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Michael Edson, Director of Web & New Media Strategy at the Smithsonian Institution, has interesting insights & is always researching and learning from others. Innovation is a topic he has researched and he’s going to share practical nuggets with the audience of Computers in LIbraries 2012. Here’s a sneak peek at what he’ll be talking aboug:
Creating Inspiring Services Edson begins by talking about what it means to be “innovative”: how to recognize it, how to make it happen more, and how to prevent the opposite from happening. Using his past five years of experience moving a respected cultural institution into the 21st century, Edson shares his lesson learned, creative strategies, tips and more. He understands how to engage his community, how to create and support an innovative culture, how design exciting new services and to put that knowledge into practice. Filled with lots of examples, he inspire us to create innovative services for our communities.
Another indication that Edson knows how to engage his community? He’s also researching organizations that get more than one million hours per year of volunteer effort through their websites. Hope he shares what he learns with the audience of Computers in Libraries 2012.
I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since we’ve posted on our site — too many conferences and work with clients. All wonderful and very stimulating. We’ve been brimming with things to say but no time to put them into words, so hopefully this is the beginning of many new posts to come!
We’ve talked a lot about thinking critically and strategically as well as creativity. Today Don Tapscott pointed me to an interesting article on creative thinking, an excerpt published by Fast Company from a book, Bob Gill, so far. As author, artist & graphic designer Bob Gill says, “Interesting solutions begin with interesting problems. So reframe the problem.” Rebecca and I have been working with clients on “reframing” their perspectives and challenges, so I’m looking forward to reading more in Gill’s book.
I was also inspired recently by some creative ideas from KM evangelist Bob Buckman who spoke at KMWorld 2011. He said to me, it’s necessary to move “an organization to a decision making process that is faster than the competition. Speed of Innovation is the key to competitive advantage. Being able to innovate around the needs of the customer is great, but if your competition does it faster than you, then you still loose.” I’m planning to use some of this words as a theme for KMWorld 2012: Knowledge Sharing & Learning: Communication, Collaboration & Innovation. The call for speakers will be up at the beginning of January and from all the buzz following KMWorld 2011 I know we will
Continue reading Creative Thinking, KM & Innovation
An interesting study by MDC Partners & Allison & Partners called the C-Factors Report points to creativity, collaboration and culture to re-engerize today’s global economy. They surveyed leading CEOs & CMOs who view creativity as a criticial driver of the global economy. Great stats & insights:
* 73 % of respondents think we’ve entered the “imagination” economy, with 98 percent affirming that creativity is critical to economic success today
* 76% state that creativity has a significant impact on driving business forward
* over half (57%) strive to develop a strong creative culture within their organizations; & 80% believe creativity must be generated and fostered by industry leaders in order for new and innovative thinking to survive
* 73% of senior executives will place an increasing emphasis on creatively inspired communications in the coming years
“Creating a vision, and building a defined culture around that vision, was a strong theme. Thought leaders from start-ups such as Inkling, to legacy companies such as IBM, all cited the need for deep discipline and a firm self-audit process to unleash the broadest creative efforts possible within a corporation.”
I’ts exhilarating for Rebecca and I when we work with clients to create visions that are so exciting and forward thinking that organization leaders can build strong support for their strategies to guide them towards that positive future. I love the “imagination” economy mentioned in this study and the fact that leaders realize innovative thinking and creative cultures are so important today. Goes back to my favorite Walt Disney
Continue reading Creativity, Visions & Success
Rebecca Jones posted this in Change & Innovation on September 30th, 2011 Oh how far we’ve come — and how far we’ll go! Stephen Abram’s Lighthouse shows his love of infographics this morning (love it Stephen!). And I just saw this wonderful”animated” infographic demonstrating the history of data by Sweat & Pixels. Well done! This is so useful for setting the tone and opening people’s thinking at the beginning of meetings discussing trends, planning or strategic decisions. Have a look:
A Brief History of Digital Data from Sweat & Pixels on Vimeo.
What a great fall day when we celebrate Jim Henson’s 75th birthday and wish he was still with us. What a creative genius who dared to do something different and made a difference in so many lives! I love this post from last year about leadership lessons from the Muppets: so many positive words from such interesting perspectives including Kermit and the Fraggles. Rebecca and I have been talking a lot lately about critical thinking and the necessity of looking at challenges from difference frames or perspectives. So check out those from the Muppets, they’re great!
And also have a look at Search Engine Land’s post about today’s Google Muppet doodle. It explains the interactivity of this doodle even if it doesn’t have audio like lots of net curmudgeons complained about this morning. Life is too short — Henson died at 53. Be happy and creative; enjoy your weekend and Henson’s Google Muppet Day!
Rebecca and I had an aha! moment earlier this year about calling databases (the staple for librarians for years) websites. That’s what resonates with our customers — websites. They may be specially priced websites, or some that require a fancy login, but they are websites. For those of us who learned about databases so many years ago, repeat after me, “websites, websites, websites!” NO MORE ELECTRONIC DATABASES, ONLINE DATABASES, or just databases. WEBSITES only! It’s one of those “whack on the side of the head” things. Get on board.
Today a popular and well-respected politician, Jack Layton, lost his battle with cancer. Two days ago he wrote a letter to all of us. It echoes strongly of talks I heard at IFLA almost exactly four years ago in South Africa — from Albie Sachs, Justice of the Constituional Court of South Africa, and other politicians. Even though they lost arms, eyes, and dignity during apratheid, and were imprisoned, they never gave up hope, were determined, and DID make change. And here are Jack Layton’s words to all of us. Let’s take them to heart and be forces for positive change.
To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. … As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the
Continue reading Echoes, Impact & Change
Jane Dysart posted this in Change & Innovation on August 17th, 2011 Here’s a great article, The Eight Pillars of Innovation, by Susan Wojcicki, employee #16 with Google, and currently it’s SVP of Advertising. And here’s an interview with her in conversation with Wired’s Steve Levy where she said, “Google is fascinating, and the book isn’t finished. I’m creating, living, building, and writing those chapters.” I digress….. here’s the 8 pillars of innovation she highlights:
1. Have a mission that matters
2. Think big but start small (like Google Books)
3. Strive for continual innovation, not instant perfection (iterative process teaches valuable lessons)
4. Look for ideas everywhere
5. Share everything (encourages discussion, exchange & re-interpretation of ideas leading unexpected and innovative outcomes)
6. Spark with imagination, fuel with data (Google recruits people who believe the impossible can become a reality, like driverless cars, & they encourage blue-sky thinking through 20% time, a full day a week where engineers can work on whatever they want)
7. Be a platform (“Open technologies … allow anyone, anywhere to apply their unique skills, perspectives & passions to create new products & features on top of [Google] platforms)
8. Never fail to fail (good example, Google is known for YouTube, which it bought, not Google Video Player — “learn from your mistakes and correct fast. Google Answers was retired after 4 years.)
These pillars resonate so much with me because Rebecca and I have been talking about these things for years in workshops, consulting, and coaching. It’s great to see such a wonderful list from a talented
Continue reading Innovation: Advice from Google Ad Gal
We live in interesting, and somewhat scary times, as much of what we know is changing. Just think about the financial industry (where I spent many years) or the recent riots in London. Change is not always for the better in our minds. However, if we want to move forward, survive and thrive in our local or global ecologies we have to choose a positive direction, work together, and compromise. Nothing is perfect and neither are we. We all have our strengths and together those strengths can achieve amazing results. We have to keep in mind that something is better than nothing, and whether it’s a country or community, an association or organization, we can’t just rail about the problems and try to tear down those who have aided in the change; we have to get together and find positive solutions that work for the majority and will survive for future generations. Are you with me?
I love this post from Dan Frommer, The Future of News is Going to be Awesome. And it has so many implications for those in the knowledge and information biz. Dan says: “Perhaps the trepidation is because the people who deliver today’s news — journalists and publishers — are the ones who could be the most displaced by the change. Most of today’s news organizations — newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television networks, etc. — will look drastically different in a decade or so. Many will disappear, and only the resourceful will thrive.” But for the consumer, it’s exciting. Here’s Dan’s highlights:
*People will have more sources of information and “news” than ever before.
* Information will travel even faster and be more portable.
* Software is the future of media.
* You are your own editor.
*It’s good to be a curator.
* Advertising will improve… and that will change the whole game.
* News and commerce must further blend.
More sources, coming faster to wherever you are whenever you want means that as you will need to edit and curate the tremendous flow with the help of cool tools…. and the business and advertising world will spin the axis another bunch of degrees. Yes, exciting, scary but pretty darn amazing for those of us trained to deal with information and knowledge flows, who are flexible enough to change quickly and fit into the new big picture of our organizations and communities. What are implications for you? your organization or community? Use your imagination and
Continue reading Future of News & Info
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