Vacation soon over

Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Sat 25 Jan 2014 20:02
Being away from Salsa for 14 days has been a thrill. Just wonderful to have all the space and convenience you get with a house...
You would think that the kids for example would not like to go back. You are wrong. They want to go back and they say they sleep better on board.
Strange animals. I guess they have been to long at sea. Like real seaman they need water under their bunk.
Thursday this coming week they should have started school and they were looking forward to that. But suddenly it has become an issue that they want us to have or apply for a working visa. Well Ellinor and I did not really understand it was an obstacle for having the kids in school. There is a catch 22 in this. Because when Ellinor started to check procedures for a working visa they want her to have a contract with a hospital- and to ...
You get it.
What really amazes me and Im sure we are just as stupid in Sweden when it comes to visas etc. Is that NZ wants the applicant to pay a lot of money just to apply "for interest to apply". I guess it is ment to stop by the door and just let those in that can /afford/really want. Or somebody was smart and said that there is a cost involved and this is not what the NZ taxpayer should get burdened with. It is a small country and I have full respect, BUT, sometimes to be smart is really the other way around. And believe me I think we are just a s stupid or maybe even worse in Sweden. IF you have a doctor that wants to get in to your country, you have a gift of about 200.000 Euros that comes with it! The country gets an educated doctor for free! How smart is that? Especially considering that NZ looses their doctors to Australia that pays better salaries... Well this is not my problem. But it is always interesing to see the other side of a society.

Anyway, working permits do not stop me from working. I have worked on my speech and i f I try to present it in english this is what it would be. I have a presentation in Swedish and as pdf files with pictures if anybody is interested. Just mail me on salsa {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com

The title is COURAGE

Why am I sitting in a boat, in the middle of the ocean, in pounding 4 meter waves in 40 knots of wind? Maybe because my wife made the decision that we should do something different. By doing so she promoted me to my own incompetence. She made me ”Ocean Skipper”, the guy who takes all the important decisions. And she decides what’s important.
Well with this journey I’m suddenly more empathic with all the business leaders I’ve met and coached through the uncomfortable zones of innovation.

With this journey I realise that the biggest obstacle in being inventive is fear. We do not call it that. -No we give it rational names like: this is not part of our business plan etc.

I think Blue Ocean Strategy is one of the better books written about the reality of making things different in business . But I also think there is one thing missing. How do we manage fear and navigation outside the known boundaries?

Since I have been a film producer for 25 years I learned the disciplines on how to manage an innovation process. With a budget and a time frame. The producer is the facilitator; the gardener who has to make sure creativity stays within boundaries but still excels beyond the imaginable.
In 2003 a market director at Uponor came to my office and asked if we could translate those disciplines so the manufacturing industry could apply them? After 3 years we changed their path within tap water system and their profit sky rocked. This started a new journey and if you want to call it that, I had to reinvent myself. With big joy I could see that innovation with a purpose cold be managed outside the ”temples of creativity” the only place I had worked before.

A book was published in Swedish ”Chokladfontänen” (The fountain of chockolade) and I started to work with other companies as the rumours spread in some boardrooms.
But I was also asked to tell the story to inspire other companies and institutions. So the Swedish talent agency Talarforum has booked me the last 6 years at about 300 occasions (minimum).
The events ranging from board meetings to galas with 1000 attendants.
The title of the speech before we took off was called ”Not better but different”. How do we use lateral thinking in business development?
I can still give that speech but since January 2014 I can offer a new theme: COURAGE
There is a warning with this speech. It can make your employees start thinking...

if you want to read more....

There is a lot of talk about innovation and branding. My theory is that without courage most companies end up competing with price and the “ice cream starts to melt”

But in what sense do we need to be courageous?
Most of us are brought up being told what we do right and wrong.
Management is told to do encourage people, evaluate and tell what’s right and wrong. Well, the truly creative person does not need that confirmation. Within film it is very important to manage diversity. For us diversity is not about gender or origin, it is about diversity in thinking.
To make things different is difficult because you have nothing to compare with. Leaders have to make sure that the goal is defined but not rely on a general plan. Like crossing an ocean. The shortest way might take the longest or be the most costly. You have to rely on weather forecasts and use the wind in your favour.
What type of courage does that take? Well, we do not give up the rudder but we have to steer in a different manner.

The speech will contain (reservation for changes that apply to the audience and time)
The age curve – we are all born and all will die – so are organisations – what happens on the way?
A case study with lateral thinking
Why the company did not change their offer
Chaos – how to find different patterns on a chaotic market – what is chaos?
Smith Corona wanted to make the best typewriter, they are still the best
The enemies of innovation – 1000 leaders know the answer
Blue Ocean Strategy – with fear
How to manage blue ocean voyages and fear
The reality of blue oceans – translated to business
Are we having fun?

All is presented in a very high speed And with a lot of energy.
Length of speech 45-90 minutes (90 minutes including a pause)
If you want to know more contact
Staffan Ehde
ehde {CHANGE TO AT} mac {DOT} com
PHONE NUMBER IN NZ +64 (0)21 154 3909
S/Y Salsa af Stavsnäs
Visiting Adress
Whitianga Marina, Dundas Street, Whitianga New Zealand
Postal address
PO Box 66, Whitianga 3542 New Zealand

Speaker at TED X
X=independly organized TED event