How can the Beatles and Mel Brooks, who started their careers in the 1950s, and had long  careers through multiple decades, provide insights into breakthrough innovation in 2022?

Over the past few weeks, I completed watching and reading three epic and fascinating pieces of entertainment; The Beatles Get Back on Disney+ a video chronology about the Beatle's last concert, “All About Me” a book by comedian Mel Brooks that chronicles his life in show business, and Paul McCartney – The Lyrics, an incredible book written by McCartney that provides the most intimate insights and details about the origins of more than 150 of his most influential songs. At first glance, you most likely wouldn’t think there are a lot of similarities between the four lads from Liverpool and a funny little kid who grew up in Brooklyn, but the more I watched and read, the more parallels I saw, and most importantly the more lessons about world-changing breakthrough innovation I learned.

How is it that Mel Brooks at 95 years old and Paul McCartney at 80 still have relevance and are still performing their crafts all these decades later? Because they are relentless innovators!

The video series and books shed interesting light on what it takes to be a breakthrough innovator and as I watched and read, I took notes on what truly differentiated them. I think the five primary similarities stand the test of time and are great insights for leaders and individual contributors looking at what it takes to create breakthrough innovation in 2022 and beyond.

I will admit that about halfway through the 2021 Duke Mayo Bowl between the NorthCarolina Tar Heels and the South Carolina Gamecocks I had lost interest in the game. However, the non-stop, almost over-the-top conversation about the after-the-game mayonnaise bath for the winning coach had me on the edge of my seat. We’ve all seen the Gatorade bath, but a coach having a vat of mayonnaise dumped on his head? That was something I had to see. And it was well worth the wait…

It was a hysterical moment as Coach Shane Beamer got slathered in mayonnaise. And as he sat there, oozing in mayo, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Damn, that doesn’t look like the regular mayonnaise I put on my sandwiches. It looks so rich and creamy…” I guess while one is sitting and watching a football coach get a mayo bath, one’s mind starts to wander about brands and traditions of buying condiments.

This past weekend gave us a unique opportunity to watch some of the most elite athletes in the world perform in their primes in both the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics.

These sporting events have been phenomenal, and it is such a pleasure watching these amazing athletes perform on the world’s stage under unfathomable pressure.

If there is one consistent theme that comes from these high-level performances is the absolute belief that every one of these athletes has reached their pinnacle of performance through practice, training, and coaching. Over and over, you hear them talking about getting in their “reps” (short for repetitions) and how many times they practiced their performances.

So, if the best athletes in the world can get better by practicing, we can’t business people?

In 2022 and beyond they can and more importantly they should!

I have been hearing something a little different during the recent set of Earning calls delivered by CEOs to Wall Street analysts. Right upfront, many executives are warning their shareholders that a little know rule change to the tax code is going to have a potentially huge impact on businesses and business decision-making in 2022 and beyond.

In my last blog on 3 Ways of Improving Days Sales Outstanding, I shared thoughts and insight on one of the newer metrics of financial management that many organizations are focusing on. I was fascinated by the response and had several great conversations about it and how the information was helpful in terms of immediate application to the decision-making required to improve the DSO.

One of the conversations I had with a former business acumen workshop participant who is a Supply Chain leader led to an interesting dialogue on another related topic called the Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) and this blog will share some interesting content on that emerging concept as well.