Tag Archives: Innovation

New ideas are necessary, but not sufficient for innovation

in Innovation

It’s not the idea, it’s what you do with it. Design an organization that is both competent at generating and executing effective ideas.

For all the research and literature that exists about innovation, ideas still take up the vast majority of the attention as the leading factor behind successful innovations. Because ideas are the sexy part of innovation, many believe that a novel idea is an innovation itself; it is not. More importantly, just because something is novel doesn’t mean it will win in the marketplace.

Do ideas matter?…

It’s hard to get excited about incremental ideas

in Innovation

Most of what is called innovation is incremental in nature. Meaning, an improvement on something that already exists. This is innovating within a known box. Microsoft is company that is the poster boy for this type of behavior. It’s a shame because they invest a lot of money on R&D but not much of its inventions become innovations.

Except for the XBOX and Kinect, in the last decade or so, many of its products have been plain vanilla copies of other products that reached the market first. Why the XBOX? Because it was a product of intrapreneurship within Microsoft.

Right now intrapreneurship is a hot topic and a rich source of potential advantage for corporations. In a recent Innochat session we touched on some of the points about intrapreneurship: Being an intrapreneur.

Large consultancies have also taken notice, as recent study by Accenture about developing an entrepreneurial culture found that:…

True innovation makes competition irrelevant

in Innovation

I often use the quote “Never innovate to compete, innovate to change the rules of the game” to express the mindset of a true innovator. You see, I detest copycats. I pay attention to maverick companies, not the ones that merely implement some framework to put themselves in a position to innovate.

Then, our culture likes to pit companies against each other because it’s the type of  stuff that grabs headlines; unfortunately most can’t see beyond the bias.

And though competition breeds innovation, sometimes it does bring out the best in everyone, most of the supposed “innovation” that copycats bring to the table is nothing more than mere superficial increments. Or in the case of Mexico; a tropicalized version of the original product or service.

For me, innovation makes competition irrelevant. Anywhere. Period.

To understand why being a true innovator is so hard, it is wise to understand what true innovators do and what non-innovators do. There are is an endless list of books, blog posts, articles, whitepapers and talks about the distinction between innovation and competition. Futurist Daniel Burrus has thought long and hard about the difference between competers and innovators, here’s a comparison:…

What is the biggest innovation challenge for leaders of large organizations?

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

What is the biggest innovation challenge for leaders of large organizations?

Understanding and accepting the innovation equation:

Innovation = reducing errors + increasing insights

Via Seeing What Others Don’t: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights (Kindle):…

Three common mistakes that innovators make when creating new markets

in entrepreneurship, Innovation

Take care of the basics. Sometimes we don’t and get ourselves into trouble; especially when trying to create a new market. As innovators, when it comes to trying to help people understand how our idea can address an unmet need, we make some critical mistakes.

Here are three that are very common:…

8 strategies for overcoming resistance to change

in Innovation, Leadership

As innovators that want to make things happen and are constantly seeking ways to counter resistance to change. It comes with the territory and is the most predictable challenge we will encounter. At this point, the literature around innovation is vast, so we can all agree that there are many common sources of resistance to change inside organizations and from potential customers: inertia, indecision, fear of making mistakes, lack of best practices and lack of care for your product/service.

How do you overcome them?…

What World Cup winner Germany can teach us about developing a culture of excellence

in Innovation, Leadership

brazil vs germany world cup 2014

Picture: EPA

The 2014 World Cup has ended! For me it was one of the most memorable, the first round alone is worth watching again. Anyway, the Germans won. And they have lots to teach us about developing a culture of excellence, no matter what people say about their “efficient” driven culture.

Here are a two takeaways:

To play to win, not to lose, requires a different mindset

Two weeks ago I watched as Mexico gave up a 1 goal lead to the Netherlands and eventually lose the game on a questionable penalty kick. As all of this was unraveling I wasn’t surprised. I had started watching the game at the 60 minute mark, but I could tell Netherlands was going to even things out, and maybe even win the game.

I knew because they were the aggressors. Mexico was sitting back, playing not to lose. But this isn’t an isolated incident, Mexico has a history of letting up. It doesn’t have anything to do with strategy and tactics, but with, I believe, psychological and cultural issue.

I believe that conformity is the enemy of greatness. There are other countries in this World Cup who are exemplary of how defeating conformity is less a matter of strategy and more about mindset.

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