Systems Thinking
6 Painful Truths: You Are in Technology, but Actually Work in Finance
6 Painful Truths: You Are in Technology, but Actually Work in Finance Wall Street vs. Silicon Valley I’m sorry you had to learn this way, that we haven’t discussed this before. If your money or your friends’ money or your Etsy reseller’s money or your employer’s money or your payroll company’s money or your investors’ money or your future investors’ money your investors’ limited partners’ money were frozen this weekend Read More
Earth Day and Understanding What Cannot Be Understood
This pandemic is not what we imagined. Perhaps you wished for clear blue waters in the canals of Venice, carless streets in NYC, clear skies and low pollution in LA, Mumbai, and Shanghai. But not this way, caused by an invisible virus. As I walk the empty perfect streets of NYC, I’m reminded of one of my favorite science fiction novels, The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. Le Guin, published in 1971 Read More
Straight Lines and S-Curves: Predicting COVID-19
We’re all peeled to our digital screens right now checking in on the world, our families, our colleagues, and then trying to predict what all of that means for our selves. What I’ve noticed are fights breaking out based on what comes down to math and mental models. It’s curves vs. lines. I know I’ve been guilty favoring curves versus lines. I love the sexy s-Curves of tech, mobile adoption, Read More
Decoding the Dominant Logic
Business Models are often blamed for limiting what we want our organizations to become. The reason: dominant logic. Learn how to decode the mental models that keep us trapped. Clayton Christiansen, the late father of disruption theory, concisely defined the conventional wisdom about business model transitions. The reason why it’s so hard to innovate from within: Dominant Logic. Dominant logic is the disease that killed Kodak, Blockbuster, and Nokia, and Read More
Circular Startups that Begin with the Business Model
Circular Models: How European Startups are Shaping the Future of the Circular Economy, Business-Model-First. Next week’s Supply Chain Meetup in NYC is focused on Circular Economy ventures, and I’ll be introducing leading-edge circular startups that I’ve met and interacted with across the EU. https://www.meetup.com/The-NewYork-SupplyChain-Meetup/events/267955933/ While NYC’s startup ecosystem leads in many sectors, we’re a bit behind when it comes to circular startups, Sustainable Development Goals, and imagining a future with Read More
Moving Beyond the Post-Election Confusion in Your Company
An exercise to re-engage and build the future you want to see “I don’t care what you say about this election, our stock price is at an all time high so it can’t be that bad. This administration might be the best thing ever.” said Rogerio, who voted for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate. “How can you say that!!! That is so cold. Do you know what it’s like to Read More
Designing for Climate Action
Join me and my students from SVA’s Products of Design Program at Design for Climate Action @svaPoD for an evening of open innovation. Inspire a group of students who have the skills we need to start pushing the right levers of change (systems thinking, design, programming, communications, everything that I should have learned in grad school). Wednesday, September 30th, in NYC. Get Tickets Here ($10). Event Description: Designing Climate Action Read More