Beekeepers understand the importance of a fertile nurturing ground and cross pollination. Likewise, author Peter Gloor teaches readers that those who want to gain a business advantage shouldn’t spend their time chasing ideas, but instead should nurture the cool ideas all around them to foster exciting new trends. In Coolfarming, he reveals the proven, four-step process for farming cool new ideas and unleashing a swarm of creative output. Featuring real-life examples from companies like Linux, Twilight, Procter & Gamble, and Apple, this invaluable and insightful book explains: how to provide a fertile nurturing ground for developing original ideas; how to determine what “cool” means for one's target group; what makes something worthy of being the next big thing; how to turn creative dreams into real products by enlisting the help of a dedicated and passionate Collaborative Innovation Network (CIN); and how to carry new ideas over the tipping point and turn them into widespread phenomena. Those who want to stay ahead of the curve and ride a wave of profit need to learn how to find, develop, and popularize the trends of tomorrow. Coolfarming moves individuals and organizations to crosspollinate creative ideas and resources that yield highly sought-after results.
Table of Contents:
C O N T E N T S
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IX
1 HOW DO YOU TURN A COOL IDEA INTO A TREND? . . . . . . . 1
The Four Steps of Coolfarming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Finding the Trendsetters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Growing Your Own Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Coolfarming Is More Than Managing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Coolfarming the World Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Coolfarming Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
2 SWARM CREATIVITY: The Force That Fuels Coolfarming . . 29
The More Swarms Communicate, the Better They Perform . . . . . .34
Swarm Business Beats “Black Swans” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Lessons from the Beehive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Swarm Creativity in Ghana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Essentials of Coolfarming and Coolhunting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
3 CREATORS: Building the Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
COIN Leaders Are Not Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Eating and Feeding Royal Jelly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Royal Pheromone—Nicholas Negroponte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Coolfarmers Are Coolhunters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
How Do Leaders Get Selected? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
Coolfarming Tourists—Immersing Yourself into the Swarm . . . . . .88
Coolfarming a Palm Tree Plantation—
Empowering the Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Running an Internet Café in Ghana—
Using the Swarm to Police the Swarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
Seven Guidelines for Creators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
4 COINS: Building the Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
How Picasso Created Cubism Through a COIN . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Gain Power by Giving It Up—Rotating Leadership . . . . . . . . . .106
Start Out as a Small Fish in a Big Pond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Six Guidelines for COINs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
5 CLNS: Teaching and Preaching the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Increasing Sales Through a CLN of Salespeople . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
Learning About Innovations Through the
P&G Technology Entrepreneurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Coolfarming in Twilight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Six Guidelines for CLNs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
6 CIN: Building the Buzz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Immersion Gets the Swarm to Explosion—LEGO Mindstorms . . .137
Building the Heat—Yummy Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
From Creators to CINs—
Illustrating the Process Through Social Networks . . . . . . . . . .150
Five Guidelines for CINs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
7 COOLHUNTING: Find the Trends Through
the Trendsetters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Coolhunting Combines the Wisdom of Crowds,
Experts, and Swarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Coolhunting U.S. Presidential Candidates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
Coolhunting the Value of Brands:
Looking for the End of the Federer Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174
Why the World’s Most Influential Intellectual
Is an Islamic Cleric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Predicting the Outcome of the Academy Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
Predicting Stock Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180
Predicting the Actions of People Using Social Badges . . . . . . . . .181
8 WHAT MOTIVATES COOLFARMERS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Coolfarmers Show Yhteisöllisyys and Gemeinsinn . . . . . . . . . . . .186
Coolfarmers Are Ethical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190
COINs Need Cops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192
Coolfarmers Are Happy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193
Coolfarmers Are Altruistic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196
AFTERWORD: It’s Not Chief Executives,
but Chief Creators We Need! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225
About the Author :
PETER GLOOR (Cambridge, MA), the coauthor of Coolhunting (978-0-8144-7386-3), has enjoyed a 20-year career as an executive for UBS, PwC, and Deloitte. He divides his time between the MIT Sloan School of Management, Helsinki University of Technology, and the University of Cologne, and has been growing his startup company, galaxyadvisors.
Review :
..".offers inspiration for individuals anxious to turn ideas into products and dreams into reality...puts the process of product development into a contemporary context...valuable resource for any budding entrepreneur." --ForeWord
