Start-ups

    Fractional Chief Innovation Officer (CINO)

    A Practical Solution for Medium Sized Companies to Grow

    The 80/20 Solution for the MisFortune 10,000

    The Fortune 1,000 work innovation process like mad. Many have fine-tuned frameworks with a high level of sophistication. That lowers risk. However, elaborate innovation frameworks slow things down. This mild paralysis is an opening for small and medium sized companies. They can grow by beating bigger players to the punch. But the “MisFortune 10,000” tend to miss this opportunity.

    Time to consider a Fractional Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) to load up that innovation punch. Here’s why.

    Speed and momentum matter in innovation, even more so to smaller firms. Leverage the innate agility. The best way to ramp up and grow quickly, beyond having a great initial business idea, is to continuously innovate. It’s strategic for a growth oriented organization.

    This means you need a bona fide innovation professional on staff. A full time Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) is a large line item expense, and, most small and medium sized companies simply can’t afford one — or think they can’t. Instead, it’s up to the skeleton C-Suite team, already maxed out, to not only formalize operations, but also, continue to invent. That never works. Those functions are polar opposites.

    Real expertise is expensive and many second stage companies get sticker shock when faced with hiring expertise. CEO’s and founders of these companies are used to the high performance/low pay model they got used to in the first phase of growth.

    Lack of innovation expertise is a major reason MisFortune 10,000 struggle to grow. A Fractional CINO addresses these missing skill sets:

    The MisFortune 10,000 Tend to Lack These Innovation Skills:

    • Process and Innovation Project Management Skills — including: team building, culture leadership, innovation project roadmapping, and more. If you’re mid-sized, paying attention to growing these skills helps you grow.
    • Market Research — qualitative, quantitative, and ethnographic research are rarely done in mid-sized organizations. In general “insight development” (finding opportunities to grow) is something that should not be purely intuitive. Doing even basic market research takes training and experience.
    • Facilitation — who conducts strategy, visioning, ideation, and solution development meetings? It’s almost impossible for an insider, with other duties and biases, to do this well.
    • Prototyping — including: design, graphic arts, and concept writing are skills that go beyond engineering. New ideas need to integrate product development with marketing and sales as well.
    • Product Development — taking good ideas and fine tuning, branding, and packaging, all require informed creativity, and, hands-on, knowledge and experience.
    • Digital Technology and Marketing — It’s hard to emphasize what a big innovation opportunity (or a huge pitfall) the plethora of new digital tech is for a second stage company.

    Fractional Trend

    It’s the 80/20 rule. Hiring a Fractional CINO gets you most of the pricey benefits of having innovation process experience. Don’t be put off by the new jargon, a strategic part timer isn’t a new concept, but it is an emerging trend.

    Look at what GigX is doing, or Toptal in the software/financial space. There are many firms and consultants offering CxO fractional services. The Edward Lowe Foundation provides strategic growth assistance as part of their many and varied programs for second stage companies. The win for the fractional person is straightforward — it’s flexible, part time, interesting, well paid, work.

    Hire a Fractional Chief Innovation Officer, It’s the 80/20 Solution

    A Fractional Chief Innovation Officer is a practical, high value solution. A part time strategic asset gets your organization focused on the most essential, growth oriented, innovation projects.

    A Fractional Chief Innovation Officer is a MisFortune 10,000 solution for growth.

    GFi does fractional CINO work. Final thought: Non-profits need CINO skills too.

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    Creatives Build Rural Economies

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    Retro Motorcycles Signal Innovation In Goshen, IN

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    Innovation Facilitator Tool Kit

    I am sometimes asked what a Facilitator should have in their kit bag. Here’s my answer — the Innovation Facilitator Tool Kit list. The items are below in bold. Many have links to where you can source the materials. I’m assuming the facilitator is a hands-on project leader who facilitates meetings, such as idea generation or strategy sessions. I did not take into consideration travel via plane or car. Obviously, some things are more portable than others. Consider this a master list which you can subset for your needs. Some of these items are not available off the shelf retail, so, put this kit together ahead of time so you can focus on design and executing your session plan as

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    21 Rules for Innovation Team Building

    I revised this “rule of thumb” list for a client and she suggested I re-share it in a blog post. This list is the accumulated wisdom of many years and it includes thinking from colleagues in the innovation space. Its target is the innovation team leader, but there are lessons for all types of team members here. The big change from the previous version is the emphasis on projects. It’s the key to Innovation in my view, from culture change to positive team dynamics to effectiveness of an overall innovation program. It’s the one thing of innovation — doing Projects. So here goes: 21 Rules for Innovation Team Building 1. A strong bold project initiative, with a clear vision for

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    Damaged Pure Michigan Brand Impedes Economic Development

    Pure Michigan is a Damaged Brand As a Michigan resident I’ve followed the developments in Flint with a mixture of horror, sadness, outrage, and confusion.  This post is not about political blame. Having said that, I don’t deny the political element to the problem; it’s a sad tale of bad decisions on top of bad decisions, and some of those made for purely political reasons. Fact seeking people on both sides of the aisle need to take a very close look at what’s happened. The focus of this post is about the damage that has been done to the state of Michigan’s brand, Pure Michigan.  This is not being talked about, but it’s as damaging in the long run as

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    Graphene Application Challenge Prize?

    The Graphene Challenge Graphene is a new material that is just in its infancy in terms of commerical usage. It’s from graphite, the stuff in pencils. It’s magical stuff — 150 times stronger than steel, flexible like rubber, and potentially usable in electronics, water filtration, energy, building construction, medical, and more. It’s the thinnest material known to man at this moment. It’s 250 times more conductive or “mobile” than silicon. It hit the news again recently as scientists have discovered a much cheaper way to produce the material. This is a market that is about to explode. It’s frustratingly hard to work with. But that’s the fun part.  Unfortunately for the USA, it would see the prime early movers in

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    Paying Lip Service to Developing Entrepreneurs

    There is a very frightening trend happening in the USA. We are not growing entrepreneurs. See my “Seven Ways to Grow Entrepreneurs” below! What is it we believe in our capitalist country? Isn’t it something like this: Anybody who works very hard, has a bit of talent and a good idea, can start something, grow it, and do well.  Isn’t that the essence of the entrepreneurial American dream? Yes, there is more to it than that. Yes, you can fail. Yes, it’s a market driven meritocracy — or it should be. I’ve always taken this entrepreneurial spirit for granted – it’s who we are! I’ve always assumed that as the years go by, more and more Americans (and this extends

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    GOP Debate: No Mention of Manufacturing

    A short post to make an observation. Say what you will about the GOP debate last night — and there is much to say — there was no attention paid to manufacturing. Search the transcript, you’ll not find the word mentioned a single time. Wow, it’s a very big point to miss. In related topics innovation was mentioned once, and infrastructure, a huge problem, was not mentioned at all. Why is it important and a big missing that manufacturing wasn’t mentioned? Manufacturing, and the middle class jobs that accompany renewed manufacturing, are absolutely essential to sustained, healthy economic growth. Our growth right now is anaemic in large part because of this missing element. We are not going to be a

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    Baby Steps To Breakthrough In Regional Economic Development

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