Innovating yourlife prof. Robert C.Wolcott Oslo Innovation Week 2010-10-21

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I ti Y LifInnovating Your Life
Applying the art & science of innovation to living a
more inspiring, fulfilling and meaningful life
Prof. Dr. Robert C. Wolcott
Page 1All Rights Reserved, Robert C. Wolcott
Prof. Dr. Robert C. Wolcott
Founder & Executive Director
Kellogg Innovation Network
The Business School of the 21st Century:
www.kinglobal.org

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A quick plug for
my new book…
(… don’t wait for the
i )movie)
Innovation Radar, v2.0
S l ti
PlatformEcosystem
Offering
(What)
Solution
Channel
Customers
(WHO)
Customer
Needs
(Who)
Supply
Chain
(Where)
Value Capture
Customer
Experience
Management
Process
(How)
Communication

3
Offering
Bridge between Strategy & Innovation
Customer
Solution
PlatformEcosystem
Supply Chain
Management
Offering
Channel
Customer Need
Value Capture
ExperienceManagement
Process
Communication
5
What did we learn at business school?
Observation:
The Fad Cycle
Premise:
Apply the insights to living your life.
(Well, some of them.)

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Tension in business and life:
the Present & the Future
Acting before the crisis
Fundamental Tension:
Fortification vs. Exploration
Acting before the crisis:
The Success Trap

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IBM’s near death experience
1984 1992
Fortification versus Exploration
Tension Exists Between Defending the Existing and Dominant Positions…
…and Creating New Growth Through New Directions
Fortification
• The Near Future of the
Current Business
• Extending the Current Set
of Products and
Technologies
Exploration
• The Future Business
• Technological Innovation
and New Services, Beyond
Sustaining
Technologies
• Designed to Preserve
Market Share and Sustain
Profitability
• Designed to Create New
Markets and Generate
Surprising Growth and
Profitability
Sources: James March, 1991; Dr. Michael Clem, J&J, 2005

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So, what should we do?
What the field of innovation suggests for living our lives
1. Always keep the mission in mind.
2. Write down your questions… really. (Enhance serendipity.)
3. Speak multiple ‘languages’… live in multiple worlds.
4. Build non-obvious networks… before you need solutions.
5. Create option paths (dealing with uncertainty).
6. Seek the wisdom in mistakes, and the unexpected.
7. Above all… Know Thyself.
1977
Challenge: Overwhelming Soviet conventional
forces advantage in Europe
Strategy: Leverage technology to offset the
Soviet advantage
Three platforms:
•Smart weapons
•Smart sensors
•Stealth
Stealth
Direction: Get it done in four years.
William J. Perry
Secretary of Defense, 1994 – 1997
Undersecretary of Defense for
Research & Engineering, 1977 - 1981

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A lesson from the armed forces
Mission Focus
Mission ClarityMission Clarity
2. Write down your questions, really.
Alexander Fleming & Penicillin
Chance favors the prepared mind.
Louis Pasteur
Mold & Ancient HistoryMold & Ancient History
WWI: Fleming witnesses horrific
wars deaths from bacterial
infections. He seeks solutions.
1920s: Gratia & Dath publish article
regarding Penicillium’s inhibiting
properties with regard to
properties with regard to
Staphylococcus aureus cultures
Late 1920s: “Discovers” penicillum.
1930s – 1940s: Chain, Florey &
Heatley achieve mass production for
the War Effort

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What questions are you asking?What questions are you asking?
What questions are the people whom
you love asking?
Knowing the questions enhances positive
serendipity. Otherwise, it’s all just luck.
Serendipity: An unsought, unintended or unexpected discovery or
occurrence, made by accident and sagacity.
3. Live in multiple worlds.
People who live in the intersection of social worlds…
are at higher risk of having good ideas.
Ronald Burt, Sociologist
University of Chicago

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4. Build non-obvious networks…
…before you need solutions.
Pleasant Nordic
Countries
Nordic Council
of Ministers
Build your own…
•Objectives
Novosibirsk,
Siberia
A bunch of scientists in
Siberia… literally!
j
•Knowledge domains
•Diversity
•Absorptive Capacity
If you always look in the same places,
you’ll likely find the same answers.
5. Create option paths.
An Axiom: No Uncertainty = No Innovation
We diversify our investments. Why not our lives?
Business Risk
Uncertainty Spend
Rate
Business Risk
Don’t manage the rate of failure,
manage the cost of failure.
Option
Management
Core
Business
Launch
Source: Ian McMillan & Rita Gunter McGrath

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6. Seek wisdom in mistakes… and the
unexpected.
What is the first thing people typically do when they make a
mistake or things don’t go as expected?mistake, or things don t go as expected?
The world’s most famous failed experiment (1887)
Seeking the “Luminiferous Ether”.
Albert Michelson & Edward Morley
If things don’t go as expected, perhaps there is a problem
with your view of the universe.
Thoughts from the Patent Office…
The experiment didn’t fail. The theory did.
7 Above all Know Thyself7. Above all… Know Thyself
Vision or Realization?
Strategy or Execution?
Tigger or Eyore?
Early Stage or Established Player?
Outcome or Process Motivated?

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The List, redux
2. Write down your questions… really. (Enhance serendipity.)
3. Speak multiple ‘languages’… live in multiple worlds.
4. Build non-obvious networks… before you need solutions.
5. Create option paths (dealing with uncertainty).
6. Seek the wisdom in mistakes, and the unexpected.
7. Above all… Know Thyself.
Prepare your MindPrepare your Mind
Of what are you aware?
What are the problems you are trying to solve?
p y y g
(Carry the important ones around with you all the time.)

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Diversify & PrototypeDiversify & Prototype
Change your Context.
Create options in your life.
FORGET about sunk costs.
Ul i lUltimately,
Find True Meaning.

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O C Obj iOur Common Objective
To expand prosperity for the global
community while sustaining the planet.
community while sustaining the planet.
(Proving Malthus wrong, again.)
You have a true mission
Malthus & the end of the world…

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My thanks, and a wish.
Many thanks for your time today.
Particular thanks to the Oslo Innovation Week Team, Movation
and the Nordic Innovation Centre. I truly value the time I spend
with all of you exploring innovation in the Nordic Region.
All blessings for your cumulative quests.
What YOU do will define a large part of our World in
What YOU do will define a large part of our World in
the coming Century.
Use your time well.
Many thanks, again.
Robert C. Wolcott
Kellogg School of Management
ellogg Sc ool o Ma age e t
r-wolcott@kellogg.northwestern.edu
mobile: 847.910.8934

Innovating yourlife prof. Robert C.Wolcott Oslo Innovation Week 2010-10-21

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