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![]() Another talk that I thought was particularly insightful at Innovation Uncensored was when Ajaz Ahmed and Stefan Olander discussed their book Velocity: The Seven New Laws for a World Gone Digital. I chose to combine them on this post because their talk stemmed from the book and they fed off of each other really well. Aside from the book they are both very successful professionals- Ajaz Ahmed started the digital agency AKQA, which is one of my favorite agencies and somewhere that I would love to eventually work. Stefan Olander was previously the head of advertising at Nike and is now the Vice President of Digital Sport. The two started their discussion by making the bold statement that "the most powerful force in the world isn't technology, it is imagination." This claim got me very interested in what else they would have to say. Throughout the talk they gave many different tidbits of knowledge that stemmed from their work at AKQA and Nike, and surprisingly the two companies had a lot in common as far as leadership and company goals. ![]() Ajaz Ahmed, founder of AKQA, gave an intro about how he started his company and what he kept in mind while doing so. Although the agency is now 1200 people, he has managed to keep it a product focused company by acting like a tech start up at each stage of growth. Like many successful entrepreneurs, Ajaz got unique opportunities at a young age which gave him insight into the business world. When he was 17 he got the chance to work for Apple, giving him entrepreneurial knowledge that stayed with him throughout his life. He learned to be inspired by the future and to value the power of digital media, both of which sparked the inspiration to start AKQA. By keeping his firm constantly evolving and growing, Ahmed has the ability to produce innovative solutions and grow a diverse brand. His collaboration with Olander is interesting to me because although they are both in the digital realm they deal with very different subject matter. Olander, the VP of Digital Sport at Nike, had a lot of interesting talking points that made me appreciate the flexibility that some corporations give their employees. For example, Olander discussed how anyone can go to Nike's CEO, Mark Parker, and explain their idea. In many companies there is an embedded hierarchy that seems to deter growth, but Olander said that he went to Knight and explained that he thought they should make a wristband that helps people keep track of their athletic growth and inspires them to do more. At most companies you would have to create a presentation and be prepared with ROI statistics, but at Nike he said Parker looked at the mock-up for about three seconds and then said to go for it. If I am ever a CEO I hope that I can lead my company in this manner, similar to how Gate's lead Microsoft when Kimberly Jenkins pitched her idea for the education branch. ![]() Olander structured his talk around the process of creating the Nike Fuel band, a recent addition to Nike's product offerings. I am intrigued by his job as VP of Digital Sport because he essentially monitors how consumers are interacting with their electronics and then applies it to the world of sports. Working for a big corporation such as Nike would make this fun because he likely has a large budget to conduct research and create product mock-ups. “We take our passion from people, what are people doing, what are athletes doing? Everyone has a phone in their hand, what does that mean? What does it mean that sensors are cheaper than ever? What does that mean? And from that they start a new branch called digital sport” -OlanderWhen discussing the creation of the digital sport branch at Nike, Olander brought up many interesting points about the state of the technology industry. In particular, he said that Nike noticed that materials to make such devices were now more affordable and that athletes had the apparent need for a simple tracking device (to ditch the cumbersome hardware of cell phones, etc while working out). Although I am no athlete, I enjoyed hearing Olander's perspectives because he had a passion for what he was doing. He and Ahmed have both spent time monitoring digital trends, giving them great insight into the future of our device dependability. They both focused on the necessity for passion- that one must love what they do in order to rise to the top of their industry. This has been a recurring theme in my Innovation Leaders series and something that I definitely believe in. Olander applied this to the Nike Fuel Band, explaining that "what you put in front of people you have to love. If you aren't willing to work long hours to get there you will never succeed." I think that that quote essentially wraps up what draws me to emerging technologies- I feel that they have so much potential and that the people who create them are usually very passion-driven. I definitely plan on reading Velocity: The Seven New Laws for a World Gone Digital this summer!
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Started restructuring this site on 12/24/2011 by adding this page. It will mainly consist of technology ramble and things that you probably won't read.
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