Perestroika: The New Built Around The Old

I attended the Supernova confab Friday in Philadelphia. Diverse innovators, thinkers and practitioners from a wide range of industries convened to “explore the transformation of computing, communications, business, and society in the network age.” I dislike most conferences, but I really like Supernova and I try to attend every year and sometimes lead sessions.

This year’s theme was Perestroika, which Wikipedia defines as “a political movement within the Communist Party of Soviet Union widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Its literal meaning is “restructuring”, referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system. Perestroika is often argued to be one reason for the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and for the end of the Cold War.” In the case of Supernova 2010, Perestroika is a reference to change and disruption in the network age — driven by the new surrounding the old.

This year my colleague David Kidder at Clickable, and Jay Lee from our partner American Express OPEN, participated in a Supernova fireside chat with Kevin Werbach from Wharton Business School, who founded and leads the event. The topic was innovation in established companies (and I’ll link to the video when it becomes available). Jonny Goldstein, Supernova’s real-time graphic recorder, portrayed the session in the drawing above. You can find his entire portrayal of Supernova 2010 here. I wish I had someone like Jonny to graphically interpret all the meetings at our startup.

I’m still mulling some of the big ideas that struck a chord with me, and will share more later. In the meantime, following are some of my Tweets of interesting quotes and sound bytes:

1. Chris Lehmann of Science Leadership Academy says we need kids to think of education not as silos but lenses. #sn10about 23 hours ago
2. Chris Lehmann of Science Leadership Academy says schools are preparing our kids for a world that doesn’t exist. #sn10about 23 hours ago
3. RT @debs: well said @bgarlinghouse “innovation is an outcome” so true – it is a platform not an activity or a department #sn10about 24 hours ago
4. RT @jstogdill: “Bad revenue drives you off course into being a vendor, good revenues are slower but fund the path you intend.” David Ki …about 24 hours ago
5. Jay Lee from Amex: you can’t just resell innovations from the outside, you have to innovate with your outside partners.#sn10about 24 hours ago
6. @davidskidder says we (clickable) are like an organ inside of Amex. Success will be rebuilding or recreating markets.#sn10about 24 hours ago
7. @davidskidder says simplicity is the hardest thing to solve.#sn10about 24 hours ago
8. Jay Lee from #Amex says biggest pain to solve for small businesses is the time it takes to succeed. #sn10.about 24 hours ago
9. @davidskidder says a sustainable business must create more value than it takes. #sn10Fri Jul 30 2010 16:40:14 (EDT)
10. Jay Lee from #Amex says SaaS and networks will be profound for empowering small businesses. #sn10.Fri Jul 30 2010 16:37:02 (EDT)
11. @Bankoff says #Groupon cracked the code on selling media to local small, businesses at scale. #sn10Fri Jul 30 2010 14:23:32 (EDT)
12. RT @jonnygoldstein: @kwerb @stellargirl visual notes of today’s supernova speakers http://bit.ly/cVDBOi #sn10Fri Jul 30 2010 14:04:13 (EDT)
13. @dinakaplan says the mouse is the new remote control.#sn10Fri Jul 30 2010 13:58:21 (EDT)
14. @Bankoff says user-generated distribution is more exciting than user-generated content. Media does not need saving.#sn10Fri Jul 30 2010 13:35:42 (EDT)
15. @heif says community is an app, and community organizers are developers. #sn10Fri Jul 30 2010 12:22:53 (EDT)
16. RT @Sparksheet: The Ultimate Interface http://bit.ly/4UlFcs@Jonnygoldstein shares his awesomely morbid presentation#sn10Fri Jul 30 2010 12:07:51 (EDT)
17. @danahboyd says the internet is not the great equalizer or enabler of democracy. #sn10Fri Jul 30 2010 11:43:56 (EDT)
18. RT @davidskidder: At Supernova : The resolution of privacy is the theory of mutually assured public humiliation (jeff Jarvis)#sn10Fri Jul 30 2010 11:25:13 (EDT)
19. @danahboyd says too much transparency is not good because information is inseparable from interpretation. #sn1012:23 PM Jul 30th
20. RT @chrisbrogan: Some of the best #sn10 (Supernova) coverage: @weg3 , @digiphile , @maxkalehoff , @bobfrankston .11:43 AM Jul 30th
21. The word “ecosystem” is overused. #sn1011:40 AM Jul 30th via Seesmic for Android
22. @joshk says angel investors help startups get started but VC and larger investment is needed to build and scale. #sn1011:35 AM Jul 30th
23. Marc Berejka of Commerce Dept. says the most avid networkers develop the most valuable links. #sn1011:30 AM Jul 30th
24. Josh Kopelman says entrepreneurs now have unprecedented access to venture capital, thanks to open networks. #sn1011:19 AM Jul 30th
25. David Cohen of @comcast says Obama is most tech savvy U.S. president ever – sophisticated even when there are no obvious answers. #sn1010:32 AM Jul 30th
26. David Cohen, EVP of @comcast says a big attraction to its customers is its easy access to Google. #sn1010:22 AM Jul 30th
27. Perestroika is the new built around the old. @kwerb says we don’t have a choice. #sn1010:17 AM Jul 30th
28. At Supernova in Philly. #sn1010:14 AM Jul 30th