Biologize » Biomimetics

Infinity Context Free Process for business biomimetics

Phil Richardson — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:23:38 +0000

Infinity Context Free Process for Business Biomimetics

Dr Phil Richardson of Thoughtcrew Limited has developed a new process for the translation between between business problems and biological systems. This, the Infinity Context Free Process, provides an approach for strategic thinking and can be used as a workshop process or can be embedded into the strategy process or the innovation process of a business. Thoughtcrew offer a subscription service where new biological system cards can be added to the process to provide a wider range of analysis. The process has already shown successful results in both the consumer packaged goods and the business services sectors. Because of the integrated nature of biological systems the solutions produced by the ICFP tend to be richer and add more long term value. Further details from Thoughtcrew

Biology is the inspiration for leadership development, innovation and growth

Phil Richardson — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:41:19 +0000

business biomimetics expert

Phil Richardson, Consulting Director of Thoughtcrew, a Bath based leadership consultancy was awarded his PhD in biomimetics at the University of Bath this week. Phil has been researching the application of biology to leadership and strategy as a part time student at the University. Initial applications of the research have helped leadership teams think ‘outside-the-box’ developing new ideas for products, services and business development. “We have had a positive response from a range of our clients including Mars, Guide Dogs, Northern Rail and the MoD” says Richardson.
Because the approach is based on the study of biological systems, it works particularly well in developing approaches to sustainability, corporate social responsibility and innovation. By understanding how ‘alive’ a team, department or business is it is possible to build a robust growth strategy, set a strong governance for change programmes and building high value partnerships.

Richardson’s research shows that when business biomimetics is combined with conventional management techniques it is possible to create more ideas and that these ideas have a greater impact on the brand value and the longer term survival of the business. He is in great demand as a speaker at conferences and leadership development away days. Anyone interested can make contact via

crew@thoughtcrew.net

Thoughtcrew launches three new business biomimetic services

Phil Richardson — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:02:47 +0000

Business biomimetic solutions

Thoughtcrew has developed three business biomimetic offers for leadership, change management and innovation. The following summary provides an overview of the offers and shows how these could work for your business.

Business biomimetics and introduction

This is a range of education and introduction to business biomimetics talks and workshops. Lasting from a one hour talk to a three day workshop the audience is introduced to the subject of biomimetics, the application to business issues and a number of the business biomimetic models and tools. In the workshops there is an opportunity to apply the models against a defined business issues and to compare this with the audiences current experiences.

Biologize your Business

The ‘Biologize your Business’ offer takes the application of business biomimetics further by applying it to a business issue that is pertinent to the current organisation’s challenges. A bespoke project is defined which then uses the business biomimetic models and the Infinity Context Free Process (ICFP) to innovate around the issue and then to evaluate the ideas generated against agreed KPI’s and alternative approaches. At this stage there is an optional implementation offer which covers the design and implementation of the generated ideas. This option uses the Thoughtcrew Transformation Architecture approach.

Embedding business biomimetics

Here the ICFP process is embedded into the existing companies processes. This is augmented with an appropriate set of business biomimetic tools and techniques. The embedding includes all the training and support to allow the organisation to carry out the process and to develop and evaluate its own idea generation against a defined problem or issue. Once implemented ongoing support includes the provision of biology expertise, new business biomimetic models, ad-hoc consulting and the production of biological data flash cards.

The support could also include specific research around emerging issues or in the hybridisation of other techniques to create an integrated approach. This would be then implemented across a blended learning platform.

www.thoughtcrew.net

Self healing membranes

Phil Richardson — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:02:56 +0000

Plants have been used as the biomimetic inspiration of self healing membranes for tyres. Work done by Dr Olga Speck at the University of Freiburg shows that a new self healing membrane can quickly and effectively repair pneumatic structures such as tyres. For more

Horseshoe fungus biologized in Bath City Guide

Phil Richardson — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:53:14 +0000

Just had one of the biologize photo’s published in the City of Bath Guide.

Phil Richardson joins the PSL at The Lords for the launch of The Partner

Phil Richardson — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:09:14 +0000

Lord David Evans of Watford hosted the 20th anniversay of PSL at the House of Lords this week. Over 180 business leaders joined together to launch the latest edition of The Partner magazine. Phil Richardson, Thoughtcrew, authored the thought leadership chapter “Fit for the Future” exploring the use of evolution as a model for innovation. With increasing pressures on businesses emerging from the recession, innovation will play a key role in successful business growth.

Also announced at the launch were the five companies that have successfully completed the PAS11000 certification on partnering. Soon to become the new British Standard further information on this exciting development in collaboration and the importance for the future can be found at www.pslcbi.com where you can obtian copies of The Partner. For further information on the use of biology in innovation contact Thoughtcrew on www.thoughtcrew.net

Feedback from HR directors highlights the importance of biomimetics as a technique in leadership and change management

Phil Richardson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:13:54 +0000

HR Directors that attended the recent HR Forum in London to hear Phil Rchardson give his talk on leadership and change management and the use of biomimetics as a business tool provided some exciting feedback. If you are interested in finding out more visit Thoughtcrew or call Phil on +44 208 133 4728.

“Very passionate about biology. Emphasis on biology mostly lost the impact on change/change leadership culture. Pace could have been quicker through the theory to practical examples. Practical example right at end was quite good looking with journey to growth (crab example). Fascinating”

“Very interesting. Would have preferred more time to work through the business problems at the end”

“Great session”

“Really creative and interesting presentation. Food for thought. Very thought provoking”

“Most enjoyable session so far. Well presented and an articulate presenter”

“Very interesting and innovative”

“Excellent, very interesting content and great presentation”

“Very clever and entertaining and relevant”

“Thought provoking, different”

Symbiosis as a tool to understand business partnerships

Phil Richardson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:55:31 +0000

At the HR Forum in London today Phil Richardson presented biomimetics and how that can be used in helping understand busines relationships and growth driven change management. A summary can be found in Personnal Today

Biologize your HR strategy

Phil Richardson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:18:16 +0000

Tap into the power of nature to design and deliver your HR strategy. Using Past Casting based on the biology of crabs it is possible to design everything from a future based competency interview to aligning the leadership team to the new growth strategy. Business biomimetics provides a way of challenging traditional thinking that can be readily employed by diverse HR teams. The ideas generated are richer and better integrated than those created using stand alone strategy and brainstorming models. Contact Phil Richardson at Thiughtcrew for further details of this exiting, innovative new approach.

Natural nationalism

Phil Richardson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:21:43 +0000

The family is the basic unit of society acording to my good friend Guy. A collection of families are a village, town or city and a collection of these are a nation. Of course in nature there are examples of such systems in place and equally those that spread their subsequent generations far and wide. In comparing our own families it was easy to see how we had spread to the four winds UK wise.

What if we applied this thinking to customers? Have we considered a local bs spread customer base? I meet many ex-corporate types that have moved to the South West and want local clients. Can the way communities work in nature help us decide this aspect of customer strategy?

Here’s a head start. To be local everything needs to be a close copy. It needs to access plentiful resources and when preditprs strick to be of sufficient numbers to cope with a few losses. All are equal so theres no need for CRM.

Is this what you want?