Shock the roots of my system

There are millions and millions of people seeking to make a better life for themselves and their families throughout this country.  Some are born here in difficult circumstances.  Others come here from faraway places following life changing events.  It is the American dream and hope. 

I met a young women named Abbey the other day and have pledged to help her personally transverse the difficult road.  She came to the United States during the civil war in her country - Sierra Leone in southern Africa near New Guinea in 2005.  She has her Green Card, a gift from her country won through a lottery system.  She is in her thirties.  In her circumstances, she left her country thinking her two sons and fiancee were killed by the Rebels only to learn a year later they escaped and resettled by her bother.  Abbey has not seen her two boys, 11 and 13 for five years.  She sends money as she earns it to help pay for food, clothing and school.  She also sends money home to her mom, who is ill and her brother.

I am a second generation American.  My father has done a great job exploring our family tree and telling his children where and how our grandparents arrived in America when their parents sought refuge from tyranny in Russia during the serious convulsion of the early 20th century.  My mother's parents came to America from Poland before World War I.  So, it was less than 100 years ago my family was facing what Abbey is now facing.

Abbey works two jobs and 70+ hours per week.  She works at the home where my Dad lives and another nursing home near Darby, Pennsylvania.  She handles two shifts from 11pm to 7am and then 11am to 7pm driving between the jobs and attends nursing school 3 days a week seeking her LPN on her days off from work.   She is a nursing assistant and caregiver.  She drives across the Commodore Barry Bridge into southern New Jersey three days a week to attend a small for-profit and State approved school called Southern New Jersey Tech.  I can't imagine how much sleep she gets.  Given all this, I was impressed by her personality and spirit.  She has a sense of humor and religious trust in others, to a point I would say is naive.

I would infer there are billions throughout the world like Abbey seeking a better life.  We are sheltered from them because of distance. They would do anything to be in my circumstances here in the United States, free of war and turmoil.  Abbey is here in the United States by herself.  She has no family.  She has friends where she lives in Darby, Pennsylvania.  She socializes with many from her country and similar background she meets working and going to school.  They are like a clan, driving, eating and even sharing rooms.  Abbey does not have her own place.  When I first met Abbey, all her personal belongings fit into a plastic shopping bag, including her small cloth purse. 

My career and focus has been on higher education.  That focus has kept me away from other postsecondary education providers like professional schools until meeting Abbey.  New Jersey Tech is not accredited as a college.  They are approved to provide LPN diplomas in Nursing by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development of New Jersey.  There is no financial aid.  No student grants.  No help to help her pay the $13,000 tuition.  It is a cash and carry school. How can we expect to raise someone's standard of living when they have to live on $15K a year, attend school, pay for family support, try and become a citizen and struggle to pay to make calls weekly to stay connected in the lives of her family?

Abbey has paid $11,000 in tuition (Cash) with no financial aid, loans or help. That is two thirds her take home pay not considering taxes. There seems to be about 40 adults, mostly African or minorities attending this institution to get their diploma in Nursing by the end of October. They are being sold the value of a diploma on the basis it will have some worth in the labor market because New Jersey has approved them. Yet, New Jersey offers no aid program or assistance for this part of the market.  Something I will attempt to challenge on another plane of thought. Abbey still owes $1,500 and the school's owner won't let her sit and finish class this month, allowing her to graduate as planned at the end of October.  It is their tactic to put pressure on students who can ill afford it. She told me this last week and I have been trying to find information on the school, its program, management and policies. They have no website. No listing in directories I can find. So, I am of course very suspect.

I am also trying to make arrangements for her to make her final payment. But, giving her $1,500 directly without having some assurance the school is legitimate and her diploma will mean something to her career is pretty tough to swallow from my vantage point. Yet, I am still going to do it all the same. I will be really mad if I find out this school is not legit.

This may sound crazy, but the licensing of schools operating under the approval of New Jersey should have better procedures for helping students and their sponsors/friends. At the least, the State should require a website for the school, to publish contact information, policies and methods of making payment or better yet, to get loans and aid. At the least, the State website should have the schools listed. I could not find anything easily. I may have not been looking in the right place though.

From a national perspective, a country born from immigration and that has mushroomed to a world power; we (in general) treat these people terribly. But, she is one of millions I am sure. This one, I am going to help.  This one can make a small difference.
Abbey's situation is not unique for sure. She recognizes she needs to improve her knowledge and training to uplift her life.  She is motivated.  She is working hard. But, I also know she is attending an unaccredited school which will be her first step on the ladder.  I have tried to lecture her in vain on the telephone and in person. I can't convince her to transfer to a local community college on fears she will have to start over. She still wants to get her citizenship, move to an apartment, get her kids to join her in the US and finally get married to her fiancee that is taking care of her kids back in Sierra Leon. That will take thousands of dollars and years of effort. So, who am I to take her off course?

This is the underbelly of the education market that needs to improve and reform in my view – and we never hear about it until you run into it directly.  That is why I call it a shock to the roots of our system. Because, when we shock a tree by moving it and replanting it during the growing phase, the leaves fall off and it almost goes into a death spiral. And, it takes a year or so to get its health back. Some don't survive. We work in education to make a difference. To nurture success, means we need to take risks and help where we can. I know Abbey will be one of the lucky ones. And, I hope my message helps others reach out to help others like her.

Audience Participation Please – the new Net Reality Show

I am not Nostradomus obviously.  But I can predict a few things following patterns and observations. It is like watching a movie or play, interpreting the plot and predicting the end of the story. As we all become part of the show, interacting with software over the web, it is as if we are in a large, audience participation reality show.

Today, software is designed to connect, communicate and infer actions that can optimize effort and provide value to users and customers. As we evolve past the decades of designing software to serve the "system" or "machine", we transcend to software that begins serving us in new ways.  Like LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter and Facebook, the software offers us a look at events that were never captured before.  The structure and collection of data is information itself.  Like who viewed my profile and how many messages do I have to read?  Who are my fans?  I can't sleep until I get my unread message count down to something reasonable.  Software today is no longer about feeding the monster "system" or "machine", like an ERP or CRM, but interacting with the world.  The information management and tracking systems is slowly losing the level of importance we once believed was strategic when services are obtained to replace functions from cash flow management, credit card purchasing, procurement management, refunds, ecommerce, opportunity management, project management, grant management, and on and on and on.
 
We are now seeing software systems evolve and focus on collaboration and work flows that no one would have contemplated just a few short years ago because of the implications of the net effect and sharing information.  Meeting wizard, desktop sharing, video streaming, simulations, voice over IP, cloud integration services, shared repositories, content conversion and much much more are delivering more value and alternatives to the systems deployed and operational across organizations. All Pretty cool.  Blogging is one of them.  Social networking is obviously another category.  New forms of news and event tracking like Twitter is another.  Second life and other virtual worlds are colliding with reality, as if we are evolving to a MATRIX like world (the original movie).  Are we connected?  Or not?  Who is the architect anyway? 

The new types of software that lets me communicate to the world and connect to others would not be considered enterprise.  Yet, if for one minute a President or CAO would be disconnected from his or her Blackberry or iPhone, the whole world would stop for them.  An organization's business processes and operations are not optimized around Facebook and Twitter, right?  Well, we could have said that about websites and email a few short years ago.  Now, we have content management and entire software systems to manage how an organization exists on the web and interfaces with it's stakeholders through distributed components and networks that just connect. 

As an individual, I can track what is going on across various communities.  Millions and millions do it.  Who finds my stuff interesting beyond my wife, kids and friends?  Well, keeping track of who visits and views is already upon us.  I can track things for free and I can share things in the virtual world that lets people assimilate my thoughts and information.  My blogging, like many others is a great example of that.  I am not doing it for the system or feeding machine though, but to express myself and to share insights across a community.  If someone finds what I write helpful, I achieved my goal. If no one does, who cares, because there is no real cost?  I can still feel good about expressing my thoughts and documenting them for the future.

From this context, we are all part of a larger audience. It is called social networking.  But, it is a form of new entertainment for many.  A new medium of content.

When I consider that my blogs will only be found by someone searching, I digress.  What is a search?   Everything has to be indexed to be found.  When I consider that, I think of my computer and how I have to constantly search for files I codified at one point, saved in a folder and then can't find it, without remembering some part of the name or date or source.  My memory is not as good as it once ways.  Why can't the computer help me with that?  It will.

The implication though is that software and evolution of the net today is taking us beyond working for the drudgery of working for "machine" or "system", but it is serving our purpose more than previous generations.  And, whether I am using Amazon to buy a book or computer or TV, software today is designed to serve users and their needs.  It remembers me.  And, my profile.  And, my purchases. And, my posts.  The movement from record keeping to self service to software as a service helps users live and work.  It is still evolving.  It is just the tip of the iceberg.  Since what we are also seeing is the trail of use and how that impacts our thinking and behavior.  We have multiple profiles on multiple platforms all over the web.  We have information summarized across systems that creates a virtual profile of our activities like footprints in a muddy field.  My USAIR profile is an example of preferences on how they can help me.  Combine that with my profile on Hilton and Marriott and what happens?

Google page rank and the relevance of information linked to content tries to answer search requests and finding information, media, books, etc.  How does a content search help us?  Does it change our thinking?  Does it alter our behavior?  Do we make new assumptions?  For example, Google page rank drives SEO and efforts to stack the deck.  Everyone who builds a website and wants a presence to be found, seeks to have relevance.  This in turn feeds new types of software to optimise keywords and content organization.  It motivates us to connect and get listed.  In contrast, when we use to have analog phones and the phone company published yellow and white pages, many wanted and preferred not to be listed.  We feared for our privacy. 

We change behavior and influence the systems we utilize and the people interacting with them, which in turn become even more abstract and complex as a result. We impact each other. Like a reality TV show where the actors are uninhibited and intertwined.

I can see nine people viewed my Linkedin profile over the last week.  What does that mean?  Who are they?  Should I care?  Is that good?  All of a sudden, I am seeking information I never knew existed or cared about.  On Facebook, I see comments and photos and questions shared.  I get invitations, suggestions and applications telling me who is doing what today by the minute.  Do I have time to feed the new system?  Can I answer all the emails I am getting from all the systems I am exposed in?  Is it productive for me to even go down this path?  Something to contemplate.  But, one assumption we always seem to make, because we are connected, is that not everyone is.  The digital divide is like parallel universes. They don't intersect, except for a few who venture to cross boundaries.

Today's software systems are all evolving with the implications of connectivity, network effect, virtual profiles and relevance. Where enterprise software systems evolve in this new era of reality will be important to organizations that rely on them for standard practices that may be obsolete by new forms of connectivity and relevance. People will spend less time in the systems designed around the business that once was transactional and inhibited by access, connectivity and complexity because of specialization.   
Tomorrow, software will be designed to extend, project, interpret and even think for us as we transition from users to customers like actors interact on the theater stage. We are all in the online reality show and we watch others as the show unfolds. The audience participation is part of the show. And, none of us, even proprietary enterprise software vendors can stop the show as it unfolds.

I know many of you will say that is an oversimplification.  That is ok.   I just wanted to put the thoughts out there.

Faster horses

Henry Ford supposedly made the statement, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” This quote conceals the challenge we all face seeking to discover how others see things beyond our own perspective. My interest in exploring the quote is further stimulated by my desire to understand what makes innovators tick and how do innovative companies succeed. 

Are innovators born with the intuitive sense of what to do and how to explore ideas?  Do we nurture innovation and the innovative process in schools through art, science, history and math? Are innovators more creative creatures than normal human beings?  What stimulates people and companies to be innovative?  Do we teach innovation in business or mentor people to be innovative? Why do some step out and become very innovative while others do not?  Do you meet a lot of innovators in your circle of friends?  Do you work with innovators or people you believe are innovative? What are the characteristics of someone who is innovative?  For that matter, what are the characteristics of a company or organization that is innovative? 

I believe everyone has the built-in ingredients to be an innovator. Many would argue with me on that point. My goal in writing this paper is to uncover and reinvigorate the innovator in all of us – to stimulate the discussion. We assume innovators are special people like Steve Jobs of Apple, Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company and Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo. They are special. They are people who have mastered the process of innovation and have learned how to stimulate companies and their employees to be innovative. I believe innovation is a process we all intuitively are born with, but often lose or regress as we are put through the socialized process of rearing, education, work and life in general.  The fun of exploring the unknown, the woods behind the yard or the other side of the tracks is often lost to the anxieties of 'what could happen?' or rules put in place to minimize risk of exposure to elements outside our control.

There are no real boundaries of markets hidden beyond the horizon. They are virtual and constantly evolving. Yet, that is not the main point of my focus for this article. It is not usually a single discovery or conclusion we patent, but an evolution of thinking. This is why it is so hard for patents to be processed and approved here in the United States or anywhere in the world. Where is original thought come from? How can we separate thoughts from the work of others?  Is not everything we do, based upon some work of someone who came before us?  It is hard to say. That is also why it can take years to originate and defend a set of patent claims.

Do we really understand the market (or what ever) feedback we solicit? Market research is spent to uncover implications following a more scientific and probing methodology. Engineering builds on the knowledge gained. We seek to understand the symptoms and root causes that create the circumstance of market opportunity. We often begin with assumptions. Then, we test our assumptions. And, we test the symptoms to determine the root causes or underlying explanation. Part of what separates innovations and innovators success I believe is how they address the root causes or symptoms of the problem by design.

Does the market or prospective consumers really understand the questions we ask? The Ford quote highlights how innovators seek to uncover perspectives on a problem or challenge. In Ford’s viewpoint, it was about the mode of transportation and going from A to B. Is there a better way than walking or riding a horse or carriage? Can we create something faster? Can we create something easier, less smelly and affordable? Can we create something that won’t die in the sunlight without water?

On first blush, Ford’s quote makes me think about how smart Ford must have been to see over the horizon to build the Model T. Ingenious is an understatement. The quote highlights how innovators everyday see things others do not see. And, how they build that vision, articulate it and get others to believe in it. Yet, I believe this is part myth or story. There is more to it.

Generally, we can say everyone is an innovator at some level. Whether we are trying to figure out how to build the next game box like the Wii by Nintendo, launching portable media players like the ipod by Apple, evolving book selling, distribution and reading though the Kindle by Amazon or we are coming up with a way to get our children to try new foods or eat their spinach, innovators seek to understand the underlying obstacles of a problem and experiment with possible approaches to solve them.

Some innovators are more persistent than others and will keep refining ideas until they reveal the potential or are consumed by it because it did not serve the consumer or the market. And, some dig deeper and wider. We question the status quo not just from a single point of view. We explore and characterize a perceived market, potential customer, unmet need or pain by developing a model from insights gained thru interactions over time.

I can also say it in another way. Innovators have honed a skill to walk in the shoes of their target consumer.  Empathy. We seek to discover or engineer a prospective product or service that could be developed, acquired or assembled. How do we teach this? How does this skill evolve from childhood and taught when we socialize thinking into do’s and don’ts? Why do some develop the orientation better than others, capitalizing on their ability to question without anxiety while others accept the status quo?

The utility of the product or service has to be great enough to justify its development, marketing and utilization. An innovative product could be a feature in a broader platform – like the car radio or electric windshield washers. The market also has to be large enough to offer the ROI. And, it is often weighed as part of a broader market basket, not just stand apart from what other products and services offered.

The GPS is an option on cars many have used, but eventually will be an expected built-in feature as the car platform continues to deliver more value. The GPS could also be acquired through Pep Boys or offered by cell phone carriers as a means for us to find where we are and where we want to go. The GPS, like all products evolves. It initially was the technology of connecting satellites, towers and standard protocols to convey global positioning to a moving device. It has evolved much more than that to include searching for gas stations, restaurants and movie theaters. These innovations all play out in the broader context of addressing segments and needs.

Another example is how a product requires or eliminates routine maintenance or gives us reminders. BMW builds-in annual check-up sensors and a user interface to remind drivers to change the oil, rotate tires and fill washer fluid. Microsoft Windows and other software systems monitor for updates and automatically install them with settings reflecting the permission of the computer user. Monetizing features, products and services is an example of the challenges facing innovators across all sectors today as evolution continues to march onward. Are the things we innovate part of a market basket or do they stand on their own? Are they not all part of the larger eco-system interlinked?

Products are often sold as part of something else - ingredients mixed like flour, yeast and water. The quality of all ingredients, when you come right down to it, is engineered to serve the consumer in a broader eco-system. Is the water filtered? Is the flour milled? Is the yeast active and dry? Rooted in thinking thru the interdependencies, drivers and value proposition are the expectation to justify consumption and use by someone directly of indirectly.

Obviously, everyone does not have the same insights, passions or dreams to develop an idea. I tend to have thousands of ideas a week. It is pretty hard to live and work with me - because people tell me that or I infer it because my attention moves around a lot. Whether the idea could be disruptive, ahead of its time or just an incremental step toward a larger movement is another aspect to consider when we look backward on history and ponder snapshots of time. I consider this a form of pattern recognition. And, I often struggle to explain it so that others can see what I see.

Sure is easy to repeat a quote that often projects the myth that innovators are smarter or wiser or luckier. I doubt Ford just asked one question - which is an oversimplification of the innovators approach. The innovator is inside us all and often has to be stimulated to come out. That is what Steve Jobs and others have learned how to do in their companies, creating new products which, on the surface seem risky for a company like Apple making easy to use computers. Just look at your own circumstances and think about what is around you, who is around you and ponder how you interact across time and space. Living is innovation every day. We seek to answer what we desire like what food or drink would satisfy hunger or thirst? We seek sleep and shelter. We seek comfort and safety.

Many are frightened to think they are innovators, for fear of failure or realization they don’t have the ability to think thru the circumstances. They are defeated before they even address their first challenge because they have been socialized by society, parents, schools and others to not challenge the status quo or to explore the conversation hidden by our natural tendencies. Some of us have trained ourselves to think differently, and thus we strive to innovate, driven by recognition and rewards for matching an unmet need at the right time, right place and with the an approach that can survive the economics driven by the natural utility we seek.

It is easy to take things out of context. We can dissect Ford’s quote into several questions and observations. One is that not everyone sees opportunities, circumstances, and obstacles the same. One that realizes innovation is a process over a long period of time and thought. One that innovation is just an element of human existence, or in a wider context, Darwin’s theory of evolution. It is not usually one question or one answer.

We live in a feature rich, product centric world that often tries to redefine the way we connect to the world. Tweeting, digg'ing, texting and social networking is changing the way we communicate from thoughtful plotting to instantaneous indulgence of too much information. But, let's not be fooled that the whole world is doing it. There are billions and billions of people still fighting to find a way of life. They spend 80% of their day seeking fresh drinking water and daily food. They don't live near a Seven Eleven or Wawa. And, it is daunting to think that my sheltered life, the luck of being born in the free world, in the United States, only further calls me to use my talents, brain and time on earth to be creative, expressive and of course innovate.

Thus, the push to find an opening, new ways to improve things, reflects the human side of reflection, inspiration and perseverance, like many others, never satisfied by the status quo. Whether for profit or for mutual improvement, we are physcially and metaphysically in motion all the time. It is not static. Thus, when others often tell me I keep changing, I have to draw on and reflect why it is so important to work with others to overcome sensitivity and discomfort as we work with moving targets all the time.

My passion is to innovate and to motivate others to innovate. And, I hope during my life I help those around me step beyond influences and experiences that inhibit their ability to contribute to the innovative process we all share.  Not all see it that way though.  Ideas are not good or bad, but have to be explored with discovery and probing.  Finally, I believe we are all innovators by design, and that questioning the status quo is the essence of the innovative process, to uncover assumptions and conclusions others leave us with when we consider past, current and future circumstances.