Sabbaticals, Security, Syracuse and MR's Bright Future: More From Conference 2005
March 17 2005
'Reconstructions', the MRS Conference 2005, continues on Friday at London's Barbican Centre. Here's our own interpretation of Thursday afternoon's papers, with not a little opinion thrown in.
Afternoon in the Discussion Theatre, the event's secondary hall, saw sessions on 'Ways of Working' and 'Futureproofing'. In the first paper, Trish Parker of Discovery Research looked in detail at the 'quarter-life crisis' experienced by researchers around the 'danger age' of 30 - and the pros and cons of offering sabbaticals to research employees. Discovery gives 3 months off after 3 years' service and has had mixed results, but her paper drew on a survey of other companies' experiences, and those of other individuals who had taken sabbaticals. The verdict: No, it doesn't really lead to new, higher levels of creativity in the returning researchers, although it may restore them to the old levels they achieved before they became jaded; but Yes, those who had taken them were wildly enthusiastic about them. This includes, presumably, those few mentioned by the speaker whose time off had resulted in marital problems and even divorce.
Second up was Gordon Pincott, who regaled us with tales of Archimedes and Osama Bin Laden (not in the same story, you understand - no link has been proved although the Syracusean philosopher-scientist has not yet been released from Guantanamo). If you're wondering what the link was to the stated theme of insight, so were the audience until the last five minutes or so, when Pincott obligingly listed the lessons to be learned and made analogies with our own work: one questioner from the floor was not convinced (at least one...) but it was entertaining stuff. And the conclusions? Well some of the main ones were:
- we need to maintain a broad skills base ready to adapt to changing conditions - unlike the US intelligence service who still speak fluent Russian but for whom Arabic is all Greek, and who therefore still concentrate more on threats from former Soviet sources
- we need to establish clear ownership of problems, as did Archimedes' royal patron; and
- we need to have fora for communication, and get different parts of our organisations talking to each other, unlike the CIA and FBI, the Dept of Defense and the Immigration Authority.
Apart from being highly watchable, Pincott's presentation will no doubt inspire many to submit papers for next year, now that they know they can talk about almost anything they like, and bring it round to research with a few analogies at the end.
Vicky Tanner of
Maitland Tanner Associates Pty Ltd rounded off the session with a foray into the well-travelled world of
'getting more clout for MR', but did so in inimical Aussie style and from the viewpoint of one who has worked for a merchant bank and understands the financial imperatives driving clients. Memorably, Tanner said that researchers having trouble communicating with CEOs and CFOs often treat them like foreign tourists - 'If I speak louder, they'll understand me' - instead, we should be changing the language. This, I think, is too often forgotten during our endless conference discussions of 'how to get heard in the boardroom', which often seem, indeed, to revolve around ways of increasing decibels.
For the second session of the afternoon, we returned late to the Main Hall for
'Futureproofing' in time for the session's second paper,
'Using research to construct 'futureproof' strategies', by
William Nelson and
Brian Garvey of
The Future Foundation. Is this a candidate for best newcomer, or is that my ignorance showing? Certainly the speakers seemed young and dynamic, and one managed to refer relevantly to BladeRunner during a slide, which is worth ten points for starters. Their main messages: firstly, too much of current research discusses existing and past trends only, leaving clients open to changes in the market - researchers need to anticipate the future better; but secondly, the future is uncertain, and futurists should not be seen as prophets trying to say what
will happen - their role is to interpret possible client strategies with an eye on emerging and future trends, including economic, technological and social.
By way of a practical example, the speakers discussed a project for a manufacturer of freestanding cookers, a product which had been losing market share. The question for research: was this an inevitable, ongoing decline or were there ways in which new life could be breathed into the line. A couple of highly entertaining product ideas were produced, showing a family cooker with safer lower levels accessible to children wishing merely to heat up meals; and a high-tech, talking-point centrepiece cooker for a 'middle-aged man who cooks to show off' [or words to that effect], complete with amusing grinning chef. It looks like a fun job, and useful too - let's have a few vacancies for futurists on MrWeb.
The session concluded with
Malcolm Law of
FutureView International in New Zealand. Discussing the identification and analysis of 'future shapers' as the key to understanding which products had bright futures and which brands needed tweaking or retiring, Law pointed out that future shapers are not the same as early adopters, the mistaken target of much futurist interest. 'Early adopters can mean early abandoners' Law informed us - whereas the 10% of people who really shape the future of brands have many other distinct characteristics, such as a propensity for telling others about products and services they like. Future shapers are 3-4 times more likely to create good word-of-mouth, so they're worth targeting. Law ran over time, and had the unusual distinction of being allowed to continue beyond his lot due to popular pressure. 'Time to stop' said session Chairman, Ray Poynter, whereupon a loud murmur of discontent arose from the assembled throng (about 200 people). Taken aback but not upset by this, Poynter astutely decided not to stickle - 'I'm overruled!' - and the paper concluded more naturally with two further slides. A well-received talk, evidently, and worth coming all the way from Auckland to deliver.
Which brings us back neatly to the Conference theme. 'Reconstructions' is billed as the 'final instalment in the MRS Thought Leadership Conference Trilogy', and sustaining public interest over three instalments is always difficult but can be done, as kiwi directors of fantasy epics will attest. If today's programme was a good few notches down on Return of the King in terms of both entertainment value and box office, that's not saying a lot - it was still enjoyed very much by a good number of people.
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Alas, pressure of work prevents us from returning to the Conference tomorrow, but with a DRNO appointment imminent, this may be the last one we can't cover in full. We hope the 'excerpt' was worth the read.
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.
