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. Our defeated team immediately took to a new project with our Professor’s encouragement. The true test was lifting it up, though. The answer, we found, was no.

Class 178

Class Project Long-term Engineering 178

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

JANUARY 16, 2013

When we met in January 2012, my idealist entrepreneurial dreams hit pavement as David shared their years of market experience in mobile recruitment while managing a large and rapidly growing team in over four countries. At Assured Labor, I tested the adoption of new products into new markets to understand product-market fit.

Short-term 187

Short-term Innovation Entrepreneur Learning-by-Doing 187

Mills Scofield

JANUARY 6, 2013

Because the culture at Geneca encourages personal and professional development and there was buy-in from the leadership team, the preconditions for innovation already were in place. Early in 2012, the team created ideas to impact each of these areas and voted on innovation as the common denominator. The Innovation Group is Born.

Innovation 130

Innovation Incubator Brand Document 130

Mills Scofield

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

Projects-With-Purpose: Bringing a Community Volunteer Program to Lif e Chatham and Geneca teams at work. Cone proclaimed in 2010 that “cause marketing as we know it is dead” “Slapping a ribbon” on a product, website, or advertisement was now perceived as inauthentic. I was optimistic. Thumbs Up From the CEO.

Ryan 130

Ryan PR Project B2B 130

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. Now a small team of Bettcher employees is venturing into clean rooms and observing the “work” that is performed. The Change: Was It Innovation, Serendipity or Providence?

Succession 70

Succession Industry Stage-Gate CFO 70

Mills Scofield

APRIL 15, 2013

We knew early on that building a strong team and bringing in key leaders would be essential for our growth. Thinking about how this might relate to our organization, we saw that a team of Tylers and Dans would be tremendously weak. The diversity of species naturally cycles nutrients, protects the soil, and manages insect populations.

Talent Management 167

Talent Management Management Supply Chain NGO 167

Mills Scofield

MARCH 25, 2013

In many ways, this is a natural product of both our schooling and work experiences, where we're not guided and supported to use our genius, creativity, and talents in order to do the work we should do. Have you ever noticed how when someone tells us how they've been really busy with work, we automatically interpret this as being a bad thing?

Development 172

Development Follow-up Creativity Short-term 172

Mills Scofield

OCTOBER 17, 2012

Have you empowered teams to actually accomplish their objectives? 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?

Power 171

Power Due Diligence Education Budgeting 171

Mills Scofield

MAY 8, 2012

The teams (adults, counselors, and kids) clean up their neighborhoods, collecting litter, trash collection, recycle, plant vegetable gardens, access mobile clinics, and build temporary shelters and public sanitation facilities. There are amazing young people usurping government’s roles in productive, efficient and effective ways.

Innovation 170

Innovation Business Model Goal Class 170

Mills Scofield

JANUARY 8, 2014

When she arrived in South Africa, she quickly realized that, despite months of communication and planning, the community partner did not want her or her team of student volunteers there. Within just a few days of the start of a 10-week project, she became concerned for the safety of her team. Natasha pulled the plug.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Innovation Incentives Mentor 124

Mills Scofield

MAY 29, 2013

I began working for a student program at a church in the west suburbs of Chicago and for the next five years, I served on a team focused on building a 40,000 sq. Presenting lessons and projects through a final product, presentation, and/or portfolio. student community center, complete with a theatre, cafe, and hangout space.

Education 166

Education Innovation Project Mentor 166

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. Next week, ask your team to ask Why twice a day and see what happens. And the week after? You know the drill! This originally appeared in Switch and Shift.

Human Capital 141

Human Capital Constraint Media Banking 141

Mills Scofield

APRIL 7, 2014

Success itself has changed; it used to be via a tangible output, a new product or service, a “thing” based more on what was probable than possible. Re-prioritize responsibilities and tasks to allow the person or team to complete the request. Don’t just add on. Not everything is urgent and important.

Commitment 175

Commitment Project Bottom-up Learning-by-Doing 175

Mills Scofield

APRIL 15, 2012

Most organizations think of innovation in terms of creating value: products, services and experiences. Saul’s recommendation to build a business model innovation factory in the organization comes from the many real-world experiments he and the BIF team have run in BIF’s experience labs. For many, this is frightening.

Kaplan 151

Kaplan Business Model Levitt Christensen 151

Mills Scofield

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

” Far from the desertion of tedious tasks or monotonous busywork, this means giving team members control and independence, and constantly cleaning the edges of my own plate that, almost by definition of the role, will constantly overflow. Allowing my staff see a more personal side of me has led to a more intimate and productive office.

NGO 175

NGO Short-term Delegation Finance 175

Mills Scofield

JULY 30, 2012

Success itself has changed; it used to be via a tangible output, a new product or service, a "thing" based more on what was probable than possible. Re-prioritize responsibilities and tasks to allow the person or team to complete the request. Make sure that you're present to support the request and remove or mitigate obstacles.

Commitment 125

Commitment Bottom-up Project Learning-by-Doing 125

Mills Scofield

AUGUST 27, 2012

The time away from work has granted me some valuable space to think, notwithstanding the guilt I feel about abandoning the rest of the team who are working hard in Zanzibar. We are here to hang with lions and wildebeest for a few days. I am undecided about this.

Incentives 171

Incentives Marketing Microfinance Entrepreneur 171

Mills Scofield

APRIL 15, 2014

To create great music you need an ensemble — a trio, quartet, basically a team of players with complementary strengths, skills and vulnerabilities and a willingness to listen to each other and a common goal. ” For instance, choosing an instrument (or a profession) is a kind of vulnerability. No instrument can play everything.

Efficiency 132

Efficiency Energy Senge Resources 132