A Look Inside Obama's Innovation Strategy

"History should be our guide. The United States led the world’s economies in the 20th century because we led the world in innovation. Today, the competition is keener; the challenge is tougher; and that is why innovation is more important than ever. It is the key to good, new jobs for the 21st century. That’s how we will ensure a high quality of life for this generation and future generations. With these investments, we’re planting the seeds of progress for our country, and good-paying, private-sector jobs for the American people."
-President Barack Obama, August 5, 2009

I’ve never been a big fan of pyramid diagrams, mainly because I think they are trite and overused. Every time I see a PowerPoint presentation using a pyramid to represent “strategy” I immediately lose attention for the topic, thinking to myself, here we go again. I just returned from the World Business Forum in New York City where I listened to some of the world’s most powerful leaders and top thinking business gurus. Over the course of the 2 day event there were several highly successful presenters who had diagrams to represent their philosophies and strategies. Which shape? That’s right, a pyramid.

About two weeks ago (September 2009) I heard that the Obama administration released their Strategy for American Innovation: Driving Towards Sustainable Growth and Quality Jobs. It peaked my interest because I write about collaboration, a fundamental requirement in the process of innovation. So I looked it up online, downloaded the document, and saved it into an electronic file to read sometime on an airplane. While flying back from New York tonight I had a chance to take a look. In a time of deep recession and jobs leaving the US workforce due to unemployment and off-shoring, I’m surprised that more noise has not been made about the plan. Perhaps the reason for lack of attention is that it was released in the midst of the health care debate? Maybe it was overlooked because of the Chicago Olympic bid? Or maybe the shadow cast by the economic recession is so great that the prospect of innovation and recovery seems far fetched?

Obama’s Innovation Strategy builds on $100 billion of stimulus funds targeted to support and establish government policies as building blocks of innovation. A diagram accompanies the plan description on the first page to depict the various “building blocks.” The form of the diagram? Pyramid. It didn’t do a lot to peak my interest but I plowed ahead through the document anyway. Here’s what I learned.

The strategy plan has three parts as follows:

1. Invest in the Building Blocks of American Innovation.
2. Promote Competitive Markets that Spur Productive Entrepreneurship
3. Catalyze Breakthroughs for National Priorities

The paragraphs dedicated to these three parts read like a “to do” list, the respective items beginning with every action oriented adjective in the book. Not that I don’t appreciate the content and effort to push Americans, but it made me chuckle because of the carefully selected adjectives used to describe how the administration will jump start innovation: restore, educate, build, develop, promote, encourage, support, improve, unleash (you have to love that one), drive, harness. Really, check out “the Pyramid” and see for yourself.

The Innovation Strategy Plan seems more like a vision for the future as opposed to a true plan. It also comes off as a justification piece for the $billions in funding provided by Recovery Act - how, why, and where economic stimulus investments are being made. I find it to be an interesting topic because it is unclear to me what level of involvement the government should be playing – laissez-faire or stringent oversight. Obama’s plan seeks to “strike a balance” by investing in building blocks, primarily through the economic stimulus, that only the government can provide in sectors of national importance. Ultimately the tip of the pyramid is a new level of innovation that will stimulate growth and generate quality jobs. Bring on the innovation, lose the pyramid.

Hyperconnectivity in the Blogger's Hub

I am pretty new to this blogger stuff, but learning quickly and eager to get better. When I was invited to join the Blogger’s Hub at the World Business Forum #WBF09 this week as a “Featured Blogger” I wasn’t sure what to expect. What it has been so far is baptism by fire into the behind the scenes hyperconnected life of a blogger. It turns out, though, that my fellow bloggers are fun, energetic, engaging, interactive, and desiring to connect for the exchange of ideas – all of the things good collaboration is made of. It doesn’t surprise me that this group would portray those characteristics on their actual blogs – after all, they’re bloggers looking to stimulate online discussion and bring interested content seekers to their sites. But what has surprised me is the open attitude and spirit of sharing of their blogging process. It is as if this group realizes that we are all in this together for the advancement of the social media phenomena. It’s a spirited group too, as you will see by viewing the below video clip from our blogger’s dinner last night at the Beacon Restaurant in Manhattan (note the telepresence mention by videographer and fellow blogger Stu Miniman).



It’s been stimulus overload for me for the past two days watching the hyperconnectivity of this group in the hub. They all utilize different steps, approaches and collaboration tools, not only posting to their sites, but for other social media along the way … the most visible in the hub being rapid fire Tweets under the hash tag #WBF09 like there is not tomorrow. I thought I had Twitter down until I came here – my goodness what I’ve learned just by looking over some friendly shoulders. The group has shown me how to implement a lot of add-ons which connect to Twitter and allow more advanced organizing and updating of the Twittersphere, such as, TweetChat, TweetDeck, Twitter Karma, TwitterFeed, and of course the URL shrinker and tracker bit.ly. My favorite by far though, turned on to me by hub blogger Braden Kelly, is Twimailer, a utility that puts Twitter profile data into the email alerts you receive when someone new decides to follow you on Twitter. This saves the time and effort of periodically going to Twitter to check out who is following you and each user’s details to make a follow back decision. Whew, it’s been exhausting just trying to keep up!

Then there is what to do once you have made a post to your blog. I’ve been shown by my new friends tricks about share utilities (see the “+ Share” button in the right column of my blog and at the bottom of each individual post). This little buttons and icons on most sites allow bloggers and their followers to push the content out where it can be found and seen through other social media forums. The bloggers in this group are savvy to the process and can get the word out quickly through the likes of LinkedIn, FaceBook, Delicious, Digg, Buzz, Newsvine, Technorati, StumbleUpon, etc. – all part of the growing number of Online communities where people go these days to collaborate, connect, and find information. Makes me wonder if the good ‘ole Google Search will soon be passé.

Oh well, time to get back to the World Business Forum event itself and my blogger duties. There is a great line up today including author Gary Hamel on management innovation, Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld on transformational change, Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman on the future of the economy, and President Bill Clinton on humanity. I’m powering up all those cool new blogger collaboration tools right now!

Patrick Lencioni via Telepresence

Today at World Business Forum I heard a great presentation by Patrick Lencione, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. We also got to hear Polycom CEO, Bob Hagerty provide the introduction to Patrick’s session (see photo). I read Patrick’s book a few months back and as a leader of a team found it to be useful and thought provoking. Here’s the premise – “if you could get all people in an organization rowing in the same direction you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time”. The reality is, however, that all teams are potentially dysfunctional.

Patrick is a great speaker and dazzled the audience with his entertaining stories which all of us could relate to. The five dysfunctions he addressed:

1. Absence of Trust – without a comfort level among members to at times be vulnerable and admit mistakes, the foundation of trust is impossible on any team.
2. Fear of Conflict – passionate, unfiltered debate is needed on any team in order to air differences and gain consensus.
3. Lack of Commitment – lack of direction and commitment can make high performing employees disgruntled.
4. Avoidance of Accountability – individuals need to be comfortable calling out peers constructively on their actions and behaviors.
5. Inattention to Results – if a team loses sight of the need for achievement against measurable goals, the business will ultimately suffer.

Patrick's session was especially fun for me since I have read his book and also because I met him last night at a special event held at Polycom’s NYC office. At that event we connected Patrick by telepresence to have some fun by interacting with Polycom customers and VIPs in various locations, including Sydney Australia. We all had a great time listening to him by video conference as he made the most of the opportunity to call people out and poke fun at the different locations, all virtually through a telepresence link.

As Patrick pointed out both today and last night, creating a cohesive team is one of the few remaining competitive advantages any organizations can have. This process of building team – instilling trust, comfort with conflict, commitment, accountability, and measured achievement – can substantially be enhanced through the use of collaboration solutions such as video conferencing and telepresence. These types of "on demand" connection, like that used last night to connect Patrick to VIP locations, can help remove communication barriers and silos by enabling collaboration in a team’s everyday work flow. The ability of business leaders to collaborate synchronously within the team can ultimately result in more streamlined and empowered teams capable of faster decision making, better coordination of plans, achievement oriented goal setting, and ultimately successful performance.

An Evening with Bill George

I am in New York City this week for HSM’s World Business Forum (WBF) at Radio City Music Hall, an annual event where top business, political and academic figures meet to debate the most pressing issues of the day. As one attendee put it, it’s like receiving a two day MBA from a line-up of renowned experts on the world’s hottest current topics. By the way, you should check out the WBF Bloggers Hub – that’s why I’m here at the event – I was invited to attend and blog away as one of 50 featured bloggers.

Last night, in advance of WBF, I spent the evening at a reception hosted by Bill George, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, former CEO of Medtronic, and author of 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis. Bill also happens to be the first speaker this morning at WBF, on stage at 9 a.m. today, October 6th. Bill is a successful businessman and management pundit by all counts, having grown Medtronic to a $60 billion market cap and occupying seats at the board of director level for highly respected companies such as ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, and Target. Yet I found Bill to be quite refreshing – he is down to earth and approachable with a keen interest to connect and listen to all who care to share their opinion. It is no wonder that he seems to now be fascinated by the social media phenomena and its power as a vehicle for reaching people for the sharing of ideas. As one of the foremost authorities on leadership, Bill understands the importance of “connecting” with the voice of the market and believes that today’s successful corporate leaders will be those who stay close to their stakeholders. Those leaders who fail will be the ones who don’t” follow their true North”.

Bill gave me a copy of his book, a quick read, which I dove into upon returning to my hotel room. The book, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis, is more or less a practical guide for leaders navigating their organizations through crisis. Crises come in many forms, underscored by the challenges faced by most enterprises grappling with today’s global economic recession. What makes leading through a crisis so hard? According to Bill George, crises test a leader to the limits because the outcome is so unpredictable, requiring leaders to dig deep inside to find the courage to keep going. He offers seven lessons he has gleaned through his years of leading in business:

1. Face reality, starting with yourself
2. Don’t be Atlas, get the world off your shoulders
3. Dig deep for the root cause
4. Get ready for the long haul
5. Never waste a good crisis (my favorite)
6. You’re in the spotlight, follow true North
7. Go on offense, focus on winning now

Lesson #5 is my favorite because a crisis represents an opportunity for transformational change. During crisis mode, things are broken … not working … if things don’t change it will often lead to ultimate failure. Resistance to change is also less during tough times than in good times. It’s a good lesson for all of us during the current economic climate – never waste a good crisis – don’t act like things will take care of themselves if we just stay the course but rather move aggressively to take the action necessary to change and emerge in a stronger capacity.

Distance Learning: Extending Reach of Education

Today I attended a fun and culturally expanding event – the grand opening of the Akoma Ntoso Cultural Center (ANCC) in Newark, New Jersey. ANCC, part of O’ia-da International, is a foundation serving a nationwide network of students and academicians seeking to promote the understanding of African history and culture with people of all nations. Polycom has helped the center by donating a telepresence system to enable ANCC to link with other educational and cultural facilities around the world. The primary goal of ANCC is to link the US and nation of Ghana in western Africa via telepresence, connecting communities separated by distance to meet virtually face-to-face and bridge the cultural barriers with the African people. During the grand opening event, attendees received a welcome and greeting from ANCC organizers in the Newark center and also from the sister location in Ghana, not in person, but virtually by the high definition video conferencing connection provided via telepresence. The attendees were awed by the capability, clarity of picture and sound, and cool factor of connecting face-to-face with another culture on the other side of the planet. Herein lies the amazing potential offered within the classroom of the future – extending the reach of education.

Distance learning and virtual classrooms are becoming more prevalent in education strategies at all levels. Consider, for example, that the Economic Stimulus Package (aka the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) provides for broadband availability to rural areas and funding for education technology. The availability of stimulus funds emphasizes that new methods are desperately needed to deliver educational content to our kids in more effective and efficient manners without stressing the budgets of our school systems.

Equipping classrooms with collaboration solutions like voice, video conferencing, telepresence, and content sharing allow educators the opportunity to expose their students to unique and enriching educational experiences. Students in one or many locations, for example, can watch and listen to an instructor, a subject matter expert, or other students and maintain interactivity with those remote locations. The real-time, two-way visual and verbal interaction creates a “virtual classroom” with boundaries limited only by the reach and number of connection points on the video conferencing network. On-demand streaming and lecture capture by video recording are additional capabilities which enable the same educational content to be saved, edited, and made available to students at any time. According to industry analyst firm Wainhouse Research, videoconferencing is a cost-effective way for educational institutions to deliver successful educational experiences to an expanded student population. Further, as a means for delivering instruction, videoconferencing likely can be more effective than its counterpart, the “traditional” classroom, as a result of educators compensating for the distance side of the equation by working to keep learners engaged.

Educational Equity
Students in public school districts deserve the same level of quality education regardless of location. One school system in southwestern Michigan, Berrien County Intermediate School Distric (BCISD), is using video conferencing technology to assure such educational equity. “The challenge with education in southwest Michigan is that rural students need access to resources outside of their tiny communities and inner city students need access to opportunities beyond their city limits,” explains Janine Lim, instructional technology consultant for the district. BCISD has deployed 28 video conferencing systems in 18 school districts and two educational service agencies throughout the two-county service area. This allows a learning collaboration between the K-12 classrooms in different geographical areas and for educational opportunities such as virtual field trips. “Video conferencing allows teachers to access traditional field trip content without the loss of instructional time associated with transportation to a museum,” says Lim.

Virtual Class Participation
The U.S. Defense Acquisition University (DAU) educates and certifies acquisition, technology and logistics professionals in the Department of Defense (DOD), along with other government agencies and defense-related private industry. With 20 locations throughout the United States, DAU offers formal courses, continuous learning, knowledge sharing assets, and consulting to a Defense Acquisition Workforce of nearly 130,000. “We wanted to create an environment where participants had the sense they were truly involved with one another,” says Dave Scibetta, DAU’s director of operations. Through a new telepresence solution - 16-foot video wall and specially designed conference environment – class participants from different locations are virtually placed “across the table” from each other for a face-to-face collaboration exchange. According to James McCullough, Dean of the DAU’s Southern Region,“With telepresence, you become one with your environment. In about two to three minutes, you forget you’re separated from other participants”. Last year, through a combination of classroom, online, and hybrid courses, DAU graduated a record 154,252 students.

Global Connection on World Events
Last week in Pittsburgh, September 25-26th, an event of global proportion took place at the G20 Summit where leaders of the most powerful nations in the world came together to discuss some of the hotest current political topics. While many of us tracked the G20 through nightly news TV broadcasts and Online electronic news reports, classrooms around the world were witnessing the event and discussing the issues among themselves through a different form of media – real-time video conferencing connections between multiple classrooms. Several teachers from the Pittsburgh region incorporated the global economics event into their social studies and foreign language lesson plans. Over 1,500 high school students in the USA, Brazil, Italy and South Africa participated in the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh's G-20 Student Summit, interacting with policy specialists and engaging in a panel discussion and question-and-answer session with the specialists.

Students Speak the Language of Distance Learning

Foreign language classes offer a way to prepare students to work collaboratively in an ever-changing global economy. But many school systems are unable to offer a full spectrum of language choices to its students due to budgetary constraints. Schools throughout New York State rely on the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) to cost-effectively share centralized instructional support. In Oneida, Herkimer and Madison (OHM) counties, BOCES serves 12 upstate New York school districts with more than 24,500 enrolled students. Distance learning has been crucial to leveling the playing field for students in the region, which offers 4,000 classes a year in such subjects as college-level advance placement courses, American Sign Language, and foreign languages. Key to the program’s success are high definition telepresence and video conferencing solutions. OHM BOCES instructors rely on video conferencing collaboration to teach 23 classes a day to hundreds of students throughout the district. BOCES applied its pioneering distance learning effort to teaching Chinese Mandarin to interested students in schools whose class enrollment in Mandarin classes would have been too low to support a full-time teacher.

Many educators would argue that our education system, currently plagued with budget issues, instructor furlows, and rapidly rising tuition rates, is in need of a major overhaul. Now is the time to look toward technology as a way to "do more with less" in educational environments. Collaboration solutions like video conferencing, telepresence, and content sharing can yield positive results for the educational experience yet leverage the precious resources in an efficient manner. Distance learning and virtual classrooms are the wave of the future and a positive method for extending the reach of the classroom.