I recently read “Eva Luna” by Isabel Allende – a book that has become infinitely more moving after seeing Isabel in this live presentation. She illuminates the great power of storytelling for social change and inspiration. Interestingly, someone pointed out how devoid current political debates or the State of the Union address have been in good storytelling.

from www.ted.com posted with vodpod

When a hotel executive asked me recently what I would do to communicate the hotel’s sustainability initiatives to current and future customers, I proposed that the hotel explicitly abandon trying to advertise and promote its actual green activities to focus more on the emotional goodwill of sustainability through story telling and interactive displays – allowing guests to touch and feel (with hands and heart) the ways the world could be a better place.

The hotel industry is in a bit of a marketing quagmire when it comes to demonstrating their green-ness to customers. Most of its sustainability efforts take place out of view of the customer experience, meaning the hotels are often unable to capitalize on their success in limiting resource consumption through enhanced customer experience and brand perception. While in-room services allow guests to participate in greener efforts by washing linens less frequently, a hotel that devotes staff to purchasing local produce, recycles grey water, and invests in green architecture often has trouble connecting those efforts with the “feel good” goodwill that could come with more visible green efforts.

The hotel executive surprised me with his response. Instead of critiquing the concept, he asked, “What do we do next? Assume that succeeds, what’s next?”

I told him I would want him to stop competing on green alone, because green is not the only color his company wants to preserve. From the emerald hills of Ireland, to the red tulips of Holland, to the Caribbean blues of St. Lucia, there’s a whole world of colors we want to sustain – for the world and for our children.

The global economy continues to undergo seismic shifts. Previous vertically integrated industries became segmented by horizontal service providers, then disjointed as loosely connected networks of service providers. The value creators in the new economy are providing exceptional experiences by outperforming their niche in the network or tying together the nodes of the network and packaging the whole thing in innovative ways.

As part of my recent course at Darden on Innovation and Integration in Services – The New Economy, I made observations on a number of innovations as examples of value creation in this flat, networked world. This is my submission on Zillow.com and the “web 2.0-ing” of real estate.

THE SERVICE

Zillow.com: online, satellite imagery-enabled web site for real estate listings, guides, and discussion.

HOW IS IT INNOVATIVE? WHY DID IT GRAB YOUR ATTENTION?

Zillow.com combined the mass of information on residential real estate, including public appraisals, tax records, and sales records, to provide the most innovative website for real estate listings since Realtor.com. Users can search by various purchase criteria (price, square footage, home features, zip code, specific street, etc.) and find a zoomable satellite map with currently listed properties highlighted, a pricing chart for local real estate prices over time, recent sales data, and user-generated “Make Me Move” prices for homes that aren’t even for sale – but could be for the right price!

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM OR ISSUE ADDRESSED?

Residential real estate is notorious for its maligned gatekeepers: the Realtors. Since so much of the information surrounding residential real estate is publicly accessible and now coming online, Zillow.com aggregates this information to provide a powerful research base for real estate buyers and sellers. Zillow.com represents a triumph of three “flatteners” in particular: The Age of Connectivity, Uploading, and Informing.

IS THERE A CHANGE, DEVELOPMENT, OR TREND THAT CREATED THE OPPORTUNITY? OR, IS IT JUST NEW THINKING?

The confluence of Internet-accessible public records relating to real estate, geo-spatial satellite imagery, and popularity of crowd-sourcing has made Zillow.com one of the top 400 websites in the US. Its national reach reveals its ambitions to bring top local marketplace information to every local marketplace in the country – and perhaps the world.

WHAT ARE TRANSFERABLE QUALITIES TO OTHER CATEGORIES?

Zillow.com is a prime example of a localized service using a globally-connected network and massively distributed information. By providing real value-added insight into local market conditions, Zillow.com has situated itself as a must-stop destination for home shoppers – if only for local real estate comparables. Traders of other local assets with difficult market appraisals but vast information – such as local produce, automobiles, small businesses, dinner reservations, gasoline, haircuts, etc – could borrow this map-driven interface loaded with telling information that generates a basic spot price for the goods in question.

DOES THIS SUPPLANT A PREVIOUS SOLUTION? WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS THIS DISPLACING? (Think about The Innovators’ Dilemma)

For many, this solution displaces nights at the county records office or desperate conversations with unscrupulous realty agents. Zillow.com provides much of the publicly-available real estate market information to any Internet-connected computer, informing the consumer with the most up-to-date analysis of real estate market conditions. It certainly ups the ante for the real estate professional.

ANY OTHER POINTS WORTH MAKING:

Zillow markets its services in true Web 2.0 fashion – by giving it away for free. Its advertising-supported business model requires it to produce the most consumer-demanded information in order to drive traffic, then to create a marketplace for real estate services within its site. Startup firm Redfin.com has taken the Zillow model a step further – by adding full, online realty agent services to buy and sell properties. Other prominent industry websites, including Yahoo! Real Estate, are now providing embedded versions of Zillow’s valuations and other data.

Innovation and Integration in Services – The New Economy is a second-year MBA course taught by George Barbee, a Batten Fellow and lecturer at the Darden Graduate School of Business.

Originally published Sept. 28, 2006.

A brief spat of hail and a full afternoon of rain drove me off the golf course today, but it didn’t stop Darden Dean Bob Bruner from meeting with me and the other 65 students in the Class of 2008’s Section D for an evening reception.  In a room bedecked with shrimp cocktails, sushi rolls, chardonnay and longnecks, I had the good fortune to chat with the Dean about his strategic vision for Darden. 

One of Darden’s most powerful traits is the quality of its teaching.  The faculty here are driven to build students into “future leaders in the world of practical affairs,” as goes the Darden mission statement.  As a studnet, this is one of my favorite features of the Darden experience.  Professors are here to teach, and they provide an outstanding classroom and co-curricular presence around Grounds.  To date, this has been a tradeoff against the quality and quantity of research coming from the faculty halls however.  Darden’s partnership with Good to Great author Jim Collins is leading us to embrace the “Genius of the And” – to achieve great research while maintaining top teaching performance as well.  (You can check the Darden BusinessCast after Friday, Sept. 29 for a podcast about Darden’s Good to Great partnership with Jim Collins.)

Darden is currently continuing a multi-year celebration of its 50 years of business education (2005 was the actual anniversary).  Dean Bruner provided a very inspirational message envisioning our Class of 2008 arriving at the 100 year centennial anniversary, where the school leaders of that age will look back on the people of 2006 and say, “They did something right.  They made smart choices, took wise risks, and succeeded in bringing Darden squarely into the global top ten business schools and a central feature of a lifelong learning environment.”

(Darden’s front steps: Saunders Hall) 

We at Darden believe in the power of this school, in its dynamic teaching, in the rigor of the aggressive case method, and in the dedication of our outstanding Career Development Center.  We have a Dean with an inspiring vision to ratchet up Darden’s global image and performance levels, and students and faculty who love what this school is and what it can become.  If you’re ready to work harder than you ever have in your life, if you’re ready to make something more of your life and more of our school, if you’re ready to join us to lead throughout the world of practical affairs – then join us here at Darden.

Originally published August 14, 2006.

I just finished an invigorating read through Jim Collins and Jerry Porras’ best-seller, Built to Last.  I love the way these researchers capture the epic mythology of doing great work – of finding purpose and meaning beyond the dollar signs.  Their research showed that “visionary companies,” as they defined them, are more often built with some motivating purpose other than making money when compared to less successful competitors.  This point is one that captures my entrepreneurial spirit – to do something that matters for the long haul, something that makes a lasting impact on the world around me and improves the lives of others. 

The MBA program guides and consultants I reviewed during my application to business schools all seemed to have one thing in common: discussing the ROI of business school.  The rationale was always the same – since you’re going to business school, now’s a great time to examine the return on your investment!  It’s generallly a winsome argument, since many MBA graduates leap ahead to substantially higher salaries among multiple job offers than their pre-MBA careers would provide.  But this argument woefully discounts the non-financial return of two great years of investing in one’s self and a tremendous network of peers who are capable of leading the next generation of world-changing organizations.  To put it more directly, the prospects of learning extensive practices to create and guide organizations have much more value than the immediate salary commanded by MBA graduates.  That is why my MBA admissions essays focused on learning to make an impact on others more than making more money for myself.

As I see it, my MBA studies are a priceless time to learn about the development and management of organizations, a time to learn more about how to impact teams of people motivated toward a common goal.  I expect my education to be valuable both in my professional career and in my volunteer efforts, as I join the leadership of my church and community non-profits to make lasting impacts in the social sector as well.  While I do find it important to believe that my education will pay for itself in career successes, I also believe one of the greatest advantages of an MBA education must be to share it with those who could benefit from my service but could not otherwise afford it.

Please do not misunderstand me: I am not opposed to earning high salaries and ensuring that one’s MBA education earns significant results.  I am, however, suggesting that making an impact on others is more important than will be reflected in one’s salary, and that the financial rewards of doing good work are best invested to increasing the impact of future work.  For those who share this vision (particularly those who are  Darden MBA students), I look forward to meeting you and exploring the possibilities.

And, as a post-script, it turns out the purpose-driven “visionary companies” of Built to Last dramatically outperformed their comparison companies and stock market indices…