Archive for the ‘Cisco’ Category

McCain Wins Florida – What it Means to Tech Companies

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

I met Senator John McCain last May at the Wall Street Journal’s “All Things Digital ‘D’ Conference.” He was surrounded by some of Silicon Valley’s best and brightest including Cisco’s leader John Chambers. My prediction is that high tech firms such as Cisco will benefit from McCain’s victory, and my perception from observation is that there has long been a partnership between McCain and some of the leading tech firms in both the valley and the beltway. Despite the liberal democrat stereotype of northern California voters, McCain’s pro-business, pro-technology stance is bound to win votes in Silicon Valley. Fully six times more venture capital flows into Silicon Valley than any other region in the U.S. New England and Orange County, CA follow but are a distant second and third. Giuliani spoke at the Churchill Club in San Jose a few months ago. Now I think it is McCain’s turn. No World Borders’ team visits conferences and accesses research reports regularly, examining technology, political, human and investment capital issues across industries. Feel free to contact us for a consultation on your next change management project.

health care process improvement, electronic health record, electronic medical record, management consulting, human and investment capital, outsourcing. Specializing in health care, financial services, education, renewable energy, retail. www.noworldborders.com
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Preventing Corporate Antibodies from Killing Innovation

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

Corporations have antibodies that attempt to kill innovation. Six Sigma for example can take defects out, but it can be counter to the very culture that innovators seek. Companies need to protect ideas and insulate them from too many metrics early in the innovation cycle. Recognizing the difference between measurement and corporate self-assessment is important.

Design thinking vs. analytical thinking can help. Analytical thinking, which most of us were taught in school focuses on “why not?” It helps to disprove ideas as valid. Design thinking is iterative and allows for testing, trial and error. Companies also need to provide processes that aren’t cookbooks but rather that provide frameworks to help thinking without too much rigidity. Managing risk is important too. A tolerance for risk is important. All of the things that companies have done to create quality and efficiency often remove the room for innovation. Small teams are key as well. Some would say that re-creating AT&T Bell Labs doesn’t work anymore. Companies have to move too fast. On the other hand, four years from seminal idea to commercial success isn’t very long. Setting proper hurdle rates for ROI is key.

Cisco fosters “mass collaboration” to help it realize innovation goals and harvest its investment in acquired assets. Focusing your framework to leverage the input from people, and having the right leadership programs are also important. Drawing in partners and customers to facilitate innovation and open source models will also facilitate innovation. Recognizing the innovators and the people who are better at execution is also important.

The Wall Street Journal recently published videos on the topic which provide inspiration.

Managing innovation is one of the most daunting challenges that businesses face. Not only do they need to come up with new ideas, but they also need to foster a culture that encourages and rewards innovation. Otherwise, they risk being overtaken by their competitors. No World Borders can help you build the right framework for innovation. We’ll gladly discuss setting a meeting with you to discuss our growth strategies and innovation techniques.

health care process improvement, electronic health record, electronic medical record, management consulting, human and investment capital, outsourcing. Specializing in health care, financial services, education, renewable energy, retail. www.noworldborders.com
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Posted in Analytic Thinking, Cisco, collaboration, Design Thinking, framework, Innovation, killing innovation, mass collaboration, Six Sigma | No Comments »