[Music]
today I’m gonna talk to you about good
ideas how many people here have ever had
a good idea okay and how many of you
here have ever turned that good idea
into something big
okay your hands your hands I got you
back there so I get it there’s a gap
between having a really good idea and
making it happen and you would think
that gap would be shrinking when all the
world’s information is just one click
away and it’s not it’s getting bigger
why is that it’s because ideas are
fragile ideas make us vulnerable
it’s scary sharing something new and
different especially in an age where
businesses have over-rotated on saving
money and managing risk so what are we
gonna do about this widening gap well
I’m a Ridge Builder I’ve worked with
companies like Cisco and Arby’s and
MetLife to close the gap from idea to
action and today I want to do the same
thing for you because the world needs
your ideas the world needs you to take
action I mean we need to save the
honeybees in our food supply we need to
fix her aging power grids develop new
vaccines and cures to old diseases like
cancer the world needs you
so today let’s do something big let’s
start a revolution and innovation
revolution let me tell you what I know
about innovation the last few years I’ve
worked with companies to generate more
than a billion dollars faster than ever
before by simply acting on the good
ideas of their employees it sounds so
simple but trust me it’s hard and
through this work I’ve learned three
barriers that
get in the way of a shaping this unseen
bridge from idea to action and the first
one is that we’re trapped we’re trapped
in old school thinking and it’s not our
fault you see we’re going through this
great transition we’re going from one
age to the next we’re going from the
Industrial Age think very linear
compartmental easy assembly line handoff
to the Information Age
I think hyper-connected think change
moving at warp speed
dare I say ludicrous speed we have
technology enabled everything we have
devices talking to devices people are
talking to devices and devices are
talking back to people yes we’re going
through this great transition yeah we
can’t physically see it and I don’t know
about you I did not buy ticket to this
new age and yet we’re here so that leads
us to our first breakthrough we have to
stop thinking old school we have to stop
thinking and doing things the same way
they’ve always been done and we have to
start embracing this information age you
have to start bracing new tools and
techniques like collaboration technology
and information the second thing that
gets in our way is that we have a
limited idea in view of what innovation
is you see we think innovation usually
is this there’s this mind-blowing market
disrupt to think and it’s so big and
it’s so grand it’s only available for
the few like the genius or the powerful
or the connected but I’m here to tell
you that’s just not true the innovation
is truly just change that matters one
small change can make a really big
difference I want to introduce you to my
friend Mike here I met Mike a couple of
years ago I was working with the
internet security company and they
invited me in to facilitate these good
ideas from their employees and service
of reaching their ultimate goal they
wanted to be the top ten
internet security companies and that’s
how I met Mike a couple of weeks before
our innovation event Mike emails me
desperate he begs me please please
please don’t make me have to do this
pitch idea thing I gave Mike a call and
I said Mike what’s the deal he said well
you don’t notice about me but I’m kind
of a shy guy I said okay I get it you
said this is gonna be in front of the
executive team this could turn out to be
one of those career limiting moves you
hear about and then he says this and
besides I don’t have an innovative idea
to share ding ding ding that was it
I said Mike can you tell me this over
the last month at work is there anything
you’d want to change we said sure have
tons of those ideas and I was like well
that’s it I explained to my the
innovation is truly just change that
matters and that what he should do is
sort through those tons of ideas find
his best one polish it and get ready to
pitch well fast forwards for our
innovation event my pitch is his idea
beautifully and believe it or not he
wins this innovation competition which
meant the executive team invested in his
idea now fast forward couple years later
and this internet security company was
acquired by networking giant Cisco
Systems and actually today one of the
founding principles that Cisco uses to
secure the world’s networks is in part
due to Mike’s idea which meant your
network and my network would be less
safe if Mike hadn’t pitched his idea so
you see might learned a very valuable
lesson and it’s our second breakthrough
and that is that we must redefine
innovation as simply change that matters
so that it’s accessible to everyone you
and me now the third thing that gets in
our way is that we think we have to risk
it all to do something big
and who could blame us stories like this
this right here this is a garage that’s
not just any garage this is the garage
where Disney started Walt and his
brother Roy started the first Disney
studio in that garage we now know that
Disney has gone on to be one of the
highest-grossing media companies in the
world all started by two dudes risking
it all to do something big in this
garage now that is not the only business
bedtime story we’re told Apple Amazon HP
harley-davidson all these companies were
started in a garage meaning that we
think to do something big those great
companies are started by someone who
risked it all to do something big
well I’m here to tell you that in this
information age the next great
innovation is going to come from here
yeah cubicle and I’m not talking about
one of those hip co-working spaces you
hear about and all those startup
founders are together building the
latest app nope I’m talking about your
cubicle in your office and your lab you
see the challenges and opportunities
that we face in this information age are
great and it’s going to take the
combined talent and resources of people
working within organizations to make
them happen and you know that should
give us some comfort we all like our
jobs right okay okay
we like to complain about our jobs every
once in a while but we like the benefits
of having a job the benefits like this
this is direct deposit there’s a certain
amount of comfort we get knowing there’s
a certain amount of money gonna be in
our bank account every single month we
like benefits like taking vacations
who doesn’t love sipping mai-tais on the
beach the only way you can do that is if
you have backup back at the office
covering your work while you’re gone
and the last bit of what we like for
having our jobs as we like our
colleagues
okay okay they get on our nerves just a
little bit but we like working as a team
we like the confidence and support we
get knowing that there are others with
the complementary strengths to ours so
that we can do something bigger than
just if we did it by ourselves
so we like our jobs we like the benefits
of our jobs and so we kind of made this
story up in our heads that we have to
risk it all to do something big because
of all those garages well I’m here to
tell you you can absolutely keep your
job innovate and do something big with
this concept intrapreneurship it’s kind
of hard to say intra meaning inside
preneur ship we think entrepreneurship
we think innovation outside put it
together intrapreneurship it’s this
concept that you have entrepreneurship
inside an organization this concept is
not new it was actually made most famous
in the 1980s by the former CEO of GE
Jack Welch and he believed that his
employees were the key to success and he
and his leadership team empowered and
enabled these employees to do some
really incredible things like entering
in emerging markets at the time it was
very risky nobody was doing it and super
uncertain and yet it paid off
another group of employees discovered
this idea of adjacent markets
that’s this concept we have one product
or solution you tweak it just a little
bit you plot to a new industry and boom
new market new revenue stream all this
intrapreneurial for ge ge went from a 12
billion dollar company to a 208 billion
dollar company during this time all
thanks to the leadership empowering and
enabling entrepreneurs inside an
organization you might be sitting back
out there saying ok ok that’s a pretty
good story you got any more proof I got
you I want you to meet Stephanie
Stephanie here was a chemist at DuPont
she was working actually on a steel
project when one day she discovered the
potential
of an impenetrable fiber she worked on
her little sad sad gig got a champion
inside and this fiber would actually be
known as Kevlar you see Stephanie is in
part responsible for the invention of
the Kevlar vest that saves millions of
lives of her first responders in our
military every single day she was a
successful entrepreneur working inside
the corporate framework meet Ken ken was
a junior employee at Sony when one day
he was you know working tinkering around
with his daughter’s Nintendo and he
created a prototype for a gaming system
that gaming system would become the Sony
Playstation now you would think when Ken
walks in there with his little prototype
of the gaming system he’d be welcomed
with woke with open arms employees and
and leaders would be curious about this
this prototype no way most of the
employees and leaders were very
resistant and Sony going into the gaming
industry they decided that it was super
competitive they didn’t have any history
didn’t have a lot of expertise yet Ken
persevered
he found a champion inside and we now
know that he was successful who could
ever forget that quirky tagline playing
smash him now some of you parents back
there might be in the back of your minds
thinking that can I build we should they
had failed but gamers around the world
in Sony certainly are grateful he was
successful Sony is now one of the
leading players in the gaming industry
all thanks to Ken an intrapreneur
working inside the corporate framework
this last success story is about a group
of employees we’re not sure their names
but they work at Facebook and Facebook
is known for having hackathons a
hackathon is where they have an event
they invite their employees in they and
challenge them to innovate outside their
job description outside their normal
department in order to come up with
something new valuable for their users
and customers you throw in a little beer
pizza and fun you have a hackathon well
this particular hackathon this group of
employees came up with this
the facebook like button this is how we
connect in the modern world this is how
we show support for an idea a beautiful
family photo or a crazy cat video we
could you imagine what your life would
be like without the light button well
certainly Facebook is grateful that this
team of intrapreneurs came up with it
because now this is the de facto logo
for the world’s largest social media
network Facebook all thanks to a group
of intrapreneurs working inside the
corporate framework so this is just a
sampling of proof points for you that
entrepreneurship is alive and well today
and then it also should give you comfort
because it’s our third break for it
through you don’t have to quit your job
to do something big but you do have to
transform you have to go from being an
employee to an entrepreneur which is an
entrepreneur in the inside what does
that mean that means you have to stop
thinking that you work for someone and
you have to start thinking that you’re
working towards something something
bigger than what you could do alone and
that is exactly how the next great
innovation is going to come from that
cubicle you see you have the power to
stop this old-school thinking you have
the power to embrace this information
age and all the new tools and techniques
that come with it it is up to you to
help redefine innovation as simply
change that matters so everyone can get
involved and help solve the challenges
of the world and you can absolutely
transform into an entrepreneur now I
have one final story for you a little
inspiration for the road this story is
about a man who know a thing or two
about positive revolutions and what can
happen when a brave few act on their
good ideas to change the world and that
man is dr. Martin Luther King jr. he
said a movement that changes both people
and institutions is a revolution that is
exactly what we need right now an
innovation revolution you see it’s up to
us we the people people like Stephanie
and Ken and Mike and you and
it is up to us to turn our good ideas
into something big to change the world
so let this be your official invitation
welcome to the innovation revolution now
let’s do this
[Applause]
[Music]
today I’m gonna talk to you about good
ideas how many people here have ever had
a good idea okay and how many of you
here have ever turned that good idea
into something big
okay your hands your hands I got you
back there so I get it there’s a gap
between having a really good idea and
making it happen and you would think
that gap would be shrinking when all the
world’s information is just one click
away and it’s not it’s getting bigger
why is that it’s because ideas are
fragile ideas make us vulnerable
it’s scary sharing something new and
different especially in an age where
businesses have over-rotated on saving
money and managing risk so what are we
gonna do about this widening gap well
I’m a Ridge Builder I’ve worked with
companies like Cisco and Arby’s and
MetLife to close the gap from idea to
action and today I want to do the same
thing for you because the world needs
your ideas the world needs you to take
action I mean we need to save the
honeybees in our food supply we need to
fix her aging power grids develop new
vaccines and cures to old diseases like
cancer the world needs you
so today let’s do something big let’s
start a revolution and innovation
revolution let me tell you what I know
about innovation the last few years I’ve
worked with companies to generate more
than a billion dollars faster than ever
before by simply acting on the good
ideas of their employees it sounds so
simple but trust me it’s hard and
through this work I’ve learned three
barriers that
get in the way of a shaping this unseen
bridge from idea to action and the first
one is that we’re trapped we’re trapped
in old school thinking and it’s not our
fault you see we’re going through this
great transition we’re going from one
age to the next we’re going from the
Industrial Age think very linear
compartmental easy assembly line handoff
to the Information Age
I think hyper-connected think change
moving at warp speed
dare I say ludicrous speed we have
technology enabled everything we have
devices talking to devices people are
talking to devices and devices are
talking back to people yes we’re going
through this great transition yeah we
can’t physically see it and I don’t know
about you I did not buy ticket to this
new age and yet we’re here so that leads
us to our first breakthrough we have to
stop thinking old school we have to stop
thinking and doing things the same way
they’ve always been done and we have to
start embracing this information age you
have to start bracing new tools and
techniques like collaboration technology
and information the second thing that
gets in our way is that we have a
limited idea in view of what innovation
is you see we think innovation usually
is this there’s this mind-blowing market
disrupt to think and it’s so big and
it’s so grand it’s only available for
the few like the genius or the powerful
or the connected but I’m here to tell
you that’s just not true the innovation
is truly just change that matters one
small change can make a really big
difference I want to introduce you to my
friend Mike here I met Mike a couple of
years ago I was working with the
internet security company and they
invited me in to facilitate these good
ideas from their employees and service
of reaching their ultimate goal they
wanted to be the top ten
internet security companies and that’s
how I met Mike a couple of weeks before
our innovation event Mike emails me
desperate he begs me please please
please don’t make me have to do this
pitch idea thing I gave Mike a call and
I said Mike what’s the deal he said well
you don’t notice about me but I’m kind
of a shy guy I said okay I get it you
said this is gonna be in front of the
executive team this could turn out to be
one of those career limiting moves you
hear about and then he says this and
besides I don’t have an innovative idea
to share ding ding ding that was it
I said Mike can you tell me this over
the last month at work is there anything
you’d want to change we said sure have
tons of those ideas and I was like well
that’s it I explained to my the
innovation is truly just change that
matters and that what he should do is
sort through those tons of ideas find
his best one polish it and get ready to
pitch well fast forwards for our
innovation event my pitch is his idea
beautifully and believe it or not he
wins this innovation competition which
meant the executive team invested in his
idea now fast forward couple years later
and this internet security company was
acquired by networking giant Cisco
Systems and actually today one of the
founding principles that Cisco uses to
secure the world’s networks is in part
due to Mike’s idea which meant your
network and my network would be less
safe if Mike hadn’t pitched his idea so
you see might learned a very valuable
lesson and it’s our second breakthrough
and that is that we must redefine
innovation as simply change that matters
so that it’s accessible to everyone you
and me now the third thing that gets in
our way is that we think we have to risk
it all to do something big
and who could blame us stories like this
this right here this is a garage that’s
not just any garage this is the garage
where Disney started Walt and his
brother Roy started the first Disney
studio in that garage we now know that
Disney has gone on to be one of the
highest-grossing media companies in the
world all started by two dudes risking
it all to do something big in this
garage now that is not the only business
bedtime story we’re told Apple Amazon HP
harley-davidson all these companies were
started in a garage meaning that we
think to do something big those great
companies are started by someone who
risked it all to do something big
well I’m here to tell you that in this
information age the next great
innovation is going to come from here
yeah cubicle and I’m not talking about
one of those hip co-working spaces you
hear about and all those startup
founders are together building the
latest app nope I’m talking about your
cubicle in your office and your lab you
see the challenges and opportunities
that we face in this information age are
great and it’s going to take the
combined talent and resources of people
working within organizations to make
them happen and you know that should
give us some comfort we all like our
jobs right okay okay
we like to complain about our jobs every
once in a while but we like the benefits
of having a job the benefits like this
this is direct deposit there’s a certain
amount of comfort we get knowing there’s
a certain amount of money gonna be in
our bank account every single month we
like benefits like taking vacations
who doesn’t love sipping mai-tais on the
beach the only way you can do that is if
you have backup back at the office
covering your work while you’re gone
and the last bit of what we like for
having our jobs as we like our
colleagues
okay okay they get on our nerves just a
little bit but we like working as a team
we like the confidence and support we
get knowing that there are others with
the complementary strengths to ours so
that we can do something bigger than
just if we did it by ourselves
so we like our jobs we like the benefits
of our jobs and so we kind of made this
story up in our heads that we have to
risk it all to do something big because
of all those garages well I’m here to
tell you you can absolutely keep your
job innovate and do something big with
this concept intrapreneurship it’s kind
of hard to say intra meaning inside
preneur ship we think entrepreneurship
we think innovation outside put it
together intrapreneurship it’s this
concept that you have entrepreneurship
inside an organization this concept is
not new it was actually made most famous
in the 1980s by the former CEO of GE
Jack Welch and he believed that his
employees were the key to success and he
and his leadership team empowered and
enabled these employees to do some
really incredible things like entering
in emerging markets at the time it was
very risky nobody was doing it and super
uncertain and yet it paid off
another group of employees discovered
this idea of adjacent markets
that’s this concept we have one product
or solution you tweak it just a little
bit you plot to a new industry and boom
new market new revenue stream all this
intrapreneurial for ge ge went from a 12
billion dollar company to a 208 billion
dollar company during this time all
thanks to the leadership empowering and
enabling entrepreneurs inside an
organization you might be sitting back
out there saying ok ok that’s a pretty
good story you got any more proof I got
you I want you to meet Stephanie
Stephanie here was a chemist at DuPont
she was working actually on a steel
project when one day she discovered the
potential
of an impenetrable fiber she worked on
her little sad sad gig got a champion
inside and this fiber would actually be
known as Kevlar you see Stephanie is in
part responsible for the invention of
the Kevlar vest that saves millions of
lives of her first responders in our
military every single day she was a
successful entrepreneur working inside
the corporate framework meet Ken ken was
a junior employee at Sony when one day
he was you know working tinkering around
with his daughter’s Nintendo and he
created a prototype for a gaming system
that gaming system would become the Sony
Playstation now you would think when Ken
walks in there with his little prototype
of the gaming system he’d be welcomed
with woke with open arms employees and
and leaders would be curious about this
this prototype no way most of the
employees and leaders were very
resistant and Sony going into the gaming
industry they decided that it was super
competitive they didn’t have any history
didn’t have a lot of expertise yet Ken
persevered
he found a champion inside and we now
know that he was successful who could
ever forget that quirky tagline playing
smash him now some of you parents back
there might be in the back of your minds
thinking that can I build we should they
had failed but gamers around the world
in Sony certainly are grateful he was
successful Sony is now one of the
leading players in the gaming industry
all thanks to Ken an intrapreneur
working inside the corporate framework
this last success story is about a group
of employees we’re not sure their names
but they work at Facebook and Facebook
is known for having hackathons a
hackathon is where they have an event
they invite their employees in they and
challenge them to innovate outside their
job description outside their normal
department in order to come up with
something new valuable for their users
and customers you throw in a little beer
pizza and fun you have a hackathon well
this particular hackathon this group of
employees came up with this
the facebook like button this is how we
connect in the modern world this is how
we show support for an idea a beautiful
family photo or a crazy cat video we
could you imagine what your life would
be like without the light button well
certainly Facebook is grateful that this
team of intrapreneurs came up with it
because now this is the de facto logo
for the world’s largest social media
network Facebook all thanks to a group
of intrapreneurs working inside the
corporate framework so this is just a
sampling of proof points for you that
entrepreneurship is alive and well today
and then it also should give you comfort
because it’s our third break for it
through you don’t have to quit your job
to do something big but you do have to
transform you have to go from being an
employee to an entrepreneur which is an
entrepreneur in the inside what does
that mean that means you have to stop
thinking that you work for someone and
you have to start thinking that you’re
working towards something something
bigger than what you could do alone and
that is exactly how the next great
innovation is going to come from that
cubicle you see you have the power to
stop this old-school thinking you have
the power to embrace this information
age and all the new tools and techniques
that come with it it is up to you to
help redefine innovation as simply
change that matters so everyone can get
involved and help solve the challenges
of the world and you can absolutely
transform into an entrepreneur now I
have one final story for you a little
inspiration for the road this story is
about a man who know a thing or two
about positive revolutions and what can
happen when a brave few act on their
good ideas to change the world and that
man is dr. Martin Luther King jr. he
said a movement that changes both people
and institutions is a revolution that is
exactly what we need right now an
innovation revolution you see it’s up to
us we the people people like Stephanie
and Ken and Mike and you and
it is up to us to turn our good ideas
into something big to change the world
so let this be your official invitation
welcome to the innovation revolution now
let’s do this
[Applause]
[Music]
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