No, this post is not about the recent study that showed that athletes wearing red score higher, notwithstanding that that study came to mind early this morning when I watched videos (thank you MSN and Silverlight!  they're great) of the women's gymnastic All-Around competition and noted that the winners were wearing pink, red, and red, respectively.  

It's about the continued discussion about Product (Red), the Bono brainchild which lets consumers buy stuff (there's that "stuff" again, see last post...) and generate proceeds which go to charity.  The concern is usually that consumers will be lulled into thinking that it's enough to buy something, and forego donations or other ways of getting involved more directly with causes or organizations with a cause.   Two posts on this topic recently, one by Marc Gunther and today's post by Douglas Paul on Fast Company's site go over this same ground. 

My take is sort of yes to everything that is a creative response to getting money and involvement and meets people wherever they are.  So yes to initiatives like (Red) (with the appropriate transparency, as Gunther points out), yes to creative appeals for outright donations like kiva.org, yes to educational approaches like MercyCorp's Action Center, yes to direct involvement like CityYear, yes yes yes.  And more--since as I often say, the icebergs are still melting.   I don't think of these existing within a limited universe where one "takes" from the other, and I don't think people who cave into their stuff urge but feel a bit better about the way they're helping a cause fools them into thinking they're doing a lot.  

More innovative approaches are better, whether red, blue, brown, green, yellow or purple.  

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The late-great George Karlin did one of the best comedy routines of all time about stuff.   

So speaking of stuff, I enjoyed the "Story of Stuff," a video (it's 20 minutes, by the way) and companion website called "The Story of Stuff," about where all our stuff comes from, and where it goes, and what the implications are.

It's a story we know, but it's well told:   A basic case for sustainable design.  It's a walk through the materials economy, pointing out the traps along the way that have human and environmental impact, and suggesting some basic intervention points, including addressing the root cause:  consumption mania.  

One of the little stories (and, while a bit preachy, she's a great storyteller) Annie Leonard tells is of a revelation standing in line at Radio Shack holding a $4.99 radio and realizing that there is no way that the price tag captured the cost and impact of that product.

Another is the staggering estimate that only one percent of what goes through the product lifecyle system is still in use by the consumer within six months.   The focus of this site and video are the U.S., and the examples are all U.S.-based.  But then again, we do lead the world, not only in men's swimming it would seem (go Michael, go!)  but in the ability to consume and trash...stuff.  

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I remember as a kid hearing that NASA's burst of innovation during leading to the 1969 moonwalk produced all kinds of products we know and love.  Tang (the awful orange juice powder) was reported to have been a product of that era (although it appears to only have been USED in space, poor astronauts).  And then there's the space blanket.  I know there were more.   The architectural daring-do of the Renaissance also comes to mind--with each city-state wanting its Cathedral to top the other's. 

Today, it seems that the Olympics plays that role with many companies--the incredible marketing opportunity and visibility being one key motivator.  As well, however, the feeling that the bar is set higher every four years--in athletic performance, certainly, but also in architecture, transportation, communications and the like.   

The Beijing Olympics appears to be no exception--in fact, for China, the Olympics is serving as the official roll-out of their nation as an innovation proving ground for the world.  And for companies as well, as Business Week's Reena Jana points out, it's proving to be a venue for testing and showcasing some of their great ideas.   Fast Company had already focused their July/August issue on innovations for athletes.  It's starting to be something to look forward to each Olympic season--the hot new, performance-enhancing gear. 

I don't know about you, but the unbelievable creativity and beauty of the Opening Ceremony staggered me.   Clearly so much technology was behind the effects--lighting, LED screens, pyrotechnics.  But the grace and beauty of Li Ning traveling the perimeter of the stadium to light the torch brought tears to my eyes.  And the sheer precision and control of the human beings--the 2,000 Tai Chi masters, the undulating boxes that appeared to be driven by hydraulics, but instead were humans crouching and standing in perfect precision--topped it all.  

So, thanks GE.   Your innovations are getting a nice showcase in Beijing (love your video).  And good job, Speedo.  Your suits seem to be delivering the medals for swimmers.   

 But my hero is the man who captured the grace and beauty and power and scale of China and showed it to to the world:   Zhang Yimou.  

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A popular topic amongst innovation bloggers is whether something new passes muster as innovation.  I always think this is sort of sniffy-snobby, since I think of innovation as a continuum, and because the task of innovating is very contextual.  

However, even I, an innovation ecumenicalist, had to draw the line at what the august International Herald Tribune dubbed as the latest innovation from M&M Mars:   "shell-less" M&M's. 

M&Ms are a part of our lifestyle, and universally understood as those chocolate candies with the little shell.  So a short blurb about how the shell-less versions are a varation on a well-known and well-loved theme MIGHT have been in order.  That's a particular genre of lifestyle commentary, like when Crayola introduces new crayon colors, or when Pilllsbury introduces a slimmed-down Doughboy.  Alternatively, a marketing brief on how a big brand is doing line extensions as sort of a tutorial, is another option.  (To be fair, this was in the advertising section.)

But I wouldn't have packaged this as an innovation story, nor would I have expected it to be covered that way.  And I think 2 pages is a lot!!

So, I guess, score one for the PR team at M&M Mars, but as for the venerable IHT, not so much. 

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I'm in New York right now and spent this morning meeting with a new client, a private foundation that will focus largely on microfinance.  We talked about how both philanthropy and microfinance are being driven so much by innovation and change.  It's clear that with respect to the world's pressing problems, "business as usual" simply isn't working well enough or fast enough, and new approaches are being sought and rewarded.  What was once staid check-writing is so full of innovation, with ideas like Ashoka's pioneering emphasis on social entrepreneurship, kiva.org taking micro-lending to the consumer, Pierre Omidyar's network concept, and the X Prize, as just a few examples.

It's not a coincidence that tech reporters like Steve Hamm of BusinessWeek and Rob Guth of the Wall Street Journal, are migrating to cover philanthropy; that Fast Company, which "grew up" covering Silicon Valley, has a social capitalist project; and that Stanford, thanks to agitators like Jeff Skoll and other alumni, opened a Center for Social Innovation as an adjunct to its graduate school of business.     

I think these guys have been bitten by the innovation bug in their own milieu, and they see the "action" in philanthropy and want to be a part of it; as well as wanting to participate in the change process.  That's what's gotten me motivated too!!

Here are some of the "innovation communication principles" that I shared today--words to live by, I hope.  And notice how they apply to any space where innovation is a driver. 

Vision and execution count:   Share a point of view about the sector and clarify thinking behind how you define and prioritize problems and opportunities

Seek permission to fail—communicate the knowns, unknowns, and allow for “unknown unknowns”

Innovation is about the “how” as well as the “what.”   Differentiate your approach– what is new and against the grain, and what is adapted and rethought?  (both can be innovative)

Build trust.  Invest in relationships:   Engage early with your community—peers, media, bloggers, policy types.  

Create value from your experiences:  share your learnings with the community

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