Ch. 2 Improvising Innovation

1. Ch. 2 Improvising Innovation

2. 1980 Earthquake in Naples, Italy • 4000 killed • 250,000 left homeless • Dangerous roads on the mountains • Mudslides and floods • No telephone or utilities

3. Improvisation • 6000 volunteers rushed to help with no planning or organization • Formed unofficial emergent groups • Local university students collected food and blankets and delivered them to the affected regions

4. Planning • The military had superior training in advanced planning techniques • They had an emergency response plan but took several days to put it into action • They restricted access to the more helpful volunteers who had been working for several days

5. Improvisation vs. Planning • Most think planning is faster and more effective than improvisation • Studies show, particularly in cases of natural disasters, that improvisation is more reliable than planned disaster relief

6. Script-Think • “the tendency to think that events are more predictable than they really are” • This explains why conspiracy theories arise so often

7. Honda’s Big Break • Honda came to the U.S. wanting to compete with Harley Davidson in the big motorcycle market • These bikes were unreliable and had many mechanical issues • Many employees rode around Los Angeles on small 50cc scooters that were never intended to be sold here in the U.S. • Many people became interested and soon Honda possessed 60% of the U.S. motorcycle market. • Most thought this was a strategic plan by corporate Honda of Japan but in reality it happened by chance

8. “Taking a Fix” • Before GPS, ships had to use known surroundings to triangulate their position • In 1985 a U.S. navy ship lost all power in the port of San Diego • They could not use their electro gyrocompass to help determine position • Their position was needed to determine when to drop anchor • If it was dropped too soon, they would be stuck in the harbor. If dropped too late, they would run ashore. • The team quickly derived a new equation to quickly find their position • Mathematically it was the most efficient solution possible

9. Team Effort • Individually, no one knew what they were doing but together, they developed an innovative response to an unexpected event even though no one knew how it worked.

10. “Innovation emerges from the bottom up, unpredictably and improvisationally, and it’s often only after the innovation has occurred that everyone realizes what’s happened. The paradox is that innovation can’t be planned, it can’t be predicted; it has to be allowed to emerge.”