Don’t get enamored with the new and shiny. It could be a trap.
When it comes to new innovations, we sometimes ignore the underlying ideas that make it work. It is hard but we need to look beyond the new and shiny and understand what makes the innovation an innovation. Since I announced the book, I’ve been swamped with offers from companies and consultants with
Why do organizations create mediocre mission statements? Where is the innovation?
Over the years, I’ve seen my fair share of poorly written mission statements. The steps to creating them, in my opinion accurately represented by the cartoon, quickly become one more activity that is turned into a repeatable process my some well-meaning consultant. Have you noticed what’s missing f
Improve your creativity or lose your job
The economy upon which companies and employees have built their future has changed. The creative economy requires that you improve your creativity or lose your job Just do a quick comparison of market capitalization to book value for public U.S. companies over the last two decades. There is a drama
Shrek’s law of innovation means blockbuster movies
As a trustee of the Computer History Museum and having worked closely with Jeffrey Katzenberg (CEO) and Ed Leonard (CTO) of DreamWorks Animation, I was asked to be the moderator for an event titled “The Technology of Animation”. I got to play Jay Leno for ~90 minutes and interview them in front of
Using morphine to hook your customers on your latest innovation
In today’s economy, organizations can’t grow revenue by flogging the same old stuff to the same old customers through the same old channels in the same old way. That’s what everyone else in your industry is doing. As I’ve said many times – being like everyone means you’re average which means you’r
8 Conditions of Technology Development
I was recently going through some old files and notebooks and came across a paper I wrote during my sophomore year in college (Spring 1980). The paper was for a course on the history of technology that I titled, Conditions of Technology Development. The professor, who happened to be the Assistant
Gratitude as a business strategy
Given that today is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states, I was reflecting back on the past year and compiling a list of everything that I’m thankful for. I find as I get older, the list gets longer. As I was scanning some of my favorite blogs this morning, I stumbled across an article […]
There’s no such thing as constructive criticism
It is that time of year again when managers deliver annual performance reviews. Over my career, I’ve been shocked at how few managers have the leadership skill to properly deliver constructive criticism. This morning, I came across an interesting column by Tony Schwartz on hbr.org about mistakes we
The 5 Most Common Myths of Creativity
Even with all of the articles, columns and blog posts on innovation, the fact that the myths of creativity still exist is astounding. Below is the list of the 5 most common myths of creativity that I attempt to dispel whenever I’m giving a speech or innovation workshop. The 5 Myths of Creativity ar
Don’t be shy about your success. Tell the innovation story
For many of the innovations we take for granted, we miss out on hearing what went in to making it happen. After my post yesterday on Jet Blue, I got an email from a reader with links to a series of video’s put out by GE on the technology and innovations that went into making their jet […]
