Category Archives: leading

Join the conversation at Living Climate Change

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I'm really happy to be able to point you to Living Climate Change, a conversation that we're hosting at IDEO. 

Our goal with this new site is to expand and enhance the debate about climate change, and also to show what might be done about it using design thinking.  While I didn't have a direct role in producing any of the video scenarios on the site, I did a modicum of work to support them coming to fruition (Principle 12), and I'm really happy with where we are with this rollout.

There's a lot more to come.  Believe me, there's a lot of interesting stories and visions coming to the sight over the next few months!  Most important, though, will be your contributions.  If you're interested, please take a minute to subscribe to updates from the site, and contribute your thoughts and feelings here.

More on Principle 16

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Earlier this year I wrote up a preliminary version of the sixteenth principle of innovation, Grok the gestalt of teams.  In the spirit of Principle 16, my colleague John Foster just posted a great blog post about teams, called Another kind of team.  Do give it a read.

Here are the four principles he outlines:

  1. Proactive Self Disclosure
  2. Conditional Statements
  3. Interpersonal Congruence
  4. Clarity of Purpose

It's a really good post, as you would expect from an subject expert like John!  In the spirit of Principles 4, 6 and 8, I'm going to borrow and steal more of his thinking in order to push Principle 16 to a better place.   Stay tuned for a revamped version.

As always, your comments, feedback, and ideas are not only welcome, but extremely valuable as I wade through this space.

5Q4….

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BusinessWeek has a nice series called Five Questions For… (or 5Q4) where you, the reader/audience/world citizen get to submit a question, and then someone like Helen Walters asks your very question of a luminary.  For all of us who think of calling in to a NPR talk show while driving but never do it, or who do call in to something like Car Talk, but never make it on, 5Q4 is a dream come true.

Are you getting the picture?  My question got asked.  I feel like a bouncy kid right now because Helen Walters asked Danny Meyer to answer my question.  I love the web.

Here you go, Five Answers from Danny Meyer:

And do check out 5Q4.  Lots of great interviews on there with people who make dents in the universe.

Director’s Commentary: Adrian van Hooydonk

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Metacool directors commentary hooydonk

I really enjoyed listening to this interview of Adrian van Hooydonk by Tyler Brule of Monocle.  It's a wonderful Director's Commentary, because in it van Hooydonk explores many themes that are relevant far beyond the world of BMW.  Anyone engaged in the art and science of bringing cool stuff to life will get a lot out of this video.

Some of the high points for me were:

  • his thoughtful exploration of how the 2009 financial crisis will shape user behaviors in the future
  • his thinking on what it takes to design remarkable experiences, and his emphasis on the importance of having a strong point of view.  When he says that the BMW Gran Turismo is about "traveling in style", I really get what the car is all about.  By the way, the Gran Turismo has officially replaced the Honda Ridgeline as the focus of all my automotive fetishistic energy (but Honda, if you're listening, I'd still be very happy if you delivered a Ridgeline to my house one Saturday morning.  With a bow on top).
  • his clear focus on user experience as the wellspring of compelling designs.  This worldview, of course, is what Principle 3 is all about.

My favorite part of the interview comes near the end, as Brule and Hooydonk discuss what it is like to bring designs before the board of BMW for approval.  Here's an excerpt:

Design is an emotional thing.  So, as a designer, I will lean to one or the other design in the final stages, and I can't completely explain why.  But my responsibility is to advise the board on which design we should go with, and they don't even expect from me that I can explain it to the last millimeter.  In a way, there has to be trust between a board of management and the chief designer.

I could not agree more.  In my experience, trust in the informed intuition of talented designers is what separates the great brands from the also-rans.  Informed intuition is what allows designers to make good decisions regarding intangibles.  In the absence of trust in informed intuition, organizations are tempted to decode intangibles via metrics, surveys and other algorithmic devices, and all the poetry gets trampled.

Could trust be the killer app?

Maira Kalman on the American Message

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As far as this art and science of bringing cool stuff to life thing goes, Maira Kalman really nailed it in today's NYT.  You have to see it all.  It's the triple distillation of pure awesomeness.  Here's a quote:

Everything is invented.
Language.  Childhood.  Careers.
Relationships.  Religion.
Philosophy.  The future.
They are not there for the plucking.
They don't exist in some
natural state.
They must be invented by people.
And that, of course, is a great thing.
Don't mope in your room.
Go invent something.
That is the American Message.
Electricity.  Flight.  The telephone.
Television.  Computers.  Walking on
the moon.  It never stops.

I simply love what she's created here and am totally inspired.  Many thanks to my friend (and great innovator) John Lilly for pointing me to this.

Have a great week, everyone.  Go make a dent in the universe.

And no moping!  Always ask yourself, "What would Travis do?"  Just do it, that's what.  JFCI!

metacool Thought of the Day

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"The next time you see somebody driving a Ferrari, don't think this is somebody who is greedy, think this is somebody who is incredibly vulnerable and in need of love.  In other words, feel sympathy, rather than contempt."
– Alain de Botton

Leading from behind

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BusinessWeek just ran a good article about Mozilla's development process for Firefox.  As readers of metacool know, I'm a big fan of Mozilla, and look to them as a living example of many of the organizational trends that will become more widespread over the coming years.

I particularly like the idea of "leading from behind" mentioned in the article:

How Mozilla channels those efforts is a model for a growing number of
companies trying to tap into the collective talents of large pools of
software developers and other enthusiasts of a product, brand, or idea.
"There's structure in it," says Mike Beltzner, who runs Firefox. "But
at the same time you allow people to innovate and to explore and [give
them] the freedom to do what they want along those edges—that's where
innovation tends to happen in startling and unexpected ways."

At Firefox, Beltzer calls it "leading from behind." His team makes
only the highest, direction-setting decisions, such as the date each
new version of Firefox has to ship. It's up to Mozilla staff and
volunteers to meet those deadlines through a process of identifying
specific tasks that need to be done and accomplishing them. A system of
recognition has formed among volunteers, who can be designated as
"module owners" and given authority over certain areas, such as the
layout.

Mozilla is a wonderful example of Principle 12 in action.