At a recent Frog Intrapreneur Breakfast for Auckland’s top business leaders, the merits of ‘shaking up the existing order’ in the workplace were explored.
“Disruption in the workplace can be a gateway to innovation,” explains Frog Director, Jane Kennelly. “It’s about redefining our thinking, our ideas, our work, our careers and our mind-sets, discarding old business clichés and remaking the market landscape,”
“By bringing together Auckland’s top leadership talent, we aim to challenge the status quo, cast off preconceived ideas and share proactive thinking on ‘disruption’ as a means of promoting innovation, effectiveness and success,” continues Ms. Kennelly.
The event addressed key questions, including;‘Do we need to panic?’, ‘What breakthrough disruptions are reshaping the world of work?’, ‘How does a company faced with a disruptive threat manage it?’, and ‘What is the impact on the way we work?’
The breakfast meeting, was sponsored by the AUT Business School, and guests heard from thought-provoking business leaders, including James Hurman, Founder & Principal @ Previously Unavailable and Samuel Williams, Managing Partner @ Aamplify.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
SPEAKER: PROFESSOR GEOFF PERRY, PRO-VICE CHANCELLOR AND DEAN, FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND LAW @ AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
- Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neShgTczCM0 on digital disruption. Examples include the disruption of Weight Watchers, a company that’s been around for decades but in just four years a small eight person company created the ‘digitally disruptive’ Lose It app and ‘sucked’ 13 million customers away from Weight Watchers.
- Digital disruption is bigger, stronger, faster – 100 times the power of old disruption because more people have easy access to digital tools to bring more ideas to market for the fraction of the cost.
- Is your company an ostrich, fighter, or a pioneer?
- Disrupt or be disrupted
- Disruption is fresh thinking and innovation; it’s not negative.
- What areas are ripe for disruption (and should your firm panic?)? Look out if you offer complex experiences eg Telcos; where trust has been broken eg banks; you’re a redundant intermediary; or your access is limited (eg through location).
SPEAKER: JAMES HURMAN – FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL @ PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE
James’ background is in advertising as a strategic planner, followed by leading strategy at Colenso BBDO and finally becoming MD of Y&R NZ.
- Disruption is not about being able to make a shitty product
- Remember the ‘crazy ones’ ad from Apple in 1997? And today the misfits and rebels still have a hard time fitting in; we are a long way from a creative culture. Corporates are lagging behind ad agencies and creative industries for encouraging creatives (and corporates desperately need creative in these disruptive times).
- Creatives hate ‘talking’ they prefer ‘making’ – and that’s why creatives have portfolios, not a list of job titles – the tangible results are important to them.
SPEAKER: SAMUEL WILLIAMS – MANAGING PARTNER @ AAMPLIFY
Describing himself as a ‘brand-entrepreneur’, Sam is fascinated by stories and their place in communicating business value, especially in the digital age.
- 30 million questions searched on Google have never been asked before
- One minute of video equals 1.8 million words. (The power of video!)
- 30 percent of NZers watch YouTube every day.
- All this means we can ingest ideas faster than ever before
And it also means we can measure curiosity; and we can measure connections thanks to social networks.
-By 2015 the majority of workforce will be in their 20s. They are the influencers; we’ll be employing and servicing them.
– Change is rapid. Eg Tinder is only 15 months old and has made 500 million matches.
– Looking forward there is the Internet of Everything (watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijdRvxfjvU) and cognitive/contextual computing eg IBM’s Watson.
– Changing the world is; 3d printing, driverless cars and display technology.
– The balance power of shifting – younger generations are used to change. Life is forever blurred.
– Design products/services based on social wisdom – listen to the 20 year olds! Technology should humanise interaction.
– Excellent case study Burberry; it was becoming irrelevant and now they’ve blurred the line between physical and digital. Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hVPjmM9iM4
