While we love to write about innovation and improving business, we also have to do it ourselves. We have been working behind the scenes for the last couple of weeks getting ready to launch some new stuff. We are really excited to pre-announce that a new site is coming! That’s right – a new and improved koyono.com with a whole lot of room for growth. We can’t wait to share it with you. Stay tuned as there may be some pretty awesome deals coming your way.
jya matta
Middleburry College to Push Innovation Curriculum
What? A liberal arts college located in west-central Vermont pushing innovation! That’s right.
According to a few directors from the college:
“The goal of the new initiative is to develop an environment in which students can exercise creativity, pursue innovation and become more comfortable with intellectual risk-taking during their four years as students at Middlebury College… this initiative seeks to supplement what Middlebury students learn in class with opportunities to enrich their out-of-class experiences, specifically for the sake of getting students to act on their creativity – to make the process of innovation second nature and part of their lifetime critical skills portfolio.
As a graduate of Earlham College, I think this is great. I have always felt that a liberal arts education and innovation go hand in hand as they both involve creativity, free thinking and just about everything but business. You can force an idea into a business model, but you can not expect innovative ideas to stream from people who only think in terms of business models.
Check out this panel discussion from Guy Kawasaki’s blog featuring 6 founders of successful websites (hi5,Suicide Girls, Slide, HotorNot, PlentyofFish, and Fark). As Guy points out: “If you’d like to learn how these companies became successful without proven teams, proven technology, and proven business models, you’ll love this video.” The title of the entry is “Panel of Web Community Founders: Utter Defiance of the “Venture Capital” Model.
I think Middlebury might be on to something. Here’s an idea: They should propose an internship program with the Suicide Girls. Oh boy, I better stop there before the PC police take down this blog 
How do you grow $.01 to $10,737,418.24? It’s Easy – just double what you have each day for 31 days. Actually this is a simple lesson in compounding interest and the importance of stock dividend reinvesting. Okay, so Jimmy might have must cracked corn, but for those of you who are curious, here is a spread sheet that proves it.
After reading this article on Wired.com about human Gary Kasparov – World Chess Champ vs. machine (IBM Deep Blue), where machine wins the battle but not the war, I’m convinced that technology can only help humans overcome work (shitake we have to do) and maximize life (stuff we love). Yeah, half of us enjoy what we do and where we do it, but there are so many people who die saying they wish they could have done this or that (like starting their own company or fully exploring their natural born curiosity).
It’s only a matter of time before someone creates an open source web arbitrage app that takes a meager $1 and instantly turns it into a $million (plus makes sure life insurance, the kids’ and grandkids’ college tuitions, as well as our next generation’s gmail accounts are taken car of.
Hopefully it is already being done. Can’t wait – Life Arbitrage.
I have been in a major purge mode and reorganizing life. It’s amazing how much crap tends to build up over time. There are of course some things worth keeping. For example, this test on determining your innovation quotient is one for the general reference file. The questions are unconventional, as you might expect, and the thought of such a test is interesting to say the least.
Here is a sample question:
If I were stranded in the desert, the question I’d be most likely to ask myself is:
a) How do I get to water?
b) How do I get water to come to me?
c) What is the meaning of (my) life?
d) How can I make (my) life more meaningful?
You could use it as a starting point for a consulting practice to overhaul HR as we know it, or start a No Genius Left Behind campaign for corporate america Go ahead, give it a try. What’s your IQ?
Here is an interesting video featuring Innovation Strategist and Consultant Larry Keeley. He challenges conventional wisdom on innovation and proclaims that what we think and know about it is “wrong.” This is mainly due to the fact that innovation is riddled with failure (95% of the time) and cliches (eg. “think outside the box”) and that “thinking inside the box” is the key. He insists that focusing on what you do best will improve your success rate three fold.
I take Larry’s advice with a grain of salt as he is mainly focused on large corporations (most of which are not suited for true innovators who adhore hierarchy, bureaucracy and politics). I think he has some good insights (e.g. customer experience), but like most people collapses innovation with evolution/optimization and focuses much more on process as opposed to who are the right people to innovate and the power of adhocracies. He even blasts “brainstorming” as a carcinogen that “the Sergeon General has not gotten around to regulating.” (LOL) Enjoy the video.
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