Author Archives: Jeffrey Baumgartner
Take a look at the “Home” and “About” web pages of the world’s most innovative companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Gore. There is a word you will seldom, if ever, see on their web pages: “innovation”. Continue reading
Imagination is the realm of the mind where you see things that do not yet exist in this world, but which one day might. It is an under-appreciated yet critical element of creativity and innovation. Imagination is defined as well as anywhere by Wikipedia “the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses”. Continue reading
The Cult of Ideas is a dangerous cult lurking within the field of corporate innovation. It is a disturbing cult in which members worship massive numbers of ideas above all else. On the surface, this seems a good thing. After all, innovations are founded on ideas, are they not? Continue reading
Open innovation may seem to be the preserve of big business. After all, it is often associated with long established monstrosities like Proctor and Gamble and IBM. But it is an approach that can be used by all companies, especially start-ups and small businesses. After all, when a business comprises just the owner-operator or a handful of partners or employees, it lacks diversity of mind. Yet, diversity feeds creativity and innovation. Continue reading
Have you tried brainstorming, ideas campaigns, crowdsourcing and other idea generation activities only to be disappointed by the results? Does it seem most corporate brainstorm sessions generate little more than pat phrases comprising the management’s favorite buzz words? Does your idea management system fill up largely with predictable ideas that at best might result in incremental innovations? If so, you are not alone. The truth is, many of these creative exercises – and in spite of what anyone tells you about innovation, idea generation is a creative activity that can eventually result in innovation – are poorly conceived. They are designed to generate as many ideas as possible in the hopes that once the obvious, conventional solutions to problems are exhausted, more creative, unconventional ideas will come to the surface. Yet in truth, the only time this happens is when highly creative people are participating in the brainstorm. Fortunately, there … Continue reading
During the monthly sales meeting, Arnold, a new Business Development Executive and something of a gadget freak suggested: “you know those hand-held devices the delivery people at UPS use to confirm receipt of your parcel? Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a device like that so we could take clients’ orders immediately and send them to production people? It would make it so much easier to make orders, there would be fewer mistakes and production could begin sooner!” Steven, the Sales Manager smiled. He was used to outrageous ideas from the sales people. “Do you have any idea how much it would cost to equip the entire sales team with gadgets like that? Not to mention install the infrastructure for taking orders!?” In less than a minute, Steven has not only rejected Arnold’s idea, but has also ridiculed it in public. Steven has sent a very clear message to … Continue reading
