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Lectura 1http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Cultivating_innovation_an_interview_with_the_CEO_of_a_leading_Italian_design_firm_2299

Cultivating innovation: An interview

with the CEO of a leading Italiandesign firmAlberto Alessi, head of his familys iconic design factory, talks about how tosustain innovation over decadesand why companies should take more risk.FEBRUARY 2009 Marla M. Capozzi and Josselyn Simpson

Source: Strategy Practice

Alberto Alessi is the third generation to lead his familys iconic design firm. Founded and stillbased in Crusinallo, about an hour north of Milan, Italy, the firm remains privately owned. In Alessis

view, both the ownership structure and the location of his company have imbued it with a strongtradition of artisanshipand given its designers the freedom to create as they see fit.Together, those traits have allowed Alessi to produce some of the most popular houseware designsof the past few decades, as well as some of the most exclusive and sought-after ones. The firm isperhaps best known for its invention of the first home espresso maker, as well as for a certainsense of humor with which it approaches the design of common kitchen utensils.Nearly 30 years ago, Alessi began shifting away from in-house design and became one of thepioneers of open innovation. Today the firm has relationships with some 200 external designers,many of whom are much better known for expertise in fields such as architecture than in housewaredesign. A tea kettle by Frank Gehry and a vase by Zaha Hadid are just two products of thoserelationships.

Alessi met with McKinseys Marla Capozzi and Josselyn Simpson in his office, in Crusinallo, todiscuss the sources of good design, how he assesses an innovations potential, and why more

companies should take design risks.

The Quarterly: You seek out designers from many fields. How do you figure out what to ask themto design? Or do they say, Id like to do spoons, or, Im interested in coffee pots?Alessi: Basically, its like two sides of a coin. One side is the classical way of working withdesigners: to have them come to the company for a new product briefing. When we have an idea, Istart thinking about whom I could ask. Usually I come up with two or three people. I discuss it withthem. If the designers are interested, they start. After a few months, I receive their reactions andthen I decide whether to continue or not.But there is another way. All of the 200 designers who work with us know they can call me and say,Alberto, I have a fantastic idea for you. Then we start talking about it, designing it by telephone. Ifsomething interesting comes out of this, we start developing it over fax or through the mail. Then wemeet.Over the past 20 years, half of the interesting items from Alessi came from the second way, halffrom the first.The Quarterly: As a firm that primarily designs products for people to use in their homes, how doyou think about the designs consumers will like?Alessi: I should start by explaining that Alessi is an example of an Italian design factory, meaning asmall or medium-size company that specializes in one area, such as furniture, lighting, or, for

Alessi, accessories. In my opinion, there is a kind of historical DNA in Italy, dating at least from theItalian Renaissance, when workshops that had these very specialized, niche production factoriesoriginated. Our approach, like that of other Italian design factories, is very different from that of a


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mass production company. I sometimes compare the process of making a new car with the processof making a Pablo Picasso painting.When a car company sets out to make a new car, what do they do? First of all, the top person asksfor market research to understand what the customer is thinking. So market research people goaround asking the consumers, What would you like? And what do the customers do? They lookaround at the existing cars and say, OK, I like this part of that car, or, I like this part of anothercar. And so on. The research people put all this together in a shaker. They shake. Then they pourout the recipe for the new car design and give it to the car designers.Our way is closer to the way of Pablo Picasso. Imagine Picasso waking up in the 1920s on a nice,sunny morning in a village on the Cte dAzur and feeling strongly the wishthe needto startpainting. So he starts painting. But hes not asking himself, To what target customer will I addressmy new painting? Picasso shows us a completely different approach: starting from yourself, as acreator, and using your sensibility and your intuition in order to touch other peoples hearts orsensibility or intuition. And by the way, he also built an interesting business.Im not saying that we are like Picasso. Not at all. We are simple, humble mediators. But what Iwant to say is that all the designers working with us are like little Picassos: their creation processstarts from intuition, not from market research.

The Quarterly: What do you mean by mediator?Alessi: We consider our core activity to be mediating between, on one side, the best possible

expressions of product design from all over the world and, on the other side, the final customersdreams. I prefer discussing customer dreams instead of the market, because marketis so rough.Deep down, I feel that my activity as an artistic mediator in product design is not very different fromthe role of a museum director or even a filmmakerputting together and organizing talents indifferent fields to get to a result, which is not a mass-produced product in the traditional sense, but aproduct thats trying to speak to the masses in a new sense, like a well-made film.To do this, we make use of some qualities that are more and more rare in industrial culture today,such as sensibility, intuition, and the desire to accept a bit more risk.The Quarterly: How do you assess the potential of product innovations?Alessi: We have a very helpful tool that we call, ironically, the formula. Its a mathematical modelthat we use once we have a well-done prototype. Not the first or the second prototype, but from thethird one on. The purpose of the formula is to understand what the reaction of our final customerscould be toward this new product and what the products life could be should we decide to start

production.The Quarterly: How did you develop the formula?Alessi: It all started in the beginning of the 90s, when my brothers were curious why I was doingcertain projects and not other projects. And of course, I didn't know. Because everything washappening in my stomach. But it was a good question. So I started thinking how to answer. Andwhat I did was put together all the 300 projects I had developed during my career until then.These 300 projects had very different lives. Some were big successes. Some a bit more than that.Some were big fiascos. And the rest were in the range of a little bit better, a little bit worse. I was, ofcourse, convinced there was a reason for these outcomes.When I tried to explore the reasons for each products life, I came out with four parameters. All fourwere equally important for the final customer, but only two were central parameters for Alessi; theother two were peripheral for us.The first central parameter is the degree to which people say, Oh, what a beautiful object, whichrepresents the creation of a relationship between the object and the individual. We call this SMI,which stands for sensation, memory, imagination. The second is the use that people can make ofan object in order to communicate with other people. By this I mean that objects have become themain channel through which we convey our values, status, and personality to othersfashion is atypical case in point. Because people freely choose certain objects from the ones they comeacross, they tend to charge them with social meaning, as signs for communicatingin a visible,intelligible waytheir distinguishing values. Objects can have status value or style value. By way ofexample, a gold Rolex watch is a status symbol, which suggests economic wealth, whereas a stylesymbol may be exemplified by an Aldo Rossi teapot, which reveals cultural sensitivity and familiarity


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with the architectural domain. Jean Baudrillard, a French sociologist, brilliantly expounded conceptslike these.The peripheral parameters are function and price. Each of these parameters has five degrees.The formula doesnt work for everything. But when we have a long history with a product, it worksperfectly. If I have to evaluate a pot or a coffee maker or a kettle, for example, the score indicatesexactly the number of pieces that we can sell.When we are exploring a new areafor example, when we were designing a pen, which wascompletely new terrain for Alessithen it becomes more difficult. The formula needs to be tuned ina different way. But the principle is the same.The Quarterly: How does the formula differ from traditional consumer testing or market research?Alessi: Testing isnt really appropriate as a description. Unlike typical market research, which isoften conducted by outside experts, this is organized by us, drawing on our experience. Ourreactions to the test are very different too: a lot of companies would develop a prototype and test itwith consumers, and, if the initial consumer reaction was negative, they would pull the plug on thatproduct.On the other hand, we and our designers are extremely interested in understanding, in advance,what the reaction of final customers would bebut not necessarily to help us decide what toproduce or not produce. If I believe it is a good project and that it has to be done, I will support it.But negative feedback can be useful in helping the designers to modify something. Not all the time,but sometimes.

Fundamentally, we use the formula so we can afford more risk. I don't want to reduce the risk.Given my business, it makes no sense for me to reduce risk. I just need to determine where I am inorder to have the opportunity to take a bit more risk.The Quarterly: What portion of your sales comes from new products?Alessi: Every year, we present two new collections, which represent 10 to 15 percent of Alessistotal turnover. Of all the new items we introduce every year, half are lost in the following ten years.Half continue.The Quarterly: Whats the average shelf life of a product?Alessi: Very long. In metal, 30 to 50 years; in plastic, we have only 20 years of experience, but wehave 20-year-old plastic products that are still well alive. Sometimes we are trendy. But the life ofthe object often continues for a long time after its made.The Quarterly: Theres a school of thought that says, The tighter the constraint, the more creativitywill emerge to escape from that constraint. Do you agree?

Alessi: In general with innovation, people tend to want as much freedom as possible: designersand, I have to confess, also me. But if I look back to my experience, there were several occasionswhen clear, reasonable, and intelligent constraints were helpful.One example is the case of our first water kettle, designed by Richard Sapper. Sapper wanted thiskettle to produce a melody when the water boiled, instead of the very noisy sound of normal kettles.This idea of music was essentially new for Alessi, and he wanted some electronic system. Butfinding something that would work within the mechanical system that Alessi was using was not at alleasy.We stopped for a while because we were not able to find a way to produce the melody. But later on,obliged by the contract constraint, the designer discovered a way to produce a melodymechanically, through one of his sisters who was living in Germany. And so we made the kettle.To produce it, we found an artist who made a pipe. There is a gold-plated part inside that is used totune musical instruments. It produces the perfect note, and when the water boils, the steamproduces a melody.The Quarterly: How do your failures influence you? Why are they important?Alessi: To understand why fiascos matter, I need to explain my theory of the borderlinewhichdivides the areas of possible and not possible. The area of the possible is represented by thosenew projects that final customers will be ready to understand, to wish for, to love, maybe to buy.The area of the not possible is represented by new projects people are not able to understand. Iadmire some marketers and designers whom consumers find extremely difficult to understand.Sometimes they create things that could be used 10 or 20 years later.Well-organized, mass production companies try to work as far as possible from the borderline. Theycannot afford to take too many risks. But by all producing the same car, the same television set, and


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the same fridge year after year, those companies are making products more and more boring andanonymous.The destiny of a company like Alessi is to live as close as possible to the borderline, where you areable to really explore a completely unknown area of products. The problem is that the borderline isnot clearly drawn. You cannot see with your eyes where it is. You can only sense these qualities.The Quarterly: How does the current economic climate, and your experience with previousdownturns, affect what you do?

Alessi: Slowing consumer spending is, of course, something that we take into consideration. Therewill probably be less money to throw away buying stupid things. But thats not bad. And it doesntchange anything for myself, personally. My future is to continue to be a gardener. A gardener has toproperly prepare the ground, then plant the seeds, then wait. Then, as the flower appears, agardener has to take care of itin a way that will permit it to express its nature, its best possibilities.If I could decide my fate, it would be to have a smaller company than the one I have today. I could

take better care of it.About the AuthorsThis interview was conducted by Marla Capozzi, an associate principal in McKinseys Bostonoffice, and Josselyn Simpson, an editor ofThe McKinsey Quarterly.


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Lectura 2http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Talent/Centered_leadership_How_talented_women

_thrive_2193?gp=1

Welcome to The McKinsey Quarterly, the business journal of McKinsey & Company

Centered leadership: How talented women thriveA new approach to leadership can help womenbecome more self-confident and effective business

leaders.SEPTEMBER 2008 Joanna Barsh, Susie Cranston, and Rebecca A. CraskeSource: Organization Practice

Women start careers in business and other professions with the same level ofintelligence, education, and commitment as men. Yet comparatively few reach the top

echelons.

This gap matters not only because the familiar glass ceiling is unfair, but also becausethe world has an increasingly urgent need for more leaders. All men and women withthe brains, the desire, and the perseverance to lead should be encouraged to fulfill theirpotential and leave their mark.

With all this in mind, the McKinsey Leadership Projectan initiative to helpprofessional women at McKinsey and elsewhereset out four years ago to learn whatdrives and sustains successful female leaders. We wanted to help younger womennavigate the paths to leadership and, at the same time, to learn how organizationscould get the best out of this talented group.

To that end, we have interviewed more than 85 women around the world (and a fewgood men) who are successful in diverse fields. Some lead 10,000 people or more,others 5 or even fewer.

While the specifics of their lives vary, each one shares the goal of making a differencein the wider world. All were willing to discuss their personal experiences and toprovide insights into what it takes to stay the leadership course. We have also studiedthe academic literature; consulted experts in leadership, psychology, organizational

behavior, and biology; and sifted through the experiences of hundreds of colleagues atMcKinsey.

From the interviews and other research, we have distilled a leadership model

comprising five broad and interrelated dimensions (exhibit): meaning, or finding your

strengths and putting them to work in the service of an inspiring purpose; managingenergy, or knowing where your energy comes from, where it goes, and what you can do

to manage it;positive framing, or adopting a more constructive way to view your

world, expand your horizons, and gain the resilience to move ahead even when bad

things happen; connecting, or identifying who can help you grow, building stronger

relationships, and increasing your sense of belonging; and engaging, or finding your


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voice, becoming self-reliant and confident by accepting opportunities and the inherent

risks they bring, and collaborating with others.

We call this model centered leadership. As the name implies, its about having a well of

physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual strength that drives personal

achievement and, in turn, inspires others to follow. Whats particularly exciting is that

we are starting to discover ways women can actively build the skills to become more

self-confident and effective leaders. Centered leadership also works for men, thoughwe have found that the model resonates particularly well with women because we have

built it on a foundation of research into their specific needs and experiences.

Centered leadership emphasizes the role of positive emotions. A few characteristics

particularly distinguish women from their male counterparts in the workplace. First,

women can more often opt out of it than men can. Second, their double burden

motherhood and managementdrains energy in a particularly challenging way. Third,

they tend to experience emotional ups and downs more often and more intensely than

most men do. Given these potentially negative emotions, centered leadership

consciously draws on positive psychology, a discipline that seeks to identify what

makes healthy people thrive. Although none of the women we interviewed articulated

her ideas in precisely those terms, when we dived into the literature and interviewed

leading academics, we found strong echoes of what our female leaders had been telling

us.

Cinc Dimen i ne de Lidera

Precondiciones: Inteligencia

Tolerancia al cambio

Deseo de Liderar

Habilidad de comunicacinImpacto:

PresenciaCapacidad de trabajar

en stress y en

catstrofes

Pertenencia

Engaging

VoiceOwnershipRisk Taking

AdaptabilityConnectingNetwork

designSponsorship

ReciprocityInclusivenes

Positive frammingSelf awarenessLearned optimism

Moving on

Managing energyMinimizingdepletion

Restoration

Flow

MeaningHappinessSignature strengths

Purpose

Yourpersonal and

proffessionalcontext


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Meaning

To love what you do and feel that it mattershow could anything be more fun?

Meaning is the motivation that moves us. It enables people to discover what interests

them and to push themselves to the limit. It makes the heart beat faster, provides

energy, and inspires passion. Without meaning, work is a slog between weekends. Withmeaning, any job can become a calling.

It starts with happiness. Positive psychologists (including Tal Ben-Shahar, Jonathan

Haidt, and Martin Seligman) have defined a progression of happiness that leads from

pleasure to engagement to meaning. Researchers have demonstrated, for example, that

an ice cream break provides only short-lived pleasure; in contrast, the satisfaction

derived from an act of kindness or gratitude lasts much longer. Katharine Graham, the

first female CEO of a Fortune 500 enterprise (the Washington Post Company),

famously said, To love what you do and feel that it mattershow could anything be

more fun?

Why is meaning important for leaders? Studies have shown that among professionals,

it translates into greater job satisfaction, higher productivity, lower turnover, and

increased loyalty.1 The benefits also include feelings of transcendencein other words,

contributing to something bigger than yourself generates a deeper sense of meaning,

thereby creating a virtuous cycle. Finding meaning in life helped some of the women

leaders we interviewed take new paths and accept the personal risks implicit in their

goals.

Shelly Lazarus, the chairman and CEO of the advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather

Worldwide, described how she just followed [her] heart, doing the things that [she]

loved to do. This sense of meaning inspired her, early in her career, to jump from

Clairol to Ogilvy. Lazarus commented that everyone she knew thought that her

decision to go from the client side to the agency side was a strategic move. But it

wasnt really like that, she says. I just loved the interaction with the agency because

that was the moment I could see where the ideas came to life.

People seeking to define what is meaningful can start, as one interviewee put it, by

being honest with yourself about what youre good at and what you enjoy doing.

Building these signature strengths into everyday activities at work makes you happier,

in part by making these activities more meaningful. Although there is no simple

formula for matching your strengths to any single industry or function, you can lookfor patterns in jobs that have and havent worked out and talk with others about your

experiences.

The connection between signature strengths and work can change because priorities

do; sometimes, for example, a job is better than a calling, especially for young mothers.

Our interviews show that this ebb and flow is natural and that the key to success is


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being aware of the shiftsand making conscious choices about themin the context of

bigger goals, personal or professional.

To read more on meaning:

Tal Ben-Shahar,Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment, New York:McGraw-Hill, 2007.Martin E. P. Seligman,Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize YourPotential for Lasting Fulfillment, New York: Free Press, 2004.Sonja Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want,New York: Penguin, 2007.

Managing energy

Flowa sense of being so engaged by activities that you dont notice the passage of time Actively managing energy levels is crucial to leaders. Todays executives work hard: 60

percent of the senior executives toil more than 50 hours a week, and 10 percent more

than 80 hours a week.2 Whats more, many women come home from work only to sign

onto a second shift92 percent of them still manage all household tasks, such asmeal preparation and child care.3

Weve found that worklife balance is a mythso the only hope women have is to

balance their energy flows. This means basing your priorities on the activities that

energize you, both at work and at home, and actively managing your resources to avoid

dipping into reserves. Burnout is a reality for men and women alike, but for women

who can opt out, so too is throwing in the towel.

But work doesnt have to be exhausting. Mihly Cskszentmihlyi, a founder of positive

psychology, studied thousands of people, from sculptors to factory workers. He found

that those who frequently experienced what he called flowa sense of being soengaged by activities that you dont notice the passage of timewere more productive

and derived greater satisfaction from their work than those who did not. Further, it

energized rather than drained them.

Zia Mody, a top litigator in India, described how she gained energy from a life that

most people would see as exhausting. Even when her three daughters were young, she

put in 16-hour days to prepare her cases. A woman among thousands of men at court,

she lit up as she told us, I love it! I love winning. I love being in court. . . . It excites

meI cannot tell you how much.

One useful tactic is to identify the conditions and situations that replenish your energyand those that sap it. Self-awareness lets you deliberately incorporate restorative

elements into your day. It can also help you to space out your energy-sapping tasks

throughout the day, instead of bundling them all into a single morning or afternoon. A

particularly useful tip, we have found, is to give yourself time during the day to focus

without distractions such as blinking lights and buzzing phones. Your productivity will

benefit several times over.


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To read more on managing energy:

Mihly Cskszentmihlyi,Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, New York:HarperPerennial, 1991.Edy Greenblatt, Work/Life Balance: Wisdom or Whining, Organizational Dynamics, 2002,Volume 31, Number 2, pp. 17793.Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, NotTime, Is the

Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal, New York: Free Press, 2003.

Positive framing

No matter how pessimistic you are by nature, you can learn to view situations asoptimists

do The frames people use to view the world and process experiences can make a critical

difference to professional outcomes. Many studies suggest that optimists see life more

realistically than pessimists do, a frame of mind that can be crucial to making the right

business decisions. That insight may be particularly critical for women, who are twice

as likely to become depressed, according to one study.4 Optimists, research shows, are

not afraid to frame the world as it actually isthey are confident that they can manageits challenges and move their teams quickly to action. By contrast, pessimists are more

likely to feel helpless and to get stuck in downward spirals that lead to energy-

depleting rumination.

Martin Seligman, a psychologist who was an early proponent of positive psychology,

found, for example, that optimists are better able to deal with the news that they have

cancer. Confident that they can handle the prognosis, they immediately start to gather

facts and dive into treatment plans; pessimists, on the other hand, become paralyzed

with fear. Seligman also shows that optimism can be learnedan important insight

that underlies positive framing.Positive framing and positive thinking, we would emphasize, are two different notions.

The latter tries to replace adversity with positive beliefs. The former accepts the facts of

adversity and counters them with action. Talking yourself into a view contrary to the

facts has a temporary effect at best.

The experience of Andrea Jung, the chairman and CEO of Avon, suggests how useful

positive framing can be. In late 2005, Jung recalls, she found her company in a decline

that temporary factors could not explain. Recognizing that she was the leader who had

created the strategies and the team responsible for the downturn, she listened to the

counsel of her executive coach and promptly fired herself on a Friday night. Thefollowing Monday, Andrea showed up at work as the new turnaround CEO. She

proved herself to be a glass half full optimist, and the recovery plan her management

team adopted after a quick diagnosis led to a steady improvement and a return to

growth.

No matter how pessimistic you are by nature, you can learn to view situations as

optimists do. The key is self-awareness. If a meeting goes badly, for example, you


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should limit your thoughts about it to its temporary and specific impact and keep them

impersonal. It helps to talk with trusted colleagues about the reasons for the poor

meeting and ways to do better next time. These discussions should take place quickly

enough for you to make a specific plan and act on it. You should also undertake some

activity that will restore both your energy and your faith in yourselfperhaps having a

hard workout, going out with friends, or spending time with your children.

To read more on positive framing:

Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, New York:Basic Books, 2006.Martin E. P. Seligman,Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, New York:Pocket Books, 1998.

Connecting

We were supporting each other, and there was power in the many

People with strong networks and good mentors enjoy more promotions, higher pay,and greater career satisfaction.5 They feel a sense of belonging, which makes their lives

meaningful. As Mark Hunter and Herminia Ibarra have noted in theHarvard Business

Review, what differentiates a leader from a manager is the ability to figure out where

to go and to enlist the people and groups necessary to get there.6 Yet not all networks

are equal. Roy Baumeister, a social psychologist who studies social belonging and

rejection, believes that men tend to build broader, shallower networks than women do

and that the networks of men give them a wider range of resources for gaining

knowledge and professional opportunities.7 This theory is a matter of substantial

debate among academics. Our experience with hundreds of women at McKinsey,

however, offers additional evidence that womens networks tend to be narrower but

deeper than mens.

The experience of Dame Stella Rimington, who in the late 1960s joined MI5, the UKs

domestic intelligence organization, offers an example of the power of broad networks

to get things done. Rimington, later the agencys director general, says that women

were definitely second-class citizens in those days. They werent allowed to do

fieldwork, for example, yet many of the women were completely indistinguishable

from the men: they had the same kind of education.

She continues: So we womenthere were quite a few of us by thenwe sort of ganged

up and did a kind of round-robin thing and said, Why is it that we have a completely

different career than men who are exactly like us? And for the first time, the powers

that be started to scratch their heads because they suddenly had to find an answer. . . .

And in the end, of course, they decided that they would have to promote a few women.

She later concluded that no one of us would have asked that question on her own. We

were supporting each other, and there was power in the many.


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The leaders we interviewed also talked about the importance of having individual

relationships with senior colleagues willing to go beyond the role of mentorsomeone

willing to stick out his or her own neck to create opportunity for or help a protge.

Such a person is what Ruth Porat, a vice chairwoman at Morgan Stanley, called a

sponsor.

A number of studies have shown that women who promote their own interests

vigorously are seen as aggressive, uncooperative, and selfish. An equal number of

studies show that the failure of women to promote their own interests results in a lack

of female leaders. Until one of these conditions changes, sponsors, we believe, are the

key to helping women gain access to opportunities they merit and need to develop.

Porat explained how a managing director took a chance on her when she was a second-

year associate, asking her to present to a clients board of directors. The consumer

client wanted a woman to be present. I had never been in a boardroom, let alone

presented in a boardroom. Sink or swim, he told me. Youre in. I still remember to

this day a mistake I made and that it was, overall, a good presentation. He took a real

chance on me.

One surprising thing we learned as a result of talking with female leaders was that they

often fail to reciprocate and find expectations that they should do so distasteful. A

senior partner at McKinsey noted that men naturally understand that you must give

before you get, but women dont. This tendencywhich other leaders have described

to us as wellcombined with the sometimes awkward sexual politics, real or perceived,

between senior men and younger women, makes it harder for women to find sponsors.

Yet women can learn reciprocity. To start, its important to assess your comfort level

with the people you know through work, as well as how influential they are

professionally. Most women weve worked with typically find that the colleagues they

are close to are not influentialand vice versa. Explicit planning and some risk taking

are needed to change this.

One approach is to provide and ask for help on a regular basis. Finding ways to forge

connections through interests outside of work is another. Over and over, we heard,

Make it personal, in the sense that others will get along with you more easily if they

see your human side. You can express this in all kinds of ways at work, without

inappropriately blending your professional and personal lives. The female leaders we

interviewed acted on this insight both to find sponsors and to build networks.To read more on connecting:

Catalyst, Creating Womens Networks: A How-To Guide for Women and Companies, SanFrancisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999.Monica Higgins and Kathy Kram, Reconceptualizing Mentoring at Work: A DevelopmentalNetwork Perspective, Academy of Management Review, 2001, Volume 26, Number 2, pp. 26468.Lois J. Zachary, The Mentors Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships, San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass, 2000.


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Engaging

You did the work, so youve got to talk about it

Many people think that hard work will eventually be noticed and rewarded. That can

indeed happenbut usually doesnt. Women, our interviewees repeatedly told us, need

to create their own luck. To engage with opportunities by taking ownership of them,you must first find your own voice, literally. Julie Daum, a prominent Spencer Stuart

recruiter who specializes in board placements, told us that even senior women on

boards still lose out by not speaking up: they hang back if they think that they have

nothing new to say or that their ideas fall short of profound.

One senior woman we interviewed told us how she learned to join in: Every Monday,

we had a senior-management meeting. In the beginning, I just listened. I learned from

the guys because they were all there. And after a while I started to speak up. You did

the work, so youve got to talk about it. And I did.

Women who want to grow as leaders should also take ownership of their professionaldevelopment. Mary Ma, Lenovos former chief financial officer, said that she drew

inspiration from using the Japanese auto industry as a metaphor, reshaping herself to

become more competitive by identifying what she had to change and then actually

changing it. As Ma noted, she didnt complain to her boss or to her colleagues but

rather looked inward to see how she could be a more effective leader. Instead of

waiting for someone to tell her what to do, she took a systematic approach to self-

improvement.

Engagement is equally about risk taking. The women we interviewed accept risk as a

part of opportunity. Some have the confidence and courage to dive in; others use

analytic problem solving to assess risks and then proceed to action. Psychologist

Daniel Gilbert says his research indicates that people who make a choice for risk and

work with it, rather than avoid it, report a greater degree of happiness than others do.

Shona Brown, Googles senior vice president of business operations, described how she

handles opportunities and the risks that accompany them. Ill use a skiing analogy

because I like to jump off cliffs, she says. But I generally jump off cliffs from which

Im relatively confident Im going to landor if I dont, its not dangerous. Brown said

she enjoys risk. I like to be at that point where youre about to jump. Your stomach is

kind of going woo! Its not so simple that youre sure youll succeed. But youre not in

a life-threatening situation.

Our interviews have shown us that to embrace opportunity, people must often take

sharp detours and that the risks of unexpected changes commonly seem more obvious

than the benefits. Reaching out to othersnot to avoid making decisions yourself but

to learn the best outcome from change can often help you see opportunities in the right

frame and decide whether to go for them.


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To read more on engaging:

Daniel Gilbert,Stumbling On Happiness, New York: Knopf, 2006.Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, Women Dont Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiationand Positive Strategies forChange, New York: Bantam, 2007.Marshall Rosenberg,Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life, Encinitas, CA: Puddledancer Press, 2003.

Within McKinsey and in the corporate world, our work on centered leadership

continues (see sidebar, Initial results). To understand how men and women practice

it across tenures, industries, and regions, we are interviewing more female and male

leaders and launching large-scale surveysagain, with female and male respondents.

Our research is exploring the hypothesis that todays leaders can become even more

effective through the model of centered leadership: a shared purpose with deep

meaning for the people involved, explicit awareness and management of energy,

positive framing, strong informal and formal networks, and the collaborative creation

of opportunities. In time, we hope to help increase the number of female leaders

significantly by giving them the tools to build leadership skills for any playing field.

Initial results

McKinsey has been hard at work for more than a decade developing female leaders. Centered leadership is a

simple yet powerful model that has infused tremendous energy into our efforts. We are now beginning to see

the power that comes from putting all the pieces together. Since March, weve introduced the centered-

leadership model to a thousand women and half as many men in regional and global learning programs. Work

on building the skills at its core has unleashed collective and individual energy. Some participants quickly

reached out to people who might sponsor them; others began to give their career focus greater meaning right

away by asking to be involved in new projects that reflect their specific interests. Many of the women reported

a tremendous increase in their energy and motivation. Indeed, more than 100 of them signed onto an interest

group to compare notes about how they are applying centered leadership.

Its early days for centered leadership, but like a grassroots movement it is proliferating organically.

Interestingly, we initially rolled out these ideas only to women but were immediately approached by many men

who wanted what the women were having.

Return to reference

About the Author

Joanna Barsh is a director in McKinseys New York office.

About the Authors

Joanna Barsh is a director in McKinseys New York office, where Rebecca Craske is an associate principal; Susie Cranston is a

consultant in the San Francisco office.


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Lectura 3

http://www.forbes.com/ 2009/05/18/reinvention-entrepreneur-kegan-leadership-clayton-christensen-creative-disruption.html

Creative Disruption

To Reinvent Your Company, Reinvent Yourself

Scott D. Anthonyand Michael Putz, 05.18.09, 02:50 PM EDT

Thecompanyistheoutgrowthoftheentrepreneur,sokeepgrowing.

Asifthenon-stopeconomicchallengesofthepasttwoyearsweren'tbadenough,ahidden

crisisisbeginningtoemergefromtheeconomicrubbleof2007-08: Corporateleadershave

todealwithachallengeforwhichtheyarecompletelyunprepared.

Companiesare increasingly recognizing that today's turbulent times requirenothing short

of continual reinvention. Weathering today's storm isn't enough. Companies have todevelop repeatableprocesses that regularly renew their firmsbefore the next crisis hits.

Thiskindofrenewalmustbeginwiththeleadersthemselves

Forgenerationsthe U.S.hadaculturethatsupportedentrepreneurialismandthecreationofnew growth businesses. Silicon Valley was the embodiment of this culture. Today

individualsandthecompaniesthathousethemmustdevelopthisability.

Companies have to build a "dual core" culture that excels at building new growthbusinesseswhileharnessingthefullpotentialofexistingbusinesses. Itisatoughchallenge.

Considertheseeminglyparadoxicaldemandsthischallengeplacesonleaders'plates:

--I havetofocusonrunningoperationswithlaser-likeprecisionwithoutstiflingcreativity.

--I amvaluedtodayformybig,existingbusinesses,buttoday'ssmallbusinessesarecriticalforlong-termsuccess.

--Attentiontodetailandfocusonnumbershasallowedmetoprogressinmycareer,buttoo

muchdetailornumberorientationcancrowdoutinnovation.

--I havetoleveragecurrentcapabilitiestowinintoday'smarkets,andforgetmanyofthesecapabilitiestowinintomorrow'smarkets.

ThesechallengescallintomindtheoldwordsofF.Scott Fitzgerald: "Thetestofafirst-rateintelligenceistheabilitytoholdtwoopposedideasinthesamemindatthesametime,and

stillretaintheabilitytofunction."


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Passing Fitzgerald's test requires that leadersmanage twodifferent "gut instincts" at the

same time, one more operational and onemore entrepreneurial. Few leaders--Apple's (AAPL -news-people ) Steve Jobscomestomind--dothiswell,andeventhenonesideof

the gut usually dominates. Importantly, individual leaders who can personally passFitzgerald'stestoftencan'tcrisplyarticulatehowtheydoso,whichinhibitstheirabilityto

developandselectthenextgenerationofleaders.

Thegoodnews? Researchers, such as Harvard's Robert Kegan in hisbook In OverOurHeads,havemappedout thestagesof innerdevelopment thatonemust traverse tobean

effectivemulti-selvedleader.

Thebadnews? Kegan'sresearchshowswhatweinstinctivelyknow--onlyatinyfractionofadults, even the leaders of global firms, reach a self-development stagewhere they can

confidentlyconfrontparadox.

It seems counterintuitive that achievement-oriented managers haven't naturally achievedpersonal development levels that allow them to master these kinds of challenges. The

problem isn't a lack ofbasic intelligence, desire or capacity. Rather, managers haven'tdevelopedtheabilitytograpplewithparadoxbecausetheyhaven'tneededto.

Moderncapitalismhasbeenonaspectacularrunsince the World War II. Today's leaders

operateglobaldiversifiedbusinessesonanenormousscale. Theability tohandleparadoxhasmarginal incrementalutility tothesechallenges. In fact,naturalselectionwouldweed

outmanagers whopossessbalanced skills in favor of those whose skills are uniquelyattunedtotheneedsofthetime.

Hyper-competitivemarketswith shrinkingwindowsof competitive advantagemean that

leadershavetodeveloptheseskills,andfast.

There's no silverbullet to address this challenge,but the following three tips can helpleadersbeginthenecessaryprocessofpersonalreinvention.

--Workwithahumanresourcesexecutivetodevelopapersonalizeddevelopmentprogram.

This isn't your father's HR program--including psychological, philosophical or evenspiritualelementsintrainingcanhelpleadersimprovetheirabilitytograpplewithparadox.

Consider using tools such as Kegan's "Seven Languages of Transformation" to helpaccelerateyourandyourteam'sabilitytochange.

--Start a "nights and weekend" activity rife with ambiguity. University of Southern

California Professor Morgan McCall describes how amanager's capabilities come fromattending "schools of experience." Helping a family member with a small business,

launchingavolunteerprogramatwork,orspearheadinganactivity inthecommunitycanbewaystogainexposuretonewsetsofchallenges.

--Consciouslycomplicateyourlifebybrushingupagainstotherdisciplines. It'salong-heldviewthatinnovationoftenoccurswhendifferentdisciplinesintersect. Goingtotradeshows


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in unrelated industries, trading jobs for a week with a colleague at a non-competitive

companyorevenreadinganunusualmagazinecanexposeleaderstonewwaysofthinking.

Albert Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing and expecting differentresults. Einstein would surely raise his eyebrows at companies that ask mono-focused,

execution-minded leaderstospearheadcorporatereinventionefforts. Leadersneedtostarttheprocessofpersonalreinventionsoon,orsuffertheinevitableconsequences.

Scott D. Anthony is President of Innosight and the author of The Silver Lining: An

Innovation Playbook forUncertain Times (Harvard Business Press, June 2009). MichaelPutz is Director of Business Development and Strategy for Cisco. He focuses on the

leadershipchallengesofdisruptiveinnovationandsustainablegrowth.


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Lectura 4

http://www.physorg.com/news160839462.html

Low-cost process produces natural gas from algae

May 6th, 2009 (PhysOrg.com) A newmethod for converting algae into renewable natural gas for use inpipelines and

powergenerationhasbeentransferredfromthe DepartmentofEnergy's Pacific NorthwestNational Laboratorytothemarketplaceundera licensebetween Genifuel Corporationand

Battelle.

Themethod,calledcatalytic hydrothermalgasification,createsnaturalgasoutofalgae -morequickly,moreefficientlyandathigheryields thanotherbiofuelprocesses. Genifuel

expectstheprocessalsorequireslesscapitalinvestment. Thelicenseagreementmovesthistechnology for renewableenergyproductiona stepcloser tocommercial reality. Battelle

operates PNNL forDOE."Algae and other aquatic biomass hold significantpromise for our country's ability to

producerenewableenergydomestically," said Genifuel President JimOyler.

"At Genifuelwehavedevelopedefficientgrowthandharvestingtechniquesfortheaquatic

biomass. Withthisgasificationprocess,wecanconvertthebiomasstoacleanfuelthat isalmostcompletelycarbon-neutral."

Hecalls the PNNL processan "elegantsystem," noting thatmore than 99 percentof the

biomass is gasified to produce renewable natural gas and byproducts such as carbondioxidewhichcanberecycledandreusedinthealgaegrowthponds.

PNNL originallydevelopedthecatalyticgasificationprocesstocleanupindustrialandfoodprocessingwasteasanalternativetoincineration.

Overthepast 10 years, PNNL scientistsadvancedthetechnologytoincludeamorestable

catalyst thatenables it toalsoconvertwetbiomass, suchasalgae. PNNL has tested thegasifierwithterrestrialplants,kelpandwaterhyacinths.

Itworksespeciallywell foraquaticbiomass suchasalgae,because the feedstockdoesn't

requiredryingbeforefuelproduction.

Battellegranted Genifuelanexclusivelicenseforthetechnology. Asanationallaboratory,one of PNNL's missions is to advance science and technology toward solutions that

industrycantaketothemarketplace.

"Electricity produced from this natural gas can help electric utilities meet RenewablePortfolioStandardsthatrequirerenewableenergysources,"

Oylersaid. "Existingnaturalgaspipelinescandeliverthefuel,oritcanbeusedtoproduceelectricityonsiteinconventionalnatural-gasturbinegenerators."


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Lectura 5

http://www.forbes.com/ 2009/05/18/oreilly-andy-oram-technology-breakthroughs-andy-

oram.html?partner=daily_newsletter

O'Reilly Insights

It's All About The Customer

Andy Oram, 05.19.09, 06:00 AM EDT

Businessesareincreasinglytappingcustomerstohelpthemdevelopnewproductsandservices.

Thebarometerofenthusiasmiscurrentlyrisingwhenitcomestocustomerempowerment.Businesses,astheyrealizethatcustomersusethe Internettocommentonthemandeven

suggestnewavenuesforthem,arelearningtoformandtapthecreativityofcustomercommunities.

But I suspectthat,asthefullimplicationsofcustomerempowermentsetsin,thebarometerofexecutiveenthusiasmwillfallagain. Fearwillstarttoclampdownonactivityasthey

realizehowradicallytheirbusinessesmustadapt. Thisarticleexploresthreerelatedhunches:

--Thatcustomersandclientsaretakingovertheveryareas,suchasinnovationand

customerservice,wherebusinessesthinkthey "addvalue."

--Thatthepaceofinnovationhasincreasedtothepointwherenon-commodityenterpriseshavetoenteranewbusinesseverycoupleyears.

--Thatbusinesseswillthereforefindrolesunder,aroundandinbetweencustomers.

Inhigh-endindustries,businessesusedtopridethemselvesonsupportingsophisticated

customerswithofferingsthatwerestillmoresophisticated. Customerscouldhandletheirownneedsinmanyareas,butonlypaidemployeescouldcommandtheheightsof

researchingnewproductsandprovidingcustomerservice.

ButtheresearchofMIT professorEricvon Hippelshowedthatmostnewproductsareactuallysuggestedandsometimesevencreatedbycustomers. Meanwhile,customersare

findinghelpinonlineforumswheretheirfellowcustomers,asoftenaspaidstaff,solvetheirproblems.

I believecustomerinnovationisafactorinrankingsonthe Fortune 500. Asanexperiment,

I counteduphowrapidlycorporationshaverisenandfalleneachyearsincestatisticswere


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firstavailablein 1955,andthedatasuggestsageneralupwardtrendinthe 1990sand 2000s

withaninexplicablespikein 1995.

Industriessuchasmedicine,defenseandsecurity,withtheirhighemphasisonqualitycontrolanditsattendingcertificationsandregulations,willbeabletocontinuemostlyas

theyhave,evenwhileacceptingmorecustomerinnovation. Commodityindustries (theHormelsand Wal-Martsoftheworld) willalsoremainrelativelystable,although

rationalizationwillreducetherelativepercentofthepopulationwhocanearnalivingthatway. Therestofusmayhavetoadopttoabreakneckpaceofinnovationthatforcesusto

changebusinesseseverycoupleyears. We'llderiverevenueunder,aroundandinbetweenthecustomers.

Anexampleofprovidingabusinessunderthecustomersisacompanythatmakesmaterials

andtools,suchas 3-D printers,thatcustomersthenusetocreatetheirownproducts.Businessesorganizedaroundthecustomerstypicallyprovidepackagingandmarketing,

suchastheonline,print-on-demandvanitypublishersthathavesprungupduringthepastfewyears. When Threadless.com (acentralexamplein JeffHowe's Crowdsourcing) prints

T-shirtsbearingimagesdesignedbycommunitymembers,itisactingasmorethanamanufacturer. Itisallowingcommunitymemberstoreachpeopleoutsidethatcommunity,

whodon'tgoonthe Threadless.com Websitetoviewtheimages.

Toofferaservicelikeprint-on-demandpublishingorThreadless.comiscomparabletothehistoricroleofimporters,whoallowvendorstoreachmarketsbyovercomingthe

geographic,legal,culturalandlanguagebarriersthatseparatethemfrompotentialcustomers.

Finally,onecanofferabusinessinbetweencustomers. Auctions,discussionforumsand

communitysitesplaythisrole.

Ascustomersannexnewareasofpracticeandinnovation,theywillchangethethresholdwhereonecanmakemoney. Thiswillbestressful,asbusinesseshavetostayontherun,

butinreturntheywillfindthemselvesabletoparticipateinwhateverisexcitingandcreativeintheproductivesector.

Andy Oramisaneditorat O'ReillyMedia,wherehecurrentlyspecializesinfreesoftwareandopensourcetechnologies. HisworkforO'Reillyincludesthefirstbookson Linuxpublishedcommerciallyinthe U.S.


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Lectura 1

TraduccinlibrepreparadoporIng. Margarita D.Mondragn

Paraelcurso Microeconoma

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Cultivating_innovation_an_interview_with_th

e_CEO_of_a_leading_Italian_design_firm_2299

Cultivando la innovacin : entrevista alPresidente ejecutivo de una firma italiana

lder en el diseo

Alberto Alessi , jefe de una tradicional familia de diseadores, conversa acerca

de la sostenida innovacin que por dcadas sostiene, y porqu las empresasdeben de ser ms arriesgadas.

Febrero 2009 Marla M. Capozzi y Josselyn SimpsonFuente : Strategy Practice

Alberto Alessi es la tercera generacin que lidera la prestigiosa empresa de diseo. Fundada yan operando en Crusinallo, a una hora la norte de Miln, Italia, la empresa an es propiedadprivada. Segn Alessi, la estructura de propiedad y la ubicacin de su empresa le han dado unafuerte tradicin artesanal y brindan a sus diseadores la libertad para crear.

Juntos, aquellos tratos han permitido a Alessi producir algunos de los ms populares diseos de

artculos del hogar, en las dcadas pasada.

La firma es tal vez muy conocida por ser el primer fabricante de la cafetera casera de cafexpresso, como tambin por cierto sentido de humor con el que disea utensilios de cocina.Hace cerca de 30 aos, Alessi comenz a moverse del diseo tpico de la firma constituyndose enun pionero de la innovacin abierta. Hoy da la firma tiene relacin con 200 diseadores externos,muchos de ellos ms conocidos como diseadores de casas que de utensilios del hogar. Unatetera de Frank Gehry y un vaso de Zaha Hadid son dos productos de sas relaciones.

Alessi se reuni con McKinseys Marla Capozzi y Josselyn Simpson (autoras de esta entrevista)en su oficina en Crusinallo, para discutir las Fuentes del buen diseo, cmo considerar unainnovacin potencial y porqu muchas empresas deben arriesgar diseos.

La revista trimestral :Ustedes contactan a diseadores de diversas especialidades- cmo es que llegan a proponerlesel diseo de algo? O es que ellos dicen: Me gustara disear cucharas, o Estoy interesado envasijas para el caf

Alessi:Bsicamente, es como los dos lados de una moneda. Un lado, es la manera clsica de trabajar condiseadores; dejarlos que vengan a la empresa para delinear algn nuevo producto. Cuando tengouna idea, comienzo a pensar a quin llamar. Nos reunimos con dos o tres personas. Discutimosideas. Si los diseadores estn interesados, comienzan a trabajar. Despus de algunos meses.Recibo sus propuestas y luego decido si continuo o no.


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Pero hay otras maneras. Todos los 200 diseadores que trabajan con nosotros pueden llamarme ydecir: Alberto, tengo una fantstica idea para ti. Luego comenzamos a conversar, disear portelfono. Si llegamos a algo interesante, comenzamos a intercambiar desarrollos por fax o a travsdel mail. Luego nos reunimos.En los ltimos 20 aos, la mitad de los productos interesantes de Alessi surgieron de esa manera,la otra mitad de la manera primera.

La revista trimestral :Siendo una empresa que disea productos para las familias, como piensa en los diseos quebuscan tales consumidores?Alessi:Comienzo explicando que Alessi es un ejemplo de fabricante de diseos italianos, empresapequea o de mediano tamao que se especializa en un rea como muebles, iluminacin, oaccesorios.

En mi opinin, Italia cuenta con un tipo de gen (DNA) histrico, que se inicia por lo menos en elRenacimiento Italiano, cuando comienzan a operar estos tal leres que resultaron nichos industrialesde produccin. Nuestro enfoque, como el de otras empresas diseadoras italianas, es muydiferente al de las empresas de produccin masiva. Algunas veces comparo el proceso de fabricarun nuevo auto con el proceso de Pablo Picasso para hacer una pintura.

Cuando una empresa de autos decide hacer uno nievo, qu hacen? Primero, el jefe pido por elestudio de mercado que seale lo que el consumidor est pensando. El investigador de mercadospregunta a los consumidores qu les gustara?. Y qu es lo que los clientes hacen? Ellos mirana su alrededor los autos que existen y dicen, OK, me gusta esta parte del auto, o me gusta estode otro auto, y as. La gente de investigacin mezcla todo esto. Mezcla y lo alcanzan a losdiseadores.

Nosotros procedemos como Pablo Picasso. Me imagino a Pablo Picasso despertando en los aos1920s, en una soleada maana en la Costa Azul sintiendo el fuerte deseo la necesidad- depintar. As el comienza a pintar. Pero el no se pregunta: A qu cliente objetivo dirijo mi nuevapintura? Picasso nos muestra un enfoque diferente: comienza de usted mismo, como creador,usando su sensibilidad y su intuicin a fin de tocar los corazones, sensibilidad e intuicin de otros.

Y por cierto, tambin construye un negocio interesante. No digo que somos como Picasso. No deltodo. Somos humildes mediadores. Pero lo que quiero decir es que todos los diseadorestrabajando con nosotros son pequeos Picazos: Su proceso de creacin comienza de la intuicin,no de estudios de mercados.

La revista trimestral :Que quieres decir por mediador?

Alessi:Consideramos que nuestra actividad principal es mediadora, entre , por un lado, la mejor expresinposible del diseo del producto a nivel mundial, y por el otro lado, el sueo final del consumidor.Prefiero discutir el sueo del consumidor en lugar del mercado, porque el mercado es muy rudo.

En lo profundo, siento que mi actividad de artista mediador en el diseo de productos no es muydiferente al del rol de un director de museo o an de alguien que hace una pelcula- poniendo todo

junto y organizando talentos en diferentes campos para conseguir un resultado, que no es unproducto producido masivamente en el sentido tradicional, sino que es un producto que trata dehablar a las masas en un nuevo sentido, como una pelcula bien hecha.

Para hacer esto, hacemos uso de cualidades que son raras en la cultura industrial de hoy, comosensibilidad, intuicin y el deseo de aceptar ms riesgos.


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La revista trimestral :Cmo analizan el potencial de innovaciones de productos?

Alessi:Tenemos una herramienta muy til que irnicamente llamamos la frmula. Es un modelomatemtico que usamos una vez que tenemos un buen prototipo. No el primero ni el segundoprototipo, partimos del tercero o ms. El propsito de la frmula es entender cul sera la reaccinfinal de nuestros clientes hacia el nuevo producto y cul sera la vida del producto si decidimosiniciar su produccin.

La revista trimestral :Cmo desarrollaron la formula?Alessi:Todo comenz en los 90s cuando mis hermanos queran saber porqu haca ciertos proyectos yno otros. Por supuesto, yo no lo saba Esto porque todo estaba ocurriendo en mi estmago. Peroera una buena pregunta. Entonces, comenc a pensar en la respuesta. Lo que hice fue juntar los300 proyectos que hasta eses entonces haba desarrollado en mi carrera.

Estos 300 proyectos tuvieron diferentes tiempos de vida. Algunos eran un gran xito. Otros eran

algo ms que eso. Algunos eran grandes decepciones. El resto estaba en el rango de poquitomejores, poquito peores. Yo por cierto, estaba convencido de las razones de esos resultados.Cuando trat de explorar las razones para cada vida del producto, constru cuatro parmetros.Estos cuatro eran de igual importancia para el consumidor final, pero slo dos eran los parmetroscentrales para Alessi, los otros dos eran perifricos para nosotros.El parmetro principal era el grado en que las personas decan: Oh, qu hermoso objeto, lo querepresenta la creacin de la relacin ente el objeto y el individuo. Lo denominamos S MI :Sensacin, Memoria, Imaginacin.El segundo es el uso que la gente puede hacer de un objeto a fin de comunicarse con otraspersonas. Quiero decir que los objetos se han convertido en el canal principal de expresin denuestros valores, estatus, personalidad y otros . moda es el tpico caso. La gente elige librementeciertos objetos de todos con los que se cruza. Y tienden a asignarle con un significado social, comosignos de comunicacin de una manera visible, inteligente sus valores distintivos. Los objetos

pueden tener un valor de estatus o un valor de estilo. Por ejemplo, un reloj de oro Rolex es unsmbolo de estatus, que sugieren riqueza econmica, mientras que un smbolo de estilo puede seruna tetera de Aldo Rossi, que revela sensibilidad cultural y familiaridad con el dominioarquitectnico. Jean Baudrillard, socilogo francs, expone brillantemente estos conceptos.Los parmetros perifricos son funcin y precio. Cada uno de estos cinco parmetros tiene cincogrados. La frmula no trabaja en todo. Pero, cuando tenemos una larga historia con el producto,trabaja perfectamente. Si puedo evaluar una vasija, una cafetera o una tetera, por ejemplo, el storeindica exactamente el nmero de piezas que puedo vender.Cuando exploramos una nueva rea por ejemplo- cuando diseamos un lapicero, que es unnuevo terreno para Alessi esto es ms difcil. La frmula necesita ser aplicada de maneradiferente. Pero el principio es el mismo.

La revista trimestral :Cmo es que la frmula difiere de la prueba tradicional del consumidor o del investigador demercados?Alessi:Probar no es la descripcin apropiada. A diferencia de las investigaciones de mercados, quesuelen ser conducidos por expertos de fuera, esto esta organizado por nosotros, diseado connuestra experiencia. Nuestras reacciones a las pruebas son tambin diferentes: muchas empresasdesarrollan un prototipo y lo prueban con los consumidores, y si la reaccin inicial del consumidores negativa, ellos retiran el producto.


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Por otro lado, nosotros y nuestros diseadores estamos extremadamente interesados enentender, por adelantado, la reaccin final de nuestros consumidores pero no necesariamentepara ayudarnos a decidir si producimos o no. Si considero que esto es un buen proyecto y quetiene que ser hecho, lo apoyo. La informacin negativa puede ser utilizada por los diseadorespara modificar algo. No siempre, pero algunas veces.Fundamentalmente, utilizamos la frmula para enfrentar ms riesgos. No quiero reducir el riesgo.Si este es mi negocio, no tiene sentido reducir riesgos. Slo necesito determinar dnde estoy listopara tener una oportunidad y tomar riesgos.

La revista trimestral :Qu porcin de sus ventas vienen de nuevos productos?

Alessi:Cada ao, presentamos dos colecciones que representan el 10 al 15% del total de ventas de

Alessi- De todos los nuevos productos que lanzamos cada ao, la mitad se pierden en lossiguientes 10 aos. La otra mitad continan.

La revista trimestral :Cul es el promedio de vida de un producto?

Alessi:Muy larga. En metales: 30 a 50 aos, en plsticos solo tenemos 20 aos de experiencia, perotenemos productos de plstico que tienen 20 aos de vida y estn an en el mercado: Algunasveces marcamos tendencias. Pero la vida de un objeto siempre contina por largo tiempo.

La revista trimestral :Hay una escuela de pensamiento que dice: Si la restriccin ms ajustada surgir una mayorcreatividad para escapar de tal restriccin lo acepta?Alessi:En general, con la innovacin, la gente tiende a querer la mayor libertad posible : los diseadores yconfieso que yo tambin. Pero si busco en mi experiencia, encuentro muchas ocasiones en quelas restricciones claras, razonables e inteligentes fueron de mucha ayuda.

Un ejemplo es el caso de nuestra primera tetera, diseada por Richard Sapper. Sapper quera quela tetera produzca una meloda al hervir el agua, en lugar de emitir el sonido ruidoso de teterasnormales. Esta idea de msica era esencialmente nueva para Alessi, y el quera algn sistemaelectrnico. Encontrar algo que trabaje con el sistema mecnico que Alessi estaba usando no fuedel todo fcil.

Paralizamos por un momento porque no podamos encontrar la manera de producir tal meloda.Pero ms tarde, obligado por una restriccin contractual, el diseador descubri la manera deproducir tal meloda mecnicamente, por su hermana que viva en Alemania. Y as fue como asehizo la tetera.

Para producirla, encontramos a un artista que hizo una pioa. Hay una parte baada en oro que esusado para entonar instrumentos musicales. Esto produce la nota perfecta, y cuando el aguahierve el vapor produce la meloda.

La revista trimestral :Cmo es que sus fallas influencian en usted? Porqu son importantes?

Alessi:

Para entender porqu los errores son importantes, necesito explicar mi teora de los lmites quedividen el rea posible de lo imposible.


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El rea de lo posible esta representada por aqullos nuevos proyectos que el cliente final esta listopara entender, que lo desea, lo ama, y lo podra comprar. El rea de lo no posible estarepresentado por proyectos que la gente no puede entender. Admiro a la gente de mercados y alos diseadores que los consumidores encuentran extremadamente difciles de entender. Algunasveces crean cosas que pueden ser usadas en 10 0 20 aos ms tarde.

Bien organizados, la produccin masiva de las empresas busca trabajar lo ms alejado de laslneas de frontera. No pueden enfrentar muchos riesgos. Pero todos produciendo el mismo auto, elmismo juego de televisin, el mismo refrigerados ao tras ao, aqullas empresas estn haciendoproductos cada vez ms aburridos y annimos.

El destino de empresas como Alessi es vivir lo ms cercano posible de la lnea de frontera, dondeusted es capaz de realmente explorar un rea completamente desconocida de productos. Elproblema es que la lnea de frontera no esta claramente dibujada. No se puede ver con los ojosdnde est. Slo se puede sentir las cualidades.

La revista trimestral :Cmo es que el actual clima econmico y su experiencia con cadas anteriores afecta sunegocio??

Alessi:La lentitud del gasto del consumidor, es por cierto algo que debemos de considerar.Probablemente hay menos dinero para tirar comprando cosas estpidas. Pero no es del todo mal.Y para mi, no cambia nada. Mi futuro es continuar siendo el jardinero. El jardinero que prepara bienel terreno, planta las semillas y luego espera. Cuando aparece la flor, el jardinero la cuida paraque exprese su naturaleza, sus mejores posibilidades. Si yo pudiera decidir mi destino, sera tener

una empresa ms pequea de lo que tenemos hoy. As podra cuidarla mejor.

Acerca de los autoresEsta entrevista fue conducida por Marla Capozzi, asociada principal en la oficina de Boston de McKinsey y JosselynSimpson, editora de la publicacin trimestral The McKinsey Quarterly.


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Lectura 2

Traduccinlibre preparadoporIng. Margarita D.Mondragnpara

elcursode Microeconoma(documentoparcialmentetraducido

Peroinvitamosallectoratrabajarengrupoestalecturaydiscutirsusalcances,acompaadosdeunamujeren

elgrupo)http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Talent/Centered_leadership_How_talente

d_women_thrive_2193?gp=1

Bienvenidos al The McKinsey Quarterly, revista de negocios de McKinsey & Company

Liderazgo Centrado: Cmo talentosas mujeresdesarrollan un nuevo enfoque al liderazgo que

puede ayudar a otras mujeres a ser lderes msseguras y efectivas en los negocios

SEPTIEMBRE 2008 Joanna Barsh, Susie Cranston, y Rebecca A. CraskeFUENTE: Organization Practice

Las mujeres inician carreras en negocios y otras profesiones con el mismo nivel deinteligencia, educacin y compromisos que los hombres. Comparativamente, algunasllegan a las ms altas posiciones.

Esta brecha ocurre no slo porque el conocido techo de vidrio resulta ingrato, sinotambin porque el mundo necesita urgentemente de ms lideres. Todos los hombres ymujeres con cerebro, deseo y perseverancia para liderar deben de ser impulsados acompletar su potencial y dejar su marca.

Con todo esto en mente, el proyecto de liderazgo McKinsey una iniciativa paraayudar a mujeres profesionales en McKinsey y otras partes estableci hace 4 aosaprender lo que conduce y sostiene el xito de exitosas mujeres lderes Queremosayudar a mujeres jvenes a navegar las sendas del liderazgo y, al mismo tiempo,aprender cmo las organizaciones pueden conseguir lo mejor de este talentoso grupo.

Con este propsito hemos entrevistado a ms de 85 mujeres en el mundo((y a algunos buenos hombres) que tienen xito en diversos campos. Algunas lideran 10 mil

personas o ms, otras a 5 o menos. Mientras que cada vida vara, cada una comparte elobjetivo de marcar una diferencia en el mundo. Todas desean discutir sus experienciaspersonales y brindar sus puntos de vista acerca de lo que significa tomar el curso delliderazgo. hemos estudiado literatura acadmica ; consultado a expertos en liderazgo,sicologa, comportamiento organizacional, y biologa; y hemos explorado cientos deexperiencias de colegas en McKinsey.


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De las entrevistas y otras investigaciones hemos preparado un modelo de liderazgo que

comprende cinco dimensiones, amplias e interrelacionadas :

meaning: sentido, o la puesta de tus fortalezas para ponerlas al servicio de un

propsito inspirador;

managing energy: administrando energa, o conociendo de dnde viene tu energa, adnde va, y qu podemos hacer para administrarla.

positive framing: positivismo, o adopcin de una manera constructiva de ver el

mundo, ampliar horizontes, o ganar flexibilidad para seguir adelante an cuando las

cosas salgan mal;

connecting, conectarse o identificar al que puede ayudarla a crecer, construir fuertes

relaciones, e incrementar su sentido de pertenencia,

engaging: comprometerse o encontrando su voz, siendo ms seguras, y confiadas de

aceptar oportunidades inherentes al riesgo, y colaborar con otros.

A este modelo lo denominamos Liderazgo centrado. Como su nombre lo indica, es

tener las fuerzas fsicas, intelectuales, emocionales y espirituales para conducir los

logros personales, e inspirar a otros a que la sigan.

Cinco Dimensiones de Lidera o Centrado

Precondiciones:nteligencia

olerancia al cambio

eseo de iderar

abilidad de comunicacinImpacto:

resenciaapacidad de traba ar

en stress y en

catstrofes

ertenencia

Engaging

(Compromiso)

oz

ropiedad

oma riesgos

daptable

Connecting(conectarse)

iseo de redes

atrocinio

eciprocidad

nclusin

Positive framing

(positivismo)

recavida

ptimista

ctiva

Managing

energy(administrando

energa)

inimizando agotamiento

establecimiento

ludo

Meaning (sentido)

elicidad

ortaleza

ropsito

Your

personal and

proffessionalcontext


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Lo que es particularmente excitante es que estamos comenzando a descubrir maneras

en que la mujer puede construir habilidades para ser un lder seguro y efectivo. El

Liderazgo Centrado tambin trabaja para hombres, aunque hemos encontrado que el

modelo es ms apropiado a las mujeres, por lo que nos hemos sustentado en

investigaciones de sus necesidades especficas y sus experiencias.

El Liderazgo Centralizado enfatiza el rol de las emociones positivas.

Pocas caractersticas distinguen a la mujer de sus contrapartes masculinas en el lugar

de trabajo. Primero, la mujer puede dejar de lado cosas con ms facilidad que los

hombres. Segundo, su doble rol - madres y gerentes les hace generar energa como

retos particulares. Tercero, tienden a experimental altas y bajas emocionales con ms

frecuencia y ms intensidad que los hombres. Dado este potencial de emociones

negativas, el liderazgo centrado concientemente nos deriva a una sicologa positiva,

una disciplina que busca fortalecer saludablemente a las personas. Aunque ninguna

de estas mujeres entrevistadas articularon sus ideas en trminos precisos, cuando

investigamos en la literatura u entrevistamos a lderes acadmicos, encontramos fuerte

eco en lo que nuestras lderes mujeres nos decan.

Invitamos al lector a poner todo su esfuerzo del conocimiento de idioma ingls,

trabajar en grupos y discutir esta propuesta de liderazgo centralizado.


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Lectura 3Traduccin libre preparado por Ing. Margarita D.Mondragn para

uso en el curso Microeconoma

http://www.forbes.com/ 2009/05/18/reinvention-entrepreneur-kegan-leadership-clayton-christensen-creative-disruption.html

La Brecha Creativa

Para reinventar tu empresa, reinvntate

Scott D. Anthonyand Michael Putz, Mayo 18, 2009, 02:50 PM EDT

Laempresacrecesegnelemprendedor,entonces,siguecreciendo.

Comoquesilosretoseconmicosdelosltimosdosaosnofueransuficientes,unacrisisescondidaestcomenzandoaemergerdelosescombroseconmicosdel 2007-08 : Los

lderesdelascorporacionestienenqueenfrentarretosparalosquenohanestadopreparados.

Lasempresasreconocencrecientementequelostiemposturbulentosdehoyrequierennada

msqueunapermanentereinvencin. Lidiarconlatormentadehoynoessuficiente. Lasempresastienenquedesarrollarprocesosquelosrenuevenantesquelosgolpeelaprxima

crisis. Estetipoderenovacindebedecomenzarporsuspropioslderes.Porgeneracioneslos EEUU hantenidounaculturaquehaapoyadoalemprendedorismoya

lacreacindenuevosnegocios.Silicon Valleyeslarepresentacindeestacultura. Hoyda,losindividuosylasempresasqueloscobijandebendedesarrollarestahabilidad.

Lasempresastienenqueconstruirunacultura centrodualquefaciliteelcrecimientode

nuevosnegociosyqueenganchecontodoelpotencialdelosnegociosexistentes. Estodounreto. Considerarparadjicamentelasdemandasqueesteretoponeasuslderes:

- Tengoquecentrarlamarchadelasoperacionesconlaprecisinderayoslasersinahogarlacreatividad.

-- Mevalorizoporlograndedeminegocioactual,perolosnegociospequeossoncrticosparael xitodelargoplazo.

-- Laatencinalosdetallesyalosnmeroshapermitidoelprogresodemicarrera,pero

muchodetalleyorientacinnumricapuedeafectarlainnovacin.


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-- Tengoqueapalancarlashabilidadesactualesparaganarenlosmercadosdehoyyolvidarmuchasdeestashabilidadesparaganarenlosmercadosdemaana.

Elretonoshacerecordarlaviejafrasede F.Scott Fitzgerald: "Lapruebaalainteligencia

deprimerordeneslahabilidaddemantenerdosideasopuestasenlamente,almismotiempoymantenerlahabilidadparaseguiractuando

Pasarlapruebade Fitzgeraldrequierequeloslderes manejenalmismotiempodosdiferentes canalesparalosinstintos unooperadoryelotroemprendedor. Algunos

lderes,comoelde Apple:Steve Jobs agrega:hazlobienyanasunladodeestecanaldominar. Esimportantenotarqueloslderesquepasanestapruebade Fitzgerald

difcilmentepuedendecircmolohacen,loqueinhibesucapacidaddedesarrollaryseleccionaralaprximageneracindelderes.

Lasbuenasnoticias? Investigadorescomo Robert Kegande Harvard,ensulibro In Over

OurHeads, hamapeadoelprocesodedesarrollointernoquedebedeefectuarseparallegaraserunefectivoldermultifactico.

Lasmalasnoticias? Lainvestigacinde Keganmuestraloqueinstintivamenteconocemos

--slounpequeonmerodeadultos,anloslderesdelasempresasglobales,alcanzaneseniveldedesarrollodondepuedentenerlaconfianzadeconfrontartalparadoja.

Alparecerlosgerentesorientadosaloslogroshanalcanzadonaturalmentenivelesde

desarrollopersonalquelespermitealcanzarestetipoderetos. Elproblemanoeslafaltadeinteligenciabsica,deseoocapacidad. Elasuntoesqueestosgerentesnohantenidoque

desarrollarlahabilidaddeengancharseaestaparadojaporquenohantenidolanecesidaddehacerlo.

Elcapitalismomodernohatenidounlargorecorrerdesdela II Guerra Mundial. Loslderes

dehoyoperanennegociosglobalesdiversificadosenunaenormeescala. Lahabilidaddemanejarparadojashafavorecidomarginalmenteestetipoderetos. Dehecho,porseleccin

naturalquedarnlosgerentesquetienenhabilidadesbalanceadasparaverellargoplazoydesaparecernaqullosqueestnpreparadossolamenteparaverlasnecesidadesdel

momento.

Lahipercompetitividaddelosmercadosvienereduciendoelespectrodelasventajascompetitivas loquesignificaquelosliderestienenquedesarrollarestashabilidades,y

rpido.

Nohayalgomgicoparalograrestereto,perolossiguientes 3 recomendacionespuedenayudaraloslderesacomenzarconelnecesarioprocesodereinventarsepersonalmente:

--Trabajeconunejecutivode Recursos Humanosparadesarrollarunprogramapersonalizado. Estenoeselprogramade Recursos Humanosdesupadre,esteprograma


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debeahoradeincluirenelentrenamientoelementossicolgicos,filosficosyan

espiritualesquepuedenayudarallderenlahabilidaddeengancharseconlaparadoja.Considereutilizarherramientascomo LosSiete Lenguajesde Transformacin que

ayudenaacelerarelcambioenustedyensuequipo.

--

-- Inicieactividades nocturnasydefindesemana quelepermitanalternarambientesambiguos,diferentes. El ProfesorMorgan McCalldela UniversidaddelSurde California

describecmolashabilidadesdelgerentevienendela escueladelaexperiencia. Ayudaramiembrosdeunafamiliaenun negociopequeo,desarrollarunprogramade

voluntariadoeneltrabajo,odesarrollaractividadesenlacomunidadpuedensermanerasdeenfrentarseanuevosretos.

-- Concientementecompliquesuvidametindoseenactividadesdeotrasdisciplinas. Esu

importantesaberquelainnovacinocurrecuandosecruzandiversasdisciplinas. AsistiraFeriasde Negociosdeindustriasnorelacionadas,intercambiartrabajosporunasemanacon

uncolegadeunaempresanocompetitivaoanleyendounarevistanuevadeuntemanoacostumbradopuedellevaraloslderesanuevasmanerasdepensar.

Albert Einsteindefiniunavezcomolocurael seguirhaciendolomismoyesperando

diferentesresultados. Einsteinprobablementelevantarasuscejasfrenteaempresasquepidenasuslderesesfuerzosmentalesdereinvencincorporativamono-dirigidas.

Scott D. Anthonyes Presidentede Innosight yautorde TheSilverLining: Unlibroinnovadorparatiempos

inciertos. (Harvard Business Press, June 2009). Michael Putzes Directorde Business Developmentand

StrategyforCisco.Seespecializaenlosretosdelliderazgoinnovador ycrecimientosostenido.


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Lectura 4

Traduccin libre preparado por Ing. Margarita D.Mondragn Hernndez

para el curso de Microeconoma

http://www.physorg.com/news160839462.html

PROCESO DE BAJO COSTO PRODUCE GAS NATURAL DE ALGAS

May 6th, 2009 (PhysOrg.com)

Un Nuevomtodoparaproducirhasnaturalrenovableparaserusadocomogeneradordeenerga ha sido transferido al mercado por el Departamento de Energa (DOE) del

Laboratorio Pacific Northwest National Laboratory bajo la licenciaconjuntade GenifuelCorporationy Battelle.

Elmtodo,denominadogasificacincatalticahidrotermal,creagasnaturaldelasalgasdeunamanerarpida,eficienteydemayoraccinqueotrosprocesosdebiocombustible.

Genifuel estimaqueelprocesorequieredebajo capitalde inversin. La licenciapermitelaproduccindeenergarenovablequeyaestaaunpasodelarealidadcomercial. Battelle

opera PNNL para DOE.

"Algasyotrabiomasaacutica representanunaesperanzasignificativaparalahabilidaddenuestropasen laproduccin localdeenergarenovable,dijoel Presidentede Genifuel

Jim Oyler.

"En Genifuelhemosdesarrolladoelcrecimientoeficientedebiomasaacuticay tcnicaspara su cosecha. Con este proceso de gasificacin convertimos la biomasa en un

combustiblelimpiocompletamenteneutralalcarbn.

PNNL denominaalprocesocomoun sistemaelegante,notandoquemsdel 99% de labiomasaesgasificadaparaproducirgasnaturalrenovableysubproductoscomodixidode

carbonopuedeserrecicladoyreusadoenlosviverosdealgas.

PNNL desarrolloriginalmenteelprocesodegasificacincatalticaparaprocesarbasuraindustrial ydeprocesosdealimentoscomounaalternativaalaincineracin.


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Enlosltimos 10 aos,loscientficosde PNNL desarrollarontecnologaqueincluyeun

catalizadormsestableyconviertebiomasahmedacomoladelasalgas. PNN haprobadoelgasconplantasrastreras,yotrasacuticas.

Elsistematrabajaespecialmentebienparabiomasacomoalgas,debidoaqueelprocesodeproduccindelcombustiblenorequieredesecadoprevio.

Battelle financi a Genifuel una licencia exclusive para la tecnologa. Siendo un

laboratoriodeintersnacional,lamisinde PNNL esdesarrollarcienciaytecnologaparalograrsolucionesquelaindustriapuedadisponerenel Mercado.

" La electricidadproducida con este gas naturalpuede tener usos que cumplen con los

estndares requeridos paralasfuentesdeenergarenovable.

Oylerdijo. "Las lneasqueconducenelactualgasnaturalpuedendistribuir tambinestecombustible, el que tambinpuede ser utilizadoparaproducir energa local en turbinas

convencionalesdegasnatural.


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Lectura 5

TraduccinlibrepreparadoporIng. Margarita D.Mondragn Hernndez

para el curso de Microeconoma

http://www.forbes.com/ 2009/05/18/oreilly-andy-oram-technology-breakthroughs-andy-oram.html?partner=daily_newsletter

O'Reilly Insights

Todo es el cliente

Andy Oram, Mayo.19.09, 06:00 AM EDT

Losnegociosvienencrecientementepidiendoa losclientes que losayudenadesarrollarnuevosproductosyservicios.

El barmetro del entusiasmo se eleva cuando el cliente se empodera de la idea. Los

negociossabenque losclientesutilizanel Internetparacomentarde llosyhasta lleganasugerirles nuevos caminos, y aprenden a capturar la creatividad de las comunidades de

clientes.

Pero,sospechoque la total implicanciadelempoderamientodeclientes, puede llevaradecaer albarmetro del entusiasmo de los ejecutivos. Los temorespueden derrumbar

cualquiergestin si se chocan con la necesidad de adaptar los negocios radicalmente alcambio. Esteartculoexploratrescampos:

-- Los consumidores y el cliente estn llegando a varias reas: innovacin y servicio al

cliente,

cv traduccines microeconomÍa vierns3pm

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