Good Morning Thinkers!

Customer Experience Design

Dogs, Dog Food, and Customer Experience (Cx) Design

by Tim Ogilvie, CEO, Peer Insight LLC

As part of our study of service innovation I recently spoke with Austin Henderson at Pitney Bowes.  Austin has served as the Director of both Pitney Bowes’ Concept Studio and its downstream partner, the Systems Lab, which seeks to commercialize the concepts that emerge.  He also has a background at MIT, Xerox PARC, Fitch Design, and Apple, giving him a keen view of what works in innovation.  Austin shared the four tests they use at Pitney Bowes to determine if a concept merits full-scale development:

1.  Does it work for customers?
2.  Is it technically feasible?
3.  Can it stand on its own as a business?
4.  Does it fit the brand portfolio?

The first test reminded me of the words of a wise venture capitalist in response to a new concept I was pitching (remote control of objects over the Internet, if you must know):  "Yes, but will the dog eat the dog food?"

It’s true, dogs don’t talk, they act.  And even though people do talk, our actions speak louder than our words.  The nascent discipline of customer experience (or Cx) is helping a lot of companies navigate these murky waters to create "Wow!"  You know all about "Wow!" if you’ve ever used NetFlix, or LL Bean’s lifetime guarantee, or Progressive’s pay-per-use auto insurance.

Most of the well-known examples are from the hospitality and retail industries.  More quiet but equally impressive customer experiences are starting to pop up in business-to-business segments, too, and not by accident.  Companies are getting good at it, despite the lack of a formal field of Cx (Customer Experience Design).

We have been researching the topic for ten months and have thus far interviewed over 150 senior service innovators from over 50 Fortune 500 companies.  A rich body of Cx knowledge exists ... just not in any convenient repository from which we can all draw.  It is dispersed among many talented individuals at forward-thinking companies that are committed to providing a superb experience to their customers.

Our research has taught us "The Ten Principles of Cx."  Principle #3, for example, is "Use customer-centric analytical tools and design methods."  There is a simple tool we call value gap analysis that highlights the gaps in a customer experience and accurately anticipates competitive strategies.  Principle #8 is: "Use tangible artifacts to make the experience vivid."  Our research has identified five keys to effective tangible artifact design, including several dozen exemplary artifacts.

Because this research and our new report on it is too lengthy to report here, we are offering it to members of the InnovationNetwork along with a 20% discount on our upcoming 2-day workshop, "The Principles of Cx Design," on April 12-13 at the Georgetown University Center for Professional Development.  For more information on the workshop, please mailto:cx@thinksmart.com.

Metaphorical Thinking Short Course

The Online Writing Lab offers a short course in metaphors ... while directed primarily at creative writing, it offers great food for thought and insight into this powerful thinking technique.

Using Metaphors in Creative Writing

Micro Lending Miracles

A few years ago, I had the good fortune to hear Mohammad Yunus, pioneer of the microlending program, speak in Argentina.  Not only did all 6000 of us in the audience fall in love with him, we were awed by the power of his program to help people lift themselves out of poverty.  Click here to buy the book.

His book provides a glimpse of this powerful program and the editorial review includes this statement:  Yunus's theories work. Grameen Bank has provided 3.8 billion dollars to 2.4 million families in rural Bangladesh. Today, more than 250 institutions in nearly 100 countries operate micro-credit programs based on the Grameen methodology, placing Grameen at the forefront of a burgeoning world movement toward eradicating poverty through micro-lending.

Grameen is profiled by Fast Company in the January issue of Social Capitalist awards.

Also, here is a link to a fascinating interview about this program.

Grameen Foundation USA.

Best Friends at Work

Studies by Gallup and FranklinCovey indicate that having a best friend at work has a positive effect on how engaged an employee feels.  Of the 30% of employees stating they have a best friend at work, 56% are engaged ... of the other 70%, only 8% report being engaged and 29% are actively disengaged to the point of poisoning the atmosphere with their negativity!

One question might be how to support friendships at work ... another might be why are so few people engaged in the first place?

From:  USA Today article.

Amabile's 6 Myths of Creativity

Is a lean machine a creative machine?  Noted creativity researcher and author says:  not necessarily.  Downsizing, right-sizing and all the other euphemisms for layoffs may be cutting more than fat ... read more in this Fast Company article.

High-Intensity Diversity

What happens when a Greek pianist tours with a Japanese violinist, a Venezuelan flautist who also plays the ancient Armenian duduk, an Australian digeridoo master, a Chinese keyboardist, a high-octane Puerto Rican percussionist, a street-performing hammer dulcimer player from Tennessee and twenty other solo-quality musicians from various parts of the planet and musical world?

What happens?  Yanni happens and a high energy blend of music and video transports audiences to a place of beauty and spirit.   

Principle of Innovation

Last night the Yanni tour touched down in Bakersfield and crystallized for me a principle of innovation – high-intensity diversity.  We have talked about the importance of diversity on many occasions and I believe it is one of the key drivers of innovation.  Anytime you get a group with different perspectives, talents, skills, experiences and thinking styles collaboratively focused on a common objective, new possibilities will emerge.  However, the Yanni concert dramatically modeled another piece – passion.  When a diverse group is also passionate about the challenge, energy rises exponentially sucking resources into its vortex and blowing away obstacles.  I am now going to refer to this as high-intensity diversity … the weaving together of diversity and passion.

Other lessons from Yanni:

1. Share the spotlight – the Yanni concert seemed like a dozen concerts in one as one star performer after another soloed.  Not only did they solo during the concert but the Yanni website features each of the performers with their individual websites and contact information.  Democracy in action.

2. Engage multiple senses – the lighting, camera work and giant screen videos that accompanied the music created an abundance of stimulation, drama and energy.  Video clips from tours across the world helped transport the audience to a different space.

3. Find talent anywhere – Yanni, a self-taught pianist, found Dan Lundrum, the hammer dulcimer player, performing on the street in Tennessee. 

4. Be generous – the Yanni website offers Yanni radio, a continuous offering of his music.  He gives it away and the world wants more – I wound up buying a Yanni CD that I had missed as well as CDs from two of his star performers (David Hudson, the digeridoo guy, was truly incredible … but then most of them were).

Regardless of your taste in music, Yanni is a role model for innovation and I will consider the price of the tickets an investment in my education.  (Whether the IRS will or not, of course, is a different story!)

Favorite Yanni quote:

"I want you to remember one more thing:  Every great thing
that has ever happened to humanity since the beginning has
begun as a single thought in someone's mind.  And, if any of
us is capable of such a great thought, then all of us have
the same capacity because we're all the same."
                -- Yanni, "Live at the Acropolis"

  -- JW

Finding Time Suggestions

I have previously mentioned Heron Dance, the small nature and spirit, words and watercolor publication of Ann O'Shaughnessy and Rod MacIver but I recently chanced across a back issue with two quotes that touch on our conversation about time to think so I am interspersing them with your responses. 

Thanks to everyone who shared your ideas.  We hope you enjoy and that you claim your time to think, to reflect on your life and world, to enjoy. 

Do Less, Have More

"If we want our world to be different, our first act needs to be reclaiming time to think."

In almost every conversation about innovation, "lack of time to think" surfaces as one of the biggest barriers to being more innovative and creative.  And, there's every indication that this perception is real, created by a decade of downsizing and trying desperately to "do more with less."  However, this cycle can only go so far.  Once we've sucked all the "fat" out of the system, we're left with a "lean machine."

This sounds good on paper and in cost-cutting meetings ... the only problem is that machines don't create innovation.  Innovation comes from people and only from people who have the time to think, time to tinker, time to wander through new territory, time to explore their curiosities and passions.

Time to Think Policy?

It probably doesn't make a lot of sense to wait for our organizations to develop a "time to think" policy ... even 3M's famous "15%" is more a myth than a reality.  So what are you doing or what could you do as an individual to create thinking time for your self and for the people who work with or for you?

Add your ideas and suggestions in the comments section below.

Election Day

It's election day ... a day that has been hashed, rehashed, debated and anticipated. A day made possible by the wisdom of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton and dozens of others who launched this great experiment in democracy.

Today it is our turn to care for the legacy of Lincoln,Wilson, the Roosevelts, and each of the presidents that have taken their turn at the helm. It is our turn to exercise our right, our duty, as citizens. And, I believe that duty includes two things ... the first, of course is to vote, and the second is to accept and support the winner of this election as our duly-elected leader.

In an election as bitter and divisive as this one has been, our second duty may be the more difficult. But what will it have gained us to wake up Wednesday morning to a divided nation that cannot come
together to move forward.

I care deeply about which candidate wins, but, as difficult as it has been, I have made peace with the outcome of this election because I have confidence in our processes. Because of our differences of opinion, we will continue to debate the issues and avoid swinging too wildly to one pole or the other. We will make mistakes but they will be tempered by the system of checks and balances that protect us, not only from the excesses of any single branch of the government, but also from our own momentary whims.

I would like to thanks the tireless campaign workers who have given their time, hearts and minds to the candidate of their choice. My friend Anita left her home, husband and friends to spend two months in the center of the whirlwind. I appreciate her sacrifice and the devotion of all the thousands of workers who labored directly in the fields of democracy so that the rest of us could wake up and leisurely make our way to the voting booth and exercise our right.

Thanks also to the thousands of election workers across the country who are facilitating and monitoring the election to make sure that it is fair and just. Today, you are the caretakers of our democratic legacy and deserve our deep appreciation.

So, bless us all this day ... and may the candidate who will be best for our future win decisively so that no courts, no lawsuits, are involved and that tomorrow we can continue to make progress on the
challenges ahead of us.

What would you NEVER do?

Next Tuesday will finalize the debate about who should be president of the US (at least we hope it will and that we don't have a repeat of 2000 although the lawyers are already massing at the borders of those infamous swing states). However, will either candidate bring creativity and fresh thinking to the tarbaby quagmire called Iraq?

A couple of years ago we had John Perry Barlow speak to us at Convergence. He was a stimulating breath of fresh air and obviously someone who marches to a drummer most of us don't hear. The issue of how we get out of Iraq has obviously been playing on his mind and in his blog he tells us about a chance, in-flight meeting with a CEO of a security company in Iraq. It's worth reading in its entirety ... but definitely don't miss the CEO's plan ... it's priceless in a devastating sort of way.

There is an often-used creativity technique called "What would you NEVER do?" that is very useful for getting into some new thinking territory. Often the ideas that come out of this exercise hold the essence of an idea that you could do.

Both of these guys seem to have used that technique. So, just as an exercise, you might take a few minutes to apply that technique to what you know about Iraq and see if you come up with anything remotely like their "plans."

Read Barlow's "Exit Strategies" here.