Monthly Archives: September 2009
FYI – Both Blogging Innovation and In Pursuit of Elegance can be found on Alltop’s Innovation categoryby Matthew E MayIf you’ve clued in to how best to use Twitter — which IMHO is as a broadcast channel more than anything else — you know that you have to troll the web for value-added “newscasts” for your growing audience. That takes time, or it did, anyway, until AllTop came along and uber-evangelist Guy Kawasaki put together a killer aggregator that is not only customizable, but utterly elegant. It’s my go-to site for just about everything, news-wise. 95% of my online time is spent between AllTop and Twitter.So why is AllTop elegant?First, the design (or redesign, last year and again this past weekend) by Electric Pulp is clean and intuitive. (If you want to see the difference between AllTop 1.0 and Electric Pulp’s 2.0 and most recently 3.0, click on Guy’s coverage … Continue reading
This is the third of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on “Where should innovation reside?” Here is the next perspective in the series:by Rowan GibsonIt never ceases to amaze me. I’m meeting with the executive committee of a major global company. I’ve just asked if innovation is one of their top strategic priorities. Their unanimous answer is “yes”. I then ask about their individual responsibilities. “Which one of you is the CFO?” “Who is head of HR?” “Where’s the CIO?” One by one their hands go up. Yet when I ask to see their global director of innovation, nobody raises a hand. Everyone just looks at me with a blank expression. So, sure, this company understands the innovation imperative. But nobody in its leadership team is directly responsible – or accountable – for making innovation happen across the organization. … Continue reading
by Idris MooteeHere are pictures of the Idea Couture team running several days of long sessions at the MIT. Jeff, Partick, Adam and Cheesan were happy with the progress to date and I am so looking forward to see the first milestone. It is just a great project and a great client/partner. Everyone is excited.While we are on MIT, I came across some early research from MIT Media Lab on “Emotionally Reactive Television”, it is a very interesting concept. The idea was from the time TV was created, watching TV is considered as a static activity. TV audiences have very limited choices to interact with TV, such as turning on/off, increasing/decreasing volume, and traversing among different channels. The working thesis is that TV program should have social responses to people, such as affording and accepting audience’s emotional feeling with the growth of technologies. This paper presents HiTV, an Emotionally-Reactive TV … Continue reading
The need for speed is something that all CEOs need to keep at the forefront of their minds. In the world of athletics there is widely accepted principle that states: “Speed Kills.” In most sporting events speed will prevail over strength, and often times speed will end-up being the deciding factor between victory and defeat. As important as speed is on the field of play, it has been my experience that it is even more important in the world of business. While there is little debate that speed can create an extreme competitive advantage, it is not well understood that the lack of speed can send a company (or an individuals career) into a death spiral. Agility, fluidity, decisiveness, commitment, and focus all lead to the creation of speed. In today’s blog post I’ll discuss why you should feel “The Need For Speed.”General George S. Patton said it best: “A … Continue reading
This is the second of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on “Where should innovation reside?” On the heels of Steven Todd’s kickoff, here is another perspective:by Jeffrey PhillipsBraden Kelley has asked a number of us to respond to the question “Who owns innovation and where does it live in an organization?” This is actually a question we are asked quite frequently by our clients. The answers are based on the strategic goals of the firm.First, let’s consider who “owns” innovation. Many firms will argue that the CEO “owns” innovation, and they are correct, to a point. Anyone with any amount of experience working on innovation will tell you that an engaged, involved executive team is vital to success when innovating. However, a CEO simply doesn’t have the time or bandwidth to get involved in every decision and manage all … Continue reading
A friend of mine has a very cool T-shirt business. To promote their products, they developed a set of interesting bumper stickers, including the one below. I like the design because it involves emblems from playing cards, reminding me of my Personality Poker product.So, what does this say?To answer the question, you have to stand on your head and read the image. Or maybe turn your computer screen upside down. Or, easiest of all, visit their website. The URL is the answer.Stephen Shapiro is the author of three books, a popular innovation speaker, and is the Chief Innovation Evangelist for Innocentive, the leader in Open Innovation.
