Big Ideas in Little Bytes
Andy Cutler of Cutler & Company sat down recently with some BIF friends to talk about innovation, collaboration, and their experience at the BIF-3 summit. Here's what they had to say.
Mark Cuban
Owner, Dallas Mavericks
In Mark Cuban's world, innovation isn't about an idea, it is all about preparation. That's why you don't have to tell him what he's not good at. He already knows, which is why Cuban has made a specialty out of building complementary teams around him. For him collaboration and teamwork are essential in a winning business model.
Jason Fried
Founder 37Signals
Ask Jason Fried what he's into these days and he will tell you it mostly has to do with refining things, taking existing things and stripping them down to smaller components, and then refining them more. But throughout this process he cautions us to beware of overcollaboration and what it can do to impede innovation.
Walt Mossberg
Technology Columnist, Wall Street Journal
Walt Mossberg is quick to point out that invention and innovation are two different things. While invention can happen in an environment with only one person, innovation can only occur where collaboration is playing a key role.
Irving Wladawsky-Berger
Irving Wladawsky-Berger believes we are "social animals" at our core, and strong leadership is dependent on strong social leadership. This type of leadership style is extremely important to innovation, says Berger, and is based on the belief that bringing people together over and over again is instrumental in allowing innovative solutions evolve most effectively.
Matt Mason
Author, The Pirate's Dilemma
Innovation doesn't have to be neat and clean process and that's just fine with Matt Mason. An author and DJ, he has learned a lot from the "remix" model in music as a way to observe and embrace societal changes, not fear them.
Stephen Andrade
Department Chair, School of Technology, Johnson & Wales University
Stephen Andrade's classroom is "open for business." A former policy advisor to the White House and Department of Commerce on technology issues, he believes that bringing business into the classroom provides real world experience to students and affords businesses the opportunity of having curious eyes view their challenges.
Dave Balter
Founder and CEO of BzzAgent Inc.
David Balter has harnessed the power of the word-of-mouth for clients at Procter & Gamble, Sony and Unilever. If business has taught him anything, it's that listening is an essential element in the collaborative process.
Seth Bernard Minkin
Artist-in-Residence, BzzAgent Inc.
As an artist-in-residence, Seth Bernard Minkin often spends his days inspiring those around him, but he has learned a lot in that process too; namely, the landscape that can be created when you mix together courage, a willingness to fail and an openness to other's input.
Stephen Lane
CEO, Item Group
Heading up a leading industrial design firm, Stephen Lane is quite comfortable living in an environment where there is constant change swirling around him. But he also covets an environment where there is less talking and more listening.
Jack Templin
Strategy Consultant and Co-Founder, Providence Geeks
Hear what social networking rock star and Providence Geeks Co-Founder, Jack Templin has to say about breaking the social inertia that often exists within the innovation community.
Pamela O'Hara
President, BatchBlue Software
Pamela O'Hara spends a lot of her time listening. As an entrepreneur of a leading technology company she readily admits that it is difficult listening to people when they aren't saying what you want them to. But that doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do.
Jeff De Cagna
Chief Strategist and Founder, Principled Innovation, LLC
Jeff De Cagna works to help others realize their full potential through the pursuit of sustainable innovation. What has this experience taught him about innovation? That sustainable innovation is created out of the right balance between freedom and discipline while always embracing the why?
Steve Hardy
Founder, Creative Generalist
Connecting the dots is Steve Hardy's mission in life. He sees the opportunity in allowing innovators in one field to learn from innovators in other fields in an effort to bring new perspectives and ultimately new ideas to life.
Lois Kelly
Author of Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing
Lois Kelly is passionate about the fact that new ideas can come from just about anywhere and anyone. Identifying "Alpha Fraidy Cats" is helpful to those innovators who may find their new ideas and perspectives questioned and challenged.
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