There was a discussion at the SC Council on Competitiveness Friday that we need to capture the visceral essence of the movement that is afoot - that emotional, top-of-mind thing people are yearning for.
How about you? You are investing time seeking something. You are taking time to read this. What's the visceral essence of what you are after?
Quick, right now while it is fresh on your mind, leave a comment listing the top two or three words that popped into your mind when you read that question.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Suck and Blow versus The Swamp Fox Model of High-Impact Companies
Two Greenville entrepreneurs, Doug Hamer and Brian Higgins, created an extreme product - a gelatin bar drink called Suck & Blow, which is featured as the cover story in the business section of Sunday's Greenville News. They have created a high-impact company to move from "early stages of the rollout... [where they] are currently selling their product in South Carolina, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Nevada ... to distributing shortly in other states and internationally in Canada, Mexico and Asia."
In Swamp Fox Insights, I describe a systematic, risk managed process for commercializing innovations. Does Hamer's and Higgins' experience match the Swamp Fox Model?
Visualize A Significant Opportunity: "Inspiration does not magically appear out of the ether of the universe but comes from very human leaders."
Swamp Fox Insights: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in a Time of Profound Change at Amazon.com
In Swamp Fox Insights, I describe a systematic, risk managed process for commercializing innovations. Does Hamer's and Higgins' experience match the Swamp Fox Model?
Visualize A Significant Opportunity: "Inspiration does not magically appear out of the ether of the universe but comes from very human leaders."
Doug Hamer was spending a July afternoon on Port Royal Sound near Beaufort in 2001 [and] ... having a grand time when he simultaneously spied a woman slurping a Jell-O shooter from a plastic cup and a guy doing the old frat-house rendition of "funneling" a beer from a long plastic tube." I immediately thought it would be really neat to put the two ideas together," Hamer recalled.Assemble Outstanding Leadership: "Serial entrepreneurship is one of the most important elements of a highly innovative culture."
Hamer's first job was delivering the old Greenville Piedmont in his neighborhood near Greenville Country Club when he was 11... He learned from two of Greenville's best-known entrepreneurs Charlie Houser and Leighton Cubbage as an employee of Corporate Telemanagement Group, a long distance company that was sold to LCI International in 1995.Articulate A Compelling Strategy: "Most successful high-growth companies are built not by introducing radical technical innovations but by using existing components and technologies to create products that precisely meet the evolving needs of a new and emerging base of customers. "
First came the experiments with ingredients and the delivery system. They would buy tubing from Lowe's and mix their gelatin cocktail using Kraft's Extreme Jell-O, vodka and water. "We had to experiment to get the texture just exactly right," Hamer said...Execute A Focused Plan:"Commercializing disruptive innovations is inheriently a learning process, and the most successful strategies usually identify incremental milestones, attract resources necessary to achieve those milestones, and then adjust based on what is learned about the developing market."
Locally, Suck & Blow is carried by many of the liquor and party stores and is sold at numerous bars, including Wild Wing Cafe in downtown Greenville. "We like it because it goes along with our party atmosphere," said Josh Pair, a manager at Wild Wing. "Wild Wing has a menu that is based on sharing, and these things fit right in. Plus, they're good sellers. Once you see one go out, it's not long before another 10 go out."
They would make upwards of 250 tubes of the concoction and take it with them on trips to the beach, tailgating parties and the like. After a Fourth of July party in 2003, they decided it was time to go into business. "We had made 500 of them for the party, and people went straight through them," Higgins said. "We figured it was time to start selling them."The acid test of any model is can it be used to accurately predict reality. The experience of Harner and Higgins in commercializing Suck and Blow matches up pretty well with The Swamp Fox Model's description of how successful high-impact companies are actually created.
To make the leap from party curiosities to a marketable product took several steps. First, they would need a way to manufacture the tubes. They would also need a recipe that would be approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Tobacco Trade Bureau, a bottling company and a distribution network.
And there was another crucial component: money. Neither Hamer nor Higgins had much of that, and they made what would prove to be a tough decision. Rather than seek out investors with deep pockets who might want to control their destiny, they financed SAB Enterprises on small investments and loans from friends and family and on their own credit cards. It was a model that has led to sleepless nights, many highs and lows, but it has also kept them firmly in charge.
They took Suck & Blow to the Night Club & Bar Show in Las Vegas in March 2004 and were voted one of the top five booths among 2,000 vendors. "We left that show as high as we could be. We knew we had a hit." Hamer said.
Swamp Fox Insights: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in a Time of Profound Change at Amazon.com
Regionalism and the Southeastern Innovation Corridor
At the end of InnoVenture 2004, one of the venture capitalists attending gave us an "A" for energy, enthusiasm, and collaboration, but a charitable "D" for the quality of the companies seeking venture capital. She said she was looking for "a pipeline of emerging companies with game changing innovations."
To do that we needed to target a region with a critical mass of innovation and talent. For InnoVenture 2005, we defined to target geography as the Southeastern Innovation Corridor - from Birmingham to Research Triangle Park and from Oak Ridge to Charleston. In this region are 2 national labs, 16 research universities, and 23 million people. The critical mass of innovation and talent in this region is competitive on a global basis.
Too often we force economic development into political boundaries that don't match up with our natural business relationships. The politics ought to follow the market, not the other way around.
I was struck recently when I read a invitation from the Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network inviting people to attend a regional meeting.
The Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network is on the right track.
To do that we needed to target a region with a critical mass of innovation and talent. For InnoVenture 2005, we defined to target geography as the Southeastern Innovation Corridor - from Birmingham to Research Triangle Park and from Oak Ridge to Charleston. In this region are 2 national labs, 16 research universities, and 23 million people. The critical mass of innovation and talent in this region is competitive on a global basis.
Too often we force economic development into political boundaries that don't match up with our natural business relationships. The politics ought to follow the market, not the other way around.
I was struck recently when I read a invitation from the Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network inviting people to attend a regional meeting.
There is a very good chance your most profitable prospect may be headquartered in Hickory.
The maverick you need for the new marketing push is based in Matthews.
The winning technology you need to license is in Wilmington.
The strategic partner you need to turbocharge growth is already aggressively attacking your niche from Apex.
But you will never know if you restrict yourself regionally?
The Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network is on the right track.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
InnoVenture recognized by Innovision Awards
Several years ago, Deloitte provided the leadership to create the InnoVision Awards program "promoting technology-based solutions and businesses, highlighting and encouraging innovation, and recognizing those who excel at it." From the beginning, the Innovision Awards has been a first class event, with a strong advisory board of technology leaders in the Upstate.
InnoVenture is extremely pleased that this year we have been named as a finalist in the Community Service Award category.
InnoVenture is extremely pleased that this year we have been named as a finalist in the Community Service Award category.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Enlightened Leadership
Many vicissitudes are creating turbulence in our society.
We are making progress in improving education, but the rest of the world is accelerating so fast that that the gap between where we are and where we need to be to remain globally competitive is growing.
Parts of our economy are being dislocated as the global winds blow, and individuals' lives are being impacted in painful ways. Some South Carolina manufacturers can not figure out how to be profitable with South Carolina workers, but the Chinese are building research and development facilities in Camden.
Among the devastation wrought by Katrina is the ripping open of the wound of race in this country.
Brad Warthen, the Editorial Page Editor of The State, and I had an email discussion about education and agreed that we need enlightened leadership to guide us through the vicissitudes of education. It's also true for economic, and racial and other vicissitudes we face.
The challenge of our society is to find that enlightened leadership, and then to rally around and support them. In the highly polarized world we live in, that is a very tall order.
We are making progress in improving education, but the rest of the world is accelerating so fast that that the gap between where we are and where we need to be to remain globally competitive is growing.
Parts of our economy are being dislocated as the global winds blow, and individuals' lives are being impacted in painful ways. Some South Carolina manufacturers can not figure out how to be profitable with South Carolina workers, but the Chinese are building research and development facilities in Camden.
Among the devastation wrought by Katrina is the ripping open of the wound of race in this country.
Brad Warthen, the Editorial Page Editor of The State, and I had an email discussion about education and agreed that we need enlightened leadership to guide us through the vicissitudes of education. It's also true for economic, and racial and other vicissitudes we face.
The challenge of our society is to find that enlightened leadership, and then to rally around and support them. In the highly polarized world we live in, that is a very tall order.
Vicissitudes: Education
"SAT scores show state should stay the course"
This is the headline of a Sunday editorial by Inez Tenenbaum in the Greenville News making the point that SAT scores have improved significantly in recent years. If gauged by a measure she believes is more accurate, the National Assessment of Educational Progress:
But we are facing down the barrel of a long-term crisis greater than 9-11 or Katrina. We are at risk of losing our competitive advantage globally. We need a Manhattan Project or a Man To the Moon commitment to radically overhaul our system of education, and we need it today.
Unfortunately this crisis is not occurring in the midst of a world war or the launching of Sputnik. It is a slow burn. Will we react before it is too late?
This is the headline of a Sunday editorial by Inez Tenenbaum in the Greenville News making the point that SAT scores have improved significantly in recent years. If gauged by a measure she believes is more accurate, the National Assessment of Educational Progress:
South Carolina has made a tremendous investment in high standards and accountability, in financial and human terms. Our system is respected around the nation as one of the toughest and most rigorous. Most important of all, it is working -- by virtually any standard and virtually any measure.In another article titled "America must produce more new engineers" that appeared in the Courier Post Online last Sunday, Frank Radcioppi observes:
According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are now more graduates of fast-food management universities than there are engineers in the United States... A study of math and science skills by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that U.S. students ranked 24th out of the 29 countries evaluated. More disturbing is that 38 percent of all engineers with doctorates in the United States are immigrants.Incremental improvements in the way we educate are children are fine and good. It's better than going the other direction.
But we are facing down the barrel of a long-term crisis greater than 9-11 or Katrina. We are at risk of losing our competitive advantage globally. We need a Manhattan Project or a Man To the Moon commitment to radically overhaul our system of education, and we need it today.
Unfortunately this crisis is not occurring in the midst of a world war or the launching of Sputnik. It is a slow burn. Will we react before it is too late?
Vicissitudes: Economy
A headline in The State screams "Foreign competition [is] taking jobs from S.C."
But is it not South Carolina workers who are solely to blame. The Charlotte Observer notes that of all people, "China-based Haier adds workers, goes for bigger U.S. profits."
Some South Carolina manufacturers can not figure out how to be profitable with South Carolina workers, but Chinese manufacturers can. Is that a wake up call or what?
Federal data analyzed by The State newspaper [shows] more than 53,000 South Carolina workers at 423 sites lost their jobs since 1994 because:Recognizing that a lack of productivity is at the heart of the problem, Linda Floyd, a program coordinator with the S.C. Employment Security Commission, said
• The employers moved their jobs to countries where people work for less money.
• Cheaper imports cut the demand for the goods made in South Carolina.
It is hard to motivate middle-age people to go back to school. They’re often intimidated by the idea of college, especially after spending 20 years in a factory... You’re 42-years-old and you’ve got about 20 more years in the work force. How do you want to spend it? Being a cashier at Wal-Mart is fine if that’s what you want to do for the next 20 years.Lewis Gossett, president of the S.C. Manufacturers Alliance (and perhaps the organization that wanted this in the paper), says "By and large, the quality of the jobs being lost is not being replaced."
But is it not South Carolina workers who are solely to blame. The Charlotte Observer notes that of all people, "China-based Haier adds workers, goes for bigger U.S. profits."
As the Carolinas have mourned the loss of traditional manufacturing jobs to China, Haier represented the flip side when it opened a $40 million, 350,000-square-foot Camden plant with 27 workers in 2000. It now employs 225 in this city about 110 miles south of Charlotte.So here we are. South Carolina manufacturers are bemoaning the fact that "foreign competition [is] taking jobs from S.C." while the Chinese are adding jobs and investing in research and development in Camden.
Over the next six months, the company plans to set up the research and design center on its 110 acres on a former hay field. Haier will service its U.S.-made refrigerators and send ideas about American tastes back to China for the development of other products.
Some South Carolina manufacturers can not figure out how to be profitable with South Carolina workers, but Chinese manufacturers can. Is that a wake up call or what?
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Vicissitudes: Race
Among other devastation, Katrina has ripped open the very deep fault line of race in this country. It's difficult to build communities of innovation or anything else when we have such different prisms through which we interpret the world around us.
Some see racism in the response to Katrina
Rev. Al Sharpton - "If we were not dealing with black people and poor people, we would not be dealing with this snail's pace reaction."
U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), (Congressional Black Caucus member) - "People see class, and they also see race. [The conditions in New Orleans] just tended to dramatize the plight of a segment of the population that has been left out and behind."
Jessie Jackson - "Today, as the President comes to Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi for his ceremonial trip to look at the victims of the devastation, he would do well to have a plan more significant than a ceremonial tour... His whole response is unacceptable. How can blacks be locked out of the leadership (of the relief), and trapped in the suffering? It is that lack of sensitivity and compassion that represents a kind of incompetence."
Kanye West (black rapper) - "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food... They've given them permission to go down and shoot us... George Bush doesn't care about black people."
David Billings (of the People's Institute, a 25-year-old New Orleans organization focused on ending racism) - "I do think the nation would be responding differently if they were white elderly and white babies actually dying on the street."
Yvette Brown (African-American evacuee from New Orleans) - "You want to know why all those black people are stuck down there dying? If they were white, they'd be gone. They'd be sending in an army of helicopters, jets and boats."
But others see it differently
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio - "The issue is not about race right now. There will be another time to have issues about color."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - "That Americans would somehow, in a color-affected way, decide who to help and who not to help—I just don't believe it... [I will tour the devastated area on Sunday] "for a president who cares deeply about what is going on in the Gulf region but can't be everywhere... I think everybody's very emotional. It's hard to watch pictures of any American going through this. And yes, the African-American community has obviously been very heavily affected."
Edith Thibodeaux (African-American evacuee from New Orleans) - "I don't think it was racist. They were just trying to save the area for the tourists. It's about how much money they can make in this city. They don't care about us."
Some see racism in the response to Katrina
Rev. Al Sharpton - "If we were not dealing with black people and poor people, we would not be dealing with this snail's pace reaction."
U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), (Congressional Black Caucus member) - "People see class, and they also see race. [The conditions in New Orleans] just tended to dramatize the plight of a segment of the population that has been left out and behind."
Jessie Jackson - "Today, as the President comes to Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi for his ceremonial trip to look at the victims of the devastation, he would do well to have a plan more significant than a ceremonial tour... His whole response is unacceptable. How can blacks be locked out of the leadership (of the relief), and trapped in the suffering? It is that lack of sensitivity and compassion that represents a kind of incompetence."
Kanye West (black rapper) - "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food... They've given them permission to go down and shoot us... George Bush doesn't care about black people."
David Billings (of the People's Institute, a 25-year-old New Orleans organization focused on ending racism) - "I do think the nation would be responding differently if they were white elderly and white babies actually dying on the street."
Yvette Brown (African-American evacuee from New Orleans) - "You want to know why all those black people are stuck down there dying? If they were white, they'd be gone. They'd be sending in an army of helicopters, jets and boats."
But others see it differently
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio - "The issue is not about race right now. There will be another time to have issues about color."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - "That Americans would somehow, in a color-affected way, decide who to help and who not to help—I just don't believe it... [I will tour the devastated area on Sunday] "for a president who cares deeply about what is going on in the Gulf region but can't be everywhere... I think everybody's very emotional. It's hard to watch pictures of any American going through this. And yes, the African-American community has obviously been very heavily affected."
Edith Thibodeaux (African-American evacuee from New Orleans) - "I don't think it was racist. They were just trying to save the area for the tourists. It's about how much money they can make in this city. They don't care about us."
Friday, August 26, 2005
To everything there is a season, a time to plant ...
Several years ago, the Clemson International Center for Automotive Research was founded on the idea that a partnership between industry and academia could be created that attracted world-class talent to both industry and the university. This pool of talent would attract a cluster of other related knowledge-based enterprises.
Initially, BMW and Michelin partnered with Clemson in ICAR. Professor Tom Kurfess has been named to the BMW Chair in Automotive Manufacturing and will serve as director of the Carroll A. Campbell Graduate Engineering Center, heading the Clemson-ICAR graduate program in automotive engineering.
This theory that attracting a preeminent scholar would attract other knowledge assets has now passed the test. Recently The Timken Company announced that it will locate research and development facilities at ICAR and bring up to 110 jobs to the S.C. Upstate over the next two years.
Timken has a long time relationship with Dr. Kurfess. Timken at ICAR "will allow Kurfess to continue a long-time research relationship with the company. He came to Clemson from Georgia Tech, where he worked closely with the Timken research and development team in Norcross, Ga., and in Canton, Ohio."
A lot of people have asked if ICAR would really work—if we could in fact build knowledge based cluster here. Timken's announcement demonstrates that in fact ICAR is working as planned.
Initially, BMW and Michelin partnered with Clemson in ICAR. Professor Tom Kurfess has been named to the BMW Chair in Automotive Manufacturing and will serve as director of the Carroll A. Campbell Graduate Engineering Center, heading the Clemson-ICAR graduate program in automotive engineering.
This theory that attracting a preeminent scholar would attract other knowledge assets has now passed the test. Recently The Timken Company announced that it will locate research and development facilities at ICAR and bring up to 110 jobs to the S.C. Upstate over the next two years.
Timken has a long time relationship with Dr. Kurfess. Timken at ICAR "will allow Kurfess to continue a long-time research relationship with the company. He came to Clemson from Georgia Tech, where he worked closely with the Timken research and development team in Norcross, Ga., and in Canton, Ohio."
A lot of people have asked if ICAR would really work—if we could in fact build knowledge based cluster here. Timken's announcement demonstrates that in fact ICAR is working as planned.
And a time to pluck up that which is planted.
Liberty Corporation, a major company headquartered in Greenville, has been sold to Raycom and the headquarters will be consolidated in Alabama.
Corporate headquarters locations are crucial to a local community, and the loss of one as significant as Liberty hurts. There is a direct loss of high wage jobs related to the headquarters itself, and well as an indirect impact of local vendors that supported it, from attorneys and printers. There is also the loss of the community involvement by these folks, from their contributions to the United Way to their board membership in community organizations.
Liberty was founded and led by the Hipp Family. In addition to being outstanding business leaders, over the years members of the Hipp family have been tremendous community leaders and benefactors in the Greenville community. Here are just two recent examples of the civic contributions of the current CEO of Liberty Corporation, Hayne Hipp, and his wife, Anna Kate.
In recent years, there has been an incredible revitalization of downtown Greenville, which has become one of the coolest downtowns in America. Greenville is one of the only metropolitan areas with a water fall downtown, Reedy River Falls. To showcase the falls, Hayne and Anna Kate gave funds to build the Liberty Bridge, a pedestrian bridge which dramatically envelops the falls. While a lot of great momentum is building in Greenville, some of it will take decades to be fully realized and the Liberty Bridge has become a tangible symbol of the progress the community is making that people can appreciate today.
A couple of years ago, Hayne also create the Liberty Fellowship, designed to "to promote outstanding leadership in South Carolina, empowering the state and its future leaders to realize their full potential." Modeled on the Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellowship, each class of twenty Liberty Fellows attend four intense seminars over two years "to explore the values that sustain them; cultivate respect for both the ideas and beliefs of others; and become significant contributors to our state, and to society at large." Hayne was so encouraged by the success of the first class that he accelerated the selection of the second class.
To everything there is a season, with companies being bought and companies being sold. The community needs to appreciate the crucial impact that headquarters locations have, and we need to redouble out efforts to create high-impact companies that can become the major corporate headquarters locations here in the future. It’s vital to our economic health as a community.
Corporate headquarters locations are crucial to a local community, and the loss of one as significant as Liberty hurts. There is a direct loss of high wage jobs related to the headquarters itself, and well as an indirect impact of local vendors that supported it, from attorneys and printers. There is also the loss of the community involvement by these folks, from their contributions to the United Way to their board membership in community organizations.
Liberty was founded and led by the Hipp Family. In addition to being outstanding business leaders, over the years members of the Hipp family have been tremendous community leaders and benefactors in the Greenville community. Here are just two recent examples of the civic contributions of the current CEO of Liberty Corporation, Hayne Hipp, and his wife, Anna Kate.
In recent years, there has been an incredible revitalization of downtown Greenville, which has become one of the coolest downtowns in America. Greenville is one of the only metropolitan areas with a water fall downtown, Reedy River Falls. To showcase the falls, Hayne and Anna Kate gave funds to build the Liberty Bridge, a pedestrian bridge which dramatically envelops the falls. While a lot of great momentum is building in Greenville, some of it will take decades to be fully realized and the Liberty Bridge has become a tangible symbol of the progress the community is making that people can appreciate today.
A couple of years ago, Hayne also create the Liberty Fellowship, designed to "to promote outstanding leadership in South Carolina, empowering the state and its future leaders to realize their full potential." Modeled on the Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellowship, each class of twenty Liberty Fellows attend four intense seminars over two years "to explore the values that sustain them; cultivate respect for both the ideas and beliefs of others; and become significant contributors to our state, and to society at large." Hayne was so encouraged by the success of the first class that he accelerated the selection of the second class.
To everything there is a season, with companies being bought and companies being sold. The community needs to appreciate the crucial impact that headquarters locations have, and we need to redouble out efforts to create high-impact companies that can become the major corporate headquarters locations here in the future. It’s vital to our economic health as a community.
Inez and the culture of innovation in education
First, before someone responds about this being overly political or an an attack on public education, take a deep breath ... it's neither. It's about how important it is to create a culture of innovation in education.
Brad Warthen, editorialist for The State, keeps a blog which I enjoy reading. We've had a conversation back and forth about a recent entry, "Inez shocker!", about her tenure as Secretary of Education in South Carolina.
Inez said she would not run for a third term, but would remain involved in "changing the culture of education in South Carolina, so people not only respect it but revere it."
To which I answered, "If Inez would focus her efforts on improving the culture inside public education so that it becomes a much more innovative system that develops creative solutions to meet the needs of children not well served today, then she would be doing a real service to the state."
Brad responded, "Mrs. Tenenbaum DID and CONTINUES to "focus her efforts on improving the culture inside public education so that it becomes a much more innovative system that develops creative solutions to meet the needs of children not well served today." That's why the public schools have improved steadily under her tenure, according to most objective measurements." Then Brad goes on, "And she's done it with grace in the face of constant partisan pettiness and outright malicious lies that have deliberately undermined public confidence in the fine job that teachers, administrators, students and parents have done in moving public education forward in South Carolina."
Sigh deeply. This unfortunately is the way this debate usually goes about how to improve public education goes. Our kids lose when little progress is made on reaching a consensus about fundamental changes necesary to improve the system of delivering education in the state.
Inez deserves credit for making the most of the existing system of delivering education. Test scores have improved in recent years as a result, and that is a very good thing. But she did very little to help create a culture of innovation inside public education, in fact she strongly resisted change along with the rest of the education establishment.
There is a wide spectrum of ways in which students think and learn. And there is a wide spectrum of circumstances from which children come. For some percentage of children, the way we deliver public education today matches up well with how they learn and the support they receive at home. Most of these children do well, and some even excel. But a very large percentage of children are not served well by the current system, and they are failing. The price we all pay for this is very high.
We need to find a way to give the best and brightest entrepreneurial teachers a way of creating now models for delivering education to students not well served today. Charter schools are a weak form of this, innovation lite. Some of the most innovative models may look very different from the way we deliver education today, and would never see the light of day if they had to take root inside or be approved by the existing system. This is not because anyone in education is bad, necessarily, if it just the way large organizations work. There is powerful momentum inside large organizations, be they companies or governments, to maintain the status quo and resist change. Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen wrote a very insightful book describing this, called The Innovator’s Dilemma. I also address this in my book, Swamp Fox Insights.
We can continue to make incremental improvements in education continuing on the path we are on. But we can’t make quantum leaps in improving education unless we create a system that allows entrepreneurial educators tp bring new ideas to underserved students. That’s going to take a strong political leader, like a Dick Riley, who can lead us to a much better place in education than we are today.
Brad Warthen, editorialist for The State, keeps a blog which I enjoy reading. We've had a conversation back and forth about a recent entry, "Inez shocker!", about her tenure as Secretary of Education in South Carolina.
Inez said she would not run for a third term, but would remain involved in "changing the culture of education in South Carolina, so people not only respect it but revere it."
To which I answered, "If Inez would focus her efforts on improving the culture inside public education so that it becomes a much more innovative system that develops creative solutions to meet the needs of children not well served today, then she would be doing a real service to the state."
Brad responded, "Mrs. Tenenbaum DID and CONTINUES to "focus her efforts on improving the culture inside public education so that it becomes a much more innovative system that develops creative solutions to meet the needs of children not well served today." That's why the public schools have improved steadily under her tenure, according to most objective measurements." Then Brad goes on, "And she's done it with grace in the face of constant partisan pettiness and outright malicious lies that have deliberately undermined public confidence in the fine job that teachers, administrators, students and parents have done in moving public education forward in South Carolina."
Sigh deeply. This unfortunately is the way this debate usually goes about how to improve public education goes. Our kids lose when little progress is made on reaching a consensus about fundamental changes necesary to improve the system of delivering education in the state.
Inez deserves credit for making the most of the existing system of delivering education. Test scores have improved in recent years as a result, and that is a very good thing. But she did very little to help create a culture of innovation inside public education, in fact she strongly resisted change along with the rest of the education establishment.
There is a wide spectrum of ways in which students think and learn. And there is a wide spectrum of circumstances from which children come. For some percentage of children, the way we deliver public education today matches up well with how they learn and the support they receive at home. Most of these children do well, and some even excel. But a very large percentage of children are not served well by the current system, and they are failing. The price we all pay for this is very high.
We need to find a way to give the best and brightest entrepreneurial teachers a way of creating now models for delivering education to students not well served today. Charter schools are a weak form of this, innovation lite. Some of the most innovative models may look very different from the way we deliver education today, and would never see the light of day if they had to take root inside or be approved by the existing system. This is not because anyone in education is bad, necessarily, if it just the way large organizations work. There is powerful momentum inside large organizations, be they companies or governments, to maintain the status quo and resist change. Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen wrote a very insightful book describing this, called The Innovator’s Dilemma. I also address this in my book, Swamp Fox Insights.
We can continue to make incremental improvements in education continuing on the path we are on. But we can’t make quantum leaps in improving education unless we create a system that allows entrepreneurial educators tp bring new ideas to underserved students. That’s going to take a strong political leader, like a Dick Riley, who can lead us to a much better place in education than we are today.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Something is stirring: we're at an inflection point
In the late 1990s, I began to sense that South Carolina was at an inflection point - needing to do different if we were going to continue to be globally competitive. The economic development model of branch manufacturing was running out of stream.
In 2000, I traveled across the state to talk with leaders about the need for a more innovative economy. I talked with Governor Hodges and ex-Governors, with CEOs, university leaders, economic developers, and newspaper editors.
Something was stirring. Shortly thereafter, Jim Barker called a meeting and asked if Clemson were in Greenville how our relationship would be different. George Fletcher continued the conversation, and ultimately the Clemson International Center for Automotive Research was born. Sam Tenenbaum was an early advocate of endowed research chairs, and Governor Hodges sent a small group of people, including me, to Austin to study their model. The SC Centers of Economic Excellence Act occurred shortly thereafter. Darla Moore, who had given tens of millions to the USC Moore Business School, created the Palmetto Institute to begin creating a strategic plan for the state. They engaged Michael Porter, whose advice to develop industry clusters has become orthodoxy. I began Swamp Fox and a series of conferences leading to InnoVenture which were grassroots efforts to build relationships among innovators and entrepreneurs.
We've seen some early experiments go away. The Upstate Coalition for Entrepreneurial Development recently declared victory in seeding several entrepreneurial activities and went out of business. A few other initiatives across the state, like the Supply Chain Coalition, have more quietly faded away.
But boom! Over the past four years, there has been a blooming of innovation in the state.
The early initiatives that gained traction are building momentum. SC BIO, the SC Centers of Excellence Review Board, and the USC Columbia Technology Incubator all report business is booming. The USC research campus is becoming a reality. The SC Health Sciences Initiative has built a coalition among USC, MUSC, Greenville Hospital and Palmetto Health Care. The SC Next Energy Initiative has been barnstorming the state. And InnoVenture has gained traction with major constituents who have gained a sense of ownership in the process.
Now something else is stirring. We’ve reached another inflection point. People across the state and across these initiatives are asking a similar question: how do we convert this activity into wealth creation in South Carolina. The Greenville Chamber is going on an intercity visit to Austin, TX, which in the late 1980s they had a supernova explosion – Dell Computer. When a company in your area creates several billion dollars in market value, and sprinkles some of that back into the local community into the next generation of companies, into the United Way and other community organizations, it alters the landscape of the community forever.
So how do we do that? Seed our Dell Computer that creates enormous wealth here. That is becoming a major focus here as we move forward.
In 2000, I traveled across the state to talk with leaders about the need for a more innovative economy. I talked with Governor Hodges and ex-Governors, with CEOs, university leaders, economic developers, and newspaper editors.
Something was stirring. Shortly thereafter, Jim Barker called a meeting and asked if Clemson were in Greenville how our relationship would be different. George Fletcher continued the conversation, and ultimately the Clemson International Center for Automotive Research was born. Sam Tenenbaum was an early advocate of endowed research chairs, and Governor Hodges sent a small group of people, including me, to Austin to study their model. The SC Centers of Economic Excellence Act occurred shortly thereafter. Darla Moore, who had given tens of millions to the USC Moore Business School, created the Palmetto Institute to begin creating a strategic plan for the state. They engaged Michael Porter, whose advice to develop industry clusters has become orthodoxy. I began Swamp Fox and a series of conferences leading to InnoVenture which were grassroots efforts to build relationships among innovators and entrepreneurs.
We've seen some early experiments go away. The Upstate Coalition for Entrepreneurial Development recently declared victory in seeding several entrepreneurial activities and went out of business. A few other initiatives across the state, like the Supply Chain Coalition, have more quietly faded away.
But boom! Over the past four years, there has been a blooming of innovation in the state.
The early initiatives that gained traction are building momentum. SC BIO, the SC Centers of Excellence Review Board, and the USC Columbia Technology Incubator all report business is booming. The USC research campus is becoming a reality. The SC Health Sciences Initiative has built a coalition among USC, MUSC, Greenville Hospital and Palmetto Health Care. The SC Next Energy Initiative has been barnstorming the state. And InnoVenture has gained traction with major constituents who have gained a sense of ownership in the process.
Now something else is stirring. We’ve reached another inflection point. People across the state and across these initiatives are asking a similar question: how do we convert this activity into wealth creation in South Carolina. The Greenville Chamber is going on an intercity visit to Austin, TX, which in the late 1980s they had a supernova explosion – Dell Computer. When a company in your area creates several billion dollars in market value, and sprinkles some of that back into the local community into the next generation of companies, into the United Way and other community organizations, it alters the landscape of the community forever.
So how do we do that? Seed our Dell Computer that creates enormous wealth here. That is becoming a major focus here as we move forward.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
InnoVenture's top-of-mind-position: Growth and Wealth Creation
Geoffrey A. Moore in Crossing the Chasm states that in marketing "there is one fundamental key to success: ...to create a space inside the customer's head called 'best buy for this type of situation' and to attain sole, undisputed occupancy of that space."
Clayton Christensen in The Innovator's Solution observes, "companies that target their products at the circumstances in which customers find themselves, rather than the customers themselves, are those that can launch predictably successful products. Put another way, the crucial unit of analysis is the circumstance and not the customer." He goes on, "A jobs-to-be-done lens can help innovators come to market with an initial product that is much closer to what customers will discover that they value. The way to get as close as possible to this target is to develop hypotheses by carefully observing what people seem to be trying to achieve for themselves," but are finding difficult, expensive, or inconvenient to do.
Hmmmm. So apply that to InnoVenture. Our target market is "innovators and entrepreneurs." What are they trying to achieve for themselves, that they are finding difficult, expensive or inconvenient to do.
Some innovators inside big organizations are trying to commercialize discontinuous innovations. Why would Michelin put any focus on the Tweel, when it is easier in the short term to sell more radial tires?
Entrepreneurs leading high-impact companies are also trying to gain traction commercializing discontinuous innovations. Certainly it would be much easier to have a real job with a stable salary and benefits. Why do entrepreneurs do it?
Innovators and entrepreneurs are driven to create growth and wealth. Michelin can make money on radial tires today, but the company can not meet its growth objectives with mature products. Entrepreneurs can't get rich working for someone else.
Innovators and entrepreneurs find their quest for growth and wealth creation really, really hard, so they begin to look for relationships, expertise, and resources that can help them. That is a job they that they will look to InnoVenture to do for them.
Clayton Christensen in The Innovator's Solution observes, "companies that target their products at the circumstances in which customers find themselves, rather than the customers themselves, are those that can launch predictably successful products. Put another way, the crucial unit of analysis is the circumstance and not the customer." He goes on, "A jobs-to-be-done lens can help innovators come to market with an initial product that is much closer to what customers will discover that they value. The way to get as close as possible to this target is to develop hypotheses by carefully observing what people seem to be trying to achieve for themselves," but are finding difficult, expensive, or inconvenient to do.
Hmmmm. So apply that to InnoVenture. Our target market is "innovators and entrepreneurs." What are they trying to achieve for themselves, that they are finding difficult, expensive or inconvenient to do.
Some innovators inside big organizations are trying to commercialize discontinuous innovations. Why would Michelin put any focus on the Tweel, when it is easier in the short term to sell more radial tires?
Entrepreneurs leading high-impact companies are also trying to gain traction commercializing discontinuous innovations. Certainly it would be much easier to have a real job with a stable salary and benefits. Why do entrepreneurs do it?
Innovators and entrepreneurs are driven to create growth and wealth. Michelin can make money on radial tires today, but the company can not meet its growth objectives with mature products. Entrepreneurs can't get rich working for someone else.
Innovators and entrepreneurs find their quest for growth and wealth creation really, really hard, so they begin to look for relationships, expertise, and resources that can help them. That is a job they that they will look to InnoVenture to do for them.
Friday, August 12, 2005
My book's on Amazon.com!
Swamp Fox Insights: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in a Time of Profound Change is now available at Amazon.com.
I've long respected the power of Amazon, but now I've realized the true impact in a personal way.
BookSurge in Charleston prints copies of the book on demand as orders are placed, so no huge investment in inventory is necessary. People anywhere in the world are a market for the book. A friend that lives life between New York and Japan bought the first copy online.
The fact that almost no one knows the book exists is another problem, but the distribution channel is in place. I've sold three books so far. Give me a call, and I'll buy lunch with the royalties :)
This isn't a path to riches, but it is still very awesome.
I've long respected the power of Amazon, but now I've realized the true impact in a personal way.
BookSurge in Charleston prints copies of the book on demand as orders are placed, so no huge investment in inventory is necessary. People anywhere in the world are a market for the book. A friend that lives life between New York and Japan bought the first copy online.
The fact that almost no one knows the book exists is another problem, but the distribution channel is in place. I've sold three books so far. Give me a call, and I'll buy lunch with the royalties :)
This isn't a path to riches, but it is still very awesome.
The explosive potential of broadband
The Greenville Chamber held a meeting Friday to discuss "Economic Development Issues Related To Broadband Communications."
The conversation began around the infrastructure that was in place - the amount, kind, and speed of broadband access that we had in the region. We realized that we had a strong broadband infrastructure, probably more than was generally understood and definitely more than was promoted.
The conversation turned to how broadband was being used to outsource work to India. One participant related how his wife, a solo architect, sought out draftsmen online that could convert her concepts into plans, so she could focus on the higher value added activity of bringing her clients' ideas to life in exciting architectural designs.
A Google search found draftsmen she could work with in Easley, SC and Bangalore, India. She contacted the draftsmen in Easley, who said she could submit her drawings online and could get something back in about a week. The Indian firm had several degreed engineers and said that she could submit her concepts in the evening and have drawings in her email in the morning. The Easley draftsmen don’t realize that the world has changed and the competition is not down the street but around the world. And we never even got to cost. In Thomas Friedman’s new vernacular, the folks in Easley don’t realize that The World is Flat.
Then the conversations turned again to the fact that the world is flat – in both directions. Broadband has opened up India as a market for us as much as us a market for them. Bits flow as easily from us to them as from them to us.
We need to explore the opportunities of this. We are at the beginning of a period where new, powerful business models are being created that leverage the powerful new communications technologies - eBay, and Amazon, and Dell Computer. Someone in the chamber discussion talked about his translation business which he runs from Greenville serving customers around the world. We challenged ourselves to begin to think about the opportunities that broadband creates to do business in expanded markets around the world.
The most encouraging part of the meeting is that when I left a small group of people had already gathered and were already starting to talk about what the next steps should be. Take an inventory of the broadband assets we have. Work this into the promotional materials for Greenville. Organize a forum to discuss the opportunities that exist …
This is what I really love about Greenville.
The conversation began around the infrastructure that was in place - the amount, kind, and speed of broadband access that we had in the region. We realized that we had a strong broadband infrastructure, probably more than was generally understood and definitely more than was promoted.
The conversation turned to how broadband was being used to outsource work to India. One participant related how his wife, a solo architect, sought out draftsmen online that could convert her concepts into plans, so she could focus on the higher value added activity of bringing her clients' ideas to life in exciting architectural designs.
A Google search found draftsmen she could work with in Easley, SC and Bangalore, India. She contacted the draftsmen in Easley, who said she could submit her drawings online and could get something back in about a week. The Indian firm had several degreed engineers and said that she could submit her concepts in the evening and have drawings in her email in the morning. The Easley draftsmen don’t realize that the world has changed and the competition is not down the street but around the world. And we never even got to cost. In Thomas Friedman’s new vernacular, the folks in Easley don’t realize that The World is Flat.
Then the conversations turned again to the fact that the world is flat – in both directions. Broadband has opened up India as a market for us as much as us a market for them. Bits flow as easily from us to them as from them to us.
We need to explore the opportunities of this. We are at the beginning of a period where new, powerful business models are being created that leverage the powerful new communications technologies - eBay, and Amazon, and Dell Computer. Someone in the chamber discussion talked about his translation business which he runs from Greenville serving customers around the world. We challenged ourselves to begin to think about the opportunities that broadband creates to do business in expanded markets around the world.
The most encouraging part of the meeting is that when I left a small group of people had already gathered and were already starting to talk about what the next steps should be. Take an inventory of the broadband assets we have. Work this into the promotional materials for Greenville. Organize a forum to discuss the opportunities that exist …
This is what I really love about Greenville.
All of this is self-serving, John
It's great to have friends that respect you enough to give you feedback on how the world perceives your work, both the good and the bad.
I stopped by to visit with a marketing guru friend to discuss business opportunities around Swamp Fox, InnoVenture and related activities of mine. The most recent iteration of my journey started in 2000, when I realized that knowledge professionals in our region did not know one another. Swamp Fox: News of the Southeastern Innovation Corridor is a weekly email update to create awareness of innovations in the region. InnoVenture is an annual conference, along with forums throughout the year, to build relationships among knowledge professionals in companies, universities, tech colleges, high-impact companies, and support organizations. The Swamp Fox/InnoVenture database now has 6000 innovators and entrepreneurs.
My friend said I had a lot of fans across the state, especially for my persistence and tenacity over the years. That’s flattering. Some, though, get tired of the message, she said. After four years it is a challenge to keep the message fresh, as all preachers know. “Other people,” she said “think all of this is self-serving, John.”
The first meeting that led up to where we are was held in early 2001. I began that meeting, and I have included in many other meetings, a favorite Adam Smith quote, "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."
We all participate in community activities out of our enlightened self-interest. If we will all get our self-interest out on the table, if you understand why I am here and I understand why you are here, then we can find the common ground where we can work together. Public goods will be created, but they are a byproduct of us working together in our enlightened, self-interest. If we pretend that we are all here only for the broader public good, then we just cloud the real reasons we're here and make it harder for us to work together effectively.
So to the charge, “All of this is self-serving, John,” I plead guilty. I’ve never been shy about explaining to anyone that asked what I expect to get out of this. In fact, I have been meeting with people across the state exploring ways to turn all this activity into a business and make money. You should be guilty of acting in your enlightened self-interest too. Please let me know what that is, because it will help us figure out how we can work together to make our community a better place.
I stopped by to visit with a marketing guru friend to discuss business opportunities around Swamp Fox, InnoVenture and related activities of mine. The most recent iteration of my journey started in 2000, when I realized that knowledge professionals in our region did not know one another. Swamp Fox: News of the Southeastern Innovation Corridor is a weekly email update to create awareness of innovations in the region. InnoVenture is an annual conference, along with forums throughout the year, to build relationships among knowledge professionals in companies, universities, tech colleges, high-impact companies, and support organizations. The Swamp Fox/InnoVenture database now has 6000 innovators and entrepreneurs.
My friend said I had a lot of fans across the state, especially for my persistence and tenacity over the years. That’s flattering. Some, though, get tired of the message, she said. After four years it is a challenge to keep the message fresh, as all preachers know. “Other people,” she said “think all of this is self-serving, John.”
The first meeting that led up to where we are was held in early 2001. I began that meeting, and I have included in many other meetings, a favorite Adam Smith quote, "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."
We all participate in community activities out of our enlightened self-interest. If we will all get our self-interest out on the table, if you understand why I am here and I understand why you are here, then we can find the common ground where we can work together. Public goods will be created, but they are a byproduct of us working together in our enlightened, self-interest. If we pretend that we are all here only for the broader public good, then we just cloud the real reasons we're here and make it harder for us to work together effectively.
So to the charge, “All of this is self-serving, John,” I plead guilty. I’ve never been shy about explaining to anyone that asked what I expect to get out of this. In fact, I have been meeting with people across the state exploring ways to turn all this activity into a business and make money. You should be guilty of acting in your enlightened self-interest too. Please let me know what that is, because it will help us figure out how we can work together to make our community a better place.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Two hydrogen studies? Why none in advanced materials?
Are we playing together well?
Well not in trying to develop strength in what is supposed to be the hydrogen economy. There are two, independent research studies being completed of hydrogen opportunities.
Hydrogen is a big opportunity and we need to address it, especially given that we have the Savannah River National Lab, the NSF Center in Fuel Cells at USC, and the PEM Research Center at Clemson.
But let's not get carried away. Community leaders have recently said, "Most people would agree that hydrogen fuel cells/hydrogen energy represents the greatest opportunity to transform Columbia and S.C.'s economy."
Well, but ... we don’t know what the next fuel will be in coming decades, or how long the shift from hydrocarbons will take. South Carolina has hydrogen research assets, but we are also woefully behind in areas of commercialization that count, so even if hydrogen does win, we do not know if South Carolina can be more than a marginal player.
In the mean time, Michael Porter's recommendation's are that we ought to look first to the industry clusters where we have strength. There is more overlap in industry and academic research in South Carolina today in advanced materials, from the Clemson Advanced Materials Research Lab and the USC NanoCenter to the Michelin Americas Research Corporation and the Milliken Research Corporation, than there is in anything else.
Where isn’t there a study on advanced materials, including advanced textiles? Why don’t we have a major textile OEM stepping up and partnering to create the International Center for Textile Research to compliment the International Center for Automotive Research?
What industry clusters do you think we ought to develop a cluster around? What's in your enlightened self-interest. Leave your comment below.
Well not in trying to develop strength in what is supposed to be the hydrogen economy. There are two, independent research studies being completed of hydrogen opportunities.
Hydrogen is a big opportunity and we need to address it, especially given that we have the Savannah River National Lab, the NSF Center in Fuel Cells at USC, and the PEM Research Center at Clemson.
But let's not get carried away. Community leaders have recently said, "Most people would agree that hydrogen fuel cells/hydrogen energy represents the greatest opportunity to transform Columbia and S.C.'s economy."
Well, but ... we don’t know what the next fuel will be in coming decades, or how long the shift from hydrocarbons will take. South Carolina has hydrogen research assets, but we are also woefully behind in areas of commercialization that count, so even if hydrogen does win, we do not know if South Carolina can be more than a marginal player.
In the mean time, Michael Porter's recommendation's are that we ought to look first to the industry clusters where we have strength. There is more overlap in industry and academic research in South Carolina today in advanced materials, from the Clemson Advanced Materials Research Lab and the USC NanoCenter to the Michelin Americas Research Corporation and the Milliken Research Corporation, than there is in anything else.
Where isn’t there a study on advanced materials, including advanced textiles? Why don’t we have a major textile OEM stepping up and partnering to create the International Center for Textile Research to compliment the International Center for Automotive Research?
What industry clusters do you think we ought to develop a cluster around? What's in your enlightened self-interest. Leave your comment below.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Are we playing together well in South Carolina? What do you think?
All the rage in South Carolina is better collaboration. To make progress we need to get over the historical issues that keep us apart. The Lowcountry, the Midlands, the Pee Dee and the Upstate need to get along better. Clemson and USC need to keep their fighting to athletics. Blacks and whites need to work together better. Women need real opportunities at leadership.
Some days I’m excited that we're doing better than we ever have. We had an outstanding InnoVenture planning meeting a week ago.
Then I get slapped by the parochialism that has always held us back. The Greenville News reports that Cliff Rosen has sued BMW over Clemson ICAR. The State reports that some business leaders are getting frustrated with the Governor because they don’t think he works well with the legislature.
I’d really like to know what you think. Leave a comment below.
Are we really playing together well in South Carolina, or are we just giving it lip service?
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
What is important to us, until in an instant it is clear that it isn't.
A few weeks ago, I got a call out of the blue from my mother’s minister that she had become disoriented and confused at Vacation Bible School. Life came to a halt for a few days as we tried to figure out what to do. She's better now and has sold her house in Charleston and is moving to her home town of Anderson to be closer to relatives who can help take care of her. But it has been a challenge I had not anticipated and it hasn't been easy, for me or my mother.
A couple of friends recently have faced similar challenges in their lives.
I was in a planning meeting with a friend, who made an excellent presentation of a very significant part of the project. He had thrown a lot of his passion into his ideas, and it showed. No sooner had he finished than he received a cell phone call. The panicked look in his eyes said something was seriously wrong. "I gotta go! I gotta go! My wife has had a bike accident" It turned out that his wife had fallen off her bike crossing a train track and was knocked unconscious. Fortunately someone was there to call 911. She seems to be OK now, except for a few stitches and some bruises, but it was very scary.
Another friend missed the same meeting. I got a note afterward from him. He said, "I lost my assistant to a family emergency last week unexpectedly and that was the straw that broke the camel's back regarding my attendance at the meeting. I'm having to spend every spare hour (that I'm not in the office) helping with my Mom who is rehabilitating in a facility here in town. We hope to have her back home in less than two weeks. That continuous struggle combined with the lack of support from my assistant forced me to work in the office. I hate I missed the meeting." I responded, "I understand about your mom. I've been there. At the end of the day, that's what's important." He replied, "You're right. That is what it’s all about but it is draining the energy from me. I am so pumped about where things are with my work and where they are heading but sometimes the whole "parenting my parents" routine just saps the very life from me. Anyway, I'm learning to juggle it a little better every day." Aren’t we all … learning to juggle it a little better every day. None of us is in nearly the control of our lives that we like to believe. throw our passion into big ideas for the future. That work is important to our businesses and to our communities. It seems to be at the very core of who we are and what is important to us, until in an instant it is clear that it isn’t.
A couple of friends recently have faced similar challenges in their lives.
I was in a planning meeting with a friend, who made an excellent presentation of a very significant part of the project. He had thrown a lot of his passion into his ideas, and it showed. No sooner had he finished than he received a cell phone call. The panicked look in his eyes said something was seriously wrong. "I gotta go! I gotta go! My wife has had a bike accident" It turned out that his wife had fallen off her bike crossing a train track and was knocked unconscious. Fortunately someone was there to call 911. She seems to be OK now, except for a few stitches and some bruises, but it was very scary.
Another friend missed the same meeting. I got a note afterward from him. He said, "I lost my assistant to a family emergency last week unexpectedly and that was the straw that broke the camel's back regarding my attendance at the meeting. I'm having to spend every spare hour (that I'm not in the office) helping with my Mom who is rehabilitating in a facility here in town. We hope to have her back home in less than two weeks. That continuous struggle combined with the lack of support from my assistant forced me to work in the office. I hate I missed the meeting." I responded, "I understand about your mom. I've been there. At the end of the day, that's what's important." He replied, "You're right. That is what it’s all about but it is draining the energy from me. I am so pumped about where things are with my work and where they are heading but sometimes the whole "parenting my parents" routine just saps the very life from me. Anyway, I'm learning to juggle it a little better every day." Aren’t we all … learning to juggle it a little better every day. None of us is in nearly the control of our lives that we like to believe. throw our passion into big ideas for the future. That work is important to our businesses and to our communities. It seems to be at the very core of who we are and what is important to us, until in an instant it is clear that it isn’t.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
I love it when a plan comes together
If your getting old like me, you remember a cheesy TV show called The A Team about a whacky military unit anchored by Mr. T. Each week the A Team saved the world, but not before narrowly escaping from several exploding buildings and rolling vehicles. At the end of each show the commander would exclaim, "I love it when a plan comes together!"
We had a planning retreat for InnoVenture 2006 Friday and Saturday, July 29th and 30th. The InnoVenture Conference in April 2005 was a huge success. We had 25 major companies, universities, and national labs with displays of their innovations looking for ways to collaborate with one another. We had 15 emerging companies presenting to venture capitalists, looking to raise money. Collectively these were synergistic communities of innovation.
The first sign that InnoVenture 2005 was a success was that almost every organization that participated left understanding why they were there. The second sign of success was that major organizations have stepped up in a meaning way to plan InnoVenture 2006.
At the planning meeting this weekend, the Michelin Americas Research Corporation, the Savannah River National Lab, Nexsen Pruet, the McNair Law Firm, the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, Midlands Technical College, the SC Department of Commerce, the SC Chamber of Commerce, Innegrity, eBridge, SDI Networks, The Technology Resource of the Southeast, Patrick Marketing, the Brand Development Company, Engenuity, the SC Research Authority, the SC Technology Alliance, the SC Council on Competitiveness, the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, Sam Lee and me all participated in the presentations and the discussions.
I am impressed with the sense of ownership the group has in InnoVenture. I made a conscious effort this weekend to step back to allow the group to carry the weight of the planning and the discussion, and the group responded.
I love it when a plan comes together!
We had a planning retreat for InnoVenture 2006 Friday and Saturday, July 29th and 30th. The InnoVenture Conference in April 2005 was a huge success. We had 25 major companies, universities, and national labs with displays of their innovations looking for ways to collaborate with one another. We had 15 emerging companies presenting to venture capitalists, looking to raise money. Collectively these were synergistic communities of innovation.
The first sign that InnoVenture 2005 was a success was that almost every organization that participated left understanding why they were there. The second sign of success was that major organizations have stepped up in a meaning way to plan InnoVenture 2006.
At the planning meeting this weekend, the Michelin Americas Research Corporation, the Savannah River National Lab, Nexsen Pruet, the McNair Law Firm, the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, Midlands Technical College, the SC Department of Commerce, the SC Chamber of Commerce, Innegrity, eBridge, SDI Networks, The Technology Resource of the Southeast, Patrick Marketing, the Brand Development Company, Engenuity, the SC Research Authority, the SC Technology Alliance, the SC Council on Competitiveness, the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, Sam Lee and me all participated in the presentations and the discussions.
I am impressed with the sense of ownership the group has in InnoVenture. I made a conscious effort this weekend to step back to allow the group to carry the weight of the planning and the discussion, and the group responded.
I love it when a plan comes together!
Monday, July 18, 2005
Greenville News Op/Ed: Industry partnerships enhance research institutions
By John Warner
Originally published by Greenville News
Recently Gov. Mark Sanford observed that research universities in the state should be focused more on education than economic development. As the father of two teenagers preparing for college, it is easy for me to agree with one of those common-sense observations we have grown to appreciate Gov. Sanford for making.
Do close partnerships between a research university and industry diminish the educational mission of the university or do they enhance it? And can closer alignment result in a more efficient use of the resources in our community, which is another major priority of the governor?
Clemson University was created in 1883 by the will of Thomas Green Clemson, when our community was devastated and impoverished by the War Between the States. The primary industry at the time was agriculture. Mr. Clemson understood that education and economic development are inherently tied together, with the road to higher per capita income in his time being the increased productivity of agriculture. So the university's economic development mission was ensconced in its founding charter.
Clemson's will states that, "My purpose is to establish ... a high seminary of learning in which the graduate (can finish the course of studies) ... in those sciences and arts which bear directly upon agriculture. I trust that I do not exaggerate the importance of such an institution for developing the material resources of the State by affording to its youth the advantages of scientific culture."
Fast forward to today. Are there proven models where the research university is an engine of the economy? In 2001, I visited George Kozmetsky, architect of the Austin economic development model.
In the late 1970s, Austin was devastated by the decline of its oil-based economy. Dr. Kozmetsky sought areas where industry in his region, like Texas Instruments and IBM, needed world-class talent. There, the University of Texas created endowed chairs to recruit pre-eminent scholars, who attracted top students, who graduated and went to work for industry in the region.
The beauty of this model is that neither the university nor industry is focused outside its core mission -- the university stays focused on research and education, and industry on the commercialization of intellectual property. Fusing academic/industry partnerships together around the common need for best-in-the-world talent has helped Austin become one of the country's most successful knowledge-based economies.
At the core of the Clemson International Center for Automotive Research is the Campbell Graduate Engineering Center, where pre-eminent scholars will attract the brightest students in areas strategic to BMW, Michelin and other automotive suppliers. Within a few hundred feet is the BMW IT Research Center, focused on systems integration in automobiles, which is key to maintaining BMW's global competitiveness. BMW did not have to be convinced to do research, they only had to be convinced to do research here, and top graduate education at Clemson was the magnet to do that. So when Clemson's top automotive engineers graduate, some will go to work for BMW without even having to find a new parking space.
This model is replicable. In the S.C. Health Sciences Collaborative, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina will attract and train top students in areas strategic to their industry partners, Greenville Hospital and Palmetto Health.
Several years ago, I described this strategy to a state representative who questioned, "Yea but, how does this impact ordinary people?" Well, the Michelin America's Research and Development Corporation (MARC) is a 1,000 person corporate R&D facility at the Donaldson Center. Forty percent of MARC employees have a bachelor's degree or better, which means that over half of the people at the MARC have a technical college education.
So a major corporate R&D facility does create large numbers of technically skilled jobs. On top of that, the MARC helps keep the Michelin production facilities in the area more globally competitive, where the percentage of technically skilled employees can be up to 90 percent of the workforce.
While graduate engineering schools and corporate R&D facilities need doctorate-level scientists at the top to lead them, and while they increase the community's per capita income by creating large numbers of bachelor level or better jobs, they also create large numbers of technically skilled jobs and help retain the ones that are here. Thomas Clemson understood this in 1883, George Kozmetski demonstrated it in Austin by 1983, and we can see it at work in Greenville today.
The governor is right that staying focused is a key to success for any organization, whether in academia or industry, and that we have limited resources which we must use more productively. The industry/academic partnerships being created in our community allow each partner to remain focused on its core mission in a way that increases our community's ability to attract and retain some of the smartest people on the planet and enhances the overall productivity of our economy. These partnerships will help move us toward our goal of having one of the most successful economies in the country.
Originally published by Greenville News
Recently Gov. Mark Sanford observed that research universities in the state should be focused more on education than economic development. As the father of two teenagers preparing for college, it is easy for me to agree with one of those common-sense observations we have grown to appreciate Gov. Sanford for making.
Do close partnerships between a research university and industry diminish the educational mission of the university or do they enhance it? And can closer alignment result in a more efficient use of the resources in our community, which is another major priority of the governor?
Clemson University was created in 1883 by the will of Thomas Green Clemson, when our community was devastated and impoverished by the War Between the States. The primary industry at the time was agriculture. Mr. Clemson understood that education and economic development are inherently tied together, with the road to higher per capita income in his time being the increased productivity of agriculture. So the university's economic development mission was ensconced in its founding charter.
Clemson's will states that, "My purpose is to establish ... a high seminary of learning in which the graduate (can finish the course of studies) ... in those sciences and arts which bear directly upon agriculture. I trust that I do not exaggerate the importance of such an institution for developing the material resources of the State by affording to its youth the advantages of scientific culture."
Fast forward to today. Are there proven models where the research university is an engine of the economy? In 2001, I visited George Kozmetsky, architect of the Austin economic development model.
In the late 1970s, Austin was devastated by the decline of its oil-based economy. Dr. Kozmetsky sought areas where industry in his region, like Texas Instruments and IBM, needed world-class talent. There, the University of Texas created endowed chairs to recruit pre-eminent scholars, who attracted top students, who graduated and went to work for industry in the region.
The beauty of this model is that neither the university nor industry is focused outside its core mission -- the university stays focused on research and education, and industry on the commercialization of intellectual property. Fusing academic/industry partnerships together around the common need for best-in-the-world talent has helped Austin become one of the country's most successful knowledge-based economies.
At the core of the Clemson International Center for Automotive Research is the Campbell Graduate Engineering Center, where pre-eminent scholars will attract the brightest students in areas strategic to BMW, Michelin and other automotive suppliers. Within a few hundred feet is the BMW IT Research Center, focused on systems integration in automobiles, which is key to maintaining BMW's global competitiveness. BMW did not have to be convinced to do research, they only had to be convinced to do research here, and top graduate education at Clemson was the magnet to do that. So when Clemson's top automotive engineers graduate, some will go to work for BMW without even having to find a new parking space.
This model is replicable. In the S.C. Health Sciences Collaborative, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina will attract and train top students in areas strategic to their industry partners, Greenville Hospital and Palmetto Health.
Several years ago, I described this strategy to a state representative who questioned, "Yea but, how does this impact ordinary people?" Well, the Michelin America's Research and Development Corporation (MARC) is a 1,000 person corporate R&D facility at the Donaldson Center. Forty percent of MARC employees have a bachelor's degree or better, which means that over half of the people at the MARC have a technical college education.
So a major corporate R&D facility does create large numbers of technically skilled jobs. On top of that, the MARC helps keep the Michelin production facilities in the area more globally competitive, where the percentage of technically skilled employees can be up to 90 percent of the workforce.
While graduate engineering schools and corporate R&D facilities need doctorate-level scientists at the top to lead them, and while they increase the community's per capita income by creating large numbers of bachelor level or better jobs, they also create large numbers of technically skilled jobs and help retain the ones that are here. Thomas Clemson understood this in 1883, George Kozmetski demonstrated it in Austin by 1983, and we can see it at work in Greenville today.
The governor is right that staying focused is a key to success for any organization, whether in academia or industry, and that we have limited resources which we must use more productively. The industry/academic partnerships being created in our community allow each partner to remain focused on its core mission in a way that increases our community's ability to attract and retain some of the smartest people on the planet and enhances the overall productivity of our economy. These partnerships will help move us toward our goal of having one of the most successful economies in the country.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
New and Improved Swamp Fox
Recently I launched the enhanced Swamp Fox: News of the Southeastern Innovation Corridor. I created Swamp Fox in 2000 as an online archive of innovation announcements and a weekly email update that highlights the work of southeastern innovators and entrepreneurs. Today Swamp Fox has grown to over 6,000 subscribers.
This is the first major revision to the site, making it much more useful. You’ll see new features such as the ability to submit an article directly online and an events calendar. You can search the press release archive either by organization or by key word in order to use Swamp Fox in your market research. Take the time to explore the site, and you will find other useful features.
For several months, Adam Gautsch and Evan Tishuk of OrangeCoat have put many hours into developing this enhanced site. I am very grateful for their efforts, and hope you like the new site.
If you like what you see, do us the favor of referring Swamp Fox to a colleague. Referrals are by far the most effective way of spreading the word about Swamp Fox.
I’d love feedback on the new site, and your thoughts about how we can improve it further. Thanks for your interest in Swamp Fox.
John Warner
P.S. A maven is “someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field.” In the future, Maven Sponsors will author this blog as a unique way to reach a broad base of innovators and entrepreneurs. If you would like to explore being a Maven Sponsor of Swamp Fox, please contact me.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
InnoVenture Forum - Entrepreneurs to the Rescue
The first InnoVenture Forum was held today featuring life sciences at the University of South Carolina. The Forums are a significant enhancement that will allow InnoVenture to highlight specific partners at locations all around in the Southeastern Innovation Corridor.
As with anything new, there are start-up challenges. We planned a live meeting that would be recorded with an archive posted on the InnoVenture website for viewing later.
We thought we had the recording taken care of but a few days before the event we found out the system we were depending on to record the audio would not be available. So at the last minute I called Phil Yanov, President of ThinkHammer Communications, to bail me out. People that can be counted on to get the job done are valuable. And sure enough, Phil loaned me a portable digital recorded that did a great job.
Several others made the Forum a success. We gave Rob Yarmey, Chief Technology Officer of Multimedia Design Corporation, files from the event that weren't perfect for him but you wouldn't know it from the archive he created for us. Tony Smith at the SC Department of Commerce made sure we had a great facility. Chip Hood at Needles and Rosenberg sprang for lunch. Brenda Laakso of InnoVenture made sure we had the details in order. And Lisa Rooney and her staff, as well as the USC researchers who presented, did a great job of helping uncover exciting opportunities at USC.
That is what I love about InnoVenture. We all realize that it is in our mutual self-interest for our community to be successful. I love being surrounded by great people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and make great things happen.
As with anything new, there are start-up challenges. We planned a live meeting that would be recorded with an archive posted on the InnoVenture website for viewing later.
We thought we had the recording taken care of but a few days before the event we found out the system we were depending on to record the audio would not be available. So at the last minute I called Phil Yanov, President of ThinkHammer Communications, to bail me out. People that can be counted on to get the job done are valuable. And sure enough, Phil loaned me a portable digital recorded that did a great job.
Several others made the Forum a success. We gave Rob Yarmey, Chief Technology Officer of Multimedia Design Corporation, files from the event that weren't perfect for him but you wouldn't know it from the archive he created for us. Tony Smith at the SC Department of Commerce made sure we had a great facility. Chip Hood at Needles and Rosenberg sprang for lunch. Brenda Laakso of InnoVenture made sure we had the details in order. And Lisa Rooney and her staff, as well as the USC researchers who presented, did a great job of helping uncover exciting opportunities at USC.
That is what I love about InnoVenture. We all realize that it is in our mutual self-interest for our community to be successful. I love being surrounded by great people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and make great things happen.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
It can be easier to give than receive - advice that is
For several weeks, I have been thinking though what the next step in my career is. I have had a diverse and interesting journey. I started in public accounting with KPMG; founded a venture capital firm, Capital Insights; an innovation conference, InnoVenture; and an online newsletter, Swamp Fox: News of the Knowledge Economy. I've been involved with companies making electronic connectors and capacitors, and with companies delivering HR services and wireless phone services. I was Chairman of Earth Fare, the southeast's largest organic grocery store chain from 2000 to 2005. I frequently write op/ed pieces, and am publishing a book this summer.
While to others it sometimes seems I’ve been all over the board, I don’t perceive it that way. My sense is that I have leveraged a common skill set in a variety of organizations. My challenge is clearly articulating for others what that skill set is, identifying the situation where I am the go to person, and then focusing my search for a new opportunity where I can best leverage my assets and experiences. It sounds so easy.
I went to visit a good friend, Brenda Laakso, Executive Director of InnoVenture. I opened the fire hose of what I had done and wanted to do, and she gave me great advice: be focused. This is the advice that I freely give to others, often critically because they find it so hard. But like all entrepreneurs, I find it very difficult to apply to myself.
Being focused is critical to developing a top-of-the-mind position and being a "best buy in a given situation." Every successful entrepreneur must do this. Saying you are going to focus on doing one thing, means you are not going to do other things. It is difficult, and scary, to limit your options. With limited resources, intellectually you know the best chance for success is to mass your resources on a select target. But then your emotions roar, "What if you pick wrong?" This is the age old entrepreneurial dilemma.
I have begun working with Larry Stuenkel, of Lawrence and Allen, on a consulting basis to think through what I want to do. His advice: be focused. I know, I know.
I am a student of Geoffrey Moore, who in Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers observed that the lack of focus by many entrepreneurial leaders is not a problem of the head, but of the emotions.
First, let us understand that this is a failure of will, not of understanding. That is, it is not that these leaders need to learn about niche marketing. MBA marketing curricula of the past 25 years have been adamant about the need to segment markets and the advantages gained thereby. No one, therefore, can or does plead ignorance. Instead, the claim is made that, although niche strategy is generally best, we do not have time—or we cannot afford—to implement it now. This is a ruse, of course, the true answer being much simpler: We do not have, nor are we willing to adopt, any discipline that would ever require us to stop pursuing any sale at any time for any reason. We are, in other words, not a market-driven company; we are a sales-driven company.
I hear Brenda, Larry and Geoffrey. But focusing is still really hard, and a little scary. Derrell Hunter, a wise mentor, used to tell me all the time, "If it were easy, anyone could do it."
Friday, July 08, 2005
Nothing is sweeter than your children succeeding
In the midst of all the busyness of work and other stuff that we spend time on, our children grow up and blossom. We all need to stop and smell the roses.
My son had an Eagle Scout Court of Honor tonight. When he joined scouting several years ago, we sat down and laid out a plan for what he needed to do to get here. Not that he would have gotten here on his own. It took lots of coaxing and prodding. The times I told him to "do it because I said so" and "you'll get to screw up someone else's life in the future, but now is my turn," I heard myself sounding like my mother.
There were camp outs and summer camps and an Order of the Arrow ordeal. The back packing trips and canoe trips were fun, but tiring. Now that he's an Eagle Scout, I appreciate it more than he does. I'm an Eagle Scout too, and this is one of those things in life that you savor more as time goes by. As I stood there while he got his award, my mind drifted back to the great scoutmaster and persistent mom I had who wouldn't let me quit either. Frequently the topic of scouting comes up in conversations, and more often than you might expect I run into other Eagle Scouts. It's an instant fraternity when that happens. My son will experience this over time.
My daughter will be a senior and starts in center field for the Riverside High School softball team, where she has since the eight grade. She is an All-State player this year. When she was little we would spend hours in the front yard playing catch. She was good, and I'd hum the ball at her harder than her mom was comfortable with. Recently we were playing catch in the front yard and I threw it hard at her. She caught it, stared me down, and told me not to dare think I could throw harder than her now. Don't tell her, but my sore hand says she's probably right.
Last year, I was sitting on the visitor's bleachers to avoid the glare of the sun. A runner was on third with one out. The ball was hit to center field. My daughter lined up under the ball, with her momentum going to home when she caught it like she'd been taught. The runner tagged up, and my daughter threw a strike to home to get the runner at the plate. The opposing parents exploded ... at the third base coach. "That's 'E' in center field. What was he thinking sending her home? That's 'E' in center field." Wow! That's respect, and my highlight of her softball career.
Nothing is sweeter than being there when your children succeed. Nothing.
My son had an Eagle Scout Court of Honor tonight. When he joined scouting several years ago, we sat down and laid out a plan for what he needed to do to get here. Not that he would have gotten here on his own. It took lots of coaxing and prodding. The times I told him to "do it because I said so" and "you'll get to screw up someone else's life in the future, but now is my turn," I heard myself sounding like my mother.
There were camp outs and summer camps and an Order of the Arrow ordeal. The back packing trips and canoe trips were fun, but tiring. Now that he's an Eagle Scout, I appreciate it more than he does. I'm an Eagle Scout too, and this is one of those things in life that you savor more as time goes by. As I stood there while he got his award, my mind drifted back to the great scoutmaster and persistent mom I had who wouldn't let me quit either. Frequently the topic of scouting comes up in conversations, and more often than you might expect I run into other Eagle Scouts. It's an instant fraternity when that happens. My son will experience this over time.
My daughter will be a senior and starts in center field for the Riverside High School softball team, where she has since the eight grade. She is an All-State player this year. When she was little we would spend hours in the front yard playing catch. She was good, and I'd hum the ball at her harder than her mom was comfortable with. Recently we were playing catch in the front yard and I threw it hard at her. She caught it, stared me down, and told me not to dare think I could throw harder than her now. Don't tell her, but my sore hand says she's probably right.
Last year, I was sitting on the visitor's bleachers to avoid the glare of the sun. A runner was on third with one out. The ball was hit to center field. My daughter lined up under the ball, with her momentum going to home when she caught it like she'd been taught. The runner tagged up, and my daughter threw a strike to home to get the runner at the plate. The opposing parents exploded ... at the third base coach. "That's 'E' in center field. What was he thinking sending her home? That's 'E' in center field." Wow! That's respect, and my highlight of her softball career.
Nothing is sweeter than being there when your children succeed. Nothing.
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