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Showing posts from April, 2012

Service for elderly people

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Last week I did help my mother to buy a new car. In a few months she will become 80 years old, so the roles are reversing. I.e. I am helping my mother as she did help me when I was a young boy. She really needs that car as she is still doing quite a lot of volunteering work. She did go by herself to the dealer of her current car (Toyota). Apparently the salesperson had one car, which he wanted to sell to her, and immediately gave her a quote. He totally didn’t ask her what she wanted and –more important- why she wants a new car. So, she came to me with the quote. And I asked her the questions, which a ‘normal’ salesperson was supposed to do. Then I did show her some other brands on the computer and we went off to some dealers. At the Renault dealer the salesperson was very polite and especially very patient. He took a lot of time to explain to my mother and was totally not pushy. So, we planned to have a test-drive the next morning. On our way out, th

Multidisciplinary collaboration is crucial

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Yesterday I did watch a documentary about urbanization. Besides the fact that by 2050 more than 50% of the world's population will live in cities, the most interesting part was that urbanization was considered from different perspectives. Technology (Siemens) provided a very interesting view on the infrastructure and control systems, parts of which are currently piloted in Masdar City. Ikea is also very innovative in the sense that they are building houses in Sweden and are setting up complete blocks of houses in London (LandProp). The mosts interesting perspective was form a physician (Geoffrey West) who looked at cities 'with biology glasses on'. His main finding is: We all know that we can't predict the future with 100% certainty, however we can be quite accurate if we innovate with a multidisciplinary team. And I mean really multidisciplinary, so not a team consisting of different departments from just one company. What is trem

Research is an integral part of innovation

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Although we mostly focus on generating ideas and executing the best ideas, we tend to forget research. We forget it because we are too busy, have no time and/or resources or are too focused on internal processes. We are already pretty satisfied if we manage to have discussions with (potential) customers. However, there is huge benefit in exploring available data on the internet for your specific area of innovation. It is quite simple to find relevant research from universities, writers, NGO's, Think-Tanks and other institutions. Just use Google search and also use the search function of social media (usually that social media info is realtime available). As I am reading the book “Poor Economics” by Banerjee and Duflo, I noticed a chapter about entrepreneurship. In there it is clearly stated and researched that “microcredit does not seem to lead to a radical transformation in the clients' lives”. Also they highlight “the disappointing effects of the bu

Positive feedback increases innovation

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The culture of an organization is maybe the most important factor for the level of innovation. A traditional, hierarchical culture clearly doesn't stimulate grassroots ideas and the focus is on maintaing the status quo. More open and team based cultures are much more aligned with disruption via new ideas. It is crucial to continuously stimulate the employees (and customers) to come up with new ideas and suggestions. However, negative feedback will immediately results in less ideas which are being submitted. As a manager (and leader) you have to know the implications of the Losada Line. Based on Losada's extensive mathematical modeling, 2.9013 is the ratio of positive to negative interactions necessary to make a corporate team successful. This means that it takes about three positive comments, experiences, or expressions to fend off the languishing effects of one negative. Dip below this tipping point, now known as the Losada Line, and the workplace perfo