Open Source Innovation in Action - Wild Peeta, IDEO and Insights from Ideas Arabia

I have had a great time at Ideas Arabia here in Dubai, where I was a keynote speaker, opening the conference.

One presentation I was really impressed with was from the guys at Wild Peeta - two brothers, who spent a good deal of time in FMCG in USA and had a nine year dream realised when they opened a shawmana (pitta sandwich) restaurant in Dubai.

The really interesting thing is that they have used social networking sites and open source innovation to build the business, and have 6000 followers on Twitter. Examples of co-creation range from customers telling them what sandwich to make, what sauce to offer and to move from take away and delivery, to a dine-in offering too.

They are all about being local - local food and local talent. The restaurant was designed by students, based on the principles contained in the IDEO method cards, and is a great example of how creative brainstorming and real consumer insight can be impactful.

The Wild Peeta mantra is:

We are and always will be “Proud to be an Emirati enterprise”.

The customer is always right. They are the reason we exist.

When others say they can’t; Wild Peeta says they can.

At Wild Peeta, quality is not a word; it’s a way of life.

Wild Peeta sets the standards, and then raises them.

There are no shortcuts. The Wild Peeta way demands a solid foundation ahead of growth.

Wild Peeta will always do the right thing. It’s our banner, and we wear it proudly.

If you get to Dubai, please do check them out. Our dinner last night was lovely!

http://www.wildpeeta.com/home.php

and have a look at the fantastic IDEO method cards

http://www.ideo.com/work/item/method-cards

Ideas Arabia

We are very excited that MOK will be appearing at Ideas Arabia this week in Dubai as Key Note Speaker at the conference. The event is hosted by His Highness Sheidk Ahamed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and MOK will be talking about the link between Innovation and Employee Engagement.

Bring your child to work day 22nd April 2010

So we are thinking about what our little darlings could possibly offer us in the way of new ways of working and thinking on Thursday - Bring Your Child to Work Day.

When The Innovation Beehive works with clients, we impress upon them the importance of playfulness in Innovation. A new way of thinking about the world or a product or even a people process can never be achieved by behaving in the same way we have always behaved. When we were children we continually experimented - to kids, every day is a new adventure, every experience gives them a new insight about the world. They learn as they go.

But something puts an end to this innocent exploring - adults. They teach us the rules of life and children are taught that some things just can't be done. We are taught the big impossible.

This is the mindset that The Innovation Beehive tries to break - to have really successful Innovation you must have a child like view of what is possible ; limiting beliefs never fueled a Fortune 500.

So, when you take your child to work this week - sit them down and explain your biggest work challenge. You might just learn something.

Zappos does it again

We just love the new advertising campaign from Zappos - it has taken real customer phone calls and "acted them out" with puppets. Hard to explain, but worth a look.

http://bit.ly/9Xkhvz

and if you want to see how they got all the staff excited about the new campaign, check out the employee launch party

http://bit.ly/9HVpj4

and if you haven't yet checked out this amazing company, "powered by service", have a look at http://about.zappos.com/

Management Wonderland

Tonight I went to see Alice In Wonderland, the new Tim Burton film. Just wonderful and I recommend you all go out and see it - especially if you can catch it in 3D.

Being the Leadership Development geek I am, I was struck tonight by a few parallels between "underland" and Leadership. So if you would like to follow me down the rabbit hole...

1)You must keep believing you can do what others think is impossible. Alice regularly thinks of "six impossible things before breakfast". And, how about a Dodo anyone?
2) Be persistent - if your first go doesn't work, try something else. Alice follows the "Drink Me" bottle's label and then has to try the "Eat Me" cake. Only then does she get the key to the tiny door. Second time lucky, whilst learning from the first attempt.
3) Stay true to what you believe in. The White Queen could probably do away with her sister, but to do so would break her vows - something she is not prepared to do.
4)Change happens all the time. Don't be afraid of it - the caterpillar welcomes his cocoon and in doing so eventually becomes a beautiful butterfly
5) Don't expect to be the Champion on Day 1. Alice has to go through a number of experiences until she is able to defeat the Jabberwocky. The Mad Hatter knew she was always going to be the White Queen's Champion (despite the Dormouse's protestations) but she had to grow into the role.
6) Sometimes you need to get in bed with your enemies - the Bandersnatch originally tries to kill Alice, but eventually is one of her defenders.
7) Always have a few crazies on the team - not that surprising a piece of advice coming from The Innovation Beehive, but would Alice really have defeated The Red Queen if she had not been creatively inspired by the mad creative world of The Hatter and the March Hare?
8)The Red Queen may seem to have all the power in the world but she rules by fear and discovers it is not "better to be feared than loved". We don't want to get into a whole debate again about employee engagement (see the post In Response to The Sunday Times Best Place to Work) but you all know that this management style can only work in the short term (someone please call Downing Street).
9) Have a clear Vision of where you want to get to and communicate it clearly - my favourite part of the orginal Lewis Carol story (sadly left out of the Tim Burton film) is when Alice meets the Cheshire Cat and asks him which way she should go:

'that depends a good deal on where you want to get to' said the Cat
'I don't much care where' said Alice
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go' said the Cat

Oh and, by the way, the film is excellent!

http://www2.disney.co.uk/DisneyMovies/alice/

Top Ten hints on how to be more creative at work

A lovely piece in Director Magazine from Kursty Groves

http://bit.ly/b1IYmB

Design consultant Kursty Groves offers 10 tips to help you get creative at work

1. Limit your budget
Great creative spaces don't have to cost a fortune. Many exciting workplaces are modelled using reclaimed furniture and objects. People on a budget become more resourceful and inventive.

2. Give people freedom
Allow employees to create their own "home" at work. When workers are permitted to express themselves by displaying items that interest them, closer connections with colleagues are forged.

3. Collaborate
Generating a buzz is easier when colleagues have ample opportunities to bounce thoughts and ideas around.

4. Engineer collisions
Create more opportunities for staff to bump into each other throughout the day. An effective way to do this is to provide a free kitchen and use food as a lure.

5. Friendly competition
Set teams the challenge of decorating shared spaces. Pick a theme and choose areas where customers don't enter to lower any fear factor about getting it wrong.

6. Breathe life into dead spaces
Hallways are often overlooked as tools for communicating and generating excitement. Hang stimulating artwork, soon-to-be-released products, business updates or information about staff. And keep updating the exhibits to grab people's attention.

7. Writing on the wall
Shared thinking allows ideas to be developed and honed as they happen. So create plenty of opportunities for staff to scribble ideas on the walls for others to see. Transform entire surfaces into a canvas, and make sure there's an abundant supply of colourful marker pens or chalk.

8. Change the pace
The creative brain works best when it is fed a problem and then allowed to reflect. Create deliberate barriers in well-used paths or provide places to play games. Such techniques slow people down and gives them the space they need to think.

9. Design places to escape
Sometimes we need to get messy to create. But often, especially with "clean desk" policies, people don't feel free to test ideas. Provide hidden spaces where teams can experiment without fear of judgement.

10. Get away
Even the most inspired staff in innovative companies need to go offsite. Getting away from the hyper-connectivity of the wireless world is essential for ensuring a team achieves focus. But make sure that the venue is set up to challenge thinking.

I Wish I Worked There! A Look Inside the Most Creative Spaces in Business by Kursty Groves and Will Knight is published by Wiley, priced £39.99

Career Dreams can come true!

I remember when I was a student at Goldsmith's College. My mate Lines and I were sitting at Disco Delirium, the name for the Wednesday night bash at the Student Union Bar and we were contemplating running a pub together when we left college - "that way we would see each other all the time". Well, she now works in the City and I run an Innovation and Creativity consultancy, but if the new scheme from Punch Taverns had existed back then things might have been different.

Punch is offering new graduates the keys to failing pubs for a very low entry price of £5k. In total there will be 236 up for grabs. Thinking is that young keen and bright young things will be able to turn around the fortune of failing boozers. With massive graduate unemployment, huge student loans, and the Government's target of 50% of young people going to University, Britain's most indebted pub group may just be onto something.