (a must read for all innovators).  Bill is a magnet for innovation stories and a master storyteller.  I’ve been a Bill Taylor fan since he founded Fast Company and was surprised when he showed up at BIF-1, our very first Collaborative Innovation Summit, back in 2004.  I shouldn’t have been surprised.  Bill loves searching for compelling innovation stories among the unusual suspects.  He has attended all but one of our six annual summits to-date including co-chairing several of them.  There have been countless random collisions.  As I started reading Practically Radical I was immediately hit with a powerful reminder. Read more

Keith Yamashita in his remarkable closing story at BIF-6 asked a question that still haunts and compels me.  Is it worth daring to be great?  No consulting buzzwords, no ambiguity, just a simple question for all of us to ponder. Implied within Keith’s question is the presumption we can all be great. We just have to dare to do it. Greatness isn’t something conferred or willed by others. It isn’t an entitlement or an inheritance. Greatness is innate and waiting for us to dare to achieve it.  Keith rightly suggests greatness isn’t a deficit that you have to fill. We unlearn greatness. We permit “the system” to suppress greatness. We start to believe what other people say about us as being true about us. Kids don’t start out that way. Kids are innately and wonderfully curious about the world around them until sadly society wears the enthusiasm and opportunity for greatness down. All kids start great. Read more

If only we could start 2011 and the new decade by putting up a “closed for renovation” sign clearing the way to transform our education, health care, energy, and economic systems.  We don’t have the luxury.  Tweaks won’t work and nothing short of systems transformation is needed. Our collective challenge in 2011 is to catalyze transformational change while continuing to pedal the bicycle of today’s systems.  We need real-world platforms, connected to existing systems, with the autonomy and resources to design, prototype, and experiment with transformational solutions.  Going to war with current systems won’t work. If we’re going to transform the next decade we should start by putting up an “open for renovation” sign.

Have you ever done a major renovation of your home while you were still living in it?  We did.  I don’t know what we were thinking. I’m not talking about a tweak.  It’s the familiar story about a project that started off as a manageable kitchen remodeling. Then the “while we’re at it we might as well do this too” started. Before the dust finally settled, 75% of the living space in our home was transformed, all while we continued to live in the house. Talk about disruption!  Like all transformations it took twice as long and cost twice as much as predicted.  If you ask our three children, who had to live through it, I’m sure each would say they were scarred for life by the trauma. For two years we were nomads in our own home with sleeping arrangements changing constantly. It was an adventure to find the temporary kitchen location on any given day. Tweaking is easy. Transformation isn’t. No wonder our social systems are so resistant to transformational change. Read more

I’m the least trendy person on the planet.  I’m the last one to recognize a trend and the first one to move away from a trend if I stumble upon one.  I know that sounds weird coming for a guy who has spent most of his career in marketing but it’s true.  I’m far more interested in recognizing patterns and catalyzing new trends than jumping on existing trends. I’m perpetually leery of data suggesting trends and allergic to anyone claiming to be a trendsetter.  So you can imagine my surprise when I received an offer from Jeremy Gutsche , founder of Trend Hunter, to receive and share a sneak peek of the top 20 trends from their 2011 Trend Report.

Trend Hunter claims to be the world’s largest crowd sourced trend network with 40,000 trend hunters who have identified 100,000 micro trends.  The trends are then crowd filtered to identify the most popular nougats and made available to Trend Hunter customers.  As a student of crowd sourcing platforms and a believer in the value of filters to help make sense of the daily fire hose of content we receive, I was curious to check out the platform and output from Trend Hunter. Read more

I highly recommend mapping your organization or community genome.  Understanding the basic genetic code or wiring of any organization is key to understanding what drives the behavior of both internal and external stakeholders.  Intimate knowledge of the genome’s chromosomal makeup is a prerequisite for alignment and making meaningful progress.  It explains why employees, customers, and collaborators are attracted to an organization or why they aren’t.  Passion for an organization, community, or movement is coded at the genetic level.  If you want to transform an organization or a system, forget process reengineering and think genetic reengineering.  If you want to launch a movement make your genome transparent and accessible to anyone with a similar genetic make-up.

I offer up the BIF genome as an example and with the hope you will improve it. The Business Innovation Factory (BIF) is catalyzing a movement to transform the next decade. This is no time to think small! Together with a growing community of passionate innovators we are re-imagining the future of education, health care, energy, and entrepreneurship. We have identified and mapped 11 chromosomes that comprise the genome of the BIF innovation community and transformation movement.  Do they resonate with you?  Do you share a similar genetic make-up?  If yes, do we have a movement for you! Read more

If the goal is to develop markets start by developing talent.  If you want to accomplish the most amazing things focus on developing the talent of amazing people. Mentoring and coaching are the most important leadership roles.  Innovation starts by surrounding yourself and connecting with the best talent.  If you want to attract the best talent develop a reputation as the best talent developer.

Put growth opportunities for others ahead of your own.  Put growth opportunities for others ahead of your organization and your community.  If you put developing talent first you will attract the best talent.  If you consistently encourage and prepare talented individuals to grow into the best opportunities, wherever they are, you will become a talent magnet.  People who want to get better will want to work for, with, and near you.  If you prioritize talent development people will trust their talents to you. Read more

Capabilities are the amino acids of innovation.  They are the building blocks that enable value delivery.  Innovation is a better way to deliver value and is often the result of repurposing existing capabilities.  Locking capabilities into rigid organization structures and proprietary closed systems gets in the way of unleashing new sources of value and solving many of the important challenges of our time.  Innovation is about hacking capabilities.

A capability is simply the power to do something and is comprised of three elements, people, process, and technology.  You might have the capability or power to make a mean western omelet.  You possess the skill (people) thanks to hands-on training from mom, a recipe (process) handed down for generations, and a great cook top range, non-stick pan, and spatula (technology).  Hacking the capability is easy.  A Google search for western omelet recipes yields almost 25 thousand hits.  That’s more variety than a lifetime of Sunday brunches.  To stretch the analogy a western omelet capability can also be combined with other capabilities to open a cool restaurant, launch a cooking blog or cable television show, or to commercialize a new cooking utensil.  Innovation happens when we enable random capability collisions resulting in new and unexpected ways to deliver value. Read more

I love Thanksgiving.  It’s my favorite holiday. What’s not to love?  Food, family, and football are three of my favorite things.  The prodromal smells of homemade cooking pervade the house which means turkey and pecan pie are only days away.  Smiling is easy this week while making sure everything is perfect for the welcome cacophony of our kids returning home for a holiday visit to our empty nest.  Thanksgiving spirit warms the soul.

The best part of Thanksgiving is taking time to reflect on the things we’re most thankful for.  It’s a strange tumultuous time and yet it seems as if there is more to be thankful for than usual.  Perhaps it’s during trying times, with so many people suffering around us, that we are grateful for things we otherwise would take for granted.   I am thankful for many things and thought if I shared them openly perhaps others would share what they are thankful for too. Who knows, maybe the Thanksgiving spirit will catch on.

Here are ten things I am particularly thankful for: Read more