Hugh Molotsi

My article " All Ideas Suck " was first published on Intuit Labs . The practice of judging ideas — specifically hosting panels made up of senior leaders — is not only unhelpful but it can be an impediment to innovation. Ideas are a dime a dozen and their value evolves through execution and learning.  Eric Ries , a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author recognized for pioneering the  Lean Startup movement , said “all ideas suck.” He explained that only through the discovery journey of lean experimentation can ideas have a chance of blossoming. Examples of success via lean experimentation are endless. Consider  Google  co-founders  Larry Page  and  Sergey Brin , who developed a better search algorithm for the web based on their insight from academic papers and citations. They discovered web pages could be ranked based on how many pages were linked to them. Google would eventually become the biggest advertising company of all time. And t...

My article Beating Bureaucracy Inspires Innovation  was first published on Intuit Labs . Perhaps the biggest enemy of innovation within large companies is bureaucracy — the concentration of decision making in a top-down management structure. In bureaucratic organizations, employees aren’t empowered to come up with new ideas and try them out. Instead, ideas must run up the flagpole. Senior leaders must be influenced. Several managers need to be bought in.  A single manager, who doesn’t like the idea, can derail the whole effort. It may take several meetings and many months to get an idea approved. The result? Employees don’t even bother trying. Innovation stops and productivity is disrupted. “The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline — a problem that largely goes away if you have the right people in the first place.”  —  Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Ot...

I had the pleasure of attending the Kwazulu-Natal Industrial Hubs Investment Forum in Durban, South Africa on March 19th and 20th.  The forum was an opportunity for investors to learn about the 11 industrial hubs that the KZN province is setting up to promote economic and job growth. My presentation to the forum was to apply lessons from Silicon Valley where entrepreneurship has driven dramatic growth and the rise of well known companies like Apple, Google, and Intuit from very humble beginnings.  While the Industrial Hubs look to attract investment from large global conglomerates, it's my hope that there will be investment to help educate and nurture entrepreneurs. Below are a few photos from the event. Yours truly and Lucky Masilela, Project Manager for the Electronics Hub. Yours truly and Alan Knott-Craig, CEO of Project Isizwe. Zeph Nhleko - Deputy Director-General of EDTEA, ..., yours truly, Professor William Gumede of Witwatersrand University, Pu...

Here's the presentation I gave at this year's Lean Startup Conference:

Zambians Promoting Leadership in America (ZLA) hosted a black tie event in Atlanta to celebrate Zambia's 50th independence anniversary.  I was honored to be asked to speak about giving back to support the next generation of Zambians.  Congratulations to Freda Mwamba Brazle and the ZLA committee for organizing a wonderful jubilee. Here are a few photos from the event. Receiving plaques of appreciation: (L-R) Thomas Konditi, Senator Donzella James, Innocent Mulenga, yours truly, and Freda Brazle. With Mrs. Naomi King, wife of civil rights activist A.D. King and sister-in-law of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With my better half Michelle. With Dr. Felicia Mabuza-Suttle

Intuit held it's first ever QuickBooks Connect conference at the San Jose Convention Center this week.  The conference was the biggest gathering of small businesses, the accountants who serve them, and developers who provide solutions for them.  The conference featured an all-star lineup of speakers including Magic Johnson, Arianna Huffington, and Martha Stewart. Here are some photos from the event. Yours truly with Magic Johnson With Dan Wernikoff, GM of Intuit's Small Business Group. With Shelly Scott and Christine Byrne from the QuickBooks Business Development team. With Tristan Walker, of Walker and Company who make the Bevel System. With the phenomenal Matt Rhodes, Intuit's VP of Investor Relations and Corporate FP&A

I had the pleasure of meeting members of a trade mission delegation from Kwazulu-Natal (South Africa) who were visiting the San Francisco Bay Area.  The group aspire to develop an innovation hub in the Zululand region.  Above is the picture of members of the group at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco with Consular-General Cyril Ndaba to whom I owe thanks for making the connection.