Slides of my presentation during the Career Convention 2011 Event at the University of Aruba.

1. Leadership for innovation
Rethinking management and
organization paradigms
Edward Erasmus MA
Mini workshop
University of Aruba
November 28, 2011

2. A little about me…

4. What we will do in the next 30 minutes…
• Have a conversation about innovation,
leadership, and organizations…
Agenda
• Explain innovation (briefly)
• Challenges for leaders
• Leadership qualities of the 21st century
• How organizations need to adapt
• Creating a climate for Innovation
• Questions / discussions

5. Innovation?...
. . . is generally understood as the successful
introduction of a new thing or method . . .
Innovation is the embodiment, combination, or
synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant,
valued new products, processes, or services.”
- Luecke and Katz (2003)

6. We see innovation
Title
as a means to:
• unlock talents of all of our
people
• develop every area of the
economy and, in particular,
wherever high value added
businesses can flourish and grow
• generate sustainable prosperity

7. Our own definition of innovation…
“Transforming the (current) resources of our
nation (Aruba) through the creativity of
people into new resources and wealth.”

8. No innovation
no change
no development….
….without visionary leaders

9. Key leadership challenges…
SPEED PEOPLE
TOMORROW MANAGEMENT
PARADIGMS

10. 1. SPEED!!
Radical innovation and technological developments is
going to dominate your daily schedule….
if you walk you stand still, so
you’ll need to run pretty fast to
advance just a little.

11. Radical innovation
…….an improvement or advancement that enhances a
product, service or a process in a manner that has never
been expected by the market…..
• Good for consumers
• Disruptive for existing industries
(some will adapt, others will fade away)

12. Radical innovation

13. Radical innovation

14. Radical innovation

15. Radical innovation…
The biggest fear by big companies in this
technological innovation era is not to be able
to recognize radical innovation and (timely)
capitalize on it when it appears….
“Successful organizations face considerable difficulty in maintaining their
strength and might. Of the 25 largest companies in 1900, only two have
remained in that select company. The rest have failed, been merged out of
existence, or simply fallen in size.”
~ Paap & Katz, 2004

16. Coping with ‘Speed’…
• Do not fear radical transformations….
• In its place, look for opportunities instead of
deterring threats.
• Or… seek to be at the forefront of innovation

17. 2. PEOPLE
You don’t control consumers…
Consumers control you...

19. Thanks to social networking:
• Society is moving towards a more social,
collaborative, interactive and responsive web
• Higher interconnectivity
• Building communities
SN gives people a powerful voice…..

20. From social media to social movement

22. Say goodbye to the era of
monologue

23. The new communication model is
dialogue

24. Social Networking has changed the
‘game’ in marketing and communication,
but also how organizations need to
respond to consumer needs….

25. Mass customization….
Co-creation…
and co-branding….
take on new forms

26. massively
multiplayer
online role-playing
game (MMORPG)

28. Co-creation….

29. Starbucks gave consumers a
voice....the result:
over 50,000 product ideas

30. • Forget B2C or B2B……
it’s now P2P (person-2-person)
…customers want to connect and interact with
companies on a 1:1 social level
…and those who can deliver that, will gain
substantial competitive edge...

31. Engaging ‘People’…
• Allow customers ‘inside’ your organizations.
• Opportunities to engage in creative new
forms of online communication with all sorts
of stakeholders.
• Use the ‘consumer voice’ to enhance your
competitive edge.

32. 3. TOMORROW!!
“We are living on this planet as if we
had another one to go to.”
- Terri Swearingen

35. Think sustainable….
• Environmental resources are limited and are
quite sensitive to everything that we do.
• We are starting to experience the effects of the
actions of generations that came before us.
To make sure that future generations will not
experience worse, we need to be aware of the ideals
and requirements of sustainability….

36. Why adopting sustainability practices..?
Companies have learned the hard lesson that
without a sustainable society, there is no
sustainable business….
In order for a business to be truly sustainable, it
must sustain not only the necessary
environmental resources, but also its social
resources, including employees, customers (the
community), and its reputation

37. Sustainable enterprise…
• Reduced packaging materials for products
• Reengineered its logistics by rerouting trucks and
save 100 million miles
• Helped save $200 millions in costs, while reducing
fuel consumption (and emission) and lowered
disposal costs to landfills

38. Sustainable enterprises
1. Incorporating principles of sustainability into each
of their business decisions.
2. Supplying or consuming environmentally friendly
products or services that replaces demand for non
green products and/or services.
3. Greener than traditional competition.
4. Enduring commitment to environmental principles
in their business operations.

39. Coping with ‘Tomorrow’…
• Think ‘sustainability’ in every decision
• Creating value through sustainable enterprising
• Focus on triple bottom line: people, planet and
profits….

40. 4. MANAGEMENT PARADIGMS
Too much of today’s management thinking is
still rooted in the industrial revolution…

41. Design to control:
Workers seen as machines made up of
interlocking parts that each play a clearly
defined role in the functioning of the
whole…

42. Old-fashioned leadership styles
Businesses are organized to operate, not to create…
• People employed to make the organization operate
as efficiently as possible.
• A small number of people are selected to lead the
people who are operators.
• An even smaller number of people are selected to
lead an entire business function, and
• One person to lead the organization itself.

43. Old-fashioned leadership styles
Exploitation of resources, like nature, people,
capital and trust for the purpose of short-term
profits…
….and guess what?....

48. New leadership paradigm
• Create and embrace diversity in knowledge,
people and sources.
• Focus on ‘creation’…not just ‘operation’.
• Think ‘Win-Win’ and long-term.
• Embrace new forms of capital.

49. New forms of capital
Intellectual
Capital
Creative Social
Capital Capital

50. Intellectual capital
Collective knowledge (whether or not documented) of
the individuals in an organization or society.
This knowledge can be used to produce wealth, multiply
output of physical assets, gain competitive advantage,
and/or to enhance value of other types of capital.
IC can include:
• skills and knowledge that a company has developed about how to
make its goods or services;
• individual employees or groups of employees whose knowledge is
deemed critical to a company's continued success (knowledge about
processes, customers, research results, and other information)

51. Social capital
= Social relations that have productive benefits.
People acting and interacting well in communities can
create better solutions, greater accountability, and more
economic growth.
“Social capital is about
the value of social
networks, bonding
similar people and
bridging between
diverse people, with
norms of reciprocity.”
(Dekker and Uslaner,
2001)

52. Creative capital
• Passion and drive of people / societies seeking to
understand, embrace, and nurture creativity.
Creativity -> Invention -> Innovation

53. “…creativity will be the single most important
leadership quality for organizations forging a path
through the complexity of today’s marketplace,
workplace, and community.”
~IBM Global CEO Study (2010)

54. Time to start educating our
leaders in a new paradigm…

55. Time to start educating our
leaders in a new paradigm…

56. CLO’s needed….
Chief
Listening
Officers

57. CNO’S needed….
Chief
Networking
Officers

58. CEO’S needed….
Chief
Empowering
Officers

59. Rethinking organizations…

60. Organizations?..
• An organization neither has a conscience or a soul,
only the people in the organization have them.
• An organization is a series of conversations and
dialogues, external or internal, in pursuit of
solutions….

61. Sir, yes sir!

62. Hierarchy models
….too rigid and not welcoming for innovation

63. Building new forms of organizations
We need to rethink organizations for a
more open, transparent and competitive
world…

64. Network-based structure

65. Rethinking organizations…
Designing organizations to create…not
just to operate….
Focus on:
• Creativity
• Networks
• Collaboration
• Learning

66. Leadership: Creating a climate for
Innovation
Head – establishing clarity of purpose.
Leaders need to make a personal commitment to innovation, communicate what it means
inside the company, and lead by example, emphasizing innovation in their day-to-day
decisions.
Heart – cultivating an open and supportive environment.
Leaders must have the ability to build trust and mutual respect with employees, foster open
airing of problems and disagreements, and solve conflict in creative ways.
Guts – facilitating idea generation.
Leaders should challenge people to consider alternative approaches and give them
time and resources to pursue innovative ideas.

67. Leadership: Creating a climate for
Innovation
New New
Leadership Organization Innovation
approaches models

68. Leadership: Creating a climate for
Innovation
…and many others

69. Final thought…
Instead of thinking
“outside the box”, just
get rid of the box…

70. Final thought…
Act Different,
Think Different,
Make a Difference
“The people who are crazy enough to think they
can change the world are the ones who do.”
~ Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign (1997)

72. Edward M. Erasmus, MA
e.erasmus@fzanv.com
erasmus.bpas@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/edwardmerasmus
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/em_erasmus
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardmerasmus

73. QUESTIONS???