T H E L E A D I N G V O I C E I N S T R AT E G Y I N N O V AT I O N
CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
OCT 2016 | #22
Where Do Business Strategy And Humanity Balance In Pharma? /11
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The Power of the Logo Emma Taylor looks at how important a brand’s logo is to their success, and examines how companies can avoid committing ‘brand suicide’ / 6
Corporate Wearables: The difference between success and failure How to achieve a whole new level of engagement with customers by using corporate wearables / 21
Chief Strategy Officer Summit 19 & 20 OCTOBER, 2016 | LONDON
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Contact Information:
Sam Blunsdon +44 203 868 4215 sblunsdon@theiegroup.com theinnovationenterprise.com
ISSUE 22
EDITOR’S LETTER Welcome to the 22nd Edition of the Chief Strategy Officer Magazine
As we step into the fourth quarter of 2016, it’s time to start thinking about the strategic lessons we have learned so far and get prepared for the next year. Economic uncertainties and the disruptive nature of the market have seen companies face challenges to their ability to grow, so more of them are considering methods for faster strategy execution. One of the ways to accelerate processes and make a company reactive to changes in the market is to infuse business units with agility, where adaptability, flexibility, and balance can shape the phenomenon. Applying agility within corporate environments can bring greater levels of productivity and motivation within a company and, eventually, contribute to faster execution. The term has become a buzzword throughout the corporate corridors, but not everyone knows
how to apply it to all business units. Allie Laurent looks at the problem in this issue and suggests ways of incorporating agility into the corporate strategy. Agility, however, is not the only factor that can accelerate strategy execution. The way the business strategy is planned indicates in what direction the company will go and at what speed. The more thorough the planning is, the fewer chances a company has to face problems which can slow down processes. Problems are inevitable and happen to all companies at some point on their business journey, so it’s critical to know how to deal with them in advance. Afolabi Opedare suggests that processes of strategic planning can act as a shield and guidance - something a company needs in times of turbulence. Strategic execution almost always
involves a change. So across all levels - from the C-suite to the rest of the teams - all business units have to be open to accepting new ideas and agendas, and they have to be prepared to manage them. In today’s business environment, there is no excuse for a strategy to be developed slowly and in a vacuum. As always, if you have any comments or would like to submit an article, please don’t hesitate to contact me at anastasia@theiegroup.com
Anastasia Anokhina managing editor
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Strategic Planning Innovation Summit 5 & 6 DECEMBER, 2016 NEW YORK
Speakers include:
Contact Information:
Sam Blunsdon +1 415 604 3777 sblunsdon@theiegroup.com theinnovationenterprise.com
contents 6 | THE POWER OF THE LOGO
Emma Taylor looks at how important a brand’s logo is to their success, and examines how companies can avoid committing ‘brand suicide’ 8 | CAN STARTUPS SURVIVE WITHOUT INVESTORS?
Initial funding is critical when starting a business, but what do you do if your wallet is empty? Ijaz Khan explores the issue 11 | WHERE DOES BUSINESS STRATEGY AND HUMANITY BALANCE IN PHARMA?
Is there a chance to restore trust in pharma companies if we get to the heart of their corporate mission?
16 | HOW TO MOTIVATE YOUR PROJECT TEAM
5 top tips on how to succeed in project management 18 | AGILITY: FROM BUZZWORD TO BUSINESS MODEL
We look at the true meaning of the word ‘agility’ in business, and explain how to apply it at all corporate levels 21 | CORPORATE WEARABLES: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE
How to achieve a whole new level of engagement with customers by using corporate wearables
14 | STRATEGIC PLANNING: A LIFE JACKET WHEN ONE SOLUTION IS NOT ENOUGH
Having a plan and strategically planning your business actions are different things, Afo Opedare explains why the latter is more important
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managing editor ANASTASIA ANOKHINA
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contributors emma taylor, ijaz khan, afolabi opedare, julie lord, allie laurent
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The importance of collaborating with customers and listening to their feedback is critical, as, after all, they buy your product
Emma Taylor | Brand Observer
How to detect if your company is about to commit 'brand suicide' or it's going in the right direction with its brand strategy CHOOSING A LOGO FOR A BRAND IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS that should never be done rashly. The logo is the face of a company, and the more attractive this face is, the bigger the chances of a brand being widely recognizable and successful. Over the years, design trends have changed, with some brands staying loyal to their logos for decades, and others changing it according to trends in the market. /6
A brand logo is never love at first sight, but hard work which comes from a balance of graphic designers, company executives, and customers. If a logo fails to deliver an instant association with the brand/product, then no matter how many marketing campaigns there are ahead, the brand can slip on a path to failure. However, creating a new logo will only work if it’s necessary to change it. Logos are something that customers take for granted, but once they are changed there can be an outcry for old ones, meaning new is not always better.
target them. The problem with this group, though, is their absolute intolerance to advertising but an interest in visuals. Thus, big brands tend to say less but show more. Apple, MasterCard, McDonald’s and others are already following this direction - having gotten rid of words in their logos, so there is nothing but a bitten apple, two golden arches and overlapping red and yellow circles representing these brands. Such a shift happened due to the popularity of a ‘straightforward design’, as well as a tendency within the modern business environment for using symbols rather than words.
Today big brands tend to say less but show more
Also, wordless logos are popular due to words being inconsistent in their meaning - one day customers love it, tomorrow they have poor associations with it. With the appearance of the so-called Islamic State terrorist group who operate in Syria and Iraq, no one wants to have anything to do with this abbreviation. However, originally, Isis stems from an Egyptian goddess who was worshipped as a good mother and wife. A London-based beauty-orientated magazine and a US startup picked up the name but regretted it instantly, once customers started suspecting a connection with a terrorist group. Both brands have successfully changed their names since, and such a branding phenomenon has become known as a ‘brand suicide.’
One example of when such a change was a bad idea is GAP. In 2010, the clothing giant decided that it’s time to refresh its image, and instead of the three capitalized letters on a blue background, the brand came up with lower-case ‘Gap’, adding a small blue square, sitting on the right top corner of the brand name. A wave of protest to ‘change it back’ broke loose on Facebook and Twitter, resulting in Gap’s Brand President Marka Hansen reversing the decision. As Sagi Haviv, a partner at New York graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismer & Haviv (CGH) pointed out: ‘GAP’s original logo was loved by its audience, but it didn’t know it.’ The importance of collaborating with customers and listening to their feedback is critical, as, after all, they buy your product. To communicate effectively, brands need to bear in mind their customer profile from age to cultural background. According to the US Census Bureau, Millennials currently shape the biggest part of the population in the US - more than 74 million, having outgrown Baby Boomers, meaning the vast majority of brands
How to identify if a company needs a logo change? -If it’s technically overcomplicated and lacks simplicity -If there can be unpleasant associations with it -If a logo is not timeless, but outdated -If a company has expanded to more products or locations, so the logo is no longer relevant
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According to the Small Business Administration, over 600,000 businesses are registered in the US annually, and only just over 300 are funded by VCs
Can Startups Survive Without Investors ? /8
Ijaz Khan | Strategy Writer
BEING A NEW ENTRY TO THE MARKET and trying to win customers’ loyalty with new innovation is never easy. Even though today the startup community is surrounded by support and encouragement across all industries, many still struggle to pass the ’seed’ stage. Having a brilliant idea and a dedicated team is good, but if money is missing, it’s impossible. Chasing VCs and Angel investors can be exhausting and demotivating, that’s why some entrepreneurs intentionally avoid partnering with investors. It would be wrong to assume that getting a VC is easy, in fact, according to the Small Business Administration, over 600,000 businesses are registered in the US annually, and only just over 300 are funded by VCs. As a startup, there is no reason to react with disappointment and desperation, though. Investors are not the only source of capital, despite being one of the fastest routes. Moreover, funds provided by investors are never based on a pure generosity and don’t provide a freedom of action. One of the reasons why people want to set up their own business is a desire to be their own boss. However, many don’t acknowledge that VCs are even more demanding than those in corporate environments. Most of the VCs today are interested in nurturing startups and pointing them in the right direction, but understandably, they are also interested in returning the investment. Thus, when startups fail, it’s often because they are eager to grow but unable to return the capital - a risk not many VCs want to take. So what are the options for funding, if not VCs and Angel investors?
Bootstrapping With bootstrapping, entrepreneurs would need to check their wallet first. Most of the time, startups who use the method would already have some initial capital in the form of savings or credit cards. Bootstrapping promotes using existing revenue for growth, so those interested would need to already have customers too. Bootstrapping particularly suits digital startups, and one of the good examples is El Toro. This Kentucky-based IP Targeting provider delivers display advertisements to specific households, based on IP address and avoidance of cookies. El Toro’s CEO Stacy Griggs believes that in their case, bootstrapping worked because their growth was fed by a cash flow from customers, and as it continued, they could use a profit to reinvest in additional features and developments.
too time-consuming to find them. If an entrepreneur wants to apply for one, there is also a long bureaucratic procedure, and some grants accept applications only a couple of times a year. Some will be lucky enough to get a grant, whilst others will have to wait, having no guarantees. No matter which option entrepreneurs consider, they have to bear in mind that little capital is better than raising too much. Each capital requirement has to match a particular achievable target in order to have control over growth and finances. Each type of fundraising is individual, and it’s as important to find the right option, as it is to get the capital. Only with a suitable source, will the business not get into trouble and grow sustainablity.
SBA Another funding option is the SBA (Small Business Administration), the US government body that supports entrepreneurs and small businesses by providing loans and grants. By the end of 2014, the organization approved nearly 53,000 loans worth $20 billion. But again, those funds are not on a free basis and act similar to a mortgage scheme, where a company needs to pay an interest rate.
Little capital is always better than raising too much
Grants With this one, all should be clear but there are some tricks. On the bright side, grants typically don’t require companies to pay them back, but, they are hard to catch and if found, almost impossible to get. Highly valued, grants are usually hidden so deep in the government system or a supporting organization that it’s /9
Chief Strategy Officer Summit 5 & 6 DECEMBER, 2016 NEW YORK
Speakers include:
Contact Information:
Sam Blunsdon +1 415 604 3777 sblunsdon@theiegroup.com theinnovationenterprise.com
Where Do Business Strategy And Humanity Balance In Pharma? Anastasia Anokhina | Managing Editor
THE US PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY IS FACING TURBULENCE, with Mylan Pharmaceuticals, a producer of life-saving autoinjector EpiPen, facing scrutiny over significant price hikes of their product. The scandal was taken to a national level, involving the public and politicians, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. From a reasonable price of $94 for a two-pack of injectable epinephrine (EpiPen), the price has gone up to a shocking $600, in just nine years. Mylan Pharmaceuticals is the second largest generic and speciality pharmaceuticals company in the world and EpiPens play a critical role in saving lives of those experiencing life-threatening allergic reactions.
From a reasonable price of $94 for a two-pack of injectable epinephrine (EpiPen), the price has gone up to a shocking $600, in just nine years
The company earlier had set a precedent over price hikes in 2012, when Mylan agreed to pay $147 million to settle accusations for raising the price of their widely prescribed drugs by 3000%, according to the New York Times. This time, Mylan CEO, Heather Bresch, was to answer what had caused a price hike for EpiPen.
In her interview with CNBC, Ms Bresch said that: ‘No one is more frustrated than me.’ She argued that the device’s current price has nothing to do with Mylan, but with a health-care system in general, which often requires patients to pay not just insurance premiums, but also a full retail price for out-of-pocket medications. / 11
The story, however, was taken further and has caught the attention of Hillary Clinton who tweeted: ‘EpiPens can be the difference between life and death. There is no justification for these price hikes.’ After Mrs Clinton’s statement, shares of Mylan in the stock market dropped 5% and also dragged the NASDAQ Biotechnology ETF (IBB) down by 3%. Shares in the biotechnology sector were affected after Mrs Clinton added that she is going to tackle price gouging in the drug market. The story comes as a bitter reminder that, aside from EpiPen price hikes, the drug market is still far from being patient-orientated. In 2015, unofficially labelled as ‘the most hated man in the world’, Martin Shkreli, the founder and a former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, faced a widespread criticism after his firm obtained the manufacturing licence for the antiparasitic drug Daraprim, and later raised its price by 5,556%. Daraprim is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines and is an important component in treatment of HIV-positive patients. The drug price went up from $13.50 per pill to $750, putting Shkreli under multiple investigations to examine his fraud activity. Ironically, after Mylan and its CEO started to be heavily criticized, Shkreli was among the defenders of the company’s selling approach. In his interview with CBS News, he stated: ‘I think important medicine should be expensive because they’re valuable,’ and later supported his view on social media, comparing net margins of Altria Group (tobacco company) - 20.6% and Mylan’s - 8.97%, suggesting that a tobacco company shouldn’t earn more than a pharmaceutical one. Indeed, unlike tobacco, Mylan’s EpiPen is of much greater / 12
importance. The value of an EpiPen doesn’t lie in the epinephrine supply, but in the auto-injection device that automatically delivers the correct dose of the drug instantly. In cases with severe allergic reactions, timing is critical, and Mylan provides the ultimate solution that consequently creates high demand. Looking at Mylan’s position from a business point of view, the company rightly won its position in the market. Sanofi Pasteur tried to sell Auvi-Q devices but was later found to be providing improper doses of the drug. There was also Adamis, offering prefilled syringes, but they were proven to be harder to use than EpiPens, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required them to provide more data before launching the product. Each time, when Mylan’s EpiPens beat competitors, the company raised prices. Due to the sensitive nature of the industry and tough regulations for product approval, it’s incredibly hard for new entries to survive in the market, meaning there is a little competition. Mylan can hardly be blamed for enjoying an increasing demand and raising prices, if we were talking only about business strategy. However, there is also a big ethical question: How much does one’s health cost and is it up to pharmaceutical companies to set the price?
In cases with severe allergic reactions, timing is critical, and Mylan provides the ultimate solution that consequently creates high demand
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Strategic Planning: A Life Jacket When One Solution Is Not Enough Afolabi Opedare | Strategic Guru / 14
‘Plans are worthless, but planning is everything,’- that’s how the US General Dwight D.Eisenhower referred to the importance of strategic planning in emergency situations. Eisenhower was inspired by Moltke the Elder, a German General who distinguished a difference between ‘having a plan’ and ‘a process of strategic planning’: ‘When you are planning for an emergency, you must start with this one thing: the very definition of ‘emergency’ is that it is unexpected, therefore, it’s not going to happen as you are planning.’ Similar to a battlefield environment, actions in business must be supported by a clear strategy, because businesses exist in unpredictable conditions, and their strength can be measured only once they start facing challenges. The success of a business strategy doesn’t lie in a plan, but an ability to assess the environment the business is in and come up with effective solutions through strategic planning. There must be several solution scenarios for each problem as ‘no plan survives a contact with the enemy’ - so the more options you have, the better the chances the business will survive and thrive. The problem is that many businesses are not comfortable with strategic planning and give
up on a concept if it’s too timeconsuming. Companies often assess situations and challenges ‘as they go’, assuring themselves that they have a plan. Having a plan and practising strategic planning, however, are not the same. A plan encourages actions by individuals, whereas companies should focus on practices done at all corporate levels with a strategic element - an important distinction that confuses many.
The appearance of new markets and disruptive players, should be considered as a good enough reason to start planning strategically Companies may appear overconfident, thinking they can succeed without strategic planning by only having a business plan, which they see as a control tool in the business. Additionally, many also think that others see them the same way they see themselves - all of these are the signs of overconfidence that can be damaging. Strategic planning, and especially its regular review allows them to realistically assess their company’s position in the market,
spot problems in advance and have a full picture of where they are as a company and what can be done to make them better. The fact that the world is rapidly changing due to the appearance of new markets and disruptive players, should be considered as a good enough reason to start planning strategically. Processes of strategic planning act as a shield and guidance - something a company definitely needs in times of turbulence. Regular reviews of the strategy with your teams will keep the plan up to date, considering all changes that may have happened in the market or to the company in a period between assessments. Strategic planning as a process must include clarification of what the business is about (its goals and aspirations), prioritization of core tasks, regular analysis of the corporate and external environment, and an outline of the best solutions to overcome challenges. Strategic planning is an ongoing and responsive way of thinking that shouldn’t stop. Military planners acknowledge a critical point - the world doesn’t stand still, so why should your business strategy?
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How To Motivate Your Project Team 5 top tips on how to succeed in project management Julie Lord | Strategy Enthusiast
AS A PROJECT MANAGER, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that your team is motivated. If motivation levels fall, productivity will fall, and this can mean that mistakes are made, deadlines aren’t met, and that the overall quality is not as high as it should be. This is the last thing any project manager wants, which is why motivating your team is something that is often taught in project management courses.
1.
YOU NEED TO BE MOTIVATED – If you are not motivated, how do you expect your team to be motivated? Therefore, motivating your team always begins with getting yourself excited about the project. If this is something you are really struggling with, this hints that it is time to consider project management training. This will give you a fresh perspective and plenty of good strategies to put into place, which will make you feel more enthusiastic about projects in the future. Aside from this, you should consider keeping a project diary, make sure that you leave any outside negativities at the door when you get to work, and you should keep your tasks tracked in a to-do list. It is also wise to look for positive aspects in any negative news you receive.
2.
ESTABLISH GOALS – One way to enhance motivation amongst your team is to establish goals. If you do not have objectives in place, your workers will not have a set of aims to work towards, and this will cause their motivation levels to dwindle. It is important to have individual goals in place, not just team goals. After all, every team member is going to be intrinsically motivated to a degree.
And, therefore, by setting individual objectives, you will be able to use this to move the project forward.
3.
HAVE INFORMAL REVIEW SESSIONS – A lot of project managers tend to only implement review sessions once a project is over. Nevertheless, it is wise to host informal review sessions throughout the project. Make sure these sessions are friendly, casual, and simple, and you will notice that team members will enjoy them, discovering where they are doing well and what areas they can improve.
4.
MAKE SURE THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TRAINING AND TOOLS – Your team members will not have the confidence to work on project tasks effectively if they do not have the correct training and tools. Without this, how are they to reach their objectives? By giving your team members everything they need to work to their very best, they will be motivated to do so.
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GET TO KNOW YOUR TEAM MEMBERS – Every person is different, and thus you need to get to know your team members if you are going to be able to motivate them effectively. Only by doing this will you be able to understand each person’s strengths, as well as the dynamic of the team. This ensures that you can put each person in the right place to give him or her the ability to shine.
So, there you have it – some top tips to help you motivate your project team to success!
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agility: From Buzzword To Business Model Despite being a widely used term in business circles, many still miss out on its true meaning and purpose Allie Laurent | Strategic Observer
THE BUSINESS WORLD HAS ITS OWN JARGON, with new buzzwords appearing each year like clockwork. Some people add them to their vocabulary to show off during networking events, others treat them seriously, analyzing the meaning and later applying them to their business strategy. One such term is agility, which originated in 2001 in the ‘Manifesto for Agile Software Development’. It was quickly picked up by business strategists who defined it as the ’ability of a business to rapidly respond to a change by adapting its initial stable configuration.’ / 18
The main problem with ‘trendy business terms’ is that often they sound good but are difficult to define and apply to real-world business strategies. If you ask someone in the C-suite how one of their business goals has been achieved, it is very likely that agility would pop up in the answer. The disruptive business environment we live in certainly requires faster reactions and greater adaptability than ever before, but is agility really all it takes to achieve success? To get to the core of what agility means, it’s worth deconstructing the term. If agility means adaptability, then in order to achieve adaptability there must be speed involved. In business, markets are changing faster, so businesses have to adapt and be fast themselves. It’s important to bear in mind, though, that agility in decision making is no excuse not to think. Actions that may result in an immediate profit or short-term improvement in business performance can negatively affect a long-term business strategy. On the other hand, there is a belief that if a company is not a disruptor, then it will be disrupted by someone else. And that’s where the meaning of agility can be regained. Disruption doesn’t come by accident, especially in a large company, and can be achieved if all internal processes are orientated
for disruption. Unlike SMEs and startups, which can pivot and seek alternative strategies at any time, large organizations can damage their entire value chain if they rush. Therefore, step by step - but quickly enough to reach the market - large organizations must inject agility into all of their units. Having agility ingrained in corporate culture is what makes it work for business, but there must be a balance struck between empowering teams with ‘agile spirit’ and maintaining control. The main challenge is delivering disruptive ideas fast, retaining the security, and quality of execution with minimal costs. It’s useful to look at the ways daily tasks are completed and processes performed, and then build cross-functional teams that can form the core of delivering agility. Training and specific coaching is the key to ensuring new skills are acquired easily and there is a natural flow of ideas and best practices that serve company strategy. If agility stays on PowerPoint slides and doesn’t go further than discussions, then it’s likely to remain a meaningless buzzword, but once the results of agile practices involving balanced approaches are measurable then a company can say that ‘agility truly contributes to our success and we can show you how’.
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Corporate Wearables: The Difference Between Success And Failure Charlie Sammonds | Assistant Editor
BRANDS HAVE LONG OBSESSED OVER THE NOTION OF ‘CREATING A MOMENT.’ However vaguely defined the concept is, it essentially involves creating memorable events, occasions, and interactions for the customer - for simply exchanging goods or services is no longer enough in a hypercompetitive digital-first economy. User experience and custovmer engagement are the holy grail, and both can be achieved either in-store or digitally.
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So, onto this backdrop of neardesperate corporate engagement, enter wearables. Wearables have a future in fitness, in healthcare, in sports, and in the luxury market it’s just unclear at this point which industry will embrace the tech most effectively.
User experience and customer engagement are the holy grail, and both can be achieved either in-store or digitally One thing is for certain, though, and it’s that major brands are beginning to find ways to incorporate wearables into their wider engagement strategies, with varying degrees of success. A warm piece by Cliff Kuang, writing in Wired, explores the quite innovative use of a connected wristband at Disney’s Disney World, Orlando. The / 22
92-year-old company has managed to marry the impressive capabilities of wearables in a staggeringly connected resort with the sense of magic and wonder synonymous with its brand. The aptly named MagicBand is sent to customers well in advance of their visit, and is used to access rides, order (and pay for) food, check into the hotel, access the park-bound shuttle, and quite a lot more - essentially, the band is all you need, paperwork is made redundant. Arriving in a personalized box with the enticing message: ‘I’m yours, try me on,’ the band appeals to childlike wonder, and when you enter the park, a host will know your name after it’s been sent through to their adapted smartphones, and your food will find you courtesy of a tracker. These are the ‘moments’ that brand engagement strategies strive for. In many ways, Disney World is a perfect petri dish for wearable technology; it deals in magic for the children, and the conveniences afforded by the band
all serve to make the holiday that bit less stressful for the adults. Kuang’s piece notes how quickly the bands become invisible or, rather, how quickly users will accept issues of privacy and data collection once the benefits of the technology become clear. Disney now has information on their customers to the minute, from location and ride preference to buying habits. A resounding success. On the other end of the spectrum is McDonald’s. If Disney sells wonder, the fast food giant sells fun, most explicitly in the enduringly popular Happy Meal, a source of incredible sponsorship revenue. In the wake of damaging revelations about the nutritional content of a McDonald’s meal in the 1990s, the company has had to work tirelessly to realign its image. McDonald’s has offered more ostensibly healthy menu options, including fruit in the Happy Meal and, quite incredibly, sponsored major sporting events. It’s a realignment similar to that of Coca Cola - a clearly indulgent product
McDonald’s, like many companies, suffers from the problem of transience. Customers arrive, they leave, and, save for a full stomach, there’s very little takeaway from the whole experience. And so the ill-fated McDonald’s Step-It was born - a pedometer that looks like something from an am dram adaptation of Back to the Future 2. While encouraging children to be more active is a noble genesis, the band was withdrawn almost immediately after reports of skin irritation. The new Happy Meal toy is a cup. The wearable itself isn’t necessarily the problem, it’s the withdrawal of what was a fairly big campaign because the company was too eager to time a wearable toy with the Olympics it sponsors, which ended in a dull disaster.
These are the moments that brand engagement strategies strive for Expect to see myriad corporate iteration of wearable technology in the coming years. They’ll vary in quality, from Disney’s stroke of genius to McDonald’s misjudged pedometer - the technology is, for want of a better phrase, in its infancy. The successful offerings will be as revolutionary as Disney’s, the unsuccessful as underwhelming as McDonald’s’. Brands will realize, though, that if they don’t consider a wearable as part of their strategy, they forego the opportunity to collect previously hidden data and dramatically increase customer engagement.
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There are probably of definitions the single job of Head of Innovation and any withemployee, them dozens of perspectives What would happendozens if a company fundedfor every new product idea from no questions asked? on it should beAdobe done.did Without anythat. official credentials the Randall subject will I was asked give my personal account As how an experiment, exactly In this session,on Mark share thetosurprising discoveries of running an in innovation team in the of an innovation-hungry organisation that started on the highfor street Adobe made creating Kickbox, thecontext new innovation process that’s already becoming an industry model and has innovation. grown to employ 16,000 people overa 80 years. In red the box pastpacked year orwith so Iimagination, have learnedmoney that when comes igniting Each employee receives mysterious and ait strange to innovation culture trumps everything and there really aren’t any rules. In order to get by, I stick some guiding game with six levels. Learn why the principles behind Kickbox are so powerful, why Adobe is opentosourcing the principles and lots gutany feel. Join me forcan an honest andprinciples straightforward perspective entire process andof how organization tap these to ignite innovation.on a modern job without a Mark Randall's serial entrepreneurial career conceiving, designing and marketing innovative technology spans nearly 20 years and three successful high-tech start-ups. As Chief Strategist, VP of Creativity at Adobe, Mark Randall is focused on infusing divergent thinking at the software giant. Mark has fielded over a dozen award-winning products which combined have sold over a million units, generated over $100 million in sales and won two Emmy awards. As an innovator, Mark has a dozen U.S. patents, he’s been named to Digital Media Magazine’s “Digital Media 100 and he is one of Streaming Magazine’s “50 Most Influential People.”
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