By Saul Kaplan, on Mon Feb 3, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET Everyone bows down to the all, important benchmark. How many times have you heard someone say, “You only get what you measure”? Most organizations commit to identifying and measuring performance against industry best practice. Many have recognized the value of looking outside of their industry for practices that might provide a source of competitive advantage. Adopting existing best practice makes sense if you want to improve the performance of your current business model. Going beyond the limits of your current business model requires a network-enabled capability to do R&D for new business models. The imperative is to build on best practices to explore and develop next practices.
Understanding best practices and applying them to increase business model productivity is an essential capability for all organizations. No surprise most companies benchmark their performance adopting practices ranging from accessing benchmarking data to sourcing (internal and external) process improvement capabilities. Like all learned behaviors the earlier it is adopted the easier it is to scale and to apply in other markets. Entrepreneurs and small business leaders should start with a back of the napkin approach. Be specific about goals and take the napkin out a lot.
 It doesn’t take long to exhaust the library of best practices in any given industry. Field organizations have seen most of what the competition is doing and can report their observations. In addition your customers and networks have an important perspective that should be tapped. Social network platforms, like Twitter, Facebook, and Linked-in make real time information interaction possible across networks. Leverage these new tools and platforms. It is worth it.
Only exploring your own industry for best practices is limiting. New sources of competitive advantage are far more likely to come from observing and adopting best practices in completely unrelated industries. All leaders should spend more discretionary time outside of their industry, discipline, and sector. There is more to learn from unusual suspects who bring fresh and different perspectives than from the ideas circulated and re-circulated among the usual suspects. The big and important value creating opportunities will most likely be found in the gray areas between the silos we inhabit. Get out more.
Best practices are necessary but not sufficient. Business models don’t last as long as they used to. Leaders must identify and experiment with next practices. Next practices enable new ways to deliver customer value. Next practices are better ways to combine and network capabilities that change the value equation of your organization. Organizations should always be developing a portfolio of next practices that recombine capabilities to find new ways to deliver value. Leaders should design and test new business models unconstrained by the current business or industry model.
It is easy to sketch out business model innovation scenarios on the white board. It is far more difficult to take the idea off the white board for a spin in the real world. We need safe and manageable platforms for real world experimentation of new business models and systems. Since most leaders in the 21st century will likely have to change their business models several times over their careers it makes sense to do R&D for new business models the same way R&D is done for new products and technologies today. Create the space for exploration.
It is not best practices, but next practices that will sustain your organization on a strong growth trajectory. While you continue to pedal the bicycle of today’s business model make sure that no less than 10% of your time and resources is dedicated to exploring new business models and developing next practices.
By Julie Rath, on Fri Jan 31, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET 
Skinny, and even slim ties, are not one size fits all. Check out GQ’s August 2010 cover above featuring Zac Galifianakis ridiculously sporting a tie barely two inches wide. While super skinny ties have had their moment (and thankfully seem to be on their way out), one of the most important considerations you can make when getting dressed is scale, i.e. matching the size of the things you put on your body to your body. This creates balance and visual harmony, which is a nice way of saying, I am trying to help you not look like a lollipop.
 See how much better Galifianakis looks with a slightly broader tie? It complements the width of his face and large scale of his facial features, whereas the pencil-thin version only emphasizes them.
Bottom line. If you have a broad face and neck, you’re best off with a wider tie. You don’t have to go for the lobster-bib look of the 80’s and 90’s, but consider something in the 3 ¾ -4″ range depending on your size. This way you’ll look more well-proportioned and less tootsie pop. If your face and neck are more average width, you can select a more modern, slim tie, somewhere between 3” and 3 ½” across. Of course, your tie at its widest point should equal your jacket lapel at its widest point, and there are ways to determine that. Stay tuned for more posts on proportion as it relates to other elements of your wardrobe, as it truly is the foundation of sartorial distinction.
Read the rest of…
Julie Rath: How to Choose the Right Tie Width
By Josh Bowen, on Thu Jan 30, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET
Without consistency there is no progress
Story time.
When I was an exercise science student at the University of Kentucky, I had to take swimming in order to graduate. Why? Who knows but also would think it would be difficult. I’m not an avid swimmer, I do better under the water than on top but I absolutely hate cold water. I freeze easy and it’s hard for me to move any part of my body. The very thought of cold water makes me cringe but I needed this class to graduate and I was taking it in January no less. The first day of class the teacher throws us in the water to see where our “skills” were. Back stroke, front stroke, butterfly all your favorite Olympic disciples were graded. She would decide if we needed to be in the class or would need to drop it. I couldn’t of done worse. I damn near drowned in the water and ran out of gas easy because it was so cold. Did I mention I don’t do cold? Anyway, the next class the teacher pulled me aside and asked me to drop the class. Appalled, I asked why and she replied “you don’t have the skills to pass my class.” I told her I wouldn’t be dropping her class and I would show up an hour early everyday to practice. Her reply, “good luck.” Seriously, who makes swimming hard?
So everyday I showed up to the UK aquatics center an hour before class to practice my strokes. I braved the cold weather and cold pool, to get use to it so I could show this teacher she was wrong. I was consistent and with my consistency, I saw progress. Real progress. So good I amazed this teacher and I got an A in the class. Now, everyone should get an A in swimming, that’s not impressive, the point is I was consistent and I got better. Much better. We have to apply this principle to fitness. You can’t expect great results with minimal effort. The infomercials lie to you. Using a Shake Weight is not going to help you lose 15lbs, it’s just that simple. But also with that, you can’t expect significant results if you are not consistent in two areas:
1. Your workouts
2. Your diet
So here are two strategies to help with consistency as we make this fitness journey together:
1. Commit less- This may sound weird but as I’ve said before we often commit too much too soon that it becomes sensory overload and we quit. It becomes too much to maintain. Had I told the teacher I would be in the pool five days a week, there would be no way for me to keep that pace consistent (nor would I want too). Commit to what you think you can do. This works for your nutrition as well. Commit to eating one vegetable at dinner, 3 nights per week. Any one can do this. This creates momentum. There is great value in little, everyday successes. Foundation is always something to build off of.
2. Commit more- Contrary to the above, some people may be able to commit to more because they are ready for more. If this is you make consistency a commitment, a marriage. Start what you finish and don’t let off the gas pedal.
In order to see progress we NEED consistency. It is vital to anything we want to accomplish.
By Lauren Mayer, on Wed Jan 29, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET Yes, folks, once again it’s time for a male politician to introduce us to an outlandish character, in the course of either sending indiscreet texts or making tone-deaf remarks about women. And for the record, I am NOT taking Mike Huckabee’s remarks out of context – I know he was saying that he believes Democrats are the ones ‘making women believe they are helpless without Uncle Sugar providing them a prescription for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government.’ You know, because the Democrats’ real war on women is forcing us to make our own decisions and denying us mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds . . . ? (Not to mention an apparently confused idea of exactly what birth control pills do . . . )
At any rate, it was yet another example of why men of either party should stay away from sex – from talking about it, from texting about it, and certainly from making up middle-school-worthy aliases. Fortunately, I was raised by a feminist mother (which had some disadvantages – I was never allowed to have a Barbie because my mom disapproved of the unrealistic body image expectations generated by a doll whose real life measurements would be 39-21-33, who would be 6′ and weigh 100 lbs. . . . . . but I digress). Anyway, as an unpopular late-blooming geeky high school sophomore (whose real life measurements at the time were approximately 24-24-24), I came in for a fair amount of name-calling and teasing. One day I complained to my mother about the football captain in my physics class who constantly leered at me, “Hey, Mayer – your place or mine?” and made his buddies erupt in raucous laughter. (Remember, this was way before anyone had heard of ‘sexual harassment’ – it was only a couple of years after girls were finally allowed to wear pants at my school!) Mom suggested I try joking back (reminding me of the scene in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn where Francie is ostracized by the other girls at her first job until she laughs at something . . . like I said, I was a geek!) So the next day, when he re-used the same joke for the 47th time (and confirmed that he was a jock and no scholar-athlete), I retorted, “How about my place tonight and yours tomorrow, if you’re man enough?” His friends laughed, he turned beet red, and that was the end of the teasing. And I learned a valuable lesson!
In other words, Mike Huckabee just wrote my next song for me . . .
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Tue Jan 28, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET The land down-under, a sunburned country, home of deadly animals, no matter what you call it, Australia is known for many things. No matter what your expectations, Australia will impress you, with cosmopolitan cities, untouched wilderness and rich marine life. It is a country that many visitors fall in love with and rightly so, with something for everyone. To see and understand it though, takes a commitment of time, money and, of course, getting to the most remote continent. The rewards of making the trip are worth it, but make sure to plan and prepare your trip lest you be surprised by the $20 USD 6-packs of beer, $4 coffees, and $22 fish and chips.
……………………………………
DON’T MISS: Tasmania, it is one of the few places we’ve ever visited and wanted to call home.
MUST SEE: Great barrier reef, Great Ocean Road, wineries near Adelaide, and the fabulous cities of Melbourne and Sydney.
MUST TASTE: Pavlova and meat pie.
…………………………………
TRIP PLANNING: Australia is huge, it takes at least a few weeks to visit the key sights (Great Barrier Reef, Great Ocean Road, Melbourne and Sydney). If you want to see any more of the country plan for at least a month.
GETTING AROUND: Virgin Blue Airpass, for as little as $90 a flight, you can fly from city to city in Australia. Once you land in a city renting a car is a good option as an economy car for the day costs the same as the airport bus/train links to the city centers.
……………………………………
OUR COST PER DAY (2 ppl): $123.76, the most expensive country we’ve visited on this trip.
COST OF A BEER: $3 from a liquor store, $6 at a bar. A six-pack at a liquor store costs at least $18 AUD, making Australia probably the most expensive Western country to buy beer in. Wine is much more accessible at under $10 a bottle.
KEY MONEY-SAVING TIP: Couchsurfing. We paid for accommodation three of 31 days as we couchsurfed, this not only saved money, but allowed us to meet locals, see interesting places, and have a lot of fun.
……………………………………
YOU NEED TO KNOW: Airport transfers are ridiculous, it cost us about $60 AUD (round-trip) for the both of us to get between the airport and most Australian cities. If you need a car in any of the cities rent them from the airport and save the excessive transportation cost to the city.
IF WE KNEW WHAT WE KNOW NOW: We would have given ourselves more time to visit Perth, Ayer’s rock, Darwin and to just slow down. Four weeks was not enough to comfortably see all we did.
HELPFUL LINKS TO LEARN MORE: Aussie money savers, tips to free things to do in Australia, Australia’s best wineries, Australia Tourism Board (they have exceptional information), Wikitravel Australia, Virgin Blue Airpass. Any suggestions? Please let us know by sending them our way!
……………………………………
WE WERE THERE FOR: Four weeks.
OUR HIGHLIGHT: Tasmania.
WHERE WE WENT: Sydney, Townsville/Magnetic Island (Great Barrier Reef), Brisbane, Tasmania, Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Adelaide
WE REGRET MISSING: The Outback. Had we known that there were affordable tours such as these, we would have made the trip up to Ayer’s rock.
By Saul Kaplan, on Mon Jan 27, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET  If TED is about Ideas Worth Spreading then BIF is about Ideas Worth Scaling. I may have stumbled on to BIF’s new positioning. I blurted it out in my last post Biotech Disruption Part Deux. It has stuck with me all week. What do you think? I love TED and what it is doing. I am biased due to my friendship with Richard Saul Wurman (RSW) who founded it. RSW has been a BIF advisor from the beginning and as a BIF-5 storyteller on October 7-8th, he will share the story of his new book about an old fable. The BIF community was proud this week being named by Mashable in the same company as TED as one of the “Top 7 Places to Watch Great Minds in Action“.
I think spreading ideas is critical but the end goal is solving a problem or creating a new opportunity. I don’t know about you but over the course of my day I hear a lot of great ideas. I even occasionally contribute a few. The question is can the ideas translate into action and can they scale? I think a lot about how to enable R&D at the business model and systems level. The BIF community is passionate about scaling new ideas in health care, education, and energy.
Real world experimentation is imperative to solve the big social issues of our day. These systems all need to be transformed not tweaked. We have the technology available to enable system changes. It is not technology that is getting in the way it is humans and the organizations we live in, both stubbornly resistant to change. We need to try more stuff. We need to experiment with new system approaches designed around the patient, student, and citizen.
Many good ideas spread and catalyze important conversations but far too few translate into action and even fewer scale to deliver value to a meaningful percentage of those that can benefit from the idea. The promise of technology is to deliver value at lower prices to more people. We are not taking full advantage of technology because we are stuck in old systems.
Read the rest of…
Saul Kaplan: Ideas Worth Scaling
By Julie Rath, on Fri Jan 24, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET I always say a groom should look dashing at his wedding, and choosing the right accessories is key to the result. In selecting neckwear for your nuptials, remember that you’re not choosing a power tie or a work tie — you’re choosing a wedding tie, and it should be celebratory. After all, that’s what the whole day is about. So give yourself permission to think outside the box and go with something you might not normally wear. You’ll still look like you, only a cool and sharp groom version of you. Below are several different categories of ties that are just right for those that are altar-bound..
SOLIDS
Solids: Wearing a solid tie is a nice way to let your bride, no doubt gorgeous in her wedding dress, take center stage. I recommend using a shade from the wedding color scheme and/or the bridesmaid dresses. I like the three below (left to right): from Drake’s London (£95), Turnbull & Asser ($175), and to go with a more casual look — perhaps a khaki suit — this linen tie from Faconnable ($115). All three are available in a range of colors for easy coordination.
.
TONE-ON-TONE
If a solid doesn’t have enough flavor, but you still want to keep it simple, try one that’s tone-on-tone like those below from Jil Sander ($165; also comes in tan) and Brioni ($195).
.
METALLIC
Another easy principle to follow is matching metals to metals. So if your bride’s jewelry and your belt buckle, watch, cuff links, etc. are silver-toned, you might incorporate a corresponding metallic shade into your tie. This rule works particularly well if your metals are silver and you happen to have cool skin tone, or if your metals are gold, and your skin tone is warm. For silvers, I like this diamond-patterned tie from Sam Hober ($80) and this silk stripe from Giorgio Armani ($145). Keep in mind that the Sam Hober is on the dressy side because the pattern is small.
Read the rest of…
Julie Rath: Wedding Ties: What to Tie on When Tying the Knot
By Josh Bowen, on Thu Jan 23, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET
Cancer
A word that strikes utter fear in people. And with good reason. As you see above the statistics are staggering. Every year, cancer becomes more and more prominent. In comes in all faces and types, packaged differently to wreak havoc on the human body. This post is not so much about the stats or what causes cancer but what can we do to prevent or slow the progress of this problem. This post is not to show you how smart or not smart I am as it relates to the disease. This about my grandfather, who is 88 years old and is putting up the fight of his life against several types of cancer. Over the past several months, I have seen the personal struggle he has gone under and the downward spiral of an independent country boy. It took hold of him and it will not let go. It is tough to watch but it shows how tough he is to continue to put up a fight against insurmountable odds.
This is also about my beliefs. Something that I often catch strange looks for and snide remarks about. However, I firmly believe in my heart of hearts that all things are possible through fitness. It is our fountain of youth, protector of disease and an absolute must for the human body. My motto is all things through fitness, it is the name of my website and is etched on my skin. I believe it because I have seen it.
Read the rest of…
Josh Bowen: The Cancer Fight
By Lauren Mayer, on Wed Jan 22, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET
No, this isn’t dating advice (although if the title piqued your interest, at least maybe you’ll read the article . . . much along the same lines as my advice to a friend writing a dissertation she hoped she’d eventually publish as a book, to whom I suggested the title “Heroic Themes In 18th Century French Literature, or Thinner Thighs In Thirty Days.” But I digress . . . )
The Republican Party is trying to reach out to women in order to overcome a growing gender gap. Which is admirable – some of my best friends are Republicans, and they are saddened by their party’s recent tilt to the far right. There are plenty of women who want fiscally conservative candidates but also don’t want the government interfering in reproductive rights, who want small government but also want strong public education and a compassionate safety net, who believe same-sex marriage is not just morally right but pro-business (more weddings!). So they were looking forward to the so-called ‘rebranding’ efforts the GOP leaders have been trumpeting lately.
But apparently that rebranding was simply advising candidates to temper their tone, not to change any policies, where politicians were advised to show women their ‘sensitivity.’ You know, like the experiment my kids devised to see whether our dog responded more to tone of voice or actual words – you could say anything insulting or confusing in a sweet voice and the dog just wagged her taill happily. Not that I am claiming the GOP is treating us like dogs (well, actually I sort of am . . . which reminds me of that climactic argument scene in “When Harry Met Sally,” when Harry compares their differing views of the length of time since their ill-fated tryst to dog years, infuriating Sally who yells, “So which one of us is the dog?”) Republican leaders do seem to think that it’s enough to pat us on the heads and speak soothingly, and we won’t notice that they are continuing to promote the kinds of policies and views that have driven women voters away in droves.
And there seems to be a new plague of ‘Akinitis,’ ridiculous comments by male politicians about women and sex. (Remember “the female body has ways to shut that thing down”?) The latest offenders aren’t even political outliers like Todd Akin – the chair of the House Judiciary Committee has claimed that a bill banning funding for abortion is a ‘jobs creation bill’ because of all the goods & services that will be required for the future unborn children. (None of which the GOP plans to help pay for – to paraphrase Barney Frank, sometimes it feels like the current House believes the value of life begins at conception and ends at birth . . . . ) And there’s a state senator in Virginia who was quoted saying there really wasn’t any such thing as marital rape, since “she’s in a nightie.” (What about those of us who sleep in t-shirts or pj’s – does that exempt us?)
So in the interest of bipartisan cooperation, here’s a little musical advice for the current House leadership in how to appeal to women voters . . .
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Tue Jan 21, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET Japan is what the world could be, if we all worked a lot harder. For example, Tokyo is home to more than 30 million people, yet the streets are cleaner than restaurants in the USA. The food chain is so trusted that meat, included beef and horse, is consumed raw. Rush hour traffic is orderly, composed and quiet. The grass is so green and pristine that it looks fake. The trains run on the second, show up at 12:00:07 and you missed your train. When you have a Japanese person explain why things are the way they are you can’t help but laugh and think, “Yeah, that makes so much sense…why is it done differently at home?” While many things are lost in translation, understanding the order and practicality of Japan is a wonderful experience.
……………………………………
DON’T MISS: Nara, imagine traditional Japan hundreds of years ago, what you are imagining is Nara.
MUST SEE: Raw meat restaurants in Tokyo; Harajuku and Yoyogi Park (Tokyo) on Sundays to see people wearing crazy clothes such as “cosplay” and the Dancing Elvises; Arashiyama hill and forest temples (near Kyoto); Shinjuku (Tokyo) at Night.
MUST TASTE: Sushi at Tsukiji Fish Market…really sushi anywhere and everywhere in Japan.
……………………………………
TRIP PLANNING A week is enough to see the major sights of Tokyo and Kyoto, but 10-14 days would make the trip much more enjoyable.
GETTING AROUND: Trains. The train system, especially intra-city, is among the world’s best. Avoid traveling during rush-hour.
……………………………………
OUR COST PER DAY (2 ppl): $77.58 without accommodations (we Couchsurfed)
COST OF A BEER: $3 at 7-11.
KEY MONEY-SAVING TIP: Take the bus instead of the train from Tokyo to Kyoto. We paid $36 each for the bus instead of over $160 for the bullet train. This was only possible because we had a Japanese speaker arrange it for us, so find a friend.
……………………………………
YOU NEED TO KNOW: Japan is expensive, think Switzerland expensive. Public transit often costs $2-4 USD a ride, a short taxi fare is $20, a meal rarely costs less than $20. That said, it’s all worth it, Japan is an amazing country.
IF WE KNEW WHAT WE KNOW NOW: We would buy a Japan Rail Pass and travel extensively through the country. It would have cost a lot more than what we did, but allowed us to see a lot more than we did.
HELPFUL LINKS TO LEARN MORE: How to travel Japan inexpensively. Is a Japan Rail Pass worth it? Free attractions in Kyoto. Please send us any sites you found useful and we’ll add them!
……………………………………
WE WERE THERE FOR: 3 weeks
OUR HIGHLIGHT: Couchsurfing with Takeshi in Tokyo and Masato in Arashiyama.
WHERE WE WENT: Tokyo, Arashiyama, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Nara, Mt. Fuji
WE REGRET MISSING: Okinawa and Hiroshima
|
|
