Zane Safrit

Success rarely comes at home

I read the recent news that while our economy grew, it grew only by 1%. And that growth only came from exports due to our weak dollar.

It made me think of the phrase Go west, young man. Only now it's Go overseas, small business. Right now, that's where success lays. Not at home.

You Can Never Go Home Again. Thomas Wolfe  wrote that you can never go home again. Or maybe it's painful, if you do. Maybe I'm missing NC, my home, a bit these days. That's why a post about economic growth from exports leads me to that book and Look Homeward, Angel. Both are novels about travels and change, success and fresh eyes it brings that sees the home that was, maybe and now  will never be there again. Nor will I, you, be the same person even if the building itself remains. 

I know success for me has never come from home. Using any basis for the definition of home,  geographic or social or company or familial, my success (and happiness) has never come from home.

It's come from change, from disruption, from upheaval. The old home is torn down, destroyed. And the hard work to build the foundation for the next period of success starts again. (It's the economic version of the artist's dark night of the soul...Hey, I AM a former art major.)

Over time, I look back through coke-bottle lenses of sentimentality on the fun, the craziness, the challenges, the camaraderie of those times at that home. And I forget that...that home doesn't exist any more. I don't exist any more. I'm not the same person. Neither are the others. Neither is the situation.

And the heavy summer air of a NC afternoon...sweet with memories of naps and adventures, doesn't exist now...except for the naps, maybe.

And my success, I think ours as a nation, doesn't rest in the past. It's in the future. It's in the hard work we're doing now to build the foundation for the next period of success. And while it's inevitable we reminisce about the past, remembering it grander than it was, and it's understandable to be unsettled with the disruptions and destructions around us in our homes, those homes are gone now. We can never go home. The we that lived in 'em are gone. We're different, stronger, wiser, smarter, tougher. A little balder. We can never go home again. And we wouldn't want to, anyway. Look homeward, just don't linger. The future's where we're headed.

"The country's suffering an innovation deficit"

Companies have gone on a “hiring strike,” notes Ed McKelvey, a Goldman Sachs economist. Existing firms aren’t expanding much, and not enough new firms are starting. The country is suffering from an innovation deficit.

...American prosperity of the 20th century sprang largely from the country’s longtime lead in educational attainment, a lead that has all but vanished. Future prosperity won’t be based on saving yesterday’s high-wage jobs... It has to start with smarter, more strategic investments in education, physical infrastructure and other things that can create the high-wage jobs of tomorrow. - Dispelling Summer's Myths, by David Leonhardt of the NY Times.

We have the money to invest in education, health care and physical infrastructure...but it's spent elsewhere. We have to decide if we're going to invest in our  children, our future and create an economy that can create the high-wage jobs of tomorrow.

Milking Innovation

Milk in Innovation.

Sometimes change involves a lot of spilled milk... Solution or Mess? A Milk Jug for a Green Earth

Innovation Alphabet

A – Accountability.  That’s for everyone with everyone, including themselves, including you.

B - Business case. Do you have one? Does it include the customer?   

C - Communication, communication, communication. With everyone, within everyone.

D - Data and Discipline. Make your decisions based on data. Be disciplined in how you follow this rule. You’ll be tempted to deny your data long before you deny your faith.

Faith has its role in innovation, just as in life. But so does data. One without the other makes for a skewed reality. Discipline's key for both, faith and data-based decisions, to be successful.

E -   Evangelists. Your team will need one, someone to evangelize the mission, the vision. And that person can’t always be you.

F – Faith and Failures. Failures will be plentiful. And they’ll test your faith. Faith is needed before there’s data to support your vision. Just remember when failures happen:  Your one step closer to finding a solution. It is a cliche'. But it's one of the truest cliche's you'll ever find.

G – Generous. Be generous in praise of your team member’s efforts and accomplishments. They’ll need it. You’ll need it from them.

H – Hours. They’ll be long.

I – Insight. You’ll gather these in bucket loads, sometimes at a pace that leaves you gasping. It’s the only guaranteed form of ROI with innovation. Save them, savor them. You’ll find their use in the future.

J – Justice. There is justice in innovation. Sometimes, the timeline for its delivery is longer than we expect.

K – Knowledge. It’s The Holy Grail, really. As a group, and individually, Knowledge is what you seek. And Knowledge is what you’ll gain.  And that will make you successful.

L – Leadership. You'll be a much stronger leader from this experience. Regardless, if you're the leader or a team member, you'll be a much stronger leader at the end of the day.

M – Motivation. Find a constant source. You’ll need a constant supply. You’ll find its source changes. And sometimes, it comes from the others in the group.

N – No. It’s an important word in Innovation. No, creates focus.  But it’s the destructive step of creativity. You can’t create until you destroy.  Use wisely; use sparingly.

O – Organized.  Innovation works best when organized.

P – Power.  You'll unleash more of each person's power and drive and insights and creativity and determination. It should be a firehose. Make sure you've got it pointed in the right direction and you've got a good hold on it.

Q – Quest. You and your team are on a quest. Some of it's professional. But more than you think, it's personal. Don’t forget it. See E, F, H, and most importantly K.

R – Resources. The resources that prove the most valuable will surprise you.

S – It happens. Keep moving forward.

T – Talent. It’s important. It’s also over-rated. The “uneducated” often fail to see the Emperor’s Clothes. It's at that point, when the Emperor's found to be nekid, that's when innovation starts.

U – Unspoken. Pay close attention to the unspoken rules of communication. That’s where the real interaction and interplay occurs within each individual member and within the group. And that’s where real innovation results.

V – Values. Be true to them, personal and collective, throughout.

W – Wisdom. You’ll need it. You’ll gain it.

X – Xenophobe. Don’t be one. Embrace the different member, the different voice, the difference talent, the oddball, the outcast, the uneducated. Listen to them. Them, their questions and your ability to embrace them with acceptance and answers will yield the greatest results.

Y – YESSSSS! It's the sweet sound of success. You’ll hear that phrase rarely. Celebrate it when you do.

Z – Zero. There are zero failures. Your victories may not be recognized immediately. Those are the victories that come from self-knowledge, from mistakes made whose solutions don’t come until later, from knowledge gained where later opportunities allow them to be shared.  Those may be the greatest victories.

Note: It's a post on innovation. So...some letters have more than one entry.

The Question That Starts Innovation

Who are my customers and what value do I bring to them? - Page 18, Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want.

Urban Wind-Power's No Myth

From Sustainable Design Update comes a worth-reading profile of AeroVironment Wind Turbines.

AV developed a small, modular wind turbine system designed for installation on buildings in urban and suburban areas.

Here's where you move green energy technologies past early-adoptors and into mass-consumer appeal and widespread use. That's when we see our energy consumption continue to increase and our need for oil from any source decrease.

Top 10 Networked Nations

Bruce Nussbaum at Business Week shows a list of the Top 10 Most Networked Nations in the World.

The US is rated number 4.

Are you surprised?

I was, honestly. Given we rank 19th worldwide for our broadband penetration per capita, I was surprised to see we're rated 4th for networking as a nation.

What's your thoughts?

Being the cranky one

The man with an idea is a crank until his idea succeeds - Mark Twain. Page 153 of the Innovation Killer - How What We Know Limits What We Can Know.

Green Generates Jobs

TOKYO (AP) -- The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades,...The report by the Paris-based International Energy (OOTC:ILGL) Agency envisions a "energy revolution" that would greatly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth. -Study Calls For Energy Revolution, NY Times.

$45 trillion investment in new technologies creates a lot of jobs. So, the next time someone says improving gas mileage or lowering sulfur content in coal or scrubbing the stacks of power plants threatens our competitive standing...just remind them all those solutions generate jobs, as well as a cleaner environment and that makes a healthier environment and that makes for healthier communities and employees and that makes for brighter, smarter, engaged employees to drive solutions for your business.

Why Science Matters

I'm an art major. And this, I get:

In reality, science is a language of hope and inspiration, providing discoveries that fire the imagination and instill a sense of connection to our lives and our world.

Like a life without music, art or literature, a life without science is bereft of something that gives experience a rich and otherwise inaccessible dimension.

Science is the greatest of all adventure stories, one that’s been unfolding for thousands of years as we have sought to understand ourselves and our surroundings. Science needs to be taught to the young and communicated to the mature in a manner that captures this drama.  Put a Little Science in Your Life, op-ed guest column by Brian Greene.

I'm half-way through Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos. It's slow reading for an art major. I gasp every page or two when I begin to understand some of these adventures Prof. Greene lays out so clearly, even for a layman (non-practicing) artist.