Last week I went to the Financial Times’ FTInnovate conference in London. The conference theme was “Big vs small: which one is better?” The conference chair freely admitted that the intention was to provoke debate, not to have a fundamentalist binary position with only one right answer. And there was a lot of good discussion and debate.

Creating Structured Innovation, or How can you lead a successful programme? Here are a few lessons about creating an innovation culture, turning user-centric, agile, open, and global, and letting innovation finds its flow!

Last year I helped to run a survey with members of the IACCM (International Association of Contract and Commercial Management). We found that while 73% of organizations represented had innovation as an explicit Top 3 priority, only half of respondents felt that they had C-suite support; with 32% ticking the “don’t know” box.

We use the same seven step process to implement analytics programs as other large scale implementations yet within each step, analytics projects have significant nuances not seen in other programs. These programs are implemented using Agile development methodology rather than waterfall.

Innovation is value free. Putting it to good rather than evil or unfair use is a matter of human choice.

Thinking for yourself and challenging the status quo will keep you on the inventing side of business and life.

Scientific breakthroughs are often reported as being innovation. I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to definitions, so if science produces inventions, they only become innovation if they are implemented and add value.

Presence opens up space and time. Presence opens up possibility. Presence enables a kind of organizational Red Sea to part so that everyone in the room, no matter what their social style, title, or astrological sign can take a fresh look at what needs to be addressed right then and there.

"Education is what people do to you; learning is what you do to yourself.” These are the wise words of Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab. In a recent TED Talk, Ito reveals a revolutionary style of innovation that he and his colleagues discovered during a time when they had to take learning into their own hands.

Many companies have a huge gap between their culture and strategy — a problem that only gets bigger in larger companies, especially when they are in transition. Management at all of these companies have a common reflex: Scream louder about goals and policies as the gap between culture and strategy widens.