Monthly Archives: March 2010
It’s a sad indicator of the level of excitement in my life, but I have at least half a dozen conversations every month rehashing and debating the definition and nature of ‘innovation’. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who will say that they don’t know what innovation is, yet there’s an incredible amount of fuzziness and outright disagreement over what ‘innovation’ is. Whether it’s sustaining, disruptive, continuous, product, process, or paradigm, what really qualifies a change as an ‘innovation’?The Apple iPod has been touted as one of the most innovative products of the last decade. It’s become such an integral part of our culture that the term “iPod” has become the generic term for MP3 players in the same way that Kleenex has for facial tissue. Yet when the iPod was released, it really wasn’t anything new or revolutionary. It was released into a market that was already well … Continue reading
This is the second of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘How should firms develop the organizational structure, culture, and incentives (e.g., for teams) to encourage successful innovation?’. Here is the next perspective in the series:by Holly G. GreenExcellence only happens in context. Think about the last time you had a cruddy boss or your client forgot to give you information on something you were working on. Did you produce or deliver as well as you could have? Of course not.A system has to work together. And your current system produces exactly what it is set up to produce. So if you want to be more innovative, you have to think about and address the whole system. Just addressing one piece of it will not serve you well. In our work with organizations, we believe it is critical to … Continue reading
Last week we announced the finalists in the contest to win one (1) $3,690 Front End of Innovation ALL ACCESS PASS for the May 3-5, 2010 event in Boston, MA.We are now pleased to announce the winning entry:”To me, the ‘Front End of Innovation’ suggests what is emerging – not what is currently understood. The meeting of design thinking, intrinsic motivation, collaboration and truly cross-enterprise and -boundary thinking. Too many areas of ourlives – government, education, traditional business management – have so much entrenched baggage that they become paralyzed and move nowhere. FEI represents the opportunity to shed the blinders and really look at these challenges in a new way, engage people in this examination and rethinking of these challenges as something that’s not a dead end, but a whole new beginning.” – Jason PamentalYou still can save 20% on event registration when you use our discount code “FEI2010BRADEN”.Editors’s note: … Continue reading
by Braden KelleyI had the opportunity to interview Mary McDowell, Chief Development Officer at Nokia at The Economist’s conference “Innovation: Fresh Thinking for the Ideas Economy”. I’d like to share a video interview I did with Mary during the event:In this video Mary talks about the future of mobile devices, use of the built-in sensors, information access in the developing world, Nokia Life Tools. Don’t miss an article – Subscribe to our RSS feed and join our Continuous Innovation group!Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking these days about “culture of innovation” – trying to get down to the root of what the heck it’s all about.It’s easy to wax poetic about the topic (and a lot of people do), but too much of the stuff I’ve been reading sounds like bad advertising copy for motherhood and apple pie. So, at the risk of oversimplifying the whole thing, here’s my blogospheric whack at boiling the mumbo jumbo down to the core. If you want to create a sustainable culture of innovation, you will need to understand that there are always four forces at work – four currents that are always interacting with each other:Top DownBottom UpOutside InInside OutTOP DOWN: Although the “revolution” never starts with the King, it is imperative that top leadership plays their “culture-enhancing role” far more than they currently do.The people in the trenches need to … Continue reading
Abraham Lincoln walked into the heart of the Confederate Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, on April 4, 1865. Less than a day after Richmond had fallen to the Union, the President strode to the capitol building and placed his feet on Jefferson Davis’ desk.It was a gesture that rang throughout America. The Civil War was officially over, and this President was the leader of the entire country.If there was ever an authoritative statement in America’s short history, this was it. As the broken nation looked for unity and leadership, Lincoln proved he had both.And it’s a perfect example for us to see what it takes to earn authority.Don’t Play It SafeWhat’s interesting about Lincoln’s trip is the size of his party that went into the city. He wasn’t in the middle of a battalion, he was with a handful of guards and advisors. An ambush by any remaining rebel forces could … Continue reading
