Monthly Archives: October 2010
Without question, the past recession has hit many companies hard. But as business leaders struggling to keep our companies afloat, we sometimes forget that it’s been hard on employees as well, including those who managed to keep their jobs. According to a survey conducted earlier this year by Kelton Research, today’s employees are feeling under-empowered, underappreciated, demotivated, and overworked. In the six months prior to the survey: 68 percent had not received any useful feedback from their supervisors 82 percent had not established career goals with their supervisors 53 percent did not understand how their role contributed to company objectives 25 percent were given new job responsibilities outside of their primary skill sets This does not sound like a motivated and contented workforce! Even if your company managed to escape the worst of the layoffs and cutbacks, don’t assume that your workforce remains happy or motivated. People may still be … Continue reading
I recently conducted an innovation workshop in Kuala Lumpur. The energy and enthusiasm for innovation from firms that attended is really impressive. We had attendees from Malaysia and Thailand, as well as from Sudan. For all the firms represented, innovation represents a method to drive new differentiation and new revenues based on new products, new services and new business models. It’s interesting to see how quickly firms of all types and all industries, in all regions, are understanding the importance of innovation. Whether it was an oil and gas company, a research firm, a cell phone provider or a firm that offers outsourced software development, all understood the power that innovation offers their business and the possibilities for future growth. As I mentioned in my previous post, while they all understand how important innovation can be to their businesses, they also face some of the same constraints that …
Which must come first? by Stephanie Baron Day one of the EPIC conference convinced us that open innovation, while not being a one size fits all, can be tried and will deliver results in every industry. Chicken first! Day two of the conference embarked us on exploring new business models in those open partnerships systems. We started with a chicken or egg conundrum: If we develop the technology should we also create the need for it? Or is it necessary to first find an unfulfilled need and develop a solution. In short, if we build it, will they come? Keynote speaker, Alexander Blass, of Alexander Blass Int’l, insisted that we must start with a need. Mark Johnson, another keynote speaker for the day, also drove home the point that you have to start with customer value in mind. “That may start by looking at unsatisfying jobs that need to be … Continue reading
How healthy is your company’s innovation pipeline? Is it already operating at peak performance, helping you pump out a torrent of new growth opportunities across product, market, and industry spaces? Or would it be fairer to say that there is still room for improvement? If so, allow me to suggest five design rules for enlarging and enhancing your innovation pipeline. The first three of these rules are about enlarging the pipeline—building a high-yield process that increases the sheer volume of ideas from across the organization and beyond. The last two design rules are about enhancing the pipeline by improving the quality of those ideas, rather than just the quantity. So let me start with my first design rule, which is to involve many minds across your own organization – and beyond it – in your search for new growth opportunities. What companies seldom seem to recognize is that one of … Continue reading
Yesterday, the City Winery in Manhattan was closed to the general public as it opened a space for innovation specialists who convened to figure out how we can better commercialize innovation. For three full days EPIC 2010 brings together entrepreneurs and global leaders in R&D, innovation, engineering, strategy, marketing, business development, legal, IP and finance. The conference kicked off on a high note as speakers presented as many facets of open innovation as there are colors in a rainbow. Molly O’Donovan Dix, of RTI International reminded us that innovation requires commercialization otherwise it’s “just” an invention. A point driven home by Terrence McElwee, Director of Technology Transfer and Innovation at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). KAUST is a brand new university, built from scratch in Saudi Arabia. It is the perfect example of what higher education can achieve once a government is committed to fueling innovation. It … Continue reading
Product launches are complex. That was the main takeaway of the PDMA 2010 Lab E – Launch for Commercial Success which I had the privilege of attending last week. The session kicked off with an apt and literal example: a NASA launch. When NASA launched the Saturn V, its engineers were depending on the successful integration of two million distinct systems. Two million! And, as Richard Koppel pointed out, NASA operates in a space (get it?) where getting it right the first time is “mission critical” – if something goes wrong, not only are millions of dollars wasted, but people die. Fortunately, product launches are not as high stakes as shuttle launches, but you still want to ensure your innovation is brought to market as seamlessly as possible. So how do you launch successfully given all of the variables, risks and uncertainties inherent …
