Author Archives: Deborah Mills-Scofield
Recently, my friend Jackie Hutter and I did a workshop on Leading Indicators for Innovation from two aspects: 1) how can you look around you for leading indicators of areas ripe for innovation; and 2) what are leading indicators in your innovation process itself. Both are important, the first is more ‘fun’ so we’ll discuss it first and save the 2nd for another post. Jackie coined the phrase, “Lens Shifting” which made me thing of this: These guys are all working on the same physical plane, but for one it’s flat, for another uphill and for another downhill. It depends where you’re standing. They are all on the same physical plane, but they all have different viewpoints. We view things from our own perspectives and biases. Why are some people so good at understanding, and leading, future trends, behavior? Think Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Warren …
One of the key issues in innovation is learning from failure. These applied learnings create a new type of intellectual asset few companies acknowledge or appreciate. How do we measure this asset? I propose creating Return on Failure (ROF). After all, we measure the return on other types of assets, why not this one? Perhaps a way to measure ROF is with a simple three-step process (bear in mind, simple ? easy!): Identify the Failure(s) Analyze the Failure(s) Iteratively experiment and prototype based on #1 & 2 So, and check my ‘math’, ROF is the sum of Failure Identification + Failure Analysis applied over (and over…) Iterative Experimenting & Prototyping. Failure Identification (FI) is proactively identifying what went wrong, what failed. Find ways to capture and share this information as and when needed. Feedback from employees, customers, and suppliers are also important. In most companies, the culture doesn’t tolerate failure … Continue reading
Historically, Human Resources (HR) has not played a very strategic role in innovation. This needs to change. HR needs to support the culture change to enable innovation; and the upcoming generation isn’t going to settle for an ‘administrative-only’ role. Innovation is primarily a social thing. Really. While processes are important, ideas come from interactions between and among humans. At the 2nd Open Innovation Summit and at the BIF-6 conference this came through loud and clear. The most fundamental asset a company has is its humans. So, wouldn’t you think the organization assigned to maximize (20th century business = manage) that resource is critical to a company’s success? Companies are good at managing tangible, concrete, known assets, and they try to manage humans the same way. Business schools, corporate training etc. don’t do well teaching us how to ‘manage’ or ‘measure’ social assets – to …
As I’m reviewing business plans from college grads I’m mentoring (as an alumnae mentor at Brown Univ ) and from Glengary , the VC firm I’m a partner in, this whole business plan process is getting to me. So much of what I see in biz plans is, pardon the phrase, BS. We all know none of us believe any of the numbers is the proformas, the market growth, etc., so why do we bother with all this stuff when we know it’s a joke? I don’t know, but here’s what I’d like to see in a biz plan for a change. The current, accurate, real, truthful view of the world – market(s) as it exists and will exist. If it doesn’t yet, why, what are the real needs, current and potential competitors (in/out of your market space). What have others tried and what has succeeded …
Well, we’ve just been through quite an election – out with the ‘old’, in with the new – well, somewhat, there were several incumbents re-elected. This isn’t a mandate for or against either party; it was a mandate for an economic revolution to get rid of big government and make one that works for the people. Is the government capable of re-inventing itself? Of innovating? Let’s look at other established entities – like big companies. In the blogosphere & twittersphere there has been discussion of whether or not big companies can innovate. Well, I’ve seen some do it – does that answer the question? Kind of. What is the biggest inhibitor to success & innovation? Success! This is what I see now – so many of my colleagues and clients are doing amazing well despite the recession. They are sitting on a lot of cash they are …
