A Prius-Inspired bike could change the way I bike. This new bike shifts on your command. Just think it and the bike reacts thanks to a uber-cool helment. The bike is the outcome of a collaboration between Toyota, Saatchi & Saatchi LA, Deeplocal, and Parlee Cycles that created the PXP. Check out the final design on John Watson's cycling/design site.

What's in common is that both are examples of how you can use readily-accessible technology to radically shift an everyday item. Bikes have after all been around for decades in pretty much the same form. Just a few nights ago at dinner we were noting this and discussing what we thought would be the next great innovation for the bike. One side of the group felt it should be a modification that allows the rider to be in a "running" position. This mind-controlled bike is way more exciting. While neither bikes are available today, I'll be waiting!

Whether it's a dinnertime conversation or corporate collaboration, you can find an innovation lab anywhere!

Sailing in Eagles Mere ... Brian in the captain's seat

For more than 20 years I have been coming up to Eagles Mere to escape the heat. Most summers, we have warm days and cool evenings. In the past, we used to pack sweats, sweaters and jackets because your started you mornings and ended your day bundled up - in August! No more. Over the past 5 years, we have needed those items less and less. Today, I am sitting in an un-air conditioned cottage on our second day in the high 90s.

The interesting thing is that while the heat is stifling, we don't blame anyone. We accept it as "the way it is" - out of our control. We seek to alleviate the discomfort - but frankly not by running away.

I was on the phone with a client today whose office air conditioning was on the blink. They dressed in shorts and flip flops.

Why when faced with a tough time in the business or association, we point fingers. We place blame. What if instead, we could just try to solve.

Day 20 ... Another Wednesday, another sailing race, another time as crew. But it wasn’t “another” sailing experience. Today was very different. The sailing lesson between races is what made this experience very different. In this sailing lesson, rather than focusing on sailing where the wind took me, we simulated a race of sorts. I used the wind to take me where I wanted to go. And that path included around buoys like in the race. For this lesson I was the captain. And what a difference that made in my job as crew. I did better at anticipating turnabouts, understanding the wind and being in the right position as we took the buoy.

This is certainly counter to the chapter succession model which says that you need to work into a position.  You begin as volunteer on a committee, move to chair and then to the board where you take on increasingly more important roles until you become president. You do this because you need to experience all the roles before becoming “captain”. My experience was sort of in reverse.

This isn’t counter though to the newer models of chapter leadership like that the American Association of Diabetes Educators is moving to as they focus on leadership teams. Teams allow individuals to take on responsibility and trade it in small stints. As a recent leadership conference with the Construction Management Association of America, one chapter noted that they are small and that frankly they take turns serving as president. Sacred Dance Guild Canadian chapter does the same, as do many others I’ve met.  There is no good evidence that filling all the roles in succession makes you more ready, really. But getting a taste of the role does help you better understand that role and truly in my case being the “captain for a lesson” helped me both better understand how I can be a good crew and what I need to learn to be a good captain.

One small way of opening the door may just be for chapter boards to let directors run a board meeting once. Let the president sit back and participate. Interesting though I think I’ll ask my chapter to try. Will you?