Monthly Archives: June 2011
We are responsible for our actions, for what we do, for our work, and others are responsible for their response to it. (That’s why they call it responsibility.) Though we know we can’t control others, we still snare ourselves in worry trap: What will they think? Will they like it? What will they say? Worse than the worry trap, however, is when we actually change our work based on what others will think. A big no-no. We’re asked to do the work because we’re talented, we’re uniquely qualified, we’re the experts. Why do we let opinions of others wield so much power? Who cares what they say. We will let our work speak for itself. There’s not much in life we have control over, but work is one of them. We control most everything about it: the what and how, the caliber, the tenor. We choose to do marginal work, … Continue reading
Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Blogging Innovation is now home to more than 2,800 articles and in preparation for the upcoming transformation of Blogging Innovation into Innovation Excellence we are introducing an Innovation Excellence Weekly Digest (example). This now means that you can get great Blogging Innovation content in your inbox: Daily – Signup Here (Feedburner email subscription) Weekly – Signup Here (this is the default) Monthly – Signup Here (be sure and check the “Braden Kelley Monthly Update” checkbox Signup today for the Innovation Excellence Weekly Digest and get the next weekly issue tomorrow (and every Sunday thereafter). If you would like to help others discover Blogging Innovation, here are three simple things you can do: Retweet tweets from @innovate (10,000+ followers) or @ixchat (Innovation Excellence account) Digg your favorite articles using the social buttons at the bottom of each article Sign up for Google’s new +1 experiment and use … Continue reading
With the growing popularity of innovation initiatives, ever more companies are launching their own actions. However, many are going forward in a piecemeal fashion, running a brainstorming event here, trying out an ideas campaign there and promoting innovation in vague ways in marketing communications. Such an approach works, somewhat, but it is not ideal. The best approach is to have a comprehensive innovation process management (IPM) structure that treats innovation as a series of cycles that run within a grand, enterprise innovation process cycle. The Innovation Process Cycle An innovation process cycle combines creative problem solving (CPS) with scientific peer review evaluation and some typical business tools. The Challenge The cycle starts with a problem or goal which needs to be formulated into an innovation challenge. Once this is done, the challenge is presented to the problem solving group. This may be done in the form of a brainstorming event, … Continue reading
I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting with the president of a leading consumer goods company late last week. I had been invited to the meeting to introduce some open innovation concepts, but I was there more for support and encouragement than to lead the discussion. The president of the firm we were meeting with welcomed us graciously and explained some of the concepts his organizations was pursuing to find and manage new ideas. Then, he said something that I wrote in the margins of my notepad. Unprompted by us, he looked at us and said: “In this business, you innovate, replicate or evaporate.” Truer words were never spoken. His business is a fast paced consumer business, driven to a certain extent by market trends and customer whims. His business is constantly bringing out new products and working with large retail establishments to understand how to meet … Continue reading
From continuous improvement, through the development of next generation, to the creation of a new family, there are typically three different levels of innovation, that can be described in many ways depending on what aspect of innovation you want to emphasize. Here are 14 ways. Please add to the list! Description Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 By degree of change Marginal Incremental Radical By scale of newness New version New product New category By business objective Defend Grow Transform By McKinsey Horizon 1 Horizon 2 Horizon 3 By impact on capabilities Sustain Stretch Disrupt By medieval metaphor Shield Sword Spear By nature of uncertainty Distribution curve Fail or succeed probability Unknown unknown By most critical question How (is it better?) What (is the new proposition?) Where (might we find new territories?) By most critical success factor Execution Design Exploration By business case Pay-back time NPV (Net Present Value) Story By … Continue reading
For those of you not familiar with the two characters from Band of Brothers depicted above, they are polar opposites in terms of their approach to leadership. Captain Soble (left) represents a leader in rank only, whose efforts to intimidate his men are a classic example of fear based leadership. Shown at right is Lt. Winters, who leads by example and inspires the loyalty of his men by demonstrating he is worthy of their trust in even the most difficult of situations. In today’s post I’ll examine the value of loyalty as it relates to leadership. Is it just me, or has loyalty become rather scarce these days? Anyone who’s been in leadership for any length of time has likely pulled more than a few knives out of their back. Bottom line – there seems to be way too much focus on “me” and not enough focus on “we” these … Continue reading
