Fireside Chat with Marcus Hølland Eikeland Innovation Expert #23.9.20
From Norway with Innovation Expert
Innovation Expert & Founder
This weeks fireside chat is with an entrepreneur from Norway who we met in Australia’s Sunshine coast running a Tech Stars weekend where the Founder of Business in Bare Feet Mark Phillips was Mentoring.
Now years later we have kept in touch with Marcus and we managed to snavel and interview with him after he had been out on the Ocean for weeks on end tackling the high seas on a yacht just after COVID has hit.
Marcus is big on an adventure as you can see, he’s a kitesurfer and one who keeps a close ear to the ground for opportunity.
Passion FOr innovation helps
In his spare time, he helps clients innovate through design thinking workshops, strategic innovation, accelerator programs, process facilitation, UX, digitization and design.
As the managing director of Innovation, Lab Marcus works with the biggest brands in the world including Samsung, LEGO, IBM, B&O, IKEA, Microsoft, and SONY.
FootPrints
This video is a three-minute footprint video of the tips and takeaways that we gathered from the interview which if you watch to the end you will see how to connect with Marcus so make sure to stay till the end.
Whats Kitesurfing got to do with being an Entrepreneur?
Marcus likens being a founder as to some of his adventure sports and he mentions one of them as being Surfing and Kite surfing.
He recommends that even though you might want the wave to yourself it’s good practice to buddy up! As a founder funds people who are passionate about what they do and how they make a difference. It’s important to have someone to talk to about your journey as an entrepreneur. Keep an eye out for each other and don’t go it alone. Because you don’t have to.
Just like kite surfing, it can be a risky business and so always have good people to watch out for you and you can watch out for them.
Always reach out and ask for help
Being a founder takes time to understand your market so get some help.
Marcus plays at the big end of innovation and the grassroots so he’s seeing all perspectives. He believes that in times like these innovation is at its best because suddenly there is a need.
A Willingness to Innovate
Big corporations need to observe more and treat the corporation more as an organism rather than an organisation. Paying close attention to what is causing inflammation and disease. This was pertaining to the middle management causing blockages the heart of the business that causes the entire organism to malfunction through overworking certain factors. A willingness to innovate takes time and disruption to shake things up.
“It’s when there is mention and conflict and real struggles like it is now that you find the willingness to innovate”- Marcus HE
We have been through a few changes, to say the least. When we come out of a period where everything is pointing upwards before COVID. Then take a plummet to the awkward stage which was around March April where shock set in, hibernation occurred, forcing reassessment. Then people start to reach out and talk again, connect again and then roll into the realization of the need to pivot because that how you roll now.
V Shape Recovery vs the Cat Bounce
Companies are more into a V-shaped recovery others don’t recover. In a V-Shaped Recovery, after the economy suffers a sharp economic decline, it then quickly and strongly recovers. The other is like a cat bounce, that does not recover. V-shaped recoveries are generally spurred by a significant shift in economic activity caused by rapid readjustment of consumer demand and business investment spending.
Marcus mentions these effects but also to focus is now looking toward a new management model, cleaning out the non productive and streamlining during this time.
Seek Community for Support
He continues in the fireside chat reflect on the past and from that he shares this; “If I was to start over I would surround myself with likeminded people even quicker than I did when I started my business.” That’s, something that is a very high priority, but you don’t realise because you are so in it, seeking out innovation hubs and the right communities are so necessary. You really need that community that will support you through the journey.
Corporate to Entrepreneurship
When you cross over from being a corporate worker then taking the leap. The most difficult thing is that your friends who are not entrepreneurs have no clue what you are going through. It’s risky business to create your own enterprise or company, project. Be aware that your friends no matter how great they are don’t understand what you are going through. It consumes you to the point you live and breath it to try to make come to life.
Your friend just don’t understand so seek and help others quickly rather than wait till you have something living and breathing as a company. Move quickly to find a community that can help you from ideation stage.
#footprints
There are so many tips and takeaways which we here at Business in Bare Feet call #Footprints and there are plenty of footprints from this chat with Marcus. Make sure you take the time to track this fireside chat in full, there are some awesome footprints worth following for you, if you are in corporate or if you are just starting out at grassroots this chat is for you.
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