Stranova

“Voices from 2020”, with Bill Veltrop and Firehawk. In this episode of Stranova’s interview series, we take you to the year 2020, in a time where business has been transformed in radical ways, leaders in all walks of life operate on a more systemic level than ever before, and even the whole concept of leadership has been raised to an entirely new level. In this “preview” of our new podcast series “Voices from 2020”, learn how the many choices we are making new could lead to a transformational “brave new world” of business – and organizational life – in less than two decades.

"A Modern Geoscope", with Bonnie DeVarco and David McConville. Today's interview features guests Bonnie DeVarco, digital visual artist and former archivist for Buckminster Fuller’s papers, and David McConville, also a visual artist and co-founder of “The Elumenati” (at www.elumenati.com), a firm specializing in the design of immersive visual environments. Since 1962 when Buckminster Fuller first went public with the idea of a Geoscope, many have been fascinated with his vision for a “giant, 200-foot diameter, miniature earth” that would provide an “electronic” visual representation of everything from weather to the various ways we human beings impact our “Spaceship Earth” on a daily basis. Listen to this week’s interview to learn how, thanks to a creative re-visioning of his concept and the application of the latest digital visualization technologies, Fuller’s Geoscope will be coming to life soon in ways far more powerful than his own original conception.

Stranova Strategic Edge Vol. 11, published July 17, 2006. "High Fashion meets the World of Internet Retailing". Up until very recent times, the high fashion industry sold its goods exclusively through a network of small company-owned stores and high-end resellers such as Neiman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. Increased sales were created principally by adding more product lines, which tended to increase as much expense and inventory issues as anything else. With the growth and rapid maturation of internet selling has come a unique opportunity, however, to expand high fashion retail sales both through an entirely new class of online resellers as well as innovative “boutique” web storefronts for the resellers themselves. Listen and learn how 2006 looks to be the “breakout year” for this new class of high fashion salesmanship.

"Creating Regional Wealth in the Innovation Economy", with Jeff Saperstein While most of us in the so-called developed countries rest on our laurels, regions such as India, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland, and Israel, among others, are surprising us with unexpected rapid economic growth. They’ve learned to leverage the power of communications in the information age, rapid learning often supported by a joint public/private partnership within the countries, and strong business relationships with the rest of the world. Our current episode explains a bit about how all this has come to pass, along with some interesting predictions of what other countries may be emerging soon that will join this list as some of the fastest-growing and technology-savvy in the world.

Stranova Strategic Edge, Vol. 10, Published June 19, 2006. The problem of identity theft, where criminals and hackers gain access to your personal credit information and grossly abuse it, is growing rapidly, to the point that an estimated 10 million Americans have been victimized by this in some way. This episode of Stranova Strategic Edge points to some of the “whys” behind this as well as what kinds of businesses are emerging – and thriving – because of this growing “information age” crime.

"Microlending in the Congo", with entrepreneur Betsy Brill. One of the most profound strategic innovations in business in the last quarter century has been the invention and deployment of microfinancing organizations, such as Bangladesh's Grameen Bank. In our current installment of Stranova, we talk with entrepreneur Betsy Brill about her plan to implement such a venture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the challenges in making her vision a reality, and the powerful transformation of the entire business – and human – ecosystems in that country that they could make possible.

Stranova Strategic Edge, Vol. 9, Published May 22, 2006. The recent dramatic rise in global oil prices, with echoes of a similar crisis some 25 years ago, brings with it an important opportunity to understand why we get into these situations, as well as to consider some new approaches to at least mitigating the problem for the near-term. Adding to the dilemma is that the overall world oil supply is slowly, but surely, being literally “tapped out”, and significant actions must be taken soon, or our children’s children, at the least, will be dealing with an enormous problem for civilization as a whole. This episode explores how business and government are already responding, and suggests some new categories of solutions and opportunities emerging in this sector.

"Leveraging 'Thought Leaders' To Transform Your Business", with Craig Neal, Co-Founder of the Heartland Circle. Even more important than mentoring in helping one develop as a future leader is the opportunity for intense interactive learning experiences with other experienced leaders. With the goal of working simultaneously on both personal and professional development on a deep level, the Heartland Circle has met this challenge by creating a business with the aim of helping leaders develop their own long-term vision and find ways to put that “vision into action”, through a core process of interaction with highly-experienced ‘Thought Leaders’ via a combination of in-person, teleconference, and online experiences. Listen and learn why one or more of these opportunities might help jump-start your own leadership development, and how to get involved no matter where you live in the world.

Stranova Strategic Edge, Vol. 8, Published April 24, 2006. For most of the modern era, business innovation has been a closely-guarded trust, conducted by an elite group of innovators within the corporation. In the past thirty years, we’ve seen this expand to include cross-company product or service development teams, incorporating individuals from sales, marketing, engineering, manufacturing, and service as active participants in the design process. Even that, however, is a fairly narrow focus, and in the past few years a major trend has evolved where customers are now actively engaged not just in providing feedback on product strategy – but also contributing both to the strategy and to the actual design elements themselves. This week’s episode illustrates how this trend has come about, provides real-world examples of how it works from industries as diverse as video games, healthcare, and the automotive industries, and suggests what you can do to turn your customers (and others in your business universe) into active participants in the strategic innovation process.

"A Passion for Coffee", with Filipino Entrepreneur Steve Benitez, founder and CEO of Bo's Coffee Club, the first ever Philippine specialty coffee shop chain. In this episode, you’ll hear how it isn’t always as simple as you’d think to transfer a successful business idea from the U.S. to an entirely different world, and the challenges this inventive entrepreneur faced in making his “passion for coffee” a success in his homeland. Listen and learn why this gifted innovator was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s 2004 “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the Philippines, and how what he discovered might make a difference in how you approach your startup.

Stranova Strategic Edge, Vol. 7, Published April 3, 2006. "The 20 Year Syndrome: Why Some Initially-Successful Companies Don't Survive Past their 20th Anniversary". Back in the 1970s, a major study of modern business concluded that most corporations can’t survive past twenty years of existence. It also concluded further that – even if the corporate name were to live on – the only way a corporation could survive is by drastically changing the nature of its business, so much so that you’d never recognize it if you were part of the original founding group. In this episode of Stranova Strategic Edge, we explore some of the factors that may contribute to the early demise of corporations, even when they initially achieve significant success. Listen to learn what some critical pitfalls are, with examples of three of the most prominent companies today in the computer industry, and what you can do to make it past your 20 year anniversary.

Stranova Vol. 17, published March 27, 2006. "The Global Earth Observation System of Systems", with NOAA Administrator Retired Vice-Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Jr. In this episode, we talk about the “Global Earth Observation System of Systems”, a massive project linking together over 60 countries and 40 international agencies to link together both ground-based and airborne environmental monitoring systems to keep track of the world’s vital signs on a real-time basis. It is potentially the single most ambitious strategic innovation ever, linking sensors, computers and people together in an attempt to help guide global environmental policy, enhance worldwide environmental predictive capabilities, and prevent the major loss of life catastrophies such as the massive Indian Ocean tsunami unleashed on the world in December of 2004.

Stranova Strategic Edge, Vol. 6, Published March 20, 2006. Computers have for many years been designed with a “brute force” approach to handling more and more complex problems, leveraging the ready availability of faster and more complex microprocessors without making any fundamental change in the way they go about their computing tasks. In this episode, we explore how new theories in how the mind functions may change the future face of computing in a fundamental new way, and may even change forever the way you think...about the way you think.

Stranova Vol. 16, published March 13, 2006. “Stikipad & the New Wave of Internet Businesses", with Stikipad founders Jonathan George and Matthew DeWaal. The “Dot Com” bubble may have blown up in the face of some investors, but the Internet business boom is only just getting started. This week our guests talk about their new web business, Stikipad, based around the concept of the wiki, an online tool that allows groups to collaborate in ways they never thought of before. Listen in and learn how the new generation of internet businesses are being formed, from two of its newest and creative leaders.

Stranova Strategic Edge, Vol. 5, Published March 6, 2006. The deadly Avian Flu strain H5N1 has spread rapidly since its first major appearance back in 2003. Some estimates suggest that over 200 million birds worldwide may be infected with the virus, and the disease is beginning to make small leaps to contaminate people as well. In this episode of Stranova Strategic Edge, we provide insight as to where and how the virus is spreading, plus its implications on the worldwide poultry industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and us as a human species as well.