Monthly Archives: February 2010
This is the eighth of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘Who should be responsible (if anyone) for trend-spotting and putting emerging behaviors and needs into context for a business?’. Here is the next perspective in the series:by Adam SchorrIt is critical that businesses have a clear sense of the state of their current marketplace. They need to understand the needs of their customers, the relevant business models, the competition… But all of this is only good for keeping the lights on today. It does nothing to insure the future viability of a company because the world changes. New competitors emerge from nowhere. Business models grow stale and new ones are created. Customer needs change. In order to insure a healthy future, companies must remain aware of emerging trends, identify which are relevant and develop plans for responding.But who … Continue reading
Jenny Cornell, the Development Director of my old school, Lancaster Royal Grammar School, wrote this piece on the school’s exciting new InspirUS programme… and I wanted to share it. – KRYou may well remember when you started secondary (high) school – fresh from the security and familiarity of your primary school – nervous, naive, anxious but determined to make it.Did you have any idea what opportunities awaited you or how your life would turn out?Perhaps you can now look back and appreciate what a great start you had – how it prepared you for what was coming next (though you might not have recognised it at the time).Andrew Jarman, the Head of Lancaster Royal Grammar School, has introduced a really worthwhile initiative to help reach out to more kids like us. There are lots of bright youngsters around Lancaster today who come from ordinary family backgrounds where life may be … Continue reading
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d3c0cecf-68d2-4a56-adf7-26573ca7c496)
Blogging Innovation will be covering The Economist’s event – “Innovation Fresh Thinking For the Ideas Economy” (see discount code below) at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley on March 23-24, 2010.There will be a lot of great, top-flight speakers at this event, including:Clayton Christensen and Michael Porter (by Video Link)Arianna Huffington – Editor in Chief, Huffington PostTim Brown – CEO, IDEODavid Kelley – Head, Stanford Design SchoolJudy Estrin – Author, “Closing the Innovation Gap”Scott Berkun – Author, “Myths of Innovation”Roger Martin – Dean, Rotman School of BusinessPaul Saffo – Visiting Scholar, Stanford Media X NetworkMatt Mullenweg – Founder, WordPressJohn Kao – Author, “Innovation Nation”As an added value for our loyal Blogging Innovation readers, we have negotiated a $150 discount when you register using our discount code – “BLINN” – register now.We hope to see you there!Don’t miss an article – signup for our rss feed … Continue reading
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) says that small business optimism grew slightly in January. Slightly. The NFIB Optimism Index currently sits at 89.3, ten points below where it was prior to the recession.Commenting on the index, Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, said:”To absorb the over 15 million officially unemployed workers in this country… job openings and hirings must rebound dramatically. This report offers no indication that this is happening.”The NFIB’s report is consistent with Decision Analyst’s January Economic Index, a survey of several thousand households based on nine different economic measurements. The index remained unchanged for the third month in a row, stuck at 94, well below the 110 which signals an economic expansion. This index tends to lead the U.S. economy by up to a year, suggesting the economy will remain sluggish throughout 2010.That’s what the CEO of Unilever, one of the world’s largest … Continue reading
This is the seventh of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘Who should be responsible (if anyone) for trend-spotting and putting emerging behaviors and needs into context for a business?’. Here is the next perspective in the series:by Vyoma KapurTypically, a corporation would hire a market research or a consulting firm to keep up-to-date with the latest consumer trends. Millward Brown, Iconoculture and Forrester are examples of firms which use sophisticated research techniques to advise their clients on how consumers are behaving today, and how they might behave tomorrow. Whether we are talking about changing media habits, evolving taste buds or the growing popularity of a certain sport, keeping tabs on consumer lifestyles does not happen automatically. Time, effort and capital need to be invested to stay ahead of rapidly changes and adapting business operations accordingly.However, trend-spotting does not … Continue reading
Sometimes in life – boardroom, living room or classroom – we get so scared of failure that we make it impossible for ourselves to succeed. In an economy in reset mode, the unreasonable power of creativity is what will set smart people and companies apart. But the thing about creativity is that it breeds failure as well as success.That’s the paradox. In a jittery economy, people suppress creativity to minimize the risk of failure, and companies often encourage that kind of insular thinking. But it’s exactly the wrong approach – if allowed to set in, fear of failure will set an organization on auto-pilot, nose down.Jonah Lehrer wrote on his blog in December about how psychologists are learning more about how the creative brain functions. He used the example of a simple but powerful experiment among college students. Two groups were told to list as many modes of transport as … Continue reading
