Tame your memory to innovate

Art Markman in his HBR Article says you do not have to think differently, but you have to think different things to be innovative, to be able to come up with innovative solutions for the known problems. He argues this on the basis of how our memory works. He says when you are in the kitchen, your memory of every associated with how the cooking happens comes in the front just like all the rules and records of a game come to forefront when you want a game. So when you think about a problem from different perspectives you invoke different parts of your memory and get different solutions with the help of these various slices and dices of your memory. 

Interesting take, I think.

Recipe for Culture Change

Strategy & Business article on Culture change tries to draw inferences from Chef Jamie Oliver's experiment in West Virginia city to introduce people to fresh food and eventually replace the fast food culture by healthy and nutritious food. The story lists various challenges that he faces while trying to change the food habits, the resistances he faced to encountering complete lack of knowledge of fresh food and an inability to cook.  

Slowly and steadily he worked with various influential persons and organizations to make his food accepted. Author extrapolates that the same can be done for managing organizational changes. 

Changing a culture is probably the most difficult thing to manage.

Measuring Globalization....

World is globalized...is it, or was it not always? Well, it is not evenly globalized, and you need to understand the extent of globalization based on your world i.e. your product or your service or your market or your country.  Pankaj Ghemavat in his Mckinsey article talks about root maps that show the extent of globalization for your pie of the economy. He takes an example of the entertainment industry which maps hollywood's map as that of English speaking parts of the world and then contrasts it with the Bollywood map that follows the Indian Diaspora. 

For example, this map shows the share of domestic film industry in countries around the world:

I think this is a very interesting data analysis, that can be a very important input into your strategy and planning. This clearly shows you where is your string customer base and where are the potential new markets. Think of intersecting this map with a English speaking world map for Hollywood and Diaspora concentration map for Bollywood and you would know where the untapped potential for both the products lies. 

ITE - Tea Stalls / Chains

Tea is a basic India beverage. Most Indian love to have it, as a matter of habit, as a rejuvenator while breaking, as a company when they gossip with friends and sometimes without any reason. In the new India that is being built, Coffee Chains have cropped up in every nook and corner but they do not serve the basic chai, and even if they serve it comes at atrocious prices. 

Can someone think of a basic tea stall that is neat and clean and serves the basic tea, may be a bit customized on the spot for the customer like letting them choose their favorite flavor.The cost involved is too much, skill required is available or can be easily acquired and there are no entry barriers as such. There can be two formats that tI can think of at the moment - one a small stall, very similar to the roadside stalls that we all use, but neat and clean with glasses or cups properly washed and dried before every use. Second is a chain like Cafe Coffee Day or Barista, that can be a bit higher end with proper branding, something like Cha Bars at Oxford book stores. This may require some capital, some planning and a long term strategy, but stalls is something that can be done at a very small level too to begin with. I would love to see these stalls in all shopping malls where getting a cup of tea is almost impossible and this is a place you really need when you are tired of shopping, when you have to wait while your other family members shop or when you have to just wait for someone whom you plan to meet there. I think even a small stall serving basic chai in a neat and clean environment can do toms of business in shopping malls and in similar urban areas. 

I heard of couple of such experiments in bangalore malls but am yet to see how they are doing. Any ideas?

Better Brainstorming

This Mckinsey article talks about brain-steering instead of brainstorming. 

Basically, what it suggests is to have a focusses brainstorming rather than an open ended that leads you nowhere. You seek answers to the questions that you know or have prepared in advance. You do not throw open the questions to a big group, but spread the questions amongst smaller groups and then let them share their best ideas with the bigger group. It also suggests that you do not pick winning ideas in a hurry as the participants usually do not have a overall view of the problem and ideas need an executive level vetting.

Though I would avoid giving brainstorming a new name, but I agree with most of what the article says. To get the relevant answers you must ask the right questions.

Disney Method of Brainstorming

Paul Sloane in his latest newsletter talks about Disney Method for Brainstorming, which is a variation of 6 thinking hats technique of Edward De Bono. It is a 4 step process instead of De Bono's 6 step. 

Four steps are:

1. Spectator's View
2. Dreamer's View
3. Relaizer's View
4. Critic's View

You look at the problem from these 4 perspectives and then reach a potential solution.

He argues that this is a more productive method than 6 thinking hats as it not only generates ideas, but also helps you evaluate the ideas. I like the spectator's part as most of the times we tend to see the problem from our perspective, and we fail to see it from outsider's perspective say that of out customers, our sales force or our consultants. If we can see the problems from their point of view, we would have a more rounded view of the problem and the solutions would reflect that. After all solutions come out of the right definition of the problem.