Davos: Using complexity to fight cyber-criminals
This morning, I moderated a panel on "Managing Complexity with the Santa Fe Institute at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. One of the featured thought leaders was Stephanie Forrest, a computer scientist who is among the world's leading thinkers on the topic of cyber crime and how to fight it. She makes a fascinating suggestion - that by fostering consistency and homogeneity in our systems, they are hugely more vulnerable to single attacks. Instead, she's working on developing systems in which the interfaces and functionality of various systems is the same, but within the system unique programming makes it difficult for a single virus to propogate across multiple systems, mimicking in some ways the way the immune system works in biological systems.
She explained what were undoubtedly incredibly complex ideas in a most accessible way. You can read more about Professor Forrest and her work at this link.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on January 25, 2012
Symbolism - Plastics Journal picks up McGrath’s blog
I just ran across the following interesting article -
Perhaps the plastics industry can learn a useful lesson from the AIG bonus mess — relating to strategy for how to (or how not to) deal with a crisis. I'll let Rita McGrath lay the groundwork.
McGrath, a professor at Columbia Business School, contributed an excellent column recently to a Harvard Business Publishing blog titled "AIG: Why the Facts Don't Matter." In it, she builds a case for the power of symbolism and emotion:
"At Columbia Business School, we teach executives that symbols (such as a big bonus amidst a bailout, or corporate jets ferrying executives to ask for handouts) have meaning beyond their inherent substance. … Here's the problem: When faced with a symbolic, emotional challenge, the knee-jerk response of most red-blooded managers is to counter the issue with substance, with the facts. So in the case of AIG, we are told that the bonuses were contractual obligations, that they were essential to keep the talent necessary to wind down complex positions. And, even that without them, the government bailout funds would be permanently lost because the company would not be able to function."
The problem, McGrath continues, is that when one is facing a symbolic challenge, facts often do not matter. She suggests that executives either don't grasp this or tend to steer away from injecting their own emotion into emotional issues.
So how is this relevant to the plastics industry? Consider the penchant of some in the industry for citing scientific test data or academic research studies to try to counter emotionally charged arguments that certain plastics are responsible for anything from endangering babies (through migration/ingestion of chemical ingredients) or killing cuddly or feathery wildlife (via strangulation with six-pack rings or the ingestion of plastics waste).
A classic example involves McDonalds Corp.'s decision in 1990 to abandon the polystyrene-foam burger box in favor of coated-paper packaging which, by many accounts offered sub-par performance and little if any real environmental benefit. In the end, McDonald's caved, in large part because customers were demonstrating outside its restaurants against the foam clamshell, prompting negative publicity and stoking emotional fires.
Grass-roots environmental and special-interest groups, some staffed by only a handful of people, frequently are much better than well-heeled industries at shaping public opinion. Industry officials often feel frustrated and sometimes downright angry that their facts aren't enough to win the argument. McGrath would say they are missing the point.
"To counter a symbolic problem, you have to take on the meaning inherent in the symbolism, and to understand why the issue is triggering such an emotional backlash. You'll never succeed arguing substance when the real problem is a problem of emotional meaning. You need an emotional response that defuses the characteristics of the mess and meets the public where it lives. You need to show empathy and have a sense of where the wounded parties are coming from. Most of all, as a leader, you need to frame the issues in ways that further your agenda."
The now-defunct American Plastics Council made an effective attempt to "meet the public where it lives" with its highly visible "Plastics Make It Possible" advertising campaign. That effort was scrapped in 2005 in favor of the American Chemistry Council's Essential2 ad campaign that focuses on how chemistry makes life better for consumers through a multitude of products, including many made from plastics. This is a solid approach.
But such battles need to be fought daily on local, state and regional levels, and many officials involved in those efforts still fail to grasp the tactics of emotional warfare.
In this context, perhaps the AIG and auto-industry bailout incidents can serve a useful, instructive purpose.
~~~~~~~~
By Robert Grace
Robert Grace is editor and associate publisher of Plastics News.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on February 15, 2011
Taking the time every day to learn and reflect
This article, entitled "the best way to use the last five minutes of your day" made me think about a lot of the executives I work with who are just too busy to reflect on anything at all. Running from meeting to meeting, conference call to conference call, one wonders where they can find the time to do anything innovative, let alone keep up with the demands of daily life. The article makes a good suggestion for how to build learning into a daily routine.
Now, if I can just clear my desk from the build-up that took place while I was in Finland last week...
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- Posted Rita McGrath on January 15, 2011
More on Total Recall Technologies
I’ve been getting a lot of interested reactions from the World Economic Forum / Harvard Business Review “Ideaslab” session I did at Davos. You can find the YouTube version here and it is also published on my Harvard On-line blog. If anyone is interested in the slides, please let me know and I will email them to you. The format was one that the WEF people are experimenting this year, called Pecha Kucha. It’s actually great - 15 slides, 20 seconds each, and the slides are not your usual “death by powerpoint” but instead represent pictures and images that reinforce the point of the presentation. I found it really refreshing. To learn more about Pecha Kucha, you’ll find a fascinating overview from Daniel Pink at this link.
But I’m digressing.
Those interested in the Ideaslab talk might also be interested in some predictions about the technologies’ trajectory from my esteemed colleague and Microsoft Executive, Gurdeep Singh Pall. He’s taken the bold and courageous step of actually making some predictions, which you will find here, at the nojitter blog.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on February 02, 2009
Session at Davos: Growth Through Innovation
This had to be one of the more fun sessions I attended at Davos, on a topic near and dear to my heart. Here’s the WEF summary:
Growth through Innovation
The financial crisis will be sure to squeeze R&D spending, but many participants were optimistic that companies will find ways to innovate despite the downturn - or perhaps even because of it, since the tougher business environment will push companies to boost efficiency.
Think about ways to innovate in leadership, processes, even customer markets. Innovation is about far more than products. One Chinese firm managed to boost sales of its washing machines in rural areas by marketing them as potato-washing contraptions.
Build an innovative team based on time-tested principles. One study of research papers published since the 1950s found that the work with the highest impact is done by teams, and that the most successful teams include a mix of people from different institutions, have a combination of experienced hands and newcomers, and the experienced members have not worked together before.
Set up a system that allows staff to submit innovative ideas, and recognize them. Or allow them to remain anonymous if they so prefer.
Create a rewards system. One company came up with a system of knowledge currency units in which workers win points for coming up with a new idea, then accrue more points as the idea gets referenced within the company and used by other colleagues. The points are convertible to cash.
Establish a contest to reward the employee who generates the best way to save money or eliminate unnecessary processes.
Find a meaningful goal to motivate employees. A participant said he was surprised to discover that one of his employees was less concerned with the greater profits that would result from innovation than with the notion that he could help improve agricultural prosperity for farmers.
Set high targets for efficiency improvements. Don’t bother asking staff to cut costs only 10%. “Say you want 50% and you’ll get 65%,” said a participant.
Rather than focusing only on grand innovations, think about how to make improvements at the bottom of the pyramid, what one participant called “shop floor ideas”. Process innovations may be especially useful during times of slowing growth since they often provide a fast return and help cut costs.
Realize that other companies may be more willing to collaborate with your organization amid the economic downturn. “Partnerships between large enterprises and SMEs might be a good source for innovation” one participant pointed out.
Consider macro-level ways to shift from being a consumer of innovations to helping create them. That may involve teaming up with other companies in your field or in other sectors. For example, Nike set up a green exchange that lets consumer companies swap ideas about how to reduce waste.
Keep in mind that innovations can come from customers. One t-shirt company lets web users post t-shirt designs and then vote on them. The shirts with the most votes go into production.
Be aware that, the more innovative an idea is, the more resources must be invested in organizational change to make it succeed. Sell an innovation by telling a concrete, meaningful story about it. “Knowledge sharing systems have to be about storytelling” said a participant.
Session Contributors
Discussion Leaders GOPALAKRISHNAN Kris Chief Executive Officer Infosys Technologies Ltd. India
Discussion Leaders HAWKINS William A. Chairman and Chief Exe… Medtronic Inc. USA
Discussion Leaders IBARRA Herminia The Cora Chaired Profe… INSEAD USA
Discussion Leaders KUROKAWA Kiyoshi Science Adviser to the… Japan
Discussion Leaders LARRAIN BASCUNAN Felipe Professor of Economics Catholic University of Chile Chile
Discussion Leaders LIU JIREN Chairman and Chief Exe… Neusoft Corporation People’s Republic of China
Discussion Leaders MAHINDRA Anand G. Vice-Chairman and Mana… Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd India
Discussion Leaders SHAH Rajiv J. Director, Agricultural… Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation USA
Facilitated by BROWN Tim President, Chief Execu… IDEO Inc. United Kingdom
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- Posted Rita McGrath on January 31, 2009
recent entries
- Why just being young is not a reason to doubt Facebook
- Why advertisements need to get a whole lot better before they will support social media
- Bing, Social Search and the beginning of the App Economy
- In case you missed it, Rita McGrath’s interview about Mark Zuckerberg
- Rita McGrath will be part of the New York Times Business Live on May 11 (tomorrow!) at 10:00am
