While I’m sure there are hundreds of things business can learn from Avatar, in this post I present four ideas that came to mind as I reflected on the movie over the last couple of days.

1. A visionary leader. James Cameron has had a vision for this movie for 14 years – he first wrote the movie script in 1995. The details were incredibly specific down to documented descriptions of the plants, animals, equipment on the Pandora planet. The ability and unwavering determination to take that vision and execute it with such precision across the hundreds of people involved in the making of the movie is remarkable.

Lesson for business: Do you or your leader have a remarkable vision for your business and an unwavering determination and passion to make it happen?

2. A vision that forces incredible innovation. The vision for Avatar was not able to be executed with the technologies that existed prior to the movie. The vision forced game changing innovation – 3-D camera innovations, facial expression camera technology, and computer generated visual effects advances.

Lesson for business: Will your business vision force game changing innovation that will alter the landscape of your industry and catapult you into the industry leader position?

3. Engage people emotionally in your story. I see that some people have criticised Avatar as being strong on visual effects but weaker on storyline. I have to disagree (although I would be first to admit that I am not an experienced film critic). Avatar really engaged me. I got weaved into the story. I’m still thinking about it a few days after watching the movie.

Lesson for business: Are you just selling clients on the features of your offerings? Or are you wrapping them up emotionally in the a remarkable breathtaking story that excites them and sticks in their mind like superglue?

4. Human profits should never come ahead of life. This point is a little different from the ones above – it is more about a key message in the movie rather than the approach to the movie itself. The message I took away from the story is that humans have destroyed their own planet and are prepared to destroy life on Pandora in the name of business and industry profit. My conclusion from the movie is that the value of preserving the rich living environment on Pandora is far greater than any value of profits to human business and industry.

Lesson for business: Let’s not get to the point where we have destroyed our planet and need to search for another planet to destroy in order to fulfil our profit needs. Instead let’s find ways to generate profits while preserving our precious resources, environment, and society on Earth.

On a final note, as a Wellingtonian (New Zealand), well done to Weta Digital who did much of the visual effects for Avatar -  you make us proud yet again.

To find out more about the background of Avatar, check out the video below. Click here if you can’t see this video.

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The fresh air of the Wairarapa, New Zealand

I’ve been reflecting on something Seth Godin wrote in his New Year’s day post welcome to the frustration decade:

…And, to top it off, savings are thin and resource availability isn’t what it used to be. A lot of people ate their emergency rations during the last decade. Look for this frustration to be acted out in public, and often.

My concern is whether our businesses and industry also ate our emergency rations during the last decade – the rations of resources, environment and society.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that businesses and industry make a critical contribution – creating employment, providing necessary products and services, fueling economic growth, and providing returns to investors. But they also consume resources, impact the environment, and influence societies. As businesses and industry move into the new decade I believe that you and I (who operate within businesses and industry) need to pay as much attention to the latter set of considerations as we do to the former set. As a powerhouse in our communities our businesses and industry have the muscle to make a difference in the world – let’s make it for the good.

Many leaders have already shown us the way, making a contribution to profit AND purpose:

• Terracycle – a business that creates value from waste (see my post TerraCycle – A Business Built on Waste and Worm Poop)
• Interface – a petroleum intensive flooring manufacturer well on their way to having zero impact on the environment by 2020 (see my post Interface Looking after Tomorrow’s Child)
• TOMS Shoes – for every pair of shoes sold TOMS Shoes gives a pair of shoes to a needy child (see my post One for One – TOMS Shoes)

Our world, our society needs us to step up and to continue this same lead in our own businesses and industries for the next decade and beyond. Small changes now can make a big difference in the future.

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But unexpected ideas may also be things you and I take for granted – like lighting and water.

William Kamkwamba was a village boy living Malawi. When Malawi was struck with food shortages in 2001, his family with 6 other children lived on one meal a day and his parents could no longer afford for him to attend school. William started reading science books at the library to continue his education and one day read a book on how windmills could generate electricity and pump water. At age 14 William built his family a windmill using branches, bicycle parts and scraps from a scrapyard. At first it lit one light for the house. Later William enhanced this to four lights and then added a second windmill to pump water for the village’s irrigation.

Like many unexpected ideas William’s windmill generated attention and media coverage. William has now spoken at TED twice and his most recent presentation is included in the video below. If you can’t see the video click here.

William is now studying at the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa on scholarship.

William can be an inspiration to us all to try something different to change our circumstances for the better.

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Like any good story this one has the potential to tell us something about ourselves. Employment is important – we need to pay the mortgage and feed our families. But when we go off to work do we leave a piece of ourselves behind, and take on a slightly new persona to meet the expectations and objectives of our organisations? In the name of being professional do we spend 40+ hours a week hiding a small part of our true selves away? For these 15 advertising executives, the redundancy would no doubt have been devastating, but was perhaps also a release allowing them to be true to themselves and pursue a new calling.

What’s your true calling and how do you fulfill this while also paying the bills?

See Lemonade trailer. If you can’t see this video click here.

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First, this is just a fantastic thing to do that makes a contribution to people in need.

Second, if you are an employee at TOMS Shoes you certainly have a higher purpose to work towards. You’re working hard to make a difference, and not just to maximise profit as is the case in most commercial businesses.

Third, they have such a powerful story and point of difference that is at the core of their business. The story is unexpected and people will be naturally interested. There is no need to come up with some superficial marketing and advertising gimmick to get people’s reluctant attention. The business naturally gets people’s attention – willingly!

Fourth, as Seth Godin mentions in his post of TOMS Shoes, people who wear the shoes make a statement. Of all the shoes they own, their TOMS Shoes will be the ones that they talk about. They will pass on the TOMS Shoes story by word of mouth, and those who identify with the story will buy their own pair and make their own contribution to the TOMS Shoes movement.

TOMS Shoes was foundered by Blake Mycoskie after a holiday in Argentina, where he saw children without shoes in local villages. The TOMS Shoes shoe design is based on shoes worn by local Argentinian farmers. The brand TOMS is derived from the word ‘tomorrow’.

See the TOMS Shoes story in the YouTube video below.

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We have a choice to make during our brief brief visit to this beautiful green and blue living planet – to hurt it or to help it.

Ray Anderson, Founder of Interface, 2009

I watched the below presentation from Ray Anderson on www.ted.com a couple of days ago and it was an unexpected inspiration. From the above quote you may think that Ray Anderson is an environmentalist. And perhaps he is, but he is also the Founder of the worlds’ largest carpet tile manufacturer Interface Inc.

In 1995 Ray came to the realisation that business and industry were the largest contributors to the decline in the environment as well as the only hope to save it. He set out on a mission of sustainability – to provide an inhabitable planet for Tomorrow’s Child. To achieve this, Interface set the goal to transform their petroleum intensive business to have zero impact on the environment by 2020. In the last 14 years the company has made impressive progress by minimising waste, using renewable materials and renewable energy, recycling their used products, and introducing efficiencies into their processes. As a result of this transformation Interface’s greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by 90% in 14 years.

At the same time Interface’s growth has increased and its profits have doubled. Ray believes that their mission for sustainability has been an incredible marketplace differentiator, securing the goodwill of customers in a way that no marketing or advertising ever could. The mission has also generated a stronger team focused on a shared higher purpose.

Ray Anderson and Interface have taken the lead. They have proven that business and industry can be sustainable and profitable – even more than that, that it can be a better business model. Now that we know this, now that we know it is possible, is it not our duty to follow and make the same transformations in the businesses we work in?

Glenn Thomas, one of Interface’s employees wrote the below poem entitled Tomorrow’s Child, inspired by Interface’s mission of sustainability:

Tomorrow’s Child (Written by Glenn Thomas)
Without a name, an unseen face
and knowing not your time nor place
Tomorrow’s Child, though yet unborn,
I met you first last Tuesday morn.

A wise friend introduced us two,
and through his sobering point of view
I saw a day that you would see,
a day for you, but not for me.

Knowing you has changed my thinking,
for I never had an inkling
That perhaps the things I do
might someday, somehow, threaten you.

Tomorrow’s Child, my daughter-son
I’m afraid I’ve just begun
To think of you and of your good,
Though always having known I should.

Begin I will to weigh the cost
of what I squander, what is lost
If ever I forget that you
will someday come to live here too.

Watch the below TED Talk video clip of Ray Anderson’s presentation. In my view it is essential viewing for anyone in business or industry who cares about the legacy they leave on our world. It is 16 minutes long.

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In New Zealand where I live, the most common chocolate brand is Cadbury. Cadbury’s products are differentiated – good quality, large variety, recognised brand, distinctive purple colouring. All very good.

But compare Cadbury with Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory (my daughter has been watching the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and yes I know it is make believe, but it still raises some useful comparisons). Wonka himself is different. And his business differentiation goes far beyond Cadbury’s quality, variety, and branding. He has the only chocolate factory in the world that uses a waterfall to mix his chocolate. He uses squirrels to open the nuts. He has a glass elevator that moves sideways as well as up and down. He is experimenting with never seen before products and delivery channels – a never ending gobstopper, a ‘full meal’ chewing gum, and a teleporter for chocolate bars.  He uses only Oompa-Loompas to work in his factory. Most of all he creates mystery and exclusivity around his chocolate factory, so much so that goldern tickets to visit the factory are highly valued items. If you haven’t seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, check out the movie trailer below, which gives a good summary of Willy Wonka differentiation.

Willy Wonka differentiation is what this blog is about. Differentiation that is so different that it stops people in their tracks and they can’t help but pay attention. What could you do to include some Willy Wonka differentiation in your business?

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“There was a time when people did bold things to open new frontiers. We have collectively forgotten that. Now we are at a time when boldness is required again.”
Bill Stone, 2007

Unexpected ideas come from inspired leaders driven to achieve the unachievable. Bill Stone is one of those leaders.

Stone has a fascinating background. He has led and participated in many international deep cave expeditions including the deepest caves known to man. His company Stone Aerospace develops equipment for exploring new frontiers – initially deep caves, but now also space. Stone Aerospace’s inventions and products include propulsion units, autonomous robotic vehicles, 3-D mapping systems, communication systems, and life support systems.

But it is Stone’s future planned missions that are really exciting, and at the same time mind blowing in terms of their magnitude, complexity, and risk.

Searching for Life on Europa
Stone Aerospace has built and is testing an autonomous robotic vehicle – the DEPTHX, which may one day be sent by NASA to explore an ice covered ocean on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. Scientists believe there is strong possibility of life in the ocean, and there is hope that such a mission would return the first proof of life off Earth.

Mining Earth’s Moon for Rocket Fuel
And if that isn’t enough, Stone is also planning an expedition to mine the Earth’s moon for rocket fuel by 2015. Previous research indicates that there may be 10 trillion tonnes of water buried at Shackleton Crater on the South Pole of the Moon. The plan would be to mine the water and separate it into liquid oxygen and hydrogen – the ingredients for rocket fuel. The fuel would not be returned to Earth, but rather used to stock spacecraft fueling stations in low Earth orbit. Stone has set up the Shackleton Energy Company to raise capital and then commercialise this venture.

To me Bill Stone is an inspiring leader. His missions seem impossible, but yet you can’t help but get caught up in the magic of the vision. It probably doesn’t matter if he pulls it off or not. He is setting bold targets and sending us off on a new journey of exploration and discovery that may just shatter our conservative beliefs about what is possible.

Watch the below TEDTalk video clip of Bill Stone’s presentation to the TED conference. It is 17 minutes long and worth every minute.

More details about Bill Stone’s missions can be found in the CDNN article Visionary Bill Stone counting on unmanned vehicles.

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Moller M400 Skycar

Moller’s company Moller International has been developing the M400 Skycar for many years, but has not yet released a production version to market. If and when the M400 is released, it will showcase many revolutionary features that could re-define personal transport. With an expected price tag around US$100,000 the M400 will:

• fly at up to 300 mph (~482 kmph)
• take off and land vertically (as people don’t have runways in their backyards)
• hover
• travel on roads (at least for short distances)
• be powered by renewable ethanol
• take 4 passengers

To date the M400 has performed tethered vertical take off testing, but the vehicle is still some way from a final product ready for market. The delays relate to engineering complexities and safety requirements. Vertical take off and landing is a very difficult engineering feat, which has only been achieved by a handful of expensive military aircraft. To ensure that it is safe for private use, the M400 also has built-in backup computer systems and engines which will activate if the primary systems fail. Prior to release to market the M400 must pass FAA flight certification.

Some commentators are skeptical whether this unexpected idea will ever be a reality. But in my view Dr Moller is persistently following his passion and his dream. If this tenacity does one day pay off then the Skycar will be an awesome product that could re-shape personal transport forever.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEMrgO3XxQs[/youtube]

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