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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. |
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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