Monthly Archives: April 2010
As a person who started out as an engineer, I know that most engineers like to solve problems that are useful to society. Often this means that there are tradeoffs and constraints associated with any problem. Cars that get higher gas mileage may need to be lighter, but lighter cars don’t survive crashes as well as heavy cars. So when we are presented a problem to solve or an opportunity to address, we often start out by trying to define the constraints.These constraints could be based on technology issues, but are often based on other factors, like legal or regulatory issues, pricing or cost issues, distribution or transportation issues and so forth. When we as innovators agree to work within a set of bounds or constraints to solve problems, we are like the kids in kindergarten who are encouraged to “color within the lines” – that is, we accept the … Continue reading
Critical thinking skills are not a luxury for senior executives – they’re a survival skill. In today’s hi-tech business world we have become reliant on any number of available business tools to help us achieve better results and to perform at higher levels. We attend classes, workshops, webcasts, conferences etc., and we read books on how to master everything from the newest software application to the latest management theory. We seem to have an insatiable thirst for anything that will provide us with a perceived competitive advantage, yet we often ignore the one tool which can provide an unequaled return on investment if developed to even a fraction of its potential… the human mind. In today’s post I’ll examine the virtually unlimited benefits of becoming a better critical thinker. Most professionals intellectually understand that learning is a life-long endeavor, but the reality is that many executives and entrepreneurs invest very … Continue reading
Nancy and I bought our house about three years ago. Since then, we have planted over 300 native trees and shrubs on the property. Most of those are meant to be bird-attracting, but quite a few are also supposed to attract butterflies. A couple of months ago Nancy noticed some huge caterpillars eating some of the plants we’d put in – after a bit of research, we decided that they were Orchard Swallowtail caterpillars. A few weeks ago, we started seeing Orchard Swallowtails (and many other types of butterflies) all over the yard – it’s been great!Seeing all the butterflies in our yard reminded me of a conversation that I had with one of our research partners at the end of last year, who said:”A lot of people say that knowledge management is like herding cats, but I say that it’s really like herding butterflies. You can’t make butterflies go … Continue reading
It Is Just A Myth. Here Are My Top Five Innovation Tips.by Idris MooteeInnovation is hard in many ways. What is hard about innovation? Finding new ideas is not hard. Building an innovative culture is hard. Turning ideas into product/services that people love is hard. It all begins with a piece of paper and a pencil. Innovation is hard because there are so many myths about innovation and consultants are selling snake oil. Innovation is not something that is taught in MBAs and not part of any MFA curriculum.You can look at it from a process view, a strategy view, an organizational view and a toolkit view. Everyone’s journey is a little different and what works for one organization may not work for another. There is no one size fits all solution. Creating an innovation culture is easier said than done. There is no magic bullet for creating innovations, but … Continue reading
Interview – Robert F. BrandsI had the opportunity to interview Robert F. Brands, author of “Robert’s Rules of Innovation” recently.Here is the text of the interview:1. When it comes to innovation, what is the biggest challenge that you see organizations facing?The first and most important challenge is to understand and realize that innovation is not optional, it really is : Innovate or Perish. As a result of the traditional product lifecycle it is a phenomenon that once past the “growth” and “mature” phase, any product or service will ultimately decline. So for any thriving business one has to reinvent itself and add new products or services over and over. Once convinced of the importance, it all starts with the leadership. The CEO supported by the leadership team has to create a vision mission and strategy that is all in support of and in line with the innovation efforts. As a … Continue reading
I have just attended a great conference by 100% Open, a new agency specializing in open innovation. They have an interesting Jam & Discover approach to open innovation and they also run networks and do training and venturing.At the conference, I picked up a new report: Open innovation – From marginal to mainstream. In this report they have some great guiding principles on communication and I’ve shared them below because I believe they are worth sharing.100% Open Guiding Principle on Communication:Many large organisations are trying to become open innovators by first trying to change their culture. Whilst this is rational, it rarely seems to work. Companies will often change their ways of doing things more happily and spontaneously if the see first-hand evidence of colleagues adopting a new approach and it working. Success sells.Communicate with the outside world effectively. We’ve see many a large organisation get so wrapped up in … Continue reading
