Author Archives: Stephen Shapiro
At the Open Innovation Summit last week, I had a lively conversation with a few individuals. The debate was about which model of open innovation is most effective – competitive or collaborative.Kevin Boudreau and Karim Lakhani wrote an excellent article earlier this year in the MIT Sloane Management Review on this very topic. They looked at the merits of each form of open innovation. I encourage you to read the article as it addresses factors like intrinsic and extrinsic forms of motivation.InnoCentive uses both forms of open innovation in different environments.Their ‘marketplace’ model is competitive. That is, when posting challenges to their network of 185,000 experts, the solvers cannot see any of the other solutions. One reason for using this model is that the intellectual property needs to be protected.This is in contrast to InnoCentive’s @Work product which is used to broadcast challenges internally to employees. With this product, solutions … Continue reading
by Stephen ShapiroI never really thought much about toothpaste. But at the last two innovation conferences where I spoke, toothpaste was one of the hot topics.At the FT Innovate conference in London, Unilever discussed their “Signal White Now” (and other brands) toothpaste. Instead of using harsh bleaches and abrasives, they borrowed an optical-effect technology from their laundry team. This toothpaste uses a blue pigment to make yellow teeth instantly appear whiter. This same ingredient is used to make white clothes look even whiter.At the Open Innovation Summit in Orlando, GSK discussed how their “Aquafresh iso-active” toothpaste borrowed an idea from Edge shaving cream (now a division of Energizer Holdings, Inc). The toothpaste comes out like a gel, but foams in the mouth, much like the shaving cream. This formulation, according to the can I was given, removes 25% more bacteria than regular toothpaste – or 3x more according to the … Continue reading
At the TEDx NASA conference, I had some amazing conversations with people in the “green room” while preparing to take the stage.One individual had spent his entire career with NASA focused on travel to Mars. This was his life’s passion. But now that he has moved out of the space program into the private sector, he wonders if the money spent on space travel should be re-focused. He wonders if we should spend the money fixing problems here on earth.We had a lively debate. One thing I suggested was that shooting for Mars MIGHT be the way to fix some of our issues here on earth.From my experience, when trying to solve problems, we attempt to move from point A (where we are today) to point B (where we want to go). But often we fall short and end up at A’ (as depicted in the graphic on the left).However, … Continue reading
This past Friday I had 6 minutes to share a message about innovation with the world at TEDx NASA. It was a fantastic event with 29 speakers, authors, musicians, aerospace engineers, a neuroscientist and more. 1,700 people were in attendance and it is reported that nearly 100,000 people watched via video streaming on the internet.Given that my typical speech is 45 minutes long, preparing a 6 minute presentation was a bit of a challenge and required me to script it out to make sure I did not go over my allotted time. Below is what I prepared. Within the next two weeks, I will be able to share the actual video footage – where I am sure I said something completely different.TITLE: SOMETIMES EVEN ROCKET SCIENCE ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCEIt’s not rocket science.We hear people use that expression to describe something that’s not that complex. And although …
Back in the 1980′s, executives used to joke that you would never get fired for buying “Big Blue” (IBM) computers. It’s not that IBM was the best, but you knew they would not screw up.When I worked for Accenture (then Andersen Consulting), the Economist once called us “The McDonalds of the consulting industry. You know what you will get and it’s not fillet mignon.” People hired us not to get highly creative solutions, but rather to be assured of a successfully implemented solution.There is a reason why consulting firms are so successful.People choose safe, tried and true solutions over those which may be better yet have a risk of failure.This is human nature. People take risks to minimize losses, yet play it safe when it comes to increasing gains.But how much of a gain must be dangled in front of us before we will risk giving up the sure thing? … Continue reading
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of “The Little Prince”, once said:”Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away.”This is a brilliant quote because it describes the challenge many innovators face. Too often, new products are overly complex and end up ‘over-serving’ their customers. My new computer with Vista and Office 2007 is a perfect example of that. 99% of the software’s functionality goes unused, yet these complexities slow down my computer and reduce ease of use. Being able to do everything for everyone is not perfection.Next time you are designing a process, a product, or a service, ask yourself, “What can I remove?” For most consumers, simplicity is more important than comprehensiveness (and complexity).The concept of ‘taking away’ is also a great time management technique. In addition to your to do list, be …
