Tag Archives: Decision making

Stagnating? Innovate how you innovate with these 5 ideas

If a project has disruptive potential, it should make you uncomfortable.Throughout this past year, I’ve been having conversations with innovation leaders from a couple of BIG companies about re-inventing their innovation capability. The pattern of conversation: we’ve had a good run, but feel that our process for making innovation happen is delivering incremental results. Bureaucracy has developed, and so we aren’t taking a lot of risks anymore. How do we shake ourselves out of it?

This is a classic situation of the initial innovation enthusiasm becoming stagnant because innovation’s main killers are not kept at bay: GroupThink and ExpertThink.

One leads to consensus, and the other to unchallenged best practices. In combination both lead to stagnation. Later on, it will become more difficult to innovate because silence and fear will become the norm. Then you will really have a challenge in your hands!

As our decision making skills decline with age, how does it affect our ability to innovate?

As our decision making skills decline with age, how does it affect our ability to innovate?

Much like corporations become slow and stagnant, our own skills decline as we age; unless we do something about it. Nowhere is this more apparent than in decision making…

6 simple questions that yield better decisions

decisive bookHow can we become better at making decisions? There is wide literature, blogs and books on the topic of decision making , and you wouldn’t go wrong reading most of them. How and why we make the decision we make is one topic I believe we would all do well know about more because it influences everything we do.

The most recent books about decision making I’ve read is Decisive by the Heath Brothers, authors of Made To Stick and Switch. I’m a huge fan of them because they take on interesting topics, and they make the content interesting and useful to any type of reader. With that said, I’m subscribed to their newsletter and yesterday I got a nugget of information in a series of questions that appear, in some way or another, in their latest book about decision making.

Remember, everything is a matter of perspective. So, if you’re struggling with a decision, see if any of the following questions helps you see differently.

What are the key ingredients necessary to accelerate innovation in any environment?

In any environment, what are the key ingredients necessary to accelerate innovation?

MIT’s Andy Pentland says the best decision-making environment for good ideas to spread is one with high levels of both “engagement” and “exploration.

Via the NY Times:

The best decision-making environment, Mr. Pentland says, is one with high levels of both “engagement” and “exploration.” Engagement is a measure of how often people in a group communicate with each other, sharing social knowledge. Exploration is a measure of seeking out new ideas and new people.

Innovation must reads of the week: How to make smarter decisions

Innovation must reads of the week: How to make smarter decisions

Storified by Jorge Barba· Sun, Apr 21 2013 10:31:43

The portfolio; the pivotal tool for #innovation success bit.ly/ZBfvyN #innochat #portfolioKevin McFarthing
The Strategic Power of Games p.ost.im/p/dCM39LGreg Satell
How to Make Smarter Decisions: bit.ly/YKtA8D via @alan_iny | Rigid models fail. Adaptive frameworks are useful. cc: @jorgebarbare:invention, inc.
Wow! “@lynnecazaly: Some of my visual notes from #bdsummit (via Berlin streaming downunder here in Australia) #bmgen pic.twitter.com/FuJy37D0Vo”Ralph-Christian Ohr
Over 30 technologies have emerged at break neck speed, here’s Altimeter’s take on what it means for business altimetergroup.com/2013/04/four-d…Jeremiah Owyang

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.