Category Archives: Leadership

The case for continuous improvement

in Innovation, Leadership

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.…

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:…

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.…

Ubiquitous leadership = ubiquitous innovators

in Innovation, Leadership

leadership

Put simply, if a culture of leadership exists, a culture of innovation also exists.

Why? Because the innovation challenge companies face is really a leadership problem. Being accountable for innovation means being accountable for value creation and customer satisfaction. Period.

As I’ve argued before, it is ultimately the CEO/Leader who owns value creation. And, it has to come from within. You have to really want it, because no matter how much you want to, you can’t copy another person’s leadership style. You have your own style. …

Your strategy should help tell a story

in Leadership, Strategy

be original

A leader’s most important responsibility is identifying the biggest challenges to forward progress and devising a coherent approach to overcoming them. In contexts ranging from corporate direction to national security, strategy matters. Yet we have become so accustomed to strategy as exhortation that we hardly blink an eye when a leader spouts slogans and announces high-sounding goals, calling the mixture a “strategy.” –  Richard Rumelt

Strategy, strategy, strategy. It matters. Yet, most of the time, we get it wrong. Why? Let’s start with the basics…

One of the problems with implementing a strategy, is nobody cares about it. And the reason nobody cares, is because nobody understands it. And the reason nobody understands it, is because it isn’t clearly articulated. And a clearly articulated statement or name such as “low-cost airline”, will do wonders to help communicate your strategy.…

You can’t copy real leadership

in Innovation, Leadership

steve jobs innovative leadership

There is a reason innovative companies keep evolving: innovative leadership.

It has been proven time and time again, innovative leaders drive innovative companies.

Last week I gave a social media workshop to two Mexican companies. While this workshop was focused on the MarCom function, still at the beginning of the workshop I had them answer a few questions about their companies. One of them was: how do you want to be remembered?

Their responses were varied, and along with other words, they all had the word “innovative” in there. To which I asked: what specifically is your company doing to be innovative?…