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Phil McKinney

Phil McKinney is an innovator, podcaster, author, and speaker. He is the retired CTO of HP. Phil's book, Beyond The Obvious, shares his expertise and lessons learned on innovation and creativity.

Cell phones and the value chain

Your customers will change the way they use your products in ways you don’t currently anticipate. Do you remember when you got your first cell phone? I was living in Chicago when the city was selected for the first FCC trial of a cell-phone network in 1984, and I jumped at the chance to try […]

value chain

Six Practices of Successful Innovators

Innovations surround us.  Things we enjoy and rely on everyday are thanks to successful innovators.  These are people who had an idea and, through hard work and creativity, turned it into an amazing innovation.  In what ways did these people think differently? What practices made them successful? Ma

successful innovators

A Future Look: Top Innovations, Teaching the Future, Tomorrow’s Healthcare S14 Ep35

Download A_Future_Look__Top_Innovations_Teaching_the_Future_Tomorrows_Healthcare_S14_Ep35.mp3 Today we delve into the future.  I discuss topics in three areas: top innovations, teaching the future, and tomorrow’s healthcare.  What innovations will have the most impact on our future? What can we do today

top innovations

What Products Could I Create Out of Unused Assets

I’m an innovation guy. It may not say so on my business card, but that’s what I do.   I encourage people, whether inside HP or in my meetings with customers around the world, to accept that they and their product are going to have to change.   No matter

What Products Could I Create Out of Unused Assets

Gray wave and assisted living

So, how do you determine where you, as an individual or a business, will be in five years? You can’t say where exactly you’re going because you can’t predict what’s going to happen in the world. However, you can challenge yourself to change. In 2001 Apple’s sales figures were in decline. The company

Gray wave

Weak Signals

“Weak signals” are the equivalent of a canary in a coal mine. They are the unspoken needs and wants of your customers, and they are also the arrows pointing to what your customers are going to need and want in the future, even if they themselves don’t know it yet. If you pay attention to […]

Weak Signals

My TEDx Talk: Do you have Impostor Syndrome … too?

What happens when you share the secret that has been feeding your impostor syndrome for more than 25 years? In this TEDx talk, I share a secret that I kept hidden for 25 years and the result of that secret being revealed on the front page of a national newspaper. Through this journey, I was forced [

Phil McKinney talk on Impostor Syndrome at TEDx Boulder 2018

Decision-making: OODA Loop for Fast and Accurate Decisions S14 Ep33

Download Decision-making_OODA_Loop_for_Fast_and_Accurate_Decisions_S14_Ep33.mp3 [shareable cite="Antoine de Saint Exupéry"]The time for action is now. It’s never too late to do something.[/shareable] When the enemy is in close pursuit, there’s not a lot of time

decision-making

What product or service to stay ahead

On October 4, 1957, Russia launched a beach-ball-sized satellite named Sputnik, which orbited the Earth in just over ninety-six minutes. The previous frontrunner in the space race, the United States, was now the runner up. Our only competitor had trounced us, seemingly out of nowhere. A month

What product or service to stay ahead

Ideation

The Killer Questions are used in the Ideation phase of FIRE. The point of the Killer Questions is to keep you focused on a specific facet of your organization, your customer, your product, or your operations, but at the same time keep your search for ideas expansive within that area. The Killer Ques

ideation