Author: Bal Bansal

Over the years, I’ve placed a heavy emphasis on how important it is to have good leadership that can drive you and the organisation forward.

It’s critical that they not only show you the vision, but assist you along the path.

You could say, I was lucky in that aspect. Not only my immediate manager, who was Vice President of IT Leadership, but my CIO and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) were all in support of the Innovation work that was happening.

My CIO (Chief Information Officer) would often share his vision, what he would like to see happening and this was all from feedback which he’d receive from Leaders within the business and also, what the other CIO’s of major organisations were looking into.

With that leadership, we were able to develop ideas. Ideas which then went onto a pilot or proof of concept phase – using the Lean Startup methodology, we’d really work on them in a fast manner – Learn Fast, Fail Fast.

If it wasn’t going to work – that’s fine.

Let’s learn from it.

Learn and move on. Learn, why didn’t it work – and if changes were needed, make them then move onto a new test, new pilot or something new. We didn’t keep pushing the same thing until it worked. We made sure we had something that worked, that we could let the customers pull from us.

When I support and talk to other organisations, one thing is key… Leadership. They need to support. They need to be behind any new innovative ideas, technologies or thought processes.

You can look at some of the top companies in the world, and how their leaders and CEO’s talk about ideas. How they talk about innovation and either new technology or something new, that will drive the business forward and achieve success.

Shadow of the Leader

This is something I picked up from GlaxoSmithKline.

It’s very much what it is. Whatever the leader is like, the rest of the organisation will be like that. Because that is the shadow he casts onto them.

If the CEO/Leader is innovative, driving change and wants the company to be a success… that shadow will be on everyone below him, and then they’ll cast it below them. The organisation then will be successful.

What kind of shadow do you have?

What kind of shadow do the leaders in your organisation have?

 

Do you sometimes feel, there’s quite a few social media platforms out there and more and more are popping up all the time?

The other day, I was trying to explain to a local business owner why they should be all over social media.

They’ve got the usual Facebook page, which they update, as and when they get time.

I suggested, have they looked at taking photo’s and posting them to Instagram?

Also suggested, perhaps making a few short videos, and posting them onto a YouTube channel.

Maybe engage with some younger folk, via Snapchat.

The response – if i’m doing all this, who’s going to do the work?!

Absolutely right! – who is going to do the work.

Well, there’s a few options.

1. Understand the Social Media Channels that work for you.
   1. Not all will be as effective.
   2. There’ll be some key ones that’ll really work for you
   3. Some may not be worth exploring
   4. Those that work – schedule 15-20 mins a day, to share engaging content
2. Good Quality Content
   1. People will only watch, listen or read if it’s engaging.
   2. Videos and Photo’s always work well.
   3. Understand what it is you sell (service, products, etc..) and tailor the content accordingly.

Not everyone needs to be on Snapchat. Not everyone needs to be Periscoping.

But there are a few more platforms you should be on, than the usual Facebook page you have.

Not sure how they all work?

Well, I found this great picture describing Social Media with a Samosa! (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a Samosa!) – it’s very much tailored for an individual, but you can learn from it and apply it to a small/medium size business.

 

This week, I was able to head over to the Packaging Innovation show. 

It’s always great to see the latest innovations in the world of packaging and listen to some great people speak on how packaging is going to change. 

Some things I noted, 

1. Packaging sizes are going to get smaller – we kind of know this and have seen it already happening, but it’ll get smaller and more variations will appear.
2. Sustainability and Recycling – more and more consumers wish to be aware of a) where the packaging came from and b) how can it be recycled.
3. Smart Packaging – packaging that can be tracked, traced and/or understood using data and analytics. 

I was able to see some packaging award winners, like this drinks provider in Japan…

Then, there were example of nutrional foods being made available in different pack shapes… 

There were a few exhibitors showing their skills with cardboard to make everyday items easier to handle…

As mentioned, great to see Innocent talking about Sustainability 

And, one my favourites? Was this…

Cardboard that lets you hold your cold can of beer without your hands freezing, and with further development, areas in the cardboard to store your crisps and nuts. 

So it looks like, Google is finally sharing some information on their equivalent of the Amazon Echo.

Google Home will be releasing in the UK, around June time of this year.

There’ll be more and more of these devices, and by that I mean, Microsoft are bringing out one using their intelligent system named Cortana (for some reason, every time i think of this, I think of Cortina.. the old Ford car which was replaced by the Sierra, then replaced by the Mondeo… that just shows my love of cars!).

With all these coming onto the market, which one should you get?

That’s a great question.

I’m not going to go into that just yet. But what I will share, that you will be looking at products and items that go in your home, and ensuring any new purchases you make, are smart.

Your home will need to have various appliances and products that can connect and work with one of the ‘virtual assistants’.

It could be the heating system, or it could be your washing machine. In my opinion, to take full advantage, you’ll slowly start to need investing in your home items so controlling them, adjusting them and making them work for you will get easier.

For example, your heating system. By installing a ‘smart’ heating system, you can make it learn your behaviors and habits. This means, it’ll perform at an optimum efficiency level. Which means it’ll save you money.

Yes, that’s what it comes down to. Saving money & Being efficient.

Or you could say, Being Smart.