Blockchain is like the gluten diet a few years back; everybody’s into it but nobody’s quite sure why and few people really need it though to those who do it’s important. I’ll analyze it through the only metric that really matters, value. But before doing that, we need to understand what the it actually is. […]
Category Archives: Insights
About Michael
Innowiki founding member Michael Olenick is currently an executive fellow at the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute, on the Fontainebleau, France campus. Michael has worked closely with Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne since 2001, before the book Blue Ocean Strategy came out in 2005, when it was articles in Harvard Business Review. Michael learned about […]
Utopia to Dystopia: ARPA, NASA, Star Trek, and Space Force
Even his harshest critics have to concede that Trump excels at creating clickbait worthy issues. His Space Force logo, which looks like the Star Trek Starfleet logo, fits the bill. It’s opened countless superficial debates but there is actually more substance underneath that goes to the heart of innovation, space, and the purpose of research. […]
Shareholder Value Theory: Milton Friedman Redux
On September 13, 1970, Milton Friedman published one of the most arguably economically destructive articles in history, “The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits,” in the New York Times. The article is available, in PDF form, for subscribers from the New York Times website. Friedman advanced the idea that managers are agents […]
The Role of Education in Automation Tech
Part I, “Automation Armageddon: a Legitimate Worry?” reviewed the history of automation, focused on projections of gloom-and-doom. Part II, “Automation: Robots in Real Life” reviewed how robots are ubiquitous and create jobs. My first real job was creating a print estimating and production control system for five print plants scattered around the US. Each had […]
Archie McCardell Award Winner: Boeing’s Dennis Muilenburg
Archie McCardell is the worst CEO in history. However, we realized Archie’s management talents aren’t unique. Granted, nobody is likely to replicate his success decimating two businesses in entirely separate industries. Archie’s ability to destroy was positively Romanesque in scope, unlikely to be repeated anytime soon. However, their failure to fail, and to flame-out spectacularly, won’t […]
Automation: Robots in Real Life
Part I, “Automation Armageddon: a Legitimate Worry?” reviewed the history of automation, focused on projections of gloom-and-doom. “It smells like death,” is how a friend of mine described a nearby chain grocery store. He tends to exaggerate and visiting France admittedly brings about strong feelings of passion. Anyway, the only reason we go there is […]
Archie McCardell Award Winner: We nee WeWork
Background Archie McCardell is the worst CEO in history. However, we realized Archie’s management talents aren’t unique. Granted, nobody is likely to replicate his success decimating two businesses in entirely separate industries. Archie’s ability to destroy was positively Romanesque in scope, unlikely to be repeated anytime soon. However, their failure to fail, and to flame-out […]
Automation Armageddon: a Legitimate Worry?
Right now, we have 122 major innovations that involve some type of automation. Click here to see the list. Putting it mildly, many of them were not met with enthusiasm. For example, Frenchman Barthélemy Thimonnier invented the sewing machine only to see his factory burnt down by worried tailors. The “American Manufacturing Method” using standardized […]
Calm Booth – The Absolute Stupidest Way to Spend Your Money
TechCrunch has written about a $4200 booth called the “Calm Booth.” You’re supposed to sit inside the cramped cube and meditate. They write: “there are probably worse ways to spend that money.” I think it’s safe to say this article is incorrect: there are no worse ways to spend your money than buying a Calm […]