Month: January 2014

January 31, 2014 / Articles We Like

On "Customer Experience: How To Manage What You Don’t Own"

This article by Erik Long & Will Carter resonates because many businesses today rely on a complex web of external partnerships to deliver value for the customer. While external partnerships are often not within an organization’s direct control, certainly they can be influenced – and they must be – as they are part of the ecosystem delivering on the organization’s brand promise.

The CMO.com article Customer Experience: How to Manage What You Don’t Own shares insights and tips that leaders can apply across all aspects of business, from marketing to human resources, to improve the customer experience. Read it now.

What actions are you taking to identify and influence your company’s unowned touch points? What tools have you used like journey mapping? What other tools do you use to capture and understand your customers’ experience?

Comment below! Or pose a question via Ask Mariposa.

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January 31st, 2014|Categories: Articles We Like|Tags: ask mariposa, business leadership, CMO, customer experience, executive coaching, external partnerships, human resources, influence, Mariposa Leadership|

January 30, 2014 / Wise Talk Teleconference

Linking Creativity with CX (Customer Experience)

WISE TALK February 2014: Sue hosts David Burkus, assistant professor of management at the College of Business at Oral Roberts University, founder and host of LDRLB, a podcast series focusing on insights from research on leadership, innovation, and strategy and author of The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas.

David helps bust out of our creativity myths, in general, and especially when it comes to applying new ideas to the way we understand, interact, and support our customers.

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January 30th, 2014|Categories: Wise Talk Teleconference|

/ Book Reviews

Book Review | The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas

The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas

By: David Burkus

Head: (4 out of 5)
Heart: (3 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 out of 5)

Creativity is often thought of as a mystery, a divine gift bestowed on just a few. In other words, creativity comes from an outside source. In reality, we all possess the talent inside to generate innovative ideas.

Drawing on research on creative individuals and innovative organizations to expose the four components influencing creativity, the author helps us see creativity-related processes can be learned. Given the right conditions, great ideas can emerge for anyone! And still, myths persist about creativity, which hold us back from creating and innovating.

In this book, David Burke uses an artful blend of data and story to debunk 10 creativity myths, including The Eureka Myth, The Breed Myth and The Expert Myth and explains how belief in them hinders our creative potential.

Leaders tasked with developing novel, useful ideas that will keep their organizations competitive, will want to read this book. Buy it now.

For more tips from David Burkus, join us for our free monthly teleconference, WiseTalk, on February 20, 11am PT/2pm ET. David will discuss the link between creativity and the customer experience. Sign up now!

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January 30th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|

How Design Thinking Changes the Way HR Implements Programs

Most HR professionals understand the pitfalls of implementing an HR program. To circumvent failure, HR professionals often conduct a needs assessment to inform direction, maybe conduct a pilot program, and then move to implement when given a “thumb’s up.”

A design thinking mentality shifts that. Whether designing a product, service or experience, the core principle behind the success of design thinking is “fail fast.” For HR professionals, this changes how “buttoned up” your program will be before piloting, or even before rolling it out. The point is to test the program and via observation and feedback, gather data on an ongoing basis to continue to improve. Why do this? Because “customer-driven” programs are the most successful.

To innovate the way you implement HR and Talent Management programs, join us in our new Using Design Thinking in HR & Talent Management workshop

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January 29th, 2014|Categories: Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation, HR / Talent Management|Tags: breakthrough model, breakthrough workshop, design thinking, executive coaching, HR Leadership, HR professionals, Mariposa Leadership, talent management|

January 2, 2014 / Book Reviews

Book Review | Solving Problems with Design Thinking: Ten Stories of What Works

Solving Problems with Design Thinking: Ten Stories of What Works
By Jeanne Liedtka, Andrew King & Kevin Bennett

Head: (5 out of 5)
Heart: (4 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 out of 5)

Design thinking is a creative problem solving method, which emphasizes the importance of discovery before solution using user-driven, empathetic market research approaches and real-world experiments. This method expands the boundaries of problem definition and solution generation, making it a novel approach for organizations to use for solving business problems. However, outside of the design environment, where design thinking is the norm, most leaders need an understanding of how to apply it to problems that are not product-focused.

The ten stories featured in this book showcase how design thinking works to produce innovative solutions to challenges such as internal process redesign, deepening customer engagement and addressing social issues. As a blueprint, these stories illustrate processes and tools used. The authors build on the work of Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie’s Designing for Growth, to offer a clear path for implementation.

Leaders interested in using more innovative methods to solve sticky business problems will want to read this book. Buy it now.

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January 2nd, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: design thinking, executive coaching, innovative solutions, Jeanne Liedtka, Mariposa Leadership, problem-solving, user-driven, wise talk|

Why Innovative HR Leaders Prototype

Prototyping is not just for product design. Prototyping can also be used for intangible services or experiences, including human resource initiatives. Redesigning your high potential development program? That can be prototyped. Got an idea for branding your talent recruiting experience? A prototype can be done for that as well.

Why prototype instead of using PowerPoint to present your ideas? Tim Brown of IDEO often refers to prototyping as “building to think.” By making the intangible tangible through 3D modeling, ideas are bridged with innovation by using the right brain to liven up the solution, creating space for fresh thinking. The 3D models then become a symbol that can be tested with your employees to gather feedback through interviews and observation. Prototyping also offers a quick and cheap way to “fail fast,” one of the key principles of design thinking. In “failing fast,” more feedback can be gathered upfront and used to refine your idea before investments are made in HR program pilots.

For an experience with prototyping your human resource or talent management ideas, join us in our NEW Using Design Thinking in HR & Talent Management workshop or download our Executive Guide to Design Thinking for prototyping tips.

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January 2nd, 2014|Categories: Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation|Tags: 3D models, breakthrough model, breakthrough workshop, design thinking, HR, HR program, human resources, IDEO, prototype, talent management, talent recruiting, Tim Brown|