As a pragmatic leader you have to justify your ideas no matter how good they are. In my Inc.com column I lay out 4 ways you can justify a good idea.
Tag: innovation
Part 1: Recycling Plant
What’s the difference between a recycling plant and recycling a plant? Just to clarify, I am not speaking about agriculture here; in my urban Chicagoland jungle, plant means industry. As is my nature, after moving to a new location, I frenetically bushwhack through metropolitan mulch. I dodge chain restaurants like weeds (aside from Chipotle) and sniff out those hidden flowers that flash the true colors of the city.
My recent harried wanderings have delivered me to this recycling riddle comparing a recycling plant and recycling an (industrial) plant. This first post introduces the recycling plant with my commentary progressing soon on the interwebs.
During my first month blustering around the windy city, I have happened upon various hidden gems of the visual, theatrical, and edible persuasions. All were stunning or enlightening with the exception of an unfortunate goat tostada from La Basura Bodega that seemed to enlighten nothing but my septic system.
A rapid run bike through of my few weeks here would reveal adventures including but not limited to:
1) Watching the sunrise over Lake Michigan
2) Doing headstands in my office where I work for the Governor of Illinois
3) Driving an entirely electric car from Nissan at sunset along the lake
4) Going out for pizza with the Governor
5) Assembling a bicycle (with help) and then biking 20 miles roundtrip to Chicago’s Desi corridor for delicious delicacies from Pakistan and India
6) Hula hooping with 500+ people and professional fire dancers/drummers during a Chicago Full Moon Fire Jam. Click here and here for stunning pictures.
7) Attending and participating in various art and performance installations around the city
8) Blasting Kanye/Jay-Z while driving a government car around Illinois to report on hearings
9) Mingling with glitterati at a wine and hors d’oeuvre reception at the Chicago Yacht Club
10) Exploding over bike handlebars and onto pavement after losing a battle with a curb
Yet this week may take the cake (or flan depending on where you are). Last Thursday in a nostalgic reminder of the pleasures of elementary school, I took a field trip during work. No need to forge any parental permission slips, though. It was a sanctioned tour of Recycling Services, a private company that exists as the largest recycling service in Chicago.
My tour was a refreshing reminder that matter does not simply disappear after you flush the toilet or drag a trash bag to the curb. My enthusiasm waxed as I watched in graphic, gory detail the process of collecting, sorting, sanitizing, and monetizing our recycling goods. I saw employees meticulously extract waste materials from accelerating conveyor belts and shred materials before compressing and packaging the scraps. The tour culminated with a delicious feast of wine, cheese, shrimp, and gourmet hamburgers after which I was sure to recycle and compost my utensils and food.
It was an impressive display in a city that proactively sustains recycling infrastructure. It even allays conservative or libertarian environmental skepticism because it succeeds through capitalistic, free market participation. This for-profit recycling plant wants to make money. It makes money by increasing recycling. It’s a win-win.
In a recessionary world of big industry that wants to Thank You for Smoking, it’s exciting to see this type of plant thriving. As the owner explained, “Paper is booming in the capital markets”. It’s almost enough to make me print this blog out and recycle the paper. But not quite. Yet how does one go further and actually recycle an industrial plant. Stay tuned…
The adventure continues in Part 2: Recycling a Plant, available by clicking here.
- Leadership isn’t always about telling–it’s about doing.
- Can companies deal with the speed of social media? This cartoon thinks not.
- What separates the suits and the ‘top professionals’: passion.
- Purpose driven leadership is important in this economy.
- So why did Amazon buy Zappos? Leadership, for one.
- Great story and article: choose your rate, choose your fate.
- If you are going after different results, change your definition of management–and get everyone on your side.
- How do you track your social marketing efforts? It’s a notable challenge.
- 9 marketing rules every small business/marketer should know.
- Developing your leadership pipeline is crucial in this economy.
- It isn’t always light bulbs and eureka moments: the myth behind (workplace) innovation.
- Sometimes having a good business is about having a good name! Funny post.
- Staying ‘jerk free’ is a class away!? Is it worth it?
- Limited internet access at work isn’t the answer to increasing productivity. Outlining the rules are.
- How do you handle a compliment? Here’s 10 great, easy, steps.
- Leadership is about noticing what’s everything. Great post and video.
- Creating a culture of innovation is essential. Here’s a great way to start.
- What happens when you get a team ‘A’ player into a ‘B’ squad? Don’t overvalue player ‘A’.
- Maintaining passion keeps everyone happy and productive. Start with this guide.
- “I’m quitting Facebook” story. Do you think we’ll here more and more of these soon?
Yesterday the Wall Street Journal interviewed Yahoo’s new CEO, Carol Bartz. When asked about the structure of Yahoo and it’s history she states:
…Organizations can get in the way of innovation, because if people are all bound up, and if they don’t know if they get to make the decision or somebody else, and if they do, what happens to them, and so on and so forth. There’s a freeing when you organize around the idea that you’re clearly in charge and go for it. It’s really a fantastic group of people, and just cleaner lines and cleaner responsibility, and freedom to make mistakes, and have some fun. This whole business that there’s no innovation side of Yahoo is just the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.
Before the dot com bubble burst in the late 1990s many start-ups were run in an extremely facilitative manner, with an emphasis on teams rather than a hierarchy and an overflow of resources for R&D. When the bubble burst facilitative managerial structure was thrown out the window in favor of hierarchical control, fiduciary responsibility and mundane job descriptions. In other words, these new companies adopted a directive-based approach when re-tooling their organizational structure.
Facilitative organizations invest in exciting projects and innovation in hopes that creativity will beat out the competition. However, there is no guarantee return on investment–the innovation may never come, the exciting project may be out-dated. On the other hand directive leadership, perpetually focused on short and long term cost reduction, will suppress innovation and creativity in the long run. However, that said a directive leadership style does at least go a long way in guaranteeing accountability, coordination, and control. So the trick is knowing how to balance the two. It’s easy to be facilitative when, as we said the other day, you can accommodate experimentation and failure. It’s easy to be facilitative when you are playing a non-zero-sum game. It’s tempting to be directive when resources are scare, when time is pressured, and when your playing a zero-sum-game. The trick is how to be both facilitative and directive.
Carol Bartz, taking the helm of Yahoo in January of this year, did what any good CEO should do: she implemented both a facilitative and directive organizational leadership so Yahoo could continue to innovate without taking dangerous leaps of faith. She is both establishing a clear chain of command and asking her employees to innovate and make mistakes.
- North Korea is in the news…and now Twitter?!
- Realizing social media is a good idea isn’t enough. It’s about having a plan.
- It may be wiser to hire people without meeting them.
- In the world of high finance…what’s normal?
- 10 ways twitter will change American businesses. Do you think it will stick?
- Are you sociable? No? It’s your brain–not you.
- Financial service careers are highly prized…but, perhaps, bad for your family.
- Is your innovation really just unnovation? If that doesn’t make any sense, check out the following examples.
- Using political muscle is important…take Italy as an example.
- 100 most creative people in business today. Agree?
- ‘Death of a Leader‘–a look at the recent suicide of South Korea’s former president, Roh Moo-hyun.
- Should we really feel bad for Madoff’s ‘victims‘? It’s a toss up.
- Harvard Business Review takes a look at some of the worst leadership traits.
- Instructions: How to make a Kosher baby.
