Future from past: Columbia professor shows India the key to innovation

What makes innovation happen? Columbia Business School professor William Duggan's book Strategic Intuition answers that question.

While reading it, what struck me was how closely the principles he discovered mirrored those that I had used in creating my own innovations. You will frequently see "I agree" on the margins of my copy of the book.

One of the principles Duggan describes is: selective recombination of previous elements (perhaps from different disciplines) into a new whole." See how it applies to one of my innovations — the business process centric approach to software development (aka Process-Centered Design). Let me show you the original version of the approach, which actually was used in user interface (UI) design. Now, UI design belongs to a decades-old discipline called Human-Computer Interaction. I broke through the boundaries of the HCI discipline and borrowed from the business process management discipline to create the process-centric approach.

That's one of the little "secrets" to how innovators innovate!

Duggan is presenting "Strategic Intuition: The Keys to Innovation" at four cities in India starting Feb 8 (I attended his shorter version at Columbia Business School NYC).

If you really want to contribute to advances in your own field, you should study how others did it. As Duggan says, "The future comes from the past."

Innovation leaders are a different breed: my article at NASSCOM blog

To most companies and managers, while the importance of Innovation might be clear, the answer to "Where do I start?" might not be clear. Creating a senior leadership position in Innovation is the answer.

Leaders who can lead the Innovation agenda in your organization are a breed different than the best corporate and project managers. If so, who might qualify to be an Innovation leader?

In an article that NASSCOM invited me to write, I answer this question with a little help from Jean-Philippe Deschamps, former VP at Arthur D. Little.

Click here to read the article at the NASSCOM website. NASSCOM, by the way, is india's chamber of commerce of IT.

My NASSCOM Emerge session on Change leadership

My 2-hour presentation titled How Leaders Make Change Happen was held at NASSCOM's headquarters in New Delhi on January 29, 2010. Neeru Goel, Director, Snap-On Business Solutions welcomed the audience. Close to 30 people in management positions in areas ranging from engineering to business development to HR attended the session.

I designed the session around real-world cases, starting with insights from my own Change initiative. I suggested that 3 participants share their change leadership experience. Interestingly, rather than just 3, nearly everyone shared their challenges and ideas. SB Navrang, Manager Business Development, Symmetrical Management Consulting said, "Wonderful interacting with Pradeep Henry and others ... best part was the open discussion."

Innovation being a Change trigger, a lot of discussion was around it. Participants felt that culture has been hindering creative Indians from innovating for the world. The way a child is raised, the education system, the corporate culture — all were pointed out by the audience as reasons for the country's poor performance in terms of producing world-class innovations.

NASSCOM is india's chamber of commerce of IT. And Emerge, which organized my session, is a NASSCOM initiative that helps advance the growth of emerging companies.

Thanks to Avinash Raghava, NASSCOM's Regional Director (North), whose foresight resulted in this Change leadership session.

Mike Dalton's invitation

I recently received an invitation from innovation expert Mike Dalton. Since the late 90s, I've received invitations ... to write ... to speak ... for media and other interviews. But, this one from Mike was different. Mike had just finished writing his book Simplifying Innovation and he wanted me to review it.

Mike's book is a business novel. If you have read Who killed Change in your organization?, you know I don't seem to enjoy reading fiction anymore. Mike wanted me to focus primarily on Part V that covers the Theory of Constraints, based on which the book describes an innovation approach. Turns out, the chapters in Part V do not have the story! I finished the review and I'm thankful to Mike for the opportunity.

The book has been published and you'll find it here: http://www.simplifyinginnovation.com/.

The skyscraper race: celebrating the original innovators

Chicago, USA: the original leader/innovator of "skyscraping"

The latest skyscraper just beat the one that until now held the record for the world's tallest. Countries in Asia and the Middle East are constantly in a race for the tallest. And we're not always sure about the motive.

Now cut to the original leaders/innovators of "skyscraping." Back in the 19th century, to build the first "skyscraper" required THREE things. The FIRST was the invention of a safe elevator in 1853 by American inventor Elisha Graves Otis. The SECOND was the invention of a new structural frame by American architect William Le Baron Jenney. The THIRD was the presence of a need to achieve new heights ... In the 1880s, Chicago experienced explosive growth, the available land could not keep up with the demand, and the only alternative was to build up.

I do know of the complexities and challenges of designing today's skyscrapers. And I do admire the ingenuity of the architects who design them ... American Adrian Smith, for example, who architected today's tallest Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

But there's something special about the original pioneers and innovators. Their creativity. Their thought-leadership. Their research and investment. Their courage to remove the first obstacles. Their willingness to take the risk. Their ability to think ahead ... It must have been a LOT TOUGHER to design and plan New York City's 102-story Empire State Building in the 1920s -- nearly a century ago!

How would you define success differently in the New Decade?

"The attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like" is how dictionary.com defines success. The definition demonstrates the area of focus of a lot of people and organizations -- self.

Selfish, short-term, money-above-everything-else practices are therefore common. All of which typically ignore excellence. All of which might ignore or even hurt people/organizations other than self.

I'd rather determine an individual's success based on the Value he or she delivered to people/organizations OTHER THAN himself or immediate family. Going forward, could we ask "So you have money (or So you have quickly gotten to the top of the corporate ladder, etc), but what positive, new value have you delivered to OTHERS?"

Sure this requires a fundamental change in thought, attitudes, and practices. Which might make it a long-term initiative. But, could we start now?

Christmas 2003, IBM, and Change!

That's me in the picture after shopping at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. That was back in December 2003. Picture courtesy: Arun Christian.

Here's what was significant about that San Francisco trip as regards "Change" (which you know is a dominant theme in this blog). Arun and I represented Cognizant, which interestingly -- and challengingly -- had to co-execute with IBM a software project for a large customer.

The IBM representative with whom we closely worked showed us a 30/40 page template we were supposed to use. Generally, nobody questions IBM, right? IBM does such thorough work. I know this because I've been involved in several projects done for IBM in locations such as Sweden, Japan, and the US back in the late 80s and 90s. I have learned a lot from that experience and I'm grateful to the organization. However, rather than the longish template, I suggested a one and half page checklist instead. I also showed how we could discover new insights and value by studying the as-is business processes by visiting the customer's call center.

We did study the call center (a 2-hour drive) and gave a one and half (or so) page recommendation. The IBM expert enjoyed the new way of doing things. And the customer was happy because they could see a different level of value coming out of this project.

Often, authors and thought-leaders suggest how to "control" people and things around you in order to make Change happen. From my 20+ years of experience constantly challenging the status quo, I can tell you that one of the fundamental things you need has to come from you ... COURAGE.

Merry Christmas to you! And wishing you COURAGE to Change things in the New Year!

Business model intimacy

Courtesy: NobelPrize.org

The Grameen Bank success story continues to be researched and written about. Other companies have tried to repeat the Bank's model. Is there a fundamental difference between the original innovation and the followers? In MIT Sloan Management Review (Summer 2009), Erik Simanis and Stuart Hart compare the original model with that of India-based Hindustan Unilever's model and point out a crucial difference.

Grameen Bank was a result of personal bond and shared vision between Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and Bangladeshi farmers/villagers. Yunus and the villagers spent quality time together as a community before the innovator launched the bank. While Grameen Bank became a profitable and scalable village bank, the authors say that Hindustan Unilever's project is "unlikely to grow into anything more than a new distribution channel." While Grameen Bank generated a "groundswell" of demand," Hindustan Unilver's entrepreneur turnover rate reached 50% within 3 months of project launch and the company's resource-intensive push strategy only "met with consumer skepticism."

The difference, the authors say is: business model intimacy. It is a community-company relationship with a jointly constructed vision. The "better life for the community" vision instills a sense of responsibility in the community for the success of the company.

Companies including those in India -- where business model innovation is often the only form of innovation you find -- should learn from Yunus' original innovation model where intimacy is an essential attribute. For some companies, this might require moving away from profit-maximizing, which is typically achieved by compromising value for other stakeholders in the ecosystem. For all organizations pursuing business model innovation, Yunus' model certainly requires two things: (a) Change in the way they understand "value" and (b) Change in how they understand and practice innovation.

Do you know of other intimacy-embeded business model innovations?

Is someone trivializing your accomplishments?

When someone gets up laughing after a fall, he or she is trivializing the incident. That is a common tactic and is acceptable. However, when someone, say, calls Holocaust just an event in history, such trivializing is perceived as an attack or a deliberate agenda to make light of something significant.

In the corporate world, trivializing is common. Bosses use it to postpone the promotion you've been asking for. Subordinates use it against their boss/employer -- for example, when a lower performance rating hurts them. Peers use it to gain a "competitive edge" over you.

I'm an innovator and Change leader based in India and I experience this "attack" every day. Now, I recognize them instantly. How can you figure out if someone is trivializing, say, your accomplishment? There are many behaviors that give away the hidden motive.

1. They may say something like ...

• "It is not new. Probably there are many other ..." OR "I know that some of the bigger companies already use ..."
• "Perhaps there are other aspects that are more important ..."
• "I'm sure there are better ways to ..."
• "Today, the world actually is moving toward something else ..."

Sure, such responses actually might be genuine and useful feedback. The test therefore starts only when you ask them for data/references. If they had wanted to trivialize, they know they've been trapped and you probably won't hear from them again!

2. Your "attackers" also reveal their true motive when they ignore all the good things you have done and divert attention to that one bad thing.

3. Or they switch to an item of far lesser importance. For example, rather than comment on the content of your presentation, they will talk about your terrific graphic skills as seen in your choice of colors.

4. They most likely start with a praise -- a phrase, a sentence, or even a whole "paragraph" of praise.

Possible reasons for trivializing are: Jealousy ... perception of you as a threat ... arrogance ... genuine ignorance! ... (Feel free to add your own items using the Comments link you'll find at the end of this article).

What can you do about it? Just recognize it and ignore it. Recognizing is important so you don't get misled. Pretty soon -- hopefully -- your "attackers" will realize how immature they have been.

How in the world did he remake, not one, but four industries?

Henry Ford remade the AUTO industry. Juan Trippe invented the global AIRLINE. Conrad Hilton created the world's first international HOTELS. These entrepreneurs -- and many others like them -- defined or redefined a market. A world-changing accomplishment, certainly.

Steve Jobs, on the other hand, has "radically and lucratively reordered" not one, but four markets -- music, movies, mobile phones, and computing. And he has done so ...

... in industries that were already mature

... in just 10 years

... At a time when the economy has been among the worst in history.

How did he do it? Do you think anyone can repeat this accomplishment? "Only the next Steve Jobs can," you might say!

Source: Nov 23, 2009 issue of FORTUNE, which has named Steve Jobs "CEO of the Decade"