HARD HEADS, SOFT HANDS:LEADER AS ENTREPRENEUR

• Bill Mitchell, Poynter affiliate• Leadership Academy October 2015• Bmitch (at) gmail dot com• 727-641-9407

• Innovation• Intrapreneurship•Entrepreneurship

RODNEY ON HIS JOB AS CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER :

• “I’m the guy people come to when they have an idea and they don’t know how to do it.• “Usually, my first response is, ‘I don’t

know. Let’s figure it out.”

• “News organizations today are experiencing a continuing crisis of value destruction… They must find ways to create new value to replace that which is being destroyed. If they do not, they risk their demise.”

-- Economist Robert Picard, 2006

ThiThis• “(This) is what real revolutions are like. The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff gets put in its place.”

-- NYU Prof. Clay Shirky, in a 2009 blog post, “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable”

WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE REVOLUTION?

KELLEY’S QUESTION TO GILBERT ON SUNDAY• “Can you describe your most important

leadership value in a single word?”

GILBERT’S AREA OF INTENSE FOCUS:

MY QUESTION TO EACH OF YOU: • What is your area of “intense focus?”• What opportunities does it provide for

innovation?

ASSIGNMENT AT YOUR TABLES:

• Five minutes: Think, write about what might be your area of “intense focus”

• Five minutes: Pair up with someone for a conversation about your focus

• Five minutes: Discuss your partner’s focus

ELEMENTS OF INTENSE FOCUS:

• A developing or under-reported situation or circumstance

• Sufficiently high stakes to matter• Relevant to a big enough audience

SOLID ENTERPRISE REPORTING:

NEXT LEVEL UP: INNOVATION:

INNOVATION IN NEED OF BRIAN GROSS:

“TRACKER” AS AN INNOVATION GENRE: AGGREGATION, CURATION

“TRACKER” AS AN INNOVATION GENRE: AGGREGATION, CURATION

HOW IS A “TRACKER” INNOVATIVE?

• Addresses an “inarticulated need”• Saves the user time• Finds stuff the user never would• Leverages technical capacity (links!)• Classic example of old wine in new skin• Can become essential to doing your job

INTRAPRENEURIAL VENTURE• All the elements of an innovation plus:• Generates significant revenue• Makes sense as its own cost center

INTRAPRENEURIAL VENTURE

ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE• Same as intrapreneurial except:• Makes more sense as a stand-alone and/or:•You’ve just been laid off, bought out or:• Leadership Academy has persuaded

you to become your own damn boss!

AN ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE

YOUR ASSIGNMENT: PUT YOUR AREA OF INTENSE FOCUS TO WORK

HOW YOUR MYERS-BRIGGS PERSONALITY PREFERENCES MIGHT INFLUENCE YOUR INNOVATION STYLE

HOW YOUR MYERS-BRIGGS PERSONALITY PREFERENCES MIGHT INFLUENCE YOUR INNOVATION STYLE

• ENFP: Possibility-focused, open, enthusiastic (me)

• ISTJ: Quietly systematic, factual, logical, decisive (my boss)

STYLES OF LEADING INNOVATION

• Soft head, hard hands• Hard head, hard hands • Soft head, soft hands• Hard head, soft hands

STYLES OF LEADING INNOVATION

• Soft head, hard hands• Hard head, hard hands • Soft head, soft hands• Hard head, soft hands

HARD HEADS, SOFT HANDS:LEADER AS ENTREPRENEUR

• Bill Mitchell, Poynter affiliate• Leadership Academy October 2015• Bmitch (at) gmail dot com• 727-641-9407