Business Lessons from sucessful entrepreneurs and business leaders: LunchLearning.com

Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 35 minutes 25 seconds

Marissa Mayer (@MarissaMayer on Twitter) is the Vice President of Search Product and User Experience at Google. She has become a much recognized face of Google, often seen in interviews and speeches discussing Google’s current goals and achievements. In this speech given at Google Press Day in Paris, Mayer goes into detail about Google’s past, present, and future goals as a company.

Mayer begins the lecture with a quick introduction to the components of the search experience, which are specifically: comprehensiveness, relevance, speed, and user experience. Mayer stresses how Google has focused on each component to fine tune the overall search experience. When she describes the early days of Google, she marvels at how much Google and the internet have grown. When search first began, people were ready to sort through many websites to find the information they needed, but Google put its focus on relevance, aiming to place the best results first. This made Google extremely popular, just through people spreading the word, without any real advertisements.

Mayer explains how as information has increased rapidly on the web, it has become even more necessary to use search, and things like relevance and ranking become extremely important. She talks about how much information seeking has changed since search and the internet were introduced. At one point, we would have gone to the library, or asked other people when information was needed. Now, Google can answer a question in under a second. And despite using a lot of new features and capabilities, Google has remained clean and simple. Mayer describes many of these current capabilities in detail, for example things like spell correction, alternate queries, and sitelinks, all help make search more efficient and effective.

So, what will the future look like at Google? Google is working on answering questions even faster, according to Mayer, their goal is the speed of light. Of course, there are also numerous new features that Google is trying out. Developments in cross-language search which uses translation to search multiple languages, or universal search which offers up multiple types of links like images and videos that are all the most relevant to your search. One very interesting new capability is personalization, which takes a person’s search history and uses it to make search more relevant to the individual. The last ten minutes of the video includes a question and answer portion, which focuses on Google’s new developments.

It’s incredibly exciting to see what Google is coming up with to broaden and sharpen our search experience! So, enjoy this intriguing video about the future of search, and of course, Happy Learning!

Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 56 minutes 11 seconds

The idea of Avon Products inspires a wide range of thoughts ranging from the image of door-to-door saleswomen and house parties to that of top-line perfumes and men’s fashion. However, two things that generally do not leap to mind is a fashion juggernaut and an enabler for thousands of women across the country. As a company sometimes referred to as ‘The Company of Women’, it is only natural to find a woman standing at its helm: Andrea Jung, currently ranked as the sixth most powerful woman in the United States according to Fortune Magazine. She is a critical piece of the force of Avon and a figure well worth considering.

However, to truly grasp the concepts that drive Avon, we have to step back an era. Before women were even permitted to vote, much less be accepted in the workplace, the original founder of Avon, under the name of the California Perfume Company, decided to work with a predominantly female sales force. The spiritual element, in addition to the business logic, of female independence resonated with the company and proved to be a potent asset.

Maintaining this spirit of supporting women’s independence has done much to encourage the longevity of Avon by pushing them to explore new markets and giving the company a core concept to rally around through the ages. This center on aiding women has pushed the company to enter markets where other companies have shied away from, such as in developing countries, where women are just beginning to enter the economic environment, and grow in times of poor economic growth from people with an entrepreneurial spirit being laid off seeking new opportunities.

This video looks at a variety of elements, from the importance of spirit, constant reinvention, and the capacity to do multiple things at the same time. Whether it’s the ability to look forward at the future without losing sight of what brought you to that point or to strive towards an ideal while remaining grounded in reality, Andrea Jung is a potent woman at the head of a powerful company that has its very spirit geared towards uplifting peoples.

Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Total Video Time: 21 minutes 5 seconds

Now that we have gotten an overview of social media and how it can help business, we can get into specifics. Let’s start with Facebook. When it started, Facebook seemed to be like MySpace, but for college students. Only college students could join, and while it seemed more sophisticated than MySpace, Facebook still boasted largely a “student” environment. Now, anyone can be on Facebook, and the rules have changed. Employers are using Facebook to scout new recruits, and see what their candidates are really like. Companies are using Facebook to reach untapped markets. The Facebook Era is in full swing.

Clara Shih (@clarashih on Twitter) wrote about the Facebook Era and how it has altered the business world since its inception. Shih explains how Facebook has changed the nature of business interactions, and even the social norms we use in our business interactions. Facebook is also a marketing tool that, used wisely, can be very profitable for companies. It is especially profitable because Facebook is free to join. Free advertising? Absolutely.

In this video, Shih talks about the Facebook Era and how she sees Facebook affecting the business world.

Some of the things you’ll learn in this video:

1. What the “Facebook era” is
2. How Facebook has evolved
3. How Facebook changes business relationships
4. How Facebook changes cultural norms
5. What the Facebook era means for business

From Clara’s bio: “Clara is founder and CEO of Hearsay Labs, which helps brands convert their Twitter and Facebook presence into actionable engagement opportunities and measurable sales. Clara’s new book, The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, CRM Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, and is being used as a marketing textbook at Stanford and Harvard Business School. In 2007, Clara created the first business application on Facebook with her Faceconnector application, which integrates Facebook and Salesforce CRM.”

(from thefacebookera.com)

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Reading time: 4 - 6 minutes

Total Video Time: 53 minutes 36 seconds

The last few days, we’ve been looking at technological changes that can change the playing field that are just arriving or are on the distant horizon. Today, we’re stepping in a different direction and looking at something a little less physical and more conceptual: the transformation from push-based mass production to pull-based mass customization. Or, simply put, selling customers exactly what they want, not just whatever’s available.

Robert Brunner (@rdbrunner on Twitter), the former Director of Industrial Design at Apple and founder of ammunition, best known for designing the PowerBook, hiring his successor, Jonathan Ive, and winning 23 awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America speaks on the importance of the brand and how, more than ever, it’s defining your company. In this lecture piece, Brunner strives to drive home the impact of the brand. However, it’s a subtle, complex element. The brand is not a product, though it draws from it, and the brand is not advertising, though it’s often used in it. Brand is each individual’s emotions towards the company. Or, more generally and purposefully applied, the collective mood of the people. This becomes ever more important when increased customization increases the diversity in product style and thus diluting product recognition.

This power of the idea of the brand is especially important in today’s environment where the emphasis is not on mass production anymore, but mass customization. Businesses in all sorts of industries have adopted this position, whether exposing it openly or as one of their core elements. Burger King’s slogan, “Have it your way” and Dell’s built-to-order flexibility are two prominent adoptions of this concept.

Customization is a powerful element and people have already shown that they are willing to pay a premium to design things to their specifications. Whether it’s food, computers or even refrigerators or garage doors, if there’s an after-market customization available, it’s fully possible to modify it first. Why should somebody else benefit?

Think of the past, envision the future!

Thanks for joining LunchLearning.com today! Enjoy your Lunch!

Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Total Video Time: 39 minutes 29 seconds

Escape is a fantasy that the vast majority of people share. Virtual worlds have, to a limited extent, allowed that dream to come true. frog design’s Chief Creative Officer, Mark Rolston, speaks on the future of technology with the blurring of reality and virtual environments. Even today, we’re already feeling the effects of an increased virtual presence, but augmented reality is yet to come.

Rolston’s talk at eComm, the Emerging Communications Conference, centers on the rapidly increasing value of the individual’s “second life”. A term largely inspired by the virtual world Second Life, its grown to encompass the virtual persona that every person online develops. While, today, the worlds are fairly distinct, the lines are being crossed.

Shrinking devices with increased capabilities are allowing individuals to experience both worlds simultaneously in ways that could hardly be imagined even several years ago. Phones can create public records of our daily lives that can be played back at will, forming a communal memory. But even more than just an abstract layer above our real lives, Rolston shows how they can be incorporated into a part of our daily lives.

In one vivid example, on the border of what is possible today, he shows an individual with a portable computer, projector, camera, and various minor sensors taking photographs with a movement of his hand and receiving book reviews simply by studying its cover. All of this, he is careful to note, is well within the boundaries of what can be done today.

Individuals, as well as companies, are free to leave their mark in these meta-worlds that cross boundaries. People like to leave their mark and, if Google Maps is any indication, people will tag places with ideas or comments wherever they go. However, this is a world that is still in its infancy and whether or not it becomes a turning point
depends on how readily people will accept and utilize its capabilities.

Think of the past, envision the future!

Reading time: 4 - 6 minutes

Total Video Time: 29 minutes 26 seconds

Dr. Werner Vogels (@Werner on Twitter) is the Chief Technology Officer of Amazon.com and one of the key drivers of innovation within the company. As a result of his experience developing Amazon’s systems, he is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on scalable systems. With the natural expansion of these systems being “Cloud Computing,” it’s no wonder Dr. Vogels is an expert in this area as well.

What is “cloud computing” though? The term is still being defined, yet one doesn’t have to look too far from scalable systems to see the common elements. For example, instead of having immense databases and records administered locally, cloud computing seeks to shift everything you’ll allow it to, to a distant server maintained by another party—”the cloud.” Systems no longer have to be designed for peak capacity or go obsolete in several years time. Many of the limitations that were once inherent in operating computers are lifted. It is the transformation from computer capacity being a finite commodity to an infinitely available utility.

Vogels begins with a brief exploration of what cloud computing is to him and Amazon and what is capable within the cloud, moving on to note that the true beauty of the cloud infrastructure is that the people using the systems, not the designers, are the ones pushing the limit and developing new and innovative uses.

The wonder of cloud computing is that it has the potential to transform many industries not only from within, but by outside influence as well. OnLive (@OnLiveGames on Twitter) is a recently established company founded by Steve Perlman to allow entry-level computers to run the latest games at top quality. The secret is in utilizing processing power elsewhere and simply streaming the resultant video to your computer. Taken to the extreme, this results in the ultimate thin clients: computers that do nothing but go online, accessing content elsewhere.

No new technology is not without its drawbacks though! Frank Gillett, vice-president and principal analyst of Forrester Research cautions us that due to the incredible potential of cloud computing, the hype is overblown right now. The changes that will be brought about are very real, but it is important to view things with a judicial eye and not be drawn in by the new buzzword.

Think of the past, envision the future!

Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 24 minutes 55 seconds

Hello, my name is Alan Chang and if you’ve followed us before, you’ll know that we here at LunchLearning explore a different theme every week and if you haven’t—we do. This week, we’ll be looking at paradigm shifts that have transformed entire industries as well as newborn technologies and platforms that have the potential to bring about change yet haven’t quite matured and reached their full potential yet.

Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora on Twitter), one of the presidents of Google and responsible for strengthening their core business, discusses the gap in technology usage between generations. In addition to giving Google the focus they had lost when they grew, he was a critical piece of the puzzle for a number of other businesses, such as T-Mobile, whose industries had changed dramatically through the years.

Changes in the market are obvious in hindsight, but the secret to their importance, and success in their utilization, is to understand what is a revolutionary product and what isn’t. Mobile phones were once considered an elite product, with only the richest and most important people owning them. Similarly, until recently, as Brandon Shook explored last week, games were considered best for targeting children. Things have changed.

Social networks are rapidly increasing in prominence, visibility as well as importance. However, knowing that something is going to become the standard is not enough. Being able to determine exactly who the winner will be even a few years in advance can make a tremendous difference. Just as the landscape of the internet was different ten years ago, it will be something entirely different in ten more years. Taking steps to capitalize on these changes will strengthen your position.

Within this video, Nikesh Arora briefly considers a variety of areas ranging from viral marketing and interacting with customers to company reach and market research. All of these things, and more, have changed throughout the years and will continue to. Equally important, each of these can be directly attributed to the success of failure of a company. Somebody has to succeed, so why not you?

Think of the past, envision the future!

Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 19 minutes 30 seconds

Well this is it for me, its been great sharing with you this week. I want to end my series with a look towards the FUTURE. In today’s video Jane McGonigal (@avantgame on Twitter), and a researcher at the Institute for the Future, talks about how the social aspects of online gaming can be transposed onto the real world. She believes that the social networks in online games which allow players to effectively communicate to one another will eventually become the foundation for how we will use technology in the future. As an example Jane’s social game World Without Oil shows how people can effectively create multiple solutions to a large problem in a short period of time. Her game also demonstrates how people can use new technology to creatively solve problems when given the right means to achieve a goal.

New technology helps create better products and helps small businesses advertise in inexpensive ways. Technology like Google, Facebook and Twitter give entrepreneurs the resources to target specific consumers and streamline marketing. What might sound silly now, like making the real world mirror video games, might be as normal as checking an e-mail in the future. Technology and business go hand and hand and the partnership between these two economic giants help drive change. I picked this video to remind you that technology is your friend so play nice. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Learning and Game On!

Reading time: 4 - 6 minutes

Total Video Time: 28 minutes 20 seconds

Today I want to switch things up a bit and present a person who used savvy business skills to turn her dream into a reality. That person is Felicia Day and If you’ve ever played an online RPG or if you know which color kryptonite makes Superman go crazy then you probably already know who I’m talking about. If you you’re asking, “What do rocket propelled grenades have to do with video games?” or “There’s more than one color of kryptonite?” that’s OK, let me explain my point. Felicia has done a fantastic job of marketing her popular web series The Guild to a niche group of…well, for a lack of a better term, nerds. The Guild is a show about six online gamers who must band together online and offline to help keep each other out of trouble. Whether she knows it or not, Felicia used smart business sense to create a show that caters to the needs of her niche. Here are just a few ways Felicia turned her zeal for online games into a successful business venture.

1. Passion - This is the most important part of making a business successful. As you watch as she explains the origins of The Guild, it’s easy to see that Felicia truly loves her craft.
2. Customer Service (the fans) - Felicia knows who her fan base is and knows what they want. In the video she describes how using a web series format was perfect for reaching her target audience. Even the interview at BlizzCon, a huge gaming convention, shows that she knows which events are important for circulating information to her fans.
3. Realistic - She works within her budget and doesn’t try to spread her self too thin when it comes to costs. In the interview, she discusses how she filmed in her house to minimize the overhead.
4. Growth - Felicia has a successful show on her hands and she knows that if she wants to grow her brand she needs to expand her footprint. Her cross platform content like The Guild comic book and The Guild music video insures that her brand will stay fresh and appealing to her current fans and attract new ones.

For those of you not familiar with how the gaming industry works some of the video’s content might be hard to understand. Don’t focus so much on the specifics, but focus on the big ideas; like the energy and drive it took to create a show from scratch or how Felicia answers every question with enthusiasm indicating her love for the subject matter. I hope this video will inspire new entrepreneurs and perhaps invigorate old ones to follow their passions.

Happy learning and Game On!

Reading time: 3 - 5 minutes

Video Time: 38 minutes 6 seconds

Today, I want to focus on Sid Meier, the Director of Creative Development for Firaxis Games. Sid realized the potential video games have for teaching and capitalized on it. In the video Sid presents Civilization, a game he helped create, as an example of how games can be used to educate. In Civilization the player jumps into the role of all powerful leader and gets to decide how he or she wants to build a society. You start the game as a small settler town, but by the end of the game you could be colonizing space. As your society grows throughout the ages, you begin to compete for resources from neighboring nations. How you choose to interact with these nations determines whether you’re an enlightened pacifist society, a war mongering nation, or anything in between. The game essentially becomes a giant economic and history lesson that lets you see if you have what it takes to create an empire that can withstand the test of time.

Sid presents how he took his video games from just being pure entertainment to a rewarding learning experience. He begins his lecture by stating that people don’t like to be taught, but they like learning. Sounds like a contradiction, right? Well, he’s right in the sense that people are not always receptive to being told what to do or how to do it. Sometimes the best way to learn is to do it for yourself and video games give the player the opportunity to do just that. When something, like history, can’t tangibly be manipulated video games can be an excellent learning tool. Sid talks about the importance of choice when it comes to cultivating a desire to learn. Everyone learns differently and Sid shows how presenting information in various ways allows people find a learning style best suited for them. He also believes that to engage an audience, the mode in which the information is presented should be entertaining. No one is going to learn anything if they’re not paying attention.

So how is this relevant to the business world and not just students? It’s easy if you think of it in terms of on the job training. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my fair share of training meetings where the trainer droned on and on about a topic and the only thing I learned was that I could draw a really cool fire breathing dinosaur. The techniques Sid uses to create a more rewarding educational experience for his gaming audience can be applied to creating more effective and dynamic training sessions.

Training doesn’t necessarily have to involve a video game. Training can take the fundamental aspects of learning that Sid mentions and use them to present the information in a way that is appealing to the audience, creates an interactive environment, and allows the trainees to learn at their own pace. I hope you enjoy the presentation.

Happy learning and Game On!