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Category Archives: innovation & management

Sports beat Paper!

Paper industry has lost almost its entire glow, the recent recession almost wiping out any remaining aura. Earlier on, even visiting groups of students were treated with good food and drink. Nowadays, they are often not even welcome since there are no resources to receive visiting groups, and if they are allowed on, a cup of coffee and a dry biscuit is enough.
Recently, Amer Sports (owner of Salomon, Wilson, Atomic) were proud to announce to new executives that they recruited from Stora Enso. Sports is today obviously much more attractive than paper.

Jussi Siitonen appointed Amer Sports Senior Vice President, Finance

What is innovativeness?

I asked Rolf Jensen (of Dream Company):

What do we actually mean with INNOVATIVENESS?
Can it at all be measured?
What does it take to define a person, a group, a company or a region (city/country) as truly innovative?

Rolf Jensen answered:

Dear Petter Kolseth,
Innovation is used in a lot of ways, I do not believe we can measure it. To me an innovative person/company is one that can put together things or ideas – that other people haven’t thought about. My favourite quote just now is this: “Unless, there is a consensus that it is nonsense what you are doing, it is not a breakthrough” (by Burt Rutan, the guy with SpaceShipOne)

Can an old company turn modern?

I read Gary Hamel’s new book The Future of Management with enthusiasm and frustration. He sets the tone already in the preface with the following statement:

Most companies have a roughly similar management hierarchy (a cascade of EVPs, SVPs, and VPs). They have analogous control systems, HR practices and planning rituals, and rely on comparable reporting structures and review systems. That’s why it’s so easy for a CEO to jump from one company to another…

His main message (to me) is about utilising the collective power of the organisation in all decision making, which calls for openness and a lot of lateral communication. Unfortunately, lateral communication is too often blocked by hierarchical structures.

Maybe I am a “romantic” (just as Gary Hamel?) who is so inspired by the book that I want to begin a crusade against 19th century management principles. Would it not be fantastic if one of the many dinosaur companies could change?

Watch an excerpt from a speech by Gary:
Continuous Management Innovation: What, Why and How?