Nautical Leaders Explore Napkin Innovation

  1. Plan Well, Then Hope for Some Luck – Every leader needs a plan, not everyone needs a vision. We all hope for luck, but with some planning and the right team, luck becomes less important. Innovation is about a napkin plan not carving a vision to be repainted by your team.

 

 

“Victory awaits those who have everything in order?

– People call that luck.

 

Defeat is certain for those who have forgotten to take the necessary precautions in time?

– That is called bad luck.”

Ronald Amundson 14 December 1911

 

  1. Lead Your Teams Everyday with Integrity in Hand – Your teams are watching you. Your organization is watching you. Set the example of integrity in everything you do. No matter the cost, hold that dear. You owe it to your team, your organization, and everyone that believes in you. Integrity is everything. If you don’t, you’ll be a leader of none.

 

“No matter how important a man at sea may consider himself, unless he is fundamentally worthy the sea will someday find him out.”

Felix Riesenberg

 

  1. Embrace Innovation – Change requires explorers to believe it can be better. Your team wants to improve the customer experience. When they present ideas, remember even if you don’t believe the idea will work, that doesn’t matter.  What does matter is they believed tomorrow can be better – that is what matters.

 

“There never was a great man yet who spent all his life inland.”

Herman Melville

 

  1. Get Your Team Curious – Curiosity can spill the milk from the refrigerator when you are 5 years-old, or discover the next Uber. Provide time, for your teams to be curious. Teams involved are accountable.

 

The sooner we learn to be jointly responsible, the easier the sailing will be.

Ella Maillart

 

  1. Sailing for Fun, or sailing to a destination – Know the Difference – Exploring is encouraged. However, if you have a destination, when your team is shifting focus and doing only activities that are fun, keep moving the boat forward.

 

“To reach a port we must set sail –

Sail, not tie at anchor

Sail, not drift.”

― Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

Point 5.1 – Be Productively Paranoid – In Jim Collin’s book, “Great by Choice” he stresses productive paranoia.  Have a plan A…and B…and C.  Be comfortable with change and assume that plan B has a 50/50 chance of quickly becoming the plan A.

 

“Just because I am paranoid does not mean that someone is not out to get me”

― Don Darkes, 6692 Pisces the Sailfish

 

Point 5.2 – Minimally Required – Define what’s minimally required for success.  Whether you’re leading an organization, a team, program or project, understanding ‘done’ is essential. After that’s defined you can tackle done+1, if needed. 

 

At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.

–  Robin Lee Graham

 

 

References

 

Bluewater Sailing. (2015). Nautical Quotations. Retrieved August 15, 2015, from http://www.bluewatersailing.com/quotes.php

 

Previous articleThe Eradication of Performance Reviews
Next articleDigitize Your Business: Faster Business Outcomes with PaaS
Peter is a technology executive with over 20 years of experience, dedicated to driving innovation, digital transformation, leadership, and data in business. He helps organizations connect strategy to execution to maximize company performance. He has been recognized for Digital Innovation by CIO 100, MIT Sloan, Computerworld, and the Project Management Institute. As Managing Director at OROCA Innovations, Peter leads the CXO advisory services practice, driving digital strategies. Peter was honored as an MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award Finalist in 2015 and is a regular contributor to CIO.com on innovation. Peter has led businesses through complex changes, including the adoption of data-first approaches for portfolio management, lean six sigma for operational excellence, departmental transformations, process improvements, maximizing team performance, designing new IT operating models, digitizing platforms, leading large-scale mission-critical technology deployments, product management, agile methodologies, and building high-performance teams. As Chief Information Officer, Peter was responsible for Connecticut’s Health Insurance Exchange’s (HIX) industry-leading digital platform transforming consumerism and retail-oriented services for the health insurance industry. Peter championed the Connecticut marketplace digital implementation with a transformational cloud-based SaaS platform and mobile application recognized as a 2014 PMI Project of the Year Award finalist, CIO 100, and awards for best digital services, API, and platform. He also received a lifetime achievement award for leadership and digital transformation, honored as a 2016 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader. Peter is the author of Learning Intelligence: Expand Thinking. Absorb Alternative. Unlock Possibilities (2017), which Marshall Goldsmith, author of the New York Times No. 1 bestseller Triggers, calls "a must-read for any leader wanting to compete in the innovation-powered landscape of today." Peter also authored The Power of Blockchain for Healthcare: How Blockchain Will Ignite The Future of Healthcare (2017), the first book to explore the vast opportunities for blockchain to transform the patient experience. Peter has a B.S. in C.I.S from Bentley University and an MBA from Quinnipiac University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. He earned his PMP® in 2001 and is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Masters in Business Relationship Management (MBRM) and Certified Scrum Master. As a Commercial Rated Aviation Pilot and Master Scuba Diver, Peter understands first hand, how to anticipate change and lead boldly.