Sheila Escovedo is a world-class drummer, percussionist whose credits read like chapters in a music history book: Pete Escovedo, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Beyoncé, Herbie Hancock, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Ringo Star, Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan and George Duke. Having been Prince's musical director, I was interested in Sheila's ability to lead teams of musical giants amongst the many things we talked about.

The Editors Pick this week is Derrick Ashong's Take Back the Mic: World Cup of Hip Hop - a global competition for musically inclined youth and their fans. From Ghana originally, Ashong understands that the most powerful way for global youth to find their own powerful original voices is to (have them) Take Back the Mic. This is an IndieGoGo campaign worth checking out and funding.

This post looks at Salut Salon, a string quartet and how they have redefined what a string quartet does to become immensely successful. There are lessons here that businesses can take away as well...

The Back End of Innovation alights there for real this year, from October 6-8.  As the conference chair (full disclosure) I fought for this choice because I wanted to help plunge the heavy-lifter innovation crowd into an EXPERIENCE of innovation -- implemented.

The Malloy Hoverbike is a sci-fi worthy innovation. It is probably the most important, ground breaking innovation in transportation in the 21st Century.

Pepsi Refresh failed because it had no relevance to the brand’s operations or heritage. Pepsi never earned that particular mission and therefore consumers saw little need to reward the company for its efforts. Contrast Business Innovation Factory (BIF), an organization that brings cutting edge innovation techniques to social initiatives, many of which are similar to those Pepsi Refresh sought to promote.

As I watched the matches over the last few weeks, I found myself thinking about how innovation practitioners could benefit from examining their work efforts using examples from soccer. From the start to the end of a match, soccer is rife with lessons learned for the innovator.

Innovation is serious business. The lifeblood of your company depends on your ability to serve the changing world with new products and services while continuing to generate profits. What does this have to do with comedy? Turns out there are a lot of similarities.

In a custom software company like Geneca, innovation plays a key role. Last year, the team decided to get more creative in how to champion innovation by producing our own version of “Shark Tank”, based loosely on the hit ABC show.

Footage from Felix Baumgartner's jump from space captured by GoPro cameras. See how innovations like this push the boundaries of what is possible.