Using Intellectual Capital to Build Two Kinds of Factories

Yesterday, I drove my mother to the airport in Providence RI after a vacation on Cape Cod. The route from Cape Cod to Providence is a mini-history lesson. You pass through New Bedford which has been a fishing hub for centuries–and still is. You pass  through Fall River which has dozens of shuttered factories built during the industrial era. There is still some manufacturing going on there. But it doesn’t look very prosperous. Of course, neither is our country. We never really replaced all the jobs that those factories created in the last couple centuries.

I have been thinking about manufacturing a lot lately. Because I am increasingly convinced that it is the key to an economic recovery. But not like those old factories in Fall River. A whole new kind of manufacturing. Read more

Mary Adams to Speak on Link Between Intangibles and Financial Performance

In August I will swap roles from moderator to speaker for the Intangible Asset Finance Society’s monthly Conversation on Intangibles. The call is at noon EDT on Friday, August 7th. Nir Kossovsky will act as moderator.

I will be talking about the link between intangible assets/intellectual capital and the financial performance of an organization. This is, I believe, a neglected topic that needs more attention. It is also one of the major themes of the book that I am co-writing with Michael Oleksak.

Hope you can join us. The call is free but you must register at IAFS to get the call-in info. If you cannot make it at that time, a recording will be available. In September, I’ll be back in the moderator seat. We expect an interesting series of conversations with other intangibles experts this fall.

Why Should You Model Your Intellectual Capital?

In my last post, I shared a video that I recently posted on YouTube called You Can Grow Like Google. It uses Legos to build a model of Google’s intellectual capital “factory,” in an effort to illustrate how the distinct pieces of IC–human, relationship and structural capital–fit together to create a cohesive system that works together to create value.

You can download a worksheet to make your own model:  Want to Grow Like Google? …Build a Knowledge Factory. I hope you find the process fun and informative. I think that the act of identifying the critical components and fitting them together is a valuable exercise in itself. But I don’t recommend this just because it’s fun. I recommend that you build a model of your intellectual capital because the future of your business is dependent on intangible knowledge assets.  Read more

You Can Grow Like Google (start with a knowledge factory)

In a few recent presentations that I have posted on the internet, I have included some slides that show the method that we have been using to model the knowledge side of our clients’ businesses using Lego’s. A number of people have written to me asking for a narrated version so I finally made the leap to YouTube.

You can view the You Can Grow Like Google video at YouTube and download the companion white paper Want to Grow Like Google.

Let me know if this is helpful to you. Share your own knowledge factory models. And, if it is helpful, please share this with colleagues whose companies need a boost to power out of this recession. I hope to hear some feedback on this one!

Call on Intangible Asset Risk and Reputation Metrics

Intangible Asset Finance Society Monthly Call: The President of Intellectual Capital Advisors, Mary Adams, will be hosting Nir Kossovsky on the IAFS monthly call this Friday, July 10th at noon EDT.

Nir is the Chief Executive & Director of Steel City Re, a firm focused on innovating new ways of managing intangible risk. He is also an entertaining speaker and will surely keep Mary on her toes! The call is free but you must register to get the conference information. Hope you can join us!