News, Events and Happenings

Innovation in Action: Video from Our Global Partner

entheo is our sister company/global partner company in the United Kingdom, and Natalie Turner is the CEO. Like Barnes & Conti, entheo has a focus on innovation; in fact, part of their work at Logica (shown in the video) involved our Managing Innovation program. Anyone familiar with the program may notice the Avatars of Innovation in use at the seminar

Kim Barnes in Brazil: Photo by Zero Hora

Kim Barnes Interviewed on Innovation and Leadership in Brazil

Barnes & Conti CEO, Kim Barnes, was recently in Brazil, for the PGQP (Congress of Quality for Competitiveness) Management Congress. While there, she was interviewed Southern Brazil's major newspaper, Zero Hora (Zero Hour).

The article featured interviews with three expert/consultants who work in the United States, Kim Barnes, chairman of Barnes & Conti Associates, Roberto Saco, president of ASQ (The American Society for Quality) and Venkat Rasmawany, president of Experience Co-Creation Partnership. Below is Kim’s portion of the interview.

Innovation is not invention
Kim Barnes, chairman of Barnes & Conti (USA)

Zero Hour - Is it possible to teach and learn leadership?

Kim Barnes - There are people with certain natural abilities that they're born with. But most have skills that can be developed and there are aspects of leadership that can be taught. Almost everyone has the opportunity to lead people at least once in their life. By observing children playing in a playground there is always someone assuming the role of leader. Most people have this capability in different areas of business...

ZH - How do you define innovation and how to make it happen in business?

Barnes - Innovation does not mean invention, not does it mean novelty or creativity. Innovation is creating value from an idea that is new to you or your business... Value is not necessarily financial; it can be social, aesthetic or environmental. New ideas mean change. And any change requires leadership. When faced with these challenges, we must awaken in us the skills of leadership. The innovation process takes time; you must first gather the ideas, get support, and choose the right people for your team. The manager also has to agree. The more the company is committed to innovation, the more efficient the process will be.

NOTE: Kim’s remarks were said in English, translated into Portuguese, and printed. Since we didn’t have access to the English transcript, we did the best we could in translating Kim back into English.

Managing Innovation in Mexico through New Global Partner

Our popular Managing Innovation™ program recently debuted in Mexico, through the auspices of our new Mexican partner, Deconsulting. Thanks to Deconsulting and our own Kim Barnes, Managing Innovation has been in the news in Mexico. Here is an excerpt from the February 23 edition of the newspaper Empresas in Reforma (translated from Spanish, of course)

Innovation is a vital issue for companies and economies of the world... Within this environment the course, Managing Innovation, was recently conducted for the first time in Mexico. Managing Innovation was developed by the North American consulting firm, Barnes & Conti, in association with the Centre for Research In Innovation Management at the University of Brighton (in the U.K.).

“The course is a way to develop the needs and opportunities for strategic innovations and competitiveness with more order, speed and improved performance. It also deals with the skills, attitudes and competencies the drivers of innovation need on a personal and professional level, and it is for all types of organizations,” stated Kim Barnes, President and CEO of Barnes & Conti.

An article also appeared in the magazine Contacto, a publication that promotes quality, competitiveness, and organization innovation.” This article announces the partnership between Barnes & Conti and Deconsulting. (We anticipate that the article will soon be available online, via subscription, in Spanish.) An excerpt from the article (roughly translated) is below.

At the right is a photo of Kim with our partners at Deconsulting: (from left to right): Luis Batllori Gonzáles, Kim, Marilu Aguilar, and Luis F. Gonzáles.

In addition to Managing Innovation, Deconsulting will also be offering our popular Exercising Influence program. They are offing both programs in Spanish and in English.

Excerpt from Contacto Magazine: “Barnes & Conti and Deconsulting join efforts to boost innovation and competitiveness.”

Communication and the integration of skills development are critical issues that companies must meet. Two consultants add up the options to facilitate the processes.

Luis Fernando González Carrillo, managing partner for the international consulting firm Deconsulting, "development and competitiveness", said his organization's alliance with the U.S. Barnes & Conti, "moving ideas into action" is to increase innovation and competitiveness, and provide training jointly through both companies...

Deconsulting emerged from the idea of Gonzalez Carrillo and Maria Guadalupe Aguilar Salamanca—another managing partner (of Deconsulting) to combine business management areas in which both had experience: human resources, competitiveness and productivity.

For both companies, competitiveness defined as "a set of professional and organizational skills that will be used in the (business) setting" and innovation is to optimize the potential value embedded in a new idea; both of these concepts require the exploring, selecting, and implementing initiates as well as reaping the benefits.

From Contacto, Dec 09/Jan 10 issue. Article by Alhell Carolina Navarro Granados, photo by Carlos Porraz

Barnes & Conti Welcomes Intern from Chilean Global Partner

Kim Barnes’ work with CDO Consulting Group, our global partner in Santiago, Chile brought about a month-long internship for one of our Chilean partners. Rodrigo Joglar, an organizational psychologist and a consultant with CDO, is spending the month of March, 2010 as an intern at our Berkeley office.

Says Rodrigo, “In this internship, we could examine their best practices, learn about their specialties, join their day-to-day operations and their regular routines.”

Rodrigo introduces himself, and writes more about this unique opportunity on the Barnes & Conti Blog. Rogrigo is pictured, above, with his wife, Maria de Luz.

Barnes & Conti Partners with Cornell University’s ILR School

Barnes & Conti and Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations have co-developed a one-day workshop offered through Cornell University. The program is entitled, Building a Strategic Partnership with Line Leaders. Two successful workshops have already been conducted this year and an additional public session is scheduled for December of 2010.

In this program, participants analyze line leader discussions as they reveal business challenges and seek advice. They respond in real time to a series of questions, probes, challenges and confrontations that cover the range of traditional responses to HR. Lastly, they recognize line leader “hot buttons”‚ and practice discussions that will get line leaders’ attention and demonstrate their ability to be a strategic partner. Models from our Exercising Influence porgram are shared as tools with participants.

To register, (LINK)

The Barnes & Conti Blog

The Barnes & Conti blog is for updates, photos, and articles of note that haven't quite made it into the website or the Barnes & Conti Newsletter.

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Book on Innovation by Barnes & Conti Trainer

Innovation expert Nelson Soken, Ph.D,—who is also one of Barnes &Conti's trainers for our Managing Innovation program—has co-authored a book on innovation along with Will Wengert. The book is entitled: Lead the Pack: Sparking Innovation that Drives Customers Wild.

According to the publisher:

In Lead the Pack: Sparking Innovation that Drives Customers Wild, Soken and Wengert provide an insightful analysis of the psychological factors that influence innovation from the perspective of customers and companies. The business world is fraught with examples of companies that failed or lost market share because they attempted to sell what we make instead of anticipating what you want. Soken and Wengert identify and explore the barriers that make it difficult to break free of old habits and provide the tools to unleash creativity that lead to true innovation. This book takes a deeper look into the human psyche that makes it possible to identify future market offerings that customers often don't yet know they need. The genuine visionary in the marketplace remains competitive by being steps ahead in recognizing emerging customer needs and desires and taking the appropriate measures to counter the deeply inherent resistance to change. Successfully reaching beyond the status quo is the true competitive advantage.

For more information, or to purchase the book, follow this link.

Events and Trade Shows

ASTD Conference and Expo
May 16-19, 2010
Chicago, IL

Please see above for details.

Where in the World is Barnes & Conti?

Please check out our photo collection from many of the cities where we have done showcases, presentations, or workshops in the past year. We'll try to keep the photos updated as we trot around the globe. The photos are hosted by Flickr.work ad

Newsletter Archive Online

Did you know that Barnes & Conti has a quarterly e-Newsletter? The entire archive—from November of 2001—is available on our website. Our newsletter is not just news, but features articles about influence, negotiation, innovation, risk-taking, leadership, and team building. As a special bonus, we include at least one recipe, which, more often than not, is from one of the countries in which we have clients and/or partners.

To visit the archive—or subscribe to the newsletter—click here.