Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a motivational keynote speaker and leading authority on global business trends including ‘Big Data’ and predictive analytics, the Millennial Generation and the Social Media Revolution, and these trends are all drivers of innovation for corporations. Innovation isn’t about adjustment, advancement or improvement. It’s about reinvention, rebellion and revolution. True innovation is core change. It shakes the basic assumptions underneath entire business models and entire industries. The best example might be the transformation from electronic typewriters to modern day computers. It didn’t matter how much you improved your typewriters, the advent of computers annihilated the market. These days, it seems like every industry is lining up to be transformed by innovation. Innovative newcomers are competing against industry giants, and winning! Every business, not matter how large or small, needs to stay on top of innovations cropping up around the world, or risk annihilation otherwise. Patrick’s approach is dynamic and inspiring. His keynote programs are built on case histories so attendees can immediately see what other businesses are doing to protect their market segments from outside competition.
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Technology and Innovation: Keynote Speech
There are two types of innovation: (1) incremental innovation and (2) disruptive innovation. Incremental innovation comes from the center of industries. Experts, scientists, and specialists make incremental improvements year after year. Car companies are a great example. Every year, they introduce new models of their various cars, each one slightly better than the last. By contrast, disruptive innovation comes from the sides. It comes from the fringe. It comes from “adjacent markets” that are in similar but distinct industries. Disruptive innovation invalidates existing business models. That’s why business executives are often caught off guard.
It turns out that there are models that executives can use to anticipate where disruptive innovation will come from. There are tools they can use to be the disrupter, not the disrupted. Using these models and tools allows leaders to stay on offense, rather than retreat to defense. Change creates opportunity, and change is happening faster than ever. That means there are enormous opportunities for businesses to steal revenue from other businesses. There are opportunities to expand into new markets. There are opportunities to thrive!
True innovation is almost always a function of technology, so staying abreast of technological trends is key to survival. But the goal isn’t just to survive. It’s to thrive. And those who thrive are those who lead the technological change. They are the ones revolutionizing industries. They’re the ones annihilating existing business models. And what does that require? Failure. Those who thrive are always those who risk failure to introduce new products and services. Failure is essential to process of innovation. Thomas Watson, Sr., once said “if you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”
Accepting failure as part of the innovation process sounds easy but is, in fact, very difficult for most executives to stomach, especially public companies. The trick is to ‘manage’ the inevitability of failure. The BBC created a ‘gambling fund’ for those project ideas which failed the normal screening process, and “The Office” was one of the first failed ideas to qualify. It ended up becoming one of their top grossing shows. The ‘gambling fund’ allowed BBC executives to take risks while limiting the downside. It allowed them to budget for the risk of failure, and that allowed them to innovate and thrive.
Business Speaker on Technology and Innovation
Patrick Schwerdtfeger is the author of the award-winning book “Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed” (2011, Wiley) and a regular speaker for Bloomberg TV. He spoke at TEDx Sacramento in August 2012 and was asked to come back in June 2013. He has spoken about global business trends at technology conferences and business events across the United States and Canada as well as destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. So if you’re looking for a dynamic business speaker on technology and innovation, please click the button below to check availability for your event date.
