Hellerau - Where Art and Tech Dance Together

Yesterday the final presentation day of futureSAX - The Saxon Innovation Conference took place at the Festspielhaus Hellerau, an iconic building in the smallish suburb Hellerau on the edge of the globally known city of Dresden.

The area of what a little bit more than 100 years ago just heath land with scattered woods became an entrepreneurial and dance hotspot shortly after its founding as the first German "garden city" in 1909. The visionary entrepreneur, Karl Schmidt (link to "German History in Books and Images" by @GHIWashington), envisioned not only a new furniture production site but also a suburb where working, education and living would jointly go together in the most natural form (literally embedded into the landscape of that strip of land).

The prosperous business owner and his outstandingly new ideas attracted famous architects of the time to this new "venture" and furthermore pulled in artists like Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, a Swiss musical pedagogue, who finally became the initiator of creating the Festspielhaus Dresden to perform rhythmical gymnastics.

So it made more than sense to choose this location to showcase some of the amazing innovations, like startups scaling up and projects in the making, as well as established regional companies that have gone to take exponential technologies to transform there sometimes centuries-old business models. As 100 years earlier not only local and Saxon players, but also attendees from Berlin and other locations found their way to Hellerau. BTW, the location is most conveniently reachable via eMobility as a tram line (No. 8) operated by the local public transport corporation DVB AG has a stop ("Festspielhaus") nearby with a direct connection to downtown Dresden.

Saxony once again showed, that despite the edgy position within Germany, it has houses a high number of passionate and clever minds who are not just talking about shaping the future. They have dared to hand in their ideas, projects and startups putting their future on the "dance floor" where once Gret Palucca (and others) brought modern dance to the public.

To cut the story short, the prize ceremony has been banned on "digital tape" namely Facebook Live by technology passionate members of the SMWA_SN (Saxon State Ministry for Labour, Economics, and Infrastructure). Prior to the prize ceremony, a group of young dancers of the Tanzraum Dresden performed a wonderful that in some way resembled the struggles entre-/intra-/extrapreneurs face while working on their innovative ideas to see the bright light of success. It may take quite some time, not days, not a week, rather years or even decades.

Looking forward to the next edition of futureSAX in 2018 and the path there, rich of shaped serendipity encounters (here a short clip with John Hagel, co-chair of the Deloitte Center for the Edge on shaped serendipity) along the way.

Wrapping up on a day full of surprise encounters, meeting new and old friends one sentence captures what innovation is literally all about:

Innovation is like performing arts, you passionately have to stay with it through training, repetition until the idea becomes a reality. 

In short, the review on yesterday's experience will be captured what was coined #PresencingStatus back in the "early days" of occDD (Open Coffee Club Dresden, an idea we brought back from Boston back in 2009):

1. Good - perfect location; dense, somewhat crowded place (enabling serendipity encounters); meeting friends from Berlin who are also in the #ExponentialTechnologies space; most inspiring conversations
2. Tricky - 5 GHz WiFi networks may lead to connection problems (h/t to Hellerau's guest network that worked flawlessly over the whole time); noisy crowd during the pitches 
3. Learned - Humble Inquiry (a concept Edgar H. Schein, Prof. Emer. of MIT Sloan School of Management with family roots also from Bad Schandau, Saxony as he writes in his autobiography "Becoming American"; "Are you at futureSAX in Hellerau today?") really led to a most surprising and rich conversation with someone who had not been aware of futureSAX 
4. Action - Doing what we always do, weaving the various threads of information, events, and persons together into a bigger picture of Saxony that is truly more than what can often be read in the media outside Saxony  

The Creative Process is Key

My personal role model about intercultural collaborative and most creative value creation is the Semperoper Ballet, the ballet company within the Semperoper Dresden led by Creative Director Aaron S. Watkin since 2006.

After individual pieces created by contemporary choreographer William Forsythe have been presented at various productions on stage here in Dresden, now a full-evening ballet, #ImpressingTheCzar, is premiering tomorrow (7pm with box office at the house opening an hour earlier, with some luck you'll eventually get some tickets) with several performances after that (check out the Semperoper schedule).

Get a flavor of what it means to create a piece so different from what you normally would expect a ballet to be on stage, and the different. 

Impressing the Czar - Week I

Impressing the Czar - Week II

Impressing the Czar - Week III

Impressing the Czar - Week IV

Impressing the Czar - Week V

In case you now got curious on how your creative thinking (and acting) process can be sparked by ballet and the creative process around check out http://www.williamforsythe.de where you'll find more work created by William Forsythe. Have a look at the following article by Prof. em. Edgar H. Schein on "The Role of Art and the Artist" that gives a few more thought inspirations on why it is valuable to visit a ballet performance (even or especially you are not familiar with the piece).

Innovation - Catching the Mystery

When in late August at the 26th International Cartographic Conference hundreds of experts on mapping flocked over the course of five days the conference rooms even an outsider of this "narrow", though, in our connected times more than relevant, the field could attach to the various sessions. The reason for that: every one of us has had a map in his or her hand for sure (if not on paper, or computer screen then on a mobile device).

The theme of the conference was "From Pole to Pole" and Prof. Manfred Buchroithner laid out in a radio interview the specific aim was to bring regions outside the scope of easy reach into awareness. The use of the latest laser technology, data transformation, and the latest display technology (e.g. Plastic Logic) was the focus.

Could there come out real new and value-creating innovation out of such a conference, which by definition is often bounded to experts only?

http://bit.ly/Kf5Lqe (Creative Commons)

In a WIRED article dated back in 2011 author, Mark Brown laid out what the Robust Robotics Lab at MIT was working on in the field of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), "Kinect-carrying drone automatically builds 3D maps of rooms". The project Archaecopter (filming archaeological sites) jointly done together by the HTW Dresden and the Freie Universität Berlin shows a more recent application also for "indoor" use.

Singularity University Spin-offs Matternet and ARIA Logistics focus more on the transportation side of this new technological innovation. However, there is a lot in common between the different application fields, especially in terms of technology (behind it).

Too often is technology best to be used in our close vicinity, and personal needs (nitty-gritty things we encounter every day, or several times in our life that we wish to faster and easier to happen), and yet it often seems to need the detour via some special purpose field from which the technology may come into general public use, and become a true innovation (other than just an invention). What one often encounters (as myself this morning proposing to an employee of a kitchen shop using autonomous UAVs for 3D indoor mapping for flats or houses) is an instant of fear that comes of the listener to new ideas. The instant reaction was, "Honestly I am not in technology. Actually, we are using the traditional methods, which is sufficient. We don't need anything new!"

That got me more than thinking (once again) in which way innovation can be brought into the world without triggering fear in the people's minds who will be in one or the other way affected by technology?

Edgar H. Schein's paper on "Kurt Lewin's Change Theory in the Field and in the Classroom: Notes Toward a Model of Managed Learning 1" may shed some light on why innovation is so difficult to achieve.

My personal TAKE AWAY:
It often comes to real breakthrough innovations when least expected (but the underlying forces, including timing and needs of stakeholders, have come together in a suitable way). Most often what made the innovation become reality was a need and a direct connection to the real-life experiences of the people who then make it possible.

Share your experience in the comments if you like.

Cheers, Ralf

Culture an Innovation Accelerator?

Driving home with a friend from a presentation today on why business leaders shouldn't leave out Facebook, Google+, and social networks in general.

The question arises, "May I ask, what you perceive of what I am doing and especially my value proposition?"

His answer, "I frankly don't know what you are doing!"

... a clear answer. But why am I troubled?!

About six months ago the head of Dresden Marketing, the city of Dresden's own marketing company, Dr. Bettina Bunge called me the "Alpha-Blogger of Dresden" during a workshop about the value proposition of the local creative class for business, research, tourism, and general economic well-being. A nice description of my work for about two decades by now, which states my personal love, and passion for the city pretty much to the point. Yet where is the value proposition seen in that perception? Who does share that there is value in connecting people, building bridges across countries, cultures, and disciplines, and on the sideline promotes Dresden across the globe?

Maybe we have a more scattered "culture landscape" than we might imagine and asked ourselves. Edgar Schein, professor (emer.) at MIT Sloan School of Management has written a well known book bringing more light to the issue, called "Organizational Culture and Leadership".

We really don't know about reality until we ask the honest question, accessing our own ignorance. And from there we learn as our emotions (clearly mine) accelerate and rise high. As long as the cultures of the giver and taker have not arrived at a shared understanding of each other innovation is on a stony path, and the "horsepower of entrepreneurs" can't be put effectively onto the road.

... so is it true that "Culture is the Way to Innovation"? What's your personal experience?

Behavioral Economics - when clusters do not work

Today I learned - once again- from a local cluster manager that any event inviting experts (which of course cost a few Euros) is not feasible nor doable. The local hightech companies would not be in the position to do so. Especially as the Eastern German part of the country still is the "extended work bench" of Western Germany, or other global corporations.

What I have seen for the last 18 years (1993 I was working as an assistant in the archeological institute in Dresden for 8 weeks, pretty much entrenched into the Eastern German culture and history) there is potential in the locals and local companies to raise well on top of the corporate world. However something is in play in the economic "system" that hinders the uprise.

Copyright: http://bit.ly/gKYLnr

May it be the state funding that is constantly being infused into the country? May it be "closed circles" of "men in grey flanell suits"? May it be a lack of money on the banks and VCs that almost are non-existent (compared with the Silicon Valley situation)?

Who knows. What I know is that there is something happening underneath the surface, nobody wants openly to talk about.

What is the unquestionable that hinders entrepreneurs, startups, and free-thinking people to get to their real potential in life and work?

A short glance in Edgar Schein's book about culture opens new worlds of understanding.

What do you think is reasoning the behavior?

Changing to the Better - Would You Dare?

In tough times, challenges ahead, just take the detour to the bookstore closest to you. Stroll around (in the real Presencing mode) and let surprises catch you. Mine was definitely MikeRother's newest book which I found in German version (quite uncommon for lean or state of the art international business literature).

My key points taking away:

1. Change can't be imposed to running processes (which are mainly influenced and lived by people) through workshops, specialists/experts, teaching outside the workplace
2. MBM - Management by Means (to go the next level managing what you have most elegantly)
3. Start small - even though you can't really foresee what the future brings
4. Do that - quick, transparent, and learn immediately on feedback
5. Mike mentioned a holistic view, where everything is connected, which goes right into system dynamics
6. ... ask yourself where you are today (with the company), where you want to be (in the future), and what is currently hindering you. Then decide on small action that go into that future direction (immediately (!)) and let your folks on the shopfloor and office have their way (they mostly know best)

Reading through the following books is also highly recommended in doing the follow up and putting the read into practice. They are not mentioned in the book, however it became clear to me that the fields are highly interconnected. A small investment for a person, a huge for personal learning, and an immense for the people and the organization!

1. Business Dynamics, John Sterman
2. Theory U - To Lead from the Future as it Emerges, Otto Scharmer
3. Process Consultation, Edgar Schein

Unintended Surprise

Who do you think is the real "designer" of a firm?


Supposedly you think it is the management team up in the top ranks. Right they have the overview from above but can they see what really drives action?


How often do we see the C-level folks down in the lines working side by side with the operators? How often is the engineer (or specialist) talking to the C-level or operators and in which attitude?


The operators within the three cultures of a firm (executives, engineers, operators) are the ones who tackle the uncertainty of daily work that could not be predicted by engineers 100% in advance (EdgarSchein, MIT Sloan School of Management, The Cultures of Management - The Key to Organizational Learning). They are probably the most underrated people within the organization.


To cope with the challenges of the 21st century EdgarSchein proposes the following (which I can underwrite through own experience within the three cultures at an automotive plant):

"Until executives, engineers, and operators discover that they use different languages, make different assumptions about what is important, and until they learn to treat the other cultures as 

valid and normal, we will continue to see failures in organizational learning efforts. We will see powerful innovations at the operator level that are ignored, subverted or actually punished, we will see technologies that are grossly under-utilized, we will see angry employees railing against the impersonal programs of re-engineering and down-sizing, we will see frustrated executives who know what they want to accomplish but feel impotent in pushing their ideas through complex human systems, and we will see frustrated academics wondering why certain ideas like employee involvement, socio-technical systems analyses, high commitment organizations, and concepts of social responsibility continue to be ignored, only to be reinvented under some other label a few decades later."(taken from the above article)

We certainly have the chance in our hands as executives, engineers, and operators to co-create our future together - dialogue will be the first step. For doing the dialogue it needs time we should put into place a "new" management philosophy. On that in my next post in
about week.

Cheers and looking forward on what positive experiences you have done yourself within your own organization with the "three levels of culture"