Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC
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0:25 - 0:27Now, I don't want to complain,
-
0:27 - 0:30but it's really scary
being an entrepreneur. -
0:30 - 0:32As a business owner,
-
0:32 - 0:35you're constantly worried that people
are going to make fun of your products, -
0:35 - 0:37even if one of those products
-
0:37 - 0:41is a book called Knitting with Dog Hair -
-
0:41 - 0:42it's a real book.
-
0:42 - 0:45I don't know if you guys
can see the call-out, but it says, -
0:45 - 0:47"Stop vacuuming and start knitting."
-
0:49 - 0:50As a business owner,
-
0:50 - 0:53you're constantly worried
that people are going to realize -
0:53 - 0:55when you didn't think of everything,
-
0:55 - 1:00like the fact that the acronym
to your business name spells ASS - -
1:01 - 1:03it's a real hair salon.
-
1:04 - 1:06And many like me are worried
-
1:06 - 1:10that people are going to find out
that you've made a mistake. -
1:10 - 1:14I'm here to face
one of my greatest challenges -
1:15 - 1:19and admit that I lost 250,000 dollars
-
1:19 - 1:22because I didn't understand
a fundamental principle -
1:22 - 1:24about how business products were made.
-
1:24 - 1:27And I'm not here
just to get that off my chest; -
1:27 - 1:30I'm here because I think
that understanding my mistake -
1:30 - 1:32can help save your job -
-
1:32 - 1:34save it from robots,
-
1:34 - 1:38save it from downsizing,
globalization, all kinds of things. -
1:38 - 1:41Now, I'm going to explain,
but first we have to go back, -
1:41 - 1:45way back, to my first big business idea.
-
1:45 - 1:49I was at Carhop at Sonic, 14 years old,
-
1:49 - 1:52looked like I was a solid 10 years old
-
1:52 - 1:56and very excited to embark
on my new career in the service industry. -
1:57 - 2:01So my first big idea
was to wear rollerblades to work. -
2:02 - 2:05I know, I was 14, okay?
That was my first idea, okay? -
2:05 - 2:08And nobody was wearing
rollerblades to work, -
2:08 - 2:10unlike what you've seen
in the advertisements -
2:10 - 2:11or the old-timey commercials.
-
2:12 - 2:13And this was going to be a win-win.
-
2:13 - 2:16I was going to make more money in tips
because of the novelty, -
2:16 - 2:20and my business's would benefit
for people would come from all over town - -
2:20 - 2:23none of the other fast-food chains
had anyone on rollerblades. -
2:23 - 2:25So it's a good situation.
-
2:25 - 2:27The only problem was
that the owner of my Sonic said -
2:27 - 2:32that under no uncertain terms was anyone
allowed to wear rollerblades to work. -
2:32 - 2:33Small problem.
-
2:34 - 2:37So after a number
of these fruitless negotiations, -
2:38 - 2:40one day I just showed up to work
-
2:40 - 2:43in a pair of rollerblades,
with nothing to change into. -
2:44 - 2:47Yeah, I rollerbladed
the three miles from my house -
2:48 - 2:50to work, uphill,
-
2:51 - 2:54with no other change of shoes.
-
2:54 - 2:56The only thing I did bring with me
-
2:56 - 2:59was a legal release of liability
that I had drafted, -
2:59 - 3:02channeling my inner lawyer at 14,
-
3:02 - 3:05which I had presented
to the only manager on duty. -
3:05 - 3:06Now,
-
3:06 - 3:10picture a 17-year-old
Napoleon Dynamite-looking character -
3:10 - 3:11with real greasy hair
-
3:12 - 3:16who just stared at this document
for like a minute and finally said, -
3:17 - 3:20"Whatever. Just do whatever you want."
-
3:20 - 3:22I was pretty proud of myself.
-
3:22 - 3:23Big success, right?
-
3:23 - 3:26Just up until the moment
that I actually had to start working. -
3:26 - 3:30So the way it works at Sonic is
you pick up this tray of food, -
3:30 - 3:31and then you back up
-
3:31 - 3:33through these two really,
really heavyset doors; -
3:33 - 3:37they're made to close real fast
so that flies can't get in. -
3:37 - 3:40So the problem was
because I had rollerblades on, -
3:40 - 3:43I didn't have any traction
to actually open the doors. -
3:43 - 3:46I tried to go sideways,
but I just couldn't get them open. -
3:46 - 3:48A couple of times
my co-workers helped out, -
3:48 - 3:52but then they got quickly annoyed
because they had their own stuff to do. -
3:52 - 3:54So let's recap my big idea:
-
3:55 - 3:57my manager is really upset with me
-
3:57 - 3:59for putting him
in this difficult position; -
3:59 - 4:02my coworkers are upset with me
for giving them extra work to do -
4:02 - 4:04and holding up the line;
-
4:04 - 4:07and I, I'm exhausted.
-
4:07 - 4:10After wearing rollerblades
for five straight hours, -
4:11 - 4:12I had to rollerblade home
-
4:13 - 4:15three miles, uphill,
-
4:16 - 4:18in the snow.
-
4:18 - 4:19(Laughter)
-
4:19 - 4:22Okay, now this is
the audience-participation portion -
4:22 - 4:23of my talk.
-
4:23 - 4:27What do you think it feels like to have
the world's dumbest business idea? -
4:27 - 4:30What do you think
it feels like in your body? -
4:30 - 4:31What do you guys think?
-
4:31 - 4:32Audience: Sad.
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4:32 - 4:33Sad.
-
4:34 - 4:35You're nauseous.
-
4:36 - 4:38You're embarrassed,
-
4:38 - 4:41like you don't even want
to go work the next day. -
4:41 - 4:43Yeah, that's what you think it feels like,
-
4:43 - 4:47but it actually feels
just like the world's best business idea -
4:47 - 4:50right up until the moment
that reality smacks you in the face -
4:50 - 4:52and tells you otherwise.
-
4:52 - 4:56So this big point, this big difference
of not understanding -
4:56 - 5:00that your ideas could feel really amazing
but actually be quite awful, -
5:00 - 5:04I didn't understand that
until I made a much, much bigger mistake. -
5:04 - 5:08So let's fast forward
to about five years ago. -
5:08 - 5:13I'm this eager 29-year-old entrepreneur
with a number of successes under my belt, -
5:13 - 5:16enough to have 250,000 dollars to invest.
-
5:16 - 5:17Pretty good.
-
5:17 - 5:20Now, did I put it away for a rainy day?
-
5:20 - 5:23No, entrepreneurs don't do that.
-
5:23 - 5:26Did I buy a fleet of Teslas
for my company? -
5:27 - 5:29Entrepreneurs do that, but I didn't.
-
5:29 - 5:32Did I hire a marching band
to follow me around -
5:32 - 5:33everywhere I went for a year?
-
5:34 - 5:36No, but that would have been
an amazing way -
5:36 - 5:37to start today's presentation.
-
5:37 - 5:39No, it's actually a really funny story.
-
5:39 - 5:41I took all that money,
-
5:41 - 5:44and I invested it
in a young startup called Facebook. -
5:44 - 5:47And over the last five years,
I’ve actually grown my money -
5:47 - 5:49like a thousand times.
-
5:50 - 5:52Yeah, that actually did not happen either.
-
5:52 - 5:53(Laughter)
-
5:53 - 5:54I wish.
-
5:54 - 5:56No, what I did was I used the money
-
5:56 - 6:00to build software for lawyers
and their clients, legal software. -
6:00 - 6:04And I would have been way better off
not just investing in Facebook stock -
6:04 - 6:07but hiring the marching band
because I lost all that money; -
6:07 - 6:11it was another one of those ideas
that felt really good at the time -
6:11 - 6:14but turned out to be
a terrible business idea, -
6:14 - 6:18and I didn't realize it
until all the money had been spent. -
6:18 - 6:22Now, legal software is kind of difficult
to explain in a 10-minute talk -
6:22 - 6:25so I wanted to come up
with an equally bad analogous product -
6:25 - 6:28so we just had something
that we mutually understood -
6:28 - 6:30was kind of like the product I created.
-
6:30 - 6:33So let's just assume for the sake
of this talk that what I invented -
6:33 - 6:37was the poo trap of legal software, okay?
-
6:37 - 6:38(Laughter)
-
6:38 - 6:42So yeah, I, Diana Kander,
created the SNM-looking, -
6:42 - 6:44"never have to pick up after your dog
-
6:44 - 6:48but none of your friends or neighbors
will make eye contact with you -
6:48 - 6:49while your dog is wearing it"
-
6:50 - 6:51poo trap of legal software.
-
6:51 - 6:55Now do I have to take it off the screen
so you guys will listen? Okay. -
6:55 - 6:56So ...
-
6:57 - 7:01the problem that I had made
was I misunderstood invention -
7:02 - 7:04for innovation.
-
7:04 - 7:06You see, here's the key difference.
-
7:06 - 7:09Invention is when you come up
with a brand-new idea -
7:09 - 7:11but nobody cares.
-
7:11 - 7:14It doesn't actually
provide value for anybody. -
7:14 - 7:16It could actually cause havoc for people.
-
7:17 - 7:20And innovation is where you
come up with a new idea, -
7:20 - 7:24and it actually creates value
for your intended audience. -
7:24 - 7:25That's the key difference:
-
7:25 - 7:30whether or not your big idea
is actually valuable for your customers. -
7:30 - 7:32And the thing is, you can't decide;
-
7:32 - 7:35only your customers can tell you.
-
7:35 - 7:40And while the poo trap
of legal software was a novel idea -
7:40 - 7:41and had never existed before,
-
7:41 - 7:46it provided about as much value
as - well - the actual poo trap. -
7:46 - 7:50It was a Frankenstein-level invention
-
7:50 - 7:52that the world didn't want.
-
7:52 - 7:53My customers didn't think
-
7:53 - 7:55that it was worth
their time or money to use. -
7:55 - 7:59And this difference
between invention and innovation -
7:59 - 8:02and whether or not
what it is that you're doing -
8:02 - 8:03is actually creating value,
-
8:03 - 8:07it doesn't just haunt entrepreneurs;
-
8:07 - 8:11it affects all of us
in our jobs every single day. -
8:11 - 8:12Let me explain.
-
8:13 - 8:16At work, we confuse doing stuff,
-
8:16 - 8:19doing our best at the tasks
we've been assigned - -
8:19 - 8:21that's invention -
-
8:21 - 8:25with actually creating value
for the company where we work - -
8:25 - 8:26that's innovation.
-
8:27 - 8:30So about two months ago,
I conducted a study -
8:30 - 8:33where I asked over 1,000
business owners and managers -
8:33 - 8:37how many of their employees
were irreplaceable. -
8:37 - 8:40An irreplaceable employee
is somebody who's so valuable -
8:40 - 8:44that no matter what happens
to the business, to the economy, -
8:44 - 8:47they're the absolute last person
you would ever want to let go. -
8:47 - 8:50They're like the Chewbacca
to your Han Solo, -
8:50 - 8:53the Mr. Smithers to your Mr. Burns.
-
8:53 - 8:54Pretty important.
-
8:55 - 8:56And these managers,
-
8:56 - 8:59they talked about irreplaceable employees
-
8:59 - 9:03as people who created value
outside their job description. -
9:03 - 9:07They didn't actually talk about people
who were incredible at their actual jobs; -
9:07 - 9:10they talked about what they did
above and beyond: -
9:10 - 9:13how they constantly found
new opportunities for the business, -
9:13 - 9:15how they created efficiency
-
9:15 - 9:18and solve problems
that other people didn't notice. -
9:19 - 9:21They talked about these employees
-
9:21 - 9:24as having this entrepreneurial mindset,
-
9:24 - 9:28like they saw their work as a product
and their company as their customer, -
9:28 - 9:29and they were constantly checking
-
9:29 - 9:32to see whether what they
were creating was of value -
9:32 - 9:34or whether they needed to adjust it.
-
9:34 - 9:35So ...
-
9:36 - 9:37think about that for a second.
-
9:37 - 9:40We all know that company
you currently work for -
9:40 - 9:43needs to change to stay relevant.
-
9:43 - 9:44They do.
-
9:44 - 9:47Well, the same is true for your job.
-
9:47 - 9:50In order to make it relevant
on an ongoing basis, -
9:50 - 9:52in order to become irreplaceable,
-
9:53 - 9:57we have to innovate our work
and what it is that we do. -
9:57 - 9:58My research shows
-
9:58 - 10:00that if you want to make this transition
-
10:00 - 10:03from being a liability
on the payroll books -
10:03 - 10:05to actually being an asset,
-
10:05 - 10:07then you need to transition your thinking
-
10:07 - 10:10from just showing up to work every day
-
10:10 - 10:13and going down your to-do list,
of what it is that you have to do, -
10:13 - 10:15to actually thinking strategically
-
10:15 - 10:18about what you should be doing, right?
-
10:19 - 10:22You need to go from playing defense
with your to-do list -
10:22 - 10:25to playing offense
on how to create value. -
10:26 - 10:30So it's great to talk about it,
but how do you actually do it? -
10:30 - 10:31Well, I have a few suggestions.
-
10:32 - 10:35I think you should spend
at least 15 minutes each week -
10:35 - 10:37thinking about one of three things:
-
10:37 - 10:43innovating yourself, innovating your job,
and innovating your company, okay? -
10:43 - 10:44Let me give you some examples.
-
10:44 - 10:47So if you're thinking
about innovating yourself -
10:47 - 10:49as a way to create more value
for the company, -
10:49 - 10:54why don't you make a list of 10 reasons
you should be fired today? -
10:55 - 10:58I know, we don't spend much time
thinking about this topic, -
10:58 - 11:00but think about it.
-
11:00 - 11:02That list is like a blueprint
for how you could create -
11:02 - 11:04new value for your company.
-
11:05 - 11:09Next, think about how to create
new value by changing your job. -
11:09 - 11:13Think about 10 ways you could change
what you do at work every day -
11:13 - 11:16to save yourself five hours per week.
-
11:17 - 11:18We've all got efficiencies,
-
11:18 - 11:21but we don't spend enough time
thinking about them. -
11:21 - 11:22And finally,
-
11:22 - 11:26think about how to create new value
by innovating your company. -
11:26 - 11:27Why don't you make a list
-
11:27 - 11:30of 10 different things
your department could do -
11:30 - 11:32to engage the employees
-
11:32 - 11:34and then maybe offer to lead
one of those initiatives. -
11:35 - 11:38These are incredible ways
to create value for your organization -
11:38 - 11:40and become one of those
irreplaceable employees, -
11:40 - 11:43but the list I've given you
is just three suggestions. -
11:43 - 11:44The reality is
-
11:44 - 11:46there are hundreds
of questions you can ask -
11:46 - 11:49in each one of these categories.
-
11:49 - 11:51The trick is to turn it into a habit.
-
11:52 - 11:55The trick is to go from going down
your to-do list every day -
11:55 - 11:58to thinking about
what you should be doing, -
11:58 - 12:02like, Should you be going
to all those meetings? -
12:03 - 12:04No.
-
12:04 - 12:07Is this project the absolute
best use of your time -
12:08 - 12:09or is there something on your wish list
-
12:09 - 12:13that you think could create
even more value to the organization? -
12:14 - 12:16I've come a long way
-
12:16 - 12:19to deciding to wear
rollerblades to work at Sonic -
12:19 - 12:21and coming up with a poo trap
of legal software, -
12:21 - 12:26and it's all because I stopped inventing
and started innovating. -
12:27 - 12:29This focus on creating value
has allowed me -
12:29 - 12:32to not only get over my big failure
-
12:32 - 12:36but write a New York Times bestseller,
start and sell a company, -
12:36 - 12:39and become an innovation consultant
to Fortune 1000 companies. -
12:40 - 12:45It's been an incredible journey
but it doesn't just have to be my story. -
12:45 - 12:46I implore you
-
12:46 - 12:49to take off the metaphorical rollerblades
-
12:49 - 12:51and stop asking yourself,
-
12:51 - 12:53Am I doing a good job?
-
12:53 - 12:56Am I working hard at the things
they've asked me to do? -
12:56 - 12:59And instead, ask, Am I creating value?
-
13:00 - 13:01Thank you.
-
13:01 - 13:03(Applause)
- Title:
- Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC
- Description:
-
How to create a culture of innovation and get the employees to think like entrepreneurs? “It's really scary being an entrepreneur. As a business owner, you're constantly worried that people are going to make fun of your products,” author of All In startup, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling novel, Diana Kander says. In her talk, Diana Kander examines how innovating yourself, your job, and your company is the key to success. By thinking about one of these three things, you can save yourself 5 hours per week at work.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 13:05
Peter van de Ven approved English subtitles for Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC | ||
Peter van de Ven accepted English subtitles for Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC | ||
Peter van de Ven edited English subtitles for Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC | ||
Peter van de Ven edited English subtitles for Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC | ||
Napakcha P. Dutta edited English subtitles for Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC | ||
Napakcha P. Dutta edited English subtitles for Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC | ||
Napakcha P. Dutta edited English subtitles for Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC | ||
Napakcha P. Dutta edited English subtitles for Protect your job from innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC |