10 Things Colleges Don't Tell Young Entrepreneurs at Graduation

Today is Friday....

 

I really liked this article that I found online this morning.  It is written by Adam Toren and has some great ideas about what graduates should expect when they complete their degree and think about starting a business.

 

Here are the top ten ideas that you should really think about.  I have to say that this is spot on!  These are great really broad ideas that any new entpreneur should consider.  Take a look and feel free to check the article out for more of a description. 

 

1. "Hope you liked living like a college student."
2. "There are no right answers."
3. "Cramming won't help you succeed."

4. "Average is never good enough."
5. "It’s finals week all the time."
6. "Your degree doesn't matter."
7. "You're on your own."
8. "Say goodbye to your old friends

9."You can't skip work."
10. "Failure is OK."

As I am now making the transition from academics (not as a student but as an administrator) back to life in a newly funded start-up, I have to live by these ideas yet again.  I have to admit that I am very excited about what is ahead of me and working in a space with insanly smart people!  It has been a long time since I have had the thought provoking conversations that the last couple days have spawned.  Can't wait to share more!

So feel free to chime in and reflect on this list?  I think that it is facinating! 

Have a great Friday, and a better weekend!!!!

-Jeffrey 

Innovation and Influence on Creative Thoughts

Today is Wednesday...

I had some inspiration this morning when passing a Shepard Fairey street art mural on my way into the office.  After being a staple in our neighborhood for a couple years, I started to see it fade and become less visible based on the age to the art in its urban form.  As I could see the art as it is now a bit tattered, it is still amazing, and inspirational.  I started to reflect on my day, with this inspiration and started thinking about how it related to me.

Being inspired by others is something that art can do. 

I look at creativity and innovation and see the various artists in this space and wonder why they are so different than innovators in business and entrepreneurship?  They both look to create something "new" and in some cases "improved" from what has been done in the past. 

Currently I have really started to think about design and have been working with sketches or a mock-up drawings for some new products that are really electrifying.  The way that this product has began to take "life" and grow has led me to some reflection as how I can replicate this environment for others that need to be "inspired" by bringing art and creativity into the process. 

As I am about to move onto a really amazing project and space that I can't wait to share.  Looking at some of the projects that I have been involved in in the past it is safe to say this is going to be special.  I have met so many amazing people in the last month and new relationships are like seeds that I have started to see grow into fascinating new things. 
I will soon be sharing more....

Until then I really wonder how you can use art as a way to inspire the rest of your day....

-Jeffrey

Revolution in Education....

Today is Thursday....

I am really interested in new innovative models.  I have been living inside a University trying to understand how to use of innovation  within its walls.  One thing that I have discovered in my very short time is that it is not an easy task.  The barriers shocked me, but it is being done in other places in higher education.



Innovation is more than thinking about how do we fit into the box that we are given, but more of how can we move outside the box.  I love hearing people who talk about innovation and feel that they are innovative because they can stretch a dollar or lay people off just to save money on the bottom line.  We call that poor management not innovation.

Seeing the world of innovation, look at a new trend from Harvard and MIT.  They have decided to give education away for free in a new partnership called edX.  This might be the most exciting news in knowledge and teaching in the world in the last century.

"This morning two of the top universities announced a collaboration that signals they are taking the latter path: MIT and Harvard are each pouring $30 million into a nonprofit partnership edX, which they hope will make the top-notch faculties and courses of their schools available for free to millions of people around the world — free for anyone with an Internet connection."


Based on this idea, a lot is going to change.  That is the one certain thing.  I am very interested in your thoughts at how we move from the current "in the box innovation" to the rest of the word....


Jeffrey

From Bad Meetings to Good Meetings: It can be done!

Today is Wednesday...

For some reason, I have found recently a lot of very useless meetings.  Seems that organizations and leaders can't seem to get away from the "staff meeting" with very little productivity.  Recently when leaving a meeting one of the other participants said to me, "There is another hour of my life wasted".  

I reflected upon this point.  If as leaders we feel that meeting are necessary, lets ask the next question.... WHY?

If meetings are not collaborative, thought provoking, and necessary.... Why have them? 

Here are two great articles that kind of drive my point home.  

The first article titled, Seven Ways to Kill Your Meetings and Unleash Productivity gives the following suggestions:

Here are seven suggestions:

1. Have a limited, focused agenda. Meetings that ramble on or try to tackle too much end up a confusing, unproductive, overlong mess. Don't try to solve all your company's problems at one meeting. Instead, keep it to one theme and leave other topics for another time.

2. Reconsider regularly scheduled meetings. Maybe that regular weekly staff meeting could be a biweekly or monthly meeting, if there aren't so many pressing issues to discuss.

3. Cut the attendee list. Consider carefully who really needs to be at a meeting, and let everyone else skip it. Send them a memo afterwards if they need to be in the loop.

4. Shorten the timeframe. Think hard before scheduling a meeting to run over an hour. Most participants will be completely glazed at that point and won't absorb much more.

5. Use the internet. Instead of assembling everyone at once, which is bound to be inconvenient for some participants, use a platform such as Campfire to collaborate and share views. Many training meetings can be abolished in favor of online-based trainings workers take when it fits their schedule.

6. Send a memo. If the meeting is simply to impart new policies or plans, make a video explaining it, write a post for the company blog or send a good old-fashioned memo.

7. Reinvent your meetings. If workers are snoozing at your meetings, you can learn to make your meetings engaging and useful. There's even a new book, The Culture Game, on how to make meetings productive.

The second article will make you think a little more.  It is a great piece by Ken Segall titled, "What I Learned About Great Meetings from Steve Jobs".  This article is specific about How to have great meetings and to stick to these guidelines:

How to Have a Great Meeting

1. Throw out the least necessary person at the table

2. Walk out of this meeting if it lasts more than 30 minutes.

3. Do something productive today to make up for the time you spent here.

So if you are leading a organization and you care about your people and your organization and not about yourself, these are great suggestions.  Hopefully you read this post and do something productive today to make up for the time that you spent here!

-Jeffrey

Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes...

Today is Monday....

Probably one of my favorite Andy Warhol quotes of all time.  The concept that we all have the capacity to have our "15 minutes" of fame!

Well today I am going to focus on a post that has been circulating around for a couple days about a "average guy" that fooled people into believing that he was "famous" or a celebrity for his 15 minutes.
In doing this we can look at his how it all happened and how it really started with an idea, how the "fake celebrity" worked his expertise in the area of social media to create a persona with innovation to gain his fifteen minutes. So really, and after over a million hits on Youtube and others covering it, he is famous!


Check out the footage:





So lets think about this concept as it relates to creating "buzz" and "fanfare" around something that isn't even reality.  This is the theme for this week.   How do we innovate in ways that are revolutionary that create ideas that have impact.

So more to come this week in the area of innovative ideas and how the grow into something amazing.

Stay tuned....

-Jeffrey

"Googgles" for Everyone.....

Today is Sunday...

OK, first off I know that I misspelled the word Google or goggle.  It was my personal attempt to give a name the newest prototype of what the future is in doing everything from walking around to checking e-mail on the go.  Here is viral video that everyone is talking about.  If you haven't seen it, check it out.




With some crazy travel the last couple days, I spent some time researching this concept to see if these glasses or the concept of Project Glass would be successful domestically or globally to the masses.  Although the concept appeals to me personally (I would be first in line for a couple sets), I am not sure how quickly society is ready to do so much at one time.  There is something to be said about being able to go on a walk without checking the e-mail, and text messages in the corner of your futuristic glasses.  Although I think that this is a great concept, very innovative.

To me the real innovation is in the way that Google pushed this out to the massess.  As of today it has been reviewed online by almost 14 million people.  Instead or releasing the product, they released a IDEA.  This idea is something that they want people to talk to each other about.  It is a way for them to bring innovation out into the world, then make the changes necessary to make it exactly something that will work for the masses.

This is a response to the way that they feel at Google about Project Glass and its relationship to innovation and technology.

Project GlassApr 4, 2012  -  Public

We think technology should work for you—to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.

A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment. We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input. So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do.

So much has been said about this concept of device but we have chosen to be "wowed" by the product and not saw the true innovation in all this.  The act of sharing this technology before we have a product is something that shows that Google is still very innovative, very collaborative and just plain good!

-Jeffrey

Innovation is......

Today is Tuesday....
I took part in a great conversation about what innovation is yesterday.  When you read that sentence you probably think about the idea of a new application for your smart phone or tablet, or a new piece of hardware or a website?  That would be the normal answer.  The reality is that it had nothing to do with anything "technical" but rather a concept around thinking.  A process that we sometimes don't give a lot of thought to.
The conversation revolved around the thought of "how".  How could we build a place where people are able to think together?  Interact in real time and share their "ideas"?  A place where people from around the globe can speak with the same voice about the same conversation and not feel as if they are not heard?  A environment where thoughts can be built out and materialized into products or services through the collaborative process?

Spending the last three years researching the area of collaborative work environments, I could start to understand the conversation from a different perspective.
That is what innovation is.  It is the building of a thought, into a more complex thought with the capability to build more.
The ideas that we discussed were just the beginning.  What is also interesting about the innovation process is that it requires ideas, from people that are open to change and growth.  I have worked too long with people that see things simplistically from a very singular vantage point.
So think more about ideas and less about process and or products.  Build within - then to paper and.... the ideas will become something of complete innovation and not just a product that is just something that has already been done.

-Jeffrey

It All Starts With The Cup

Today is Sunday....

On Friday I was in a one-on-one session with a student and we discussed his start up idea and why it is so important in the beginning of the start-up phase to choose your style, image, values and mission.  All these concepts lead into what we call culture.                                 Since we were sitting in a campus Starbucks,  I wanted my student to understand better how important everything a company does is so important to building and maintaining a brand.  So many people take for granted brands of companies, like Pepsi, Delta, Proctor and Gamble, and Microsoft.   I used the concept as a way to explain how a company could be so successful with just a cup.

 If you look at the Starbucks cup alone, so much is unique, and special.  Like any great brand the cup has changed at times to reflect the history of the company.  The design that went into this cup is more than likely amazing.  I explained to my student that this brand is unique because attention to detail goes into everything about the cup, the design, the size, the colors, the placement of the logo.  Even the sleeve to keep your hands from burning has a very unique design and feel.  In addition, the barista will sometimes use the cup to in fact customize your drink or write your name.  Don't think that there wasn't thought to the fact that these cups can be written on with a sharpie.

As we continued to talk more about he cup, the brand, the product, the image and the layout of the store itself, I could tell that my student was starting to understand the deliberate nature of everything Starbucks does.  We then discussed other brands that are similar in their design approach to understand what makes great companies great.

As we talked more about design and he pondered the cup again, he stated that he thought millions of dollars in research probably went into the design of the cup.  I agreed with him, but explained that is what is amazing about design and innovation.  Large companies have large budgets to research and grow something from nothing.  Start-ups don't have that same luxury.  So we improvise.

Moving forward reflect on your brand.  It is the face of your company.  It is what people see and ultimately feel about your brand.  Are you happy with what you see?  If not, think about Starbucks and other great brands and do something about it.

Happy Easter!

-Jeffrey

Innovator with a Cult Following....

Today is Friday....

I just read a great story about Jony Ives in the Financial Times.  Apples Sr.VP is Knighted and some suggest his looks to that of a major movie or rock star.  In all reality he is a simply put, an innovator beyond words.

Look at his long list of designs....  Apples finest: Ipad, Mac, Ipod, Iphone... shall I continue? 

Ok, now that we have determined that he is a design royalty, one asks where does he get his influence?  Who is it that brings his genius out?  Where is the work created?  How does he build a design from beginning to end? 

Recently a great article was written about him in the London Evening Standard giving a real detailed look at the man and what makes him produce such world changing work.  Looking at the innovative process at Apple is something that is very interesting.   The design of products, software and culture is something that is thought out with attention to the greatest detail.

These concepts and process for design excellence begs me to ask the question how could a company take these ideas and foundational thinking and transform them into world changing products?  Could this be something that a organization could replicate?  Could you identify these ideas around design excellence and creativity and duplication of this process?  Something that others can build and learn from?  Or is it something more... ?

I tend to believe that Ives is something special.  He possesses some inter qualities of creativity that beg one to wonder where he is inspired from?  Now think about this concept of creation a bit deeper and gain a true understanding of the complexity of new idea creation and design excellence. 

And when you are done thinking.... Go do something extraordingly magical!

Jeffrey

New Look, Smell, and Feel.....

Today is Friday...

It is the first post in a totally rebuilt blog that is going to be built around my passion- The Innovative Process of Creation...

With the old blog the concepts tended to focus around what was on my mind.  Although this concept was really interesting to me, I started to think more about what was important in general when it came to the idea of how one comes up with creative thougths and ideas around the area of business creation.  I am very motivated by leaders in this area and their thought process. 

So enjoy the new blog, format and content.  It will smell and feel like a new car until I start getting it loaded up with great content.  So be paitent, but keep stopping back.  I will be updating it daily at worst. 

In addition I will be showcasing guest bloggers, and other sources of information that are important to this idea. 

I am excited, this is going to be fun!

Jeffrey