By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge We hear so much about the supposed power of innovation and creativity. That these qualities or skill sets are somehow both unique and scarce. And at the same time, a lack of innovation and creativity is often quickly blamed for the downfall or underperformance of a company or organization. But is this really true? And more importantly, how much impact do innovation and creativity or their lack thereof really have on an organization? Here's the real deal: Innovation & creativity are highly overrated and badly misunderstood. If these were so vitally important, then Xerox PARC would have been and still would be the most successful company in the world while Microsoft would perhaps be the least successful. But it didn't turn out that way because... Well, because innovation and creativity are both meaningless and worthless without the ability to productize them. And productization is both meaningless and worthless without the ability to monetize it. And monetization can't happen without a strong leadership. Strong leadership is required to allow, enable and drive an organization to productize and then monetize its innovation and creativity. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
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Over the last twenty years, and accelerating in the last 7 years, not only Japan but the entire world has begun to question Japan's ability to innovate and create as companies such as Apple and Samsung rule Japan's former stomping grounds and gleefully gorge themselves on Japanese companies' bento boxes on a daily basis. Meanwhile, once mighty and innovative Japanese firms like Sony and Panasonic bleed red and constantly try to slough off workers while peddling a staid if uninspiring set of "me-too" and "also-ran" product lines. How far has Sony fallen? Well, it's gotten to be so bad that if Sony founder, Akio Morita, were to magically re-appear today and venture over to the front entrance of Sony Japan, he wouldn't recognize the place. Worse, if he then decided to apply for a position, not only wouldn't they hire him, they'd most likely call security and have him escorted off the premises. But all is not lost. In our No Box Thinking™ (Volume 3), entitled "How Struggling Japanese Companies Can Beat Silicon Valley's Fast-moving Startups At Their Own Game" we go through exactly what has happened, what has changed and how, in a short time and by using some talent management adjustments, Japanese firms can again perform at our above that of their competitors. By James Santagata Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge Hats off to Sheryl Sandberg and her book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. It's started a valuable conversation but until concrete actions are taken, that's all it is - a conversation, talk. And by concrete actions I mean focusing on understanding, developing and utilizing specific tools and strategies to accept the world as it is, and then to use these tools and strategies to create, mold and reframe a new more comfortable and productive reality. Because Leaning-In Isn't Always EnoughThis training draws extensively from our Psychological Jujutsu training and High-Impact Leadership series to create a body of original material that is specifically tailored for women currently in or seeking leadership roles.
We delve deeply into the fine line separating the 4B's -- Bimbo, Babe, Bitch, Brilliant-Boss -- and more importantly we discuss exactly how to effectively place yourself and stay in the Brilliant-Boss category without triggering negative push backs, mismatches or attacks. By understanding the impact and deeply embedded, yet invisible, role that evolutionary psychology plays with regard to the organization and society's view of strong women leaders, we'll explore how to deftly avoid the many traps and pitfalls while learning how to push the correct buttons and trigger the proper scripts allowing women to lead an more effective, efficient, productive and satisfying work and home life. No Box Thinking™: How To Beat Silicon Valley's (and other) Fast-Moving Startups At Their Own Game1/11/2014 By James Santagata Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge “Core competencies are different for every organization. But every organization needs one core competence: innovation.” - Peter Drucker
Secret Silicon Valley: Deconstructing Silicon Valley While Exploding The Myths & The Memes1/10/2014 By James Santagata Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge Business Is Simply Warfare Without The Pleasantries and Veneer of the Geneva Convention
By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge Select, develop, deploy & manage your people right & you can have the advantages of a high-tech economic center right at home. Simply hearing the words Silicon Valley can evoke an image of cutting-edge innovation advanced by an army of daring, if not slightly mad, entrepreneurs who feverishly seek to develop the world’s next technological marvels. But what exactly makes Silicon Valley so successful and, more importantly, can it be replicated? China has Zhong Guan Cun, India has Bangalore. Where is Japan's “Silicon Valley”? Japan, the third largest economy in the world, still lacks any type of large, formal tech epicenter like the one in California. Does this even matter for business success in the 21st century? Many people, including Silicon Valley industry insiders, will immediately and perhaps misguidedly say yes. A more reasoned and introspective analysis, however, demonstrates that this type of success is not about location but more importantly about talent. And even more specifically: it is not just about talent, but about how that talent is selected, developed, deployed and managed. To create a Silicon Valley atmosphere, a company needs employees who possess these three skills: 1. Business acumen to identify huge opportunities; 2. Leadership to seize those opportunities; and 3. The ability to select, develop, deploy and manage talent to quickly exploit these opportunities. Once we understand this, what then are the core skills that we should be focusing on when developing talent that can rise to and perform at the level of Silicon Valley’s? If we look closely, it’s clear that this boils down to five core skills, all of which can be readily developed in our existing employees: 1. Leadership: The ability to take risks, to develop a vision and to lead others to the successful path. This is not just for senior leaders, but for all key players so that they can learn how to lead across all levels: from senior management to their peers or to those below them. And it includes the ability to reframe what are commonly perceived as failures as mistakes and missteps with important lessons to learn. Steve Jobs had success in a variety of diverse areas and products, from the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iTunes and Pixar. This wasn’t accidental nor was it surprising, as each of these areas was ripe for a true leader to identify and then pluck the low hanging, yet massive fruit. His move into iTunes alone was pure leadership as he had to overcome the lawsuit Apple had lost to the Beatles record label prohibiting engagement in music-related businesses. His success with iPod was further made possible by Sony’s reluctance to move its Walkman franchise forward into developing solid state devices including technologies such as microprocessor chip, crystalline semiconductors and RAM. 2. Communication: The ability to clearly communicate through a variety of media ranging from one-on-one and group meetings to formal reports and presentations to business emails and video conferences. Very often, the best ideas as well as the pulse of the market comes from those closest to the customer – support engineers, sales and customer service. And yet, most often this information does not get captured and clearly communicated back to product managers and the executive staff (see also Ogushi Matrix Communication lines). 3. Influence & Persuasion: The ability to get others to want to support a project or, if they won’t actively support it, to at least make sure that they don’t actively resist it. Previously we mentioned the need to capture and clearly communicate opportunities and obstacles a company may face or is facing. Yet, there are plenty of instances where even a clearly communicated issue or opportunity falls on deaf ears, such as Kodak’s need to move from film-based to digital cameras. There are many reasons for resisting opportunities or ignoring warnings about obstacles, including that this information or proposed shift in business may benefit the company but specifically expose or harm one person’s or department’s operations, ego, status or bonuses. For this reason, clear communication is only a starting point. Beyond this, influence and persuasion must be utilized as well. 4. Negotiation: The ability to negotiate not only externally but, often more importantly, internally. This is critical during situations such as when a green light is needed for a feasibility study, to request funds and resources for product development or to get approval and buy in for the launch of a product that will potentially cannibalize an existing cash cow product. Influence and persuasion can only take us so far, and at some point it can be expected that we will need to negotiate. This requires the ability to craft a win-win solution as well as to ensure that the other party sees it that way. It is not only possible but extremely common for a win-win to be misperceived and subsequently blocked, simply because the other person has become psychologically opposed resulting in a classic “cut your nose off to spite your face” scenario. In these scenarios everyone loses including employees, managers, shareholders and customers. 5. Assertiveness: The ability and confidence to speak up and share opinions or ideas or to challenge another’s opinions or ideas in a professionally affirmative manner. Assertiveness (often confused with aggressiveness) is a critical skill that is especially important for those who may have key insights and knowledge, such as engineers or service people, but not the personality or interest in speaking out nor the title or standing within the company. Instilling this skill in a firm’s employees can unleash great productivity and opportunity while also identifying problems or obstacles before they become dangerous or expensive. By developing these 5 core skills sets and Valley Values in your existing talent you will ensure that your employees’ inherent creativity and innovative nature do not go to waste and that the people with these ideas have the tools and skills needed to bring this forth to their peers and superiors and ultimately to the market place. By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge Many executive and business coaches proudly and publicly proclaim: "I'm not here to teach you anything -- because I can't do that. Rather I'm here to bring the best out of you, which you need to have brought out." I’m adamantly opposed to this type of thinking and this is where my philosophy, frameworks and methodologies part ways with much of the establishment coaching industry and even media-annointed “coaching gurus”. You see, unlike so many other executive and business coaches who are operating under the principle that it's somehow wrong to teach you things or to directly and explicitly provide a model for your success, I'm actually here to teach you things and provide a variety of models for success and improvement. Not to tell you things, but to teach you things. Sometimes you'll discover the solutions on your own. Other times, I'll drop hints or steer you in certain directions for exploration and understanding. But if or when that no longer works for you or we are not satisfied with the results, I'll step in and then together we'll look at various solutions and models, trying them on for size and future-pacing them to ensure efficacy and fit. You see, besides teaching, advising and guiding you, I'm here to help you solve problems. And yet within the traditional executive and business coaching industry it's almost verboten to do so. Perhaps this is because some many coaches don't have a sufficiently stocked tool box or a set of proven models to work with, choose from and future pace. From my vantage point, this actually wouldn't be surprising, since in the current business environment so many the current Western coaching models along with many of the associated coaching techniques appear to have hit a wall if they aren't straight-out broken. The fact is many of these models and techniques were created by pure academicians who never had to battle-test, let alone battle-prove these models and techniques in the fast-paced and, more often than not, viciously competitive corporate world. If your coach can't help solve your problem, why work them? Anything less than solving a problem is simply therapy. There's nothing wrong with that as we all need a shoulder to cry on once in a while and it's always help to have someone available with which we can share our difficulties. But imagine how much better it would be to solve and mitigate if not eliminate the issues and obstacles confronting or confounding us. The challenges facing executives as well as entrepreneurs are legion, ranging from communication issues, office politics, marriage and relationship problems and so forth. All of these are addressable and must be addressed for the executive or entrepreneur to operate at peak or near peak effectiveness without over revving their engine and burning out. Problems never take years to solve, unless you go a therapist. By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge One of the frequent topics I like to discuss besides the myth and meme that "Necessity Is the Mother of All Invention" is the fact many of Silicon Valley's most vaunted startups are all post-tech businesses. Yes, you read that right. Post-tech. They surely use technology in their day-to-day operations just as UPS does, the Hilton hotel chain or even Walmart. However, many of these startups may actually use even less tech than these brick and mortar firms. Examples of such startups and ventures that are post tech include Airbnb, Uber and Zappos which is analogous to an online Nordstrom in terms of the excellent customer service experience they provide. Further, the technology required to run these companies is often available right of the shelf for a pittance (relatively speaking). There are plenty of other non-Valley, post-tech companies such as Groupon, Gilt Groupe and Dollar Shave Club to name just a few. What does all this mean? As we've discussed many times before, this means that what many of these startups are facing (or will face) as their primary challenge is primarily human in nature not technical. Specifically, the markets that post-tech startups will want to or tend to target are those which are massively inefficient (thus, having huge profit potential while populated with tepid or ossified competitors) due to the use of regulatory capture by rent-seeking incumbents. Over the last 18 to 20 years (and especially during the last 7 years) the skills and knowledge needed to quickly and cost effectively build, mass produce and even consume these technologies and tools have now become almost completely common place. Consider that the amount of computing power (and bandwidth) we have in our smart phones to a person 10 years ago as is the ability to buy right off the shelf most of the things we need to create just about any product or business. We're no longer concerned with the theory behind building a router or the design and development of packet switched (versus a circuit based networks). Even IPTV is no longer a hazy dream but a daily reality. I could go on and on, but I won't so as not to bore you. Beyond core technology, the Valley has now grown and matured in regards to the knowledge, processes, skills and resources needed to not only build a product but to launch a company and to make it successful (although, often times, the Valley still struggles greatly with market-based productization and ultimately the monetization off the product. These two sticking points, therefore, provide huge opportunities for the next generation of entrepreneurs to focus on). For me, I'm glad I lived in the Valley and still do business there. It was a very huge turning point and chapter in my life, however, for many reasons, not everyone can get there, at least now. Yet they worry and fret. Don't. My advice, is don't worry or fret, do the best you can, with what you have, where you are. If the Valley is in your future you'll be there. And beyond that, there is a downside to the Valley -- too many posers, Drive-by entrepreneurs, Lottery Ticket Louts and so forth attending events and conferences rather than staying home or at the office building product or businesses. Better yet, spending the time getting in front of customers. The point is the Valley is a huge echo-chamber where luck and one-trick ponies are seen as "systems", "processes" and "truths" and where almost no one I have met can separate talent from systems, brand and product. That's the downside. A major downside. The upside is that even if you aren't in the Valley, you can still read and see what's going on, in real time, without being pulled into the Valley echo-chamber and backslapping "ataboys" that are often made with good intentions but damage companies and entrepreneurs in the long run. The glorious fact, and I do say glorious, is that now with all of the knowledge, mentors, books, forms, templates and so on I question this "race to setup in the Valley" Further, we should consider and clearly understand that most of the "tech pain" and "tech risk" has been taken entirely out of the startup equation. To summarize, in effect, so many of these startups are post-tech. They surely use tech in their daily business or operations just like KFC, Burger King and UPS does but they aren't tech firms. This doesn't make them better or worse than any startup. But it does mean they should acknowledge this new reality as should every startups, potential entrepreneur as well as incumbent. By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge As previously discussed, we focus on both the human and the strategic elements of personal and business success. We'll dig down deep and explore and unpack the official narratives as well as the myths and memes as to why particular companies, products, people and technologies have succeeded or "failed" and we'll often end up with far different conclusions than are commonly published or discussed within the business and tech communities. We'll also draw heavily upon some of the following subject matter to help make our points: 1. Evolutionary Psychology 2. Cognitive Science 3. Influence and Persuasion 4. Military History, Tactics and Strategy 5. Economics (primarily regulatory capture by rent-seeking incumbents) 6. Linguistics & Languages 7. Foreign Cultures 8. Seduction and Dating And a whole lot more... stay tuned! By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge Outside of questions pertaining to SiliconEdge's training and coaching services, two of the most common questions people ask us have to do with our company name. Is there a particular meaning attached to the name? And if so, what is the philosophy behind it? Simply stated SiliconEdge represents two concepts. First, it represents the physical edge of Silicon Valley -- the millions and millions of miles of inhabited space where entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial skills and knowledge have been rapidly diffusing or have already diffused and the exciting innovation and creativity that have been taking place or are about to take place outside of the Valley as well as outside of the United States. Second, and mostly importantly, if we accept Silicon Valley to be the mecca of technology, creativity, innovation and risk taking, then this "edge" is the next step, the next evolution of this mecca; not a physical edge but a philosophical edge. To me, it's been very clear that this next evolutionary step is a philosophical shift in recognizing and optimizing the human element and the strategic element and nowhere will this become more true and more important than in the Valley which is increasing becoming a "post-tech" world although very few seem aware of this fact. This shift means that business and people will soon need to recognize that most of the problems they face are not technical or financial in nature but human (we address this in great detail). To be sure, the intrinsic importance and value of the human element is not new and it has always been of critical importance even when it has gone unrecognized. And due to a number of factors the actual importance of the human element has often been masked, misinterpreted and even when it's been recognized the response has often been to simply address it with platitudes. A common example of this is found in the expression, "Necessity is the mother of all invention". Is this really the case? We think not. To us, this human element relates to being able to most effectively and efficiently select, acquire, develop, deploy, motivate, manage and retain the right people necessary for your business to reach or exceed its objectives and goals as well as ensuring your continued competitiveness and viability in the fast moving, global business environment that is today's reality. More specifically, the concrete skill sets that now provide the largest ROI and ROL for companies (and individuals) include: 1. Leadership 2. Communication 3. Influencing 4. Persuasion 5. Negotiation 6. Assertivenesss Beyond this human element, the essence and philosophy of SiliconEdge is to always question the official narrative as to why a particular person, company, product or strategy was "successful" or "failed" and to identify and unpack the most powerful myths and memes to find the real lessons to be learned. |
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