The Wrap #18 | Short month, big ideas.
The Wrap #18 | Short month, big ideas.
A shot of thinking fuel, brought to you each month by Futurestate Design Co.
Ideas, innovations and trends: three things that businesses often don’t spend enough time exploring in any meaningful depth.
Does yours? Do you really look beyond BAU? Is there impetus for building something new?
This month’s selection of articles makes the case for careful consideration of three key things: how to lead a team into a creative mindset; the importance of enlisting ideas from across a company (not just its board members); and exploring ideas beyond the business.
Enjoy the future before it’s too late. Dun dun duunn.
The way of Dao
What’s going on?
Blockchain is an area of increasing (and at times perplexing) possibility in the unquestionably digital world we all now live in. Crypto, NFTs: it all pivots on the idea of decentralisation.
The latest term to get to know is ‘dao’. It stands for ‘decentralised autonomous organisation’ and is basically a collective that pools funds to achieve a goal. Or, as is quoted in this New Yorker longread, they are ‘digital flashmobs with money’.
Powered by a cryptocurrency, or tokens, the more you own the bigger the share in the organisation’s voting rights you have. Allegedly, they promise to extend decision-making across a wider range of people, and not just a board of corporate elites. Vive la revolution!
Why it matters
Before we lose our heads in the hype, this isn’t really anything new. It’s the possibilities these organisations (that’s all they really are) are opening up for the digital economy that’s of note. Daos could replace anything from tech VCs to execs in the music industry or Hollywood — or perhaps long-established parts of the very industry you work in. That’s what’s making us take notice.
Because, for all the hair-brained purchase ideas coming out of daos (memorabilia, a golf course, an NBA team), there is the odd glimpse of promise.
What could this seemingly more democratic approach to business achieve? The possibilities these digital ‘parishes’ could unleash are unlimited.
Perhaps, if enough people wanted it, they could finally fix the leak in the church roof.
Read on at The New Yorker (£)
Connected to the future
What’s going on?
Cristiano Amon, the President and CEO of Qualcomm, takes us through the supply-chain issues that have tainted his first year as CEO; why chips are so integral to society; and how to stay ahead as a legacy brand.
Why it matters
It’s a brilliant example of C-suite comms done well.
Not only does Amon talk through the company’s impressive technologies in an accessible way, but he’s fairly frank and detailed on Qualcomm’s strategy. Since his recent appointment as CEO he’s stuck to the original direction, with the plan only to, as he puts it, ‘go bigger, faster… and quickly invest in the technologies that we need to execute in this vision.’
Of course you can only do that if the vision is clear in the first place and you get there by investing energy into envisioning your futurestate. By being attuned to key trends ahead of time, the company is able to define their priority investments. Imagine that.
Read the original on The Verge
A nifty way to drive innovation
What’s going on?
Car manufacturer Renault’s internal innovation platform encourages their staff to not only upvote creative ideas, but also volunteer to help make them happen.
Why it matters
Another good lesson for the class: how to embed success into an operational model.
All-too-often managers are risk-averse, and will back the safer ideas that percolate in their offices – favouring not getting something wrong over breaking new (riskier) ground. By encouraging participation in truly creative ideas, Renault are super-charging their future growth. After all, the ideas that will future-proof a business can’t be found in traditional places: look for the sparks of insight and invention beyond BAU and you’ll find the good stuff.
And, of course, it’s a brilliant way to get internal champions for ideas. Not only are Renault giving team members the agency to follow ideas that inspire them, adding further purpose to the workday, but they’re also overcoming the false friend of peer-approval. Because it’s great to be confronted with a good idea, but that idea will have no value at all when there’s no one there to get it off the ground.
Read the original on Harvard Business Review