The Art Of Innovation

The Art of Innovation Introduction: Guy Takeo Kawasaki is an American marketing specialist, author, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist. He was one of the Apple employees originally responsible for marketing their Macintosh computer line in 1984. He popularized the word evangelist in marketing the Macintosh as an "Apple evangelist" and the concepts of evangelism marketing and technology evangelism/platform evangelism in general. Evangelism marketing is an advanced form of word-of-mouth marketing in which companies develop customers who believe so strongly in a particular product or service that they freely try to convince others to buy and use it. The customers become voluntary advocates, actively spreading the word on behalf of the company. Summary of the speech: The topic for his TEDx talk was about The Art of Innovation. 1. Making meaning instead of Money It begins with the longing to creating importance (making meaning) instead of profit. Creating importance implies that we can change the world. There is a chance that if we happen to change the world we will likewise presumably profit. If we begin off with the sole want to profit and you will presumably fizzle. Example of companies who created meaning: Apple, Google, eBay. With Apple, Apple needed to democratize PCs. They needed to convey processing capacity to everybody. That is the importance they made. 2. Make a Mantra The second step is to make a mantra perhaps a four-word clarification of why we should exist. Instead of trying to have a mission expression – Making a mantra is better. Example Nike’s extraordinary motto – “Just do it” is a mantra of genuine athletic execution. 3. Jump to the next curve The third thing he speaks about is the matter of viewpoint. The point of view is to hop bends. Not to remain on a similar curve that you're on. Example: When they were making the Macintosh they were not endeavoring to make a somewhat better Apple II or a marginally better MS-DOS machine. They were attempting jump the curve in personal computing. 4. Rolling the DICEE (D-Deep, I-Intelligent, C-Complete, E- Empowering, E- Elegant) Great innovation is Deep. Lots of features, lots of functionality. Great products are also Intelligent.

Great products are also Complete. It’s the totality of the product. Great products are also Empowering. They make us more creative, more productive. Great products are Elegant. 5. Don’t worry be crappy If a company waits–for example, the engineers convince management to add more features–until everything is perfect, it will never ship, and the market will pass it by. 6. Let 100 Flowers Blossom People are going to use our product in ways that we did not anticipate. Innovators need to be flexible about how people use their products. Example: Avon created a product called Skin So Soft to soften skin, but parents started to use it as an insect repellant. 7. Polarize People Great products, great services, great innovation polarize people. Example: People either love an iPhone or they hate an iPhone. 8. Churn Baby, Churn Innovators take version one and they make it 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.0. Innovation is not an event. It’s a process. 9. NICHE Thyself Unique, but no great value Not valuable, not unique

Unique and great value: What innovators should aspire to be. Something of great value but it’s not unique.

I have drawn this matrix based on Mr. Kawasaki’s speech. He tells us that innovators should be on the top right corner – create something unique and having great value : Example: Smart cars. 10. Perfect Your Pitch. A pitch means how you present your ideas to others. If we are an innovator we have to learn to pitch. We should always start with something customized to the audience. Conclusion: Mr. Kawasaki gives more than fifty keynote discourses for every year. His clients incorporate Apple, Nike, Gartner, Audi, Google, Microsoft, and Breitling etc. His points about development, entrepreneurship and business marketing inspired me to be more innovative and gave me an idea on how companies build and market new and exciting products.