Blog Talk Radio Interview

The other day I was interviewed by Lorraine Cohen on her show “Powerfull Living” on Blog Talk Radio.  We discussed Goal-Free Living and innovation. You can listen to the hour long interview by clicking the Blog Talk Radio button which will take you to their website.  I join the conversation at the 5 minute mark and continue on until the end. 

Alternatively, you can click the play button (below) to listen from this page. Or you can download the file to your computer using the link below. Both of these versions start when I join the conversation.

 Download the mp3 (right click and “save target as” to download to your computer)

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Poker and the Parkers

Last night, I held a launch party for my Innovation Personality Poker at the home of Robert and Joan Parker.  OK, actually the party was planned a while back (I bought it at a charity auction) and it just coincidentally fell at the time when the cards were officially released. 

Robert B. Parker, is the author of dozens of books, including the Spenser series (which was the basis of the 1980’s TV show, “Spenser: For Hire”).  I have been a HUGE fan for so many years; this was truly an honor.

One of the party attendees said it so well: “I was like a boy from the Bronx around Babe Ruth. Robert Parker’s writing has now been in my life for so long. As long as he’s writing there’s always a moment of joy to anticipate.”  So true.

Joan Parker is an incredible woman with many talents.  Lately she has been focusing her energies on raising money for a number of non-profit organizations.  She is truly one of the most generous and down-to-earth people I have ever met.

Our party was at capacity with 20 friends, family members, clients, and colleagues in attendance.  It was a pleasure to have Liz Walker, a Boston news icon, there as well.  You may recall that I was on her TV show back in 2006.

Joan and Robert, thank you for sharing your home and your time.  You were both incredibly gracious.  It was a night we will all remember.

P.S. Robert’s book, ”Appaloosa,” is being turned into a blockbuster movie starring Ed Harris, Renée Zellweger, Jeremy Irons, and many other big names. 

Click here to see some pictures from the event.

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Nokia Giving Away Software for Free

Yesterday I mentioned that GlaxoSmithKline is giving away a small fortune’s worth of cancer research.  The idea is to speed up the process.

Yesterday, Nokia announced that it will spend nearly a half billion dollars to buy a software consortium - so that it can give away the software for free.  Symbian, one of the leading software developers for high-end mobile phones, is the platform for Nokia phones.  By offering the software at no cost, Nokia hopes to increase Symbian’s market share, to increase the pace of software development by third parties, and to decrease its own software licensing fees.

According to the article, “While more than 90 percent of PCs run Windows, the market for cell-phone software is much more fragmented, with a dozen competing platforms. That means software developers have a much harder time creating applications, and raises costs for handset manufacturers and carriers that have to deal with many different systems.”

Symbian will continue to be run as a multi-company foundation, addressing the concerns that it might eventually become a monopoly like Microsoft.

What can you give away to others - suppliers, researchers, competitors - that will enable you to increase innovation at a lower cost?

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Open Source Innovation vs Open Innovation

I discussed Open Innovation many times in this blog.  The other day, GlaxoSmithKline announced that they are collaborating with the National Cancer Institute to make a “large body of cancer cell genomic data available to all cancer researchers.” This feels more like “Open Source” Innovation.

Much like Open Source Software, GSK has turned over a small fortune’s worth of information to the research community - for free.

Assuming that that the findings of the community are made public (the open source philosophy), this would almost certainly accelerate cancer research exponentially.  Each researcher could build on the ideas of others.

Most research groups are small organizations who do not have the capacity (or desire) to develop drugs.  Therefore, when breakthroughs are discovered, GSK can step back in and capitalize on the finding of the research community.  This will surely decrease their drug development times and costs.

I do wonder how they are handling intellectual property ownership issues that might emerge.  Stay tuned!

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See Me in Asia

I am leaving for Asia July 3 and will be there until July 21.  I am presenting in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore.  This is a rare opportunity to see me in action in these countries.  The last time I spoke in Singapore was 2002.  The last time I was in Thailand was 2005.  And I have never presented in Malaysia.  Here’s my schedule, with links to the events:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - July 8 - OXCEL (Oxford Center for Leadership)

Bangkok, Thailand - July 10 (all day) - AIM INLINES

Singapore - July 15 - EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) and Asia Professional Speakers Singapore

While I am these countries, I am also taking some time off to explore.  However, if the timing is right and you need a speaker for your organization, I would love to present at other events while I am there.

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