IDEO Brainstorming Rules
Have one conversation at a time Build upon the ideas of others Defer judgment Encourage wild ideas Stay focused on the topic[i] [i] “Wanna Be More Creative? Follow the Rules, Damn It!” Inc., May, 1998, p. 10.
People
How Do You Create Your Brand U?
How do you create your personal and recognizable Brand U? It’s a matter of creating your personal buzz and interest. This may mean managing signature projects, writing best selling books, or simply talking at professional meetings. With the Web and Internet, it’s easier than ever to create personal buzz. When it comes to personal branding, …
Practice Questions
Who are your direct customers and stakeholders? How do you satisfy your stakeholders? Do they know the value of your contributions? How does your customer or boss value your contributions? What are your time constraints? How do you manage your time around these constraints? What does quality mean to you and your stakeholders? Is your …
Do Your Kids Help You with Technology
We have many more sources of information. This is a mixed blessing because there is much more stuff to separate, distill, and use. Information is expanding much faster than our ability to adapt to it. Work is no longer about discrete transitions and transactions. It’s about continuous transitioning. Do you ask your kids for tech …
Upbeat Stories
Warm, endearing stories and poems are often not part of an organizational culture. Business war stories of an individual or a team developing a hot product, working outrageous hours to please customers, or blazing new profitable markets are more often the stuff of corporate myths and legends. What’s different now is that organizations are paying …
Brand U Teams
Virtual Brand U teams sidestep matrix and hierarchal organizations. They’re confusing because of unknown relationships and new expectations. Virtual teaming is still new with many questions, such as the following: What are behavioral protocols or rules among virtual teams? Who does what, where, and when? Who conducts the work? Who authorizes resources and how is …
Teaming
Today’s baseline for Brand U work is teaming. So learn and practice it. The benchmark in the next two years will be virtual and projectized teaming. As communications become transparent and seamless, virtual work, such as telecommuting or virtual teaming have become more practical. Work becomes something that’s done as opposed to somewhere we go. …
Brand U Teaming Can Be Good, But …
Brand U teaming is taking over business. In more organizations, empowerment and teaming are evolving into workplace religions. You can’t escape empowerment, which may involve self-managed teams, work accountability, or group problem solving. Often, your ability to work as part of a group is a condition of employment. But, teaming can have a dark side. …
Vision Statements
Successful Brand U organizations develop a shared vision that reflects stakeholder values. Every Brand U organization has a vision that’s distilled into a statement of where the organization, business unit, plant, department, team or even individual Brand U’s want to go. The vision statement presents a clear future with doable and probable outcomes. The vision …
Brand U Paradigm Shift
Brand U people operate under a new set of priorities and protocols. If a customer or employer has dissimilar principles, then Brand U workers often bail. Employers once would guarantee lifetime employment for loyalty. Well, that’s pretty much gone. So the critical question facing all employers is how to establish a new psychological contract with …