transform

From Irritation to Innovation

June 30, 2014

From Irritation to Innovation

Elizabeth Holmes hates needles. To her, the idea of being poked by a needle and withdrawing blood is more than just unpleasant. When she knows that she has to give blood, she becomes consumed and overcome with the thought until it’s finally over.

So it should be no surprise that at age 19 she founded Theranos, a ground-breaking blood diagnostics company that 11 years later is worth more than $9 billion. The company has patented its secret technology of performing 200 different blood tests (soon growing to over 1,000 different tests) without using a syringe. They use a few drops of blood drawn using a finger stick to minimize discomfort, and collected in a “nanotainer”; a container the size of an electric fuse. Her board is stocked with powerful blue chip members including former cabinet secretaries, former U.S. senators and former military brass. Theranos’ innovative technology is poised to transform health care technology at no more than half the cost of similar tests using current technology.

Holmes leveraged a process that irritated her to innovate a new method of getting it done.

Productive Dissatisfaction

Tony Fadell was building a vacation home for his family. One of the seemingly mundane decisions was selecting thermostats, but he wasn’t satisfied with his choices. So he developed the Nest Learning Thermostat, a digital and WiFi enabled device that conserves energy by learning its owners’ habits. He also designed the Nest Protect which uses new technology to detect smoke and carbon monoxide.

Fadell’s real goal is to use technology to redesign and control all technology in the home. He was successful in raising startup capital as a result of his Apple pedigree, and extensive connections in Silicon Valley. He previously led the team that created the iPod, thereby rejuvenating Apple and transforming the music industry (yes, I love iTunes), and assisted in the development of the iPhone. Fadell left Apple in 2008 (along with his wife who was an HR executive there) and his thermostat irritation became the epiphany to innovate his next career move. As evidence of his success, Nest was purchased by Google earlier this year for $3.2 billion.

Innovation Mindset

Holmes and Fadell were irritated by processes and technology that others accepted as status quo. Obviously this wasn’t just a minor irritation either. Most of us would have dismissed it, avoided it, complained a bit while it was on our minds, then moved on to what we believed were more important things. We would think that change wasn’t needed, or that technology couldn’t effectively be applied to it and scaled for use. Instead, they saw it as a challenge and took the opportunity to do something about it. They had a mindset for innovation that they applied to their environment.

At the time, Holmes was a sophomore at Stanford, and according to her chemical engineering professor, viewed complex technical problems differently than other students. She dropped out shortly thereafter and persuaded her parents to invest her education fund into the business start-up.

Fadell’s tenure at Apple was distinguished by asking lots of questions, challenging Steve Jobs, and building his network in the “valley” outside the company; something normally reserved for Jobs himself. He didn’t conform to the typical concept of the Apple executive.

The Key to Innovation

So what is the key to your innovation? What is it that irritates you, but you find it difficult to simply walk away or ignore it. Instead, you keep trying to figure it out. This may be your opportunity to move from irritation to innovation; to find new approaches to address old ways of doing things. Though Holmes and Fadell applied innovation on a large scale, you can easily do this within a smaller sphere of influence; in your work team, organization, community group or family. Here are a few simple steps.

Tap into what’s irritating you. What problem needs to be solved? Chances are it’s right in front of you.
Find the benefit. Who will it add value to? Identifying your stakeholders will help you to target what action to take, and encourage you to stick with it for their benefit.
Ignore the naysayers. What do you believe is possible? If you don’t have faith in yourself, no one else will either.
Identify all the assumptions associated with the status quo. Why do people do it this way? Calling them out individually helps to break the innovation opportunity down into workable sizes for better analysis.
Methodically challenge each assumption. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? By the time you’ve asked “why” five times, you’ll uncover some suppositions that really don’t have a strong foundation.
Think of a new approach. What if we did it this way instead? Then think of another different approach. This practice gets you into the mode of change.

If you’re really irritated, true innovation will typically involve transformation, not evolution. It will yield a totally unexpected outcome that represents a leap ahead, not just a step forward. So embrace that impatience and exasperation with the current situation, and press forward to a new mindset of innovation.

Read the articles on Elizabeth Holmes and Tony Fadell in the June 12, 2014 issue of Fortune.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto

Can You Imagine It?

April 28, 2011

Priscilla Archangel

Faith Based Leadership

Can You Imagine It?

Many books and articles have been written for the purpose of encouraging people to achieve great things in their lives. Books talk about the power of positive thinking, the power of our words, how to focus on what you want, and the value of working hard and smart. But what happens if you can’t even imagine a future different from your current experience? What if you don’t even know about the options that exist, or you don’t have any desires for the future, because you can’t believe that you have capabilities beyond your present state?

This was Dan Chu’s experience. As an ethnic Hakka Chinese, Chu grew up in a poor area of Calcutta, India. His father was the principal of the local Chinese school along with other odd jobs, and his mother ran the family tannery that Dan worked in before and after school. The Hakka Chinese were considered to be second-class citizens and earned a living doing work that the Hindus wouldn’t do. Trash dumps were behind his home, and the whole village shared one address.

One day when he was 14, he happened to sit at dinner next to a visiting American from a church in Tempe, Arizona. This man ended up sponsoring Dan Chu’s move to Phoenix where he finished high school, and later graduated from Arizona State University. Along the way Dan worked hard at whatever odd jobs he could find, and eventually became a permanent citizen and brought his entire family to the U.S. He later completed his MBA at Harvard and began a career as an investment banker. Until recently, Dan Chu was an extremely successful metals and mining banker with UBS. He is described by colleagues as “a man of humility and flexibility”, who is “comfortable anywhere in the world.”

I learned about Dan from an article in the Wall Street Journal (A Passage from India), and the statement that struck me the most was when he said that as a child “I didn’t have dreams of leaving (the poor area of India) because I couldn’t imagine it.” Yet, for some reason he was fortunate to escape his poverty, and begin to dream of a successful life in the U.S. According to the article, it didn’t appear that he had a specific plan or vision, other than his willingness to do whatever it took, even the jobs that others didn’t want.

Dan reminds me of the story of Gideon. He was the youngest son of Manasseh, and a member of the weakest clan of the Israelites. As the least of the least, he was destined for a life of toil in his father’s house. But an Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!“(Judges 6:12).”Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” (Judges 6:14). Gideon dared to believe the words of the Angel, and proceed to cut down the altar of the god Baal and build an altar to the Lord God instead.

The leaders of the town were infuriated when they found what he had done, but his father stood up for him, and soon, all the people of the town gathered behind him and made him their leader. Thirty-two thousand men gathered with him to fight the Midianites, but God wanted to ensure that He would get the glory for saving the people. So God instead instructed Gideon to weed out the soldiers who were afraid, and those who didn’t behave like warriors, and send them home. He was left with 300 men, but the actions of this small brave band of warriors led to the deaths of 120,000 of their enemies. God worked through Gideon’s obedience and leadership to overcome the Midianites who had been oppressing the Israelites, and the country enjoyed forty years of peace while Gideon ruled as their judge.

Both Dan Chu and Gideon had no thoughts or hope of leadership in their lives. There was no evidence that they possessed leadership skills, nor that they were capable of accomplishing anything of significance. Yet, they were plucked out of obscurity and given an opportunity to make a difference. They had to make a choice on whether they would begin to imagine a future far different from their past. They had to be brave enough to reinvent their self image. They had to take on a world view of exploring the future possibilities, instead of focusing on the present impossibilities.

What would your life be like if you stretched your imagination to even think about an accomplishment that is so far beyond your reach that it’s incomprehensible? Well like Dan Chu and Gideon, you have an Angel of God waiting to reveal a plan for your life that you can’t even conceive of. He is able to transform your nothingness into valuable skills and abilities. You simply must seize the moment, hear and obey. Joyce Meyer, the well known evangelist has a book called Do It Afraid: Obeying God in the Face of Fear. I challenge you to imagine a new, far reaching future for your life, and to “do it afraid”.

Photo from IStockphoto

Scriptures from NKJV

Your Brand of Influence

April 16, 2011

Priscilla Archangel

Faith Based Leadership

Your Brand of Influence

How do you grow and use your brand of influence? Anna Wintour provides an interesting example for us.A recent issue of the WSJ Magazine profiled Wintour in an article called The Business of Being Anna by Joshua Levine.As editor of the U.S. edition of Vogue since 1988, she is arguably the most powerful person in the fashion industry. Her boss says that “she has a remarkable ability to impose her will”. Another friend says “you can make a film in Hollywood without Steven Spielberg’s blessing, and you can publish software in Silicon Valley without Bill Gates’s blessing, but it’s pretty clear to me you can’t succeed in the fashion industry without Anna Wintour’s blessing.”Another famous designer said “If I get a request (from Wintour) for something I don’t want to do…now I don’t even bother to say no.”

Wintour has influence and impact not only in the fashion world, but in industries such as film, sports, art, retail, music, business, politics and food. She’s a major fundraiser, has developed a role that is broader than simply editing a magazine, and is described as “a kind of consigliere to the entire fashion and retail industry.”She’s not only intuitive in leveraging the power of fashion in many aspects of society, but she carefully crafted her image, her persona, her personal brand, and leverages her influence to impact her arena.

As I learned more about Wintour, I couldn’t help but wonder how others build and use their influence.My observation is that she, and others like her, don’t pursue a job or a career.They have a different perspective on their life and work that drives them to transform their environment.They pursue a revolutionary approach to their area of expertise, rather than try to fit in to the established norms. They don’t accept status quo.This means that they must be fully confident in themselves, their abilities, and their point of view. They know how to sell others on their perspectives, and sincerely believe that their actions are for the greater good of many.

So that causes me to pause and ask; how are you growing and using your influence? What are you doing to impact your environment, your business, your company, your organization?Are you responding and reacting to the norms, practices, and culture already established; or are you proactively taking it to the next level?Do you see possibilities that no one else sees?

The most valuable leaders in my estimation are those who influence their environment for Christ. They focus on bringing others into an intimate relationship with the Most High God in a way that transforms the lives of many. Ministers such as Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, Joel Osteen, T. D. Jakes, and Joyce Meyer are well known for their accomplishments in this arena. But there are many other Christian leaders of great influence in areas such as;

Politics – Mike Huckabee – former Governor of Arkansas; Charles Colson – evangelist, cultural commentator, former chief counsel for President Richard Nixon and one of the Watergate Seven; Martin Luther King – civil rights activist.

Business – David Green – founder Hobby Lobby stores; S. Truett Cathy – founder Chick –Fil-A food chain; Sam Walton – founder Walmart.

Sports – Tim Tebow – Heisman Trophy winner; Payne Stewart – Golfer; Tony Dungy – Superbowl Winning Football Coach.

Each of these men (and many women as well) pursued creative opportunities to share their faith in God, and to influence others to commit their lives and their futures to Him.They have excelled in their God given gifts, developed a personal brand based on their beliefs, and leveraged their influence to change the lives of those around them.

So what is your brand? Where is your influence?What environment can you impact in a way that is uniquely you?What is God placing in your spirit that is bigger than you? Let Him lead you into His plan for your life, so that you can use your influence to make a difference for Christ with those around you.

Photo Courtesy of IStockPhoto

From Irritation to Innovation

From Irritation to Innovation

Can You Imagine It?

Can You Imagine It?

Your Brand of Influence

Your Brand of Influence

Leadership Tips