The Dawn of Self Publishing

Self Publishing is poised to be one of the single most disruptive innovation of the decade - perhaps the century.

Leaders such as Amazon.com, Lulu.com and others are bringing everyone the ability to not only get their voices heard as authors but they are making authors more profitable as well. After doing my research, I have to believe there is more fat in the publishing business than there ever was in the personal computer business when Michael Dell turned that industry on its ear.

With the PC business, Compaq, HP and others have hung on, despite Dell's dominance. Look for self publishing to absolutely destroy the publishing houses as we know them today.

Ingles Reaches Everest Summit

It is great to report on something besides business now and then - although I'm sure our hero will end up speaking to executives on the circuit.

Mark Ingles, a double amputee, summited Mount Everest on May 16, 2006 becoming the first double amputee to do so. This is a remarkable feat for anyone, especially with his unique difficulties. However, I have to think his greatest challenge was simply not giving up, immediately after the loss of both legs.

Way to go Mark!

Buzz Aldren on Innovation

I had the distinct pleasure to meet and visit with Buzz Aldren - second man to walk on the moon, you probably recall.

He was in Austin working with us to organize the Texas Space Authority in order to attract new business and jobs to Texas around the burgeoning private (and some publically funded) space business.

He had much to say around that subject, information that I will not go into here but one statement was general enough to share with you...

"Creativity and innovationis what I think the nation needs" - Buzz Aldren, 5/11/06

MOTO, Disruptive Innovation and Design

My studies lead me to fascinating theories and case studies that often align well and often create more questions than answers.

Take MOTO, or Motorola for instance. Today, Motorola is creating significant inroads in their market with the Razr and line extensions from that product, including the Q, Slvr and the Pebl. After years of virtually no innovation (since the StarTac flip phone), Motorola was able to revive their business with revolutionary new products.

Clayton M. Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma" and co-author of "The Innovator's Solution" puts forth that there are two ways to innovate, "Sustaining Innovation" and "Disruptive Innovation". The line between the two appears fairly defined, however, for a company like Motorola and their recent wins with the previously mentioned products, it begs the question, "are Motorola's recent successes due to "Sustaining Innovation" or "Disruptive Innovation"?

Or, have his theories from the late 90's been trumped by something new altogether - Sustained Innovation with a focus on Disruptive Design?

It is fair to say that what Motorola has done falls into the "Sustaining" category. Aside from smaller, more powerful chips which follow Moore's Law - a sustaining theory - there is nothing disruptive about the technology itself.

What is disruptive is Motorola's Design Innovation. A surge in the importance of design is very evident today and it is becoming an important part of any companies strategy. Christensen asserts that companies that stumble are too focused on their customers needs and desires, too focused on their business model and a host of other reasons that keep their head down and miss important changes in the market - disruptive innovations. This is certainly true and a risk for companies, particularly the size of Motorola. However, the rules may be changing and while companies certainly should heed Christensen's warning and keep an eye on disruptive technology, it may will be more cost effective and low risk to focus effort on disruption of the existing market with sustaining innovation driven by disruptive design.

References: "The Innovator's Delimma" Clayton M. Christensen, 1997, "The Innovator's Solution" Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor, 2003, "Moto's Mojo" Chuck Salter, Fast Company, April 2006

Whole Foods Update

Today I had the distinct pleasure to meet with a small group that included John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market. The conversation was very exciting and he is clearly passionate about organizations fulfilling their obligations for the good of all. I look forward to more opportunities to visit, he seems to be a student of business and is very insightful, particularly with businesses who are making strides to become Incspirations.

Organized by Flow Idealism, the meeting was simulcast to several parts of the world and like minded entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs had a wonderful opportunity to talk with one of the visionaries of the Future Economy.