Tag: sue bethanis | Page 3 | Mariposa Leadership

Book Review: Designing For Growth

Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Toolkit for Managers by Jeanne Liedtka & Tim Ogilvie

Head: (4.5 of 5)
Heart: (4 of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 of 5)

Practicing managers don’t have much time for buzzwords and platitudes. Managers are doers, and when they hear about a promising solution, they want to know how to do it. Design thinking is one of those topics that has burst onto the scene accompanied by lofty promises but precious few practical details.

Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Toolkit for Managers is the book that provides those details. It goes beyond the theory and philosophy of the recent books on design thinking, showing you how to apply design thinking in a step-by-step way to solve complex growth opportunities. This book translates the fundamental promise of design thinking into a straightforward set of tools that the practicing manager-without any design training-can use immediately to create growth and innovation. The design thinking process described in this book is built upon four questions:

What is? – Exploring the current reality
What if? – Envisioning alternative futures
What wows? – Getting users to help us make some tough choices
What works? – Making it work in-market, and as a business

The book contains 10 ready-to-use tools — each aligned to one of the four questions. These tools include visualization, brainstorming, customer journey mapping, value chain analysis, customer co-creation, rapid prototyping, concept development, assumption testing, and the learning launch. This book will help you discover strengths you already have, develop some new ones, and give you the tools and templates to be an instant brown-belt in design thinking.

Mariposa Leadership is very excited to welcome Designing For Growth author Jeanne Liedtka to join CEO Sue Bethanis on this month’s Wise Talk. Join us on Thursday, November 29th from 12-1pm PT as they plan to discuss the ability to turn abstract ideas into practical applications for optimal business growth. To sign up for Wise Talk and submit your questions, please visit our website.

For more information and to buy Designing For Growth, please visit http://designingforgrowthbook.com

We welcome your thoughts in the comments section below.

November 8th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews, Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation|Tags: business, design thinking, design thinking model, discussion, sue bethanis, wise talk, women|

November 6, 2012 / Ask Mariposa / Coaching Skills / HR / Talent Management / Influencing Skills

Ask Mariposa: One Characteristic Every Leader Should Possess

Shannon asked:

What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

Sue Bethanis, CEO responded:

I hear this question a lot from friends, colleagues, clients; and my response is the same each time, and hasn’t changed over 20 years of being in the coaching industry. BE CLEAR! Clear communication is the single most important aspect of effective leadership. Clear in your requests, clear in your goals/vision, and clear in your expectations of others. With this clarity, followers/employees/colleagues have the perimeters they need to strategize and create products, services, and experiences.

Share your thoughts on this response in the comments section below, and ask us anything here: http://blog.mariposaleadership.com/ask-mariposa/

November 6th, 2012|Categories: Ask Mariposa, Coaching Skills, HR / Talent Management, Influencing Skills|Tags: ask mariposa, communication, executive coaching, HR Leadership, leaders, leadership, Mariposa Leadership, questions, sue bethanis|

October 25, 2012 / Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation / Wise Talk

Wise Talk Recap with Dave Gray on Gamestorming

Mariposa was very pleased to have author and visual thinker Dave Gray on Wise Talk this past Tuesday, discussing Gamestorming with Sue Bethanis, CEO. It was a very fun conversation!

So you might be wondering, what exactly is Gamestorming?

More than just a book or a website, Gamestorming is a set of practices for facilitating innovation in the business world. A facilitator leads a group towards some goal by way of a game, a structured activity that provides scope for thinking freely, even playfully.

A game may be thought of as an alternative to the standard business meeting, one that suspends some of the usual protocols and replaces them with a new set of rules for interaction. On the call with Sue, Dave said, “Playful structure actually helps orchestrate the process of creativity and how you structure group interaction matters a lot.”

During Wise Talk, Dave shared that the book he co-authored with Sunni Brown and James Macanufo, Gamestorming, was originally the internal handbook he used for training consultants. On the call, he also stated, “At the rate which things are changing we must take more of an iteration driven process as opposed to having the perfect plan.”

And we couldn’t agree more.

Peep this short video on Gamestorming and the innovation it can bring to your business:

Ready to play?

For more info and to sign up for future Wise Talks, please visit our website.

We welcome your thoughts in the comments section below.

October 25th, 2012|Categories: Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation, Wise Talk|Tags: brainstorming, creativity, Dave Gray, gamestorming, innovation, Mariposa Leadership, sue bethanis, wise talk|

October 17, 2012 / Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation / Wise Talk

Q&A with Saul Kaplan on Business Model Innovation

Listen to these audio snippets from our September teleconference, Wise Talk, where guest Saul Kaplan discusses some of the ideas behind his book, The Business Model Innovation Factory.

In this first snippet, Saul talks about how you must become the disruptor, or else you will be disrupted:

listen to ‘Becoming the Disruptor’ on Audioboo

In this snippet, Saul explains that the key to an innovative business model is experimentation, willingness to fail, and to try more stuff:

listen to ‘Experiment and Try More Stuff’ on Audioboo

Click here to access Mariposa Leadership’s Wise Talk archives, and click on “Business Model Innovation” for the full audio of this session.

We welcome your thoughts in the comments section below.

Gamestorming Game: Design Thinking Through Empathy Mapping

In his book, Gamestorming, Dave Gray along with co-authors Sunni Brown and James Macanufo share more than 80 games to help you break down barriers, communicate better, and generate new ideas, insights, and strategies. They have identified tools and techniques from some of the world’s most innovative professionals, whose teams collaborate and make great things happen. This book is the result: a unique collection of games that encourage engagement and creativity while bringing more structure and clarity to the workplace.

One of the very quick (20 minutes or less) and incredibly helpful games included in the book is creating an Empathy Map as a tool for Design Thinking.

The goal of the game is to gain a deeper level of understanding of a stakeholder in your business ecosystem, which may be a client, prospect, partner, etc., within a given context, such as a buying decision or an experience using a product or service.

Here’s how it can go:

1. Start by drawing a circle to represent the person and give the circle a name and some identifying information such as a job title. It helps if you can think of a real person who roughly fits the profile, so you can keep them in mind as you proceed. In keeping with the idea of a “profile” think of the circle as the profile of a person’s head and fill in some details. You might want to add eyes, mouth, nose, ears, and maybe glasses if appropriate or a hairstyle to differentiate the person from other profiles you might want to create. These simple details are not a frivolous addition — they will help you project yourself into the experience of that person, which is the point of the exercise.

2. Determine a question you have for that stakeholder. If you had a question you would want to ask them, or a situation in their life you want to understand, what would that be? You might want to understand a certain kind of buying decision, for example, in which case your question might be “Why should I buy X?”

3. Divide the circle into sections that represent aspects of that person’s sensory experience. What are they thinking, feeling, saying, doing, hearing? Label the appropriate sections on the image.

4. Now it’s time for you to practice the “empathy” portion of the exercise. As best you can, try to project yourself into that person’s experience and understand the context you want to explore. Then start to fill in the diagram with real, tangible, sensory experiences. If you are filling in the “hearing” section, for example, try to think of what the person might hear, and how they would hear it. In the “saying” section, try to write their thoughts as they would express them. Don’t put your words into their mouth — the point is to truly understand and empathize with their situation so you can design a better product, service or whatever.

5. Check yourself: Ask others to review your map, make suggestions, and add details or context. The more the person can identify with the actual stakeholder the better. Over time you will hone your ability to understand and empathize with others in your business ecosystem, which will help you improve your relationships and your results.

Mariposa Leadership is very excited to welcome Gamestorming author Dave Gray to this month’s Wise Talk where he and Sue Bethanis will discuss the innovative alternative to brainstorming – gamestorming! They will also have a chance to discuss Dave’s new book about how to keep your business on the leading edge, The Connected Company.

Sign up for Wise Talk and join the conversation on Tuesday, October 23rd from 2-3pm PT!

Book Review: The Business Model Innovation Factory

The Business Model Innovation Factory: How to Stay Relevant When the World is Changing by Saul Kaplan

Head: (4.5 of 5)
Heart: (4.5 of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 of 5)

To stay relevant in today’s changing and uncertain times, businesses require new tools and approaches. In Saul Kaplan’s book The Business Model Innovation Factory: How to Stay Relevant When the World is Changing, he provides leaders with the necessary skills to create a pipeline of new business models in the face of disruptive markets and competition. It makes the case for business model innovation as the new strategic imperative, shows how organizations can reinvent themselves by doing ongoing R&D for new business models, and provides an implementation road map for all business model innovators who want to go from tweaks to transformation.

Kaplan explains 15 business model innovation principles to keep your business strategy ahead of the game, including:

Realize that you are catalyzing something bigger than yourself
Build purposeful and flexible networks
Make systems-level thinking—and action—sexy
Be creative and engaged in designing the core models that drive businesses, institutions, industries, and cultures
Passion rules—exceed your own expectations and take risks with confidence
Be an inspiration accelerator and inspire many toward the end game: transformation

Business model innovation means trying something different, developing a wholly new way to “create, deliver, and capture” value. The simplicity and accessibility of this book makes it a useful resource on how you can design your own business model, learn how to “be a disrupter instead of getting disrupted,” and remain afloat while innovating your value proposition. Click to buy or read more.

Author Saul Kaplan is our featured guest on this month’s Wise Talk where he and Mariposa’s CEO Sue Bethanis will discuss business model innovation. Join us on Monday, September 24th at 2pm Pacific for our free monthly teleconference and have an opportunity to ask Saul and Sue questions on how to capture, design, innovate, and transform your business!

Ask Mariposa: What is Design Thinking?

Bethany asked:

Design thinking seems to be central to generating new ideas and creating a more innovative environment – but what exactly is it, and how can I apply it to my corporation?

Sue Bethanis, CEO responded:

The DT model is 1. customer empathy, 2. brainstorming, 3. prototyping, and 4. implementing. This can be applied to many problems in a corporation, but primarily we want to use it when we are solving problems related to internal or external customers. 1. Great product designers, for example, use keen observation skills to really understand customers in their environments. Similarly, any problem we are trying to solve, it’s important that we see like an anthropologist. 2. Brainstorming can be applied to any problem as well; great design thinkers generate scads of ideas to get to a couple of good ones, 3. Then, they prototype and test; and then iterate some more in designing a product, service or an experience. 4. Finally ideas are only as good as their application, so taking a prototype to implementation requires a good relationship with your users/customers, and getting feedback. Good luck!

Share your thoughts on this response in the comments section below, and ask us anything here: http://blog.mariposaleadership.com/ask-mariposa/

Q&A with Javy Galindo on the Power of Thinking Differently

Listen to these audio snippets of last month’s July 25th Wise Talk, where professional creativity speaker and thinker, Javy Galindo, answers when Mariposa Leadership’s CEO, Sue Bethanis, asks. Topics are on various aspects of creativity and specifically, creativity in business.

Listen here for Galindo’s elegant juxtaposition of the entrepreneur and the artist, and the ways in which each of them are creative, as well as why it is applicable to business, and life.

listen to ‘Wise Talk Javy Galindo on Creativty’ on Audioboo

Listen here for discussion on relationship building and working in groups, and how this to connects to creativity in the workplace.

listen to ‘Wise Talk Javy Galindo on Working w/ Groups’ on Audioboo

Click here to hear the whole discussion between Javy Galindo and Mariposa Leeadership’s CEO, Sue Bethanis.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container] MORE