Posts tagged “bruce nussbaum”

Party time (excellent!) like it’s 2009

At the dawn of the new year, Business Week’s Bruce Nussbaum announced that Innovation was dead and that Transformation is the new buzzword. I can’t help but think of a classic Wayne’s World sketch, where Bruce Willis plays Rick, the cool kid at school.

Wayne: Excellent! Excellent! Well, if you don't mean my being so bold, Rick, are you ready to unveil the new cool word for the school year? [ to camera ] I should explain something, alright? Last year, Rick's new cool word was “pail”, or “bucket”.. as in, “So what did you think of the new substitute teacher?” “I think he's 'pail', he's 'bucket'!” And, Rick? Rick, this year the new cool word is..? Go, Garth, go!

[ Garth pounds on the couch as though it were a drum]

Rick: The word is.. [ thinking ] ..Sphincter.

Wayne: Excellent!

Garth: Wow, that's the greatest word I've ever heard in my life, Rick! How do you do that?

Rick: They appear to me, as if in a dream.

Wayne: Unnecessary Zoom!

Tempests and teapots, maybe

The whole back-and-forth on Are Designers The Enemy Of Design? doesn’t engage me all that much, but I did of course really like this quote from Bruce Nussbaum

This statement goes way behind “design.” Corporations have to bring consumers deep inside the walls of of the business process to participate in the development and design of new products, services and experiences. They have to curate conversations with their customers and really listen and learn from them.

Curate is an interesting verb. I can never tell if someone is being pretentious when they insert it in a context I don’t expect it, or if there is a wholly different intent behind it.

Good thoughts about Design 2.0

Although I often take the role of curmudgeon, it was a pleasant surprise at Overlap to see others taking that role. That said, I sometimes can be negative about those who are cheerleaders. One notable exception is when they are cheering for me, as in this post from Business Week’s Bruce Nussbaum, who calls me a “a really smart innovation consultant” while talking up the imminent Design 2.0 event where I’ll be speaking.

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