Monthly Archives: March 2011
Will ecosystems replace simple ‘old’ innovation collaborations as we know them today? Open innovation has suddenly lost its pole position. Board rooms around the world will be thinking through the events that unfolded recently and I’m not talking about Eygpt. Just get into the story that has been unfolding at Nokia in the recent weeks, it has been breathtaking but it signals a massive change in where innovation will be going. Let me summarize some of this story and add some of my own thoughts on what this means. Firstly the famous burning platform memo within Nokia. In early February Stephen Elop, the CEO of Nokia issued a ‘burning platform’ memo internally We are standing on a “burning platform,” and we must decide how we are going to change our behavior. The burning platform, upon which the man found himself, caused the man to shift his behavior, and take a … Continue reading
Innovation is obviously a major attribute in the competitiveness of a company (or a government, or a school, or an individual). There are many ways to achieve innovation, and no one aspect will be enough. There is no question that sometimes one very smart person can generate incredible innovations. However, this isn’t very replicable or sustainable. Being innovative is not a behavior. It’s not something on your to-do list between picking up dry cleaning and writing performance reviews. You can’t declare Monday to be Innovation Day and expect that result. Innovation is the by-product of plans, processes, people, behaviors, and skills. Many of you may know me as the co-founder of the Lean Learning Center. What does that have to do with innovation? How can the skills taught in lean organizations enable innovation? When done well, lean leads to innovation at all levels of the organization. It may not lead … Continue reading
Does your marketing organization have a brand? Do you have a reputation within the company? If I asked the sales team what they thought marketing did, what would they say? If we asked your executive team how to describe marketing’s contribution to the business, how would they answer? If you lead or are part of a marketing team, you have direct control over how they answer. It’s not that different than how the external market thinks about your business, product or service. You can give lip service to what you want them to think all day long, but they’re going to react to and believe what they see, hear, assume, expect and/or experience. If the sales team thinks your leads suck, then that’s their reality. That’s your brand. You can live with it or fix it. If the CFO thinks you’re mostly about collateral and press …
