# Phil McKinney
> An inventor and former HP CTO providing nearly 1,000 free podcasts and videos, plus essays, a private advisory for senior leaders, and hands-on innovation tools.
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [About](https://www.philmckinney.com/about-phil.md) - Phil McKinney is an innovator, thinker, creator, author, and speaker. He is the former CTO of HP who has built teams that have innovated award-winning technologies and products currently used by half-billion people worldwide. Fast Company and Businessweek named these teams as being among the “50 Mos
- [Archive](https://www.philmckinney.com/archive.md) - This page contains the archive of all of the posts on this site. If you are looking for a specific topic, I would suggest you use the search function to the right. [posts-for-page cat_slug=’book-excerpts’ num=’25’ use_wp_excerpt=’true’ force_image_width=’100′ order_by=’date’]
- [Beyond The Obvious](https://www.philmckinney.com/beyond-the-obvious-killer-questions-that-spark-game-changing-innovations.md) - Amazon Generating and executing great ideas is the key to staying ahead in the rapidly changing world. It seems so basic. Why is it so hard to actually get it right? According to innovation expert, the real problem is that we're teaching people to ask the wrong questions about their business — or n…
- [Beyond The Obvious](https://www.philmckinney.com/beyond-the-obvious.md) - Killer Questions That Spark Game-Changing Innovation
- [Blog Archive](https://www.philmckinney.com/blog-archive.md) - This page contains the full blog archive! The blog archive is presented as a list starting with the latest post first. If you are looking for a specific topic, please use the search function to the right. If you are looking for the archive for the Killer Innovations Show, you can find it here.
- [Contact](https://www.philmckinney.com/contact-phil.md) - The best way to contact me is via the form below. By using the form, all of your information is easily accessible. Thank you for visiting the site. If you are subscriber to Studio Notes, you can reach me at https://philmckinney.substack.com/chat I look forward to hearing from you soon. Full Name Em…
- [About Creating The Book](https://www.philmckinney.com/creating-the-book.md) - Beyond The Obvious reveals the methods used to create breakthrough innovations currently used by 100’s of millions of consumers and businesses worldwide. What I haven’t talk about was the process of creating the book. How Did The Book Come About? The writing of Beyond The Obvious begun in 2009 follo
- [Event Support](https://www.philmckinney.com/event_support.md) - The following are support materials for use by event coordinators who are supporting events where Phil will be appearing. If you have any questions or need other information, please send an email to events@philmckinney.com. To save the images, click on the image to load it into its own browser page
- [FTC Disclosure](https://www.philmckinney.com/ftc-disclosure.md) - The content on this site is © 1999-2016 Phil McKinney & Techtrend Group LLC. The content is made available as part of Phil’s “pay it forward” effort so the content is licensed under Creative Commons – Non-Commercial with Attribution.
- [Phil McKinney](https://www.philmckinney.com/home.md) - Building the people and teams who innovate: more than a thousand free essays and episodes, and an advisory practice for the hard calls.
- [Homepage](https://www.philmckinney.com/homepage.md)
- [The Pay It Forward Project](https://www.philmckinney.com/pay-it-forward.md) - I began my tech career in a factory in Evansville, IN as the sole “geek” living in a condemned (yes – it actually was condemned) apartment building with my wife who was finishing her nursing degree. How things have changed from that humble beginning. When I look back on my career and where it has br
- [Press](https://www.philmckinney.com/press.md) - This page presents a short list of press and media coverage of my work in innovation, creativity and design. A more complete list can be found by simply searching Google. Laptop: Most Influential People In Mobile Technology in 2010, Laptop magazine named Phil to list of the most influential people i
- [Privacy Policy](https://www.philmckinney.com/privacy-policy.md) - Your privacy is critically important to us. At Techtrend Group LLC (which owns this site) we have a few fundamental principles: We don’t ask you for personal information unless we truly need it. (We can’t stand services that ask you for things like your gender or income level for no apparent reason.
- [Speaking, Keynote and Workshops by Phil McKinney](https://www.philmckinney.com/speaking-keynote-and-workshops-by-phil-mckinney.md) - As an author and award winning innovator of technologies and products used by millions of consumers and business worldwide, Phil is a highly sought keynote speaker and innovation coach. His engaging keynotes, speeches and workshops dispel the myth that innovation and creativity is a “gift”. His audi
- [Start Here](https://www.philmckinney.com/start-here-2.md) - If you’re interested in my book, Beyond The Obvious, you’re must be an innovator. You are striving to get better, and reach your potential when it comes to creating ideas that become innovations with impact. You want to leave a lasting impact with the innovations you create. This ‘Start Here’ page h
- [Start Here](https://www.philmckinney.com/start-here.md) - If you’re like most of my readers, you’re an innovator. You are striving to get better, and reach your potential when it comes to creating ideas that become innovations with impact. You want to leave a lasting impact with the innovations you create. This ‘Start Here’ page was created to help you get
- [Subscriber Downloads](https://www.philmckinney.com/subscriber-downloads.md)
- [Supporter Downloads](https://www.philmckinney.com/supporter-downloads.md)
- [Terms and Conditions](https://www.philmckinney.com/terms-and-conditions.md) - Techtrend Group, LLC hello@techtrend.com Effective Date: September 1, 2018 This web page represents a legal document and is the Terms and Conditions (Agreement) for websites owned by Techtrend Group, LLC which includes: techtrend.com, killerinnovations.com, philmckinney.com, theinnovators.network a…

## Posts
- [Succession Planning: Why I Cried on Stage as CEO](https://www.philmckinney.com/succession-planning-why-i-cried-on-stage-as-ceo.md) - Good succession planning isn't a press release. It takes time, a ready successor, and relationships you share instead of hoard. How I'm handing over CableLabs.
- [How To Build Innovation Teams (My Playbook From HP and CableLabs)](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-build-innovation-teams-my-playbook-from-hp-and-cablelabs.md) - How to build innovation teams, from the playbook I used at HP and CableLabs: culture before hiring, the right roles, the Idea Fund, and the right metrics
- [How To Improve Your Analytical Thinking Skills](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-improve-your-analytical-thinking-skills.md) - Critical thinking judges a claim. Analytical thinking works the problem: break it apart, find what is really driving it, and test your read before acting.
- [Never Forget: 25 Years Remembering Charles Falkenberg and His Family](https://www.philmckinney.com/charles-falkenberg-911-pentagon-flight.md) - First written September 11, 2008. Updated for the 25th anniversary, September 11, 2026.
- [How to Recognize Failure Patterns: How HP Quit and Apple Won](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-recognize-failure-patterns-how-hp-quit-and-apple-won.md) - A partner named exactly how HP would lose, four years early. HP quit. Apple didn't. Here are the four failure patterns behind both calls.
- [HP Needs to Stop Before It Can Grow](https://www.philmckinney.com/hp-needs-to-stop-before-it-can-grow.md) - A response to Mark Vena's "HP Needs More Than a New CEO," and my second letter to HP's board.
- [How to Improve Your Abductive Reasoning Skills: The Sherlock Holmes Method](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-improve-your-abductive-reasoning-skills-the-sherlock-holmes-method.md) - School taught you deductive and inductive reasoning. The third kind, abductive reasoning, is where new ideas come from, and it is the one AI can't do.
- [The Customers Who Walked Away](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-customers-who-walked-away.md) - Forty-two killer questions that survived years of testing, and the three places to aim them.
- [How One Word Steers Your Answer](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-one-word-steers-your-answer.md) - The anatomy of a bad question, and what makes one great.
- [What Half of 13 Reveals About Your Thinking](https://www.philmckinney.com/what-half-of-13-reveals-about-your-thinking.md) - The power of questions comes down to how your brain works: it answers a question the moment you hear it, whether or not you want it to.
- [Retirement 3.0](https://www.philmckinney.com/retirement-3-0.md) - My third retirement is different. On Jan 1, 2027 I retire as CableLabs CEO and hand the reins to Mark Bridges. Why now, and what's next?
- [How to Tell a Good Decision From a Lucky One](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-tell-a-good-decision-from-a-lucky-one.md) - An excellent decision and a lucky one leave the same evidence: a win. Tell them apart and you stop crediting luck as judgment. That's counterfactual thinking
- [How to Improve Your Weak Signal Judgment](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-improve-your-weak-signal-judgment.md) - Noticing a trend is easy and almost worthless. Predicting which one reshapes a market, and acting early, is where innovation pays.
- [How to Improve Your Second-Order Thinking Skills](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-improve-your-second-order-thinking-skills.md) - The most expensive failures don't announce themselves. They start as weak signals somebody noticed once and explained away. Second-order thinking is how you stop being that somebody.
- [Ideas Aren’t Getting Harder to Find. They’re Getting Harder to Approve](https://www.philmckinney.com/ideas-arent-getting-harder-to-find-theyre-getting-harder-to-approve.md) - Every research-driven industry looks like it’s running out of ideas. It isn’t. It’s turning them down.
- [How to Improve Your Inversion Thinking Skills](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-improve-your-inversion-thinking-skills.md) - Most innovation tools teach you how to win. Inversion thinking teaches you how to lose on purpose, so you catch the failure while you can still change course.
- [How to Improve Your First Principles Thinking Skills](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-improve-your-first-principles-thinking-skills.md) - First principles thinking is the most talked-about skill in innovation. It's also the most misunderstood. Here's what it actually looks like.
- [I'm Too Good at Keeping Busy. So Are You.](https://www.philmckinney.com/im-too-good-at-keeping-busy-so-are-you.md) - A confession about deep work, deferred priorities, and the three tripwires I built when I stopped trusting myself.
- [How to Overcome Expert Bias](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-overcome-expert-bias.md) - Three checks that keep you in control of your own thinking when experts are in the room.
- [How to Overcome Confirmation Bias](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-overcome-confirmation-bias.md) - Stop Cognitive Bias from Ruining Your Decisions
- [What I Saw McKinsey Get Wrong at HP And Couldn’t Stop](https://www.philmckinney.com/what-i-saw-mckinsey-get-wrong-at-hp-and-couldnt-stop.md) - Mindjacking doesn’t always come from outside. Sometimes you watch it happen in real time and still can’t stop it.
- [Why Most Organizations Aren't Funding Innovation](https://www.philmckinney.com/why-most-organizations-arent-funding-innovation.md) - Without a clear definition, innovation investment is meaningless.
- [The AI Hardware Bet](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-ai-hardware-bet.md) - Model quality is a commodity. Apple, OpenAI, and HP are betting the next AI war will be won on devices, not models.
- [R&D Spending Is the Most Misleading Number in Business](https://www.philmckinney.com/r-d-spending-is-the-most-misleading-number-in-business.md) - The government collects the real R&D split from every public company. It's locked away by federal law. Here's how to estimate it anyway.
- [Ghost Research: The Hidden Risk Inside Every R&D Organization](https://www.philmckinney.com/ghost-research-the-hidden-risk-inside-every-r-d-organization.md) - The scientific record gets corrected. The decisions built on it don't.
- [Innovation Laundering](https://www.philmckinney.com/noted-innovation-laundering.md) - Big Tech is calling it AI innovation. The filings tell a different story.
- [The Innovation Metric Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard Used](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-innovation-metric-bill-hewlett-and-dave-packard-used.md) - HP used this R&D benchmark for decades and still managed to forget it. Most companies never found it.
- [PayPal Spends $3 Billion on R&D. Almost None of It Is Research.](https://www.philmckinney.com/paypal-spends-3-billion-on-r-d-almost-none-of-it-is-research.md) - Enrique Lores just inherited a research gap a decade in the making. Here's what it will take to fix it.
- [The R&D Metric Mark Hurd and HP Got Wrong](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-r-d-metric-mark-hurd-and-hp-got-wrong.md) - How one flawed benchmark drove years of R&D decisions and quietly drained HP's innovation pipeline.
- [You Knew Before I Did](https://www.philmckinney.com/you-knew-before-i-did.md) - I built a brand for twenty years. Then I searched for it.
- [They're Everywhere](https://www.philmckinney.com/theyre-everywhere.md) - And we finally have a word for them.
- [How To Build a Decision System That Protects Your Thinking](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-build-a-decision-system-that-protects-your-thinking.md) - The best decision-makers aren't smarter. They control when, where, and how they decide. Here's the system that makes that possible.
- [Elliott Is Inside HPE. We All Know What Happens Next.](https://www.philmckinney.com/elliott-is-inside-hpe-we-all-know-what-happens-next.md) - The hidden ways activist investors destroy innovation, and what CEOs, Boards, and shareholders can do about it.
- [How To Quit Defending Decisions You Know Are Wrong](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-quit-defending-decisions-you-know-are-wrong.md) - The reason you can't let go isn't logic. It's that quitting would threaten who you believe you are.
- [Why I Never Negotiate My Salary](https://www.philmckinney.com/why-i-never-negotiate-my-salary.md) - Never asked for a raise. Never negotiated an offer. For 25 years, fear and craft told the same story. Mindjacking at its finest.
- [How To Think for Yourself When Everyone Disagrees With You](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-think-for-yourself-when-everyone-disagrees-with-you.md) - Why your brain treats disagreement like danger, and a simple two-minute technique to protect your thinking.
- [How To Think for Yourself When Everyone Disagrees With You](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-think-for-yourself-when-everyone-disagrees-with-you-2.md) - When neuroscientists scanned the brains of people going along with a group, they expected to find lying. What they found instead was something far stranger. The group wasn't changing people's answers. It was changing what they actually saw. We'll get to that study in a minute. But first, I want you…
- [How to Make Better Decisions Under Pressure](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-make-better-decisions-under-pressure-2.md) - "We need an answer by the end of the day." Ten words. And the moment you hear them, something shifts inside your chest. Your pulse ticks up. Your focus narrows. Careful thinking stops. The clock starts. You probably haven't even asked the most important question yet. Is that deadline real? Most of…
- [How to Make Better Decisions Under Pressure](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-make-better-decisions-under-pressure.md) - Someone is counting on you deciding fast. The problem? Time pressure makes you more confident while making you less accurate.
- [Shell Had Six Years to Prepare. I Had Four Months.](https://www.philmckinney.com/shell-had-six-years-to-prepare-i-had-four-months.md) - Outstanding leaders under pressure aren't making great decisions. They're executing decisions they already made. The difference is preparation. And most leaders skip it.
- [How to Beat Decision Fatigue](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-beat-decision-fatigue.md) - Your brain doesn't shut down when it's tired. It quietly lowers its standards and never tells you.
- [An Open Letter to HP's Board, and Every Board Governing an Innovation-Dependent Organization](https://www.philmckinney.com/an-open-letter-to-hp-board.md) - What innovation-dependent organizations need from their boards, and four places to start.
- [HP Has Fired, Forced Out, or Lost 6 CEOs in 25 Years. Here We Go Again.](https://www.philmckinney.com/hp-has-fired-forced-out-or-lost-6-ceos-in-25-years-here-we-go-again.md) - Two CEO successions hit on the same day. Disney chose a 28-year insider. HP's board is starting from scratch — again.
- [How to Stop Overthinking Your Decisions](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-stop-overthinking-your-decisions.md) - Gathering more information feels responsible. There's a point where it tips into overthinking and keeps you stuck.
- [How I Bankrupted Two Companies](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-i-bankrupted-two-companies.md) - It wasn't bad decisions. It was no decisions. I had technology that could beat Intel and HP. My team waited for direction. I gave them meetings.
- [Mindjacking: When Your Opinions Aren't Yours](https://www.philmckinney.com/mindjacking-when-your-opinions-arent-yours.md) - Every day you make decisions you think are yours. Most aren't. The algorithm decided, the expert weighed in, the crowd chose. You just clicked agree.
- [How I Mindjacked Boards for a Living](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-i-mindjacked-boards-for-a-living.md) - A Confession from Inside the Consulting Industrial Complex
- [CES 2026: Battle of the AI Robots](https://www.philmckinney.com/ces-2026-battle-of-the-ai-robots.md) - From AI toilets to fire trucks that shave seconds off response times, here's what 50,000 steps on the show floor revealed about where tech is headed.
- [Thinking 101: A Pause, A Reflection, And What Might Come Next](https://www.philmckinney.com/thinking-101-a-pause-a-reflection-and-what-might-come-next.md) - Twenty-one years. That's how long I've been doing this. Producing content. Showing up. Week after week, with only a handful of exceptions—most of them involving hospitals and cardiac surgeons, but that's another story. After twenty-one years, you learn what lands and what doesn't. You learn not to…
- [Mental Models — Your Thinking Toolkit](https://www.philmckinney.com/mental-models-your-thinking-toolkit-2.md) - Before the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, NASA management officially estimated the probability of catastrophic failure at one in one hundred thousand. That's about the same odds as getting struck by lightning while being attacked by a shark. The engineers working on the actual rockets?…
- [The Million-Dollar Decision I Got Wrong (And Why I'm Grateful)](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-million-dollar-decision-i-got-wrong-and-why-im-grateful.md) - I built 3COM's largest network. Then I turned down the job offer.
- [The Military Ignored His Brain Injury. So He Built What Could Have Saved His Brothers.](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-military-ignored-his-brain-injury-so-he-built-what-could-have-saved-his-brothers.md) - A Navy SEAL's fight against the invisible wounds killing America's elite warriors.
- [Numerical Thinking: How to Find the Truth When Numbers Lie](https://www.philmckinney.com/numerical-thinking-how-to-find-the-truth-when-numbers-lie.md) - Quick—which is more dangerous: the thing that kills 50,000 Americans every year, or the thing that kills 50? Your brain says the first one, obviously. The data says you're dead wrong. Heart disease kills 700,000 people annually, but you're not terrified of cheeseburgers. Shark attacks kill about 10…
- [They Accused Me of Fraud. It Made $20 Billion.](https://www.philmckinney.com/they-accused-me-of-fraud-it-made-20-billion.md) - What happens when numbers stop making sense and the government needs a scapegoat?
- [The Clock is Screaming (And My Grandson is Listening)](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-clock-is-screaming-and-my-grandson-is-listening.md) - I stepped out of the shower in March and my chest split open. Not a metaphor. The surgical incision from my cardiac device procedure just… opened. Blood and fluid everywhere. Three bath towels to stop it. My wife—a nurse, the exact person I needed—was in Chicago dealing with her parents’ estate. Bo…
- [What I'm Actually Thankful For (After My Body Failed Three Times This Year)](https://www.philmckinney.com/what-im-actually-thankful-for-after-my-body-failed-three-times-this-year.md) - Five cardiac surgeries taught me the difference between Thanksgiving platitudes and what you're grateful for when the clock is screaming.
- [Second-Order Thinking: How to Stop Your Decisions From Creating Bigger Problems](https://www.philmckinney.com/second-order-thinking-how-to-stop-your-decisions-from-creating-bigger-problems.md) - In August 2025, Polish researchers tested something nobody had thought to check: what happens to doctors' skills after they rely on AI assistance? The AI worked perfectly—catching problems during colonoscopies, flagging abnormalities faster than human eyes could. But when researchers pulled the AI…
- [From Teligent Disaster to HP Success: A Second-Order Thinking Story](https://www.philmckinney.com/from-teligent-disaster-to-hp-success-a-second-order-thinking-story.md) - Kevin Allodi thought three moves ahead when I wasn't thinking past the first. His decision saved my family—and taught me the framework I use for billion-dollar calls.
- [I'm Thinking About Writing a Book. Here's Why—And I Need Your Help.](https://www.philmckinney.com/im-thinking-about-writing-a-book-heres-why-and-i-need-your-help.md) - I'm turning two years of essays into a book on thinking independently. Read the concept and tell me what you think.
- [I Wore a Red Badge Inside the NSA. Here's What Happened.](https://www.philmckinney.com/i-wore-a-red-badge-inside-the-nsa-heres-what-happened.md) - I mastered probabilistic thinking in my algorithm. Then made every wrong bet with my business.
- [How To Make Better Decisions When Nothing Is Certain](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-make-better-decisions-when-nothing-is-certain.md) - You're frozen. The deadline's approaching. You don't have all the data. Everyone wants certainty. You can't give it. Sound familiar? Maybe it's a hiring decision with three qualified candidates and red flags on each one. Or a product launch where the market research is mixed. Or a career pivot wher…
- [The Six Words That Killed Quibi](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-six-words-that-killed-quibi.md) - Same Skill, Opposite Outcomes: How Jeffrey Katzenberg Built an Empire and Lost a Billion
- [You Think in Analogies Every Day (And You're Doing It Wrong)](https://www.philmckinney.com/you-think-in-analogies-every-day-and-youre-doing-it-wrong.md) - Try to go through a day without using an analogy. I guarantee you'll fail within an hour. Your morning coffee tastes like yesterday's batch. Traffic is moving like molasses. Your boss sounds like a broken record. Every comparison you make—every single one—is your brain's way of understanding the wo…
- [HP Won Innovation Awards. Then Killed What Made It True.](https://www.philmckinney.com/hp-won-innovation-awards-then-killed-what-made-it-true.md) - Three years on the Most Innovative list. Thirteen years absent. Here's what changed—and what it proves about causation.
- [How To Master Causal Thinking](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-master-causal-thinking.md) - $37 billion. That's how much gets wasted annually on marketing budgets because of poor attribution and misunderstanding of what actually drives results. Companies' credit campaigns that didn't work. They kill initiatives that were actually succeeding. They double down on coincidences while ignoring…
- [Kroger Copied HP's Innovation Playbook Perfectly. It Failed Anyway.](https://www.philmckinney.com/kroger-copied-hps-innovation-playbook-perfectly-it-failed-anyway.md) - The invisible reasoning error that cost 18 months—and why you're probably making it right now
- [How To Improve Your Logical Reasoning Skills](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-improve-your-logical-reasoning-skills.md) - You see a headline: "Study Shows Coffee Drinkers Live Longer." You share it in 3 seconds flat. But here's what just happened—you confused correlation with causation, inductive observation with deductive proof, and you just became a vector for misinformation. Right now, millions of people are doing…
- [Why Thinking Skills Matter Now More Than Ever](https://www.philmckinney.com/why-thinking-skills-matter-now-more-than-ever.md) - The Crisis We're Not Talking About We're living through the greatest thinking crisis in human history—and most people don't even realize it's happening. Right now, AI generates your answers before you've finished asking the question. Search engines remember everything so you don't have to. Algorith…
- [I Told the Department of Education Their Graduates Were Useless](https://www.philmckinney.com/i-told-the-department-of-education-their-graduates-were-useless.md) - The room went silent. But I'd been watching this crisis unfold for decades—starting on a factory floor in 1981
- [How to Build Innovation Thinking Skills Through Daily Journaling](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-build-innovation-thinking-skills-through-daily-journaling.md) - Most innovation leaders are performing someone else's version of innovation thinking. I've spent decades in this field. Worked with Fortune 100 companies. And here's what I see happening everywhere. Brilliant leaders following external frameworks. Copying methodologies from people they admire. Shif…
- [The Daily Journaling Habit That Helped Me Find My Authentic Innovation Self](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-daily-journaling-habit-that-helped-me-find-my-authentic-innovation-self.md) - For the first time, I'm sharing the deeply personal practice that transformed me from a "rinse and repeat" performer into an authentic innovator—and why this matters more now than ever.
- [The WSJ Got Quarterly Reporting Wrong](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-wsj-got-quarterly-reporting-wrong.md) - Michael Dell and his investors spent twenty-five billion dollars to buy back Dell Technologies. But they weren't really buying a company. They were buying freedom from quarterly earnings pressure. I'm Phil McKinney, former CTO of Hewlett-Packard, and I witnessed how this pressure shaped decisions f…
- [The WSJ Got Quarterly Reporting Wrong: A Corporate Executive's Response](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-wsj-got-quarterly-reporting-wrong-a-corporate-executives-response.md) - Why James Mackintosh's defense of quarterly reporting ignores what actually happens in corporate boardrooms.
- [How to Get Smarter by Arguing with People Who Disagree with You](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-get-smarter-by-arguing-with-people-who-disagree-with-you.md) - What if I told you that the people who disagree with you are actually your secret weapon for better thinking? Just last month, my wife and I had a heated argument about studio changes I wanted to make here on the ranch. Her immediate reaction was about cost. Mine was about productivity and creativi…
- [Why the People Who Disagree with You Are Your Secret Weapon](https://www.philmckinney.com/why-the-people-who-disagree-with-you-are-your-secret-weapon.md) - How intelligent opposition transforms your thinking from weak assumptions into rigorous reasoning—and why most people avoid this advantage entirely.
- [How to See Opportunities Others Miss](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-see-opportunities-others-miss.md) - In 2005, I had a ten-minute conversation at San Jose Airport that generated billions in revenue for HP. But here's what's fascinating: three other HP executives heard the exact same conversation and saw nothing special about it. If you read Monday's Studio Notes, you know this story from the emotio…
- [The 10-Minute Airport Conversation That Generated HP Billions](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-10-minute-airport-conversation-that-generated-hp-billions.md) - How a casual exchange at San Jose Airport became HP's gaming empire—and why most executives miss these moments entirely
- [5 Questions That Spot Breakthroughs Before They Happen](https://www.philmckinney.com/5-questions-that-spot-breakthroughs-before-they-happen.md) - In October 1903, The New York Times published an editorial mocking the idea of human flight, stating that a successful flying machine might take "from one to ten million years" to develop through the efforts of mathematicians and engineers. Eight weeks later, on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothe…
- [Can an Innovation Be Impossible?](https://www.philmckinney.com/can-an-innovation-be-impossible.md) - Five questions reveal which 'impossible' ideas become billion-dollar breakthroughs—while experts dismiss them as fantasy.
- [I Evaluated Over 30,000 Innovation Ideas at HP: Here's Why Most Failed](https://www.philmckinney.com/i-evaluated-over-30000-innovation-ideas-at-hp-heres-why-most-failed.md) - Your best innovation ideas aren't losing to bad ideas – they're losing to exhaustion. I know that sounds counterintuitive. After 30 years of making billion-dollar innovation decisions at HP and CableLabs, I thought I understood why good ideas failed. Market timing. Technical challenges. Resource co…
- [The Innovation Fatigue Crisis: Why Your Best Ideas Are Getting Ignored](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-innovation-fatigue-crisis-why-your-best-ideas-are-getting-ignored.md) - Your best innovation ideas aren't losing to bad ideas – they're losing to exhaustion. Intelligence doesn't predict innovation success. Attention allocation does.
- [You Get to Choose: Which Innovation Decision Topic Should I Tackle First?](https://www.philmckinney.com/you-get-to-choose-which-innovation-decision-topic-should-i-tackle-first.md) - Behind closed doors, smart executives wrestle with decisions that textbooks don't cover. Here's what keeps them awake.
- [How To Master Lateral Thinking Skills](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-master-lateral-thinking-skills.md) - A software engineer grabbed a random word from a dictionary – "beehive" – and within hours designed an algorithm that saved his company millions. While his colleagues were working harder, he was thinking differently. This breakthrough didn't come from luck. It came from lateral thinking – a systema…
- [The Thinking Hack That Built Billion-Dollar Companies](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-thinking-hack-that-built-billion-dollar-companies.md) - While competitors think harder, start thinking laterally—the systematic method for finding breakthrough innovations hiding in plain sight.
- [Why 'Fail Fast' Innovation Advice Is Wrong](https://www.philmckinney.com/why-fail-fast-innovation-advice-is-wrong.md) - The most popular piece of innovation advice in Silicon Valley is wrong—and it's killing great ideas before they have a chance to succeed. I can prove it with a story about a glass of water that sat perfectly still while a car bounced beneath it. My name is Phil McKinney. I spent decades as HP's CTO…
- [The 50-Year Overnight Success: What Dr Bose Taught Me About Innovation Patience](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-50-year-overnight-success-what-dr-bose-taught-me-about-innovation-patience.md) - How deliberately slowing down in a world obsessed with speed transformed my approach to breakthrough innovation decisions
- [Innovation Partnership Autopsy: HP, Fossil, and the Smartwatch Market](https://www.philmckinney.com/innovation-partnership-autopsy-hp-fossil-and-the-smartwatch-market.md) - Innovation partnerships can create breakthrough markets—or hand them to competitors through terrible decisions. I know because I lived through both outcomes. Bill Geiser from Fossil and I had it exactly right. We built the MetaWatch—a smartwatch with week-long battery life, Bluetooth connectivity,…
- [How HP and Fossil Handed Apple the Smartwatch Market](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-hp-and-fossil-handed-apple-the-smartwatch-market.md) - The inside story of vision without execution: why being right about the future means nothing without the courage to act on breakthrough insights
- [Why Great Innovators Read Rooms, Not Just Data](https://www.philmckinney.com/why-great-innovators-read-rooms-not-just-data.md) - You know that moment when you walk into a meeting and immediately sense the mood in the room? Or when a proposal looks perfect on paper, but something feels off? That's your intuition working—and it's more sophisticated than most people realize. Every leader has experienced this: sensing which team…
- [The $200M Gut Check That Taught Me Intuition Isn't Magic](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-200m-gut-check-that-taught-me-intuition-isnt-magic.md) - What looks like instinct is actually practical thinking skills in disguise. Here is the three-step framework that makes it reliable.
- [The Secret of Top Innovation Leaders: They Think Like Philosophers](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-secret-of-top-innovation-leaders-they-think-like-philosophers.md) - The Philosophy of Innovation Journal: 210 questions for innovation leaders who want breakthrough thinking, not just methods. Early access available.
- [Why Your Best Employees Are Sabotaging Your Decisions (And How to Fix It)](https://www.philmckinney.com/why-your-best-employees-are-sabotaging-your-decisions-and-how-to-fix-it.md) - The $25 Million Perfect Presentation Picture this: You're in a conference room with 23 executives, everyone has perfect PowerPoint presentations, engineering milestones are ahead of schedule, and you're about to sign off on a $25 million bet that feels like a sure thing. That was the scene at HP wh…
- [3 Innovation Decision Traps That Kill Breakthrough Ideas (And How to Avoid Them)](https://www.philmckinney.com/3-innovation-decision-traps-that-kill-breakthrough-ideas-and-how-to-avoid-them.md) - Every breakthrough innovation starts the same way: everyone thinks it's a terrible idea. Twitter was dismissed as "breakfast updates." Google looked "too simple." Facebook seemed limited to "just college kids." Yet these "stupid ideas" became some of the biggest winners in tech history. After 30 ye…
- [The Day I Wrote Off Twitter (Before It Was Twitter)](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-day-i-wrote-off-twitter-before-it-was-twitter.md) - How watching a "dead" company pivot taught me everything about dismissing breakthrough ideas
- [The $1.2 Billion Innovation Disaster: 5 Decision Mistakes That Kill Breakthrough Technology (HP WebOS Case Study)](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-1-2-billion-innovation-disaster-5-decision-mistakes-that-kill-breakthrough-technology-hp-webos-case-study.md) - In 2011, HP killed a $1.2 billion innovation in just 49 days. I was the Chief Technology Officer who recommended buying it. What happened next reveals why smart people consistently destroy breakthrough technology—and the systematic framework you need to avoid making the same mistake. HP had just sp…
- [I Convinced HP's Board to Buy Palm for $1.2B. Then I Watched Them Kill It in 49 Days.](https://www.philmckinney.com/i-convinced-hps-board-to-buy-palm-for-1-2b-then-i-watched-them-kill-it-in-49-days.md) - Why smart executives consistently destroy breakthrough technology. The HP Palm WebOS autopsy reveals predictable thinking patterns behind billion-dollar failures.
- [The Parenting Decision That Will Define Your Child's Future](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-parenting-decision-that-will-define-your-childs-future.md) - From Silicon Valley to homeschool to grandparent: the framework that's guided our family through decades of technology adoption decisions.
- [How AI Dependency Is Rewiring Your Child's Creative Brain (And What Parents Can Do About It)](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-ai-dependency-is-rewiring-your-childs-creative-brain-and-what-parents-can-do-about-it.md) - University of Washington researchers discovered something that should concern every parent: children who use AI to create can no longer create without it. And here's the concerning part: most parents have absolutely no idea it's happening. If you've been following our series on Creative Thinking in…
- [Why We Have Fewer Friends Than Our Grandparents (And It's Not What You Think)](https://www.philmckinney.com/why-we-have-fewer-friends-than-our-grandparents-and-its-not-what-you-think.md) - Our drive for efficiency destroyed the "inefficient" moments where real relationships form—and we're paying the price in unprecedented isolation.
- [Beyond Rebranding: How Successful Companies Reinvent Without Losing Their Soul](https://www.philmckinney.com/beyond-rebranding-how-successful-companies-reinvent-without-losing-their-soul.md) - Nokia, Fujifilm, Nintendo, and LEGO - the real-world playbook of companies that fundamentally changed their business model while preserving their authentic DNA
- [Human-AI Creative Partnership: How to Harness AI While Preserving Your Innovative Edge](https://www.philmckinney.com/human-ai-creative-partnership-how-to-harness-ai-while-preserving-your-innovative-edge.md) - The most innovative creators don't use AI as a replacement – they use it as a strategic partner in a carefully choreographed dance of human and machine intelligence. Welcome to Part 4 of our series, Creative Thinking in the AI Age – on strengthening your uniquely human creativity while using AI as…
- [Technological Quicksand: Why More Technology Keeps Making Things Worse](https://www.philmckinney.com/technological-quicksand-why-more-technology-keeps-making-things-worse.md) - Our addiction to technological fixes creates a quicksand cycle of deeper problems and endless digital dependencies.
- [How to Strengthen Creative Thinking: The 10-Minute Daily Brain Workout Based on Neuroplasticity Research](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-strengthen-creative-thinking-the-10-minute-daily-brain-workout-based-on-neuroplasticity-research.md) - Humans who committed to four thinking exercises for 10 minutes daily generated 43% more original solutions than the most advanced AI systems. Welcome to Part 3 of our series, Creative Thinking in the AI Age – on strengthening your uniquely human creativity while using AI as a partner, not a replace…
- [Innovation's Underground Economy](https://www.philmckinney.com/innovations-underground-economy.md) - Your innovation process is the problem, not the solution. The more you formalize creativity, the faster it disappears into the shadows. The question isn't whether your organization has an innovation underground—it's whether you have the courage to see it, embrace it, and harness its power.
- [Train Your Brain to Outthink AI: Boost Creativity 40% (2025)](https://www.philmckinney.com/train-your-brain-to-outthink-ai-boost-creativity-40-2025.md) - Harvard neuroscientists confirm: creative thinking uses neural pathways that AI can't replicate – and never will. Hello, I'm Phil McKinney, and welcome to my innovation studio. Welcome to Part 2 of our series, Creative Thinking in the AI Age – on strengthening your uniquely human creativity while u…
- [The Courage to Create Nothing](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-courage-to-create-nothing.md) - Standing still in a rushing world isn't weakness—it's strategic wisdom. True visionaries master the art of saying no when innovation becomes an end rather than a means.
- [Your Brain on AI: The Shocking Decline in Creative Thinking (2025)](https://www.philmckinney.com/your-brain-on-ai-the-shocking-decline-in-creative-thinking-2025.md) - Our ability to solve complex problems without AI has plummeted 30% in just five years. That's not just a statistic – it's the sound of your brain cells surrendering. We are announcing a new series we are calling – Creative Thinking in the AI Age – on strengthening your uniquely human creativity whi…
- [The Five Questions That Unlock Breakthrough Innovation](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-five-questions-that-unlock-breakthrough-innovation.md) - In 2007, two designers struggling to pay rent in San Francisco had a seemingly simple thought: "What if people could rent out their spare rooms to travelers?" This question—posed by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia—sparked what would become Airbnb, a company now valued at over $100 billion that has fund…
- [Original Ideas Don't Exist](https://www.philmckinney.com/original-ideas-dont-exist.md) - Innovation happens at the intersection of existing knowledge, challenging the notion that anyone truly creates rather than connects what came before.
- [The Innovation Crisis: How We're Stifling Our Children's Creative Potential—And How to Set It Free](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-innovation-crisis-how-were-stifling-our-childrens-creative-potential-and-how-to-set-it-free.md) - A 12-year-old entrepreneur highlights the gap between education and innovation. What happens when we value answers over inquiry, and how might we unlock our children's natural creative abilities?
- [How to Improve Your Strategic Thinking Skills](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-improve-your-strategic-thinking-skills.md) - While most people scramble to adapt when the unexpected happens, a select few are already three steps ahead. They saw the change coming, prepared for it, and positioned themselves to benefit. Their secret weapon? Strategic thinking. By the end of this episode, you'll master 6 powerful strategic thi…
- [5 Critical Thinking Skills for Digital Literacy: Spotting Misinformation & Manipulation](https://www.philmckinney.com/5-critical-thinking-skills-for-digital-literacy-spotting-misinformation-manipulation.md) - Your phone pings. A bold headline lights up your screen. A friend shares a "must-see" video. But how do you know what's real? In today's hyperconnected world, critical thinking skills are no longer optional. They're essential tools for digital literacy—your ability to find, verify, and act on infor…
- [The 36-Hour Lesson: When Reliability Made My Innovation Career](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-36-hour-lesson-when-reliability-made-my-innovation-career.md) - The flashiest ideas don't change the world—follow-through does. While we worship creative geniuses, reliable warriors who execute transform industries.
- [Intellectual Generosity: Why Sharing Ideas Creates More Value Than Protecting Them](https://www.philmckinney.com/intellectual-generosity-why-sharing-ideas-creates-more-value-than-protecting-them.md) - Giving away your best thinking generates unexpected returns. Your best ideas create more value when shared freely rather than guarded jealously.
- [7 Physical Thinking Tools That Will Improve Your Creativity More Than AI](https://www.philmckinney.com/7-physical-thinking-tools-that-will-improve-your-creativity-more-than-ai.md) - In a world obsessed with digital tools and AI-generated solutions, it's easy to forget the original engines of creative transformation—our hands, our senses, and the objects we manipulate. Sure, artificial intelligence can analyze patterns faster than we can blink. But if you're searching for that…
- [Think Like Bill Gates: The 6-Step System That Built Microsoft and is Changing the World](https://www.philmckinney.com/think-like-bill-gates-the-6-step-system-that-built-microsoft-and-is-changing-the-world.md) - What made Microsoft possible? Binary code, four kilobytes of memory, and 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. But what truly set Bill Gates apart was a distinct system for solving problems—a mental algorithm that turned complexity into clarity and chaos into systems. The real genius of Bill Gates i…
- [Dangerous Ideas: Why We Fear Innovation (And Why We Shouldn't)](https://www.philmckinney.com/dangerous-ideas-why-we-fear-innovation-and-why-we-shouldnt.md) - The psychology behind innovation resistance runs deep. History reveals bizarre examples of once "dangerous" technologies we now take for granted. Our fear-first reaction might be our most human trait — for better and worse.
- [Think Like Steve Jobs: 6 Strategies Behind Billion Dollar Ideas](https://www.philmckinney.com/think-like-steve-jobs-6-strategies-behind-billion-dollar-ideas.md) - When you think of game-changing innovation, one name stands above the rest—Steve Jobs. His ability to reimagine entire industries didn’t come from technical know-how alone; his way of thinking truly set him apart. Steve Jobs approached problem-solving and creativity in a way that merged art with te…
- [Moving to Substack: A New Chapter](https://www.philmckinney.com/moving-to-substack-a-new-chapter.md) - Innovation veteran Phil McKinney launches "Studio Notes" on Substack—revealing untold stories from 30 years of innovation leadership. What really happens in Fortune 100 boardrooms? Discover raw wisdom from failures and successes. Experience innovation's human journey as lived, not taught.
- [Pay It Forward: How Three Words Created Podcasting's Longest-Running Innovation Show](https://www.philmckinney.com/pay-it-forward-how-three-words-created-podcastings-longest-running-innovation-show.md) - Have you ever wondered what it takes to build something that lasts? Not just a fleeting success, but a platform that grows, evolves, and continues to impact people decades later? The answer isn't high-end production equipment or a flawless business plan. It starts with a simple idea: pay it forward…
- [Tesla vs Edison: The Innovation Methods That Changed The World](https://www.philmckinney.com/tesla-vs-edison-the-innovation-methods-that-changed-the-world.md) - On a stormy night in the 1880s, two men were working relentlessly to shape the future of electricity. In Menlo Park, Thomas Edison meticulously tested another filament variation for his electric light, documenting every failure in his growing logbook. Across New York, Nikola Tesla paced frantically…
- [How To Think Like Thomas Edison](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-think-like-thomas-edison.md) - In 1878, gas lamp manufacturers celebrated their dominance, believing their industry was untouchable. But in a small workshop in Menlo Park, Thomas Edison made a bold declaration: he would create an electric light so revolutionary that it would make gas lamps obsolete. The press mocked him. Experts…
- [How To Think Like Nicola Tesla](https://www.philmckinney.com/how-to-think-like-nicola-tesla.md) - Picture this: A man stands in a dusty Colorado laboratory, surrounded by crackling electrical arcs illuminating the night sky. While others might flinch at the raw power, Nicola Tesla, sketching in his notebook, remains unfazed. He isn’t just observing—he’s envisioning the future of wireless energy…
- [Building an Innovation Studio Part 2](https://www.philmckinney.com/building-an-innovation-studio-part-2.md) - Ever wondered what it takes to build a space that sparks creativity and enables innovation? I've been on a journey transforming my studio from a simple podcast recording room into a full-fledged innovation workspace, and I'm excited to share the progress with you. Five months ago, we embarked on a…
- [The 90-Second Rule](https://www.philmckinney.com/the-90-second-rule.md) - Ever wondered why simple decisions feel like defusing a bomb? In this week's episode, we unpack the 90-Second Rule – a game-changing approach to conquering decision paralysis that's transforming how top performers work. Did you know you lose an average of 37 minutes overthinking each important deci…
- [Digital Iron Curtains: When Tech Walls Create Better Innovations](https://www.philmckinney.com/digital-iron-curtains-when-tech-walls-create-better-innovations.md) - In today's tech war, governments believe walls and restrictions maintain technological supremacy. History has shown that innovation thrives under constraints and restrictions accelerate technological progress.
- [Why Google's Innovation Strategy is Failing](https://www.philmckinney.com/why-googles-innovation-strategy-is-failing.md) - Google spends over $45 billion on R&D a year, yet its graveyard of failed innovations keeps growing - Google+, Glass, Stadia, and countless others. But here's the surprising truth: this pattern isn't unique to Google. Even with unlimited resources and top talent, tech giants struggle to innovate al…
- [Consume Less to Create More](https://www.philmckinney.com/consume-less-to-create-more.md) - Ever notice how you can spend hours scrolling through "inspiration" but end up feeling creatively drained? You're not alone. In this eye-opening episode, we dive into a counterintuitive truth about creativity that could transform how you generate ideas and solve problems. What if I told you that th…
- [What Nokia, Kodak, and Blockbuster All Missed: The Groupthink Factor](https://www.philmckinney.com/what-nokia-kodak-and-blockbuster-all-missed-the-groupthink-factor.md) - It was a quiet moment in a Nokia conference room that would eventually cost $100 billion. An engineer stood nervously, holding a prototype of a full touchscreen phone. The response from management? "Interesting, but that's not how phones work." This dismissal highlighted the absence of the groupthi…
- [15 Innovation Jobs That Don’t Require a Degree](https://www.philmckinney.com/15-innovation-jobs-that-dont-require-a-degree.md) - What if the biggest predictor of success in innovation wasn't what everyone thinks? Our research tracking 1,000+ innovation professionals revealed a shocking truth about who succeeds in this high-paying field – and it's not what you'd expect. In this episode, we break down 15 innovation careers tha…

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