Laziness and First Impressions: Barriers to Integrative Thinking
In this article, author Michael Michalko argues that cognitive laziness is one of the greatest barriers to integrative thinking. He points out that first impressions of problems, just like first impressions of people, are narrow and superficial. If this mentality is never changed, it prevents alternative ways of looking at the problem, meaning that integrative thinking will never surface. To remove any biases or assumptions resulting from a first impression, Michalko recommended taking Leonardo DaVinci’s advice: always look at a problem in at least three different ways in order to get a better understanding; or Sigmund Freud: “reframe” a problem in order to transform it and look at it from a different perspective.
This suggests patience. Unfortunately, laziness is inherently the result of impatience.
Thus, cognitive laziness becomes a barrier to entry, the entry point being integrative thinking. In order to gain a deeper understanding of a problem at hand, particularly in a business context, how does one motivate oneself or others in order to get rid of cognitive laziness? Getting rid of biases/assumptions is easier said than done. How would you go about this to achieve integrative thinking? Any thoughts?
How to Ace Your Performance Review
I know that I personally have always thought of performance reviews as uncomfortable sit-downs with the boss where I get talked at for a while, with little back and forth. I never thought that I had to play an active part in a review that was being conducted of me. However, the author of this Forbes article disagrees. She believes that one of the key aspects of a performance review should be you providing your own self-evaluation to your boss. Below are the steps that she says everyone should take to “ace their performance review.”
1. Don’t get overly emotional. It’s easy to take things personally, but try to keep things in perspective.
2. Prepare a self-evaluation throughout the year. Note all of your accomplishments and major contributions, as your boss is too busy to make note of every time you do something good.
3. Tell your boss where you need more support- this is also your chance to review your department.
4. Spell out your goals for the coming year. This will help you in next years review, as you can measure up against these goals.
5. Speak in plain English and avoid business jargon.
6. Handle criticism openly.
While most of the above are points that we have discussed, the self-evaluation concept is a new one. What are your thoughts on detailing all of your accomplishments throughout the year and listing them out to your boss? What’s the best way to go about t
A Real Rival to Cable TV…For a Price
PlayStation Vue Review: A Real Rival to Cable TV…For a Price – WSJ
Sony presents PlayStation Vue that allow the uses to stream live TV and DVR in the cloud. It is hard to really determine where Sony was going with this new idea seeing how it can touch so many companies and markets.
What market do you see this disruption falling under? Why?
With the price being so high I do not see how it would be able to push TiVo out of the picture, but it is the first real internet service to threaten cable TV. Vue allows you to also DVR to the cloud which means no more worrying about running out of storage. Pretty awesome innovation, and will be interested to see how PlayStation hones in on the application, price, and easy of use.
33 THINGS YOU USED TO OWN THAT YOURIPHONE REPLACED
Saw this article and I think it directly correlates to disruptive innovation and topics in class. The iPhone, as a new entrant, has eliminated the need for so many products. With the ability for anyone to develop apps, the iPhone can continually turn many products obsolete. Over the next few years, what else do you think the iPhone (or smartphones in general) can eliminate from our everyday lives?
http://www.supercompressor.com/tech/things-you-don-t-need-to-buy-if-you-have-an-iphone-tech-that-has-been-replaced-by-your-iphone
3D Printing: Consumer Revolution?
In this Forbes article, columnist Freddie Dawson discusses the topic of 3D printing and raises questions about how disruptive the technology really is. As Clayton Christenson has stated many times, a core tenet of an innovation being disruptive relies on its price point and accessibility; 3D printing has existed for a while, but it is starting to make headlines nowadays because of its continually decreasing price point (thus, expanding accessibility). The technology is still not cheap and can only make smaller objects using very specific substances (which is why there is controversy surrounding its level of disruption in the near-future), but one cannot deny that there is huge potential for disruption in the long-term future. Optimists in the business world are referring to this inevitable future as the “Consumer Revolution”, a time period in which the 3d printer will become a standard household object enabling the creativity in entrepreneurial individuals to produce almost any object they can think of, of any size and substance.
Questions to consider:
- If owning an affordable and versatile 3d printer is an inevitable reality, how disruptive do you think this will be to the retail, supply chain, and manufacturing sectors?
- Will 3D printing never become that disruptive, only becoming an alternate means of production?
- If users are able to “download” and “print” physical objects that normally would need to be shipped, do you think this could disrupt the online retailing industry and big-name giants such as Amazon?
- Some, including myself, would interpret this as owning the means to production, something that has always been privatized by large corporations in capitalism. With a more communistic foundation behind the technology, will this have adverse affects on capitalism in general?
- Furthermore, with the United States’ reliance on Eastern countries such as China for cheap labor and production, how do you think 3d printing could affect east-west relations and the global economy?
Regulatory Disruption
So I found this interesting article by Ron Klain, a high level aid in both the Obama and Clinton administrations. The article tackles start-ups up coming battle with regulators in Washington. As we discussed disruptive innovations in class one of the topics we touched on was the affect of laws on businesses. The upcoming debates in Washington have large ramifications in multiple industries. Some proposals run the risk of completely killing industries that are trying to get of the ground (like drones, and financial technology). Other possible laws in regards to privacy/cyber security and medical devices see new regulations of possibly exploding a new start-up craze.
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/22/the-regulatory-fault-line-for-startups-moves-to-washington/
Here is the link to the article. What do you see happening in these fields? Are drones our future or are they too risky? Or after all the recent hacking headlines will the government crackdown and open a large cyber security market?
Crowdfunding / Disruptive Innovation
I found this interesting article about how a company crowdfunded protein bars made of crickets and it made me come to an interesting realization. Crowdfunding (the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people),
can enable anyone to disrupt any industry. Some companies consume all the market share simply because competitors don’t have the ability or resources to enter that industry. But with the ability to put your idea or product out on Kickstart, Indigogo, or one of the many crowdfunding platforms, it enables anyone to test the market and feasibility with consumer backing.
Do you think crowdfunding could have a direct correlation to disruption?
http://mashable.com/2015/03/22/cricket-protein-bar/
9 Things You Should Tell Your Boss At Your Next Performance Review
I read an article in Forbes that talks about 9 things you should tell your boss at your next performance review. Forbes asked 9 entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneur Council what they wish their employees would tell them at their next performance review.
1) What makes you happy
2) How you want to grow
3) What you would like to work on
4) How you picture the future
5) How do you want to contribute to the company’s success
6) What you need to do for your best work
7) Which new technologies would work a lot better
8) What you want your boss to stop doing
9) What is not working, and how to make it better
These questions will help you in your next performance review with your boss and it shows you are dedicated to the success of the company and it also shows you are a dedicated employee. These questions will also help your boss become a better leader.
What do you think about this article and these questions? Do you think these questions should be answered by your boss after you have been with the company for a couple of years?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2014/03/12/9-things-you-should-tell-your-boss-at-your-next-performance-review/
Autonomous Attack Aircraft
For my disruptive innovation case I had the topic of autonomous vehicles. In an article I found on justsecurity.org, Michael Horowitz and Paul Scharre discuss three areas of concern related to fully autonomous aircraft. First area of concern is related to accountability. If autonomous aircraft fail to do their job properly, who’s at fault? Another issue is the off-loading of moral responsibility for killing, which could lead to unnecessary deaths. Finally, if an autonomous aircraft became out of control, there could be serious damage inflicted to innocent people or casualties to friendly fire. Because of these concerns, many people advocate a level of human control over these aircraft because humans can make better informed decisions for a particular situation. Because of this, there is a debate over what is the right amount of autonomy and human control.
How much human control do you think is necessary and what functions should be autonomous in an attack aircraft? Or, do you think it is possible to have a fully autonomous attack aircraft? If yes, how would you mitigate the concerns mentioned above?
CareCam Health Systems and Mobile Health Monitoring
After hearing the disruptive innovation case on mobile health monitoring, I found this article about a company I interned for called CareCam Health Systems. CareCam is a company out of Conshohocken, PA that has developed a mobile healthcare application that is intended to improve the care and health of people with chronic health conditions. This application allows physicians to create care plans for patients to follow during their day. It also utilizes video and still images so that physicians can verify that patients are following their care plans. This application also sends out alerts to care managers and physicians if patients don’t complete certain care plan activities at their designated times or if their health is trending the wrong direction. Hal Rosenbluth, Chairman and CEO of CareCam Health Systems, believes that if this application is properly utilized, people with chronic diseases would have better overall health, which would reduce doctor visits, which would in turn save people money. Recently CareCam received a $2.4 million investment from IBC and this application is set to go live in April of this year.
Do you see this application as a disruptive innovation in the health care industry? If so what parts of the industry do you see it disrupting? If you don’t see it as a disruptive innovation, where do you it fitting into the industry? What other areas in health could this application be utilized for in the future? For example, CareCam could also further develop the application to be used to monitor clinical trials of pharmaceuticals.
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