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.