Everybody talks about Twitter – maybe a lot more than people actually Tweet – and at SAS, Twitter is a big deal, because tweets are a key source of information used in our social media solutions. But at the 2011 ACORD LOMA Insurance Forum in San Diego a couple of weeks ago Twitter co-founder Biz Stone educated insurance and business executives on management enablers that make Twitter successful.

Over the past few months, I’ve written some posts about how insurance companies can create a more entrepreneurial and innovative workplace – here’s Biz’s take on why it’s important for all companies.

• Create a culture that thrives on taking risks. Biz reminds us that mistakes can be opportunities in disguise. “To succeed spectacularly, be ready to fail spectacularly – be prepared to go for it – don’t be afraid of failure, it is your best friend. If you fail, try again.”
• Entrepreneurialism drives innovation. Let the organization break into self-organized teams and work on projects. Biz also tells us to “be simple and work across a horizontal space.” This is an interesting point because how many organizations are siloed across functional or organizational boundaries? How efficient is that? What would happen if we worked across teams and broke down some of those barriers?
• Opportunity can be manufactured. An entrepreneurial organization doesn’t wait for opportunity to come to its door – they seek to proactively create new opportunities for products and services and markets.
• Creativity is a renewable resource. “You will never run out of creativity – you can always go back to that well. If you approach a problem from new angles, it turns problems into interesting challenges and makes it fun!”
• Create a meaningful workplace for your employees and align brand with cause. Biz is a champion of corporate altruism: “It’s going to be the branding and marketing of the future. The first companies that do that will get a jump ahead – industries can either kill this world or save it. There’s a compound interest in helping others…one act can have multiple benefits.”

What makes Biz’s story compelling is his sense of optimism. It’s a world where every problem has a solution (even though you might not have found it yet). Even limitations have benefits: Constraints force you to be more innovative and creative, ultimately driving the creation of a better product. In wrapping up his talk, he tells us that:

• We can change the world, build a business and have fun and find meaning.
• We don’t always know what’s going to happen: Leave open the idea that you don’t know what’s going to happen.
• There is a creative answer to every problem.
• There are more smart people outside our company. Ask questions of people outside the organization – go out in the world and make friends, make connections – go to competitors, other industries.
• We will win if we always do the right thing for our users.
• The only deal worth doing is a win-win deal - our deals and relationships are long-term.
• Your co-workers are smart and they have good intentions. Don’t assume that your co-workers are idiots.

Good advice.