• Innovative Strategies That Create More Profits

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Competition vs. Sur/petition, Part One          

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

Competition is for survival. Sur/petition is for success.

Competition is the critical ingredient in free-market economics. It prevents monopoly pricing and ensures that consumers get the best deal. It also ensures that producers make every effort to be efficient and to provide quality. if not, they risk being driven out of business by a producer who offers better prices or quality. 

The purpose of the competition is to benefit the consumer by keeping prices down and quality up. The competition also helps the economy by ensuring the most efficient use of resources and encouraging enterprise. New businesses with better ideas, prices, or quality can enter the field and compete against those already in it. Then there is a great deal to be said for competition.

The competition benefits the economy as a whole and consumers. Only part of the benefit of competition is for the producers. To be sure, producers are driven to greater productivity and efficiency, but these benefits are not reflected in greater profits, only in survival.

Companies put much effort into competing with one another, but the result may be merely the same existing market share for each. However, the competition allows the more effective producer to increase market share at the expense of the less efficient producer, sales volume may go up, but margins and profits may not.

In short, competition puts pressure on the producers. You have to be competitive to survive. Just as labor costs and environmental concerns or pressures on producers, so also is competition.

Sur/petition

Sur/petition is concerned with how you move forward from the baseline. Physical monopolies are illegal in many countries, and value monopolies are not. Value monopolies are for the benefit of the producers and are also in the interest of consumers. Companies are now moving away from survival economics and toward value economics.

Value economics means that consumers can choose what value means for them. You decide to buy something because you value it. Today, sur/petition and value monopolies are very much in the general economic interest. Value economics is about creating opportunities for spending money as you wish. 

So value economics, sir petition, and value monopolies benefit the economy, consumers, and producers, which contrasts a competitive economy. 

Classic competition certainly needs to be there; otherwise, the benefits of value economics will quickly disappear. But once the classic competition is in place, it is no longer sufficient. We also need sur/petition to make value economics work. Sony Walkman is a good example. Sony kept improving and improving the Walkman and is still the leader today. The real value of the Walkman story is not in recognizing its creation but in its potential success and running with it. They did not sit back and relish their success. They started producing model after model. There are over 100 other competitors offering very similar models, but Sony is still the leader.

Some people are disillusion with innovation because they claim they put in the development costs and open up the market, and then new companies jump in and take all the profits. That is what happens if you sit back. You have to create your own race against potential new competitors, which is what sur/petition is all about.

See also, How To Create Value Monopolies, Part Two

 

 

Solve Problems And Gain Insights Intuitively 

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

Intuitive techniques allow you to tap into your unconsciousness and find the ideas that you already have. To solve a problem, you have to believe that you already have the answer in your unconscious. 

Michael Michalko, in his book, “Thinkertoys,” explains how Intuitive techniques show you how to take advantage of your right brain’s capability to perceive insights all at once from your unconscious. The following discussion is based on his study of intuition and problem-solving.

Using intuition means paying attention to your feelings and knowing their accuracy and how well you apply your intuition to your problem. Here are some examples of using intuition. 

“George Washington solved his most difficult problems during the revolutionary war with intuition. He would instruct his orderlies not to let anyone disturb him while he relaxed and intuited decisions.’ Another example is Conrad Hilton, who is bidding for the Stevens Hotel in Chicago. He offered the number and won the world’s largest hotel by $200.”

Successful managers often use intuition. Present an intuitive manager with a company’s financial report, and s/he will accurately assess the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, and future. Present the same manager with a personal problem, and s/he will evaluate the situation and intuit the solution and possible courses of action.

Five ways managers use intuition

Harvard business professor Daniel Isenberg studied 16 senior managers in major corporations. He spent days observing them as they work, interviewing them, and having them perform various exercises designed to figure out what made them successful.

He identified five different ways successful managers use intuition to:

1 Help them sense when a problem exists

2 Rapidly perform well-learned behavioral patterns

3 Synthesize isolated bits of data and experience into an integrated picture

4 Check on the results of rational analysis. They search until they match their gut feeling and their intellect.

5. Bypass in-depth analysis and come up with a quick solution. Charles Merrill of Merrill Lynch once said that he was right 60% of the time if he made decisions fast. If he took time, analyzed the situation, and decided carefully, he would be right 70% of the time. However, that extra 10% was seldom worth the time.

Intuitive people develop superior insight that enables them to perceive whole situations in sudden leaps of logic. John Mihalasky and a Douglas Dean at the new year New Jersey Institute of Technology discovered that 80% of CEOs whose is profits doubled over five years had above-average intuitive powers.

The blueprint for achieving intuition

The two basic principles of intuition are: it must be developed and should be incorporated with reason.

1 It must be developed. Strive to be aware of your intuition daily. When do they occur? How do they feel? Practice your skills by making guesses before a situation is thoroughly analyzed.

To condition your mind, ask yourself some “yes” and “no” questions to which you already know the answers. Observe how you get the answers. You may see a yes or no. NO matter how your answer comes; concentrate on getting future answers in the same way.

Do the same with choices. Start by thinking about a choice you have already made, and imagine the options you had when you made a choice. If you think of the choice you have already made, observe the word, phrase, image, or symbol that represents that choice. Remember how you got the answer, and focus on getting future answers in the same way. Pratice making a few simple choices you haven’t made before.

2 combine intuition with reason. In an interview, Jonas Salk, the scientist to discover the polio vaccine: “I’m saying we should trust her intuition. I believe that the principles of the universe are revealed to us through intuition. And I think that if we combine our intuition with our reason, we can respond in an evolutionary sound way to our problems. Affective, creative conceptualization requires that one incorporate reason and logic as well as intuition and feeling.”

The exercises on the following pages will re-introduce you to your intuitive senses.

Problem-solving

Professor George Turin, of the University of California at Berkeley, states that the components of solving problems with intuition are:

1 The ability to know how to attack a problem without knowing how you know.

2 The ability to relate a problem in one field to seemingly different problems in unrelated areas. The ability to see links, connections, and relationships between ideas and objects.

3 The ability to recognize the crux of the problem.

4 The ability to see in advance a general solution to the problem.

5 The ability to identify solutions because they feel right. The ability to focus on what may be rather than what is.

Experts at the intuitive problem-solving approach can rarely provide an accurate account of how they obtained their answers and may be unclear on what aspect of the problem they focused on before the insight.

Brainwriting

Brainwriting is a way to solve problems using intuition. Find a quiet spot and relax. Write out your particular challenge and concentrate on it for a few minutes.

Write down some pertinent questions about your challenge: What is in my best interest? What should I do? Are there other alternatives? Which alternative is preferred? And so on. And wait for the answer. 

It may come as a voice in your mind, or you may seem to be communicating with someone else. Try to write down your answers as they come. Don’t analyze or think. Write whatever occurs to you. Keep asking questions, and keep writing the responses until the responses stop. Finally, read and review what you have written. The answer to your challenge may be there.

Summary

Strive to be aware of your intuition daily. Think about choices you have made and observe how you recognized the answer. Try making some simple choices you haven’t made before. 

Practice will help you when you don’t have the time to do a deep analysis and make a quick decision and accept the consequences. 

 

Create New Concepts Before Your Competitors Do 

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Design thinking aims to create new thoughts about the solution or answer we seek and then visualize and shape those thoughts into concepts that will result in new strategies or tactics. It is how we solve problems and create new or improved sources of revenue.  

Wikipedia defines concepts as abstract ideas or general notions occurring in our minds, speech, or thoughts. A concept is challenging to describe, but we need to look for them, design them and use them. This discussion is based on information from Edward de Bono and his books on thinking.

A concept consists of two parts: the concept and its implementation. Concepts are essential but very difficult to generate. However, In hindsight, almost all successful concepts seem obvious.

An idea is how you put a concept into action. For example, traveling along the road is a concept. Still, you have to do something specific in practice, such as walking, riding a bike, or driving a car.

 A Concept vs. Perception

There is a difference between perception and a concept. Perception is seeing a group of things when we look at the world we haven’t named, like flowers or mountains. A concept is a group of things with a purpose or benefit like sales tax, traffic control, or a restaurant.  

There are some exceptions. The restaurant is both a description and a concept, it sells people food, and there’s a place to eat it. The purpose and benefit are apparent. 

Forming concepts

With perception, we can only receive information in the patterns that we have already formed. So, an analysis of data is unlikely to create new concepts. However, we can select from concepts we already have. However, you can form a new concept by modifying or improvement of an existing concept. Also, a simple piece of information can give rise to many concepts, but they will come from concepts we already have in our minds.

The critical point is the need to do conceptual work in our head and not just wait for information to provide concepts because that is unlikely to happen.

Business use of concepts

Many businesses are impatient with concepts and prefer “doing things rather than thinking.” However, the world is getting crowded with products and services, so creating new concepts is critical as we move into the future.  

A new concept is unquestionably the best and cheapest way of getting added value out of existing resources. Businesses have been approaching concept development haphazardly. They wait for someone else to develop the concept and then jump in with a similar copy.

In the future, we must take concepts more seriously. Major companies spend billions on technical research, but new concept creation is as important as technical resources. 

Conclusion

Learning how to analyze information and make decisions is not going to be enough. These skills are necessary for maintenance management in a competitive market. But, in a globally competitive market, you need to shift part of your focus to conceptual thinking in addition to analysis and decision making. 

Why? Because analysis of information can never yield the concepts hidden in data. Also, we now know from the research into self-organizing information systems like our mind, we know what we need to do to get creative concepts.

Also, because the brain was not designed to be creative, we have to use methods that are “not natural,” like the random word method, to generate innovative concepts.

For a quick start to creating new concepts, check out the information on the Random Word method to get creative concepts and ideas. It is easy and powerful.

 

Creative Results From Your Team  

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Creative Results From Your Team

As someone who has been in many “brainstorming” sessions, I can’t tell you they don’t work, but I can tell you they don’t work as well as some other methods. The Six Hats method makes much more sense. It is easy to use, structured to include everyone, and the processes make the meetings more productive.

The Six Hats method allows us to think in parallel to explore a subject in a constructive rather than an adversarial way. 

The Six Hats method of thinking, created by Edward de Bono, author, and professor, challenges all those at the meeting to fully use their minds and not just negatively. Someone who is against an idea being discussed is expected to honestly and objectively still see the values in the proposed concept.

The framework of the six hats might seem to complicate discussions and make the meetings last much longer. But the opposite is true. The use of the six hats method significantly reduces meeting time. Sessions progress in a natural, orderly way from getting initial information to creating concepts and ideas. 

After using this method a few times, you will be able to get many creative ideas in a setting that is not only productive but also team-building. Plus, you will get results in a fraction of the time it usually takes for such a meeting. 

Following are the six hats:

 The Blue Hat is the person who organizes and controls the meeting.  It is used right at the beginning of a discussion to decide the focus and what sequence of hats the session will use. The conference does not have to be conducted in the order presented here, but this order is the most logical progression. The blue hat reminds people of the hat in use during the meeting if they stray away for some reason. The Blue Hat is also used at the end of the outcome, summary, and next steps.  

The White Hat is concerned with information.  What information do we have? What information is missing? What information do we need – and how are we going to get it?  If conflicting information is put forward, there is no argument. Both versions are put down in parallel and then discussed when that information needs to be used. 

Red Hat has to do with feelings, emotions, and intuition. Under the Red Hat, all participants are invited to put forward their feelings. In a regular discussion, you can only put forward these things if they are disguised as logic. There is no need to justify or explain them. They exist and can therefore be put forward. The Red Hat is very brief and simply allows these things to get out on the table.  

Black Hat is for critical thinking. What is wrong with the idea? What are its weaknesses? The black hat looks at the downside, why something will not work, the risks, and dangers. All the negative comments made during a meeting are concentrated under the Black Hat. The Black Hat is beneficial, but it has a defined time and place.   

Yellow Hat focuses on the positive. What are the benefits? How could it be done? What is the value? Traditionally, our education is primarily about critical thinking. We are never really exposed to developing forward-thinking concepts. For example, the ability to find value in anything, even things we do not like and will not use. Nevertheless, we should, honestly and objectively, find value in things. Without sensitivity to value, creativity can be a waste of time.

Green Hat is directly concerned with creativity. When the Green Hat is in use, participants are expected to make a creative effort or keep quiet. Most people do not like keeping quiet, so they make an effort. This effort means looking for new ideas. It means considering alternatives, both the obvious ones and new ones. It means generating possibilities. It means modifying and changing a suggested idea, possibly through the use of lateral thinking tools.

Conclusion

That is all there is. A simple method that allows everyone to think together to explore a subject and generate new concepts and ideas on how to move forward in a constructive rather than an adversarial way.  

Try to use this method in a small group first, so you get the hang of it. It may take a couple of times to get it right. But, once you have the method down, it’s easy to use and productive.

Let us know how it works for you.

 

 

 

 

The Random Word Technique/A Creative Tool For New Ideas

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

 

It is our perceptions that control emotions, and emotions control behavior. If your perception changes, you have no choice; your emotions and behavior will change also. The random word technique helps you change your perspective, so you see concepts and new ideas differently.  

The mechanism of the mind

We can now base thinking on the way the mind works. In Edward de Bono’s book, “mechanisms of the mind,”  he describes the mind as a self-organizing system. Based on this self-organizing system, he designed the lateral thinking process.

The asymmetric patterning behavior of all human minds gives us creativity and humor. That is why we have excellent thinking (landing on the moon, fly faster than sound, computers, etc.) The interaction of our asymmetric mind is what gives us the ability to do creative thinking.

Perception

Perception is far more important than logic. Logic is excellent but not enough. 

We have made significant achievements in science, technology, and engineering. We need to supplement our existing thinking methods with perceptual thinking, creative thinking, and design thinking.  

The formal tools of lateral thinking

Lateral thinking means moving across established patterns of thought instead of moving along them. For example,  if there is an obvious route in one direction, we are naturally blocked from taking other unknown ways. (The dominant pattern).

The lateral thinking tool requires that we block the obvious path (A to B). It may be the best way, but we will seek alternatives (drilling oil wells from vertical to horizontal, for example).

Focus is important:  

What do you want to focus questions? What problem do you want to solve? Where do you want new ideas? There are two types of focus:

Purpose focus: a problem to solve, a process to simplify, a conflict to resolve, a product to improve. Etc.

Area focus: the general area in which you want new ideas. This area could be the market, the industry, or your market niche, for example. The random word tool is very useful for area focus because it works even with no defined starting point. 

The focus area may be broad or narrow. You want new ideas about your focus objective (purpose or scope).  

                          C wallet

A______________________________B

                         Restaurant

Therefore, to get new ideas, you need to get your mind off the traditional path A to B (the pattern already in your mind) and move laterally across the path to point C, a new starting point. For example, a random word disrupts the known pattern and asymmetrically opens your mind to a new pattern, pathway or idea.  

In the random word technique, point C would be a random word you connect mentally to the focused area. This process allows you to create multiple new concepts or ideas about your targeted focus area.

Select Random Words

Select the random words to use as your new starting points. There are several ways to get random words. One of the best ways is to use the dictionary. Open the dictionary to a random page and then put your finger on a random word and select the closest word (a noun). Choose about five more words. Write them down. 

Be sure you know the definition of each word because you will associate the characterizations of each word with your focus question  Work quickly through each of the words, but don’t judge your responses at this time. Each idea response represents the possibility of a great idea. You are going to spend about 5-10 minutes exploring each random word. 

For example, focus: on a new restaurant. 

Random word: wallet.

One concept would be a restaurant where people order food, pay immediately, and take the food elsewhere to eat vs. ordering in, eating the food at the restaurant, and only paying after eating. 

A restaurant where people are charged by the amount of time they spend at the restaurant. 

A restaurant known for one special, unique and expensive dish served at one particular time every day.  

Concepts

There can be functional or operational concepts to describe the way something is done. There are usually several levels of concept, from broad to detailed.

There can be value concepts (why is this a value?) Or purpose concepts (why are we doing this?) And descriptive concepts.

The importance of concepts is developing alternatives and new ideas by extracting the concept and looking for ways to deliver this concept through a specific idea. Ideas are the way of putting the concept into action.

Try it out

Try it on a focus of yours. The more you do, the more you learn and the more ideas you will get.

Let us know how this works for you or if you have any questions.

How to turn negative problems into positive results

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How to turn negative problems into positive results

If you are in business, problem-solving is a constant part of your business life.

No problem is simple, or it wouldn’t be a problem.

Some problems are critical to the success of your company.

One way to make solving problems easier and more effective is to turn a negative problem into a positive result. 

Start With These Questions

Start the process by answering the question, “what is your goal?”

Is this problem important enough to spend time and energy on it? 

If yes, you need to state the problem in writing so it is clear and you can focus on it. For example:

1. How could we differentiate our product or service from competitors?

2. What new product should we be developing? 

3. How can we improve our service?

Next, turn the problem into a challenge statement.

Michael Michalko, in his excellent book, “Thinkertoys,” explains this creative process

and that the challenge statement has to be written as a positive challenge.

For example, “why have revenues slowed down?” focuses on finding the negative reasons.

But, if you restate the problem into a challenge

such as “In what ways might I get customers to buy more?” you focus on finding positive answers. 

For each problem or challenge, state your problem as a positive challenge or statement. For example, instead of: 

Old statement: “How can we reduce costs to improve cash flow?

New positive statement: “How could we boost margins on current offerings?’   

Why can’t we stay on plan?” vs. “What could we do to meet consistent deadlines? 

Why is onboarding so complicated?” vs. “What could we do to simplify onboarding?”  

Note: Mr. Michalko recommends your challenge statement use the phrase.

“In what ways might I …..? He also recommends spending time crafting your challenge statement.

The more time you spend refining your challenge statement, the closer you will be to the solution.

You should be able to generate many different answers or ideas from these questions.

Make a list of every idea, and select some that you think have promise. 

Then, substitute keywords to broaden your view. 

Identify keywords in your challenge statement and substitute other words for them.

For example: instead of reducing costs, use eliminate costs. Instead of boost margins use to raise prices.

Each word change should give you a broader view of the problem, a different viewpoint, and different ideas.

Keep making word changes until you run out of ideas.

Your success in creating new problem-solving ideas depends in part on how you define your problem. 

 You can also create broader perspectives by asking “Why? to each of your ideas or answers.

Ask Why

For each “answer”: Why do you want to improve your service?

Then, Why do you think improving service will add value?

Then, Why will this value enable us to increase prices? Etc.  

Now, break your Broadview down to specifics.

With all this information, you can now get down to specifics by breaking each answer into subcategories.

These subcategories will generate even more ideas.

For example, “When will this new product be ready?”

Who could design the new product?

These kinds of questions will give you more ideas and make it easier to solve the problem. 

 Conclusion

This thinking process enables you to restructure existing information into new patterns and ideas and turn these problems into opportunities.

You start with your goal, identified the problem, and then turn the problem into a challenge statement that you can analyze in depth.

This will enable you to see the problem through several lenses and get different perceptions of the problem. 

After reading this blog post. select a problem and go through the exercise for practice.

That is how you will learn to do it and it’s fun!

How You Approach Problem-Solving Matters

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No matter who you are, a seasoned businessman or an entrepreneur, you continuously face different problems on that pathway to success. And you can add to that the challenge of not enough time to do everything. We want to change that by getting you off on the right foot with how you initially approach problem-solving. It’s important because the way you approach problem-solving matters.   

 Most problems need a timely solution. Some linger because we don’t know how to solve them. It often happens when you suddenly have to face somethings that you did not expect. So, choosing the best path to reach an effective solution matters.  

Following are several approaches to problem-solving. Understand them, and you will be able to see the changes in how fast and effective your problem-solving techniques will become.

 A Team Approach To Problem-Solving

If you are working with a team, everyone on the team must know and understand the problem from their own perspective. And every person on the team must be able to express their point of view and without criticism freely. 

Leadership means that you remove all the fear in people’s minds of any repercussions if their idea is ridiculed. The good news is it often happens that some off-the-wall comment is picked up by someone else and turned into a potential solution.   

If you find that you cannot find “the” solution after a reasonable amount of time, compile a list of all the suggested solutions. You can then analyze which one has the potential to solve your problem. A day or two later, when people are not intensely focused on the problem’s details, someone often comes up with an insightful solution.  

Having an open-minded, kind approach is needed to develop transparent communication. With an open mind, you can see things more clearly and see the bigger picture. Finding and assigning important tasks to all the open-minded people will help in reducing the problem-solving time. People with open minds can take you forward in your quest to find the best solution to any of your problems. Creating a team of people who know exactly where to look when a problem occurs is always an interesting approach towards problem-solving.

Mindsets Make A Difference In Approach And Outcomes   

Next, let’s take a look at different mindsets and how these mindsets approach problem-solving.  

Analytical thinking:

People who think analytically generally consider every aspect of the problem. From here, they can move forward in a calculated way. People with analytical thinking mindsets find it very easy to take on and solve any problem, so they proceed step by step. They make assumptions and considerations because they have expertise in discovering new things, and they are sure about it.

Logical thinking:

People who think logically and straightforwardly learn from their actions from past actions. Logical thinking can get you the solution you seek for any of your problems. Logical thinking is the basis of their solution. They approach the problem from what they think a normal person would view the problem. They try to see the long-term solution.  

Rational thinking:

It is a kind of thinker who would use its knowledge and assumptions. He would not look for any experience or any other factor. From his perspective, he may be like the problems, and he would solve them in this way that others may find questionable.

Absolute thinking:

The absolute thinker wants surety for everything. He has just two solutions, and one is right while the other is wrong. He only selects from two of them, and for that, he always seeks permission from higher authorities. He does not live with probabilities.

Creative thinkers:

Creative thinkers do not remain limited to one or two solutions based on their judgments or past experiences. They can create solutions from scratch. And they do not focus on one thing when there are so many potential solutions. They will also take tier time in coming up with these solutions.  

Conclusion:

Your approach to problems tells how you will solve your problem. Identifying and agreeing on the problem rather than working on a symptom is critical to your success. Learning how to solve problems creatively is a crucial talent and a toolbox for anyone who wants to succeed in business.  

 Solutions, no matter how difficult the problem or challenge, can be solved — some instantly and some like solving the theory of relativity took Einstein 10 years. Always choose your method or technique according to the complexity of the problem.

Lastly, remember that trying to approach and solve a problem as a team can be fragile because you have to give space and freedom without criticism to each member.  

We hope this information gives you some food for thought as you approach a specific problem. We would love to hear your comments on this approach and if it works for you.