CHANGE and the Human Condition

This week's eMeditation:

"People do not attract that which they want, but that which they are."

- As A Man Thinketh

To put it another way: When you stop working on what it is you're trying to get, and start working on YOU, only then will you get what it is you want.

It really is very basic when you think about it. Jim Rohn says, "To attract attractive people, you must be attractive. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract committed people, you must be committed. Instead of going to work on them, you go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract."

I know so many people who work very hard and diligently and sacrifice greatly in an effort to create wealth. But they haven't changed who they are, and until they begin to think and act like wealthy people they'll never attract the wealth they seek. Wealthy people don't think and act the way they do because they have wealth. They have wealth because they think and act that way.

How many people are on a diet today who don't stand a chance of losing (and keeping off) any weight because they're still the same person who gained all that weight to start with. Let me repeat again, so you'll grasp how important this is: Slim
people don't think and act the way they do because they're slim. They're slim because they think and act that way.

To get what you want, you change who you are, and you change who you are by simply changing the way you think and act. And one technique for doing that which is promoted by a lot of wise teachers is to "act as if." If you "act as if" you're slim long enough, then one day you will attract slimness even though you may be 100 pounds overweight today. If you act as if you're wealthy long enough, then one day you will attract all the wealth you can imagine even though you may this moment be destitute and homeless.

Bob Proctor says, "Act like the person you want to become. For as Goethe, the German philosopher, once wrote, 'Before you can do something, you first must be something.'"

And that's worth thinking about.

New Math!

The Yin and Yang of the 21st Century!

Am I An Anachronism?

21st Century Leaders

Not too long ago I was participating in a national meeting of K-12 CIOs, listening to a panel discussion on the latest developments in district IT shops. Although the three panelists were justifiably proud of their accomplishments, I was struck by the absence of a common component from almost all of the presentations and ensuing discussions. Yet I could not quite put my finger on what was missing.

The more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I began to feel. I started to wonder if perhaps the unnerving feeling was due to a lack of familiarity with key concepts, a fear not uncommon to professionals who reach my age. I not only began to feel old, but wondered for the first time in my 39 years in education (34 in educational technology) if educational technology was passing me by.

My head was spinning. Was I becoming irrelevant? Were changes occurring at such a rate that I did not even know they were taking place? Put simply: Was I becoming an anachronism without even knowing it?

As an urban district technology leader for the past 22 years, I have tried to stay ahead of the curve and took pride in being able to marry ideas and concepts to reality. In recent years, for example, I directed the implementation of a GigE WAN throughout my district, along with a VoIP phone system, and instructional video streaming. Similarly, the district is changing its central information architecture and is in the middle of implementing an ERP. No, I don't think my feeling of discomfort is due to falling behind the technology curve.

Well, it's now 3:30 AM (one of my most productive times for problem solving), and I think I've figured it out: While differing in details, the CIOs who spoke at the conference all focused almost exclusively on the application of project management techniques. Indeed, each panelist showed off visual representations of relatively complex models using a large number of circles, squares, and other geometric forms in different colors.

As I considered the similarities of the project management-oriented presentations, I realized they were also very much alike in what they left out. In all three presentations, not one presenter (whom I respect for their accomplishments) mentioned words such as instruction, school, student, principal, or learning. I wondered if any of them had been to a school during the first week of classes or actually talked to a principal about one of the major information systems his or her staff had developed.

Unfortunately, there are CIOs, who, while designing systems to improve student achievement, have never visited a school, rarely talked to a principal, nor met with a curriculum coordinator. To remain aloof, distant, and even uncaring about the instructional side of the house cannot help a modern CIO, and, in the long term, will impair his or her IT program. It is difficult to get support from those you ignore.

Much of this attitude, I believe, stems from many IT directors coming into districts with little, if any, experience in education. Up until the last 7 to 10 years, IT leadership generally came from those who had years of K-12 experience. However, due to the increasing complexity of technology, the retirements of earlier generations of district-bred leaders, and the emphasis on accountability mandates, districts are increasingly hiring IT specialists from the private sector. This movement has transformed the meaning of IT from "instructional technology" to "information technology."

But while they may be experts in technology, these leaders too often have limited knowledge of the industry in which they function-education.

With a little effort, I believe the barriers between central IT and the schools can be significantly reduced. I suggest some of these for a start:

Set up a CIO/Principals' Advisory Committee to meet every month or two to discuss issues of importance. I did this at my district because it keeps me close to what's important at the ground level, and it lets me know how well my technology team is doing (The principals sometimes tell a different story than my managers.) Also, it lets me test out and gain support for new ideas.

Distribute a quarterly newsletter to key groups in schools. In my setting, for example, I wanted to increase rapport with school technology specialists. Although my leadership team and I frequently attend their monthly meetings, we felt an informational newsletter focusing on their particular needs would help. To see a sample newsletter, visit www.ccsd.net/tls/Newsletter/oct06/newsletter-full.htm (Note: Some of the links will not work outside the district intranet.)

Speak at technology events at schools or those sponsored by different district groups. Virtually all districts have some type of technology-related events going on, whether it is third graders showing off their PowerPoint presentations, a high school robotics competition, or the computer club meeting. While you certainly don't need to attend all of them, occasionally participating in one will help break down the barriers between the schools and your IT organization.

Visit a school. One of the things I enjoy doing, and don't do nearly enough, is to visit a school to see how technology is being used by staff and students. Usually I call up the principal the day before or the day of my trip, and ask if it is okay for me to visit the school for one hour. I assure principals that I'm not there to check on them and that I just need to visit some schools for my own mental health. Almost always they're delighted to host me and have the technology specialist take me around. It's a great opportunity to show off something they are quite proud of and/or hit me up for something special. Either way, I have won.

Support innovative instructional technology projects that are usually associated with schools or instructional applications. For example, recently our purchasing department did not want to buy 80+ tablet laptops for a middle school. They believed that tablets were too expensive. I intervened and not only got the purchasing staff to relent but worked with the vendor to get special pricing. Another time, I took the lead on implementing a Web-based library management system throughout the district. The key point in each of these examples is that I left the "IT Center" and was directly involved in instructional technology.

As for me and my quandary, I feel better now that I've figured out what was bothering me about the presentations. There's nothing anachronistic about a CIO focusing on where the rubber meets the road: students and learning.

Philip J. Brody, Ph.D. is chief technology officer/assistant superintendent of Clark County School District in Las Vegas.



21st Century Skills: Will Our Students Be Prepared?

Editor's Pick

Learning for the 21st Century, a report from the public-private coalition known as the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, articulates a vision of how schools can best prepare students to succeed in the first decades of the 21st century. Central to the report's recommendations is a call for schools to focus on six key elements of 21st century learning:

1. Core Subjects: The authors reaffirm the importance of the core subjects identified by No Child Left Behind but challenge schools and policymakers to expand their focus beyond "basic competency" to understanding the core academic content at much higher levels.

2. Learning Skills: "To cope with the demands of the 21st century," the report states, "students need to know more than core subjects. They need to know how to use their knowledge and skills-by thinking critically, applying knowledge to new situations, analyzing information, comprehending new ideas, communicating, collaborating, solving problems, and making decisions."

3. 21st Century Tools: Recognizing that "technology is, and will continue to be, a driving force in workplaces, communities, and personal lives in the 21st century," Learning for the 21st Century emphasizes the importance of incorporating information and communication technologies into education from the elementary grades up.

4. 21st Century Context: Experiences that are relevant to students' lives, connected with the world beyond the classroom, and based on authentic projects are central to the sort of education the Partnership for 21st Century Skills defines as the appropriate context for learning in the information age.

5. 21st Century Content: The report's authors believe that certain content essential for preparing students to live and work in a 21st century world is missing from many state and local standards.
6. New Assessments that Measure 21st Century Skills: "As pervasive as assessment seems to be today," the report says, "it remains an emerging and challenging field that demands further study and innovation." Recommendations include moving beyond standardized testing as the sole measure of student learning; balancing traditional tests with classroom assessments to measure the full range of students' skills; and using technology-based assessments to deliver immediate feedback.

Just as the CEO Forum on Education and Technology included a StaR (School Technology and Readiness) Chart in its 2001 report to aid schools in identifying their level of technology readiness and preparation, Learning for the 21st Century features a fold-out MILE (Milestones for Improving Learning and Education) Guide to help measure progress at preparing students to meet the challenges of the new millennium.

What's New Here?

Many of the themes explored in Learning for the 21st Century will be familiar to educators who have read the 1991 SCANS Report (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) or subsequent reports issued by the CEO Forum. Both groups outlined a variety of skills-including higher-order thinking, personal abilities, and technology literacy-essential for preparing students for a knowledge-based economy.

So what is new about the recommendations being made by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills? "To some degree, the recommendations are not all that new," says Chris Dede, professor of learning technologies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an education advisor to the partnership, "and that, in itself, is newsworthy. The fact that educators and business leaders keep returning to many of the same findings means we have a lot of confidence in them-that they're not part of a temporary fad."

Another partnership advisor, Paul Resta, director of the Learning Technology Center at the University of Texas at Austin, agrees that the consensus arrived at by the partnership is noteworthy-especially because of the large number of stakeholders from business, K-12 schools, higher education, and government who participated in its creation. In addition, he points out that it delves deeper into the how of delivering 21st century skills than its predecessors.

John Wilson, vice chair for the 21st Century Skills partnership and executive director of the National Education Association adds that, "While previous works have focused on technology, this goes beyond that to what we need to do to prepare students for a world that is vastly transformed by technology, making it necessary to constantly learn and adapt."

NCLB and 21st Century Skills: Contradictory or Complementary?

For some who attended the Learning for the 21st Century press conference, there was something incongruous about listening to John Bailey, director of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology, endorse the report-including its suggestion that "standardized tests can measure only a few of the critical skills that we hope our students will learn." After all, for many educators today the government's No Child Left Behind program is synonymous with high-stakes testing and a narrowing vision of what constitutes achievement.

For example, social studies teacher and media coach Marco Torres laments the fact that his students, who create outstanding multimedia projects that demonstrate both knowledge and creativity, are forced to attend four-hour Saturday "drill-and-kill" sessions if they fail to pass a weekly test. "Many of my colleagues feel too overwhelmed to focus on teaching or learning. Louder, slower, and more repetitive seems to be the pedagogy of choice of low-income schools like mine," he says.

ISTE president Jan Van Dam concurs with the feeling that, "Many districts are so overwhelmed and concerned about the NCLB requirements and potential financial repercussions of not complying, that for lots of them the safest route is the 'back-to-basics' approach-focusing entirely on 20th century skills at the expense of 21st century ones."

But both Van Dam and Bailey believe that it does not have to be this way. "It's not an either/or choice," says Bailey. "We can teach higher-order thinking skills and have students using 21st century tools at the same time that they master core content areas." He points out that NCLB does not mandate that measures of average yearly performance be based solely on tests of lower-order thinking skills and that many of the 21st century skills outlined in the partnership's report are already part of state standards.

"I wholeheartedly agree that there is no need for an either/or approach," adds Van Dam. "There needs to be less fear and more creativity applied to the methods used to meet the needs of NCLB."

Basic Skills Revisited

One of the key points of Learning for the 21st Century, according to John Wilson, is that we are defining essential skills too narrowly. "As our nation focuses on the basics, it is noteworthy that government, educators, and private industry are unified in underlining that 21st century skills must be part of today's basics," he says.

The report states, "Literacy in the 21st century means more than basic reading, writing, and computing skills. As writer Alvin Toffler points out, 'The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.'"

Learning for the 21st Century reminds readers that NCLB defines core subjects to include the arts, civics, and a number of other subjects often overlooked in back-to-basics curricula and that many states and districts already incorporate a wide range of learning skills into their standards. Now, the report says, it is time to "emphasize them strategically and comprehensively" - and to add some more key skills to the list.

Technology's Role Today

Although the authors are careful to point out that there are plenty of learning skills that have nothing to do with technology, they describe 21st century tools - including computers, telecommunications, and audio- or video-based media - as critical enablers of learning in a number of realms. And the fact that the information age that has resulted from the widespread adoption of such tools places us "in a world of almost unlimited streams of trivial and profound information, of enormous opportunity and difficult choices," necessitates an emphasis on information and communication technology literacy skills that will allow students to make sense of it all.

While many education, business, and government leaders concur with the importance of technology as a tool for 21st century teaching and learning, this realization contrasts sharply with what is happening in a number of states and districts as they scramble to respond to budget cuts and accountability pressures. "Unfortunately," says Margaret Honey, vice president and director of EDC's Center for Children and Technology, "in the schools that have the most pressure on them to improve test scores, technology often takes a back seat, along with the arts or anything that is seen as peripheral."

"I think everyone recognizes the importance of technology," agrees Ginger Jewell, coordinator of educational technology for the Clarke County School District in Georgia, "but it sometimes comes down to Solomon-like decisions. We've lost the technology money that was generated by the lottery and that is a tremendous blow. We also had to scale back the regular budget to accommodate unfunded NCLB mandates." Nevertheless, she says, her district continues to support its technology program with help from a local sales tax. "I actually think we're experiencing better use as teachers see the technology as a tool to accomplish academic goals rather than an add-on to an already busy day."

Having Faith in 21st Century Teaching

The authors of Learning for the 21st Century are clear that an emphasis on learning skills, 21st century tools, global awareness, and other elements of 21st century curriculum can - and should - coexist with core content. "Both [basic and 21st century skills] are essential," they write, "and, when taught concurrently, one reinforces the other."

According to Chris Dede, "In their focus on achievement lots of people are going back to behaviorist ideas from the first half of the 20th century, which said that basics must come first, and only when you know all the basic concepts and skills can you move on to learn about more complex interrelationships. Unfortunately, many kids get bored or burned out long before they get there. The drill kills their natural curiosity and they stop even trying."

"There is plenty of evidence," he continues, "that it is possible to learn the simple things in the process of addressing a complicated problem. Given interesting but complex challenges and projects, students are often motivated to learn the basic computation skills or simple facts that they need to master the problem."

The value of rich, multidisciplinary, technology-infused learning seems so obvious to educators who have seen its impact on young people that it is often frustrating to be asked to prove it using tests. Eeva Reeder, educational consultant and project-based learning specialist, speaks for many of her colleagues when she says, "A massive amount of research has made it clear how people learn and don't learn. The fact that it is still being debated is baffling. We need to use our common sense and pay attention. All human beings learn by doing, analyzing, talking, processing, and problem-solving. Talking at kids never has been and never will be an effective way to help them learn."

At the same time, there is good news for those who are resigned to the idea that test scores will continue to take center stage, at least for the near future. According to a number of researchers, rich 21st century learning experiences commonly do translate into higher test scores. Paul Resta describes two projects he worked on with secondary schools in Texas. Both focused on cooperative learning and knowledge construction in the context of English and social science instruction. "The teachers and administrators were very nervous about the nontraditional nature of the activities and how they would affect test scores. In the end, the students involved in these two projects all scored as well as their peers on some of the tests and significantly better on others."

It is interesting to note that these sorts of gains are true in spite of the fact that allowing students to solve real-world problems, collaborate with others, and create presentations to demonstrate their learning takes more time - time that might otherwise be used to speed through additional content material. Both Dede and fellow advisor Margaret Honey point to the importance of deep learning. "A broad overview is important," says Honey, "but stopping frequently to involve students in projects that allow them to go deep is equally important. We need a balanced approach."

Ironically, educators' worries about test scores might eventually be what it takes to make them broaden their teaching methods. "Let's be honest," says Michael Simkins, creative director for the California-based Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership, "we can get some initial gains on tests by teaching to the test and practicing test taking skills. Ultimately, though, we're going to hit an achievement wall. The irony here is that teachers are most likely to drill basic skills even harder in their effort to keep getting new achievement gains when, in fact, it may only be through engaging kids in higher-order thinking activities that they have any chance of breaking through those subsequent achievement barriers."

New Assessments and Measures of Progress

Regardless of the impact of 21st century learning on test scores, there is clearly a need for assessment tools that measure those essential skills that will never be captured by traditional tests. Even before Learning for the 21st Century challenged states and districts to add new skills to their lists of essentials, many of the standards on the list were being played down or ignored simply because they weren't easy to measure. Or, as the report reminds us, "What gets measured gets taught... We must measure what we value - or it won't be taught."

While the urgency is evident, the mandate for what must follow is a little fuzzier. Twenty-first century project and portfolio assessments are great classroom-level tools for monitoring the progress of individual students but, as the report mentions, "These assessments typically are not valid or reliable for broad comparisons across classrooms or schools." Other new approaches, such as computer-delivered tests, are helping with scoring and rapid feedback to schools - an essential element if we are to use the results to help students - but do not dramatically broaden the sorts of things that are being tested.

Whether second-generation assessment tools can bridge the gap - allowing the entire nation to focus on what's important, not just what can be tested easily - is a big question. John Wilson, for one, is optimistic that "technology will help us find ways to more effectively utilize assessment both for identifying overall achievement patterns as well as for helping individual students learn. Devising these much-needed quality assessments must be a priority of our policymakers."

In the meantime, the report places surprisingly little emphasis on other measures of progress that so many educators point to as compelling evidence that their 21st century teaching is paying off. While NCLB legislation permits states to use a variety of measures for measuring annual yearly progress, factors such as student attendance, college acceptances, or student and parent satisfaction, are receiving far less publicity than test scores.

And yet those are the factors that administrators at New York's widely respected Urban Academy tout when they talk about the measures of success that matter to them and their school community. "Why is Urban Academy so successful?" they ask at their Web site - and then go on to explain that 97 percent of their graduates enter four-year universities, they have virtually no violence, theft, or teacher turnover, and their attendance and dropout rates are far better than those seen in most other New York City schools.

And those are the factors Marco Torres takes pride in as he surveys his classroom. "My students just had a film festival last week that over 500 community folks attended. Within three days, the Web site had 22,000 hits," he says. "Here, in one of the poorest areas of Los Angeles County, I have kids who have self-esteem, who are going to college, who are being recruited to help make companies and institutions more effective, who are being treated like queens and kings by our elected officials and being recognized in front of L.A. City Council for their commitment to giving our community a voice. Come to my class when the bell rings and see how many kids get up to go home. They want to be there, they want to finish their projects, they want to learn more." If that's not achievement, what is?

By Judy Salpeter.

This article first appeared in Technology & Learning.

RETHINK...Ya THINK?

MIKE FLANAGAN: RETHINK EDUCATION FOR FUTURE

While the policymakers in Lansing wrangle about how much education Michigan can afford, State School Superintendent Mike Flanagan wants to make one thing clear: our state cannot afford to settle for the level of education we have provided in the past.

Flanagan says that does not necessarily mean spending a lot more money. To a large degree, it comes down to raising the bar and expecting more from kids, teachers and parents.

"It's not corny to say that if you expect more, you will get more," Flanagan said.

It's also time to re-think the way teachers are trained, Flanagan said. Techniques that might work with college-bound kids, for example, might not be adequate to give others the math they now need to get jobs in fields like home building. He said educators also need to find ways to weave technology into their teaching methods.

Podcast: WWJ Newsradio 950's Greg Bowman talked with Mike Flanagan as part of WWJ's Our Michigan, Our Future project. To listen, click here.

On Living Life............To It's Fullest!

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

--Albert Einstein

On Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurialism in Michigan

Monday, April 16, 2007 Updated Study Says Michigan Still Struggles to Grow Entrepreneurs

LANSING - The latest Small Business Foundation of Michigan's Entrepreneurship Score Card, released Monday, finds that Michigan last year lost ground in developing new, high growth job-creating entrepreneurial small businesses. The Score Card gives Michigan a 2006 grade of "D-minus" for entrepreneurial dynamism, down from the 2005 "D" grade and edging closer to the failing "F" grade that Michigan received for 2004. The Score Card project is a collaborative project of the Small Business Foundation of Michigan (SBFM) and GrowthEconomics, Inc. Financial sponsors are Automation Alley, Central Michigan University, the Edward Lowe Foundation, Lawrence Technological University, MERRA, the Michigan Entrepreneurial Education Network, Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Michigan Technological University, MiBiz, Next Energy, Schoolcraft College, Saginaw Valley State University and the Small Business Association of Michigan. The SBFM defines entrepreneurial dynamism as a composite measure of Michigan’s performance in entrepreneurial change, entrepreneurial vitality and entrepreneurial climate. “While Michigan has not achieved its full entrepreneurial dynamism potential, there are some things it does right – it is still making tremendous progress in areas critical to robust entrepreneurship, such as private lending to small businesses, university spinout businesses and entrepreneurial education,” said SBFM executive director Mark Clevey. “However, the economic impacts of factors like globalization and restructuring of old-line industries will continue to have negative effects on entrepreneurship. Michigan needs to do even more if it is to accelerate entrepreneurial dynamism and create more jobs for our struggling economy.” Here’s how Michigan ranks compared to other states: Entrepreneurial Change (the amount of recent entrepreneurial growth or decline in an economy): 46th Entrepreneurial Vitality (the absolute level of entrepreneurial activity): 38th Entrepreneurial Climate (the capability of an economy to foster entrepreneurship): 38th Business Costs and Productivity: 41st Quality of Life: 37th Government Efficiency and Regulatory Environment: 26th Infrastructure: 24th University Spinout Businesses: 16th Workforce Preparedness: 10th Education and Workforce: 8th Broadband Coverage: 4th Private Lending to Small Businesses: 3rd Although the Foundation does not advocate policy positions, Clevey says Michigan can improve its entrepreneurial dynamism by paying greater attention to entrepreneurial education, economic development strategy, access to capital, technology commercialization and developing a business climate that nurtures entrepreneurs. Promotion sponsors are Ann Arbor SPARK, Creating Entrepreneurial Communities (CEC), Michigan State University; Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, Great Lakes Angels, Inc., Great Lakes Entrepreneur Quest, Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance, Michigan Homeland Security Consortium, Michigan Interfaith Power and Light, Michigan Ross School of Business, Center for Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance, Michigan Center for Innovation and Economic Prosperity, James Madison College, Michigan State University; Midland Tomorrow, Michigan Venture Capital Association, Prima Civitas Foundation and Vision Tri-County.

Author: Staff Writer Source: MITechNews.Com

On INNOVATION STATIONS and "Shade Tree Mechanics"

Video: The Creative Power of JDK | by JDK Design
Oh YEAH!

An Evolutionary Approach to Innovation

by Richard Watson

Can biology teach us anything about innovation? The essence of Darwinism is that progress is created by adaptation to changed conditions. What starts as a random mutation can also spread to become the norm through a process of natural selection.

The same is surely true with innovation. New ideas are mutations created when two or more old ideas combine. For instance, Virgin Atlantic Airways is what happens when you cross an entertainment company with an airline business.

Virgin itself is also a good example of mutation and adaptation. The music retail business was created when a postal strike threatened to shut down the fledgling mail order record company. Virgin Atlantic was the result of an unsolicited approach from outside the company. Virgin Blue (a low-cost airline in Australia) is a similar story.

In my experience, what makes Virgin innovative is a strong sense of self, an ability to experiment, the skill to cross-fertilize ideas, and a willingness to change. The company has largely grown, not through the unfolding of some master plan, but through an accumulation of learning and ideas caused by threats, accidents and luck.

So, if external events and adaptation are the driving forces of biological evolution, is it possible to develop an innovation process that seeks out accidents and mutations?

This is an idea being developed by companies like Brand Genetics in the UK and Dr. Ron Alexander in Australia.

The list of things created by accident is certainly impressive; Aspirin, Band-Aids, Diners Club, DNA finger printing, dynamite, inoculation, Jell-O, Lamborghini, microwave ovens, nylon, penicillin, velcro and Vodafone to name just a few.

However, one of the defining characteristics of business is a preoccupation with orderly process ("If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."). So it's hard to imagine corporate cultures embracing randomness -- or agreeing with John Lennon, who said, "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans."

Accidents are born of experimentation, but the automotive and fashion industries are almost the only industries that publicly experiment with radical mutations. What, for example, is the soft drink industry equivalent of a concept car at the Detroit Motor Show?

Zara, the Spanish clothing retailer, is a classic example of experimentation and adaptation. Store managers send customer feedback and observations to in-house design teams via PDAs. This helps the company to spot fashion trends and adapt merchandise to local tastes.

Just-in-time production (an idea transferred from the automotive industry), then gives the company an edge in terms of speed and flexibility. The result is a three-week turnaround time for new products (the industry average is nine months), and 10,000 new designs every year -- none of which stay in store for more than four weeks.

The analogy of biology also leads to an interesting idea about whether companies are best thought of in mechanical or biological terms. Traditionally, we have likened companies to machines. Organisations are mechanical devices (engines if you like) that can be tuned by experts to deliver optimum performance.

For companies that are looking to fine tune what they already do, this is probably correct. A product like the Porsche 911 evolves due to a process of continuous improvement and slowly changing environmental factors. The focus is on repetition. Development is logical and linear.

However, if you're seeking to revolutionize a product or market, the biological model is an interesting thinking tool. In this context, biology reminds us that random events and non-linear thinking cause developmental jumps. Unlike machines, living things have the ability to identify and translate opportunities and threats into strategies for survival. A good example is Mercedes-Benz working with Swatch watches to create the Smart car.

Creative leaps are usually the result of accidental cross-fertilization (variation) or rapid adaptation caused by the threat of change. Hence the importance of identifying an enemy, setting unrealistic deadlines and using diverse teams to create paradigm shifts.

The latter is a route employed by MIT who mix different disciplines together. As Nicholas Negroponte puts it, "New ideas do not necessarily live within the borders of existing intellectual domains. In fact they are most often at the edges and in curious intersections."

This is a thought echoed by Edward de Bono, who talks about the need for provocation and discontinuity. In order to come up with a new solution you must first jump laterally to a different start or end point.

For example, if you want to revolutionise the hotel industry you need to identify the assumptions upon which the industry operates and then create a divergent strategy. This could lead you to invent Formule 1 Hotels (keep prices low by focusing on beds, hygiene, and privacy), or another value innovator, easyHotel (keep rooms cheap by making guests hire their own bed linen and clean their own rooms).

What else can you do to create these jumps? A good place to start is to look at the edge (fringe) of existing markets. Here you'll find the misfits and the rebels. Companies that see things differently. People young enough not to realise that new ideas are impossible, or old enough not to care.

How else can you use a Darwinian approach to innovation? Here are five ideas:

• Look at the big evolutionary picture -- what are the driving forces?
• Create mutations -- unusual combinations of people and ideas.
• Look for new ideas and conditions that could disrupt your market.
• Treat accidents as opportunities for divergence and adaptation.
• Cooperate with other companies (create mutually beneficial eco-systems)

Finally, remember the words of Charles Darwin, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

Garage Shop Innovation

by Richard Watson

Too much experience, too much familiarity, or too much money can kill innovation fast. That's why game changing ideas tend to come from a lone inventor or two in a cramped garage.

A while ago I wrote a piece for Fast Company called "An Evolutionary Approach to Innovation." The central idea was that Darwinism teaches us quite a bit about innovation. In particular, random mutations and adaptations caused by a particular local context or by rapidly changing conditions can spread to become the norm through a process of natural selection. Innovations are generally mutations created when one or more old idea is cross-fertilized by another.

The same is true with trends. New trends emerge when someone starts to think or behave differently -- or starts to create or customize something because existing offers do not fit with their needs or circumstances. If conditions are right a trend will become widely accepted, eventually moving from the fringe to the mass-market and from early adopters and trendsetters to laggards. Trends that occur at an intersection of other trends may also turn into megatrends, which are the key disrupters and drivers of innovation and change across all industries.

Creative leaps also tend to emerge when someone with a differing perspective tries something new -- either through bravery or sheer naivety. If that person is young or comes from another place (i.e. a different discipline or perhaps a different country) things sometime start to happen. Put two or move differing people together and the sparks can really fly.

But why is this so? In my experience it's because older people have usually invested too much under the current system and therefore have too much to lose if a new idea displaces an older one. Equally, people that don't move around or come from the same department or discipline sometimes fail to see what is hidden under their own noses, whereas people from ‘somewhere else' often see it.

For these reasons game changing ideas and radical innovations tend to come, not from well-funded industry incumbents (i.e. large organizations), but from lone inventors or a couple of individuals in a cramped garage. In other words, too much experience, too much familiarity or too much money can kill innovation faster than phrases like "I like it but" and "We tried that once."

Perhaps this explains why, for instance, 25% of Silicon Valley startups are created by either Indian or Chinese entrepreneurs. They see things differently. Another example of outsider thinking and mutation is Virgin Atlantic Airways. Richard Branson managed to shake up the airline industry precisely because he did not have an airline industry background. So when other airlines were worrying about legroom, routes and punctuality, Branson was cross-fertilising his experience from the entertainment industry and worrying about why flying wasn't more fun.

Not all new ideas and innovations make it of course. It's a case of survival of the fittest (or luckiest). Eventually, however, the sheer number of new ideas that are hatched means that a few emerge and make it into the mainstream where they do battle with deeply set vested interests. Then it's usually youth and energy versus experience and money. Organizations are like this too in a sense. They start of hungry, agile and curious and end up bloated, lazy and stiff.

So my question is this. If external events and adaptation are the driving forces of innovation, is it possible to develop an innovative culture and process that seeks out change and mutation? Moreover, if evolution is the result of genetic accidents is it possible to replicate such accidents through experimentation? An imminent threat of extinction would certainly explain why it often takes a crisis to spur a lazy and bureaucratic organization to adapt and embrace change.

My answer is that generally speaking it's not. This may be a heretical statement, especially coming from someone that makes a living advising companies how to create innovation systems, but I think it's true. Some large companies are excellent at innovation. It's their reason for being and is imprinted in their DNA.

However, for most large organizations innovation is an inconvenience. Organizational cultures develop a kind of corporate immune system that subconsciously suppresses or rejects any new idea that could threaten the existing business. Quite right too. The primary aim of established organizations is to extract revenue and profit from legacy businesses and not to do anything that would upset the apple cart.

This primarily means executing flawlessly in the present and requires tight control and strict hierarchies. Small companies, in contrast, have less to lose and are not encumbered by their history. Their mental models about 'what works' are less fixed and they are more open to picking up weak signals about change.

So here's my idea. If your organization is the kind that does innovation well, then great. Equally, if you're halfway decent at innovation, keep with the program and perhaps play around with some of these thoughts about using trends as a framework for innovation and scenario planning. If you're lucky you may give birth to a strange mutation. If this happens recognize it as a gift and run with it as far as it goes.

If, however, you are the type of organization that's not very good at innovation then give up. That's right. Throw in the towel and get into hunting instead of agriculture. In other words stop trying to grow your own through research & development and go out hunting with mergers and acquisitions instead. Seek out small innovative companies and buy them.

Big organizations, even ones that are really bad at innovation, are very good at scaling up an idea and dealing with everything from intellectual property and sales to marketing and finance. This is handy because these things are precisely what startups and small companies are often very bad at.

Captain O' Captain! On Dump Trucks and Stuff!

Think Like a Leader Kellye Whitney, Senior Editor

Leadership development is to the CLO palette what the color blue is to a creative representation of the sky. Countless learning organizations center or begin the meat of their programming with leadership, knowing development at this level of the workforce has the power to create the fastest and more long-lasting impact on the bulk of an organization’s workforce. But how do you teach someone to act like a leader? Michael Clingan, the Claymore Group LLC principal, said the idea of leadership development goes all the way back to the time of Aristotle, who attempted to teach the common people how to be leaders in a relatively short time frame. “I’m an accidental businessperson and a physicist by training, and physicists tend to look at things from first principles,” Clingan said. “There are a lot of physicists, as it turns out, who have written about leadership, including Aristotle. He has basically broken leadership down into ethos, pathos and logos. Ethos is about being true to yourself and your values and being authentic. Pathos is about empathy and passion. Logos is the ability to think precisely, creatively and to help others believe in what you’re saying, to gain buy in.” Although it can be tough to pinpoint a concept as inherently subjective and individual as leadership development, Clingan said there are some explicit skills that can be taught in leadership development such as understanding causality, knowing how to resolve conflicts, how to plan effectively and how to gain buy in. “There’s another skill that’s embedded in there, and that is learning where you’re going to stand while you’re trying to solve a problem,” Clingan said. “This helps you to avoid putting a lot of effort into activities that don’t solve problems or don’t solve them well. All of us are in very fast-paced environments, and things are always changing. We tend to notice things and may even realize correlations, but we usually don’t say, ‘If event A happens, then event B happens, or if A happens then, it’s likely that B will happen.’ “That’s great if you’re a leader by yourself, but most leadership nowadays happens with a group of people. You need to have more rigor and process so people can poke at things without it getting emotional. Take a little bit more work on the front end to say, ‘OK, what problem are we trying to solve? And let’s make sure we understand current reality very well.’” Once some of the more explicit leadership skills have been identified for development, one of the next key stages of development revolves around how a leader can practice new skills. Simulations, for instance, offer learners an opportunity to learn in a risk-free environment, but Clingan said that too often, simulations and other more technology-motivated learning activities are ill-suited to relay the necessary learning for this audience. “The whole concept of critical thinking skills for leadership tends to be one that overwhelms the learner,” Clingan explained. “Critical thinking is a massive body of work, and most of the time, it’s like a dump truck backing up in a class: You hear the beeping sound, then all this stuff comes sliding off the back, and the leader is supposed to somehow grab onto the stuff that’s most valuable. I take the other approach and try to boil it down first and give them only three or four tools that are going to do them the most good most of the time.” Clingan said only about 20 percent of his workshops are dedicated to lecture. Learners spend the remaining 80 percent executing real-life scenarios based on real problems in their business environment. Further, adult learning theory centers on small learning objects, making learning real and then applying lessons learned immediately. All of these lead to development activities in class rather than in an online format. “In a previous life, I did online components, but it really doesn’t lend itself to the scrutiny,” Clingan said. “One of the most powerful things an instructor can say when teaching a leader to think better is one word: ‘Really?’ It beats ‘I think you’re full of crap’ — it has a more positive connotation. You can’t do that in an online environment in quite the same way. You don’t need to. If I have class time, I can move to a situation where I’m mentoring, and you use tools in a classroom environment that you’re not going to online or in the field.” Further, coming up with great ideas in class is fairly easy, but Clingan said it is equally important to communicate solutions effectively, something many leadership programs don’t emphasize, thus buy in for the concepts or processes learned doesn’t occur naturally. “It’s about breaking down the steps so there’s agreement on the problem, agreement on the direction of the solution and agreement that the solution solves the problem,” Clingan said. “I expect students to be able to analyze a situation better and faster than they did before they came in. They should use causality naturally, and I expect them to come up with solutions and plans, whether they’re working by themselves or playing well with others. “Leadership is a group activity. I expect them to communicate the output from any planning effectively and get buy in. It’s hard to measure the transition of a leader from one state to another correctly. It’s much easier to judge the effectiveness of the leader by listening to their people — see how willing the followers are.”

"Summit Place Mall" Development Project

Encapsulation Statement:



Is Summit Place the next to join the list of Oakland County's mall memories

Township, owners hope complex�s woes can be turned around
Of The Oakland Press

Sleek townhouses just steps away from a trendy restaurant?

A new baseball park near housing and shops?

These suggestions and more have been offered in the past five months at Summit Place visioning workshops organized by Waterford Township.

Township officials and mall owner Namco of Los Angeles are having workshops to determine the area's future zoning. The hope, they say, is to reinvigorate the largely vacant 1.3-million-square-foot mall, which opened in 1962, and bring more people and business to the area.

But the mall's transition from boom to bust is not unique around Oakland County.

Dead mall history

Rochester Hills had three malls that didn't make it as enclosed facilities.

Great Oaks Mall, at Walton and Livernois, across from Crittenton Hospital

Winchester Mall, at Avon and Rochester roads

Meadowbrook Village Mall at Adams Road and Walton Boulevard "Meadowbrook and Great Oaks were smaller-scale malls," said Ed Anzek, Rochester Hills' director of planning and development.

"They just didn't generate enough activity. Without big anchors, they just dwindled and declined."

When it came time for changes, the three malls' owners didn't turn to the community for guidance, Anzek remembered.

"They came in, presented plans and said, �This is what we're going to do,' " he said.

The now-thriving Village of Rochester Hills shopping center had a long birth, about a decade, Anzek said.

In September 2002, the 375,000-square-foot Village of Rochester Hills opened to the public. Often referred to as a "Main Street" concept, the shopping center mimics a small downtown, with individual storefronts. Parisian anchors the north end, with a 120,000-square-foot department store.

Winchester Mall owners abandoned the traditional mall setup and converted to big-box retail with separate entrances in the mid-1990s.

Great Oaks, anchored by Jacobson's, had also been declining, Anzek said.

The facility was demolished and the site split. Developers are building a medical office with retail on the eastern half. A Walgreens sits on the western half.

Built in 1968, the 630,000-square-foot Tel-12 Mall - at the corner of 12 Mile and Telegraph roads - underwent a change similar to Winchester and was converted to big-box stores around 2001.

Some malls OK

Activity is still evident at some area malls, including Oakland Mall and Somerset Collection, both in Troy, and Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills.

At Novi-based Twelve Oaks Mall, owned by Bloomfield Hills-based Taubman Centers, 21 stores will open this fall as part of a 300,000-square-foot expansion.

Construction started last year on the new wing, which will include a two-level, 165,000-square-foot Nordstrom department store. Twelve Oaks, which opened in 1977, has nearly 180 stores.

Summit Place advice

Ask around and it becomes obvious everyone has an opinion on what to do about Summit Place's woes.

Michael Bernacchi, a marketing professor at the University of Detroit Mercy, praised consultants and planners for involving the public in the process.

"If the community feels part of it, it's well on its way to success," he said.

But Bernacchi cautioned planners.

"It's one thing to lay out a vision," he noted, "but it's another thing to put it into action."

Nicholas Banda, director of planning for Southfield, has been hearing about the Waterford workshops.

"I'd advise them to be as creative and forceful with the owners as they can," Banda said.

Banda - who believes the newer Great Lakes Crossing killed Summit Place - urged Waterford should not "go halfway," he said. "Don't try to retrofit. If everyone is creative and open-minded, it can be done," he said.

Novi planner Tim Schmitt advised Waterford to consider a mixed-use plan.

"You have to get residential on that site, along with office-type space," Schmitt said. "You need to get more people there."

Schmitt said Great Lakes Crossing has so much retail that Summit Place needs to diversify its shops.

"(With the publicity and workshops), people are realizing it needs to be very different," he said. "But different is not bad, it's good in this case."

Schmitt reacted positively to the idea of an independent baseball ballpark on the site, an idea proposed by a group of Waterford businessmen.

"That is the kind of thing that would draw people to the area," he said.

Anzek, Rochester Hills' planning director, believes Waterford could attract people with a lifestyle concept.

"You could have housing on the site for people who work in the Oakland County government center up the road," he said.

On a recent trip through Ohio, Anzek was surprised how many "lifestyle" type centers are there - places that combined housing, sports bars, restaurants and shops.

But he admitted "it's tough right now" in Michigan.

"You need the right market mix for it to work," Anzek said. Jen McBurney, a resident of Sylvan Lake who attended the first visioning workshop, would like to see something similar to the Village of Rochester Hills Main Street design at Summit Place.

"Retail with restaurants," she said, "and a park with a stage for local artists to do concerts or for outdoor movies. It would not have to be huge, just a place for a couple hundred people."

McBurney, who works for a land developer, believes those amenities would draw residents from Pontiac, the Bloomfield area, Waterford and Keego Harbor.

"It's dead now," she said. "You have to give people a reason to come there."

Contact Carol Hopkins at (248) 745-4645 or carol.hopkins@oakpress.com.

What's next

The fourth and final community workshop on Summit Place mall's redevelopment will be held sometime in May or June at the Oakland Schools building, 2111 Pontiac Lake Road in Waterford.

The consultants' final recommendations for a preferred redevelopment concept will be presented and discussed. The township then will begin to develop zoning-ordinance language that will allow redevelopment to proceed.

Sports center possible for mall

It's idea to revive Summit Place

April 15, 2007

BY L.L. BRASIER

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

What's the best use for Summit Place mall, the mammoth Waterford shopping center now more than 60% vacant?

How about a sports center?

That is one of the latest -- and perhaps most innovative -- ideas to come out of a series of community workshops held in recent months with residents, planners, consultants and city officials grappling with the mall's future.

But a decision likely is still months away.

The consultants Harley Ellis Devereaux and JJR are working with the township to assist in the planning.

The sports center -- which might include a minor league baseball stadium and ice rink -- will be one of the topics discussed in a meeting this spring. The township also is considering using some of the space for new housing. A date has not been set for the fourth and final workshop.

"That's one of the things we're considering," township Supervisor Carl Solden said of a sports center. "We're hoping to make it a destination spot that would bring people into Waterford."

New stores won't do the trick, planners say. "One of our concerns is that there is just way too much retail space," Solden said. "That area is saturated."

Ultimately, the decision on what to do will be made by the owner of the mall, Namco, a California-based company, in conjunction with the township, which would have some say because of possible changes in zoning.

And Solden said the township will not rush its decision. "We want to be sure we're doing the right thing, that it will benefit this community and the surrounding area," he said.

The mall, built in the 1960s at the corner of Telegraph and Elizabeth Lake roads, once was a major shopping magnet for north and central Oakland County, and it still attracts shoppers with its four anchor stores: Macy's, Kohls, JCPenney and Sears.

Some smaller shops have hung on, but the mall is at least 60% vacant.

The mall's troubles began in the 1990s as shoppers sought more updated -- and upscale -- environs, such as Troy's Somerset Collection. Then, in 1998, Great Lakes Crossing opened in Auburn Hills.

In the last year, Summit Place restaurants began to close, including Ruby Tuesday and all but one of the food court concessions. The mall has only about 400 employees; it once had more than 1,000.

Contact L.L. BRASIER at 248-858-2262 or brasier@freepress.com.

Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.

Also: Summit Place Mall Mash-up http://www.spmmashup.blogspot.com

University of Michigan "Science City" Development Project

Encapsulation Statement:

ALL "TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEYS" BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND!

On Behalf of Leo Tomkow

Friends & Colleagues:

Thank you............