Category: Innovation Perspectives
As we begin this new year, how personally committed to innovation are you? What are you dissatisfied with enough to find the courage to change it? Which do you value more, serenity or courage? Continue reading
I’ve never been big on New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t find them very motivating and apparently I’m not alone, judging by the number of people who crowd into my health club in January who are gone by April. Resolutions just don’t stick with me. So I’ve been musing about finding an innovative way to practice this tradition. The answer I’ve come up with: Instead of a New Year’s Resolution, why not a New Year’s Vision? Continue reading
Tinkerers like Edison and the lesser known scientist & inventor Joseph Priestley – the first man to isolate oxygen – understood the value of attempts. One of Edison’s more famous quotes, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” sums up his conviction that experimentation and perseverance are paramount to innovative success. In Priestley’s day (illustrated here) – around the time of the American Revolution – coffee houses supplied the patrons with both the chemical (caffeine) & intellectual (collaborative minds) enhancements allowing for ideas to be spread, repurposed and brought to market, thus creating real world value. Continue reading
With the passing of Steve Jobs and with it recent reminders of how not only bright and creative, but arrogant and obnoxious he could be, I got to thinking: Why are great innovators at times so insufferable? Continue reading
Over three years ago my company MMC undertook a pilot with NASA to see the effectiveness of using rich media to market technologies. The timing could not have been worse. As the media was being readied for release the financial crisis of 2008 hit. I remember looking at a first cut of one video on a new fiber optic sensor and the same evening American Express called to ask if I could pay my card bill early because they needed the money. All the videos were all finished in October 2008. Here’s one video you can view. The pilot was rolled out into a world where there was a significant possibility the whole business and financial system would collapse. Needless to say while everyone liked it, we had no bites. This was followed by a stimulus that included no extra government staffing but a 20% increase in the staff … Continue reading
A new law signed by President Obama this month could mean a speedier patent approval process for inventors across the country. Continue reading
