Strategic planning: Three tips for 2009

Even in these tumultuous times, strategic planning doesn’t have to be an exercise in anxiety—or futility. APRIL 2009 • Renée Dye, Olivier Sibony, and S. Patrick Viguerie Source: Strategy Practice & McKinsey Quarterly Strategic-planning season has arrived for many companies, and it couldn’t be more different than it has been in years past. Gone are the days of linear trend-extrapolation exercises that produce base, upside, and downside cases. Strategists, now facing the most profoundly uncertain times in their careers, are creating disaster scenarios that would have been unthinkable until recently and making the preservation of cash integral to their strategies.

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The Care and Framing of Strategic Innovation Changes - Arthur VanGundy Ph.D.

One of our members - Josh Gluckman from Think Growth, recently provided this document from Arthur VanGundy. There is a bit of content, though well worth the read... The Care and Framing of Strategic Innovation Challenges Arthur B. VanGundy, Ph.D. (“Andy”) avangundy@cox.net November 2005 Author’s Note: This paper represents the draft version of parts of several chapters in my recently-released book, Getting to Innovation: How. NY: AMACOM, 2007. http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Innovation- Asking the Right Questions Generates the Great Ideas Your Company Needs Questions-Generates-Company/dp/0814408982/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105- 5881108-2916424?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189367822&sr=8-1 Ideas in Search of Problems Are ideas a dime a dozen as the expression says? Probably not. That’s too easy and somewhat of a cop out. It is relatively easy to get ideas, but probably more difficult to get “good” ideas—those with the greatest probability of solving problems.

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Design Thinking: A Strategy for Innovation

Here are some interesting insights from Linda Naiman - Creativity at Work, she has some fantastic networks...

Innovation Practices for Leaders

The revolution taking place in design — as it emerges from its traditional role of serving commerce — to a role of leading, shaping and directing the way we live and work, presents tremendous opportunities for leaders in business and government. CEOs of major corporations are now applying design principles to strategy and innovation. The success rate for innovation dramatically improves when it is designed.

P&G is using design-thinking to change its culture. Leadership is listening, learning, and deploying; cross-functional teams are cracking vexing problems across its business landscape; and visualization, prototyping, and iteration are facilitating communication internally and with customers like never before. (BusinessWeek July 28, 2008)

A design mind-set is not problem-focused, it’s solution focused, and action oriented. The purpose of design, ultimately, is to improve quality of life. Empathy is key to design success.

From a design point of view, truly innovative products speak to their users' emotions, according to Yves Behar (Fast Company 2004), who designs radical innovations to well established consumer products for companies such as Nike and Toshiba. It's the emotional connection you make with employees and customers that wins their loyalty.

The design way of thinking can be applied to systems, situations, procedures, protocols, and innovation. We can design the way we lead, manage, create and innovate.

Contact Linda Naiman for design training and consulting

Crowdsourcing : The new weapon of cyber war

The power of thousands of individuals acting en masse has become a weapon of war. While politicians, revolutionaries, and totalitarian governments have long known how to send crowds of protesters to the streets to parade in front of the television cameras, the new trend is to mobilize forces over the Internet to engage in the equivalent of mass online protests. In some case the results can be humorous. In others, not. Remember Mr. Splashy Pants? In an attempt to garner sympathy for its cause Green Peace posted a poll to choose a name for a whale. A call to the members of Reddit , the hugely popular social bookmarking site, was put out. It read: Greenpeace are having a vote to name a whale they have ‘adopted’. All the options are the names of ancient gods of the sea. And then there’s ‘Mister Splashy Pants’. Please vote ‘Mister Splashy Pants’.

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IdeaPort : strategic innovation, foresight, and futures thinking.

From the Dec/Jan 09 issue of Fast Company magazine comes a great article about Cisco. Several paragraphs of note including: Get ready for the upturn. “What’s our vision for where this industry is going with or without us?” That, [CEO John Cambers] says, is a five-year horizon. “What is our differentiated strategy within that vision?” That’s a two- to four-year plan. “How are we going to execute in the next 12 to 18 months?” Chambers is convinced that the role of the CEO has to morph. He recalls a lesson he learned working for An Wang of Wang Laboratories, whom he has often called one of the smartest people he’s ever known: “One person cannot anticipate a market transition. At Wang, we transitioned four times, but we missed the fifth, from mini computers to PC and software. If you don’t catch them [all], you leave your company behind.”

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