Getting ‘Off the Island’: Diary of a Corporate Innovation Masterclass in New York City (Part 1)
Off the Island report: Corporate Innovation Masterclass in NYC
3 action-packed days of hands-on corporate innovation masterclassin New York with Giant Innovation
15 participants from large, diverse companies including Walmart,Ericsson,Citi Group,RogersCommunications,The Hershey Company,CNA Insurance,Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.and more!
20 hours of Master Class coursework
3 corporate innovation experts from PepsiCo,Pfizer, andCiti Groupanswering key corporate innovation questions
9 hours of networking with startups and innovation professionals at Entrepreneur's RoundtableAcceleratorand elsewhere
3 hours of "customer" interview sessions (a.k.a. talking to random tourists on the High Linein Chelsea)
Countless sticky notes, bagels, and innovation ideas!
What am I doing differently because of this amazing trip?
Far greater focus on quick, regular, user feedback for all innovation You could try out theUsability of Legal Toolssurvey (refresh if it doesn't load first time) for an example of some ways we in the Consumer & Small Business team are already trying to measure usability and gather feedback quickly to ensure we are focused on creating tools that work for us and for clients.
Maintain a metrics Now more than ever we need to look at our work through a different lens and that involves making use of data and metrics. I'll be building on some innovation metricstemplates already developed and researching and testing new onesto assess and investigate the real impact of innovation work, as well as spot areas that need innovation or are priorities for greater efficiency.
Trying to become a solution finder, not a problem In line with intriguing concepts around 'New Power', I'm looking to explore different ways of finding solutions to business issues in an open source way, supported by the methods of the masterclass that allow an openness of ideas and thinking. The methodology laid out in the class are a mix of Lean, Design Thinking and Agile similar toTelstra's New Ways of Working (NWoW)is made up of, so I am excited to test the methodology on projects large and small (overview worksheets from the masterclass are below).
PRE-TIP
I am sitting in a bustling restaurant at Melbourne Airport. I have 30 minutes until I board a plane to New York. I am feeling slightly nervous about travelling alone in NYC and slightly stressed about the work that needs to get done for the business in a very busy two weeks before the end of the financial year. There's also the semi-mysterious strategic announcement in two days and the only somewhat less mysterious announcement of the changes to the legal team operational structure.On top of this, I turned 34 two days ago and bought my first teeny apartment on my own, which settled nine days ago. 12 days ago I flew to Sydney to attend and present at the Legal Innovation and Tech Festin Sydney. All of the ideas from various sessions and thoughts of home ownership, legal model changes and general hectic-ness are rotating through my head combined with excitement at the possibility of the Giant Innovationmasterclass as I sit at the airport and try to plan for an amazing fortnight in Gotham (with a little help from a glass of red wine).My main plan for my time 'off the island' (courtesy of Gilbert+Tobin) was pretty basic...
Explore innovation techniques within much larger organisations
Write extensive notes from every day
Develop connections with innovative organisations (to borrow ideas and brainstorm problems)
Get through a good amount of work to support the Small Business team despite being in another timezone
With all the innovation learnings as a backdrop, decide how I want to approach the new financial year as a (hopefully) more innovative
Oh and see at least two Broadway shows :D
DAY ONE
day one
Corporate Innovation Masterclass Course:
What is innovation? Why do we need it?
Key principles of design thinking
User interviews with unsuspecting members of the public!
Creativity research (not brainstorming)
methodology
Corporate Innovation Leaders Panel: 3 corporate innovation leaders answered burning innovation questionsInnovation Leaders Roundtable at BCG Digital Ventures. Presentation from Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms on their book New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World – and How to MakeIt Work for YouNote: Apologies in advance for buzzwords that pop up. Check here in the innovation Dictionary for quick basic definitions for some innovation buzzwords.
Our innovation team getting out of the building to do user interviews with the unsuspecting public (The High Line, Chelsea). We asked random people about their tourism experience in NYC. People were surprisingly friendly!
Corporate Innovation panel
Corporate Innovation panel with corporate innovation specialists (from left to right):
Josh Cohen, facilitator and co-founder ofGiant Innovation
Martin Zagorsek, Entrepreneur in Residence at Citi Ventures (Citi Group)
Cal Austin, Regional Director of Innovation at Pfizer
Rachel Gordon, Global Innovation Director at PepsiCo
The NYC Centre for Social Innovation.
An inspiring co-working space to hang out in for the three days of the masterclass! The NYCCentreForSocialInnovation describes itself as the 'Swiss Army Knife of social innovation', it is a co-working space, community, and launchpad for people who are changing the world with Social Enterprises and NFP innovations.
like wish wonder
The I like… I wish… I wonder… technique is a great way to reflect on each day of the masterclass (or any day!) in a relatively neutral way.Also an easy way to collect feedback from team members. Something I might use when checking in with clients.
DAY TWO
Corporate Innovation Masterclass Course
Key principles of Lean
Testing assumptions
User interviews with unsuspecting members of the public!
Startup Accelerator Site Visit to Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
Panel session with four start up founders on how large corporates can work more effectively with start ups
Startup-Corporate Innovators Mixer with current and former ERA founders
Participant dinner
technical MVP
An extremely technical MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for testing user reaction to our team's app idea that will REVOLUTIONISE tourism in New York :)I was amazed at how even such a basic visual gathered fantastic feedback and insights from users.Yes… I walked around New York and asked complete strangers what they thought of this "app" in my notebook!
Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
isiting Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
Panel session at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator with four startup founders Jacqueline Loeb from Scouted, Heather Waibel from Welnys, Daniel Michaeli from SaleMove, and Shaun for sharing their time and stories with us.Focus of discussions was on how large corporates can work better with startups to leverage new and interesting ideas, products and services to outsource some innovation and stay competitive.One of the callouts was around legal documentation. Massive, wordy, restrictive contracts with small startups are intimidating and they don't have the resources to arrange for the appropriate legal review of these documents.This got me thinking about contracts and ethics - at what point does the fact that we know a customer or supplier is not reading the contracts or understanding what they are agreeing to become an ethical issue? Practically, if we never rely on particular clauses, why have them in there….
DAY THREE
Corporate Innovation Masterclass Course:
Problem testing
Solution testing
Making MVPs
Telling the story
User interviews with unsuspecting members of the public! One of my biggest take outs was the need for user interviews, testing and
giant innovators
Drinks with fellow participants!Interested in attending yourself? Giant run the Corporate Innovation Masterclass(and other events) a few times each year if you're in New York.
The team from Giant Innovationand fellow innovative participants from large, diverse companies including Walmart, Ericsson, Citi Group, Rogers Communications, The Hershey Company, CNA Insurance,Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.and more!
