Gregg Fraley

Main Culprit? Lack of Education in Science, Manufacturing, Construction, and Engineering Infrastructure and Education Project Idea: Learn, Build, Innovate USA The USA is 9th in the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index. The USA leads in a couple of categories, including “High Tech Density” and “Patent Activity” — so that’s good. But that’s not the whole story. Can we agree that innovation drives economies? The stock market is actually a questionable indicator of economic health, particularly looking to the future. The Bloomberg Innovation Index shows broad trends related to a countries ability to create. The ability to create is at the heart of any economy. So, this is our future USA citizens, a slow slide into mediocrity, unless we change. It’s true at the national level, and

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Lessons a Forager Can Lend Business Relax, Stay Hopeful, Keep Looking I’m a mushroom hunter. I wander the woods foraging, especially in the fall season. Southwest Michigan has a lot of edible varieties but there is one particular delicacy I love. It’s called a Hen-of-the-Woods. It’s a unique shape, something like a cauliflower, and about that size or larger. Very safe — not one of those “eat once” mushrooms. They are not rare exactly, but one can wander for miles and not find one, even in season. They hide under a brownish leaf-like surface. I have a lesson here for business people. Let me start with this story. Know that “Hens” are simply delicious. A hearty, meaty, solid texture, with a

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Experiential Learning Accelerates Innovation Innovation Session Designs Don’t Engage New Study: Drawing is the Fastest, Most Effective Way to Learn I read with interest an article stating that drawing accelerates learning. It does. Using experiential learning tools like drawing isn’t really new in innovation process. What’s new is the hard proof, and, using tools more deliberately. Sunni Brown, Dave Gray, Dan Roam, and yours truly all use experiential learning tools in innovation projects. In spite of many success stories it’s not done nearly enough. The reason? Most corporate innovators have no training in using experiential tools. They don’t know how to scaffold a learning experience. They go straight to brainstorming without preparing minds, and that’s a big reason sessions fail. The article I reference is in Inc. Magazine by

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Accelerating Teams Through Assessment and Training It’s a sad fact of organizational life that only a small percentage of teams achieve high function. Most teams muddle along, and get the essential things done — or not.  Some teams are absolute disaster zones, and are not only ineffective, are actually destructive. Imagine someone pouring crazy glue into your car engine, that’s how a bad team can affect an organization. It doesn’t matter if the team is three people in a small business, or a cross-functional team of 20 at a Fortune 100 company — all teams struggle to excel. And, all teams can improve, with training. Did You Know Diversity = Conflict? It’s a fact that diverse teams are more innovative. They

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Build Innovation From The Ground Up Creative Thinking Can Be Trained Train Creativity First, Innovation Next  It’s mind numbing all the literature I read about innovation. I’m also a bit weary of chasing or developing the latest, greatest, and most sophisticated tool for ideation. Frameworks are fascinating, but have mercy, it’s overwhelming. I think I need the mental equivalent of a shot of wheatgrass. I’m getting back to basics. My new message about innovation is — get back to basics first — and that means the spark of it all, creativity. Yes, I’m an innovation writer, trainer, and consultant, AND, without a creative culture you’re building innovation on a mound of sand. With creativity activated, facilitators like me help others

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The Classic Pitfalls of Innovation Mandates, Training, Process, Talent, Conflict, Risk Where Have Your Initiatives Failed? Innovation programs are like a labyrinth designed to have you lose your way — and die! Organizations fail with initiatives for many reasons, with lots of good intentions. I was thinking about an upcoming talk I’m giving on innovation pitfalls — and got bored looking for graphics. So, I drew this, somewhat funky, diagram. It might be the only slide I need. It’s somewhat self-explanatory but let me make a few remarks: The most important bubble is in yellow. Projects are what drive innovation and change cultures. Getting projects going can help you trump all the other pitfalls. Having a mandate might deserve it’s own

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Public Training Offering — Getting Innovation Started Attention Michiana, NW Indiana, Chicago Establish Fundamentals and Avoid Pitfalls Gregg Fraley Innovation (GFi) and The Society of Innovators at Purdue Northwest Collaborate on Public Training Seminar FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  August 30, 2019 PORTAGE, Ind. — The Society of Innovators at Purdue University Northwest (PNW) is hosting a public innovation educational seminar from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, at its headquarters located at 6100 Southport Road, Portage, Ind. “Establishing Fundamentals and Avoiding Pitfalls” features innovation expert and author Gregg Fraley of Gregg Fraley Innovation (GFi); La Porte-based innovation practitioner, Earl Miller of Hiler Industries/Accurate Castings; and Sheila Matias, executive director of the Society of Innovators at PNW. The goal

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Rural Development Hinges On The Creative Class Attracting the Creative Class is About Culture, Tolerance, and Quality of Life Where Creative Workers Locate is Where Innovation and New Businesses Happen, Site Locations Follow Richard Florida is, in my view, the top theorist in the USA with regards to economic development. His seminal book the Rise of the Creative Class should be required reading for anyone with an interest in creating jobs, and attracting companies to locate in a particular region (his other work is also notable). Florida is not without controversy, but I respect his work because it’s data-driven, and, because I’ve seen his theories play out in the real world. The skinny on Florida’s theories is pretty simple: creative

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The Innovators Monologue with profound apologies to William Shakespeare by Gregg Fraley To innovate or not to innovate — that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to stagnate or create while feeling the slings and arrows of peers and loss of fortune or to take up arms against inaction and seek to disrupt or improve and if I fail to find sweet perfection or green fields, I die — no more to market, sell, deliver, enrich, enable — the end of the enterprise, alas rarely mourned but the heartache, the thousand friends who lose jobs and life stations that families, tribes, regions, spirits, depend on. ‘Tis a grand frustration devoutly we pray to avoid, the death, and

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Edition #2 of An Innovation Minute Qualitative Research in B2B With Host, Gregg Fraley The message of this edition of An Innovation Minute is simple: Use of qualitative research techniques in business to business companies (B2B) is woefully under-utilized. Click here to view. The opportunity in using qualitative techniques is more focused innovation. Focus Groups, interviews, ethnographies, and observational research all can provide insights, at a reasonable cost, to feed innovation pipelines. Qualitative techniques are usable within frameworks like Design Thinking, Agile, Lean, and CPS. These insights cannot be gained through use of survey research. Gregg Fraley, CEO of GFi shares his thinking in this short video, the second in an on-going series. An Innovation Minute is a copyright of Gregg

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