Monthly Archives: October 2010
I recently wrote a blog post, Is Open Innovation Replacing Corporate Venturing? which got lots of comments here and especially in our 15inno LinkedIn group. One comment came from Ignaas Caryn, who is Director of Innovation and Venturing at Air France KLM. He suggests a more holistic approach to innovation including a kind of a hybrid model for corporate venture and open innovation. I agree. As I always like to hear what corporate people have to say on such matters, this is the full comment given by Ignaas: “I think corporate venturing and open innovation (e.g. supplier innovation) are very complementary and should be part of a holistic approach to innovation. The same can be said of engaging in early stage and later stage ventures at the same time (which I agree can and perhaps should be treated in a different way) to create short term innovation and secure long(er) … Continue reading
In my last few days at Imaginatik, a lot of contemplative questions kept getting asked of me by team members and colleagues hoping to glean one last bit of knowledge from me before I left – but probably the best was from a colleague who asked me, if I could only pick one thing that made or broke an innovation program – what would it be. My response – had I been better prepared and more dramatic in nature would’ve been – should’ve been – to just put up one finger and say “This!”. The reason why that would’ve been perfect comes from a scene in one of my favorite movies, City Slickers, in which a fantastic Jack Palance (as the weathered cowboy, Curly) shares the secret of life with a weary and overwhelmed Billy Crystal (as the city boy, Mitch): Curly: Do you know what the secret of life … Continue reading
On Tuesday, November 9, 2010 I will be speaking about my new book Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire at a book event at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto as part of their Innovation in Business Experts Speaker Series @ Rotman. TIME: 7:45 am to 8:45 am – Presentation and Q&A PLACE: Classroom 127 (ground floor), Rotman School of Management, 105 St. George Street, Toronto FEE: $49 plus HST per person; $39 plus HST per person for Rotman and U of Toronto alumni (fees include the session, 1 copy of Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire) TO REGISTER: Click Here I will be speaking about my book Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire – A Roadmap to a Sustainable Culture of Ingenuity and Purpose, answering questions, and signing copies of the book. If you’re in Toronto I hope you’ll register for the event and I’ll see you there. If you’d like … Continue reading
I remember a project I worked on many years ago. I was leading a large team and had a very large budget. I chose John to co-lead with me because we got along so well. I am a creative, spontaneous, and enthusiastic person and John was pretty much the same. The team loved working with us. We were fun, engaging, and motivating. And the project was a huge waste of money. The problem was that John and I got caught up in the novelty of our work. We were too focused on developing new ideas and making sure people were happy. But we never got any work done. We were a total failure. In hindsight, this failure probably could have been predicted. Our styles were too similar. In fact, if you look at any group of people who effortlessly work well together, odds are the individuals share a lot in … Continue reading
It’s a really good thing to be tactical. It’s important to have a bias for action, to focus on getting things done. Write the strategy, build a plan, sure. But spend most of your time in execution mode to make things happen. Of course, the down side is that it’s easy to be so focused on execution day to day, that we don’t step back and ask the strategic questions to make sure we’re on track, and make sure we’re not missing more significant opportunities to achieve and exceed our goals & expectations. Stepping back from execution to be strategic is everybody’s job, and it doesn’t have to take longer than 15 seconds to give your work a gut-check. Here are a few questions to ask yourself every once in awhile to make sure you’re on track: Why are we doing this? What’s the objective? What does success look like? … Continue reading
On November 10, 2010 I will be delivering the closing keynote at Pipeline 2010 – The Online Conference for Innovative Product Development. The tagline for the event is “Connect with innovation and discover your potential” and the event is FREE and ONLINE. The event is hosted by Planview and sponsored by Siemens, Kalypso, and Brightidea. The two keynotes for this novel online event are: Braden Kelley – Author, Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire Chris Trimble – Author, The Other Side of Innovation The speaker roster for this November 10, 2010 event also includes: Robert Shelton – PRTM Maureen Carlson – Appleseed Partners Matt Greene – Siemens Thomas Hustad – PDMA Louise K. Allen and Rob Reesor – Planview Steven Cristol – Strategic Harmony Partners Chad Jackson – Lifecycle Insights John Milburn – Pragmatic Marketing Bill Poston – Kalypso Phil Ventimiglia – NCR Vincent Carbone – Brightidea I will be talking about … Continue reading
