Out of a former post office tucked away in an industrial section of Boulder, CO, startup Mod Robotics develops toys for children to help them learn and thrive in an increasingly complex world. Though the popular mantra of KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) rings true with many of today’s business professionals, Eric Schweikardt, Mod Robotics founder with a PhD in Computational Design, would argue that keeping it simple might actually cause future generations to become less capable of managing the realities of a highly technical world.

According to Eric, the solution is to equip kids at a very young age with the ways to become more familiar with the world’s increasing complexity – ideally ways that are fun and engaging – to where handling complexity is second nature, better preparing them for the future ahead. To Eric, this solution manifests in Mod Robotics’ toy robots that look like standard building blocks but are, in fact, “smart.”

Modular, familiar components are the core
Eric and I sit outside at a picnic table for our conversation under an overhang of the warehouse-like building – a building that serves as both the headquarters and the manufacturing plant for these unique toys. Reaching for two handfuls of the robot blocks – known as Cubelets – he places them on the table and begins introducing the different types.

“What do you call these?” I ask.

“Cubelets,” Eric replies with a giddy smile. “Everybody loves blocks like Legos and those construction kits,” Eric says. “I think lots of creative people played with construction kits, and this is what happens when you put robot stuff inside of a construction kit.”

The key component of Cubelets is that they are modular and familiar, a form reminiscent of wooden blocks, and are easy to manipulate. The trick is that these toy robots are “smart,” each with a different function, and when clicked together in different configurations, they behave differently.

“Each little Cubelet has a tiny computer inside of it,” Eric explains. “All of the clear ones are action blocks – they do things. All the black ones are sensor blocks – they sense things like our senses do.” In essence, the sensor blocks can “see” and then communicate to the other blocks what action to take, such as roll forward, or turn on the flashlight.

Eliminate clutter through mixing and matching
Rather than having to reprogram each Cubelet, the mixing and matching of the blocks seemingly create new robots, an entirely different approach to how the current set of intelligent robots are being created, which are single form and single function. If this approach was continued, we would live in a world cluttered with robots due to each of their confined and specific use. Following the path of the Cubelets, a person could create a variety of robots from a simple set of components. This is precisely the type of solution future generations will need in order to tackle ever more complex problems – essentially doing more with less.

Eric explains, “We just got a robot to do what we wanted. To switch its behavior, we just built a robot by snapping some physical blocks together. By snapping the physical blocks together, you’re obviously building the body of the robot, but you’re also building the code. And it’s a different model of building robotics for every other robot out there.”

We need a new acronym
This new approach calls for a clever acronym, one that reminds us that complexity over simplicity might be the real solution. As Eric speaks, it becomes clear that each day we are exposed to a number of variables, so many inputs to decipher. It’s likely this degree of variability wasn’t something previous generations had to manage, and I can only imagine the steady increase that kids will have to navigate in the years to come.

Eric continues, “So they [kids] can begin to gain intuition and build complex systems so that when they’re older, it won’t come as a shock that there are rarely simple answers in the world, and that it’s rarely black and white, good or bad, red or blue. And that the world is actually more complicated.”

Making complex solutions a reality
In order to make our own complex solutions into reality, it’s as simple as just making something. Eric explains, “Ideas are worthless. If you’re inventing a new type of electric car, you don’t have to build the electric car from scratch to get conversation started, but you can build prototypes of the one innovation that you think will make your electric car much cooler than the other. That’s how we all learn…by failing early, by building something, by testing, and by trying it out. And for some reason, especially entrepreneurial communities, you hear about a lot of people who it never occurred to them to make something. They’re talking about getting off the ground. They don’t have any traction because everybody’s trying to figure out these ideals and they’re all over the place. But as soon as you make something, you can talk about it with somebody and it’s extremely powerful.”

(Originally published on Huffington Post, 12/12/16)

Boulder Colorado is a micro-culture, a unique place where you can still find hippie communities going strong along pale dirt roads, abutted against hiking trails that disappear into the trees. I was in Boulder to meet with two of the partners at Techstars, David Brown (also a co-founder) and Ari Newman. Both share an electric vibrancy that buzzes in the intensity of their eyes and the stillness of their postures. They are deep listeners, with algorithmic-process brains. They are living in the future…the film canisters of their brains capture more frames-per-second than the average brain. They shared five core values for success, which is basically “Karma wins.”

1. Give first. This might seem obvious in the realm of Karma, but remember Techstars is a tech accelerator program for start-ups meant to create millions if not billions of dollars in return on investments. This would seem antithetical to building wealth, but it works for Techstars. Ari explained, “We just try to help and there’s a sort of karma that comes along with it, and things come back.”

2. Ask, “How can I help? Don’t think ‘what’s in it for me?’” A slightly more focused version of the first value, but proactive. Focusing on helping something already in progress, help someone else’s dreams versus your own. “Because we help them thrive,” Ari notes, “I think about it like ‘rising tides.’”

3. “Team-team-team,” David explains, “the people matter more than the idea.” Techstars looks for team dynamic as the leading indicator of success. This also seems antithetical in a capital-driven environment where investors are seeking the idea with the biggest potential, but Ari adds, “If you think about some of the most successful companies in the world, the original idea they started with; isn’t the thing that made them the most successful…”

4. Read the feedback. Related to core value above, Ari continues his train of though, “…It was the founder’s and the team’s ability to read customer feedback, look into the future, and adapt.” The ability to pivot, to trust in the team to evolve versus being stuck on the one concept, even if its failing, is highly important.

5. Get the right things done. David expresses, “You can take a PhDer who’s incredibly bright, has a Harvard MBA and a technical degree from MIT. And if they are very analytical and prophesize too much then they can’t get anything done. They’re just going to spend a lot of money.” David adds an example scenario, “Something that you love, but that no customer cares about, is not a good idea.” You have to chose the right things to focus on, at the right time. Don’t try to boil the ocean

Ari accentuated all of the above points, “If you ever participate in our network, you do it because you want to be helpful, because you want to see other people find success.”

Maybe this type of operation could only have started in an enclave like Boulder, similar to how Silicon Valley sprouted in the nurturing light of Stanford. That said, the intense yet “give first” attitude of Techstars is unique, and welcome, given the pressure these entrepreneurs have chosen for themselves.

(Originally published on Huffington Post, 11/18/16)

(Originally published on Huffington Post, 10/18/16)

I waited for Maria Christina Gonzalez Noguera (who goes by “MC”) in the sunny lobby of an interactive agency in Union Square NYC. At the time, MC hadn’t yet started her new role as SVP of Global Affairs at Estee Lauder, and my office was in NJ, so meeting someplace central was ideal. As she exited the brushed-steel-door elevators whoever was in the perimeter slowed their step and turned their attention towards her. The cluster of hip-clad and smartly faced agency folks knew someone with clout had just entered their sphere. MC has a room-altering presence, a forceful combination of effortless grace, muted seriousness, and sparks of levity.

You Need to Balance Aspiration with Necessity

“We all should aspire to something bigger and better than who we are or what we are,” she stated frankly as we began our conversation, “but you need to be grounded and real about the bottom line and the need to return value.”

It’s this balance that I wanted to understand: How to create a business, a career, and to be a leader in an era where we need (and want) to both change the world and to support ourselves financially.

“If you are running your enterprise in the most efficient and effective way,” MC shared, pressing her fingers against the table as if pointing to a diagram of what she was expressing, “then you will be able to innovate in a way that helps others. There has to be an understanding, which is probably why we’ve seen in the last 30 years, a development of CSR departments in big Fortune 500 companies. So it doesn’t have to be one way to fully only make money or fully only do good. You can certainly bridge the two.”

“And it takes a unique form of leadership?” I asked

“Vision, relentless focus, empathy, raw intellect, agility — learning and physical agility. The ability to quickly pivot when something isn’t working. I think that is an ideal. I would feel comfortable working for a company that has 3 out of 5 and that the other two were aspirational or part of the conversation. I don’t want to work with a superwoman or superman who is so perfect. People who can articulate a mission and can demonstrate action against that mission…once you start demonstrating action, that’s the type of leadership needed. “

The MC-5 traits for leadership:

– Vision
– Relentless Focus
– Empathy
– Raw Intellect
– Agility (both learning and physically)
– (The ability to articulate the mission through taking action)

“And how do these relate to being a woman in the workplace, a person of diversity?”

“There are real inequalities in our education system that make it harder for a child born in an underserved community get to, say, Stanford. There is a misperception that all the barriers were eliminated and now everyone – as long as they work hard – has a straight shot to Stanford. As long as that child is smart and applies him or herself, the opportunities will be granted. That is just not true. There is an enormous amount of work to do in that space. And society must decide if that’s a priority or not. I certainly see gaps in terms of female potential in the work environment. And I think part of it is who I am and where I am in my life. I’m a 41-year-old Hispanic woman with a four-year-old son and a supportive husband, I am educated by all accounts with a resume that shows I’ve worked hard and have been focused in my profession. But I still encounter moments in my day-to-day interactions where I am dismissed or just ignored or not brought into a conversation. I don’t know if it is because I am female, if it is because I am Hispanic or because the person in the conversation isn’t capable or smart enough to want to bring others into that conversation. But those barriers, that gap definitely exists. And I think it’s similar to the conversation on diversity.“

“How are we going to get there?” I asked.

“I think things take hold when they are evolutionary. And so bringing people, minds, hearts and souls together is probably going to produce deeper roots and, therefore, better results…You have to give some thought to what is it that we are trying to accomplish and what does that look like. And you have to literally paint that picture whether it’s with words or pictures. What is your end state? And then you reverse engineer your need to get there. You have to start somewhere. If we sit here and talk too much, then we become paralyzed. Then you realize the truth, which is, it’s insurmountable (MC laughs). So you have to start somewhere, you have to start chipping away at it.”

——
Just as MC entered the elevator to head to her next appointment, we shook hands and she looked me deliberately in the eyes, both searching and reaffirming. She was double-checking if I was a person of trust. If I would take her counsel and put it to work, share it wisely. I hope I have.

(Originally published on Huffington Post)

If you gather up the lists and look at the individuals chronologically from 2007 through to 2015 the results resemble the board game “Chutes and Ladders.” I specifically wanted to see how the 2007 winners fared throughout the years, and then wanted to see how the current batch of winners wound their way to their current positions. The below is a back-of-the-napkin, data-visualization analysis.

Here’s a quick guide to read the images…

• Grey lines represent a continuous position on the list from year to year
• A black line means that person laddered-up to the top position
• A red line means that person exited the list after their position
• An orange dotted line means the person was off the list for this period of time, but returned
• A green dotted line means the person handed-off their position to a new/different person at their company (As example, in 2013 Harris Diamond passed the Weber Shandwick baton to Andy Polansky, and Leslie Dach handed the Wal-Mart baton to Dan Bartlett)
• An “X” next to a name means they were one-time listees

2007 Power Listees and their Trajectory:

More individuals seem to “chute” than to “ladder,” potentially due to the expansion of the list in 2011. What’s also visible is the bunching of the top leaders. Most of the top leaders maintained a position within the top 10 year-over-year until 2013, when some of their replacements took over the roles. Though many of the replacements trended back up.

2015 Listees and their Paths to Glory

A different story appears through this data-visualization, though some of the principles remain. One key remaining principle is the top people on the Power List tend to remain at the top. You can see that a new wave of individuals emerge in 2012 and incrementally ladder their way to the top 10. The dramatic churn of individuals between 2010 and 2012 is also apparent, with a few years of list stability until this year, then there is a new wave of disruption in the list. Still, this new disruption is more of a changing of seats than people dropping from the list. Many of the people from 2014 remain on the list in 2015.

Areas of high drama in this visualization include:

• The ascension of Dan Bartlett to the top position
• The descent of Katie Cotton, the handoff to Steve Dowling, who retakes a top spot
• The rebound of Rachel Whetstone
• The rebound of Donna Imperato
• The descent of Margery Kraus from top 10 to bottom 5

There’s a lot more than can be derived from this data, such as the impression that women fare worse then men, and that strong brands hold their positions even through leadership changes (Wal-Mart, P&G, Fleishman-Hilliard). The above was my first take on this data.

Notes:

• I once worked for a venture capital group that owned the celebrity index Popex. I wonder if a tool/game like that would be a valuable add-on to this list.
• I captured the above data points within excel, then used PowerPoint to create the images.

Think in modules and nodes…the home becomes a node, the car becomes a node…the smartphone becomes a node. Networked to these connective points will be a new series of tools and services. The smart home, with tools such as Nest or Hue, are established indicators of the potential of node-based “Personal Networks.” We’re shifting from the Personal Computer to the Personal Network. (Thinking of this philosophically, this trend mimics the impact of Social Networking on our culture…this shift in physical technology could be a reaction to the shift in the intangible technology of Social Networks).

In the era of Personal Networks, we could be realizing one of the century old (if not older) design principles of “clean and functional” and also satisfying an initial tenet of technological advancement…Simplicity.

So what does this mean?

It means your smartphone will become a node, an anchoring point in your Personal Network. A tool, such as the Light Phone, would be a simple-function expression of one of the technologies embedded in your phone. Way back in 2013 Google and BERG were developing a tool called the Connbox, “…a prototype device that connects live chat in a more physical way.” It seems this device (and BERG) were too early. BERG closed down in 2014. (A potential pitfall of BERG was their interest in developing tools that were less about simplicity and more akin to quirkiness).

The great potential of a Simple Personal Network will be its ability to harness the power of technology without the weighty burden of complexity. It will allow the freedom to choose to utilize the deepness of cloud services if you want, while also being able to chose the opposite. To be “light,” and simply use a phone for a voice call.

]]> http://jasonempire.com/2015/05/20/the-light-phone-and-the-simple-personal-network/feed/ 0 http://jasonempire.com/2015/01/20/brand-storyteller-heres-the-pivot-you-should-make-to-stay-ahead-of-the-curve/ http://jasonempire.com/2015/01/20/brand-storyteller-heres-the-pivot-you-should-make-to-stay-ahead-of-the-curve/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2015 14:12:40 +0000 http://jasonempire.com/2015/01/20/559/ Brand storytelling is the majority now, where is the emerging opportunity?
While we are deep in the era of brand storytelling, the next wave is emerging. Many of us in the storytelling profession are eagerly shifting our brands and clients away from static “push” marketing and towards the dynamic and agile verve of brand storytelling and “engagement.” Yet, even as we shift our brands into the new world the next step has already arrived. It’s the nature of our time, the cycles evolve and decay quicker.

The Next Step
The next step is about taking real actions. Doing something and taking actions that spur the genuine stories brand storytellers aim to create. Think of “taking action” in comparison to the current mode of ideation and using creative resources and strategic inputs to develop stories. Your new aim should be to do something your communities would gain value from (anywhere on the spectrum from creating a joyful moment to providing well being to delivering customer satisfaction). The action you take will need to make a genuine impact, and it needs to relate to who you are and what you do.

Creativity and insight lead the way forward
Creativity is still one half of the strategic yin-yang, insights are the other, but your role now is to not only think up and develop the best story, or the stickiest story, or the cleverest one…the role now is to create and develop the actions that spur the stories to be told, shared, and remembered.

We have updated storytelling mantra to guide us
Show, don’t tell. Do, don’t show.

The signs and symbols which guide and direct you took on greater subliminal meaning. They became icons of the culture you were developing in your young mind, tied to your maturity, signposts to your freedom. In some cases the transit symbols became labels for the genuineness, the claim of being from or part of NYC. In the 80’s there was a great punk-rock band called “Token Entry.” The icon for their band branding was the token entry symbol from the subway. Everybody who was “hip” wore that shirt. It interesting to note that approximately 20 years post-Token Entry the MTA sells distinctive t-shirts which show the numerical or alphabetical symbol of the train line of your preference.

But, looking deeper, there was a “hidden driver” in place to seed and spark these symbol adoptions to occur. In the case of the New York City Transit Authority symbols this hidden driver were two designers: Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda.

“In 1967 the New York City Transit Authority hired Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda of the design firm Unimark International to design a signage and wayfinding system that would solve the problem underground…The work they delivered, the 1970 New York City Transit Authority Graphic Standards Manual, succeeded in that goal and, perhaps unintentionally, the Standards Manual became one of the world’s classic examples of modern design.”

An original version of this manual was uncovered recently and there is a Kickstarter to have it scanned and printed in a limited edition. The two current designers who discovered this rare book initially launched a website about their unique find with photographs of the book’s pages. The site was overwhelmed with interest, which led them to create the printing project via Kickstarter.

The “wave” of impact from these simple designs has lasted decades. It has undulated, but each time the wave peaks it appears higher than before. I’m curious to see how this book will impact new generations. In the meantime I’ve seen handfuls of utilizations, including the new team of designers hired to redesign NYC parking signs, and the “way finding” sign team, that follow the guidance of this book rather then take a new direction.

I loved my Token Entry t-shirt, or maybe I loved the well designed symbol that had a look and feel to last centuries.

1. Disruption
2. Post-Disruption

The Disruption era is/was so strong, that similar to the impact of Modernism on global social/global/economics, it is a “Post-” era versus a newly named one (Modernism shifted to Postmodernism).

Disruption (as an era) has shaken off the emotional force of Nostalgia, specifically off the back of Progress. One goal of Disruption was to remove the emotional connection to the past and replace it with a rational celebration of the new (similar to Modernism). As example, retro design, remakes of “classic” films and TV shows, and turning childhood books into movies are symptoms of the friction Nostalgia creates between the past and the future. As example, critics loved the first generation iPhone (no one complained it didn’t have the same look/feel of old phones), but vendors still arose to provide retro gadgets to modify it so it would. Disruption has worked incredibly hard to separate Nostalgia from an appreciation of what’s  “Good.”

Post-Disruption is an era with a focus on building stronger foundations in the new global reality created by Disruption. It’s an adoption of the the lasting forces of Disruption as a new normal, but within two distinct paths towards the future:

• Neo-Modernism Design Driven: To continually reinvent the present through new systems and technologies in the service of solving issues (both global and local). This requires both solving current high-profile technological issues (health, energy) plus inventing new opportunities and markets (innovations) and therefore magnetizing communities around these new innovations
• Neo-Renaissance Nutriment Nourishment: To provide foundational support (both global and local) that fosters the betterment of livelihood. Similar to the above, but with a focus on the basics. It is a new investigation of how to build a “Good” future (social and economic) that learns from historical lessons without the friction of Nostalgia to impede progress

Looking at our current experience, these two forces are unbalanced…maybe they aren’t meant to be. The force of Design is outweighing Nourishment. Both are growing. Either way, people, governments, and businesses should be considering these two paths when planning for the next five years, and beyond.

There is typically a long line from the front door to the back of the store. The counter to order your bagel and other items is at the back. Customers walk past all of the offerings before they reach the counter (sort of like exiting through the gift shop at amusement parks).

All throughout this process the proprietor engages with the customers. Sometimes it’s a simple, “We’ll be right with you folks!” other times it’s, “Don’t forget dessert, your family wants dessert!” My favorite part of this routine is the in-the-moment (real time) marketing “experiments” posted on the cases.

This weekend there were two:

1. New York Met’s Special “Sweep” sandwich. The Mets had just swept the Yankees in four games; kind of unheard of in these parts. For Mets fans this is sweet revenge as the Yankees typically gain the lions share of praise in the NYC area.

The proprietor chose to create a real-time product, using ingredients he already has on hand, that fits within his menu.

Here’s the other one. This one is more experimental. In this experiment the proprietor is inventing a new offer through a mixing of two current products:

2. The Coney Island Stuffed Knish.

Branding a knish as “Coney Island” is a whole other discussion (see Mrs. Stahls), but the proactive ingenuity of combining two current offerings into one to test its reception is something that we can all do on a regular basis. Plus it adds some unique flavor to our communications plans. Call it a mash-up. A mash-up message.

Here are the key take-aways from the bagel shop when seen through the lens of a social communications professional:

• Display your advocacy (don’t hard-sell your services): The proprietor doesn’t broadcast the types of bagel and prices to his customers. He assures his customers that he cares about them.
• Be in the moment: Discuss current events through the lens of your comms plans and brand narratives.
• Mash-it-up: Refresh older items by reframing them through a mash-up into something new.

And there’s one last one…

• Be personal in a personal way: When a customer is paying for their transaction the proprietor makes sure he says something unique and uplifting to his customer. Though he’s been shouting messages for all to hear, at this moment he quiets his voice to create a connection with his customer. He shifts his perspective, playing the role of a fellow customer, “oh, you got the humus, that humus is delicious, good choice.”

Enjoy!