Extend cooperation across national boundaries

Watching this fine 14½ minute talk by Alex Tabarrok, I learned, for example, that, in the 20th century, a number of walls were torn down globally, i.e. collaboration / cooperation was extended across national boundaries.

1. Trade walls were reduced.
2. Transportation walls were reduced.
3. Communication walls were reduced. Just think about the Internet.
4. Political walls were reduced.

Results: Global trade increased. Economic growth extended to almost all parts of the world.

About 9 minute and 20 seconds into the talk, Mr. Tabarrok mentions this:

“We all benefit, when another country gets rich. We should not fear other countries becoming wealthy. That is something we should embrace. A wealthy China, a wealthy India, a wealthy Africa. It means a greater demand of ideas (larger markets), and a greater supply of ideas for the world.”

What do you do to extend cooperation across national boundaries?

I came across the video through this blog posting by Braden Kelley.

Authority is anyone who has a good idea

In this blog posting, Gary Hamel writes:

"While the Facebook Generation must still contend with trickle-down power structures at work and in school, they have experienced a ubiquitous and powerful alternative: The Internet."

In this regard, have you thought about how not least the Internet is changing the way we think about authority? In this 1½ minute video, Doc Searls mentions that authority is anyone who has a good idea? By the way, if you have ideas that you’d like to help others benefit from, I encourage you to try out open innovation portals such as, for example, Atizo, bonspin, and brainfloor.com.

A Whole New Mind

I came across this interesting 10 minute video by Steve Cunningham through this Education Innovation blog posting. The video is a summary of the book A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink.

Mr. John Chambers, Cisco Systems: Blogging is the way I communicate with our employees

Watching this McKinsey conversation with Mr. John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, I learned that blogging is the way Mr. Chambers communicates with employees. In the interview, John Chambers also mentioned the following:

"The classic question is “Well, if I’m going to lead I’ve got to have people reporting to me, and I’ve got to control budget. And the answer is "No" and "No"."

How about yourself: How do you communicate with people, you work with?

Help the customer to great shopping experiences

Reading the executive summary of the report “Discovering “WOW” – A Study of Great Retail Shopping Experiences in North America”, which I came across via this Knowledge@Wharton article, I read that when a shopper enjoys a great shopping experience, he/she talks about with his his/her friends and associates. And store loyalty increases dramatically. I found out that a retailer should focus on the following 5 things to help the customer to great shopping experiences:

# 1. Engagement
Be polite. Genuinely care for the customer. Demonstrate sincere interest in helping, acknowledging and listening to the customer.

# 2. Executional Excellence
Explain and advice the customer patiently. Check stock, help the customer find products, have product knowledge and provide unexpected product quality.

# 3. Brand Experience
Make the store design exciting. Consistently provide great product quality. Make customers feel they’re special and that they always “get a deal”.

# 4. Expediting
Be sensitive to customers’ time and long check-out lines. Be proactive in helping speed up the shopping process.

# 5. Problem Recovery
Help resolve and compensate for problems. Upgrade quality and ensure complete shopper satisfaction.

When was the last time you had a great shopping experience? Which shop was it? How did the people working at the shop show that they really care about you?

Focus on what the market needs

In this relevant 2 minute video, Mr. Clayton Christensen brings forward an important problem: Once an idea gets through the value chain of a company and reaches the customer, the idea may have been changed so much that it does not bring much added value to the customer anymore, i.e. will not help the customer solve his/her needs very effectively.

A couple of solutions to the problem: Encourage everone working for the company to keep their thinking and actions focused on what customers need, and how you can help customers satisfy their needs in the most effective ways. Also, work on open innovations portals, blogs, and Twitter to bring in external views.

See ageing as an opportunity for job creation and innovation

On ManagementTV, I came across this interesting 2½ minute on which Joseph Coughlin, MIT AgeLab, talks about seeing ageing as a call to innovate. Mr. Coughlin mentions, for example this:

"..we should look at ageing as a way of developing entirely new businesses: Home care, home services, transportation. Ageing is actually an opportunity for job creation and innovation.."

Reading about the purpose of MIT AgeLab, I read that the multidisciplinary research program wants to invent new ideas and creatively translate technologies into practical solutions that improve people’s health and enable them to “do things” throughout the lifespan.

What does the mayor of the city, you live in, do to turn ageing into an opportunity for job creation and innovation?