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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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Last week I got the opportunity to attend Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored Conference in New York City, thanks to a generous grant from the UNC Student Government’s Student Enrichment Fund. There were many aspects of the conference that I had been looking forward to, especially the eccentric lineup of speakers. They came from diverse companies and backgrounds, ranging from massive corporations like Pepsi to smaller start ups like Reddit. Throughout the day I heard many lectures and got to talk to some really interesting people- a few of which I will post about on my Tech Thoughts page. The first person I would like to highlight is Millard Drexler, CEO of J.Crew.
It's ok to be a micro-manager.Granted, being an extreme micro-manager will probably make you a few enemies. Millard Drexler says that he has always been accused of being a micro-manager, but that in the retail world he does not think this is a bad thing. He said that if most companies took a step back and really paid attention to their consumers and how they were interacting with them that we would have better companies around. The current corporate world is very fixated on quarterly sales results which often gives leaders money fueled tunnel vision, causing them to neglect their vision for the brand. The most important thing is when the product touches the consumer.While working on my Innovation Leaders series I have realized that regardless of what industry they work in, most people have learned a thing or two from Steve Jobs. Drexler spoke about how J.Crew strives to create a great interaction between the customer and the product from the moment the two meet. This reminded me of when I was talking with Kimberly Jenkins and she told a story about how Jobs wanted the inside of Apple computers to be designed with the same precision as the outside, although the user would likely never see the inside. It seems that most successful companies have probably focused on similar standards of quality, creating a sound brand. A story that Drexler told that resonated with me had to do with tracking competitors. He said that while leading J.Crew he has often stepped back and asked himself "what can we do better and how are we screwing up?" This question made him realize that J.Crew had a massive flaw in their online ordering system, which was a huge part of their business. He ordered items from all of their competitors and realized that J.Crew's products were often delivered with terrible presentation, forcing his team to reevaluate their shipping process. This was a great story to hear because I feel that oftentimes it is easy for companies to focus on just the product or just the store, neglecting many aspects of the rest of the company. The CEO sets the tone.This was one of my favorite things to hear Drexler talk about because I initially disagreed with him. Yes, the CEO is obviously a vital part of the company, but with the noise of so many employees is it really possible for one person to set the tone? Once I heard what Drexler had to say I started to agree, especially thinking back on some of the readings I have done for this independent study. I had just finished up Steve Jobs and had previously read In the Plex, both of which focused on the ways the CEOs can shape corporations.
Drexler spoke about his first CEO position, which was at Ann Taylor, and how he focused on doing what was right and what made sense. He said that throughout the years and after being CEO at Gap, and now at J.Crew, he has realized that in order to become a better CEO you must make mistakes and must take risks, although many don't want to do this because they want stock options. His talk covered many bases and made continuous references to Apple, which surprised me coming from the CEO of a fashion house. Steve Jobs asked him to join the board of Apple, which Drexler resisted for a year. At the time Drexler was CEO at Gap and was focusing the company on vertical, controlled distribution, something that Jobs wanted to implement at Apple. Drexler joined the Apple board in exchange for Jobs joining the Gap board, and he emphasized that he always felt dumb when leaving an Apple board meeting. I loved hearing Drexler talk about his work with Apple and Jobs because it made me realize that leaders in all industries share similar goals and obstacles. He said that Jobs always thought about whatever he said to people, he just rarely let you know that he was thinking about it. The accomplishments of Steve Jobs have been a recurring theme in my year,which I will expand on later when I post about Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs. I met Kimberly Jenkins a few weeks ago and then subsequently lost my Moleskine that contained all of my notes, making it a bit difficult to write this post. I have recovered my beloved notebook and can now tell you about what an inspiring innovator Kimberly is. She has made a substantial impact on the world of technology in an "intrapreneurial" fashion, and hearing her speak taught me a great deal about alternative ways to approach entrepreneurship.
In order to fully appreciate what Kimberly has done I must back up a bit to the point in her life when she had just moved to Seattle after graduate school due to her love of mountain climbing. She took a job at a small company called Microsoft, and although she hated her job there she realized that "technology is a tool for teaching and learning." This realization made Kimberly reevaluate how she was spending her time in the tech world. Convinced that she could combine her love for education (she received her PhD in Education from Duke) with her appreciation for technology, Jenkins wrote up a business plan to create a higher-education branch at Microsoft. Upon seeing her plan, Steve Balmer simply laughed and shrugged her away, claiming that there was no money in education. Bill Gates did the same, until he realized that Jenkins was ready to resign if she were not given the chance to carry out her plan. Gates granted Jenkins the opportunity, appreciating her chutzpah. At the time Jenkins was 26 and Microsoft was around 300 employees. From this story Kimberly elaborated on significant lessons learned during following 20 years of her career, three of which I will highlight below. (1) Pay attention to the bottom lineJenkins emphasized that it was important for her to pay attention to the bottom line while asking to create the higher-education program at Microsoft. She realized that Bill Gates appreciated working around people who were passionate, and when she said she was resigning from the company if denied this opportunity, his ears perked up. He granted her the money to fly wherever she wanted across the country to work on her project and within a year her education program was 10% of Microsoft. It took off so quickly because Jenkins had recognized a need and was solving it. She had identified a need that people would pay money for, creating a huge influx of revenue in a short period of time. In this sense Jenkins is being an intrapreneur, meaning that she is starting something of her own within an established company. I love this idea because one day I would like to work for a tech company such as Google or Twitter, but hopefully I will be able to create my own niche that aligns with my passions. (2) “I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”After further developing the education branch at Microsoft, Jenkins became a part of NeXT computer with Steve Jobs. I loved hearing her talk about Jobs because I am currently reading his biography by Walter Isaacson (a post on that coming soon) and am genuinely fascinated by many of the first hand stories I hear about him. NeXT went through a phase in which they focused on the higher education market. This company in itself was not very successful, but Kimberly pointed out that it set precedent for a lot of the future Apple products. She talked about many lessons that she learned from Jobs while working for him, a few of which exemplified his peculiarities and a few of which emphasized his extreme attention to detail. His obsession with perfection has been heavily analyzed since his death, and one of my favorite examples of it has to do with the Apple computer. Kimberly spoke a bit about this, detailing how he insisted that the insides of Apple computers where just as aesthetically pleasing as the outsides. I believe there is a lot that can be learned from this simple measure of perfection and that it can be applied to any industry. As I said earlier, I am currently reading Steve Jobs and will have another post up that details more about his particular oddities that I have learned from. During her talk Kimberly mainly focused on Job's resilient nature and unshakable desire to stick to his vision, making him one of the most perseverant entrepreneurs she has worked with. Kimberly said that one of the most important lessons that Jobs taught her was that great innovation happens when you have diversity on your team. She said that he constantly stressed having different backgrounds and experiences so that the team can see needs differently and come up with different solutions. As an entrepreneurial-minded student who is interested in entering the tech field, I think that this is a vital lesson to keep in mind. Although we often cling to those who are like-minded, I hope that I can force myself to absorb the diversity in my future workplace. This is a lesson that I will surely keep in mind while at Google this summer. (3) Hit the ground listeningThe idea of "hitting the ground listening" is something that Kimberly focused on when discussing how to guarantee a successful future. This was one of my key takeaways because I feel that it incapsulates many of the themes I have been studying while absorbing information (through books, videos and speakers) for this independent study. I have learned through my talks with Nation Hahn that it is important to identify an alternative opportunity to grow a market- in his case the need to create a third hub of innovation in the United States. While reading The Opposable Mind and In The Plex, two very different books, I learned similar lessons about taking ideas from a diverse group of people and applying varying leadership qualities to dilemmas. What Kimberly stressed when talking about listening was that in order to be a successful entrepreneur- or intrapreneur- was to be a good listener. She meant this in an obvious way, in that we should listen to what our peers are saying, but also in that we should absorb as much information around us as possible. I believe that this is a skill that I could learn a lot from because often I get fixated on one idea and am unable to fully digest the ideas of those around me. Nixing this tunnel vision approach, as Kimberly recommends, is something that I am going to try to do this summer. It will be much harder than it sounds, but come May 22nd I am going to hit the ground listening.
Up next: Last week I had the pleasure to attend Fast Company's Innovation Uncensored Conference, where I met many influential innovators. I took a load of notes and look forward to continuing my Innovation Leaders series over the next week! Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to meet with Nation Hahn, a UNC '08 graduate and the Director of Engagement at New Kind in Raleigh, North Carolina. As my independent study has evolved I have begun to focus more on innovation in the broader sense- yes, I love to read and write about the future of technological innovation, but I am also interested in innovation from a geographical perspective. Nation and I discussed Raleigh's future as a start-up hub, something that I now have a great deal of faith in. New Kind is built around an interesting concept. Their website explains "some might call us a communications agency, a design studio, even a management consulting or innovation strategy firm." I wouldn't be surprised if in the future more agencies promoted themselves in a similar way, boasting a diverse skill set and working on a broad range of projects simultaneously. One of the primary reasons I became interested in New Kind was after reading about their work with CAM Raleigh, which is the local Contemporary Art Museum. I appreciated the aesthetic of a lot of their CAM collateral: The opening of Raleigh's Contemporary Art Museum is one of the many exciting things happening in the RTP (Research Triangle Park) area. Nation explained that some entrepreneurs are starting to look to settle outside of the typical NYC//Silicon Valley landscape, providing the opportunity for a third start-up hub to sprout in the United States. He explained that Raleigh, Las Vegas and Austin are all viable options, and we discussed how Raleigh's entrepreneurial roots set it apart (thanks to the pharma giants of RTP). The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area has and undeniably strong pool of students, with three acclaimed universities (N.C. State, Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill) within a 30 minute drive. As an added bonus, all three of these universities are currently investing in entrepreneurial programs for their students. I am in the Entrepreneurship minor at UNC, which has given me immense insight into the young company culture and has made me very excited for the future of the RTP area. I am currently enrolled in a scientific entrepreneurial ventures course, in which we have spent a large part of the semester focusing on local pharmaceutical start-ups. In my opinion, the innovation cycle of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area will be discussed in two parts: the first being the wave of pharmaceutical giants that settled in the area in the late nineties. These companies gave the triangle area the legitimacy that was necessary for investors to focus on the area. I believe the second wave of this innovation cycle will be a much younger, more innovative go round. With companies such as Red Hat and ShareFile bringing a tech-oriented start-up culture to Raleigh, more specialized companies such as Ignite Social Media were able to gain traction. As part of my Tech Thoughts blog I am beginning this Innovation Leaders speaker series, in which I will focus on leaders of the second wave of innovation in the RTP area. Up next I will be featuring Kimberly Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President and Provost for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Duke University. She is coming to speak to the UNC Women in Entrepreneurship group on April 3rd. Looking forward to it!
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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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