John Winsor

Fear!

On of the outstanding experiences I had while in Europe was to do a few laps at the Nurburgring Race Track with Gotz Spiegel from the Spiegel Institut. While I have spent a bit of time driving the Nurburgring on Playstation's GT3, there is nothing like the real thing to scare the hell out of you! 230km per hour changes the way you think about driving.

Simplify?

What happens to your brand when you associate yourself with somebody that has dramatically different values than you do? I picked up my wife’s copy of Real Simple magazine. The magazine saays it's all about simplifying your life and finding time to do the important stuff, like spend time doing the important stuff, like spending more time with family and friends. Therefore, I was shocked when I turned a page in the magazine to see an ad for a Hummer H3. Now, that’s just what you need, a Hummer to simplify your life!

Back From Europe

I'm just back from Europe after a nice two week stay in the French countryside. One of the nicest parts of the trip was that I didn't turn on my computer! That was a long overdue experience.

Before I made it to France with my family, I was in London where, among other things, I got a chance to spend an enjoyable evening with Johnnie Moore. We had a crazy dinner at an Italian restaurant. The place was loud, slow and hot. Just as we finally got our food the smoke alarm started shrieking and smoke started to fill the restaurant. As both of us were hungery, we grabbed our plates and had a quite enjoyable dinner standing on the sidewalk entertained by the arrival of three fire trucks! What fun.

Spark, Installment #4

I hope everyone had a great 4th. I just got back from a 1200 mile road trip with Harry and Charlie, my two 3 year olds. It was mano a mano a mano! What a blast. But, I can't imagine being a single parent.

So, I shipped Spark to the publisher yesterday. Here's installment number 4.

The Story Behind Spark, Continued

To understand the tremendous pressure our changing world has put on companies and people in their efforts to sustain that entrepreneurial spirit, our Radar team interviewed a number of people we feel are truly innovative. We discovered in the interviews that there is a difference between generating innovation, creating an innovative product or service, and being innovative. Typically, the people we all think of as innovative are following their own path creatively, being entrepreneurs, engineers or artists, going against the grain not only of the markets they work in, but also what might be seen as “best practices.”  They work everywhere, from big companies to small studios. The common traits these people share are a willingness to accept that we live in a rapidly changing environment and the necessity of engaging with others to thrive in today’s chaos. Co-creation manifests itself differently for everyone. For some, it is a deep engagement with their internal team; for others it is engaging with customers and the culture in which they live.

Co-creation is the whole point of Spark. In fact, Spark is not only about co-creation, but it was in fact co-created itself, by many innovative voices. One thing that drove me to write this book was to better understand the magic that infuses innovation. I wanted to talk to people who not only innovate but also lead innovative lives. I’ve always felt that the fundamental idea of co-creation – that it takes more than one brilliant mind to make an innovation happen – is an essential element in business. Even after starting 10 magazines and 4 companies and writing a few books, I remain entranced by the magic and the power of co-creation. Each time, there was a spark in the darkness, a connection. It always started with that connection to somebody else.