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BRUTON: Well, thanks, Steven. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm absolutely thrilled to be here
to talk to you about creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and I have to admit I'm
a little bit intimidated to be coming to a place like this to talk about those things
with people like you. So I'll thank you for the opportunity and also for your forgiveness
if I speak about any things that just don't need saying to you guys. I'm very excited
to be here. We have about an hour together, I understand. We don't want to use whole thing
with me talking. I hope to use some of that time as well for some conversation. The goal
would be put a couple of concepts on the table, bathe them around a little bit, and then have
some time to have a conversation. So that's what I'd like to do today. As you can see,
I'm going to try and do that using the concept or at least talking about the concept of creating
really big value. And what I mean by that is the big stuff, not innovations that happen
when you are--you're taking a part or watch to try and rebuild it and make a time machine
and just sort of kicking around the lab or the kind of things that happen when you are
innovating a product and trying to make that better for the existing market. I'm talking
about the really big gain changing kind of stuff; the disruptive innovations that affect
the whole industry value chain or that open up a whole new market, that kind of thing.
The original title for this or the long title of this talk is just probably sought from
the abstract was Entrepreneurial Learning 2.0: Navigating the Coming Disruption in How
We Learn to Innovate; something like that. And I have that, I guess, it's a way to--to
segue into show you a little bit about me that I never expected to have the job that
I have today. I teach at Mount Royal University in Calgary, and I teach entrepreneurship which
I never expected or planned to do. It's a job where I spend my time helping 18, 17,
18 to 25 year olds do that--create really big value, whether it's for themselves or
whether they're doing that for the people that are going to employ them, like companies
like you guys, or if we really want to talk big picture, the competitiveness of our nation,
so Canada or the US for example. And that's the big context for it. But with my background
in--which includes about ten years in the geomantic space, I'm an engineer by training,
originally. I've had jobs ranging from inventor to doing project management and product management,
co-founding in innovation department, which I may not recommend you as a way to foster
innovation, but it was a really good learning experience; and a VP and a startup, that was
in same spaces as to the street view. We used to talk about one day Google's going to start
doing this. We're trying to get before they did, and of course, they do. But despite all
of that, it's the experience that I've had teaching this stuff, helping young people
think about these things and get to a stage--whether they're in graphic design or interior design
or business or in some kind of technology or tech transfer program to another place,
whatever they might be doing; the process of helping them, think about and actually
start doing some of this stuff is what gives me just enough confidence to come here and
talk to you today. So I hope you'll let me provide you a bit of a perspective or lens
to look through when you look at what you guys, I know you guys do everyday already,
so that's my intention for the next few minutes. I'm going to do that upon the top rated slide.
You can see what I'm hoping to say to you. A little bit on innovation, just to put a
common ground out there, a bit of a foundation for us to build and move forward from what
this idea really big value means. Mount Royal; I'll tell you a little bit about where I'm
at and what we do, and then this concept as an example of ventured design studio. So,
design thinking rather than business planning to get to these really big ideas, and then
I'll close with a few parting ideas just to kick start the conversation. So that's what
I'd like to do. I'm going to start with two big opinions and these are somewhat founded,
if you go and do some reading, you will see that others are saying the same things but
I'm sharing them with you as opinions because I'm not giving you any evidence to back them
up other than to put them out there, so the two main messages I have. You see those words
up there, those are all industries that have or will be disrupted in a major way by the
internet or web too or whatever you want to say. My point is or what I propose is that
higher education, the time we will come for higher education in the same way. And I'm
not saying our institutions will be gone, I'm saying that those that do well will change
their roles. I'm speaking to you as a faculty member, one of these places, I thought, I'll
try to bring this perspective to the talk. You guys know better than anybody how accessible
information is today. The idea that--compared to when I went to school, I can't get the
dates grants today can get access to all types of information. On the flip side of that,
you have people coming out of school with $50 to $150,000 in debt. So, there's a bit
of an imbalance there when you get access to all that information, but you're paying
that huge amount for it. And that, to me, speaks in the end to some kind of disruption
happening and that's, again, just my opinion. So what's missing for young people graduating
is the credential, and that's the reason that they're going through the programs that we
have. It's that layer between information and knowledge. So turning all of that stuff,
the flow that we're teaching them to pick the right stuff out of into knowledge they
can use to create value. And probably, although, it's starting to happen, some form of business
model that's viable as an alternative to the way people learned today. But these things,
I would propose are coming. So that's sort of my first opinion and all throughout there
are theme. The second is this one, the creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship are very,
very important. Now, we all hear that all the time from President Obama's speeches in
the US to,you know, the three big CEOs sitting down with our prime minister to--in Alberta,
where I'm from we hear about that in terms of all the programs that they have; the Alberta
action plan, the Technoprenuership, encouraging all those things. You guys know that in what
you do and deeply, you try to hire. But I'd like to just speak to this one in terms of
the way or from our students or recent graduates or the people that you might hire from their
perspective. Those guys are told, if they're listening, they're told that the top ten jobs
that are in demand next year, didn't even exist in 2004. And I'm stealing these facts
from somewhere, but just trying to throw it, use some of the things that they hear. They're
told that they will have 14 jobs, and that's just by the time they turn 40 years old. So
you skid to feel for some of the stress that you have and some of the skills that they
will have to have and the abilities to change the way they think, so personal creativity
and entrepreneurship. They're told, we're all told that for every Canadian born today,
there are--I think it's nine, it's the number in the US born, 37 in China, and 50 or 54
something in India born. So, they get this pressure too. If you're going to help this
compete as a nation, then we need to be creative, innovative and entrepreneurial. And then in
Calgary like everywhere, the businesses or all business--small-medium size enterprises
make up way, way over 90% of the businesses. And we're told in Calgary that 20% to 30%
of those folks are going to be retiring in the next five years, so this is a huge weight
on these people's shoulders, and you're looking to them to bring into organizations like this.
And the answer in my mind is innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship. And you'll see we're bringing
that mindset, not just the toolset but the mindset to grads in any discipline, in any
program. So, those are my two initial thoughts for you that sort of under run all of what
we're doing. So we are a program of entrepreneurship in a four-year undergraduate focused institution,
and that's the context for some of the things I want to share with you. So I thought I'd
start with this whole concept of innovation, because the term gets abused and misused,
and a good place to start knowing what we're talking about and see if we agree that we're
talking about the same thing. So I often start with a brand new class, people straight out
of high school, and asking them this question; why was the iPod so successful? So I'd ask
you that now, just to throw some things out. >> It's sexy.
>> BRUTON: It's sexy, Okay. Yeah. >> [INDISTINCT]
>> BRUTON: Okay, now, that's an answer I wouldn't get form these guys, but okay. So a very deep
answer on the business, and absolutely. Yeah? Anybody else?
>> [INDISTINCT] >> BRUTON: Okay, so you're talking about the
evolution of music devices and how they--okay, and the others, the incumbents were sitting
on their [INDISTINCT]. Yes. Okay, yeah, go ahead.
>> [INDISTINCT] >> BRUTON: So simplicity in the interface
is that fair to capture that way? Okay, yeah. Go ahead.
>> [INDISTINCT] >> BRUTON: Okay, so leadership; anyone burning
to get it on this before I move? Yeah, go ahead.
>> [INDISTINCT] >> BRUTON: Aesthetics, okay. Okay, just want
to come back into it. I asked them and I'd ask you not to answer this but give these
some thoughts. I'm just trying to give you a flavor for some of the conversations we
have in the classroom. I asked why sales of these guys went up last season, a year ago,
despite the downturn. And we look at things like what does in innovation have to do with
posted notes, and some that you may know these stories, and that's okay. I'm just trying
to give you a taste for the kind of conversations that we have to kick start these conversations.
How long have these been around? And that may surprise you if you don't know just how
long, not this one, but the digital camera's been around, it's an amazing story. Have you
heard of the following, and actually I'll ask you guys this because I want to use a
couple of these examples. Have you heard of this business? So what's the deal with Swoopo?
>> [INDISTINCT] >> BRUTON: It's a lottery site. I think [INDISTINCT]
as an auction site. Okay. Why? What's the difference between that in another online
auction site? >> The losers subsidized winners.
>> BRUTON: The losers subsidized the winners, yeah.
>> [INDISTINCT] >> BRUTON: Okay, so you guys have thought
about this. Okay, so it's... >> [INDISTINCT]
>> BRUTON: Can I tell you what it is? >> Yeah, yeah, you can proceed.
>> BRUTON: Okay, Swoopo in my understanding, and it's very interesting, just go to swoopo.com,
you can watch the action. It's pretty interesting to watch, but it's a bidding--online auction
site. But what they have is a pay per bid model. So you pay to bid, and like everybody's
saying somebody goes home with a prize, but in the mean time, they can sell it for a fraction
of retail because they make so much money on the competition, and just--well, since
we're on it, once it gets right down to the wire, and you're close to the ask prize or
the end time, they extend it by 10 seconds. So it all starts again, and then they extend
by 10 seconds but it all starts again. Now, I'm no expert on this so if I'm speaking it
out of turn, forgive me, but that's my understanding. So they have this pay per bid model. So we'll
use that as a bit of an example later to. And another is this; I assume everybody in
here, well, have heard of Hulu. I see lots of heads nodding. So, it is rather than being
receiving TV shows the way I normally received them, I received them through web service
that's the basic concept, and they've starting to build a very successful model. So these
are the kind of things we kick conversation of with, because everybody can relate to them
a little bit. I want to share with you just--I've got two slides with real content, and this
is one of them. I want to get a couple of concepts across, like I said a foundation
that we're all in the same page, and that is, actually we spent--I could spend an hour
with a group--with many different groups throwing only those three words at them and say come
up with a definition and an example of each. And it's amazing because every group will
take a different path that almost always get to pretty much the same thing within the some
facilitation. It's very interesting. So I'm just going to get to the punch line on this
but share it with you to get as past--get us so that we can build on it. The idea is,
these terms are used and misused in media, within corporations, within institutions like
I work all the time. And I just want to put this at least for something out there for
us to talk about whether you agreed or whether you're not. And the idea is that discovery
is the domain that, stereotypically, the way it hurt scientists, the person who's in the
lab trying to come up with new knowledge or new ideas. And so you can talk about that
as developing new ideas, where it's different from invention is, invention is purposeful
implementation of those ideas. And so the very simplest example is somebody has--somebody
discovers or has the idea of the concept of electrons passing down the wire. And so that
is new knowledge, it's an idea that's testable, the inventor then would say, so Steve is in
the back there, Steve and I would want to invent--use that knowledge to invent a prototype
telephone, and we'd pass--use it to communicate with each other in the labs, so we can invent
that. And the difference between that in innovation is that innovation is exploiting that. So
somebody sees that, maybe we do, maybe somebody else does seize that, and says we can exploit
that. And now, of course, I mean, you guys here are well into the--into that whole industry
where it is today where it's evolved to that the value is being created and read everywhere.
And so that's the basic difference between the three. At one level, and I know this is
small in there, but if you look at it later or can read it from where you are, the idea
you've got, discovery coming up with these new ideas, you got innovation or invention
started to coming out with either new technologies or new business models, and that's an interesting
concept and equally valid in terms of creating value. And then you've got innovation which
is products, services, experiences, processes, and so on of how that happened. So then again
into the conversation that I'll ask you quickly, where does the entrepreneur spend their time
in this cycle or in this path, value chain typically? Yeah.
>> Innovation. >> BRUTON: Innovation, yeah. And you can argue
invention as well, but typically, when I talked to a group of young people trying to do this,
we frame them there. So your job is to be in the innovation box and be really good at
that; the exploitation of invention. So then we say, "Do you need to invent in order to
innovate?" I see heads doing this. No you don't need to. You can be really good at finding
the right invention. And one of the biggest things new inspiring entrepreneurs do is trying
to invent there own business model, and that's one of the worst things you can do, and then
you should just rip it off from somebody and others, I mean, I'm not the first to say that,
but that's sort of a key learning as well. And then you get into things like the fact
that discovery--let me start at the bottom--innovation is almost always intentional. In fact, it
has--I don't have--it hadn't had someone successfully argued that it can happen by mistake. But
invention could be either way, and discovery is often accidental. So there's those kinds
of conversations. And I hope this just gives us a bit of a footing for placing some of
the things we're going to talk about in context. Then you get into creativity, I just--I guess
I upset people sometimes but I just think of it as the grease and the wheels for this
value creation process. And then you have your finders and your makers. And what's great
with this when you're talking to people in other disciplines than engineering and technology
is that people can place themselves. The pure scientists see themselves in the discovery
side, you know, the design folks might see themselves in invention and innovation, and
the engineers will find themselves quite happily in innovation. The business folks will find
themselves quite--so it allows you to place yourself as well. So then we give it our standard
textbook definition and we move on from there. But the important thing to take from this
one--this idea is that innovation is a process. It's an intentional process that you can undertake,
you can get better at, and it's one through which you create value in society or economy.
And you that by meeting an opportunity or seeking some advantage. So there is your standard
textbook definition and the examples help to just make bring that to life a little bit.
So then I asks students, why I have one of these? And it's a trick question and typically
will work better as a trick question for that audience, the broad young audience than it
would for you guys because the answer to the question is I have one of these because I'm
a big geek and I've always been a big geek. And I thought I'd actually prove that to you
because this is always fun. So I know I'm supposed to be on the mic but I can't do both,
so I'll just talk loud. But I thought I'd show you some evidence of why I'm a big geek
one piece at a time because it's also to oblige you to get to know me a bit but it also always
of fun to walk down memory lane. This is a--oh and for those who are not here, this is a
picture of this. 1985 my dad came back from Japan and gave me this, it's a credit card
size radio built by Sony. It just does FM but I was--this was my iPod. And I was--I
felt like I was the coolest kid on the C training in Calgary back then. And so that was the
start of it for me with this guy. And then next for me, I don't know, [INDISTINCT] when
you pull this guy out. But it was this guy. And very, very cool, you can--oh, I should
have advance that too. So if you're not here, you can see that. Making your own tapes, recording
from radio, writing--building your own covers, all the kinds of fun things we do now in a
totally different form that all went with this guy. So--then the next one was probably
this guy, although not this one. This one was mine, but later. And so but I had this
dating back before this model as well. But CDs and we all create our own CDs, downloaded
the music from all sorts of places, illegally of course, and normalize the volume. Remember
doing all of that stuff; cut the CD, you make the cover and all of those fun things. So
making, you know, a mixed tape for your girlfriend went from that to making a mixed CD for your
girlfriend. And that's--so that was next. And then after that, it was this guy. So this
is my first MP3 player. So talking--following from the thoughts we had here, this is a very--this
was very, very cool for me. Little cartridge on which ten songs fit, which was amazing
at that time, I had three cartridges so I was pretty deluxe. I could take whatever I
wanted where I needed it. But this was my first MP3--and same thing. And you take those
songs you had downloaded or your collection, and you normalize the volume and you put them
on here and all of that stuff. So that was after that and then [INDISTINCT] was this
guy. We all recognize this guy, but the click wheel, classic iPod--I forget how many gigs
this was but the promise of holding all your songs in one place is a very--also very exciting.
And then, it was this guy. It's really holding all my songs anyway in one place and much
smaller, run with it, do all the things you can with it. This was sort of next for me.
And then this guy, which is the first generation iPod touch and really could hold all my songs
and half of my photos and all of that stuff. So that was exciting. And then finally today,
I have, like many of you do, the iPhone which is ringing and we all love that. So I forgot
the few steps on the screen there where you can see the progression. And so just to share
a little bit with you about my history. This--my point was, again, I've--I have an iPod because
I'm a geek and I would have one anyway. The question I want to ask you is why do non-geeks
have one of these things? And--let me grab it. This--I wasn't quite truthful. This was
my wife's. It was given to her at work. And she'll have to forgive me later for using
hers as an example today. But she didn't even know what it was. She opened it up, along
with her colleague who got one at the same time and didn't know what it was and he got
really excited. So she brought it home to me figuring I would really get excited and
I did. I got really excited and she wanted really nothing to do it because she was still
on pretty much the walkman. She was quite happy with her tape mix and doing all of that.
So my question for you today would be what made her go--and I'll grab it--here it is.
She was in a--with the walkman, she didn't have any interest in this, downloading songs
and normalizing the volume. No--no interest at all in that. But this--about three weeks
after I had it or I have it--after she had it, she was sold and has been ever since,
what happened? Yeah, go ahead. >> She no longer had to be technical to use
that. >> BRUTON: You had to do what?
>> She no longer had to be [INDISTINCT]. >> BRUTON: Sure you no longer had to be technical
to use it, agreed. Although you didn't--yeah, okay, I agree, absolutely. You don't have
to do all that stuff I was doing. You're right. >> [INDISTINCT]
>> BRUTON: Yes, you're right, exactly. Okay, fair enough, because you don't have to be
technical to use it. What else? That was a selling point, no question. There was something
bigger for her. >> Marketing?
>> BRUTON: The marketing, she didn't care. I admit that's for some people but she didn't
care about that. She didn't even know what it was. It's what?
>> It's an accessory. >> BRUTON: It's an accessory?
>> Yeah. >> BRUTON: Yeah.
>> Yeah, it's fashion. >> BRUTON: Okay.
>> You can do [INDISTINCT]. >> BRUTON: Yeah. Please, yeah.
>> She can have all the songs she'd ever loved on [INDISTINCT].
>> BRUTON: Right, that's going in the right direction for sure, for her. And I'm very
specific for her. What you've said applies to every different people, but--yeah?
>> It fit her first. >> BRUTON: It fit her first, yeah, that's
true, although, the other MP3 player did to. So what--what really got her was when I was
sitting in front of iTunes and she could see--she could listen to 30 seconds of any music. And
she could see that whole process and they told her, "Well if you like this, you would
like that too." And she really got sucked in on the iTunes front. So I want to make
that point and I'll do so in a minute because I want to talk to you about how one creates
really big value. Those game changes that we're talking about and use this as a bit
of an example. And so I've said it was the iTunes and I'll talk to that in a minute.
So first I want to say in terms of innovation, things you might do, changes you make, changes
others make that you have to deal with. I'd ask you to imagine you're in some value change.
You creating value and somebody make the change it will result to innovation. That could be
other technological or business model, like we've said already. So those are the inputs.
The outputs look something like this, and I'm still into modifying this framework a
bit from someone, but it's useful, because it helps explain what we just talked about.
You've got a change that can have an impact for existing users or new users or intended
for existing or new users. And it can be an existing offering or a new offering. Okay,
so the existing case is sustaining innovations. The evolutionary case is that you either take
something you already do and you push that out to new users. Or you take a new offering
and push it out to your existing users. And then the last box is can be revolutionary,
in that new offerings go to new users and that's your intent or it can also be disrupted.
And I'll talk about the difference between those two. So it's just a way of thinking
about--but very important for if you're sitting down to do something and you want to innovate,
which box you want to be in? And we'll talk about which of those creates really big value.
And so that's where I'm headed. The difference is--imagine that you're cruising along--the
bottom axis there is time and the vertical axis is the performance of your product. The
dotted line is what the mainstream market expects from your product. And you're cruising
along. Your performance is above your exceeding, which is fine. As time goes on, you keep working
at it. You cut new code, you develop new versions, whatever it is that you do and you are indeed
sustaining innovations to sustain what you do. The other is a new innovation comes in
at some point in time. And at this point, it can be either, evolutionary, revolutionary,
or disrupted. The point I wanted to make is this really big ones like the case we just
saw with the music players, it was disruptive. And this is based on a guy named Christian
and stuff that most--a lot of people have heard about innovators' dilemma and all that
stuff. But the idea is that nobody expected it at first. When you're back here, it could
have gone either way anyway. In fact, its performance was less than everything else
when it first came out. But over time, it knocks them out of the ballpark, and--so you
could look at the Apple IIe as an example of this. Mainframe computer users or developers
or people selling and building those didn't worry about the Apple IIe because it was being
marketed to kids. And if they had asked their customers, they'd have said, "Don't worry
about it, it's just a toy." I was one of those kids. I sure remember my dad teaching me how
to program in basic on the Apple IIe and so it has a personal emotional attachment for
me. But of course, it did that, it became--it blew personal computers. We all know that
story. Another one is--if you look back at Kodak, Kodak is that top-line back when the
digital camera wasn't yet. Interestingly, they're the ones who patented the original
digital camera. If you're interested, I can show you pictures of that later. And over
time, of course, this is what happened in that industry as well. So those are the big
game changers that difference between disruptive and revolutionary. So then, again, we visit--why
this was so successful? And I would propose to you--where did I leave it? The best way
to do this is to show you--I should just hold up both of these. I would propose to you that
going from this guy to this guy was not all that big of a deal. It's better to use, it
fits more songs and all of that, but it's probably sustaining. It may be evolutionary
and that new users got involved and excited about it, but it's probably just sustaining
despite all of that. And this is just a proposal, take it or leave it. I don't mind. I'm just
putting that out there. That this would have just been sustaining if it hadn't been for
this guy, for iTunes. iTunes is what really hit--help them hit out of the ballpark and
made these ones--frankly I don't want to get sued--made other MP3 players forgettable and
made this so successful, okay. And when you look at that, it came out with a new offering
completely. So it's in the topside of this thing. It was a web-based service for distribution
of music that wasn't there before, and it certainly attracted new users as well. So
that made it disruptive. It was also disruptive because of that curve. That is no question.
We all know the story about how that happened. So this is just an example of tying what we
already know into this really big value framework. That's what I'm trying to do. I thought it
was fitting, perhaps, to talk to you about Google Docs or at least the way I see it and
you'll forgive me if I'm wrong. But I have students who say to me when I get them to
use Google Apps, "Why are you making me learn this thing? I've gotten really good at Microsoft
Word over the last four years and you're killing me here because it doesn't perform as well
as all this and all that." And the answer is, especially if they're in this sort of
topic. We're talking about this kind of thing. He says "Yeah, sure, its performance is perhaps
lower in certain aspects. It can't do everything that Word can do, but you just wait overtime."
It's one of these guys, no question, but--and I mean I only read your press release. I don't
know what's going on internally, but I remember a product manager recently coming out and
saying, "A year from now, you better watch out." And--so no question that, but its example,
I would say, of this kind of thing going on. And it's one of many examples. So let's talk
about Swoopo again. Where would you put it on here? There's lots of giggles. Is there
something about Swoopo I don't know? >> [INDISTINCT] somebody back here said, "Where
is the kernel block? >> BRUTON: Oh, Kernel blocks, okay. Okay,
we're ignoring the ethical side of things. We're just talking about the innovative side
of things. So--and don't tell anyone I said to ignore the ethical side, we're just having
a conversation here. >> Would it be disruptive?
>> BRUTON: Would it be disruptive? >> In the sense of, say, eBay and what's...?
>> BRUTON: To eBay and that kind of thing, yeah?
>> [INDISTINCT] because it's another kind of auction.
>> BRUTON: It's another kind of auction, okay. Anybody really want to make a case for anything
else? >> Revolutionary?
>> BRUTON: Revolutionary? Okay, we got them all. I'll give you my opinion is that--okay,
it's a new entrant, but it is a--it's an auction-type site. It aims to--so it's an existing offering,
I would say, a different competitor or different group offering and a new venture. But it's
either going to be sustaining or evolutionary depending on how many new users it can attract.
So just to make the point that this business model innovation--very, very successful I'd
imagine from a money standpoint. I don't know their numbers but may fall in the bottom left
or in the bottom right. Did you have a question? >> A comment. Do [INDISTINCT] we have looked
at this--looking for [INDISTINCT] direction [INDISTINCT].
>> BRUTON: Okay. >> And they're pretty close to the [INDISTINCT]
scheme? >> BRUTON: Okay, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
>> In fact, they're getting exactly the same people who agreed [INDISTINCT]?
>> BRUTON: Right. >> That there's this way of creating this
magic value. >> BRUTON: Yeah.
>> Where [INDISTINCT] at all? >> BRUTON: Right--no. And so the argument
that you're making, I think, if I can summarize this is that it depends how you look at it
and in what lengths you look at it through. So I was trying to look at it as an auction
site and make that argument, but--yeah. Sorry, go ahead.
>> One of the things that makes, probably, falling to the offering category a little
bit more is [INDISTINCT]. >> BRUTON: Yeah.
>> You're auctioning [INDISTINCT] existing. >> BRUTON: Okay, that's interesting, yeah.
>> And so I took a collection [INDISTINCT] it was actually an item there, [INDISTINCT]
take those source from a local distributor. >> BRUTON: Right.
>> You can buy it and [INDISTINCT] so the thing doesn't exist in you.
>> BRUTON: Yeah. >> And so from a business perspective, it's
carried every [INDISTINCT] are just [INDISTINCT] many of it.
>> BRUTON: Right. >> Carry on.
>> BRUTON: No, that makes sense to me too, yes. So we can dice this either way but the
point was to try and place these things. And no, I appreciate and agree with you on those
things. So how about this guy, Hulu? >> I think it's just evolutionary.
>> BRUTON: So evolutionary, okay. Which box? New offerings.
>> No, possibly existing offering. >> BRUTON: Existing offerings, okay.
>> Some of these are already--it's just a different [INDISTINCT] but I'm not sure.
>> BRUTON: Okay. So, go ahead, yeah. >> Are they [INDISTINCT]
>> BRUTON: I can't hear you, sorry. >> I'm just doing what the cable already does
but the technology has changed. >> BRUTON: Right, okay.
>> I don't think they're innovative. >> BRUTON: So you don't think they're innovative
at all? They're not on here. Okay, okay. Yeah? Okay, well I'm going to go [INDISTINCT] alone
here. And I would argue at least in the way I think of it that it's a new offering and
that it's a web service rather than a cable service. And I'd also say that it's fairly
disruptive in the--initially, it didn't mean--you had people saying, "Yeah, I don't--I can't
get the shows I watch," or "It's too slow for me." But overtime I would argue it's going
to be disruptive. Not--I'm not trying to push that on you guys, make--make your own call,
and I don't--I'm not--I'm not saying it's right or not. But I would've placed it there.
Interestingly, if you can go and look at what just happened in Canada at the end of the
last month, Rogers on Demand came out for Rogers customers. They can get shows that
they want through Rogers on Demand. So in contrast, I would have said that this guy
is to existing users because you have to be a Rogers' customer or some sort and that it's
a new offering. So they're evolving, it's an evolutionary innovation to try and get
into the game or at least protect themselves when the game hits them over the head. So
that's my take on it. And again, all these just to put in to context and have a bit of
a conversation. So I'm going to shift gears a little bit and talk to you about Mount Royal
University and what I do. My brother--when I first interviewed to go Mount Royal I never
intended to teach there and never expected to--but he have been a student there and I
asked him, "What should I--how should I give them a teaching demo as part of the interview
and all that?" And he said, "What ever you do, tell me who you are and what business
you have being up there." So this is my attempt to show you a little bit about my background
other than what music devices I've owned and where I spent my money there. But I'll just
share with you that I graduated in engineering at University of Calgary in the geomatics
program, and that is a top three school in the world in that area. And typically, when
I speak to an audience like group of students or otherwise that I'm trying to explain what
I did for ten years, I'd say, "Do you know Google Maps?" And they say, "Yes." Because
before Google Maps nobody knew what I did, nobody outside of their area could relate
to it. And they say, "Yes." So then I said, "You know the satellite button?" They said,
"Yes." And I say, "Okay, perfect. When you push that button, it's not satellite imagery
for the most part anywhere if you care to see it; it's actually taken from aircraft.
And I was involved for ten years in the systems, the hardware and software [INDISTINCT] software
and algorithms for the GPS and inertial navigation systems that allowed all those images that
are taken to be mosaic together seamlessly in a geospatially consistent way. And that's
what I did, I did grad studies in that and started a master's degree that transferred
into a PhD then finished that and went--came to Toronto, actually, and joined the company
that probably supplied the hardware that did that probably supplied, well, over 90% of
that--of the airplanes flying that stuff had that on. And they also did some of the ground
base stuff and things like that. And then, I went back to Calgary, got less or got out
of the hardcore algorithm development coding and more into managing groups that did that,
managing R&D, setup an innovation department which was a very interesting learning experience.
And then, quit my corporate job to do an MBA and to do some consulting, and I joined a
startup, as I mentioned to you before that was very similar to the guys that collect
the street view data, and we used to sit around saying one of these days Google will--we should
go drive the Googleplex before it happens all that stuff, and of course, it did happen.
So, anyway, that's a brief synopsis, and then I ended up teaching as I do today, this stuff,
which is very fun. So there's a picture just for fun about ten years ago, me with a bunch
of stuff strapped to me, running around with it. I had more hair. And I'll tell you this,
being able to see yourself, there's no better way to see how much hair you're losing. Gosh,
I thought I'd never show this at a group like this, so I thought I'd take the opportunity
and I'll show my grad supervisor but that's where--when I said I invented a technology,
I was a co-inventor of something that measured the gravity field of the Earth. And those
are the changes in the gravity field of the Earth and yes they change with topography
and with the underground things like oil and gas which is a big driver of what we were
doing. And the scale you see on the bottom is ten to the negative six of what we're feeling
right now. So it's smaller changes but it's real. And that was the traditional system
for doing it. We took the navigation system or devices that we're on airplanes anyway
or slightly better versions of those and algorithmically sucked out gravity. And so that's what we
did. Its view was a fascinating thing. There's a picture of a cartoon of all the things we
had going together, where the airborne stuff fit in, and that was a segue for me because
it's exactly the same algorithms into the airborne mapping stuff that I did for a good
portion of my time before going to do what I do now. And there's a couple of my favorite
spots that I got to go to. One, the Canadian Rockies right in the mountain tops collecting
data and one up in Greenland, so it's a very fun stuff. You know, when I started at Mount
Royal, I have a business card that says, that I teach entrepreneurship. And I tell you,
when you give that to somebody, people would say, "Can you even teach on?" And they're
not shy. "Can you even do that?" And at first I'd say, "Well, I hope so because somebody
is paying me to do it." And I hadn't really thought about it and I guess my point would
be just a segue into what Mount Royal is doing now and this whole thing that nobody--everybody
will debate that with it forever. And I realized you have to just flip the equation a little
bit and start talking about the fact that nobody will debate, that people get better
at all this stuff by doing it. It's the real that are the case and point. And so you get
better by doing it. So our goal then is not to teach entrepreneurship but to create an
environment where people can get better by doing it and that's what we do. So I'll share
with you, there's where we're located, that's the--we're very fortunate where we are, it's
a beautiful part of the world. And that's a picture of the business school where this
is housed. We intend, actually, now we are well on route to a minor in entrepreneurship
it's truly a cross campus initiative. And this is what the pieces look like. So there's
that are really an inch deep and 30 feet wide on the process, and they make you very uncomfortable
if you are not comfortable with change, and their goal is as much mindset as toolset.
So you come out of that and I'll share with you some of what happened in the entrepreneurial
experience course. And at that point those folks are average age 18; it's the first course
they've taken in this stuff. The next is grabbing as--delivering to you by phase of the new
venture life cycle or by function area, sorry, so marketing first and then finance and then
leadership, and those kinds of things. We deliver by phase of the new venture life cycles.
So you come in with ideas and as the opportunity course sits there, you come in, you park your
ideas, you beat them up and the goal is by the end of the course, we call it a junior
sweat, where you stand up in front of a panel much like a panel of thesis and they give
you a thumbs up or a thumbs down on your idea. But you spend a whole--rather than in business
planning courses where you typically get two weeks to come up with a business plan and
the other 12 weeks to defend it and wish you hadn't come up with that idea. Here you spend
the whole, this is a whole three months trying to come up with--go from initial idea to marketable
insight to opportunity and eventually to a pitch in representation that you get feedback
on. And they get thumbs up or thumbs down. And those ideas go through the program. If
you're passionate, you can even take the thumbs down idea through the program with you .
And what will happen, is a natural grouping of people around these ideas. So you know,
you and I are working on something and you're idea was great and mine kind of bombed. So
I think I'm going to join your group and teams form naturally and these ideas flow through
the program from modeling and startup to, as you can see, startup to survival and growth
and beyond. And the teams working on these are pulling on the curriculum to make this
happen and faculty members are advisors. We're not the traditional, "Here's a textbook, here's
a lecture on this stuff, and you'll listen to me and write at midterm and final and come
back." It's all about solving these problems and we're there to help bring in people from
industry to make that happen and all that stuff, so it's been very, very fun, very exciting,
very different from what's done typically. I know some folks here in town do similar
things, but we've had a lot of fun doing something very new. We'd had a 14-year history with
an applied degree; now, we're doing this minor, across campus minor that's more innovative
And I'll share it with you today because it's one of the biggest things we try to get across
to them. And it's T-shaped because you've got this T, it's a concept I've stolen, I
admit, but it's very useful in trying to get the idea of mindset across. Students from
a discipline like, for example, computer science would come in with a very strong skill set
or they're building a very strong skill set and that's the bottom of the T. What we try
attitudes, but this portfolio of abilities, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship,
knowing what those are, being able to persuasively pitch your idea, being able to look at big
value created, and all those complementary skills. So we talk to them about this as a
major objective of what they do. It's not enough to be this, to be the very core, very
good, for example, somebody who could cut codes like crazy but doesn't see the big picture,
doesn't care why. I mean, those people will graduate, no question, but it's not enough
so the whole range of that whole portfolio of skills but no depth in any one area. So,
we're trying to get everybody in the room to look like this and grow to this. And it's
fascinating, actually, and the arguments are out there, we don't have to make them. The
you deliver, and I'm picking on university education with today, I don't mean to, except
look for these types of people as well. So the second thing is the types of knowledge
to say that--make a point here that the types of knowledge that university grads typically
come out with and grads are criticized for is you know all about something, you know
what's going on but you don't know maybe a little bit of how. But you don't know when,
why, where to apply it, you've never done that and you don't know--you haven't learn
to experience--you haven't done, you're quite green, you haven't done anything. So our goal
is to the top of this ladder every single course, every single time. And I just shared
that with you so that you could feel for what we're up to is that you'd learn what we're
talking about and there's tons of that at the academic side. You'll learn how to get
things done within that context. We push you to be able to deal with those situations and
then bring out those tools at the right place and have the mindset to do it. And then, of
course, the top is you actually do that stuff during the program as well. So I shared with
you a few things that we're up to outside of the core curriculum. You're welcome to
check this out. It's our open textbook site or it's even a little bit bigger than that.
This--what you're looking at is a snapshot of our community of practice. So we're trying
to engage the community, entrepreneurial leaders in our community and so on with our student
body and students from across campus. The top link there is the community. The next
one is our open textbook site. All of our curriculums available openly and being developed
in a collaborative way with the teams that are doing this and available to any of you
if you want to check it out. We'd love your thoughts on it. This is a picture of that
open textbook site, just a snapshot to give you a flavor. So you can come in and look
at topics and activities, courses and programs and so on. If you're developing a new course
or you just want a piece or you want to put on a seminar for groups like you guys, you
just pull on some of the topics and activities and make those available. It's a very open
access, semi-open source kind of situation. For fun, I'll tell you, this whole thing is
developed with--we decide to try it in a bootstrap mode. Spend absolutely no money to do this
and we've done it with Google Apps Education Edition which has been absolutely fabulous.
Both from our side putting this thing together and engaging the community but also the students
collaborating on all their work in Google sites and so on. It's been really fabulous
and with videos uploaded and that kind of thing. So here's an example of a teaser for
one of the courses that I'll tell about and a little bit more on it. Some of those things,
just to give you a flavor for what it looks like, and you're welcome to check it all out.
Here's what an actual course looks like and it's really no more than an index to the topics
and every topic has an incredible--all the details you would need. You could not--you
could choose not to be in class and get all the content. You'd miss the activities that
go with that and most choose not to do that which is great. But it's all there, everything
is there. So the last thing I'd like to do before closing is share with you this idea
of a venture design studio. So rather than business planning as a mechanism for coming
up with this big idea, the idea is to use this venture design studio and design thinking.
So here's a picture of it. And I should tell you some of it was inspired by--in philosophical
ways by Google's 10^100 project and that came about because I usually, in my senior class
have group of just about to graduate entrepreneurs working with client who comes in, some entrepreneurial
company that needs some help with something and that person cancelled on me with less
than a week to go. And cruising down at Google News one night, before falling asleep, I saw
both Google 10^100 and we made something up on the fly that eventually became this design
studio. And so in philosophy you'll see some of those things there that we kind of look
to, it was very, very helpful at the time and our students all entered that competition
that kind of thing. But here's what it looks like for them, they have a course with a whole
bunch of activities. The design studio comes in these four blocks. So there are four, what
we call, iterations. This is an approach that generalizes from the classroom but we've push
them through this kind of thing right at that level. And remember this is the first course,
this is the first time they've ever taken a course on entrepreneurship and it looks
like something like this. You come in to the first class and we set the stage which is
really, here's all the tools, go read them, here's some examples to get you started. It's
all available online. But then we've got--now, set the stage, you know what you're trying
to do, and the second class is here's a jam session where we all get together and facilitation,
the back and forth happens, entrepreneurs might be there to help, that kind of thing.
And then third class, you have to come in and pitch your idea and that pitch is to a
panel of people they've never met before and they are assessed on whether that idea is
innovative and feasible. It has to be both at the same time. And then it happens--they've
got web content where they develop not a business plan but a business model and captured many
elements of that model and they do that collaboratively. The pitch is video taped using little flip
video cameras. They do that during the class. They upload the pitch. They can look at it
and they hate to look at it, as you can imagine you would to, the first time through. And
then, they do some reflection on it as well, that all happens again. And so the second
time goes through. They've got two versions of everything; third time goes through; they've
got three versions of everything; and the fourth time goes through, they've got four
versions of everything. And nothing matters except that last iteration. So what you've
got in the end is what you'll get graded, and because all--the only live ammo we've
got, we've got no money on the line, we've got no mortgages on the line, we've got grades.
And so the idea is it all comes down to your last iteration, make it or break it. Use feedback
how you'd like to towards the middle or the end or whatever you like to do. And what's
very fascinating is how well this works to come up with those really big ideas. So I'll
share with you this, this is--everyone of those iterations, they get this feedback not
from me but from the judges, and I facilitate the process and sort of capped it for them
but they figure out where they are on this feasibility and innovativeness skill, and
of course, you want to be in the top right, that's what you get rewarded for. What typically
happens is what's shown there. Some groups will come in with something that is very feasible
but not very innovative, like a landscaping company or painting company something like
that. That's easy to do, it's been done we know it works and that's fine. Another person
will come in on the top left there wanting to save everybody in Africa who's starving
but has really no idea how to do it. And so you've got the highly innovative, not so feasible.
And of course, we give--all we do is say, "Okay, nice work. Here's the direct honest
feedback. Go to it. See you next time we do this." And that's three classes later, and
so as a class--and this is fictional but its representative of what we see. So as a group,
you get this kind of spread the first time around. Ideas are all over the place, but
typically towards the bottom right, very feasible, not so innovative. So we push them back on
that, trying to give them the help they need to get there and what's fabulous is you get
students go all, "Wow, how do I do that?" And it's very clear what the criteria are
for innovative and feasible. The judges all use the same criteria so they go to that sheet
and say, "Well, I've got to do this and this and this but where--how do I do that?" And
they run to the material and figured it out, and then they go to the entrepreneurs who
are helping them and come to us and this--it's a cycle of I've got to make it more innovative
and feasible. And over time, the second iteration might look like this. The third one, there
are some of them migrating up to that top right corner. And you're starting to get close
to that really big value. The original business model is completely gone and completely unrecognizable
other than the people who are pitching them. And it's fascinating to watch those videos
as you go. And then at the end, you've probably got some tight group that you didn't want
to talk about that have made a really good contribution and they're getting close to
that kind of thing. So that's been very, very fun, very, very successful. I don't--I mean
my days of the innovation department and that, I would say my understanding of how to encourage
and foster this kind of thing is boosted incredibly by this experience. There's nothing like having
to teach, let alone, foster a whole or help a whole group of people through this process
to make you understand how it works. But this design thinking approach, every week coming
back or every iteration coming back, it's almost like when we iterated on code development.
You push it out, you test, you edit, and you push it out, you test, and you and get better
and better all the time with these constraints. So it's worked very well and been very fun.
So a few parting ideas for you; first of all, our roles, and I'm talking to people in post-secondary
institutions including students. I would say our roles--I know that may be a bit tough
to read but the bottom-left side of this is your traditional--I'm giving a lecture, you're
listening to my lecture, here's the textbook. So some stock of knowledge that you're getting,
you will repeat it back and you will do well. And that's what is traditional. Given the
disruption that I'm saying will happen in education. Given that we are ironically trying
to encourage innovation in what we do, it has to change. And I would say we're probably
right there now to where the faculty member, the teacher, the person facilitating is motivating
and facilitating rather than the authority on the knowledge. In fact, there are a lot
of things I don't even know about when we start. But we bring the right people in to
make it happen. The learner has to go from being totally dependent on the textbook and
the content in that process to being interested, and involved or engaged in the process. And
where we really want to go is this top right corner where we just--we're like delegators,
we're consultants to the process and [INDISTINCT] directed and involved. And I would say you
were with--you know, this talk, I can't share too much about it with you, but of how applicable
this is in a corporate setting for this kind of process, not this on the screen but this
venture designed thinking for--now, I don't know this. You guys know way better than I
do but this concept just lack time or 20% time, adding some structure and feedback to
that. And I don't mean structure in a bad way but a way to get to see where you are
on that 2x2 of innovative feasible if you really want to aim for that top right corner,
that kind of thing. And the last thing I would share with you is this guy. That--this was
taken from somewhere--I don't expect you to be able to read all of this, but the idea
on the left side is--at the initial stage of idea development, you could have 3,000
ideas that come to mind. If there are seven stages in this person's model, they've done
research of patent, patents that are out there and their evolution of the ideas. But for
every 3,000 raw and written ideas, there's only 1.7, launches. So the enormous challenge
it's involved in that in trying to get just to there--and I would propose to you that
those 1.7 launches, it's a small fraction of those that are really big value or that
even survived let alone. So this is a really big challenge. And I would say that--I share
with you a quote that I love, "Even a blind squirrels will eventually find acorns." But
until they do, there's a lot of wasted energy. So I'm just trying to throw at you--I'm very
much in the early stage of the ideation or idea development process, and I recognize
there's a lot more to it. But at that stage, we found by not just being blind squirrels
running around the room, you can make these things happen. We've got groups of--we had
our Venture Design Studio finale last week where we had students. Twelve teams pitching
to--a tough panel that--I'm sure, Steve would have met some of the [INDISTINCT] Venture
Forum, and they were saying to us, "For 18-year olds, pitching these kind of concepts in the
way they pitch, we don't even see that consistently at the [INDISTINCT] Venture Forum." So they
were ecstatic to see it coming out of this. So, I'm just thrilled to see where this might
go as we--as our program evolves, as these concepts evolve, and as they are taken also
outside of the school setting into industrial context, it's very exciting. So in closing,
I'd say to you, my gut feel, you can get a degree in your field, you can join a great
company, you can access incredible amounts of information like we could never to access
before, you can work hard and put in your 10,000 hours like here we should do, you can
build a great network of people, you can be full of good ideas, and I suspect you can
even have 20% time to help develop those ideas. But you may--if you're lucky, be one of the
1.7 launches if you do all that right and not necessarily one of the really big game
changers. So you can still fail to really create the big guy. And I'd propose you need
to understand creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and we touched a bit on that and had some
fun with that today. You have to have the right mindset, and that's the person who can--who
you guys can hire. And they walk in and say, "Tell me what B looks like." I'll figure out
how to get from A to B, I don't need you to walk me through it by getting all the way
to B, just by--and come see if they need you. To B--T-shaped, the people who can--who are
excellent in one or more core bottoms of the T, but also have that complement on top. To
be in the right environment, like I said to you, we're trying to create this environment.
You guys have that environment, no question. And also, to have the right process and to
that, I'd say some of this design thinking stuff is very exciting and sort of that. So,
I thank you very much for your time and I appreciate it and would welcome any questions
if you have any or if there's opportunity to do that. So, thanks. Steve, yeah?
>> We got to need this [INDISTINCT]. >> BRUTON: Yeah, you're asking--he's asking
for whether there are any examples of Ventures that have spun out of the program. Yes, we've
been around 14 years as an applied degree. Some exciting examples, I know you want tangible
answer to that. I wanted to say to you too though that what we're starting to see with
the Venture Design Studio is these--of the 12 that pitched, 4 or 5 of that were really
good. I guess it was pitched in a public forum so it's--I'm sort of debating whether I can
share these ideas because they weren't mine, but they were pitched in an open public forum.
I'll speak vaguely about each of the ones that come up. So visually impaired student
came up with a really interesting application or solution to visually--the challenges visually
impaired people face when they start or when they want to order food in restaurants. And
if you let me, I'll leave it at that. But that originated as not such a hot idea and
turned in to a very hot idea that was very exciting as an example. I'm trying to be careful
not to--another one is actually--and it's just been, it was funny. These four guys came
up with this idea that evolved over the term. And four or five days before they had to pitch
it to the judges, they were looking on some of the tech review sites and if somebody came
out exactly what they want. So they came in and they said, "Okay, we got to let you know
what happened, Alex, but what do we do with this?" And they had an idea around an iPhone
App remote, universal remote kind of thing that was actually quite a very good idea.
And it's actually--you can Google those words, you'll find a solution. Probably, actually
not quite as streamlined as theirs but some of those--so, that's a second example. You
get--the guys who--I have to be careful for what I'd say because I'm not supposed to talk
with individuals--18 that did very well took the whole thing. It was the team that was
not even engaged in the process until later on and came in at the last minute, what we
felt like the last minute, incredibly late and came in with this idea and pitched it
like, like Steve Jobs can pitch and blew everybody away. Because one of the things I didn't mention
to you is that the students are invited to invest in their peers and for every share
they have in a peers' Venture, they get a certain chunk of percentage to be added to
their course. So they're really invested in who wins and these guys came out of the blue
and took the whole thing and nobody even invested in them. And they ended up winning the whole
competition with their idea. So this is very exciting. But then, there are a lot of other
examples from over the years that, you know, for everything from dance studious to pimped-up
garages, to the more medium to high-tech stuff too, but we're really seeing where we had
a couple of those ideas a year. We're starting to see many more ideas at or above those levels
very, very quickly in first year students, so, it's very exciting. Please--yeah?
>> I can see you're talking about this. I can see there are issues about what can, you
know, talk about this and that you got in place protection for IP, can you talk about
this? >> BRUTON: Have we got...
>> And [INDISTINCT] possible? >> BRUTON: The question is have we gotten
place protection for IP. I'm intentionally somewhat ignorant of that process, but I don't
mean I avoid it. I know what I need to know and by that--I should be careful on that one
too. I know--I know the situation. We're also in an institution in transition. The deal
is, as I understand it, I own nothing. I'm there doing my job of helping these people
through the process. The student owns everything they come up with because we give them a toolset
and they've used it well. My only hesitation really is these are not my ideas to share
with everybody. It's their decision whether to share their idea. And I don't want to step
out in front of them and do that, so that's where I'm hesitant. The IP issue I think is
pretty clear for them. Is that what you meant? >> I guess, something, did somebody [INDISTINCT]
the idea in the class, so that would be [INDISTINCT]. >> BRUTON: Yeah, that's a challenge. And so,
what we say to students is if you have an idea you or that worried about, don't use
it here and invariably, they do. I mean it's the same thing as the guy who refuses to talk
to a VC without signing an NDA. And the VC says, "Well, get out of town. I'm probably
talking to five guys like you already," and so--and that's part of learning too. I mean
we had a team that was very keen to miss the finals because they were afraid that they've
been coached by--I mean, another person, he was in my class, but he got a call from their
IP lawyer. And so, we say, "Well you've met the course requirements, it's up to you whether
you pitch or not." And then having that learning at 18 is really something, having those thought
processes at 18 is really a good--I'm thrilled to have it. And so, I don't--I guess I didn't
mean to flip--be flipping on it. I know where it lies in and where--and if I'm hesitant,
it's because I don't want to go--it's not my job to share with you their ideas, you
know, especially if they'd say ,"What are you doing and taking our ideas to a bunch
of skilled people like that?" You know. And I'd be the chump, so--yeah?
>> [INDISTINCT]? >> BRUTON: It's a good question. There's two
answers to that because the open textbooks initiative I showed you, which is a tool to
get things done in completely bootstrap mode and in part train ourselves on the--the open
philosophy. I mean, even using a website or wiki stuff thing to develop content rather
than word is new for some folks. So it's very much like a make-do-get-it-done for the concept
though. And so for that, it's highly feasible and somewhat innovative. Now, there's another
answer to that, which I'll be coy in answering but we--there are ambitions to truly enter
the open textbook's space, you know, for a profit or nonprofit but in do that right,
if you'll let me, which I think would be very both high feasible, high innovative. And it's,
you know, there's no magic to it. It's along on the lines of, you know, division or license
of contents separately like iTunes dance with music. I mean it's those kinds of ideas. And
then you have arguments about what do you focus on this topic creativity, innovation,
entrepreneurship or do you, you know, or do you make it--do you really just go a whole
hog and try and win the game, and it's interesting. And so, were not in that--I mean, we're just
not. We don't have--I don't have--I am--there's no development. I am maintenance. And so we're
just making it go and it's working, but that's not--that wouldn't be the solution that would
get you to the top-right corner. Is that what you mean?
>> Yeah. >> BRUTON: Yeah. Yeah.
>> What's the balance between high-value the profit and high-value the change of the world?
>> BURTON: High-value profit and high-value the change of the world?
>> Like if you have idea of how the world changes if there is no money [INDISTINCT].
>> BURTON: Well, in the course, I'll answer that. We have a lot of students who say, "I
want to have a nonprofit." And we talk to them into that, we say that--that's why we
call it Venture not business design, right? And so we--they say, "How do we deal with
that?" And the answer that we say is, treat them the same except that when you get profits
in the nonprofit case, you reinvest those towards your mission. And we--I mean the guys
in the nonprofit area would probably frown at me simplifying it that much, but that's
the way we handle it especially in the early courses, just create as much value as you
want. But, frankly, if you're doing that right, it should be profitable. And maybe those resources,
the monetary resources don't come through the sales of gizmos. But in any event, you've
got a revenue stream of some kind, it could be donation, it could be a year of foundation,
whatever it is, you've still got some profits to reinvest, hopefully, if you're doing things
well. So we try and speak with the same toolset, mindset to all of those things. Is that what
>> BURTON: Yeah. Yeah. And it's a tough thing to do because you develop criteria for that
2x2, the innovative and feasible matrix. And you have to double check whether they apply
it realistically to a nonprofit scenario or a political party or a church organization
or, you know, an academic program like ours that's trying to be innovative, and can you
develop those criteria that you could have external step in and assess on and still drive
the learning and the process up to that top-right corners. Yeah. Yeah?
>> You know, if you [INDISTINCT] really fat mortgage on to that innovative and feasibility
in to which it's surprising how innovative and feasible your ideas [INDISTINCT].
>> BRUTON: Right. >> You're creative planning is something that
we've gone through, and it's just amazing. And for [INDISTINCT] that treadmill of just
perched on the edge of growth part that [INDISTINCT]. >> BRUTON: Yeah.
>> And it really makes you narrowly focused on what you're doing.
>> BRUTON: You--what's on the line? Well, yeah. No question.
>> When everything is on the line, it surprised me, you know. It [INDISTINCT], you know, it's
a downside, it's a really [INDISTINCT] side if you can't survive. I think that's amazing.
>> BURTON: Yeah. For those who may not really hear it what he's saying be, when you mortgages
on the line, there's nothing like that to sharpen your energies to get to that top-right
corner. And, you know, just to say it in a small-scale that--where we're trying and make
the process authentic is that your grades are on the line. You're junior sweat is on
the line. You're--if you succeed in that corner, you get extra, you know, extra letter grades.
And so--we're trying. We don't have live ammo like you're talking about, but it's amazing
how when the last few iterations come around, things get into shape and the focus is there
and it's very similar, very analogous to what we're trying to teach and have them learn,
so. >> I think that the whole program is [INDISTINCT]
when you consider the fact those 14 jobs, whatever they are and, you know, you may be
>> ...together with other, you know, collaborators and whatever, but they're going to have to
know this stuff if they are seeing this going to happen, you know, all that that big T,
you know. >> BRUTON: Right, that's right. Yeah. No,
I agree, yeah. >> It's good.
>> BRUTON: So--and then in terms of, you know, I think back to when we had the innovation
department and--I mean, you could do something similar to this where you guys have like Founder's
Awards and--where you just put a really big carat at the end and--then, may be that would
motivate and see what you're talking about. I'm not sure how long--Steve, do you want
to go? I'll leave it--I'll just check with you.
>> [INDISTINCT] >> BRUTON: You can if you want it to. If it
was--if I was worthy of being thrown out, then I--I'll accept that.
>> Well, thank you very much obviously. >> BRUTON: No, thank you. And thanks for having
me. Thanks everybody.