Archive for: March, 2013

Innovation must reads of the week: How Innovative Is Your Company’s Culture?

Innovation must reads of the week: How Innovative Is Your Company’s Culture?

Storified by Jorge Barba· Sat, Mar 30 2013 20:08:30

How Innovative Is Your Company’s Culture? bit.ly/11D9Mvl via @mitsmrMITSloan ExecEd
Strike! Innovation is on strike! wp.me/p10V0m-1lZ Read all about it #innovationPaul Hobcraft
Too busy to #innovate – Innovate on Purpose @ovoinnovation ow.ly/jt1teSmartBrief
Innovation boot camps: big business looks to the little guy smrt.io/15ZHvf6SmartPlanet
Can 3 simple rules make a company great? Even @Quaich & Mumtaz Ahmed were startled by what they found: s.hbr.org/XerJihHarvard Biz Review

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

The case for continuous improvement

I think we can agree that continuous improvement is necessary for any kind of innovation. And, when you aim for continuous improvement, to the extreme, it is easy to notice those that don’t. Therefore, it also easy to notice strategies and approaches that won’t ignite innovation.

Case in point: The local newspapers in Tijuana.

Last week, we held a mini-conference in our office. We invited our buddy and Partner, Adrian Pedrin to come in and give us some insight as to what it takes to work in Hollywood. Before the event, to our surprise, we had inquiries from local newspapers to do an interview with him.

So, the next day after the event, we had El Mexicano interview Adrian. Here is the note:

adrian-pedrin-tijuana

Missing, is a lot of important details. It is no secret that the media will always publish what they think is important, not what you want. But, for the newspapers, this is also an area of opportunity. For those of you in the modern world who read WSJ, NYTimes, USA Today, Financial Times, BBC or any modern newspaper; what I’m going to tell you won’t be a surprise.

For example, why didn’t they post the interview in podcast format? Why didn’t they post the interview on the web? Having so much content available, why didn’t the use it?

These are all valid questions, and, in the modern world may be expected from a media company. Media companies can inform and shape people’s opinion with the content they publish, and, the way they publish it. That is why when I see local newspapers who haven’t caught up with the rest of the world, it causes me concern.

I’m not ranting about this because it was an event I organized. It isn’t about me, it’s about all of us.

Innovation must reads of the week: How to find the best innovators in your company

 

 

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

What is the most important innovation skill I should practice?

question to innovate

This the eighteenth 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.

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to interview the authors of The Innovators DNA. One of the questions that I asked them was: Of the five skills, is there one skill in particular that is more important than all others? Why?

Before the other core innovation skills, the ability to associate is the most important innovation skill you need to master. Associating, or the ability to successfully connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas from different fields, is central to the innovator’s DNA.

What Sherlock Holmes can teach us about decision making

I’m a sucker for anything that has to do with decision making. And, I’m also a sucker for anything that has to do with Sherlock Holmes. The two go together nicely. That is why I was excited to buy Maria Konnikova’s new book, Mastermind: How to think like Sherlock Holmes.

I found this excellent video where Maria talks about some of the ideas behind her book as well as some tips on how to make more rational decisions.

Failure isn’t the goal for innovation

Cooking

Cooking (Photo credit: omarbercor)

What if you could predict with certainty that people will love your new product or service? What if there was a huge scoreboard that would tell you that a massive amount of people will like what you are cooking up before the expensive launch? Business owners, and managers, tell me that they would love to know that whatever they are cooking up will work with certainty. This is a fallacy.

I’ve also heard managers say, as you have, that they much rather copy competitors than taking the lead themselves to avoid failure. Not surprising in my neck of the woods…

So, what does one tell these people and organizations? The current line of thinking is that one should “fail fast”. But this line of thinking has gone overboard. Some believe that “failure thinking” should be accepted. Let me make it clear: failure isn’t the goal. It is learning.

Innovation must reads of the week: The Right Ideas in All the Wrong Places

 

 

 

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