Category Archives: Leadership

The one thing any non-innovative leader can do to enable innovation

in Innovation, Leadership
Teams working on ideas

multidisciplinary teams working on ideas

So, you’re the CEO of a company and you are not known to be innovative. What do you do?

No fear, for you are not alone.

For all the talk about the need for innovation, the truth is most CEO’s are not innovative. They are much more focused on maintaining the current narrative than on discovery. But, there is one thing they can do to walk the talk:

Get out of the way.

Even though there is a lot of literature about how to innovate, many leaders have not understood and implemented a key insight about how to create the conditions for innovation to happen. And so it is here, where they can have an immediate influence!

How to start?…

Tower Infinity and the Power of the Opposition Strategy

in Innovation, Leadership, Strategy

tower infinity invisible skyscraper

Last week, South Korea announced that it will build the first ever invisible skyscraper. The proposed Tower Infinity will use cameras and LED screens to disappear. Think about that for a second…

We usually hear about countries building the next tallest skyscraper all the time, but this a break from that narrative. And that is really cool. Not only is this latest skyscraper aiming to use technology to create the appearance that it is invisible to the naked eye, it won’t even be one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world.

This is classic opposition strategy by GDS Architects:…

What are the common sources of resistance to change?

in Innovation, Leadership, Question-To-Innovate, Questions, Strategy

What are the common sources of resistance to change?

Scott Berkun has a great quote about resistance to ideas: The default state of an idea is non-adoption.

Reflecting on this quote, it useful to consider why that is so. For many reasons, people, in any arena, will resist change. That is just the way it is, so it is best to expect it.

While too many to list, there are commonalities between them. Here are five common sources of resistance to change:…

Getting the small things right is a first step towards innovation

in Innovation, Leadership, Strategy

Nobody likes to be rejected. But, there are times when you know you’ve provided value by facilitating clarity. This happened to me recently…

Last week I had a meeting with a very public mexican CEO, where we talked about innovation and its various forms. He clearly wants to innovate in various areas, but was honest in expressing his understanding that his company is not prepared to do so.…

To do original work don’t have rules, have ruling values

in Innovation, Leadership

burning man

“I’ll know it when I see it”. That is a common expression of something that we think is novel and distinctive. When we see or experience something truly original, it is surprising. But how many times in a day, week, month or year are you authentically surprised?

Rarely I assume.

How can we change that? Well, let’s start by asking a simple question: What does it take to do original work?

…

If you don’t like how things are done, tell a different story

in Innovation, Leadership, Strategy

If you don't like where you are going change your direction

A typical marketing and sales person recently asked me why I don’t place ads on my blog to generate additional revenue. Being that this blog gets between 6K – 9K visits/month, I’m in a very good position to do so (I have gotten requests from companies to place ads). But, I don’t want to place ads.

I simply don’t like advertising. And, generating revenue from ads is not a narrative I want to be a part of.

When he heard my response, he thought I was crazy. In his own words: that is not smart.…