Summary Article 1: People, Planet, Profit: Introducing the B Team
For those unsatisfied with the way that business is being done, a new way, an implied better way known as Plan B, launched by the B team’s 14 inaugural members is commencing. Because of the work of the co-founds of the team, Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz, as well as other leaders, the author is determined to change values to “prioritize people and planet alongside profit.”
Plan A represents and old guard that pursues short term profit while everything else that is important is not prioritized. The B team members have an impressive roster gathering today in London for the event, which will change the old guard standards for a new one that focuses on people and the planet.
Richard and Jochen encapsulate this movement by calling for “new rules and models for the future of business—not incremental ‘change as usual.’” The members of the movement want to envision the problems that following this new ethical MO will face and how they can preempt such problems by preparing for them.
Summary Article 2: 4 Ways Slow Design Will Make The Super-Fast World We Live
There is a lot of buzz about taking a digital vacation from the electronic devices that have come to “rule our lives.” Life in 2013 moves fast, and that can be exhausting. There is a backlash now against overloading our lives and it goes by a variety of names from “digital detox” to “unplugging.”
But all this burnout can be avoided by designing ways to make life simpler. Designers are at the heart of an industry that yearns for simplicity. Within design is the potential to design products that consciously try to prevent, tone down, and even eliminate “digital burnout.”
For years there has been a movement towards “slow design” which makes that case for noticing people and things around us, and thinking about sustainable living as part of a planet. There are four steps that designers can take in order to have a working base of prior concepts to bring into the products that they are designing: 1) East it up, because continuous speed can be tiring. 2) Control the tempo, so that there are options for pace in a digital context. 3) Embrace the Grind by allowing people to do tasks for themselves in meaningful, artistic ways. 4) Design objects that appreciate over time.
Summary Article 3: Secrets To Designing Great Toys, From LeapFrog and Ideo
One company is making toys for kids that double as a protective case for their parents iPhone. Head of toy marketing of this toy, LeapFrog, says that the company sees children as young as one using iPads and so they are incorporating products that parents are attracted to as well as kids.
Considering family dynamics is important to spot trends early and be on the cutting ages. Just like Ideo’s toy lab which made an successful app called Balloonimals that is aimed at children as young as three.
Brendan Boyle, Ideo partner and head of the toy lap saw that mothers were seeing smartphones as another tool in her purse that could be used to entertain and educate.
Summary Article 4: 5 Ways Big Companies Can Pivot Like Lean Startups
Innovation is the most important thing to have in order to pivot like lean startups and a company either has it or does not. Big companies like Procter and Gamble and Microsoft seem clearly not to have it. And people are wondering when Apple is going to bring a new product to the table rather than just tweaking the existing.
Many successes of companies today are the result of pivoting and changing their overall business goals. Companies in those ranks include Paypal, Flickr, Twitter, and Groupon.
Pivoting means that new technologies do not get wasted and big companies must get rid of their gates if they are going to be able to compete with leaner startups with more market maneuverability.
