Innovate to Thrive –The Importance of Inspiration
This is the first in a series of articles that take the need of Innovation under the loop and share some of the imperatives, must have’s if you will, to create and sustain “NEW” in business or organizations. The material is based on 25 years of hands on experience in the innovation space and the recently published book “Robert's rule of innovation”.
The ‘why’ behind innovation
"Why" is the fundamental question every business leader should be able to answer, immediately, with absolute clarity. Without knowing why a company exists and the purpose of the business, the people who work for an organization cannot align their own, individual beliefs and values with their leaders in order to create the future.
Complexity Science and Innovation
What has complexity science to do with innovation management? Quite a few things if you ask Dr. Curt Lindberg of Plexus Institute, NJ, the States. Complexity science is the scientific study of complex systems, systems with many parts that interact to produce patterns of behavior that cannot easily be explained by the behavior of the individual constituent elements. From a business perspective you can use it to better understand the importance of relationships and interactions to your innovation efforts.
Improvisation is key to building a culture of innovation, says Doug Stevenson
By adopting the behaviors and principles of improvisation, organizations can achieve significant and robust cultural change in the direction of innovation, says creativity and improv expert Doug Stevenson.
Innovating by combining existing things in new ways at Deutsche Post DHL
Petra Kiwitt is Executive Vice President of DHL Solutions & Innovations at Deutsche Post DHL. The Group with nearly 500.000 employees in 220 countries provides package and mail services as well as comprehensive logistics solutions for customers all around the world. Petra Kiwitt’s biggest challenge is to stimulate and coordinate innovations which ultimately will lead to even more efficient logistic solutions for the customers. A new built Innovation Community brings people together, lets them share ideas and sometimes encourages them to do ‘old’ things in new ways.
Now is the time to realize our creative potential, says Julie Ann Turner
Creativity in Business: Interview with Julie Ann Turner
Making Innovation a Systemic Capability
For innovation to become a core competence and a tangible cultural value, there has to be a substantial degree of internal consistency between processes, metrics, reward structures, rhetoric, and top management behavior. But it is precisely this synchronicity that is lacking inside most companies, says Rowan Gibson.
Getting back on the innovation road after a recession takes time and patience
Companies that really suffered have a long road back to innovating. Rebuilding trust, culture realignment and leadership are the keys.
Reinventing Knowledge Management to Innovate
There has been a shift from the emphasis on what people called the “information value chain” to “knowledge value chain” for quite some time. The environments are shrewd and unpredictable in this world of growing competition and rapid technological progress. The information value chain just served as a database of “best practices” whereas “knowledge value chain” emphasizes on the active sense making of human beings handling business.
Ideas management: What if there are no ideas?
‘Innovation starts from the top’ is a frequently used phrase; but there are many steps involved in a successful innovation strategy. What unfortunately I too often see, and in many organizations, is a huge gap between top management thinking and the understanding in the rest of the organization about innovation. Everybody might agree that innovation is important in principle. They might even be in agreement about the particular process that could bring new ideas to fruition, and implement new thinking in an innovation. This is all fine – but what if there are no new ideas?
Innovating with CSR
I happened to learn about a new book by the legendary Charles Handy when I visited him a couple of months back at his home in Norfolk England ' the new philanthropists'. True to the title of the Book of probably Britain's most prolific management thinker (together written with his wife Elizabeth who is a portrait photographer), Charles talks about a new trend of successful young businessmen who don't only believe in giving money for just causes but by working on the spot with the needy so as to create a sustainable impact. He offers examples from entrepreneurs from South Africa, Ireland and Australia among others.
Learning to Trade and to Innovate at the Base of the Pyramid
Is sustainable business the missing link in alleviating poverty and boosting global trade and prosperity? If so, how should companies exploit this opportunity in practice? Louise Koch, Danish Anthropologist and Business Innovator, talks about best practice, mindsets and resources for sustainable, people-centred innovation in developing countries.
Is the Business Model of Management Consultancy Dead?
It is coming our way, and we had better be prepared and ready. What (probably rightly) began in the legal industry is hitting management consultancy: an outcry against paying by the hour and paying premium rates for consultants just out of business school. Let me be straight out: I am worried but excited! Worried because I foresee a market shift that will erode and potentially eradicate the business model of management consultancy as we know it today. Exited because we (the readers), through InnovationManagement, have the chance to innovate the business model!
Preparing for Tomorrow’s Innovations today
Being the General Manager of TomorrowLab, Steven Peleman knows what is important for the creation of innovation in companies and organizations. Bringing people together outside their companies and helping them to develop new views of their existing innovation organization make a good start. Getting them to take more chances is even better.
Allocate Time for Innovation
One of the most common barriers to innovation is lack of time. People are just too busy doing their day job to spend time trying new things. Here are some common-sense strategies to help your people to be creative, from Paul Sloane.
Lean Innovation Management for SMEs
The use of innovation management increases your operational margins. This was one of the key findings of a European study on Innovation Management performance within SMEs. The growth champions were reaching approximately 12% operational margins, an exceptional performance compared to the 5% operational margin of the average SME. In this article Dr. Dirk Balfanz and Dr. Bernhard Kölmel describe a lean and efficient approach to Innovation Management specifically targeted to the needs of SMEs.
Are Your Innovation Efforts Working Against Your Business?
The ability to develop breakthrough products and services has become the holy grail of innovation. However, many companies struggle to develop breakthroughs even though they may be very innovative in other ways. Could it be that a different organizational barrier exists that is specific to breakthrough innovation? Examining the purpose of innovation relative to the purpose of your business may provide the answer, suggests Ellen Di Resta, Founder of Synaptics Group, Inc.
Creating actionable knowledge through close ties with industry
Sofia Börjesson is Director of the Center for Business Innovation (CBI) at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. She is Associate Professor in Technology Management and has extensive experience in leading university-company research projects. Professor Börjesson’s university office is frequently unoccupied – she spends a great deal of time visiting companies and organizations in order to see at first hand and to understand how they are working with innovation. She brings with her the latest academic trends based on the work of her group at CBI and their research in the field, in order to help firms to become more innovative and more efficient. InnovationManagement.se asked her a few questions.
Intel Initiative Aims for More IT Enabled Innovation
The Innovation Value Institute (IVI) is a unique industry-academic open innovation consortium. IVI researches and develops unifying frameworks and road-maps for IT and Business executives to create more value from IT and better deliver IT enabled innovation.
Adding Value to Customers Through Collaborative Innovation
The role of innovation in industry has changed. What used to be a closed and often secretive exclusive business of the R&D department is now being transformed to an open and collaborative eco system in many companies. InnovationManagement.se spoke to GBS Bindra, Global Innovation Director at Logica about the role of innovation.
How do you Deliver Innovation in a Research Environment?
Research at Lund University is world-class. Research is undertaken in areas such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, automatic control, wireless communication, logistics, ecology and cognitive science.
Does your Firm Have an Innovation Czar?
It never ceases to amaze me. I’m meeting with the executive committee of a major global company. I’ve just asked if innovation is one of their top strategic priorities. Their unanimous answer is “yes”. I then ask about their individual responsibilities. “Which one of you is the CFO?” “Who is head of HR?” “Where’s the CIO?” One by one their hands go up. Yet when I ask to see their global director of innovation, nobody raises a hand. Everyone just looks at me with a blank expression. So, sure, this company understands the innovation imperative. But nobody in its leadership team is directly responsible – or accountable – for making innovation happen across the organization. And they don’t even seem to be aware of the paradox.
The Emerging Paradigm of Work: An Interview with Dr. Stan Gryskiewicz
In this latest interview in the creativity in business thought leader series, Michelle James talks with Dr. Stan Gryskiewicz.
How to Develop a Vision for Innovation
You cannot expect your team to be innovative if they do not know the direction in which they are headed, warns Paul Sloane.