Creating Blue Oceans

Mystery Guest Revealed: Sheryl Connelly

With much fanfare, it is time to reveal the identity of Gabor’s current guest on the Slingshot Visionary series. It is non-other than Sheryl Connelly, Head of Ford Motor Company’s Global Consumer Trends and Futuring. Listen to Gabor’s interview with Sheryl, and find out the answer to the question: 

How can you conceptualize the future?

Congratulations to Meg Allwein for the fastest correct submission. Meg wins a coveted copy of the anniversary picture book The Ford Century: Ford Motor Company and the Innovations that Shaped the World.  

Join the fun: Be the first to guess the name of our next inspirational guest, and win! Subscribe to the Slingshot Living Inner Circle newsletter and receive all the clues. 

Re-Imagine your business, re-imagine your life. Click on over to Slingshot Living for more inspiration. 

 

Slingshot lands on 800-CEO-READ’s “Books to Watch” list

 

Find out why readers say that Slingshot is “one of the most refreshing business books in a long time.” 

Treat yourself and all those you wish to infatuate to a copy of Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life. Now available at fine book retailers, on the New Arrivals table at Barnes & Noble and online. 

 

Jamaica success story: Blue Ocean Strategy and green energy

We previously shared the story of the Caribbean Maritime Institute, which diffentiates itself from all other tertiary institutions in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region through its application of Blue Ocean Strategy. As an exciting follow on, and further example of Blue Ocean Strategy, see how CMI is empowering youth while simultaneously helping local communities through its Green Energy Project. 

From Jamaica Information Service: 

Executive Director of the Caribbean Maritime Institute, Fritz Pinnock, lauded the initiative, stating that it is a great example of the institute’s Blue Ocean Strategy.

The Blue Ocean Strategy challenges the institute to break out of the hitherto ‘red ocean’ bloody competition, by exploring and exploiting uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant.

He said that the CMI, within the next two years intends, to convert at least 20 per cent of its energy consumption to renewable energy. The project will also facilitate the development of a fresh water resource solution for the Cays, and produce 100 pounds of ice per day for the residents who have no regular source of power to preserve their catch on a daily basis.

[Image via Google Images.]

Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life now available in stores

We’re delighted to announce the official launch of Gabor’s pioneering book Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life — now featured in book stores across the U.S. and Canada. See how the inspiring message and framework of Slingshot is relevant to your business and personal success. 

Via an excerpt from Slingshot: 

There is growing recognition that creativity, or “resourcefulness” as I like to re-label it, is a vital component for successfully handling unexpected, unprecedented and rapidly changing surroundings. As an example, the Bloomberg Businessweek article “What Chief Executives Really Want” points out:

According to a new survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM's Institute for Business Value, CEOs identify "creativity" as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future.  

Think about this for a moment. Of all personal qualities, business leaders are picking creativity as the key foundation of future success, ahead of such traditional pillars as operational expertise, industry know-how, interpersonal skills or even innovation. How fascinating. There is clearly a mindset shift in motion, which leads to the question: if creativity is thrust to the forefront of vital leadership qualities, how can you fully embrace it, how can you tap into your personal reservoir of resourceful thinking? 

The power of the Slingshot Framework is now at your fingertips. Stop by your local book retailer and ask for your copy of Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life. 

Guess who? Our next mystery guest…

This week we continue with the fun twist on our Slingshot Visionary series: Be the first to correctly guess the identity of Gabor’s next visionary guest and win a fabulous, limited edition story book of the mystery guest’s iconic company.  

Here are a few clues about this mystery guest:  

Clue 1: Executive at an American company founded by a leading business visionary in the early 20^th century.

Clue 2: She has the title of ‘Futurist’

Additional Clues: To be revealed to Slingshot Inner Circle subscribers. 

To Win: Be the first person to send the mystery guest’s name to guesswho@slingshotliving.com 

Deadline: Thursday 28 July at 07.59 AM USA 

Interview will air on SlingshotLiving.com on Thursday 28 July at 08.00 AM.

Additional clues to be revealed in our next Slingshot Inner Circle Newsletter. Don’t miss out on the fun!

 

Mystery Guest Revealed: Chris Guillebeau

With much fanfare, it is time to reveal the identity of Gabor’s current guest on the Slingshot Visionary series. It is non-other than Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Non-Conformity, world traveler and commentator, who is followed by a small army of remarkable people at chrisguillebeau.com. Listen to Gabor’s interview with Chris, and find out the answer to the question: 

How can you re-imagine the status quo?

Based on the clues provided, many of you were in the hunt to correctly guess the identity of our mystery guest. Congratulations to Georgina Taylor for the first, correct submission. Georgina wins an autographed copy of Chris’ book The Art of Non-conformity.  

Join the fun: Be the first to guess the name of our next inspirational guest, and win! Subscribers of the Slingshot Inner Circle Newsletter will automatically receive the next set of clues, or you can mark your calendar to check back here on Tuesday 19 July.  

Re-Imagine your busines, re-imagine your life. Click on over to Slingshot Living for more inspiration. 

Defying Conventional Wisdom: Lessons of the square watermelon

Does your business have a distinct and unconventional strategy? Are you content with reaping the benefits of some past innovation, or are you continuously re-thinking your business? Especially in today’s environment of accelerated life cycles, market convergence, and the inundation of consumers with overwhelming choices, challenging conventional wisdom and pursuing innovation must both be ongoing processes.

Just look at the valuable lessons learned from the story of the square watermelon via Hard Knox Life:  

Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than their  US counterparts and therefore don’t have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it. But some Japanese farmers took a different approach.  ”If the supermarkets want a space efficient watermelon,”  they asked themselves, “How can we provide one?” It wasn’t long before they invented the square watermelon.

If you enjoyed this inspiring story, then you will want to pick up a copy of Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.

[Image via Tradekool.]

Guess Who? Our Next Mystery Guest...

Enjoy the fun, new twist on our Slingshot Visionary series: Guess the identity of the next visionary joining Gabor on Slingshot Living and win a complimentary copy of the mystery guest’s book.  

Here are a few hints about this mystery guest: 

• Hint 1: Admired Internet Entrepreneur and Non-Conformity Crusader
• Hint 2: One of his ambitious goals is it to visit every country in the world, and he is already ¾ of the way there

Additional Hints: To be revealed to Slingshot Inner Circle subscribers. 

To Win: Be the first person to send the mystery guest’s name to guesswho@slingshotliving.com 

Deadline: Thursday 14 July at 07.59 AM USA

Interview will air on SlingshotLiving.com on Thursday 14 July at 08.00 AM.

If you need more hints, we’ll continue to reveal additional clues in our next Slingshot Inner Circle Newsletter. Don’t miss out on the fun!

 

Defying Conventional Wisdom: Kid-Powered School Bus

No matter what your market position is, whether you are an established market leader or a newcomer, it is to your strategic advantage to continuously challenge and redefine market standards. 

Just take a look at how one Netherlands company is challenging the status quo of transportation by harnessing the abundant energy of children for its kid-powered school bus.  

From one of our favorite AllTop features, the Holy Kaw!:

There is one renewable resource that shocks and awes people the world over, is abundant at all times and of which one company in the Netherlands plans to take full advantage: The energy of children.

This kid-powered school bus can accommodate up to ten children and one adult, plus might even burn off enough energy to make them sit still for all of ten minutes once they get to school.

Now there’s the perfect way to nip that obesity epidemic in the bud and save a bundle on transportation costs!

[Image via Holy Kaw!]