Thinking of Kevin Bewley

Emily Dickinson once wrote that what makes life so grand is that it will never come again.  You're given this incredible blessing of life, but at the same time it's a curse, because the second it starts, it begins to end.  So you have to take full advantage of it.  In every aspect of Kevin and my life we tried to live with a little bit of urgency.

We lived our lives with no regrets and spent every second together that we could.  We took trips and spent time.  We made memories.

Here are my comments from the funeral:

My brother Kevin Bewley was born April 18, 1980, in Russellville, 
Arkansas. Kevin had a lifelong dream of joining the military, seeing the world and making an impact on the lives of others.

He was a lifelong student of history. While on his first tour of duty, he completed Civil War, and American West history courses at Columbia. He spent two tours of duty in Iraq as a member of the Navy's elite EOD Mobile Unit 11 Bomb Disposal Squad. During this time, Kevin and his team conducted 288 Combat missions and countless IED responses. 

While in service, Kevin was responsible for the disposal of hundreds of terrorist bombs through which he protected thousands of American and Iraqi lives. He loved adventure and the outdoors. I had the privilege to travel tens of thousands of miles with Kevin. Our trips took us from the desert to the artic, and from the bottoms of the oceans to the tops of mountains.

Whether it was thru his service in Iraq, always being the first to volunteer for Snake Hunter missions, or simply thru his honesty, integrity, and spirituality, my brother led by example and he led from the front.

He did his job with professionalism and he did his job right all the way to the end. He lived his life with no regrets. For those of you who have came to honor him, we thank you. 

Rest well, for men like Kevin Bewley are at your guard.

Disruptive Innovation or Imposter?

Business Week's Top 7 Reasons for Innovation Failure

1-CEO sloth. There’s no pretty word for failure to focus on innovation by top management. Every major innovation index, including the new one coming out by Business Week in 08, shows significantly higher rates of return for companies that innovate. Yet CEO’s consistently mouth the word without providing the leadership and
resources to make it happen. CEOs need to make the time to lead the innovation movement in their companies.

2- Adding, not transforming. Most corporations today will allow innovation to be added to their structure. They will add a new innovation pipeline, a new social networking process, a new customer focus group, a new product or service. But companies usually don't scale or leverage the innovation to transform the entire corporate culture--so the innovation remains isolated. In the end, the old pushes back and erodes the new, the best talent leaves, and managers wonder why innovation doesn't work.

3- Choosing Metrics over talent. You must run a global corporation with a system of metrics in place. But measuring efficiency doesn't make a company creative. You need talented people for that. Creative talent is rare in business culture. B-Schools are only beginning to produce them. Getting your efficiency metrics grid down is critical to success but doesn't guarantee it anymore. Swimming in the global talent pool to get creative people for your company is just as critical to success today.

4- Failing to use design thinking strategically. Most companies employ innovation and design consultancies at the midlevel to foster culture change. That underestimates the power of design thinking to guide companies through this unusual period of constant and unexpected change. Innovation consultants and coaches should be used at the top of the executive pyramid.

5- Underestimating Crisis. We don't live in a world of change, we live in a world of crisis. It's "change" on steroids" and its impact on us is greater than at any other time in a century. We are living through an energy crisis, a technology crisis, a political crisis, an economic crisis, a food crisis, a demographic crisis, a terrorist crisis--all overlapping and happening at the same time. How to manage in constant crisis mode is the critical management problem of our era.

6- Neglecting the power of culture. The term "globalization" blinds many top managers to the influence of local culture. There is a tendency to level everything out--to boost efficiencies. Make similar products and services around the world, sell them through similar retail systems, deal with consumers in similar ways, treat employees in similar fashion, etc. Look to India to see how Indian companies operate differently in villages and cities, at the top and bottom of the pyramids.

7- Failing to maximize the new distribution of genius. The rise of global distributed networks of talent and creative people changes the game for business. Thanks to huge investments in education in Asia and Europe, especially in ex-communist countries, the distribution of genius around the world is radically altered. Many top managers are failing to use collaborative networks to tap this talent. Managing these networks is a key skill for the future.

Mobile Message Explosion: 126 billion messages and $8.6 billion in revenue in the US in 2009

Consumer communications choices continue to expand, and mobile operators are contributing to this growth with new forms of messaging, including text, multimedia, and instant messaging to go along with mobile email. The many flavors of messaging will account for more than 126 billion messages and $8.6 billion in revenue in the US in 2009, with short message service (SMS) dominating these numbers. Successful operators will market the consumer benefits of messaging, price transparently, and work with handset vendors to deliver a superior and differentiated user interface. As messaging explodes, companies will vie to control a key asset: the address book.

Creative Destruction??

Website traffic of Myspace Vs. Facebook

How much would you have invested??

Disruptive technology comes from unlikely sources. Are you prepared to recognize it? Research proves that you are not. Frameworks for innovation management can improve your odds.

Click to Watch Video: The Decision Making Unit

A buying center (also known as a decision making unit or DMU), in marketing, procurement, and organizational studies, is a group of employees responsible for purchasing an item for the organization. In a business setting, major purchases typically require input from various parts of the organization, including finance, accounting, purchasing, information technology management, and senior management. Highly technical purchases, such as information systems or production equipment, also require the expertise of technical specialists. In some cases the buying center is an informal ad hoc group, but in other cases, it is a formally sanctioned group with specific mandates, criteria, and procedures. The employees that constitute the buying center will vary depending on the item being purchased.

In a generic sense, there are typically six roles within any buying center. They are:

1. Initiator who suggests purchasing a product or service.
2. Influencers who try to affect the outcome decision with their opinions.
3. Deciders who have the final decision.
4. Buyers who are responsible for the contract.
5. End users of the item being purchased.
6. Gatekeepers who control the flow of information.

Because of the specialized nature of computer and software purchases, many corporations use buying centers that are specialized for information technology acquisition. These specialized buying centers typically receive information about the technology from commercial sources, peers, publications, and experience. In this process, top management, the IT director, IT professionals, and other users participate together to find a solution.

Google Presentations - Disruptive Technology??

You tell me your thoughts. Email: jpbewley@post.harvard.edu

Massachusetts Institute of Technology EDP Class of 2009

Commercialization of Disruptive Technologies