Category Archives: Creativity & Innovation

DONALD COOPER : Business Management, Marketing, and Service Expert

Donald Cooper - www.kmprod.comDONALD COOPER
Bringing Clarity To Your Corporate Vision


The Globe and Mail’s Harvey Schacter interviews business management, marketing, and service expert Donald Cooper for his thoughts on the importance of a clear corporate vision:

When Toronto-based consultant Donald Cooper runs a corporate workshop, he displays the company’s mission statement, vision statement, statement of values and statement of purpose – but he hides the label for each chunk of text. Then he asks the employees to identify which statement is which. Rarely do they get it right.

It’s an example of the big failing in the businesses that he tries to fix – a lack of clarity. “Businesses have no clarity about what they want to do and how to get there and how to behave along the way. Our first job is clarity,” Mr. Cooper said in an interview.

For the past seven years, he has worked to develop simple, practical, logical approaches – one-page templates, meant to be presented in clear language – that can help companies gain that clarity.

Continue reading →

Posted on by

Richard Worzel – Canada’s Leading Futurist & Visionary

RICHARD WORZEL
Six Things to Know About the Robots in Your Future


We grew up with robots. There was Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons, the “I, Robot” science fiction series from Isaac Asimov (which later became a movie with Will Smith), the model B9 robot from the “Lost in Space” television series, R2D2 and C3PO from the Star Wars space operas, and the Terminator from the governor’s mansion in California. In the real world, there were robots in car factories, which were big, bulky pieces of machinery bolted to the floor that moved pieces of cars into place, welded seams, and painted car bodies. More recently, we’ve had cute little toys that roll around holding trays on which you can place drinks or snacks, replicas of R2D2 that were either remote control operated or voice-activated, and Roomba and Scooba floor-cleaning robots. And because the real-world robots seemed to fall far short of the fictional robots, and because we’ve been disappointed by real robots for decades we’ve concluded that robots will always be fictional, and will always be disappointing. (For instance, I have a wind up robot in my office that walks and shots sparks, but sadly, refuses to exterminate the people I don’t like.)

Accordingly, we’re about to be surprised, for real robots and their non-physical counterparts, computer intelligences, are about to enter our lives in a very real way. And initially at least, our reactions to them are likely to be that they are either creepy, or infuriating. Let’s start with the ways in which we are likely to encounter robots and computer intelligences, and then let me move on to where the evolution of robots is headed.

Continue reading →

Posted on by

Jim Carroll: Futurist, Trends, Creativity & Innovation Expert

Jim Carroll - Futurist & Trends ExpertJIM CARROLL
Trending in 2012: What’s to come in the year to come …


Here’s some of the key trends that I see unfolding through 2012 and beyond. My unique job allows me the opportunity to see and hear what a lot of CEO’s and senior executives in a lot of organizations are thinking about. The nature of my keynotes and small board / leadership meetings allows me to understand what folks are focused on. The research I do, whether for a major manufacturing conference in Las Vegas or a small corporate meeting with an ice cream company allows me to see the key trends that are unfolding right now.

Continue reading →

Posted on by