Mills Scofield

MARCH 2, 2020

Outputs are important products, services, profits, and revenues: the What. What if a packaging company could help them strategize not just how to package the product for higher acceptance into the mass retail markets, but also where to place it on store shelves to get the most exposure?

Management 127

Management Travel Constraint Workshop 127

Mills Scofield

MARCH 2, 2020

Outputs are important products, services, profits, and revenues: the What. What if a packaging company could help them strategize not just how to package the product for higher acceptance into the mass retail markets, but also where to place it on store shelves to get the most exposure?

Management 91

Management Travel Constraint Workshop 91

Mills Scofield

APRIL 10, 2017

So often, when a project or product doesn't go well or fails, organizations do "post-mortems" - they go over what went wrong, why, sometimes rushing to blame people first instead of looking at processes. What if we started doing pre-natals instead of post-mortems?

Project 70

Project Productivity Products Process 70

Mills Scofield

OCTOBER 2, 2012

” There were to be no limits to our design, creation and iteration of these products – except, of course, they had to be made out of duct tape. and a clear vision laid out in our sketchbooks, we started on our third and final product for the week’s assignment. ” Brilliant.

Class 178

Class Project Long-term Engineering 178

Mills Scofield

SEPTEMBER 24, 2017

Sure, it's harder to get it due to increasing geo-political entanglements, environmental and regulatory constraints and access to product, but it still has a strong profit margin and, you believe, defines your brand. You've spent years investing in that rare and unique caviar. It's a valuable niche!

Constraint 118

Constraint Resistance Business Model Politics 118

Mills Scofield

APRIL 20, 2013

Weddings are a $50 billion industry in the US and green weddings are growing rapidly (about half of all brides choose at least one “eco” product or service at their wedding) but there are few options for eco or socially-responsible wedding dresses. Supply chain and product development go hand in hand.

Supply Chain 159

Supply Chain Fashion Proposal Learning Curve 159

Mills Scofield

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Some came from AT&T corporate product management & marketing. AT&T corporate product managers and marketers [.]. But how did we learn about these problems? Some we just thought up. But few came from seeing customers firsthand, so we ended up using ourselves as ‘examples’ – not good.

Innovation 142

Innovation Marketing Productivity Products 142

Mills Scofield

JUNE 16, 2013

America’s poor are forced to choose between the 260% payday loan and mainstream financial products and services from which they are often excluded due to poor credit. 1] ” Traditional economic theory dictates that market forces should spawn more affordable alternatives, but they haven’t.

Innovation 161

Innovation Microfinance Business Model Self-aware 161

Mills Scofield

JUNE 3, 2014

The differences were more along traditional business characteristics: virtual vs. physical product or service, B2B vs. B2C, etc. At some point, in deciding which supplier to use, in engaging your workforce, and in getting your product into users’ hands, relationships with people matter. All businesses are social.

Business Model 175

Business Model Venture Capitalist B2C Entrepreneur 175

Mills Scofield

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Jack Kearney : When you've got the skills and team to start building a product, it's really easy to get carried away and just 'go'. We learned a hard lesson this summer: make sure the product that you're trying to build is really needed BEFORE you start building it. The problem with this sort of thinking is that you aren't your user.

Learning-by-Doing 138

Learning-by-Doing Creativity Brainstorming Skills 138

Mills Scofield

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

We stereotype innovators as men and mainly in STEM* products. The rapid design-prototyping-iterating process resulted in several potential hardware and software products. A man alone in a lab? Increasing evidence shows most innovation comes from two or more people…one of whom might even be a woman! Get Innovating Women.

CTO 142

CTO Engineering How To Innovation 142

Mills Scofield

MARCH 5, 2017

Learn how to code, make bookshelves, do graphic design, become a product manager for 3D-printed products, understand the Patagonian ecosystem, discover biomedical uses of Antarctic sea anemones, para-sail? Think about the next 2-3 years, maybe 5. What do you want to learn, explore, discover, and/or experience?

Guidelines 70

Guidelines Learning-by-Doing Planning Goal 70

Mills Scofield

JUNE 19, 2023

For instance, you want your employees to be industrious and effective contributors to your business and your kids to be thoughtful and productive members of society. It’s an age-old question: How do you motivate people to do what’s right? But what’s the best way to achieve that goal — control or empowerment?

Commitment 91

Commitment Follow-up Morale Micromanagement 91

Mills Scofield

DECEMBER 12, 2012

Perhaps the economy has increased insecurity, doubt and lack of trust in business; perhaps adolescence’s creeping into the 30’s is why its taking longer to grow up and be professional; or perhaps we’re so politically correct, or conflict avoiding, that we are sacrificing accountability and productivity for fear of offending.

Short-term 170

Short-term Long-term Morale Politics 170

Mills Scofield

OCTOBER 15, 2013

An evenness is required to create and innovate in more meaningful and productive ways. Embracing productive tension results in improved thoughts, better concepts, and enhanced innovation. Millennials, along with all generations, need to embrace this blend. Within each, there are two trust principles to use. Trust your voice.

Creativity 132

Creativity Innovation Self-aware Software 132

Mills Scofield

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

Kona shares the starkly different definitions of ‘basic needs’ between the USA and Haiti and how it affects her productivity and impact…a lesson for us all! What she has done for youth and their families in Haiti demonstrates courage, compassion, purpose and leadership savvy few CEO’s of any age possess.

Hammer 140

Hammer Long-term How To Bond 140

Mills Scofield

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

In meat plants, tens of thousands of operators are “whizzing” meat products everyday in over sixty countries around the world. Through a myriad of questions our knowledge increases and we begin to play “what ifs” with potential customers as product solutions appear in our mind. Million; not big, but interesting.

Succession 70

Succession Industry Stage-Gate CFO 70

Mills Scofield

MARCH 27, 2011

Everyone thinks of products and services first. There are many areas in which to innovate. But, you can innovate processes, procedures, your supply chain…how you define ‘work’! No area of innovation is ‘easy’, but some seem harder than others.

Supply Chain 105

Supply Chain Innovation Process Productivity 105

Mills Scofield

JUNE 5, 2013

Mrked is a tech accessories company that not only offers quality, fashionable products, but also a chance for you to “Leave a Mrk” on the world. We wanted to take a product that we use everyday and provide girls in Asian and African countries with a concept that we also use everyday, education.

Fashion 194

Fashion Education Library Quality 194

Mills Scofield

DECEMBER 9, 2010

" Most market research projects - for strategic planning and innovation (my passions), or even incremental product development focus on getting the facts. At Bell Labs we used to say, "How much did you pay for that data?"

Innovation 107

Innovation Strategic Planning Project Marketing 107

Mills Scofield

SEPTEMBER 3, 2012

It’s human nature, to strive for the end product; parents wish success for their children, CEOs desire profit for their company but these end goals cannot overshadow the path to achieve them. While cultural differences separated me from my Cantonese co-workers and friends, I believe truths like these hold us together.

Entrepreneur 170

Entrepreneur Learning-by-Doing Library Mentor 170

Mills Scofield

SEPTEMBER 18, 2010

I'm still trying to process the last week; a wonderfully relaxing and productive (not an oxymoron) sabbatical on the dock in Maine, a day at Brown with terrific kids (I'm ready to go back) and BIF-6. If you are ever, ever able to attend BIF's annual conference, spare nothing and go.

Innovation 107

Innovation Conference Process Productivity 107

Mills Scofield

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

She was the Branding Strategist for Speak Your Mind Foundation and served as a Design Researcher and Product Manager to the President of Brown University in the creation and launch of BrownConnect. She a Brown ''14 graduate where she launched it''s first accelerator, Brown Venture Labs as president of the Entrepreneur Program.

B2C 70

B2C Retail Innovation Entrepreneur 70

Mills Scofield

MAY 8, 2012

There are amazing young people usurping government’s roles in productive, efficient and effective ways. So, if you’re worried about where this country is going, about our seemingly gridlocked government, relax a little. Perhaps Gov. will be back in the hands of the people!

Innovation 170

Innovation Business Model Goal Class 170

Mills Scofield

NOVEMBER 30, 2014

Data helps us figure out to eliminate unnecessary steps, improve productivity, reduce costs, etc. It’s hard to have data show us the subtle societal, cultural, behavioral “whys” of influence; Used to make things more efficient instead of more effective.

Efficiency 142

Efficiency Engineering Trends Marketing 142

Mills Scofield

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

You know when you have an idea for a new business, product, service or process and you tell someone and they pick it apart? They tell you all the reasons it won’t work. You get really really peeved and annoyed and say to yourself, “They just don’t ‘get it’ ”? Frustrating isn’t it?

Innovation 105

Innovation Advice Marketing Planning 105

Mills Scofield

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

There are times that our work requires us to be front and center, but if it’s always the case, we end up being less than productive for our work and our families. Our world (and I firmly believe the fabulous Millennials will force this) needs to encourage and enable diversity of work styles, not just thoughts, gender, race, creed.

Career 184

Career Diversity Maturity Licensing 184

Mills Scofield

JANUARY 18, 2015

Revenue, profit, productivity, etc. Return on Investment (ROI), or the measurement of how effectively something will pay for itself, is a classic business metric. The calculation defines gain in financial terms. In today’s world, financial measures alone are too narrow. are only part of the picture.

ROI 70

ROI Short-term Long-term Metrics 70

Mills Scofield

DECEMBER 19, 2011

It’s not just ‘stuff’ Work creates products, services, capital…and relationships – with colleagues, employees, bosses, peers, service providers, and suppliers and of course customers. They don’t view chores, ‘work’ as a gift. But, I sure do! Work has a lot to do with Christmas and Chanukah.

Course 93

Course Productivity Products Innovation 93

Mills Scofield

MARCH 31, 2014

Yet, while we think about the customers of our products and services, many of us don''t think as much about the ‘hearers’ (customers) of our words when it’s our own people. When leaders mix up assessments and assertions , as described by Fernando Flores [1] , it can be a huge problem.

Learning-by-Doing 142

Learning-by-Doing Engineering Entrepreneur Price 142

Mills Scofield

JANUARY 22, 2012

In November, I spoke with Bernard Charlès , CEO of Dassault Systèmes , (DS), creator of 3D simulation products for manufacturing to life sciences. I’ve been thinking about the 2 nd , 3 rd order effects of outsourcing, especially now that some companies are either doing or seriously considering insourcing.

Outsourcing 114

Outsourcing Insourcing Innovation Cost-Benefit Analysis 114

Mills Scofield

JUNE 5, 2013

Mrked is a tech accessories company that not only offers quality, fashionable products, but also a chance for you to “Leave a Mrk” on the world. We wanted to take a product that we use everyday and provide girls in Asian and African countries with a concept that we also use everyday, education.

Fashion 87

Fashion Education Library Quality 87

Mills Scofield

JANUARY 16, 2013

At Assured Labor, I tested the adoption of new products into new markets to understand product-market fit. Why would a worker spend their scarce cash on a bus, with doubtful success of employment, to an unfamiliar area in a dangerous city like Bogotá from an unknown employer?

Short-term 187

Short-term Innovation Entrepreneur Learning-by-Doing 187

Mills Scofield

JUNE 9, 2014

Examples include Method Products, Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s and two of my favorites, Runa and Susty Party. While there are good reasons for some companies to remain non-profits, there is no reason that a socially-impact minded business cannot be for-profit.

ROI 132

ROI Business Model Venture Capitalist Early Adopters 132

Mills Scofield

OCTOBER 17, 2012

When you give someone the “power” without the tools and teams to make it real, frustration and anxiety increase which decreases morale, productivity and of course passion. Do you hold people accountable for things they cannot control or direct? Would you want to be in that position?

Power 171

Power Due Diligence Education Budgeting 171

Mills Scofield

DECEMBER 10, 2013

Raj’s thesis is that the privatizing/enclosing of public/open spaces turned labor from being production for oneself to being an asset (human capital) for someone else. So, Why don’t we question if this concept still works in its current form, if it couldn’t be adapted to a new model, and what the consequences have been?

Human Capital 141

Human Capital Constraint Media Banking 141

Mills Scofield

AUGUST 27, 2013

” Through shared language, students can become sensitive global activists and pursue productive community partnerships. Nelson Mandela said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Guaraní instead of Spanish?

Education 169

Education Globalization Politics Learning-by-Doing 169