Mindshift from Big to Fast

"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

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

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

"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

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

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.