|
|
Jeffrey Phillips at CIL 2012
The 27th annual Computers in Libraries is focusing on Creating Innovative Libraries. Author Jeffrey Phillips talked about relentless innovation and the need to change from BAU (business as usual) to” innovation business as usual”. He illustrated how we have been focusing on quality, efficiency, core competencies and being lean for the last 30 years and although they are good things, they have not been balanced with innovation as they were in the 1970′s. To accomplish innovation business as usual with more emphasis on innovation in organizations he discussed the need for: communication & commitment (demonstrating with words and actions), compensation (if you want people to be innovative you have to reward them for doing so), and culture (creating attitudes, perspectives, and ways of working that sees innovation as important). In addition, new skill sets have to be learned (focusing on customer needs, trend watching, managing innovation). He left the audience with his Fab Four imperatives: create clear innovation goals (& strategies) — he used P&G as an example; begin to define & sustain a process with language, methodologies, culture (understand how it works); rebalance with tools & skills; rework culture, incentives, rewards. If you want more, check out his book, Relentless Innovation, and his blog.
Fantastic! Spring is here — according to today’s Google Doodle, and the cherry blossoms that are now blooming in full force in DC, and the 27the Computers in Libraries which began with lots of workshops today. Later today the opening networking event, Gaming & Gadgets Petting Zoo, provides an opportunity to reconnect, meet, and greet colleagues as well as to try your hand at some fun games (and understand what the young folk love!) and also try out each others’ gadgets. Always a fun activity. Tomorrow brings our morning keynote, Jeffrey Phillips, VP OVO Innovate on Purpose, and author of Relentless Innovation: What Works, What Doesn’t — And What That Means for Your Business.
If you aren’t registered for the conference but are in the DC area, you can take advantage of the free sessions, Cybertours, which are happening in the Exhibit Hall on Wednesday through Friday.
If you aren’t able to join us this year in person in DC, follow the Twitter feed (#CILDC), conference blog (www.Libconf.com) which links to other conference bloggers, and watch for some live streaming with links from the blog! See you in person or online.
Love Seth Godin’s recent post, The Map has been Replaced by the Compass. He says it so well.
“The map keeps getting redrawn, because it’s cheaper than ever to go offroad, to develop and innovate and remake what we thought was going to be next. Technology keeps changing the routes we take to get our projects from here to there. It doesn’t pay to memorize the route, because it’s going to change soon.
The compass, on the other hand, is more important then ever. If you don’t know which direction you’re going, how will you know when you’re off course?
And yet…
And yet we spend most of our time learning (or teaching) the map, yesterday’s map, while we’re anxious and afraid to spend any time at all calibrating our compass.”
Rebecca and I have spent almost 20 years working with organizations to set their direction — we’ve called it direction planning for most of those years (although the term strategic planning keeps sneaking in as it is more familiar in most organizations). Seth is so right, setting direction (often with a vision of a preferred future state) is key to any journey and continues to guide the path taken. Thanks for this post, Seth.
Continue reading Got Direction? Use a Compass not a Map
Jane Dysart posted this in Conferences, Learning, Lib, IM, KM on February 6th, 2012 Knowledge, creating it and sharing, it is at the core of what I have been involved in throughout my career — in libraries, in corporations, at conferences, on the web, with friends and colleagues. I like the post this morning from Nina Platt, which included the following:
Those of us working in knowledge management (KM) have long said that we need KM more in troubled economic times than any other time. Why? Because using KM as a strategy for getting or staying ahead of competitors makes sense. KM can drive consistency, consistency drives quality, and quality work brings in repeat customers. While this is true, why did we see so many layoffs of KM staff as the economy turned south? Apparently, hiring KM staff picking up again or it may be that it is being outsourced? As a KM consultant, Nick Milton reports that his business is growing. Read more in If knowledge management is dead, why does it have such a strong pulse?
I am very excited about KMWorld 2012, October 16-19 in DC which will include Taxonomy Boot Camp (Oct 16-17), Enterprise Search Summit (Oct 17-19), and SharePoint Symposium (oct 18-19). The call for speakers for KMWorld 2012 is online and I hope you will consider sharing your experiences and knowledge with your colleagues at this key event for those in the KM field. The theme of this year’s event is Knowledge Sharing & Learning: Communication, Collaboration & Innovation . I’ll be sharing more information about new initiatives and keynote
Continue reading Knowledge, KM & Success
Years ago I got really excited about “neoteny” when I read Warren Bennis’ book, Geeks & Geezers: How Eras, Values & Defining Moments Shape Leaders (2002). I love the word and the concept, and so does Joichi Ito, the director of the M.I.T. Media Lab, according to this article on innovation in the New York Times. He says, “Neoteny, one of my favorite words, means the retention of childlike attributes in adulthood: idealism, experimentation and wonder. In this new world, not only must we behave more like children, we also must teach the next generation to retain those attributes that will allow them to be world-changing, innovative adults who will help us reinvent the future.” Also, “education is [not] about centralized instruction anymore; rather, it is the process establishing oneself as a node in a broad network of distributed creativity.” Ito is also the general partner of Neoteny Labs.
I have given several talks on why libraries fail, and published an article on the topic, and one of the things I include in developing leaders is “the ability to retain youthful qualities as adults — curiosity, playfulness, eagerness, fearlessness, warmth, energy. Certainly this is the season for it, so strengthen your neoteny!
We’re coming to the end of the year and there are lots of predictions out there for a whole range of technology and trends. Great for big picture thinking and planning for the future. Check out predictions for:
* popular holiday toys — love this list of 20 tested & “Yule Elf approved” tech treasures for the holidays
* enterprise social collaboration software — Forrester predicts $6.4 billion market in 2016
* enterprise IT — Gartner sees CSMI nexus: cloud, social, mobile & info — see quote below
The new driving force behind IT for the foreseeable future is what Plummer [Daryl Plummer, Managing VP & Gartner Fellow] and his associates call the “CSMI Nexus” — comprising cloud, social, mobile and information. The CSMI Nexus forms “a phenomenon that is changing the world as we know it, and certainly changing the IT landscape,” he says. “Cloud is the means of delivery. Social is the behavioral style, the interaction styles. Mobile is the access mechanism. Information is the analytical foundation on which you figure out what decisions to make. You have to build a philosophy around that.
* themes for 2012 from Ross Dawson which I definitely agree with
I am sure there are lots more and I hope you’ll point me toward them but in the meantime, these are ones that crossed my radar today.
Jane Dysart posted this in Conferences, Learning, Lib, IM, KM on December 1st, 2011 Just because it’s Dec 1, no that’s not Ba Humbug but rather Ba, the KM concept of a physical or virtual collaborative space where participants feel safe and exchange insights. Since collaboration and communication are key to so many positive paths, including innovation, improvement, and learning, we should be looking for more Ba environments in our organizations and communities. I should have used the Ba concept in my recent post on imaging an engaging place, what a perfect term for a teen space — the teen ba! I’m trying to envision such a Ba space for next year’s KMWorld 2012 to support the conference theme Knowledge Sharing & Learning: Communication, Collaboration & Innovation. Thanks to Bill Ives & Stan Garfield for brainstorming with me. Got suggestions? Send them along. Thanks.
Jane Dysart posted this in Lib, IM, KM, Marketing, Tech & Tools on November 30th, 2011 Are you ready? Hamilton Public Library Chief Librarian Ken Roberts and I talked about ebooks a few weeks ago for an Education Institute “Conversations with Leaders” series. We talked about was the huge increase in ebook circulation over that last 18 months and how there was a real spike after Christmas last year. A recent Toronto Star article emphasized the same situation with ebooks in the Toronto Public Library.
So have you made your plans for supporting the even greater tsunami of ebook seekers following holiday gift giving of electronic goodies? If you thought it was ebook crazy last year, this year will be even multiplied at least ten fold. Suggestion: make it really clear on the front page of your website how to deal with ebooks — how to download to particular devices (step by step), how to find ebooks in your collection, tips, FAQs, etc. Be prepared so your customers don’t get frustrated and bypass your library.
Retailers have Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I think libraries should have a catchy name for the ebook extravaganza following electronic holiday giving – Ebook Xday, or maybe just Ebookday. Got some other suggestions?
Jane Dysart posted this in Change & Innovation, Planning on November 26th, 2011 Nothing like a Gumby to stimulate your imagination. Thanks Google for this doodle! Twist Gumby this way and that, just as you can twist your thoughts this way and that to create something new and different, innovative, exciting. We encourage imaginative thinking with clients and groups as we work with them to envision a future for themselves and their organizations. We recently worked with a wonderful group of teens to imagine a space that would engage them. It came with the usual: comfortable, internet teen lounge with free wifi where you can bring your own computer or use the library’s, do homework or just hang, play video games or board games. But that space also embraced having experts to enhance their learning of photography, writing, art, cooking and sewing! Their vision definitely engaged us. Ask someone today today to imagine a great space, a great job, a great working environment that would engage them — you may be surprised by what creative visions they create!
Jane Dysart posted this in Tech & Tools on November 25th, 2011 Great Infoworld article on the top 10 emerging enterprise technologies. Inclues:
10. HTML5
9. Client-side hypervisors (desktop virtualization on the client)
8. Continuous build tools
7. Trust on a chip (love this phrase for security)
6. Javascript replacements
5. Distributed storage tiering (including solid-state drivers)
4. Apache hadoop (getting a little techie for me, but it’s open source)
3. Advanced synchronization ( whether Apple or PC, they are both ” moving to a cloud-enabled fabric of user activities spread across devices and applications.”)
2. Software-definied networks
1. Private cloud orchestration (“more agile and efficient shared architectures”)
Lots of food for thought as we build our digital strategies and plan for 2012 and beyond.
|
What’s Impacting Our Future?
|
