We live in a world of exponential growth in connectivity. Regardless of time zone, whether you’re in New York or Calcutta, we all share the same 1440 minutes from midnight to midnight.

In this world, the way we build brands has fundamentally changed.

Brand building today requires more of us than curating and managing. It has expanded its remit and is now the main driver of value through new digital business models. You need to think about it in a more comprehensive way, and consider how you leverage that connectivity. Your focus has to be on more than just creating a better experience. You need to build a better business.

So, how do you evolve your brand messaging, programs, and your brand management in our hyperconnected world?

Beyond a World of Walls

The old branding model was a world of walls. You thought of your brand within a particular category. You were an automotive company, an electricity company, an insurance company, a banking company.

In the world of walls, brand was basically one function along a chain of value creation, from designing, making, selling, and then ultimately proposing it to the consumer. It was driven by competing against others to win. How do I create a perception that we are better, more relevant, or more distinctive than anybody else? How do I create more shareholder value than the competition?

When you think about branding in the world of walls, you think about the relevant differentiation of essentially identical or very similar products. Brands competed to shape consumers’ perception on the basis of attributes.

Take Mercedes, BMW, and Audi for example. These companies are all OEMs – original equipment manufacturers – combining very similar parts, such as tyres or electronics. Branding created differentiation. Audi has technology that makes you feel smart. Mercedes expresses a sense of luxury, class, and exclusivity that makes you feel successful. BMW positions itself as the ultimate driving experience.

In a linear model, every function – R&D, design, manufacturing, quality, manufacturing, marketing, sales – added a little piece of value. And, because BMW did this so well, we were willing to pay a premium for a car because of its perceived value.

It used to be understood that the more advertising you bought, and the more product you distributed, the more you sold. In this model, the objective of a car company was to sell product to a dealer. Once the car was on the dealer’s lot, the car company’s role was over. In turn, the dealer was primarily interested in shifting inventory by whatever means necessary. This, in effect, undermined the brand story.

To a World of Webs

Today, those walls have disappeared. Instead, we live in a world of webs.

Relevant differentiation is only important if you can attain it. When consumer behaviour shifts and you’re no longer able to easily define your category, this becomes more difficult.

This doesn’t mean that the old way of brand building is completely irrelevant. We still need to manage brands. We still need to provide guidelines. We still need communications and advertising. However, we also need a change of emphasis.

Let’s return to our example of the car industry. Do consumers still buy cars? Or are they seeking to solve a problem of mobility? If we agree it is the latter, they can shop a number of categories to find mobility solutions. Zipcar, Uber, and Lyft all offer alternatives to car ownership that might be more affordable and more convenient.

In this world, what brands need to do is work to solve real problems.

Today, using a new brand building model, Tesla has created a company that is more valuable than Mercedes, Audi, and BMW combined. Tesla isn’t just another relevant differentiated product or car company. And the brand wasn’t built solely on advertising, a better experience, or better digital marketing. They have built the brand in a fundamentally new way.

In Tesla’s world, while attributes are still important to the brand, they play a minor role when compared to the power of interactions. They have leveraged connectivity and collaboration to solve wider industry and societal problems, and change consumer expectations. Every mile Tesla drivers cover contributes to their cloud based autopilot system and the safety of every vehicle in the network. Every charging point increases the viability of electric, and every domestic solar installation increases renewable capacity.

As a result, they are able to challenge BMW’s claims to the ultimate driving experience, Audi’s technological superiority, and the luxury of a Mercedes. Instead of being a brand that talks about sustainability as a piece of communications, it looks at solving the problems of sustainability as a business model. It isn’t that other car companies no longer produce great machines to drive, but that the perceived value has fundamentally changed.

It is this shift, exemplified by Tesla, that means better communications, experiences, or advertising alone will not cut it anymore. It’s why we need to talk about a better business model, one that leverages the connectivity and interactivity that exists globally in order to build brands.

Connectivity Demands Connection

In today’s connected world, you have to build your brand in direct relationship with the customer. The power of these new business models is in the direct, one on one relationships they create with the consumer.

Value is no longer created linearly. Instead, every additional thing you do, every additional connection in the network, multiplies and creates value exponentially. If you look at the ten most valuable companies today, eight of them have embraced digital business models.

There are three distinct ways to create value and each poses a very different brand challenge.

Digital Interfaces

In this model, a single company delivers on a single need and a single value proposition, through a direct relationship. Using data, technology, and analytics, they are able to optimise that relationship.

With a direct interface with a consumer, you’re no longer defining the brand and pushing it out. The brand becomes the interaction, and the consumer learns about the brand through their interaction with it.

One company doing an outstanding job of this is Domino’s. The original value proposition was a quick, convenient solution to your hunger. Your pizza was delivered in 30 minutes and if it wasn’t, you got it for free.

Domino’s has optimised that value proposition using a digital business model to build the brand, rather than through communications or more promotions. At Domino’s headquarters in Chicago, half of the 800 people employed work on nothing but the data, analytics, and technology that drives the business model.

From simplified ordering via the consumer’s voice assistant, to pre-payment and pre-tipping to ensure contactless delivery, they have optimised the delivery process and made ordering effortless. Domino’s consumers learn about new offers and functionality through their phone app, rather than through advertising.

This business model is paying off in driving value for the company and shareholders, with stock appreciating more than Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon.

It’s a similar story at Starbucks, a $25 billion dollar company where 70% of revenues come from automated mobile ordering. Interactions, such remote ordering enabled by geo-fenced notifications, prompt commuters to grab their morning cup of coffee on the way to the office from the subway station. Automatic charging creates a frictionless experience and the busy worker’s coffee is ready for collection as they arrive. In return, Starbucks knows not only their customer’s preferences, but also their daily behaviours and movements. That’s the power of learning that comes from a digital interaction model.

Platform Ecosystems

In a platform ecosystem, a single company builds the brand around a network connecting several companies.

Take, for example, Airbnb, a company that matches travellers with people who have accommodation. In order to deliver that value proposition, they connect users with ancillary services, such as insurance and cleaning services, through an ecosystem of suppliers. Airbnb captures data from each of those interactions to optimise their services. They are now a $100bn company, without having to own a chain of hotels like Marriott does.

Another example is Nike. Nike has taken a commodity product and created a belief system around athleticism and performance. Even though Nike has great flagship stores, their experience is about enabling people to solve their problems everyday. With an ecosystem of technologies that enable the everyday athlete, the brand is now bigger than just the shoes or apparel. It’s about how you can measure and manage your fitness on a daily basis, and representation for all athletes.

The company is worth around $45 billion, with growth of 19% in a downturn.The direct to consumer business is now worth around $15 billion, a growth of 32%. Those are the numbers you can realise, when you shift your thinking to how you can create a business model that connects with consumers directly.

Interaction Fields

An interaction field is a network that creates value around a core functionality. That value creation is exponential and oftentimes isn’t asset heavy or requiring significant investment. It’s about people in connection. The more people participate, the more value is created.

In an interaction field, our traditional understanding of brand architecture falls apart. Branding becomes a complex thing, with a family or ecosystem of sub-brands around a nucleus.

This is where Tesla sits. Part of Tesla’s value is created in the factory, but that’s not the value that makes Tesla such a runaway success. That value is created through interactions – the more drivers and charging points that are in the network, the more valuable it becomes.

Another example of an interaction field is the Chinese company, Ant Group. At its core Ant Group is the AliPay payment model. Based on their knowledge from this source interaction, or nucleus, AliPay have been able to develop algorithms, analytics, and technology that drives new product development. They have bolted on other networks and systems, including a loan capability, a wealth management capability, and insurance capability. It is a complex system, almost a platform of platforms, but all powered by the AliPay interaction.

Building the Brand

So, how has the model of branding changed in this world?

In the traditional model, you defined what the brand stands for. You created a purpose and a brand essence, and defined a set of core elements. You brought all of this together to create your positioning and a value proposition that appealed to your target audiences. Then you created communications that you believed would prompt consumers to act.

As we’ve seen, to build strong brands for our new digital ecosystem, you have to start from an understanding of the problems you are really solving for. From there you design and build the brand interactions you need to get consumers to engage with the brand and, ultimately, become so invested that they help to create shared value.

We can examine these four steps for building powerful brands by looking at one of the world’s best known, and loved, brands – LEGO. LEGO has a traditional brand strategy. In this brand system, all of the elements of the brand ladder up to deliver on their brand purpose – the Joy of Building and Pride of Creation.

However, new thinking is what has driven the brand forward and made it one of the most profitable companies in the world. Those little bricks create nearly $4 billion dollars in revenues a year, of which one third is net profit.

LEGO has tapped into their pride of creation promise and have created the opportunity for its users to share their creations from existing building sets online. The community upvotes the creations they would most like to see LEGO offer as a new set. If a user’s idea gets 10,000 votes, LEGO creates it and gives the originator 1% of the revenues in compensation. This encourages creators to promote their idea and, by extension, the brand. This authentic and organic social influence is what makes Lego the number engagement brand in the world.

1. Framing

Brands need to know the true consumer problem they are solving.

If you think about Lego from a traditional linear business model perspective, it is a toy company that fits into the market relative to Mattel, Hasbro, and other toy companies. While that framing might be still helpful, Lego has thought about their business from a very different perspective.

When they dug into the problem they were solving for, what they found is that the development of a child’s creativity and problem solving abilities isn’t just about play. It is about a particular type of play – free and fluid play that represents shared quality time with an adult

2. Designing

If network effects are the powerful driving force behind brand building, and the more people who participate the more valuable the brand becomes, brands need to design the interactions, architecture, and governance that enables those effects to emerge.

Continuing with the Lego example, as more people are motivated to create and share their ideas it increases both the number of desirable Lego sets available to buy and the number of people engaged with the brand.

Innovation also benefits as it is no longer confined to Lego HQ. It can happen anywhere in the world as the brand empowers consumers to innovate on behalf of the company. By designing the interaction architecture and governance, you give consumers a stake in the brand.

3. Building

These are the activities that prompt consumers to interact with the brand.

Going back to Lego, they’re not trying to create another toy to hand to a child. The problem they are attempting to solve is one of how that child spends their time, and how they interact with the adults around them.

These are the motivations behind the activities the brand builds and promotes. What goals, activities, and interactions can they create that will engage both children and adults in the Joy of Building and the Pride of Creation?

4. Sharing

In this model, the creation of brand meaning is now shared with the consumer. This creates both shared value and brand gravity.

It is interactions, like the Lego Ideas platform, that have the power to transform the brand. It creates an experience that draws in other consumers and communities through word of mouth. The brand no longer needs to be communicated to consumers when they are active participants in it.

Final Thoughts

The world has changed so much since the first iteration of the internet built a network of information in the early ‘90s. Just as the emergence of the social web in 2009 changed how we build brands, so will the Metaverse as technology continues to converge and mature.

As the internet evolves, brands need to shift with it. We need new skills, new concepts, new frameworks, and new business models to succeed. However, it is the connectivity that challenges everything we used to know that also allows brands to be engaged in a process of continuous education. Interaction fields enable us to learn, unlearn, and relearn – about the market, consumers, competitors, and opportunities for collaboration – and help us solve for the problems we face as individuals and society.

For this to work to succeed, brand needs to be given a strong influence in building the business model. CMOs need to take their seat at the board table and, as a platform thinking company, we would love to be part of your conversation.

The post Creating value in a world of exponential growth in connectivity appeared first on Vivaldi.

 Joined by Rishad Tobaccowala (Chief Growth Officer at Publicis Groupe), Erich Joachimsthaler (founder and C.E.O of Vivaldi) discusses why companies can’t solely rely on data, what these corporations should do to stay relevant, and how Gen-Z can upgrade their skill set and stay essential to the workforce. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from their conversation: 

1.  Why staying human is still essential. 

While data is more important than ever, there are multiple reasons why companies should not solely focus on the facts and figures. According to Tobaccowala, data is “like electricity”, illuminating a path and informing people, but the people these corporations target are still carbon based. For their target audience to see them positively, these companies should have meaning and purpose behind their brand and they should provide a human experience that’s just as good as their product. Rishad names Facebook as an example of a company that is doing well in numbers but is not necessarily providing their users with the best experience possible. It’s important to remember that at the end of the day all corporations are selling a story and they need to marry story and spreadsheet for their audience. 

“Data is like electricity, it illuminates the way, it informs people. But at the end of the day, these data-driven companies can’t rely solely on the numbers because the people they are targeting are still carbon based.” – Rishad Tobacowala

2.  How should brands keep up with the changing times? 

When it comes to strategizing for the future, Rishad says that brands should think on what they want their future competitive advantage to be. This comes with questions such as: how should I be thinking about the future, how do I manage change, how do I lead in today’s environment, and how does Covid or any other external factors impact these decisions? He says it’s important to always keep your brand aligned with the future as well as the present (with a focus on changing technology, demographics, etc.) and to lead with competency, integrity, empathy, vulnerability, and inspiration. Yes, change is difficult, but irrelevancy is much worse and the only way to stay relevant is to always be looking ahead. 

“Change is difficult, but irrelevancy is much worse.” – Rishad Tobaccowala

3. What are the skills Gen-Z need to successfully enter the post-pandemic workforce?  

The age of data isn’t only impacting corporations, it’s also making it more difficult for people to enter the workforce with just their college degree. With Covid only worsening this situation, Tobaccowala advises that students and new grads do three things to ensure that they are always ahead of their career. His first tip is to make a 45-year plan. It isn’t enough to look a year or two out into the future anymore; you should learn what field you want to enter and plan for how you will change your skillset alongside that field for the remainder of your career. It’s also always important to prioritize learning over money. While this is easier said than done and it is often tempting for new graduates to go to the company with the better salary, choosing the company that is more aligned with future technology will keep you more aligned with the future — ensuring your relevancy in the workforce for years to come. Lastly, Rishad advises all new graduates to hone their communication, connection (empathy), and creativity skills. With data and technology streamlining so many roles, it’s important to remember that your greatest superpower is still your humanity and neither technology nor data will be able to compensate for that. 

“Don’t underestimate the importance of communication, connection, and creativity skills. Those are what will set you apart from a machine.” – Rishad Tobaccowala

Conclusion 

It’s evident that technology has increased our reliance on data, which can be quite powerful when it comes to making sound business decisions. However, this increased dependence on facts and figures can make it very easy for companies to detach from their audience as well as their employees. This makes it difficult for consumers to see the purpose and meaning behind these giant corporations. At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that brand building is about storytelling, desire, creativity, and selling the human experience. With tech only continuing to advance, we need to underscore the human component of corporations and often take a step back from the numbers. 

Watch the full event here.

 4:30: How covid has changed the workspace 

7:10: What is business transformation 

9:30: Is data driving the transformation 

15:30: The 5 questions 

21:40: Upgrading your operating models 

29:00: What is future competitive advantage 

32:43: Adjusting to the world of limited resources 

37:45: Connections in the age of technology 

41:30: The two levels of ESG 

This segment was part of The Interaction Field Series of our LinkedIn Live Events. Please connect with us on our LinkedIn page to stay updated with our upcoming conversations.

The post Humanizing the Digital Age, with Rishad Tobaccowala appeared first on Vivaldi.

Here are some key principles from Thomas Wedell-Wedelsborg: 

1. The challenge is to solve unarticulated needs from consumers and the answer lies in framing the problem. The methodology taught at school or work for problem-solving often involves only two components namely, analysis and then solving it. However, the missing link here is ‘framing the problem’ and the missing skill is a higher-level ability to recognize the right problems.

“The job of the innovator or the problem solver is not to solve or analyze the problem but take a step further back and identify what is the right problem to solve. The core skill is to make sure we solve the right problems through framing and reframing them correctly.” – Thomas Wedell-Wedelsborg

2. The problem-solving loop continues even after your business is successful. Thomas references the classic failures of Nokia as an example. Stephen Elop, Nokia’s ex-CEO addressed his team about their failures in solving the wrong problem and focusing on making better hardware phones whereas Apple successfully built an ecosystem. This was a missed opportunity that ultimately led to Nokia’s demise.

“It’s not a linear process, don’t just define the problem, then go solve it. It is a loop between the three elements (framing, analyzing, and solving). This continues even after you have a successful business.” – Thomas Wedell-Wedelsborg

3. Organizations and individuals don’t live in isolation, they live in context and context is constantly changing. Organizations must question if they are exposed to what’s going on in their consumer’s world and the measures necessary to incorporate that information into their decision-making. As an individual, it is important to evaluate what you are spending your time on to absorb new information and what’s going on in the marketplace. 

“[Understanding context] places a much greater emphasis on organizations and your listening apparatus, not just your mentality of trying to make sure what’s going on but how you actually do it.” – Thomas Wedell-Wedelsborg

Here are the three simple steps to solve problems more effectively: 

• Get one or two people you work with to understand what you are talking about. It is very helpful to work with a colleague on a problem together. It is an individual skill but it is that much harder to do without the cooperation, understanding, and perspective of another team member who understands what you are talking about.
• If you really want to be successful, you need to start thinking about problem creation. Even when there is no potential problem in sight, examine possible implications where you’re going in and completely breaking new ground.
• Consideration of rapid changes in business model innovation demands a higher level of reflection. Before diving into problem-solving, understand what is happening in the ecosystem and identify any missed opportunities, reevaluate the roles of other participants.

Conclusion

As business models evolve and we move towards a more digital future, traditional problem-solving methodologies might no longer be successful. Thomas’s three-step framework – Frame, Reframe, Move Forward – unearths not only how to identify the right problems but how business leaders can solve them to unlock success. Developing a sharp problem-solving acumen is not only instrumental for solving customer pain points but also making breakthrough innovation. 

Watch the full event here: 

6:05: Reframing: How to solve the right problem

9:50: How to reframe to solve consumer problems

12:45: Success of Domino’s

13:40: Using technology to solve a problem

16:45: How Barkbox succeeded

22:30: How interaction field aligns with problem-solving

30:25: Problem-solving is a loop

44:47: Advice for effective problem solving

This segment was part of The Interaction Field Series of our LinkedIn Live Events. Please connect with us on our LinkedIn page to stay updated with our upcoming conversations.

The post Reframing Problems to Solve Tough Issues with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg appeared first on Vivaldi.

Founder and CEO of Vivaldi, Erich Joachimsthaler,  joined Frank Pagano (Head of Sales, qiibee), Fabian J. G. Westerheide (founder and CEO, Asgard) and Frederik Gregaard (CEO, Cardano Foundation) to discuss the applications & consequences of A.I. and blockchain, skills needed to succeed in the world of New Tech and what companies need to know about AI and blockchain.

Here are some key takeaways from the discussion:

1. Some of the best AI is built on top of blockchain. 

In many ways, blockchain is becoming an infrastructure component, not something that the end-user will interact with, but it’s going to be the underlying technology for a lot of other technologies and it’s going to allow us to put trust first and this use case is underestimated because it will allow us to own our own identity.

“We are sitting in a crisis of trust where the institutions are losing legitimacy and we are now looking towards other places to find that trust and in many ways, AI when built on top of blockchain can be extremely powerful.” – Frederik Gregaard

2. Technology is not the answer, the answer is to translate technology into a business model or innovation.

Technology alone is not equipped to solve complex problems but when leveraged as a catalyst can fundamentally change how you drive new innovation and create value in business.

“Technology no longer operates on the supply side; it operates on the demand side. AI is only as good as it operates on the demand side because there are many more consumers out there, so I think it’s a fundamental shift in business, which is why this conversation is so important now. Tech is not the answer, it’s the means to the end.’’ – Erich Joachimsthaler 

3. Overregulation is creating an unwanted intent. 

Blockchain represents a new infrastructure, how we can perceive and can act in the world, which is contradictory to the one we have today because we are not the consumers anymore, we are the product. Blockchain is slowly but surely representing a new way of the system of the world, and that is so much in contrast with how regulation and countries are operating today, which is one of the main problems.  

“We don’t need a new regulation for Blockchain, we need to figure out how it fits into the existing regulation. We need to bring clarity for the people who use this on what that means. Regulation is not the answer, we need to ensure what we do in technology is being enabled by regulation.” – Frederik Gregaard

Conclusion

It is quite transparent that we are headed towards a more intelligent future. In many ways, we are seeing the crisis of technology right now whether it is the job losses, the weaponization of AI, or social media platforms polarizing the world. With the impact of the 20th-century energy infrastructure on our atmosphere and our climate or the impact of large technology platforms in our society, we are seeing technology create new problems as unintended consequences. While on the other hand, technology has also spurred the fourth industrial revolution, reshaping the industry, making companies more efficient while increasing profit. Tech might not be the ultimate answer, but it is a powerful catalyst when leveraged correctly.

Watch the full event here:

7:20: What is artificial intelligence

9:35: What is blockchain

12:35: Is tech the answer for businesses

15:25: Applications of A.I.

20:25: Applications of blockchain

30:58: Are companies ready for emerging technologies

35:32: Regulation of A.I. and blockchain

This segment was part of The Interaction Field Series of our LinkedIn Live Events. Please connect with us on our LinkedIn page to stay updated with our upcoming conversations.

The post Event Recap: Tech is Not the Answer, or Is It? appeared first on Vivaldi.

Here are some key principles from Beth Comstock: 

1. There is great power in learning to adapt to the change. Getting accustomed to and making progress during periods of change requires a mindset shift that must happen on both a personal and cultural level. There is a common notion among bigger organizations in assuming they have the answers and the readiness that will allow them to bend change to their will. This is false and can hamper growth.
   

   “Covid-19 has been a great teacher. It has helped us realize that we are not in control and we never really were, which has cultivated a thinking that allows greater willingness to try new things.” – Beth Comstock

2.  Best leaders in times of change are ambidextrous leaders. Beth says the secret to unlocking success during times of crisis is to have your company operate at two speeds. She draws a distinction between them as the ‘now lane’ and the ‘what’s next’ lane, also known as the ‘imagination lane.’ While the ‘now lane’ focuses on the current climate and trends, which is more predictable for bigger public companies, the ‘what’s next lane’ guides the future.  

“It takes courage in supporting something for which you’re not exactly sure what the profitability model is, but you know there’s a hunger and you want to take it to the next level” – Beth Comstock

A good leader understands that they must operate both ways. They must allocate the time, people, and money while also evaluating what they learned, what they need to do more of, and how to put a halt on things that aren’t serving the company anymore.  

3. Innovative companies help customers get to what’s next. Beth cites Nike as an example of an innovative and prescient company. Nike is constantly focused on listening to their customer and being passionate about delivering for them. They accomplish this by staying ahead of their customer, instead of waiting for them to tell them what they need. In most cases, customers often expect brands to know their needs before they do. Beth also attributes an ecosystem approach and strong integration of physical and digital to stay attuned to customer needs. 

“To really be a platform company, it is recognizing that interconnectedness and knowing how to navigate it and digital forces you to do that. If a company was slow in digital, they’re not going to come out of Covid-19 and succeed being slow. Digital is just the way you have to operate.” – Beth Comstock

Here are the three simple steps to become a better marketer and innovator: 

• In order to make a breakthrough innovation that you live to see tomorrow, you must be curious and open your aperture. The notion of discovery and making that a part of your practice is critical not only for your team but also for yourself.
• Mastering the art of storytelling is imperative in order to translate your vision to your team. Storytelling and strategy go hand in hand and your team should be able to discern that there is room for them in the company’s vision to be a part of it. Having a strong future vision entails being able to communicate to your team and audience both ‘the why,’ and ‘the why us.’
• To be a good marketer, one must live in the market. Beth recommends getting into the practice of maintaining a notebook or making notes on your phone to collate interesting ideas when out and about. This allows you to adopt the mindset of a marketer and develop a knack for pattern recognition.

Conclusion 

Change is inevitable. It can be difficult to predict and always be prepared, but the willingness and swiftness to adapt to the change are crucial. In order to pave a successful future path, companies must look ahead of the moment and their current processes to optimize productivity. These often result in a gap of imagination and failure to envision what could disrupt them. It is necessary to outgrow mind blocks and see beyond the now to ultimately imagine a way forward.   

Watch the full event here:

06:58: How to adapt to change

08:31: How to overcome the gap in imagination

11:17: Importance of curiosity and discovery

15:15: What we can learn from Walmart and Nike

20:42: Role of a good leader

23:23: What makes a good marketer

29:38: What is in Beth’s notebook

36:20: Brand’s role in positioning and scaling subcategories

40:43: The tension between branding and innovation

This segment was part of The Interaction Field Series of our LinkedIn Live Events. Please connect with us on our LinkedIn page to stay updated with our upcoming conversations.

The post Beth Comstock on Leading with Imagination in Uncertain Times appeared first on Vivaldi.

Here are some key principles from Melissa Schilling:

1. Crisis is a great catalyst for change. A crisis allows people to become less rigid and consider new alternatives. People are willing to try new things and be more accepting of change because they are aware that the norm has already been broken. The pandemic urged people to try video conferencing, experimenting with new forms of education and new business models for running a company and employing people. Referencing history, Melissa recalls how the oil crisis led to huge innovations in solar, thermal, and wind power.

“If you are not innovating during times of crisis, you are missing a huge opportunity. When things are already disrupted, that’s a great time for disruptive innovation.” – Melissa Schilling

Breaking into consumers’ attention span was a lot harder before, as opposed to the current climate where they want to see what the potential solutions are and are willing to try innovative recommendations. That is not to say, that the innovations are limited to the pandemic alone, but a lot of those innovations are going to be long-lasting and outlive the crisis.

2. A platform business model is a propitious approach for disruption and innovation. The reason for that is because a platform business model enables a large number of small players who otherwise might not have access to or gain traction into the market to now have a way to get levered into it. To illustrate, Melissa cites Apple as an example. Apple’s App Store has enabled small companies to sell a product to a big market and while they don’t all succeed, many are successful and getting access to the market in a way that they could have never had access to before.

 “Almost all of these ecosystems arose because they allow you to solve some consumer value proposition or create user value proposition, that could not be as easily solved by integrated firms that were totally independent from each other.”  – Melissa Schilling

3. In the long run, you must distribute value in an equitable way. How firms allocate value is critical, as allocating value fairly will motivate providers to enter. An exception to this is cases where organizations have managed to capture the market so well that it is difficult for other players to enter.

“In other markets switching costs and the barriers to entry are not so high, which is why in the long run you’re going to have to distribute value in a way that makes all your provider’s happy or they’ll leave you for another ecosystem.” – Melissa Schilling

Here are the three simple steps to adopt the mindset of an innovator:

• Great innovators like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Marie Curie shared a common trait of incredibly high self-efficacy. Building a strong sense of self-efficacy, which means, a person’s belief in their capabilities to overcome any obstacle to achieve their goals, determines what the goals are that we choose to pursue and how we go about accomplishing them. People who exhibit high self-efficacy don’t perceive risk the same way because of their faith in their capacity to succeed.
• Persistence, a subset of efficacy, is a very defining trait behind every great innovator. Adopting a can-do attitude, and consistently applying yourself to a problem despite facing failure and obstacles is a big factor to help you achieve success.
• An important element that enables persistence and self-efficacy is idealism. All innovators share keen idealism, where they set a grand goal, which takes precedence over peripheral accomplishments like money, fame, and reputation. If you have a goal or a solution to a problem, then you must be willing to relinquish your pride.

Conclusion:

While the COVID-19 pandemic altered how companies interact with their customers and how customers interact with them, the current climate also unlocked a room of opportunities and a glut of data into consumer behavior for innovation and disruption. Prioritizing innovation, in addition to a shared and equitable value system, will be the key to unlocking post-crisis growth.

Watch the full event here:

04:20 – Innovating in a crisis

07:12 – Success of platforms and digital ecosystems

12:13 – Future of transitional models

19:30 – Distributing value in a system

21:45 – Traits of a breakthrough innovator

28:48 – Reasons for Tesla’s success

33:04 – Difference between efficacy and mania

35:08- Tips for gen z innovators

37:50 – Effects of cultural norms

40:26 – Leadership for the ecosystem model

This segment was part of The Interaction Field Series of our LinkedIn Live Events. Please connect with us on our LinkedIn page to stay updated with our upcoming conversations.

The post Breakthrough Innovation with Melissa Schilling: Are you innovating in times of crisis? appeared first on Vivaldi.

Here are some key principles from Denise Lee Yohn:

1. Culture building is about ensuring your brand has clarity about its purpose and values. Developing employee experiences and designing an organization in a way to support that overarching purpose, are pivotal to help reinforce and reinterpret the company culture.

Denise believes that in order to change and transform your company culture, you need to deliberately integrate new values, thinking, and people in. You can then weave them into the fabric of your organization.

“If you want to be an innovative brand, then your cultural values need to reinforce experimentation, curiosity, learning, fast prototyping, risk-taking, and celebrating failure. All of those unique values that actually mean something to people, so that they don’t just become words on a page but actually becomes a driving force for your organization.” – Denise Lee Yohn

2. Have a purpose for your brand that is not focussed on a specific product or service. Instead of being tied to one particular business model, application or market, think about a broader purpose that talks about the impact you envision to have on the world.

To illustrate, Denise cites Apple as a brand that has seamlessly aligned and integrated its ecosystem. Having clarity in its purpose and values, Apple has successfully attracted the right participants, employers, ecosystem partners, and customers that are not only want to work with them but are a part of their value creation.

“If you are able to deliver the kinds of customer experiences, the kinds of products, services that really differentiate your brand, then your culture needs to be as unique and differentiated as your brand.” – Denise Lee Yohn

3. The way to achieve brand-culture fusion is to accept it as a leadership responsibility. There needs to be a foundation of accepting responsibility for culture building and brand building and integrating the two and ensuring that you have an overarching purpose, and a single set of core values to guide, align and drive everything you do as a brand in sync with the internal company culture. The senior leaders of the organization should believe, champion, and implement the responsibility for orchestrating the two.

Denise highlights the importance of understanding and listening to the two primary stakeholder groups—customers and employees. Bringing this vision and insight as a leader and can be highly beneficial for culture transformation.

“Culture building is not just about perks or free lunches and parties. Most business leaders settle for a baseline and generic, good culture within the organization. It’s not only possible but it’s imperative that you actually take these specific steps to build your culture.”  – Denise Lee Yohn

Here are the three simple steps towards building a robust brand culture:

• Build your brand from the inside out with integrity and coherence while being market-facing and keeping the customer informed about how is the world changing. That way you are able to continue evolving.
• You need to have one overarching purpose that motivates and aligns everyone. When you create multiple statements and values that are generic, they become meaningless and one-sided. Instead have an overarching purpose, which is your highest order ambition that speaks to all of your stakeholders.
• Design and integrate your customer and employee experience. Think about how you can expose your employees to customers. Bringing your culture to your customers and bringing insight, empathy, and understanding to your employees will be mutually beneficial.

Conclusion:

Engaging with a brand is no longer a transactional experience but is deeply revealing of the brand’s core beliefs and value sets. Integrating the external brand identity and your internal organizational culture will not only pave the way for a healthy and vital culture but will prove critical for building a sustainable organization.

Watch the full event here: 

08:27 – What is brand culture fusion

09:21 – How do you achieve brand culture fusion

10:38 –  Why brand culture fusion doesn’t happen as often

14:50 – How new companies are getting the fusion right

20:50 – Role of the brands

26:46 –  How to navigate and respond to the challenges of the pandemic

31:34 – How to overcome silo thinking

36:08 – Are companies misunderstanding the human element of culture

39:50 – Understanding your stakeholders

45:20 – How brand and culture can come together

This segment was part of The Interaction Field Series of our LinkedIn Live Events. Please connect with us on our LinkedIn page to stay updated with our upcoming conversations.

The post How Brand and Culture Create Great Companies with Denise Lee Yohn  appeared first on Vivaldi.

Below find key principles from Bruce Daisley:  

1. To create a good workplace culture, you need to foster a sense of belongingness. Belongingness is one of humanity’s highest requirement orders. Our productivity is affected by the lack of these physical interactions during remote work. Recently, companies feel the immense need to have a Community Manager to promote digital engagement and communication of employees and leadership actively.   

Bruce shared his research about people who sleep alone that have micro awakenings. They wake up 15 times a night because we’re programmed to associate being alone with the absence of safety as human beings. It is critical to respond to that longing in the workplace— whether it’s digital or physical.  

“I’ve struggled to find any evidence that suggests that belongingness isn’t equally as important as those of prerequisites— food and shelter.” – Bruce Daisley

 2. Managing energy flow improves productivity. Recent studies have debunked the traditional belief of working non-stop to maximize productivity. Taking breaks and resting are essential when it comes to recouping. Knowing where to start and end your work period is also critical. Bruce suggested integrating a “digital commute” in your everyday routine (such as going out for a walk to get coffee before 8:30 am) to release a signal that you are about to go to work.   

Bruce believes that productivity can be compared to an athlete’s training for a sporting event. An athlete does not train for 100 hours straight, but rather just the optimal amount to keep their body in peak condition. Straining and exhausting does not improve performance— it diminishes it.   

“Taking breaks seems to be one of the most effective things that anyone can do.” – Bruce Daisley

3. Find time to discover your “default mode.” Boredom or low-cognitive tasks invite the most creative ideas. That activity or non-activity is relative to each person. Bruce encourages us to explore those moments and to apply it to our everyday routine.  

In Bruce’s article in Harvard Business Review, he explained how to intentionally allow the default modes to take place in the workplace. There was an example of a famous screenwriter who installed a shower in his office because he discovered that he unlocked a part of his brain whenever he took showers.   

“This is a really important thing that people don’t understand. It’s actually when you’re doing nothing when you’re hugely productive when it comes to creativity.”  – Bruce Daisley

Here are three ways to increase remote productivity in your company: 

• Provide space for autonomy in remote work: It is critical to allow people to feel like they can make decisions and contribute to co-create shared value.   
• Plan intentional interactions and listen to your employees’ preferences: There will come a time when people will start going back to the office. Schedule collaborative activities on particular days of the week in the physical office to allow work from home flexibility while not sacrificing productivity.  
• Err on the side of learning from people: Encourage those who have been onboarded in the company remotely to build relationships beyond simply making introductions. Inspire your team to deliberately seek out pockets of time to proactively connect and learn from those who have more experience. 

Conclusion 

The pandemic has forced us to seek new ways to maintain and improve our productivity at home. Fostering belongingness and autonomy at the same time provides opportunities to create shared value. Working intentionally is more productive than working long hours. Deliberately discovering your “default mode” and allowing brief moments of idleness will invite creative ideas. The new norm of the workplace may be challenging but driving co-creation of shared value by thoughtfully adapting to these changes could be the guiding light. 

Watch the full event here:

5:22 – Confessing our relationship with work
6:22 – Bruce’s work experience
7:59 – The role of autonomy in remote work, eg. video games
12:18 – Working from home vs. the office
13:16 – How to intentionally plan physical interactions in the office to provide work flexibility
17:10 – The importance of fostering a sense of belongingness remotely
19:32 – The rise of Community Managers
22:19 – Taking breaks improves productivity
23:19 – Incorporating the “digital commute” in your remote working lifestyle
26:20 – How to plan physical office time in the future
32:35 – Discover your “default mode”
36:58 – Onboarding leadership with the new ways of remote productivity
39:56 – Advice for new grads and employees being onboarded remotely
45:10 – Solving working remotely together

This segment was part of The Interaction Field Series of our LinkedIn Live Events. Please connect with us on our LinkedIn page to stay updated with our upcoming conversations.

The post Redefining Productivity in the Remote Era with Bruce Daisley appeared first on Vivaldi.

Here are some key principles from David Komlos: 

1. Diverse problems need diverse solution pathways. The most common way of solving problems is through conducting interviews, analysis, and synthesis. The hub and spoke process is when consultants, the task force, or the hybrid of both (hub) and key people (spokes) are being interviewed. This may seem like the go-to solution approach. David believes that this process takes too much time before multi-stakeholder groups get to buy-in and execute the solution— he’s more interested in crafting solutions quickly.   

David believes in the system of ‘The Law of Requisite Variety,’ where in order to solve a variety of problems, there should also be a repertoire of solutions. Different people from different levels of the organization, as well as advisors and consultants with their respective expertise, should be part of the team solving the complex problems.  

“You want to match the variety of the challenge as best you can with the right diversity of talent.” – David Komlos  

2. Framing the question in a complex challenge is just as important as finding the solution. To form a good question, the entity must be specific about types of outcomes, the time-bound, and its call for a sense of urgency.  

David gave us an example of working with a large financial services firm that experienced a significant decline in their net promoter scores. The company wanted to raise customer satisfaction tangibly and reinvent its service model. One good question he formulated for the company was: “What must we do now and over the next two years to grow our net promoter scores by 50 points and regain our standing as the number one service provider in our industry?”   

“Once you know what the question is and what your desired outcomes are, you then look for ‘Who do I need to include?’ That’s where you look through the lens of requisite variety.”  – David Komlos 

3. The problem-solving effect does not happen instantaneously— you must connect them deliberately. The collision of different levels and departments of the organizations and experts will help people identify the problems better and give clues on how to execute solutions. To accurately point out these challenges and answers, iterating conversation starters such as the current state of affairs and the challenges will eventually lead to a solution.   

During the pandemic, David shared how his company has been using Zoom and Webex to conduct these conversations. They use software and programs to track and build these connection points to ensure that the network makes sense. It takes a few days or a few hours of conducting this before they arrive with answers to the big question.   

“It’s really important that you don’t just throw these people in a room and say, ‘Let’s have at it.’ You have to connect them in a way that’s deliberate.” – David Komlos 

Here are the three simple steps to solve complex problems fast:   

• Acknowledge the complexity of your challenge: There are different types of challenges. It’s not a complex challenge if the solution can be easily referenced and has been solved many times before. A complex challenge needs a new and different approach.  
• Articulate the complexity of your challenge in the form of a good question: Embedding the challenge, timeline, and goals in the question is an effective practice.  
• Orchestrate conversations with diverse people and expertise: It is essential to be deliberate when conducting the conversations. The right variety and collision of levels and expertise will help identify the big problem and its respective solutions.  

Conclusion

Addressing complex problems may seem challenging for leaders, but solving some of the toughest organizational challenges in a short amount of time is possible. David Komlos taught us the importance of acknowledging complex problems and understanding the process of obtaining the solution is something that you can’t get from the books. Framing the question should include the goals, timeline, and the challenge to have meaningful results. Orchestrating conversations from a variety of people and experts— not just within the four walls of the organization but across the interaction field will help everyone solve the complex problem in a short amount of time.   

Watch the full event here:

4:59 – The different types of problems
7:23 – David’s passion for complex things
9:33 – Syntegritys growth in solving the complexity
12:42 – The traditional way of solving problems
13:29 – Hub and spoke model
15:39 – The Law of Requisite Variety
19:31 – How some approaches to complex solutions fail
21:20 – Financial Services example
24:48 – Connecting the right variety of people
28:34 – Typical problem-solving exercise during the pandemic
35:48 – How do you clearly determine the makeup of the large groups that are brought together to solve these complex problems?
40:07 – Positive collision of people
42:19 – ACT, leap, ACT: Tackling problems successfully

This segment was part of The Interaction Field Series of our LinkedIn Live Events. Please connect with us on our LinkedIn page to stay updated with our upcoming conversations.

The post Cracking Complexity with David Komlos: It’s a Snap appeared first on Vivaldi.

Today, we celebrated “The Interaction Field” book launch with Forbes’ Communities Director and Chair of the CMO Network, Jenny Rooney, and Vivaldi’s CEO and book author, Erich Joachimsthaler. Erich shared with us the key elements in the book and how that might apply to recent challenges in the world today. Erich and Jenny answered the audience’s questions about innovative, new business models, evolving roles of leadership, and how the pandemic has changed industries. 

Then and now – what’s different?

Erich explained how previously, we lived in a highly segmented world where industries operated independently through their traditional channels and media. Today, we live in a world of hyperconnectivity where our networks merge and stem from multiple segments within the ecosystem. Therefore, with key players that build the velocity of network effects, we build what Erich calls ‘The Interaction Field.’

Competition or Collaboration?

Historically, competition has been one of the biggest drivers for innovation. The world has been shifting from that traditional mindset and is leaning more into collaboration. Platforms are viewed as the mode for disruption, but that is not the only way to make an impact. Value creation through engagement and participation enabled through hyperconnectivity boosts the possibilities for disruption.

Name a company that exemplifies shared value?

Erich mentions in the book how John Deere was one of the best cases that created shared value in the interaction field. For example, John Deere developed technology that enabled farmers to plant sensors in their fields. These sensors measure agricultural data that are available to all farmers through their open-sourced platform. As a result, the information that the farmers received from the data improved their profitability and overall farming efficiency. John Deere created solutions for the farming industry, as well as the healthy food supply chain of the country. Ultimately, John Deere was able to create value and benefits for all the participants in the ecosystem while increasing their profit exponentially.

Does the interaction field behave as a transaction catalyst in social valuation?

Maintaining and building shared value leads to the valuation of a firm. In Erich’s book, he mentions a need for an “Interaction Velocity,” the frequency and quality of interactions companies have with consumers because it affects social valuation. The interactions can happen within the areas of social, data analytics, and technology.

What is the role of the CMO today?

To orchestrate the Interaction Velocity, the CMO needs to lead the strategic dialogue in an organization. Traditionally, it was just about selling the product and targeting markets. Today, it has matured to engage with consumers and build strategies to invite them to participate in the company’s value creation. Recently, Branding is approached differently because we collaborate with competitors and have the ecosystem in mind.

Have the roles of C-suite executives changed?

In the same vein, the old mindset of pushing out products and services has changed. According to Erich and Vivaldi’s CCO Tom Ajello, it’s not about the competitive advantage anymore— it’s about the collaborative advantage. Consumers don’t think in categories and industries, so it is imperative to not just think about selling products. As a result, C-suite executives need to start thinking about solving industry problems.

What are the current trends you’ve observed with C-suite executives?

According to Jenny, companies are more open to bespoke services and collaborations. Curation of the best talent, not necessarily in-house, is becoming the go-to strategy to cater more towards the clients’ needs. Moreover, Erich added that working with internal and external agencies allows for synergy in the interaction field.

How does Interaction Field thinking help companies during the pandemic?

Erich is a firm believer in having the mindset that nobody does it alone. In Erich’s book, he mentions how Alibaba has helped and provided tools for small retailers to sell in their digital platform. It has streamlined digital transformation for small businesses with few resources once all the stores were forced to shut down during the pandemic. In addition, it also provided solutions for their cash-only transactions through Alipay.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Erich points out in his book that the traditional roles of C-suite executives and the internal and external functions of the company have evolved over the years. The time has come to grow from the old mindsets and to embrace the concept of The Interaction Field. All players of the ecosystem need to collaborate in order to solve both their own challenges as well as large industry problems and provide universal benefit to all. In the book, Erich outlines the steps to build an interaction field to make your company a major disruptor in the industry.

Timestamps:

• 7:54 – How hyperconnectivity has changed the world over the years
• 11:59 – Competition vs. Collaboration
• 20:00 – 4 steps to create an interaction field
• 23:05 – The new role of the CMO
• 29:12 – It’s not about competitive advantage— it’s about collaborative advantage
• 31:48 – The role of value has changed over the years
• 37:28 – Rise of bespoke talents and agencies

This segment was part of The Interaction Field Series of our LinkedIn Live Events. Please connect with us on our LinkedIn page to stay updated with our upcoming conversations.

The post The Interaction Field Q&A Session with Forbes’ Jenny Rooney and Author Erich Joachimsthaler appeared first on Vivaldi.