Last month, I wrote a blog extolling the benefits of taking time to recharge over summer vacation.
Now, the lazy days of summer seem like a faded memory. Kids are back in school. Networks have new fall shows and businesspeople are again working at a feverish pace.
Speaking of recharging, I want to provide you updates on three topics that I wrote about previously. This includes Better Place, which I profiled last month.
Better Place is trying to create the infrastructure that is needed for the electric vehicle market to thrive. The brainchild of software entrepreneur Shai Agassi, the company envisions a world in which motorists can locate an electric vehicle service station as easily as they now can find a gas station.
What I like about Better Place is not only what it was doing but how. Better Place is trying to leverage the best thinking from the established world with the latest ingenuity from the emerging one. This month, CNET reports on another way the company is expanding its business--via partnerships.
Better Place recently signed a deal with GE that will enable its customers to use GE's WattStation charging service ports. In addition, the deal calls for the two companies to collaborate to build new service stations. By hooking up with GE, Better Place is marrying its breakthrough thinking with GE's proven track record in project management and operational excellence. That's a winning formula in any market.
On winning formulas, The New Yorker recently profiled British inventor and entrepreneur, James Dyson, who conquered the American vacuum market with a device three rimes more expensive than his rivals' products. I showcased Dyson in June. My focus was on his ability to consistently leverage disruptive and sustaining innovation to grow his company.
John Seabrook's new profile touches on another aspect of Dyson success: the ability to build a better product, and then create a compelling narrative around it. This is very hard to do. Consider: Many companies have came up with superior ideas only to see them languish afterwards. Sony (video recorders) and Xerox (graphical user-interface software) are two famous examples.
Contrast these companies to Dyson. To persuade consumers that his vacuums were worth a 300 percent premium over ordinary vacuums, Dyson needed more than a slogan--he needed a story. So he told the world what was wrong with competing designs (they lost suction) and then explained how his technology worked better. He even included a visual with his narrative in the form of a clear, plastic canister that reveals exactly how much dust and debris a Dyson vacuum can collect. Genius.
"Dyson had grasped what the companies trying to make hundred-dollar vacuum cleaners had forgotten: that a lot of people get their kicks from buying appliances, and are willing to pay a premium for a machine that will deliver an emotional experience," writes Seabrook in his June 20 profile.
You could replace "Dyson" in that sentence with "Apple," "BMW," "Nordstrom" or any number of other companies that understand success requires getting two things right--your product and your story.
The New Yorker article wraps with a look at Dyson's association with British PM, David Cameron. Among his many pursuits, Dyson is serving as a technology advisor to Cameron, whom I showcased last month.
Cameron is trying to revive British engineering, which has been in decline since World War II. For all the ingenuity and gadgetry displayed in James Bond movies, the British have not been able to match the Americans, Japanese and Germans in technology prowess in recent decades.
But Cameron is dauntless. He's set a goal to make the U.K. the leading high-tech exporter in Europe. So what does he know about technology? Well, it turns out that the PM is somewhat of a geek. Recently, he made headlines for disclosing that he likes to play Angry Birds, a wildly popular game for the iPhone and iPad. Before that, he suggested the world governing soccer body, FIFA, could better serve its fans by embracing video replay technology.
Cameron, of course, is a man with ambitious visions. He not only believes it is possible for Britain to vault past France and Germany in terms of technology prowess, but while restructuring its economy. That's quite a lot considering that government deficits hit a record in August.
This month, Foreign Policy raises an interesting question over the future of the U.K.: can it address its economic difficulties at home and still play a role on the world stage?
"Britain as a nation is undergoing a traumatic yet healthy debate about the proper size and scope of government," the magazine notes. "Here the divides are not between small and big government advocates, but between different visions for the Britain's role in the world."
The vision preferred by the ruling government will come into focus next month when a comprehensive spending review outlining cuts for each ministry is expected. If previous experience serves as a guide, watch for Cameron to devise the best "product" he can for British voters, and then sell it with a compelling narrative that would make even Dyson proud.
Inder Sidhu is the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Planning for Worldwide Operations at Cisco, and the author of Doing Both: How Cisco Captures Today's Profits and Drives Tomorrow's Growth. Follow Inder on Twitter at @indersidhu.