by Thomas Sullivan

Loyalty expert James Kane gave a remarkable talk on the last day of the SLA 2011 in Philadelphia. He emphasized how essential it is for SLA members to build strong relationships with the people who use the information we find.

Mr. Kane took this a step further: He said that we have the strongest relationships with people who understand us. And if we really understand what information users want – including needs they haven’t articulated – we can become deeply valued partners. Mr. Kane said, “You become valuable when you anticipate the needs” of those we work with.

Author Gary Klein offers a great example of how anticipating needs pays huge dividends in his 2009 book, Streetlights and Shadows: Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making. Mr. Klein describes how, during World War II, a U.S. Navy Captain was studying intercepted Japanese messages, trying to understand where Japan would attack next.

Capt. Rochefort noted that one location, “AF,” was appearing frequently in Japanese messages, and suspected that AF was the next place Japan’s armed forces would strike. But what was AF? Capt. Rochefort had a hunch that AF was Midway Atoll. To test his theory, he arranged for the U.S. base on Midway to broadcast an un-encrypted message stating that the garrison’s water-distillation plant was malfunctioning. Two days later, U.S. forces intercepted a Japanese message that the AF base was having problems with producing drinking water.

Armed with this information, the U.S. Navy moved quickly to bolster Midway’s defenses, and inflicted a major defeat on Japan, a turning point in the war in the Pacific.

Mr. Klein writes: “Rochefort wasn’t waiting for the data to come to him. He wasn’t seeing his job as simply deciphering Japanese messages. His job was to figure out what [Japanese Admiral] Yamamoto was planning.”

(Read: “Streetlights and Shadows,” pages 194-195.)

Thomas D. Sullivan is a business researcher based in New York who is looking for new professional opportunities. He has researched companies and industries in manufacturing, energy, transport for firms including Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, and JPMorgan. He earned an MLS from Queens College CUNY, and a BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, and can be reached atthomasdsullivan@earthlink.net.

by Amy Degner

A few years ago I left Hoover’s to stay at home with my daughter. When I returned late last year to do some contract work, I was immediately struck by how “future ready” Hoover’s had become. It wasn’t that Hoover’s had suddenly started rolling out forward-thinking innovations; the company had achieved this virtually at its inception, featuring both free advertiser-supported and for-pay premium access to Hoover’s company information during the mid-90’s. But, when I reentered the workplace this time, the electricity in the air was different. Hoover’s had a renewed sense of commitment to its customers and an intense focus on sparking new ideas to make their jobs easier.

We’re all budding visionaries at heart. The key is finding the right time and place to brainstorm. Sometimes it starts in the shower. Other times it’s a rough sketch drawn on the back of a napkin. At Hoover’s we simply refer to it as the “Innovation Lab.”

Late in 2010, Hoover’s launched its first in-house innovation lab, designed to stimulate creative thinking within the context of industry trends, customer needs, and competitor offerings. The mission of the Innovation Lab is to think outside the box, generate project ideas, and use the latest technology to push Hoover’s into its next generation. The lab has a dedicated space and staff who works with internal and external folks representing customer interests. Often our customer-facing folks (sales or customer service) will bring a specific customer issue, either seeking a solution or with a suggestion in hand. The Innovation Lab staff then works with the appropriate product manager to determine how the inventive idea fits into the overall product strategy.

Hoover’s Innovation Lab also sponsors monthly innovation contests, encouraging employees from all departments to submit ideas; the winner then works with the IT staff to bring the concept to fruition.  The lab also hosts an active online ideas community and an internal Innovation Lunch Series.

So far, Hoover’s has completed three monthly innovation contests focusing on wide-ranging areas of our business, from helping our customers to making our internal processes more efficient.

For Hoover’s being “future ready” doesn’t necessarily mean providing the latest and greatest widget. It’s more about keeping our finger on the pulse of our customers—knowing not only what their needs and wants are today, but also anticipating what will be important to them tomorrow…and then focusing Hoover’s talent in that direction. The Innovation Lab is just one way that our teams bring our customers’ future visions to life.

To my fellow librarians, what could you do to foster an “Innovation Lab” in your group, division, or company? How are you keeping a pulse on your customer’s needs today and anticipating their needs for tomorrow?

Amy is a stay-at-home Mom and Librarian in Austin, Texas. During her 10-year professional career, Amy has held a variety of roles including: Research Associate, Librarian, Market Researcher, Competitive Intelligence Analyst, Project Manager, Product Marketing Manager and Consultant. Amy enjoys a challenge and variety in her work (see previous sentence) and dreams of becoming a Children’s Librarian in the future.