Laura’s Winning Ideas

Guy Kawasaki spoke here recently, but I was most impressed with how they got him to agree to speak in Milwaukee.

Innovative Thinking: He’d been lured here by a donation of tickets to the Frozen Four Men’s College Hockey Playoffs being held in Milwaukee. A good deal for eInnovate, whose corporate sponsors (particularly WE energies) supplied the tickets in lieu of Guy’s usual speaking fee. Two players cooked up this scheme, Candy Renwall of Technology Business Partners, and Barbara Elliott Eaves of Iniglobal.

The mood was more festive than most innovation/high tech events. It was a great turnout from throughout the state, and everyone enjoyed hearing about the special treatment offered to Guy.

Guy Kawasaki is a hockey nut. So the organizers scouted out resources and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. In addition to the game tickets, Guy spent the morning with his two sons and a rag-tag collection of folks playing hockey at the Petit Olympic skating facility. Bonnie Blair (former Olympic speed skater) helped arrange the event. Her husband and children participated in the pickup game, along with some hockey celebrities.

A key to making things happen is to USE ALL YOUR RESOURCES. Money is only sometimes a constraint. Our fear, and lack of confidence, self-esteem or chutzpah are more often the bigger constraint. I find women have an advantage here:

1. Women enjoy being resourceful and practice it more often.
2. Women are more willing to risk being seen as fanciful.

Guy’s speech was his usual patter with storytelling in his blue vernacular, and one topic stuck with me:

Polarize People

If you are an innovator (whether a start-up entreprenuer, or a change agent inside a large organization) you can’t expect to please everyone. At some point you must see your path, and take the steps to move forward, knowing that some will not approve.

Great inventions inspire specific buyers to go beyond mere purchase to evangelism.

There are many examples of this. Get into the market with a product just barely ready and then pay attention to both the issues you know and the issues your new partners/customers express. Expect to polarize people because you will.

Here in Wisconsin, just how much market research could they have done on those yellow cheesehead caps made of foam? Anyone could have told you that this is a stupid idea, looks ridiculous, and makes the wearer look goofy. Yet, those concoctions are being sold around the world and support a nice little company here on the south side of Milwaukee. In case you need one, Foamation Products will be happy to accomodate.

Those of us who are polarized by the idea of wearing one of these are just not the target market for Cheesehead hats. Good thing for fomation that they didn’t wait to tweak their product until a larger market share could be identified. In a twinkling, this market opportunity (caused by jealous Chicago fans labeling Green Bay Packer fans as Cheeseheads) could have vanished.

Seize the day and know that you will Polarize People.