Perfecting Innovation in a Digital World - Simon Cowell, Will.i.am and the X-factor for technology

This month the press have been covering the soon to be launched “X-factor for Geeks” – the new TV concept being sponsored by the self-confessed technophile Will.i.am and the entertainment mogul Simon Cowell (see links below).  The idea, whilst still clearly in development, seems to aim to do for the unknown entrepreneur, building gadgets in their garage, what Simon Cowell currently does for would-be singers, crooning into a hairbrush in their bedrooms.  

Now the cynics amongst you are possibly thinking – “TV train wreck - Won’t this be a bit like running a junior Dragon’s Den – but with groovier music and lighting?”   Well, it may turn out that way but I don’t think it will.  Here’s why. 

One of the biggest and most commonly reported issues that my clients report to me when they are trying to deliver innovation is this – “How do I carry out cost-effective User Acceptance Testing on my prototype products at a large enough scale to be conclusive.”    This is a tricky and very real problem for most businesses – but not for Simon Cowell.  His formula for the modern TV talent show is the absolute pinnacle of genius when it comes to doing massive, cost-effective user acceptance testing.  At its simplest, he creates a showcase for his talents and then invites the millions of potential end users, via digital channels (texts, phone, apps etc), to pay to provide their assessment of the talent they are reviewing (genius).   Now there is an awful lot more to it than that but, you can bet your bottom dollar that when the new Geek Factor show is aired, at the heart of it will be a version of this grand scale, money making, user acceptance testing.

So, what can the rest of us, who don’t have our own TV empires, do to tackle the Innovators conundrum of running cost effective user testing at scale.   The answer is that we need to think like Simon Cowell and learn the lessons from the cleverly engineered processes behind his talent show formats.   Over the last 6 months at Capgemini we have poured major effort and brainpower into deconstructing and then reconstructing the process of Innovation to be able to create a cost-effective process that delivers a reliable flow of innovation.   What we concluded was - we need to “think like Cowell” and see the innovation process as a “production”.   We needed to design and build a scaleable Innovation capability based on the production company concepts that sit behind the current plethora of Saturday night talent shows.

And... after many months of designing, prototyping, piloting and testing the good news is that we at Capgemini have now successfully created our own Innovation production service that utilises a plethora of the new digital media to keep costs low and outputs high – we even think we have cracked the problem of conducting cost effective, large scale user acceptance testing.  Hurrah!

Ironically what is both gratifying and a little irritating for us is that whilst we’ve been looking at the entertainment industry for inspiration on the process of business innovation; Will.i.am and Simon Cowell have clearly been looking at business innovation as the subject matter for their next entertainment venture.

So, if you are struggling to drive innovation within your own organisation and would like to discuss further how this innovation production service could work for you and you don’t have Simon Cowell’s phone number then please do get in touch.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19799707

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9578273/Simon-Cowell-and-Will.i.am-to-launch-hunt-for-new-Bill-Gates.html

Unleashing a winning spirit - the search for Seve

Throughout the long summer of 2012 those of us who live in the UK have been treated to an unprecedented cornucopia of sporting excellence and delight.   Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France, Team GB excel at the Olympics and the Paralympics, Andy Murray wins the US Open and now to round it all out beautifully the European team mount one of the greatest come backs of all time to regain the Ryder Cup.  Wow! 

I've loved it all and have revelled in the shared sporting euphoria that the country has dined out on during some very difficult economic times.  Of course, as a student of "performance" I have also been inspired to get my head around the factors that have created this athletic prowess.  What is clear, is that the factors that deliver success are many - current physical fitness, coaching support and training regime, physical capability, access to facilities and personal desire - and then there is the strange, powerful, unpredictable "winning spirit" that can galvanise a team or an individual to perform at new levels of intensity and flow.  But what releases this longed for, willow the wisp spirit and transforms a good performance into a truly outstanding one? 

At times the spirit can be catalysed by the passionate support of a partisan crowd (witness the performances of the GB athletes in London 2012 and the performance of the USA golfers on the first two days of the Ryder Cup).  At others it can be catalysed by the desire to "do it" for a departed parent or friend (witness the European golfers inspired to perform by the memory of Seve Ballesteros and Gemma Gibbons the GB judo player who did it for her Mum) and on occasion it is catalysed by the desire to "deliver for the team" (witness Ian Poulter the heroic Ryder Cup golfer and Derek Redmond the team GB 400m runner who often seemed so much better in the relay than in the individual event).  Interestingly, on closer inspection, the nature of these diverse catalysts share similar properties - they have an external focus, are rich with meaning, emotional and supersede the sport - these are what seem to be the crucial elements for unleashing the winning spirit. 

Of course the challenge to me as a business leader pondering this is clear.  How do I uncover the catalyst for unleashing the winning spirit in my business?   I want to see the Olympian spirit released in my teams and my business - to do it I need to identify the external, meaningful and emotional themes that the people of my business can recognise and respond to.  I need to find my organisations very own Seve to guide and inspire us and unleash more of our winning spirit.  Of course, the joy and frustration of it all is there is no formula I can follow and the catalysts will need to be constantly changed or reinvented if the spirit is to be regularly released.  It is a beautiful paradox that makes the living of life an excitement and a joy.  It is, however, far more than just an esoteric musing – it is the Number 1 job of the leader - a business imperative that far too few of us fail to see and rise to.   To fail on uncovering these themes is to fail on bringing motivation and meaning to our businesses and teams.  For me life is too short to waste it on mediocrity and barren professionalism - I love being part of something inspirational.

I'm going to enjoy looking for our own Seve...

Mind the Digital Gap – Why we all need a touch of Digital Patience

Far from feeling alienated and overwhelmed by the digital world I continue to throw myself into it with passion and abandon.  I am a fully signed up and reasonably competent, Ipad, Iphone, twitter, facebook and linkedin user.   I love the fact that I can access all manner of services at the touch of a screen and that the world is seemingly at my fingertips.  I love it.

However, I have noticed a bit of a challenge that arises from this ubiquitous use of technology and the promise of instant wish fulfilment that it engenders.   I and my digitally enabled clients, colleagues and friends get unreasonably frustrated if we can’t get an instant result from our technology and whilst this is understandable I’m not sure it’s actually reasonable.  Ironically the faster our digital networks, devices and software run the greater the gap becomes between our expectations of what should be possible and what is actually capable of being delivered in the digital world.  In the last two years I have noticed more impatient, unrealistic and in some cases just outrageous stances being taken by a number of our under pressure clients when it comes to delivering digital solutions to their complex business problems.  Quite frankly, when it comes to digital transformation we are all in grave danger of allowing our digital expectations to get way too far ahead of the digital delivery reality.

Let me illustrate.

Quite rightly, due to its massive research programme with MIT, Capgemini Consulting is seen as the leading consultancy in the delivery of business transformation in the digital world.  This is great news but it comes at a price – the associated expectation of providing instant digital solutions to deeply complex business problems. 

Twenty years ago a successful business transformation programme would have a number of phases – an “as-is” diagnostic phase to clarify what the current state of play is, where the real challenges lie and what the levers for change are, a “to-be” phase that lays out the new vision, design principles and target operating model and finally a “gap analysis” phase that lays out the change journey from the “as-is” to the “to-be” state.  Simples.  

Today the underlying process of delivering a successful digital business transformation is actually still the same but the strange thing is that as soon as you attach the word digital to the concept of transformation it creates a set of “digital speed” expectations that are hard to meet – such as – “Why do we need an as-is phase, we all know what the problems are, surely you can just access my data and tell me what’s going on?  I thought you guys did big data? Why do we need a to-be phase – we all know we just need an app and a bit of a marketing push – let’s not over complicate this – we already know which technology we want to use.  And finally – there’s no need to overdo the change management – the new apps and technology will all be user friendly – let’s just get going and put something in.”  

Now, whilst there are some really good challenges in these comments for us as consultants and whilst we at Capgemini are running ahead of our competitors in the “digitisation” of our  diagnostic capability, delivery methods and delivery speed it doesn’t alter the fact that the delivery of digital transformation comes with its own unique challenges – many of which are caused by a growing expectations gap.  I seem to constantly have the nagging warning of the old proverb “act in haste, repent at leisure” playing at the back of my head when it comes to helping clients negotiate the complex issues associated with delivering meaningful digital transformation.   I also now hear regularly of “digital disasters” where well meaning, but under pressure clients have tried to break all the accepted wisdoms associated with business transformation on the grounds that it was a "digital project" and they have subsequently spectacularly failed to deliver on the desired outcomes.

One company, under intense delivery pressure, recently launched a world-beating digital application for purchasing financial instruments.  It was slick, it was fast and it was clever.  But, as a customer, if for a range of good reasons you didn’t match a specific profile then you’d be rerouted into the old manual process, which was far from slick.  You went from digital dreams to analogue nightmares!  Customer experience disaster.  Ouch.

The solution.  Easy to say, difficult to do – but I’ll be working with my clients on the concept of “digital patience”.  The digital revolution is here and delivering fabulous new capabilities but we must mind the digital expectations gap and realise that sometimes a little time to think and plan is a good thing in a digital world as no-one wants to repent at leisure.  So take a deep breath, display the right measure of digital patience and let’s set up our digital transformations for sustainable success.

Why I love the London 2012 volunteers...

This blog is inspired by the 70,000 games makers who gave freely of their time and energy in support of London 2012.  Top job – you have made us all very proud.

When I think about how excellent the London 2012 volunteers have been it really does make me spontaneously smile.   So as I sit here basking in the final few days of London 2012 I feel compelled to look at why it is they have had such a notable effect.

It is now a fairly well known fact that the concept of volunteers supporting the Olympics was first introduced at the 1948 London games.  In 1948 the UK was still experiencing rationing as part of the economic hangover from the Second World War and was compelled to use volunteers to ensure it could put the Games on.   Fast forward 64 years to 2012 and the concept of Games volunteers is established at the heart of the Games management process.  No Games functions without them.  So why have we all been so particularly touched by them this time round?

Strangely I can’t help but think that it has something to do with the overall economic climate and global social uncertainty (traces of 1948).   As many of us face personal financial difficulties, compounded for some by the increasing challenge of finding work and living on reduced means, our levels of stress and isolation rise and our baser instincts come to the fore (remember the London riots of 2011).   We were plugged into a potentially dangerous cycle and the country braced itself for further civil unrest.  Then, into the midst of our consciousness, during this time of anomie, step the values and performances of the Olympic Games and those beautiful, willing volunteers.  An army of cheerful, helpful and ubiquitous superstars – steering us, guiding us, offering us support and advice whilst keeping our spirits up.  It’s been brilliant and it’s been freely given.  The result is that a seed of hope arises within us, that, when difficult times come our way, there are actually many people out there amongst our neighbours who have the grace and courage to help.  We are not alone.

At the risk of falling into Olympic induced hyperbole we are lifted by the simple act of time given with a great attitude.  And the really powerful thing for us all to get our heads around is that these volunteers are not some super race – they are us, our neighbours, our friends, our colleagues.   They are not angels – they are ordinary people.

So as I reflect on London 2012 and the legacy it leaves I am deeply thankful for the volunteers and their simple act of giving their time for free.   My hope is that we have inspired a generation.  Inspired them to participate, take part and give freely of themselves – as opposed to the desperation, alienation and sense of entitlement that fuelled the riots.

So much as I want to say bring on Rio, let's move on.  I'd also like to raise us all a mini-challenge that says we can keep the spirit of London 2012 going here in the UK if we continue to reach out and volunteer - our country needs us.  If we try it we might enjoy it - I have a feeling the volunteers loved every moment.

Go Team GB

Dangerous Games – Why we need to take another look at the real purpose of Retail Banking

 (Health Warning:  This blog is a touch convoluted, but hang in there because it does all make sense eventually - promise)

Here's the thing.

Banking is a pretty simple game – Use our money to make us more money whilst managing the risk.  Simple yes – but the devil’s in the detail – let me try and explain.

When you ask the public why banks exist they come up with some pretty simple ideas: 

1) “Provide me with a free, safe, easy to access place to store my money”

2) “Provide me with a line of credit to help me improve my domestic or business situation”

3) “Provide me with a good rate of interest on my savings”

I'll call this Game B – Free Money - Use our (the customer’s) money to make us (the customers) more money whilst they (the Bank) carry the risk.

When you ask senior bank executives (in a non-threatening way) what their role is they will most likely tell you it is simply:

1)  “Improve the share price and provide a return on equity for the Bank and the investors”

I'll call this Game C – Big Money - Use our (our customer’s) money to make us (the senior executives and/or shareholders) more money whilst they (the customers) carry the risk.

Now without over romanticising or oversimplifying it both these Games (Free Money and Big Money) have their roots in same game.

I’ll call this Game A – Retail Banking – Use our (our customer’s and shareholder’s) money to provide us (the customer, executive and shareholder) with a fair and decent return on our investment whilst we (the customers, executives and shareholders) carry the risk.

Now whilst all three of these games are similar the semantic differences I have included in their definitions above makes all the difference in the world to the way the Banks have been/are run.  Over the last 30 years the economic conditions have been such that the variants of Game A, notably Game B and Game C have rapidly developed and moved away from their simple roots developing very different and now clearly toxic norms and rules in the process.  However, in an environment of global growth and expansion, these two games have happily co-existed on the same big pitch and neither has paid much attention to what the other was doing as getting a positive result for both games was relatively easy.  The outcome of Game B is happy customers and the Outcome of Game C is happy investors and happy (well paid) bankers.  So if one of the norms of Game B is free banking (a uniquely UK phenomenon) and one of the norms of Game C is big bonuses nobody really cares as everyone appears to get what they want. 

However, when the world and the pitch that Games B & C are being played on suddenly contracts, due to the global financial crisis, it throws into stark relief the difference in values and purposes of the two Games, highlighting the shortcomings of each code, as the key players get in each other’s way, followed by the inevitable recriminations and mud-slinging as each side justifies its own norms and values.  Suddenly all we see are the referees (regulators, ombudsman and politicians) who’d been having “a quiet game” for the last 30 years.

Today, due to lax ethics, controls and an overblown sense of entitlement the banks are being slammed with fines, greater regulation and social derision.  Many of their heroes have been sent off (Goodwin and Diamond) and Game C is on its knees.  So does that mean that Game B has benefitted?  Temporarily perhaps, but far from being “the beautiful game” Game B has its own problems.  Game B has created a customer mindset that believes it’s entitled to free banking, is happy to enter fraudulent miss-selling claims on an unprecedented scale and is happy to absolve themselves of any personal responsibility for over borrowing.  If there’s a problem (regardless of who created it) the banks must pay!  Game B has created a sense of entitlement that is deeply dangerous and reactionary.  Now whilst Game B may temporarily be in the ascendant this blogger can’t see how Game B can continue long-term as it seems equally as misguided and ethically questionable as Game C.

Hence the point of this blog – surely we (customers, shareholders, executives, politicians and regulators) have to go back to the future to agree a definition of Retail Banking that echoes that of good old Game A.  Only when we are all playing the same game will we be able to fight off the economic troubles that currently confront us.  Until that time comes Game B and Game C will continue to be played and borrowing a reference from a 1980’s pop group, “Banking will eat itself”

Olympic Inspiration from Olympic Innovation

I have so loved the Olympics and have laughed, shouted and cried at the feats of my sporting countrymen - along with the vast majority of the UK population.  What a Games it has been, what an emotional roller coaster - surely a Games that will inspire a generation.

So, not wanting to feel left out and over the hill I thought I'd take the opportunity to share how the Games has been a source of inspiration for me.  Now I know we all love the heart-warming triumph over adversity stories but I have been particularly struck and inspired by the stories that relate to innovation.

In particular I'm loving the stories about the application of science in support of athletic performance.  I'm intrigued by how the very fabric of athletics track has been designed to help the athletes go as fast as possible.  I'm loving the fact that the velodrome is being kept at a constant 28 degrees so that the track and the air are in the optimum condition to produce fast times and I am left speechless at the hours spent in designing the optimum pole with which to vault.

But perhaps the most impressive innovation story is that of the thousands and thousands of incremental changes that the individual athletes have been able to make to their styles and equipment through the application of insights gleaned from the analysis of data.  More than any other Games, this Games has seen the application of data analysis to improve the performance of the elite athletes.  Data is the new drugs.  Data is the new competitive edge.   Watch out for the inevitable new legislation arriving (a la Formula1) to try and level the playing field).

Of course, I can't help but ask myself about the implications of this data oriented focus for driving business performance.  Now data analysis to improve business performance is not a new concept but I can't help but think we businesses have a lot of work to do before we can claim to be anywhere near the levels of our sports scientists in relation to capability.   If truth be told (and speaking with a number of my more aged colleagues seems to confirm it) the quality and development of data analytics inside the large traditional businesses has stood still over the last 30 years.

So come on Team GB business – let’s get our act together on the global business stage and use the innovative brains we have in abundance in this sceptered isle to truly reinvent the way we conduct our businesses to deliver high performance.  Let’s take a leaf from our inspirational athlete’s notebooks and follow a few simple rules that will enable us to rediscover the power of data analytics in the business community and create an unstoppable GB economic resurgence:

1)      Remember that you have to be in for the long game – data analysis requires investment over the long term – think about building for a generation, not a quarter

2)      Develop a spirit and culture of experimentation and learning – hypothesise, test, analyse, learn and go again

3)      Remember that people are an integral part of business performance – they are central to your business performance and need to be provided with the data that helps them perform rather than kept in the dark and treated as Human Resources.

These are all easy to say but really quite challenging to achieve within the confines of business as usual in our mature organizations.  For my part I’m building these lessons into the very fabric our new Innovation Production Service – wish me luck – I’m aiming for the stars.

That’s the end of this Olympic inspired blog.  Go Team GB.

Unicorns, A Flat Earth, Innovative Cultures and other myths

I think I’m about to surprise myself by writing this blog.   I feel a little like a previously devout believer about to recant on a lifetime of firmly held beliefs.  Not because I have a knife at my throat or a gun to my head but rather because I think I may have been wrong.   With that in mind I will write with care as I have no desire to upset anybody (especially my former self) as I explore the contention that you cannot create an innovative culture in a mature established business.

“Whoa there!” I hear myself saying “Have you lost the plot man?   Aren’t you the former psychologist who has spent the vast majority of his working life trying to pull off just that trick?”  Well yes – I am, but I think I owe it to myself to have a good hard, honest look at what the outcome of my efforts have actually been.  So with 25 years of innovation experience behind me let me articulate three things, that on reflection, I now hold to be true:

1)     It is possible for mature organisations to innovate – it does happen – just not frequently or consistently enough or at a high enough level of quality.  The current demands from all quarters for “growth” merely highlight the lack of speed and quality currently being delivered.

2)     Some cultures within mature organisations appear to be more conducive to fostering innovation than others – without doubt some organisation’s cultures are more receptive to external ideas but, and this is a big but, experience suggests that this doesn’t mean that they actually translate into a delivered innovation any more rapidly or frequently.  Whatever, the culture, BAU has a ruthless knack for killing innovation.

3)     It is possible to create a temporary innovation culture within a mature organisation through the application of external effort – but when the external support dissipates the innovative culture decays.  Like a paranoid white blood cell the BAU machine is brilliant at sniffing out and rendering impotent any unprotected foreign body. 

So against, that background of doom and gloom – where us senior execs in mature businesses  are faced with the imperative to innovate but are also faced with the likelihood that anything we try to do to create a more innovative culture is likely to be short lived and inevitably doomed to failure – the question looms as to what should we actually do.

And now for my personal get out of jail card.  I do believe it is possible for organisations to create standalone innovation capabilities that feed innovations into the mother-ships.  I also believe that these capabilities are currently as rare as badgers in Harrods.  However, it is exactly these capabilities that have currently captured my imagination and are driving my own creativity.   I will be writing more about my blueprint for this type of standalone capabilities in future blogs, but, suffice to say, for now I am very, very excited about the possibilities.  Which given the rest of the content of this blog is a welcome relief.