I participate when I can in a Twitter-based chat session, called Innochat. It happens every Thursday around noon USA eastern time. Most of the participants are innovation geeks like myself, consultants, writers, company innovation directors, professors, etc. — tune in, it’s interesting. Last Thursday we were chatting about innovation books. There are a ton of innovation books out there, some of which I’ve reviewed here. The insight that seemed to dawn on several of us at the same time is that there really isn’t a great innovation book geared for small business. Scott D. Anthony’s recent Little Black Book of Innovation comes close, but, forgive me for saying so, there is a certain “MBA-speak” (and just MBA ‘think’) even in

Read More..

It’s a shame that the reshoring trend (of manufacturing back to the USA) will take years to be realized. I’m a fan of course, I’ve written about it here before. Like many trends, it’s emerging in dribs and drabs; and some dispute it’s even really happening. I know from personal experience how difficult it is to raise funds for new manufacturing ventures in the USA. It’s a sad truth today that VC’s are more interested in funding the next iPhone app than a start-up that actually makes something. It’s also not good that the most likely candidates for reshoring — high tech equipment intensive/low labour requirement operations — are very expensive to set up. The business case can be hard

Read More..

Very simple post today about two interesting creativity bloggers I follow. Creative Something is a consistently rich source. Today’s post features a review of a new iPhone app for creativity called Oflow. I’m downloading it now, looks interesting. I would never have seen this app, thank you Tanner Christensen for helping me keep tabs on new creative tools — and the other stuff you keep tabs on. I’m also following Kate Gardner’s frequent CreativeActs Posts which are typically very short, pithy, optimistic tips about creative thinking. Today she muses about the value of returning home from vacation with fresh eyes so you will Sea Differently. I think Kate does the hipster illustrations that accompany her writing. Imagine that, a creative

Read More..

Ask John Sculley, the man who fired Steve Jobs — would he do it again? Probably. As Michael Corleone once said about a fellow mobster taking sides against him just as he took power — “it’s the smart play.” MBA’s are trained to manage, and that usually doesn’t mean disrupt. Let’s be frank, people who think different (high innovators on the KAI scale, a measure of cognitive style) are a pain in the ass. Even those who are very self-aware and have trained themselves in social graces eventually show their true colours in classic corporate settings. They can’t help it. They are less problem solvers than they are problem finders. Many of you know that I recently posted a piece

Read More..

Virtual idea generation is a growing trend in innovation. A trend I wholeheartedly endorse because it widens the cohort that normally contribute to “brainstorming” efforts. It gives people time to think and then post ideas as time allows in the nooks and crannies of their day-to-day jobs. It’s a great way to make idea generation and innovation part of the culture of an organization. It’s usually done with an Idea Management System (IMS) but in a pinch, it can be done with something like GoogleDocs or even email. Basically, you put out a focused innovation question and you ask for ideas. The virtual session could be as short as a few days, or as long as a few months. In

Read More..

I find it amazing how much people are absorbed in “the news” and it’s political slant or bias.  All of it is pretty much useless to innovators beyond basic awareness of current events. The news I’m referring to is information that is relayed to us by the mainstream media; the TV and radio networks, and newspapers. Web news, such as you might find on Google or Yahoo also is in this category of general news providers. I’ve got no issue with someone who scans these outlets now and then to see what’s being reported, in fact, I think to be culturally literate, one must. But focusing on this stuff too much will clutter your brain with useless poop. News is

Read More..

Who’s Lukas Rosol? He’s the 100th ranked tennis player in the world. A virtual “no name” with only 19 professional level tour match wins. A 26 year old, 6 foot 5 drink of water at about 170 pounds. Bad haircut. Czech dude. Major tat on his left calf. Lean and mean. As of tonight he has 20 wins. This evening at Wimbledon, against long odds, he upset one of the greatest tennis players that ever lived, Rafael Nadal. Nadal won the French Open just a few weeks ago, this is not an old champion fading away. It’s a stunning defeat for Rafa, a player known for his ultra fitness and competitiveness, at the peak of his game. Absolutely nobody would

Read More..

It’s easy to understand why many managers are not interested at all in heading up an innovation team. Saying no is the sane choice. The truth is Innovation Team Leadership is usually a thankless job. It’s often a job on top of another job. In other words, a lot of extra work spent on innovation initiatives means it’s a killer to keep up with the business-as-usual-operational job. So, that’s usually enough to kill innovation leadership motivation. But wait, there’s more! Not only is it a ton of work, it’s high risk. Many, even most, innovation efforts fail. Failure doesn’t look good come job and salary review time. People spout a lot of happy talk about learning from failure but the

Read More..

Oh my, it’s summer. Officially. Two seasons of 2012 are now history. This is the perfect time to take a half-year checkpoint on your innovation efforts. On July 1, you’ll have six months left to get something done, or, complete something already underway. Here’s the checkpoint survey, suitable to print and take to your next meeting: What have you accomplished so far this year? How many “cycles” have you accomplished? How many ideas generated? How many promoted? How many prototypes done, how many concepts put in front of management?  Don’t know? I’d call that a red flag. Kudo’s to those who have efforts underway and are pushing the envelope. For those who have nothing to show for the first half of

Read More..

I was in France a couple weeks ago and was delighted to help someone learning English. They asked what is the most useful phrase in the language. I knew immediately. The phrase? “It depends.” It’s the answer to nearly any complex question. It buys you time to think, and actually, it’s nearly always true. And of course it allows you to pretend to know something you don’t. So, when I am asked how to begin an Innovation Initiative, the ultimate complex question, this is my answer — it depends. If I know context I can do better than It Depends, but it takes time, effort, and money to know context well enough to give a good answer. What does it

Read More..