Success strategy: The Law of the Farm
As in farming, success in life comes from regular disciplined, daily effort. So says the Law of the Farm. Read on to learn how you can apply this natural law to increase the level of success in your life.
Want to be more successful? Develop an attitude of service
If you desire greater success in your life, look for creative ways to increase your level and quality of service to others. Read on to learn some practical ideas and strategies that you can begin using today to increase the value you provide to others.
Box thinking vs. line thinking
I recently started to read Stephen Shapiro's book, 24/7 Innovation, and discovered this neat analogy about "box thinking" vs. "line thinking," and how it can affect a firm's ability to innovate: "The boxes that most [...]
How to survive and make an impact as an innovation champion
How can you increase your odds of success, and make an impact as an innovation champion in your organization? This article offers six important insights that will help you to build the style differences of managers and leaders into your innovation plans and initiatives.
Project Management vs. Managing Innovation Projects
What's are the differences between managing an ordinary business project and managing an innovation project? Joyce Wycoff, in a recent issue of the InnovationNetwork's Heads Up! e-newsletter, provides some important insights:
Fascinating new book explores the story behind MindManager and its inventor
It's often fascinating to hear the stories behind the products and services that we love to use. Two that come to mind are Post-it notes (developed by Art Fry of 3M to help him find [...]
What is TRIZ and How can it be used in Problem Solving or Brainstorming?
TRIZ is a problem solving and brainstorming technique that has been growing in popularity, especially among design engineers. What is TRIZ, and why is it such a powerful tool for product development and other business applications?
Functional silos are a barrier to innovation
According to Robert Tucker, author of the book, Driving Growth Through Innovation, one of the reasons that innovation has not become embedded as a key driver of growth and profitability in many organizations is because [...]
Customer-focused innovation
In their excellent book, The Innovator's Solution, authors Clayton Christensen and Michael Raynor make the point that the most successful new products help customers do jobs better, faster or more efficiently than they could before. [...]
Presenting Innovation in a Way That Gets to ‘Yes’
As the global economy has improved and CEOs get past their hunker down/cut costs/survival mentality, the question of how to drive growth begins to dog them. But getting senior management to take action on innovation often needs a catalyst, and a solid strategy for getting them to say "yes" to innovation.
Disruptive innovations: Reflections on ‘The Innovator’s Solution’
I recently started reading Clayton Christensen's excellent new book, The Innovator's Solution. Even though I'm only a few chapters into it, I've already had had my assumptions of what constitutes disruptive innovation shaken by Christensen's [...]
How Unusual Combinations Lead to Breakthrough Ideas
A great way to generate original ideas for your business is to look for weird combinations. Most new ideas are really combinations of other ideas. Here are some well-known examples of this brainstorming strategy in action, and tips on how you can start using it today!
How to creatively meet customer needs – and grow your business in the process
According to the late self-help expert Earl Nightingale, every business in operation today, not matter how large or small, began as an idea in the mind of one person. One of the best ways to grow your business is to identify unmet customer needs
Remember: Employees don’t share a common comfort level with creativity
In their new book, Creativity Inc.: Building An Inventive Organization, authors Jeff Mauzy and Richard Harriman make a key point that organizations need to keep in mind as they implement creativity and innovation initiatives: Just [...]
The Difference Between Big ‘C’ and Small ‘c’ Creativity
Too often, people assume that the term creativity only applies to breakthrough ideas. But creativity experts say there are actually two different kinds of creative problem solving: "Big C" creativity is the breakthrough kind of [...]
Information flows that support creativity
In their excellent book, Creativity Inc.: Building An Inventive Organization, authors Jeff Mauzy and Richard Harriman provide some fascinating commentary on information flows that support creativity. Without free-flowing information, they suggest that a firm cannot [...]
River people vs. goal people
The late self-help expert Earl Nightingale once explained that there are two types of people: river people and goal people. Both types of people can experience personal fulfillment and success in life -- read this article to learn how!
Selling your Ideas: A Critical Executive Skill
Building the buy-in for your ideas is a key determinant of your success, both inside and outside of your organization. How do your idea-selling skills stack up? Here are some tips on how to improve them!
Personal Innovation: Seize the initiative to profit from change, uncertainty
How can you ensure that in turbulent times you not only survive an organizational restructuring but actually benefit by it? How can you maximize your chances in the change maelstrom? One way is to take a positive approach to change and to be seen as an innovative go-getter who will help make the re-organization a success.
An Overview of Idea Management Systems
Idea management technology helps organizations to gather ideas from all employees, evaluate them and bring them to market faster than ever before. Learn more about the typical features of these powerful tools, and the benefits they can provide to firms like yours.
Seven Strategies for Generating Business Ideas
How do organizations come up with new ideas? And how do they use those ideas to create successful new products, services, businesses, and solutions? Author Robert Tucker outlines seven proven strategies for unearthing breakthrough business innovations.
Innovation: Creating the best practices of tomorrow
The best way to create value is to innovate your way ahead of the competition. You need to create temporary monopolies where yours is the only show in town. You can do this by harnessing the creative power of your greatest asset, your people. The goal is to turn them into opportunistic entrepreneurs who are constantly looking for new ways of doing business.
The corporate suggestion box — not dead yet!
Some businesspeople may assume that the corporate suggestion box has gone the way of the dinosaurs, or that it's a dusty old relic of the 20th century -- no longer appropriate for the Information Age. [...]
Sparking Growth Systematically: How to Turn Innovation into a Discipline
The long-term benefits that come from game-changing breakthroughs require work: unconventional methods of seeking out the unmet and unarticulated needs of customers, faster prototyping of ideas, new ways of funding ventures, and compensation systems that provide incentives to increase the revenue from new products and services. Author Robert Tucker explains three ways in which successful companies have overhauled their innovation processes.