April 13th, 2009 in Buildings, Technology No Comments
Current construction practice has a building’s different utility systems – electrical, heating and cooling, water, surveillance, access control, fire alarms and voice and data networks – being installed by experts in each area with little communication between them. The systems have different cabling and software as well as closed protocols, meaning only the installing companies can modify or repair the systems they install. Most systems are not Internet protocol (IP) that allows data to be sent or received over the Internet. (more…)
March 17th, 2008 in Technology No Comments
This article is the outcome of an interview with Xerox innovation chief Sophie Vandebroek. She talks about coming technological change as seen from the vantage point of a company known for technological innovation, “defined by our collaborations,” and a champion of “open innovation.” Some of the more interesting things to look for:
- Reusable paper that doesn’t use physical inks, but rather resembles sunglasses that darken when taken outside and become clear when taken back inside. It can be used over and over again.
(more…)
June 5th, 2006 in Trends No Comments
The growing business trend toward green design and operations has engendered a mini trend of its own – companies that go beyond eco-friendly buildings, furniture and office supplies to invest in new green technology. This article reports on just such an effort – Verizon’s design and implementation of a new fuel cell pilot project that powers its central office by using seven UTC Power Pure Cell 200 fuel cells, each of which can generate 200 kilowatts of electrical power per hour, powered with piped-in natural gas. Instead of burning the natural gas, hydrogen atoms are stripped from it as it’s fed into the cells and then combined with oxygen atoms from the air to generate direct current (DC) electrical power. (more…)
March 24th, 2004 in Culture No Comments
According to this author, creativity doesn’t dart down haphazardly from the blue. A company’s “next great idea” requires effective management and at least as much perspiration as inspiration. So how do companies adapt their operations and culture to unleash the creative genius within?
One expert quoted in the article states that every company he has worked with has had creativity and innovation as core values but 90 percent of them have done nothing about it. In assessing breakthrough innovation over a ten year period for one large company he found that they all came from a small number of people categorized by their colleagues as “difficult to work with.” None of them was still with the company.
This illustrates a key difficulty that companies wrestle with – creativity can be disruptive and often incompatible with the smooth running of a commercial concern. People get promoted for cutting costs and getting things done on time, not for taking risks and creating surprises – the very heart of innovation.
This article calls for companies to cut back on their rules and allow employees the freedom to have pet projects. Above all, management should praise and reward people who try new things and be more tolerant of uncertainty. The author recognizes that it is difficult to allow people the time to explore new ideas when short-term pressures on management make the time and space needed to create a new service or explore a new idea seem frivolous. Companies simply have to allow longer-term projects to flourish.
Readers are then provided with insight into what sort of corporate culture fosters creativity and innovation. It cannot be a culture that is risk-averse, intolerant of differences or focused solely on smooth sailing. It must be a culture that values and rewards success, risk and even a splendid failure or two. The surroundings should include the sorts of music, art, color and sense of play that became discredited after the fall of the dot-coms.
Examples are given of companies that have succeeded with this formula. The article warns that companies need creativity every day to achieve operational excellence. It also warns that companies may lose many of their best creative minds anyway, as a natural course of events. But as the CEO of media giant WPP puts it, “Every CEO wants the power of a global company with the heart and soul of an entrepreneurial company.”
The article ends with a list of “Twelve Things People Say To Kill Good Ideas.” They make for interesting reading.
Source: Stefan Stem, Management Today; March, 2004
