Author Archives: Robert B Tucker
Okay, so I’m writing to you from the Thai Airways lounge at Bangkok’s majestic new airport. I can report that this teeming city of 13 million has dug out from the recent floods, and is getting on with life. The economy, according to the cabbies and locals I talked with, is still suffering and there is even talk of another coup. Continue reading
Everybody has ideas. But innovators have a process for working with their ideas that they can articulate. Start the process of retooling your own idea factory by asking yourself how well it has been manufacturing ideas lately. Then use these eight guidelines to gear up your idea factory again. Continue reading
How will you drive growth in your company now that all the bubbles have burst? Take, for example, acquisition, that popular strategic ploy of the late ’90s. It turns out that the staggering prices paid to capture other firms often lower growth rates rather than increase them. Continue reading
How do organizations come up with new ideas? And how do they use those ideas to create successful new products, services, businesses, and solutions? Continue reading
A Critical Executive Skill Chances are you are required, on a regular basis, to sell ideas. Time and again in my work as an innovation coach, I see that the ability to build the buy-in for our ideas is a key determinant of success, both internally and externally. How can you improve your skills in this vital arena? Here are six suggestions: 1. Realize that selling ideas is job one. Far from being a mere after-thought, or something that, once the idea is ready for launch, can be thrown over the wall to the marketing and sales team to handle, successful innovators know that selling is a constant need and never-ending requirement. 2. Focus on benefits, not features. Will your new product or service save the customer time, improve his/her social standing, solve a problem better than existing solutions? Every effective sales professional knows to concentrate on such benefits. Prospective … Continue reading
Are You Indispensable at Work? In a time of economic disruption, unprecedented downsizings, budgetary cutbacks and the constant pressure to outsource more and more routine functions (and the employees who perform them), advice on professional survival always seems to convey the same tired message: Be visible. Don’t make enemies. Brown nose the boss. And work even harder. In reality, you are already working hard. Simply working harder will not be enough, and may lead to a burnout. Relying solely on your functional skills and expertise will not be enough to make you difficult to replace. And your years of experience on the job may not have the cachet they once did either. The good news is there is something you can do to take charge of your career if you’re willing to consider it. Based on research and interviews with 43 standout employees whom peers, bosses and colleagues identified as … Continue reading
