Getting Practically Radical with Co-Host Bill Taylor

Melissa Withers
September 24, 2009

This year we added a new twist to the BIF Summit format, opening up an opportunity for six members of the audience to take the stage along with BIF-5 co-host Bill Taylor. Drawing inspiration from Bill's new book, Practically Radical, we have selected six innovators from the BIF-5 audience who understand that you can't innovate by being "a little bit" better than everybody else.

As Bill puts it, "in an era of hyper-competition and non-stop innovation, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something special. The most successful companies today don't just out-compete their rivals. They redefine the terms of competition by embracing one-of-a-kind ideas in a world filled with me-too thinking."

We had a great field to choose from, but we have come to a consensus! Selectees for this year's Practically Radical session are:

Richard Antcliff, NASA Langley Chief Technologist
Nick Bowen, Vice President of Technology, IBM
Gina Melone, Chief Futurist, HASBRO
Fabienne Munch, Director, Ideation Office, Herman Miller
Peter Snyder, VP for Research, Lifespan Hospital System
Allan Tear, Co-Founder of Betaspring

There will be two Practically Radical sessions during the Summit, with one on each day. Each participant will have three minutes on stage to share a (very!) quick bit of wisdom about being 'practically radical.' Bill Taylor will lead the session and work his magic, pulling out the important bits and tying everything together.

I don't want to give away too much about these cool cats, but you can expect to learn a lot from each of them about what it takes to innovate everyday.

Thanks to everyone who applied. The best thing about BIF-5 is that even if you're not on stage, there are plenty of ways to share your story (at the breaks, on the blog, in the Ning forum) with the other BIF-5 participants. See you there!