Before will, skills and tools, what aspiring innovators need is time. It is a delicate topic because within organizations, the preference is for employees to keep the machine’s wheels turning as efficiently as possible. This leaves no time for reflection and play.
So, what to do?…
in Innovation, Leadership
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?…
This is a question I get a lot. Just like there is no shortage of creativity techniques, there are many innovation methodologies. For me, there isn’t one single way. Just like there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” strategy that every company can plug and play onto itself. I think that just like every person/company should have their own reason for existing, they should come up with their own way on how to stay relevant.
For example, Intuit, came up with their own innovation methodology. It was crafted from their own values and reasons for doing what they do and why they do it. Here is their how:…
in Innovation
Why wait for the need to become obvious? Yes, why wait for it? If you are an established company, you have a set of challenges that you need to wrestle with on a daily basis. Growth, is one. Either by strengthening the existing value proposition of your current business, or by creating something entirely new.
With that said, to see what isn’t there, ask yourself a pair of questions:…
in Innovation, Leadership
Back when I was an IT Consultant, I knew that “preparing for what might be” was my “one thing”, and it just came natural for me. And today, one of the cool things about the work I do is I get prepare my clients with “what if’s” all the time.
Most don’t like it because they don’t want to consider that their business might change. They want to keep things the way they are. This is not unusual. It is actually the every day norm for those of us who are in the business of shaking things up.…
in Innovation
A recent article in Fast Company caught my attention. It isn’t anything you haven’t heard before, but it is very well worth pointing out again and again:
“The next best thing won’t come from a Fortune 500 company.”
Yes, there are exceptions to the rule. Google, Amazon, Apple, and others are talked about all the time. But for the most part, there are very few who will innovate.
Why is this?…
“It’s not enough that we win; all others must lose.” – Larry Ellison
Heard this one yesterday. I’m all in for competition, but business isn’t about war (at some point I used to think like Genghis Khan too). It isn’t about beating competitors just for the heck of it. I find this focus on competing to beat competitors ridiculous.
The focus SHOULD be on the customer winning. …
