Blog Feed: Innovation Excellence

When companies, non-profits, and governments create products and services that better meet customer needs, there is less waste of human capital and natural resources, and everyone wins. That's why my mission for many years has been to: "To make innovation and marketing insights accessible for the greater good." So, how can you help Innovation Excellence achieve this mission I laid out many years ago? Continue reading →

Phase 5 Innovation Analytics – Global Knowledge Flight Patterns

Published on 2012-06-29 13:00:47

Phase 5 of the Data Analytics Lifecycle is labeled as "Communicate Results". Presumably a business user received permission (and resources) to create and execute an Analytic Plan. Continue reading →

Small Is Good

Published on 2012-06-29 10:00:03

If lean has taught us anything, it’s smaller is better. Smaller machines, smaller factories, smaller teams, smaller everything. The famous Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill, said all politics are local. He meant all action happens at the lowest levels (in the districts and neighborhoods), where everyone knows everyone, where the issues are well understood, and the fundamentals are not just talked about, they’re lived. Continue reading →

The Difference between Strategy and Innovation

Published on 2012-06-29 07:00:06

Strategy and Innovation are quite distinct, requiring vastly different people, skill sets and processes. Try to do both at the same time and you’ll likely do none of either. That’s a serious problem. Continue reading →

Apple, Nintendo, Innovation, and the CEO

Published on 2012-06-28 23:01:00

A few years ago I came across this quote from Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo: "My job is to find the potential in something that others can not see, to secretly pour our resources into them and turn them into hits before anyone else catches on," The quote was too long to fit in Twitter, so I thought I would share it here because I love the insight. This is the key to successful innovation captured in a single sentence. This quote also highlights one of the most important jobs of a CEO - [..]

Valuing Radical Innovation

Published on 2012-06-28 13:00:59

I’ve been involved in a lot of discussions over the last twelve months related to the creation of new business through radical or breakthrough innovation. Some of them have been on collaborative work with the innovative market research agency, BrainJuicer. The essence of the challenge can be summarized as: why can’t large companies create new businesses? Continue reading →

The Secret of Personalization

Published on 2012-06-28 10:00:10

Personalization is about creating interactions that feel smarter to the person on the other side, your customer. Continue reading →

Microsoft Win8 Tablet is Not a Game Changer

Published on 2012-06-28 07:00:53

While there is an appropriately high interest in the Win8 Tablet announcement from Microsoft, there is no way it is going to be a game changer. Simply because it was never intended to be. Continue reading →

Innovation Tournaments

Published on 2012-06-27 23:01:00

I had the opportunity to interview Christian Terwiesch, one of the co-authors of "Innovation Tournaments" about how to create and select exceptional opportunities. We also discuss a variety of other innovation topics including: barriers to innovation, education, and metrics. Professor Terwiesch teaches MBA and executive classes in the areas of operations management and product development at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Continue reading →

VMware Innovation

Published on 2012-06-27 16:00:00

VMware employees discuss how they brought their innovative ideas from concept to product. Continue reading →

Innovation in the Medium-Sized Enterprise

Published on 2012-06-27 10:00:46

Many of the publications about innovation management are around either entrepreneurship or innovation at big multinationals. Very few articles will focus on the medium enterprise. Here I will describe some potential ways how medium enterprises can become more innovative or keep up their entrepreneurial spirit. Continue reading →

What Would You Like to Know about Innovative Sweden?

Published on 2012-06-27 10:00:20

Sweden is an innovative country. We tend to be at the top of global innovation rankings — number one in the Innovation Capacity Index 2010–2011, the Innovation Union Scoreboard 2010 and the Global Creativity Index 2011, to name but a few. Continue reading →

Four Marketing Issues to Address with Creative Crowdsourcing

Published on 2012-06-27 07:00:43

Creative crowdsourcing is being used by an increasing number of companies today. Leveraging its experience of organizing and managing more than 400 creative contests, the Paris-based company eYeka has generated a simple framework about the value of creative crowdsourcing for brands. Four marketing-related business issues can be addressed: new product development, brand positioning, packaging design and generation of new creative concepts Continue reading →

A Day with Gary Hamel

Published on 2012-06-26 23:20:00

The day after the lights went down on the World Business Forum 2009, the lights went up on an all day seminar with Gary Hamel across the street at the Time Life Building. It was great to be able to get down to the next level of detail below the talk that Gary gave at the World Business Forum 2009. Continue reading →

Top 10 Innovation Challenges For Organizations

Published on 2012-06-26 13:00:30

Top 10 Innovation Challenges for most organizations in the world.. Continue reading →

Visiting the Dark Side of the Innovation Moon

Published on 2012-06-26 11:00:50

Innovation is perhaps like the moon. We only see a part of it wherever we stand, we appreciate that part and value what we see and work within. It is even better if we can repeat it again and again. It can even offer something reassuring and comfortable, we grow comfortable within our own known borders of innovation activity. Continue reading →

Incumbency, Innovation, and the Tablet Wars

Published on 2012-06-26 07:00:53

Incumbent tech companies, after they achieve market dominance, have a peculiar tendency to asphyxiate their once innovation-oriented culture. I speak of Microsoft and RIM and their ongoing struggles to master the tablet market. Continue reading →

Innovation Battle – Engineering versus Marketing

Published on 2012-06-26 04:00:00

What are the roadblocks and critical relationships between marketing and engineering in the cause of advancing innovation? Let me start off by recommending that you watch the movie I've embedded, as it does a great job of describing how there is often an engineering solution to a problem and a marketing solution to a problem. This in part explains why there is often a tension between marketing and engineering when it comes to new product development - they see different solutions, assign value d [..]

Infographic – Innovation Pipeline Challenges and Risks

Published on 2012-06-25 19:37:57

This infographic was created by a long-time Planview customer, Warick Pond, as a visual representation of the responses to the 3rd Product Portfolio Management Benchmark Study. Download the Benchmark Report for the full results, analysis and recommendations. Continue reading →

Why Business Models No Longer Last

Published on 2012-06-25 13:00:04

Whereas a firm used to keep the same business model for a generation or more, now the way in which a particular industry creates, delivers and captures value can be disrupted every few years. What’s more, the process is accelerating and business models will become even less stable. So we're going to have to rethink much that we thought we knew. Continue reading →

To Have And To Hold

Published on 2012-06-25 10:00:28

eMarketer, which provides research and analysis on digital marketing and media, published an interesting study this week on expenditure trends in the direct marketing industry. Continue reading →

Five Factors That Drive The Need For More Innovation

Published on 2012-06-25 07:00:22

Every agrees, on the whole, that we need more innovation. The real questions are "Why" and "How much" innovation we need. Like other patently good things - love, chocolate chip cookies and exercise - we could all stand a bit more innovation. It's just never clear how much we need or what the real benefits are, at least to many organizations. Continue reading →

Innovation and the CEO – Own Yes, Manage No

Published on 2012-06-25 04:00:00

When I think about who should 'own' or manage innovation, and where it should reside in an organization, I believe the answer is obviously "It depends." There cannot be a single answer for these questions because every organization's strategy and specific culture of getting things done could be different. But, the one thing that I can say for sure is the following: Continue reading →

Exploring Club de Paris des Directeurs de l’Innovation

Published on 2012-06-24 16:29:03

The Club de Paris des Directeurs de l’Innovation (CP), created in 2008, is a forum for global members to share knowledge and “stay current” by learning about the latest strategies and practices of innovation management through research, sharing experiences and networking. Events go beyond specific local or sector related issues, and beyond France. Continue reading →

Microsoft’s Edwin Lau – An Innovation Interview

Published on 2012-06-24 09:09:47

Edwin Lau is Director of Market Intelligence for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business (products include Xbox and Kinect). Edwin leads the team responsible for providing strategic, research-led insights to guide product, services and content strategy. Continue reading →

Managing Innovation is about Managing Change

Published on 2012-06-24 04:00:00

Innovation is about change. Companies that successfully innovate in a repeatable fashion have one thing in common - they are good at managing change. Now, change comes from many sources, but when it comes to innovation, the main sources are incremental innovation and disruptive innovation. Continue reading →

Rockonomics – Andrew Sentance on business, innovation, the economy and Rock’n’Roll

Published on 2012-06-23 16:00:48

Andrew Sentance is Senior Economic Adviser to Price Waterhouse Coopers and combines a demanding career with a love of classic rock music. I was curious to find out how he has synthesised these apparent opposites. Continue reading →

Don’t Just Get it Done, Get the Right Things Done!

Published on 2012-06-23 11:00:46

How do you know if a key project or initiative supports your vision of winning? To find out, try this easy-to-use strategic value factor grid. Continue reading →

Where’s Your 10X Performance Improvement?

Published on 2012-06-23 07:00:16

1969 was a pretty interesting year for the Swiss watch industry. That was the year the Omega Speedmaster became the first watch on the moon. Meanwhile, back on earth.. Continue reading →

Be a Creative Guerrilla

Published on 2012-06-22 11:00:02

In this article I use the analogy of a military guerrilla to consider tactics people in organisations resistant to creativity and innovation might use to succeed. Continue reading →

The People Business

Published on 2012-06-22 07:00:00

Regardless of industry, product, or country, we’re in the people business. Got a problem? Problems are solved by people, and our first word is usually – who. Who has fixed something like this before? Who can make the problem go away? Who has the chops to pull it off? Continue reading →

Do You Have Innovation Fatigue?

Published on 2012-06-22 04:00:00

I had the opportunity to interview Jeff Lindsay, one of the co-authors of "Conquering Innovation Fatigue" about the recession, innovation challenges that organizations face, the role of government in innovation, and needs of the innovation workforce. Looking across the broad range of our conversation, the importance of alignment is probably the thread that ties it all together. Here is the text from the interview: Continue reading →

Phase 4 Innovation Analytics – Voice Measurement

Published on 2012-06-21 16:00:59

There are eight different hypotheses that the project is attempting to prove. My last few posts have focused on one specific hypothesis: There are eight different hypotheses that the project is attempting to prove. My last few posts have focused on one specific hypothesis: Knowledge transfer activity can identify research-specific boundary spanners in disparate regions. Continue reading →

Facebook – The Perfect Startup

Published on 2012-06-21 13:00:37

Discover Facebook's extraordinary talent in tackling five classic startup challenges: Technology & User Experience, Business Model Exploration, Business & Ecosystem, Facing mobile disruption, Long-term vision. Continue reading →

Random Collision Theory of Innovation

Published on 2012-06-21 10:00:31

We live and work in a networked world complete with mega bandwidth and social media platforms to help us collide with more unusual suspects if we just look up from our silos. These new connections can help us to design, prototype and test new business models. Continue reading →

Microsoft’s New Tablet and the Rise of DIY Innovation

Published on 2012-06-21 07:00:15

Microsoft’s bold, media-hyped unveiling of its new tablet on Tuesday brought many tech enthusiasts, and frankly the rest of us, to the web hoping for a glimpse of the new iPad killer. Of course, what we got was a presentation that showcased a mix of cool and function, sending a prototype to the forefront to generate buzz for a product launch down the road. It was evocative of Apple…the very giant they hope to overtake. Continue reading →

Conquering Innovation Fatigue

Published on 2012-06-21 04:00:00

A while ago I received Conquering Innovation Fatigue - Overcoming the Barriers to Personal and Corporate Success in the mail, a 284-page piece co-written by Jeff Lindsay, Cheryl Perkins, and Mukund Karanjikar. Now you might be thinking - Everyone is so excited about innovation, how can anyone get innovation fatigue? Continue reading →

Think Like a Startup, or Die

Published on 2012-06-20 16:00:25

The wave of disruptive innovation headed at us dwarfs anything our modern economy has seen before. Continue reading →

You’re Not Special

Published on 2012-06-20 13:00:50

This video applies to us all – especially those in leadership. Watch this video as a recommencement of sorts – to being grounded in humility, reality, authenticity, and transparency. The reason people want to be led by you is not because your special, but because you understand you’re not. Continue reading →

3 Enduring Ways to Approach Innovation

Published on 2012-06-20 10:00:11

What is innovation really about? Some believe it is distinct from creativity. Some believe it must go beyond small improvement. Many believe you need deep pockets, because innovation entails seeking and taking big risks with big ideas and radical departures from convention. Others believe it’s the bailiwick of right-brainers only, and “suits” need not apply. Continue reading →

4 New Marketing Paradigms

Published on 2012-06-20 07:00:49

Skills sets that were once sequestered in one discipline or another must now be integrated. The result is much confusion. Traditionalists think that the old ways just need some tweaking, while digital natives insist that those days are gone, never to return. Here's a guide to what's changed and what's not. Continue reading →

Tackling the Great Disruption

Published on 2012-06-20 04:00:00

I had the opportunity recently to interview Scott Anthony, President of Innosight and the author of "The Silver Lining" about a variety of innovation topics including: 'The Great Disruption', barriers to innovation, education, leadership, and commodity businesses. Here is the text from the interview: Continue reading →

Challenges of Innovation in MedTech

Published on 2012-06-19 15:00:32

Prof Dr Sweder van Wijnbergen, Amsterdam School of Economics, and Anna Lefevre Skjoldebrand, President and CEO of Swedish Medtech, give their view on challenges for innovation in medical technology. Continue reading →

Micro-innovation of Small Things

Published on 2012-06-19 11:02:43

When we talk about innovation, we often refer to "great innovation", innovation applied and designed by experts or by the R&D departments. However, there is another kind of innovation, one that emerges from the bottom and that affects the small daily job duties. This is “micro-innovation”. Continue reading →

Are You Playing Offense or Defense?

Published on 2012-06-19 08:30:00

I had the opportunity to meet Bill George at the World business Forum and later interview him. He is the author of "7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis", and a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, where he has taught leadership since 2004. Bill George is the author of three other best-selling books, and the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Medtronic. I interviewed him about social media, the recession, offense vs. defense, leadership, and needs of the innovation [..]

Clarity Accelerates and Sustains Innovation

Published on 2012-06-19 07:00:18

Unfortunately, when many executives and politicians say "let me be clear" they mean to emphasize what they want to communicate. It's not necessarily clarity they seek, but emphasis of a certain point of view. Clarity in innovation, like sunshine in politics, is the best disinfectant. Continue reading →

Innovation – Why Context is King

Published on 2012-06-18 16:00:27

Imaginatik's Chris Townsend interviews Dr. Bettina von Stamm, the Founder and Catalyst of the Innovation Leadership Forum and a leading expert on innovation management and innovation leadership. Continue reading →

Counter-Intuitive Symbols of Innovation

Published on 2012-06-18 13:04:47

Seeing this amazing piece of failed technology gracing the entry way of a hub of new technology made me think about what other symbols we typically use to represent innovation. Symbolism seems to focus more on success than failure, but as numerous authors in this blog and elsewhere have written, failure may be a more important... Continue reading →

Design to Handle the Exception – Not for the Exception

Published on 2012-06-18 10:00:14

While going through security at the airport the other day, I was reminded of an important design and innovation concept... Continue reading →

What We’re Talking About When We Talk About Failure

Published on 2012-06-18 07:00:29

I often tell people that failure is an essential part of innovation. What do I mean by that? I think that what I really mean is that to innovate, we have to learn. It’s not the failure that drives innovation, but rather the learning. Continue reading →

Do you know your 3 F’s of Innovation?

Published on 2012-06-18 04:00:00

I had the opportunity to interview James Todhunter, Chief Technology Officer at Invention Machine about engaging employees in a successful open innovation effort. Invention Machine is a software company that drives sustainable innovation across global organizations. In his blog Innovating to Win, Todhunter regularly offers insights and observations on building high-performance teams that can drive sustainable innovation across organizations. Continue reading →

The Microsoft Tablet?

Published on 2012-06-17 16:00:53

The tablet market is still nascent in terms of other CE segments historically, but it’s booming. Apple clearly dominates while Android is slowly gaining ground collectively, but no single brand is gobbling up large chunks of share. So is Microsoft going all in? Continue reading →

Will Gen Y Deliver Body Blow to Fortune 500?

Published on 2012-06-17 09:33:55

Will a body blow be delivered to the Fortune 500 by Gen Y? Given that these budding young workers will comprise as much as 75% of the US workforce by 2025, organizations must heed Gen Y’s emerging views of progress, or risk losing vital fuel for the innovation and collaboration engines so crucial to staying competitive today. Continue reading →

Innovation through Measurement

Published on 2012-06-17 07:00:52

The most crucial thing about innovation through measurement is that it can be applied to any business, in any industry, of any size. You do not need large capital investments... Continue reading →

Making the Change to Proudly Found Elsewhere

Published on 2012-06-17 04:00:00

I had the opportunity to interview Chris Thoen back when he was the Director of Innovation & Knowledge Management at P&G about the challenges of shifting an organization as big as P&G from closed innovation to open innovation, and the P&G Connect + Develop program. Dr. Thoen was a twenty year P&G veteran who started his career as a research scientist in the Fabric & Home Care division and now heads up the Global Open Innovation Office, also known as Connect + Develop. Continue reading →

Something in the Air – Holistic Innovation and Creativity

Published on 2012-06-16 16:00:52

Peter Cook interviews Derek Cheshire, promoter of 'holistic innovation'. Continue reading →

Just Start

Published on 2012-06-16 11:00:04

Starting is scary – we’re afraid to get it wrong. And we let our fear block us from starting. And that’s strange, because there’s never certainty on the right way... Continue reading →

Leadership and Storytelling

Published on 2012-06-16 07:00:40

Leadership and storytelling go hand-in-hand. In fact, leaders who lack the ability to leverage the power and influence of storytelling are missing the very essence of what accounts for compelling leadership to begin with – the story. Continue reading →

Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce

Published on 2012-06-16 04:00:00

When I first saw this topic I wanted to write about education innovation, but I resisted when a couple of the contributing authors chose this topic. I wrote about the publishing industry instead, but then in 2009 I came across a Phil McKinney article and had the opportunity to meet Sir Ken Robinson then too, and my passions for an education revolution were stirred. Continue reading →

Don’t Just Do It, Get It Done!

Published on 2012-06-15 14:00:13

Having trouble with strategic execution? These four strategies will help you to stop spinning your wheels and just get it done. Continue reading →

Innovation and the Individual

Published on 2012-06-15 10:00:04

Innovation does not always start with team... Continue reading →

Innovators Aren’t Cynics

Published on 2012-06-15 07:00:55

I was talking with a potential client who seemed cynical about innovation. In fact, most of our clients are both equally cynical and hopeful about innovation. They are cynical because innovation has often failed to deliver extravagant promises, and hopeful because innovation is one of the few tools that firms have to grow, to differentiate and to disrupt Continue reading →

Balancing Intuition with Analysis

Published on 2012-06-15 04:00:00

I had the opportunity to interview Roger Martin, the author of "The Design of Business" about the challenges companies face when they fail to balance analytical thinking with intuitive thinking. We also discuss a variety of other innovation topics including: barriers to innovation, education, and risk taking. Roger Martin has served as Dean of the Rotman School of Management since 1998. He is an advisor on strategy to the CEO's of several major global corporations. Continue reading →

Phase 4 Innovation Analytics – Finding Boundary Spanners

Published on 2012-06-14 14:00:11

EMC Innovation Network Director, Steve Todd, takes us to fourth phase of the Data Analytics Lifecycle "where the rubber meets the road". Continue reading →

Innovation Requires a Change in Behavior

Published on 2012-06-14 10:00:42

What is the most important innovation ever? I’ve argued before that it is hand-washing in hospitals. This innovation was a major driver in the improved health outcomes that have increased our life expectancies from less than 60 years at birth to nearly 80 in most developed countries. Continue reading →

Broadcasting the Voice of the Customer

Published on 2012-06-14 08:25:00

We live in a world of corporations and conglomerates, where most of the employee class has no direct access to the voice of the customer. The man or woman stitching up your clothing has no idea whether the stitching method worked well for you, or if you were happy with the product. They only know whether or not they made their daily quota and how much failed Quality Control. If the person stitching your clothing had access to the voice of the customer, would they do their job differently? Would [..]

10 Ways To Help Left Brainers Tap Into Creativity

Published on 2012-06-14 07:00:09

If your job requires you to lead meetings, brainstorming sessions, or problem solving gatherings of any kind, chances are good that most of the people you come in contact with are left-brain dominant: analytical, logical, linear folks with a passion for results and a huge fear that the meeting you are about to lead will end with a rousing chorus of kumbaya. Continue reading →

If you are an Innovator, You’ve got to be Obsessed

Published on 2012-06-13 16:12:14

There’s some that argue the customer can’t tell us what to do, and most of us innovators agree. It is also true that it’ll be harder to find breakthrough innovation if we only focus on the customer and that is why we have other inputs like trends, orthodoxies... Continue reading →

Fight Back Against Over-Stimulation

Published on 2012-06-13 13:00:31

In today’s hyper-fast world, we’re so constantly over-stimulated that we rarely notice it. Find out how sensory overload can be bad for your business. Continue reading →

What Do Innovators Have in Common?

Published on 2012-06-13 10:00:08

While innovators speak different languages, come from different cultures and various industry backgrounds, they all have fundamental traits in common. Continue reading →

Innovators Hold Strong Visions Weakly

Published on 2012-06-13 07:00:09

Unlike exploitation of existing markets, exploration of new markets requires an emergent and experimental strategy. It usually starts with a vision, i.e. an idea about a novel need-solution fit with breakthrough potential, and consists of the following basic steps: Continue reading →

Creativity and Innovation

Published on 2012-06-12 16:00:47

Hard work & Low cost do not help by themselves any more. Intellectual arbitrage is here to stay. Innovation is the way to stay ahead of the pack. Be the game changer. Let our C3 methodology (part of triniti Innovation Framework) help you break out of idea scarcity and convert your ideas into profitable, implementable solutions. Continue reading →

3 Ways To Productively Rest Your Brain

Published on 2012-06-12 13:00:36

Neuroscientific research is beginning to shed light on the idea that to be more productive and creative, we need to make break-taking a regular practice. Continue reading →

Supporting the Stresses and Strains of Innovation

Published on 2012-06-12 10:00:04

What is a foundation for innovation? Let’s turn to an engineering nightmare to learn exactly why a solid foundation is so important and then identify the forces a good foundation counters. Continue reading →

How to Solve the #1 Innovation Challenge

Published on 2012-06-12 07:00:08

Just as there are different types of innovation, there are number of ways that companies can pursue innovation. Once we have defined the innovation problem, mapping solutions onto the matrix is fairly straightforward. Continue reading →

Twitter’s spectacular growth driven by unexpected uses

Published on 2012-06-12 04:00:00

For those of you not yet familiar, Twitter is the online service that allows people to share news, insights, or their lives 140 characters at a time. Here is an interesting video of Evan Williams, Co-founder of Twitter, speaking a few years ago about some of the startling things he's learned from users, and the way they've driven his business forward. It's well worth the time investment. Continue reading →

Marketing Innovation – Upside Down Social Web Design

Published on 2012-06-11 17:00:18

Picking up where my hugely popular article 'Rise of the Social Business Architect' (PDF) leaves off, I thought I would examine the world of web design in a world where the tools of social media are becoming increasingly important and integrated into how business gets done (and even how searching and search results are done). Continue reading →

Can Software Drive Innovation?

Published on 2012-06-11 16:00:59

Innovation is borne out of culture and process. Depending on who you speak to you will be told that it is either the unique talent of the special few... or the outcome of a mixture of team effort, smart thinking and a generous helping of luck. Continue reading →

Squat Effect Innovation – Full Speed Ahead

Published on 2012-06-11 13:00:05

With all the media attention focused on the centennial of the tragic loss of the Titanic, it was inevitable that an innovation practitioner would look to the story of that ill-fated ship as a source of lessons learned for our industry. Indeed, Mark Bonchek does precisely that in an excellent recent article in the Harvard Business Review Conversations Blog. Continue reading →

Gutsy Innovation

Published on 2012-06-11 10:00:36

It is a gutsy move to look at a low tech , or no tech, market and introduce technology solutions into products and expect consumers to pay for premium technology advantages. It takes foresight to see such potential and recognize when customer insights are not being delivered on in an industry, thus making it ripe for change. This story is about the exciting transformation underway in the $3 Billion hard goods... Continue reading →

Unleash Creativity – Combine Social Innovation with Intelligent Things

Published on 2012-06-11 07:00:23

There are many examples where Intelligent Things embrace open innovation paths and collaborative design approach. One might actually ask: does Intelligent Thing have Social Innovation in its DNA, and what are the reasons for this relationship? What collaborative platform shall we shape to make Intelligent Things become clever, and what lever can bring API in this challenge? Continue reading →

PatrickTV – Apple WOW User Experience

Published on 2012-06-10 16:55:56

As Apple moves into its next big launch effort with its breaking Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Patrick Meyer uses his iTV approach to showcase the critical piece behind Apple's lifestyle and tech leading product successes: Wow! User Experience. Continue reading →

Why Power Stifles Innovation

Published on 2012-06-10 15:23:01

As leaders gain more formal authority and power in their organizations, many assume that they need (or should need) less input, critique, and feedback from others. But these things are exactly the ingredients that foster new thinking and breakthrough innovation. Continue reading →

Innovation Quotes of the Week – June 10, 2012

Published on 2012-06-10 00:30:52

This week we continue a featured series of some of my favorite innovation-related quotes. Please contribute your favorite innovation quotes in the comments and I'll feature the best submissions in next week's Innovation Quotes of the Week! Continue reading →

Punk Rock People Management – HR Innovation

Published on 2012-06-09 16:00:02

Wise HR leaders are authentic, especially when times are tough. "Punk Rock People Management" focuses on three facets of leadership that separate innovative HR practice from the herd. These qualities are the hallmark of a punk rock attitude as well. Continue reading →

Questions You Should Ask on an Innovation Audit

Published on 2012-06-09 11:00:05

If we are going to improve innovation in our organisation then an accurate current assessment of the our creativity, agility and innovation capacity is essential. An innovation audit looks at a number of issues to see what is working well and what is impeding innovation in the company. It asks analytical questions like these... Continue reading →

Impossible

Published on 2012-06-09 07:00:06

Things aren’t impossible on their own, our thinking makes them so. Impossible is not about the thing itself, it’s a statement about our state of mind. Continue reading →

Part 3 of 3 – Building a Systemic Innovation Capability

Published on 2012-06-09 04:00:00

I had the opportunity to interview Rowan Gibson, co-author of "Innovation to the Core" about the book and about creating a systemic innovation capability inside organizations. Rowan Gibson is a global business strategist, a bestselling author, an expert on radical innovation, and an Innovation Excellence co-founder. Continue reading →

Phase 3 Innovation Analytics – Longitudinal Studies

Published on 2012-06-08 11:00:55

I believe that the path that knowledge takes, from a local innovator, to a corporate boundary spanner, to an implementation team, to a delivered asset, can be traced and measured. I also believe that this measurement, once studied, can reveal ways to accelerate innovation and point out areas of knowledge that are yet to be converted. Continue reading →

Finding the Social in Social Business

Published on 2012-06-08 07:00:20

People speak of creating the social business. What does that phrase mean? Do we sip lattes and play foosball in the break room? How does this magical entity differ from its anti-social brethren? In this article I explore the intent and possibilities that define the social business. Continue reading →

Part 2 of 3 – Building a Systemic Innovation Capability

Published on 2012-06-08 04:00:00

The 66-Point Innovation Checklist

Published on 2012-06-07 16:00:55

Getting innovative ideas is a vague process. It’s considered as hard to do. That’s exactly why I like to unfuzzy it with a structured innovation approach, called the FORTH innovation method. Continue reading →

What Should Organizations Do To Promote Greater Innovation?

Published on 2012-06-07 13:00:24

Creative Innovation is an annual future-shaping conference event. It is the place to learn from world-changing innovators, futurists, inspired thinkers and curious souls gathered together in an interactive community. Continue reading →

A Conversation About Learning And Gamification

Published on 2012-06-07 10:00:04

Employee engagement and participation in learning and development programs has always been a challenge. Leaders are now looking for methods to tackle this issue head-on, and driving demand for changes in learning management. Enter gamification. Continue reading →

CEOs Can’t Tweak their Way to Innovation

Published on 2012-06-07 07:00:26

Sometimes tweaks aren’t enough. Sometimes nothing short of reinventing yourself, your organization, or your community is called for. The start of the 21st century is one of those times. If anything is certain... Continue reading →

Part 1 of 3 – Building a Systemic Innovation Capability

Published on 2012-06-07 04:00:00

Customer-Centric Model for Product Innovation

Published on 2012-06-06 16:00:50

With the multitude of methods available for customers to communicate, how can organizations successfully reach customers where they live and capture, and manage their valuable insight? Continue reading →

Business + Social Innovation with Agora Partnerships

Published on 2012-06-06 13:00:24

Impact Investing in Action is a global marketplace designed to showcase entrepreneurs from Mexico and Central America and matches these world-changing small businesses with key investment opportunities. Continue reading →

Why We Often Do Stupid Stuff

Published on 2012-06-06 10:00:29

We know that texting while driving can be potentially fatal, yet we do it anyway. Find out why our brains sometimes cause us to do really dumb stuff. Continue reading →

The Seven Ages of Innovation

Published on 2012-06-06 07:00:31

In Act II Scene vii of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, the character Jaques de Boys speaks the memorable words “All the world’s a stage.” Jaques, in his monologue, then delves into Shakespeare’s depiction of the “seven ages of man,” from infant through adulthood and back again, the circle of life writ large: Continue reading →

The Importance of Play to Innovation

Published on 2012-06-06 04:00:00

A pioneer in research on play, Dr. Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults - and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age. Pascal Wattiaux (whom I met after writing the Gever Tulley article) recommended an article on play from the Brick Journal, Issue 6. Continue reading →

50 Gamechanger Brands

Published on 2012-06-05 15:43:17

50 Gamechanger Brands who are changing the world explored by Peter Fisk in the Genius Marketing Lab. Continue reading →

Leadership and The Expectation Gap

Published on 2012-06-05 13:00:44

When it comes to leadership, I can share the issues of creating and delivering on expectations are no small matter. In fact, understanding how to come out on the right-side of the expectation curve can often be the difference between being viewed as an average leader and one held in high regard. Let me make this as simple as I can; managing expectations is gamesmanship – aligning them is leadership. Continue reading →

Canadian Universities, the Innovation Gap, and Leaping the Landline

Published on 2012-06-05 10:00:34

Canada's approach, characterized by with several innovative strategies with no single one dominating, could be viewed as one that's poised to leapfrog forward... Continue reading →

Has Microsoft Leapfrogged Apple?

Published on 2012-06-05 07:00:32

What a difference ten years can make! Merely decade ago, we were just getting used to the idea that Apple would survive as an independent company. Now it’s the most valuable business in the world. Continue reading →

Charitable Innovation – Disrupting for Good

Published on 2012-06-05 04:00:00

The operational model for charities in this country is an ideal candidate for disruptive innovation. It strikes me as odd that charities, the organizations that really have the least to spend on marketing, spend such inordinate amounts of money and time on marketing to raise money. Does spending lots of money on fundraising actually work? Continue reading →

Fueling Innovation with eBay Fortune

Published on 2012-06-04 16:00:21

E-Bay Billionaire, Jeffrey Skoll, signs The Giving Pledge and commits long-term funding and freedom to innovate and inspire others. Continue reading →

Innovation Is Nothing

Published on 2012-06-04 13:00:02

What’s not to like about innovation? Plenty. Not the concept of innovation, of course. Just the word itself. It’s overused, it’s underdelivered, and it’s much easier to invoke than it is to pull off. Continue reading →

Constraining Innovation for Strategic Success

Published on 2012-06-04 11:30:00

It seems like every organization has a vision and a mission statement, and some even have mantra's. My personal innovation mantra is to make innovation and marketing insights accessible for the greater good. At the same time organizations are creating their mission statement, many take the time to create an organizational strategy, only to then neglect the creation of an innovation strategy. Continue reading →

Splitting Ideas Apart

Published on 2012-06-04 10:00:29

In the interest of making ideas bigger we sometimes add more and more elements until we can no longer articulate the simple core of an idea. It is easy to see how it happens as a team tries to build bigger ideas. I have a couple of approaches to help you break ideas apart and identify the essence of what you’ve created to avoid over-built ideas. Continue reading →

The Rise of Social Innovation

Published on 2012-06-04 07:00:48

Social Innovation is happening through many forms. Strong drivers are here to last: new partnerships and revised value chains, user integration since early stage. The reverse loop from the user to the technology is involving an active collaborative design: users become innovation producers, and require a new innovation OS. Continue reading →

Out of the Ashes Innovation

Published on 2012-06-03 15:17:39

After he returned to Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs faced a company with an uncertain financial future. His strategy for growth? Dean Debiase discusses how Apple and other companies "Reboot to revive". Continue reading →

Crowd Accelerated Innovation

Published on 2012-06-03 10:00:55

Slides from Chris Anderson on his talk about crowd accelerated innovation, involving crowdsourcing and social media. Continue reading →

Innovation Quotes of the Week – June 3, 2012

Published on 2012-06-03 00:00:14

Reinvention – Innovation Lessons from Business and Music

Published on 2012-06-02 16:00:45

In this TED Presentation on personal and corporate reinvention, Peter Cook compares the work of music artists Prince, David Bowie and Bill Nelson who have reinvented themselves. Some managed the reinvention trick taking their audiences with them, whist others pursued reinvention but left their audiences behind. In business, the transferable lesson is to reinvent your company, its products and services without losing audience or customers. Continue reading →

Innovation – 3M’s Lessons To Be Learned

Published on 2012-06-02 11:00:56

While Apple is often the most highly touted company for its innovation success, 3M is a global innovation company that has remained under the radar for its long-term innovation plans and succeses. Continue reading →

Did You Hear it Through the Grapevine?

Published on 2012-06-02 07:00:11

Are unsubstantiated rumors, half-truths, and misinformation damaging your organization’s ability to win? Learn how to quell them by pruning your employee grapevine. Continue reading →

Less With Far Less

Published on 2012-06-01 16:00:36

We don’t know the question, but the answer is innovation. And with innovation it’s more, more, more. Whether it’s more with less, or a lot more with a little more, it’s always more. It’s bigger, faster, stronger, or bust. It’s an enhancement of what is, or an extrapolation of what we have. Or it’s the best of product one added to product two. But it’s always more. Continue reading →

Innovation in Law – Chrissie Lightfoot

Published on 2012-06-01 13:00:21

This interview is a part of Winscribe's upcoming "Innovation in Law" Expert Series which aims to provide law firms and legal professionals with relevant information to build and grow their respective businesses with the help of technology. Continue reading →

Why New Products Fail

Published on 2012-06-01 10:00:59

I found myself irresistably drawn to a place that has actually shunned innovation for its premier product - and provided me with a fascinating lesson on how even the best innovation can fail. Continue reading →

Silicon Valley Still Driving America Forward

Published on 2012-06-01 07:00:13

While the media constantly reminds us of dangers of unforeseen circumstances, America’s innovators are out busily creating favorable circumstances. American companies are lean and profitable. Continue reading →

Phase 3 Innovation Analytics – Hypothesis Exploration

Published on 2012-05-31 16:00:22

The social dynamics of EMC’s Innovation Showcase...was it the result of lone geniuses or large teams of collaborators? Were there key innovators that acted like "hubs" tying ideas together? Continue reading →

Change is Overdue for Test Product Concepts

Published on 2012-05-31 13:00:10

There are some serious flaws around product concept testing. Natalie Reed, Strategy Partner at Reach, reviews the issues and solutions... Continue reading →

Getting Innovation Backwards

Published on 2012-05-31 10:00:14

So I had lunch today with a friend who described another friend's innovation approach. It boiled down to "lets go generate a lot of ideas". The theory being that once they had a lot of ideas they'd find a valuable one that would be important and relevant. This approach always reminds me of the story of the little girl digging in the horse barn. Continue reading →

Crowdsourcing and Co-Creation are Complementary

Published on 2012-05-31 07:00:49

What differenciates crowdsourcing from co-creation? These two buzzwords are used a variety of contexts today, which leads to a general confusion about the difference between these terms which are, let's admit it, conceptually close. Continue reading →

Grand Opening of Florida Innovation Hub

Published on 2012-05-30 16:00:23

The grand opening of the Florida Innovation Hub, an all-inclusive business incubator located within Innovation Square in Gainesville Florida. Continue reading →

Innovation – Do it because you can’t not do it

Published on 2012-05-30 13:00:41

Against overwhelming odds, innovators persist in pushing the boundaries, probing for breakthroughs with little thanks. Why? Continue reading →

Exploring the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center

Published on 2012-05-30 10:00:29

The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC) is a non-profit organization focused on promoting and growing the startup community in Chicago. The CEC works with high-potential entrepreneurs and offers them business advisory services and educational programming; organizes events that facilitate relationship development and networking; and in 2012 will launch a physical center and co-working space for startups known as 1871. While it identifies and seeks to serve promising entrepreneur clients, the [..]

Great Leaders Are Interesting – Are YOU?

Published on 2012-05-30 07:00:40

Let’s face it – the best leaders have always grabbed our attention and piqued our imagination. They have a way of captivating, fascinating and intriguing us. It’s the interesting people with whom we want to engage, as they’re the ones who inspire and motivate us to be better and do more. The simple truth is few of us desire to be led by those whom we don’t find interesting. So my question is this... Continue reading →

Innovation through the Eyes of a Child

Published on 2012-05-30 04:00:00

I'm currently reading Creating Innovators and so I thought I would share the classic post from 2009 below. In the first video, Gever Tulley describes our child safety-obsessed culture and the impact this has on the young minds of our children. He then speaks about the different impact you can have by teaching your kids how to play with dangerous stuff. Continue reading →

Linking Innovation Context to Process

Published on 2012-05-29 16:00:24

Innovation breaks down always outside the CEO’s executive door and it really does need them to step outside and get more fully involved as it is a major area to succeed at if a longer tenure is in their minds. Continue reading →

The Problem With Design Thinking

Published on 2012-05-29 13:00:39

Business model innovation requires a strong design vibe that leads to trying more stuff and putting the tools to work rather than the navel gazing of today’s design thinking debate. It is time to move the design conversation to a new, actionable, place. Continue reading →

Deep Local Innovation

Published on 2012-05-29 09:40:56

Reconstructing your product for emerging markets takes knowledge. You have to discover what you can leverage in your product and what you have to give up to connect to consumers in widely different regions of the world. Oreo cookie’s stalled success in Asia provides an interesting example. Kraft struggled for years trying to put U.S. Oreos into emerging markets. They finally got it right by matching local tastes, and the business is now taking off like a rocket. Continue reading →

Waterworld Innovation

Published on 2012-05-29 07:00:54

I recently read an excerpt from an interview with Peter Berg, the Director of Battleship, that contained some interesting observations from an unexpected source, the actor Kevin Costner of Waterworld fame. What was most surprising about the interview is that, with a little creativity, the advice that Kevin Costner gave Peter Berg about Battleship can provide insight for practitioners of innovation. Continue reading →

Are You Innovating for the Past or the Future?

Published on 2012-05-29 04:00:00

I had the opportunity to meet and chat with local ethnographic researcher Cynthia DuVal about the role of ethnographic research in the innovation process, and she shared an insight that I thought I would share with the rest of you. She mentioned that it is important for a good ethnographer or researcher to consider the timeline of the development process when extracting insights. Why is this important? Continue reading →

Innovation Sighting – Toyota’s Mood-Detecting Car

Published on 2012-05-28 11:00:15

Toyota is designing a new technology that will react to the driver's mood. It will adjust how the car behaves depending on whether the driver is sad, happy, angry or neutral. The technology uses a camera to identify facial emotions by taking readings from 238 points on the driver’s face. Continue reading →

Is Modular Design the Key to Rapid Innovation?

Published on 2012-05-28 07:00:43

In recent years, many firms have sped up their innovation processes. But can we protect the meaning and relevance of innovation while accelerating and increasing its impact? This is exactly the issue challenged by component innovation. Continue reading →

Innovation Quotes of the Week – May 28, 2012

Published on 2012-05-28 04:00:57

Summer Reading List – books to inspire thought

Published on 2012-05-27 16:30:34

This year, I'm recommending books that inspire thought. Some are very readable, others more challenging, but all open up new worlds, help us question what we thought we knew and well … make us think. Continue reading →

What History Teaches us About the Next Boom in Mobile Business

Published on 2012-05-27 16:00:19

We look to the past before we look forward. Learn about how mobile business will transform the future enterprise. Continue reading →

Competition Is Making a Comeback!

Published on 2012-05-27 10:56:53

Sometimes we get it wrong. Einstein did not invent the theory of relativity; it was Galileo. We do not have five senses; we have nine. And the business competitive spirit is not lost; it’s trying to reignite. Business leaders know they need to rethink competition. In the March issue of Harvard Business Review... Continue reading →

Twitter invented in 1935?

Published on 2012-05-27 04:00:00

Twitter gets a lot of attention these days for being an innovation that is changing the way people communicate with and relate to each other. But is Twitter really a new idea? Continue reading →

The Phenomenal Rise of Richard Strange – PART TWO

Published on 2012-05-26 16:00:36

This is part two of the interview with Richard Strange on creativity and innovation parallels from art, empire and industry. Continue reading →

Deals Tipping Point

Published on 2012-05-26 11:00:37

Malcom Gladwell’s 2002 best-seller, The Tipping Point,makes the case that little things add up until a critical mass hits and then—watch out—seismic change occurs. Don’t look now, but we are approaching a tipping point in the digital deals market. Continue reading →

Untapped Power of Self

Published on 2012-05-26 07:00:59

As a subject matter expert (SME), you have more power than you think, and certainly more than you demonstrate. As an SME, you have special knowledge. Looking back, you know what worked, what didn’t, and why; looking forward, you know what should work, what shouldn’t, and why. Continue reading →

Innovating Through Downturns

Published on 2012-05-26 04:00:00

While most individuals and organizations natural reaction to an economic downturn is fear and retrenchment, they also present a time of great opportunity. Where would Microsoft be if they hadn't continued investing through the downturn of the early 90's? Where would Apple be if they hadn't continued investing through the technology crash of 2001-2003? Continue reading →

Is there a Visionary You’d Like to Thank?

Published on 2012-05-25 14:30:55

We are moved to honor legendary pioneers and explorers who've altered our history. How often do we publicly acknowledge the visionaries amongst us? Seth Kahan asks why not? Continue reading →

Idea Overload? Why process matters with idea software

Published on 2012-05-25 11:30:18

Ever find yourself overwhelmed by the volume of ideas coming through your idea management system? Idea software is a very valuable tool to aid idea generation and capture but without clear systems and processes for capturing and filtering ideas you could find yourself with a huge amount of ideas and no way of sensibly filtering and evaluating them. Continue reading →

Tease Your Brain – It’s Good for You

Published on 2012-05-25 07:00:29

How sharp is your brain today? Get in the habit of teasing your brain. You’ll be amazed at what you end up seeing that you didn’t see before. Try these fun brainteasers to find out. Continue reading →

P & G CEO and Chairman Bob McDonald on Innovation

Published on 2012-05-24 16:00:20

Procter & Gamble's CEO and Chairman discusses the principles of leadership that create innovative cultures and help drive performance. Continue reading →

Phase 3 Innovation Analytics – Model Planning

Published on 2012-05-24 13:00:03

Steve Todd is the Director of EMC Innovation Network. In this (serial) article, he takes us through the Model Planning Phase of Innovation Analytics. Continue reading →

Exploring Different Impact Points

Published on 2012-05-24 10:00:03

What are the points of impact for innovation? Having a clear understanding of the different impact points can help you and those around you better shape events and the future contributions. Continue reading →

The Wizard of Innovation

Published on 2012-05-24 07:00:53

I've been thinking a lot about how the Wizard of Oz reflects so much about innovation. Not the story per se, but the setting and the characters and how they represent attributes or characteristics innovators must possess. Take, for example, Dorothy's three key companions - the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man Continue reading →

Followup – Following the Line to Innovation (Costco)

Published on 2012-05-24 04:00:00

During the winter holiday shopping season in 2007 I was suspicious when a man at Costco asked if he could scan my Costco card while I was standing in line, thinking that he was going to try and sell me on their executive card. I was pleasantly surprised when he then scanned my items with a portable scanner/computer and gave me a slip of paper to alert the cashier that he had done so. Continue reading →

The Kindness-At-Work Manifesto

Published on 2012-05-23 16:00:14

It has recently come to my attention that some of the most loving, passionate, well-intentioned people in the world have a tendency to treat their co-workers unkindly -- especially during times of stress or on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Consumed by their need to do something extraordinary for humanity, they forget the people they work with are human. Continue reading →

Surveys Reveal What The World Thinks About Creativity

Published on 2012-05-23 10:44:52

Today, creativity is a very hot topic. Creativity, which can be defined as the ability to come up with novel and useful ideas, is acknowledged to be a major source of innovation. But what do people across the globe think about creativity today? Do people consider themselves creative, or is creativity a skill for the happy few? Without knowing of each other's initiatives, Adobe and eYeka have recently conducted almost identical surveys about creativity across the globe. Taken together, the result [..]

Complacency is the Enemy of Innovation

Published on 2012-05-23 10:00:56

Many companies are very proud of their achievements, and usually with good reason. There are very few enterprises that have reached a strong market position with a profitable business through luck alone. Everybody likes to be associated with success, particularly if they really have made a contribution. Continue reading →

What Makes You So Smart?

Published on 2012-05-23 07:00:54

Are you smart? Really? How smart? Some of us are improving faster than others -- and overwhelming empirical evidence suggests that we can improve our aptitude. Continue reading →

Following the Line to Innovation

Published on 2012-05-23 04:00:00

OK, it may not really be an innovation, but I appreciated the following operational efficiency anyway: Going to check out of the Hilton New York City, there was a queue in spite of the several available kiosks and multiple employees staffing the counter to help customers with various requests. Hilton had obviously invested in some business process consulting (or possibly listened to an employee suggestion) because in addition to the kiosks and the employees staffing the counter, they had an empl [..]

Social Gaming – Too Big To Ignore

Published on 2012-05-22 16:00:33

This presentation highlights arguably one of the coolest innovations of the last few years in social gaming. It provides a detailed overview, international trends and a few case studies. Continue reading →

Embedding the Essentials of Innovation Vision

Published on 2012-05-22 13:00:54

It always amazes me how so many organizations lack a clear innovation vision and an explicit set of statements from the Chief Executive or their designated C-Level Officer on innovation. Continue reading →

Why Disruption is Not Just About Innovation

Published on 2012-05-22 10:00:46

In ProVoke, we talk about disruption as the necessary element in order to innovate. I think we all agree that major innovation has happened because we have not accepted status quo, but have punctured it, taken risk and created what was deemed to be impossible. Continue reading →

How to Discover your Business Model

Published on 2012-05-22 07:00:55

It’s time to move beyond finding the next big thing. We need to find the next big reason. If you really want to know if your winning business idea will work, you need to... Continue reading →

3 Phases of Innovation – Global, Open and Social Media

Published on 2012-05-21 13:00:53

It is never boring working with innovation. Things happen faster and faster and frequent changes on HOW we innovate have become the norm rather than the exception. Continue reading →

Twitter Commerce – Social media game changer !

Published on 2012-05-21 13:00:23

PatrickTV takes us into the latest from AMEX & Twitter. This is a commerce game change in social media, and sends waves of implications for business today and tomorrow. Continue reading →

How to Pick the Right Idea?

Published on 2012-05-21 10:00:33

Think different. That’s the essence of creative processes in coming up with ideas for innovative products, services or business models. An awful lot brainstorms or ideation workshops take place to generate fresh new ideas. At the end of idea generation you end up with a wall of ideas. Which is great! I like to quote the American chemist and Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling who said “the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas”. Continue reading →

The Curse of Innovation

Published on 2012-05-21 07:00:37

The Financial Times featured an article last week calling the patent system the curse of innovation. Patents have become weapons of mass destruction in certain industries, most recently in the smartphone category. Continue reading →

Designing Innovation – Can Government Help?

Published on 2012-05-21 04:00:00

Can government help companies innovate, or do they tend to get in the way instead? The answer is that often regulations tend to impede innovation and progress. Other key aspects of a country's ability to innovate are the relative risk tolerance of its citizenry and whether it is culturally accepted to try and fail at something. Continue reading →

Put Your New Business Model to the Test

Published on 2012-05-20 16:00:44

Until a business model idea sees the light of day in the real world, it is impossible to know if it will really work. Continue reading →

Evolution of Mind Mapping

Published on 2012-05-20 10:07:02

Judith Glaser’s evolutionary mind-mapping technique approaches business growth in a new way. Continue reading →

Innovation Quotes of the Week – May 20, 2012

Published on 2012-05-20 04:00:56

Can Iron Maiden Save the Economy?

Published on 2012-05-19 16:00:15

This week, I've prepared a round up of press articles on business, economics, entrepreneurship and music. Starting with Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, who has just opened an enterprise business in the UK Continue reading →

What It Takes To Innovate

Published on 2012-05-19 11:00:10

In this keynote, Frederick details the critical points of change that corporations need to address in transforming their culture from laggards to innovative leaders. As enterprise businesses consider what social media and the concept of real-time can do to their brand, Frederick shares the technical secrets of what it takes to scale the challenges technically. Continue reading →

Beliefs Govern Ideas

Published on 2012-05-19 07:00:51

Some ideas are so powerful they change you. More precisely, some ideas are so powerful you change your beliefs to fit them. These powerful ideas come in two strains: those that already align with your beliefs and those that contradict. Continue reading →

Gently Turning Down Ideas

Published on 2012-05-18 13:00:14

Ideas are going through the innovation funnel and only few percent will reach the end. What's happening with the army of ideas lost inside it? How will their creators find out what happened? Continue reading →

Did You Confabulate Today?

Published on 2012-05-18 10:00:54

Confabulation happens all the time in the business world. And it’s no laughing matter. Tweet me your confabulation sniglets. Once we compile them, I’ll publish them in a future blog. Continue reading →

Tax Innovation – The Path to Long-Term Prosperity

Published on 2012-05-18 07:00:19

We Americans need to wake up – now -- and stop acting like spoiled, immature children. Elected officials need to put aside partisanship – now – and do what’s in the best interest of our country and speak the truth to the electorate. And we all must do this without fostering and perpetuating certain convenient misconceptions and without coddling us like soft, over-indulgent parents afraid to say “no.” Continue reading →

Framing the Strategic Innovation Discussion

Published on 2012-05-17 16:00:20

What I am offering here is an innovation conversation framework, on how we can approach different strategic value propositions, and where we might need to debate these across the organization, as the points of impact so we can make this move towards a higher degree of innovation alignment. Continue reading →

Innovation in Education from UC Berkeley

Published on 2012-05-17 13:00:23

A whiteboard style discussion from an independent study by Sara Beckman. It outlines what she believes to be true innovation in the educational space, currently being spearheaded by UC Berkeley. Continue reading →

How To Tell If You Are An Innovator

Published on 2012-05-17 10:00:46

In a world of celebrity driven Twitter, "reality" shows and always on news, Andy Warhol was only partially right. We'll all be famous for 15 minutes. Unfortunately some people seem to get their 15 minutes over and over again for all the wrong reasons. Luckily for us, however, most innovators toil away from the spotlight. In fact many people who are innovators don't realize who and what they are. Continue reading →

Media & Entertainment Reimagined by Collaborative Innovation

Published on 2012-05-17 07:00:30

Established firms in the media & entertainment space struggle to prosper in the Digital Age. New business models, enlivened by technology, erode traditional sources of profit. What possibilities for reimagining the business exist? In this article, I suggest one avenue to pursue: the benefits that come from learning how to convene a community on the critical question by embracing the practice of collaborative innovation; then applying the practice to help people work to their potential. Continue [..]

Do You Organize Your Business for Innovation?

Published on 2012-05-16 16:00:41

Before innovation happens, there are two very important steps which are often ignored or are not executed properly. Continue reading →

Letting Go

Published on 2012-05-16 13:00:40

Letting Go by Bryan & Stephanie Rieger of Yiibu for dConstruct 2011, Brighton and MobX 2011, Berlin. Continue reading →

The Cost of No Front End Innovation Process

Published on 2012-05-16 10:00:14

The costs of in-market failure far outweigh the costs associated with deploying a robust front end innovation approach. Next time you need to make the case to invest in front end innovation, make sure you talk numbers. Continue reading →

Ideas Having – Sex and the City

Published on 2012-05-16 07:00:08

We all love Carrie Bradshaw. And why not? She’s beautiful, charming, witty and intelligent. She lives glamorously, goes to cool parties, meets fascinating people and provides insightful social commentary. Yet her story is not just about sex. Continue reading →

Four Ways to Think Like an Innovator

Published on 2012-05-15 16:00:25

Four Ways to Think Like an Innovator, a video from HBR Channel, featuring Scott Anthony, author and managing director of Innosight Asia-Pacific. Continue reading →

Time to Re-Work Work

Published on 2012-05-15 13:00:27

“This insanity has to stop. Our bosses are deleting resources from the human capital pool without replenishing them.” Sara Robinson, Salon Continue reading →

Attacking Assumptions to Innovate

Published on 2012-05-15 10:00:44

Open thinking between the worlds of science and business has created the first car that folds in the middle to minimize the amount of space it takes up. The Hiriko (which means “city car” in Basque) was developed at MIT’s Media Lab as part of the Smart Cities Project and the two-seater car is finally a reality after four years of development. It is ready for a pilot launch in Balboa, Spain this year. Continue reading →

Framing 4 Critical Questions for Innovation

Published on 2012-05-15 07:00:56

Paul Hobcraft delivers a four box approach to frame rating and judgements of the innovation opportunity. Continue reading →

Why Innovation Teams Fail – or Succeed

Published on 2012-05-15 04:00:28

When it comes to innovation, it may be fun to talk about whether someone is innovative or not, or look at what innovation face they wear, or even whether innovation might be in their DNA. But again the fact is that there are certain things that need to happen for innovation in an organization, or an innovation team, to succeed - including: Continue reading →

Business Model Innovation

Published on 2012-05-14 16:00:51

Nine out of ten business start-ups, and one in six business transformations will confirm it. If you want to be part of the one in ten who succeeds Continue reading →

2012 Citrix Innovation Award Finalist Montage

Published on 2012-05-14 13:00:36

This video features all three finalists for the 2012 Innovation Award for Synergy San Francisco: Educational Services of America, IDC Frontier of Japan, and Suncorp Group of Australia and New Zealand. Continue reading →

Exploring the Innovation Network at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration

Published on 2012-05-14 10:00:11

Lee Pillsbury wanted to convene the most senior leaders of hotel brands, management companies, and ownership groups —to focus on innovation. Continue reading →

Ten Red Flags for Innovation – Why It Fails

Published on 2012-05-14 08:23:41

What are the signs that innovation in a company is set up to fail? Wouldn’t it be great to have a checklist on this? Unfortunately, innovation is too complicated and company-specific for one standard rule. It is possible, however, to become better at spotting the signs of failure. Continue reading →

Building a Culture of Continuous Innovation

Published on 2012-05-14 04:00:00

In this economic downturn there is more pressure than ever on executives to find new sources of growth, and as a result leaders are increasingly talking about innovation. In some organizations the leader may say "we need to be more innovative" or "we need to think out of the box" and stop there. While for other organizations it may become part of the year's goals or even the organization's mission statement. Only in a small number of cases will there be any kind of sustained effort to enhance, o [..]

Coach or Manager – You Make the Call

Published on 2012-05-13 17:22:44

Have you ever wondered why the head of a baseball team is called the manager and the head of a basketball team is called the coach? The answer may not be what you think. Continue reading →

Clinton and Hult Tackle Global Innovation

Published on 2012-05-13 12:39:06

The Hult Global Case Challenge is the world’s largest crowdsourcing platform for social good. And it has the secret weapon that all innovators want more of: leverage. Continue reading →

Innovation Quotes of the Week – May 13, 2012

Published on 2012-05-13 07:00:48

This week we continue a featured series of some of my favorite innovation-related quotes. Please contribute your favorite innovation quotes in the comments and I’ll feature the best submissions in next week’s Innovation Quotes of the Week! Continue reading →

Whole Lotta Strategy – Zeppelin innovative strategy

Published on 2012-05-12 16:24:34

Led Zeppelin and the business lessons that can be derived from Peter Grant’s superb management of the band. Read more by Peter Cook and Steve Mostyn... Continue reading →

You’re Engaged!

Published on 2012-05-12 11:00:44

It’s long been understood that when it came to digital media marketing, paid search advertising was where it’s at. After all, people came online to find information. In order to find that information, they had to search. Therefore, paid search was the most effective and efficient way to make an impression online. Continue reading →

Creativity’s Mission Impossible

Published on 2012-05-12 07:00:05

Whether it’s a top-down initiative or a bottom-up revolution, your choice will make or break it. When you have the inspiration for a bottom-up revolution, you must be brave enough to engage your curiosity without self-dismissing. You’ll feel the automatic urge to self-reject – that will never work, too crazy, too silly, too loony – but you must resist. Continue reading →

The Strategic Pyramid

Published on 2012-05-11 16:00:34

What’s the difference between a mission and a vision? How’s a purpose different from a goal? Does the corporate mission last forever, or does it change over time? If you’re confused about any or all of these, it’s not your fault. For two decades, business leaders have tossed these terms around with reckless abandon, while experts have defined them in ways that seem to contradict one other. Continue reading →

Innovate, Learn, Deliver – Staying ahead in turbulent times

Published on 2012-05-11 13:00:06

Quarterly Tech Briefing by Scott Shaw, Head of Technology, and Jason Furnell, Principal Experience Designer from ThoughtWorks Australia Continue reading →

Turn Employee Creativity Into Corporate Innovation

Published on 2012-05-11 10:00:21

Here are a few ways in which an organization can establish a loose process around idea-gathering so that it takes full advantage of its employees’ creativity to drive innovation. Continue reading →

Pandora’s Box and Innovation

Published on 2012-05-11 07:00:21

I've been thinking a lot about the current fad of innovation, where companies allow only very limited innovation exercises and quickly close the door again on innovation. The concept of closely monitoring innovation in this manner reminds me to some extent of the story of Pandora. Continue reading →

Experiment All The Time

Published on 2012-05-10 16:00:57

We need to try more stuff. Innovation is never about silver bullets. It’s about experimentation and doing whatever it takes, even if it means trying 1,000 things, to deliver value. Business model innovation requires a lot more experimentation than we are comfortable with today. Continue reading →

Masters of Innovation – Space Age Green

Published on 2012-05-10 13:10:58

This episode of Masters of Innovation takes a look at how green technology is being utilized and incorporated into NASA and the future of space endeavors. Continue reading →

Evolving the Technological Ecosystem

Published on 2012-05-10 10:00:07

Evolutionary psychologists understand that we survive not as individuals but as communities, and that makes all the difference. Starting from simple principles, they’ve been able to unlock many of the counter-intuitive secrets of how cultures emerge, adapt, spread ideas and produce technology. Continue reading →

Governments’ Innovation Barrier

Published on 2012-05-10 07:00:14

It seems true that what we think about defines what we are capable of...What is it that government employees think about, and how does that thinking shape their capabilities? Continue reading →

Another Innovation Movie for Kids

Published on 2012-05-09 18:00:00

If you haven't watched the Disney movie Meet the Robinsons with your kids, you should. It may not inject innovation into their DNA, but it will help teach the role of failure in success. Continue reading →

Cultivating Urban Innovation – Forum Virium Helsinki

Published on 2012-05-09 16:00:42

This presentation from Form Virium Helsinki discusses and advocates harnessing the innovative capacities of entire communities to bring forth optimal city management. The focus is on overcoming the traditional challenges between public sector organizations and citizens. Continue reading →

8 Ways to Recharge Your Creativity and Your Business

Published on 2012-05-09 14:29:05

Has your creativity taken a nosedive? Are you running out of new ideas to keep your business above water? In today’s faltering economy, you’re not alone. But don’t lose heart - there are lots of things you can do to turn things around. Continue reading →

Is Your Business Holding a Winning Hand?

Published on 2012-05-09 10:00:12

Many companies already hold the cards for a winning hand, but do not realize it. It is a lot easier to win in a game of poker when you hold a few aces than to wait for your luck to turn in the next hand. Renewing your business with the cards you are holding is the key to redefining your business, rather than entering a new game for the next hot market. Continue reading →

Where Is the “R” in Innovation?

Published on 2012-05-09 07:00:10

My three “R’s” are Revitalise, Renovate and Regenerate, all often ignored within innovation. How often do we push on regardless, ignoring a number of warning signs and don’t take the time to stop and take stock to see what we can shed and simply get rid of. Continue reading →

The Enemy of Innovation – Eliminating Variation

Published on 2012-05-08 14:46:57

I recently had the opportunity to interview Jeff DeGraff in advance of his appearance at Pipeline 2012 on May 10, 2012. Jeff DeGraff is Professor of Management and Organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Continue reading →

Why Do Some Innovations Go Viral and Others Don’t? New Study Explains

Published on 2012-05-08 14:32:07

Why did Allergan’s wrinkle killer Botox Cosmetic become a commercial success and Procter & Gamble’s fat substitute Olestra fail? A new study forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing details why some innovations go viral and others don’t. Continue reading →

Why Game Changing Innovation Doesn’t Happen with First Instinct

Published on 2012-05-08 10:00:52

There’s good innovation and then there’s great innovation. We want to get to the latter…which means innovative pushback on typical ways of achieving innovation. Continue reading →

The Invention of Innovation – What P.T. Barnum is about to teach you, again

Published on 2012-05-08 07:00:03

One man captured the imagination of all by understanding how to come to market. Before Steve Jobs, there was P.T. Barnum. This is a lesson in innovation for the ages. Continue reading →

Business Plans Don’t Work

Published on 2012-05-07 16:00:45

Nine out of ten business start-ups, and one in six business transformations will confirm it. Learning from the failures of the past, it becomes clear that we have been missing a key step in the execution of our business plans. That key step is the discovery of what works. In this three part series, I’ll look at the way in which business plans lead to failure, the way in which business model innovation can help, and the mindset that is needed to succeed in discovering a new path towards busines [..]

Dedication to Innovation

Published on 2012-05-07 13:00:40

Harley-Davidson Perfume— the delicate scent of motor oil and pavement. Fish-flavored water for Fluffy? Wake up with a ready-made carton of pre-brewed Maxwell House coffee. Introducing a new line of microwavable dinners from Colgate! Hungry for breakfast instead? Try Kellogg’s cereal and no-need-to-refrigerate milk with a spoon included. Then, you can ride off into the sunset on your Smith & Wesson mountain bike. Refresh with Frito-Lay Lemonade or Life Savers Soda. A little sore from an after [..]

The Big Innovation Leap

Published on 2012-05-07 10:00:31

How does a company move from a phase where innovation is more about awareness or curiosity to a phase where innovation is a capability that becomes a key element in the overall strategy? This is a big innovation leap that many corporate innovators struggle with. Continue reading →

How Gilt Got Built

Published on 2012-05-07 07:02:56

For anyone who has ever dreamed of starting and growing a business, By Invitation Only: How We Built Gilt and Changed the Way Millions Shop, by Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson is an absolute must-read. Their story, from how they met at Harvard Business School to their billion dollar business, is a page turner filled with real world insights and lessons every entrepreneur can profit from. Continue reading →

10 Steps to a Solid Innovation Foundation

Published on 2012-05-07 07:00:00

You know how sometimes when you order a product you get this inch-thick instruction manual that you never read, but also how there is sometimes a QuickStart Guide of 5-10 simple steps to get you up and running quickly? Well, Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire is the instruction manual that an increasing number of organizations are ordering for teams to help them with their innovation efforts. But, I’m sure companies could also use an Innovation QuickStart. So, here is one you could use (excerpted [..]

5 Benefits of Investing Time in Innovative Leadership

Published on 2012-05-06 13:00:40

Most of the leaders I know are working longer hours than they ever imagined at this point in life. Many are at the top of their game with regard to skills and abilities and still working crazy hours and feeling burned out. As they look down the road, what are they working for? Continue reading →

Introducing PatrickTV – Innovation 3.0

Published on 2012-05-06 12:24:51

We are delighted to introduce our Global Correspondent, Patrick Meyer, and his premiere episode of PatrickTV, which you'll be able to catch weekly here on Innovation Excellence. These episodes are great examples of what's coming NEXT in business, tech, and innovation 3.0...not to mention a harbinger of another trend - personal web TV channels. Patrick will be covering all kinds of news, trends and events for Innovation Excellence. Welcome Patrick! Continue reading →

Innovation Quotes of the Week – May 6, 2012

Published on 2012-05-06 07:00:31

Life on Mars – Reinvention Lessons from David Bowie

Published on 2012-05-05 16:00:04

Compared with all the ‘one hit wonders’ in music, David Bowie has reinvented himself several times AND taken his audience with him. Parallel lessons in business innovation are... Continue reading →

Raymond Spencer Talks Innovation In South Australia

Published on 2012-05-05 11:00:35

Raymond Spencer, Chair of the South Australian Economic Development Board, and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, comments on the need for companies to look beyond themselves to be innovative. Continue reading →

Work The Rule

Published on 2012-05-05 07:00:39

If the rule makes things take too long, do you follow it or shortcut it? If the reason for the rule is no longer, do you follow it or declare it unreasonable? Continue reading →

Innovation and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Published on 2012-05-05 04:00:29

Now that our local Blockbuster has gone out of business, we've made the jump and joined Netflix (although I will miss taking trips to Blockbuster with my daughter). The first disc in my queue to arrive was the venerable, enjoyable Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I was very excited to share this musical celebration of innovation with my daughter last night. Continue reading →

Take Advantage of Your Network – casual brainstorming

Published on 2012-05-04 16:00:35

Simply Innovate founder, Joseph Stein, discusses several advantages of casual brainstorming -- not to be confused with formal brainstorming. Continue reading →

Failure Is The Only Path To Innovation

Published on 2012-05-04 13:00:45

Breakthrough ideas don’t exactly respect your deadlines. Leaps in progress can’t always be planned. And if you work hard enough to create and deliver something truly innovative and successful, your path was likely littered with significant failure. Continue reading →

Innovation Sighting – Yahoo’s e-Book Advertising

Published on 2012-05-04 10:00:23

Yahoo's recent patent filings suggest it is entering the e-Book market, a move that will pit it against Amazon, Apple, and other content providers. But given the nature of the patent filings, Yahoo seeks to leap over the competition with a potentially more innovative approach. Continue reading →

Good Ideas and Great Ideas

Published on 2012-05-04 07:00:38

Great ideas can change the world. Ideas, if we nurture them, can become dreams, transform the mundane into the sublime and poverty into prosperity. Life would be exceedingly boring without ideas. Continue reading →

Phase 2 Innovation Analytics: Data Quality

Published on 2012-05-03 17:17:38

EMC's Steve Todd takes us through "Data Quality" in the Data Analytics Lifecycle - Phase 2 Innovation Analytics Continue reading →

Ford Seleccion: Used Cars That Smell New

Published on 2012-05-03 13:00:37

Ford Selección the brand of used car of Ford wanted to bring back the same excitement to their used that the new one have. The idea was easy, add them Smell New, not just an advert but the full sensation of be the first one that uses that car. An Idea of Bassat Ogilvy Madrid for Ford Spain. Continue reading →

Reverse Innovation

Published on 2012-05-03 11:39:32

Geovanny Romero responds to shares his excitement about Reverse Innovation from Harvard Business Review Press. Continue reading →

How to be More Innovative in 5 Easy Steps

Published on 2012-05-03 07:00:33

This is one of those posts where the topic feels so large and so poorly defined as to be almost impossible to describe. Yet we get this question all the time - what can we do to be more innovative? Every firm is in a rush to become more innovative, yet few have the time, resource or attention required. I'm going to address in this post how to create an innovation discipline, since we believe that is the only way to sustain competitive advantage. Continue reading →

The Nine Innovation Roles

Published on 2012-05-02 17:00:56

I'm seeing an increasing number of articles about innovation personalities and the like, and I'm a firm believer that it's not personalities that matter so much when it comes to innovation, it's the roles that we play in making innovation happen (or not). So, I would like to add my Nine Innovation Roles to the conversation. Continue reading →

Building Psychological Strength

Published on 2012-05-02 16:00:32

To succeed in a turbulent environment you need a robust psychology. This is where many fall short. They clutch when they could reach. When faced with calamity they set their sights on survival rather than leadership. Continue reading →

The 8 Creative Types

Published on 2012-05-02 13:08:50

Are you a Taker or a Maker? Or perhaps you are somewhere in between. The 8 Creative Types, part of a greater work called Create More Better Different, describes what creativity is made of and then helps you apply it to your own work. Where do your strengths and weaknesses lie? What sorts of tools do you need to create more, better, different work? This presentation is a primer for those answers. Continue reading →

Are There Hidden Gorillas in Your Markets?

Published on 2012-05-02 10:00:07

We think we see a lot more of the world around us than we actually do. That’s just one of six illusions that profoundly influence our ability to lead organizations. Continue reading →

Needs Seekers on Matterhorn

Published on 2012-05-02 07:00:52

You think Matterhorn, this cute mountain in Switzerland is boring? Think again! It is a perfect example of the most promising innovation strategy: Need Seekers. Continue reading →

Creating A Culture of Innovation

Published on 2012-05-01 16:00:24

This interview from Harvard Business Publishing asks David Kessler, the chief executive of the design council, how managers are able to cultivate and drive innovation through their companies. Continue reading →

Predicting the Future in a Dynamic Environment

Published on 2012-05-01 13:00:48

What do black swans have to do with Chrystal balls? a hard look at the forecasting process: its success patterns, and more importantly, its limitations. Continue reading →

Creative Consumers are Changing Innovation

Published on 2012-05-01 10:00:59

Organizations understand the vital importance of innovation. Chief Executives talk about it, managers nurture it and consumers expect it. Yet it is also a potentially disruptive process that interferes with well-laid plans and day-to-day operations. And historically, innovation has suffered from high failure rates, which adds to the challenge. Continue reading →

20 Critical Questions to Resolve for Successful Innovation

Published on 2012-05-01 07:00:21

Some time back I compiled a list of those critical areas that I felt need addressing for innovation to have a chance of success. Going through them again today and in light of different insights picked up on the way, I added more of a descriptor to each. I certainly think these reflect the struggles within innovation that need working upon constantly, so it has a better chance to succeed. Continue reading →

10 Success Principles of Apple’s Innovation Master Jonathan Ive

Published on 2012-04-30 16:00:57

Jonathan Ive joined Apple in 1992. He has gone on to be the inspiration, catalyst and driver behind products that have revolutionized technology, industry sectors and consumers’ lives across the world. He was the innovator and obsessive problem-solver to the visionary perfectionist that was Steve Jobs. Continue reading →

What’s Stopping You?

Published on 2012-04-30 13:00:36

If you think about the goals that you are trying to reach right now, here is a question that can help you get there: What’s stopping you? Continue reading →

Towards a New Model for Innovation – design inside

Published on 2012-04-30 10:00:09

Nicolas Bry interviews Brigitte Borja de Mozota on "design thinking" and her experiences working between design & business: Design Research, Design Management, and Business. Continue reading →

Warning – Open Space Office Ahead

Published on 2012-04-30 07:00:04

Open space plan is THE thing in innovative office design today. But when the bottom line is: ‘kiss your private office/cubicle goodbye,’ many employees become anxious, angry or heartbroken. And are messages that ‘it’ll be good for the team’ or ‘seniority is not recognized by having a private office” really consoling to anyone losing privacy? Continue reading →

21 Situations When You Should Not Innovate

Published on 2012-04-29 16:24:20

You might get the impression that innovation is the right management instrument for every market, for every organisation at any moment. Well in my opinion innovation is not. That’s why I have made a list of 21 situations when you should not innovate. Continue reading →

Is Government a Lousy Venture Capitalist?

Published on 2012-04-29 10:48:10

Before we conclude that government ought to get out of the business of betting on new technologies, we'd do well to try imagining our modern economy without computers, satellite communications, the Internet, and jet travel, all of which were heavily subsidized by the federal government. Continue reading →

Innovation Quotes of the Week – April 29, 2012

Published on 2012-04-29 07:00:04

Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps

Published on 2012-04-28 16:12:32

This weeks post concerns the accidental discovery of a Top Ten Punk Rock Hit by Max Splodge, enthusiastic motorbiker and leader of the quintessentially English cult punk band Splodgnessabounds. Continue reading →

Driving Innovation In The Air Industry

Published on 2012-04-28 11:00:25

This video discusses the nature of 'digital travelers', and how the airline industry can utilize mobile devices to innovate how air transportation is experienced. Continue reading →

The Forbidden Fruit of Failure

Published on 2012-04-28 07:00:34

We’ve mapped failure to the wrong words. And this mis-mapping is so strong and deep that un-mapping seems unlikely. I propose failure, as a word, be scratched from the dictionary. Continue reading →

The Strategic Diamonds of Firms – Kaizen and Innovation

Published on 2012-04-27 16:00:37

Nowadays firms can choose from several types of strategies, according to the vision of its managers and leaders, and according to the market in which the organization operates. However, in this article we distinguish two large Strategic Diamonds: Kaizen and Innovation. Continue reading →

Go to your Dojo

Published on 2012-04-27 13:00:01

In ordinary parlance, a dojo is a place where martial artists convene to work out, train, and hold contests. But, literally translated it is Japanese for the location of the way. The way is more than the way of the martial artist, more than the way of judo, karate, tai kwan do, or whatever system of combat. Continue reading →

Phase 2 Innovation Analytics – Exploring the Data

Published on 2012-04-27 10:00:45

The latest installment from Steve Todd on the Data Analytic Lifecycle, the Data Analytics Sandbox, and data exploration that scales globally. Continue reading →

Why IT Says No to Innovation

Published on 2012-04-27 07:00:19

Pity the IT manager. He (or she) is increasingly under pressure from product managers, business line leaders and others who want "innovation". Whether that's more data, or more insight from their data, or perhaps the product manager wants to deploy a new product - innovation is a constant demand. And while the IT folks would love to support innovation, they more often than not say "no". Who, in this day and age, can possibly say "no" to innovation? Continue reading →

System Innovation – Forum For The Future

Published on 2012-04-26 16:00:47

A video that outlines Forum For The Future's approach to innovating entire systems using agriculture as an example. Continue reading →

Shake Up Your Thinking with Flash Foresight

Published on 2012-04-26 13:00:13

Flash Foresight, by Daniel Burrus, changed the way I think about running my business. Here are a few key points from the book, which should be on every business leader’s reading list. Continue reading →

Pioneering Semantic Web Innovation

Published on 2012-04-26 10:00:20

If you want to speak to someone, truly interesting and inspiring, about the Semantic Web and Innovation, Ora Lassila, is a clear choice. Lassila, an Advisory Board Member of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as well as Senior Architect and Technology Strategist for Nokia's Location and Commerce Unit, was my obvious ‘go to guy’ because: Continue reading →

Enterprise’s Innovation Strategy

Published on 2012-04-26 07:00:15

The 'just released' annual global InnovationLeadership Study cites that only 24% of the respondents think they have an effective organizational alignment of innovation efforts. The study concludes that “the absence of a well-articulated innovation strategy is by far the most important constraint for companies to reach their innovation targets.” Continue reading →

Executing innovation

Published on 2012-04-25 16:00:36

The big key to the process of innovation is how to transform ideas into value. In a word: Execution! Continue reading →

Polar Innovation

Published on 2012-04-25 13:44:25

Recently I stumbled across a concept for team structure that I believe could yield positive results for practitioners of innovation, and its chief value may derive from its very simplicity. With a tip of the cap to Scott Anthony’s “Innovation Bipolarity” ... Continue reading →

Evocative Potential of Words

Published on 2012-04-25 10:00:27

There is a story of masterful innovation in the reinvention work of Donald Jackson who creates words that pick up the life and energy of his hand and gives them a physical feeling through the wetness of the ink. He is the royal scribe and calligrapher to the Queen of England. And, just as an architect builds a sacred space, Donald’s most recent work has produced a sacred space captured and reflected in a book. Continue reading →

Open Innovation Side Effects

Published on 2012-04-25 07:00:09

Open innovation will not only lead to new ways of making innovation happen. Innovation leaders and their executives will also experience side effects. I think most of these effects will be positive, but some will be mixed or perhaps even negative. Continue reading →

Reset the Web

Published on 2012-04-24 16:00:49

Mobile isn’t merely a new stage in the evolution of the web, it’s not even merely a new context, it’s the very early stages of an entirely new system. A system that has already started to shape our environment, affect the way we live, how we choose to connect with others, and how we’re able to spend our time. A system that is also slowly unravelling our assumptions and causing us to question the very reason we build web sites, why people visit them, and where the true value of the web ac [..]

Innovation from Disabilities

Published on 2012-04-24 13:00:46

These pictures show personalities that we probably recognize easily. King George VI, British King during World War II; Albert Einstein, inventor of the theory of general relativity; Ray Charles, soul musician and singer; Ludwig Van Beethoven, German composer and pianist; Helen Keller, American author, political activist and lecturer; and Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera (just to highlight a few of his 1093 patents). Yet, there is something that [..]

The Next Really, Really, Really, Big Thing

Published on 2012-04-24 10:00:48

Everybody should be excited about the next big thing. And why not? It’s very, extremely big. Even bigger than anything that came before. No, really, it’s that freakin’ HUGE. If you don’t want to get left behind, you’ve got to hop on this right away. Continue reading →

Mandatory Ranking of R&D – a growing debate

Published on 2012-04-24 07:00:21

What if the unthinkable happened and the U.S. government imposed a mandatory and public ranking of research universities and individual faculty according to their "research excellence?" Just to be clear, I’m not advocating ... Continue reading →

Follow the Leaders of Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing – Part Two

Published on 2012-04-23 18:00:07

This is the second part of last week's Follow the Leaders of Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing opening installment. This week we look into more depth around what leading organizations do to encourage the successful use of external talent and some examples of companies living in on the open innovation and crowdsourcing leading edge... Continue reading →

A Rubik Cube Approach For Innovation

Published on 2012-04-23 16:00:44

It was suggested the cube was originally built to aid students to understand 3D objects but actually Rubik’s actual purpose was solving the structural problems of the parts moving independently without the entire mechanism falling apart. Continue reading →

Innovation Sighting -Task Unification with Fruit Labels

Published on 2012-04-23 13:00:32

Scott Amron is an inventor with a knack for using the Task Unification pattern, one of five in Systematic Inventive Thinking. His most recent is a sticker that turns into a soap under running water. It is called Fruitwash. Continue reading →

Innovation Lessons from the Outcome of the Netflix Prize

Published on 2012-04-23 10:00:29

You probably heard about the contest that Netflix started in 2006 to crowdsource improvements in their recommendation algorithm. They offered a $1 million prize to anyone that could improve the accuracy of the recommendation algorithm by at least 10%. In 2009, a team of people hit the target, and won the prize. Awesome, right? The team got their big check, Netflix got their performance improvement, and everyone ended up happy. Well, sort of. Continue reading →

Luminous Design – the Future of Smart TV

Published on 2012-04-23 07:00:26

What is the future of Smart TV? How to create a luminous design that will enlighten TV experience across devices, and make it really consistently Smart? Dale Herigstad is an internationally recognized designer and thought leader on the future of interactive and “many-screen” rich media interfaces. In his way, he tells us the way... Continue reading →

Designers Tell All at Fuse 2012

Published on 2012-04-22 14:07:56

What did Nike, Starbucks, 3M, GE, Kraft, Puma, Pepsi, and Coke have in common last week? Along with too many world-class competitor brands to name, their top brand, design and marketing leaders were divulging intimate stories... Continue reading →

To innovate or not to innovate? That is not the question.

Published on 2012-04-22 11:00:18

To innovate or not to innovate – that is is clearly NOT the question. The question is how to innovate, and how much, and how fast. Continue reading →

Innovation Quotes of the Week – April 22, 2012

Published on 2012-04-22 07:00:41

Black Sabbath – The Innovative Power of Music

Published on 2012-04-21 18:22:48

There are very few things in business and life that have such awesome power that they cause the Catholic Church to attempt to ban them. Music is one exception. Read on after taking a look at the awesome musical power that is Black Sabbath... Continue reading →

Bioprinting – Human Tissue On Demand

Published on 2012-04-21 11:00:12

Andras Forgacs, Co-founder of Organovo, discusses the future of medical innovation: bioprinting, the process of creating human tissue cells. Continue reading →

Creativity – a Birthright

Published on 2012-04-21 07:00:46

Everyone is born creative, kids are so creative, and human beings made the civilization and modern technology with this gift. But, when people hear what I'm doing, they always start to ask similar questions like... Continue reading →

Phase 2 Innovation Analytics: ELT

Published on 2012-04-20 16:00:58

This series of articles describes an analytic lifecycle being used to gain insight into the innovation and research practices of a multi-national corporation (EMC). After creating an analytic plan in Phase 1, a previous post described the Data Preparation phase of the lifecycle. This phase involves the creation of an enormous sandbox (e.g. ten times the size of a data warehouse configuration). Data scientists and engineers are encouraged to extract data from many sources and load it into the s [..]

Fusion of Ideas – Welding Imagination to Experience

Published on 2012-04-20 13:00:10

In a recent HBR blog, Bronwyn Fryer, a contributing editor to hbr.org , put out a call for what she called “idea fusers”. She pointed out that great inventions are often the result of the fusion of ideas from very different domains. Steve Jobs said that he fused calligraphy with technology to produce Apple’s elegant fonts. Continue reading →

Innovation Insights WEF Latin America 2012

Published on 2012-04-20 10:00:13

The seventh World Economic Forum on Latin America took place in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on 16-18 April 2012. The meeting, held under the theme “Regional Transformation in a New Global Context”, convened a record number of participants for this regional gathering, with close to 900 top regional and global leaders from 70 nations. Continue reading →

It’s Like Free Money

Published on 2012-04-20 07:00:45

For businesses big and small, entrepreneurs and investors it amounts to the closest thing in innovation to free money. Billions of dollars have been spent by these Federal Laboratories creating technologies, and by law they have to commercialize them. Continue reading →

How to Let Your Creativity SOAR

Published on 2012-04-19 16:00:23

You have many good ideas to choose from, but how do you know which ones to implement? Here’s a technique for selecting the ideas that will let you SOAR with the best. Continue reading →

Airline Innovation Trends

Published on 2012-04-19 13:00:02

A presentation that outlines answer to the following questions: What makes passengers feel good about flying? What can aviation learn from other business sectors? What are innovative onboard products and services that show the way the cabin experience will evolve? Continue reading →

How do Users Influence Innovation?

Published on 2012-04-19 07:00:26

Innochat is a weekly Twitter chat involving a wide range of really interesting people from all over the world, linked by one thing – a deep interest and passion for innovation. One recent chat focused on the role of users and innovation. We tried to distinguish Lead Users (LUs), Early Adopters (EAs) and Brand Advocates (BA), and assess the impact each one has on innovation. Continue reading →

The Kitakyushu Innovation Gallery and Studio

Published on 2012-04-18 17:30:40

Kitakyushu's Higashida's district is home to a diverse collection of tourist spots. Today, we'll take you to the newest and most talked about of these, the Kitakyushu Innovation Gallery & Studio Continue reading →

Innovation Quotes of the Week – April 18, 2012

Published on 2012-04-18 16:00:13

This week begins a series of some of my favorite innovation-related quotes. Please contribute your favorite innovation quotes in the comments and I'll feature the best submissions in next week's Innovation Quotes of the Week! Continue reading →

Innovation and Diversity

Published on 2012-04-18 13:00:44

"Tomorrow's management systems will need to value diversity, dissent and divergence as highly as conformance, consensus and cohesion" -- a tweet by Gary Hamel leads Ralph Ohr into the importance of Innovation and Diversity. Continue reading →

Ideas Change Culture or Culture Changes Ideas

Published on 2012-04-18 10:00:24

There's an interesting aphorism I'd like to explore today, highlighted in the article title. Ideas change your culture or culture changes your ideas. There is both an opportunity and a challenge embedded in that statement. First, let's describe why the statement is true. Continue reading →

Why Is Innovation Empowerment So Elusive?

Published on 2012-04-18 07:00:27

It is really sad but with all that is written about innovation, discussed, offered as leading, best or emergent practice, the majority still simply don’t get it and if they do, they often are forced to keep quiet about it. It can be depressing to witness. Often you get that feeling the different (and latest) innovation message simply rolls over, a little like the mist rolling in off the sea on a foggy wet day, slowly clawing itself up over a wet rock to suddenly stop and hang there, wait [..]

Want obedience? Get a robot

Published on 2012-04-17 16:00:43

According to Margaret Heffernan, author of Willful Blindness: "What goes on in the field is too complex and changes too quickly and unpredictably for any one leader to be able to anticipate or even keep up with events.” Continue reading →

Center for Design Innovation – Interview with Dr. Carol Strohecker

Published on 2012-04-17 13:12:18

What happens when academia, technology, business and community intersect? Amazing and powerful innovations that change our culture, create new jobs, and bring products to market more efficiently and effectively. Continue reading →

Finding and Applying Serendipitous Innovations

Published on 2012-04-17 10:00:46

Innovation is all around us, and if you see it, observe and learn from it so that you can use the idea elsewhere. Continue reading →

Building Creative Collaboration

Published on 2012-04-17 07:00:40

Creativity is changing. Not so long ago, it seemed like a “man on the mountain” approach could suffice. All you needed was a great idea and then get people to rally around it to make it happen (or so many thought). Continue reading →

Disruptive Innovation Explained

Published on 2012-04-16 16:00:44

Clay Christensen, Harvard Business School professor and the world's most influential management guru according to the Thinkers50, lays out his landmark theory. Continue reading →

Can Innovation Skills Be Learned?

Published on 2012-04-16 13:00:52

Education expert Tony Wagner and documentary filmmaker Robert Compton teamed up to produce a new book about developing an innovation-driven economy. They explore what parents, teachers, and employers must do to develop the capacities of young people to become innovators. Continue reading →

Insights into Open Innovation

Published on 2012-04-16 10:00:15

These insights are based on a recent interview I did with Allagi, an open innovation service provider in Brazil. I think the following benefits are the most relevant for small as well as big companies when it comes to open innovation: Continue reading →

Exploring the Urban Sustainability Director’s Network (USDN)

Published on 2012-04-16 07:00:20

USDN peer to peer networking activities are the first step toward identifying opportunities for joint gain and innovation investment. The network has grown rapidly to 111 member cities and counties in the U.S. and Canada who ... Continue reading →

Follow the Leaders of Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing – Part One

Published on 2012-04-15 16:00:36

Although there are simple and cost effective ways to jumpstart your efforts – for example, leveraging a company like InnoCentive to host prize-based challenges in order to rapidly find solutions to your most pressing problems – leading organizations that wish to truly embrace open innovation and crowdsourcing do so through careful planning. When seeking to engage external talent, one of the first of many questions you must first ask yourself is: Why are we doing this? What do we hope that ex [..]

Flashes of Insight from the 2012 E.G. Conference

Published on 2012-04-15 10:55:03

MIT Director Michael Hawley curates the premiere gathering of and for innovators in media, technology, entertainment and education that is best described as a three-day opera of ideas. E.G. took place this past week in Monterey, California bringing forward our most creative enterprises, by engaging a gifted mix of people — the most industrious and iconoclastic talents of our time. Not just another conference of ideas, or shakers and movers — this is a meeting and a community of makers. An [..]

Terry Jones Keynote on Innovation

Published on 2012-04-15 07:00:17

Terry Jones gives an insightful keynote presentation on how to breakthrough organizational barriers to deliver innovation. Continue reading →

Shattering “Another Brick in the Wall” Thinking

Published on 2012-04-14 16:00:48

Introducing Tony Wall, who facilitates innovative learning strategies at the University of Chester in the UK. I will leave him to take up the story, inspired by Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” Continue reading →

Nursing Informatics

Published on 2012-04-14 11:00:12

An insightful look at how information technology and business innovation is transforming the practice of nursing. Continue reading →

Would You Roll The Dice?

Published on 2012-04-14 07:00:04

Let’s play a game. It costs you $1 to play. We then roll a dice once. If it comes up 6, I pay you $10 otherwise you lose. Do you want to play? Most likely you will agree to play. You have a one in six chance of winning $10 for a $1 bet. Now let’s make it $1 million to play. Continue reading →

Irresistible Innovation meets Immovable Object

Published on 2012-04-13 16:00:02

I'm going to let you in on a secret. Doing innovation isn't really all that hard, once you get the hang of it. Yes, there are dozens of methodologies and approaches. You can tap into your employees and/or your customer base for ideas. You can search for interesting technologies in research labs and universities. You can prototype, test and tweak ideas based on customer pilots. In fact, you can do just about anything in innovation. That is, if you can get it started. Continue reading → [..]

How to Be a Good Research Client

Published on 2012-04-13 13:10:47

Gerry Katz, a veteran research vendor offers his advice to clients on working with research firms, including the RFP process, pricing and what each party should expect from the other. Continue reading →

The Innovation Measurement Trap

Published on 2012-04-13 10:00:15

Measuring innovation can lead to unintended consequences. Don't fall into the trap of measuring only what the company is doing today. Here are eight ways to avoid the traps. Continue reading →

Performance Leadership as an Agency’s Outcome

Published on 2012-04-13 07:00:27

From an organizational perspective, the most valuable leadership is “performance leadership,” the human skills and motivation that is continuously supported and reinforced by the organizational design. Continue reading →

Six Hats – Empathy or Thinking?

Published on 2012-04-12 16:00:07

Edward de Bono's six thinking hats is an excellent tool for systematically exploring a problem from multiple perspectives, and a framework for creative response. But it can be a little 'me' focused if you aren't paying attention. Here's an updated use of the tool with empathy... Continue reading →

The Transit Hub

Published on 2012-04-12 13:00:21

This presentation provides some information on innovations in the transportation industry. By looking at collaborative user interfaces, and personal mobile devices, the transit and commuting cultures have and will continue to be transformed! Continue reading →

What Drives Prosperity?

Published on 2012-04-12 10:00:30

What is the true path to prosperity? Is it luck, diligence, perseverance, government investment, private philanthropy, the profit motive or something else? The answer is more complicated than you'd think. Continue reading →

There Is No Better Moment

Published on 2012-04-12 07:00:12

There is no better moment than to stop and rediscover how to listen, to truly listen. Just stop for one minute. Innovation is calling for a common language, a common understanding yet all I hear is the consistent throb of different views, making it difficult to interpret what is right, what is wrong. Continue reading →

Disruptive Innovation – How Do We Change Our Classrooms

Published on 2012-04-11 16:00:59

This video on how to implement disruptive innovation techniques in the classroom advocates for the ideas of "play" and "gaming" being central in education curriculum. By looking at multimedia technologies and the general approach towards teaching subject matter, a variety of professionals (highlighted here), are changing the instructional rulebook! Continue reading →

Six Sigma and Innovation – A Remarkable Duo

Published on 2012-04-11 13:00:03

Everybody in the business world wants their business to grow and be at par with its competitors. Nobody wants to be left behind. This is the reason why companies hire consultants and specialists to aid them on how they can improve specific areas or process of their business. The process of searching and identifying problems and solutions is not made by one man alone Continue reading →

Where Innovators and Entrepreneurs Intersect

Published on 2012-04-11 10:00:15

What are then the commonalities between business management in the creative stage initiatives, entrepreneurship, and innovation management? Are there some personality traits that are shared by innovators and entrepreneurs? Continue reading →

Sensazione, Time and Innovation

Published on 2012-04-11 07:00:25

Sensazione is the continual refinement of the senses, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience. A sensazione mindset that refines innovation, or building a culture of creativity is ultimately about staying out in front of customers. Continue reading →

Phase 2 Innovation Analytics – Data Preparation

Published on 2012-04-10 16:00:27

There is a massive amount of innovation and research data globally distributed amongst the 50,000+ employees at my corporation (EMC). In this current series of blog posts I've been theorizing that analytics can allow my Innovation Team to unlock key insights from the data and accelerate innovation world-wide. Continue reading →

Organizing Open Innovation – Ecosystems or Communities?

Published on 2012-04-10 13:00:06

The concept of Open Innovation (OI) has gained tremendous traction in recent years, as companies realize the potential offered by capabilities, technology and resource outside the organization’s borders. Continue reading →

Strategic Retreats – transforming technology into product

Published on 2012-04-10 10:00:10

Let’s start by assuming that your goal is to come up with products that your customers are compelled to buy and use to extract some important value to them.In many cases, companies start with a “great” technology they intend to productize and make millions. But “Great” depends a lot on whose perspective is being considered, and what... Continue reading →

The Amazing and Versatile Multipurpose Innovation Tool

Published on 2012-04-10 07:00:46

Most tools have a singular purpose. A hammer drives in nails. A saw cuts wood. A shovel scoops dirt. You can use these tools to do other tasks, but they work best for the purpose they were designed for. It’s the same with most innovation tools. Continue reading →

Bose – Passion Driven Innovation

Published on 2012-04-09 13:00:55

The radical approach to innovation may not be part of today’s mainstream approaches, yet it has worked for Bose. Based on my own personal encounter, the consumer experience with my first Bose purchase was both enriching and educational. Continue reading →

Increasing Demand for a Third Place

Published on 2012-04-09 12:18:59

As I look around the economic landscape in the United States and see a climate where not only home prices but also rents are falling in many geographies, especially as the results of an all-advised rental property construction boom become available. I find myself thinking that we are in the middle of a profound shift in the American reality. Continue reading →

The Bouillon Soup Lesson – You Can’t Innovate Alone

Published on 2012-04-09 11:30:37

My first innovation job after graduating was as a marketer of dried soups, at the Dutch market leader called Honig. We sold around 50 million consumer packages per year. Not bad for a country with only 16 million people. Honig had a market share of more than sixty percent. There was only one problem. The dried soups market was not growing anymore. Continue reading →

Backstage Innovation at the Celebrity Apprentice

Published on 2012-04-09 09:31:02

If Only We Could Have Seen The Walgreens-Entertainment Deal Go Down! How would you feel if your good friend was going on the Celebrity Apprentice? Shock, fear, surprise, joy, mild anxiety coupled with great anticipation? (Many of the same emotions it’s worth noting that often appear in the work of birthing new ideas.) Continue reading →

4 Innovation Building Blocks – Latent, More, Better, and New

Published on 2012-04-08 16:00:36

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an ecology to cultivate value. Every participant including partners, suppliers, allies, beneficiaries, and others is a player in value generation. Continue reading →

Win Hearts and Minds

Published on 2012-04-08 11:00:46

As an engineering leader you have the biggest profit lever in the company. You lead the engineering teams, and the engineering teams design the products. You can shape their work, you can help them raise their game, and you can help them change their thinking. But if you don’t win their hearts and minds, you have nothing. Continue reading →

Journey To Agility

Published on 2012-04-08 07:00:26

A talk by Skip Angel Talk given at Mile High 2012 in Denver Continue reading →

Riffs and Myths of Leadership

Published on 2012-04-07 16:00:47

I interviewed Bernie Tormé, guitarist to Ozzy Osbourne and Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan the other week, alongside the rest of the band and two corporate clients, Steve and Andy, who came to Bernie’s studio for a private masterclass, to get the inside track on music, creativity and business... Continue reading →

2012 Transformative Projects in Urban Settings

Published on 2012-04-07 11:00:32

RETHINKING URBAN SETTINGS - How can we use communication technologies to connect neighbors like never before, share community information in new ways and provide valuable public interactive experiences in big cities? Continue reading →

The Power of Additive Ideation

Published on 2012-04-07 07:00:07

It is common to approach suggestions schemes, brainstorms and ideation meetings from a competitive point of view. So we might say that we want a large number of ideas and then by a darwinian process we will eliminate the weaker suggestions and choose the best. Continue reading →

Walgreens, Celebrity Apprentice and Combustible Innovation

Published on 2012-04-06 17:08:05

When Entertainment decided to participate in this season’s Celebrity Apprentice it was because we recognized it as a innovative marketing platform that reached millions of people and enabled a myriad of unique promotional opportunities. We weren’t necessarily looking for a new partner, too.But in the midst of production, there was Walgreens, also participating in the show, and for the same reasons. Continue reading →

25 Key Questions on Open Innovation Implementation

Published on 2012-04-06 16:00:18

What are the key questions that corporate innovation leaders must consider as they prepare to make important decisions related to the implementation of open innovation at their companies? Continue reading →

How we work – Nike and the Seattle Seahawks

Published on 2012-04-06 13:00:29

We are committed to delivering innovation to the worlds greatest athletes. The Seattle Seahawks allowed us the opportunity to push the boundaries of innovation and design. The result, a game changing uniform built from the ground up. Continue reading →

Need Some New Ideas? Consult your SWAMI!

Published on 2012-04-06 10:00:26

The wise leader knows that creativity and innovation requires both inspiration and perspiration. To increase the flow of new ideas in your organization, try these five tips. Continue reading →

Is your Culture Kryptonite for Innovators?

Published on 2012-04-06 07:00:40

I've made the argument previously that corporate culture is one of the most significant barriers to innovation. Yet corporate culture is ephemeral, hard to grasp and change. Like Potter Stewart's definition of pornography, you can't define it, but you know it when you see it. Continue reading →

Innovation Can Be Trained

Published on 2012-04-05 16:00:04

Innovation can be trained! 5 discovery principles from the Innovator’s DNA Continue reading →

Five Key Innovation Questions to Ask

Published on 2012-04-05 13:00:01

There are plenty of reasons to innovate. Especially now more than ever before, sustained Innovation is the means to developing marketplace showstoppers that lead to profitable growth. Innovation is not a luxury that can be placed on the back burner, even for today’s successful companies. So before beginning your next innovation effort... Continue reading →

Innovation and Simplicity

Published on 2012-04-05 10:00:41

In today’s world of complex systems, Big Data, and massive analytical capabilities, sometimes we need to step back and remember that transformative innovation can, and often does, arise from simple human ingenuity. Two historical examples from the food industry... Continue reading →

Crappy Innovation

Published on 2012-04-05 07:00:53

Can you be crappy? Do you dare? When we think about innovation, we usually think about what impresses us. Like Steve Jobs standing on a podium showing off his latest triumph: Incredible! Revolutionary! Mind Blowing! Continue reading →

Imagineers Use of Innovative Technology to Build New Fantasyland

Published on 2012-04-04 16:00:39

In the video, Walt Disney Imagineering takes you onto the construction site to learn more about new innovative technology the Imagineers are using to build the new attractions, restaurants and other guest areas that will make up the expansion. Continue reading →

Phase 1 Innovation Analytics – Creating the Plan

Published on 2012-04-04 13:00:21

The finishing touch for Phase 1 of the Data Analytics lifecycle is the creation of an Analytic Plan. In the same way that requirements drive all phases of a software project, the analytic plan lays the foundation for all of the work in an analytics project. Continue reading →

Why the Business Case is Killing Innovation

Published on 2012-04-04 10:00:05

Most business cases outline a problem, some potential solutions, and an investment strategy in the hope of gaining approval. Unfortunately this no longer works. Continue reading →

Please Add This Address to Your EMail Safe List

Published on 2012-04-04 07:55:40

Every Sunday at 8AM EDT (1PM GMT) we send out Innovation Excellence Weekly by email to our 6,000+ subscribers. This email used to come from my email address, but is now being sent from ixnews@innovationexcellence.com - Subscribers, please add this email address to your email safe list to ensure that you continue receiving your weekly email featuring: Continue reading →

Where Consultants Should Contribute to Innovation

Published on 2012-04-04 07:00:43

I have been concerned for quiet some time about the ‘state’ of the consulting industry when it comes to innovation. There are simply far too many out there offering pieces of the innovation equation. Continue reading →

The Neuroscience of Creativity: Why Daydreaming Matters

Published on 2012-04-03 13:00:15

Most people know that 3M’s Arthur Fry was not trying to invent the thing he invented in 1974–the Post-it Note–he was daydreaming in church. As neuroscientists now know, and was conclusively shown in 2009, it’s when our minds wander that our brains do their best work–it’s when we’re not trying to think creatively that we’re often most creative. Continue reading →

Four Types of Innovation – part 4

Published on 2012-04-03 10:00:02

Obsolescence is something every company should fear. Operational Innovation is more about the how of business than the what. Being efficient, up-to-date, and innovative in your processes, operations, and relationships is every bit as important as having a killer product or service. Every company and 100 percent of its workforce should be engaged in Operational Innovation at all times. Continue reading →

External Talent Strategies for a Global Talent Pool

Published on 2012-04-03 07:48:37

The old way of winning the talent wars was to search for and hire the very best talent and keep them inside your own four walls by offering them competitive compensation, benefits, and perks. Your hope was that your talent is better than your competitors’ talent. But over the last couple of decades, companies have increasingly found that employees who pursue what they do with passion will outperform an employee with a gun to their head every time. Circuit City learned very publicly that people [..]

The Jolt to Best Buy

Published on 2012-04-03 07:00:19

Poor financial performance is a shock to the system; it rumbles marketing plans and shakes the innovation strategy and pipeline. Best Buy retail and web sales fell 2.4% versus last year and shareholders have lost more than half of their value over the past five years. The company is now in the throws of reinventing how it goes to market as fast as it can. Continue reading →

Behind Closed Doors

Published on 2012-04-02 16:00:37

It may be time to retire the term “mobile media” and replace it with “personal media.” Because what is happening behind closed doors in homes across American is not so much mobile as, well, personal. Continue reading →

Stop Doing – double your productivity

Published on 2012-04-02 13:00:15

For the foreseeable future, there will be more work than time. Yet year-on-year we’re asked to get more done and year-on-year we pull it off. Most are already at our maximum hour threshold, so more hours is not the answer. The answer is productivity. Continue reading →

Targeted Advertising While You Fly

Published on 2012-04-02 11:45:00

For targeting purposes, the airlines know who purchased the ticket (likely their age (senior/adult/child), phone number, e-mail, address, zip code, how much they paid, the credit card they paid with, etc.). About frequent fliers they will also know how frequently they fly, their home airport, and maybe even whether they are traveling on business and for which company. So it would definitely be possible to design a system to target advertising in-flight. So why haven't they done it? Continue read [..]

4 Things The Apple Store Can Teach Us About Staffing

Published on 2012-04-02 10:00:33

Apple is running a seriously smooth operation in their retail stores. Each employee has a distinct role to play, understands that role, and does his/her part to deliver the level of service we've come to expect from this powerful brand. All of this requires serious alignment of brand, business goals and people process. Continue reading →

What Street Golf has to do with Innovative Design?

Published on 2012-04-02 07:00:36

How do you come to Street Golf when you work as an innovation consultant? That's one of the surprise of innovative design practice to jump from industrial design at Air Liquide to interactions with Street Golf communities. Continue reading →

Running a Red Light is Dangerous in Innovation

Published on 2012-04-01 16:00:20

Organizations so often leave their own futures to the last minute by failing to recognize or acknowledge they are running out of time, the situation they have been so use too for such a long time has suddenly changed. Well, for the vast majority, there was nothing “sudden” about it, they simply left it too late, ignoring all the warning signs and they decided to run that “red light” as a last minute panic to catch up and be back in charge of their innovation destiny. Continue reading & [..]

Quantified Self – Epicenter of Disruptive Innovation

Published on 2012-04-01 09:58:09

Take one part Big Data, one part visualization, a whole lot of amazing mobile UI and more and you find yourself at the center of quantified self. This is the epicenter of disruptive innovation. Continue reading →

Innovation Camp – Horsens, Denmark

Published on 2012-04-01 07:00:44

This is an overview of what looks to be an amazing collaborative experience between business and technical teams. The video takes you through the ideas behind an intense two-day innovation camp for the entrepreneurs of the future. Continue reading →

School of Innovation – 67 Gems of Business Wisdom

Published on 2012-03-31 16:00:43

An exclusive interview with Adrian Furnham -- his thoughts on innovative people management strategy and practice, HR’s role across the leadership and management spectrum. Continue reading →

Vulnerability – all part of the creative process

Published on 2012-03-31 11:00:33

“To create is make something that has never existed before,” says vulnerability researcher, Brené Brown. “There’s nothing more vulnerable than that.” Continue reading →

An Innovators Paradise- Infographic

Published on 2012-03-31 07:00:56

As more and more business is conducted online, more and more business opportunities are created due to the massive size of the internet. Companies like Amazon, Apple, and even Walmart are giants in e-commerce and their online revenues are continuing to soar. Last year, e-commerce raked in $680 billion worldwide. And on Black Friday alone, Amazon sold 32 items per second. With the help of services like Facebook, Twitter, and email, companies are able to reach practically anybody on the internet � [..]

Is the ‘Stage Gate’ Process Tool Dead?

Published on 2012-03-30 16:23:07

It seems that there is a trend towards getting rid of the innovation 'stage gate' process. Why? Continue reading →

How to Develop 5 Critical Thinking Types

Published on 2012-03-30 13:00:01

Remember as a child how much fun it was to ponder the future? Well, now it’s your job…as well as all that other stuff you have to do! Find out why five thinking types are essential for today’s business leaders. Continue reading →

The Evaluation Metric that Kills Innovative Ideas

Published on 2012-03-30 10:00:20

I was speaking with a client recently who reminded me of the metrics her CEO had set out for innovative new ideas. While I think it is important to have clear goals and quantifiable metrics for innovations, I was a bit apprehensive about these measurements. Take a look at them and see if you can guess which one gives me the most concern: Continue reading →

Part II – Diversity in University Technology Transfer Strategy

Published on 2012-03-30 07:00:52

Like socks labeled “one size fits all,” “one size fits all” university technology commercialization strategy is actually “one size fits no one.” There’s a yawning chasm between diverse, local realities, and what ultimately gets passed off as strategy in mainstream tech transfer policy discussions, scholarly articles, and training workshops. This article is Part II of an earlier article that explored five common challenges in bringing university research to market that hold true a [..]

Innovation Perspectives – Insights and Execution

Published on 2012-03-29 16:30:00

For my money, the most dangerous misconception that leaders have is that coming up with a great idea is the key to innovation. This is not the case. Insights and execution are the most important ingredients for creating innovation. As more industries become commodity battlegrounds, success will now be the driven by two key things: Continue reading →

What a Poor Man’s Innovation Can Teach a Rich Country

Published on 2012-03-29 16:00:05

On BigThink.com, Vijay Govindarajan, a Professor of International Business at the Tuck School, discusses the dynamics of innovation that starts in poor countries and brought to people in wealthy countries. Continue reading →

5 Principles of Creativity

Published on 2012-03-29 13:00:47

Back in the 1880’s, Frederick Winslow Taylor was able to make dramatic gains in efficiency by timing workers performing rote tasks. His efforts spawned the idea and practice of scientific management. Alas, these days routine jobs, even white collar ones such as bookkeeping, legal research and basic medical diagnoses are increasingly being automated by computer. Others fall prey to globalization and are outsourced. Continue reading →

Barriers to Innovative Culture

Published on 2012-03-29 10:00:00

Barriers between employee and the firm -- I call it ‘learned helplessness’ -- is happening in organizations where employees learn that there is no need to think creatively or exchange ideas, and it is an example of what kind of culture should be completely changed. Continue reading →

Enabling Collisions for Innovation

Published on 2012-03-29 07:00:02

What would be the benefit of enabling the collisions between the "slow hunches" in your organization? Recently I've been inspired by some pretty engaging discussions going on on Google+ about the concept of "the connected enterprise" by some big thinkers... Continue reading →

Frugal Innovation Research

Published on 2012-03-28 16:00:08

From Yasser Ahmad Batti, a Management Research student at the Said Business School at Oxford, this presentation discusses frugal Innovation. It focuses on doing more with less, by looking at how entrepreneurs and innovators in emerging markets devise low cost strategies to tap or circumvent institutional complexities resource limitation. By developing and delivering products and services to low income users with little purchasing power, often at mass scale and arguably in a sustainable manner, i [..]

Innovation in the Era of Convergence – a Chinese perspective

Published on 2012-03-28 13:00:54

Culture is always the most invisible but the best elastic strings to connect all the innovation treasures, to let your organization survive in the age of petabytes, and allowing your business to thrive at the age of convergence... Continue reading →

Where’s Waldo?

Published on 2012-03-28 10:00:26

Remember the popular children’s series Where’s Waldo? If some of the more talked about apps emerging from the recently concluded innovators and startup gathering, SXSW, gain traction, that series will be a whimsical relic of the past – and so will many of the concepts that have long ruled advertising. Continue reading →

Leading from the Driver’s Seat

Published on 2012-03-28 07:00:25

Psychologist R.D. Laing made this observation many years ago, yet his words still ring true, especially today when the pace of change continues to get faster. Let’s think about what he said, especially we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing. Picture that. Continue reading →

Boosting Personal Innovation Capacity – Iterate!

Published on 2012-03-27 16:00:51

When done well, iteration is not just about improving products and services and customer intelligence and profitability—as important as those things are. It’s about improving our thinking. What most distinguishes highly successful innovators from those who struggle, is... Continue reading →

Lancome – Engaging Women Through Exploration

Published on 2012-03-27 13:00:26

Measuring and understanding the type of relationship buyers have with a brand is powerful information to leverage in innovation. Lancôme has a unique relationship with women compared to competitors such as Estee Lauder, Clinique and Avon. Women define their relationship with Lancôme as one based on exploration, which is differentiating among its cosmetic competitors. Continue reading →

Get Out of Your Cognitive Box to Innovate

Published on 2012-03-27 10:00:56

Assessing the potential of a person should not be done without defining in what context his potential will be put to the test. I can be introverted or extroverted, I can be an expert or a leader, but of course, in a society more open and culturally diverse, potential can be called into question at any time. Continue reading →

Intervention Points for Peer-to-Peer Innovation

Published on 2012-03-27 07:00:36

Internal leadership of innovation suffers from exactly the same critical problem that the people working on innovation suffer from, of a lack of time and opportunity to study alternatives, as all are caught up in ‘driving’ their innovation through their internal system. Continue reading →

The Politics of Innovation

Published on 2012-03-26 16:00:50

An investigation into the role of politics in innovation. At the Bassetti Foundation for Responsible Innovation we have long been debating the links between innovation and politics. Last year the Foundation successfully lobbied for a change to the Statute of the Region of Lombardy in Italy so that local government would work to promote responsible innovation, in the belief that innovation excellence is by definition responsible innovation. Continue reading →

The Semantic Economy

Published on 2012-03-26 13:00:59

the new web darlings, Instagram andPinterest, have built communities of millions of people in a matter of months, not years and they have done it with a staff that can fit in my living room (which, I might add, is not that big).What’s amazing is that we have come to take things like these in stride. Such events have become not exactly the rule, but not the exception either. In short... Continue reading →

Consumerization of IT – An Opportunity for HR?

Published on 2012-03-26 10:00:09

Like it or not, elements of consumer technologies like social media, gamification, and mobile are infiltrating the workplace. For human resources professionals, the effects are hard to miss. From employee and manager self-service portals to the growing number of social media elements in performance and learning management, the technology employees expect to find in the workplace is changing. Continue reading →

Interview with Retired President X

Published on 2012-03-26 08:00:00

I had lunch in 2009 with the recently-retired president of a multi-billion dollar company and had a great conversation about innovation, leadership, and culture. The insights are still relevant and he enjoys his private life so I won't be naming any names, but I will share some of the key insights and advice for innovators that came out of the conversation. Continue reading →

We’re Entering An Age of DIY Manufacturing

Published on 2012-03-26 07:00:20

In my role as ERP Analyst at Software Advice, I spend a lot of time thinking about how developments in enterprise technologies such as impact manufacturing companies. Lately, however, I’ve been thinking about how some of these technologies (e.g. CAD software, cloud computing, 3D printing) are becoming accessible to the individual. Continue reading →

Four Types of Innovation – part 3

Published on 2012-03-25 16:00:54

“Marketplace Innovation is about building or expanding new markets. Living in the realm of features, benefits and sales, Marketplace Innovation is all about devising ways to reach and delight the customer in engaging ways. By coming up with unique modifications for products, services and delivery methods, its aim is to have a positive impact on people's lives.” Continue reading →

Accelerate Innovation in Your Organization

Published on 2012-03-13 19:00:05

Are you looking for a way to increase the innovation knowledge in your organization? Looking for a way to begin installing a common innovation language in your organization? Well then, why not do what some of the leading organizations around the world are doing, and go ahead and integrate some Innovation Excellence RSS feeds from the more than 4,000 articles into your corporate portal, innovation management system, or open innovation community. Continue reading →

Redefining Excellence for Today’s World

Published on 2012-03-13 16:00:44

Excellence looks a lot different today than it did 30 years ago when Tom Peters first wrote about it. Explore with us what it takes to lead an excellent company in the 21st century. Continue reading →

It is the Jobs-to-Be-Done, Stupid

Published on 2012-03-13 13:00:42

I do product management for Spigit. I’ve done product management for other companies as well. And let me tell you, the easiest thing in the world is to fall into the trap of focusing on how customers are using your product. Continue reading →

Frustration – not all pain is created equal

Published on 2012-03-13 10:00:53

Someone has a very important goal that needs to be achieved, or task that needs to be accomplished. But there is one or more barrier(s) to them achieving their goal which they feel is out of their control. This results in a combination of helplessness and anger, which we recognize as frustration. Continue reading →

Innovation Layers that Shear Against Each Other

Published on 2012-03-13 07:00:54

There is so much built in tension, bias, barriers, mindsets, mental model conflicts, and all types of friction seemingly going on around us, you must sometimes think all our organizations can only be totally dysfunctional. Continue reading →

Innovation Flow – personal mastery explored

Published on 2012-03-12 16:00:52

Mastery, unconscious competence, effortless genius. These are all ways to describe the state of ‘flow’. At a personal level, innovation excellence relies on our ability to master the state of effortless genius. What can we learn about ‘flow’ from music that we can transfer to the world of innovation and personal excellence? Continue reading →

Phase 1 Innovation Analytics

Published on 2012-03-12 13:00:37

How do you analyze innovation at a large multi-national corporation? I've been using Data Analytics Life Cycle to internally construct a strategy for analyzing global innovation processes and methodologies at my own corporation (EMC). I've published some of the results... Continue reading →

The Soul food of Innovation? Irritation!

Published on 2012-03-12 10:00:38

Seriously! You know when you have an idea for a new business, product, service or process and you tell someone and they pick it apart? They tell you all the reasons it won’t work. You get really really peeved and annoyed and say to yourself, “They just don’t ‘get it’.”? Frustrating isn’t it? Continue reading →

Boardroom Burnout: Is there a pill for that?

Published on 2012-03-12 07:00:10

Practical tips from board members on how to avoid wearing-out your directors! The challenge: It’s no secret that there are an increasing number of demands on boards. Directors are expected to keep abreast of the organization’s business model, performance, strategic challenges and risk environment, understand the industry, understand the legislative environment, be knowledgeable of and ensure compliance with regulatory and reporting requirements and changes, evaluate the CEO and board’s per [..]

Personal Innovation – Star Shining Example

Published on 2012-03-11 16:00:00

I came across a queue reduction application for the iPhone and iPod Touch four years ago that was intriguing. At the time it looked like the application wasn't quite finished or certified for use yet by Apple and Starbucks, but from what I gathered at the time it was meant to work something like this: Continue reading →

The Innovation Movement Gains Momentum!

Published on 2012-03-11 12:51:19

Is every corner of your organization pulsing—at all times—with radical, rule-breaking concepts for new products, services, strategies, and businesses, providing you with a continual flow of innovations with which to delight your customers, confound your competitors, and richly reward your shareholders? Continue reading →

Four Types of Innovation – part 1

Published on 2012-03-11 12:00:08

Transformational Innovation is the granddaddy of innovation. It comes along rarely and is so big and powerful that others continue to build on it for generations to come. Continue reading →

The Rock in Your Shoe

Published on 2012-03-11 07:00:08

Many who have claimed to be innovative leaders rested comfortably in the hope that they would continually lead “in the flow” because they believed they’d have an accurate understanding of what laid ahead. Sure there were minor “tweaks” along the way, but these leaders comfortably sat atop inflatable tubes riding the lazy river of predictability – and prayed that the river would never bend. Continue reading →

The Cube – Strata Conference 2012

Published on 2012-03-10 16:00:31

The Cube - Strata Conference 2012 - Tim O'Reilly, with John Furrier and Dave Vellante. The topics range from technology and energy to business intelligence and the future economy. The perspectives on building human capital are especially interesting and relevant. Continue reading →

The Demographics of Digital Platforms

Published on 2012-03-10 12:00:16

One of the most interesting aspects of the analysis issued recently by Nielsen company NM Incite on the U.S. Digital Consumer (although the fact that 274 million Americans now have Internet access, up from 132 million in 2000 is pretty interesting) is the fact that a gender divide in digital usage seems to be emerging. Continue reading →

The Innovator’s Secret Weapon – Empathy

Published on 2012-03-10 07:00:45

The ability to see things through your customers’ eyes is definitely not something everyone can do. Some, like Steve Jobs, have been quite good at it. Others, like Netflix, completely missed the mark. How well do you really understand and empathize with your customers? How do you know? Continue reading →

The Future of Glass Technology

Published on 2012-03-09 13:00:47

Watch and share Corning's expanded vision for the future of glass technologies. This video continues the story of how highly engineered glass, with companion technologies, will help shape our world. Continue reading →

Lin-sanity, Innovation and The Educated Gut

Published on 2012-03-09 10:00:27

Though I'm not a Knicks fan, I must admit that I've been caught up in "Lin-sanity": the meteoric (and still very early) rise of Jeremy Lin, an unheralded, journeyman bench player who several weeks ago was on the verge of another cut but has put together the most impressive start for a player's first 5 games in the past 40 years. Better than Bird, Jordan or Lebron. Who could have guessed? Continue reading →

Personal Innovation – Shine Your Star

Published on 2012-03-09 07:05:00

I had a nice conversation with a friend from London today that I haven't spoken with in a while and we got onto the topic of careers. We started talking about my article on Personal Innovation and how in most professional occupations there are the stars and then there is everyone else. We talked about how stars in certain professions might only be 5% better at something than their peers but get paid 5x to 50x more than the rest... Continue reading →

Dr. Feynman’s 6 Principles of Trendspotting

Published on 2012-03-09 07:00:03

Is it possible to predict the future? Apparently, Richard Feynman could. He dreamed up some of the today’s most exciting technologies, like nanotech and quantum computing, decades ago. Moreover, these weren’t mere daydreams or flashes of inspiration; he foresaw how they would actually work, what problems would have to be overcome, etc. Continue reading →

Marketing In A Gaming World

Published on 2012-03-08 16:00:24

This presentation outlines and promotes the phenomenon of 'social gaming'. Additionally, it provides analysis and examples of how both product and personal brands can be integrated into these new virtual marketplaces. Continue reading →

The Diversity of University Tech Transfer Strategy

Published on 2012-03-08 13:00:09

At the risk of stating the obvious, all universities are similar, but each one is different. Just when you think you’ve got a key piece of university tech transfer strategy figured out -- like peeling the proverbial onion -- you unearth another layer you haven’t even considered. (Actually, in this case, onions are much too stolid and predictable – maybe raking leaves on a windy day would be a better analogy.) Continue reading →

Innovation’s Collaboration Curves and Performance

Published on 2012-03-08 10:00:27

Unlike the diminishing returns of the Experience Curve, Collaboration Curves offer continuous, exponential improvement and innovation through knowledge sharing and interactions among a group of participants. Continue reading →

Cracking the Innovation Complexity Code

Published on 2012-03-08 07:00:38

I'd like to explore further why I feel innovation is a complex adaptive system that needs us all to recognize its make up differently than a 'simple' idea management system or pipeline process. It is far more complex than that. Continue reading →

Excelência na Inovação

Published on 2012-03-07 17:22:13

Boa vinda a nosso grupo novo da inovação! We are please to announced our new Portuguese language subgroup on Linkedin graciously moderated by Cristina Caiado Rocha and Filipa Soares. Continue reading →

Adrian Smith – grassroots innovation

Published on 2012-03-07 16:00:44

Adrian Smith explains the STEPS Centre's work on grassroots innovation. The reasons behind, and needs for, open, networked, and socially focused innovation are discussed. Continue reading →

One Innovation Video You Must Watch Today

Published on 2012-03-07 13:00:18

Think the hyperconnected 3.0 won't affect your enterprise? Think again. Watch the one innovation video that ties into more industries than you may think. Continue reading →

Innovation Leadership’s Most Needed Quality

Published on 2012-03-07 10:00:37

I have seen a lot of blog posts lately with titles such as 'The 20 Top Leadership Traits'. It reminds me of magazines at Christmas emblazoned with ‘300 ideas for an easy Christmas’. So I thought it would be simpler to identify the one thing a leader for innovation cannot do without: it’s curiosity. Continue reading →

The Learning Innovator – part 3

Published on 2012-03-07 07:00:34

"The one common ingredient across successful and innovative organizations is the commitment to learning" How can we draw from this concept to design a "learning innovator" profile? Going through 3 case studies, we depict a DNA for modern innovator. Continue reading →

Are you the 10th person who innovates?

Published on 2012-03-06 13:15:00

"For every nine people who denounce innovation, only one will encourage it... For every nine people who do things the way they have always been done, only one will ever wonder if there is a better way. For every nine people who stand in line in front of a locked building, only one will ever come around and check the back door." Continue reading →

Why Do We Want Innovations Yet Fear Innovation?

Published on 2012-03-06 13:00:14

I was thinking about writing a blog post about corporate culture and its resistance to innovation. I even had this snappy analogy ready about how corporate culture is like a wet blanket thrown on the fire of innovation. Other ideas I wanted to explore included how corporations "but" ideas to death. But it won't work, but we don't have the people, but it will distract from our existing products. And so forth. Continue reading →

Collaborative Innovation Merging in Central Europe

Published on 2012-03-06 10:00:42

This year, a very interesting trend in collaborative innovation can be observed in Central Europe: The once distinct concepts of “Enterprise 2.0” and “Open Innovation” are merging. Firms are taking a holistic view on collaborative innovation and put the question about whether collaborative innovation should happen primarily within the firm’s walls or with externals out of the focus. Continue reading →

Why are there So Few Glorious Products?

Published on 2012-03-06 10:00:41

I was struck by the word “glorious”. I hear it and words like it so rarely, especially in my professional life. As a person who invents software products for a living, it made me realize that most products just don’t move people in an emotional way. Continue reading →

Innovation is a Complex Adaptive System

Published on 2012-03-06 07:00:23

I am going to try to explain innovation as an complex adapative system. Why? I consistently come across many references to innovation. The trouble is I’ve never been fully clear on what does make up a complex system for innovation. I’m not sure anyone does for complex systems either! But I want to establish a direct and clear set of links across to innovation without it involving me in ploughing through incredibly ‘dense’ academic papers on this subject. Continue reading →

Rise and Fall of Innovation at Yahoo!

Published on 2012-03-05 13:30:00

Can people really innovate when they have to tend to all of their day-to-day responsibilities? Unfortunately, people don't get promoted for being innovative, they get promoted for getting stuff done, developing people, and meeting or exceeding goals or stretch targets. If people are busy making sure they do all that, when are they supposed to innovate? Continue reading →

A Strategy for Innovation Analytics

Published on 2012-03-05 13:00:36

Using analytics to improve innovation processes is, well, innovative in and of itself. I spoke with Tom Davenport last week about using analytics to understand innovation. Continue reading →

Innovation Provocateur

Published on 2012-03-05 10:00:21

The questions we turn our attention to can have a profound impact on innovation. Think of questions as the parents of answers: they will serve as a creative catalyst for innovation. Immersing your team for an entire day in a chunky question could set them free from the shackles of conventional thinking and take them down the path of creating something altogether novel. Here are some big questions to consider: Continue reading →

The Innovator’s Mindset

Published on 2012-03-05 07:00:41

Have you ever wondered how some people (or organizations) manage to have one amazing success after another? What is it about these types of people and these types of organizations that sets them apart? They all have an Innovator's Mindset. Continue reading →

Innovation Fitness Dynamics

Published on 2012-03-04 14:41:23

There is a continuing need to build the management of innovation into a clear organizational capability, where innovation becomes a continuous effective innovation process. There is a continuing need to engage for change. Continue reading →

Innovation Comes in Many Forms

Published on 2012-03-04 08:30:00

Innovation comes in all different forms, and there is more than one way to boost profits in organizations. Layoffs are not the only way to improve the bottom line when times get tough. Often asking the right questions can uncover new revenue sources in areas that previously had only been seen as a source of costs. Continue reading →

The Challenge of Deep Listening

Published on 2012-03-04 07:00:10

In his search for Truth, Gautama Buddha found silence an invaluable companion. It was “not wordlessness or noiselessness”, according to one account of the silence of Buddah. “It had a transforming power, permeating and filling the atmosphere around him with such intensity that people seated at his presence experienced ‘the ineffable and the inexplicable’.”In such a harmonious state, it’s possible to hear what gets drowned out in the routine hurly-burly of modern life. Continue read [..]

Innovate Thyself (aka Personal Innovation)

Published on 2012-03-03 10:05:00

Many people have written previously about how difficult it is to innovate within an established organization. Trying to transform oneself can be just as incredibly difficult. I wouldn't call it a re-invention, per se, because of the distinction I draw between invention and innovation. Continue reading →

What an Innovative Culture Looks Like

Published on 2012-03-03 10:00:18

An innovative corporate culture is one that supports the creation of new ideas and the implementation of those ideas. Leaders need to help employees see innovation in the right light. The most innovative companies do the following: Continue reading →

Improvisation and Innovation Lessons from Prince

Published on 2012-03-03 07:00:57

"To reach mastery in improvisation paradoxically requires intensive detailed preparation. What looks like a seamless performance is the result of many hours of preparation and Prince is meticulous in this respect. In business this has been referred to ‘the 10,000 hours effect’ by Tom Peters and, more recently, Malcolm Gladwell. Continue reading →

The End of Teaching – As We Know It

Published on 2012-03-02 18:23:56

This presentation, by Alvaro Gonzalez-Alorda, centers on the future of education. It focuses on how technology and a reconfiguration of approach, one centered on experimentation, will become the method. By looking at key drivers of change and the challenges they will help to overcome, Gonzalez-Alorda puts forth an innovative model for both educators and students at all levels. Continue reading →

You Need To Innovate – Now What?

Published on 2012-03-02 13:00:42

A lot of people talk about innovative companies. All the management magazines and books refer always to the same select group of Apple, Google, 3M, Microsoft, P&G, BMW, Facebook, Virgin, Samsung, WAL-MART, Toyota, Amazon, INTEL, Starbucks and a few others. But so few people really work in them. This means a whole lot of people are working in not so innovative organisations. You are probably one of them, or a consultant advising them. Continue reading →

Checking In Before Checking Out – Innovation

Published on 2012-03-02 10:00:00

For those who like to forecast the future, the undeniable reality is that the future – or at least the elements that will form it – is here now. The trick is in identifying those elements and understanding how they will shape innovation ahead. Continue reading →

Open Innovation – Public vs Private

Published on 2012-03-02 07:00:31

What are the similarities and differences when it comes to open innovation in the public and private sectors? I have been wondering about this question for a while and as I gather my thoughts, it would be great to hear other perspectives. Here you get my starting views for a good discussion. Continue reading →

Providing the Spark for Innovation

Published on 2012-03-01 13:00:36

The program’s name is no accident – we were focused on providing the all-important “sparks” for innovation to flourish. We knew it wouldn’t be easy to create enthusiasm and momentum for our crowdsourcing efforts. But we also knew those sparks of interest would be critical. Continue reading →

The Real Need – Achieving Innovation Fitness

Published on 2012-03-01 13:00:32

So how do we become innovation fit? I think we all need a possible innovation work-out gym. Before we sign up we ought to pause and survey our innovation world and what it needs in commitments. First, let's stop and survey our world from a new advantage point... Continue reading →

Successfully Managing Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing

Published on 2012-03-01 11:54:18

The 3 Essential Elements of Innovation

Published on 2012-03-01 10:00:41

To be a true innovation, a product, service, or company has to have three essential elements: it has to be unique, it has to be valuable, and it has to be worthy of exchange. Continue reading →

February’s Top 20 Innovation and Marketing Articles

Published on 2012-03-01 07:52:44

At the beginning of each month we will profile the twenty posts from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Innovation Excellence. We also publish a weekly Top 10 as part of our Innovation Excellence Weekly email. Did your favorite make the cut? Continue reading →

Innovation in the Middle East – What’s Missing?

Published on 2012-03-01 07:00:01

There’s something missing in the Middle East when it comes to innovation. I will call it The Missing Link between Innovation Strategy and Leadership. I have a theory about what it is, but first let me share some statistics that I think are relevant. Continue reading →

Innovation and the Art of Fishing

Published on 2012-02-29 13:00:48

For fishers and innovators, the critical capability isn’t knowing how to fish or having all the answers; it’s knowing how to go about finding the fish and discovering the answers we need. There are a number of important lessons about innovation that can be taken from fishing. Continuing my last post... Continue reading →

How to Be a Top 50 Innovator

Published on 2012-02-29 10:00:03

What does it take to become a leading innovator? FastCompany’s Top 50 Innovators list shows that successful innovation can happen in any business, in any industry. Continue reading →

The Commodity Marketplace for Employees

Published on 2012-02-29 07:00:00

There is a plethora of articles and books out there about how difficult it is to be in a commodity business. Innovation is such a hot topic right now because an increasing number of industries that used to be places where differentiation existed, have suddenly turned into commodity industries. Why don't we see the same plethora of articles and books out there about Personal Innovation? Continue reading →

Quieres discutir innovación?

Published on 2012-02-28 16:02:53

Bienvenido a nuestro grupo de la innovación! We are please to announced our new Spanish language subgroup on Linkedin graciously moderated by Zulma Acevedo G.: Continue reading →

The Demand for Curiosity, Creativity and Innovation

Published on 2012-02-28 10:00:17

Curiosity, Creativity and Innovation have become sexy topics in the business community, business schools and the business press over the past decade. Why? Because the skills of today's managers and leaders don’t necessarily lend themselves to innovative top line growth. Today, businesses want talent with curiosity, creativity and innovation skills to invigorate organic top line growth. Continue reading →

Bjork’s Biophilia Educational Project

Published on 2012-02-28 09:00:33

Exploring spatial and structural similarities in crystals and music, showing how viruses behave like generative music, understanding how the full moon governs the tide which then rations water via a music sequencer. There is a "simon says" method in learning differences in scales, how DNA multiplies shows us how time signature and speed changes songs, an algorithm of gravity pulls a pendulum into natural counterpoint and the tectonic plates rub against each other and behave like chords. Continu [..]

Exploring the Cardiff University Innovation Network

Published on 2012-02-28 07:00:53

The Cardiff University Innovation Network is a non-competitive, neutral space to solve problems and support cross-sector innovation by creating better connectivity and to support business-to-business as well as business-to-academic collaboration. Continue reading →

Innovate Yourself – Becoming Overpaid

Published on 2012-02-27 13:30:00

Back in 2007 I came across this article from MarketWatch on the Ten most overpaid jobs in the U.S. and thought it was worthy of discussing. I don't want to focus on whether these occupations are overpaid or not (I'm sure the people working in these roles would disagree with the author), but instead on what we can all learn from this article. First here is a list of the ten occupations: Continue reading →

The Best Social Media Strategy of All Time

Published on 2012-02-27 13:00:52

I constantly run across blog posts, emails, and spam comments on the blog that promise to tell you the perfect strategy for getting a higher PageRank for your website, or more twitter followers, or a higher Klout score. And the problem with all of these strategies is that they are faulty. They might results in a higher PageRank, or more twitter followers, or a higher Klout score, but they don’t have any effect at all on what really matters: impact. Continue reading →

The Learning Innovator – part 2

Published on 2012-02-27 07:00:46

NeuroPop

Published on 2012-02-27 07:00:13

Whenever people come together for any reason, music is there. Iconic music and sound can be used to create a reinforced neural trace for a brand to build a stronger memory representation. The thrills and chills of intense musical emotion connect to the brain regions thought to be involved with reward, motivation, attention and pleasure. Continue reading →

Moving from Talent Ownership to Talent Attraction

Published on 2012-02-26 11:31:38

In our hyper-competitive, always-connected world, organizations are increasingly becoming focused on improving both their speed to market and their revenue per headcount. In this environment, more senior leaders every day are seeing innovation as the primary way to gain competitive advantage and to simultaneously increase revenue and cut costs. At the same time, organizations are struggling to find ways to accelerate their pace of innovation without escalating their costs faster than their budge [..]

The Passion Economy

Published on 2012-02-26 11:00:03

Things are clearly changing, despite the dismal times. The way businesses function and compete has altered considerably and, most likely, permanently. The fundamental difference is that, while in the old economy promoting efficiency and organizing work reigned supreme, in the emergent new economy inspiring the passions of employees to create and innovate is far more important. Continue reading →

Is Brainstorming Pointless?

Published on 2012-02-26 07:00:45

Brainstorming, like online dating, is one of many tools in an innovation toolkit. Just don't pump it full of unrealistic expectations or use it as a substitute for real work. Continue reading →

Business Strategy Innovation Diamond (BSID)

Published on 2012-02-25 11:00:00

I would like to introduce a visual metaphor that the consultants use at Business Strategy Innovation. It's called, predictably enough, the Business Strategy Innovation Diamond, or the BSID. There is another reason we use it, to "ID" the "BS" in an organization. Continue reading →

10 Videos On Our Near Future

Published on 2012-02-25 10:00:16

A collection of inspiring videos on our near future. Think about how this will affect your industry and your business model. Continue reading →

Be Your Stiffest Competitor

Published on 2012-02-25 07:00:26

Your business is going away. Not if, when. Someone’s going to make it go away and it might as well be you. Why not take control and make it go away on your own terms? Why not make it go away and replace it with something bigger and better? Continue reading →

Only the Innovative and Efficient Survive

Published on 2012-02-24 13:00:15

Andy Grove wrote about his experiences at Intel in a book entitled "Only the Paranoid survive". Paranoia, at least as described by Grove, was the constant fear that someone would disrupt Intel's business, and his passionate pursuit of innovation to remain the top semiconduct or manufacturer. Continue reading →

Business Model Innovation?

Published on 2012-02-24 11:00:00

Nearly five years ago I wrote this article, but I think it is worth dredging it up out of the archives because there is such misunderstanding out there about what business model innovation is. This article highlights some of the misconceptions people have about what business model innovation truly is and looks quickly at a couple of more appropriate examples of business model innovation. But of course I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments, including your favorite business model innovati [..]

Statoil and Shell- Fighting for Innovation Partners

Published on 2012-02-24 10:00:19

It is interesting to see how open innovation has brought a different kind of competition to market leading companies. It is the fight for innovation partners and the strongest innovation ecosystems. Continue reading →

Managing the Uncertainty of Open Innovation

Published on 2012-02-24 07:00:15

Through the collaborative relationship of open innovation, companies are able to leverage new ideas and products, and conduct experiments at lower risk levels. However, open innovation does bring up some concerns, like who owns rights to the intellectual property (IP). Continue reading →

Innovation Passing Lane Ahead

Published on 2012-02-23 14:07:25

I noticed that every time I was following a car or truck and approached a passing lane, without exception, the car or truck I was following instantly sped up a minimum of 10mph AND when we reach the end of the passing lane area, they pretty quickly slowed down 10mph. Now, why would every driver I encountered in front of me (without exception) speed up when the passing lane approached and slow down when it ended, even though the speed limit was unchanged? Continue reading →

Evolutionary Innovation Topic Modeling

Published on 2012-02-23 13:00:33

I've been studying EMC innovation data from the last five years and have enlisted internal data scientists to help improve our global innovation processes. In this post, I explore Evolutionary Innovation Topic Modeling. Continue reading →

The Learning Innovator – part 1

Published on 2012-02-23 10:00:31

Your Anti-innovation Checklist

Published on 2012-02-23 07:00:23

Are you trying to innovate but just spinning your wheels? See if any of these anti-innovators apply to your business. Continue reading →

Think ‘Out of Four Walls’

Published on 2012-02-22 18:22:00

I had coffee with a clever marketing and sales consultant recently and one of the topics we discussed was the impact of location on a group's ability to innovate. At the time we spoke about getting people to think in new ways by getting people to think in new places. That is to say that if you always meet in the same places to try and be creative as a team, don't you ultimately get the same types of thinking? Continue reading →

The 60s Revolution and Innovation

Published on 2012-02-22 16:00:10

The counterculture of the 60s was a time of divided opinions, environmentalism, legendary music, roads less travelled, and civil rights. The push for change was led by catalysts ranging from John Lennon to John F. Kennedy, from Muhammad Ali to Martin Luther King Jr., and others who were not afraid to go in a different direction. Even Steve Jobs said that he modeled his business in the manner of the Beatles. Continue reading →

Job Growth? There’s an App for That

Published on 2012-02-22 13:00:26

America's Innovation economy is 6,000,000 jobs strong. That is one proof-point that we, TechNet, a national bi-partisan network of CEOs that promotes growth of technology industries (of which I am a member), have been personally giving to Congress and the Administration for a decade. This week, when we gathered for the Tenth Annual TechNet day in DC, we went deeper than the general fact that innovation is driving the next generation of job growth. Yes, beyond “Shovel Ready” and “Green [..]

Social Business Truths

Published on 2012-02-22 10:00:26

Social business, and its companion/forebear, Enterprise 2.0, have successfully penetrated the halls of organizations around the world. The adoption is far from complete, and the jobs-to-be-done by social business are evolving. But the trend lines point to continued expansion of social business. Continue reading →

Reflecting on Asia’s Rise

Published on 2012-02-22 07:00:35

Okay, so I’m writing to you from the Thai Airways lounge at Bangkok’s majestic new airport. I can report that this teeming city of 13 million has dug out from the recent floods, and is getting on with life. The economy, according to the cabbies and locals I talked with, is still suffering and there is even talk of another coup. Continue reading →

Innovation is Intentional

Published on 2012-02-21 16:00:07

Innovation done well is exploitation. It makes full use of breakthroughs, deriving benefits that include enhanced productivity, improved efficiencies, greater profits, increased market share, and above all exceptional growth in value... and it happens on purpose. Continue reading →

Improve your Persuasive Power with the Three Greeks

Published on 2012-02-21 13:00:51

We often find ourselves in a position where we need to influence other people. We might want to change their mind, to sell them on an idea or to secure their agreement to a proposal. A fruitful way to approach these situations is to use the three Greeks, ancient concepts that are proven to work. In my experience most people use only one of the three Greeks and they would be much more effective if they used all three. Continue reading →

Why Innovation is Less Risky Than You Think

Published on 2012-02-21 10:00:21

One of the most common excuses I run across for not innovating is risk aversion. Organisations don’t innovate because they’re risk averse, or so they say. But is innovation really so risky? Yes, a new idea might not work. But in many cases, not innovating is even riskier. Continue reading →

The Opportunity Costs Of Not Innovating

Published on 2012-02-21 07:00:52

A client asked me this question recently, and it has been much on my mind. The question, when boiled down, was this - we know the costs of "business as usual" and we think we know what it will cost to innovate. Often, the costs and uncertainties related to innovation block our innovation efforts. But we have no way of measuring the cost of failing to innovate. Is there a way to measure the opportunity costs of not innovating? Continue reading →

Unlocking the Inner Child for Innovation

Published on 2012-02-20 17:00:00

In the quest to unlock innovation in organizations, it may be beneficial or even mandatory to learn how to unlock the internal children in our employees. I'm sure we can all remember as children being told "don't" do this or you "can't" do that, and the result growing up was to reinforce the idea that there is one "right" way to do anything. Continue reading →

Innovation and Topic Modeling

Published on 2012-02-20 16:00:38

EMC has a number of data scientists that are part of EMC Labs China. They have been experimenting with different analytics packages as part of our efforts to characterize and improve the creative culture across our global innovation ecosystem. Continue reading →

Thick Value vs Thin Value

Published on 2012-02-20 13:00:22

While a generation ago the focus among economists was shareholder value, it’s become clear that’s not enough. Businesses have a variety of stakeholders, including employees, customers and society at large. While it may be expedient to overlook such things in the short-term, companies that do will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. Continue reading →

The Perpetual Exploration Cycle of Innovation

Published on 2012-02-20 10:00:36

The study of the great explorers in history points out some of the most convincing reasons for exploring and a clear pattern can be identified in the multiple and repetitive journeys to the unknown of these adventurers. Continue reading →

Playful Innovation at Southwest Airline

Published on 2012-02-20 07:00:39

Southwest Airline is the most desired brand among American men and women over all other brands based on a quantitative study recently released in Forbes. Both sexes are drawn to different brands for different reasons, but on this they agree that the top accolade goes to Southwest Airline. Continue reading →

Intangible Loss of Outsourced Innovation

Published on 2012-02-19 13:00:34

A few Sunday’s ago, New York Times front page featured How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work about the loss of American jobs overseas and the implications for our middle class. I’ve been thinking about the second and third order effects of outsourcing, especially now that some companies are either doing or seriously considering insourcing. In November, I spoke with Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault Systèmes, (DS), creator of 3D simulation products for manufacturing to life sciences. Ins [..]

Exploiting Social Network Analysis

Published on 2012-02-19 10:00:29

Social network analysis (SNA) – also referred to as organisational network analysis – is the mapping and measuring of networks and nodes in an organisation. It is gaining increasing currency as companies, despite the most noble of intentions, struggle to catalyse innovation internally. Continue reading →

Checkbox Hiring Doesn’t Lead to Innovation

Published on 2012-02-19 08:00:00

When looking for a new job, it seems like 95% of the time people will only hire you to do the job you just did, and the other 5% of the time will provide an equal mix of once in a lifetime opportunities and jobs you shouldn't take. So why aren't organizations more innovative in their hiring processes? Continue reading →

Getting Better Ideas Faster

Published on 2012-02-19 07:24:05

Use these practical methods from David Sherwin of Frog Design to help you brainstorm better, smarter, and more effectively, no matter the timeline. Using these methods, you can approach a design problem with the right questions so you can focus your creative energy on finding solutions. Continue reading →

Creativity isn’t what it used to be

Published on 2012-02-19 07:00:15

Today we have a new art movement every couple of years. To reach 50 million users it took radio 38 years, TV needed 13 years, the Internet 4 years, the ipod 3 years, Facebook 2 years. In my father’s generation it was still possible to do a job in an office and retire forty years after while doing the same job from the same office. Continue reading →

Are You in the Conversation Business?

Published on 2012-02-18 13:00:03

The real importance of this networking and business relationship development is the conversation and dialogue. Connecting. Continue reading →

When It’s Time For a New Cowpath

Published on 2012-02-18 10:00:03

Doing new things doesn’t take a long time. What takes a long time is seeing things as they are. Getting ready takes time, not doing new. Awareness of assumptions, your assumptions, others’ assumptions, the company’s – that’s critical path. Continue reading →

The Hidden Cost of Poor Innovation Execution

Published on 2012-02-18 07:00:36

Executing and launching new products takes financial and human resources. When poor execution delays a product launch, companies are hit with another cost, one which often goes unnoticed. Poor execution delays the revenue stream that a new innovation will earn. Given the time value of money, that financial loss can be staggering. Consider one of the most famous innovative product - the Post-it® Note. Continue reading →

Abundance – The Future is Better Than You Think

Published on 2012-02-17 16:00:46

Authors X PRIZE Foundation Chairman and CEO Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science journalist Steven Kotler argue that persistent doom and gloom predictions of the future have no basis in the facts. Instead, they declare that “humanity is now entering a period of radical transformation where technology has the potential to significantly raise the basic standard of living for every man, woman and child on the planet. Continue reading →

Four Factors Driving the Need for Innovation

Published on 2012-02-17 10:00:45

Everyone, and I mean everyone, talks about innovation. We've got CEOs, academic leaders, the President of the United States, talking about innovation. It's clear everyone thinks that innovation is important. The challenge with all of this talk of importance is that few people stop to define WHY innovation is important. Continue reading →

Finding Daily Space for Growing Innovation

Published on 2012-02-17 10:00:21

Innovation is looking to increase variability, nearly everything else in the organization is the exact opposite. How do we address this resistence and make innovation part of the daily working routines? Where can we start? Continue reading →

The Innovative YouTube Video Worth 50 Million Views, Plus Yours

Published on 2012-02-17 09:08:51

50 Million YouTube Viewers Can't Be Wrong and there's some lessons on innovation in this video gem. Continue reading →

Abundance – The Lesson of Aluminum

Published on 2012-02-17 07:00:42

“Abundance provides proof that the proper combination of technology, people and capital can meet any grand challenge.”—Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group Continue reading →

How To Push New Strategies Forward

Published on 2012-02-16 16:00:40

Now that 65 percent of adults online use social media, businesses increasingly incorporate Facebook, Twitter, iPhone apps and all manner of other social media into their marketing and advertising strategies. And while some dismiss social media as a passing fad, businesses that fail to take advantage of it are quickly falling behind. Considering all of this, how can you convince your boss that your idea for a new social media strategy will launch the company into the future of online industry? Co [..]

Why Seattle Needs Double-Decker Buses

Published on 2012-02-16 14:19:00

Traffic is a problem for drivers and bus riders alike. When traffic gets bad, it gets even worse for buses downtown. Here is why: Continue reading →

The Value of Confusion

Published on 2012-02-16 13:00:25

Are you confused about how to proceed with your hottest new idea or project? If so, take heart! Confusion is not always a bad thing. In fact, it's often a necessary part of the creative process. Continue reading →

Slow Motion Innovation Disaster

Published on 2012-02-16 10:00:00

I was discussing the disaster that is Kodak with a friend today when he said something I found difficult to believe. He suggested that Kodak never saw or understood the impact that digital photography would have on its business. I think quite the opposite is true. Continue reading →

In Pursuit of Innovation

Published on 2012-02-16 07:00:54

On most Sunday's you will find me roaming the National Gallery not thinking about innovation. However, in January, I had an unexpected surprise when I listened to curator Mary Morton lecture on the Great French Collections where innovation was a central theme. Curiosity got the best of me. Continue reading →

Four Kinds of Innovation Time

Published on 2011-07-05 23:05:04

by Jeffrey Phillips We innovation consultants often talk about the value of ideas. Good ideas, well managed, in time can become new products and services that drive new growth, revenue and profits. But while ...

Get Your Innovation Request Onto One Page

Published on 2011-07-05 22:43:47

by Dr. Mike Shipulski With manufacturing change is easy – lean this, six sigma that, more with less year-on-year. With engineering, not so much. Why? Manufacturing is about cost, waste, efficiency, and yield (how to make it), ...

The Economics of Co-Creation

Published on 2011-07-05 22:22:13

Will Local Motors replicate the success of microbreweries in the auto industry? by Idris Mootee A lot of talk and interest around the concept of co-creation. It is no question that this is going to have lasting ...

A World Upside-Down – Apple and Google Launches

Published on 2011-07-05 22:01:40

by Rocco Tarasi In a world where Apple can do no wrong and Google has had some product flops, this week their roles have reversed. Google launched its most ambitious social initiative yet with Google+. It is ...

June’s Top 10 Innovation and Marketing Articles

Published on 2011-07-04 23:05:36

by Braden Kelley Last year I experimented with a Top Ten list at the beginning of each month, profiling the ten posts from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Blogging Innovation, and people ...

Innovation is Swimming in Uncertainty

Published on 2011-07-04 22:43:01

by Paul Hobcraft Innovation is very often swimming in uncertain waters that rise and fall just like the waves in a sea: they are choppy, demanding and exhausting to fight against. As uncertainty constantly arises as ...

Extracting Innovation from Your Cognitive Surplus

Published on 2011-07-04 22:22:30

by Hutch Carpenter What is an organization’s most underused, most under-appreciated asset? Its brand? No, that’s well-utilized and appreciated. Its customers’ loyalty. Some would argue for that one, but it’s not a pervasive issue. Its distri

How Top Salespeople are Using Social Media

Published on 2011-07-04 22:01:50

by Matt Heinz Most sales organizations treat social media as a threat, a distraction from selling time, and a set of sites that should be blocked inside the corporate firewall. But many of today’s most successful salespeople ...

Leadership and Independence Day

Published on 2011-07-03 23:06:49

by Mike Myatt Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. It celebrates the birth of a great nation founded by men and women who understood the meaning and value of disruptive thinking, service, honor, leadership, ...

Making Innovation Part of Everyone’s Job Description

Published on 2011-07-03 23:05:51

A Leadership Tip to Drive Innovation by Paul Sloane How can you continually improve the performance of your business and at the same time innovate? Should you focus on making the current model work better or ...

Seeds of an Innovation Moment

Published on 2011-07-03 22:43:45

by Mitch Ditkoff Let’s cut to the chase: Innovation doesn’t begin with processes, structures, and protocols. It begins with inspiration. And where does inspiration come from? It comes from inside the impassioned mind and heart of each pe

Declaring an End to Marketing Independence

Published on 2011-07-03 22:22:42

by Matt Heinz The 4th of July holiday weekend is upon us, and with it (in between hot dog-eating contests and firecracker-induced brushfires) we’ll celebrate the anniversary of our great country’s birth and independence. The nature of ...

Searching for Unicorns – The Innovation Matrix

Published on 2011-07-03 22:01:08

by Tim Kastelle Thanks to everyone that has made comments and suggestions on Innovation Matrix Reloaded. I’ll continue to incorporate your thoughts and ideas as the concept evolves. With that in mind, today I’d like to ...

Kaiser Chiefs and New Music Business Models

Published on 2011-07-02 23:05:11

by Tim Kastelle I just finished listening to my version of the new album by Kaiser Chiefs, The Future is Medieval, and I have to say that I’m pretty happy with it. You may well ask what ...

Six Powerful Rules for Pricing Excellence

Published on 2011-07-02 22:43:32

by Patrick Lefler Pricing is important, but short-changing your pricing strategy is the fastest way to leave money on the table—revenue that will be lost forever and never recovered. So after that initial spark of innovation and ...

15,000 Thoughts per Day

Published on 2011-07-02 22:22:52

Why We Need Constraints for Innovation by Hutch Carpenter Recently, Innosight’s Scott Anthony wrote the following on the Harvard Business Blog: “People think that constraints are innovation inhibitors. They aren’t. Unconstrained efforts ar

Television isn’t Dead Yet

Published on 2011-07-02 22:01:46

by Kevin Roberts David Perry, our EVP/Head of TV Production at Saatchi & Saatchi NY, was recently polled with a bunch of other ad people for an item by Shoot, a hot hub on all things ...

Successfully Implementing a New Model for Change

Published on 2011-07-01 23:05:42

by John Persico Dr. George E. P. Box, noted statistician and quality expert famously said “All models are wrong, some are useful.” Dr. George Copa, one of my former advisors at the University of ...

Can Cooked Bacon be an Innovation?

Published on 2011-07-01 22:43:48

by Ric Merrifield I have written before about businesses predicting how lazy we want to be, or how increasingly we perceive ourselves too busy to perform pretty basic tasks. Well, once again the envelope has ...

Super 8 Lessons from Spielberg and Abrams in How to Be More Creative

Published on 2011-07-01 22:22:24

by Mike Brown In case you think “how to be more creative” ideas aren’t real techniques used by people in more creatively-oriented industries, a recent Entertainment Weekly article shows that’s not the case. In an interview-based ...

Cleaning Your Open Innovation House

Published on 2011-07-01 22:01:28

Interview – Navin Kunde, Ph.D. – The Clorox Company I had the opportunity to interview Navin Kunde, Partnerships Manager for The Clorox Company, about open innovation strategy, importance of an innovation culture, and . Here is the ...

An Innovation Manifesto for All

Published on 2011-06-30 23:05:17

by Jeffrey Baumgartner Everyone is talking about innovation these days. There is probably not a company on the planet that does not claim that innovation is a critical component of its future. We are getting new ...

Laughter Sets Your Creativity Free

Published on 2011-06-30 22:43:58

by Jorge Barba A few days ago I was part of a brainstorming session for a client who recently opened a new restaurant in Mexico. The goal of the brainstorming session was to come up with ...

Don’t Innovate Out of Order

Published on 2011-06-29 23:05:42

by Jeffrey Phillips The phrase “putting the cart before the horse” is meant to help us quickly identify that priorities or actions are in the wrong order. A horse does a far better job pulling ...

Design Thinking, Muggles, and Magic

Published on 2011-06-29 22:43:23

by Idris Mootee For those of you who are not familiar with Muggles, they are people who are incapable of magic, and who are usually unaware of the wizarding world. Design Thinking is sort of wizardry, ...

Never Stop Innovating

Published on 2011-06-29 22:22:16

by Rocco Tarasi Now seems like a good time to remind you that you can’t ride on your past accomplishments for very long. If you aren’t working to stay ahead of the curve, your company ...

Failing to Communicate

Published on 2011-06-29 22:01:32

by Mike Myatt Are you guilty of having a failure to communicate? Here’s the thing – who cares if you possess excellent communication skills if you don’t use them properly. If your command of vocabulary and ...

An Innovation Perfect Storm?

Published on 2011-06-28 23:05:19

by Braden Kelley There have been several recent product announcements or launches that move a step closer to the future vision of computing that I began advocating two years ago. That vision that moves computing to ...

Accelerating Innovation at Dow Corning

Published on 2011-06-28 22:43:33

Interview – Marjorie Dwane – Dow Corning I had the opportunity to interview Marjorie Dwane, the Business Development Group Manager in the Innovation Accelerator for Dow Corning’s Specialty Chemicals Business, about open innovation strategy, imp

Running the Innovation Gauntlet

Published on 2011-06-28 22:22:16

by Jeffrey Phillips You are probably familiar with the concept of a gauntlet. A gauntlet in its origins meant that an individual had to pass through a narrow passage formed by ranks of soldiers who were ...

7 Reasons Why Capital Markets Need to Innovate

Published on 2011-06-28 22:01:16

by Rocco Tarasi In the last month or so the SEC has said that it will consider changes to certain capital markets regulations, including: Raising the 500 shareholder threshold that triggers a public disclosure of financial results ...

Appropriate Innovation Just Makes Sense

Published on 2011-06-27 23:05:02

by Paul Hobcraft Innovation should always deliver on a specific purpose or promise, often it simply doesn’t. It needs to be suitable to our needs; it needs to resolve a given job-to-be done. In the developed world ...

Two Ways to Think About Innovation

Published on 2011-06-27 22:43:55

by Dennis Stauffer Broadly speaking, there are two ways to talk about innovation inside organizations. One way is to talk about the systems and processes that are in place to manage innovation. These include things like new ...

Open Innovation – Working with Suppliers

Published on 2011-06-27 22:43:27

by Kevin McFarthing In my last blog I outlined some of the challenges facing Open Innovation in the context of large contracting relationships. I’ll now move on to some of the top line considerations when ...

Find the Pain, Then Be the Pain Killer

Published on 2011-06-27 22:22:00

by Matt Heinz Here’s a shortcut to developing effective messaging to influence your prospects. Your product or service is intended to create a successful outcome. We talk a lot about painting a picture of success for your ...

Dissatisfaction is the Mother of Innovation

Published on 2011-06-27 22:01:29

by John R. Moran My friend Dave is a great guy, but terrible to go to restaurants with. Invariably, he ends up peppering the server with endless questions, trying to order things not on the menu, ...

DMAIC for Innovation

Published on 2011-06-26 23:05:05

by Braden Kelley Below is a rough draft of an article I wrote for the current issue iSixSigma magazine – to see the finished version – subscribe here. Can the popular Six Sigma framework be adapted to ...

When Should You Give Up on an Idea?

Published on 2011-06-26 22:43:18

by Tim Kastelle Braden Kelley posted a great transcript of a talk from Jeff Bezos of Amazon recently on Blogging Innovation. Here is one of the sections that I thought was really interesting: “If you invent frequently ...

Getting Innovation Timing Right

Published on 2011-06-26 22:22:42

Today's innovation is not only about speed, it's also about simplicity and combining the whole in elegant realization in the right timing.

Blue Ocean Strategy Drowning

Published on 2011-06-26 22:22:28

by Mitch Ditkoff WC Fields was always an exceptionally gifted performer. But some of his most unforgettable performances took place off-camera. Like most actors in the start of their career, Fields found himself a little short of ...

Better Brainstorming Mad Lib

Published on 2011-06-25 23:05:17

by Paul Williams Leonard Stern, the inventor of the “World’s Greatest Word Game” Mad Libs, passed away today at the age of 88. In his honor, I’ve created an “Better Brainstorming” Mad Lib. Mad Libs – as a ...

Need for Systematic Innovation Collaboration

Published on 2011-06-25 23:04:46

by Debra M. Amidon Having been able to participate on this Panel for the AAAS Forum on Science and Technology Policy, I can attest to the relevance and timely value of the strategies offered by both ...

Our Emotional Connection to Brands

Published on 2011-06-25 22:43:49

by Kevin Roberts Chances are when you’re wandering around your local store doing your weekly grocery shop there are brands you gravitate to. Without a second thought your trolley fills with brands that have a familiar ...

Apple’s Questionable Lion Pricing Strategy

Published on 2011-06-25 22:22:26

by Patrick Lefler Besides Steve Jobs’ well-publicized announcement of Apple’s new cloud and music storage service on Monday’s opening day of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple also announced that their new operating system, Mac OS

Do Magical Work

Published on 2011-06-25 22:01:40

by Dr. Mike Shipulski We are responsible for our actions, for what we do, for our work, and others are responsible for their response to it. (That’s why they call it responsibility.) Though we know we ...

Innovation in Your Inbox

Published on 2011-06-25 10:43:57

Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Blogging Innovation is now home to more than 2,800 articles and in preparation for the upcoming transformation of Blogging Innovation into Innovation Excellence we are introducing an Innovation Excellence Weekly Digest (exam

Innovation Process Management (IPM)

Published on 2011-06-24 23:05:37

by Jeffrey Baumgartner With the growing popularity of innovation initiatives, ever more companies are launching their own actions. However, many are going forward in a piecemeal fashion, running a brainstorming event here, trying out an ideas ...

Innovate, Replicate or Evaporate

Published on 2011-06-24 22:43:02

by Jeffrey Phillips I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting with the president of a leading consumer goods company late last week. I had been invited to the meeting to introduce some ...

14 Ways to Describe 3 Levels of Innovation

Published on 2011-06-24 22:22:59

by Yann Cramer From continuous improvement, through the development of next generation, to the creation of a new family, there are typically three different levels of innovation, that can be described in many ways depending on ...

Leadership and Loyalty

Published on 2011-06-24 22:01:26

by Mike Myatt For those of you not familiar with the two characters from Band of Brothers depicted above, they are polar opposites in terms of their approach to leadership. Captain Soble (left) represents a leader ...

Innovation Killers – Status Quo Police

Published on 2011-06-22 23:05:18

by Adam Hartung Nobody admits to being the innovation killer in a company. But we know they exist. Some these folks “dinosaurs that won’t change.” Others blame “the nay-saying ‘Dr. No’ middle managers.” ..

Customer Service Matters as Much as Innovation

Published on 2011-06-22 22:43:16

by Jorge Barba This past week I read two amazing customer service stories. First, there’s Sarah Green’s story on how she left her friends house keys with an Amtrak employee because she forgot to deliver them ...

Innovation and a Fishing Metaphor

Published on 2011-06-22 22:22:10

by Jeffrey Phillips I had the opportunity to go fishing over the weekend, at a pond on my grandfather’s farm. I love to fish, and want to pass down the pleasures of fishing to my ...

Escape from Brainstorm Island with Paddy Miller

Published on 2011-06-22 05:05:46

by Chris Dolan We tend to innovate by going off on an island, with lots of Post-its and flip charts, and we end up stuck on Brainstorm Island. How do we escape from Brainstorm Island? Paddy Miller ...

25 Rules for a Perfect Brainstorm

Published on 2011-06-22 05:05:07

by Gijs van Wulfen The fuzzy front end of innovation confronts you with a lot of questions. There are numerous reasons why a brainstorm session can produce few great ideas or none at all. Every one of ...

Governments – From Innovation Leaders to Laggards

Published on 2011-06-22 04:41:31

by Jeffrey Phillips When I was a kid in the halcyon 60s and the crazy 70s, we knew that while there was a “Cold War” the US Government, and many European governments were active, working to ...

Will Innovation Solve All Our Problems?

Published on 2011-06-20 23:05:37

by Paul Hobcraft I am getting increasingly disturbed. This week two people I know and respect have been talking about the innovation effect. Is innovation the business process re-engineering of our decade; is it part of ...

Innovative Thinking and Defensive Driving

Published on 2011-06-20 22:43:09

by Dennis Stauffer Whenever I talk about the importance of innovative thinking, I can count on someone arguing that while we should be creative and explore new ideas, that needs to be balanced with what we ...

Innovation is a Requirement Not an Option

Published on 2011-06-20 22:33:22

Interview – Moises Norena – Whirlpool Corporation I had the opportunity to interview Moises Norena, Director of Global Innovation, Whirlpool Corporation, about open innovation participation, strategies, and barriers to innovation success. Here is

New School is Old School

Published on 2011-06-20 22:22:44

by Stephen Shapiro I just finished reading a mindless crime novel* – my favorite genre of book. The victim was the producer of an old television series who recently sold the rights to do a remake ...

20 Awesome Quotes on Humor, Play, and Creativity

Published on 2011-06-20 22:01:29

by Mitch Ditkoff “To stimulate creativity one must develop childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition.” – Albert Einstein “If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.”

Innovation Matrix Reloaded

Published on 2011-06-19 23:05:40

by Tim Kastelle Since I put the Innovation Matrix together last year, we’ve been experimenting with it to see if it makes sense. I’ve used it in a couple of classes, and John and I have ...

The Human Side of Technology

Published on 2011-06-19 22:43:08

by Dr. Mike Shipulski Technology has strong character traits; it has wants and desires; it plans for the future. It’s alive. Technology continually tries to reinvent itself. And like rust, it never sleeps – it continually thinks, ...

7 Important Creative Thinking Skills

Published on 2011-06-19 22:22:27

by Mike Brown We were on a call recently with an extended creative team generating ideas for client videos. During breaks, I found myself jotting down examples of important creative thinking skills the team was exhibiting. ...

The Hero Culture

Published on 2011-06-19 22:01:23

by Barry Gruenberg The hero culture is alive and well in many organizations. Riding in on a white horse to rescue the company from a downward spiral, occasioned by a history of poor decisions, will win ...

Motivating and Retaining Innovative Employees in a Bureaucracy

Published on 2011-06-18 23:05:24

by Melba Kurman If universities want to play as participants, not gate-keepers, in our nation’s innovation ecosystem, university administrators need to learn to create a work environment that attracts, motivates and retains high-performing employe

10 Giant Leaps for Mankind

Published on 2011-06-18 22:43:46

by Kevin Roberts NASA is an ideas factory. The agency has generated countless spin-off innovations in their quest to repeatedly go where no man has gone before. Now as the aging shuttle fleet heads into retirement ...

Leadership Lessons from the Marine Corps

Published on 2011-06-18 22:22:22

by Patrick Lefler The United States Marine Corps is one the great leadership organizations whose principles have become the envy not only of other service branches but for business as well. Companies large and small have ...

Unleash Creative Possibilities with Bob Thacker

Published on 2011-06-18 22:01:00

by Mike Brown Bob Thacker, Chief Cubist at Cubit Consulting, closed out the Business Marketing Association conference with a presentation on “Unleash Your Creativity.” Thacker’s creativity comments were a fitting and fun (and by fun, I ...

Seth Godin on What’s Now and What You Can Do About It

Published on 2011-06-18 07:55:45

by Mike Brown When seeing a music superstar in concert you hope for a greatest hits performance covering their best recordings. You really hope the hits sound something like the original songs. You realize some songs ...

Is Strategy Worth Your Time?

Published on 2011-06-18 07:45:31

by Steve McKee A recent piece in The Economist cites a study by Rajesh Chandy, a professor at the London Business School, who concluded that corporate leaders spend only three to four percent of their time ...

Innovation Deficits and National Debts

Published on 2011-06-17 23:05:24

by Jeffrey Phillips The US Government, along with many other governments around the world, is beginning to come to grips with its fiscal deficit, and, hopefully, its long term debt. A deficit is a current ...

Culture is King at Zappos

Published on 2011-06-17 22:01:13

Tony Hsieh spoke to the World Innovation Forum about the five ways culture is built at Zappos.

Downsizing Workforce Downsizes Innovation

Published on 2011-06-16 23:05:44

by Jeffrey Baumgartner Not a day goes by in which we don’t hear about some major organization laying off thousands of employees. One of our salespeople recently followed up on a prospective client who had contacted ...

Political Innovation of the Decade

Published on 2011-06-16 22:43:29

Belgium and its Caretaker Government by Yann Cramer A year ago, thanks to its inability to form a government, Belgium became the laughing stock of political commentators. Today, nobody is laughing, not only because the media circus ...

Want to influence others? Stop being so rational!

Published on 2011-06-16 22:22:40

by Holly G. Green Salespeople have known it for years. People buy on emotion and then justify their decision with facts and logic. That’s why the best salespeople always lead with an emotional “hook” before presenting the ...

Leadership and Mentoring

Published on 2011-06-16 22:01:33

by Mike Myatt Leadership and mentoring go hand-in-hand. In fact, this is so much the case that I don’t believe a person qualifies as a leader unless they are a mentor. If you accept this premise ...

Innovation Interview with Scott Cook of Intuit

Published on 2011-06-15 23:05:57

by Braden Kelley This is the first of a series of video and text interviews with innovation leaders at a range of companies that are seeking to create innovation excellence in their organizations. This interview, and ...

Old Expectations More Dangerous Than Old Ideas

Published on 2011-06-15 22:43:04

by Jeffrey Phillips It’s rare that you’ll find a quote from General Motors in an innovation blog, but I read that Dan Akerson, Chairman and CEO of General Motors, gave the commencement address at Bryant University. ...

Choosing a Business Innovation Classification

Published on 2011-06-15 22:22:49

by Juergen H. Staeudtner Identifying the best way to innovate must include an analysis of the best business innovation strategy. This helps to focus resources on a common objective, to avoid ballast, and it also increases ...

Design Engineering or Engineering Design?

Published on 2011-06-15 22:01:05

by Idris Mootee Went to the Made in Brunel opening last week, Made in Brunel showcases creations from within Brunel University’s School of Engineering and Design. The show was held at the Bargehouse, four story building ...

How to Innovate – Restoring the American Dream

Published on 2011-06-14 23:05:41

by Braden Kelley For those of you that missed CNN’s special “Restoring the American Dream – How to Innovate”, here it is: In the video, Fareed Zakaria speaks with the following innovation experts: Google Executive Chairman,

Greenwashing – Electric Cars and Innovation Stalled

Published on 2011-06-14 22:43:15

by Robert Brands with Jeff Zbar Electric cars seem like the socially conscious, feel-good investment among environmentally friendly consumers. In corporate boardrooms, the innovation seemed well liked indeed. What’s not to like? Cars like the Nissa

Useful and Valuable

Published on 2011-06-14 22:22:52

by Jorge Barba One of the things that stuck with me from reading Braden Kelley’s book Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire is something that is rarely mentioned when deciding on an idea to execute, the distinction between ...

5 Keys to Making Innovation Communities Work

Published on 2011-06-14 22:01:49

by Stefan Lindegaard When I give talks on the intersection of open innovation and social media, I often get into discussions on what it takes to make a community work. This also happened when I met with ...

Who is Braden Kelley?

Published on 2011-06-14 18:20:57

And what should he be doing? The photograph above is from a speaking gig at the Second Line conference last month in New Orleans and was taken by Robert X. Fogarty – founder of the Dear ...

Should You Fish for Innovations or Catch Them?

Published on 2011-06-13 22:43:26

by Stephen Shapiro On talk radio the other day, they were discussing the fishing industry. The conversation centered on how certain types of much more popular than others. I not sure of the specifics, but I ...

Can there really be an Effective Organization?

Published on 2011-06-13 22:33:44

Why the answer may be no. by John Persico Warren Bennis once said that a leader does the right things while a manager does things right. One could extend this to mean that you must have ...

Innovator Mindset – Best Problem Solvers Win

Published on 2011-06-13 22:22:31

by Dennis Stauffer I’d like to make the case that life is fundamentally about figuring things out (or solving problems). We enter the world possessing a quite remarkable biomechanical device with powerful software already installed. Unfortunately (

P&G on Benefits of Open Innovation

Published on 2011-06-13 22:01:43

by Andrea Meyer Point: Open innovation is much more cost-effective than internal R&D Story: Larry Huston, formerly Innovation Officer at Procter & Gamble, spoke at the World Innovation Forum on June 8, 2011. Huston praised open innovation .

Amazon’s Innovation Philosophy

Published on 2011-06-12 23:05:47

by Braden Kelley What may have started with a question from @evanjacobs at Amazon.com’s shareholder meeting, ended with interesting commentary from Amazon’s CEO – Jeff Bezos – on their philosophy around invention, innovation,

Creating Time to Innovate

Published on 2011-06-12 22:43:55

by Mitch Ditkoff During the past few years I’ve noticed a curious paradox heading its ugly rear among business leaders tooting the horn for innovation. On one hand they want the rank and file to step ...

Do Universities Matter for Innovation?

Published on 2011-06-12 22:22:44

by John Steen I’m probably going to get in trouble for this post because the answer to the title question is yes and no. I am employed by the University of Queensland which prides itself as ...

The Innovation Filter Bubble

Published on 2011-06-12 22:01:04

by Tim Kastelle Here is a must-watch video from Eli Pariser discussing some of the themes from his new book The Filter Bubble (reviewed well here by Cory Doctorow). It’s only nine minutes, and it is ...

Wishful Thinking – Greatest Enemy of Today’s Entrepreneur

Published on 2011-06-11 23:05:40

by Patrick Lefler It’s been said that in warfare, the greatest enemy of victory is wishful thinking. The same can easily be said for today’s entrepreneur. In its most basic definition, “wishful thinking” is believing something ...

Reframing the Problem – Innovation in the Wine Industry

Published on 2011-06-11 22:44:40

by Chris Dolan Paddy Miller told the audience at the World Innovation Forum that one of the keys to innovation is correctly framing the problem before you search for the solution. Consider Miller’s amusing example: You’ve ...

Connecting with Gen Y

Published on 2011-06-11 22:22:21

by Kevin Roberts I’m permanently wired as Gen B; and CEO for some thousands of Gen Y. I’m interested in the literature of both. Call it GenLit. TGI Global, interactive solutions for the hospitality industry, published ...

4 Reasons Enterprise Software Should Skip Native Mobile Apps

Published on 2011-06-11 22:01:06

by Hutch Carpenter The desire to “consumerize” mobile apps for their own sake is stoking today’s outsized enthusiasm with device-specific enterprise mobile apps at a time when HTML5 is right there staring us all in the ...

Innovation Requires Breaking Out of Your Network

Published on 2011-06-10 23:05:10

by Jorge Barba Recently @JuhaLipponen shared his post on how gathering people from diverse backgrounds to brainstorm breeds new and fresh insights. This idea of bringing in outsiders to shake things up isn’t new, but it’s ...

Clayton Christensen – Two Surprising Reasons Good Companies Fail

Published on 2011-06-10 22:43:20

Clayton Christensen offered some surprising reasons good companies fail at the 2011 World Innovation Forum.

7 Key Steps – Google’s Zero Moment of Truth

Published on 2011-06-10 22:22:37

by Mike Brown Opening the BMA Unleash conference on Thursday, Jim Lecinski, Managing Director at Google, addressed the work Google is doing on the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) which was covered here last summer based ...

When Cash Isn’t King

Published on 2011-06-10 22:01:12

by Steve McKee In times of economic uncertainty, it’s wise to “store nuts”, as an entrepreneur friend of mine says. There’s no question that U.S. companies are doing just that, with nearly two trillion dollars in ...

Creative Idea Implementation Plan (v1.0)

Published on 2011-06-09 23:05:34

by Jeffrey Baumgartner There are a number of reasons why creative ideas fail to become innovations. Sometimes it is because the idea, which seems brilliant in concept, is flawed in application. More often, the problem is ...

Observe and Learn

Published on 2011-06-09 22:43:08

by Gijs van Wulfen The fuzzy front end of innovation confronts you with a lot of questions. In my new book Creating Innovative Products and Services I try to solve them with the FORTH innovation method. When ...

Protect Yourself From Conventional Wisdom!

Published on 2011-06-09 22:22:51

by Holly G. Green Recently I wrote about the dangers of relying on conventional wisdom to make critical business decisions. I thought it would be fun to look at some actual examples from over the years. “This ...

Learning Through Disagreement

Published on 2011-06-09 22:01:23

by Dr. Mike Shipulski It’s a little-known fact that you can disagree and still be a team player. (Really, it’s true.) It’s okay to disagree, but it should be done effectively. (Disagreement is not argument.) And ...

Five Types of Innovation Failure

Published on 2011-06-08 23:05:36

by Jeffrey Phillips Sitting in on a Twitter chat (#innochat) yesterday we were tweeting about innovation “failure”. One of the opportunities and challenges associated with tweeting is the difficulty of accurately defining what you mean .

From Skunk Works to Enterprise Open Innovation

Published on 2011-06-08 22:43:43

Deploying Open Innovation Inside the Enterprise by Klaus-Peter Speidel and Michael Bonner The brightest ideas often come from unexpected sources. This is why Open Innovation (OI) works. When companies go outside their own R&D departments to tap

6 Ways to Think Like a 5-year-old

Published on 2011-06-08 22:22:12

by Roy Luebke If you want to see the type of behavior adults need more of, watch some 5-year-olds on a playground for a few minutes. Step back in time and forget about deadlines, committee meetings, ...

Rethinking Good To Great

Published on 2011-06-08 22:22:04

by Mike Myatt If you’re a frequent reader of this blog you know from time-to-time I’ll take aim at a sacred cow and pull the trigger. I’ve had issues with some of the concepts contained in ...

Free Sample Chapter – Great Open Innovation Book

Published on 2011-06-08 19:05:16

by Braden Kelley I’d like to call your attention to a very interesting book on Crowdsourcing and Open Innovation, called – not coincidentally: A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing This inexpensive but valuable book is published by

10 Reasons for Open Innovation Failure

Published on 2011-06-07 23:05:43

by Stefan Lindegaard It happens. Open innovation initiatives fail to deliver on the expected outcome. There is not much of a surprise in this, but I am curious on the reasons and I have thus started ...

Innovation Requires the Courage to be Wrong

Published on 2011-06-07 22:44:30

by Dennis Stauffer To update C.K. Chesterton: Conservatives think Liberals are too prone to make mistakes, while Liberals think Conservatives are unwilling to ever correct their mistakes. No, I don’t want to engage in any political debate, ...

Open Innovation in Large Contracting Relationships

Published on 2011-06-07 22:23:51

by Kevin McFarthing The International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM) is a successful organization of professionals involved with large contracts, procurement and outsourcing. If you want to know about anything to do with

Facebook – The Social Accelerator?

Published on 2011-06-07 22:01:27

by Venessa Miemis We live in a world of accelerating change. As our communication technologies evolve, it becomes easier to connect more and more of us around the planet to each other. The web collapses space ...

Recipe for Innovation & Uptake

Published on 2011-06-06 23:05:42

by Seth Kahan The only way to have a new idea catch fire is to introduce it into the world in ways that enable as many people as possible to begin using it for their advantage. ...

The Change Challenge for Innovation Consultants

Published on 2011-06-06 22:44:22

by Paul Hobcraft Recently I was reminded of an article by Daniel Krauss, writing on the Forrester blog site about the “Path to Revolution In Management Consulting” which lead me to reply to his question of ...

Insider’s View on Microwork and a Sample Output

Published on 2011-06-06 22:22:02

by Stephen Shapiro As readers of this blog know, I am always interested in exploring different forms of open innovation, collaboration, and outsourcing. Personally, I have used a number of sites including 99designs.com and elance.com. ...

Your Customers Aren’t Listening

Published on 2011-06-06 22:01:04

by Matt Heinz We appear to have a bit of a disconnect on our hands. According to a recent study by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, there’s a significant divide between how companies want to leverage social ...

In Case You Missed the CNN Global Innovation Special

Published on 2011-06-06 17:17:26

by Braden Kelley On Sunday, June 5, 2011 on CNN Global a television special titled Restoring the American Dream: How to Innovate – A FAREED ZAKARIA GPS Special debuted on CNN Global and will be featured ...

Turn Your Suggestion Box into an Innovation Engine

Published on 2011-06-05 23:39:08

by Patrick Lefler There’s one change above all others that can increase the effectiveness of your suggestion box and turn it into supercharged innovation engine. This action will eliminate the mundane ideas and allow the real ...

Do Tax Breaks for R&D Lead to Innovation?

Published on 2011-06-05 23:34:08

by John Steen Innovation is a complex process and I’m always skeptical about simple solutions to encourage companies to be more innovative. Recently I have written about some evidence against the widely-held assumption that creating industry ...

Innovation – Discover the Right Questions

Published on 2011-06-05 23:23:46

by Jeffrey Phillips “What’s the right answer?” is a question we hear all the time. In school we are expected to learn our material and spit out the “right” answer on demand. In business ...

50 Awesome Quotes on Possibility

Published on 2011-06-05 22:44:08

by Mitch Ditkoff “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – St. Francis of Assisi “The Wright brother flew right through the smoke screen of impossib

Making “I Don’t Know” Safe

Published on 2011-06-04 23:05:09

by Dr. Mike Shipulski Doing new is difficult and scary. For safety, we create complexity and hide behind it; we swim for the weeds; we dive for the details. (At least we’ll come across as ...

Customers Don’t Care About Your Costs

Published on 2011-06-04 22:44:21

by Patrick Lefler If customers don’t care about cost, then why do so many firms put so much emphasis on cost when determining price? The answer is that these same firms who rely on cost to ...

A Painful Integrated Marketing Lesson

Published on 2011-06-04 22:22:24

by Steve McKee There’s never been a better time to be an amateur athlete, what with all the high tech, GPS-based gear out there that can entertain, advise, motivate, coach and track hikers, climbers, runners, cyclists ...

Fit for Work

Published on 2011-06-04 22:01:09

by Kevin Roberts I’ve blogged before about not getting a lot of free time – and liking it that way. For me, work-life integration is about finding compelling work and devoting everything I have to performing ...

KISS – Keep Innovation Simple, Sweetheart

Published on 2011-06-03 23:05:21

by Jeffrey Baumgartner One of the underlying maxims of engineering is that of KISS, an acronym for “Keep It Simple, Stupid” or, as I prefer: “Keep It Simple Sweetheart”. And if you have ever watched a ...

The Power of Cognitive Diversity on Innovation

Published on 2011-06-03 22:44:19

by Mark E Miller As an often indefinable output, innovation can be difficult to accurately measure and even more difficult to reliably produce. What constitutes innovation at one organization may simply be called production at ...

Testing Your Innovation Instincts

Published on 2011-06-03 22:22:00

by Yann Cramer Look at the picture of the chairless chair (right) or if you want to see more pictures click here. Now, examine your feelings: what is your first reaction? Honestly. And the second? Find in ...

13 Warning Signs Your Organization Isn’t Ready for Social Media

Published on 2011-06-03 22:01:43

by Mike Brown This list of warning signs your organization’s culture isn’t ready for social media isn’t comprehensive, and I’m not offering a model today for organizing these issues or a prescription for solving them. But ...

May’s Top 10 Innovation and Marketing Articles

Published on 2011-06-02 23:05:49

Building Customer Empathy for Innovation

Published on 2011-06-02 22:43:35

Empathize if you want to strengthen customer bond by Holly G. Green You’re experiencing unknown aches and pains in part of your body, so you schedule an appointment to see your doctor. During the examination, the doctor ...

Making Open Innovation Work

Published on 2011-06-02 22:22:34

by Stefan Lindegaard In the excitement to begin open innovation efforts, it is possible to overlook important groundwork that should be done that will help assure that things go smoothly over time. This includes reaching agreement on ...

Will Linkedin push employers’ hiring button?

Published on 2011-06-02 22:01:43

Hidden Significance of LinkedIn’s ‘Apply’ button by Rocco Tarasi There’s something big about LinkedIn’s recent news that no one is talking about yet. According to a report, LinkedIn is expected to announce their “

The Risks of User Feedback

Published on 2011-06-01 23:05:15

by Rocco Tarasi To seek user feedback, or not to seek user feedback… that is the question. Of course, I’m not talking about getting user feedback after you launch your product – you’d be crazy not to ...

Faux Goodness And EcoSploitation

Published on 2011-06-01 22:43:45

by Paul Williams “What a scam!” I thought, while drying off with the hotel towel. I reached over and read the card the hotel left in the basket among the soaps and mini-shampoo bottles. It explained how ...

Not All Research is Meaningful

Published on 2011-06-01 22:22:19

by Mike Myatt Just because something gets published doesn’t necessarily mean it has any value. In fact, misleading or wrong information that finds its way into the public domain can be quite harmful. I just finished ...

Google versus Apple

Published on 2011-06-01 22:01:45

Google and Apple may seem to share similar innovation patterns from afar, but under the hood, they play totally different ball games. This way, they demonstrate their ability to build their own identity based on a genuinely personal innovation model

Impact of Culture and Stage Gates on Innovation

Published on 2011-06-01 10:14:21

Interview – Cor Bosselaar – Kimberly-Clark I had the opportunity to interview Cor Bosselaar, Portfolio Manager of Corporate Innovation, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, about innovation, stage-gate processes and building a balanced innovation portfoli

Design Thinking and Growth

Published on 2011-05-31 23:05:12

What’s the Connection? Why do we Need Growth? by Idris Mootee Growth is a funny word and often misunderstood just like other words such as strategy or innovation. I have heard from people from 25 year old ...

Innovation and the Business Ecosystem

Published on 2011-05-31 22:43:54

by Dennis Stauffer Innovation is driving change in the business ecosystem and the dynamics of this change are remarkably similar to those found in nature. Several years ago biologists studied the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National ...

How Should We Measure Innovation?

Published on 2011-05-31 22:22:47

by Stefan Lindegaard A company in my Danish network group recently created a global innovation management department whose task it is to strengthen and systematize innovation and innovation processes in their Global Research unit as well ...

Open Innovation and IP – Protecting Trade Secrets

Published on 2011-05-31 22:01:13

by Kevin McFarthing A lot has been written about Intellectual Property (IP) and Open Innovation. It’s not surprising, because it’s one of the thorniest problems facing collaborators. In a recent blog I talked about ...

Innovation Thinking – Robust to Resilient

Published on 2011-05-30 23:05:39

by Paul Hobcraft It is always interesting how one ‘thing’ triggers another thought, and then you reflect and learn something that helps you add a new kernel of knowledge. This happened recently while looking at the ...

Innovating What We Innovate

Published on 2011-05-30 22:43:41

by Caspar van Rijnbach When I hear people speak about innovation, or when one sees people present innovation, most of the time it comes back to the same old talk about iPads, iPhones, iPods and ...

Keep the Idea Highway Open to All

Published on 2011-05-30 22:22:29

by Robert F Brands Innovation advances your company towards the future – generating new products or services, boosting profits and increasing stakeholder value. To develop Innovation, the first step is to Inspire and Initiate your organization

Ten Rules for Starting a Business

Published on 2011-05-30 22:01:45

by Matt Heinz I’ll never forget the very first day of Heinz Marketing. It was just me, a laptop and a (pending) business license. I had a meeting with a new client in downtown Seattle in ...

Film and Pharmaceutical Industries Ripe for Innovation

Published on 2011-05-29 23:05:30

by Jeffrey Phillips In a number of industries, large firms have created the concept of a “blockbuster”. The blockbuster is the big “make or break” product or service that creates such a bow-wave of profits ...

Does your Structure help or hinder Innovation?

Published on 2011-05-29 22:44:07

by Paul Sloane The traditional top-down structure in organizations can be a powerful inhibitor to innovation. It is a reflection of a command and control style of leadership where orders are issued at the top and ...

Entrepreneurs and the Art of Problem Solving

Published on 2011-05-29 22:25:48

by Patrick Lefler It’s been said that a problem clearly stated is already half solved, but for most entrepreneurs, impatience usually gets the best of them and they never get the chance to apply the necessary ...

Why You Need to Ask Why

Published on 2011-05-29 22:04:16

by Mitch Ditkoff Some years ago, there was a big problem at one of America’s most treasured monuments — the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. Simply put, birds — in huge numbers — were pooping all ...

Creativity Is More Practice Than Magic

Published on 2011-05-28 23:03:15

by Paul Williams As problem solvers our role is to support companies, clients, and customers by solving their business problems. We’re asked to help drive sales, increase traffic, and build community. These challenges, and others, are solved ...

Startup America to Accelerate Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Published on 2011-05-28 22:45:55

by Andrea Meyer Point: Entrepreneurs in high-growth companies can influence the federal government to increase their company’s access to capital, people, and markets. Story: Accelerating high-growth entrepreneurship Background: The Startup America

The Power of Storytelling

Published on 2011-05-28 22:25:47

by Patrick Lefler Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore remains one of the best sources of information on how to market and sell “disruptive products to mainstream customers.” Despite being first published almost twenty years ago, ...

3D Art and the Participation Economy

Published on 2011-05-28 22:06:36

by Kevin Roberts It took more than two years for Michelangelo to carve his famed David, but now you can have a mini-masterpiece of your own in a matter of moments. A group called blablabLAB has ...

What do Innovators Know That You Don’t?

Published on 2011-05-27 23:05:44

by Jeffrey Phillips From the outside, looking in at innovative firms, it seems that the innovators must be fantastically insightful, smart and rapid responders. After all, innovation requires that someone or some team spot a ...

Rockstar Studios Knows How to Innovate

Published on 2011-05-27 22:45:52

by Jorge Barba Yesterday I wrote about how innovation requires courage. It takes guts and vision to do something that is so remarkable, that it changes everything. Here then, is a great example. Innovation in the gaming ...

Importance of Empathy to Leadership

Published on 2011-05-27 22:31:36

by Holly G Green A while back I wrote a blog about resilience being one of the most important qualities for today’s leaders. A number of readers agreed with me, and one went on to point ...

University Patents and Intellectual Ventures Investment

Published on 2011-05-27 22:01:52

by Melba Kurman Last week Intellectual Ventures revealed its list of major investors. On it were several major U.S. research universities and research organizations. Brown University Cornell University Grinnell College Mayo Clinic Northwestern Uni

Innovation Strategy versus Brand Strategy

Published on 2011-05-27 12:57:02

Interview – Steven Cristol – Strategic Harmony® Partners I had the opportunity to interview Steven Cristol, Founder and Managing Partner of Strategic Harmony® Partners about branding, innovation and sustainability. Strategic Harmony® Partners

Importance of Creative Tension to Innovation

Published on 2011-05-26 23:05:43

by Nicolas Bry Innovation is no serendipity” says Braden Kelley in Innovation is No Accident: “When it comes to innovation, good ideas are a dime of a dozen”. The story of Newton’s falling apple is surely not ...

Are your ideas audacious enough?

Published on 2011-05-26 22:41:42

by Jeffrey Baumgartner In most business ideas, there is a direct correlation between how audacious and risky an idea is and its innovativeness and reward potential. Disruptive innovation – in other words, innovative ideas which disrupt ...

Success, Failure and the Courage to Continue

Published on 2011-05-26 21:09:01

by Yann Cramer A friend’s recent quoting of Winston Churchill stroke me as a good summary of the innovator’s mindset. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” “Success is ...

What Makes CEO’s Good for Innovation?

Published on 2011-05-26 21:01:23

by Stefan Lindegaard I pondered on this question and decided to reach out to some of my friends at Psion, a leader on rugged mobile computing solutions. Their CEO is John Conoley. He joined Psion in 2008 ...

Join Us in Belgium

Published on 2011-05-26 13:51:40

La journée de l’Innovation Come join us June 23, 2011 in Mons, Belgium for some great innovation talks and networking! Blogging Innovation is proud to announce that Braden Kelley will be speaking at Microsoft Innovation Center Belgium’s ...

Are you ready for the Innovation Decathalon?

Published on 2011-05-25 23:05:09

by Jeffrey Phillips After close to eight years doing innovation work, you’d think there would be few surprises left, but almost every week I get another perspective or another insight that simply floors me. Whether ...

Be Careful When Managing Up

Published on 2011-05-25 22:45:15

by Mike Myatt “Managing Up” is a great catch phrase and an interesting concept – it’s also a practice that can get you in deep trouble rather quickly if misunderstood or misapplied. Many people would say ...

What’s your innovation assigment?

Published on 2011-05-25 22:25:38

by Gijs van Wulfen The fuzzy front end of innovation confronts you with a lot of questions. In my new book ‘Creating Innovative Products and Services’ I try to solve them. In my last blog here ...

Why do so many great businesses fail?

Published on 2011-05-25 22:05:04

Lets Take Another Look by John Persico A few years ago, I started thinking about all of the “mistakes” that management and organizations have made. There are several books dealing with the subject and various companies, leaders ...

Time for Your R & D Team to Stop Inventing and Start Innovating

Published on 2011-05-24 23:20:26

by Jackie Hutter In a recent post here, Open Innovation guru Stefan Lindegaard presented the ostensibly nonsensical hypothesis: R & D leaders are often a “threat” to innovation. Stefan’s post resulted from an interaction ...

Government Innovation – An Oxymoron?

Published on 2011-05-24 23:01:09

by Kamal Hassan The basic definition of innovation is “to challenge the status quo and constantly promote change.” However, a stable, monopolistic environment doesn’t tend to lead to innovative behavior, and can increase its bias toward ...

Design Thinking, Business Transformation and the Creative Enterprise

Published on 2011-05-24 22:31:01

by Idris Mootee It is time to take a look at the report card of our design for business organization, management and strategy. After half a century of quality movement, brand management, marketing and category management, ...

When R&D Leaders are a Threat to Innovation

Published on 2011-05-24 22:30:43

by Stefan Lindegaard I recently had a discussion with a senior innovation leader in a mid-size high-tech company. The guy turned out to be pretty skeptical on open innovation and although I agree that open innovation ...

Thank You to Our May Sponsor

Published on 2011-05-24 15:17:22

by Braden Kelley Thank you to Planview and PIPELINE 2011 for being one of the founding sponsors of the imminent Innovation Excellence site. Join us at PIPELINE 2011 – The Online Conference for Product Development Innovation Excellence is ...

Mindset Comes Before Innovation

Published on 2011-05-23 23:04:43

by Dennis Stauffer In a previous post here – Innovation is Not Problem Solving, I chose a title I knew was provocative, and one I labored over. I debated with myself over whether to perhaps make ...

What if All of Work Were Gamified?

Published on 2011-05-23 23:02:56

by Saul Kaplan Need to turn around your company? Trying to start a movement? Want to change the world? Easy Peasy! Just turn it in to a game. Everywhere we turn, it seems there are experts ...

Now is the Time You’re Waiting For

Published on 2011-05-23 22:22:54

by Paul Williams Many of us have been waiting for the right moment. The right moment to… ask the boss for a raise; find a job that’s more satisfying; pitch your new product idea; propose; start ...

How to Remember More of Your Brilliant Ideas

Published on 2011-05-23 22:01:17

by Matt Heinz Mind like water, memory like a sieve. At least five times in the past week, I’ve had an idea while driving. Thanks to Dial2Do (and hands-free Bluetooth if you’re reading this, highway patrol), I ...

Join Us at the Open Innovation Summit

Published on 2011-05-23 13:33:22

by Braden Kelley Come join us August 10-12, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois for some great open innovation talks, panels, and networking! Blogging Innovation is proud to announce that Braden Kelley will be the chairperson for World Research ...

No Strategy, No Worthwhile Innovation

Published on 2011-05-22 23:05:43

by Jeffrey Phillips I’ve written previously that many organizations confuse innovation and strategy. Strategy consists of the vision your executives have for the business over the longer term. Strategy includes how the firm will ...

Am I Allowed Here?

Published on 2011-05-22 23:04:59

by Tim Kastelle Here is an outstanding talk from Nilofer Merchant (and an interesting post about the background to it) – it is well worth your time: Here are some of the key points that jump out ...

Increasing the Odds of an AHA Moment

Published on 2011-05-22 23:04:36

by Mitch Ditkoff What is it that allows some people to get creative breakthroughs while others get only creative breakdowns — alternately blaming themselves, society, their company, and their increasingly suspect astrological configurations? Is

Stop Changing the Definition of Ownership

Published on 2011-05-22 23:01:29

by Rocco Tarasi Consumers are frustrated. As innovations lead us to newer, better, faster, more powerful products and services, we keep finding a disparity between our purchase of those products and services and the rights ...

Get Out of the Office and Talk to Customers

Published on 2011-05-21 23:05:31

by Patrick Lefler The two most important steps for any new business venture are to understand whom you are selling your product to and why they will buy it. And to best answer these two questions, ...

Being Best More Important than Being First

Published on 2011-05-21 23:04:46

by Jorge Barba A few weeks ago Techcrunch published an article about a startup that got seed money from a well know group of VC’s. And because this startup is working on a similar concept that ...

5 Personalities That Ruin the Social Media Party

Published on 2011-05-21 23:02:26

The 5 personality types that ruin the social media party. Why do companies behave worse online than any person would at a cocktail party?

Measuring Happiness

Published on 2011-05-21 23:01:14

by Kevin Roberts I have written often about the importance of happiness for your own life and for the good of society. Friends of the Earth did a brilliant World Happiness Index a few years ago ...

Job Hunting in a Social Media World

Published on 2011-05-20 23:04:49

Are You Keeping Up? by Holly G. Green A colleague sent me an interesting report the other day – 125 Linked-In Job Search Tips. It’s a great read that got me thinking about how much things have ...

Innovating When Personal Creativity is Uncomfortable

Published on 2011-05-20 23:03:51

by Mike Brown Is your mission to make everybody comfortable with their personal creativity? I’ll admit this generalization of my favorite CreativeBloc question is in my words, not the attendee’s. His questions (“How do you make ...

Bio Innovation

Published on 2011-05-20 23:02:48

by Peter Doyle Talk to a Technology Transfer Executive at any University and they will tell you the licensing money is in Biotechnology, more simply put, in medicine. Innovation in the Biotechnology marketplace is a ...

The Gap at GAP

Published on 2011-05-20 23:02:46

by Steve McKee Gap’s top designer, Patrick Robinson, may never go into a 7-11 again, having gone from promising hire in ’07 to out of a job in ‘11. As The Wall Street Journal’s Elizabeth Holmes ...

The Corporate Innovation Machine

Published on 2011-05-19 23:05:06

by Jeffrey Baumgartner A simple model for implementing an idea management based innovation strategy in your firm. Outline The corporate innovation machine is a model for understanding how to implement an effective, idea management based innovation s

Improving Our Economy One Company at a Time

Published on 2011-05-19 23:04:42

by Dr. Mike Shipulski I think we can turn around the United States economy, one company at a time. Here’s how: To start, we must make a couple commitments to ourselves: We will do what it takes ...

What’s Your Conventional Wisdom?

Published on 2011-05-19 23:03:58

How is it keeping you from winning? by Holly G. Green It’s hard to beat experience, strength and knowledge, right? Try telling that to the Los Angeles Lakers. Conventional wisdom said the Lakers were primed to win their ...

Innovation Lessons from a Verse Translation

Published on 2011-05-19 23:03:39

Slowing Down the Cow by Yann Cramer As June fast approaches in the calendar – and even faster in the warmth of the wind – I remember the bucolic poem ‘Juin’ by Leconte de Lisle that I ...

Innovation Superheroes and Their Kryptonite

Published on 2011-05-18 23:05:45

by Jeffrey Phillips I read Kate Bennett’s recent post on the concept of an Innovation Superstar. I think many organizations wish they had an innovation superhero, but I think that the superhero is a thin ...

Lets Avoid an Innovation Religion

Published on 2011-05-18 23:04:47

by Kurt Peys Recently, an SME entrepreneur asked me for the best practices to innovate and create a sustainable innovation culture in his company. Quite an interesting question, but not an easy one to answer. Let’s ...

Toxic Work Environments

Published on 2011-05-18 23:03:45

by Mike Myatt I have read a tremendous amount of information over the last several months on the topic of toxic work environments. While these articles tended to stir the pot a bit, they were in ...

There’s Always Another New Approach

Published on 2011-05-18 23:02:47

by Jamie Flinchbaugh Last year I saw a comment from a respected entrepreneur who was claiming “all the big ideas have already been created.” I was highly disappointed, because it’s reeks of pre-1492 attitudes about the ...

Innovation Excellence is Coming Soon

Published on 2011-05-17 23:06:19

A message from the Founder The global innovation community is moving to a new home soon – Innovation Excellence. Founded by two of the world’s leading innovation experts – Braden Kelley (author, Stoking your Innovation Bonfire) ...

Design Thinking – Helping to Create a Quantum Leap in Strategic Innovation

Published on 2011-05-17 23:05:29

by Idris Mootee Lately I have been meeting with dozens of potential candidates who are seriously interested and passionate about design thinking and understand the role it plays in transforming organizations, design thinking can help companies ...

The Right Rewards – Business Beyond Bonuses

Published on 2011-05-17 23:04:52

Recognition goes above and beyond financial rewards.

The Bluebird of Unhappiness – and Un-Innovation

Published on 2011-05-17 23:03:57

by Dennis Stauffer Inspiration appears in odd places sometimes. As the spring nesting season gets underway, I’ve been wondering if I will see the return of one very determined little companion. Last year at this time, ...

5 Ways to Gain Skills and Experience on Open Innovation

Published on 2011-05-17 23:03:23

by Stefan Lindegaard It can be difficult for smaller companies to find the time and proper methods to help their employees gain skills and experience on open innovation. Here are five suggestions on what they can ...

Antibodies in the Innovation Petri Dish

Published on 2011-05-17 23:01:17

by Paul Hobcraft For many years I’ve been fascinated by these ‘Corporate Antibodies’ that we find in that classic management pathology that instinctively rejects and refuses to alter its ways, so as to protect itself. ...

Asia’s Changing Attitude To Innovation

Published on 2011-05-16 23:25:28

by Marianne Mai An article I read recently on ZDNet Asia stated that Asia-Pacific economies such as Japan, China, Taiwan and Singapore led the way in the submission and approval of patents from the United States ...

Your Innovation Portfolio is Precious

Published on 2011-05-16 23:03:58

by Nicolas Bry Strategy is about resource allocation. So is innovation, and portfolio management (PM) is one proper practice of investing resource according to your innovation strategy. Robert G. Cooper is a master in portfolio management. He has def

Do you Have Innovation Akinetopsia?

Published on 2011-05-16 23:02:50

by Kurt Peys In a book on neurological aspects within human behavior, I learned about the existence of Akinetopsia (Motion Blindness). It is a neuropsychological disorder in which a patient cannot perceive motion in their visual ...

Great Example of Show versus Tell Marketing

Published on 2011-05-16 23:01:54

by Matt Heinz Let’s say you’re at a trade show. You sell balloons. More specifically, you sell things made out of balloons. You could bring brochures with descriptions of how you work. You could bring pictures, too. Better ...

PARC Responds – Apple and the Truth About Innovation

Published on 2011-05-15 23:05:05

by Sonal Chokshi, Lawrence Lee, Peter Pirolli On the surface, Malcolm Gladwell’s latest article for The New Yorker, “Creation Myth: Xerox PARC, Apple, and the truth about innovation“, is a story about the mouse and how ...

Managing Clients Who Love Their Creative Ideas

Published on 2011-05-15 23:04:13

by Mike Brown My comment on sometimes working toward a creative objective without letting others know what’s happening, triggered this more specific CreativeBloc question about successfully managing a client (and the client’s ego) when they l

Law of Big Numbers Kills Innovation

Published on 2011-05-15 23:03:23

by Stefan Lindegaard I just read a comment by Mike Hess in my 15inno group on LinkedIn. Mike is Vice President for Innovation Excellence at Medtronic and he is a very experienced corporate innovator worth listening ...

Streamline Your Innovation Approval Process

Published on 2011-05-15 23:02:33

by Paul Sloane Try this exercise. Draw a flow chart diagram of your organization’s approval process for innovations. Pick an example for a theoretical new idea. Suppose it is a good idea to improve customers’ ...

Join Braden Kelley This Week in Boston

Published on 2011-05-15 14:14:02

by Braden Kelley Come join me this week at the Front End of Innovation in Boston, MA from May 16-18, 2011 where I will be taking an active role on all three days of the conference. ...

Targeting Your Innovation Efforts

Published on 2011-05-14 23:05:55

by Drew Boyd Companies get better results from innovation by targeting initiatives at the right places. Given limited time, money, and human resources, here are six areas to focus on: 1. Your Value Drivers What activities across ...

David Didn’t Beat Goliath with a Whiteboard

Published on 2011-05-14 23:05:34

by Patrick Lefler Tim Ferris, best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek has written a great essay that is featured in the entrepreneurial TechStars book Do More Faster talking about the value of ideas. Titled Trust Me, ...

Winning From the Edge

Published on 2011-05-14 23:04:38

by Kevin Roberts Last week I was back home in New Zealand, speaking to Deloitte alumni in Auckland and Wellington. Deloitte NZ CEO Murray Jack and his team had a great energy, and a vital question ...

Innovation Differences – Big vs. Small Companies

Published on 2011-05-14 23:03:21

by Stefan Lindegaard Anyone who has worked for both a large corporation and a small, entrepreneurial company can talk endlessly about the differences in the two cultures and mindsets. The differences can be stark. Let’s look ...

Fear of Success

Published on 2011-05-13 23:04:05

by Dr. Mike Shipulski The to-do list, whether digital or analog, we’ve all got ‘em. We cross things off and put things on (mostly the latter); the list evolves – it’s a living thing.We put ...

Enhancing Innovation in a Small Organization

Published on 2011-05-13 23:03:23

by Mike Brown How do you start enhancing innovation in a small organization? The keynote training presentation I did for CreativeBloc was on “Taking the NO Out of Business InNOvation,” with its ideas on how to counteract ...

It’s a Great Time to be Stuck

Published on 2011-05-13 23:02:58

by Steve McKee Anybody who’s been in business for any length of time knows that, from a marketing standpoint, something fundamental has changed over the past few years. In an odd way, there has never been ...

Do You Really Need a Mission Statement?

Published on 2011-05-13 23:01:36

by John Persico We have all been told countless times that a “mission statement” is critical to the success of an organization. I am sure you have heard that “if you don’t know where you are ...

3 Fundamental Open Innovation Questions

Published on 2011-05-12 23:04:47

by Stefan Lindegaard Here are three fundamental questions that must be answered before embarking on a journey toward open innovation: 1. What will open innovation do to your business model? In an open innovation world, you may end ...

Central Role of Communication in Innovation

Published on 2011-05-12 23:03:32

by Jeffrey Baumgartner The one ingredient essential for a company to become an innovation driven firm is communications. Consider the old parable: One day while wondering, I came across three bricklayers. I asked the first bricklayer what ...

Re-Recruiting Your Best Talent

Published on 2011-05-12 23:02:24

Your Best Defense Against Restless Feet by Holly G. Green Suppose one-third of your employees suddenly walked off the job. Think it might impact your ability to serve your customers and achieve your strategic goals? Granted, the odds ...

Creative Problem Solving Lessons from “Old School”

Published on 2011-05-12 23:01:12

What the movie Old School can teach us about business opportunities, innovation initiatives, and creative problem solving skills.

Structure Your Ideation Approach

Published on 2011-05-12 07:41:08

by Gijs van Wulfen The fuzzy front end of innovation confronts you with a lot of questions. This time I like to introduce a structured ideation method, which combines both creativity and business reality, to help ...

What’s Your Time Worth?

Published on 2011-05-11 23:18:04

Why Pricing Matters by Mike Myatt Are you shooting yourself in the foot with your pricing strategy? How much is your time worth? What does your pricing say about your personal or corporate brand? Do you have ...

We Have Met the Enemy of Innovation and it is Us

Published on 2011-05-11 23:07:17

by Jeffrey Phillips I struggled for a long time to understand what the real barriers are for innovation. Yesterday, in a conversation with the folks at Xiameter, a brand from Dow Corning, a light bulb ...

The Beginning of a New Discipline

Published on 2011-05-10 23:05:43

Design Thinking Has Inspired Multi-disciplinary, Interdisciplinary and Trans-disciplinary Approaches To Problem Solving by Idris Mootee Prague is mystical with a mix of medieval, Renaissance, and Art Nouveau architecture and the design scene is slow

10 Practical Tips on Making Innovation Happen

Published on 2011-05-10 23:03:24

by Stefan Lindegaard What can executives do to lead their business units and the company as a whole to become more innovative? How can they innovate how the company innovates? A key thing is that many executives ...

Make Innovation Part of Your Routine

Published on 2011-05-10 23:02:17

by Kevin McFarthing We all know the regular diary entries. Write monthly report. Produce monthly numbers. Set annual objectives. Plan summer holiday. Watch favorite TV program. These tasks come around ...

Sociometric Feedback and Global Collaboration

Published on 2011-05-10 23:01:28

by Steve Todd In a previous post I highlighted how sociometric badges can be worn by group collaborators. These badges were tested by Taemie Kim of MIT as part of her PhD research. Her thesis was ...

Innovation Opportunities in Shipping Industry

Published on 2011-05-09 23:52:05

by Ric Merrifield In fairness, this issue isn’t limited to UPS, that just happens to be the source of my most recent bad experience with this. What’s the shipping dinosaur? SIGNATURE REQUIRED. When you ship something to ...

Managing Open Innovation Roadblocks

Published on 2011-05-09 23:39:48

by Paul Hobcraft I always find thoughtful lists as extremely helpful to prompt my thinking on different issues. It often helps to unblock my own thinking. This one is for open innovation. One such list I compiled ...

Innovation is Not Problem Solving

Published on 2011-05-09 23:28:32

by Dennis Stauffer The most effective innovators don’t wait for problems to arise. They fix what isn’t broken and seek to improve on things that have no apparent deficit. When I speak about the behaviors and choices ...

9 Ways to Keep your Startup from Acting Like a Big Company

Published on 2011-05-09 23:01:46

by Matt Heinz The kind of big-company behavior we all hate – bureaucracy, slow decision-making, politics, stifled innovation – doesn’t just happen at big companies. It creeps into new businesses as well, with just a handful ...

Blogging Innovation is Open for Business

Published on 2011-05-08 23:05:55

by Braden Kelley In preparation for the launch of Innovation Excellence, and in the continuing spirit of the global Blogging Innovation community, I am opening up this blog even farther. If you are a published author, an ...

An Open Innovation Disaster

Published on 2011-05-08 23:05:45

Campbell Soup Company by Stefan Lindegaard “Innovation is the lifeblood of the consumer packaged goods industry.” This is the first sentence you meet at Campbell’s Ideas for Innovation website. This is very true and we see lots of ...

Innovation Challenge – Learning From Failure

Published on 2011-05-08 23:04:55

by Tim Kastelle I’m still working my way through Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz. It’s a very interesting book, and nicely written. I’ll tell you more about it when I’m done. In the meantime, I’d like ...

Treat Crazy Ideas With Respect

Published on 2011-05-08 23:03:43

by Mitch Ditkoff The next time somebody approaches you with a “crazy” idea, pause before putting them down. Instead of looking for what’s wrong, look for what’s right. See if you can find a hidden jewel ...

Perils of Unstructured Innovation in Asia

Published on 2011-05-08 23:02:20

by Marianne Mai I’m a big proponent of innovation using a structured process, as opposed to a few execs converging behind closed doors and brainstorming without form or format. Or maybe you visualize geeky bespectacled types, ...

Role of Smartfailing in Improving University Innovation Strategy

Published on 2011-05-07 23:04:13

by Melba Kurman Stefan Lindegaard uses a term called “smartfailing” to describe a new approach to failure. A smartfailing organization, when things go wrong (as they frequently will), does not focus its energy on ...

Winning or Losing – Which is more powerful?

Published on 2011-05-07 23:03:49

by Patrick Lefler Loss aversion refers to the tendency of people to strongly prefer avoiding losses as opposed to acquiring gains. And this difference between gains and losses is so strong that some studies suggest that ...

7 Ways to Borrow Creative Ideas with a Clear Conscience

Published on 2011-05-07 23:03:33

by Mike Brown Is it really okay to borrow creative ideas? I talk and write often about borrowing ideas as a source for creative instigation. One CreativeBloc question wondered about this strategy, saying borrowing a creative idea ...

Innovation Ecosystem Opportunities and Complexity

Published on 2011-05-07 23:01:02

by Stefan Lindegaard At a recent session, Rick Wielens, VP Marketing & Sales at NineSigma presented how NineSigma views an ecosystem. I like the image as it gives a good understanding on the many relationships to be ...

The Dan Plan

Published on 2011-05-07 23:01:01

by Kevin Roberts In his book Outliers Malcolm Gladwell shares a theory that if you practice something for 10,000 hours you become excellent at it. It’s something I’ve posted on before – the theory puts a ...

The Power of the Coin Flip

Published on 2011-05-07 08:12:42

by Paul Williams While it may be a nice way to choose who gets the last cupcake or which side of the field your team starts on, the coin flip can seem like a pretty flimsy ...

The Future is Past – Fast

Published on 2011-05-06 23:04:59

by Steve McKee Recently I attended a conference on new media at which one of the speakers cited the Men’s Health iPad app as “the future of publishing.” Everybody (including me) nodded, recognizing how well the ...

Protecting Creativity When it is Not Valued

Published on 2011-05-06 23:03:34

by Mike Brown When creativity isn’t appreciated in your organization culture, what can you do if changing jobs isn’t an option? I told the recent CreativeBloc audience that if anyone worked in a place that didn’t value ...

Look Inside for Innovation

Published on 2011-05-06 23:01:48

by Dr. Mike Shipulski Everyone is dissatisfied with the pace of innovation – solutions that change the game don’t come fast enough. We look to the environment, and assign blame. We blame the tools, the process, ...

Do You Really Need an Internal Innovation Unit?

Published on 2011-05-05 23:05:26

by Stefan Lindegaard Do companies really need internal innovation units in times where industry after industry has begun embracing open or external innovation? The question was triggered by comments made to a couple of my recent blog ...

The Risks of an Idea

Published on 2011-05-05 23:04:09

Why innovative people in your firm may not be sharing their best ideas by Jeffrey Baumgartner Albert Einstein once said “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” How true. ...

When Tradition Meets Social Innovation

Published on 2011-05-05 23:03:54

The Bread Collector To the keen but unaware observer, the morning routine that takes place in the modern streets of Delhi might seem strange. A man pulls a small cart painted with cows, rings his bell, ...

Get Better Results by Making Your Thinking Visible

Published on 2011-05-05 23:02:31

by Holly G. Green Expose yourself? No, I’m not talking about trench coats or the number two activity on the web (porn is BEHIND social media these days!). I’m referring to common communication challenges that can be easily ...

CEOs, Innovation and Growth

Published on 2011-05-04 23:05:21

by Jeffrey Phillips I’ve been surprised at low little discussion a new report from the Conference Board has generated among innovators. The CEO Challenge, while not specifically a survey on innovation per se, tells us ...

Open Innovation and IP – What’s your policy?

Published on 2011-05-04 23:04:20

by Kevin McFarthing A lot has been written about Intellectual Property (IP) and Open Innovation (OI). It’s not surprising, because it’s often one of the thorniest problems facing collaborators. Recent research from the IACCM ...

Innovation versus Feature Creep

Published on 2011-05-04 23:03:51

by Drew Boyd Companies that struggle with innovation often make up for it by adding features to existing products. They succumb to “feature creep” – the gradual and continuous addition of features and functions though ...

Designing Your Innovation Identity

Published on 2011-05-04 23:02:18

There is no such thing as "one size fits all" in innovation management. You have to make your selection of best practices, and assess which are appropriate, considering your company status. You have to build your own innovation identity.

7 Reasons Why Capital Markets Need to Innovate

Published on 2011-05-04 00:52:33

by Rocco Tarasi In the last month the SEC has said that it will consider changes to certain capital markets regulations, including: Raising the 500 shareholder threshold that triggers a public disclosure of financial results (and ...

Does Smartest Guy in the Room Kill Innovation?

Published on 2011-05-04 00:44:27

by Stefan Lindegaard In a recent blog post, I gave some views on why executives do not get innovation. Carolyn Merkel added an interesting comment on this: “I also think ego gets in the way. I have ...

Design Thinking is a Dynamic Constructive Process

Published on 2011-05-04 00:36:33

by Idris Mootee I was visiting the biggest modern art gallery DOC (Centre for Contemporary Arts) in Holešovice, Prague. It was first opened in Oct 2008 and now going through some interior work and will be ...

What Impact Could Sociometric Badges Have?

Published on 2011-05-03 23:07:45

by Steve Todd In a previous post I introduced a PhD dissertation by MIT’s Taemie Kim: Enhancing Distributed Collaboration Using Sociometric Feedback. This announcement for the dissertation summarized the topic quite well: Results show that sociomet

April’s Top 12 Innovation and Marketing Articles

Published on 2011-05-02 23:05:32

How to Measure Innovation

Published on 2011-05-02 23:04:57

What gets measured is what gets done. Therefore, it’s necessary to set leading and lagging indicators for how the NPD process is going.

Shaping the Future of Innovation

Published on 2011-05-02 23:03:33

by Paul Hobcraft Rethinking innovation after a week where I have argued for a more common approach to innovation (see some of my recent posts )- as one that can be well structured and managed – ...

Innovation Essentials – Unlearning

Published on 2011-05-02 23:02:52

by Dennis Stauffer It goes without saying that to successfully innovate, we need to be willing to learn new things. What doesn’t get said as often is that we also need to be willing to unlearn ...

Make Your Best Work Obsolete

Published on 2011-05-02 00:14:34

by Dr. Mike Shipulski You solved a big problem in a meaningful way; you made a big improvement in something important; you brought new thinking to an old paradigm; you created something from nothing. Unfortunately, the ...

Corporate Crime Starts with Failed Business Models

Published on 2011-05-01 23:51:41

by John Steen Every economic bust launches criminal charges against executives of failed companies. It’s been a few years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the onset of the Global Financial Crisis but the court ...

Good Managers Make Good Innovation Managers

Published on 2011-05-01 23:37:37

by Tim Kastelle What happens when the people that are supposed to be creative and innovative in your organization are neither? I ran across an interesting quote from one of the people interviewed in the new book ...

38 Awesome Quotes on Change

Published on 2011-05-01 23:24:36

by Mitch Ditkoff “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin “Change before you have to.” – Jack Welch “People

Look for World’s Best Boss in the Mirror

Published on 2011-04-30 23:05:33

by Glen Stansberry After six hours of working in front of a computer, the only thing that really makes me feel better is a run. Yesterday I knew I needed a break but didn’t have much time, ...

Imagining a Future Innovation Operating System

Published on 2011-04-30 23:04:03

by Nicholas Bry Web 3.0 relates to the way Web is coming into real world, interacting with every value creation processes. Let’s see how it changes innovation management and leads to build a specific innovation ...

Risk – You Must Play to Win

Published on 2011-04-30 23:03:36

by Patrick Lefler There’s a great story out there about luck that goes something like this… A man kept praying to God to win the lottery. That week he found a dollar on the street and he ...

Mobile Madness

Published on 2011-04-30 23:02:03

by Kevin Roberts Recently I wrote about our love affair with television. One of the factors that is fueling the growth of TV in its many guises globally is mobile connectivity, which is going stratospheric, shattering ...

Don’t Measure Innovation the Easy Way

Published on 2011-04-29 23:04:59

by Jeffrey Phillips Stop me if you’ve heard this joke before, but I think it is exceptionally relevant to measuring innovation. A guy walks out of a bar one evening and sees a drunk searching for something ...

Five Ideation Dilemmas

Published on 2011-04-29 23:03:30

by Gijs van Wulfen The fuzzy front end of innovation confronts you with a lot of questions. In my new book ‘Creating innovative Products and Services’ I try to solve them. My last blog ...

Will Groupon Become Irrelevant?

Published on 2011-04-29 23:02:46

by Steve McKee Groupon is hoping for a $20 billion valuation in its coming IPO. Yes, the company is growing fast, but as I wrote last month that its business model is suspect. And now, in addition ...

Egyptian Cloud Formations

Published on 2011-04-29 23:01:25

by Steve Todd EMC’s Cairo Center of Excellence (COE) recently celebrated its one year anniversary. During that time the employees have established a strong base for selling and supporting EMC’s portfolio of cloud products. As the nation ...

Individual versus Organizational Innovation

Published on 2011-04-28 22:05:36

by Jeffrey Baumgartner When attempting to improve creativity in business, there are two approaches which may be taken, either individually or together: INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY and ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY. Individual creativity is, of course, the crea

Innovation with a touch of Jazz and Jambalaya

Published on 2011-04-28 22:04:08

by Braden Kelley I had the opportunity to interview Gerard Cox, organizer of the the inaugural Second Line conference. The event is an interactive conference celebrating the New Economy successes and strategies with disruptive innovation, value ...

Five Reasons Why CEO’s Don’t Get Innovation

Published on 2011-04-28 22:03:05

by Stefan Lindegaard Here are five reasons why I believe CEOs and other top executives often don’t support innovation, even though the business climate of our time demands it: The demand for short-term gains nearly always wins ...

Innovation Ecosystems

Published on 2011-04-28 22:02:42

Everyone Willing is at the Center of the Universe by Yann Cramer All companies that are aware of the innovation potential of their network of partners, suppliers, customers, users, specifiers, influencers, legislators, helpers, and other stakeholder

Measuring What Matters

Published on 2011-04-28 22:01:04

How to Stop Wasting Time, Talent, and Resources on Projects that Don’t Go Anywhere by Holly G. Green Remember the old adage, “what gets measured, gets done?” Well, what does not get measured may still be getting done ...

Innovation Myth – Ideas Spread Quickly

Published on 2011-04-27 22:05:46

by Tim Kastelle “The future’s already here, it’s just not evenly distributed, and it doesn’t look like we expect it to” When scientists first started talking about Artificial Intelligence in the 1950s and 1960s, a lot of ...

Why Crossing Boundaries Matters to Innovation

Published on 2011-04-27 22:05:13

by Jeffrey Phillips Last week I schlepped my family to Boston for spring break. Interesting choice, you might say. Most people head to the beach for spring break, or at least somewhere warm. ...

Creative Acquisitions

Published on 2011-04-27 22:02:37

M&A Without Buying the Company by Mike Myatt Most people tend to look at acquisitions from a rather myopic and traditional M&A perspective: making a strategic or synergistic purchase of an operating entity on an accretive basis. ...

What Does Your Innovation Globe Look Like?

Published on 2011-04-27 22:01:34

by John Steen When I was a boy I used to enjoy visiting my grandparents and one of my favorite objects in their living room was a globe where the countries would light up as different ...

Open Innovation Examples in B2B and Hi-Tech

Published on 2011-04-26 22:04:40

by Stefan Lindegaard I was recently asked for examples on high-tech companies that practice open innovation. It is a good question as we most often see open innovation examples among low-tech and fast-moving-consumer-good companies. Nevertheless, ope

Product Experience Innovation

Published on 2011-04-26 22:03:47

Feels Like the First Time by Robert F. Brands with Jeff Zbar When was the last time you experienced your product like it was your first time? Product development is a process of cycles – followed by closure. ...

Seven Steps to Better Brainstorming

Published on 2011-04-26 22:01:49

Important for CEOs to Maintain and Reset Focus Let’s start with this…this is not the best title. I really don’t like the word “brainstorming.” It means a group of people getting together to generate a lot ...

P&G’s Lessons from a Century of Open Innovation

Published on 2011-04-26 22:01:24

by Deborah Mills-Scofield Suffice it to say I was honored my friend Chris Thoen would agree to talk about P&G’s Open Innovation history at the 3rd Open Innovation (OI) Summit at Baldwin Wallace College’s Center for Innovation &

The Narrow Innovation Pathway

Published on 2011-04-25 22:04:37

by Paul Hobcraft Walking that narrow innovation pathway needs some rethinking. “Innovation is the pathway to travel and seek out our future” Today there is as much a gap between the aspiration to innovate and the ability to ...

Living Well through Collaboration

Published on 2011-04-25 22:03:17

by Deborah Mills-Scofield (This post continues the summary of fabulous stories and interactions at the 3rd Open Innovation Summit at Baldwin Wallace College’s (BW) Center for Innovation & Growth: Practical Challenges of Global Open Innovati

Picking the Right Social Media Channels

Published on 2011-04-25 22:02:58

by Matt Heinz The volume of social media channels available to engage with is exhausting. And they keep coming. As an individual or a business, there’s no way you can keep up with them all. And the ...

Innovation Essentials – Mindset

Published on 2011-04-25 22:01:04

by Dennis Stauffer Mindset may the most overlooked strategic issue in business today. Getting yourself and your people into the right frame of mind is becoming a crucial determinant of competitiveness, thanks to two huge business ...

The Big Myth of Innovation

Published on 2011-04-24 22:05:22

by Braden Kelley For my last article for the American Express OPEN Forum I thought I would go out with a bang and attack a controversial topic, something that people are starting to believe as an ...

The Television of Tomorrow

Published on 2011-04-24 22:03:17

by Kevin Roberts Earlier this year an AdAge study gave grist to my intuition that TV will continue to be unstoppable in our lifetime. TV is the only medium touched by the Web that isn’t crushed ...

What is the Power of Appreciation?

Published on 2011-04-24 22:02:11

by Mitch Ditkoff I have been an innovation consultant since 1986 and have worked with hundreds of organizations in more than 15 industries. The products and services of my clients have all been different — as ...

R&D – Managing R is Different than D

Published on 2011-04-24 22:01:40

by Caspar van Rijnbach It seems very obvious, but in daily corporate life it does not always happen: Research should be managed differently than Development. Although it is normal to mention Research & Development together, they ...

Relationship between Value and Price

Published on 2011-04-23 22:05:40

by Patrick Lefler We’re all familiar with the term “you get what you pay for”—but does it really factor into buyers’ perceptions of value today? There’s a really interesting story that comes from the Stanford Entrepreneurship Center .

Get Ready for Open Innovation

Published on 2011-04-23 22:03:08

by Stefan Lindegaard The leaders of successful small companies understand how important it is to have the right people in the right position. When resources are slim, the ability of everyone to do their job well ...

Paradox of Innovation and Intellectual Property

Published on 2011-04-23 22:03:02

by Deborah Mills-Scofield Being involved in Open Innovation (OI), one of the most cited stumbling blocks is, yes, lawyers – Intellectual Property (IP) attorneys specifically. To most business and R&D folks, IP counsel are viewed as ...

Ideas While You Sleep

Published on 2011-04-23 22:01:58

by Kevin Roberts Earlier this month I spoke at the National Speakers Association of Australia (no pressure!!!). Shortly afterwards I got a warm thank-you from incoming President, Yvonne Adele, who also happens to be the inventor ...

You Don’t Need Permission to Innovate

Published on 2011-04-22 22:05:15

by Tim Kastelle One question that comes up all the time is: “how can I innovate when my manager won’t let me?” The answer is one people usually don’t want to hear: “Innovate anyway.” But it’s true. Here’s ...

Creativity and the State of the Union

Published on 2011-04-22 22:04:59

Is America going to be a world leader in innovation. What does President Obama have to say?

Innovation Requires Global Pipelines Not Local Clusters

Published on 2011-04-22 22:03:57

by John Steen How can we make businesses more innovative? That’s easy isn’t it? We just group them together into clusters (preferably in science park developments) and it will happen… won’t it? The trouble with this ...

Improving Communications on Distributed Teams

Published on 2011-04-22 22:01:36

by Steve Todd I’m a member of the EMC Research Cambridge virtual team. This position affords me the opportunity to travel into Cambridge, Massachusetts once per month and work with local universities and/or businesses. I’m free ...

Importance of Big and Little Innovation

Published on 2011-04-21 22:05:15

by Jeffrey Baumgartner Since innovation became a sexy word for big business, companies have been tripping over themselves to become more innovative. Some merely take a marketing approach and add a slogan that emphasizes innovation without ...

Too Busy to Keep Up? – Develop Resilience

Published on 2011-04-21 22:03:55

by Holly G. Green Resilient (riˈzilyənt): able to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching, or being compressed; able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. Wow. Talk about the perfect description for leading .

April’s Top 3 Innovation Trends and Topics

Published on 2011-04-21 22:03:45

by Stefan Lindegaard What is happening in the innovation community right now? In this post, I give a quick overview of the top trends and issues based on the interactions and inspirations I have had over ...

Science and Innovation Follow Diverging Paths Before Connecting

Published on 2011-04-21 22:01:41

by Yann Cramer Brent Carey, a graduate student at Rice University in Texas, has discovered a material that behaves in an unusual way, at least for a non-living material. Made of carbon nanotubes and a rubbery ...

Modularity & Openness Accelerate Innovation

Published on 2011-04-20 22:05:35

by Andrea Meyer Point: Use open innovation and modularity to identify new product/service needs and accelerate your pace of innovation Story: Rugged handheld computers are used every day by retailers,warehouse operators, service technicians, parcel c

Leveraging Co-Creation

Published on 2011-04-20 22:04:45

by Steve Todd In previous posts I have analyzed predictions from two years ago that were presented at the World Innovation Forum and World Business Forum in 2009. In my last post I introduced C.K. Prahalad’s message ...

Business Models Aren’t Just For Business

Published on 2011-04-20 22:02:29

by Saul Kaplan During my six years as an accidental bureaucrat, after spending twenty-five years in the private sector, my friends often wondered how I could do it. They routinely asked versions of the question: doesn’t ...

Leadership and Courage

Published on 2011-04-20 22:01:19

by Mike Myatt Courage is a trait possessed by all great leaders. So much so, that leadership absent courage is nothing short of a farce. Let me be very clear – I’m not advocating for bravado, ...

Innovation Pilot Program

Published on 2011-04-19 22:05:00

by Drew Boyd Companies can reduce the risk of adopting new innovation methods by testing them first. A short, pilot program that addresses a specific product or service line helps you understand whether a new method ...

Innovators are Effectual Thinkers

Published on 2011-04-19 22:04:00

by Dennis Stauffer Innovation is less about causal thinking than it is about effectual thinking. I confess I didn’t know “effectual” was a word until I was recently directed to the ground breaking research of Dr. Saras ...

BMW Not Serious About Open Innovation

Published on 2011-04-19 22:03:42

by Stefan Lindegaard Recently I read an article in Wall Street Journal on how the BMW iVentures capital fund plans to invest in smartphone app start-up firms. This was interesting so I decided to look further ...

Time for Cisco to Rethink Their White Space

Published on 2011-04-19 22:01:19

Important for CEOs to Maintain and Reset Focus by Idris Mootee The recent news about Cisco deciding to get rid of the Flip video business came as no surprise to me. When I first heard ...

Extension – Top 10 Innovation Presentations

Published on 2011-04-19 18:47:34

by Braden Kelley Blogging Innovation is looking for the Top 10 Innovation Presentations, and we have up to $3,700 worth of prizes up for grabs. To give me a little more time to identify the TEN BEST ...

Are net benefits of innovation always positive?

Published on 2011-04-18 22:05:22

by Rocco Tarasi There I was, two weeks ago sitting in an auditorium on a Sunday attending TEDxCMU. It was an inspiring and emotional day with twelve fantastic talks from local and national presenters. One of the ...

Extending the Innovation Funnel

Published on 2011-04-18 22:04:19

by Paul Hobcraft The ideas funnel has been with us a long time. We put our ideas into the funnel and then through a process of elimination out ‘pop’s’ finished products. Henry Chesbrough’s famous depiction of ...

Steve Jobs, Innovation and the Shirtless Dancer

Published on 2011-04-18 22:03:43

Following as Waiting or Betraying by Klaus-Peter Speidel In any field requiring constant innovation, the value of leadership is taken for granted. Consider Edison’s invention of the light bulb, Durand’s patenting of the tin can, or Kellogg’s

Six Efficient Habits for Success and Balance

Published on 2011-04-18 22:01:49

by Matt Heinz It seems that every time I take some time off (whether it’s a long weekend or paternity leave), I bring a fresh perspective about my work back to the office. I tell myself ...

Innovation And Entrepreneurship Fatal Flaws

Published on 2011-04-17 22:05:06

by Braden Kelley Scott Painter, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TrueCar, made a great comment at the latest innovation event put on by The Economist about how all ideas have a ‘fatal flaw’. But like ...

Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing on the Rise

Published on 2011-04-17 22:03:29

by Paul Sloane Imagine that you are planning a big surprise party. You want it to be entertaining, spectacular, memorable and different. You could plan and project manage every element of the party yourself: the theme, ...

How the Ivy League is Killing Innovation

Published on 2011-04-17 22:02:21

by Mitch Ditkoff Here’s a wonderful article, just published in Bloomberg Business Week that raises a very curious paradox — why academics are teaching innovation. Authors G. Michael Maddock and Raphael Louis Viton state their case clearly

Novelty is not Innovation by Itself

Published on 2011-04-17 22:01:23

by Tim Kastelle When I went to visit Neil Kay last year, we talked a bit about novelty. He said that the way that we frame PhD research is all wrong – that it is a ...

Nominations – Top 10 Innovation Presentations

Published on 2011-04-17 09:23:00

by Braden Kelley Just a friendly reminder that Blogging Innovation is looking for the Top 10 Innovation Presentations, and we have up to $3,700 worth of prizes up for grabs. What are your favorite presentations or documents ...

The Four Types of Corporate Innovation

Published on 2011-04-16 22:05:15

by Jeffrey Baumgartner It seems everyone is talking about corporate innovation these days. Erkki Liikanen, the European Commissioner in charge of the Information Society and Enterprise Directorates General can hardly open his mouth without speaking o

Making Business More Social

Published on 2011-04-16 22:04:38

by Kevin Roberts Here’s a flow in the right direction. The Wall Street Journal reports that companies are working hard to make business applications more “social”, following the explosive growth of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr et al. ...

Innovating with Price

Published on 2011-04-16 22:03:17

by Patrick Lefler Pricing and innovation are not normally associated together in the same sentence. Pricing is thought to be stagnant (and boring) and impossible to alter, replace or radically improve. Innovation, on the other hand, ...

Open Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights

Published on 2011-04-16 22:02:42

by Stefan Lindegaard As I wrote in a recent blog post, I have noted a shift over the last couple of years. It used to be that the most-often asked questions on open innovation evolved around ...

Innovation Dreams Beat Innovation Plans

Published on 2011-04-15 22:05:26

or “I have a dream” beats “I have a plan” by Jeffrey Phillips Over coffee this morning we were talking about the need for a “vision”. One of my compatriots quipped “suppose Martin Luther King had ...

University Patents and Our Forgotten Entrepreneurs

Published on 2011-04-15 22:04:02

by Melba Kurman One of the original intentions of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 was to make federally-funded U.S. university research more readily available to small businesses. It worked. Today, three decades later, ...

Parallel Innovation in Isolation

Published on 2011-04-15 22:04:00

Easier And Cooler Ways To Transfer Files Between Devices by Idris Mootee When people talk about innovation generally people are quick to refer to something completely new. The question is how many new ideas are ...

10 Ways to Be Creative Like a Kid

Published on 2011-04-15 22:01:12

by Mike Brown I was in Cedar Rapids, IA recently to be a keynote speaker at CreativeBloc 2011. It’s a wonderful opportunity to speak about both dealing with organizational innovation barriers and personal creative blocks. One ...

10 Great Brainstorming Facilitator Personas

Published on 2011-04-14 22:05:45

by Mitch Ditkoff Allow me to make a wild guess. You have participated in more than a few brainstorm sessions in your life. Yes? And allow me to make another wild guess. Many of those sessions ...

Building Trust for Business Success

Published on 2011-04-14 22:03:58

by Holly G. Green I ran across a quote the other day that resonated with me: “The organization of today will require leadership that can operate on the edge of chaos by relinquishing command and control and ...

Four Networking Culture Roadblocks

Published on 2011-04-14 22:02:52

by Stefan Lindegaard In working with companies that are trying to build a networking culture, here are some reasons I’ve identified for why such efforts can fail or not reach the hoped-for degree of success. 1. Lack ...

Innovation in 3D

Published on 2011-04-14 22:01:32

by Jeffrey Baumgartner In medium to large organizations, idea flow is critical to innovation. Every firm has a number of highly creative individuals and many more moderately creative individuals. With optimal idea flow, their good ideas ...

America’s Foolish Jobs and Innovation Policies

Published on 2011-04-14 00:00:31

Or why we don’t create enough Amazon.com’s by Adam Hartung It is unlikely anyone in business or government thinks productivity is a bad thing. Productive students get their homework done faster, and learn more in the ...

Using Innovation and IT to Drive Productivity

Published on 2011-04-13 23:13:33

by Andrea Meyer Point Getting maximum benefit from innovation requires new organizational practices. Story In their book Wired for Innovation, Erik Brynjolfsson and Adam Saunders show how innovation and IT drive productivity growth. Productivity grow

Flipped – Wish I was always this right

Published on 2011-04-13 23:03:43

by Rocco Tarasi Two years ago, in the second post I ever wrote, I wrote about the Flip Video camera: “Add video recorders to the list of industries being disrupted by “good enough” products that, with less ...

Disruptive Innovation is Never a Surprise

Published on 2011-04-13 22:47:40

Yes but, or How dinosaurs die by Jeffrey Phillips It’s pretty clear that disruption of major industries can happen, but I’ll stipulate that it rarely happens “out of the blue”. In fact, many larger organizations have ...

Innovation Competency Model

Published on 2011-04-12 22:05:55

by Drew Boyd To build innovation muscle, companies must include innovation in their competency models. A competency is a persistent pattern of behavior resulting from a cluster of knowledge, skills, abilities, and motivations. Competency models ...

Design Thinking is Not a Failed Experiment

Published on 2011-04-12 22:04:14

The Experiments Have Only Begun by Idris Mootee This is my response to Bruce Nussbaum’s latest Fast Company’s blog declaring “Design Thinking” is over and that he is moving on to something new. He is ...

Why Open Innovation Hype is a Good Thing

Published on 2011-04-12 22:02:28

by Stefan Lindegaard I met with a new client recently. It is an interesting and successful company that has decided to look further into open innovation and how this can help them become even more innovative. As ...

Innovation versus the Devil that you Know

Published on 2011-04-12 22:01:48

by Rocco Tarasi Changing user behavior is really, really hard. It has to be one of the biggest obstacles to reaching innovation success. I’ve seen it with my start-ups that have introduced new products, and I’ve ...

2,500 Articles and Counting

Published on 2011-04-11 22:05:27

by Braden Kelley With work on the upcoming Innovation Excellence site progressing nicely thanks to all of the great feedback from the community so far, I thought I would take time out to celebrate a milestone ...

The Next Great Innovation Opportunity

Published on 2011-04-11 22:04:57

The Great Unwinding by Jeffrey Phillips This week is clearly a “sports” oriented week, as recently I discussed what innovators could learn from baseball. I focused primarily on strategy, coaching and practice. Today’s post was ..

It All Began with Balls

Published on 2011-04-11 22:03:30

by Mitch Ditkoff Most companies begin on a shoe-string — under-funded, under the gun, and under the radar. The company I co-founded in 1986, Idea Champions, was no exception. When my business partner and I began, ...

How to Sort 2,000 Emails in an Hour

Published on 2011-04-11 22:01:24

by Matt Heinz Whether you’re coming back from a long weekend or two full weeks away, your email inbox is going to be really full. The last thing you want to do is waste your entire ...

Illusions of Entrepreneurship

Published on 2011-04-10 22:05:53

by Braden Kelley Many of you out there are entrepreneurs, running small businesses (or big ones), struggling to make your business successful. But when did you first know that you were destined to be an entrepreneur? ...

Using Innovation to Disrupt Dominant Logic

Published on 2011-04-10 22:03:54

by John Steen One of the ‘quick facts’ that I like to mention in my strategy seminars is that only two of the top 100 US firms in 1900 are still around today. In Australia, the ...

Evolution of the Innovation Funnel

Published on 2011-04-10 22:03:22

by Jeffrey Phillips Today I want to examine a tool that has become a well-worn crutch for many firms, the innovation “funnel”. I’m going to argue that we need to rethink the funnel in fundamental ...

Trouble with Experts

Published on 2011-04-10 22:01:13

by Barry Gruenberg When somebody asks if you can do something, pause for a moment before saying “NO.” Your first thought may be “that’s impossible,” but upon reflection you can probably figure out how to pull ...

Importance of Critical Thinking to Innovation

Published on 2011-04-09 22:05:46

by Patrick Lefler The more I hear from innovators (some successful and others not-so successful) on the importance of being able to make snap decisions based on intuition alone during critical stages of the innovation process, ...

Effective Innovation Meetings

Published on 2011-04-09 22:04:19

Seven People Who Need to be Involved in Your Meetings by Paul Williams Meetings. We have too many of them. Many Most aren’t productive. They are a necessary evil. But they don’t necessarily have to be evil… ...

What a Networked Innovation Culture Looks Like

Published on 2011-04-09 22:03:49

by Stefan Lindegaard In a recent post, Four Elements of Open Innovation Success, I mentioned that a networked innovation culture is critical. But what does a good networking culture looks like? It’s such a new concept ...

Life in 11D is Better Than 3D

Published on 2011-04-09 22:01:46

by Kevin Roberts 3D seems to be everywhere at the moment. Burberry made history at London Fashion Week last year by streaming its catwalk show live in 3D. Adidas has a touch wall that lets you ...

Easing Contractual Burdens on University Start-ups

Published on 2011-04-08 22:06:31

by Melba Kurman The vast majority of start-ups with roots in a university are formed by alumni or former students, similar to the process that was depicted in the movie The Social Network. The Zuck ...

What Baseball Teaches Us About Innovation

Published on 2011-04-08 22:05:13

by Jeffrey Phillips I found myself watching a baseball game over the weekend, which is always a pleasure. There’s something about the start of baseball season that signals the beginning of spring. No matter ...

Four Elements of Open Innovation Success

Published on 2011-04-08 22:03:12

by Stefan Lindegaard Here are four key elements that are necessary for turning an open innovation strategy into a success: 1. Stakeholder Analysis You must get an overview of your internal and external stakeholders and analyze the pros ...

Great Ideas Have the X Factor

Published on 2011-04-08 22:02:00

by Gijs van Wulfen My new book ‘Creating innovative Products and Services’ tries to unfuzz the front end of innovation in order to create great ideas: ideas with an X-factor! Everybody knows the television ...

Innovating Inside or Outside the Core?

Published on 2011-04-07 22:05:56

Let’s start with ‘What Is The Core?’ by Idris Mootee One interesting dilemma about strategy and innovation is how far we move away from our core and more importantly how do you define the core? ...

How the Rubber Band Effect Hinders Innovation

Published on 2011-04-07 22:04:03

by Stefan Lindegaard You stretch it, you hold and — swish, it just goes back to normal. This is what happens when you play around with a rubber band. You just don’t get anywhere with it. Unfortunately, ...

Time for a First Quarter Checkup

Published on 2011-04-07 22:02:57

by Holly G. Green Spring has sprung (according to the calendar, anyway) and April is upon us. For those who operate according to the calendar year, that means its time for an end-of-quarter checkup in regards ...

Stage and Screen Can Co-Exist

Published on 2011-04-07 22:01:40

L’illuminé enlightens the age of technology from the dawn of industrial revolution by Yann Cramer Yesterday evening I went to an unusual play at the Dejazet theater in Paris. Half of it is on stage, the other ...

Who should appear on Innovation Excellence?

Published on 2011-04-07 12:46:40

Dear Blogging Innovation community, A new micro-site is up as a placeholder for the upcoming transformation of Blogging Innovation into an innovation destination and we’re about to enter the home stretch in our quest to build ...

Why Innovators are Never the Popular Kids

Published on 2011-04-06 22:05:30

by Jeffrey Phillips As a people, we tend to group ourselves into tribes or communities that accept our foibles and issues and often reflect them. Perhaps no place is more representative of this fact than ...

Innovation Skills, My Daughter’s Future, and Your Job

Published on 2011-04-06 22:03:57

by Robert B. Tucker I just mailed off an eight page letter to my daughter on the subject of life after college. A junior at the University of Oregon, Cara is a journalism major, and thus ...

Key Employees – Asset or Liability

Published on 2011-04-06 22:02:36

by Mike Myatt What is a key employee, and who is worthy of such a title? Much has been written on the subject of key employees, and in my opinion most of it flat misses ...

My Idea is a Bad Idea

Published on 2011-04-06 22:01:31

by Kevin McFarthing There seems to have been a lot of discussion around the innovation blogs recently about who is allowed to innovate; tapping into the creativity of everybody; allowing people to run with their ideas; ...

Do You Practice Intuition in Secret?

Published on 2011-04-05 22:05:03

If So, Do You Know Where It Comes From? by Idris Mootee Do you trust your intuition? And if so why? Intuition is most practiced and least understood. And why some people are betting at ...

Five Things Needed to Manage Innovation

Published on 2011-04-05 22:04:52

by Stefan Lindegaard Sometimes I wonder whether innovation actually can be managed. If this is the case, I wonder why the return on investments and the innovation output is so low at so many companies. Could it ...

The Bank of Facebook

Published on 2011-04-05 22:02:59

by Venessa Miemis How will Facebook and the global economy interact in the future? There has been much speculation recently about the role Facebook Credits could play in becoming a global virtual currency, and even the possibility ...

Impact of Social Factors on Innovation

Published on 2011-04-05 22:01:40

by Roy Luebke Customers are people. Users, choosers, and influencers are people. Channel partners are people. People create things for other people to use in exchange for money. Understanding people may ...

$3,700 Contest – Top 10 Innovation Slideshares

Published on 2011-04-05 13:51:52

by Braden Kelley Blogging Innovation is looking for the Top 10 Innovation Slideshares, and we have up to $3,700 worth of prizes up for grabs. What are your favorite presentations or documents available on slideshare? Nominate a slideshare ...

Value Propositions are Key to Successful Innovation

Published on 2011-04-04 22:05:59

by Robert F. Brands What defines successful Innovation? Innovation is the process of using intellectual capital to create new products or services that generate positive business results in the form of financial returns. Discovering new findings then

Testing a Business Model Like a Scientist

Published on 2011-04-04 22:04:51

by Tim Kastelle How do we decide what actions to take in business? Or in life? In many cases, we base our actions on our models of the world. We think that things work in a particular ...

Critical Knowledge

Published on 2011-04-04 22:03:40

Are we prepared for the future? by Caspar van Rijnbach In the Age of Knowledge, the competitiveness and future of companies, is becoming more and more dependent on the knowledge companies possess and how they use, share ...

Societal Innovation

Published on 2011-04-04 22:01:42

Challenging Our Future Thinking by Paul Hobcraft There needs to be this major shift from market-led to more socially-lead organizations occurring. We see pockets of this in a number of business organizations offering clearer governance and sustainab

Top Five Open Innovation Countries

Published on 2011-04-04 19:30:54

by Stefan Lindegaard Last September I posted a list of companies that do well on open innovation and now it is time for an update. Here comes a list of countries that in my view do ...

March’s Top Ten Innovation and Marketing Articles

Published on 2011-04-03 22:05:32

41 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation

Published on 2011-04-03 22:04:08

by Barry Gruenberg Yes, we know you want your organization to be more innovative. And yes, we know you want to improve your organization’s culture of innovation. The best place to start? With YOU. Give up ...

Innovation Necessity – Thinking the Unthinkable

Published on 2011-04-03 22:03:50

by Jeffrey Phillips “Solitary, poor, brutish, nasty and short” is how Thomas Hobbs, a political thinker from the 1600s described the “life of man”. Hobbs, along with John Locke and a number of other social ...

Disrupting Centralized Linear University Model

Published on 2011-04-03 22:02:47

Open Source Hardware by Melba Kurman Patent reform is on everyone’s mind. With a whole lot less fanfare, Version 1.0 of the Open Source Hardware definition was released last week by a community of volunteer hackers, business ...

Innovation Management’s Dirty Little Secret

Published on 2011-04-02 22:05:01

by Jake Shriar I recently met a sales executive that has been in the innovation management industry for some time – in fact, for over nine years. During that time, he has worked for six different vendors ...

So Much for the New York Times Paywall

Published on 2011-04-02 22:02:51

by Patrick Lefler We talked last week about the New York Times’ introduction of a paywall for access to their very popular website in order to increase revenue for the ailing paper. The New York Times is ...

5 Things that Drive Intrapreneurs

Published on 2011-04-02 22:02:12

by Stefan Lindegaard Entrepreneurs are driven by passion, an urge to execute on their ideas and the chance to strike gold. Intrapreneurs (entrepreneur-minded people within large companies) do not have quite the same personal reasons for ...

Participation to Build a Nation

Published on 2011-04-02 22:01:35

by Kevin Roberts While in Africa the world’s eyes are focused on Libya, further down the continent South Sudan is working through the process of formally separating from North Sudan to become the world’s newest nation. ...

Red Oceans for Bleach Innovation

Published on 2011-04-01 23:05:28

by Jeffrey Phillips I read with some amusement today the good article by Michael Schrage entitled Lafley’s Ambiguous Gift of Innovation Failure. If you haven’t read it yet, please do so then return here. ...

Groupon Bubble About to Burst?

Published on 2011-04-01 23:05:14

by Steve McKee Is it just me, or does something seem fundamentally…I don’t know…off about the business models of Groupon, Living Social and the like? I just read that Living Social is a few steps closer to ...

When University Start-ups Begin to Patent Like Corporations

Published on 2011-04-01 23:04:27

by Melba Kurman Start-up patenting strategies have become as sophisticated as those of incumbent companies and start-up patenting costs have reached new heights — the average reported cost of a single patent was $38,000. (See ...

15 Reasons Conventional Wisdom Inhibits Innovation

Published on 2011-04-01 23:03:11

by Mike Brown Conventional wisdom permeates the common no’s standing in the way of innovation. That’s just reason one why conventional wisdom blows. Here are 14 other reasons conventional wisdom inhibits innovation: It’s based on past exper

Role of R&D in Driving Product Adoption

Published on 2011-03-31 23:01:20

by Thomas Kadavy Most organizations strive to keep their product developers locked up far away from customers. After all, you never know what an engineer or designer might say. Those R&D guys tend to be coldly ...

Innovators are Bracket Busters

Published on 2011-03-31 22:05:02

by Saul Kaplan That hungry whirring noise heard around offices across the U.S. is the sound of March Madness brackets being fed to paper shredders everywhere. Bracket busting is reaching historic levels in this year’s NCAA ...

Destroy Your Assumptions

Published on 2011-03-31 22:03:04

by Jeffrey Baumgartner There is an old American joke that goes: “When you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME.” How true. While I won’t deny their usefulness, assumptions can be dangerous things. They are ...

Tear Down These Walls

Published on 2011-03-31 22:02:59

by Holly G. Green In 1987, president Ronald Reagan gave his famous speech in which he implored Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” I’m going to paraphrase his history-altering quote and urge today’s ...

Overview of Social Media Tools and Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-31 22:02:04

by Stefan Lindegaard According to Wikipedia, a common thread running through all definitions of social media is the blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value. This fits well into what I see ...

Trabajo – Director de Innovacion – Coca Cola – Costa Rica

Published on 2011-03-31 13:40:28

Exclusive Job Posting The Coca-Cola Company has an exciting opportunity for an Innovation Director to join our team in San Jose, Costa Rica. This position stewards the innovation process of the Latin Center Business Unit ensuring that ...

Innovation Becoming the Safe Strategy

Published on 2011-03-30 22:05:52

by Jeffrey Phillips I was thinking recently that one of the biggest barriers to innovation is the fear of change. Most businesses are very comfortable operating in markets and interacting with customers that they understand. ...

Customer’s Role in Breakthrough Innovation?

Published on 2011-03-30 22:04:19

by Ralph Ohr There has been quite a lot of discussion recently about a post by Jens Martin Skibsted and Rasmus Bech Hansen, titled “User-Led Innovation Can’t Create Breakthroughs; Just Ask Apple and Ikea”. Their major ...

From STEM to STEAM

Published on 2011-03-30 22:02:06

by Saul Kaplan I’m a sucker for any event promising an interdisciplinary experience and an opportunity to dive into the unknown between silos. I was fortunate to attend, Make it Better, a recent symposium at the ...

Passionate Leadership Can Be Learned

Published on 2011-03-30 22:01:33

by Mike Myatt I’ve always said that if you want to learn about leadership talk to someone who has actually led something. James (Jim) Quigley, Global CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited is just such a ...

Will Death of Blockbuster Kill Redbox?

Published on 2011-03-29 22:05:25

by Braden Kelley Let’s examine something that has been bothering me for a little while. I’ve been renting my movies from Blockbuster and Redbox for years, but now my local Blockbuster store is closing. When I’ve ...

Balancing Innovation Supply and Demand

Published on 2011-03-29 22:04:05

by Rowan Gibson To build and sustain a robust innovation capability, your company needs to carefully manage both the supply side and the demand side of innovation. By “supply” I mean the sheer flow—and the quality—of ...

Escaping Groupthink

Published on 2011-03-29 22:03:42

by Paul Sloane How can you break out of the group-think that affects most large organizations? How can you escape from the corporate frameworks that shape discussions and ideas? Philips is moving from a high-volume electronics manufacturer ...

Power of Innovation Empathy

Published on 2011-03-29 22:02:37

by Stefan Lindegaard I believe that the innovation output would be much better if we really know and care about those we innovate with. How can we become better at this? Well, you can start by ...

Random Thoughts on Innovation and Design Thinking

Published on 2011-03-29 22:01:49

by Idris Mootee I was watching the film ‘Inception’ on a long flight last week and I remembered one interesting dialogue from the film “How do you translate business strategy into emotion?”. I was ...

March 2011 Sponsor – Planview

Published on 2011-03-29 13:25:08

Thank you to Planview for sponsoring Blogging Innovation for March 2011. For more than 20 years, Planview has been advancing the discipline of portfolio management, helping our customers change the way they manage people and money ...

Three Steps to Inventing the Future

Published on 2011-03-28 22:05:04

by Tim Kastelle “The Future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.” – William Gibson That’s the idea that framed last week’s post – Where’s My Flying Car? I argued that as innovators, our job is ...

Outside In Innovation at GE

Published on 2011-03-28 22:03:19

by Paul Hobcraft In the past few months I have been getting interested in GE and how it is managing innovation. Often you read a number of negative reports on GE but is this just the ...

It is Okay to Marry Your Work (Part 2)

Published on 2011-03-28 22:02:08

by Stephen Shapiro Last week I wrote an article for American Express about marrying your work. Unlike the “ball and chain” picture that tends to pop into our heads, I espoused the merits of loving your ...

10 Proven Sources of Inspiration

Published on 2011-03-28 22:01:55

by Matt Heinz Few people argue with the value of creating regular content – more prospects, more Web traffic, more thought leadership and a better-educated set of prospects are just a few of the benefits regular ...

Little Black Book of Innovation

Published on 2011-03-27 22:05:53

by Braden Kelley I had the honor of keynoting at the Imaginatik Innovation Leaders Forum at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City. But, I also had the privilege of hearing great innovation ...

Innovation Wants and Needs

Published on 2011-03-27 22:04:56

by Jeffrey Phillips I learned about wants and needs in probably one of the best ways possible: through the rapid growth and fiery crash of a startup. There’s no better way to learn to ...

6 Sides of the So-Called Box

Published on 2011-03-27 22:03:41

by Mitch Ditkoff Unless you’ve been in a coma for the past 20 years, I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase “get out of the box.” It’s everywhere. Whole industries have sprung up around it, including ...

Stay Agile and Win

Published on 2011-03-27 22:01:35

by Paul Sloane Many leaders of small firms focus on making their business work efficiently and on delivering high-quality customer service. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these objectives. They are both essential aims. However, ...

The Great Innovation Lie

Published on 2011-03-26 22:04:21

by Jeffrey Baumgartner Like any good managing director, I regularly watch what the competition and others in our field are up to. One thing I have noticed over recent months is a tendency to turn corporate ...

Who’s in Charge Here Anyway?

Published on 2011-03-26 22:03:47

by Holly G. Green How many times has this happened in your organization? A sudden change in your market (or as often happens these days, a sudden change in the world outside your industry) dictates a major ...

Accumulating Patents at Universities

Published on 2011-03-26 22:02:41

by Melba Kurman Most US universities maintain three core businesses that earn most of their revenue: Selling diplomas Competing for federal and industry research sponsorships Trying to crack open the checkbooks of wealthy alumni Since the 1980s, un

Checking In With Air New Zealand

Published on 2011-03-26 22:01:47

by Kevin Roberts Recently I wrote about some great ideas circulating the airline industry. Topping the list was Air New Zealand, which continues its relentless leadership in innovation and customer service. The last time I last ...

Confusing Complexity

Published on 2011-03-26 09:01:58

Lost Revenue Opportunities and the New York Times by Patrick Lefler The New York Times will soon introduce a paywall to its very popular website in order to turn online visitors into paying customers. It’s part of ...

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Published on 2011-03-26 08:24:40

by Jake Shriar I was watching the most recent Mastercard commercial the other day, and it really got me thinking. Innovation really goes hand in hand with entrepreneurship. The tagline in the commercial is “for those ...

Innovation and the Peter Principle

Published on 2011-03-25 22:05:13

by Jeffrey Phillips By this point in your career, regardless of your length of time in your career, you’ve met someone who demonstrates the description of the Peter Principle. According to the authors of the ...

Resource Allocation in Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-25 22:03:10

by Stefan Lindegaard The “standard” scenario is that companies start small with open innovation. It is often just one guy charged to create some quick, small wins. If this works, more resources are added and a ...

Big Companies Need Small Companies in their Open Innovation Ecosystems

Published on 2011-03-24 22:03:49

by Stefan Lindegaard Corporations that are taking the lead in open innovation are hoping to gain an advantage over their competitors as they will get access to a more diverse inflow of opportunities, which can lead ...

Fostering an Innovative Culture

Published on 2011-03-24 22:01:10

by Jake Shriar In the last few years, innovation has become increasingly important, with the rise of outsourcing, and companies being forced to become tighter due to the global recession. People understand that they need to be ...

No Vision = No Innovation

Published on 2011-03-23 22:05:18

by Jeffrey Phillips My son shocked my wife last night by announcing that he didn’t think the space program had anything to offer mankind. He had been assigned a paper in his middle school English ...

Why The Idea Champion Is So Important

Published on 2011-03-23 22:01:50

by Jake Shriar Collecting ideas is the easy part, believe me. If you launch an idea generation campaign, whether it be internal or external, you will receive some creative, brilliant ideas. Internal stakeholders or external customers ...

Utah’s Great University Technology Commercialization Experiment

Published on 2011-03-23 01:31:23

by Melba Kurman What better way to study the pros and cons of a major shift in strategy than to examine its impact on a similar organization that took the plunge? In 2005, the University ...

Where can you get the best design education?

Published on 2011-03-23 01:16:16

My rankings PLUS places that do well at d-school + b-school by Idris Mootee I spent a good half-day in London at the Royal College of Art last week and lunch with Nick Leon of ...

Open Innovation – Why, What, Who, Where and How!

Published on 2011-03-23 00:52:11

by Stefan Lindegaard Open innovation agency, 100% Open, has just held an Open Innovation Accelerator program in the UK. Their presentation slides are online and they have lots of interesting content worth looking into. In particular, I ...

Nissan’s “Innovation For All” Campaign

Published on 2011-03-22 22:01:29

by Jake Shriar A few months ago, Nissan North America launched a marketing campaign called “Innovation for All”, that has since proved to be a very effective campaign. The campaign was intended to highlight some of ...

Innovator Lifetime Value

Published on 2011-03-21 22:27:06

by Braden Kelley By now, if you’re in marketing you’re probably familiar with the concept of customer lifetime value. Put simply, it’s the idea that a customer is worth to the organization not just the value ...

Treating Innovation as an Experiment

Published on 2011-03-21 22:04:17

by Jeffrey Phillips Most businesses recognize that they “need” to do innovation, just like I recognize that I “need” more exercise. Unfortunately, while for me more exercise simply means setting aside the time to do ...

Creating Cross-Divisional Innovation Cohesion

Published on 2011-03-21 22:03:40

by Robert F. Brands R&D, Marketing, Sales, Finance, IT – you’re familiar with the most common departments within a standard company, and have likely been involved with one or more. You know it can be a ...

The Growing Shift Towards Social Innovation

Published on 2011-03-21 22:02:15

by Paul Hobcraft On 16 and 17 March 2011, Social Innovation Europe will be launched in Brussels. Funded by the European Commission, Social Innovation Europe will create a dynamic, entrepreneurial and innovative new Europe with the ...

8 Ways to Measure Innovation Potential

Published on 2011-03-20 22:05:15

by Jeffrey Phillips I’m always a bit skeptical when I read about any definitive list, whether it’s six things to improve my complexion or seven myths of innovation. So I enter with some trepidation a ...

Unfuzzing the Front End of Innovation generates turnover

Published on 2011-03-20 22:04:58

The very first phase of the innovation process, the creation of innovative and appealing product, services or business model ideas, is of the utmost importance for innovation.

20 Ways to Get Feedback on Your New Idea

Published on 2011-03-20 22:03:54

by Mitch Ditkoff You’ve got a great idea. I know you do. But I also know it’s just sitting there. In your head. Like a lump. Why? Because you haven’t pitched it to anyone. Everyone — even ...

Where is my flying car?

Published on 2011-03-20 22:02:35

by Tim Kastelle When Paul Krugman and Charlie Stross had a chat at WorldCon a couple of years ago, the first question out of Krugman’s mouth was “Where are the flying cars?” Krugman asked this because he ...

Stepping Off the Hamster Wheel

Published on 2011-03-19 22:05:51

How to Stay Creative Even When You’re Insanely Busy by Robert B. Tucker IBM’s survey of global CEOs gives us a rare insight into where leaders heads are at right now. Asked to name the most ...

Innovation Leadership Needs Shared Power and Truth

Published on 2011-03-19 22:03:49

Leadership is the Key to Innovation by Roy Luebke Innovation exists on a spectrum from incremental to transformational. Ultimately it is the CEO who must decide where the organization is going to focus its efforts along ...

First Mover Advantage in Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-19 22:02:55

by Stefan Lindegaard I spoke with innovation people from a big automotive manufacturer last week. We talked about the automotive industry and open innovation. They said that there is already lots of collaboration going on in ...

Don’t Confuse Execution with Tactics

Published on 2011-03-19 22:02:07

by Patrick Lefler Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan are the authors of one of the best books on execution written over the past twenty-five years – Execution, The discipline of getting things done. One of the ...

Stop Disrupting and Solve the Disruptions

Published on 2011-03-18 22:05:48

by Jeffrey Phillips It struck me recently that a lot of firms treat their customers as nameless, faceless objects all of whom share the same needs and have the same reactions to products. Of course ...

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt in University IP Strategy

Published on 2011-03-18 22:04:04

by Melba Kurman Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) provide a shoddy foundation for an effective innovation strategy. Blogger Jeffrey Phillips, in a recent post, argues that FUD-based marketing campaigns value “what’s known and experienced … ...

Mergers & Acquisitions or Mayhem & Animosity

Published on 2011-03-18 22:03:22

by Steve McKee In previous posts I’ve highlighted key reasons why mergers are often ill-advised. Now comes news that last year’s much talked-about marriage of Kraft and Cadbury is turning out to be less fulfilling than ...

Small Companies and Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-18 22:02:33

A P&G Perspective by Stefan Lindegaard This is part of an interview I did with Chris Thoen, Managing Director of the Global Open Innovation office at P&G. The overall topic is the intersection of big and small ...

Rewarding Innovation

Published on 2011-03-17 22:05:20

by Jeffrey Baumgartner A reward scheme can make or kill an innovation initiative, such as an idea management process. Considering the amount of effort that goes into launching an idea management process in many companies, it ...

Are You Engaging Your Employees?

Published on 2011-03-17 22:04:22

by Holly G. Green You may be funny, smart, and easy to dance with, but if you are not engaging employees on an ongoing basis, all of your work in developing a strategic plan will be ...

The People Aspect of Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-17 22:02:25

Opportunities versus Threats by Stefan Lindegaard In this blog post, Todd Boone, Director of Market Development at Psion shares some insights and experiences on the people aspect of open innovation. As you can read below, Todd focuses on ...

The Challenge Precedes the Innovation

Published on 2011-03-17 22:01:34

by Yann Cramer “The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old ...

What would premium innovation look like?

Published on 2011-03-17 15:53:43

Dear Blogging Innovation community, We’ve asked you three questions so far about what you would like to see in the new site, and we have a couple of more to ask in the coming weeks to ...

Innovation and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Published on 2011-03-17 10:49:29

by Braden Kelley Now that my local Blockbuster has gone out of business, I’ve made the jump and joined Netflix (although I will miss taking trips to Blockbuster with my daughter). The first disc in my queue ...

Relationship between Process and Innovation

Published on 2011-03-16 22:05:59

by Jeffrey Phillips There are perhaps few more misunderstood concepts than the idea of support and enabling innovation efforts with a defined innovation process. Let me start by saying that our business exists to help ...

Innovation – Matching Needs and Solutions

Published on 2011-03-16 22:03:46

by Ralph Ohr While revisiting some collected innovation readings, I recognized that it might be important to briefly emphasize again one “fundamental”: the distinction between needs and solutions. According to Christian Terwiesch, co-author of

Five Major Trends to Watch Now

Published on 2011-03-16 22:01:19

by Ric Merrifield I spend a lot of time looking at and writing about disruptive business models (many of them are discussed in my most recent book, Surviving a Business Earthquake, and lately I have been ...

The Three I’s of Innovation

Published on 2011-03-16 22:01:05

by Rob Spencer Many business blogs will pose the question “what is innovation?” and then descend into an erudite semantic fog. Let’s just answer the question and do so in a way that points forward to ...

Are you Building to Fail or Failing to Build?

Published on 2011-03-15 22:03:15

Failure is part of building to last. I Hope I’m Not Confusing You. by Idris Mootee In London last week, fully packed with meetings. Staying at St. Martins Lane and it is one of my ...

Innovation Marketplaces

Published on 2011-03-15 22:02:27

A Major Resource for Open Innovation by Stefan Lindegaard As open innovation becomes more widespread, the need increases for innovation marketplaces that can serve as intermediaries to which companies can quickly connect. Some of these intermediarie

Which Day of the Week?

Published on 2011-03-15 22:01:43

Dear Blogging Innovation community, We’ve asked you three questions so far about what you would like to see in the new site, and we have a couple of more to ask in the coming weeks to ...

The Art of the Dumb Question

Published on 2011-03-15 22:01:38

by Deborah Mills-Scofield When I was a child, my parents always answered a question with an answer that led to another question. So early on, I learned to just keep asking questions. It drove my teachers nuts (don’t ...

Accelerate Innovation in Your Organization

Published on 2011-03-15 15:14:05

by Braden Kelley Are you looking for a way to increase the innovation knowledge in your organization? Looking for a way to begin installing a common innovation language in your organization? Well then, why not do what some ...

Reverse Brainstorming

Published on 2011-03-14 22:04:17

A Better Way to Generate Creative Ideas by Jorge Barba When we consider how aha really happens the traditional method we use for generating creative ideas, brainstorming, has flaws. Ask your friends, when do they have their ...

Open Innovation at the Crossroads

Published on 2011-03-14 22:02:25

by Paul Hobcraft Open Innovation (OI) has been around for some years, in the past three to four years the notion of open innovation has accelerated and moved very much and becoming embedded into the structure ...

Work That Creates Real Wealth

Published on 2011-03-14 22:01:23

by Dr. Mike Shipulski Today’s biggest problems are difficult to solve and our approach to solving them isn’t helping. Whether it’s healthcare, education, infrastructure, defense, or the economy we never get past the wrong question: “Who’s .

News from the Innovation Front Lines

Published on 2011-03-13 23:05:34

by Braden Kelley This post may also be viewed on the American Express OPEN Forum Idea Hub. I had the honor of keynoting recently at the Imaginatik Innovation Leaders Forum at the New York Stock Exchange in ...

Ambidexterity is a Necessary Innovation Skill

Published on 2011-03-13 23:04:55

by Jeffrey Phillips There’s an old joke about a not-too-swift basketball player describing his skills. He told a reporter “I can shoot with my left hand, I can shoot with my right hand. I’m ...

Brainstorming versus Braincalming

Published on 2011-03-13 23:03:29

by Mitch Ditkoff If you work in a big organization, small business, freelance, or eat cheese, there’s a good chance you’ve participated in at least a few brainstorming sessions in your life. You’ve noodled, conjured, envisioned, ide

The Rise of Unorganizations

Published on 2011-03-13 23:02:22

by John Steen Have you heard of Ruslan Kogan? I think he is one of the most exciting business entrepreneurs in recent years. I only got to hear about him when the major Australian electronics retailers ...

Innovation is Highest and Best Use for Social CRM

Published on 2011-03-12 22:05:44

by Hutch Carpenter Social Customer Relationship Management (aka Social CRM). As a term, it’s freighted with connotations. That second term in particular (CRM). CRM systems have a well-worn set of use cases, strengths and weaknesses. So ...

Innovation is in the Air

Published on 2011-03-12 22:04:41

by Kevin Roberts In an attempt to get a competitive edge in a cutthroat industry, many airlines focus on cutting costs, rather than finding ways of consistently delighting their passengers and thereby generating sustainable premiums. It’s ...

Plight of Young Males

Published on 2011-03-12 22:02:43

by Saul Kaplan I am proud of my bona fides on supporting the advancement of women. It angers me to think how slow executive suites and boardrooms are to welcome more qualified females. Stubborn gender wage ...

Innovation Requires Execution NOT Creativity

Published on 2011-03-12 22:01:43

by Patrick Lefler Everyone talks about the need for creativity and great ideas. It’s become the fad of the month with entire industries now devoted to idea generation. Innovation labs and teams are the new thing ...

We Don’t Need Another Innovation Hero

Published on 2011-03-11 22:05:10

by Jeffrey Phillips James Gardner, an innovator, blogger and author whom I respect, has a new post out today that talks about the need for a “new kind of hero“. He’s referencing innovation heroes like ...

Top 10 University Tech Transfer Events of 2010

Published on 2011-03-11 22:02:58

by Melba Kurman What were the top ten notable events in 2010 in the world of university technology commercialization and innovation management? In no particular order, here’s what stands out for me. 1. The Bayh-Dole ...

When Companies are Not Ready for Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-11 22:02:35

by Stefan Lindegaard What advice should we give to a company that wants to embrace open innovation, but is not yet ready because of their own culture and mindset? I got to think about this after ...

Stop in the Name of Innovation

Published on 2011-03-11 22:01:43

Not enough innovation efforts include a discussion about resource allocation and what to STOP funding.

Visual Brainstorming

Published on 2011-03-10 22:05:41

by Jeffrey Baumgartner “Brainstorming verbally frequently does not work. Visual brainstorming , that is brainstorming with images, objects and actions frequently works spectacularly well.” Why Verbal Brainstorming Fails The ugly truth abo

VW Driving Concept Car through Shrinking Window of Opportunity

Published on 2011-03-10 22:03:47

by Yann Cramer At a corporate conference I attended earlier this year, a top-executive keynote speaker used the term “shrinking windows of opportunity” to describe a world where change is happening at such a fast pace ...

The Clorox Approach to Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-10 22:02:11

by Stefan Lindegaard I have often argued that companies need to develop their own definition of open innovation and I was thus pleased to learn that Clorox agrees with this approach while watching a video presentation ...

5 Ways to Get Your Strategic Plan to the Finish Line

Published on 2011-03-10 22:01:36

by Holly G. Green I focus a lot of my time and energy on helping clients remember the importance of ongoing communications as their strategic plan unfolds. Keeping employees informed on a regular basis helps to ...

Importance of Discovery to Innovation

Published on 2011-03-09 22:05:06

by Jeffrey Phillips Last week I wrote about becoming a “fast discoverer“, which was primarily about using experimentation to find new ideas. What struck me as I contemplated the need for more experimentation is how ...

Why Steve Jobs Couldn’t Find a Job

Published on 2011-03-09 22:04:35

by Adam Hartung Business people keep piling onto the innovation and growth bandwagon. PWC just released the results of its 14th annual CEO survey entitled Growth Reimagined. Seems like most CEOs are as tired ...

Investigating the Ethanol Innovation Myth

Published on 2011-03-09 22:03:55

Some ‘Improvements’ Demand Serious Questions by Robert F. Brands Next time you fill up at the pump, check for a new sticker: “Contains up to 10% Ethanol.” It represents “innovative” efforts by Big Oil, Big Agriculture and Big ...

Overcoming Hero Leader Syndrome

Published on 2011-03-09 22:01:49

by Mike Myatt Are you a “hero leader?” Do you like to swoop-in and save the day? Do you see yourself as the white knight who can solve any problem or challenge? If you do, you ...

Innovation Best Practice is a Verb not a Noun

Published on 2011-03-08 22:05:43

by Deborah Mills-Scofield One of the central tenets of 20th Century business has been ‘best practices’. Let’s dissect this veritable oxymoron: Best: highest quality, standing (at a point in time, place and context) Practice: a ha

The Emerging Object Culture

Published on 2011-03-08 22:04:55

Meanings Are Sought Through Social Identities, Visual Information and Interfaces / Interactions by Idris Mootee There are objects that I love for many different reasons. They range from my Leicas to my JBL speakers, LV ...

What is Open Foresight?

Published on 2011-03-08 22:04:53

by Venessa Miemis We recently introduced the concept of ‘Open Foresight’ as a process we’re developing to analyze complex issues in an open and collaborative way, and to raise the bar on public discourse and forward-focused ...

IP Issues are Less Important for Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-08 22:01:42

by Stefan Lindegaard I have noted a shift over the last couple of years. It used to be that the most-often asked questions on open innovation evolved around intellectual property rights. How can we do open ...

Silicon Valley Road Trip March 21-25

Published on 2011-03-08 18:01:28

by Braden Kelley Thanks to you my first book – Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire – is off to a great start, and with a little more exposure it has the potential to become a best-seller. To kick ...

Get Ready to Accelerate the Innovation Profession

Published on 2011-03-07 22:05:40

by Paul Hobcraft Sometimes you become concerned, this is one of those moments. I’m getting concerned that we need to take some urgent action. The Corporate Innovation Manager – is stuck in the middle. Recently I was going ...

How PepsiCo, Kraft & MWH Accelerate Innovation

Published on 2011-03-07 22:04:51

by Andrea Meyer Point Tools and processes — PepsiCo’s 72-hour IdeaJams, Kraft’s R&D Suite with online lab notebooks, and MWH Global’s Idea Hub — speed innovation by enabling quick access to new ideas, prior art, and company-wide ...

Finally a Much Needed Earthquake in Health Insurance

Published on 2011-03-07 22:03:14

by Ric Merrifield For years I have wondered why health insurance hasn’t been treated like other insurance, like car insurance. With car insurance, the riskier your profile, the more expensive the insurance. You get ...

Open Innovation Legal Insights

Published on 2011-03-07 22:02:29

5 Biggest IP Legal Mistakes Small Companies Make When Working with Large Companies by Jackie Hutter Small companies CAN effectively partner with large companies in Open Innovation… Open Innovation guru Stefan Lindegaard recently asked me what

Part 3 – Please Help Transform Blogging Innovation

Published on 2011-03-07 17:17:54

Dear Blogging Innovation community, With help from you, the Blogging Innovation community, we are about to transform this site into something even more valuable. With your help, we hope to transform Blogging Innovation into THE innovation destination

5 Ways to Ignite a Culture of Innovation

Published on 2011-03-06 22:05:09

by Mitch Ditkoff Trying to create a culture of innovation is a daunting task for even the most committed organization. Cultures take decades to form. Changing them is not an overnight phenomenon, no matter how many ...

Is Being Wrong the Only Way to Learn?

Published on 2011-03-06 22:04:19

by Tim Kastelle Jason Potts said that to me last week when we were talking about the work he’s doing on his house. The house was severely damaged in the flood in January. For the past ...

Navigating the Innovation Maze

Published on 2011-03-06 22:03:06

by John Steen One of our long term research projects is the problem of innovating in large complicated businesses such as engineering and mining companies. We have been using social network analysis to understand innovation because ...

The GPS of Leadership

Published on 2011-03-06 22:02:35

by Braden Kelley If you want to be a better leader then take a look at the satellite navigation system, or GPS, in your car (Sat Nav for my UK readers). Here is what it ...

Innovation Thrives Between the Lines of Chaos and Control

Published on 2011-03-05 22:05:31

by Hutch Carpenter “Innovation Killer #4: Create an obstacle course for ideas. Guaranteed way to kill the innovative spirit? Model your processes on Kafka’s The Trial or your typical parking clerk’s office.” CIO Magazine, July 24, 200

An Innovation in the Business of Love

Published on 2011-03-05 22:03:35

by Rocco Tarasi I think the best businesses are ones where the business model is so ingrained into the product or service that you can’t think about the business and business model separately. That is ...

Innovation in Our Cities is Easier Said Than Done

Published on 2011-03-05 22:02:21

by Patrick Lefler Recently one of the blogs featured in the Harvard Business Review’s The Conversation featured a story about recent efforts of Kentucky’s two largest cities–Louisville and Lexington–to promote innovation. In a post ti

The Gravity of Intrinsic Motivation

Published on 2011-03-05 22:01:39

by Dr. Mike Shipulski Work can be exceptionally profitable, work can dovetail perfectly with strategy, and work can make perfect business sense. Though these attributes seem powerful, they’re insufficient for work to carry the day. But ...

Why Offshoring Some Tech Transfer Functions Could Help Create U.S. Jobs

Published on 2011-03-04 22:05:46

by Melba Kurman U.S. research universities churn out over 60% of our nation’s basic, game-changing research. In this era of tight budgets, some universities are offshoring the work involved in bringing on-campus inventions to market, ...

The Adventures of Brainstorm Man

Published on 2011-03-04 22:02:04

Episode One: Attack of the Boring Pushchairs by Jeffrey Baumgartner Willy Heckert flung the magazine across the room in frustration. “How do the Americans come up with such clever new pushchairs (baby strollers for our American readers) ...

Coping with Social Media Overload

Published on 2011-03-04 22:01:47

by Stefan Lindegaard I read an interesting article in USA Today recently, Social Media Users Grapple With Information Overload. It addresses the hardship of keeping up with a constant barrage of tweets, texts, blogs and instant ...

Raising Innovation

Published on 2011-03-04 22:01:10

by Deborah Mills-Scofield Humans are one of the few mammals whose babies are not fully developed at birth. Unlike horses, whales, etc., human babies can’t stand, walk, or forage on their own at birth. They are totally dependent ...

Forget About Being a Fast Follower

Published on 2011-03-03 22:05:00

Become a Fast Discoverer with Experimentation by Jeffrey Phillips One data point is interesting, two points define a line and three points are a trend. Today in my Twitter feed were several articles and stories about ...

LG and Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-03 22:02:51

Key Insights from their work with Small Companies by Stefan Lindegaard In this interview, Chris Ryu, Open Innovation Manager at LG shares insights and experiences on how LG innovate with small companies. You can find more information ...

Is Everyone on Your Team Running the Same Race?

Published on 2011-03-03 22:02:48

by Holly G. Green Picture the following scenario. A thousand people stand bunched up at the starting line, poised to run a marathon. The runners nervously jog in place and stretch their limbs to stay loose. You ...

When Your Analytical Mind Objects – Smile Back

Published on 2011-03-03 22:01:38

by Yann Cramer Today I continue my exploration of the interaction of the analytical mind and creativity with a recent real-life example. People often regret not being creative enough. They think cannot generate novel ideas. More often ...

The W’s of Innovation

Published on 2011-03-02 22:05:55

by Jeffrey Phillips When I was coming along in school, back in the dark ages when we still used the wide tablets and the short, fat pencils, we were taught a fair bit about writing. ...

What Technology Wants

Published on 2011-03-02 22:02:19

by Saul Kaplan It’s rare that a book so enhances your world-view that you think the author has taken up residence in your head. Henceforth What Technology Wants shall be known as my new playbook ...

Are You Pursuing Innovation or Extinction?

Published on 2011-03-02 22:02:05

Invention without Commercialization = Extinction, not Innovation by Deborah Mills-Scofield My job at Bell Labs was to invent and create. We dreamed up all sorts of wonderful solutions to problems that did and didn’t exist. But how did w

Leadership and Knowledge Management

Published on 2011-03-02 22:01:18

by Mike Myatt It’s one thing to possess knowledge, but it’s quite another thing to leverage it. Leaders who don’t understand the value of distributable and actionable knowledge not only limit opportunities, but they’re also building ...

5 Design Thinking Myths in Business

Published on 2011-03-01 22:05:49

by Idris Mootee Myth #1: Every creative person is a design thinker. So you’re creative but doesn’t mean you are equipped to be with design methodologies and trained to be a design thinker, and even ...

February’s Top Ten Innovation and Marketing Articles

Published on 2011-03-01 22:04:38

Legal Aspects of Open Innovation

Published on 2011-03-01 22:03:42

A P&G Perspective for Small Companies by Stefan Lindegaard I recently asked Chris Thoen, Managing Director of the Global Open Innovation office at P&G this question. “Small companies often have limited legal resources. What can they do to

Innovation and Human Capabilities

Published on 2011-03-01 22:03:38

by Ralph Ohr John Steen wrote a series of posts on why experts and crowds usually miss disruptive innovation and how to use networks to tap expertise and knowledge. I’d like to expand these thoughts a ...

Innovation Tools Don’t Solve Problems, People Do

Published on 2011-02-28 22:04:44

by Tim Kastelle What do you do if the tools you use to improve your innovation process actually make it worse? I had a meeting yesterday with one of our research partners to go over some of ...

Welcome to the Brave New World of Innovation Ecosystems

Published on 2011-02-28 22:03:48

by Paul Hobcraft Will ecosystems replace simple ‘old’ innovation collaborations as we know them today? Open innovation has suddenly lost its pole position. Board rooms around the world will be thinking through the events that unfolded ...

3 Key Skills that Enable Innovation

Published on 2011-02-28 22:02:00

by Jamie Flinchbaugh Innovation is obviously a major attribute in the competitiveness of a company (or a government, or a school, or an individual). There are many ways to achieve innovation, and no one aspect will ...

How to Market Your Marketing Organization

Published on 2011-02-28 22:01:19

by Matt Heinz Does your marketing organization have a brand? Do you have a reputation within the company? If I asked the sales team what they thought marketing did, what would they say? If we ...

Open Services Innovation

Published on 2011-02-27 22:05:39

by Henry Chesbrough Innovation has always been a challenging and risky business. These days, it is getting harder and harder for many companies to compete, escaping the forces of commoditization, as manufacturing spreads around the world ...

Don’t Let Puppetmaster Control Ideation

Published on 2011-02-27 22:03:59

One Frequently Ignored Secret of Facilitating Brainstorm Sessions by Mitch Ditkoff Here’s one of the dirty little secrets of corporate brainstorm sessions: When they are led by upper management, department heads, or project leaders, they usua

Why Now is the Time for Business Model Innovation

Published on 2011-02-27 22:03:11

Four reasons why every organization should be using business model innovation to question their current approach to business and find a better way to offer value.

Exploring Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing

Published on 2011-02-27 22:01:59

by Braden Kelley I had the opportunity to interview Paul Sloane, author of A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing recently. Here is text of the interview: 1. Why should organizations be thinking about Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing? The pace

Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire for Free

Published on 2011-02-27 09:43:17

by Braden Kelley The reactions to my new book Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire from John Wiley & Sons have been very positive. There have already been fifteen reviews of the book on Amazon and several university ...

Innovation – The Last People-Centric Process

Published on 2011-02-26 22:05:33

by Jeffrey Phillips It’s really astonishing to realize how little most firms understand about innovation, especially the fact that people are paramount to innovation success. In the title I’ve made a fairly definitive statement. ...

Great Moments in Business Model Innovation History

Published on 2011-02-26 22:05:13

by Patrick Lefler Peter Drucker tells the story about how a tiny photographic paper and equipment manufacturer from upstate New York ended up cornering the copy machine market in the second half of the twentieth century. ...

Young, Smart and Searching for a Dream

Published on 2011-02-26 22:01:37

by Kevin Roberts Recently I wrote about the boomers and how they’re still one of the most important consumer groups on the planet. Funding the cost of the retiring boomer generation is a headache many Western nations ...

Hazards of Binary Thinking

Published on 2011-02-25 22:05:10

And the Dangers of Poor Scope Definition by Jeffrey Phillips I was talking recently with a client, who was describing a problem in their business. Due to new regulations, the client wasn’t going to be able ...

Innovation + Best Practices Win Race

Published on 2011-02-25 22:03:07

Whether You’re Racing to the South Pole or Racing for Business Improvement by Robert F. Brands One hundred years ago, two men set out on a Race to the South Pole. Both Englishman Robert Falcon Scott and Norwegian ...

Managing University Inventions

Published on 2011-02-25 22:01:25

With Privilege Comes Accountability by Melba Kurman If the Supreme Court gives universities greater control over the inventions created by their faculty and grad students, the Court should also require universities to publish metrics that shed light

Small Company Perspective on Open Innovation

Published on 2011-02-24 22:03:47

Metaio by Stefan Lindegaard In the coming months, I will interview and write about SME’s and their experiences with open innovation as I hope this can help us develop a more holistic view and understanding of open ...

Keys to Successful Brainstorming

Published on 2011-02-24 22:02:37

by Jeffrey Baumgartner There are a numerous approaches to brainstorming, but whichever approach you use, there are several key factors which make the difference between a successful brainstorming session and a mediocre brainstorming session. State yo

Five Steps to Breaking the Multitasking Cycle

Published on 2011-02-24 22:01:51

by Holly G. Green Is constant multitasking wearing you down and eroding your effectiveness as a business leader? Here are five steps for recapturing your time, attention and productivity: 1. Focus. Focus starts with having a very ...

Looking for Models in all the Wrong Places

Published on 2011-02-24 22:01:41

by Deborah Mills-Scofield One of my favorite authors is Ismail Kadare from Albania. Over Valentine’s weekend, my husband and I had a romantic discussion of the Mid-East (ok, we’re ‘different’). Trust me, these are related. The media co

Innovation at Apple without Steve Jobs

Published on 2011-02-23 22:05:39

by Jay Elliot I am continuously asked what would happen if Steve Jobs left Apple, or as he sometimes put it, if he “got hit by a bus.” I tell people that Steve is not replaceable ...

Innovation and the Curse of Knowledge

Published on 2011-02-23 22:04:20

by Jeffrey Phillips Perhaps one of the most significant barriers to innovation is what we think we know, or “facts” that we are confident are correct. As several cognitive experts have demonstrated, the more you ...

Self-Made Woman or Man Complex

Published on 2011-02-23 22:03:40

by Mike Myatt Do you view yourself as a self-made man or woman? If you do, you may want to take another look in the mirror. If your pride, ego, arrogance, ignorance, the way you were ...

Defining Your Innovation Model

Published on 2011-02-23 22:01:37

by Caspar van Rijnbach How can I define the ideal innovation model for my organization? This is a difficult question which people responsible for improving innovation at their organization encounter. And that’s where the questioning starts: Should

Beginning a New Era for Truly Global Innovation

Published on 2011-02-22 22:05:15

by Paul Hobcraft Braden Kelley wrote an article entitled Is the era of Innovation Over? which I would like to build upon. Braden is the author of Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire from John Wiley & Sons and ...

Part 2 – Please Help Transform Blogging Innovation

Published on 2011-02-22 22:04:04

Open Innovation in Med-Tech and High-Tech

Published on 2011-02-22 22:03:46

by Stefan Lindegaard I was recently asked for some input by Katharine Grayson, a journalist working on an article on open innovation in the Med-Tech industry. You can read the article, which focuses on the open ...

What Innovators Can Learn From Jazz

Published on 2011-02-22 22:01:07

No Reason Why a Creative Person Cannot Also be a Professional by Idris Mootee I was talking to a publishing veteran from New York and showed him my new magazine M/I/S/C which will be in ...

Building a Global Sensing Network

Published on 2011-02-21 22:05:17

by Braden Kelley This post may also be viewed on the American Express OPEN Forum Idea Hub. In 2011, I will be a regular contributor to the American Express OPEN Forum on the topic of innovation. Here is ...

Trust and Open Innovation

Published on 2011-02-21 22:03:45

by Kevin McFarthing Accenture recently published a report on Managing Trust for High Performance. The essence of the report is that trust can be directly related to corporate performance, and that losing trust with customers ...

Turning Employee Engagement into Innovation

Published on 2011-02-21 22:01:31

Rewards and Recognition by James Pasmantier As we have discussed in previous posts, proper campaign design (targeted- vs. broad-spectrum) and building awareness are crucial to the success of any innovation program. But even if your program is ...

Finding Disruptive Innovation Ideas

Published on 2011-02-20 22:05:36

by Tim Kastelle We often talk about how innovation occurs along a spectrum. At one end there are relatively small, incremental innovations – taking things that we currently do and figuring out how to do them ...

The Dynamics of Brainstorm Facilitation

Published on 2011-02-20 22:03:05

by Mitch Ditkoff A well-facilitated brainstorming session is like a symphony — or, at the very least, a really good performance of any kind of music. Embedded in its DNA are dynamics (i.e. “variation and contrast ...

Think Ecosystems Not Products

Published on 2011-02-20 22:01:32

by John Steen A colleague has just forwarded the brilliant ‘burning platform’ memo from Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop. If you haven’t read the entire memo to Nokia employees, you can link to a report here. It’s ...

Babies and Baby Companies

Published on 2011-02-20 07:48:47

by Glen Stansberry My wife is due to deliver a little girl any day now, and the waiting is sheer agony… Watching the entire process of a tiny person grow inside of my wife’s belly has been ...

Innovation – The Simple Trumps the Complex

Published on 2011-02-19 22:03:59

by Patrick Lefler Simplicity is one of the keys to successful innovation. But simplicity is not the same as having simple ideas. Rather, it’s about taking sophisticated ideas and design and being able to reduce them ...

Understanding Taste

Published on 2011-02-19 22:01:29

by Kevin Roberts Sensuality, along with Mystery and Intimacy, is one of the three magic ingredients in a Lovemark. Sight, scent, hearing, touch and taste are gateways to the emotions and a powerful means of connecting ...

Absolution for Innovation Sins

Published on 2011-02-18 22:05:51

by Jeffrey Phillips One of the reasons I’ve grown to love Twitter is that I get a broad sweep of opinion about innovation in a very short period of time. One quick scan of Twitter ...

Timeless Innovation

Published on 2011-02-18 22:03:28

by Robert F. Brands The year is 1910, and Henry Ford’s Model T is rolling off the assembly line. It soon will join some 8,000 other automobiles currently in the U.S., motoring along at a brisk ...

Why People Resist Change

Published on 2011-02-18 22:03:17

by Melba Kurman Have you ever lingered in a colleague’s office after a particularly frustrating staff meeting, dissecting your boss’s most recent veto of a potentially beneficial innovative new process or product? Did you ...

The Myth of Multitasking

Published on 2011-02-17 22:03:38

by Holly G. Green Have you ever watched someone attempting to do several things at once in the workplace? Their energy level is high, they’re constantly in motion, and they look like the kind of worker every ...

Invisible Innovation No Less Useful

Published on 2011-02-17 22:02:08

by Yann Cramer Even by conservative estimates that cater for fast-paced development of energy-efficient technologies, the global demand for energy is set to double by 2050. Since “easy oil” will not keep up with the demand, ...

Open Innovation and Social Media Roadmap

Published on 2011-02-17 22:01:12

by Stefan Lindegaard What actions should an innovation unit take on the intersection of social media and open innovation? This is a question that I hear more often and it would be great to have a ...

The Ultimate Brainstorming Resource?

Published on 2011-02-17 19:24:53

by Chris Dolan Last night on Jeopardy, a machine beat two humans in a game that requires the kind of contextual understanding once thought impossible for computers. IBM’s supercomputer Watson beat two of Jeopardy’s all-time ...

Why Disruption is the Preferred Innovation Outcome

Published on 2011-02-16 22:05:44

by Jeffrey Phillips I’ve given some thought lately to the idea that there are three types of outcomes that any innovation can create. These three “outcomes” are cannibalization, disruption or market creation. In this ...

The Dynamics of Innovation Fitness

Published on 2011-02-16 22:05:40

by Paul Hobcraft In my work investigating different aspects of innovation activity one thought tends to dominate my thinking: “How do we achieve a better understanding of the dynamics of innovation within our capabilities to be more ...

3 Questions All Content Must Answer

Published on 2011-02-16 22:01:55

by Matt Heinz I think we all generally understand and accept that content needs to do something. It needs to speak to and influence an intended audience else it’s really a waste of everyone’s time. This ...

Don’t Fight Innovation Blockers

Published on 2011-02-15 22:05:42

Be Patient and Win! by Gijs van Wulfen Innovation is a main topic in many boardrooms, and probably also in your organization. Despite all the good intentions, top managers are just people and in reality not much ...

Does A National Design Polcy Make Sense?

Published on 2011-02-15 22:03:54

Most Activities are Purely Academic and Rarely Create Any Real Impact by Idris Mootee The idea of how effective a national design policy is came up a few times this week during casual conversation with ...

A Rationale for Pursuing Open Innovation

Published on 2011-02-15 22:01:14

by Stefan Lindegaard CoDev 2011 was last month in Scottsdale, AZ. Before the event they hosted a webinar entitled “Expanding Open Innovation Networks to Solve Difficult Technology Roadblocks.” The speaker was Blaine Childress, a research scientis

Removing Legacy From Your Innovation Systems

Published on 2011-02-14 22:05:19

by Paul Hobcraft You hear constantly the need for greater speed, increased agility, and effective delivery from ideas to implementations for innovation. Yet we still keep these organizational needs locked into those old structures, systems ...

Innovation Nation

Published on 2011-02-14 22:03:20

by Larry Popelka Innovation is the world’s most valuable resource. It is more valuable than oil, gold or money. It is the single biggest thing that can turn around companies – and even ...

Four Reasons You Will Lose to the Status Quo

Published on 2011-02-14 22:01:44

by Matt Heinz It’s bad enough when you lose a potential new customer to a competitor. In every market this reality is inevitable, for reasons we can and often cannot control. But your bigger priority and ...

Is the Era of Innovation Over?

Published on 2011-02-13 22:05:50

by Braden Kelley This post may also be viewed on the American Express OPEN Forum Idea Hub (where it has been in the Top 10 for several days). In 2011, I will be a regular contributor to ...

Please Help Transform Blogging Innovation

Published on 2011-02-13 22:04:47

Building an Idea Factory

Published on 2011-02-13 22:02:13

by Mitch Ditkoff One of the reasons why most BIG IDEAS go nowhere is because the idea originators do not have a team of collaborators on board to help develop and execute their ideas. In the absence ...

Are happy employees, productive employees?

Published on 2011-02-13 22:01:37

by Paul Sloane It is a common fallacy among managers that they want their staff to be happy because happy people are more productive. This may be true, but it is only part of the story. ...

Innovation is not Pixie Dust

Published on 2011-02-12 22:03:14

by Patrick Lefler John Lennon’s classic Beatles song “All you need is love” breaks down all the world’s problems into one simple solution: Love. There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known. Nothing you can see that isn’t .

Small Companies Need to Look Before They Leap

Published on 2011-02-12 22:02:47

When it comes to Open Innovation by Stefan Lindegaard One of the perilous aspects of open innovation for small companies is the inequity that can come from being in a relationship with a larger company. As the ...

Conversations About Africa

Published on 2011-02-12 22:01:36

by Kevin Roberts Over the last year there have been important conversations about Africa. In June a report by the McKinsey Global Institute Lions on the Move painted an exciting and compelling picture of Africa’s economic ...

What Support is Crucial for Innovation?

Published on 2011-02-11 22:05:51

by Jeffrey Phillips I was glancing through my Twitter feeds looking at all the good ideas that flow through the many people I follow. One in particular caught my eye, which was about How to ...

Protecting university inventions from whom?

Published on 2011-02-11 22:02:20

by Melba Kurman A few months ago, Bernie Knight, General Counsel of the USPTO, stated that in order to ensure optimal ROI on tax-payer-funded university research, the Patent Office would likely come out in ...

Shifting Sands of Marketing Alliances

Published on 2011-02-11 22:01:46

by Steve McKee I spotted an ad in today’s paper for Best Buy. Or was it the iPhone? Well I know it was for AT&T. But Verizon, too. Huh? Four logos in an ad, including those of ...

Profound Innovation

Published on 2011-02-10 22:04:40

by Yann Cramer “Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.” – James Joyce I ...

Are We Short-Changing our Middle Managers?

Published on 2011-02-10 22:03:44

by Holly G. Green Every once in a while you run across a statistic or bit of information that really makes you sit up and take notice. Here’s the latest one for me. According to the ASTD ...

Great Advice on Open Innovation from P&G

Published on 2011-02-10 22:02:26

by Stefan Lindegaard We had a great Twitter Chat recently with Chris Thoen, head of open innovation at P&G. Chris gave lots of great advice and I have inserted some of it below. I have only ...

Upgrade from a Pilot to a Prototype – Now!

Published on 2011-02-10 22:02:02

by Luis Solis It could be about semantics. Or not. A pilot is not a prototype. It is my strong belief that innovation success derives from prototype initiatives that are carefully planned, properly funded ...

4 Reasons Why Innovative Ideas Fail

Published on 2011-02-09 22:05:46

by Jeffrey Phillips Frankly, I’d rather write about success than failure, especially in an innovation setting. But since it’s true that success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, someone needs to tell its ...

An Innovation in Angel Investing?

Published on 2011-02-09 22:04:25

by Rocco Tarasi The biggest news in the world of start-ups in the last 24 hours is the announcement that investor Yuri Milner of DST is partnering with famed angel investor Ron Conway on a new ...

Is innovation a matter of age?

Published on 2011-02-09 22:03:58

by Jorge Barba Jose Baldaia and I have started an interesting discussion, ignited by a post titled ”Too Young To Know It Can’t Be Done” by Steve Blank. Blank claims that most of the technology innovations ...

Seth Godin and Amazon – The Domino Project

Published on 2011-02-08 22:05:28

Will the Innovation Dominoes Fall and Disrupt the Book Publishing Industry? by Braden Kelley “The enemy is not piracy, the enemy is obscurity.” – Tim O’Reilly I came across a TechCrunch TV interview with Seth Godin today abou

Art is Like Viagra for Science

Published on 2011-02-08 22:04:36

Art And Science Complement Each Other In All Forms Of Sense-Making. The Magic Formula For Innovation. by Idris Mootee “If you’ve never been lost you’ll never end up getting anywhere new”. That was a great ...

10 Commands for a Digital Age

Published on 2011-02-08 22:03:09

Program or Be Programmed by Venessa Miemis Thanks to digital technologies and networked activity, we’re living through a global transition that is redefining how culture and commerce operate. We’re presented with the opportunity to be active par

4 Critical Questions for Making Open Innovation Work

Published on 2011-02-08 22:01:22

by Stefan Lindegaard I believe the below questions are critical in order for companies to succeed with open innovation. 1. How does open innovation impact the management and the organization? Open innovation is more about a mindset than ...

Growing Imperative for Dedicated Innovation Scientists and Engineers

Published on 2011-02-07 22:03:14

by Paul Hobcraft I believe we are arriving at the point of real value by organizing dedicated innovation scientists and engineers into a specialized innovation unit. Innovation has emerged into part science, part art and design, ...

Innovation and the Role of Genchi Genbutsu

Published on 2011-02-07 22:02:32

by Matthew E May What do Cornflakes, the microwave oven, Post-Its, the Walkman, Teflon, Scotchgard, Aspartame, Rogaine, Kitty Litter, Ivory soap, Velcro, Rayon, and Skateboards all have in common? None were planned! All were unexpected treasures ...

Is context more important than permission?

Published on 2011-02-07 22:01:39

by Matt Heinz I get a lot of junk mail at home. Some of it, though unsolicited, is actually valuable. If an advertiser was smart enough to map my interests with their products or ...

What is Your Innovation Equation?

Published on 2011-02-06 22:05:28

13 Great Creative Meeting Places

Published on 2011-02-06 22:04:27

by Paul Williams You have to love when someone “makes your case” – that is – says or supports something you believe in as well. A recent post by Seth Godin makes the case that space matters. This ...

The Role of Humor in Innovation

Published on 2011-02-06 22:03:42

by Mitch Ditkoff Holmes and Watson are on a camping trip. In the middle of the night Holmes wakes up and gives Dr. Watson a nudge. “Watson,” he says, “look up in the sky and tell ...

Blogging Innovation for Kindle and iPhone

Published on 2011-02-06 22:02:00

Do you have an Amazon Kindle or Kindle DX? Or, do you have an Apple iPhone? Well, now you can receive Blogging Innovation on your Amazon Kindle or Apple iPhone, including articles from: Rowan Gibson Stephen Shapiro Braden Kelley Tom Peters Matthew .

Four Roles for Your Innovation Team

Published on 2011-02-06 22:01:53

by Tim Kastelle Here’s a persistent innovation management question: is it better to have a dedicated team responsible for innovation, or should this responsibility be distributed throughout your entire organization? The best answer depends on your

Time to Find Your Innovation Catapult

Published on 2011-02-05 22:05:55

by Braden Kelley Now that 2011 has kicked into gear, it is time to get your innovation efforts right before the recovery. To that end, every organization should be looking to find and aim their innovation ...

The Most Innovative Passenger Ship Ever

Published on 2011-02-05 22:03:32

by Patrick Lefler The legendary ocean liner S.S. United States was in the news today when it was announced that the preservationist group S.S. United States Conservatory will officially become the owner of the ship, buying ...

Quora and Knowledge Management

Published on 2011-02-05 22:02:13

by Hutch Carpenter This question was posted on Quora, “In 10 words or less, what is Quora?” My answer: “Powerful application of crowdsourcing and social networking to knowledge management” Knowledge Management (aka “KM”) is a fiel

Reinventing the Arts in the UK

Published on 2011-02-05 22:01:04

by Kevin Roberts I posted two whiteboard videos towards the end of last year – audio lectures on fascinating subjects combined with quirky, fun illustrations of the innovative concepts being discussed that unfold in real time ...

Has America Lost its Innovation Edge?

Published on 2011-02-04 22:05:02

by Jeffrey Phillips Recently, Norm Augustine wrote an article for Forbes entitled Danger: America is losing its edge in innovation. In the article Augustine cites a number of factors, such as the often Tweeted fact ...

Southwest Airlines Social Media Strategy

Published on 2011-02-04 22:03:20

Lessons for All Organizations by Mike Brown Southwest Airlines Communication Specialist Laurel Moffat spoke on the airline’s successful social media strategy at a January 25 Kansas City American Marketing Association lunch event. While the present

Measuring Performance with the Tech Transfer Health Index

Published on 2011-02-04 22:02:01

by Melba Kurman The “tech transfer health index” is a simple but powerful technique to quantify the impact and productivity of the entire long tail curve of technologies in a university’s IP portfolio. ...

Borders at the Edge

Published on 2011-02-04 22:01:32

by Steve McKee A couple of weeks ago I posted about the difficulties Borders was having staying solvent in the rapidly-changing book retailing environment. I made the point that the company seemed to be preoccupied ...

Step by Step Guide to Brainstorming

Published on 2011-02-03 22:05:05

by Jeffrey Baumgartner Brainstorming can be an effective way to generate lots of ideas on a specific issue and then determine which idea – or ideas – is the best solution. Brainstorming is most effective with ...

Time to Test Your Strategy?

Published on 2011-02-03 22:03:19

by Holly G. Green If you have an interest in strategy, I highly recommend subscribing to the McKinsey Quarterly e-newsletter. It doesn’t cost anything to sign up, and the well-researched articles keep you up to date ...

February 2011 Sponsor – Brightidea

Published on 2011-02-03 22:01:53

Thank you to Brightidea for sponsoring Blogging Innovation for February 2011. In just three months time, the Ecomagination Challenge- Powering the Grid collected over 4,000 ideas from over 70,000 global participants, making it the largest crowdsourci

Picking Up Where Obama Left Off

Published on 2011-02-02 22:06:27

by Luis Solis “The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation.” So stated our President Barack Obama during last week’s State of the Union Address. But more important was what he did not ...

Clinging to Innovation Tools

Published on 2011-02-02 22:05:05

by Jeffrey Phillips It’s reached the point where I’ve lost track of all the innovation tools available. It seems that every week I stumble across another innovation tool, method or technique. Much to my ...

Egypt – Cradle of Self-Organization

Published on 2011-02-02 22:03:42

by Saul Kaplan It’s hard to not be moved by the cri de coeur (cry of the heart) of the Egyptian people. A cry for freedom so loud the borders of Egypt can’t contain it. I ...

Innovation’s Best Kept Secret

Published on 2011-02-02 22:01:01

by Mike Myatt Those of you who frequent this blog know that I’m not a huge fan of either/or propositions. In most, if not all cases, decisions that are made on this basis simply constitute a ...

Infovation Powered by Affordable Real Time Data

Published on 2011-02-01 22:04:52

Powerful and Affordable Real Time Data Mining, Visualization and Interactions Are Enabling Infovation by Idris Mootee I landed in Rhode Island recently to do some long working sessions around where arts meets science, and where ...

New Product Development Requires Fresh Perspective on ‘Creative’ and ‘Structure’

Published on 2011-02-01 22:03:14

by Robert F. Brands What exactly is new product development? Does the “product” actually have to be a product? Or can it be a process? Does the idea have to come from the C Suite? Or ...

Three Circles for Open Innovation

Published on 2011-02-01 22:02:21

by Stefan Lindegaard The more I work on the intersection of social media tools and open innovation, it becomes clearer to me that companies need a multi-target approach on efforts in this intersection. One reason is that ...

January’s Top Ten Innovation and Marketing Articles

Published on 2011-02-01 11:43:40

The Cult of Seven for Innovation

Published on 2011-01-31 22:05:08

by Paul Hobcraft Recently I was going through my files and was amazed how the use of ‘seven’ came up to form some sort of magic ‘seven’ framework. I’m not sure if we can blame this ...

Reflection – The Art of Hansei

Published on 2011-01-31 22:03:43

by Matthew E May Around this time of year, most of us, and our businesses, tend to slow down just a bit from the normal dawn-to-dusk mad dash. We smile a bit more. We wave people ...

How Saying ‘No’ Can Help you Get to ‘Yes’

Published on 2011-01-31 22:01:15

by Matt Heinz What happens when you say no? More often than not, in a business context, you end up getting what you want. It’s a wonder more of us don’t use no more ...

What is your Blackpool Tower?

Published on 2011-01-30 23:05:59

by Paul Sloane If you can identify your unique selling point, you’re in a position to stamp your place on the map and even make inroads into enemy territory. If you don’t have anything that differentiates ...

Can Your Friends Make You More Innovative?

Published on 2011-01-30 22:05:45

by Tim Kastelle Social influence is important to innovation. One of the critical steps in innovating is getting our great new ideas to spread – and this is often an issue of social influence. Here is ...

36 Awesome Quotes on Time

Published on 2011-01-30 22:02:26

by Mitch Ditkoff The biggest excuse people make about why they can’t innovate is the lack of time. Really? “Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is to say ‘I don’t want to.’” ...

Fusing Evaluation with Crowdsourcing to Accelerate Innovation

Published on 2011-01-29 23:29:19

by Hutch Carpenter Without an evaluation process, ideas, and innovation programs can fall of a cliff. What makes ideas special relative to other user generated content is that ideas change things. Ideas put in motion a series ...

Ignore Cost During Your Initial Pricing Discussion

Published on 2011-01-29 22:44:57

by Patrick Lefler More times than not, pricing decisions for new products are based more on internal production costs and less on the value of the actual benefits that these products provide for your customers. Probably ...

Freud’s Surging Popularity in China

Published on 2011-01-29 22:02:16

by Kevin Roberts China’s economy is set to become as big as that of the United States, by some estimates as early as 2027. Too often though, commentators speak about Chinese consumers like they’re some kind ...

Don’t Brand Your Innovation Program

Published on 2011-01-28 22:05:22

by Drew Boyd Companies should avoid the temptation to brand their innovation program. While it seems like a great way to bring excitement and focus to innovation, branding these programs does just the opposite. Employees ...

Selling Innovation Change

Published on 2011-01-28 22:03:07

by Braden Kelley I had the opportunity to interview Brett Clay, author of “Selling Change” recently. Here is text of the interview: 1. Why is innovation so important for organizations? In today’s era of global suppliers and Internet-empowered b

University Inventors Don’t Have to be Entrepreneurs

Published on 2011-01-28 22:01:06

by Melba Kurman I’ve spent the past week combing thru almost 200 responses to the RFI on improving university commercialization issued last spring by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Technology transfer ...

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Basics

Published on 2011-01-27 22:04:54

by Jeffrey Baumgartner Creative ideas do not suddenly appear in people’s minds for no apparent reason. Rather, they are the result of trying to solve a specific problem or to achieve a particular goal. Albert Einstein’s ...

Four Key Elements for Competent Leadership

Published on 2011-01-27 22:03:07

by Stefan Lindegaard IBM recently published a remarkable worldwide study based on direct interviews with nearly 1,500 CEOs, general managers and senior leaders from the public and private sectors. Titled “Capitalizing on Complexity,” the study lo

Diversity is a Source of Creativity and Resilience

Published on 2011-01-27 22:02:46

by Yann Cramer The magazine Nature features an unusual lead article about the parallels between the recent financial near catastrophic failure and the spread of diseases in natural eco-systems. This is no joke or provocation: ...

The Power of Observation

Published on 2011-01-27 22:01:47

by Thomas Kadavy Many innovative new products have their genesis in simple observation. Observation reveals unmet user needs, problems and opportunities. These insights are the inspiration for great products that create new markets and a strategic .

Innovate and They Will Come

Published on 2011-01-26 22:05:41

by Jeffrey Phillips I know I’m late responding to this ad by Accenture, but I saw it today in the airport and it made me smile. Why? Because it is so “Field of Dreams”. ...

The Grass is Always Bluer

Published on 2011-01-26 22:03:52

by Saul Kaplan I’ve been asked to visit the Bluegrass Region in Kentucky on February 7-8 to help catalyze a community conversation on turning the region into an entrepreneurial and innovation hotspot. Why is it ...

Leadership & Age

Published on 2011-01-26 22:02:38

by Mike Myatt When it come to leadership age doesn’t matter – competency does. History is full of examples of leaders who have succeeded and failed at every age. The intangibles of passion, character, commitment, discernment, ...

An Open Letter on Innovation to President Obama

Published on 2011-01-26 12:06:21

by Braden Kelley “We need to out-innovate, outeducate, and outbuild the rest of the world” – President Obama In reading the stories and quotes from last night’s State of the Union address by President Obama, it is ...

For Sale – Innovative Business Idea

Published on 2011-01-25 22:04:37

by Braden Kelley A few years ago I looked around the corporate and consulting landscapes and I noticed that there was a talent gap in both places. There are many occasions when consulting firms look to ...

When Innovation Efforts Are a Waste

Published on 2011-01-25 22:03:01

… of Money, Time, Resources by Stefan Lindegaard I just had an interesting discussion that inspired me to write down some thoughts on the innovation work I do – and have done – with companies over the ...

The Future Of Management (and Education)

Published on 2011-01-25 22:02:09

And the State Of Design Thinking by Idris Mootee I get a lot of requests to speak to the business and design communities about the state of “design thinking” and how it is being practiced. ...

Has the Online Privacy Backlash Begun?

Published on 2011-01-25 22:01:42

by Venessa Miemis Though some may like to believe that the age of privacy is dead, recent developments in Do Not Track browser options would suggest otherwise. Microsoft recently announced a new feature for Internet Explorer 9, ...

Get Ready!

Published on 2011-01-24 22:06:11

A Special Message From the Editor: Very soon we will be coming to you the active members of this innovation community who have taken the time to connect with us on facebook or LinkedIn to get ...

To Innovate – Steal Don’t Imitate

Published on 2011-01-24 22:05:09

by Jorge Barba When no one knows what’s going to happen we’ll naturally look at other people for clues on how to behave. This is the basis of imitation, and it’s a survival tactic. Simply said, ...

7 Core Qualities of an Innovator

Published on 2011-01-24 22:03:33

by Matthew E May One of the things that troubles me is that all too often we sell ourselves short, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Example: often when I give a speech or workshop, I ...

Is Innovation an Unqualified Good?

Published on 2011-01-24 22:01:40

by Jeffrey Phillips I love blogging, and I love blog comments even more. I get a chance to interact, at least from a short text perspective, with people who agree, and who disagree with my ...

Managing Innovation Complexity

Published on 2011-01-23 22:05:18

by Braden Kelley In 2011, I will be a regular contributor to the American Express OPEN Forum on the topic of innovation. Here is the second one of the year: Ideas are easy; innovation is hard. Ideas are ...

Connecting Ideas is Fundamental to Innovation

Published on 2011-01-23 22:03:37

by Tim Kastelle In this week’s class we talked about Jeff Bezos’ TED talk. When I think about innovation, to me the central part of the process is connecting ideas. As I keep emphasizing, once we’ve ...

20 Awesome Quotes on Beginning

Published on 2011-01-23 22:02:59

by Mitch Ditkoff 1.”Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 2. “There are two mistakes one can make along the road ...

Innovation for the Non-Profit Sector

Published on 2011-01-22 22:05:31

by Drew Boyd Non-profit organizations need innovation every bit as much as for-profit firms. Some might argue they need it more because they lack the resources and cash flow of large commercial firms. Non-profits ...

The Power of Play for Innovation

Published on 2011-01-22 22:03:56

by Kevin Roberts Last year’s Nobel Prize in Physics went to two professors from the University of Manchester for groundbreaking experiments with a material called graphene. Graphene has the potential to one day make your iPad feel ...

Incremental Innovation and the Evolution of the Sailing Ship

Published on 2011-01-22 22:02:13

by Patrick Lefler Incremental innovation is more about improvement rather than what one thinks of as true innovation. The changes associated with incremental innovation are neither substantial nor ground-breaking. And the effect on market share is ..

Creating an Innovation Community at U.S. Bank

Published on 2011-01-21 22:05:54

by Jeffrey Phillips One of the most pervasive myths about innovation is that it happens to isolated individuals who have a spark of creativity. The story unfolds that through trial and tribulation, the lonely innovator ...

Introducing the Free Market into University Technology Transfer Services

Published on 2011-01-21 22:03:39

by Melba Kurman An effective university technology transfer model should take advantage of lessons learned from the current process, tap into the power of the free market, use today’s internet technologies, and enlist emerging open innovation ...

Lens Shifting – Leading Indicators for Innovation

Published on 2011-01-21 22:02:38

by Deborah Mills-Scofield Recently, my friend Jackie Hutter and I did a workshop on Leading Indicators for Innovation from two aspects: 1) how can you look around you for leading indicators of areas ripe for innovation; ...

January 2011 Sponsor – Spigit

Published on 2011-01-21 22:01:56

Thank you to Spigit for sponsoring Blogging Innovation for January 2011. What a year! Spigit ended 2010 with a record quarter in revenues and bookings, customers and headcount. In the beginning of January, Spigit was recognized ...

Shifting From Strategic Planning to Strategic Agility

Published on 2011-01-20 22:05:22

by Holly G. Green At the end of last year, I wrote about the need to put the old strategic planning model out to pasture and embrace a new method that focuses on developing strategic agility. Here’s ...

Five Ways to Re-Ignite Innovation

Published on 2011-01-20 22:02:51

by Stefan Lindegaard A journalist recently asked me this question: What are the five things the CEO of a once-innovative company must do to “innovate innovation” (or innovate the innovation process) and get the creativity process ...

Letting Go is a Good Way to Spur Innovation

Published on 2011-01-20 22:01:27

by Yann Cramer Saline marshlands abound around the world. They are low-lying areas that get flooded with sea water in spring tides, making the soil saline and usually unsuitable for traditional agriculture. In a number of ...

Why Innovation Makes Executives Uncomfortable

Published on 2011-01-19 22:05:49

by Jeffrey Phillips I’ve been working in the “innovation field” for over seven years as a consultant, and I did regular “innovation” work for a number of years previously, so it is with a bit of ...

Brand Exposure

Published on 2011-01-19 22:03:48

by Mike Myatt Do you understand the difference between presence, visibility and overexposure? Have you figured out how to apply the laws of scarcity to brand management? If not, then this post is for you. While ...

Improved Environment for Innovation

Published on 2011-01-19 22:03:23

Experimentation + Risk (+ Failure) by Robert F. Brands Innovation rarely occurs by accident, but is the result of calculated effort, work and risk taking. In the face of failure, it requires one to try, try and ...

How Many iPads and Kindles will be Garbage?

Published on 2011-01-18 22:04:04

by Idris Mootee Last week in San Francisco was action packed. New people starting, more furniture coming, a few projects in final stages and magazines. Scott and I were doing some street bodystorming between ...

Leveraging Constraints for Creativity

Published on 2011-01-18 22:03:07

by Jamie Flinchbaugh Creativity remains one of the most nebulous and elusive capabilities for organizational performance. Yet there is more knowledge and science available today than ever to help us through the challenge. Creativity comes from ...

Solving Innovation Problems with Strangers

Published on 2011-01-18 22:02:43

What’s it like? by Stefan Lindegaard In writing and making public presentations about open innovation, I often remind people that while process is important, in the end success comes down to having people with the right mindset ...

7 Tips for Launching a Great Innovation Contest

Published on 2011-01-18 22:01:08

by James Pasmantier As GE launches its second phase of the highly successful Ecomagination Challenge, the concept of open innovation is becoming more and more mainstream. For this challenge, GE is asking for ideas to Power ...

February Innovation Events

Published on 2011-01-17 22:05:32

by Braden Kelley February is going to be a busy month, with two planned public appearances (and possibly two more). I will be speaking at two great innovation events in New York City in February: Imaginatik’s Innovation Leaders ...

You Don’t Need More Innovation Ideas!

Published on 2011-01-17 22:04:32

by Tim Kastelle Scott Berkun let out the secret of innovation in an outstanding blog post. It’s a secret that Rowan Gibson tried to let out of the bag recently, and so did Braden Kelley here ...

Moving Towards a Distributed Innovation Model

Published on 2011-01-17 22:02:10

by Paul Hobcraft How are we going to really unlock the true potential of frontline managers, middle managers and the whole workforce for ‘seeing’ and engaging for their contribution to innovation? Far too many organizations still don’t ...

Be Indispensable – Instead of Sticky

Published on 2011-01-17 22:01:58

by Matt Heinz I’ve always had a problem with the word “sticky” as it relates to product or go-to-market strategy. Sticky, from a customer point of view, is a negative. It’s something that you can’t get ...

Staging an Innovation Party

Published on 2011-01-16 22:06:30

This post may also be viewed on the American Express OPEN Forum Idea Hub. In 2011, I will be a regular contributor to the American Express OPEN Forum on the topic of innovation. Here is the ...

Innovation Roles – The Bulldozer

Published on 2011-01-16 22:04:47

by Jeffrey Phillips In my continuing list of roles that any innovator must play, we come to the role that may be the most important role of all. Certainly we’ve seen how innovators must play ...

The Easiest Way to Crush Creativity

Published on 2011-01-16 22:02:30

by Paul Sloane The easiest way to crush creativity is to find fault with new ideas which colleagues and subordinates bring forward. The more clever and more experienced you are, the easier it is to ...

When Innovation Best Practice is Worst Practice

Published on 2011-01-16 22:01:35

by Mitch Ditkoff I’m a collector of best practices. I like to find out what forward thinking individuals and organizations have done to accomplish extraordinary results. Sometimes I share these stories in my keynotes or workshops. Invariably, m

Innovation Roles – The Jester

Published on 2011-01-15 22:05:32

by Jeffrey Phillips Over the last few days I’ve been writing about the different roles, or “hats”, that innovators must play. I’ve talked about the role of the Matador, anticipating the bulls who protect sacred ...

A New Paradigm for Innovation

Published on 2011-01-15 22:03:47

Describe and Search by Klaus-Peter Speidel Within the problem solving aspect of innovation there is a paradigm shift on the horizon. The old paradigm is DAT (Define and Try). This refers to the traditional approach ...

Borrowing isn’t a Strategy

Published on 2011-01-15 22:02:49

by Steve McKee You may have read about the troubles Borders Group is having paying its bills. With Amazon pressing hard on one side and Barnes & Noble the other, Borders is facing the threat of ...

Innovation Roles – The Tinkerer

Published on 2011-01-14 22:04:45

by Jeffrey Phillips If you are joining us mid-stream, I’m writing a series of articles describing the many “hats” that innovators must wear. In recent posts I’ve written that an innovator must sometimes be a ...

Creative Thinking Exercises for Successful Groups

Published on 2011-01-14 22:03:21

by Mike Brown Creative thinking exercises suited for a historically successful group was the topic last week when I spoke to the Johnson County Sertoma. Thanks to an invitation from Marty Fahncke, president of the non-profit ...

Don’t Expect Electric Cars to Disrupt Auto Industry

Published on 2011-01-14 22:01:18

by Yann Cramer Disruptive innovations often combine a changes on several dimensions: product, consumer experience, market segment, business model. The emblematic example remains the iPod, which would not have met its phenomenal success if it had ...

Innovation Roles – The Futurist

Published on 2011-01-13 22:05:54

by Jeffrey Phillips Yesterday I began a short series of posts about the different roles that innovators play. There are several different and competing roles that any good innovator must assume, and understanding when and ...

Declutter Your Business (and Your Life) in 2011!

Published on 2011-01-13 22:03:20

by Holly G. Green If you could do ONE thing to make 2011 your best year ever, what would it be? According to three out of every four respondents in a recent Better Homes and Gardens survey, ...

Chinovation – Mastering Execution

Published on 2011-01-13 22:01:18

by Yann Cramer I’ve been wondering recently about the soul of Chinovation. Last night, I just connected three dots: At his conference on innovation a week ago, Marc Giget reminded us that half of inventions of European ...

What kind of innovator are you?

Published on 2011-01-12 22:05:34

by Jeffrey Phillips It struck me recently that far too often we in the innovation space expect our prospects and readers to understand, and comprehend, lingo and language that we toss about relatively carelessly. I ...

Is it worth daring to be great?

Published on 2011-01-12 22:03:21

by Saul Kaplan Keith Yamashita in his remarkable closing story at BIF-6 asked a question that still haunts and compels me. Is it worth daring to be great? No consulting buzzwords, no ambiguity, just ...

The Fallacy of No

Published on 2011-01-12 22:01:16

by Mike Myatt There seems to be a popular movement afoot that believes the word “no” is the super antidote to the far inferior word “yes.” There are many well known axioms espousing the benefits of ...

To be or not to be innovative … IS that the question?

Published on 2011-01-11 22:05:08

by Matt Chapman I was asked this in a roundabout way by an internal innovation team that met some “light resistance” to its efforts from senior leaders. Like many innovation teams, the building of an ...

Great Report on Small Business Innovation

Published on 2011-01-11 22:03:34

by Stefan Lindegaard Intuit has recently made great improvements on their Intuit Collaboratory website. In a press-release announcing this, I found a link to the Intuit 2020 research series authored by Emergent Research together with Intuit. On ...

Future of Search will be in Social Mobile

Published on 2011-01-11 22:01:07

Does Social Search Make Any Sense? by Idris Mootee A friend of mine visited me from Japan and our conversation was around mobile search, since Apple’s acquisition of Siri, a company that makes voice-operated personal ...

Social Will Dominate Future Innovation Thinking

Published on 2011-01-10 22:04:37

by Paul Hobcraft Putting the word social into our innovation thinking is going to be a really important thing to do in the coming year, if you haven’t already. It will dominate our actions increasingly. The challenges ...

The Duh Innovation Awards for 2010

Published on 2011-01-10 22:03:52

The Top 10 Rethinking Ideas of 2010 – Plus One by Ric Merrifield Looking forward to next year – in true “This is Spinal Tap” fashion – we will go to 11, so forget the top ten ...

My Three Words for 2011

Published on 2011-01-10 22:01:31

by Matt Heinz Inspired by Chris, I decided to boil down our focus areas for 2011 to three words. I’ve done this for myself personally as well, and challenged our team to do it for themselves ...

The Economy is a Network

Published on 2011-01-09 22:05:40

by Tim Kastelle The word “network” causes a lot of the same problems that “innovation” does – it is used in so many different ways that it is often hard to tell exactly what the user ...

Retailers – Naughty or Nice in 2010?

Published on 2011-01-09 22:04:39

by Rocco Tarasi With the holiday season behind us, I wanted to write about some of my observations of retailers and products during this holiday shopping month. Charity giving at the register. When I was making a ...

12 Ways to Make Bad Decisions

Published on 2011-01-09 22:03:35

by Mitch Ditkoff There are three things that continue to astound me about most organizations: The cro-magnon way performance reviews are done; the pitiful way brainstorm sessions are run and; the voodoo way decisions are made. ...

Let’s Make it a True Innovation Award

Published on 2011-01-08 22:05:32

by Braden Kelley – @innovate The people over at the Real Time Academy are back it again this year – running their Shorty Awards. For those of you who don’t know, the Shorty Awards honor the best ...

A Unifying Theory for Manufacturing?

Published on 2011-01-08 22:03:33

by Dr. Mike Shipulski The notion of a unifying theory is tantalizing – one idea that cuts across everything. Though there isn’t one in manufacturing, I think there’s something close: Design simplification through part count reduction. ...

William Taylor and Golf’s Greatest Innovation

Published on 2011-01-08 22:02:18

by Patrick Lefler Take a look at any golf ball today and the one constant you’ll notice immediately is that every ball has dimples. It doesn’t matter who the manufacturer is, every golf ball used today ...

The Right Timeframes for Innovation

Published on 2011-01-08 22:02:00

by Jeffrey Phillips As we begin 2011, the concept of time seems to be paramount in my thinking about innovation. At the beginning of November I wrote a post about the “right” time for innovation. ...

If you’re not frustrated, then you’re not working on the right problem

Published on 2011-01-07 22:05:26

by Jamie Flinchbaugh In my coaching, many of my conversations begin with a source of frustration by the individual. The source of frustration could be rooted in another person, or a team problem, or in their ...

Personal Branding Decision – How Do You Describe Yourself?

Published on 2011-01-07 22:03:42

by Mike Brown Here’s a personal branding question worth considering at the start of 2011: How do you describe yourself to others? Seems like there are three options. You can primarily describe yourself based on: Who you are Who you ...

A Toast to Dr Pepper

Published on 2011-01-07 22:02:24

by Steve McKee Nearly a year and a half ago, I wrote about Dr Pepper Snapple Group‘s bold strategy to increase it’s $350 million marketing budget, even in the teeth of a great recession. At that time ...

Don’t Ship the Org Chart

Published on 2011-01-07 22:01:16

Successfully using small-scale, high risk, high reward pilot programs by Melba Kurman The President of the Windows Division at Microsoft, Steve Sinofsky, is fond of saying “don’t ship the org chart.” What does that mean? ...

Five Leadership Strategies That Can Make or Break Your Business in 2011

Published on 2011-01-06 22:05:10

by Holly G. Green What’s in store for business leaders in 2011? As I gaze into my crystal ball, I see a year of promise and opportunity. And I see new challenges that require different ways of ...

Building Open Innovation Capabilities in Small Business

Published on 2011-01-06 22:03:56

by Stefan Lindegaard One of the challenges small companies need to tackle when they considering engaging in open innovation is getting employees up to speed on the skills that are required to be part of an ...

Indovation versus Chinovation

Published on 2011-01-06 22:02:59

Indovation on a mission; Chinovation still soul-searching by Yann Cramer I like to do some basic research before going to a conference as a participant – even as a speaker Prior to attending Marc Giget’s conference ...

Today’s Love Letter to Innovation

Published on 2011-01-06 22:01:36

by Julie Anixter If we study history, we probably know what to do to get out of this economic morass. And the Dow’s recent rebound notwithstanding it isn’t just to feel good about compromising on ...

Four Innovation Predictions for 2011

Published on 2011-01-05 22:05:06

by Jeffrey Phillips For those of you who receive our newsletter, these predictions are the same ones we made in our December 2010 edition. For those who don’t know about the newsletter or our yearly ...

When to Restructure

Published on 2011-01-05 22:02:13

by Mike Myatt To restructure or not to restructure? That is the question that many a business is forced to ask at some point during their life cycle. The mere discussion of corporate re-engineering can cause ...

Open for Innovation Renovation in 2011

Published on 2011-01-05 22:01:25

by Saul Kaplan If only we could start 2011 and the new decade by putting up a “closed for renovation” sign clearing the way to transform our education, health care, energy, and economic systems. We ...

Humanity’s Next God – You?

Published on 2011-01-04 22:05:28

by Venessa Miemis In a recent article in The Economist, futurist Paul Saffo claims humanity’s overdue for a new god. He points out that throughout history, great new religions took shape during times characterized by uncertainty ...

Slow Moving Social Technology Not New

Published on 2011-01-04 22:04:13

by Idris Mootee I came across a recent article Making Social Business Strategy Work posted on AMA and I forgot who wrote it because I didn’t want to know. The title is bad enough, ...

5 Ways to Get Smarter on Open Innovation

Published on 2011-01-04 22:01:42

by Stefan Lindegaard I believe the best way to get smarter and acquire new knowledge on innovation is through articles and blog posts rather than reading books. It is just my experience that it works better ...

All That is Remarkable About Innovation

Published on 2011-01-03 22:04:24

by Jeffrey Phillips Like many of you I participate in the social media world. That world has opened up new relationships and new sources of information for me that were completely unexpected. I’ve learned ...

Building the Innovation Business Case

Published on 2011-01-03 22:03:38

by Paul Hobcraft One of the toughest aspects within Innovation is making the Business Case. Much of the information is imperfect, the returns are often fuzzy and unclear in the early stages and the doubters line ...

3 Things You Must Know About Your Customers

Published on 2011-01-03 22:01:23

by Matt Heinz Every great product, every successful sales & marketing plan, starts with the customer. As you build product and go-to-market plans moving forward, make sure you can crisply answer these three questions: Who is our ...

December’s Top Ten Innovation and Marketing Articles

Published on 2011-01-03 08:32:35

Trust is Everything in Innovation

Published on 2011-01-02 22:03:29

by Luis Solis How relevant is Trust in enterprise innovation? Let’s piece together an answer with the help of some field research. Three of five executives at this year’s Front End of Innovation Summit in Boston ...

The Good Thing About Bad Ideas

Published on 2011-01-02 22:02:47

by Mitch Ditkoff One of the inevitable things you will hear at a brainstorming session is “there are no bad ideas.” Well, guess what? There are plenty of bad ideas. Nazism, for instance. Arena football. Bow ...

Inexorable Rise of Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing

Published on 2011-01-02 22:01:20

Innovation Lessons from the Beatles

Published on 2011-01-01 22:04:11

Be Prolific and Focused by John Steen Tim and I are now writing a lot on the importance of focus. Being successful with innovation is about managing the paradox of ‘disciplined creation’ and it helps to have ...

Innovating Athletic Shoes

Published on 2011-01-01 22:03:53

by Drew Boyd The athletic footwear market is maturing, so it will need sustained innovation to keep growing. “Performance footwear” emerged with the ancient Greeks and has since grown to a $50 billion global industry. ...

Innovation and Creative Destruction

Published on 2011-01-01 22:01:37

by Patrick Lefler Did you know that at the turn of the last century in 1900, there were over 100,000 workers employed in this country as carriage and harness makers; men and women who made their ...

Flashback – Top 20 Innovation and Marketing Articles of 2009

Published on 2011-01-01 10:33:19

by Braden Kelley Before I release the Top 20 Innovation and Marketing Articles of 2010 list on January 3rd for the new year, I thought it might be fun to flashback to the Top 20 Innovation ...

Innovation and Strategic Alignment

Published on 2010-12-31 22:05:23

by Jeffrey Phillips In a new study on innovation just released by CapGemini, one chart in particular caught my eye. The chart is a stacked bar chart reflecting how aligned the executives believe their innovation ...

Social Media Policy – Whats and Whens Behind Your Guidelines

Published on 2010-12-31 22:03:49

by Mike Brown Does your organization have a defined social media policy? The mechanics behind creating a social media policy are an area where we’ve collaborated with Nate Riggs, President and Lead Strategist of Social Business ...

Turning the Battleship

Published on 2010-12-31 22:01:34

Successfully using small-scale, high risk, high reward pilot programs by Melba Kurman Last spring, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Economic Council issued an RFI to collect feedback about university commercialization, in

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