5 min.
Infopresse 360 ​​Innovations Day with Malcolm Gladwell: 9 things to remember
1L’art de la gestion de projet2Un projet à succès commence par une bonne gouvernance3Cascade, agilité, demandes de changement?

Infopresse 360 ​​Innovations Day with Malcolm Gladwell: 9 things to remember

  • TECHNICAL LEVEL

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Innovation was at the heart of the  Infopresse 360 ​​day today for which 2 vice-presidents of innovation (the very inspiring Anita Sands of Citi & the corporate Peter Andrews of IBM), the professor at HEC Laurent Simon and the star Malcom Gladwell were invited. 

anita_sandslaurent simonpeter andrewsMalcolm Gladwell

If you want to know a little more about Malcolm Gladwell, I strongly recommend that you see the interview that  Stephen Colbert conducted on November 17  with him.

Without saying more, here are 9 elements that I retained from this conference:

    1. Don't waste your time defining innovation.  The key word to remember here is: “waste of time”. [Anita Sands] 
    2. Don't waste your time measuring innovation.  Two themes, same keyword. [Anita Sands] 
    3. Innovation is not just about ideation.  Rather, it should be seen as an “end-to-end” process that deals as much with ideation as with the accomplishment of projects. [Anita Sands] 
    4. Beware of innovation consultants  : innovation is not a one-person business! [Anita Sands] 
    5. Innovation is a social activity  : that is, recruiting the right people (on this subject, much has been said about identifying dark heroes within a company and forming balanced teams) , gather ideas, foster collaboration, and above all, manage change. [Peter Andrews – Anita Sands] 
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    6. Don't just listen to your customers.  You have to listen to your customers, but you also have to listen to those who have the potential to become customers. Nintendo is the perfect example; with its Wii and its DS, Nintendo has designed simple game platforms allowing a new audience to indulge in video games (just think of Brain Age which is very successful among Baby Boomers). [Lawrence Simon] 
    7. Don't just do what your customers want.  If Ford had listened to the consumers of the 1900s, the company would have innovated by selling more efficient horses. [Anita Sands] 
    8. It is a mistake to stop investing in R&D during tough economic times . A phrase that comes up often these days . (Kind of like the one saying it's a mistake to sell your stocks… okay, the analogy is bad, sorry.)  [Anita Sands] 
    9. A person's innovation  (and especially the success that goes with it) is not a function of uncontrollable things like luck, but rather a function of several definable things like hard work (the number 10,000 hours was used profusely), the desire to learn (including from mistakes), patience, and the concept that compensating for one's weaknesses and difficulties is more effective than capitalizing on one's strengths. [Malcolm Gladwell]    
    10. [BONUS] There are 915 million (or something like that) possible combinations with 6 8-pin Lego blocks. [Lawrence Simon] 
    11. [BONUS] Fleetwood Mac is the symbol of innovation in the world of rock & roll. [Malcolm Gladwell] 
    12. [BONUS] Giving 2 case studies for each argument advanced is the mark of an experienced speaker (or speaker in this case) and the signature of a presentation that captures the attention. [Louis-Dominic Parizeau] 

PS: I am currently preparing a second post on the conference which will be much more applied to the realities of Adviso. So stay tuned.