David AdlerWriting this new book with James Cornehlsen and Andrew Frothingham, take advantage of opportunities. I’ve known David for many years. He is the chairman and founder of BizBash. He is also a friend.
take advantage of opportunities is a book written for visionary and creative leaders to unlock the potential of smart collaboration.
This book features valuable insights from 65 thought leaders and change-makers from multiple industries (including me)! Thank you, David!
Each story offers a unique and diverse perspective on the power of collaboration.
This curated group of “collaborative artists” share their stories, philosophies and approaches to help you gain the insights you need to rethink your approach to problem solving, innovation and achieving your goals. It is intended to serve as a new blueprint for fostering a collaborative culture that drives progress and success.
I want to share my story with you and encourage you to read this book. I learned so much from other leaders in different industries and fields!
I remember this interview very well. I was on the pool deck at the W Hotel in Nashville. I just spoke to Tractor Supply about the potential new future of rural retail innovation. When I got the call from David, I was sitting in an empty cabin, looking out over the city of Nashville, savoring the entire conversation.
Brian Solis
global innovation
Combine digital and real-world experiences to reach and impact more people
“The way I deal with things is not just experience designer, but also an introvert. The idea of connection and collaboration is not intuitive to me,” Brian Solis began. “It’s scary, actually. The only reason I do it is because it’s a mechanism to share some ideas and take action on a broader level.”
Ironically, despite these hesitances about collaboration, Brian is fundamentally changing the status quo in collaboration technology—both through his previous role as Global Innovation Visionary and Strategist at Salesforce and now as Global Head of Innovation at ServiceNow. He works with hundreds of senior executives at some of the world’s largest organizations, helping them innovate and transform. Prior to that, he served as a digital futurist and principal analyst at Altimeter Group, where he helped transform the technology industry and how business leaders approach innovation and digital transformation. Additionally, this introvert has published eight best-selling books and keynote speaking engagements around the world!
Now, he has “moved from thinking, writing and researching innovation to being able to practice innovation at scale,” he said.
Brian is not kidding, he is an introvert.
“Throughout my career, communicating with others has always been a forced behavior. It’s never been second nature to me. If I slip up, I have to say, ‘If you don’t go to this event or don’t Go meet these people and you won’t be a part of this conversation. ” and as clue manifesto There’s a famous saying: “Markets are conversations.” This is an ongoing emotional battle that won’t go away. “
While Brian may not personally be inclined toward collaborative experiences, he made himself a part of it.He believes that cooperation is an element of health and is essential to having a healthy life , which prompted him to think about how to make things more inclusive. He wants to understand, include and represent “those voices that are not always at the table.”
“Everyone should have the opportunity to collaborate,” Bryan said, but that collaboration must happen. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it.
“Inclusive collaboration models benefit from greater diversity,” he added. “They make organizations stronger. Collaborative organizations will be more resilient, responsive, and valuable than autocratic organizations.”
Brian sees hope that continued advances in technology can bring more people into the picture and improve the way we work together.
“You can connect extroverts, introverts, and everyone in between in intuitive and effective ways through online and real-world collaboration. Most of the collaboration exercises and tools we have traditionally used are not Designed to give everyone a voice, nor optimized to come up with their best ideas. But now that digitization and the global pandemic have accelerated what I call “digital introversion,” you can better Control what’s behind the screen. It’s self-empowerment, being able to connect more and do more.”
He sees emerging challenges as opportunities to reimagine experiences, leveraging platforms and humanity to promote inclusivity, creativity and collaboration. You don’t adapt the physical world to the virtual world. “You’re creating a whole new experience that enhances what you’re doing in the real world. It’s a different mindset.”
To put this idea into context, he says, “Especially in the events, networking and conference/trade show world, a lot of people are just taking what they do in the real world and putting it into a virtual space. That’s not going to work for everyone. People. You need to think about experience in terms of social media and game design. How do you create more immersion, interactivity, and personalization by maximizing the platform to unlock intuitive and transcendent experiences? How do you make it accessible to everyone? Get involved, give them a voice and inspire them to share their thoughts?”
Brian considers empathy to be one of the most important tools he has. He talks about taking into consideration the feelings and wishes of others and remembering that not all ideas come out of everyone in the same way. In his work, he extends the concept of empathy to what he calls “digital empathy.”
“I call digital empathy the language of love,” he said. “Look at Millennials and Centennials, or Gen Y and Gen Z. They are digital-first or digital-native communities. They connect, communicate and act differently. The experiences they want are different. Use a human-centered approach to integrate technology The better integrated into a real-world environment, the more intuitive (and better) it will be for them. You are essentially designing a native platform for human connection to facilitate the power of digital and physical engagement. You Using numbers is not about being digital for the sake of being digital. You use numbers naturally as a means of engaging the brain and biology. You combine the best of the physical and the digital so that it functions in a second-nature way for everyone.”
Brian talks candidly about the challenges of getting people to do things they are not initially willing to do. “As an experience designer, your job is to design for specific experiences and outcomes. [think customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX), brand experience (BX)]. But you can’t assume. You can’t impose your experiences and results on people. You have to work to align people around common interests, goals, and outcomes that people can work towards in a meaningful way. You need to bring people together around a common goal, a set of missions that people work together to achieve. That’s why the best experiences start with empathy. You have to understand and be the people you want to reach. “
He illustrates this idea with the story of Muhammad Ali. “Ali said, ‘I don’t like working out, but I do imagine what it looks like and feels like to be a champion.’ Collaboration is a form of exercise, but you do it in a way that you visualize the outcome that everyone collectively desires.”
Ultimately, the best way to understand the power and complexity of Brian’s approach is to hear him describe its use.
“We are conducting experiments around strategic networking using artificial intelligence, near field communications (NFC) and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). The question is, ‘How do you get people to network when not everyone is a networker? ? How do you bring the right people together from the start? ” The premise is that you want to foster a type of engagement that capitalizes on the reason people are there: often a shared set of interests, favorite experiences, and desired aspirations and outcomes.”
“The solution involves designing this really cool and fun quiz that everyone can participate in,” he continued. “People get quizzed before the event. Whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert, you feel like this is your safe space, so you’re motivated to answer these questions because you know it will shape your experience. They’re designed to It’s about cultivating engagement psychologically and providing the type of information that sets the stage for the right type of connection and collaboration.”
The quiz allows the team to skip things like icebreakers or random networking, improving people’s ability to find people like them. “Different people react differently. We provided a customer profile where we used artificial intelligence to match people with common interests and results and complementary patterns. We then created a geo-location button that was placed on the event badge , so we can connect people closer to others interested in the same things on a visual map or through sound/light. You can also view digital heat maps to find people and optimize your time on site.”
Bryan described it as a “strategic surprise.” It takes away the awkwardness of “What do you do?” or “Tell me more about you.” “It breaks down barriers and makes meaningful connections faster and more accurately.” It facilitates connections between people, skips the small talk, and gets rich faster. Effective collaborative dialogue. People save time, energy, and are able to make the most of their experience.
Finally, Brian returns to the importance of designing emotions inspired by empathy.
“There are only two kinds of experiences that people remember: those that were bad and those that were extraordinary,” he said. “Everything in between is transactional and forgettable. Too often, collaboration is viewed as a primarily transactional, emotionless endeavor. We have to design for feeling, for emotional connection. This That’s where empathy comes into play. Empathy and digital empathy are how we connect people to accelerate creative and strategic serendipity. Human-centered design combined with technology to drive The role of facilitator and facilitator. This increases opportunities for problem solving, invention and innovation. It’s just about wanting the needs, solutions and communities of the world.”
What we heard and learned
There’s never been a better time to reimagine connection and collaboration…this is our “iPhone moment.”
Realize that you and your team members do not reflect the audience or the entire potential audience. You have to understand them to attract them.
Gain and practice empathy. Practice empathy, digital empathy, and speak the love languages of those who connect and collaborate in different ways.
Unite people around shared interests and aspirations, making connections and journeys intuitive, experiential and constructive.
challenge yourself. Design based on the best, most innovative experiences outside of the industry.
Read the stories of 64 other collaborating artists take advantage of opportunities.
