Mar 22, 2010
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Transform The World - Innovate!
I had the pleasure of speaking to a group at the Shifting Gears program this morning in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
These are motivated individuals in mid-career who saw the world change around them as the auto industry in Detroit underwent its massive transition.
They are taking courses on re-learning how to compete and shine in a world of entrepreneurs, small businesses and risk takers. To use a phrase from Seth Godin’s Linchpin, they are being taught how to fight the lizard-brain.
One of the key messages I conveyed was the need to constantly be innovating. The group has the basic skills to do this, but need to learn how to reapply those skills to generate innovation.
Most of the people in the group are engineers or worked in environments geared to engineers. They are very accustomed to thinking about and structuring formal processes.
This is wonderful. You can create processes that generate innovation.
The problem is that most of them have been taught to build processes that eliminate costs by standardizing output. What needs to be taught is how to develop processes that maximize innovation.
The way to generate innovation is to build processes and standards that measure output for its value to the customer. And by value, I don’t mean providing widget x for the least money. This is what they have been doing for 20 years. By value, I mean providing a good or service that the customer truly appreciates.
Its great programs like Shifting Gears that can help drive this re-learning in Michigan and help harness the talent that’s here.
Its also this kind of mindset shift, particularly in project management, that can foster a flurry of innovation and lead the economy forward.
As a member of Mark’s audience in the Oakland Community College/Sensei Change “Shifting Gears” career transformation program this morning, I saw and heard that he has done much of the difficult inner work that many of us face today as we try to move forward into a new Michigan economy.
Mark’s candid story about his own journey into entrepreneurship was genuine and inspiring to me, and I highly recommend him to any group interested in learning about new-business creation, particularly relative to software innovation.
Mark has used his own career transformation to become his best self and a student of economic and technological innovation, clearly dedicated to building value for his customers and prosperity for his business by living the principles of successful entrepreneurship. His thoughts are a good example of the new mindset that will empower Michigan to adapt and grow its economy in a new direction.
Thank you for your transformative work in Michigan! Your insight about “creating processes that generate innovation” is right on target. As the creator and designer of Shifting Gears, I have witnessed the amazing energy of transformative creativity. When opportunities don’t exist, entpreneurial mindsets create new opportunities borne of their own authentic selves and imagination. The process does require some hard internal work.My hats off to all the participants in Shifting Gears because I am honored to witness their courage and their transformation from within that results in transformations of small businesses to create opportunities for themselves and others. The talent of Michigan can generate the opportunities of tomorrow. I greatly appreciate your contribution to support the transformation of Michigan’s corporate talent that will grow innovative small businesses of today into tomorrow’s giants.