July 2001 Flash Points

Fast Talk: The Innovation Conversation (p. 70)
FC Article

The future depends on innovation. What innovations have occurred in your industry in the past ten years to make your work easier and help your business transition into the new economy? What innovations do you see on the horizon?
How do you balance old, proven techniques with the desire to create and change? How do you spur innovation in an older, established corporate that is caught in a safety net of stability? When is innovation the result of customer demand and when is it just a corporate desire of perfection.? Beth Sawi says in this issue's roundtable that companies need to allow mistakes to happen instead of punishing them. Have unrealistic demands for superior products and services created a climate that discourages innovation because of the harsh negativity associated with failure?
Polly LaBarre asks how do you create a culture where innovation can thrive? What does your company do? What factors are predominant in spurring the creative process? Can you attribute it to open-door management, relaxed company culture, team-building activities, or any other specific factors?

Is this yourbeautiful house? (p. 124)
FC Article

Ron Lieber questions the desirability of living in megasuburbs. Poll your cell to see how many consider themselves urban, suburban, or megasuburban. Once you determine the demographic makeup of your group, hold a discussion on the historical function of architecture and how it relates to social and economic trends. What are the implications of homogenous megasuburbs on architectural and societal innovations?
What role might corporations play in creating distinct corporate living areas? Might some larger companies commission a megasuburb strictly for their own employees, like earlier in the 20th century? Or have mass transportation systems and telecommunting made the idea of a corporate community obsolete? What effect would such communities have on the distinction between work life and leisure time?
Lieber explores some of the guidelines and rules that exist in megasuburbs, such as certain colors you can't paint your house with and no visible hot tubs? Should such guidelines exist? Do they spark creativity by forcing homeowners to innovate their homes within these guidelines, or do they stifle it by enforcing all homes to essentially be uniform?

Is the Internet Second Nature (p. 145)
FC Article

Cheryl Dahle explains how industry leaders Microsoft, Intel and Cisco have made the Internet part-and-parcel of their company's everyday operations. How does your company use the web? Besides a company web site, does your business have internal sites for expense reports, vacation calendars, etc? What other creative options exist to cut out red tape and increase efficiency in daily operations?
Have a cell discussion on the evolution of the web -- from their experiences, not from what they've read. How has the Internet gone from a way of communicating to a source of information to a 'mindset'? What is this mindset, or what is 'Internet behavior,' as Dahle calls it.
While some hail the Internet for creating a better sense of community, others say that it fosters non-communicative independence. In a business setting, what effects might web shortcuts like the ones Dahle mentions have on workers' psyche and happiness? What sort of effect (positve or negative) might the efficient, but impersonal task of filing an expense report or submitting a proposal online have on the new economy idea of open door communication?

Daniel Richards contributed this month's Flash Points.

July 2001 Connexus | Flash Points | Next Steps