by Tapan Munroe, co-author of Closing America’s Job Gap

I want to make a dent in the universe” – Steve Jobs

Innovation is the key to business survival and success in the 21st century. The billion dollar“The phrase described what happened in 1960, for example, when an unknown company, Sony,Recently a book coauthored by Clay Christensen, Jeff Dyer, and Hal Gregersen entitled – The question is: can innovation be learned? Can business leaders find answers to important questionssuch as: How do I find innovators for my business? How can I become more innovative? Can wedistill and mimic the traits of leading “disruptive innovators” like Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison?

Maureen Glabman in a 2009 article in MediMedia gives a succinct example illustrating the

meaning of the term “disruptive innovation”:

began selling an affordable transistor television that eventually replaced RCA’s vacuum tube.

Soon it became apparent the transistor alone — the disruptive technology — did not tell the

whole story. To achieve success, the technology had to be coupled with a whiz-bang business

plan, giving birth to the encompassing term ‘disruptive innovations.’ Sony, with its coveted

transistor TV that many people could afford, and a plan to sell its TVs through Kmart (then a new

retail chain), put both the more expensive RCA vacuum tube TVs, as well as the many mom-andpop

appliance stores that refused to sell Sony sets, essentially out of business.”

Innovators DNA (August 2011) answers these important questions by delving into the minds

of great innovators. It is important to note that Clay Christensen of the Harvard Business School

revolutionized the study of innovation when he wrote the best seller The Innovators Dilemma

(1997) which popularized the phrase “disruptive innovation.”

The Innovators DNA takes an important step forward. It tries to delve into the minds of iconic

innovators such as Steve Jobs of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, and Pierre Omidyar of eBay to

discover how they come up with disruptive innovations, how they differ from others, and what

businesses can learn from them.

The research underlying the book comprised a six-year study of innovative companies. The

examining how they developed their path-breaking ideas on which their businesses were built1. Associating.The authors define it as “cross-pollinating ideas in their own heads and in others.” It occurs when the brain attempts to synthesize and make sense of2. Questioning.This is a passion for enquiry that challenges the status quo. Top innovators are3. Observing.This is a passion for observing and understanding the world around us including4. Networking.This involves testing ideas via a diverse network of people who have radically5. Experimenting.Innovators continuously fiddle with their products as well their business- 3 -The real challenge for businesses in America at this time is to enhance and sustain the culture ofTapan Munroe, PhD, may be reached attapan@tapanmunroe.com.“What Makes Silicon Valley Tick?” offers an account of the Valley’s enduringwww.ClosingAmericasJobGap.com.

and developed.

A striking finding of the book is that, in most companies, the CEO does not feel that they are

responsible for originating key innovations. Instead they feel that they are responsible for the

stewardship of the innovation process. In contrast, in the most innovative companies (only fifteen

percent of the sample), the top executive does not delegate responsibility for innovation. They

themselves are the doers.

What are the key differences in the ways that disruptive innovators think versus typical

executives?

Disruptive innovators exhibit five key skills:

They connect wildly different ideas, objects, services, technologies and disciplines to dish up new

and unusual innovations.

novel inputs. New directions are discovered when connections are made across seemingly

unrelated questions. It is all about connecting the dots between different subjects, problems, and

ideas that others find unrelated. The authors theorize that innovators are 35 percent more likely to

come up with new ideas if they have lived in foreign countries. Creative associating is helped by

having depth in one area and breadth in many areas of expertise. This is the foremost cognitive

skill of disruptive innovators.

always asking why things are not done differently. This yields new insights, connections,

possibilities, and directions for their businesses.

customers, products, technologies, and businesses that ultimately gives rise to new ways of doing

things.

varied perspectives. Many innovators are seen as misfits and loners. This is an erroneous

perception. Most top innovators are inveterate networkers. This is more than social networking;

it is about networking for revolutionary ideas that result in game-changing innovations. It is all

about idea mining from network of experts and not about “getting to know you” for another

contract or a business deal.

model. Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos is well known for that. They try out new ideas intellectually

and experimentally by visiting new places, trying new things, seeking new information.

The book adds a great deal to our understanding of the mind set of path-breaking innovators.

The thing that is missing from the book is a discussion on the innovators ability to create and

communicate a vision and help others to accept it. This is the sixth major skill and it is vital as

implementing major innovations involves a great deal of change and risk. The innovator must

convey a compelling vision and communicate it passionately so that others will get on board.

Steve Jobs of a master of that.

innovation internally. That takes a lot of doing; from hiring people with the skills from the outside

as well as teaching the five or six skills mentioned above internally. Establishing a culture of

innovation in America’s businesses will go a long way toward sustaining prosperity in America

in the 21st century.

__________________________________________

Tapan’s book

economic vitality. It is available at Amazon.com.

Read commentaries on his forthcoming book on jobs at

  2011 – 2012 Social Sciences Supper Club Series presents:

 “America’s Changing Job Landscape:

How Regions Are Reinventing Themselves”

Featuring Mary L. Walshok, PhD

Mary Walshok, Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Extension at UC San Diego

Associate Vice Chancellor for Public Programs, Dean of University Extension

Adjunct Professor of Sociology

UC San Diego

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

5:30 pm, UC San Diego Faculty Club

Where will America’s employment growth come from and how can we stimulate the growth our economy needs? Mary Walshok has many answers after visiting communities all across America in her current research, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, NSF and private foundations. Walshok, an industrial sociologist, has been inspired by the way regions are reinventing themselves: creating pockets of innovation and economic transformation, often in unexpected places. From next generation robotics in Pittsburgh to pond-scum-into-energy technology developed in San Diego, she has witnessed firsthand how communities are reorganizing at the regional level to re-purpose their existing industrial and commercial capabilities, re-skill their workforce, and restore their previously significant entrepreneurial know-how.

Mary Walshok is associate vice chancellor for public programs and dean of Extension at the UC San Diego as well as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Sociology. She has been studying workforce trends and the dynamics of regional economic growth for forty years. She oversees a $37 million division that educates 56,000 enrollees annually, plus UCSD-TV and UCTV, which reach 22 million households and millions more through the Web. A thought leader on aligning workforce development with regional economic growth, she is the author of Blue Collar Women (Doubleday), Knowledge Without Boundaries (Jossey-Bass Publishers), Closing America’s Job Gap (W Business Books), and Invention and Reinvention: The Evolution of San Diego’s Entrepreneurial Economy (forthcoming, Stanford University Press). Walshok is active on numerous community and national boards and is co-founder of CONNECT, one of the most admired innovation cluster development organizations in the world.

Supper Club events include a wine reception, full dinner, and Faculty Club parking in addition to the lecture. To Register; please send $65/person or $450/table of 8 and the completed form below to: Social Sciences Supper Club, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mail Code 0502, La Jolla, California 92093-0502. Please make checks payable to UC Regents.

Reservations or additional information may be obtained by calling Marcie Marsh at 858-246-0372 or by emailing: mmarsh@ucsd.edu

Check out the September 19-25 cover story in Bloomberg Businessweek on “America Isn’t Working.”   Despite 14 million Americans looking for work, and a least 2.6 million wanting work but not actively searching, jobs are still going unfilled. The BLS says 3.2 million unfilled jobs. Why? Despite a flood of applicants, companies struggle to find candidates that fit.  Very graphic differences in what Ireland, Germany and Denmark spend in job training vs. the U.S.

Here is an excerpt from an interesting commentary in the August 15 issue of the New Yorker.

“For more than two years, the unemployment rate has been close to or above nine per cent. (That is the official rate; if the government counted people who have given up looking for work or who have been forced to work part time, the rate would be sixteen per cent.) And it’s not just the labor market that is frantically signalling distress. The gross domestic product, after growing modestly in 2009 and 2010, has hardly expanded at all this year. Consumer spending has stalled. In many places, house prices are still falling. On Wall Street, there is renewed talk of a double-dip recession.”

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/08/15/110815taco_talk_cassidy#ixzz1Vyqmt7M6

by Henry DeVries

“An entrepreneur,” President George W. Bush once observed, “is someone who will work 80 hours a week for themselves so they don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else.”

If that career sounds good to you then you need to spend some time with Neil Senturia.

Senturia has re-invented himself several times in his relentless pursuit of entrepreneurial success. Currently he is the CEO of Blackbird Ventures, an investor in high growth potential companies. He also serves as the chairman of the board of directors of Valore, an online marketplace for the sale and rental of used textbooks.

Senturia’s diverse endeavors range from writing sitcoms to technology with a stint as a real estate developer in the middle. He has been CEO of six technology companies, three in software, one in material science, one in media and most recently clean tech.

A great way to spend some time with Senturia is to read his excellent book: “I’m There for You Baby: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

The book is a series of cautionary tales that Senturia learned during his quest from Tinsel Town to technology. “I’m there for you baby” is a movie business catchphrase he adopted that encapsulates the journey.

“It is because entrepreneurship is a little bit like Hollywood,” says Senturia. “I can teach the principles of entrepreneurship, but I cannot teach you to be an entrepreneur. The same is true in the movie business. There may be a map to the stars’ homes, but there is no map to being a star. It is opaque, it is impossible, it is unlikely, it is different every time.”

The book is funny and filled with hundreds of great tips – which Senturia calls his rules. For example:

RULE #302: More money is lost through neurotic behavior than through bad business decisions.

RULE #31: No good deed goes unpunished.

RULE #261: It’s not rocket science, it’s brain surgery.

The second way to spend time with Senturia is by taking the nine-week entrepreneurship class he will teach in the fall at UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement. Senturia has previously taught new venture creation as an adjunct professor in the MBA program at San Diego State University and has served on the board of directors of SDSU’s Entrepreneurial Management Center.

“This high-energy, interactive fast-paced class will examine the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial process in start-up, high growth and large organizations,” says Senturia. “It will help you understand how to think in an entrepreneurial way, how to apply rational man behavior, and how to analyze hard facts in all aspects of starting and growing a company.”
 
This is not a “war story” class, says Senturia.

 “You will leave with practical tools that you can apply in a variety of situations,” he says. “Be prepared to actively participate and engage with your classmates and instructors.”

Also teaching the course is Senturia’s business partner and wife, Barbara Bry. An entrepreneur in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, Bry is a co-founder of Atcom/Info and was on the founding management team of Proflowers.com/Provide Commerce which was sold for $477 million. She is the founder of San Diego Athena and was the first associate director of CONNECT.

“This by-invitation-only course is designed for individuals who want to start a company, serve on the management team of a start-up, or lead or participate in an entrepreneurial venture within a large organization,” says Bry. If you are interested in applying for this class, email her at bbry@blackbirdv.com.
 

Either by book or class, Senturia will be there for you, baby.

Did you read Warren Buffet’s op ed piece in the New York Times (and other newspapers) this week on stop coddling the super rich?

“OUR leaders have asked for ‘shared sacrifice.’ But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched,” writes Buffet.

He has some points to make about job creation.

“Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

“I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.”

For the full read go to http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html

UC San Diego and The Atlantic Announce The Atlantic Meets The Pacific –A Forum at the Horizon of Technology, Energy, and Health from October 17-19, 2011

LA JOLLA, CA and WASHINGTON, DC, August 9, 2011 –– The University of California San Diego and The Atlantic announce a new forum, The Atlantic Meets the Pacific, dedicated to the exploration of next frontiers. To be held October 17-19, 2011 at premier venues on and around the campus of UC San Diego, the event will bring audiences thought-provoking conversations addressing new frontiers in science, medicine, technology, and energy against the backdrop of this rapidly globalizing world.

The program will feature speakers who work on the cusp of “what’s next,” including serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, interviewed by The Atlantic’s James Fallows; spiritual guru Dr. Deepak Chopra and Caltech physicist and author Leonard Mlodinow in conversation with Atlantic editor James Bennet; a headline interview with Twitter co-founder Evan Williams; and computer game design pioneer and Sims creator Will Wright interviewed by The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal. Additional speakers will be announced throughout the summer.

Event attendees will also witness innovation first-hand. Many of the conversations will take place at the Scripps Seaside Forum, an ocean-front conference center facility located in the heart of the renowned UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). The event will include behind-the-scenes tours at SIO, UC San Diego’s Calit2 digital media laboratory and Moores Cancer Center, The Scripps Research Institute, and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. The final day of the event will take place at a world-renowned architectural landmark, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, founded in 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, M.D.

“Throughout its history, The Atlantic has drawn together provocative writers and thinkers to debate the ideas shaping our world. In that tradition, this forum will gather leading voices from the fields of science, technology, energy, and medicine to discuss our future at a time of unprecedented global challenges,” said James Bennet, editor of The Atlantic. “We’re excited to be joining with the University of California San Diego to foster conversation about cutting-edge ideas.

“The Atlantic Meets the Pacific aims to be the ideal forum in which the imagination, inventions and innovations shaping the future will be engaged by thoughtful, influential voices from around the country and the world,” said Mary Walshok, UC San Diego associate vice chancellor of public programs and dean of Extension, the host of the event.

Since its founding in 1857 as a magazine about “the American Idea,” The Atlantic has been at the vanguard of brave thinking in journalism. Beginning in 2005, The Atlantic has partnered with the Aspen Institute to bring national and global leaders together to discuss the ideas and trends shaping our world at the Aspen Ideas Festival and, since 2009, at the Washington Ideas Forum. The Atlantic Meets the Pacific expands upon that tradition with a focus on looking forward to what the future might hold.

The new West Coast partnership seems a perfect fit. Nestled on the Pacific Ocean in the enclave of La Jolla, UC San Diego is one of the nation’s most accomplished research universities. Renowned for its collaborative, diverse and cross-disciplinary ethos that transcends traditional boundaries in science, arts and the humanities, the university’s award-winning scholars are experts at the forefront of their fields with an impressive track record for achieving scientific, medical and technological breakthroughs.

“It is remarkable how much is invented in California,” reflected conference speaker Musk, the 40-year-old serial entrepreneur who transformed the Internet with his e-payment company PayPal, invented the first viable electric car of the modern era at Tesla Motors and also went on to start SpaceX, the first private company to launch a rocket into space. Musk, an immigrant of South African-Canadian heritage who came to Stanford University to pursue a Ph.D., says it is not necessarily the people who were born in California. “It’s just that people come here because this is an environment that is really conducive to invention.”

The goal of the event is to engage a national constituency of CEOs, philanthropists, civic officials and media leaders in some of the most exciting developments shaping America and the world, linking the strengths of the traditional achievements of the Atlantic Coast with the promising ideas and opportunities emerging from the Pacific Coast.

Underwriters of The Atlantic Meets the Pacific include Chevron and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.

To register for The Atlantic Meets the Pacific, please visit the registration site or http://events.theatlantic.com/atlanticmeetspacific/2011/

About The Atlantic

Since 1857, The Atlantic has played a central role in shaping the national debate on current affairs and cultural trends.  Dedicated to bold, independent, diverse, and highly reasoned perspectives, its writers, bloggers, and critics represent the best in American journalism.  The Atlantic’s award-winning commentary and coverage can be found in its magazine, on its website at www.TheAtlantic.com, and at 100+ events a year produced by its industry-leading events division, AtlanticLIVE.

About UC San Diego Extension

UC San Diego Extension (www.extension.ucsd.edu) is recognized internationally for linking the public to the knowledge resources of the University of California. As the continuing education and public programs arm of the university, UC San Diego Extension educates approximately 56,000 enrollees a year, which translates to over 26,000 students in more than 4,900 courses.  Through UCSD-TV, 1 million San Diego homes enjoy daily access to an abundance of useful ideas, creative minds and provocative thinkers. Although a part of the university since 1966, Extension receives no state support and relies on the funding generated from fees, contracts, grants, sponsors and donors for its annual budget of approximately $35 million.

In a world where concern about global warming has reached the tipping point, going green is no longer an option to differentiate a company or a career but a business imperative.
 
Some say green is the new black, a fashionable business fad. This is a miscalculated view. For those who think corporate America has gone overboard in jumping on the green band wagon, consider this:  40 percent of Americans see global warming as a dire problem and are making changes in their lives to help curb the risk of further environmental damage according to the recent ImagePower Green Brands 2.0 survey.
Going green is weighing heavily on consumer’s minds, causing them to make daily choices in order to make a difference. According to research from Nielsen, 43 percent of consumers anticipate a greener future within the next five years.  
 
Finding A Good Green Job

Every now and then a positive story comes out of a bad economy. Leslie Widner’s story is one of those.  Widner, a San Francisco Bay Area native, moved to San Diego to attend San Diego State.  She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2007 and a multiple subject teaching credential in 2008.  An internship teaching second and third graders prepared Widner for her goal after graduation – to secure a grade school teaching job.

Unfortunately for Widner, and many teachers during the recession, teaching jobs were few and far between in 2008.  Frustrated and desperate, Widner took a job at a large hotel chain as a front office supervisor.  Once there she reignited her second passion – caring for the environment.  “I saw such an enormous amount of waste there,” says Widner. “They had no recycling at all and probably used a ream of paper a day.”  She set up a recycling program at the hotel and soon began researching school curriculums locally for a program that would expand her expertise in this area.

While reading an article about green events in San Diego, Widner came across UC San Diego Extension’s Sustainable Business Practices certificate program.  “Sustainability,” says Widner, “Is understanding how a business affects the environment and the people in the community.”  A company can’t boast minimal environmental impact if they’re outsourcing their products or work to a country that does business without the environment in mind. “It’s about the three E’s,” adds Widner. “Environment, Education and Equity, and, of course, creating a minimal amount of waste.”

The certificate program offered classes like integrating sustainability into business practices, environmental economics and green marketing and positioning. It was exactly what she needed in that she could attend at her own pace, the course work was what she wanted, and it was priced right for her budget.

Fortuitously, an internship facilitated by the program also helped land Widner a job as soon as she obtained her certificate.

“We had a speaker on the first day of class, Gary Goodson, executive director of U.S. Green Building Council, San Diego,” recalls Widner. USGBC is a national non-profit dedicated to creating sustainable living.  “I really liked what he had to say, so I emailed him about volunteer opportunities. Two weeks later I had an internship!”

That internship, and Widner’s newly obtained sustainability certificate, opened the door to her current job with Waste Less Living, Inc. in Pasadena.

 
Now Green Means Business

So what exactly does it mean to go green? For business, going green means changing the way you provide products and services to reduce the negative impact to the earth. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the concepts of global warming, environmentally sustainable (renewable) resources and being held accountable for the human resource aspects of your business activities.
 
No matter what your industry or area of expertise, there are various steps you can take to reduce the negative impact of your business on the environment.
 
“In effect, every job is going green,” says Vicki Krantz, director of business, science and technology programs at UC San Diego Extension. “Smart companies are encouraging a bottom-up emphasis on sustainability, letting the people who really know how things work figure out how to incorporate green practices in the daily workplace lives.”

Skeptics say college is overrated, but htose with degrees make more even when their jobs don’t require higher education. In the June 26, 2011 edition of The New York Times columnist David Leonhardt talks about a studythat demonstrates that the value of collerge is not only that it gives graduates entry to high-paying occupations.

For the full article click here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/sunday-review/26leonhardt.html

“ALMOST a century ago, the United States decided to make high school nearly universal. Around the same time, much of Europe decided that universal high school was a waste. Not everybody, European intellectuals argued, should go to high school.

According to the July 4, 2011 issue of Time, one of the reasons U.S. employment has remianed high is a mismatch of workers and jobs. In construction there are over 12 unemployed in that industry for every job opening. In healthcare, the ratio is more like 2 to 1. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the article offers an interesting way of graphically understanding the data.

For the full article go to http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2079569,00.html