Monthly Archives: January 2010
You can hardly turn around these days without running into some sort of reference to innovation. Dozens of books about the topic line the shelves at Borders and Barnes & Noble, from “The Art of Innovation” to “The Myths of Innovation.” Innovation is rapidly becoming the latest business buzzword. But before you dump ‘innovation’ into the jargon dustbin along with ‘reengineering’, ‘rightsizing’ and ‘paradigm shift’, consider this: the need for innovation has never been greater than it is today.Doug Hall is founder and CEO of Eureka! Ranch, an organization that helps companies define, refine and improve their new ideas. In an interview with SmallBiz magazine, Hall defined innovation as that which: “moves companies and their offerings along a continuum from providing commodity products or services to having a monopoly that is extremely difficult to combat.”Hall’s definition is spot-on, and made even more significant by the fact that no company’s position … Continue reading
It’s a challenge to objectively examine your own website as if a prospect or customer seeking information would. There’s an approach you can follow to get ideas flowing though: Look at a direct competitor’s online presence, trying to shoot holes in it based on how a customer might view it.You should really be able to get into it by answering a few questions:What misleading or out-of-date information is presented?What’s not compelling about the website?What’s confusing about the navigation?How much unnecessary detail do I have to supply to get a copy of the “free” download?What questions do I have that the website doesn’t answer?Do I know where to get my other questions answered?In what ways did I get smarter by browsing this website?In what ways were my information needs left wanting?After doing this, go back and see how your own online presence compares. Looking at yourself from a customer perspective should … Continue reading
First we had incredible hype around Motorola’s Droid and its sales so far have proven to be just okay. Then we had even more hype around Google’s phone entry – the Nexus One – and its sales results so far have been meager.So, now along comes Apple with its much-hyped (and only rumored) tablet innovation, which we expect to be announced on January 27, 2010 at a special media event in San Francisco.There have been reports of Apple expecting to sell 10 million devices in the first year, and there have been rumors of a device price in the $800-1,000 range. If Apple’s new device does in fact turn out to be a 3G tablet, and even if Verizon and/or AT&T (or possibly even Sprint/Clear for 4G) subsidize $300 of the cost like they do with smartphones, that would still be a $500-700 price tag with another $60 per month … Continue reading
If you’re a businessperson or someone interested in understanding how to facilitate innovation, you’ve probably heard of “design thinking” by now. Coined by IDEO’s David Kelley, the term refers to a set of principles, from mindset to process, that can be applied to solve complex problems. I’ve seen articles lately ranging from those that highlight its potential, [Design Thinking for Social Innovation, How does design thinking give companies a competitive advantage?] to those that warn of it’s impending failure as a practice [Why Design Thinking Won't Save You , The Coming Boom and Bust of Design Thinking]. I’ve been eager to enter into the conversation, especially because some of the arguments around the topic don’t make sense to me and I wanted to know why. Change by Design, written by IDEO’s CEO Tim Brown, was on my winter reading list anyway, so I decided to finish it before bringing in … Continue reading
In my last blog, I talked about the importance of communicating your strategic planning framework to employees at all levels of the organization. And not just once, but over and over again so that people never lose sight of the goals. I also noted that most employees prefer to hear this information directly from their boss or manager. But face-to-face communication is not the only method for keeping people informed about where you are going and what you need to do to get there. Smart leaders use a variety of communication tools and methods to keep their most important messages top of mind with employees throughout the year.Start by setting up a system to remind managers to discuss the goals and strategic planning framework elements with employees on a regular basis. Provide tools and templates managers and team leaders can use in monthly team meetings and in one-on-one conversations. This … Continue reading
Why innovate?Some would argue that companies innovate to achieve a heightened competitive advantage, streamline the organization, or create intellectual property – including patents, trademarks and other protected property – that create value in the portfolio.Many reasons and rationales can be argued for the pursuit of innovation. Yet no purpose for or result from innovation can be more compelling than Value Creation. This metric is the ultimate measure of return on investment when measuring innovation’s role in creating value.Simply put: Innovation done well drives value creation – for the organization, its customers, its internal stakeholders and its external shareholders.Successful innovation turns ideas into money. All the processes, creativity, time, sweat, research, dreaming, refining, modeling and retesting transform effort into tangible, valuable results.This includes innovation that touches all sectors in the company or organization – not just in the creation of a new product or service. Enhancing the business model or networking, … Continue reading
