Be bold – Leap to the next curve

Guy Kawasaki considered the Top 10 must do’s to be innovative. The leaders of the next world, need to consider how to be the first to the next curve. If you run a company today, you will likely not be willing to sacrifice your current success to risk jumping to the next curve. If you are brave enough, here is the break-down of the Top 10

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Next curve of innovation

1. Make meaning - Know how to meaning, not money – what will you give back to society because you need to give back before you can reap rewards 2. Develop a Mantra – determine why should you exist in 2 to 3 words that rally the team around a succinct vision (e.g. FedEx = Peace of Mind; Sun Life = Healthy Today, Thriving Tomorrow) 3. Jump to the Next Curve because those that lead today’s curves, are not the leaders for the next curve (e.g. Ice Harvester was a great innovative job then came the Ice Factory that enabled you to freeze ice in any season, refrigerator provides cooling at home, dry-ice that instantly cools beer, what’s next? Tomorrow is about Virtual Care, Online Advice, Proactive Insights to help you prepare) -- jump to the next curve 4. Stretch your idea in all directions - Roll the dice and stretch your idea in all directions so your idea has lots of features, lots of functionality (e.g. Reef invented sandals that opens beer bottles and leave new tracks in sands). Consider if your idea is —

a. Intelligent (Ford invents MyKey … the top speed of the car can be set so a teenager can drive your Ford Mustang and increase chances for safer driving) b. Empowering – puts control in the hands of your consumers (e.g. Mac opened up desktop publishing, self-driven goal planning let’s clients chose how they thrive for tomorrow) c. Elogent – make it look good so it grabs people’s attention

5. Don’t worry, be happy – first refrigerator there will be elements of crappy, when in next curve, elements of crappy can be ignored if you are releasing things for the next curve 6. Let 100 flowers blossom – don’t be proud – take a shot at branding and positioning but listen to client feedback so your product can flourish 7. Polarize People – Great products polarize people – don’t be afraid of polarizing people and getting them to move today’s behaviours 8. Churn, Baby Churn – 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 …. Be in denial until you ship and then listen and iterate on the version so it meets consumers needs and desires 9. Niche thyself – Be unique and add value. With a 2×2 quadrant, you want to be top right corner a. Bottom right – has no unique value and you compete on price b. Bottom left – you have the same product, same price (or more expensive) as everyone else online (e.g. shipping dog food when purchased on-line) c. Top left – so unique that people think you’re a clown d. Top right – adds value, and price justified (e.g. perpendicular parking of a Smart Car) 10. Perfect your pitch – customize your pitch to the audience – 10 slides, 20 minutes, font = 30 (oldest age / 2)

The Art of Innovation – Guy Kawasaki | TEDxBerkeley February 22, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtjatz9r-Vc