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Thoughts on "‘Prime time hack’: Facebook video and the hacker way" via gifts for greatness
Hacker culture is not something that you switch on at the start of a hackathon and switch off at the end of it. You need to embed the principles of this culture into your company in order to run a successful hackathon. Once you’ve run a successful hackathon (or designathon), your company culture will never be the same. Innovation is not the job of an elite research team at Facebook. Innovation is the job of each and every person in the company. -Tim Rayner
Read Tim's full post here: ‘Prime time hack’: Facebook video and the hacker way | gifts for greatness
Tim's thoughts here jibe well with the approach to intrapreneurship that I advocate for. Hothouses and hackathons may produce innovation, but if they exclude much of the business, especially those who have a strong desire to initiate change, then they can be culturally divisive. More importantly, if innovation is treated as an event that's to be scheduled, rather than an ever present bed of fertile soil seeking a seed of inspiration, then we're largely conditioning people to not think, but rather just to do as they're told. Such events should be open opportunities for the willing to put an occasional exclamation mark on already entrepreneurial cultures.
[bctt tweet="If innovation is an event that's to be scheduled, then we're largely conditioning people to not think."]
The industrial mindset was a blessing at a time when the methods of production were wildly inefficient. Now that we're wildly efficient, it's time for that pendulum to start swinging back. Competing to squeeze the most blood out of a rock is a path to mutually assured destruction. Heading off in a different direction requires boldness, but the opportunity on offer is to create something new. It's a choice of continually building something better, rather than squeezing the life out of what exists. If that's the choice (I think it is), then what the hell are we waiting for?