innovation playground Idris Mootee

Design Thinking And Creating Social Capital. Here's An Example From Tampiquito, Mexico.

Creativity happens everywhere. Not only in design firms or creative agencies. And you can easily find the results of creativity all around you; you don’t need to seek out a gallery. People think creativity only happens in art schools and innovation don't usually happens only in a lab. Design Thinking and Strategic Creaitivty is all around us and funny enough many don't it Design Thinking. In fact, they happen more often than in a design environment. Design is not Design Thinking.

Creativity is everywhere and you need the eyes to see them. One example is PARK(ing) Day, an annual, worldwide event that invites citizens everywhere to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good. The beauty of these guerrilla installations is in their ability to engage and energize people. If all advertisers take 5% of their ad budget and use it for street installations, I think it would be a very valuable addition to their media mix. Imagine using this space for activation in creating social capital?

Meet Luis Alvarez who is an engineer by training and owns and runs a car repair shop, Autocity, in Tampiquito, Mexico. Luis also run an art gallery and an Artist-in-Residence program that aims to engage young local and international artists in projects for the development of the neighborhood’s social capital. Both the Gallery and Art Studio are located within his auto repair shop. Yes, people create art to the sounds of auto equipment and mechanics shouting, the entire process blends into a performance all its own.

It is a first for sure. And It brings me to the question, why doesn’t this happen in other spaces? In other places of business? What about shopping malls? This is one of the most creative ideas I’ve come across this year and I think Luis’ idea has legs. So far, two Artists-in-Residence projects have started up in Tampiquito. In 2009, the urban artist Eltono came to Tampiquito, stayed for two months, and painted the facades of about 50 houses in the neighborhood.

In 2010, Luis and his friends, El Narval, invited the Colombian sculptor Ana J. Haugwitz to join them. She also stayed for two months and worked together with the neighborhood’s craftsmen. The result was a collection of nine works of art, which were exhibited publicly in the neighborhood. Each work of art reflected the young artist’s collaboration with the talent she found in the workshops. I think art itself needs innovation more than anything else. It should get out of the studio and galleries and be part of our everyday lives. We can use a few more Luis in every neighborhood.

We Have Proved Once Again That Brand Marketing Can Drive Social Change, Further Customer Engagment And Build Brands. And Won A Gold Award For Best Financial Service Marketing.

Aviva Canada just announced winners to Aviva Community Fund with half a million dollars payout to programs across the country. This is the second year of a very successful campaign created to use brand to drive social change. The Aviva Community Fund, a unique competition designed to lead, empower and support positive change in communities across the country, was first launched in 09 when we presented the idea to the client.

The idea is an open source idea platform for people to submit and decide how to use the money to drive real social change and provide positive impact to their communities. We are grateful to our client's team who worked with us side by side and our design and development team working day and night to accommodate the evolving needs of the program. This is year two and we won a gold award for this campaign. Great work team!

The sustainable impact of the idea or campaign is another proof to show that the world has changed so much since the early days of advertising. The events of the last decade and the Internet has made us aware of the challenges around us.

Advertising has always been the primary mechanism to create awareness and build brand equity, but it is not a question of which 50% of the money is wasted, it is a question of why 80% of the money spent is not building brand equity and merely creating awarness?

Our research shows that 79% of consumers are willing to change the brands they buy or if they believe their actions contribute to making our world a better place, and over 67% would help a brand “promote” (by using Facebook or other social media) if a good cause were behind it and is credible. Also, 73% of consumers (under the age of 35) said it is their mission to contribute to a better society and environment.

Among all respondents, “helping others and contributing to their communities” was cited as the second-most important source of personal contentment, after “spending quality time with loved ones.” Over 54% respondents are not fully convinced that corporate social responsibility advertising is credible when they cannot associate that with real action. The power of PR is diminishing when the program is not designed to engage consumers. This study was part of our ongoing research to look at how social causes can help brands which are low involvement in nature to drive engagement.

One interesting take away point, 67% of consumers are comfortable with the idea that brands can support good causes and improve our societies and make money at the same time. When is Wall Street ready to factor in a second or third bottom line into their valuation of companies? It is time.

You Can Criticize South Koreans For The Lack Of Creativity, But You Cannot Criticize Their Hospitality. I Think They Beat The Japanese.

Seoul is really a surprisingly friendly place. It was a surprise even for me as I am so used to different hospitable culture. Despite the city is a little too much concrete and dull, the younger generations of Koreans are bringing life to the city. They are different from the Shinsedae (means new generation in Korea in the 80s) who are now older, the current generation of young people is technologically savvy, heavily immersed in consumption both material and cultural and they are the first generation who have the opportunity to travel abroad for visit or study with the liberalization of overseas travel and the advent of an era of information and communications. Funny after the first day of meeting till 7pm started right when I arrived the afternoon, my Korean friends conmplained the next day they were tired and I worked them too hard. Funny coming from a Korean.

I think the Korean hospitality is worth a mention, here are my three stories happened the last few days. Despite the language barrier, people went all the way to help me as a foreigner. There is something about Korean hospitality that is little known.

I was looking for the location of University of Seoul and I went into a tailor shop to ask for direction, he didn’t understand what I was saying so he bought me to another tailor shop (custom made suit) and the guy called another person to the store. After 5 minutes of Korean conversation (no idea what they were saying), he picked up the phone and then there was a male voice speaking English on the other side. I told him where I was going and next thing was, the tailor shop owner closed the shop and walked 30 minutes to show me where the school is. I felt bad he actually had to walk that far to show me the place. He was probably around 45, and didn’t speak a word of English.

Then the next day I was looking for this tiny place that I was supposed to meet my friends after they’re done with the G20, no taxi driver can find it even with detail address. I stopped and asked 2 young guys on the street, they pulled out their iPhones and then looked it up for me, didn’t get it as I might not have the English spelling of the street right, then he stopped another two girls on the street, in 5 minutes I have 4 people searching on their iPhones to help me to locate the place. Not sure you will get the same service in a 5 stars hotel in the US or Europe. So when you travel to Seoul, there is no need to bring a map. These young people can communicate in English and all equipped with smart phones to help. Anything you need they have a widget for it.

Yesterday, The third one is I was having a quick lunch in a small Italian place before rushing to a meeting, there was a song playing in the restaurant that I really like. So I asked the waiter who’s the singer. Two minutes later the chef came out and turned on an app in his iPhone, he said it listened and then searched for the artist name. Didn’t work for the first time, then he bought out another person with the same app and tried again near the speakers, it worked this time. The hospitality is not trained, it is truly authentic. He is not a hotel concierge he is the chef.

I feel there is no distance between them and me even there is a language barrier. I have never experienced that level of authentic and sincere hospitality. And yes, they even give out free hugs. I didn't experience thta as I was in a rush, next time. Also, I'd prefer to have a few girls to chose from. This is no Thailand or Japan where everyone is polite and smiles at you. They did that because you’re a tourist or a customer or because they were taught to be polite, this is not the case. The only disappointment is taxi drivers usually don’t speak any English and don’t know the city well. In London, they know the city inside out, but not here. I don’t know why Samsung or LG can easily solve this problem, a voice based language translator in every taxi. Type in the text on your mobile phone and it will be translated and broadcasted to the taxi’s radio.

But in generally, there is still a deep-rooted conservatism in the Korean culture, even for the young people. The government is doing everything they can to encourage creativity and entrepreneurialism, with some success, but still a long way to go.

When Obama praised the Korean education system came as a surprise to many South Koreans at that time as the country's education system has been under intensed public criticism due to its lack of creativity and heavy dependence on private tutoring. In fact, very common among Asia. Keep in mind that Western social and political values such as democracy, individualism, the equality of the sexes, and national self-determination were only introduced by late 19th century Korean reformers and foreign missionaries, who made profound, affect upon the development of Korean education and cultural values. These concepts have played an increasingly prominent role in South Korean life the last few decades. Have talked to more a half dozen of local design professionals to get a sense of their views on design and art and the changing Korean culture, that’s a next post. Need to catch my flight.

Now Everyone From Samsung to Nokia and LG Is In A Perpetual Competitive Race To Get The Next Gadget Out In The Market. It Is Becoming Crazy.

My last stop before heading home is Seoul, a few more meetings and I am ready to head back. Only today I managed to take a few hours off and visited some art galleries. Korea is really trying to become a key player in the world of design, so much goverment money is pouring into supporting the industries.  The emphasis on design is very much focused on industrial, brand and graphics and not a higher leve of design thinking and applications. They are at least 5-7 years ahead of China and Taiwan. They should be starting from understanding that the design is not only part of industrial/economic policy but a strategic capability to affect all areas of industries and national competitiveness.

For those of you that are gadgets lover, we’re stuck with a constant upgrade cycles and every 6 or 9 months we ask ourselves the question: Do we the new iPhone 5 or iPlate or iGlasses or the new Blackberry Torch or Thunder or Storm? The strive to do more with gadgets and inventing new features and functions and even applications are making our life easier, but not most of the time. These companies are, and will forever be, in a perpetual competitive race to release the next gadget, phone or software that will revolutionize (and complicate) our lives.

Retailers, consumers and carriers are all stuck in between their wars in this age of technology. Nowadays, technology is evolving at such a rapid pace that causing many companies to win fast and lose fast. The game of business is now like currencies trading and highly leveraged. There are no signs of any slowing down. I think at some point it will hurt PC and netbooks will be obsolete. Chocolate Agency (China) will be introducing the futuristic mobile phone that is green and beautiful. Samsung, Nokia and LG phones will intensify the innovation battle, Motorola is trying for a comeback.

Everything here is all touch; everyone I’ve seen the last two week in Japan and Korea is using some touch phones. Samsung launched a full-touch cell phone "Nori" designed for women. The product's name Nori is from the pronunciation of a Korean word, which means play. Typically Asian style, the exterior of the phone reminds you of a cute toy. You can put character stickers on both front and back of the phone, and 3D motion photo function enables you to convert 2D pictures to stereo ones.

And LG launched the first full-touch cell phone "XOXO" with the highest resolution for female consumers that featuring a collaboration with the fashion brand "Lovcat". A heart which is the Lovcat's symbol is printed on the case. It is the attempt to position the phone as more of a designer bag. Very Asian idea but will work here.

And then there are other addons one such as the ZTE Peel available for $80. The Peel is a custom-developed case for Apple's iPod Touch that adds 3G radio capabilities to the Touch, but no voice services. The Peel connects to 3G data network and creates a Wi-Fi mobile hotspot, allowing the iPod Touch and one other device to access the Internet via Wi-Fi. No contract is required. It is compatible with Windows and Apple computers, and offers up to 3 hours of battery life. Want to see one that adds Voice capability to iPad.

Japan's Structural Barriers To Innovation Is Hurting Them. Korea And China Are Just Around The Corner Ready To Take Over.

It is nice to be back in Japan this week although I am just here for 3 days and off to Seoul. Went to this restaurant in Subuya,impressive design where the kitchen is raised and opened like a theater and the manager is the conductor. Although he looks more like a headmaster standing on a podium. I wish the chefs can come out and sing a tune or two once 30 minutes.

I used to spend a lot of time in Tokyo 15 years back and it was probably the most innovative city in the world for a long time. Is this still the case? I don’t think so. Many ask me the question why is Japan so innovative and at the same time so conservative? Obviously many top Japanese companies are struggling with the speed of change outside Japan as well as the switch to software-based competition. As a gadget geek, Japan was a paradise I don’t find much excitement these days when I walk the streets of Akihabara, I feel they are now years behind the curve. May be because I am ahead of the curve or my expectations need to be managed.

Here I define innovation as "the application of knowledge in a novel way, primarily for economic benefit," Japan, Switzerland, the United States and Sweden used to the top, I think Korea and China is quickly moving up on the list. Japan as a resource-poor economy has long taken an 'innovate or die' approach, but the legacies is hurting them. China is not the second largest investment in research second only to the US, and Europe is still in a catch-up.

Things are doing wll here. At least this chain of used goods department store are growing. This is the first in the world I think. Why Japan struggles with innovation? It is not the lack of technical expertise, hard work or creativity.

First, there is the curse of large domestic market and combine with intense local competition, the executives of these large Japanese companies cannot afford the distraction. Second, many of the mental models of design in Japan do not transfer to overseas, it is basically exporting the Japanese behavior and hopefully it will be picked up elsewhere. And third, the obsession with quality has prevented many Japanese companies to successfully compete time-based. Plus the country’s working population is shrinking daily and has the oldest population on record. The people are living comfortable but not as rich as they were in the 1980s and domestic consumption was once the lifeblood of the Japanese economy. Manufacturing (hardware) is moving overseas to China, Thailand and Malaysia and the components are from everywhere. The high value work are the concept development and interface/software design, US is still the leader. South Korea has usurped Japan's seat as the leading consumer electronics maker or on its way.  I think all Japanese consumer electronics giants need to seriously rethink their long term strategy, reimagine their future, restructure and reset.

Maison Moschino Milano - Il Mio Tipo Di Hotel! The Boutique Hotel Craps From Big Chains Are Bascially 4 Stars Fast Food.

Boutique hotel is my thing, it is not about being cool or be seen, I’ve passed that stage and it is not about the brand. Do I care if it is W or X or Y? I am sick of staying at the Sheraton or Marriot of the world, it is not only depressing, it reminds me that I am another those global travelers without a life. Although that’s not quite the case. I travel around the world for a reason, a good one. It is my job. And I am a byproduct of globalization. With a handful of passports, hotel loyalty cards and Facebook contacts (used to be Roladex), I am at home anywhere in the world.

I like boutique hotels because it reminds me that life can be special, there is more to it. It is about reflecting individual’s style, it is about efficiencies and it is about design. For me, I have a handful of favorites but ACE is on my top ten lists, Morgan’s is nice. I am definitely add Moschino Milano to the list. And that’s where I am staying this week. Maison Moschino is located in the old neoclassical railway station on Viale Monte Grappa. The four (or five?)story building has 54 and a few suites each with its own unique look. Rossella Jardini and the Moschino creatives designed the space themselves with whimsical fairy-tale rooms like the petal bedroom shown at right. I think there are 16 styles of rooms (vs. one in Sheraton or Marriot) My favorite is the box room.

The next one for me to check out will be the Christian Lacroix hotel. I love the flouncy and bright fashion style, the Hotel du Petit Moulin is in the Marais district of Paris. Lacroix has decorated each of the boutique hotel's 17 rooms . differently mixing various time periods and styles in riotous combination. Toile on one wall, a space mural on the next, a lipstick red bathroom and liberal use of color is cool. It is the opposite of the minimalist style which I still like.

And for London, I don’t stay in hotel there (since I usually stay with family) so no luck to taste the best in boutique hotels. The one that I really want to try is 40 winks. It is a great idea by interior designer David Carter. It is a great place for magazine photograhy. Carter is now offering his two spare bedrooms to paying guests on a B&B basis. Yes two rooms and no TVs. Carter is also happy to arrange visits from beauty therapists and reflexologists for those in need. If I am living in London, that’s probably what I would do two, rent out two rooms and one is D-school room and the other is you-know-what, B-school room. The dining room is where D-school meets B-school. I can arrange visits from organizational psychologists and behavioral economists for those in need.

Honestly, I have enough of the boutique craps from the big chains, they are still better than their main stream brands. Those are killing the minute I walk into a lobby. They are like 3 stars fast food chain that offers a bed too. Another big problems are the fact that all hotels seem identical, few incorporating local features or better to say local flavors.

Sustainability: What's Is The Right Thing To Do? Transformable Space Or Minimalist Living? Is It About Consuming Less?

I am at a stage when I really have too much stuff. My house is full of furniture from Philippe Starck’s Costes chairs to Le Corbusier lounge chairs to Barcelona day bed and Eileen Grey stuff….  and then there are a collection of French country and New England styles Ralph Lauren furniture in the basement. These are stuff I accumulated from my days in LA, HK, Boston, London and Milan.  Now I don’t know what to do with them. My basement is filled with things from art pieces to cameras; high tech gadgets to old French magazines date back to 1980s. I seriously think I need less, but I am getting more everyday. I carry an iTouch, iPad and iMac to work, plus my Leica, solar charger, Blackberries and portable GPS and all chargers and cables. My life is dependent on all those things.

When Graham Hill (founder of Treehugger) tells everyone that less is more, he has a good reason. He is now inviting people to submit design ideas to Life Edited, a design competition for a 420 square feet apartment that embodies this philosophy and demonstrates how we can "radically reduce our urban footprint, while living better and saving money."  I am sure people who live in Tokyo have plenty of proven ideas for this. You don’t need to have a competition, just fly to Tokyo and check out those tiny apartments. I am heading to Tokyo in two weeks.

Life Editor’s idea is to get people to think about transformable space furnished only with the essentials and digitized media. The idea is to own less. Now we have plenty to learn from Buddhism philosophy. The Heart Sutra espouses the doctrine of “emptiness.” One of its famous lines teaches  “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” Design schools should design a new elective called 'Buddhism and Design.' I like that idea. I will teach that.

Don’t misunderstand that emptiness here in a nihilistic, nothing-exists sense. Rather, it means that nothing is absolute—everything is relative and impermanent, and everythng in a constant state of change. Therefore, there is no point in becoming irrationally attached to things. Don’t get upset if you can’t get your hands on the latest Louis Vuitton limited edition bag. I feel that embracing “emptiness,” rather than clinging to the material aspects of existence, opens us to a more direct, genuine, and fulfilling experience of life.

Graham is using his own 420 sf apartment as a reference for what the space ought to include living space, a home office, a work area with a rolling tool chest, and a retractable kitchen.

Is it less? In a paper recently published in the prestigious Journal of Economic Perspectives, Paul Ehrlich joined a group of nearly a dozen of the world’s most ambitious ecologists and economists to try to put some hard numbers behind sustainability. They boldly entitled the paper “Are We Consuming Too Much?” I suggest you get a copy of that.

The authors suggested the problem is not consuming too much. It’s that they’re consuming far too little. Think Africa. Consumption is obviously inadequate when people are dying of malnutrition. But insufficient investment also means that the next generation of Africans will have less than this generation, and the generation after that still less. This is a death spiral of declining consumption and investment, two keys to well being and sustainability.

But what about us? The answer Ehrlich and his colleagues came up is a surprise to many.  It turns out that even we with our Priuses and SUVs and venti lattés might not be consuming too much, as long as we are investing enough in the future to ensure that generations to come enjoy standards of living at least as high as ours. And that suggests that we might be worrying way too much about how much we consume and far too little about how to invest in the poorest regions of the world, many of which are home to some of the earth’s greatest biodiversity as well as its most desperate people. I definitely buy the idea, investing in biodiversity is the most important step to secure our future.

Don't Waste This Crisis. It Is The Best Time For A 'Reset'. Sometimes It Takes A Life Shake Up To Put Us Back On The Paths We Need To Be On.

There were tours visiting our office last week, people were curious about what we do and what kind of people we hire. It is an interesting question. I guess our job is to help large companies go through mid-life crisis.

Crisis is a popular word these days and it seems like there are no shortages of them. We use the term in today's economic, humanitarian, political and environmental climate. The word is much associated with extreme negative 'tests' of our human abilities or survival as a species. This is also a test on our intelligence and also a test of humanities and to what extend it exists.

How do we get out of this crisis and what can we learn from them? How many of our crisis are man made? How many of them are systemic? How many of them are truly avoidable? I think this is the big midlife crisis of capitalism and even humanity. Wherever a crisis occurs there are creative successes resulting from adversity and that’s not what you see when you’re in the middle of it.

Crisis creativity a fundamentally part of our human characteristics. War is no question the worst type of man-made crisis and lot innovations were attributed to war ironically.  Here are some examples: The very first chemotherapy drug was developed from mustard gas, which ironically was the first weapon of mass destruction. Binging hospital equipment to soldiers in the South African conflict medicalized field dressings and X-rays were used, although initially the machines were large and cumbersome and could only be used in hospitals. During the First World War blood transfusions were performed in the battlefield, and saline transfusions for fluid loss were also used. Some branches of medicine, such as orthopedics, plastic surgery and rehabilitation, mainly benefited from the large number of war casualties and lessons learned under these conditions were applied to medical treatment for civilians.

So what crisis creativity can we get from the current midlife crisis of capitalism? Before we can delve right into how to cope with a midlife crisis we have to understand what it is. It is time when you realize your youth has passed by and it creates tremendous feelings of self-doubt. These feelings can lead to depression or worse self-destruction. 

It is exactly what’s happening in the word of business and management. The idea of profit maximization at any cost is creating an imbalance and the many theories of management have proven itself to be flawed. A lot of retrospection and reflection needs to happen here.... assessing one's goals and seeing how far one has come. Many start anew when they are in their mid-40s, the quintessential “mid-life crisis” is really just another manifestation of the search for self and transformation, whether it is for an organization or individual oreven ideology.

What a person needs to do most when he or she is going through a crisis is gain control of his or her own life. Obviously when crisis occurs there is some external force we can't control causing us great stress. Great stress creates great emotion. Double Whammy! For a person going through a mid-life crisis, he or she needs to do is to make change and commit to it. This is the point where it would be wise to actually map out your life. The same thing for business, there is no better time to map out the future of your business, bring in a new sense of purpose and energy to power up the organization.

Rethink about the past; reimagine the future and preparing for a big reset for it. Don’t waste this crisis, get something out from it. Crisis can create opportunity for change. Sometimes it takes a life shake up to put us back on the paths we need to be on.

Interaction Design Has An Important Role To Play In Our Future, It Has The Power To Transform Cultures.

There is two articles on IC today, one on Inc. magazine and the other in Globe and Mail. We're getting some good press coverage and we need to continue to make our story heard. In the meantime, we continue onto my journey of building global capabilities. Interaction design (IxD) will be a core focus, and I don't mean just web or mobile interactions. IxD will be one of the most important strategic capability for companies to build meaningful engagement and sustainable differentiation as part of their enterprise level experience strategy.

How would interaction design change in the next 10 years? It is a relatively new area of practice, beyond traditional GUI design or web interface design. Interaction design go beyond just the clicks and links and is becoming an indispensable aspect business design, product design and service design. Interaction design is traditionally define as the study of devices with which a user can interact, in particular computer users or screen related. The practice typically centers on "embedding information technology into the ambient social complexities of the physical world. I think the word 'device' will eventually become irrelevant. I think IxD is about to take on a larger mission -- empowering communities and transforming cultures.

Here's my point of view, traditional industrial design focuses on a product’s form and function, but interaction design requires very different perspectives and approaches for increasingly complex business and design problems. Think media industry, it is transforming itself from a traditional broadcast medium to an interactive one and this change will accelerate faster and faster extending their ubiquity and interactivity to devices, objects and spaces. Rapid technological development is introducing new types of functionality, for example to sense, feel, control, monitor, connect, search, respond and transact for different types of applications.

I am talking about the circle of influence with interaction design. How does interaction design transforms culture; it begins when a small networks of people simply start sharing ideas, feelings, hopes and frustrations etc. and that is when culture emerges. Their behavioral patterns, mindsets, emotional responses as well as aesthetics, rules, norms, and values that are being shared influence culture and as a result produce certain artifacts.

These 'virtual artifacts', through people’s interacting with them, influence cultures and facilitate emergence of new culture. Interactions then become transformative social mechanisms whereby these ‘virtual artifacts’ are made accessible or shareable through networks of communities further facilitating more connecting and sensing, their creations are further linked to specific interactional, locational, cultural and economic context.

The ‘virtuality of our everyday life’ as a result of the interactions powers up new creation and distribution of culture never before in the modern history of mankind. This is where the real disruption is for marketers and media producers. It is hard to distinguish one’s role at the complex juncture of creation/production and consumption in our everyday activities. Interactions of our everyday life take on new meanings. Interaction designer have bigger jobs to do.

My favorite French philosopher Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) gave us the tools to understand the media society and counteract the total assimilation into capitalist overproduction. Truls Lie finds a previously unpublished interview he made when Baudrillard visited Oslo in 2000. "Disappearing", says Baudrillard, "should be an art form, a seductive way of leaving the world. I believe that part of disappearing is to disappear before you run dry...." An idea for all interaction designers, make sure you include a 'disappear' function in all your designs.

"Corporate Repsonsibility Is An Illusion?" According To Prof Karnani. What Is He Thinking?

This is an argument that will not go away anytime soon. I have had heated debate in our b-school days way back.The question goes back to the core of the modern corporation. What role does business plays in creating value in societies? Or the question should be more about the ‘how’? Among B-schools there are many different point of views on what is a modern corporation.

CSR is becoming a buzzword much as social media. There are many real experts and many wannabes. Why the rush now? Well, the answer is simple, with all those money thrown into advertising whether targeted at institutional or retail investors in WSJ or general public adverting on cable TV, they are almost a total waste of money. Net net, people don’t trust large corporations. Period. This is not even a question of brand value or equity, it is simply difficult for companies to communicate anything—without the trust. Not to mention asking for a price premium.

So how have some companies joined the socially responsible bandwagon? We first launched the Aviva Change Fund 2 years ago with stellar success, followed by Pepsi launching of its Refresh Project. There are many campaigns out there these days and now everyone wants to be like Petagonia. Marriot utilized giving a washer basket from World of Good – a social enterprise helping overseas artisans create more sustainable lives. Liberty Mutual’s campaign with the theme/slogan 'Responsibility'. You have probably seen some of the television spots depicting everyday Americans confronted with a decision to do the “right” thing or “look the other way.” (For full disclosure, Pepsi, Liberty and Aviva are all current clients of Idea Couture).

CMOs are very enthusiastic and are convinced CSR is the answer to customer engagement. The role of CSR in marketing and branding is undeniable and its importance will grow for sure. But what about CSR in business strategy?

I remember in my business school days I had long debates about the role of business in societies. 35 years ago, Milton Friedman wrote a famous article for The NY Times Magazine with title aptly summed up its main point: “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” The future Nobel laureate in economics had no patience for capitalists who claimed that “business is not concerned ‘merely’ with profit but also with promoting desirable ‘social’ ends; that business has a ‘social conscience’ and takes seriously its responsibilities for providing employment, eliminating discrimination, avoiding pollution and whatever else may be the catchwords of the contemporary crop of reformers.”

I seemed to share the same point of view then but since then my views have changed. I am not a socialist by any definition at all, but I think what is missing is the humanitarian dimension of capitalism. I am not fully convinced that a corporation role of adding value to societies is not just maximizing profits and then perform philanthropies. The order should not be that way; it is not about making tons of money at the expense of the planet and then figure out how to put money in fixing it. This is not how it should work. They need to put people and planet not ahead of profits, but aligned with profits. I believe that the enlightened corporation and CEOS should try to create value for all of its constituencies including investors but not excluding everything else.

I admire companies that make good profits, usually those are the results of continuous innovation, operational efficiencies, strong leadership and great brands and I am not hostile to profits and shareholders. In fact, I believe in relentless pursuit of profits. But I believe good CSR is good for profits.

A recent WSJ report suggested otherwise. Aneel Karnani, a prof at the University of Michigan's Stephen M Ross School of Business, believed the idea that companies have a responsibility to act in the public interest and will profit from doing so is fundamentally flawed.

He argued that CSR is an illusion, and a potentially dangerous one. Very simply, in cases where private profits and public interests are aligned, the idea of corporate social responsibility is irrelevant: Companies that simply do everything they can to boost profits will end up increasing social welfare. In circumstances in which profits and social welfare are in direct opposition, an appeal to corporate social responsibility will almost always be ineffective, because executives are unlikely to act voluntarily in the public interest and against shareholder interests.

I think his views are very narrow and dated. The answer lies in what kind of executives we are breeding today for tomorrow. It is all about maintaining that balance. CSR is an unstoppable movement against the public outcry over corporate malfeasance (you don’t need to agree with me). CSR means building sustainable economic development, sustainable societies and sustainable consumer lifestyles, the collective mission is to rethink and rebuild an economic system that is in balance with the natural world. You can’t have two worlds. Business and the rest.There is only one world.

What Is A Social Enterprise? There Is Still A Lot Of Debate?

Social enterprise is a hot idea. Being asocial entrepreneurship these days is way cooler than being a iBanker. I think we are only seeing the beginning of a long term trend, people realize it takes a new kind of enterprise to solve the world’s problem. And NGOs are not the solutions. Getting donations and acting as administrators are not adding enough value. They need to start thinking how to create value – here comes social enterprises.

We don't have a good definition of what is considered a social enterprise. Are they in the business of making money or a new kind of “non-profit?” Or “not-just-for-profit" company with a double or triple bottom-line? What’s the percentage of profit that they should retain in order to claim or to qualify as a social enterprise?

More questions: Who should be funding them and what is an acceptable rate of return? What kind of retained profit should they keep? Should they use the money to grow the business or given them out for social good (at the expense of the future growth of the enterprise)? What kind of social value must the enterprise create to be considered “social”? Is green considered “social”? Is healthcare in developed countries “social”?

Creating a start-up is hard enough? Creating a start-up with a social mission is harder? Creating a start-up that is profitable is not easy? And worrying about generating too much profit is an additional challenge. So what is the priority of a social enterprise? Should social enterprises be pushing for more efficiencies and economies of scale the same way as corporations do today? In that case, at what point it is at the expense of social good? All these questions warrant a lot of debates, no easy answers.

Social enterprises require creativity, passion, commitment and the right combination of investments and talents. I've seen a few interesting ideas from students' competition and here is one that I like.

MaloTraders: Founded by Temple University student Mohamed Ali Niang, MaloTraders' is in the business of  processing, storing, and marketing of rice for small-scale farmers in Mali. By making local production more competitive on the international market, MaloTrade is working to alleviate poverty. Malo Traders’ social mission is to alleviate poverty, combat food insecurity, and eradicate malnutrition in Mali.

They aim to accomplish their social mission by minimizing post-harvest losses of small-scale farmers utilizing modern technology, increasing profits of harvests by creating an efficient rice value chain, and fortifying rice with micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron, zinc, and folic acid. The plan is to create the first brand of Malian rice and adhere to international export quality standards. A social brand for rice, that’s a good idea.

Innovation Needs To Expand To Include "Leadership And Management Innovation". Business Schools Need A Reset.

Here is our summer collection. Everybody like these. I guess the message is cool. I get people coming up and ask me where did I get those.  Rethinking management and leadership - one innovation that is less talked about is “Leadership and Management Innovation”, OK what does it mean?

Management practices have always circled around a narrow view of Return on Capital and that drives many of the key business decisions. Optimization of profits, financial capital and assets are an important part of executing a business strategy, but have we thought about how to innovate “leadership and management” itself. I mean new thinking around business strategy that provides additional bottom lines beyond just financial. Where money, purpose and systems are aligned.

Any CEOs who are only interested in maximizing short-term profits or trading hedge funds and companies are not the one that can steward organizations to a healthy and sustainable future. So what do we mean? Here are some examples.

There are cases of CEOs who have broken away from the norm of the “classical, narrow view of what investor accountability which is suffering from QRB (quarterly returns obsession). What they have been doing in innovating the very core of leadership and management and rethink the role of it. Here are some examples:

Founder and exCEO of Nike, Phil Knight, who responded to global protests by overhauling the company’s labor standards and then lobbied for other firms to be held to the same standards; Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, who sought to convince shareholders that legislation capping US carbon emissions is a smart business move; and Yvon Chouinard, founder and CEO of Patagonia who was the first to pledge 1% of annual sales to grassroots environmental organizations and the first major retail company to switch all its cotton clothing over to organic, the first to make fleece from recycled soda-pop bottles.

Each of these business leaders broke the rules of what their own organizations would have considered the right thing to do, and is not only profits, profits and profits. Leadership requires building a culture of “Integrity”, creating a brand with “Authenticity”, reinforcing purposes and values through “Communities”, encourage the organization’s decision-making style for “Transparency” and making sure key resource decisions need to consider “Sustainability” beyond just environmental.

Management needs to innovate itself the very idea of management and leadership. CEOs have larger responsibilities, not only creating a viable future for the organizations and return for shareholders; they need to be change makers of our future societies. Real change will not come from governments; it will be the multinationals that possess the power. My observation is that that the biggest constraints that business leaders facing are their “inability to value new types of “competitive advantage” and the true power of “sustainability” embedded in business strategy making.

Government and NGOs can advocate our social problems, clean water, climate change or obesity or women empowerment etc, but top business leaders are having a hard time interpreting, sense-making, translating them into business strategies, One day we wake up and realize “Sustainability has become the new Capitalism.”

On a different note, MIT Global Challenge is a wonderful idea towards solving many of our problems. In 2011 the global MIT community will be invited to celebrate the 150th anniversary of a world-changing institution. In the spirit of celebration, innovation and service, the MIT Global Challenge is launching a competition to involve the MIT community worldwide in innovative, multidisciplinary problem solving, reconnecting alumni with the spirit of invention and enterprise that pervades the Institute. Idea Couture is proud to be a partner to design and develop the platform which is an unique online space through where people can engage in an ongoing, interactive process to identify problems, propose solutions, reward the most innovative and workable ideas, and document experiences as the winning ideas are implemented in communities around the world. Our team is very excited to be on this project.

There are no shortage of global challenges. Some are really complex. For example, the inequality of the distribution of natural resources on the planet, especially of energy, gives rise to powerful structural tensions within the systems that try to resolve the problem locally with uncivilized methods. 

Another example is business as such. The obvious globalization of worldwide production all the more powerfully enters into conflict with the national character of political activity, when business in the lawless space of an international muddle acquires the forms of earlier, wild capitalism with all the terrible consequences for society and the environment. But the attempts of some public movements to stop the globalization of money flows are waste of effort: no one has the least chance of successfully resisting the laws of economic development. These are no simple challenge that simply throwing money at it can solve the problem or creating a new policy. It truly requires innovative thinking. Probably too much for the sunny weekend.

I am pleased to officially announce that Idea Couture is the proud sponsor of TED 2010 Toronto. We’re looking forward to connect with others in this exciting event. Expecting to see many cool people.

Off to the arrport to SF for a a few days. Back-to-back meetings but looking forward to meet up with old friends and colleagues.

Innovation Is Badly Needed For Non-lethal Weapons? How About The Weaponization Of Drugs And Music?

Between the G20 and World Cup, everyone is busy. The economic inconvenience to Torontonians, security costs paid by taxpayers and businesses disruption are the price we paid for 3 days of meeting. This meeting is not changing fate of the world, in fact, I don’t think there is plan, I mean a real one. The economic, environmental, social and geopolitical issues we are dealing with are unprecedented and the world has changed so much that many macro economic theories are not holding up.

The outcome of the meeting? It is a draft document that includes new wording such as "voluntary, member-specific approaches – meaning we all do our own thing for what’s best for us. Not sure why they can’t do a webex and the money can be used to solve some of our social problems, instead of talking about it. What can $1B buy? It is more considering individual country paying for their cost.

And for those peaceful protesters, I feel sorry for them for their voices not getting heard. I also feel sorry when there were thugs mixing in and all they care was breaking windows. Not sure those people know what they want. And for the police, they are dong their job. And it is hard for them to identify who is who in the crowd. May be there needs to be some innovation here.

How about a visual tagging device that can target these thugs or their leaders and use special non-lethal weapons on them? OK what non-lethal weapons? Back in early 70s, Polish writer Stanislaw Lem portrayed a future in which civil disobedience can be controlled with hypothetical mind-altering chemicals dubbed "benignimizers". Lem's fictional work opens with the scary story of a police biochemical attack on protesters. As the environment becomes saturated with hallucinogenic agents, protesters descend into chaos, overcome by delusions and feelings of complacency, self-doubt, and even love. It works better with the right music.

There is a US report currently in public domain that explored the advantages and limitations of Calmatives for non-lethal use, the report revealed a shocking Pentagon program that is researching psychopharmacological weapons. The report concluded that "the development and use of psychopharmacological weapons is achievable and desirable." The research team, which is based at the Applied Research Laboratory of Penn State University, was assessing weaponization of a number of psychiatric and anesthetic pharmaceuticals as well as "club drugs”. They can be delivered by spraying directly or through other agents.That's a real innovation, weaponization of drugs and music.

Most of the drugs under consideration are basically depressants affecting the central nervous system. Most are synthetic, some are natural. They include opiates (morphine-type drugs) and benzodiazpines, such as Valium (diazepam). Antidepressants are also of great interest to the research team, which is looking for drugs like Prozac (fluoxetine) and Zoloft (sertraline) that are faster acting. Scary thoughts but anything is better than bullets if we pick the right drugs. That’s a new adjacencies for those failed drugs that carry funny side effects to find a second life.

Here’s the funny part, the report points out that pharmaceutical candidates that fail because of excessive side-effects or unattractive side-effects... wonder what kind of scenarios if we spray people with happy drugs while playing John Lennon music loud on the streets. "All we're saying, give peace a chance"

Let Me Propose To Limit The 'Intenet Kill Switch' To Just Facebook And Twitter.

For me, the Internet is more important than the phone, television and even electricity in some cases. When the Internet is down, we can't work and suddenly we're disconnected from our world. It has become so important for many of of us these days. I can't imagine if the Internet is down for more than a few hours. 

A US Senate Bill is proposing that if there is a "cybersecurity emergency" the President should be able to "seize control of, or simply shut down, portions of the Internet," with broadband providers and search engines required to comply. It is called the 'Internet Kill Switch'. The US President could be awarded absolute power to control the Internet in the case of a nation-wide emergency. I wonder if he will be too busy for that in such a situation.

This bill is so ridiculous. This is not the same as shutting the down US air traffic during a terrorist attach, this can inflict an enormous damage on the entire world and this should not be in the hands of one country. All our systems (banks, hospitals, transportation) and societies will simply be shut down. The proposed switch is effectively a switch to shut down the world. I suggest just give the government a kill switch for just Facebook and Twitter as terrorists hate our social networks because they don't have access from the caves.

Can The BP Brand Be Saved? The Logo Is Now The Symbol Of The Worst Ecological Disaster In Decades.

This BP mess is definitely an ecological disaster as well as a brand disaster of the century and it will take us decades to see the real impact. BP has lost half of its market value and there are even considerations for shareholder lawsuits on behalf of BP investors who have lost money because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Evidence is mounting that BP's directors, officers and executives missed or ignored numerous 'red flags', which had they been addressed, may have prevented the disaster. These actions also exposed BP to criminal and tort liability, and subjected the company to adverse publicity. Years of investment in the brand equity is pretty much gone overnight.

 

The brand now becomes a liability. Greenpeace launches a crowdsource logo design contest to publicize their cause. They are inviting professional designers and amateur designers to redesign British Petroleum’s logo and are getting an amazing response. The contest was launched shortly after Greenpeace climbers scaled a balcony above BP’s London headquarters to hang a giant flag bearing a reworked BP logo. The contest will run for six weeks, ending on June 28, 2010. I've picked a few that I like here.

The winning participants besides having their winning logo used in various Greepeace campaigns, they will get a day of training on a Greenpeace speedboat (not sure what that training it is), a design Masterclass with design agency Airside, or one of 50 goody bags (curious to know what’s inside).

The BP logo was designed by Landor and is featured as a blossoming flower on BP television commercials. Up until now, the design has been lauded by designers as a good example of a logo that reflects environmental responsibility. It is a pretty nice logo, but a pretty logo can only do so much these days in the age of transparency. Wonder how the original logo designers like the derivatives or are they participating in the contest