A discussion of how an intense focus on a topic or geography can provide a path to media innovation, intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship

1. HARD HEADS, SOFT HANDS:
LEADER AS ENTREPRENEUR
• Bill Mitchell, Poynter affiliate
• Leadership Academy October 2015
• Bmitch (at) gmail dot com
• 727-641-9407

2. •Innovation
•Intrapreneurship
•Entrepreneurship

3. RODNEY ON HIS JOB AS
CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER :
• “I’m the guy people come to when
they have an idea and they don’t
know how to do it.
• “Usually, my first response is, ‘I don’t
know. Let’s figure it out.”

9. • “News organizations today are
experiencing a continuing crisis of value
destruction… They must find ways to
create new value to replace that which is
being destroyed. If they do not, they risk
their demise.”
-- Economist Robert Picard, 2006

10. ThiThis
• “(This) is what real
revolutions are like. The old
stuff gets broken faster
than the new stuff gets put
in its place.”
-- NYU Prof. Clay Shirky, in a
2009 blog post, “Newspapers
and Thinking the
Unthinkable”

11. WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE
REVOLUTION?

12. KELLEY’S QUESTION TO
GILBERT ON SUNDAY
• “Can you describe your most important
leadership value in a single word?”

13. GILBERT’S AREA OF INTENSE FOCUS:

14. MY QUESTION TO EACH OF YOU:
• What is your area of “intense focus?”
• What opportunities does it provide for
innovation?

15. ASSIGNMENT AT YOUR TABLES:
• Five minutes: Think, write about what might
be your area of “intense focus”
• Five minutes: Pair up with someone for a
conversation about your focus
• Five minutes: Discuss your partner’s focus

16. ELEMENTS OF INTENSE FOCUS:
• A developing or under-reported situation or
circumstance
• Sufficiently high stakes to matter
• Relevant to a big enough audience

18. SOLID ENTERPRISE REPORTING:

19. NEXT LEVEL UP: INNOVATION:

20. INNOVATION IN NEED OF BRIAN GROSS:

21. “TRACKER” AS AN INNOVATION GENRE:
AGGREGATION, CURATION

22. “TRACKER” AS AN INNOVATION GENRE:
AGGREGATION, CURATION

24. HOW IS A “TRACKER” INNOVATIVE?
• Addresses an “inarticulated need”
• Saves the user time
• Finds stuff the user never would
• Leverages technical capacity (links!)
• Classic example of old wine in new skin
• Can become essential to doing your job

27. INTRAPRENEURIAL VENTURE
• All the elements of an innovation plus:
• Generates significant revenue
• Makes sense as its own cost center

28. INTRAPRENEURIAL VENTURE

29. ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE
• Same as intrapreneurial except:
• Makes more sense as a stand-alone and/or:
•You’ve just been laid off, bought out or:
•Leadership Academy has persuaded
you to become your own damn boss!

30. AN ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE

31. YOUR ASSIGNMENT: PUT YOUR AREA
OF INTENSE FOCUS TO WORK

32. HOW YOUR MYERS-BRIGGS
PERSONALITY PREFERENCES MIGHT
INFLUENCE YOUR INNOVATION STYLE

33. HOW YOUR MYERS-BRIGGS
PERSONALITY PREFERENCES MIGHT
INFLUENCE YOUR INNOVATION STYLE
• ENFP: Possibility-focused, open,
enthusiastic (me)
• ISTJ: Quietly systematic, factual, logical,
decisive (my boss)

34. STYLES OF LEADING INNOVATION
• Soft head, hard hands
• Hard head, hard hands
• Soft head, soft hands
• Hard head, soft hands

35. STYLES OF LEADING INNOVATION
• Soft head, hard hands
• Hard head, hard hands
• Soft head, soft hands
• Hard head, soft hands

36. HARD HEADS, SOFT HANDS:
LEADER AS ENTREPRENEUR
• Bill Mitchell, Poynter affiliate
• Leadership Academy October 2015
• Bmitch (at) gmail dot com
• 727-641-9407