Archive for: March, 2013

10 ways leaders can ignite innovation

in Innovation, Leadership

ignite innovation

Here is a short article I wrote for a Mexican Business Magazine that will be published in a few weeks.

What would happen if your company could innovate consistently? This is a worthy challenge, and, one not many can meet. But, if you have the will and drive, you will.

Innovation is the only source of new value. Yet, a lot of organizations struggle to come up with new products and services that delight their customers. There are many reasons for this, and leaders must understand that it isn’t easy either. Innovation requires courage, but most importantly, it requires drive.

Here are ten things you, as a leader, can do right now to ignite innovation in your organization:…

Innovation must reads of the week: How to be the ‘disrupter’ and not the ‘disrupted’

in Must reads of the week

If you like these links, check out all the previous “Innovation Must Reads of the Week“. And don’t forget to

Anyone can innovate, but not everyone can

in Innovation, Leadership

Yes, anyone can. But now everyone can. Here’s why…

It is very simple. First of all, to innovate, you need skill combined with will. The skills needed are very straight forward, to begin you need to identify a problem, understand it and then have access to people and information that can help you solve the problem.

And, that is just the beginning…

Anyone can identify problems, but not everyone has the patience and will to dig deeper, and keep going. And, not many cultivate an idea network which constantly feeds them ideas and insights, therefore not everyone has access to diverse knowledge sources to help them see beyond the obvious. Which is critical.…

Innovation must reads of the week: How to build a resilient organization

in Must reads of the week

If you like these links, check out all the previous “Innovation Must Reads of the Week“. And don’t forget to

To foster innovation, what type of network do I need to create?

in Innovation, Question-To-Innovate, Questions

question to innovate

This the seventeenth of a series of weekly posts where I will answer a few common questions about innovation. Please feel free to add your own response. Also, if you have any questions you think we should discuss, let me know.

One thing every innovator needs is access to people who can help him with specific knowledge and resources. And, social media can enable innovation in a variety of ways. Explicitly, one that is rarely talked about is that you can meet people from different backgrounds and collaborate. It is an opportunity to pick people’s brains in a very interactive and transparent way.

Twitter and LinkedIn are such networks that serve this purpose. Cultivating a network that provides you with insights and ideas is incredibly, and it is something every person and organization needs to do if it wants to come up with breakthrough ideas.

Five discovery skills that drive innovation

A few years ago Christensen, Clayton M.; Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen published some research where they outlined the five discovery skills that drive innovation in both individuals and organizations. These five skills are illustrated below (via WSJ):…