mindshift innovation

Generation We - the Millennials

2008-12-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

Today 6% of the workforce is made up of Millennials (@1980-2000).

By 2018 - it will be 43% - the largest block.

Boomers will drop from 50% to 24%.

GenX will drop for 38% to 33%.

In the next five years 60% of current CEO will be retired.

If you didn't notice the ground shift on November 4th - you were asleep.

By 2016 Millennials will be the largest voting block. They won't stay home for this next election - in fact they are getting ready NOW. They have good reason too - and - they think they can make a difference.

Is your company or organization ready? If you haven't already begun to introduce these kids into your leadership circles - you may be too late to get their attention.

At the recent CoreNet Global Summit we learned that Boeing has begun to design new facilities for the Jr. High kids that will be filling them when these buildings come on line in the next ten years.

Watch the video. If you are worried about these "slackers" who show no respect and want weekends and an occasional Tuesday off - don't be.

Generation WE: The Movement Begins... from Generation We on Vimeo.

Xobni, Mindmap, Anagram and Ijot

2008-11-17T05:31:00.000-08:00

This video shares some great productivity tools. I am an avid user of Mindmap and will now add Mindmap to my presentations.

Tips for presentations, creative thinking, searching for hidden information, how to add meta-tags to Outlook or Address to quickly find the person you want, how to monitor where you spend most of your time on your computer...

Great for Windows - not for Apple users.

CoreNet Global Summit - Orlando

2008-11-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Dean Strombom from Gensler, Mark Iammarino from Truner and myself will introduce Mindshift to CoreNet.

I've included our PowerPoint. It is hosted at Slideshare. If you go to the site you will find the notes for each slide can download the presentation.

Principle 1 - Trust-Based Teams
Principle 2 - Getting it Right Up Front
Principle 3 - Built-in Sustainability
Principle 4 - Continuous Improvement

Key 1 - Big BIM
Key 2 - Lean Project Delivery (or similar)
Key 3 - Shared Risk/Reward
Key 4 - Off-site Fabrication
Key 5 - Workplace Performance Improvement

Operation Mindshift Corenet 08

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: align toyota)

Gensler's Releases its 2008 Workplace Survey

2008-11-03T08:50:00.001-08:00

Here is the release of Gensler's 2008 Workplace Survey.

As a bonus I've also included BusinessWeek's Podcast on Innovation; featuring an interview with Diane Hoskins overview of the survey: "Can a Well Designed Space Pay Off?"

The report was previewed a few weeks ago at the following link: WPI Preview.

Gensler begins to address the Holy Grail that well designed spaces do improve company performance. This is more than a report for "true believers." It is a tool to put in the hands of any corporate executive.

So - spread the word. Dowload the PDF and listen to the audio. It is especially pertinant during this downturn when every executive is looking for a means to boost company performance.

Diane makes it clear in the interview. Good design is not the same as expensive design. The report is myth busting when it comes to general impressions about opting for Good Design vs. Low Cost Design.

It is a mindshift worth exploring.

International Design Symposium and Tribes

2008-11-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

I'm returning from presenting and attending the 2008 International Design Summit at Ringling Collenge in Sarasota. I presented with Joe Tankersly, a colleague from Disney Imagineering. Susan Szenasy, senior editor for Metropolis, conducted a panel discussion Monday on the BIM revolution. The link above will lead you to the video of that and other sessions.

Ringling is an impressive design college, perhaps the most technologically advanced. Many of Pixar's animators and production talent come out of the school.

The theme was visual, social and mobile. Leaders from Google, Microsoft, Autodesk, XPlane, Adobe, Walter Bender with Sugarlabs, Businessweek, Dopplr, ATT, Nearfield, Reelfx, Dollar App, IDEO and elasticspace presented. A pretty incredible draw. The venue allowed a good bit of interaction with the different presenters.

Here is the presentation that Joe and I offered.

Design Revolution Sarasota 081020

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: culture broacast)

Recruiting the CRE-Revolution Tribe

2008-10-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

I'm recruiting a tribe to change the face of the commercial real estate industry. Here are the requirements:

A desire to see fundamental change brought to the industry.
Help reviewing and editing the manuscript for the book to be published by Wiley publishing this August.
Securing an endorsement from your senior management for the book. That endorsement will be included in the book and with the marketing material.
Spreading the blog and any information related to the revolution to your peers and friendly clients.
I would like you to attempt to put your comments on the chalkboard for our project management site. At the very least be able to access the site and download the chapters for review. I will set up the site and give you a simple Login and Password.
Begin collecting a list of potential tribe members so we can continue to build a buzz of interest.

This is why I need your help.

My deadline for the manuscript is January 15. There are a lot of facts and details so I need help fact checking. Along with that I am including cost ranges and want to make sure anything we provide is defendable.
I need stories to illustrate some of the points.
I need quick turn-around. If I send something out I need it reviewed and commented on within a week. If you don't have anything to offer I need an email that let's me know that this is not a chapter you can help with but will eagerly help on another.
I will send out a request for a fact, information or a reference from time-to-time.
I need you to spread the word to other early adopters who would enjoy following and becoming part of the wave.

Here is what you get:

Your contribution will be acknowledged in the book. If you provide a specific quote or a story your name will be cited on that page. If you provide support proofing the chapters you will be cited on our shout to the tribe pages.
If we receive a blurb from one of your senior management you will receive a free copy of the book.
I am checking with the publisher if they will let me provide a free copy of the book to all who contribute.
You and your company will be able to pre-order copies of the book at 50% off. The retail price will be $39.95.
You will also receive an exclusive "out takes" document that includes quotes and sections we did not have room to include.

To sign up I simply need you to respond by email and say; "I'm in."

Once you sign up you will receive the book proposal and the the introduction with instructions for what I am looking for.

Chapter one should follow this weekend.

This is history making. There has never been a collaborative effort like this within our industry that will be published by a major publisher. It moves us all a little closer to tackling industry challenges using "crowdsourcing."

Welcome to the CRE-Tribe!

The End of the World As We Know It

2008-10-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

This week's blog is long overdue. The world is moving too fast to digest so I've found some other well digested material to offer. I've created a new term in honor of our financial meltdown. Instead of Other People's Money (OPM) I'll harness Other People's Content (OPC).

McGraw Hill just published its State of the Industry update. You can link to the content housed at www.minshiftwiki.com.

At the bottom of the blog you will find a PowerPoint with a very good overview of our financial crisis.

The conclusions for each report are similar. 2008 marks the end of an old era. Those who accurately see the new fundamentals and act will rise as new leaders. Those who hesitate, muddle or try to blend a mix of old and new will recede into marginal status. This is the time that weeds out leaders from caretakers.

In the next blog I will provide details about a tribe I will form to help Mindshift write its book. If you know you want in before you have the details just reply to my email (rex@rexmiller.net). I'll call you with details.

Creditcrisis 30slides Final

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: capitalism mortgage)

Gensler's upcoming 2008 Workplace Survey

2008-10-01T13:45:00.001-07:00

Measuring the link between well designed space and productivity is the Holy Grail of architecture, design and the manufacturers who create office environments. We have heard stories, we know it has to be true - but few have ever seen it first hand.

In truth we have all seen the positive and negative impact of good and bad design, but never translated into a spreadsheet proforma or balance sheet.

But we are getting closer. Gensler will soon release their 2008 Workplace Survey for the United States. They are better defining work modes and present correlations between high performing companies and their internal assessments of their space.

Neuroscience offers a window to where this is heading. There exists a direct connection between the rapidly growing breakthroughs and usefulness of Neuropsychology and MRI technology.

With more accurate MRI technology science is moving from an understanding of basic brain function, to predictability and now to altering brain functions (enhancing performance). Advanced neuro-stimulators now recreate brain patterns to relieve Parkinson victims from the terrible shakes and tremors they experience. The next hills on the horizon are Alzheimer’s, depression and then your guess is as good as mine.

Here is the connection. For years we have understood that there is a connection between organizational performance and the space it inhabits. Reports like Gensler’s aid in understanding the basic components of an organizations “brain” functions. They have developed tools to better predict how one organization will perform compared to another based on how well the space supports the people who inhabit it.

The next step and breakthrough will lead to predictive design tied to a company’s proforma and traceable onto the balance sheet.

I’ll offer one more example. Apple makes some pretty awesome machines with the MacBook, iPod and iPhone. You can see, however, the migration placing more value on the software for functional distinction. Our industry has focused on the “machine,” the thing, the space but with tools and research from firms like Gensler we are discovering that the intelligence that improves the productivity of the people will become the new distinction.

This is my opinion, I think our shift toward the intelligence of space will result in simpler, more intuitive, open ended and adaptable design.

Other's rely on productivity gains the old fashioned way:

If the message matters - test it with an outsider

2008-09-12T18:10:00.000-07:00

Have you had a solution for a company but struggled to connect with your prospect?

Or, a need for help but unable to convey it in a way to get the support you were looking for?

Have you found yourself needing to find different words to say the same thing?

Sometimes you need someone else (a stranger to your world) to read or hear your message. I'll often ask my wife to listen to a presentation or read an important document or a few friends that don't mind my calling on their help. If they like it (not just understand it) then I know it will connect with others.

I can also tell by the tone of their responses if I have to go back to the drawing board.

A friend shared about a marketing effort that was going nowhere. This was several years ago. A company was financing people purchasing gold and they profited from the appreciation. The original pitch went like this:

We will finance 75% of your purchase of gold. (This went nowhere even though it was a good deal)

The second pitch went like this:

Buy a $6 gold coin for $2. (The increase in sales was dramatic)

Our words and phrases can make a difference. Some have the gift or skill to effortlessly turn a phrase. For the rest of us - thank goodness for loving spouses and tolerant friends.

You will enjoy this clip from the Canne Film Festival. Kyle, thank you for sending it.

PS: My wife likes this one.

What does common sense have to do with it?

2008-09-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

I had lunch today with a top strategic airport planner. We compared notes about the similar dysfunctions within the airport industry in planning and implementing and the commercial real estate world. We were both struck by the cost of these dysfunctions and how stuck each industry seems to be in repeating the same behavior over and over again.

Mindshift has proposed what seems to be a common sense alternative. Deliver a turnkey solution with an integrated team based on trust. Two blogs ago we shared the story of a developer who built a LEED Platinum building and did it at a lower cost than comparable conventional buildings. They used an integrated team - makes sense.

I know airports and construction are complicated and layered with obstacles and land mines. However, I keep looking at people whose success is based on taking complicated challenges and finding key fundamental principles to focus on.

Here are a few examples of solutions and people tackling huge problems by finding a common sense lever.

Cool Roofs and Cool Pavement

If roofs and pavement in the 100 largest urban cities were changed to a white reflective surface it would offset 44 metric gigatons of greenhouse gases. It would offset 10 years of industrial use and equal more than a year's output from every country on the planet. These are called "cool roofs" and "cool pavement." The article is from yesterday's LA Times.

The Pickensplan

Today the United States imports 70% of its oil. We use 25% of the world supply. We pay other countries $700 billion a year. World production peaked in 2005 at 85 million barrels a day. Rising economies like China and India have and will continue to compete for these limited resources. Boone Pickens proposes a common sense plan (Pickensplan) that provides a bridge of safety until more innovative energy sources are developed. Each of these sources is cleaner than oil.

Wind
Natural Gas

We will be able to reduce our demand for foreign oil by about 15 million barrels a day. The investment required is approximately the same amount that we send to other countries for their oil.

Consider the positive ripple of benefits to the economy, to the security of the nation, untangling many of our dangerous alliances and moving toward clean energy.

Thomas Friedman's new book; Hot, Flat and Crowded, makes a similar sobering argument.

Warren Buffet is the guru of financial common sense. He advises to stay out of debt, invest in what you know, get your money to work for you and be patient. If you make it this far and have the time watch this video. It gets to the heart of Mindshift's mission. It answers this question, "if you (whether owner or supplier) want a successful project - how would you chose your team?"

The lowest price?

The slickest presentation?

The most comprehensive proposal?

The nicest prototype (mockup)?

When we major on the majors I think our decisions get easier and make common sense. When our focus is on secondary issues; low cost, best presentation... we typically sacrifice the majors and then life really gets complicated.

The Story of Psycho-Milt

2008-09-03T17:48:00.000-07:00

How do groups get things done? Or more importantly how will groups in the near future get things done?

Clay Shirky answers this question in the most profound way - be sure to watch the video below. Here are some of my notes and thoughts after listening to it 4 times today. He articulates what I've been fumbling to say in my book and whenever I speak.

For 500 years when people wanted to get something done they formed institutions; businesses, churches, schools, governments, associations, clubs... You get it.

Communication costs have fallen to such a degree - that we are beginning to see coordination built into the infrastructure; Flickr, Amazon, Netflix, Ebay, Meetup... Okay?

Pause - think about this.

Institutions are driven to optimize the 80/20 principle. In fact if they can get 90 percent of the benefit from 10% of their efforts - all the better.

Psycho-milt changes everything (watch the video). If the barriers (costs) of harvesting benefit from the low producing 80% are removed - what would that mean?

Some companies like Proctor and Gamble are taking this approach to their R&D - open source collaborative platforms.

Mindshift was formed as one a collaborative platform. We're still old school in our thinking (we're boomers) and do better face-to-face than we do virtually - but we are inching our way to illumination.

This video by Clay Shirky might just take you all the way to illumination. Thank you professor Shirky!

I'm tempted to shave my head.

Green Mythbusting

2008-09-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

One of our founding members commented that using "turnkey" teams and integrated project delivery is where Sustainability and Green were three or four years ago.

The 4 minute mile for LEED Certification, so to speak, has been to deliver Platinum level at a comparable cost to conventional construction.

Our team returned a few weeks ago from our summer summit and met with a developer who did just that. In fact, they delivered a LEED Platinum building close to 200,000 square feet at cost 3% less than comparable conventional Class A space. The operating costs are also 45% less than neighboring buildings. Oh yes - they have a fully leased building that is 21% higher than other buildings in that market.

They did so using a tightly aligned team and taking a turnkey approach. If you would like to find out more about the project send me an email.

Mindshift has adopted a "Do-Tank" strategy. We validating the mindshift model with live projects before we present with a clear roadmap to our colleagues and peers.

We want our industry to be able to sit in front of corporate decision makers with a new value proposition. This IBM ad captures the shift we would like to see.

The Cluetrain for YouTube

2008-08-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

In 2004 I wrote the following introduction to Part 1 of the Millennium Matrix.

"Our communication tools have changed over time: from the spoken word, to the written word, to the broadcast-image word, to the digital multimedia word. With each change has come a new and different way of seeing the world. Here's what happens:

When our communication tools change, our perception changes.
Changed perception creates a changed understanding.
Changed understanding changes our psychological makeup.
Changed psyches change our interaction with the world.
Changes in our interaction with the world change our relationships to one another.
Changes in our relationships lead to changes in the institutions that facilitate those relationships.
Our psychological makeup changes, and we reshape our world in our own image.

I thought all I needed to do is make a simple and profound observation about our changing world and everyone who read it would go - OMG - that is cool. I need to change everything!!

Well - only two problems. The message has only reached at the most 10,000 (if I'm really generous with all of my speaking, articles and book sales). Problem #2 - when you read that above paragraph did you pause, reflect and said - holy cow - this changes everything? I didn't think so. This blog gives you (and me) a second chance at that revelation. There is only 1 challenge - you need to watch a 60 minute video. I promise, if you do - you will be hit by the Cluetrain.

Michael Wesch is a professor of anthropology at Kansas State. I met him in 2004 at a conference at Fordham. I presented ideas from my book and he presented the impact of media on a tribe in New Guinea. Not much in common on the surface. However, I kept in touch because I was fascinated by his insight and understanding of the power of media to change worlds. A few years later I run across a YouTube video created by his class that explained how dramatically our education is changing. Then came the video on Web 2.0.

Both were so profound that they became phenomena on YouTube with millions of views.

Here is the third video that I highly recommend. Even though it is an hour - it will be one of the most informative hours you will invest if you believe that its important for you to "get it" when it comes to the YouTubization of the our culture.

This video is for executives - especially those who have the word marketing in their job description. This is not a video that you will immediately generate new ideas for campaigns (and please don't be as naive as GM - if you watch you will see what I mean). For those who do get it (the Cluetrain) - there are powerful implications for transforming how your company communicates with itself, its stakeholders, clients and the world. True to McLuhan's prophetic utterances it can release a level of innovation and connection that seems so hard to tap these days.

YouTube's sweet spot are the 18-34 year olds in terms of generating content.

Wesch's video explains how YouTube has exposed a new cultural tension.

We express individualism but desire community.
We express independence but desire relationship.
We express commercialization or branding but desire authenticity.

We see connection in the current context as constraining - but this new medium allows connection without constraint.

There is a new dynamic - a new vibe - that we need to pay attention too.

mindshift has created an emotional connecting point for its members, changing our industry and improving our world. It has also created a platform for practicing participatory innovation. We call that being a "do-tank."

I'll be curious to see how many actually view the video. In many ways I'm jealous. I wrote a book and have spoken to several thousand with essentially the same message over the course of four years. These videos reach millions (in weeks) and provide a deeper level of understanding than 250 pages of writing. I'm old school.

Chopin and the Recession Impulse Theory

2008-08-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

The video for this blog is a delightful insight into classical music but far more. The message I heard, and I think you will too, is a real mindshift.

If you listen closely I think you'll find a key to navigating the recession with grace and vision. Its not what you think. I'm not suggesting that you change your listening habits and become a classical music buff. I'm certainly not making the shift from Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

The message behind the message is being able to hold down your impulses to play through your recession melody using a single buttocks. You'll need to watch to understand.

I'll see you on the other side of the video.

Now you know what a single buttocks performance is all about. The challenge with a recession is that we tend to play it note by note. We're missing the big picture. We miss the melody and therefore the drama of the song (and story). We labor but we are so focused on the execution of each decision that there is no link or unifying narrative to make any of it fruitful or meaningful.

Recession rookies behave like this. Managers who are afraid behave like this. Sometimes we all behave like this.

This recession is a song. It has common themes and if you listen it will telegraph where it is going. Just like this Chopin piece - the tension builds, it subsides, it looks like it is moving toward a conclusion only to go back into several stanzas of indecision.

I was with someone today and comparing notes about past recessions. He said, "I know where this is headed. Several weaker companies will get weeded out. I'll have to get back to some basics, watch my spending and raise my game and in a year or so I'll be in a stronger position."

What song would you pick to describe how this recession feels? The songs we pick and associate to specific seasons and times really doe make a difference in how we perceive those seasons and times.

Don't let the media pick the song you play in your head about this recession. Pick your own. Don't focus too much on each day or week but try to see the bigger picture. Combine your one buttock approach with a vision for where you would like to be when this particular melody is over.

Happy mindshifting!

Surviving the Economy This Year

2008-08-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

This is a weird recession. I've lived through four and this one doesn't follow any of the previous patterns. Some companies, regions and industries are having their best year ever. Others are diving into a classic survival mode; cutting costs, pulling back, lay-offs and hoping to wait it out.

The one lesson I have learned is that you have got to have a mindshift in order to come out ahead of your competition. When sales slow or signs of recession appear - MOST companies and individuals go into a classic survival mode. Not only do many of these tactics weaken a company long-term (like letting go of experienced talent) they also create a tone in the company that deadens the necessary creativity needed to innovate your way through and out of the valley.

Navigating these waters is more of an art than a science. I'll share a few of the approaches that have worked for me over the next few blogs. During each of these periods I thrived - not at first - but sooner than my competition and when I climbed back out of the valley I was so far ahead of my competition that I was able to work half-days in one scenario, receive an nice promotion and transfer in a second and launch a new career in the third.

The first dive took place in the late 70s and early 80s. (High oil prices, high interest rates - my first mortgage was 12.5% and that was a bargain, stagflation).

The second dive took place in Texas during the mid-1980s. (S&L crisis; Oil Embargo & Devaluation of the Peso)

The third dive took place in DC during the early 90s. (Black October, Oil Spike and Gulf War 1)

The fourth dive took place in Texas during the early 2000s (tech bubble - this was the ugliest one)

Here are some of the things I learned and used. I'll go into more detail over the next few blogs:

A strong network
Don't wait for an official notice
Automation
New markets
Creative compensation
Dashboards
Mastermind team
Planting new seeds
Holding on to good members (creatively)
Clearing out the closet
Drip marketing
Prioritizing clients
Sifting through the forgotten
A lesson from dad
Owners can sell too
Cash is king
MacKay 66
Remembering
Perspective
Virtual Teams (SWARM)

If you are not seated by 8AM - don't bother showing up!

2008-07-19T21:19:00.001-07:00

I was in DC this week and had lunch with a good friend. He works for one of the larger regional firms. Business is down. Fuel costs eat at their profits to the tune of a couple of million dollars more than last year, and rising. Smaller competitors are cutting their prices just to keep revenues flowing.

I like the tact his VP of Sales took. He called a meeting. He sent out word, be here at 8 AM on Friday - no excuses. If you have an appointment reschedule it. If you are not seated by 8 AM then don't bother showing up at all. When my friend told me the story I could feel my own blood pumping harder.

True to form the doors were closed and locked at 8 AM. The VP of Sales got up and said - business is tough and then provided a clear set of priorities for everyone to focus on. He said if you are producing - no problem. If you are not - then you need to figure out how and let us know how we can help. That took less than 10 minutes. The remaining 50 minutes was spent letting people share ideas, ask for help and reflect on what each person can do better. True to his promise the VP dismissed them at one minute to 9AM.

The bottomline is that it got back to fundamentals.

Set time and relationship priorities.
Develop and work your network.
Have a plan, set goals, measure results, make corrections...
Ask for help.
Don't waste time or money - be smart.
Find ways to save.
Thank your customers in a personal way.
Operate or of the company's strength and your personal strength.

My friend said it was the best sales meeting he has been to in his long career. He was motivated and doubling back on the fundamentals. The VP of Sales knew what he needed to do. Not its up to the rest of us to do what we need to do.

Enjoy this video by Brian Tracy. It will reinforce the lesson.

I will be hiking for the next two weeks with my oldest son - so no blogs for a while.

As a bonus blog here is a link with 8 steps for achieving exponential growth.

Send a note home to mom praising your Millennial!

2008-07-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

You may think, I'm kidding. Try it.

I've been knee deep studying millennials, or as I prefer - digital natives, for 15 years. What you are about to view in this Part 2 video are some of the strategies companies pursue to connect.

Why is it such a big deal? Why should any company feel it should "lower" itself to coddle these kids?

Here is a demographic that scares the bejebbers out of executives. As boomers begin to move to retirement (many well healed enough to leave early) there are 20 million fewer bodies to take their place. That's right - 20 million or 25% fewer. The oldest boomers turn 62 this year - eligible for early retirement.

What you will see in this video displays a lot of the idiocy companies are buying into because they haven't done their homework and what to do something. They are reaching out to motivational "experts" to the tune of $50 billion a year, my price just went up.

The secret is still wrapped in the relational strategy I referred to in the last blog. Trust me, its a whole lot cheaper, lasting and more rewarding to follow the relational route. If you want to get a crash course on the difference between the Print generation (builders), the Broadcast generation (boomers) and this Digital generation (millennials) - here is an article I wrote for Futurist Magazine called The Digital Dynamic.

If you want to check the universe of motivation tools and gimmicks check out: The Motivation Show. It is in Chicago in September.

Here is video #2

Have you given your millennial a trophy for showing up today?

2008-07-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

This incredible generation is the most intelligent, tech savvy, confident generation to walk the planet. They want to succeed, they think they already are successful (special) - however, most are clueless about the world of work, the old school mentality that they will confront or how to make a positive contribution.

On the flip side companies are clueless to the talent rich reservoir millennial's represent, how to build an on-ramp for them into corporate life or how to motivate and develop them.

One - key - this generation is hungry for mentoring and personal attention. 50% come from divorced families, 75% come from 2 income families, 30% of these kids were born out of wed-lock. This relational component will be the super-glue for corporate HR strategies going forward. With one caution - millennial's do not trust adults.

Without a long-term strategy, patience and the willingness to see the first batch or two roll their eyes at this "obvious attempt to buy their loyalty" they will bolt. Once they see the strategy is embedded or is adopted as a core value then they will turn around as well.

This six minute video provides a great overview of your next corporate challenge!

Visual Thinking is a Future Skill for Today

2008-07-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

I use Mind Mapping extensively. When I first began to put ideas together about mindshift I developed an extensive Mind Map expanding over several pages. It helped me pull together ideas from a wide range of categories and phases onto one platform. The Mindmap software allowed me to use my thoughts in the moment and did not force me to drill down topic by topic. The graphical interface also provided a big picture snapshot at any time to maintain continuity with the overall goals.

Here is a video that better tells the story of how an architectural firm in England beat out over 300 other firms to win a $60million project.

Smart Buildings Can Payback Up Front

2008-07-10T05:59:00.000-07:00

This article from Realcomm highlights the success of the Colonial Brookwood Center.

It’s one thing to hear that intelligent building (IB) technology will reduce operating expenses, save energy, and command a higher rent premium. It’s entirely different when you can look at a case study of a property that has done exactly that. Today’s Innovation Spotlight features Colonial Brookwood Center, which has earned a whopping 36% rent premium over market rates due to their intelligent building technologies!

Here is a link to the rest of the article.

This video highlights the largest green public building, the California Academy of Science, scheduled to go online this year, the Adobe HQ makes the case for affordable sustainability with 121% ROI and San Francisco's affordable housing project .

What should a school look like?

2008-07-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a paragraph from an article by Frank Kelly asking some provocative questions.

What do our school buildings say about what we think is really important? What do schools being built in 2008 around Frederick W. Taylor’s and William Wirt’s ideas from 1908 say to kids about their futures? What do schools that mimic the architecture of other centuries say to the children within them working on digital devices? Are our school buildings saying what we want to convey to teachers and students?

Click here for the whole article: "Instruction Drives Construction ... Or Should"

Thank you Dan Beeren's for sending this article. He also has a great blog.

How much "richness" do our cirriculum's offer? For that matter - how much richness do our corporate training programs provide? If I have to sit through another 8 hour training session with a work book, fill in some blanks and a boring PowerPoint that provides the same text as my workbook I will get up and walk out. Make me work - don't just try to fill my brain and time - please!

Preparing to Lead Digital Immigrants

2008-07-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

The video clip is a window into then next cohort joining the workforce. I've watched it several times. I've had to ask, "Are we prepared for the different minds and motivations emerging?"

I've also had to ask am I satisfied with my kids getting the best 15th century education available.

Maryanne Wolf is a Neuro Scientist and describes how interactive digital communication rewires the brains of this next generation.

They are not linear and sequential. They are bi-lateral multi-modal thinkers. I wrote about this in The Millennium Matrix - although research like this was not mainstream at the time.

What does this mean for education? What does it mean for corporations? What does it mean to this next generation?

You can click on the image of the book to find out more details. But make sure you watch the video clip.

8 Secrets to Success - Richard St. John at TED

2008-06-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

Richard St. John spent 7 years and 500 interview to answer the question:

What leads to success?

Passion - (the true amateur - amore)

Work - hard work (but having fun workafrolics)

Good - get really good at something

Focus - drill deep - find the source

Push - the boundaries, push your limits

Serve - where do you add value?

Ideas - innovation, bring your brain to the game

Persistence - (CRAP: criticism, rejection assholes and pressure)

Breaking the Net Zero Energy Barrier

2008-06-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a case study from the Realcomm website. While many are focused on LEED certification that isn't enough to reach the green house gas reductions necessary for the 2030 Challenge. Some say that LEED Platinum will only produce a 30% reduction. The "31 Tannery Project" breaks the 4-minute mile in the zero emmissions race. Its an important project that will attract others to try. Mindshift continues to look for those who push our barriers that allow us to think beyond current limitations. Here are excerpts from the entire article and a link in case you want to look from other articles from Realcom.

The “31 Tannery Project”

There is no disputing that energy is one of the most important issues of our time. Everywhere, people are talking about energy – its skyrocketing costs that impact our economy; the political implications of our dependence on foreign energy sources; growing pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change; the need to provide more energy to meet increasing demand.

In our quest for energy solutions, one thing is certain: if we are going to make an impact on energy use we have to address our buildings, which use 76% of all electricity generated. There is a common public misconception that cars and trucks are the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. The fact is that buildings account for nearly half (48%) of all greenhouse gas emissions, which is far more than transportation (27%) and industry (25%).

Imagine the potential for global energy change if it were possible to have commercial buildings that are not only energy efficient, but are actually producing more energy annually than they consume. The “31 Tannery Project” is receiving international attention for accomplishing just that. 31 Tannery is a 42,000 square foot office and shop building located in Branchburg, New Jersey. It is the first Net Zero Electric Commercial Building in the United States to produce more electricity, on an annual basis, than it consumes. All the excess energy that is generated goes back into the utility grid for others to use.

This project has “raised the bar” on energy standards. 31 Tannery received an Energy Star® certification with a previously unheard of perfect rating of 100. Energy Star®, a joint program of the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ranks buildings against other buildings in the country on a 1 to 100 performance scale. A perfect 100 score means that 31 Tannery is the valedictorian, at the top of its class. The State of New Jersey Executive Order No. 54 calls for an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. 31 Tannery has already achieved an 83% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, decades ahead of New Jersey’s deadline. In recognition, Governor Jon Corzine and the NJ Board of Public Utilities President, Jeanne Fox, visited the facility to present a NJ Clean Energy Award.

Three key areas were addressed to achieve Net Zero Electric results: energy efficiency, renewable energy, and real-time energy monitoring – or, to use a simple analogy, “Diet, Exercise, and a Personal Trainer”.

“Diet” - Energy Efficiency: The 31 Tannery Project incorporates a radiant heating system that consists of approximately 9 miles of PEX tubing embedded in the concrete slabs. The concrete slabs act as a thermal mass for the system to provide comfortable efficient heating. There are 146 loops with 80 zones to control the heat. Water temperature in the system only needs to be heated between 80°F and 100°F. Heated water is provided to the radiant loop by a 14,000 BTU/h gas-fired, low nitrogen oxide, and full modulation condensing boiler operating at 96% efficiency. High-efficiency Energy Star® rooftop units with premium efficiency motors, enthalpy economizers, and embedded network control units provide ventilation and air conditioning. Digital controls and monitoring modulate the systems. The 31 Tannery Project won the Radiant Flooring Association’s Commercial Project of the Year Award for its innovative efficient heating application.

“Exercise” - Renewable Energy: The building has a utility grid tied 223kW dc photovoltaic system that consists of 1,276 solar panels on the roof that feed two 100kW ac 277/480V three-phase inverters to produce renewable electrical energy from the sun. A solar thermal system with rooftop panels, a heat exchanger, and storage tanks eliminate the need for fossil fuels to provide potable hot water also with renewable energy from the sun.

“Personal Trainer” – Real-Time Monitoring: A key ingredient behind the success of the 31 Tannery Project is the real-time energy and building systems monitoring, visualization, and diagnostic system by Noveda Technologies. This system monitors the building’s utility supplied energy, the solar photovoltaic and solar thermal renewable energy systems, and the buildings HVAC systems. The system allows 31 Tannery to maintain comfort, enlist and motivate occupant participation, exceed energy savings goals, and accelerate ROI. Because the system is Web-based, it can be viewed anywhere, at any time. Visitors to the facility are fascinated by viewing dynamic, real-time visualizations in a kiosk display in the lobby. The system also provides educational value and is an excellent way to demonstrate corporate responsibility.

Independent studies from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and several Universities have shown that just monitoring can reduce energy use 5% to 15%. The results from the 31 Tannery Project reinforce these findings.

Just as the microscope and the telescope opened new worlds of discovery and scientific advancement, the real-time energy monitoring system allows us to visualize energy and opens new horizons in energy efficiency. This new technology is very appealing in the real estate community because it can monitor one building or hundreds of buildings, from any location, in real time.

The 31 Tannery project has set a new benchmark and opened new horizons in solving energy issues by being the first to break the Net Zero Electric barrier with commercial buildings. It was accomplished in a commercially viable manner with low-maintenance, easy-to-manage systems and a projected payback of 5 to 7 years. The project’s success captured the attention of the business community and was awarded the New Jersey Business and Industry Associations’ Award for Environmental Project of the Year. One of the big benefits of the real time monitoring and visualization is the occupant behavioral change. Noveda Technologies was also recently awarded a 2008 "Digie Award" by Realcomm for Best Use of Technology.

The Ferreira Group takes their learning and leadership into the community.

Pre-Fab on a Large Scale

2008-06-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

Shaping Tomorrow is a web resource for futurists. Here is a recent abstract written by:

Author
Sheila Moorcroft, Research Director, Shaping Tomorrow

Abstract
Could the announcement that a large part of the 2012 London Olympic Stadium may be deconstructed and sent off to Chicago for the 2016 Olympics trigger renewed interest in offsite, pre-fabricated construction techniques? Possibly yes; but a lot of regulation will need to change.

What is Changing?
Housing markets are in turmoil and house-builders' share prices under pressure. However, there are still long term pressures for change, and the crisis may focus minds on the need for new approaches in order to meet rising expectations and demand.

Housing shortages and unaffordable houses in many areas are forcing a rethink on how we enable lower paid workers to live where they need and want to. Rising energy costs are driving demand for greater efficiency in running costs - more insulation and eco-friendly design. Growing numbers of floods and other environmental disasters need quick solutions to meet housing needs. Mass customisation and personalised design in more and more markets, from sports shoes to cars, mean that we have rising expectations of getting what we want.

Construction techniques that enable easy assembly but also 'relatively easy dis-assembly and reuse' could be the answer.

However, prefabricated housing has a bad image in some countries - especially the UK and the USA, although new entrants and demonstration projects may be beginning to change the game. Elsewhere, it is a different story: pre-fabricated houses from makers such as Toyota and Panasonic are upmarket homes in Japan; in Sweden nearly 70% of new builds are pre-fabricated.

Why is this important?
With share prices low, construction companies may be ripe for takeover by companies willing to take a longer term view. It may also be the right time to innovate ready for the upswing, when it comes. The result may be major new entrants.

Whole life costing and environmental pressures are forcing new approaches to evaluating projects and production techniques in many sectors; and in the case of the Olympic Stadium, legacy issues too. Flexible use, re-use and redefinition of use of office or other space may become a key component of design and planning - from the outset.

But, for radical change - even for those pre-fabricated homes already on the market to be able to sell effectively - regulations, especially in the USA and the UK, and concerns about insurance and other non-technical barriers need to be removed.

Zerohouse image provided by Specht Harpman

Developing Agile Organizations

2008-06-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Making the mindshift to agile organizations and skills is no easy transformation. Don Mroz with the consulting firm Competing Values sent this image and brief review that I thought you would find useful. Management strategy is catching up with the shifting effect of the digital dynamic.

"Over the past few decades strategy has become a plan that positions a company in its external landscape. That's not enough.

Strategy should also guide the development of the company - its identity and purpose - over time." - HBR article by Cynthia Montgomery

De-sign-a-saurus

2008-06-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

According to Everett Roger's diffusion theory a new idea or innovation goes through several phases of adoption:

Innovators - the risk takers who seldom see the fruit of their labor.
Early Adopters - those who connect the dots, develop the prototypes and find enough success to tell others. They become the Opinion Leaders.
Early Majority - those who want to see the business case, the ROI or have strong ties with Early Adopters they trust. This group creates the standards that lead to broad adoption.
Late Majority - the Skeptics who find safety in numbers but typically wait too long to derive any competitive advantage.
Laggards - yup - that's exactly what they are. This group doesn't care if the next innovation cures cancer or brings about world peace. They will stick to those good ole "tired and true" ways.

mindshift is a consortium of early adopter companies developing a prototype for a trust-based integrated approach to design and construction. We are connecting the dots from other innovators in an effort to find a new Social Technology that will provide a far more effective and lower cost model.

The Long Tail of Manufacturing

2008-05-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

The Long Tail is one of my top read recommendations. The basic point is that in the digital world the low cost of production, the low cost of distribution and search create an unlimited number of viable niche markets. The key examples are Amazon.com and Netflix.

The question: "Is there a Long Tail in the real world - or just the virtual world?"

The article Manufacture and Sell Anything - In Minutes in Wired Magazine demonstrates that the Long Tail is expanding - even to the real world of manufacturing.

Here is an introduction to the article by Ian Mount.

Jeffrey Wegesin is a furniture maker. His most popular creation is a curvaceous side table, and even though he has sold only two copies of it, he has already turned a profit. He did it without so much as setting foot in a wood shop. And he is not alone. Wegesin is one of 5,000 merchants who have established accounts with Ponoko, a year-old on-demand manufacturing service in New Zealand.

Link here for the rest of the article.

Why Good People Do Bad Things on Projects

2008-05-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more quotes from the book Broken Buildings Busted Budgets.

Quotes courtesy of Mike Wolff from ProjectSolutions Group in Virginia. The graphic is courtesy of Carlo Macaione from Gensler. Title courtesy of Randy Thompson from Cushman Wakefield.

"Traditionally, architects acted on behalf of owners to mitigate predatory contractor behavior, but increasingly they have shown themselves unsuited to the task. “Buildings have become much more complex,” inducing architects to push technical responsibility and liability onto other parties. “Designers,” he notes, “have become less interested in how the building actually goes together, which causes a disparity between design and construction cost.” The American Institute of Architects revising its standard form agreements to reduce the architect’s scope of services during the construction phase from “full time” on-site availability where it “oversaw” the construction “periodic” site availability where it simply “observed” the construction."

"Others suggest that alternate construction delivery such as fast-track or design-build methods can mitigate problems. The trade-off for owners in design-build is that while they benefit from holding a single source responsible for the design and construction of the project, they give up control of much of the process. Without a doubt, an owner who engages a design-build team must hire an independent owner’s representative to ensure that its design intent and quality expectations are properly executed."

"Few contemporary architects have firsthand knowledge of actual construction method and techniques. One of the biggest problems contractors voice is the poor and incomplete preparation of architectural drawings. While they reflect the design aesthetic desired by the architect, they do so without clearly depicting a corresponding understanding of how the particular design element is to be physically built in the field."

"The construction industry needs one or more intermediaries, firms that will reduce the amount of asymmetric information between owners and contractors and enforce fixed-price contracts. Once those institutions are in place, construction firms can begin to compete on the basis of price, quality, and time."

What are you sinking about?

2008-05-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a remix from three friends, Kerry MacKay and Bill & Jim Couchenour. The message; communicate clearly, intentionally from the context of your audience.

How do you go about “identifying holes in your marketing strategy“.

1st - don’t think like a member of your company. You know all of the buzz words, acronyms and short-cuts. Think like those who have never seen your business, understand or care about your brand or who have no clue as to why you or anyone would be excited about what you do or provide.

2nd - be clear about what you want others to know (both inside your organization and outside). Make it easy to navigate through "the system;" on your website, when they call in, through your processes... In other words “NEXT STEPS”. Know these before you start delivering your message.

3rd - evaluate EVERY piece of communication - oral, print, broadcast, and digital media. Brand it, message it, and unify it across your organization with a non industry insider in mind. If you have to interpret it for someone it isn’t very good. They need to be able to understand it without your assistance.

4th - make sure your team knows the plan and its intent - everyone must be on the same page and it needs to be transferable. Every department filters the same plan differently. Provide a forum for a multi-angled understanding to unify your message through the countless touch points your members have clients, vendors and the community.

5th - clarify your message by gathering as much input as possible with clients, vendors and colleagues.

6th - remember, we live in a Web 2.0 world where all communication and programs are now subject to user FEEDBACK. Feedback means an authentic message is influenced by feedback and open to adjustment and refinement - and more feedback.

7th - show up open minded - don’t go into this with predetermined agendas. Agendas don’t grow…they control. We don’t do control we serve our clients, colleagues and community.

(Courtesy of Kerry MacKay)

I first saw this video in a leadership presentation by Bill Couchenour with Cogun Construction.

The Brain Software

2008-05-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

I met with a business colleague yesterday and discussed strategies for a distribution network. I used The Personal Brain to map out our ideas. I've received several inquiries from the last blog asking about this software. The video below provides a nice introduction. I like this tool! Let me know if you try it out.

The K-Web - James Burke - Historical mindshifting

2008-05-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

If you have not heard, watched or read anything by James Burke - you really need to. His brain works in an amazing way to tie disconnected connections of history into a unique context of understanding. His stories spur innovative thinking - or at least I feel like it when I finish one.

This video shares some of the vision and progress for the Knowledge Web. It is not up and running but it seems to be making good progress now that he has adopted The Brain software as its platform. The Brain is my favorite organizing and ideation software. I've used it for about five years. The next blog post will provide an overview of the software. Any marketing, product development or strategic group will find immediate value by using The Brain.

One of mindshift's strategies is connecting the dots of the many change initiatives taking place in the architecture and construction world. By connecting these dots we're finding a new context for innovation - a Trust-Based paradigm carried out by integrated turn-key teams.

Enjoy the video - and I'll be interested in any reactions you have.

Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets Review (1)

2008-05-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some quotes from the book Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets courtesy of Mike Wolff with ProjectSolutions Group.

There would seem to be some natural-enough intermediary candidates in construction. Such judgments used to be the bailiwick of architects, but somewhere along the line, architects lost their grip on the grimy reality of construction. There was a time when they were referred to as the “master builder”. They shrank from their historic role as the owner’s ombudsman . . .

Rarely did the great majority of architects commit significant resources to the construction administration phase of their projects. In their absence during the construction process, building owners have gotten well and truly lost.

Competitive bidding is therefore no panacea because it fails to determine the final cost or quality of the job. In order to jumpstart construction productivity, we need two interrelated devices: 1) an intermediary with some teeth, and 2) a true fixed cost (a.ka. “hard money” or lump sum) contract, where a contractor commits to build in accordance with the design intent for a precise sum.

Traditional U.S. construction contracts in fact disguised mutable-cost contracts because contractors find it so easy to raise the price during the construction process. “Competitive bidding . . . often leads to the owner getting nailed during construction for numerous extra charges by a builder intent on making up for the too low price he had to submit to win the job in the first place”.

Construction's Dysfunctional World

2008-05-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

Barry B. LePatner is author of Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets (2007). A member of the New York City, New York State, and American Bar Associations, he holds a B.A. degree from Brooklyn College and a J.D. degree from Brooklyn Law School. His critique of the construction industry chronicles its dysfunctions as only a veteran attorney can.

Here is an excerpt from an interview in Building Design & Construction

"A meta-survey by the University of Pennsylvania showed that 49.2% of all labor costs on construction projects are wasted due to inefficiencies: laborers waiting for deliveries, going up and down hoists, waiting for other trades to move out of the way.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 1964 to 2003, for all nonfarm industries, productivity per worker went up 125%. For the construction industry, the output went down over 20% per worker over that period. If we just achieved a 10% increase in efficiency, we could add $120 billion a year to the economy."

Link here for the rest of the interview.

Counting Carbon like Calories

2008-04-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Good intentions or wishful thinking?

How can we measure our industry's dramatic shift to all things green? LEED has put the ball into play but most recognize that we will need a major overhaul to have any chance of reaching Zero Carbon goals by 2030.

Michael Specter, (recently interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air, helps to clarify the conversation around Zero Carbon strategies. He also injects needed realism into the complexity companies face attempting to provide their customers with real and relevant information on Carbon use.

Google plans to reach zero carbon this year through reductions, leveraging technology, better design, off-sets, setting standards and developing valid metrics.

The Speed of Trust - Stephen R. Covey

2008-04-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

Integrated Project Delivery describes a framework with different techniques to achieve smoother, lower cost and higher quality construction.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Lean Construction approaches will become the path of least resistance for those looking for a short-cut in the emerging world of Integration. These are hard to resist because BIM and Lean can seem like magic at first glance.

They will improve the process without any major change of values or behavior.

However, the real pay-off for these new technologies is when they live in a context of TRUST.

Trust is the revolutionizing mindshift for future project delivery.

If you think TRUST is a squishy concept, something you either have or don't or nothing a CFO can add up at the bottom of a spread sheet - read Covey's book The Speed of Trust.

Here are a few quotes:

"Nothing is as fast as the speed of trust. Speed happens when people...truly trust each other" Edward Marshall

"Contrary to what most people believe, trust is not some soft, illusive quality that you either have or you don't; rather, trust is a pragmatic, tangible, actionable asset that you can create - much faster than you probably think possible."

Implementing one segment of Sarbanes Oxley is estimated at $35 billion - exceeding the original SEC estimate by 28 times.

"When you break the big laws, you do not get liberty; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws." G.K. Chesterson, British Author

When Warren Buffet bought McLane distribution from Walmart for $23 billion - their annual report stated that they did no due diligence. In fact the entire negotiation took less than two hours. Trust pays off.

"Mistrust doubles the cost of doing business." Professor John Whitney, Columbia School of Business.

It is interesting to note that the Construction Industry Institute estimates that up to 57% of the cost of designing and delivering a building is waste.

Trust - is the mindshift.

Howard Rheingold - TED Conference

2008-04-03T19:26:00.001-07:00

Howard Rheingold wrote the the book Smart Mobs (Mobile communication, pervasive computing, wireless networks, collective action). He was invited to TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) to describe what he sees is a major shift in the way social groups are beginning to and will organize; from competition (kill or be killed) to cooperation.

Why does this matter to mindshift? The current culture of the built-environment holds dearly to the old world of competition and inherent mistrust. New technologies, however, are proving that sharing and openness can actually offer an advantage and produce better results.

Mindshift has developed an idea of what this new approach might look like if used to develop, design and deliver a building. Our next step is to find an early adopter or an owner so fed up with conventional construction that they are willing to experiment on the potential of a trust-based high tech approach.

We will keep you posted. In the meantime take a moment to listen to Howard Rheingold.

Voice Thread - The iGeneration is Coming!

2008-03-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this new tool, VoiceThread. It is a YouTube for PowerPoints. Think of the implications for marketing, training and your kids school homework.

I've attached my son Nathan's 9th Grade assignment. He and is partner created an animated voice over presentation on caffeine for class. They haven't turned it in yet - its still in process. I was impressed enough, however, to ask his permission to use it on the blog.

Imagine a quick product introduction that turns into a social network. Think of a training course that also turns into an active dialogue about the content and suggestions for improvement.

Now we are touching the power of Mass Collaboration.

The next post may also come from my son. It's his take on one particular teacher's efforts to be cool and "teach" team leadership.

Green Romance - Green Reality - Comparing Masdar

2008-03-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

For many adopting green or sustainable practices is important and becoming more important. However, 150 years of industrial conditioning and infrastructure does not change quickly or easily. Facing the challenge with cold hard reality is the only way to create the creative tension necessary to drive toward the mindshift required.

The video highlights an incredible carbon neutral project in Abu Dhabi called Masdar. It is a bit over the top - as expected in a PR approach. There are other videos that are more informational and less dramatic but they did not translate easily to the blog.

The report below is a contrast faced by every industrial nation. This just report just happens to come from the British Government's progress.

BRITISH GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS TO MISS GREEN TARGETS

Emily Beament, PA Environment Correspondent

The Government is set to miss targets to reduce carbon emissions from its own departments' offices and transport, a report warned today.

The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC)said despite leading the way on climate change on the global stage, the Government needed to take ``radical action to put its own house in order'' in a number of areas.

The sixth annual assessment of Government performance against a series of sustainability targets showed two thirds of departments were not on track to meet the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 12.5% by 2010.

And emissions from departmental road travel increased last year by 1.5%, showing ``no progress'' towards the 15% reduction by 2010/2011 set by the Government.

Water consumption was another area of concern, with just a 0.1% reduction in use, not enough to meet the 25% target by 2020, the SDC said.

Read more....

Are you on Facebook yet?

2008-03-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

If you are not on Facebook, LinkIn or used Plaxo, take a moment and watch this video. This 60 Minutes clip introduces you to Mark Zuckerberg (23), founder of Facebook, and provides insight to both the enormous potential and dangers of these social networks. Everyone I know who is on one of these networks is still trying to figure out how it all works and where the value lays. I can tell you that I've been able to get in contact with some key decision makers that I would never have had access to. I've also been able to relocate and conveniently stay in touch with several old friends and colleagues that I would otherwise have lost contact with.

If you have another moment read this article in a recent Fortune Magazine. While Mark was being interviewed at the recent South by Southwest Conference in Austin the focus shifted from the stage to the conversation the audience was having (online) about what was happening on stage. Consider that shift - for just a moment. In the past owning the microphone or the platform signaled control. That is no longer true - a metaphor for how leadership must now factor its constituency (and competition) in new ways.

The Mindshift Innovation Blog aims to provoke leaders involved in the building industry with new ideas and insights so that our organizations and industries can catch up to the rest of the 21st Century.

Fallin' Free, Fallin' Free

2008-03-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

There is no better example of a mindshift than Blue Man Group. Its spring, at least in Texas, and Friday. Here is a mindshift that will set the tone for an enjoyable weekend. There is a mindshift when passion gets mixed with our efforts. Watch this again Monday morning and see if you don't gain an extra bounce in your step.

2008-03-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

I've taken a break from the blog world intrigued by the nature of highly integrated teams. I'm happy to say that the ancient idea of teams, cohorts sounds even better, holds great promise for a new renaissance for our building culture.

Some of the current buzzwords in our industry include collaboration and integrated delivery. The root of each are finely tuned teams. Imagine if our favorite team fielded a different set of players every game (project). The result would be ugly and embarrassing.

Projects that require complex coordination high, levels of cooperation, anticipation and change can only succeed with well rehearsed teams. We start every project with high hopes - but we delude ourselves if we think that the system we have will lead to teamwork and our best work.

On the eve of March Madness keep you eyes open for evidence of teams that find their groove. We just might take some of that flow and cohesion back to work with us for our next project. Of course, that fluidness didn't just happen - that's the other side of the story.

For those who are not sports fans take a moment and watch this video of Starlings in a kind of performance art of nature. The incredible anticipation and movement they display will catch your attention and perhaps your imagination.

I need to ask my local Biomimicry expert what lessons these Starlings might impart to our effort in mindshift? I am convinced that the behavior of these Starlings is not just a metaphor for teamwork - but a realistic possibility.

If we need teamwork to succeed, what do we need to do differently? What kind of system will we need to create?

What would your farewell speech be?

2008-01-23T19:28:00.000-08:00

For most a farewell speech is simply academic, not for Dr. Randy Pausch. What kind of mindshift would it take if we were to consider our legacy?

A better planet, kids who make a positive contribution to the world, improving the industry you work and serve or some grander vision?

A friend and colleague sent this video to me this evening. Was today a marker in history for my legacy? I wrestled with my daughter to finish her algebra homework, I picked up my oldest son at youth group where we played a game of ping-pong. He won by one point in an incredible finish. My youngest son made meatballs and I told him how incredible they were (and they were). I worked the day on presentations for some upcoming trade conferences and felt like I had a few breakthroughs to clarify the concepts we want to share as mindshift. I complemented my daughter's new larger (not huge) ear ring just before bedtime. At bedtime we read together and prayed and said; "I love you." I ended the day preparing for tomorrow and achieving an empty email in-box for the 47th day in a row (an inside story). What kind of legacy will emerge from this kind of meandering?

I heard a wonderful speaker compare farming to life. He said that you will harvest exactly what you plant. You will harvest long after you plant and you will harvest a significantly larger quantity than you plant.

I guess I'll have to wait and see what kind of harvest will emerge. I'm inspired listening to Dr. Pausch and the advice he has to pass along. He is not only an accomplished professional but sounds like a great dad and husband. But even more meaningful is how he has framed his final word to all of us.

Happy mindshifting!

The Traffic Jam minshift

2008-01-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

Lucas Graves writes in the February 2008 issue of Wired Magazine that if you are an average commuter you'll spend 40 hours in traffic in 2008. Happy New Year!

So what does this have to do with a mindshift? Let's consider the common cause of this kind of gridlock and waste.

"...most jams aren't the result of an accident or a breakdown; they have no clear cause at all."

What - no cause for slow downs and traffic jams, nothing to point to and fix! No wonder they are so maddening. But wait - Mr. Graves has found a source that explains the traffic jam conundrum and just possibly offers some insight on larger issues like the waste, delays and conflict in the commercial construction world.

"One Japanese scientist found that in moderate traffic, a single erratic vehicle can trigger feedback effects that push the entire system into a new equilibrium: a standstill."

This is not just someone who slams on their breaks. It is not the slow driver chugging steadily down the road. This is a SINGLE ERRATIC driver. The implication is that traffic behaves like a system. When every driver is moving steadily and predictably traffic flows without interruption.

The Construction Institute reports that up to 57% of commercial construction is tied up in waste.

Here is a quote from their site: “Legacy Systems” reflect structural fragmentation. Owners, designers, material suppliers, equipment rentals, and contractors operate in “silos. Decisions are made in one’s best interest - not project gain."

When decisions are made in "one's best interest" (the single erratic driver) - then the result is congestion and waste in the entire system. It gums up everything. We have all experienced this domino effect on projects.

Predictable smooth flow is the goal of a well working system. Lean Construction and Integrated Project Delivery are two tools that mindshift is experimenting with that work to that end.

Mr. Graves raises some interesting Untended Negative Consequences with our mindset to traffic congestion. Because we do not have a "whole system" mindset - we react to the congestion and immediately turn to building more roads as a solution. New roads lead to new development which leads to more people driving and we're back to where we started from - even worse.

I love his quote: "highways create suburbs, not the other way around."

We do similar things in our projects. When the system jams and the schedule and cost escalate we turn to predictable solutions; we find a party to blame and promise not to use then next time. We throw more people onto the project to make up for lost time OR we remove quality to reduce cost. We never look at the system dynamics. We get to do this all over again on the next project but this time the problem shifts to some other area and fools us once again - we think we've found the culprit - when all along it is the flow of the system.

If flow and predictability represent a key Virtue for systems to function smoothly - then Integration has to be the key strategy and recognizing the larger system the key mindshift.

Transactional vs. Relational

2008-01-14T12:36:00.000-08:00

A friend sent an audio link I thought you would also enjoy. The speaker shares the new challenge Starbucks is encountering. The competition is peeling off 20% of their base, people who are willing to buy good coffee for a lower price without the atmosphere.

Has Starbuck's reached saturation among those who prefer relationship over the transaction?

What should their next move be?

Have some of your leading products or services reached their peak now competing with adequate alternatives, even if yours is still superior?

Here is the short audio clip from "The Monday Morning Memo" that will send you thinking. Even if this blog isn't in the normal mindshift mode - that too is a mindshift. Click here to listen: The Glass Ceiling.

A friend and I were talking about Starbuck's creation of "the third place," that place between work and home you like to hang out at. What does it mean for them to now have drive through's? Or, sticking a Starbuck's in at the local grocery store.

Is that like creating a 2.5 space? Is that the place between work and home you kind of go to but would never hang out at and still pay $3 for a cup of coffee?

Whoa - what does this mean? If someone as omniscient as Starbuck's can get caught up in the "its about our great product" delusion - what does that mean for the rest of us mere mortals?

Repeat after me. "My 2008 resolution; I have to be more than my product."

IBM: "The Global Human Capital Study 2008" #1

2008-01-13T08:13:00.000-08:00

Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce

Only 14% of those responding to the IBM 2008 Global Human Capital Study "believe their workforces are very capable of adapting to change."

(The photo is from Gen Y consultant Peter Sheahan)

The key skills IBM projects for future organizations are:

Predicting future skill requirements.
Effectively identify and locating experts.
Collaboration across their organizations (organizational, time and culture boundaries).

Many organizations have initiatives toward these ends, however, they are limited to segments of the organization. They must become a company wide competency.

The root challenge falls back on leadership and old models of leadership. Current leaders are too often insulated and only look within familiar circles for talent. Leaders are often too busy and unaccessible to potential leaders as mentors. That inaccessibility hides their potential as role models.

This condition makes relevant two famous quotes:

Einstein: "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."

Gandhi - "We must become the change we wish to see."

Leaders must look outside their organizations to allow new paradigms to influence them and their company. The harder but essential truth is that leaders must also become the change they wish to see. This provides new light on "commitment from the top" as a key to organizational change.

75% of respondents cite their inability to develop future leaders is a critical issue. The consequence of this reality is more work and pressure at the top of the organization. This pressure creates its own vicious cycle of becoming more insulated and trapped into the same habits that feed the current model.

Organizations that have broken this cycle have developed a "systematic approach to identifying future leaders from around the globe, providing individuals with a wide range of opportunities... and matching potential leaders with mentors..."

"Leadership development is a process that needs to reach far down into the organization, tap high-potential individuals early... and provide them with the core skills they need..."

This again becomes a whole organization competency - not just the domain of part of the organization: HR, R&D, the executive team etc.

Where does your organization fit as an adaptable culture?

Are leaders pressed to the max and unable to look for rising leaders and mentor new talent?

Does your organization readily look outside its traditional talent pools to bring fresh insight and skills or travel down the same well worn paths?

If you see yourself as a potential leader how can you help your organization see that potential contribution and then map a course of developing and mentoring your talent?

a mindshift to Bit Literacy for 2008

2008-01-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

You and I were trained in a print and broadcast world. Those are our native languages. We live in a digital world and many of us feel like we're drowning to bits. Before I read Bit Literacy I had months of emails stored in my in-box, multiple folders and dreaded sifting through the pile of bits to find what I was looking for. It was like looking for a bit in a haystack.

A November issue of the Wall Street Journal gave this wonderful assessment.

Last year, the average corporate email user received 126 messages a day, up 55% from 2003, according to the Radicati Group, a Palo Alto market research firm. By 2009, workers are expecting to spend 41% of their time just managing emails.

Ask yourself the follow questions:

How many emails do you have in your in-box?
Can you find any email (or file), anytime in the snap of a finger?
Do you end up reading the same emails over again when you are hunting for the one you want?
How many weeks or months of emails do you keep in your in-box?

Do you use your in-box as a:

Todo list?
Filing system?
Calendar (keeping dates of future events just in case)?
Bookmarks (emails that reference web addresses, passwords etc.)?
Address book (messages containing contact info for future follow up)?

Would you like to have an empty in-box at the end of the day, locate any file immediately or a simple means to manage Todos?

Here is my testimonial: "After reading Chapter 4 I was able to make the mindshift. I now have an empty in-box at the end of every day (pwnd n00b) and now have a system to find any document I need in the snap of a finger." If I look at myself in just the right light I think I've even shed a few bits.

Bit Literacy is not the deepest and most thought provoking book you'll ever read - but it has been the most useful book of 2007.

These two chapters were worth the price of the book:

Chapter 4 - Managing Incoming E-mail
Chapter 5 - Managing Todos

Here's to an empty In-Box through 2008!

mindshift Toward Collaboration in Design

2008-01-03T20:43:00.000-08:00

James Cramer offers insight into the changing world of architecture and design on his site "DesignIntelligence." James helps to make the mirage of collaboration more tangible - almost within arms reach. Our mindshift toward collaboration is still self-conscious but many of us believe it reflects the future of sustainable enterprise. Here is an excerpt from his his article "Re-Designing Collaboration."

We are experiencing a time of transition, from solo artist to highly talented collaborative teams, re-designing processes and project management success. Today design leaders and their organizations are challenging the artist’s function and making collaboration a top priority. This is often not an easy decision or direction.

The decision-making process in some professional practices is accomplished in silos or through semi-private separate functions without much thought to the new benefits realized from collaborative processes. The cultural DNA of the professional practice often has to be re-formulated, and the tremendous gravitation forces of tradition can be difficult to overcome.

The entire article is worth reading. Click here to read the full article.

Wired: Sorriest Cubicle on Earth

2007-12-26T09:28:00.000-08:00

One of the 7 Pillars for mindshift ties environment to performance. Wired provides fun look at the ghost of cubicles past.

Click here to read the article and see more of the sorriest cubicles on earth.

Google Streetview - mindshifting the globe

2007-12-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

Google has added a new feature, Streetview. The map is now alive, a seamless span of live images.

Now when you travel you can see exactly what to expect; the neighborhood, the parking, the house or building.

How can you use this?
What about privacy for those who happen to show up in a photo?
What happens if your house is pictured while going through renovation just before you put it up for sale and that's the image someone sees while house hunting?
How might you use Streetview and Map Create for business and marketing?

Click here for an orientation on creating your own map.

The mindshift: maps go interactive with live images, data and search capability. Have our mental models for maps changed much, a means to figure out how to get from point "A" to point "B?"

There seems to be some innovative opportunities, but it will take a mindshift.

12 Days of Christmas mindshift

2007-12-13T06:20:00.000-08:00

A pleasant change of pace while keeping true to theme of bringing about a mindshift.

PS: If you have not had a chance to view the blog recently - check some of the previous posts on Lean practices. This will become a major theme for 2008.

Evidenced Based Design

2007-12-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

We've left the world Newtonian certainty and now surf in a sea of change. It's interesting that the path recommended by AIA is "Evidenced Based Design." Here are some excerpts from:

Four Levels of Evidence-Based Practice
By D. Kirk Hamilton, FAIA, FACHA

"The growing trend toward evidence-based design involves design work that is informed by data from a variety of sources. It is also a natural analog to the evidence-based decision making of our clients."

"Entering Harvard medical students are reportedly told, “Half of what you will learn is wrong, but we don’t yet know which half.” As new environmental studies are published, some decisions may be questioned, but conscientious architects will experience fewer doubts as they increase the percentage of decisions based on research. Environmental research is more likely to result in performance guidelines than in prescriptive regulation."

Click here to link to the whole article.

My take away:

Environments by definition are contextual - specific to the need and mix of people they address. Universal principles - aren't, when it comes to contextual application. Evidence based design requires a deep level of expertise - not only conceptual and intellectual - but client and project expertise.

Firms will prosper by becoming experts and demonstrating the value of that expertise.

Lean Basics

2007-12-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

The Lean approach is not just a manufacturing method for greater efficiency. Lean is a mindset that focuses on what the client values and is willing to pay for. The basic idea is simple. Identify value, understand the flow of that value and eliminate the steps that do not contribute to either value or flow. Simple? In concept yes, however, a century of success focusing on an industrial approach to creating and making things is a hard habit to break.

The mindshift is that Lean is not a set of techniques but is a set of values through a holistic lens.

All members in the value stream bring value and provide value.
No part of the value stream can be improved in isolation to the whole.
The team learns by doing and reviewing.

This is a video showing Lean applied to healthcare - perfect! Lean appears to be a highly effective alternative to our century old industrial model of breaking the whole into its various sub-elements and focusing on the parts. Like the slogan from the old fast food commercial; "Parts is parts." Hmm - yum.

Smooth Predictable Flow

2007-12-07T06:05:00.000-08:00

One key concept for Lean is smooth predictable flow. This Visa commercial provides a great illustration of the impact of unpredictable events on the flow of a project.

Linear vs. Collaborative

2007-12-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

Take a moment to watch this video exercise.

Round one takes a conventional linear approach to assemble and note the inevitable collisions and bottlenecks.

Round two takes a collaborative approach. See the difference.

We're introducing the idea of Lean Construction as one of the tools for an Integrated Platform and Integrated Delivery. Turner Construction has one of the top Lean construction managers in the industry.

We will pass along some of the basic ideas behind Lean Construction and a list of reading. For now I hope the video provides a compelling image and mindshift.

2007-12-05T13:39:00.000-08:00

A good friend from Disney Imagineering sent a list of trends in the architectural and building market. The list was developed by The Greenway Consulting Group.

During the same week another friend and president for a national design firm copied me on the following note:

Jim, In the cab en route to join you today. Looking forward to it. Meanwhile, it occurs to me what a potential serendipity between the Design Futures Council and mindshift might have. Rex, please hit Jim’s at www.greenway.us. You’ll be impressed with how Jim’s organization is dealing with the same issues we discussed yesterday.

Here are some of those trends:

Design-Build service delivery will grow at 2.1 - 2.8 percent annual rate in the US but with significant variations depending on geography and building type. This will substantially affect issues of risk management, since so many formerly competitive entities will be linked by contractual bonds. Essentially this is a “master builder” trend.

Integrated and more overtly collaborative professional practices can be expected in planning, architecture, interior design, engineering, landscape architecture, construction, and facility management. Project management will be enhanced through round the clock web sites with new procedures, protocols, and processes.

Talent shortages will intensify in architecture, design, engineering, construction, and landscape architecture. Supply-demand economics raises base pay by an average of 6.7 percent in 2007 and 6.1 percent in 2008.

The continued, rapid, adoption of BIM Technology will proceed with significant new training programs and expansions implemented in late 2007 and 2008.

Demographics and generational changes will alter the context for professional service delivery, creating a need for new communication plans, new marketing programs, and new design experiences. The generational divide requires new design solutions: 0-10 Digital from Birth; 11-30 Generation Now; 31-40 Generation X; 41-60 Zoomers; 61+ Prime Timers.

Significant process differentiation in project and design management will lead to trademark and branding campaigns. Design firms will use copyright and trademark differentiation as part of their new value proposition’s high definition.

Fast architecture models will be adopted by traditional firms. Speed is a strategic value proposition and firms will invent ways to deliver, proving that speed is not the enemy of quality.

Knowledge worker migration favors coastal, southern, and western geographies in the United States. Expect merger and acquisition activity to aggressively include firms in these locations where a workforce is motivated to locate.

Green and sustainable design is sought after by clients who are increasing the expectations for expertise and advisement in the design professions. Firms without green repute will become anti-strategic in the marketplace.

Strategic partitioning, modular structures, and factory built units will see increasing investments and are expected to play a far larger role in housing, retail, residential, manufacturing, and K-12 facilities construction. One of the legacies of hurricane Katrina is the accelerated growth and popularity of increasingly well designed modular building.

Professional workers from other external knowledge professions will enter the design professions serving in expert roles, especially in healthcare design, and education design. In addition, watch for anthropologists, real estate developers, and college presidents to join the boards of top design and construction firms.

Lifecycle design will become a dynamic new service offering for professional practices that will take contractual responsibility for structures over their useful life. Clients understand that taking care of their buildings is a smart investment and who better than the original designers to take responsibility for the buildings stewardship.

Generalist practitioners will fade from the professions. Interviews with 250 leading North American clients indicate that specializations will grow because clients seek:

Deep expertise and competence
Repute by building type
Trust and confidence in a specialized zone
Familiarity and comfort

Outsourcing will increasingly become prevalent and prescient, particularly in India where language and training match with quality expectations. India is second only to Canada in their application of LEED building standards.

Intelligent buildings will become the norm. They will anticipate, have “smart” walls and floors, and be constructed with computerized components that will utilize artificial intelligence in every aspect of the building.

Zero energy buildings will be created that produce more energy than they consume. Watch for corporate offices and high-density residences that serve as neighborhood power plants using latest in sustainable technology. Pearl River Tower, at 77 stories, is both office and power plant – giving back energy to the grid.

Thanks largely to BIM, there will be radical tort reform in construction liability. Expect lower E and O insurance premiums.

Intelligence, talent, wisdom, maturity of judgment, and vision – not licensure or technology, become the primary differentiators for design professionals seeking best practice performance. But licensure is critical to HSW in increasingly uncertain times.

Rocky Mountain Institute and USGBC

2007-11-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

This collection of organizations is working to make the case that sustainability is essential, critical but also profitable. The video clip on the site is a bit lengthy but well done. Its worth watching when you have ten minutes.

"The right blueprint can lead to the right ecological footprint, and so much more. From materials and construction to lighting, heating, and cooling, the building industry accounts for roughly 40 percent of all the energy used in the United States. Green building is good for the environment. And done the RMI way, it can also be good for the bottom line—everyone’s bottom line. As an international leader in sustainable design, we work with developers, architects, facility managers, and real-estate professionals to create high-performance buildings and communities that are less expensive to build (or retrofit), more profitable to operate, easier to lease, and healthier and more comfortable to occupy—plus, they boost worker productivity."

Click here to go to the site.

Leveraging Social Networking Apps

2007-11-17T07:42:00.000-08:00

The August 6th issue of Business Week contained an article called: Fogeys Flock to Facebook. The article explores the trend of older users levering existing social networking applications. Facebook, which used to be the domain of college students is now drawing surprising numbers of professionals their 30s and 40s. Among Silicon Valley executives, journalists, and publicists, Facebook has become the place to see and be seen. And it's not just tech. Consulting company Ernst & Young's Facebook network boasts 16,000 members, while Citigroup's claims nearly 8,500.

My own encounter with Facebook happened just a few weeks ago, I had just completed an article on how Web 2.0 is both reflecting and fueling a major shift in culture. The article drips with words like participatory, customizable and creating community. While I was in my e-mail firing the piece to my editor, I received an invite to Facebook from a potential client in Nigeria. As I was feeling rather Web 2.0 fluent at that moment, I decided to sign up and take a few minutes to explore it.

When I looked up at the clock, an hour had flown by without my perceiving the passage of time. In a whooosh upon entering Facebook, I was connected with colleagues, past classmates, old friends, and gurus from my industry. It was a networking event, trip down memory lane, conversation with people I haven't spoken with in awhile and hello ping to people I'm geographically far from.

But what was really impressive wasn't the connection it provided, but the ability to visualize interconnection. Facebook provides a visual picture of social networks and how they connect to each other. In a glance you begin to understand who people are by who they connect with. The other interesting phenomena is that it fuels the already existing trend of the dissolution of walls between personal, professional and social lives. Add to that some very useful tools for mass-communication, event planning and the ability to easily swap posts and visuals, and you have just a few reasons why Facebook is adding 100,000 new users per day.

Now it makes sense!

2007-11-13T06:26:00.000-08:00

Virtual Design and Construction (or BIM) is to Drafting...

What Digital Text is to Writing.

Think about the mindshift.

iPod 2001 - what a mindshift!

2007-11-03T23:24:00.000-07:00

How is an xtreme building like an iPod? This was one of the exercises the mindshift team used to spur some lateral thinking about a new radical value proposition for delivering commercial real estate.

My 14 year old son sent this video clip showing the introduction of the first iPod. I've watched it four times listening to Steve Jobs set up the value proposition, compare and contrast what the iPod will provide against the current music experience.

Thanks Nathan, for sending the clip. It always pays to go to the source of a mindshift and experience it fresh. I hope this will help us think about the xtreme real estate in such compelling contrasts and motivate us to build something equally compelling.

"Little Green Lies" - Green Romance and Reality

2007-11-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

The Blue Men are a mindshift both in message and delivery. Enjoy their take on planet earth as an intro for today's blog.

Green is in. With the momentum of an Oscar, a Nobel Peace prize and daily articles from all major media public awareness has reached that proverbial tipping point. The pendulum has now swung so that demand and expectations far exceed current capabilities.

The recent Businessweek Cover Story, "Little Green Lies," is an reminder that authenticity and transparency go hand in glove for those serious about restoring the planet. Corporations that jump onto the bandwagon will be closely examined to see if the talk matches the walk.

Here are some excerpts to the article.

"Barely a day goes by without a prominent corporation loudly announcing its latest green accomplishments: retailers retrofitting stores to cut energy consumption, utilities developing pristine wind power, major banks investing billions in clean energy. No matter what Al Gore's critics might say, there's no denying that the Nobel Prize winner's message has hit home. With rising consumer anxiety over global warming, businesses want to show that they're part of the solution, says Chris Hunter, a former energy manager at Johnson & Johnson (JNJ ) who works for the environmental consulting firm GreenOrder. "Ten years ago, companies would call up and say I need a digital strategy.' Now, it's I need a green strategy.'"

"Much corporate environmentalism boils down to misleading statistics and hype. To make real progress, genuine accomplishments will have to be sorted out from feel-good gestures. Schendler no longer views business as capable of the dramatic change he thought possible eight years ago, the sort of change that corporations have grown accustomed to boasting about. His own employer is "a perfect example of why this won't work," he says. "We've had a chance to cherry-pick 50 projects and get them done. But even if every ski company could do what we did, we'd still be nowhere."

For the complete article link here. There is also a Podcast for the story behind the story. You will find a link at the beginning of the article.

If sources like The Economist and the AIA are correct there is somewhere between 33% - over 50% waste delivering conventional real estate. Most efforts to achieve sustainability or some level of LEED certification proceed under the old paradigm; a linear, hierarchical design-bid-build approach. Conventional wisdom says that any effort above LEED Gold requires an up front cost premium. The current premium estimate for LEED Platinum is somewhere between 5%-7%.

Unless I'm missing something, a new paradigm that can make a significant dent in the 33% - 50% waste will also be able to deliver a LEED Platinum building for the same cost (or less) as conventional unsustainable buildings.

Partnering on a project to achieve LEED Platinum with no upfront preimium sounds like a proof-of-concept test. What do you think?

It's the wrong thing to do...

2007-10-27T15:48:00.001-07:00

I just returned from meetings with several architects, construction firms and green experts. If you promote sustainability don't be surprised if you're asked; "what do you drive?" I was. I flunked.

That does not discount efforts to improve or develop green products and services. It is, however, a reality check. I have to make sure I know and acknowledge a connection (or in most cases a disconnection) between selling green and living green? Now that green is "in" the true believers will be checking closely to see if we walk our talk.

A second reality check is understanding that green is not a manufactured solution. It is and will be a mindshift, a change of values and for many a change of lifestyle. Results become the by-product. I would personally rather read the books and become an expert but I know that's just not going to fly if I'm going to be part of a mindshift to improve the way we deliver buildings.

I reached a personal tipping point at this event and listening to Ray Anderson. So, my first step is to begin a dailogue with my family and measure our impact on this planet. Right now I have no clue how much energy and water we consume. Or, how much CO2 and solid waste we produce. Our family will probably begin to take a closer look at what we buy and who we buy it from and start the slow process of understanding and reconnecting to the impact of our actions. It sounds like common sense but obviously its not, anymore. I like Ray Anderson's story because it took him time to reach a high level of conviction. I'm not sure where this will lead our family.

I've thought about green and the mission of mindshift too. Green and good design are certainly goals. Because our efforts embrace a broader agenda with diverse disciplines I think we have better means for achieving sustainability and enabling others to do so too.

mindshift embraces sustainability as integral to our mission. In the next few blogs we'll see what others are doing and how they are dealing with the obvious challenges of managing the romance of green with the reality of getting there.

I like what one of the principal mindshift members shared. "To my mind mindshift presents the opportunity to provide a holistic, balanced and wildly efficient approach to construction, which will have many benefits, including more “green” buildings – which in themselves provide unique value to the owners. This is the story I tell."

Perceptive Pixel - Jeff Han (2)

2007-10-18T07:36:00.000-07:00

When we think of Virtual Design and Construction, or its other name Building Information Modeling, we may not perceive the true mindshift. We can't help but view VD&C or BIM as an extension of what we already know - drawing - or in the case of architecture - drafting. Media Ecology types call this remediation - the simple extension of a prior practice in a new medium. However, the medium is truly transformative in the sense that it changes our sensory orientation, defines new possibilities and creates a new interface with the environment. We see, feel and touch in a new way.

I like Jeff Han's demonstration because it changes our mindsets toward the virtual environment away from a static image or even game simulation to something quite distinct - a virtual pliable and hyper-realistic world. When we think of Virtual Design and Construction or BIM this video captures the orientation these new tools can and should provide when designing the new built environment.

Be amazed and think of the new possibilities.

Roger Bannister - the 4 minute mindshift

2007-10-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Creating a lower cost, better built, faster delivered, sustainable building is achievable. Once we determine we want to create one - we will. Just ask Roger Bannister.

The most significant impact of Bannister's achievement is what happened immediately happened to the world of running. 37 runner broke the 4 minute barrier during the next year.

First the idea, then the model and then we work together to achieve it.

Steampunk and mindshift

2007-10-07T00:44:00.000-07:00

What is a retro-futurist? A steampunker, of course! Steampunk is a combination of old world craft with new world technology.

What lessons are there for mindshifting?

There is money to be made for those who can elegantly combine the two. However, that's not the lesson for today.

The Lesson: Adopting Virtual Design and Construction but following the old world phasing of schematics, design development, construction drawings etc. is a Steampunk approach to a project. It will soon become a curious novelty but misses the point and misses the target.

Steampunking can be a great exercise in creative thinking. This leads me to my favorite creative thinker, Michael Vance, former dean of Disney University. He describes innovation as a derivative of one of four approaches:

Invention/Invention
Invention/Di-vention
Invention/Extension
Functional Substitution

I enjoy Steampunk because it spurs a mindshift with a high cool factor thrown in. Take a look, below, at this Wall Street Journal Online video about Steampunking. What are some of your favorite Steampunk ideas?

Seadragon

2007-10-04T23:10:00.000-07:00

Seadragon is a new Microsoft acquisition and part of their Photosynth labs. The application provides a unique interface for viewing photos. It allows full immersion into an image seamlessly viewing it in any scale (without loss of detail) or any angle. Seadragon also allows one to view any series of photos and rearrange their context and synthesize them into a composite image (don't ask me how and you have to see it to understand).

"Seadragon takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed three-dimensional space."

With Photosynth you can:

Walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle.
Seamlessly zoom in or out of a photo whether it's megapixels or gigapixels in size.
See where pictures were taken in relation to one another.
Find similar photos to the one you're currently viewing.
Send a collection - or a particular view of one - to a friend."

Browse through some of their photo collections.

Take time to also view some of their videos. (you may need to download a plug-in to view these)

Seadragon is a major mindshift away from dealing with images as linear and sequential. It creates a seamless synthesis where each photo knows how it relates to the other photo. This kind of interface could become integral to understanding design, a building's interface with its environment and to re-purpose existing buildings.

WRAP Report - Value of Off Site Manufacturing

2007-09-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Using off site manufacture can help the construction industry reduce waste according to a report published by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme - Liz Goodwin, CEO).

WRAP commissioned AMA Research to undertake a scoping study into the uptake of off site manufacture and where the opportunities lie for growth. The research compared current off site manufacture waste levels with traditional methods.

Off site manufacture already offers the construction industry benefits in terms of time and cost predictability, health and safety and skills. However, this work shows that there is the potential to make a significant difference to the amount of waste the industry produces.

Some of the biggest waste streams in traditional construction are packaging (up to 5%), timber (up to 25%) and plasterboard (up to 36%). Up to a 90% reduction can be achieved by reducing wastes such as wood pallets, shrink wrap, cardboard, plasterboard, timber, concrete, bricks and cement by increasing the use of off site manufacture and modern methods of construction.

(details...)

What other advantages are there in time savings, quality, coordination and safety?

Erin McKean - Lexicography and mindshifting

2007-09-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

The great institutions of modernity are confronting the new realities of a digitalage.

Modern architecture and the idea of the master architect was born during the Renaissance. Construction is a combination of industrial era assembly and ancient craft practices. Technology has since introduced many significant innovations leading to greater efficiencies but has not changed the paradigm.

Please take a moment and listen to Erin McKean's presentation at the TED conference. You can find the video at the bottom of this blog. I found interesting and entertaining parallels to the disruptive changes in this arcane discipline and mindshift. Erin is the Chief Lexicographer and dictionary evangelist, for the Oxford English Dictionary. Her insights are wonderful (as well as few audacious words to add to your vocabulary). Listen and note her flatfooted critique of her own domain; the by-product of some excellent therapy or she is a Jim Collin's Level 5 leader.

These are a few highlights:

I love the Electric Velocipede analogy; "Victorian design with modern propulsion."
"Blaming the ham that's bigger than the pan."
"Could paper be the enemy of words?" Hmm - could paper be the enemy of design?
"Artificial constraints lead to arbitrary distinctions and a skewed worldview."

We're not alone. The OED is undergoing a mindshift. We're in noble company.

Web 2.0

2007-09-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

What do Amazon.com, Netflix, Wikipedia, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Flickr have in common? They represent some of the Titans in the world of Web 2.0.

Web 1.0 focuses on delivering content. Web 2.0 focuses on participation, collaboration and user generated content (or value).

Using Web 2.0 requires a different mindset.

Think:

Amazon.com - customers say; "if you like XYZ, you'll like ABC."
Netflix - people who liked this movie also liked these movies.
Stumbleupon - people upload their videos on various sites; Youtube, Metacafe... and Stumbleupon collects the best for you to view.

"Is there a lesson, an opportunity?"

Craig Janssen, mindshift core member and principal for Acoustic and Strategic Dimension, raised the interesting question during our Houston gathering.

Craig shared that every company has tools that aid their clients in identifying needs or exploring solutions. What if companies automate some of their tools - providing clients with useful information, a valuable experience and in return gaining important information about needs and goals? Clients benefit, engage and end up coming back when they need help. Craig went on to share that making tools available that competitors don't have provides a clear advantage.

One example is Strategic Dimension's "Cost Escalation Calculator." Why is it valuable? Because SD found many client's did not make the connection that delayed decisions cost money. Even when they explained the consequences the idea remained abstract. Craig developed a simple tool and used it in presentations. When it was placed on their website clients would go back and play with the tool. The abstract idea of cost escalation suddenly becomes very tangible and creates better awareness and a sense of urgency for making timely decisions.

Consider:

What can make the client smarter?
What can make the intangible more tangible?
What would aid the decision process?
What provides an alternate perspective?
Is there a forum for feedback?
Is there a means for clients to tap into the wisdom of other clients?

Now go back again and explore Amazon.com, Netflix, Wikipedia and other popular Web 2.0 platforms.

The new technology of Web 2.0 creates new capabilities, a new platform for interaction with completely new value propositions. All of which - requires a new mindset when we think about aiding our client's and generating new value.

Vertical Urban Farming

2007-09-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a mindshift for you - imagine a 30 story farm, just down the block. That is Dr. Dickson Despommier's vision.

Local produce, sustainable farming.

This is more than a futuristic idea from an academic with too much time on his hands. This project has legs and a price tag of about $84 million along with an attractive proforma.

The vertical farm has attracted the attention of several global corporation and universities. Paradigms are changing.

Sky farming offers efficiency, high quality, diversity, locality and sustainability.

Terracycle - Mindshift Business Model

2007-09-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

Tom Szaky, co-founder of TerraCycle, explains how they built a successful planet friendly company. Their product works and IS NOT a premium. His last few comments provide the insight - people want to do the right thing but most are not willing to pay more for it.

The mindshift question: "Can we deliver planet friendly buildings that ARE NOT a premium?" It would certainly take a new paradigm.

The Oppenheim Effect

2007-09-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

Susan Szenasy, chief editor for Metropolis, recently shared that the future leaders in our industry start with a different set of assumptions:

Green
Team
Virtual Design

Today we highlight the work of Chad Oppenheim. His Cor project in Miami is reviewed in this month's Metropolis (along with a podcast), Businessweek, Business 2.0, Boom or Bust: Miami and Wired Magazine - not too bad.

Why is this important to mindshift? It is a green multi-used project, using pre-engineered units available in 120 different configurations plus layouts that clients dream up.

It is modular, less expensive to build, faster, mass customized and sustainable.

You will similar ideas in Refabricating Architecture. Chad is bringing this idea of fabricated architecture to life.

Chad represents an elegant mindshift and an example worth exploring.

Ambient Orb - The Cool Dashboard

2007-09-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

We live in a visual age.

How do you deliver complex data intended to change behavior? Ambient Devices (with a cool website) has developed a unique and strangely effective tool.

Plenty, a media source for sustainability, explains how Southern California Edison experimented with the Ambient Orb reduced energy consumption by 40%.

What additional uses can you think of?

Product managers could see if they were on target by the color of the orb.
Safety goals can be displayed with the orb.
Company carbon objectives can be tracked.
Customer satisfaction and the list is almost endless.

What metrics can you think of that would communicate the success or struggle of a project?

Consider the mindshift this represents for communicating complex data in an immediately accessible and intuitive way.

Doing well... by doing good - Interface

2007-08-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

Leadership, change and a higher call.

Those involved with Mindshift have described our challenge using these kinds of words and ideas. How do you (we) change a complex industry, highly entrenched in outdated methods, habits and interests? For Ray Anderson it started with a personal challenge - and subsequent transformation. Kyle Davy shares some of this story in his book, Value Redesigned.

“In August 1994 Ray C. Anderson embarked on a journey that would transform him as well as the company he founded 20 years earlier. That company, Interface Inc., is the world’s largest producer of contract commercial carpet. Anderson’s wake-up call happened as he prepared to deliver a keynote address to an Interface task force charged with responding to customers who were asking what Interface was doing for the environment. At first he approached the question from a conventional manufacturer’s viewpoint that focused on compliance… However, in the midst of his preparation, he happened upon Paul Hawken’s book, The Ecology of Commerce. Reading the book “changed my life” he notes. :

The company conceived and began implementation of a new business model, which Anderson broadly described as, “We will do well…very well…by doing good.

Over the next decade, Anderson and Interface continued to pursue this mission, establishing a new web of relationships linking thought-leaders in the sustainability movement with industry participants (customers, builders, regulators). The company’s promotion of learning about sustainability issues and sharing ideas and best practices spread its influence significantly beyond the boundaries of its core business.

The collaboration with other leaders has lead to the company’s Pletsus Web site for gathering and sharing “Practices Leading Toward Sustainability.”

Design Build or Integrated Practice

2007-08-06T19:06:00.000-07:00

Those in the design build world are finding opportunities created by the dysfunctions of the conventional delivery process.

Is design build moving toward Integrated Practice? Or is it just another spin on a current model with the architect at the lead?

Here is an article from a recent conference on Design Build and Integrated Practice. This article was written by Cindy Frewen Wuellner, FAIA and PhD, a virtual contributor to Operation Mindshift.

Here is a quote from Markku Allison when I posed the question to him. Markku leads the effort for Integrated Practice through the AIA.

"Actually, architect led design build and integrated practice are NOT the same thing. Integrated practice is not a delivery method; it’s the term coined by the institute to describe how industry transformation will shake out for architects, and is a set of values and beliefs about practice. Industry consensus for the "name" of the delivery model behind integrated practice is integrated project delivery, which is also not the same thing as architect led design build."

I'll be curious to hear what others think.

Mindshift's mission involves understanding the technical elements of delivery, the models but as Markku points out - going deeper to the paradigms that frame and condition our models.

World Future Society's Top 10 Forecasts for 2007

2007-08-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

I just returned from the 2007 conference in Minneapolis. Here are some of the top forecasts from the society.

There were several interesting session including a new paper soon to be released mapping body chemistry and brain orientation to Meyer's Briggs.

This link provides a written version.

Consider the worldshift!

2007-08-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

Pause and consider. This is not a ripple. This is a rip.

Here is a link to the site if the video above does not work for you.

The New Platform - Web 2.0 - or just call it BIM

2007-05-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from the BIM conference in Anaheim. Well... Building Information Modeling has hit its tipping point.

BIM has reached a 20% penetration. But most are still in the BIM 1.0 phase - 3D modeling, concept and design.

BIM 2.0 is still an early adopter application and should take off in 2008 as interoperability standards solidify. We will then reach a point where objects tied to data = budgeting, analysis and decision making as never before.

BIM 3.0 makes the revolution complete. BIM 3.0 promises complete virtual simulation and collaboration; from design, construction through life-cycle performance.

BIM exploits the shift from HTML to XML. What????

Sorry - this video will help you see the significance. Look for this tag line - "content is not longer tied to form." Information can be tied to any object or relationship within BIM. You might just call this intelligent design.

I watched the video three times before it sunk in. There's a lot going on but its worth watching.

We are Smarter than Me - Collaborative Book

2007-04-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

"The central premise of We Are Smarter Than Me is that large groups of people ("We") can, and should, take responsibility for traditional business functions currently performed by companies, industries and experts ("Me")."

Management and Leadership, once the funnel for innovation, can often become the bottleneck for innovation.

Click here

"What do we mean? Let's look at some recent examples:

Procter & Gamble is recruiting 600,000 housewives to help market its products through word of mouth. In return for much greater reach and impact, the company is giving up control of the marketing message, relying on its community of customers/marketers to craft their own message in the most appropriate fashion.

Microlending websites provide the ability for individuals to lend to small businesses directly. The underwriting decisions (assessing the risk of each loan) are made by individuals, and the price of loan is established through lender bidding. We expect these lending decisions to be superior to the same decisions currently made by experts at banks.

Patients faced with rare diseases are increasingly turning to internet discussion groups to learn more about risks and treatment options, and as a result are participating with doctors more actively (in some cases much more actively) in decisions regarding their care.

A few books have recently been written on this topic, but they all fail to confront one central paradox. While they extol the power of communities, they were each written by only one person. We're putting this paradox to the test by inviting hundreds of thousands of authors to contribute to this "network book" using today's technologies."

We are seeing a sea change. This collaborative thing is gaining momentum, openness is becoming a must, command-and-control is giving way to front line empowerment and a new generation is right behind us who think this is the way things actually work. (And if they run into a roadblock they hack, mod and remix).

Pro-AM Design = Innovation (Leadbeater TED Presentation)

2007-03-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

Design is a very powerful tool. It elevates the likelihood of certain kinds of choices and shapes certain kinds of behaviours. Most designers balk at the idea that design is a form of social engineering, but Hilary Cottam, director of RED at the UK Design Council, maintains that "if you don't look at what any design is governing, then you are being governed by it." She continues: "The question for us is how do we find out what the effects of design are and make sure we're using those for social justice." So in our diabetes example, we can reasonably ask, How might things be different if the power of design was deployed to keep us healthy and fit?

As Charles Leadbeater puts it: "Design used to be done by specialists for users. From now on, in a growing number of fields, design will be done with users and by them." In this context the designer is becoming the facilitator, the enabler, rather than the dictator of what people themselves want to do.

Click and Listen or View the TED presentation.

Leadbeater explains very clearly the power of the Web 2.0 paradigm.

This is a must hear/view presentation.

The bottomline - most of our innovation will come outside our walls.

Perhaps this is exactly what Einstein had in mind when he said; "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Changing Schools Through Design

2007-03-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the audio and video of Sir Ken Robinson's TED presentation. Education is in dire need of redesign. This audio is followed by an excerpt from an post regarding school design in the UK.

In the UK secondary schools were built in the 1950s on a comprehensive ideology that promoted equality, but also a Fordist, one-size-fits-all approach to learning. Pupils sat in rows in front of the teacher who dictated lessons from the blackboard. 50 years later this scene has not changed, despite the huge changes taking place in the modern workplace, such as an emphasis on IT and teamwork. Now that government has a new ideology (based on creativity and diversity of learning styles) and a new curriculum, it has embarked on a massive program designing and building new schools. These new schools are just as attractive as the shopping malls where kids typically truant, and designed with flexible spaces for a mixture of group and individual work, desk-based work and role play, and opportunities for students to learn independently. The UK Design Council has worked with schools across the country to redesign their learning environments, creating new types of furniture and flexible learning spaces that support creative learning.

What better way to make the public--and teachers--see the radical changes being made to something as intangible as the philosophy of learning than to design new schools? New ideology, new design.

There has been a shift in conventional politics; a realization that top-down policies no longer work and that public services in particular must be redesigned around the user. Conventional policy makers are not readily equipped to do this. Designers are. Jennie Winhall

Customer Service - Cultural Innovation

2007-02-27T07:33:00.000-08:00

I'm including two links. One is the Businessweek article on their top 25 service champions. The second is a Podcast with the writer sharing some of the surprises in her research.

Great customer service is a cultural mindset as much or more than a business strategy. I recently heard Jules Williams, a Principal from Jacobs (engineering and architecture), share that their goal is not just satisfaction, exceeding expectations or delight. Their goal is amazement.

Amazement requires a deep understanding of the other person's need, desires and expectations. That demands time, reflection and empathy. It is the most relational mindset I have run across in business. Pleasant surprise is not an accident - it is highly intentional.

Amazed clients are willing to pay more, remain loyal and refer others. When you create a virtuous cycle like this you can afford to take the time, invest the energy and stay focused on your client relationships.

Jules said that 90% of their business comes from repeat and referred clients. We all know the cost of going out to find a new client or replace an exisitng one.

This 90% factor is the difference that makes a difference.

Click here for the article.

Click here for the Podcast.

The photo is Jules Williams - Principal at Jacobs - Washington, DC Office

Hillary Cottam - Changing the World Through Design

2007-02-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

"My policy colleagues say they went into politics because they wanted to challenge the status quo and make things better for ordinary people. That's certainly why I went into design. So maybe design is more political than you think." - Hillary Cottam

"Embodying ideology Monuments to political (and corporate!) ideologies are all around us in the design of buildings, goods and services. A few years ago, a team of architects, policy makers and educationalists from the Do Tank looked at redesigning prisons. Prisons are a powerful example of the way design reinforces and makes manifest political ideology. In the 19th century, the dominant ideology in criminal justice was of power through surveillance, control, punishment of the psyche and awe of the state. Architects then designed their prisons to oppress and remove any sense of autonomy or personal identity. The most extreme of these designs is the panopticon, a circular format with a central watch tower which allows an observer to observe all prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell if they are being observed or not: the architectural equivalent of Big Brother. These designs punished indeed, but did nothing to rehabilitate their subjects. In fact, surviving examples of panopticons are known to create psychological trauma in their prisoners. " Jennie Winhall

Click here for a link to the whole article.

What assumptions are embodied in our:

Offices
Schools
Libraries
Churches
Government buildings
Health facilities

What are the assumptions about the people coming in; about the leadership inside, about the organization"s relationship to its immediate community, about its legacy, about its interaction with the public?

"French philosopher Michel Foucault describes power as distributed and ubiquitous--embedded in our daily lives. The spaces we inhabit, the tools we use and the systems we interact with are all mediated by design, and so design, then, operates as part of that power. It is, whether we like it or not, being used to shape society--but by whom?" - Jennie Winhall

Many of the challenges we face as a society find their expression in design. Design is the outward expression of our philosophy, theology and worldview.

Edward Deming - transformation through a new system of reward

2007-02-23T10:40:00.001-08:00

Innovation requires transformation - said no better than in this presentation by Edward Deming.

Click here - to see the video.

Welcome to the Human Network

2007-02-22T06:51:00.000-08:00

The mindshift for innovation is incredible. Here is a 60 second commercial from Cisco that nicely captures several of the mindshifts taking place.

Click here for the video

A world:

“where people subscribe to people, not magazines”
“where books rewrite themselves”
“where you can drag and drop people where you want them to go”

"where a phone doubles as a train ticket or a lift ticket"
“where libraries travel across the world”

“where we’re more powerful together than we ever could be apart”

Welcome to the human network.

Thanks to Ideas and Thoughts.

Some Wow, Pop and Pizzaz

2007-02-21T17:39:00.000-08:00

The rules for communication are transforming. We will all need to learn the grammar and syntax of multi-media, multi-sensory, interactive and dynamic information.

Please take a look at a few sites and consider the possibilities:

Cult of Busyness

2007-02-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

Here is a wonderful excerpt a good friend sent regarding our efficient lifestyle trap. What does this have to do about innovation? Everything!!!

"Everybody who's observed American culture, beginning with de Tocqueville, has said that Americans are uneasy with leisure. . . . New technologies make it easier [to channel] those impulses.’

“The cult of busyness and the advent of new technologies have also reshaped our leisure time. In a society that lives by the "work hard, play hard" philosophy, workaholic excess is rewarded with an excess of self-gratification. We console our aching bodies and distract our racing minds with indulgence in food and drink, shopping, entertainment -- anything to anesthetize us to the reality of the daily grind and rescue us from our long-neglected inner thoughts. When they threaten to intrude anyway, we use music, talk radio, and television to keep them at bay. We can shower to the accompaniment of a waterproof radio, watch television in the car or in an airplane, and even hike on a remote mountaintop to familiar tunes playing on our iPods.

“Even when we are not watching television, surfing the Web, or jamming with the iPod, we tend to fill our hours with nonstop action and sensory stimulation. Experts have lamented that our free time has become so highly programmed and crammed with endless diversions that families no longer have an opportunity to simply be together and children are no longer learning the art of conversation. Parents feel pressured to fill a child's every waking moment with action, achievement, and entertainment. As a result, many children no longer know the idle pleasures of a carefree summer or the challenge of fending off boredom by inventing imaginary friends or scouring the neighborhood for playmates whose parents did not already book them for a formal playdate.”

Colleen Carroll Campbell

Go out and walk, relax or chicken wrestle.

Valentine's Mindset Shift - Flower Innovation

2007-02-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

The perfect Valentine's story! You may be surprised at how these gifts of sentiment and meaning actually get from point A to point B.

Flower Confidential portrays the Flatworld of Flowers. It describes how the Internet and transportation have turned this into a global commodity and how florists must find ways to add-value by becoming niche players.

Sustainabililty - A Business Tipping Point

2007-02-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

We've reached a business tipping point. Sustainability has gone from good PR to good Strategy.

This Businessweek Podcast (click here) provides a compelling look at the tipping point. The link will take you to the web page and from there you will need to click again to listen to the interview. To see the slideshow (click here).

Take a look too at Innovest's list of the Top 100 Green Companies (click here).

What do you have in your Green Wallet? Can you walk the talk? Can you even talk Green?

Link to the article text (click here).

Debra Dunn - HP Sustainability Czar

2007-02-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

Debra Dunn, former head of Hewlett Packard’s sustainability initiative talks about responsible corporations and on the challenges of entrepreneurship

For the audio interview - Click Here

Debra is on the board of the Skoll Foundation. The Skoll Foundation’s mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs.

Project Mindshift's mission will bring systemic change to delivering commercial real estate improving the business, social and environmental bottomline.

MTV and Sustainability

2007-02-09T14:11:00.000-08:00

You will want to watch this video on sustainability - trust me.

Click Here for Video.

IBM CEO Annual Report on Innovation

2007-02-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones." John Cage

IBM Report - Click Here

The IBM CEO report on innovation surveys over 700 top executives, their concerns and their strategies for innovation.

Mindshift from Big to Fast

2007-01-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

"The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow." - Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO, News Corporation.

I found this quote on a site called Principal Voices. Eric Beinhocker of the Corporate Executive Board : "The main difference recently has been the pace of change," he says. "In the early 1980s you had the idea of sustainable competitive advantage. "When you talk to business leaders today the notion that any competitive advantage is sustainable has gone away. Success is now based on creating a flow of temporary advantages, and to do that you have to be able to innovate."

Process innovation and challenging our current mindsets go hand-in-hand. Please take a look at this site. The conversations will inform our efforts to map a new path.

Secret to Long Life

2007-01-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

Ed Chinn, good friend of mine, sent a link to the secrets of longevity. In this link you'll find research from National Geographic correlating factors for living a long life. The comparison cities are Loma Linda, Okinawa and Sardinia.

In addition to elements we might expect; no smoking, social engagement, active lives and a healthy diet - two additional elements caught my attention. Two elements that corporations can influence and will factor into future strategies for recruitment and retention.

The first is the priority of family and social engagement. Family and work have traditionally been kept separate. That is an old reality. They converge. The blur and blend doesn't fit well with traditional management mindsets that need compartments and boundaries to feel in control. If people are going to answer their Blackberry's at all hours then they will also need a counterbalance.

Best Buy has recently responded to this counterbalance with a new mindset for management called ROWE - Results Only Work Environment. Sounds good? Sounds out there? Businessweek used this as a cover story last year in an article called Smashing the Clock.

I've also include a link to the Podcast interview with the reporter who wrote the story. This is definitely a stretch but it is an innovation mindshift.

The second element that caught my attention is the enclave environment for these areas of extended longevity. Companies have more flexibility where they can locate and there will be new model "factory towns" where companies join forces with innovative developers and create enclaves that offer a high quality of life off the beaten path.

I'll report in around 10AM tomorrow after my hour of meditation, quality time with the kids, healthy breakfast of legumes and an exhilarating work out - NOT. I'll be up at 5:30 and in to the office early where I'll have a few quiet hours before the fire drills begin. The only clock I'll smash will be my alarm clock.

Ed Chinn is an excellent writer, editor and thinker. Here is his website - www.edchinn.com

iPhone - Mindshifting the Handset

2007-01-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

What do the iPod, Palm and Treo have in common? These devices use standard components. Their Mindshift is the result of radical simplification and integration of use.

Here is a recent interview with Jobs expressing this simplification philosophy.

Deep understanding of use and value along with a hacker's mind produce innovation.

Jeff Hawkins Master Mindshifter - Palm, TREO

2007-01-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

"When you look at the PalmPilot," he (Jeff Hawkins) points out, "there was nothing new in it. Everything had existed in a prior product. The trick was to know what to include, what to exclude, and what we were trying to accomplish with it."

Hawkins is driven by his constant dissatisfaction with the way things are. Handwriting-recognition software was horrible, so he invented the Graffiti writing system used in the original Palm. (Excerpt from Business 2.0 - January 07)

Mindshifting through the world of a Hacker

2007-01-25T10:20:00.000-08:00

Nathan, my 14 year old, is a Digital Native. He is completely comfortable in the new world. For example, he has shown me how he systematical hunts for “glitches” in his video games and exploits these to gain an upper hand over his competition. He’s hacking the game.

Last week he showed me a little shim he devised from a Coke can that can open a Master Lock in about 2 seconds. He’s hacking the lock.

Last year Nathan walked into my office and picked up my older generation iPod. He said; “Hey dad, I get your iPod to show videos.” My first instinct and response was; “Gee, I don’t think I want you to do that.” Nathan shrugged and said – okay. He wanted to hack my iPod.

So – what’s the point, the bigger picture? My mindset is geared to optomize a process, product, solution etc. His mindset is geared to deconstruct and repurpose what he gets his hands on.

We need a mindshift to embrace innovation and not go down the path of least resistance and try to optomize current models. We need a hacker's mind.

The epic begins by hacking current models discovering their glitches and the hidden patterns for the next big thing.

The Divine Touch - Mindshifting The Senses

2007-01-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

Jeff Han introduced a REVOLUTIONARY computer interface at the TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) Conference 2006. It is a dynamic touch screen interface similar to what you saw in the Tom Cruise Movie – Minority Report.

I’ve linked Jeff's TED presentation recently posted on Youtube. (Green highligted text is a link to a video or an article).

This story is in February’s Fast Company. Consider how architects, product development, marketing and sales will be better able to understand, share and develop ideas.

This link provides a video clip with a more in-depth presentation.

Industry and cultural transitions simmer until a catylst creates a fundamental shift in our orientation to knowledge, time and people.

Here is a link to the Fast Company article.