10 Reasons Why New Orleans - Lauren Baum

1. I'm a 6th generation New Orleanian… There's No Place Like Home.

2. I say "y'all" and talk to strangers on the street… I walk slowly, talk slowly and invite my mailman over for dinner. I think food should be spicy, music should be celebrated and alcohol should be allowed at 18.

3. If not now, when? If not me, who? How can I sell New Orleans from a distance? How do I expect others to seize the opportunity if I am watching from the sideline?

4. I am lucky – I was raised with excellent role models, brought up with morals and values and given the opportunity to secure an education. I owe it to these role models to share my luck, knowledge and skills with our city.

5. I am optimistic - I see an unprecedented opportunity in New Orleans – people are paying attention, people are making changes, people are coming to New Orleans when they never would have considered it before.

6. I believe New Orleans will have a new face – the Vanguards, the Bravehearts, the people stupid enough to take a chance and the people smart enough to see an opportunity. New Orleans will be inundated with some of the coolest, brightest and bravest individuals – these are the type of people I want to surround myself with.

7. I am young and adventurous – the world is my oyster – I could be anywhere in the world doing any number of things ….there are a million destinations and a million job opportunities – there is only one New Orleans. The rest of the world will wait for me, New Orleans may not.

8. I am unrelenting and determined – if I am passionate, I can accomplish great feats – how can I let this enthusiasm fall by the wayside?

9. I believe I can make a difference – and it is important to me to do so. My greatest accomplishments are in helping others – I thrive on the success of the people around me.

10. I am excited – Home Sweet Dome…Brad Pitt launches Global Initiative in New Orleans…Edwards Announces Campaign Candidacy in 9 th Ward…Harry Connick Sponsors Musician's Village…Belles of Bayou Road Host Grand Opening….Stanford, Columbia, MIT, Harvard partner with The Idea Village …. Voluntourism Reaches New Heights ….New Orleans faces Earthquake in Education…. I live in an inspiring time and place. I am living, walking, breathing and working in a history book. How could I only read about it?

Why New Orleans? Because… - Miji Park

(9 Reasons- I’ll pull out the 10th when I really need it)

I am an anti-social, sarcastic realist, but I still would rather be here than anywhere else.

I like making fun of tourists.
• But we have to rebuild the tourism industry to make that happen

Koreans have invaded every urban space, except New Orleans, and I need to:
• Figure out why
• Start an outpost of Koreans

My 5’1” fire-dancing, welding, corporate-peon sister thinks I’m crazy. I like it.

This city has brought me overwhelming frustration but has still taught me patience. You may not know me, but that is damn impressive.

Not even stability, money, and a guaranteed life of satisfaction could keep me in the place that has my heart, the Bay Area
• My heart would rather share itself with New Orleans

I believe in the power of place. New Orleans’ power of place is existent in:
• Each unique corner of architecture that tourists never see
• A meandering river that has permanently ruined my sense of direction
• Every neighborhood that looks more like a bohemian enclave than one tainted by urban blight

I thought Philly had issues until I moved here…
• Problems in New Orleans are not unique to New Orleans but have affected cities everywhere: housing, economic development, education, health care, etc.
• If you can develop a model to alleviate these problems here, where each issue has been exacerbated by Katrina, you can address them anywhere
• This is my generation’s failure and the future of my generation’s triumph

How can I walk away from this challenge?

Offices vs. Open Space

Robert Grossman writes an interesting article on whether to tear down walls or build them up.

To read the entire article please click here.

Please share your opinions on offices or open spaces.

Adopt and adapt ideas to drive innovation

By Paul Sloane

Adapting ideas that have worked in one environment and using them in another is one of the most successful of innovation techniques. Let’s look at some examples.

In 1916, a young American scientist and inventor called Clarence Birdseye went to Canada as a fur trader. He noticed that people in Labrador kept their food frozen in the snow for extended periods in the winter. When he returned to the U.S. he developed this idea and launched a line of quick-frozen foods and persuaded retailers to stock them in freezers. He created the frozen food industry. Birdseye subsequently sold his business to General Foods Corporation and made his fortune. He saw a good idea, adapted it to his business environment and implemented it.

Alexander Graham Bell studied the workings of the human ear. He adapted the idea of the eardrum vibrating with sounds into the workings of a metal diaphragm which led to his invention of the telephone.

The motto of the Round Table is adopt, adapt, improve and it is an excellent guideline for implementing new ideas in your business. Taking ideas from other environments and adapting them for use in your situation is one of the best ways of implementing novel solutions. Amar Bhide of the Harvard Business School studied the origin and evolution of new businesses. He found that over 70% of successful start-ups were based on ideas that the founders had adopted from their previous employments. They took a promising idea in a field they understood and made it better.

The person who invented the roll-on deodorant was looking for a new way to apply a liquid. He copied an idea from another field, writing, where the same problem is solved. He adapted the concept of the ballpoint pen to create the roll-on deodorant.

Samuel Morse was the inventor of morse code. He encountered a problem sending signals over long distances on the telegraph - the signal became attenuated and weak. Then one day when he was travelling by stagecoach he noticed how the coach changed horses at relay stations. He adapted this idea to put in relay stations for telegraphs that boosted the signal.

In 1941 George de Mestral went for a walk with his dog in the Jura mountains in Switzerland. On their return he noticed that many plant burrs were attached to his trousers and to the dog’s coat. They were hard to remove. He examined them under the microscope and saw that they contained tiny hooks that caught in the loops of his clothes and in the dog’s hair. He developed an artificial material to mimic nature and in doing so he invented Velcro.

Putting this creativity technique to work

If you have a problem try to force fit a link with a random event or animal or institution. Then adapt some ideas from that environment. Say your problem is how to motivate a lethargic team and you choose at random the Olympic Games, a tiger and a Ballet school. What sorts of ideas would that trigger? You might offer medals as recognition for top performers. You could keep records of who has achieved the fastest qualified lead or the fastest assembly time and post them on the wall or the extranet in the form of Olympic records. The tiger might suggest face painting as a trick for raising morale or it might suggest hunting – you could have a treasure hunt in the office or organise a ‘hunt for sales’ competition. And so on. The ballet school students practice all their exercises each day before they perform a dance. This might suggest a high-energy group practice session each morning before work proper begins. Ballet dancers practice in front of mirrors – what if we installed systems that gave us feedback to build the team’s motivation?

Alternatively, try to adapt a combination between your organization’s main strength and that of other organizations or people. Say you provide high level training courses and you choose at random a hospital then you might come up with the idea of a consulting accident and emergency clinic where people turn up with their problems and you help diagnose them on the spot. Or you may ponder that many people forget what they learn on training courses. In a hospital patients have ongoing physiotherapy sessions to aid recovery. This idea could be adapted so that you send out "physio trainers" to top up the learning of participants after they have completed their courses. Alternatively, if you think of the Boy Scouts then you might imagine a summer camp for some of your top clients or a "bob a job" campaign where you offer short introductory courses for new clients.

Lateral thinking is about finding new ways to solve problems. It is very likely that the current problem you face at work today has been faced and solved by other people. Maybe they were in your line of business or maybe they confronted a similar problem but in an entirely different walk of life. Why do all the brain work yourself when you can adapt someone else’s idea and make it work for you?

Paul Sloane is the founder of Destination Innovation www.destination-innovation.com a consultancy that helps businesses improve innovation. He writes and speaks on lateral thinking and innovation. The ideas in this article are drawn from his book, The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills, published by Kogan-Page.

*Article taken from http://www.innovationtools.com/Articles/ArticleDetails.asp?a=261

Malcolm Gladwell on Innovative Spaces

"The task of the office, then, is to invite a particular kind of social interaction--the casual, nonthreatening encounter that makes it easy for relative strangers to talk to each other. Offices need the sort of social milieu that Jane Jacobs found on the sidewalks of the West Village. "It is possible in a city street neighborhood to know all kinds of people without unwelcome entanglements, without boredom, necessity for excuses, explanations, fears of giving offense, embarrassments respecting impositions or commitments, and all such paraphernalia of obligations which can accompany less limited relationships," Jacobs wrote. If you substitute "office" for "city street neighborhood," that sentence becomes the perfect statement of what the modern employer wants from the workplace."

Design a space that encourages cross-collaboration and the intermingling of creative minds and sit back. Don't set any goals for that interaction. You'll be setting the bar too low.

*Taken from http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_12_11_a_working.htm

How to Research Your Business Idea

By Karen E. Spaeder

Somewhere between scribbling your idea on a cocktail napkin and actually starting a business, there's a process you need to carry out that essentially determines either your success or failure in business. Oftentimes, would-be entrepreneurs get so excited about their "epiphanies"-the moments when they imagine the possibilities of a given idea-that they forget to find out whether that idea is viable.

Of course, sometimes the idea works anyway, in spite of a lack of market research. Unfortunately, other times, the idea crashes and burns, halting a business in its tracks. We'd like to help you avoid the latter. This how to on researching your business idea is just what you need to keep your business goals on track.

To continue reading this article please see the article in its entirety at Entrepreneur.com

10 Great Reasons to Live in La Nouvelle-Orléans

1. After living in four different countries (Nicaragua, Mexico, Canada, U.S.) and several well-known cities in North America (Mexico City, Montréal, Chicago, and New York), I am proud to call the city of New Orleans my true home. It is a city with the tradition of opening itself to all races, cultures and nationalities.

2. The city and its population are in dire need of assistance to recover, regardless of socio-economic background, political affiliations, and race. I want to continue to participate in the rebuilding of the city.

3. The courage the residents demonstrate by rebuilding their homes and businesses because they believe in the city’s future.

4. The unique fusion of cultures, from Creole to Cajun.

5. The world-renowned culinary industry. There is everything to please anyone’s palate. You can enjoy a delicious blackened fish from K Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen or grab a burger and shake from Camellia Grill.

6. It is the Big Easy. New Orleans is not part of the mainstream “to go” society, rather people can sit down and enjoy a pecan pie. Yet it is able to meet and exceed the demands a major metropolitan area requires.

7. The neighborhoods. A walk through Uptown or Mid-City, shopping on Magazine Street, or a bike ride in City Park. New Orleans has unique charismatic neighborhoods.

8. I am grateful I attended New Orleans public schools (Audubon Montessori and McMain Magnet), they helped to shape my future. The public school system exposed me to the deficiencies our city has, but it also exposed me to the tremendous efforts people make to overcome those deficiencies.

9. The pride and loyalty New Orleanians have for their hometown.

10. The ability and freedom to take a break from the mundane to participate in Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, or to travel to Chicago to support the Saints.

Top 10 Reasons I am in New Orleans

1. I am young and adventurous-- not to be confused with young and foolish.

2. I, like you, believe that this is a very interesting point in New Orleans ' history. This city, like Boston , has an uncanny knack for preserving its culture. It will be interesting to observe and play a part in New Orleans ' cultural preservation during a time of such guaranteed significant change.

3. The city has the cultural potential to become the next "it" city... the next "creative class" hub. In the way of Portland , Austin , Minneapolis and Miami , New Orleans has the potential to become the next unexpected place to forever change the world.

3. I have seen many places in the world, but I have never experienced the pure joy of having such an architecturally sophisticated view to spice up my everyday. "Rush hour" on St. Charles Ave. is a treat, rather than a burden.

4. I am here because I can be. There simply is not any other city that I truly want to be in.

5. The average January temperature in Indianapolis is 25.5 degrees.

6. The average January temperature in New Orleans is 51 degrees.

7. I remember my fiance telling me about a quote from Charles Barkley. He said, "somebody has to do it, it might as well be me." In a similar spirit, somebody has to build the next great American world city-- it might as well be me.

8. Have I mentioned the food yet?

9. Would it be obvious brown-nosing if I were to say The Saints?

10. I agree with every one of your beliefs, and I think that they will be realized. I think this because you are here, I am here and people are coming in order to make sure New Orleans is more than just potential. It is truly exciting to be "at the beginning of a 10 year run that will be the most interesting, frustrating, and rewarding of any city in the country." To miss it would truly cause me regret.

10 Reasons Why New Orleans

1. New Orleans remains the only city in the south and one of only a handful in the country with a true soul (although it's a little tattered around the edges these days.)

2. My “family” is here…the one I chose and the one that chose me.

3. I'm defiant to the end. I love a challenge, particularly when everyone else says it can't be done.

4. It's the only city in the world where a perfect strange calling me “baby” can make my day better

5. When I picked New Orleans it was because it was city of inspired words and music. It still is and they inspire me everyday.

6. For better or worse, we remain the most politically interesting city in the country

7. I knew the Saints would be super bowl contenders!

8. It must be special when you live in a city where people come to visit for 3 days and haven't left 3 years later

9. It really is the place where one person can make a difference…where the starfish on beach story has particular significance.

10. When the history of Katrina is written, we'll be more than simple pioneers, if we do our job right, they'll call us revolutionaries.

10 Reasons Why New Orleans

1.) I fell in love with New Orleans the first time I laid eyes on it at age 14. I'll never get over that feeling.

2.) Where else do people give birthday parties for potholes and paint their own street signs when a storm knocks the old ones down?

3.) Where else do people steal storm sewer covers because they are works of art?

4.) Where else can you hear such fascinating stories in line at the supermarket?

5.) Because of all the talented, creative, crazy people in its past and those yet to come. Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, Walker Percy...this city has great ghosts.

6.) All of you.

7.) The slow-roasted duck poboys at Crabby Jacks, the fried chicken at Dunbar 's & the million other incredible meals this city serves up.

8.) I'm stubborn, so I fit in with everyone else who beyond all reason chose to live on a piece of land that could slip into the Gulf of Mexico .

9.) Because the most boring day here is an adventure.

10.) Because, as Joey says, it is home, and if you can't fight for home, what can you fight for?

Top 10 Ways to Foster Employee Innovation

1. Find your venture’s next best-selling product or breakthrough marketing campaign by tapping into your staff’s individual pursuits and passions.
• Half of Google’s new product launches— including Google News and Google Suggest— stem from Google’s 20 percent time policy, which allows engineers to spend one day a week on pet projects and personal pursuits.

2. Make creativity easier for staff with a meeting room that sparks group and individual brainstorming.
• Ford Global Technologies’ Innovation Acceleration Center has several breakout rooms, comfy couches, easels, a kitchen, radio-controlled cars, and a 3-foot Statue of Liberty made of Legos.

3. Don’t stop at just meeting rooms. Get imaginative with workstations so they afford privacy but do not close staff off from one another or stifle collaboration.
• Employees at furniture manufacturing company Herman Miller use cubicles with translucent walls and doors.

4. Get more from your brainstorming sessions by building in time pre- and post- meetings for staff to do research, individual brainstorming, and reflection.
• Staff members at IDEO, an innovative design consulting firm, take field trips to places like hardware stores to prepare and be inspired for design sessions.

5. Free your staff to work in the manner, place, and time they are the most productive and creative.
• Best Buy’s recently-instituted “results-only work environment” policy allows its headquarter employees to set their own work hours and locations.

6. Prolong the life of creativity at your organization by staving off staff burnout.
• Netflix’s policy of providing unlimited vacation days for its salaried employees manages the job, not the hours.

7. Don’t just look within your team for creative brainpower—leverage your larger network by fostering collaboration among staff, partners, and customers.
• BMW posts engineering challenges on its Website for its designers and customers to collaborate on developing various features of future cars.

8. Stay innovation-focused when building your team.
• FedEx looks for “risk taking and courage of conviction,” and Procter & Gamble hires people who show the ability to collaborate, to build an organization, and to mentor and develop others.

9. Harness all of your team’s strengths and bypass bottlenecks by using cross-functional teams to develop innovative ideas.
• Apple “cross-pollinates” by having all departments – design, hardware, software— work on products in parallel.

10. Reward the pursuit of innovation – whether or not it produces any new products.
• Employees at Gore-Tex material manufacturer W.L. Gore & Associates are compensated based on contribution to the company—past and present performance as well as future prospects of “speculative projects.”

By: Community Wealth Vanguard
Click here for the full article.