Category Archives: Innovation
Guestology: How Disney anticipates guests needs
Spotted this question at Disney Institute’s Facebook Fan page:
Here’s more in-depth look at how Guestology works:
The power or the Disney Magic comes from knowing customers and looking beyond the words being used to figure out how to exceed guest expectations. Something that happens on-site may not be our fault, but it is our problem. And that means that it must be fixed to exceed expectations.
Disney even has a Guestology compass: Needs – basic, Wants – preferences associated with needs, Emotions – the positives, and Stereotypes – maximize positive stereotypes/minimize negative ones.
I’m a big Disney fan and had no idea about Guestology. Very exciting!
MBA in Curiosity
Last month I got invited to be part of a small group of Businessmen/Entrepreneurs/Consultants/CEO’s that meet once per month to talk about technology and innovation. We’re calling it Mix 2.0 for some reason.
Our first meeting was Wednesday. We met at (ironically) Bar20 at VIA Corporativo, which is one floor beneath my office. There were about 15 of us and we had the place all to ourselves. We sat in a circle, and to get things rolling we introduced ourselves.
The 2nd person to introduce himself is an inventor. Among other things, he worked on the Nintendo Wii controller about two years before the Wii came out. As you can imagine he’s a very interesting person. He spent about 10 minutes talking about his career. This set the tone for everyone else. I soon started thinking: Let the I-out-credential-you begin! (more…)
Why creating new categories is so successful
Creating a new category. The Holy Grail of Innovation. The Holy Grail of entrepreneurs. It’s when you can create a new category that you command the skies. Think of the iPad. Is it a new category?
It is. But not because people think it is, but because Apple defined it as such. Experts characterized the iPad as a tablet, but customers did not. That’s all that matters.
Other examples of category creation exist. For example Gatorade created the sports drink category. Chrysler created the minivan. Toyota created the Prius. Each had a good amount of time before any competitor entered the space.
So why is it that you should embrace creating new categories? (more…)
How are you over-delivering?
It’s a well known principle: Under promise. Over-deliver.
But it’s far from common to see it actually applied.
I have a client who just expanded it’s business to Tijuana. They are in 3 other states within Mexico and they’ve grown quite fast for a young company (4 years old). But their expansion to Tijuana has yet to pay off. And it’s getting dicey as customers have been leaving.
They brought me in to investigate why and develop ways to turn this around. (more…)
To innovate come up with your own unique WHY
Well, well, well. The truth speaks.
It’s been over a week and my post on why ‘WHY?’ is the most important question you should ask is still getting a lot of attention. WHY am I not surprised 
Keith Bickel posted an interesting and important comment: (more…)
What can you do to improve your business in a day?
That is the question. That and what can you do better tomorrow that you did today?
With that in mind, I’m organizing a Business Hack-a-Thon next month in my office building. It’s for us and everybody else in the building. I want everyone to come together and see different points of view. This is an opportunity to mix it up, get people uncomfortable, change roles and see anew.
This is really a test so I can then hopefully expand it outside the four walls.
Anyway, one of the key questions that’s come up while we’re preparing for this is: how do we put a concept to the test if my business is not online? (more…)
4 Innovation Lessons from the Miami Heat
Image via Wikipedia
If you’re a fan of basketball, competition and innovation, you will enjoy this. Before the start of the NBA season, ESPN published a fascinating article about how the Miami Heat’s offense will be reinvented. As you might remember, the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the last year’s NBA Finals.
After the loss, the Heat’s Head Coach, Erik Spoelstra had a lot of time to think about how we would reinvent his team. His answer: Study the Oregon Ducks spread offense to see how he could apply the same principles to create a fast-paced basketball offense.
How might an offense that’s powered by dynamic players be reinvented? (more…)
