Professionals and sources of inspiration

Andrew Hargadon is a professor, researcher and author specialising in innovation, entrepreneurship and technology management. He is particularly known for his work on how new ideas and breakthroughs rarely emerge in isolation, but through connections between existing knowledge, people, technologies and environments.

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He is a professor at the University of California, Davis, and the founder of several research and innovation centres focusing on entrepreneurship, technology and sustainable innovation. Hargadon also has an academic background from Stanford University, where he earned both an engineering degree and a doctorate.

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Hargadon is particularly known for his book How Breakthroughs Happen, in which he challenges the myth of the lone genius and shows how innovation often occurs through what he describes as “technology brokering” – the ability to combine existing ideas in new ways. The book draws on examples including Thomas Edison, IDEO and historical innovation environments to explain how creative breakthroughs emerge.

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His perspectives have had a significant influence on:

• innovation management

• service innovation

• entrepreneurship

• design thinking

• Silicon Valley culture

• understanding how organisations build their capacity for innovation over time.

Hargadon’s work is particularly relevant to the Innovation Studies (see also his book Sustainable Innovation) because he brings together:

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• technology

• organisation

• culture

• networks

• human collaboration

…into a holistic understanding of how innovation actually happens in practice.

Jeanne G. Harris is a professional, consultant and author in the fields of analytics, business intelligence and the strategic use of data in organisations. She is particularly known for her work on how organisations can use analytics and insights as a basis for better decisions, increased competitiveness and more targeted business management.

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Together with Thomas H. Davenport, she wrote the book Competing on Analytics, which has become a central reference in analytics, business intelligence and data-driven strategy. The book describes how businesses can transform large amounts of data into insights, decision support and tangible competitive advantage.

Harris has been committed to the idea that analytics is not just about technology and numbers, but about how data is interpreted in light of business understanding, strategy and human judgement. Her perspectives remain highly relevant in today’s digital economy, where analytics, AI and data-driven insights play an increasingly important role in:

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• marketing

• customer experience

• digitalisation

• innovation

• service development

• strategic management.

Her work also points to the importance of critical thinking and contextual understanding when businesses use analytical tools and artificial intelligence as a basis for decisions.

Steve Jobs is one of the most influential figures of the digital age – not only because he helped build Apple, but because he changed the way people experience technology in everyday life. For Magne Bjella, Steve Jobs represents far more than computers and mobile phones. He represents an understanding that technology must be human, intuitive, beautiful and easy to use.

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In many technology environments during the 1970s and 1980s, development was primarily about functionality and technical specifications. Steve Jobs thought differently. He was concerned with how people actually felt when they used technology. He understood early on that design, typography, user experience and emotion would become just as important as the technology itself.

This perspective makes Steve Jobs highly relevant to the work behind The Invisible Capital and Value-Creating People. Many of the reflections on user experience, accessibility, service design and digital customer journeys have their roots in precisely this way of thinking: technology should not be an end in itself – it should help people.

Steve Jobs grew up in California, at the heart of the environment that would later become known as Silicon Valley. Together with Steve Wozniak, he founded Apple in 1976 in a garage in Los Altos. At the time, computers were primarily for technology enthusiasts and specialists. Jobs saw the potential for something entirely different: personal computers that ordinary people could use at home, at work and in creative professions.

Through products such as:

• Apple II

• Macintosh

• iMac

• iPod

• iPhone

• iPad

…Apple helped transform both the technology industry and the everyday lives of millions of people around the world.

For Magne, the Macintosh revolution is particularly interesting. Apple challenged the idea that computers had to be complicated. Graphical user interfaces, the mouse, typography and visual simplicity made technology more accessible to people without a technical background. This later had an enormous impact on the internet, web design, digital services and modern user experience.

Steve Jobs was also an early advocate of the interaction between technology and creativity.

He often spoke about Apple existing at the intersection of:

• technology

• art

• design

• the humanities

This perspective fits very well with Magne’s own experiences throughout his working life – from SAS and the early days of the internet to the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Navico and Bærum Municipality. Digitalisation is not just about code and systems, but about people, culture, communication and understanding how services are actually experienced.

The Apple Store concept is another important example. Instead of traditional electronics shops, Apple created open, bright and people-centred environments where products could be experienced and tried. This represented a new way of thinking about retail and customer experience – something that would later become highly significant in omnichannel strategy, service design and modern retail.

Steve Jobs was also a complex and demanding leader. He set extremely high standards for quality, detail and execution. Many described him as uncompromising. Yet it was precisely this uncompromising approach that also contributed to products and services that pushed the boundaries of what people expected from technology.

For Magne Bjella, Steve Jobs therefore represents something greater than Apple alone. He represents the idea that technology must be developed with people at its centre. That good solutions are not simply about features, but about emotion, simplicity, trust and experience.

These perspectives remain highly relevant in an age shaped by

artificial intelligence, automation and digital platforms. Technology is becoming increasingly powerful – but the need for human understanding, good design and clear communication is at least as important as ever.

Perhaps that is precisely why Steve Jobs continues to inspire so many people:
 

• Because he reminded the world that technology alone is never enough. It is only when technology connects with people in the right way that genuine innovation emerges.

Ward Hanson is a professor and expert in digital marketing, eCommerce, and Internet strategy, and is particularly known for his work on how the Internet transformed marketing and customer dialogue in the early digital economy. He was an early proponent of analyzing how digital channels could be used to build relationships between businesses and customers through data, personalization, and new forms of communication.

Together with Kirthi Kalyanam, he wrote the book Internet Marketing and e-Commerce, which became an important reference in eMarketing, CRM and digital commerce at a time when the Internet was still in its infancy. The book described how websites, databases and digital customer journeys were beginning to change the way companies worked with marketing and customer experience.

Hanson represents an early phase of the digital transformation where the Internet went from being a technological experiment to becoming a central part of business strategy, communication and commerce. His perspectives are still relevant today, particularly in the areas of customer orientation, digital services and the interaction between technology and human behavior.

Kirthi Kalyanam is Professor of Marketing at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, in the heart of Silicon Valley. For many years, he has worked at the intersection of technology, commerce, marketing, data analytics and digital transformation, and is regarded as one of the professionals who recognised early on how the internet and digital platforms would fundamentally change retail and customer behaviour.

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Throughout his career, Kalyanam has worked closely with both academia and industry, maintaining strong connections with the technology community in Silicon Valley. He has researched and taught in areas such as e-commerce, retail, customer experience, digital marketing, artificial intelligence and data-driven business development – long before many of these topics became mainstream. This is also why he became an important voice at several of the seminars in San Francisco, where he contributed perspectives directly from one of the world’s most innovative technology environments.

For many of us who attended the seminars through the BI network, Kalyanam became an important bridge between theory and practice. He did not speak about technology merely as something abstract or futuristic, but about how organisations actually needed to change in order to meet new expectations from customers and society. This made his lectures highly relevant both to people from the private sector and to those of us working with digitalisation, communication and service development in other sectors.

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What also made an impression was his ability to communicate complex subjects in an understandable and engaging way. He combined deep academic insight with enthusiasm, curiosity and an exceptional ability to communicate. Through the seminars in San Francisco and academic gatherings at BI, he therefore became an important part of the international professional community that helped shape many of the reflections on digitalisation, innovation and customer experience that have stayed with me throughout my working life.

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Kirthi Kalyanam is one of the professionals who truly made a lasting impression through the seminars in San Francisco and the professional networks surrounding BI Norwegian Business School. For me, he became far more than simply a lecturer or academic. He represented a rare combination of deep professional expertise, international experience, warmth, curiosity and a genuine interest in how technology actually affects people, commerce and society.

There was also something special about the way he managed to bridge the gap between academia and the realities faced by organisations. Many researchers can become theoretical and detached, but Kalyanam had a very different approach. He spoke about retail, digitalisation, customer experience, Amazon, Google, data and technology in a way that made these subjects concrete and relevant to people working with them in practice every day. This made a strong impression on many of us who came from working life and were directly involved in the digitalisation of both the private and public sectors.

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He was early to recognise how fundamentally the internet would change retail, marketing and customer behaviour. At a time when many were still debating whether e-commerce would really become important, Kalyanam was already talking about how digital platforms, data, logistics, customer insight and multichannel strategies would transform the entire competitive landscape. Looking back, it is almost fascinating to see how much of what he described has actually become reality.

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Another striking aspect was the breadth of his experience. He moved naturally between academia, Silicon Valley, Google, the retail industry and technology communities. He had researched, taught, developed programmes and worked closely with industry. This gave his lectures a depth that was difficult to overlook. This was not simply theory drawn from books. It was experience built through working closely with some of the world’s most innovative environments.

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For me, much of this connected directly with my own experiences from SAS, Navico, the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet and, later, the public sector. Many of the reflections on customer experience, omnichannel, service development and digital transformation were highly relevant to the work we were doing ourselves. It was not simply about technology, but about how organisations needed to rethink user journeys, service, accessibility and the interaction between people and digital solutions.

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Kalyanam also had an ability to communicate the future in a way that generated enthusiasm. Not as mere hype, but as optimism grounded in professional insight. He described how technology could be used to create better services, better customer experiences and more intelligent organisations, provided that we also understood people, culture and organisation. This made him an important voice in many of the discussions that would later become central to digitalisation and innovation.

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Together with Ward Hanson, he wrote the book Internet Marketing and e-Commerce, which became an important reference in eMarketing, CRM and digital commerce during a period when the internet was still developing rapidly. The book described how websites, databases and digital customer journeys were beginning to change the way companies approached marketing and customer experience.

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Through the seminars in San Francisco and the professional gatherings in Oslo, he therefore became part of a wider professional community that meant a great deal to me. Not only because of his academic expertise, but because he represented an approach to innovation that was open, inclusive and curious. These are precisely the kinds of people who make professional networks more than simply conferences and lectures. They become communities that continue to inspire people throughout their working lives.

Leslie Lazar Kanuk is a consumer behavior and marketing professional and co-author, best known for her work on how people develop needs, preferences, and buying habits. Together with Leon G. Schiffman, she helped establish Consumer Behavior as a central discipline in modern marketing and customer-oriented strategy.

Together they wrote the book Consumer Behavior, which became an important reference in the fields of eMarketing, customer insights and digital customer journeys. The book shows how technology and marketing must be understood in light of human behavior, motivation and decision-making processes.

Kanuk's work is still relevant today, especially in the areas of user experience, digital services, and the understanding of how people interact with technology and information in a digital everyday life.

For several decades, John Kao has been one of the most prominent international voices in innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

He was often referred to as “Mr Creativity” by The Economist – not because he spoke about creativity as something vague or purely artistic, but because he managed to make innovation understandable as a practical discipline that can be learned, developed and managed.

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For many of those who attended seminars in San Francisco through BI and the innovation communities surrounding Silicon Valley, John Kao represented something truly special. He combined academic depth with an energy and ability to communicate that brought complex subjects to life. He did not simply talk about technology – he talked about people, culture, improvisation, collaboration and how new ideas emerge at the intersection of different disciplines.

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John Kao had an unusual background compared with many others in technology and business. He studied philosophy at Yale, trained in medicine and psychiatry, completed an MBA at Harvard Business School and later taught innovation and entrepreneurship at Harvard. This combination of the humanities, psychology, management and creativity gave him a perspective that differed from those found in more traditional technology environments in Silicon Valley.

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At Harvard Business School, he developed programmes in creativity and innovation that attracted executives from major international companies. He emphasised that innovation does not emerge from random brainstorming alone, but through culture, practice, interaction and discipline – in much the same way that jazz musicians improvise within a structure they have fully mastered. This way of thinking became particularly well known through his book Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, which became an international bestseller in innovation management.

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Music was not simply a metaphor for John Kao – it was part of his identity. He was an accomplished jazz pianist and, as a young man, had actually worked with rock legend Frank Zappa. This gave him a distinctive way of talking about creativity. For Kao, innovation was about rhythm, listening, timing, interaction and the courage to improvise when the world changes.

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Throughout his career, he has advised companies, governments and cities around the world. He has worked on innovation strategies for Finland, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, European Union organisations and US government bodies. He also chaired innovation councils associated with the World Economic Forum and worked on questions concerning how entire societies can develop cultures of innovation – not just individual businesses.

What makes John Kao particularly relevant to the work behind The Invisible Capital and Value-Creating People is the way he consistently highlighted the people behind innovation. He challenged the idea that innovation is solely about technology or capital. Instead, he showed how creativity emerges in environments characterised by trust, openness, collaboration and curiosity.

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He recognised early on that future competitiveness would not simply depend on products, but on the ability to build learning organisations and cultures in which people feel able to think differently together.

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Many of the ideas that are now commonplace in design thinking, innovation culture, interdisciplinary collaboration and customer experience were perspectives John Kao discussed long before they became mainstream. He therefore remains one of the most important bridge-builders between technology, management, creativity and human development in the digital age.

Jean-Noël Kapferer is one of the world’s best-known professionals in branding, identity and strategic brand management. For several decades, he has explored how strong brands are developed, perceived and sustained in response to changing markets, technology and customer needs.

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He is particularly known for his book The New Strategic Brand Management, which has become a key international reference in branding, marketing and strategic communication. The book explains how brands are not simply about logos or advertising, but about identity, trust, experiences and relationships between organisations and people.

Kapferer was also an early voice in describing how digital channels challenge traditional thinking about brands. In a world of greater transparency, faster change and stronger competition, a brand becomes the sum of all the experiences a customer has – across services, platforms and touchpoints.

His perspectives remain highly relevant to:

• eMarketing

• digital customer journeys

• user experience

• service development

• public-sector communication

• strategic identity building.

B. Joseph Pine II is an American author, speaker and strategist known for his work on customer experience, the experience economy and value creation through human experiences. He became internationally recognised for his work on how organisations move from selling products and services to creating experiences that build lasting relationships and emotional value.

Together with James H. Gilmore, he wrote the influential book The Experience Economy, which has had a significant impact on marketing, service, innovation and customer experience. The book describes how the economy evolves from goods and services towards experiences, where the customer’s overall experience becomes the most important source of value creation.

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Pine’s perspectives have been particularly relevant to:

• digital customer journeys

• service design

• personalisation

• brand experience

• innovation

• modern service development.

His thinking is highly relevant to today’s digital society, where technology alone is not enough – what ultimately matters is how people actually experience the services they use.

Through the network around BI, Oxford and Professor Peder Inge Furseth, many Norwegian participants were able to meet some of the most exciting professionals in innovation, trade, urban development and customer experience. One of them who made a particularly strong impression was Jonathan Reynolds.

Jonathan Reynolds represents a type of academic who does not just study business from a distance, but who seeks to understand how people actually live, shop, move and experience cities, shops and services in their everyday lives. He is a professor at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and has for many years been one of Europe's most renowned experts in retail, customer behaviour, commerce and urban development.

What made Jonathan Reynolds particularly interesting in the seminars and networks around Oxford was the way he connected commerce, society and people. He spoke not of stores as isolated economic entities, but as parts of living ecosystems – places where people meet, where identity is formed, and where technology, logistics and customer experience merge.

For many who came from the Norwegian public sector, retail and digital development, this was an important eye-opener. Reynolds showed how good cities and good customer experiences do not happen by chance. They are built through long-term planning, understanding of human behavior and the ability to see the whole between physical and digital presence.

This also resonated very well with the perspectives that would later become central to the work on Invisible Capital and Value-Creating People. Jonathan Reynolds highlighted something that is often forgotten in economic models: that trade and services are fundamentally about people.

Through the Oxford environment , he helped to give participants insight into how retail was being transformed by digitalization, online shopping and new customer expectations. At the same time, he emphasized that technology alone is never enough. What is crucial is how technology is used to create better experiences, stronger relationships and more vibrant communities.

At a time when many still viewed online retail as a separate track from brick-and-mortar retail, Reynolds was among those who understood the importance of integrated customer experiences – what we now refer to as omnichannel. He showed how the winners of the future would be those who managed to combine digital solutions with human understanding and great physical meeting places.

That is precisely why Jonathan Reynolds has become such an important source of inspiration. Not only as a researcher, but as a voice who was able to explain why trade, technology, urban life and people are closely connected.

Thanks to the network around Peder Inge Furseth, Norwegian participants were able to meet professionals like Jonathan Reynolds up close – people who not only presented theories, but who helped shape how an entire generation began to think about innovation, customer experience and societal development.

Leon G. Schiffman is an internationally recognized expert in consumer behavior, marketing, and customer psychology. He is particularly known for his work on how people perceive needs, seek information, evaluate alternatives, and make decisions in relation to products, services, and marketing.

Together with Leslie Lazar Kanuk, he wrote the influential book Consumer Behavior , which has been a central reference in marketing, eMarketing, and the understanding of customer behavior for many years. The book describes how psychological, social, and cultural factors influence people's decisions and habits — both in physical and digital environments.

Schiffman's perspectives became particularly important in the transition to digital customer journeys, where understanding human behavior became crucial for the development of websites, eCommerce, CRM, and digital services.

For several decades, Fred Selnes has been one of Norway’s leading professionals in marketing, strategy and relationship-oriented business development. For Magne Bjella, Fred Selnes represents an important part of the academic foundation that would later influence his work with digitalisation, customer orientation and the understanding of how technology and relationships are interconnected.

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Through the eMarketing Studies at BI, Magne was introduced to perspectives that were both modern and forward-looking at the time. The internet was still in its early stages, and many organisations primarily viewed the web as a technological channel or an addition to existing marketing activities. Fred Selnes helped elevate the discussion to a strategic level. He demonstrated how digitalisation was not simply about websites and technology, but about relationships between organisations and people.

As a professor at BI Norwegian Business School, Fred Selnes has conducted research in areas such as:

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• marketing strategy

• customer orientation

• relationship marketing

• brand management

• competitive advantage

• customer loyalty

• business development

He was among the early Norwegian academics to clearly describe how long-term customer relationships could become one of an organisation’s most important competitive advantages in an increasingly digital and global economy.

This perspective became highly significant for Magne Bjella later in his working life. Through experiences at SAS, the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Navico and Bærum Municipality, it became increasingly clear how important it is to understand:

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• user needs

• trust

• accessibility

• customer journeys

• experiences

• relationships over time

Many of these perspectives can be traced back to the understanding of relationship-oriented marketing that Fred Selnes helped communicate.

What made Fred Selnes particularly interesting as a lecturer and professional was his ability to combine academic depth with practical relevance. He did not simply discuss theories, but explored how organisations could actually develop in response to new digital opportunities and changing customer needs.

At a time when many still focused on short-term campaigns and traditional mass communication, Selnes helped explain how:

• customer data

• relationships

• brand experiences

• long-term trust

• digital dialogue

…would become increasingly important.

These ideas would later have an enormous influence on:

• CRM

• customer experience

• e-commerce

• omnichannel

• service design

• digital platforms

For Magne Bjella, Fred Selnes is therefore not simply a professor from his studies, but an important source of professional inspiration from a period when the internet was beginning to fundamentally transform business and society.

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What makes his perspectives particularly relevant even today is that they continue to address something fundamentally human: value is created through relationships, trust and an understanding of people – not through technology alone.

In the work behind The Invisible Capital and Value-Creating People, Fred Selnes therefore fits naturally among the voices who helped shape an early understanding of how customer orientation, strategy and digital development must be viewed as interconnected.