Reading List - Part One

Lots of our clients have been asking us for book recommendations.

If you want to start off by reading about innovative organisations, here are our favourites:

Weird Ideas That Work, how to build a creative company, Robert I Sutton

Stoking your Innovation Bonfire, Braden Kelley

Nuts – South West Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success, Kevin and Jackie Freiberg

Built from Scratch, Home Depot,Bernard Marcus

Rising Tide, Lessons from P&G, Davis Dyer

Delivering Happiness, Zappos, Tony Hsieh

The Accidental CEO, YUM, David Novak

Mavericks at Work, Polly LaBarre

The Book of Yo! Simon Woodfroffe

I Wish I Worked There, Kursty Groves

Game Changer, (P&G), A G Lafley

Built to Last, Jim Collins

Consumer immersion

The key to successful innovation is to really get under the skin of your clients. We are taking this to the extreme this week. One of us is doing a shift as a kitchen porter and the other spending the day in housekeeping. To tell an organisation's story, you need to understand what the employees do.

Shift work, here we come!

Busy Bees

We are busy bees at the moment - just signed a big new energy client. Helping them to come up with a clear innovation definition vision for their business. Exciting!

Cadbury - a year on from Kraft

It was one of the biggest corporate takeovers in UK history, and it began with an epic PR disaster for Kraft. Having promised to save Somerdale (an historic west country chocolate factory) the American food conglomerate promptly changed their minds. According to YouGov last March, 94% of consumers were aware that Cadbury had been swallowed by Kraft. So what has happened to the workers of Somerdale - and Bournville - in the twelve months since ?
Last year Miles Warde presented Cadbury Is Our Longbridge, a series about the takeover on Radio 4. This two part follow up catches up with those most affected and asks what has been learnt.
"I've watched the whole lot being disassembled, yeah ... they still expected you to clean the machinery as they were taking it out. And I've taken photos of the last bar of Crunchie coming off, and they've written, The End."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00zddhl/Cadbury_Kraft_A_Year_On_Episode_1

Innocent Drinks

if you have a few minutes, have a listen to an interview with the founder of our favourite company, Innocent Drinks

http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/careers/business/hardtalk/

Roffey Park and Storytelling

MOK's off to deliver a speech at Roffey Park Institute today on Storytelling. In front on an invited HR Director audience, he will explain

• the essential ingredients to making a story stick
• how the CEO is the new Storyteller
  
• how technology and the rise of the celebrity has changed the business landscape
• how to tell stories to create a Vision, a Culture and to communicate to your Customers

and have a punt at the future of Storytelling.

If you want to know more....give us a buzz!

NESTA and the Rise of Collaborative Consumption

A fantastic day yesterday, working with NESTA and Rachel Botsman, the author of The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, on how it can impact on Public Services, particularly in these difficult times. I worked on how to re-invent the service offering and business model of Libraries!

if you want to find out more about Collaborative Consumption and Rachel Botsman

http://bit.ly/hfuw2R

if you want to find out more about NESTA, who is responsible for promoting Innovation in the UK

http://bit.ly/fF3w7Q

The Rise of Collaborative Consumption

Tonight I went to the UK launch of Rachel Botsman's new book "What's Mine is Yours - the rise of collaborative consumption" about how technology is changing the way we share and consume goods.

It's a great book and well worth a look:

http://bit.ly/hfuw2R

and you can check out Rachel speaking at Tedx Sydney

http://bit.ly/eqOI6K

Google's Latest Innovation

And yet another innovation from the wonderful Google, using Streetview technology, Art Project allows you to visit some of the world's most wonderful museums. You can even start our own collection, share collections and look in depth at fine detailed brush strokes.

Take a trip around some of the world's greatest museums and discover the Masters

http://bit.ly/eH24vB

Inspiration from Google

Next time you need some inspiration you could do no better than to turn to Google's latest innovation - Google Think - http://bit.ly/f1lVGM bite sized pieces of business and leadership thought.

Great stimulus for Busy Bees

Award Winning Work

I am really proud to have worked with a team at Lloyds Register to bring fresh thinking and creativity to a challenge to raise funds for a new Lifeboat on the Thames. It was a great project for the company to set them - to get them to crack a problem, learn new skills and then apply them back to the work place.

Even prouder tonight that the team won the 'Awareness' award from the RNLI for best Marketing and Creativity.

Innovation Safai

We are really looking to running an Innovation Safari tomorrow for our tea client. We are taking the top 18 Global Marketing Directors on a look outside adventure to gather new insights into the Digital World, Mass Premium and Sampling/Trial. Highlights will be a visit to Apple, The Tea House in Covent Garden, Crabtree and Evelyn, meeting up with a member of the Twitterarti and a case study from www.makeitandmendit.com MD Clare Flynn!

All Ears Storytelling

Really looking forward to attending http://www.allearsevents.co.uk/home next event in London on January 19th.

The Hub, Kings Cross, London | Details | Map | Tickets

January is a time that brings about contemplation. We start to re-evaluate how we are living our lives and what we can do to make them more fulfilling, richer in experience, more gratifying. ALL EARS January brings you four stories from people who have made brave changes to their lives including the sensational Noel 'Razor' Smith, the inspirational guru John Williams and the unique Nicci Mack. You will hear how they are now living the lives they choose to live.

Join them, listen and maybe you'll be inspired to make some changes too...

Lesson on Leadership

We have really enjoyed listening to this Radio 4 programme on Leadership - great examples and some interesting stimulus. Enjoy!

http://bbc.in/iihkas