Tania deJong the host of ci2011 believed that collaboration was the key to innovation and Professor Alan Fells talked about storytelling being crucial to innovation.

We believe that all three are important to innovation and also believe that these things just don’t happen, that you have to make them happen.

We recently visited the HUB Melbourne which is a new addition to Melbourne’s CBD and a new way of working.  What we saw was an environment that was set up for collaboration, that we instantly knew would help us be more innovative.  Walking back to our CBD office we made the decision to move to this new way of working.  We commented to each other that this was the future way of working.

Since that day two things have pleasantly surprised me.

The first occurred at my daughter’s primary school with a tour of their brand new classrooms, with classrooms not being an appropriate word because there were no classrooms as such.  This was an open space with 5 classes with 5 teachers that all work together.  I have always believed that schools should prepare our children for their adult working lives and here I was seeing it in action.  My children are going to be taught in a classroom environment that will be the future of the working environment.  An environment made for collaboration and innovation.

The second aspect that has surprised me since our decision to move is the advancements in technology that have not only made it all possible but made it easy. Cloud computing especially has made this move easy.  Without the technology these working hubs, this hot-desking, collaborative spaces would not be possible.  It is very much like the history of the supermarket.    Supermarkets initially failed because at the time of their construction, no-one or very few people  had cars.  It was only when the majority of people had access to cars, did supermarkets become viable.

So like any change there is a mixture of sadness and excitement.  Sadness that we leave our Elizabeth Street office and will miss the sounds of the trams rattling by and Phil our favourite barrista.  But excitement that we will move to HUB Melbourne in Bourke Street in a space that will foster collaboration and drive innovation for us.

Now if I can just work out how to download Windows Office for Mac on my MacBook Air without a disk drive, I will be right.

Just yesterday I was sharing this with my husband and he said it must be really important to you as you still remember it, after all these years.  And he was right! I remember 25  ago I would visit corporate offices providing health checkups for their employees.  I was doing the  health check up for the CEO of large ASX listed company and was surprised at how healthy he was on every measure – blood pressure , stress etc.  I asked him ‘Please tell me your secret, apart from delegating everything to everyone else!”.  He laughed and said I do 3 things ‘Everyday I meditate, I play golf regularly and I completely trust the team of leaders who report to me’.  I was inspired by that and even today in my role I try and practice what he said.

Deborah Stuart, Director Community Services, Southern Health

In my previous post, I discussed Victor Finkel’s presentation at the Creative Innovation 2011 Conference and the three questions that a typical Gen Y asks employers.

The three questions all start with ‘why’.

Why am I doing this?

Why does it have to be this way? and

Why can’t I cite Wikipedia?

With this mindset they are the perfect people to drive innovation.

Finkel argued that the Gen Y’s ask ‘Why?’ and unlike the baby Boomers who also asked why by defying and rebelling against everything, that Gen Y’s at least listen to the answer!

A previous speaker at the ci2011 conference James Moody talked about waves of innovation and that there have been 5 to date.  He explored the fact that each wave ends with a global recession which leads to a new wave of innovation.

So looking at where we are at and feel excited that we are most likely to witness the start of the 6th wave of innovation.  Moody believes this will be the ‘Resource Efficiency’ wave were we need to figure out how we live in a world with scarcer resources such as food and water.

If Moody is right and we are at the dawn of a new wave of innovation and we have a generation entering the workforce that have almost been bred for innovation and been told they can achieve whatever they want …imagine what the future will hold.

Exciting or scary?  Perhaps a bit of both.  But regardless, we should all buckle up for one helluva ride.

There is no  consensus over the exact definition of Gen Y’s, but the generally accepted range is from 1980 to 1999.  So pretty much anyone who is 12 to 30 years old today is considered a Gen Y.  On reflecting on Finkel’s presentation I was struck by a major challenge companies will need to address that perhaps they are not even aware of. 

First let me take you through the three questions that Finkel believes a typical Gen Y’s is asking.

Why am I doing this?

Why does it have to be this way? 

Why can’t I cite Wikipedia?

It is the first two questions that will have a significant impact on the way organisations not only communicate strategy but how they develop it.

Finkel explained that Gen Ys want to do rewarding and stimulating work and they want to do it from day one.  They need and want a higher purpose.  Yes they understand the need for profit but it has to be a purpose behind the profit, not profit for profit’s sake.  This strong desire in the whole new generation entering the workforce will see the dawn of a new age of organisations.  You will still have you Not For Profits (NFP) but organisations will need to become Purpose For Profits (PFP).

If companies don’t have a purpose, apart from greater profits and returning wealth to its shareholders and if they cannot communicate that purpose, then they will have a whole generation of their current and future workforce not wanting to work for them.

Companies without a well articulated purpose will have very little hope of attracting and retaining talented Gen Ys.

And if you think having a workforce devoid of Generation Ys is not a problem, think again.  Because Gen Ys have the perfect attributes for innovation …but that is a whole new post.  Watch this space.

 But what are conferences if not to be provocative and present us contrary points of view?  Hugh Mackay, leading psychologist and pioneering social researcher did just that, in his session ‘The desires that drive us to connect’.

 Hugh Mackay presented the double paradox of a super connected world.  The illusion that technology brings us together, but actually keeps us apart.  He gave the example of face book friends who met up for coffee and had nothing to say to each other as they already knew everything that was happening in each other’s lives!  The other paradox is the more we connect online, the more likely we are to frustrate our deep human desires to connect. So what are our 3 deep human desires?

One of our key desires is to connect with each other. Not through data transfer but through communication that nurtures us, connects us.  We need to see and feel the expression on people’s faces, their posture, the tone of their voice, how they are dressed, and their words and we take all this into account when we are trying to interpret meaning from each other.  Technology that uses just words, is stripping out the connection and communication that happens through the conduit of personal relationships not through cyberspace.  He used the paradoxical fact that we all choose to physically attend the conference, which could have easily been done online, and also was available via face book, twitter etc as illustration of this desire!

 As part of this desire we have to understand that the key to effective communication is not brighter, smarter technology but brighter, smarter listening. Yes that old chestnut.  The barriers are not technology based but based in our ability to listen. Mackay also presented research that showed there was a direct correlation between increasing workplace boredom and time spent at the screen… we always suspected that!  My take on this is even though people grumble about the number of meetings they have to attend, attending meetings no matter how tedious or boring might be tapping into this desire of ours to connect with other people face to face.

Our second deep desire is to connect with the natural world.  That is why even in high rises you can spot a struggling pot plant on the 14^th floor.  Some of us express this through our pets, our gardens, bush walking etc.  This explains me seeing this as a self indulgent photo opp for my dog!

Our third desire is to connect with ourselves and unless this happens or has happened the other two won’t work.  This brings to mind the old adage ‘Know thyself’, which the esteemed psychologist Carl Rogers described as a life long project.  So what are ways in which we can connect with ourselves? Mackay cited meditation, psychotherapy,and creative self expression, art, music, writing.  To this list I would like to  add laughter, and for me personally both exercise and reading help me connect to myself. So any regular creative activity that both stimulates and stills us.

 Hugh Mackay is by no means a Luddite and is not presenting this as a  dichotomous view of the world but cautioning us to do both – while we embrace technology not to forget what our three desires as human beings are.

Mackay’s presentation actually filled me with optimism, as some things never change.   We are all afraid of getting left behind by a relentless technology tsunami.  But now no matter how fast or rapidly technology changes, being able to connect face to face with other people, being able to connect with nature and with our own selves will always be the key.  And fulfilling these desires will enable us to thrive and connect with what matters most…of course while still lugging our iPad from conference to conference.

I was excited about what the next 2 days had in store for us with some of Australia’s and the worlds leading experts in their field.

One of the opening speakers was Professor Allan Fels AO and his words were music to my ears.

Professor Fels started talking about the power of storytelling and that “as humans we are hardwired to tell stories and hardwired to listen to stories”. 

He said “70% of what we learn is through stories” and that “storytelling is essential for innovation“.  I withheld my urge to run up on stage and kiss the man …JUST!

But let’s look at Professor Fels two statements and why they ring so true.

“70% of what we learn is through stories”- Think of the last presentation you went to, or conference.  Was it the stories you remember?  Stories are how we make sense of the world, it is how we learn and it is what we remember.  Stories have the ability to not only help people understand what we are saying but they also allow people to remember what we have said and retell others without losing its meaning.  These are the three universal challenges as leaders, as teachers, as presenters and even as parents. 

Do they understand what I am saying?

Will they remember what I am saying?

Can they share what I have said with others?

Stories will help you achieve traction on all those three challenges.

“Storytelling is essentional for innovation” – During the conference we heard many views on what is essential for innovation, such as diversity, collaboration and culture of risk taking …and these are all important.  But once we have that culture of risk taking and once we have brought together a diverse group of minds in a collaborative envirnment it is the stories that are shared that will generate real innovation.  Why?   Because stories of what is possible sparks other stories of what is possible.  When people hear stories, they suspend judgement and stories when done right provide a glimpse of future possibilities and opportunities.

So thank you Professor Allan Fels for showing us the power of storytelling so succinctly.

I was presented with this same ingenuity when listening to Simon Griffiths  (pictured) an engineer, economist turned entrepreneur. 

Simon knew that biggest bug bearer for ‘not for profits’ and ‘charities’ is fund raising.  They constantly have to get us to donate money and we on the other hand suffer from what is described as ‘compassion fatigue’.  We are sick of constantly being asked for money or already have hand picked a few causes we support, but feel guilty or resentful and really altruism should make us feel better about ourselves and the world!

Simon then thought about this problem differently and came up with the concept of the ‘consumer philanthropist’.  Instead of asking people for money, what if we looked at what they already consume and  tap into that?  So he set up ‘Shebeen’a non-profit bar in Melbourne. It sells exotic beer and wine from the developing world. The profit from each drink sale supports a development project in that drink’s country of origin.  A drink for Kenya?  Go for it.  Today Shebeen supplies its beer to various venues.  But then he hit his next hurdle, not everyone drinks beer and not everyone is happy to drink African beer.  So what other consumer product could he tap into?  He has now come up with his next venture, called ‘Who Gives A Crap’, which produces toilet paper manufactured entirely from recycled materials. 50% of the profits of this toilet paper will be used to build toilets in the developing world.  Ingenious and the name always makes audiences roar with laughter.

Simon’s concept could revolutionise the globe – turning everyday consumers into philanthropists – let’s drink to that.

I recently had the pleasure of attending  TedX Melbourne .  Like all the TED events there was a great array of speakers, with an engaged audience, hungry for information.  I love the format – 18 minutes per speaker and most of the speakers went the presentation equivalent of the ‘full monty’, no PowerPoint or visuals. 

For the first time I also felt the entire playing field had changed. Right through the conference lots of participants were tweeting.  The person next to me had his laptop, his iPad and his phone out but also used a good old fashioned pen and paper to take notes…so some things never change.

Like everyone else in the audience I was both listening to the presenters and keeping an eye on twitter to see how the audience was responding, all in real time.  It was interesting and confronting (and I wasn’t even presenting!)  to see how immediate the feedback was, what people were saying almost in response to every point the speaker was making.  So as a presenter how can you make your presentation twitter friendly?

The good news is some of the rules of a good presentation haven’t changed at all, but there are some new things to consider.

One – As always it is all about your preparation, preparation & preparation.  You can never be over prepared and if you are under prepared, the twitter comments will let you know at once!  As part of  your preparation know the rules of engagement.  For example at TED one of the mandates for speakers is ‘Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage’.  One speaker who was unaware of this or chose to ignore it received a verbal bashing on twitter.  Twitter audience is quick off the mark and unforgiving in this respect.

Two – Make every word count, no fluff, extraneous padding, jargon or mindless repetition.  Like Mark Twain said ‘The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lighting and the lighting bug’.  Make sure all the bugs are ironed out of your presentation.

Three- Having a very clear structure still matters, so the audience can follow you easily.  But try not to be clichéd or too conventional with structure.  Trust your audience’s intelligence in being able to follow you without an obvious power point hierarchy (yawn, boring).

Four- Be disciplined and have 2 or 3 key messages, only.  We can never stress this enough and to be twitter friendly your message should be in the form of a sound bite that can be easily tweeted.  Remember the twitter limitation of 140 characters.  This is great discipline for presenters as if you can make your key point in 140 characters you have it nailed. When your audience engages with a message it will be tweeted over and over again by different people and then retweeted.  This is GOOD and the presentation equivalent of a standing ovation except the everyone globally on twitter can see it / hear it.

Five- Use Storytelling.  Because how else could you convey complex information quickly and engagingly?  The only time people stopped tweeting completely during TedX Melbourne was when one of the presenters, Liza Boston, started narrating a story – she had everyone’s attention in the room for the 3 minutes.  And one of the first tweets after said ‘Liza Boston’s presentation alone has made the admission price worth it!’.

Six- Don’t be distracted by the lack of eye contact.  Even though everyone is looking at their phones , they are still listening to you, except they are listening differently.  They are listening to you and also listening to what the twitterverse is saying.

Seven – Be yourself, be authentic and use your personality.  People love that and will respond to you like a real person which of course you are. 

Eight – After your presentation, take a big deep breath first, and then look at the twitter feed.  This is the best feedback you will ever receive as a presenter and a great learning opportunity.

This is by no means a complete list so please add to it.

This article recounts five anecdotes from Steve Jobs that collectively show you the type of man he was.

Such as this one when Jobs was shown a prototype of the iPad and complained it was too big.

“After the engineers said they couldn’t make the device any smaller, Jobs took the iPad over to an aquarium, and promptly dropped it in. “These are air bubbles,” he said. “That means there’s space in there. Make it smaller.”

To this story that showed Job’s attention to detail:

“Google senior vice president of social business Vic Gundotra wrote recently on Google+ that once in 2008, he was sitting in a religious service on a Sunday when he received a call from an unmarked number. It was Jobs, leaving a message saying he had something urgent to discuss.  When he called him back, Jobs said the issue was urgent, and that he needed it addressed right away. In fact, he had already assigned someone on the task.

“I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”

To this story about the issues with Mobile Me which was Apple’s first venture into the cloud.

“It didn’t work properly and didn’t deliver as promised. Jobs was unimpressed. According to a Fortune article published earlier this year, Jobs gathered all the people responsible for Mobile Me at the company’s Town Hall, and told them they were “tarnishing Apple’s reputation”. He even said they “should hate each other for having let each other down”.

“Can anyone tell me what Mobile Me is supposed to do?” he asked. When someone answered, he said, “So why the f&*% doesn’t it do that?”

“Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering,” he said.

Hearing one of those stories in isolation would give you a limited insight into Steve Job’s the man, Steve Job’s the professional CEO and Steve’s Job the entrepreneur.  It is the combination of not only these three stories but all the stories being shared that create the Steve Jobs brand. 

All of us and the world are diminished by his passing.

‘I was recently reading a magazine that featured an interview with Bruce  Springsteen.  Bruce Springsteen has been a musician and performer for over 20 years and has a tremendous reputation as a live act.  The interviewer asked him how he kept up his motivation to deliver night after night.  To which Springsteen replied “It was when I realised that, while for me, every night is a “Bruce Springsteen concert night” there are 1000′s of people in the audience, who have spent their money to see a Bruce Springsteen concert maybe for the first and only time in their lives.   They may only come to one Bruce Springsteen concert in their life and I want to give them the best ever Bruce Springsteen experience. And thats what keeps me going night after night”.  

Reading that reminded me of  us at work every day.  While we might take hundreds of calls, for  a customer who rings us, that might be the only contact they have with MLC, this might be the only “Bruce Springsteen concert” they go to.  Imagine the difference we can make if every time  our customers got the full Bruce Springsteen experience…’

The story struck a chord with everyone in the group and what a powerful and memorable frame for thinking about, and delivering customer service – the  Bruce Springsteen experience.

We are sharing this with you to illustrate that telling a personal story (and as you can see from this one it does not have to be the most revealing personal moment in your life) and linking it back to a business message can be really refreshing and powerful in business.