World Innovation Forum – New York 2013, Inspiring!!

First of all I want to apologize cause it took me too long to post this! I still hope you enjoy it!

Last week I attended the World Innovation Forum in New York, I can’t think of many places that could held the forum better tan New York, a city that is constantly reinventing itself and giving all kind of experiences to its customers/visitors.

The forum had all kind of presentations: government experiences, examples of disruptive innovations that finally made it (or are making it) into the market, human behavior theory, design and entrepreneurship.

Below I will write the principal ideas of the main conferences:

Mauro Porcini (@MauroPorcini)

Design Thinker: A different breed of innovation

Drivers that are changing the market: Internet, Global market, social networking and 4 generations colliding.

Companies have to innovate in more than one dimension, because is not about making money right away, but creating new categories.

Processes are fundamental, but at the end, innovation is all about people: From people to people.

At the end of the presentation Mauro read a letter to Mr. Design with great ideas, just too long for the scenario. But in my opinion, one of the best presentations of the forum, at least one of the ones that help companies re-think how they are thinking and executing innovation.

Rebecca Henderson

Buidling a sustainable organization: Innovation, values and the bottom line

People want to believe in what they are doing you have to create emotions and engagement.

Four reasons to talk about values in public:

1. It’s very motivating. If people are more motivated they are more productive
2. It builds trust. People need to see you are doing the right thing consistently
3. It’s the most powerful driver of real change we know of. If people believe it’s important and they understand what they are doing it, they’ll d it better
4. It’s the right thing to do

The most important message about Rebecca, in my opinion, is that business can make the difference because they are the most global institution.

Will Pearson (@mental_floss)

Understanding the Millennial influencers

To engage millennial is really important to identify them: they are a resilient generation, adapt faster and a realistic and idealistic generation.

1. They are becoming the most educated generation in American history; their role models are Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, among others. Millennials are investing 4 years before past generations
2. They get along with their parents. They are not a rebellious generation. A recommendation is to share information in a unique way and being playful.
3. Millennial switch attention between devices up to 27 times an hour. Businesses have to be available in every window, any media, and being able to win in every single one of them.
4. Practically every waking minute is spent using a smart phone or device.
5. Millennial describe news as one-sided propaganda, repetitive and boring. You have to be part of a conversation in a smart way. They are optimistic and positive.
6. They’ll get involved in a brand’s activities if it aligns their interest and it gives them a sense of ownership.
7. They not just share opinions online, but are driving the conversation.
8. Engage to brands through social media, but the content, the experience have to be meaningful. You have to engage them differently on each platform.
9. Social media defines them. Give them something to talk about.
10. If they want something, they’ll find a way to pay for it. They will pay for what they like and find attractive.

Not bad, huh? A really interesting thing is that all this play on your favor if you really understand how to communicate and engage them.

Luke Williams (@LukeGWilliams)

Disrupt: Learning form the usually ignored and the not so obvious.

This was probably my favorite conference. It looks like companies are now talking about disruption and creating new markets, but not all businesses have to do it.

Williams gave some tips about how to be disruptive in case you decide it is what you want:

Mixing is really important and human mixing has to happen.

When working on disruptive innovation you have to know that not everyone is going to be happy, especially because most of the time you have no idea where you are going.

Disruption is a mindset and is about unreasonable provocation.

Innovation people accept from beginning is not disruptive.

Create a belief, create tension and visualize!

2 examples of disruptive innovation where presented: Vibram 5 fingers and Virgin Galactic, wow! Click! it’s worth seeing them!

I loved this one so much I even bought the book, I’m reading it, so far so good!!!

Dan Pink

To Sell is human: The new ABC’s of moving others

41% of the time we are selling, we are sellers because we are moving others to do things, and that’s what sellers do.

We are changing from a buyer beware to a seller beware. It used to be buyer beware because of the asymmetry in information, but now is just the other way.

There are 3 qualities for selling:

1. Attunement: Be able to see from other’s perspective
2. Buoyancy: Decontextualize
3. Clarity: Be able to make sense of information

Innovators identify the problems others haven’t.

Opposite to what most of the people think, extroverts are not the best sellers, what Pink calls Ambiverts (between introverts and extroverts) are. This happens because when you are selling taking being empathic is a gain.

When people have their own reasons to agreeing with you they will believe it deeper, so give them those reasons.

And finally, make it personal, put your face and win credibility.

Ankur Jain (@ankurjain2)

Panel – Solving Global Problems through entrepreneurship

Almost at the end of the event, Ankur Jain (in the picture), a young revolutionary took the stage and filled the whole auditorium with his energy and inspiration. His first words were: “Innovation is not thinking out f the box, but thinking in a different box.

Jain is the founder of Kairos Society, a non-profit organization which mission is advancing the world through entrepreneurship and innovation.

He was directing a panel of entrepreneurs under 25 years old. All of them with unique ideas, moved by the passion of doing what they love and what the world needs.

Ankur Jain encouraged the audience to think about undergraduates and young entrepreneurs as an option to develop disruptive innovation. Millennials are hungry of challenges, and the way they think and see the world will definitely make them come up with ideas we cannot imagine.

Inspiring, as always happens with entrepreneurs. What is more inspiring is that they don’t think they are special; they think of themselves just as common people…  How cool is that?

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