Gregg Fraley

I was in London for a meeting last week and due to my “on time” compulsion, arrived quite early. I was killing time window shopping, and I spotted a cool looking linen walking hat on display at a men’s store.  On impulse, I went in and bought it. I had a nice conversation with the clerk at T. Fox & Company. They had some high quality hand-made knit ties — got one of those as well.  I resisted the lovely leather baggage, but was delighted to hear all their goods are made in the UK. Made in the UK means jobs in the UK.  The UK and the USA certainly need more brands like this.  Started me thinking, again, about

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When I’m traveling one of my rituals is to drop by an airport bookstore and pick up something entirely new. I do a quick survey of what’s hot, and poke around for some hidden gems. It’s often quite difficult to pick out a book; there’s just too much to choose from. Last week, under the gun to get to my gate, I begged help from a shop person and, I’ll be damned if she didn’t pick a winner.  ShopClass As Soulcraft is a newish book by Matthew B. Crawford. The subtitle is “an inquiry into the value of work”.  I guess it wasn’t too much of a risk, it’s a “notable” book by the New York Times, and a best

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The big news coming from the World Cup play this weekend was the “howler” score allowed by the English goalie. By all accounts the British team fairly dominated the US team. The USA allowed a goal very early and it appeared as though they might get steamrolled. However, they hung tough, and a fairly weak shot at goal slipped through the fingers of Robert Green. It wasn’t a tough shot to block, it was right to him, he had it, then he lost it. As I watched the replay I could only feel for Green, this is an embarrassing moment he may live with for the rest of his life. It had me thinking about the concept of failure. First

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I grew up drinking beer.  I always took nips from my Dad’s quart bottle when he wasn’t looking.  Taste develops that way. Wine  entered my life in high school. Boone’s Farm Apple Wine I am sad to report (nice label). I thought I was moving up in the world when I started drinking Mateus from that stone-like bottle a couple years later (the bottle felt “old world” to me). As a young adult I often drank “wine from a box” usually at family gatherings (those boxes never seemed to run out). As I write this I only imagine the horror my French wife will experience knowing the sour grape juice passing for wine that has passed through my uneducated lips.  Over

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The Clay Christensen school of innovation has been saying this for some time and have published scholarly papers about it — we’re under investing in innovation.  In a previous post I talked about the studies that have proven financial models that indicate how much to invest are based on false assumptions.  Now, new analysis further supports the argument, see this study from HP Enterprise Business. People, do we need more proof? Aren’t eminent Harvard professors and a stalwart of the technology industry, Hewlett Packard, enough?  The Harvard study is enterprise wide, while the HP study focuses on IT investment.  Suggestion: print out both of the studies and distribute them to the executive team of your organization, and schedule a brown

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I’ve been doing a lot of “innovation” reading and wanted to mention a few books I found helpful.  The common theme in these three very different books is finding that place or opportunity in the market where something new and different is needed. One is personal (Branson), one is conceptual (The Medici Effect) and one is strategic (Seizing the White Space).  All are worthwhile. Read These Books: Richard Branson, Business Stripped Bare, Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur. I found this business autobiography a delightfully easy and highly insightful read. Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, but this guy makes it look like more fun than a barrel of airlines and record companies. Particularly interesting is the “how” around creating the versatile

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It occurred to me that Innovators need music as much as, maybe more than, everyone else. Music is an unparalleled source of inspiration for many people, so why would innovators be any different? So, what would the inspired Innovators ultimate playlist be? I’ve created the ultimate playlist for innovators — based on experience, and suggestions from friends on Twitter and Facebook. Now, it’s a given that there might be different playlists for different innovator mind-frames, like, what to play when doing research, or what to play when building a prototype, doing idea generation, etc.  Those might come later.  But this list is the generic all purpose one. I say Innovator in my title, but this is a post for Entrepreneurs

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Thomas Friedman is one of my favorite writers in the political-economic arena. Probably because he’s a great thinker. When he writes a column you can be sure it is well thought out, well researched, and to the point. He also has ideas — he goes beyond reporting. Yesterday he wrote a New York Times Op-Ed piece suggesting that what Obama should do is create a new initiative to create millions of young entrepreneurs and jobs. Friedman calls it “Start-Up America.”  It would be Obama’s “moon shot” It’s a great piece, and a great idea, read it if you have an interest in entrepreneurial visionary thinking. So many people get caught up in anti-tax, anti-big government BS that they forget you have

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Shout out to Black & Decker as they celebrate 100 years of innovation. What a marvelous achievement.  This is something American (and European for that matter) manufacturers should take a good close look at.  As we see jobs being shipped overseas and as we see the manufacturing base slowly ebbing away, Black & Decker is proof that American manufacturers can compete. And you compete by innovating. All…the…time. It’s a myth that American manufacturers can’t compete, and Black & Decker is proof.  So is Harley-Davidson. Making high quality, high value products, means good jobs — and sustaining of a way of life.  Black & Decker started as a small machine shop in Baltimore and now makes a broad range of hardware

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I’m a fan of the work of Richard Florida. Florida has written several books about the “creative class”.  He examines why certain places seem to be hotbeds of creativity and innovation. Simply put, “creative” communities that are tolerant, and have an interesting arts scene, tend to also be communities that attract new business development. You don’t have to read Florida to intuitively know that some places just “feel” like better spots to start a business.  Silicon Valley, if you’ve ever been there, has that feel. Austin, Texas has that feel.  Apparently New Zealand and Singapore have that feel.  And, those areas are indeed hotbeds for entrepreneurial development. Florida did the studies that proved this out. I’m going to go a

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