Transformational Innovations
The ultimate objective of any innovation is to transform business and transform lives. How do you know if your innovation is of that transformational kind? Here are my definitions that I use for the different stages/types of business: If you charge for undifferentiated stuff, then you are in the c
What I Did For Thanksgiving . . . .
For Thanksgiving, we went to San Diego to visit family. While there, we spent a day working in the fire area helping families who were impacted during the recent wild fires. We met up with the same team (Camp Hope) I worked with during Katrina (photo, podcast). It was yet another humbling experience
Setting The Right Innovation Focus
If you are a regular reader of the blog and/or listener of the podcast, your familiar with the basic foundation of the Killer Innovations approach is to define the area of focus for an innovation and then ask the “right question” (If you are not, go have a listen). I’ve covered the topic of […]
BusinessWeek Article …. Innovation Culture
In this weeks issue of BusinessWeek’s In Innovation special report, there is an article on my “day job” and innovation culture. The photo above appears in the article and is of Rahul Sood, Founder of Voodoo, and myself …. The article gives a good overview of how large corporation’s can use start-up’
Plan For Change Because It Is Coming
Change is inevitable but it doesn’t always have to be a surprise. When we become comfortable in our position (industry structure, market leadership, etc), we open the door for change to catch us by surprise. How do you keep your eye’s open? By scanning the areas of possible change …. and planning fo
Presentation: An Introduction to the Killer Innovation Approach
Below are the slides from a presentation I gave last week introducing IT executives to the Killer Innovation Approach. In addition to the slides, I ran the attendee’s through a “sample” workshop over dinner where they were provided a task/objective, they had to meet an idea quota, rank their ideas
Creative Economy – How Should It Be Defined?
There is a ongoing battle in the “creativity” community on how best to define the creative economy. Why is this so important? To prove that something exists, in this case an emerging economy, you must be able to measure it. There are two fundamental camps: The creative economy is defined by companie
Presentation: An Introduction to the Killer Innovation Approach
Below are the slides from a presentation I gave last week introducing IT executives to the Killer Innovation Approach. In addition to the slides, I ran the attendee’s through a “sample” workshop over dinner where they were provided a task/objective, they had to meet an idea quota, rank their ideas a
Unintended Uses of Innovations
Have you ever noticed that many innovations end up being used in ways never contemplated by the inventors? Unintended uses are the first step to finding a pivot that creates opportunities. Some interesting examples include: Invention Original Use Actual Primary Use Telephone Broadcast audio content
How To Segment Your Customer For Better Innovation
How do you look at your customers? Do you put a face to them? Do you make them real so that the team creating the innovations has a clear target? The one thing that gets me going is when teams start talking about customers in terms that are meaningless to innovators. The one that […]
