Kicking off 2009 with innovation as the CORE STRATEGY!

The event is sponsored by the Product Development and Management Association, the membership of which are individuals responsible for product and service innovation throughout the corporate world globally, as well as from within the world of academia. It's a pretty influential crowd, and I'm honored that I will be able to share my insight with them. Previous keynote speakers have included G Lafley, CEO, Procter & Gamble; Mads Nipper, SVP of Product & Marketing Development, Lego Group; Gary Loveman, CEO & President, Harrah's Entertainment; and Tom Stewart, Former Editor in Chief, Harvard Business Review, among others. The PDMA is the publisher of the renowned Journal of Product Innovation Management, which is arguably the must-read academic journal that covers the latest issues with new product and service development.

This year, the conference theme tends to revolve around my entire focus on "innovating faster" -- "creating a high performance environment to fuel strategic growth and operational excellence."

"In the changing global economy it gets harder every day to develop winning portfolios that drive long term business value. The 14th Annual Portfolio Management for New Products & Services Conference will present a critical 360 degree view of portfolio management from the discovery phase straight through to commercialization. Learn to innovate faster, optimize resources, select the right projects, and ultimately develop a high performance environment that fuels growth & organizational excellence regardless of the economic conditions"...

The issue of faster time-to-market has become increasingly important with fast-paced economic change. With all the volatility, consumer choice can change quickly ; brand image can shift radically ; execution becomes critical. I'll focus on a variety of themes as to how I see organizations doing this.

Here's a key message in advance of the conference: it can be tough, right now, to be an innovator, particularly as organizations deal with the economic crisis. But, the big question is: do you start/continue to innovate now, or do you wait until conditions improve?

To me, the choice is obvious. I detailed this in my blog post, The Seven Stages of Economic Grief. I also addressed the issue in another earlier blog post, A Memo to the CEO, in which I stressed the need for a continued focus on innovation despite challenging times.

I think they are well worth a read again.

More information:

• Innovation and the "Seven Stages of Economic Grief?"
• Read the Memo to the CEO
• Visit the 2009 PDMA conference web site.

Retail and consumer product innovation: a report from NYC

They've released a summary of the overall day; in addition to my own insight, participants included Katie Lee Joel (pictured on the right), author of the Comfort Table; as well as "supermarket guru" Phil Lampert.

I spoke to a variety of trends that are impacting retail and food markets; for example, the trend in which in store display technology -- a "new influencer" -- will come to influence how shoppers shop, faster than we think:

This new shopper is not only more scattered and more connected, but also faster -- scanning 12 feet of shelf space on average per second.

In-store influencers will now evolve at the pace of the iPhone and the Blackberry, challenging marketers to keep up with the pace. Faster is the new innovation and innovation isn't just about new product design - it's about responding to fast-paced consumer change.

Marketing Implication: Marketers must work harder than ever to capture the attention of the consumer and make a connection. Brands must keep up with the pace of consumer change in order to stay relevant.

More information:

Read the RDA Food & Entertainings Consumer Food Symposium summary (PDF)

Silicon Valley : Is innovation dead?

I spoke to this issue from a number of perspectives. One issue I touched on was the inevitability of a rebound in the fortune of IT. If we cast our minds out two to five years, or perhaps even sooner, there are certain key trends in which we see a massive amount of innovation:

• pervasive connectivity: we've barely scratched the surface of the era in which everyday devices gain connectivity and intelligence. The Internet enabled thermostat in my home is but a harbinger of what is yet to come. With it's own Web browser, it has become a fascinating tool by which energy usage can be more closely monitored. The same device is deployed throughout the Arby's chain, and offers a significant new method of controlling energy-spend.
• continued growth of mobile: One recent survey of consumers suggested that while they might be willing to give up buying the latest plasma TV, there was no way they'd give up mobile or the Internet. Mobile is weaving itself into daily life, sophisticated platforms are finally here, devices are fashion, developers are on board in a big way, and the emerging applications are either real and useful, or just a tremendous bit of fun.
• location intelligence: we're barely scratching the surface with this one. Every device around us is becoming connected (pervasive connectivity), and we'll gain knowledge as to its status through sensory awareness. Not only that : we'll know exactly where it is. Search for "location intelligence professionals" online, and you'll discover a group of people who understand how unique our future is set to be.
• computational analytics: I've written about this before, in the context of this being "the next billion dollar industry." I remain some of the biggest challenges we face and the solutions that we find for them -- in terms of transportation, energy and the environment -- will come from applying massive computing power and complex alogorithms to them. Think about smart highway infrastructure as an example: it would be ludicrous to not believe that we will see 5, 10, 15 or 20% incremental increases in energy conservation that will come from ever-more automated traffic systems.
• staggering new mass markets: six months ago, it was believed that in the next 10 years, 1 billion people worldwide would move into the middle class. Maybe it's only half that now : who knows? But 500 million is still a staggering number. There is plenty of potential for connectivity, mobile, hardware and software to newly emerging mass markets.
• bio-connectivity: if I were a betting man, I'd have my money on this trend. Simply put, the global health care system is massively broken. Ten years out, home health care will pre-dominate, supported by a sophisticated infrastructure of smart health care energy devices. Yes, I've written about this trend on this blog too; see below.
• transformational thinking: an entire generation has been stuck in an older paradigm of how to network; the election of a younger President, wired to the nation and the world, who thinks, interacts, moves, plans, and acts differently, sets even more velocity to the power of connectivity. The Internet, mobile, social networking and blogs changed an entire presidential race; they're set to change everything else in society on a continuous basis.

More information:

• Read about what happens When Thermostats get connected
• Read the article about bio-connectivity, The Doctor is in around the clock
• Read the article Minds of their own
• Read "Bioconnectivity and the rapid emergence of new markets"
• Read the article Command and Control - Opportunity Awaits Companies that Master Hyperconnectivity

The economy and leadership: strategy meetings are happening NOW

This confirms my belief, which I have been posting in this blog, that there are many organizations out there who are determined to stay ahead of fast paced economic trends. Here's an example of a client request that came through this morning; they are looking for insight on:

• how can an organization succeed given the current world and marketplace realities by thinking and doing things differently relative to the following:
• how to use, and deploy and share resources in new creative ways from a variety of places to serve the most critical needs or during the most critical times
• how to employ a a non-traditional structure or organization design that is creative, flexible, different and nimble to support critical business priorities
• how to leverage key capabilities in new and different ways, either through developing them internally, outsourcing them or partnering in a type of hybrid manner

• someone who will provide a thought provoking point of view, with inspiration around new and different approaches to achieving the above
• can speak to trends in this topic arena, yet also cite some examples of companies that are acting or behaving in some of these innovative ways to achieve results
• someone who can push the thought agenda yet provide information that is deemed doable, possible, realistic and not too extreme of an approach
• a person who can deliver the information in a small group/ intimate setting with a "working session" format vs a large key note "speaker" address forum

I'm off later today to keynote just such a leadership meeting for a major accounting firm in the DC area; I just returned from Palo Alto where I gave a similar talk to a high-level group of Silicon Valley executives. More on that particular talk later, because I've been busy writing a post about "what comes next with tech."

My Dad - November 11

It's Veteran's Day in the US, and Remembrance Day in Canada, and elsewhere around the world, November 11 marks a day of memories.

Every year as November 11 approaches and we remember wars past, I put up a TV clip featuring my dad. Al Carroll was a World War II veteran, and was proud of the service he gave to his country.

He never really talked about the war too much -- but certainly made sure that young people understood what it was about.

He was involved in a junior high school program just before he died a bit more than 10 years ago ..... doing just that. It's worth a watch.

Watch the video clip

10 fundamental trends that don't change with the meltdown

So what are the trends that will drive future growth? Off the top of my head, there are several:

• growth markets will continue to emerge. Back in the 19th century, the head of the US Patent Office stated that "everything that can be invented has been invented." Such silliness. Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of new products, markets, industries and ideas being built and explored. The future isn't over. It's arrival has just slowed to a degree.
• leaders in existing markets will grow through innovation. My own gut feel is that there are a lot of organizations out there approaching this recession differently. They're innovating in their markets; they're working on customer retention; they're investing in customer service in order to keep competitive; they're talking about how to grow in a down market. I'm certainly seeing this given my advance bookings going forward. People want to talk about innovation and the future. That's a great sign that the recovery is underway.
• health care will see significant transformation, not to mention spending: health care is transitioning to a system of predictive medicine. This is a huge, long term, 20 year trend, but has big implications with the emergence of new careers, industries, professions, and companies -- DNA based medicine is a massive change. On top of that, the mere level of spending that is going to occur in managing the looming health care crisis will drive all kinds of growth, though the funding part of the equation will remain a big problem. The result? Lots of innovative thinking as to how to solve huge problems with unique solutions.
• green and energy will continue have more momentum. Some argue that the meltdown will defer everything having to do with these two efforts. I disagree; I think the corporate sector has discovered the cost benefit that comes from green projects, and so they will continue to invest, which will drive innovation. And I think globally, we've passed the point where people and their leaders believe that doing the same old thing as the past is going to continue in the future. I don't see leading edge research into solar, wind, and other alternatives slowing down any time soon. And the fascinating thing is that there is a lot of backyard, garage tinkering going on right now, and that's where the next product/market breakthroughs will come from.
• technology will continue to hyper-innovate: I've got six generations of Blackberry's that span about six years or less. They've got a slew of new products coming out just this month : they've got a very fast innovation culture. Likewise, iPhone's have become the coolest fashion statement on the planet for the younger demographic. The Internet-enabled thermostat I have in my home and chalet is the first step in a huge wave of pervasive connectivity. I don't see hi-tech innovation and R&D slowing down. Indeed, during the last recession, some of the biggest innovations -- the iPod -- emerged from the minds of those inventing the future. There are a lot more billion-dollar markets still to emerge.
• agility and flexibility will dominate: In the next several years, the manufacturing industry -- globally and locally -- will learn to do what Honda has done: focus on the rapid assembly and reassembly of capabilities, so as to more quickly change models and products to respond to fast paced consumer demand. As they do so, they'll undergo a fundamental transformation in their thinking, structure and capabilities that will ensure their success.
• the global idea machine will continue to influence innovation. Look, the Internet continues to have a profound impact on everything we do. Scientific discovery is speeding up; new discoveries continue to go forward at a furious pace. Eco-building design concepts are debated, shared, and then go global in an instant. From the global mind comes unprecedented innovation, new products, new companies and new industries.
• the next generation takes over. The boomers are a dispirited bunch right now; there's not a lot of passion and enthusiasm with some of them to change the future, particularly given the status of their 401K's. Some in the younger generation are witnessing their first ever generation, and its' probably pretty terrifying. (This is my 4th, so I'm an old hand at this.) Yet, they're a hardy, entrepreneurial bunch, who have grown up with a mindset that inhales change, pursues multiple different opportunities, and collaborates like nothing we've ever seen before. I think they'll shake things up pretty quickly.
• A faster world happens, well, faster. Simply put, faster news cycles means that people get through difficult periods faster, at least in terms of mindset. Re-read my post about the '7 stages of economic grief' and share it around. Think about whether you think people are moving to the acceptance phase quicker. I believe they are, and I think this faster attitude shift, compared to a slower pace of acceptance in previous recessions, means that innovation will drive us out of this faster than we expect. >transformative thinking drives growth. Last but not least, we can't discount the impact of a new American mindset upon the global economy. It seems clear that a decisive mandate has been delivered by the American populace that they want to rejoin the global economy, and want to work hard and fast to fix the problems that have resulted. Big change comes from big ideas sponsored by leaders with big dreams. Right now, we live in transformation times.

More information:

Where are you on the "Seven Stages of Economic Grief?"

Rethinking innovation models - from Disney, to tin cans, to automobiles

At this event, I was speaking to an audience of advertising executives, food companies, packaging companies and others about how innovation models are shifting. Today, innovation is much more:

• partnership oriented - think Disney!
• flexible in terms of solutions - think tin-cans!
• faster in terms of market response to rapidly changing consumer demand

The key point : faster is the new fast -- because consumer choice changes faster than ever before.

Moving beyond the meltdown - linking opportunity to innovation

Frame of mind -- and the tone set by senior management -- is a critical factor right now. I wrote about this in Ready, Set, Done, in a chapter titled "Key success factors for innovative organizations."

The first point I made is that innovative organizations have a growth orientation. Quoting from the book:

Growth orientation. They've managed to instill a culture that has everyone thinking about what can be done - they are forward oriented. It's a culture in which people are thinking less about the problems that have occurred, and more about the cool strategies that could be pursued. They don’t run 'change-management workshops': they have strategic sessions on 'growing the business.' It’s not an easy task, but innovative organizations have managed to get their people away from 'right now' to 'our next step'.

They've moved beyond the "anger and denial" stage of economic grief, and are already busy, focused on innovation and the next steps!

More information:

Grab a copy of Ready, Set Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast

Where are you on the "Seven Stages of Economic Grief?"

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100 Days of Innovation - #3 : Check your speed

In other words, innovative organizations "check their speed." If they aren't responding quickly enough to rapid market, product, competitive and business model change, then they aren't following one of the key traits of successful innovators. If they aren't ensuring they are keeping up with rapid consumer and customer preference, service levels or marketing and branding innovation, they become an innovation laggard rather than a leader. If they can't collaborate and share knowledge as a team, in order to capitalize on new emerging opportunities or respond to threats, then they aren't operating at the right pace.

I was reminded of this point today, when I saw that Workplace Today, an HR focused publication, reprinted my article, Are We Thinking Fast Enough, which was originally published in Broadband magazine in 2006. The article was written for folks working in the telecom and hi-tech industries, and challenged them to "check their speed."

Looking back at the article, you can see the speed of change that has occurred. Take a look at the hi-tech gear that surrounds you, and think about quickly things become obsolete. In one of my cabinets in the home office, I've got about six generations of Blackberry devices. The first one looks absolutely ancient -- and yet, is from about 2001. I've also got an MP3 player from 1998 that could hold about five songs. It seems positively old-fashioned.

Such things are reminders that we live in a fast paced world -- and that innovators MUST check their speed in order to stay ahead in their markets. Here's the clincher -- it doesn't matter what industry I'm speaking too -- I can point people to similar degrees of high velocity change, and challenge them to think faster.

More information on the concept of "checking your speed":

• Read the original article Are we moving fast enough?
• Explore the concept of "thinking fast" in the blog section, "Faster"

Moving Beyond the Meltdown: Aligning Yourself for Growth Through Innovation

I've had a few recent keynotes that have built on this theme, using the title, "Moving Beyond the Meltdown: Aligning Yourself for Growth Through Innovation." Here's the session description that has been put together:

In the face of widespread economic volatility, organizations have three essential choices: they can panic, making rash decisions on structure, markets, investments; they can freeze and do nothing; or they can respond to rapid change through innovation, particularly with respect to strategies, structure, capabilities, markets, products, and activities.

Jim Carroll, one of the world's leading futurists, trends & innovation experts with clients such as Lincoln Financial, Caterpillar, the Walt Disney Organization and Nestle, shares his insight on the strategies that leading edge organizations are pursuing to stay ahead of the economy.

It's timely and critical insight! Many CEO's and senior executives understand that in addition to managing existing challenges, now is the time to focus on trends and the future. They know that they need to act quickly to establish an innovative mindset to get there intact. Jim provides his unique insight on staying ahead in volatile times, through his signature keynote addresses, after-dinner talks, discussions at small intimate management/Board meetings, or by speaking and participating in senior management and leadership meetings.

What the CEO's are saying: "Six things we need to do"

I've had a huge number of events in the last two months, since the economic contraction began. All of my keynotes and leadership sessions have focused on strategies to "stay out in front of this thing." I'm also quite often working with senior management, and get direct insight into what the CEO's are thinking. Here's what one CEO stated as the most important priorities through the next year, given the economic challenges:

• staff development and retention: keep the key staff engaged, innovative, and focused on the business.
• change leadership: many of my keynotes use a phrase from Rupert Murdoch: "The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow." That's particularly true now: organizations must "check their speed" and be able to evolve strategy, ideas, product and service very fast to keep up. back of the house is critical. In other words, IT is going to help to see us through. We need deep insight into the business; we need to focus on the cost efficiencies it can bring. We have a plan of investment, and we're not backing off now -- it's critical
• client retention: absolutely critical. Obsess over the quality of client relationships. This is so important, I've got a separate blog entry on it.
• "make plan" -- we have a budget -- we need to meet it. We need to relentlessly focus on closing deals. We've got to be a partner to our customers; they are looking for comfort, and we can provide that to them. If it means we share the risk with them, we do that too.
• have fun: wellness, mental and otherwise, is going to be critical to everyone in the organization in getting through these times. Let's focus as a team, have fun, and move forward!

The economy -- what I'm seeing happen RIGHT NOW

A month ago, I faced a very busy September and early October, and was out on the road keynoting a wide variety of events - a leadership event for a global law firm; an economic development conference; a symposium on consumer trends; a commercial real estate conference; a leadership session for a major bank and another for a telecom company; an event for a life insurance company; a meeting of pharmaceutical marketing executives; a food services company; a tourism conference; and many others -- all as the economic twists and turns evolved at a furious pace. Tomorrow, I'm off to New York to open a conference for professionals in the field of photography. More on that later.

All of these talks were immediately recast on the spot, to provide an outline of how the economy was going to evolve from this point out -- and how executives within these organizations should be thinking about the future in order to innovate ahead of fast-paced events.

The message has resonated in a huge way -- right now, people are clamoring for insight into the idea of "what comes next, and what should we do about it?" I have been stunned by the discussions post-presentation; I think the message of opportunity, and the necessity to quickly get beyond our economic shock and do things, is resonating in a huge way.

Having said that, my original suspicion during the last month of travels was that I was likely to see a slowdown in my own business, as organizations reacted and retrenched in light of the obvious recession around us.

I can now say that my suspicions were quite incorrect. In the last few weeks, I have seen a substantial - and I mean substantial -- number of queries for events, and a significant increase is confirmed bookings, from organizations who have decided that now is the time to focus on trends and the future, and to focus on how to establish an innovative mindset to get there intact.

There are several sources of new business:

• CEO's running a leadership session, previously planned or just now being scheduled, and who now realize that they need an expert who can focus on "what's really going on with the global economy, and what do we need to do to stay out in front."
• association executives who understand that in 2009, their members need a message of hope and inspiration, with specific, real, concrete guidance on how they can innovate their way out of this thing, and stay ahead of fast paced events
• mid-level managers who understand that now is a critical time to change the capabilities, agility, culture, and attitude of their team in order to maintain customer service excellence, customer retention levels, and other critical measures of success.
• marketing executives who realize that it is actually a good time to get in front of their customers with a clear, unequivocal message about their value, and how they can assist their customers as a partner.

The seven stages of economic grief - when do you innovate?

Here's what I think is going on: there are many organizations entering a state of absolute paralysis. Idea factories are being turned off. The result is that we're not just entering an economic recession -- we're entering another idea recession, similar to what occurred with the last downturn starting in 2001.

What is so different time is the absolute speed with which ideas are shutting down -- the paralysis in some organizations at the leadership level is absolutely stunning. This got me thinking about the fast paced events of the last few weeks in the context of the seven stages of grief.

I came to realize, things have happened so fast that many organizations still find themselves in the "shock" and "denial" phase. They'll be the innovation laggards.

Then there are the innovation leaders. They're prepared to keep the idea factory running, maybe not at full tilt, but running nevertheless. They know that despite the fact that vast sections of the economy are tanking, there are still growth markets; opportunities to step ahead of your competitors. There are opportunities to attack new markets. To streamline operations, build new brands, grab customer mindshare in new ways.

There are plenty of opportunities to turn ideas into innovation. It all depends on where you want to place yourself on the scale of the seven stages of economic grief.

It's back! Aggressive indecision! Here's how to kick it out!

Aggressive indecision! With all the economic turmoil, leaders, executives and staff have the "deer in the headlights" syndrome.

I spoke about this trend extensively on stage during the last recession in 2001-2002. People got into the message, and it restored their enthusiasm for the future and innovation.

In that spirit, I've resurrected the original clip on YouTube.

Take a look around you - at yourself, your co-workers, your organization, and the business world at large. What do you see? People mired in the thick mud of aggressive indecision. They tend to wait for absolutely perfect information which will help convince them that the time is right to make a decision, rather than making decisions based on imperfect information as they had done in the past. They'll take a look at the information they have, decide that it's just too darn risky to make a decision on what they see, and do nothing.

The result is an economy in which everyone seems to be stuck in a rut, unwilling and unable to move forward. The fact is, our confidence in the future has been shattered. Corporate nervousness has become the watchword, with the result that everyone is taking the easy way out: deal with uncertainty by doing nothing.

An era of "aggressive indecision:" a very dangerous attitude to have, given that organizations must be in a state of continuous innovation in order to cope with the rate of change that now surrounds us.

Share the video, and the original article around. Get out of your funk! Innovate!

More information:

• Read the original article Paralyzed by indecision: Just Do It
• Read Jim's blog entries on the global economy

How do you innovate in a volatile economy?

In an event co-sponsored with Advertising Age, the publisher of such innovative titles as Everyday with Rachel Ray wanted to provide a concise, inspirational but challenging overview of the trends impacting innovation, marketing and advertising within the food sector ... and decided that Jim's message on how to innovate at high-velocity was the ideal fit for their symposium.

Ironically, the event fell smack-dab in the middle of one of the wildest economic corrections that we've ever seen, and much of the discussion through the day focused on how to innovate in a fast-paced, ever more challenging economic environment.

I outlined how innovation-oriented organizations will use the economic challenges as an opportunity -- they'll examine the emergence of fast-paced trends, and will adjust their actions, products, services, and brand message accordingly.

Consider a few of the trends we're already seeing:

• The food consumer is now shifting their focus -- 71% of consumers are choosing to prepare meals at home instead of eating out as a result of the economic correction, Restaurant trips have decreased from 1.5 times a week in 2006, to 1.2 times today. (Food Marketing Institute US Grocery Shopper Trends 2008). There's a big opportunity to rapidly shift to in-house meals, from a branding and comfort perspective.
• Chef Katie-Lee Joel, who also spoke at the event (she's the author of the book The Comfort Table and a Top Chef judge on TV), affirmed this point, speaking of the trend in which "comfort food" -- feel-good food -- will once again take priority as people adjust their spending.
• other trends will pick up steam as people think more about their food consumption habits. For example, the trend to "local food" will pick up steam with the recession -- people will want to feel responsible when it comes to food choice and the environmental footprint related to particular food. A study in Australia found that the typical shopping basket of 29 supermarket food items had travelled an astounding 70,803kms! An unbelievable number that certainly causes a pause for thought!

It's a critical concept to think about during these times.

Do you really need an innovation spark? How about a custom edition of Ready, Set, Done?

And in many cases, the book has been purchased in bulk, with copies distributed to those in attendance at one of many keynote presentations or workshops through the year.

Many CEO's and event organizers have indicated that it would be great if they could tie their innovation message to that found within the book. To that end, we've done a few custom print runs during the year. We've now decided to formalize the process.

Effectively immediately, with an order of as small as 250 copies, we can offer you a custom edition of the book.

What you get:

• Prominent mention of the name of your CEO or sponsor on the cover of the book
• Four pages (2 pages, 2 sides) for a custom Foreword right at the front of the book, bound into the book

The cost for a custom print run will range from $16-18 depending on volume, plus shipping costs. For a group of 250, that's a cost of just $4,000 to put in front of your staff, customers or association, a customized message with a very special book about innovation.

Video clip -- where's the opportunity? Where's the growth?

Given the rapid pace of global economic developments in the fall of 2008, it's interesting that the number of organizations bringing me in for a leadership or management event has increased.

That's because, despite perilous economic times, CEO's in a variety of industries are working hard to ensure that their organization stays focused on growth.

At these leadership meetings, I'm offering insight on growth markets and opportunities; innovation strategies to stay ahead in the downturn; and unique insight on how organizations are working hard to re-align their strategies and structure with fast paced market change.

If you need to get your staff and team mindset in the right frame of mind for moving forward in this high velocity, rapidly changing economy, you might need this type of high level, energetic message.

To help you get in the right frame of mind, here's a little motivational video clip from a recent keynote I did on stage in Sydney, Australia.

100 Days of Innovation - #2 - Go Upside Down

This is the lesson I learned from a large company in the consumer goods/entertainment space. They had traditionally been responsible for an innovation plan that went like this:

• Get the assortment right, i.e. in terms of new product
• Figure out the merchandising plan
• Then do the marketing

They then realized that trends and consumer choice was evolving so fast, that they no longer had a truly good grasp on the innovation agenda that they should be pursuing. They also came to realize they were taking product to retailers -- but the depth of insight from retailers meant that they saw entirely different product and market opportunities.

So what did they do? They went out side -- and learned how to work with the retailers, by having the retailers do much of the product innovation. Soon, the innovation pipeline worked like this:

• Figure out the marketing plan, what unique ideas could be pursued in terms of consumer choice, attitude, brands
• From that, determine what merchandise, packaging and products to produce
• And then get the assortment right

Going upside-down is a powerful innovation concept -- it challenges you to do things differently. More important, it pushes you into a mindset where you are pursuing partnership oriented innovation, with the result that have better, fresh, unique, external insight.

All too often an organization loses its ability to innovate because it becomes very internally focused -- it can't see beyond its' own walls. People become narrow in their focus, and fail to see big opportunities.

Going upside-down changes this, in so many ways, and it's one of the most important innovation ideas that you can pursue.

More information:

• Can we talk - upside-down innovation?

Innovation - act fast - empower people!

Particularly given that right now, optics are really important.

RBC Plaza's Grand Opening is on, but, Um, About Those Sky Divers ...

(from iStockAnalyst)

Oct. 2--RALEIGH -- A big building calls for a big celebration. But when the building is a bank -- and its grand opening comes amid a banking meltdown -- falling bodies send the wrong message.

Therefore, the sky divers at today's RBC Plaza opening are canceled. Once again: The fabulous parachuting display is off.

"Given the recent market activities, we just didn't think it was an appropriate time to have people jumping off of a bank building," said Jamie Averette Mitchell, a spokeswoman for RBC Bank, which is dedicating its downtown Raleigh headquarters, the 33-story RBC Plaza, today.

The parachuters were to be part of a series of grand-opening events. They were to draw attention to the tower --the region's tallest -- at Fayetteville and Martin streets.

But RBC nixed the jumpers after a week of Wall Street turbulence, which included the worst drop ever in the Dow Jones Industrial average and the sale of Charlotte banking giant Wachovia to Citigroup for a mere $2.1 billion. The celebratory leap might have reminded some of the bankers and stockbrokers who jumped from buildings during the Depression. They didn't wear parachutes.

Mitchell said, "We wanted to be very respectful of our financial partners and Wachovia" -- a name emblazoned on another Fayetteville Street tower.

In this case, what could have been a PR disaster has turned into a smallish news story barely covered anywhere. That's great innovation.

100 Days of Innovation - Get Out in Front

Obviously, the economy weighs heavily into my observations on stage, and in the questions in the Q&A.

The keynotes have been built around my theme of 7 Things You Need to Do Right Now: Aligning The Fast Future to Your Current Strategy.

One of the 7 Things that has stood out - in common with all these organizations -- focuses on the reality that with an economic correction underway, it is critical to keep existing customer/client relationships intact. Indeed, the CEO at the event yesterday noted that "customer retention" was one of the top 6 priorities for 2009.

What's the innovation issue here? There is a big opportunity in solidifying existing relationships by solving customer/client problems before they know they have them. This is BIG.

Think about these issues, and innovate from them in terms of what you do with your customers / clients:

• when times get tough, quality, service and relationships rule: operational excellence is more important than ever.
• focus on a new partnership with the customer, for example: "we've got the latest strategies to help achieve cost savings"
• stay ahead of fast paced change that you can utilize for the customer -- with the attitude being, "we're on top of fast paced developments that impact you, so you don't need to be!"
• make sure your customer understands that you are ahead of the pack in solving their problems.

Thinking innovation: The Challenge for Education in the High Velocity World

The audience for this invitation only event, to be held in January 2009, includes the Chancellors, Presidents, and senior admission officers for the largest colleges and universities in the US, including Duke, Cambridge, Harvard, Vanderbilt and the University of Texas, among others.

The group gets together annually to examine the challenges and opportunities facing higher education. This year, they determined that it was a good time to take a good, hard look at the education trends that will impact them in the future.

That's where I come in. My session description, recently written, addresses these issues:

The "velocity" of knowledge is leading us to a world of "just-in-time knowledge"; the result being the reality that the relationship between educational institutions and students is set to change; primarily, from a period of short term, concentrated knowledge delivery, to one more related to the lifelong, ongoing replenishment and rejuvenation of knowledge.

The challenge for institutions of higher learning is how to change their ingrained thinking, behavior, structure --and outcomes -- to adapt to this reality.

What's driving the future of education? At a fundamental level, ever more rapid scientific discovery; knowledge fragmentation due to rapid knowledge growth; massive skills specialization and ever more narrow career niches. Knowledge and careers are also being impacted by rapidly changing business models; increased volatility in industry; shortened careers (imagine 18-month micro careers); rapid emergence of new industries; more rapid knowledge obsolescence; and the rapid emergence of new careers.

Freeze, innovate or panic? Innovation strategies for RIGHT NOW

The CEO of a company that is having me speak to an upcoming leadership meeting stated it this way: their choice going forward is to :

1. Freeze: do nothing
2. Innovate: respond to rapid market change through innovation, particularly with respect to strategies, struture, capabilities, markets, products, activities
3. Panic: make rash decisions on structure, markets, investments.

But for others, panic will truly get you nowhere. And inaction - option 1 -- is not a good choice, because markets, customers behavior, cost inputs and just about everything else will change even faster now, and so you need to change faster.

Option 2 -- continuous innovation -- remains the only thing to focus on. Maybe that's why my phone has been quite busy in the last two weeks. There have already been several confirmed new events in October and November, where I will be coming into a corporate leadership meeting as part of an overall objective of keeping a company ahead in the game.

CEO's and executive staff are working hard to align their current strategies with fast paced economic events. I'm providing grist for the grill, with specific insight on how they might innovate within their particularly industry.

It's interesting that a lot of senior executives are all of a sudden looking for someone to bring their team this type of unique motivational innovation message. Two weeks ago, I helped to clarify for a commercial real estate / building management company leadership group where they could continue to find market opportunity right now, and how they needed to ensure they focus on enhancing existing customer/client relationships as a key strategy for going forward. We defined some strategies that they had not thought of; their team was inspired on focusing on opportunity rather than market upheaval, by thinking differently about what they do.

So what should you be doing from an innovation perspective?

I'll starting putting up quite a few new blog posts starting next week, summarizing the many methods to innovate, particularly through any economic correction or downturn. I'm going to call the series "100 Days of Innovation," and while I won't post each and every day, I do aim to have one hundred concise, succinct posts full of unique innovation insight.

In the meantime, if you need a high level, energetic message to get your leadership in the right frame of mind to deal with high-velocity economic change, call me. The details are on my contact page.

Being an optimist: a keynote on economic development

And of course, I saw the latest news on the 'bailout', and the plunge in the Dow.

And so I went to look up the definition of being an optimist, to reassure myself:

• Optimist: 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome.

That's me! And my keynote is being adjusted on the fly before I get on stage tomorrow.

Here's the fascinating thing that is going on: I'm getting far more calls, and a lot of new business, from CEO's and senior executives who have determined that one of the ways to stay in front of this mess is to keep innovating. In other words, innovation -- adjusting business plans, tackling new markets, focusing on opportunity, seeking what to do next -- is now more important than ever before.

That's probably good news for the many folks who read this blog. There continues to be unparalleled opportunities out there. The short term might be rocky, but the longer term is very, very real.

High velocity change in the food/consumer products sector

I'm in Manhattan tomorrow, speaking at an event for food, advertising and packaging companies on behalf of Readers Digest Food & Entertaining Division.

I'll be offering a late morning wrap up of observations about the high-velocity change that continues to envelop the sector, particularly the following trends. Dig through the blog -- particularly, the retail or consumer product categories -- and you'll find a little bit more insight about each of them.

• the new consumer is faster -- and innovation isn't just about new product design -- it's about reaching and interacting with the consumer in new and different ways
• the new consumer is connected -- and interactivity is the new brand foundation
• the new consumer is no longer nuclear -- and hyper-nicheing is the new brand reality
• the new consumer is influenced differently -- and social-networks are the new brand influencers
• the new consumer is shifting their focus faster -- and faster paced preference change is the new reality
• the new product is rapidly re-defined -- and time to market and corporate agility are the new corporate capabilities
• the new product is up-side down as innovation changes -- and partnership is the key method to speed things up

Here's one of the statistics in my deck -- 71% of consumers are choosing to prepare meals at home rather than eating out; restaurant trips have declined from 1.5 times a week in 2006 to 1.2 times today.

These statistics, from the Food Marketing 2008 US Grocery Shopper Trends report, came out before the economic challenges of mid-September and the problems on Wall Street.

One of my key messages is that we live in a time when "volatility is the new normal" -- a mantra I've been using for years -- and food companies must learn to innovate faster to capitalize on such fast moving trends.

We'll probably see this particular trend pick up steam -- and there's opportunity for new advertising messages, branding campaigns, not to mention new product offerings!

Faster is the new fast!

Interview - "Is it time to panic?"

The CBC contacted me for my thoughts on the events this week, and in particular, the impact on the Canadian economy.

They invited folks to write in with their questions. As you can see, many people are worried about the safety of their investments.

I take the first question -- about whether there is a panic out there -- and try and put things into perspective.

"I remain quite the optimist about the potential for economic growth worldwide. There are 650 million people worldwide entering middle class through the next decade, and there are a lot of growth markets that emerge with that. Health care, the environment, energy -- all of these industries are immersed in very rapid scientific advancement and fast paced innovation, with new discoveries, and hence new markets.

I'm dealing with global manufacturing companies who are moving beyond market commoditization and the impact of Asia, by focusing on more sophisticated product and higher-value skills. I spend a lot of time with a variety of global companies that seek my guidance, and certainly see that despite financial market turmoil, there's a lot of growth out there. Think about it another way -- we've had quite a few "large scale economic hits" which have whacked the stock market over the last ten years. The Asian currency collapse in 1998 caused havoc with global markets.

Then there was the dot.com implosion in 2000. There was a lot of concern with the telecom meltdown a few years later -- remember Nortel and the hit to the pocketbook of many Canadians? Not to forget the huge market downturn which occurred with 9/11.

More information

• Read the transcript

Financial meltdown? Or environmentally responsible reporting?

• American banks face financial meltdown if their reforms fail.
• Mortage Meltdown!
• Bloody and Bowed --- Money Managers Remain Badly Shaken by the Meltdown.
• Market Cap Meltdown --- Billions in Blue Chip Stock Values Have Been Blown Away.
• Congress caught in a bind over bank crisis.
• Crisis Looming As Realty Slump Becomes Global

• Banks face financial meltdown if their reforms fail, The Times, December 1990
• Mortgage Meltdown, Toronto Star, December 1989
• Bloody and Bowed --- Money Managers Remain Badly Shaken by the Meltdown, Barron's - December 1987
• Market Cap Meltdown --- Billions in Blue Chip Stock Values Have Been Blown Away, Barron's, October 1987
• Congress caught in bind over bank crisis, Independent, November 1990
• Crisis Looming as Realty Slump Becomes Global, American Banker, October 1990

The events as they are unfold are tragic, and there are people losing their jobs. We've yet to see where it will all go.

On the other hand, it needs to be put into the context of previous "meltdowns". We've been here before, folks. And at the end of the day, there will still be banks, insurance companies, investment organizations, and a financial system.

I wrote about this a few months ago, and put together a "Memo to the CEO" that examined the issue of innovation. Maybe it's a good time to resurrect for those organizations that are concentrating on getting through this mess and moving on to the next stage. As we come out of it, it will be those focused on innovating within the new marketplace who will come out on top.

More information

• Read the Memo to the CEO

Ready, Set, Done: 2nd print run, review copies available!

As a result, I now have more review copies available for media, and bloggers who focus on innovation, creativity, and fast market change.

If you would like a review copy, please contact me, and let me know who you write for, point me to a few of your columns or blog posts, and I'd be pleased to drop a complimentary copy of the book in the mail to you.

Note the Globe & Mail, in a review: "In the opening section of Ready, Set, Done (Oblio Press, 181 pages, $24.95), Toronto-based futurist Jim Carroll highlights some examples of the high-velocity change that is forcing companies to innovate faster than ever, and in the remainder of the book, he offers advice on the pitfalls to avoid and the proper steps to be taken. It's a high-level, strategic look, touching on concepts such as just-in-time knowledge, an up-to-date version of continuous learning we need to understand; 21st century capital; and why Band-Aid innovation doesn't work. It's broad in what it covers and briskly written, with some fascinating anecdotes from his own experiences as a consultant or odd things he has dug out about industries (did you know there's a new cadre of workers called manure managers?)

It's a great books, and I've had lots of comments from readers who have found that it has provided them some straightforward, to the point guidance on a huge variety of innovation concepts.

The other great news is that because of the size of the print run and economies of scale, we will shortly be able to offer the book for sale through this site at a lower cost of $14.95 plus shipping.

• Contact Jim Carroll for a review copy of Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast

Change! What happens when change happens?

Need more on change? Read my 10 Great Words -- get inspired!

Want to share the video? Do it now -- it's on YouTube.

Can change happen? It can -- but it takes a lot of work! I spend my time on stage with audiences of 2,000 people -- or with CEO meetings -- focusing on how to get things to change. Even so, this video clip is inspiring -- when confronted with change -- JUST DEAL WITH IT!

Here's the story about the video. Outside my home office, I've got what my family has come to call the "squirrel highway." All day long, they scurry back and forth along the top of the fence, busy collecting and hiding food.

A few years ago, my sons and I wondered what would happen if we put up some highway signs for them to obey.

We set up a video camera -- taped for six hours running -- and edited out the best bits. It's a project we're still working on.

This clip was the funniest one -- and seems to tell a bit of a story as to the right way to deal with change. I spend a huge amount of my time in keynotes and workshops helping organizations adapt to the rapid rates of change that surround us. And it's certainly clear that lots of people just aren't good with change. This little fellow is!

7 Things to Do Right Now As the Upturn Begins!

What has become evident is that the most pressing issue for leaders today is focus. While volatility rocks global markets, there continue to be fundamental truths: your industry, products, competition, skills requirements, organizational capabilities, and ability to respond to rapid change will define your future success.

Here's my advice on what you should be doing right now to ensure that you are ready for what comes next, based, in part, on a blog entry I wrote last April!

• think growth: It's all too easy right now to lose your enthusiasm and sense of purpose. When economies contract, so too does your motivation. Don't let that happen -- now is the worst time to lose sight of the future! Think opportunity: study my "Where's the Growth" document, and think about what it implies
• check your speed: it's the high velocity economy. Markets, brands, products, industries, competition, and globalization are changing faster than ever before. Make sure you've got a team that can operate at the pace of change. Agility is the key word. Search this blog for insight on that!
• immerse in ideas. The global idea-cycle is collapsing. New ideas are launched, analyzed, and developed to concrete product at a speed that is astonishing. Rapid product change is the new norm: I'm dealing with the CEO of one organization that is involved in a rapidly emerging, multi-billion dollar market that will appear, go super-nova, and disapper, over the course of about 18-24 months, before it is superseded by the next generation of product. That's fast, and that's the new reality.
• check your bench strength. After the cutting begins, value goes out the door. Yet your abililty to access ever more scarce, specialized skills will define your future success. It's your ability to establish a fast, agile, quick-to-assembe collaborative team that will define your ability to grab all the opportunity that is emerging out there.
• assess your threats. where could emerging technologies, fast science, radical business models, new industry dynamics, new regulatory macroeconomic, political or social trends impact your bottom line in a way that you hadn't thought of before? Two years ago, China and quality wasn't an issue.
• invest in experience. Experiential capital -- the depth of capability that you have from exploring, taking risks, trying things out -- is the financial capital. It's a precious resource, and might be in short supply if you aren't working to build it up.
• set the tone. If you let the current economic headlines drive your corporate spirit, you're sunk. You have to keep people focused on the future -- otherwise, your team will smell your fear. Leadership is all about keeping your team focused on opportunity and goals, not on ongoing and regular ("new normal" volatility.

Reaching the new travel consumer

Alberta, located in Canada, has an extremely hot economy -- globally, it stands as the home of the 2nd largest provable oil reserves in the world, just after Saudi Arabia. Most of this is tied up in the 'tar sands,' which costs quite a bit more than traditional oil reserves to bring to market. Hence,there is a flood of infrastructure investment and other spending going on.

Needless to say, even thought it's a hot economy, the economic 'correction' (and certainly volatility in the price of oil), as well as other issues, is providing for a bit of a challenge in the tourism sector.

What am I doing at the conference? Notes the brochure: " Jim will speak to the fact that travel product innovations occur today at such a pace that simply keeping up can be a challenge. A furious pace of technological innovation continues unabated, with the rapid emergence of new technologies that change the way the travel consumer plans theirtravels. The Web continues to make massive inroads into tourism planning and business model change. It's a fast paced world -- and that's whyleading edge organizations are focused on staying ahead of the trends that are impacting the high-velocity economy of today. Join international futurist, trends and innovation expert Jim Carroll as he puts into perspective how the world of tourism is changing -- and how organizations are innovating in order to keep up with it!"

What I am talking about? Quite a few trends:

• the new tourist is faster: 1/3 of all leisure travel is now last minute, and the average time for planning a trip is down to 15 days
• the new tourist is connected: 86% of all North American's now travel with a cell phone. They have expectations of finding data-heavy local tourism portals when they walk off a cruise ship looking for something to do.
• the new tourist is influenced differently: 79% of travelers trust reviews by other tourists over advertisements. Social network tourism sites and stalwarts like TripAdvisor continue to have the biggest impact on tourism decisions.
• the new tourism family is no longer nuclear: A grab bag of observations ... only 1 in 4 of the population live in heterosexual, two-parent families .... .one in three people now live alone ......urban Americans remain single for more than half of their adult lives, a radical shift...
• the new tourism product is faster to market: WhereI'veBeen started as a Facebook application that allowed people to post where they've travelled to. It exploded to 2 million users in a matter of weeks.
• the new tourism product is being rapidly redefined: Online tourist mashups that allow people to combine online maps with travel schedules, destination information, and social networks are redefining the concept of trip planning.
• the new tourism marketing is viral: Budget Rent A Car, Southwest Airlines and Sheraton Hotels are examples of 3 companies that are using blogs and Internet video to establish leading edge marketing campaigns.
• the new tourist is, well, different a grab bag of trends: we're seeing a lot more shorter term "pressure relievers," themed holidays, adventure, health or well-being vacations, "authenticity" as a new trend, and the "unplugged" vacation. Not to mention an "old" trend from 2007 which involves "debaucherism" as the new travel trend.

Bottom line -- innovate!

Setting the table: rapid consumer trends in the food industry

These are all themes that I will be exploring later in the month, when I provide my insight for the Food & Entertaining Division of Readers Digest, the group behind AllRecipes.com, and the magazine Every Day with Rachel Ray, among other properties, at an invitation only event in New York City.

Also sharing their insight during the Symposium will be Phil Lempert, who specializes in providing deep insight into supermarket trends, and Katie-Lee Joel, Top Chef judge and author of the book The Comfort Table.

A few years ago, I dug out the statistic that the typical shopper is so attention challenged that they are scanning some twelve feet of shelf space per second. That was a few years ago : today, their decisions on what to buy and what to eat are influenced by social networks, mobile messages, cutting-edge in-store display technology, and many other trends.

Food companies and packaging companies need to understand the rapidity and depth of the trends that are occurring -- and that's why Readers Digest chose to bring my "high-velocity change" message to the table.

It should be a fun day!

• view the invite for Setting thee Table : Consumer Trends, insights and opportunities for food and packaged goods marketers

Keynote: Financial management and high velocity healthcare

My topic was Innovating for Our Future Health: The Strategic Role of Financial Leadership in our Hospitals. The subtext: "A look at the new strategic role that financial professionals must play as health care comes to dominate overall GDP spending. Innovation is no longer just a fashionable phrase -- it's the new leadership focus for executives in the health care sector".

A few of the key themes that we explored:

• rapid scientific advance is resulting in a flood of new treatments, diagnostic tools, methodologies, pharmaceuticals, and bio-materials. There is an increased need for careful, diligent cost benefit analysis to stay at the leading, but practical, edge
• simple demographics suggest that the elusive EHR (electronic health record), which has not yet been quite successful, will emerge as Gen-Connnect comes to increasingly dominate the medical workforce
• business model change is coming -- and fast -- as retail environments come to dominate the medical space. A recent Healthcare Financial Management magazine article, in a reader survey, of the "most important people in healthcare", ranked Steve Case first, and Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, second. Steve is involved in several initiatives which involve the opening of retail "health care stores". The survey shows that transformative, IT driven change will continue to have profound impacts in the health care sector.
• patient empowerment is leading to faster demand for cutting edge medical services, which increases the complexity of the careful balancing game underway in most hospitals
• there continues to be huge opportunity with tech in the sector; it's estimated that one medication mistake can cost a hospital upwards of $2,000 -- and Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital reduced error rates by 55% over an eight month period using computerized order entry

• read Future Medicine: Prescriptions for 21st Century Health Care

A truly staggering, transformative trend yet to unfold

Twenty years from now, most people will look back and realize that right about now, we had three huge, transformative trends underway: device connectivity, geo-connectivity, and bio-connectivity

Essentially, everything around is about to become linked in -- every device that surrounds your life. My home thermostat is linked to the Internet, and that has changed the scope of how I interact with energy.

Layered on top of device connectivity is spatial intelligence for each device -- vis-a-vis Google Maps types of applications. Think about new forms of energy management built upon sophisticated geographic mapping applications.

Add to this the fact that this type of technology will migrate to devices that will help us better manage complex health circumstances.

I've been writing and speaking about the idea of bio-connectivity and the concept of "hyper-connectivity" for over a decade (before Nortel lamely built a lame marketing campaign around the latter phrase a year ago.) It remains one of the most significant trends that will yet unfold in the health care sector. Our concept of health care delivery will be forever transformed.

Simply put, link the scope of the looming health care crisis to the momentum that will come from Silicon Valley for medical device connectivity, and there are some pretty powerful things happening. Think about what happens as spatial device connectivity comes to everyday things around you -- such as a baseball bat! Read more below. There's a lot going on in this space, and you'd do well to understand it.

Opportunity through the next decade is going to be found by those who will adjust and adapt buisness models, attitudues, structures, methodologies and capabilities to this new reality.

More information:

• HealthCare Innovation & Technology Conference
• Read about what happens When Thermostats get connected
• Read the article about bio-connectivity, The Doctor is in around the clock
• Read the article Minds of their own
• Read "Bioconnectivity and the rapid emergence of new markets"
• Read the article Command and Control - Opportunity Awaits Companies that Master Hyperconnectivity

High velocity globalization - massive markets, major trends

• Goldman Sachs has identified that the next growth sector will come from the "Next 11" economies -- those that are going to see a rapid transition and growth. These are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam
• Almost a billion new consumers will enter the global marketplace in the next decade .... with an income level that allows spending on discretionary goods - McKinsey
• By 2013, consumer spending power in emerging economies could match the spending power of Western Europe - McKinsey
• The ranks of the middle class will swell by 1.8 billion to become 52% of total population, up from 30% today - McKinsey

• 80% of sales are now from abroad
• they just had record sales of $3.59 billion
• 6-7% of sales is committed to R&D
• 30% of current sales comes from new products developed in last 3 years
• sales are up 8.5% year over year
• 59% of it sales are in Asia, and 2/3 of its 59 manufacturing facilities are abroad

In other words, if your clients are aggressively globalizing, as a legal firm you need to do so as well -- and do it fast.

Is there a future for associations?

We know we live in a world in which new trends change everything we know at a furious pace. Rapid change envelopes us, consumes us, and pounds us with its reminders of its urgency every single day. There are many obvious trends that impact us; we often refuse or are incapable of assessing their impact.

And so the future marches on, and many associations remain stuck in a rut of complacency. They deliver the same old program. They focus on the same old issues, generate the same old knowledge, plan the same old conference, and have their agenda managed by the same old membership has-beens.

Meanwhile, they be