Three ways to find inspiring insights

I am indeed grateful for the insights I pick up from many of you, in business networks and also from my engagements on boards and working with new ventures. And not the least, from connections at different social media networks as on Twitter and on LinkedIn. Where do you find Insights and inspiration? Let me share where I picked up some of my insights last week, and I look forward to hear about your experiences in these areas.

During ordinary work, see the patterns and explore a trend.

Last week I was fortunate to discuss digital communities from several different angles and to see the trend more clearly and also get examples of impact of the trend;

* I met with leaders from Nordnet implementing some interesting strategic digital changes – making their company significantly more transparent, “now we are rolling up the curtains”, and introducing a new community called Shareville, where customers share their portfolios and get insights and inspiration from each other in a new and easy way.

* In another setting we were re-visting Lego‘s approach to their offerings and customer segments and I got introduced to “Adult Fan to Lego”, a growing community of adult Lego lovers. Growing out of the inspiration and sharing with each other, explored in a recent article.

* Many new and upcoming ventures we are meeting now, are growing based on formerly not connected communities. One more proven example is the Swedish startup Fishbrain, which grows very fast based on the community members shared interest in fishing, as explained in this article.

Follow interesting people on social media

In several of my engagements we are discussing the sharing/collaborative economy and the “asset light” trend with significant implications on many companies.Through inspiring connections on Twitter Ifound an interesting post about the myths of the sharing economy with some more facts.

Interacting with another twitter connection pointed me to a recent discussion at McKinsey Global Institute where a group of economist, tech entrepreneurs and academics revisited the implications of the effects of automation, jobs and the future of work .

 Attend and engage in business networks

Continuing on the previous topic, I was fortunate to attend a discussion on the topic of stakeholders of value creation by corporations. My knowledgeable board network colleague Cecilia Seddigh, who is the Chairman at the CSR consultancy Uphigh AB, invited me to the event and the key note speaker was professor Lynn Stout from Cornell University. Professor Stout is an international expert on corporate governance, law and economics. Facts from her research was put forward and can also be found in her most recent book The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations and the Public.
Joining her and discussing on the following panel was Lars-ErikForsgårdh, Chairman of the European Confederation of Directors Association (EcoDA) and Chairman of the Swedish Academy of Board Directors, together with Biörn Riese, Chairman of the Nordic business lawfirm Mannheimer Swartling and Viktoria Bergman, previous senior executive at the large corporations EON and Trelleborg.

It was an interesting debate which focused in on the reason for corporations to fulfill the broader needs of customers, employees and the society, in addition to the shareholders. Research was quoted that a too singled focus on shareholders actually hurt the corporations in the long run.

So my last week gave me the opportunity to find insights and inspirations while I was

• doing ordinary work, seeing the patterns and exploring a trend as the growth ininterest based digital communities
• following interesting people on social media and gaining more knowledge about the sharing economy and the future of work
• attending and engaging in business networks and being reminded of theincreasing focus on more stakeholders in corporations value creation.

I would be interested to here your views! Do you meet and reflect on some of the same areas? And where do you find your insights and inspiration?