ResearchTalk

Our article in the Sep ‘09 edition of ESOMAR’s Research World. Grab your copy here.

Sony founder, Akio Morita, once said: “Curiosity is the key to creativity.” So, given how curious researchers are, we decided to speak to some client-side researchers to discover ways in which they have used creativity to amplify the value of research.

 
The Listener
Dr. Simon Roberts, Lead, Design/Social Science, Digital Health Europe, Intel

Roberts’ solution has been to turn some of his findings and insights into well-produced booklets and brochures, something he did for a recent global ageing study with hundreds of in-depth interviews: “Let’s put it all in a booklet and make sure that every person in the organisation for whom this is relevant gets a copy on their desk. We can also use it externally to tell a story about our work.”

Pop here for the rest of the article – available only for a limited time – and do subscribe to Research World magazine.

This is the second part of our seven-part series on HR and talent.

This week, Danny Wain looks at how to draw inspiration from Google to innovate in HR and talent management.

Remember, each episode is a mere 2-3 mins long, short enough for the busiest managers or talent folks. And do drop us a line if you’re interested in sponsoring this series.

You can find out more about what Danny does here. Next episode goes up next week.

Like Russell, we’re big fans of Peter Day’s In Business and Global Business (BBC).

In the latest Global Business, Peter chats with Professor Gary Hamel, a leading management author and thinker, about some of the themes in his new book, The Future of Management.

His key message to leaders is to shift from a culture of control to one that embraces personal creativity, posturing that this is the only path to future innovation, growth and prosperity.

The chat contains some really stirring stuff and strikes a perfect resonance with the zeitgeist (unleashing personal creativity, wisdom of crowds, bottom-up innovation, global talent etc.). We liked it so much that we spent the time to pick out some choice quotes:

“You can buy obedience and diligence and even intellect almost anywhere in the world for next to nothing.”

“We’re going to have to get people to bring to work their initiative, their creativity, their passion, and those are human capabilities that cannot be commanded. Those are gifts that people either choose to bring to work or not.”

“The existing management model was built to drive alignment, enforcement and control. What management tried to do over the last 100 years was to regularise the irregular, to drive the variety out of processes…we happen to live in a world today where it’s irregular people with irregular ideas who create all the new economic value and the wealth.”

“Organisations are less human than the people who work there. [people are inherently creative and innovative] but somehow when we get to work that adaptability, that innovation literally gets bleached out of people between 9 and 5.”

“The ability to aggregate human capability via the web, that’s not going to go away.”

Management innovation at W. L. Gore & Associates: “Every employee is free to say yes or no to any request. Most managers would have a very hard time imagining how you can get things done in an organsation where you can’t use any of your positional power (because you have none); people have to be persuaded. People are annually evaluated by 20 peers on the value they create [rather than via a hierarchy based on following strict instructions].”

Management innovation at Google: “The folks who run that they don’t primarily see themselves as the authors of strategy, they see themselves as editors of strategy…ideas bubble up.”

Pop here for the episode (hopefully it will stay archived).

Series:AdTalk Series:MarketingTalk

Hat tip to Will Goodhand for bringing this to our attention, this is a really good Star Wars parody and a testament to TNS’s Alan Rayner who seems to be the key creative brains behind it. According to Will…

Apparently, at TNS they have a summer party each year and each department is invited to make a short film on a theme……this year the winner was this one. Apparently everyone else’s are really straight down the line ‘this is us and this is what we do’ type things!

BTW, the irony in our headline isn’t lost on us!

The masterful Ze Frank in conversation with the witty Johnny Vulkan of Anomaly

10mins | Recorded @ Wildfire ‘07 | More podcasts in this series

Download the mp4 version (right click, ’save as’)

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 Entrepreneurship: “The satisfaction of building something from nothing“
(Gian Fulgoni)

 
 THE LEADERSHIP SHOW  Not all leaders are entrepreneurs. And not all entrepreneurs make good leaders. But, my oh my, when you get leaders that ARE good entrepreneurs, you can be sure that innovation and success are close behind. So sit down and prepare to be inspired by some anecdotes and wise words from three entrepreneurial leaders of our time – Chet Zalesky, Clare Bruce and Gian Fulgoni, Gian being a serial entrepreneur. Hosted by none other than Simon Chadwick, himself a former leader at Gfk NOP and now a strategic advisor. Part of our new leadership series, look out for more episodes

Listen to other podcasts featuring Clare

 STARRING 

• Chet Zalesky, founder and President, CMI Solutions
• Clare Bruce, founder and CEO, Nunwood Consulting
• Gian Fulgoni, co-founder and Chairman, comScore Networks
• Simon Chadwick, partner, Cambiar and gravitas (Host)

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The assumption is that by-and-large, individuals make decisions on their own. My Herd point-of-view is that people influence each other, often without realising it

Mark Earls’ latest contribution to life, the universe and everything is gaining traction. His new book rethinks how people make decisions and discovers as a result that much of current research practice is fundamentally flawed in its assumptions and interpretation of consumer behaviour. Quite fitting for this self-styled ‘Contrarian’. The book provides psychology underpinning for many recent phenomena such as social networking, engagement, conversations, ethnography, blogging and predictive markets by showing how we act as groups and not individually. Part of our monthly column for ESOMAR’s Research World magazine

 STARRING 

• Mark Earls, author, Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature, Head Honcho, Herd Consulting

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 GUEST  Kirsty Fuller, co-Founder and Chairman of the world’s largest qualitative consultancy, Flamingo International

 TOPICS  The new paradigm in branding (Jay-Z and Budweiser, co-creation, authenticity); The benefits of using intuition in research vs. being strictly evidence-based; EXCLUSIVE: Japan office coming soon

 NOTABLE MENTIONS  Andy Dexter, Apple, Budweiser, Chris Arning, Def Jam, Digg, Edny Tappy, Fiona Blades, Illuminas, Innocent, iPod, James Parsons, Jay-Z, Kate Moss, Levi, Maggie Collier, MySpace, Nike, Reebok, Simon Lidington, Top Shop, Truth Consulting, Walkman, YouTube

Music Brother Love and Martha Redbone from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Weekly

 EXCLUSIVE  ESOMAR Congress 2006 keynoters Julia Hailes MBE talks about the environment and sustainability, and Interbrand’s Rita Clifton talks about branding and engagement

 STARRING 

• Julia Hailes MBE, prolific environmental author, and Sustainability Consultant
• Rita Clifton, Chairman, Interbrand
• John Kearon, BrainJuicer (Host)

Recorded live at ESOMAR CONGRESS ‘06

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