Author Archives: Jeffrey Phillips
Over the last six or seven years, definitely since about 2003 or 2004, there has been an increased focus on innovation in many businesses. I think much of this was driven by several factors, including an increased rate of change in competition, especially the growing capabilities of India and China. I also think that information costs have fallen as the web has become more fully adopted, and consumers are demanding more. Finally, I think the focus on cost-cutting and outsourcing is reaching it’s logical conclusion. Most of the things that could be cut, trimmed or outsourced have been. Many businesses in the US are relatively lean, and need to return to growth and differentiation.All of these factors contribute to the need for innovation. However, there are a lot of trends that suggest innovation is important in the near future as well. The focus on global warming means new technologies are … Continue reading
I’ve read several books about innovation, and am reading another which I’ll review shortly here on the blog, which talk about the importance of combining disparate skills or capabilities when innovating, or holding two diametrically opposing ideas and finding the happy medium. What should be obvious is that one of the most important skills from an innovation perspective is the act and insight of synthesis.This is a real challenge, because most people are taught to break down problems into smaller, finite pieces and solve the smaller problems. We also work as specialists, with deep understanding of our core capabilities and knowledge, but often with little insights or knowledge beyond our education or jobs. So most people don’t use synthesis skills on a regular basis, and are probably prone to avoiding synthesis since synthesis requires introducing a number of new and possibly unknown factors which may simply make the problem larger … Continue reading
This is the third of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on “What roles do engineers and marketers play in an innovation setting, and what conflicts can arise based on their perspectives and approaches?” Here is the next perspective in the series:by Jeffrey PhillipsFirst, let me say that I am ably suited to answer this question, since I am both an engineer (undergraduate) and a marketer (graduate degree). I’ve worked in the technical trenches and, frankly, left them as quickly as possible, and worked in a number of marketing roles since my MBA. I left the engineering world because it necessarily demands a level of specificity and exactness that I find boring and tedious, and demands attention to detail that I sometimes lack.So, let’s talk about engineers first. What traits are associated with engineers, and does their education, focus, attitudes … Continue reading
Ok, after a number of years and a range of clients, I’ve seen a lot of titles. Product Manager, Product Developer, Product Development Manager, etc. I’ve even seen titles like Innovation Manager and Ideator and some other more fanciful titles. These are all valid and important roles. But what is evident to me is that while we place great emphasis on maintaining the existing product and service lines, there’s almost never a person whose job it is to devise entirely new products and services. It’s as if we believe that all future growth will spring from existing products and services, and we won’t have to address new markets or new competitive threats, leave alone the opportunity to create a new “blue ocean”.Run down the list of titles in your firm that have to do with product or service management or development. There will be a host of people who “manage” … Continue reading
Thanks to Twitter, much of my research is done for me. I found a story linked on Twitter about the key innovation characteristics of leaders in innovative firms. That article was published by HBR. The five attributes the authors identified as relevant for innovation are: associating (making connections across unrelated ideas or problems), questioning (especially focused on “what if” or “why not”), observation (especially observing behavior), experimentation (new experiences or exploration) and networking (especially with people from different industries or perspectives). Let’s assume these factors are correct – from my experience they appear to be. Then, let’s compare to what happens in many firms today.First, there’s little association in most firms today. Most organizations aren’t interested in making connections across disparate fields of study; they are focused on maximizing the best practices within their industry. Rarely do we see ideas introduced from outside an industry unless it is introduced by … Continue reading
The longer you hang around a subject, the more interesting the rumors and misperceptions. Innovation seems to spawn a number of fallacies, probably because it is very important, haphazardly performed and misunderstood by management. The combination of importance, carelessness and ignorance probably spawns a lot of fallacies. In fact, it sounds a lot like teen sex in a way.One interesting new fallacy that seems to be making the rounds is that “open innovation” is easier and cheaper than innovation within the four walls of your organization. Open innovation can drive more ideas, and in many cases simply bypasses the bureaucracy and sloth of an organization to attract a number of people from outside the organization. In this manner open innovation can be faster, but it is not cheaper or less expensive, nor does it require fewer resources. Open innovation just shifts the costs from an innovation team, or R&D, to … Continue reading
I’ve been thinking for a while about the perfect physical space for innovation. When we work with our clients we often are asked to help design a physical space for the team to work in. This should be a space that is open, colorful, inviting and really different from the regular work environment. The space needs to remind the people working there that when the teams are innovating, they need to be thinking differently than they do when in their day jobs. In a perfect world, there would not be such a separation of thinking, but until everyone is a perfect innovator, we’ll have to settle for great thinking spaces.The spaces we’ve worked on and in are usually spare space the firm can afford to reconfigure, and are usually the typical Class A space, with bare gray walls and industrial strength carpet. Sometimes the walls have been painted interesting colors … Continue reading
