Gabor George Burt

Casting away self-limitations

What’s the lesson of the square watermelon? How can an Imagination Kit re-ignite your creativity?

Both people and companies set boundaries for what is and isn’t possible that limits what they can do. Once you overstep those boundaries you uncover wonderful new ideas for creating successful outcomes. I recently had the pleasure of discussing these ideas with Martha Debayle, one of the most recognized entrepreneurs and communicators in Mexico, on W Radio Mexico live from the recent WOBI World Business Forum in Mexico City.

You can listen to and download a copy of our chat. And for further inspiration you can grab a copy of my most recent article for WOBI entitled “Your Top Strategic Priority: Staying Relevant”

Let your imagination reign

By letting imaginations reign, challenging conventional wisdom and thinking in a counterintuitive manner, businesses can be market driving, deliver lifestyle enrichment and repeat infatuations of consumers. Let’s continue to explore the power of unconventional thinking via the ever-green example of the Trojan Horse.

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries BC, one of the great epic wars of ancient times was fought. The Greeks assembled a massive flotilla of warships and brought its might against the city of Troy. Their mission was to take back Helen, the outrageously abducted Greek queen, and to punish the Trojans for the fiendish act. But the city had formidable defenses, and the two armies remained deadlocked. There they stood, shield to shield, lance to lance, neither able to budge the other. The siege went on like this for ten fruitless years.

Then the Greeks had an idea that changed everything. The Greek army pretended to dissolve camp and sail away. They left behind a large wooden horse, which the Trojans mistook as a token of peace. They dragged it inside the city walls and began to celebrate. Little did they suspect that under the cover of night a handful of enemy soldiers hiding inside the statue would emerge to pry open the city’s gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had circled back in full force. Once inside, the Greeks won the battle quickly and decisively against the utterly surprised and unprepared Trojans.

Were the Greeks cheaters? Or did they simply overstep taken-for-granted assumptions of warfare? By changing the rules of conduct and expanding the boundaries of engagement — much like David did against Goliath — the Greeks defied conventional wisdom and achieved one of the most famous victories in history. In the process, the Trojan horse ended the conflict swiftly, minimizing the cost of victory in terms of effort, time, and number of lives lost on both sides.

For more such inspiring stories,  have a look at my book Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.

[Original image from Slingshot.]

Is your business on a path to broader relevance or obsolescence?

Your surroundings can change in the blink of an eye. It can be unexpected, overwhelming and leave you with little or no time to react. A symbolic example would be the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near the city of Pompeii, Italy, in the first century AD. While there was ample time to flee, those living in the area did not recognize the warning signs provided by the mountain. Had they paid closer attention, they could have avoided tragedy and devastation.

Your business is not immune to change. Pompeii reminds us how unexpectedly your environment can be altered and how quickly you can be blindsided by seemingly inescapable dangers. One of the biggest dangers for organizations everywhere is the danger of misjudging trends that can render their business obsolete. Similar to how the residents of Pompeii could have been more aware of their surroundings, businesses need to know what is happening all around them — in the market, with their competitors, with their customers and non-customers.

It all starts with two important questions:

1. How do you define your business, and how should you define it to unlock greater lifestyle or workstyle enrichment for consumers?


2. Who are your most relevant, not just your most direct, competitors?

As simple as these questions may seem, they are quite challenging for executives to answer and are best served by using an Accordion Chart — a visual tool that enables the flexible exploration of market spaces that an organization’s offering occupies.

See my recent article in root’s watercooler newsletter for a quick introduction to the Accordion Chart and for a more in-depth overview, including case studies, via my book Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.

[Original image from Slingshot.]

An industry that doesn’t make cents

Although you may be delighted to learn that this year you can bring snowglobes, cakes and pies with you on your flight to visit Grandma for Thanksgiving, let’s now take a look at another recent story from the airline industry that sheds light on its woeful state of profitability. Readers of my book, Slingshot, already know that the airline industry is brimming with untapped potential to enrich the lives of customers and to increase profits. For example, the creation of a frequent flyer program in which passengers earn more points the less luggage they bring.

Yet it seems the airline industry is content to maintain the status quo and to tread water in a bloody, red ocean of painfully low profit margins. Via the Associated Press:

Collectively U.S. airlines' revenue rose 5.6 percent in the first nine months of this year. Fuel costs rose by 6.2 percent, cutting the amount earned per passenger. On average the 10 largest U.S. airlines made just 50 cents for every passenger they flew from January through September, Airlines for America said. 

[Original image from Slingshot.]

Where are they now? Slingshot case studies revisited: Nano

Today I share an update related to the Nano, a case study that is  illustrative of the interlocking concepts presented in my book Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.  

But first a little background. Tata Motors set out to innovate at the bottom end of the automotive industry — polar opposite to my other automotive industry case study on Koengisegg Motors that set out to innovate at the top end. In March 2009 Tata introduced the world’s most affordable car, the Nano, with a retail price of USD$ 2,500. What Tata identified was a potentially huge untapped market — as many as one hundred million people in India alone — who couldn’t afford the least expensive cars on the market (priced at around $5,000) and instead drove their family around on a motorcycle (priced at around $1,000). By exploring how a means of transport could be developed appropriate and attractive for this consumer group, the Nano was born.

Fast forward to the present, and according to recent reports from several news agencies, it seems that Tata is poised to bring it’s “no frills” Nano to the US market. See the report via the Wall Street Journal.

[Image via livelifedrive.]

Slingshot Visionaries update: Kris Carr unleashes Crazy Sexy in the kitchen

During my radio chat with Kris Carr, best-selling author and wellness warrior, I had the opportunity to ask what she, in Slingshot-like fashion, likes to re-imagine for herself or challenge others to re-imagine. Kris answered that for her the challenge was “to re-imagine health not as the absence of disease, but as the presence of vitality.”

And so today, in celebration of vitality, I am pleased to share with my readers the latest and greatest from Kris, which comes in the form of a new book, Crazy Sexy Kitchen. This cornucopia of culinary health is “filled with inspiration, education, and cooking tips — plus more than 150 nourishing, nosh-worthy recipes...[and] redefines the kitchen as headquarters for a wellness revolution.”

Learn more about Crazy Sexy Kitchen and even how you can get hooked up with a Dinner with Kris.

Exchanging diplomas for badges

Last week in my post “Getting teachers and student to think” I shared an article describing a new program aimed at getting teachers and students to not just memorize and regurgitate, but to really “think.” Regular readers of my blog know that education is a subject I am passionate about, having expressed my ideas for innovation and change through previous posts like Let’s Get Academic: Blue Ocean Strategy for Higher Education, Higher Education Drowning In Red Oceans and even in my book, Slingshot. 

Today I share a news story highlighting the use of digital badges, as a new, more effective way of communicating specific knowledge and skill levels acquired via education, to replace the traditional diploma system of the industry. Via the New York Times:

If digital badges infiltrate the credential market, they could shake the economic foundations of a higher education industry that over the last 30 years has consistently increased prices much higher than inflation and family income, resulting in over $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt. Colleges have gotten away with this in large part because the gap in earnings between people with and without degrees significantly widened during that time. Degree holders were less likely to lose their jobs during the recent recession, and the number of jobs requiring degrees grew faster during the recovery. Degrees are valuable, and only colleges can sell them. So students and parents pay and, increasingly, borrow, because they feel they have no choice.

Alternative credentials with value in the labor market could change that equation. Purdue charges in-state students about $1,050 for a three-credit course. A digital badge earned through its nanoHUB-U subsidiary, which offers the microscopy and other nanotech courses, costs $30.

[Image via Open Badges.]

Where are they now? Slingshot case studies revisited: Cow Parade

Today I share an update related to Cow Parade, a case study that is  illustrative of the interlocking concepts presented in my book Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.  

Cow Parade successfully straddles the art, business and social activism worlds while reinventing the concept of public art. Started in Chicago in 1999, its basic premise is to transform entire cities into art moo-seums. As an example of its continued success and global reach, take a look at the tenth anniversary of the Cow Parade in Ventspils, Latvia, which was celebrated this past summer in the Baltic republic.

[Image via Duff Rafferty Communications.] 

Slingshot-like innovation: BlueBird by American Express

In my radio chat with Laura Kelly, Slingshot Visionary and Senior Vice President of Product Development at American Express, we talked about the importance of enhancing the lifestyles and workstyles of consumers. Echoing the core philosophy expressed in my book, Slingshot, Laura noted that “At the end of the day it’s about changing the experience—in some ways making it easier and more convenient adding value to that experience in other ways, having the customer get delighted by value in ways they didn’t anticipate—and about creating opportunity for them or ability for them to do things they might not have even thought they wanted to do.”

Now, as an example of American Express’ Slingshot-like innovation, you can see how, in partnership with Walmart stores, they are enhancing the lifestyles of customers with the introduction of the BlueBird card. Via BusinessWeek:

Wal-Mart Stores and American Express are taking a big plunge into the prepaid debit-card market with a new card called Bluebird. The card has many features that are standard in regular bank accounts and seems to have remarkably few fees—which have long been the scourge of prepaid cards. Bluebird is the biggest sign yet that prepaid cards are evolving from a product for the poor and unbanked into a more mass-market offering that competes with regular checking accounts.

[Image via WE Magazine.]

Getting teachers and students to “think”

As a graduate of Amherst College and INSEAD, I can certainly appreciate the value of top-tier education. At the same time, my professional focus on helping organizations defy conventional wisdom and create their own Blue Ocean market space has led me to ponder — through previous posts like Let’s Get Academic: Blue Ocean Strategy for Higher Education and  Higher Education Drowning In Red Oceans — the most relevant future format and utility of higher education.

I was encouraged about a recent article describing a new program aimed at getting teachers and students to not just memorize and regurgitate, but to really “think.” Via the Houston Chronicle:

This past year, Baylor University created a program to reward some of its best teachers and challenge them to do something truly daring: teach their students how to think—not just how to think about course material, but rather how to think through the material. The idea is to help students learn how we, as practitioners of our disciplines, analyze, make meaning, understand, look at the world, and create.

Such lessons on thinking will stay with students long after they have forgotten facts and figures, or the course itself—and forget they will. In fact, a focus on the thinking and creativity behind disciplines allows students (and colleagues) to discover that disparate areas of study are more alike than they are different.

[Image via 99u via Behance.]