Neat Idea

Would nutrition labels be more effective if they were graphical?

Vs.


Snapple image via Graphjam; Nutrition label via Google Images

The GigaYacht

Wondering what to do with your spare $200 million? Well wonder no more.

According to the Daily Mail those in need can now travel and bring along the yard, pool, and tennis court.

The 325 yacht comes with all the accoutrements but sadly you need to furnish your own 40 person crew.

Image via the Daily Mail.

Update: BusinessWeek ran a cool story on this as well. See here.

Long Term Results

Since business is a social process is stands to reason that when organizational trust is high (meaning that the group trusts each other) then the corresponding performance is also high.

But how to explain the times when low trust managers are able to raise results?

When the new hold-them-accountable manager arrives what they are trading is long term trust for short term results. The increased expectations that the new leader brings raises the group's performance, but over time back biting and bickering will take over and the team's performance will deteriorate. Also, the performance burst due to low trust behavior will never rival the performance of a high trust group.

The take away here is that both the expectation level and method of implementation matter for long term results. It's important to know that high organizational trust does not mean lack of accountability. In fact without high degree of mutual accountability from the leader to the worker and the worker to the leader there can be no trust.

Software-as-a-Service Risk Is Real

The rub on software-as-a-service is that the software provider owns the relationships between the customer supplied data. This means that in the event that the customer wants to end the business transaction the supplier returns all the data, but not the relationships. This is like getting 10 years of family photo albums returned to you with all the pictures jumbled in a big box.

The Software-as-a-Service guys obviously want to understate the risk, but the risk is real. The current auction-rate note market meltdown offers a good parallel.

An auction rate note is an adjustable rate long term bond that come with the right to be sold early. The rates are re-set periodically at a dutch auction (start high and come down) which is when the bonds may be sold. The deal is good for the issuer because they get to issue debt at a lower rate (usually) than conventional means. The buyers like the investment because they are relatively secure because they are asset based, they can sell them quickly (usually) , and they offer higher rates of returns than other investments.

Everything in the market was fine until February of 2008 when there were suddenly not enough buyers to hold the auctions and sell the bonds. Now folks who wanted a short term investment in order to stay liquid are unable to sell their long term bonds.

Software-as-a-Service is seen as the next big Innovative thing, like trading energy ala Enron, and it does offer some very tangible benefits; A company does not have to invest in the computer or software infrastructure in order to enjoy the software benefits. But just because everyone says it's Innovative does not mean it's a good idea. Until the Software-as-a-Service industry enables the customer the ability to plug-and-play their data amongst all providers the risk does not outweigh the reward.

But What The Hell Do You Do?

I have been spending some time in the software side of the world and have concluded that most of these companies are as obtuse as the "Really-Smart-Guys" on Wall Street.

To prove the point take a look at the website for SAP. Link. Nowhere on the page do they tell you what they do. They do mention "solutions" three times and something called "collaborative business software", but that still doesn't answer the question of what they really do.

This is like when everyone starting asking how Enron made money and their answer was that if you have do ask you could never really understand.

If you want to be innovative you have to have a product that solves a problem for a customer. Also, the customer should know this.

The answer to the question as to what SAP does is this: They create software that manages the relationship between data, much like a photo album for your pictures. The reason this is beneficial is that the software provides a standard format so that data from all your organizations may be combined and analyzed. Was that so hard?

6 Sigma Innovation

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Since Innovation is a good idea well executed, and well executed means high quality and low cost, it stands to reason that 6 Sigma definitely is relevant to the Innovation space.

Here is one of the best summaries on 6 Sigma that I have come across courtesy of the folks at TreQna.com

Big Doesn't Always Mean Right

I learned about the story of Ancel Keys while flipping through Delta Airline's Sky magazine. It seems that the University of Minnesota physiologist was one of the first advocates of a low fat, low cholesterol diet as a way to prevent heart disease.

In 1957 the American Heart Association published a report critical of the conclusion of Keys and others regarding the link between diet and heart health. Four years later, with the same evidence, the Association reversed its position.

Big ships, when pointed in the right direction are a formidable force. But, they are hard, if not impossible, to turn due to the idiosyncrasies of human behavior. It is these blind spots that allow the little guy with the good idea to get a foothold. And it is these blind spots where one should look for the next big thing.

Good Time To Be An Engineer

Why would Intel and Lockheed fund high school classes as reported by the March 6th Wall Street Journal? It seems that they know something that the rest of haven't figured out yet.

Two intersecting trends will soon create a shortage of engineering talent from which to hire.

Trend number one is the baby boomers: In 2003 they made up 60 percent of all workers 25 - 54 years old and now they are rapidly retiring. The population group that follows is to small to replace all the lost boomers.

Trend number two is that the percentage of students intending to entering the engineering field has steadily fallen from 12% in 1982 to about 8% in 2007. Less Americans are becoming engineers.

If the trends continue unabated there will be a large talent gap in engineering; especially experienced engineers.

Accountability is Not Blame

The March 6th addition of the Wall Street Journal featured a story on the Coast Guard's modernization program known as Deepwater. The program is rife with time delays, cost overruns, and faulty product.

There are two very interesting points to the story. The first is that this initiative was set up so that the defense contractors were given major over site authority on the project; probably under the auspices that who better and more efficiently manage the project that the experts.

When everything went South a majority of the blame fell on the contractors. It is not fair to blame only the contractors for their task was huge. Nor is it fair to be surprised that the project manager arraignment didn't work out. It is to be expected that when problems become critical organizations, and people, act in their own self interest. The message is that organizations need to position themselves to control (and knowledge is power) the projects they care about)

The better part of the story is how Adm. Thad Allen is fixing the problem.

According to Adm. Allen, "I'm better off if I can achieve the effect anyway possible other than open confrontation."

The Coast Guard is not interested in a witch hunt, they are interested in fixing the problem and they know that they need partnerships to do it. Does this mean that things are easy on the contractors?

Not according to Lockheed CEO Bob Stevens, "He [the Admiral] doesn't blame me, but he sure as hell holds me accountable."

If Adm. Thad Allen is given the time and has the inclination the Coastguard will be able to right the ship.

Neat Idea

This flower vending machine was posted right outside the terminal exit area on the way to the baggage claim. Perfect place for an impulse buy on the return leg of your trip. And, since it requires more cash than you likely have, the machine takes credit cards.

Neat Idea

What the heck did everyone do before they put wheels on the carry-on? Innovation doesn't always have to be a neat new shiny trinket. Innovation is when you thoroughly understand the customers problem enough to create a solution. If you truly solve the problem then your solution will spread like wildfire.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

A belated Happy Birthday to the late Dr. Seuss, also known as Ted Geisel, whose birthday was March 2.

Did you know that his first children's book And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street was rejected 27 times?

Link

More In Store

The history of man has always been filled with big change; the cotton gin, the combustion engine, metallurgy, etc. Today's world has several currents that suggest even bigger changes in the future.

1. Oil. Or lack thereof will have a profound affect on daily life. Increasing demand from China and India will raise prices and change the geo-political landscape. The US economy is built on cheap energy and a fundamental increase in energy prices will change people's behavior. Oil prices don't look to be falling anytime soon due to increasing demand. That increase in demand is being driven by China who is second behind the United States for oil consumption. China will continue to project it's power to ensure a stable energy supply thereby changing the geo-political landscape.

2. Human Genome Mapping. We've already cloned mammals and are beginning to link genetic markers to disease probabilities. The impact, which isn't fully understood, on mankind will be more powerful than that of electricity.

3. Baby-Boomers. In 2008 a person turns 62 every seven seconds. The net change in workforce leaves a gap in talent, even accounting for the global repositioning of jobs. As a result companies will be enticing people to work longer. They will also work longer because they have to. Most people have not saved enough and are living longer. The living longer aspect also has profound effects on the national economy. The balance of people paying into Social Security and Medicaid versus people taking out of these systems is beginning to tip leading to a foretasted insolvency.

4. Computer Power. The Internet is turning into a utility much like electricity. When global connectivity becomes a completely transparent function (much like flipping the light switch is today) the uses of information will multiply exponentially over what we see today.

Things are going to really start to happen over the next 50 years and we have a front row seat of the action.