Influencing Leadership

Focused on communicating to and influencing leadership (ex: “How do I get funding for this project?”)

Harnessing the Power of Insight: Customer-Centric Innovation in a Changing World

Anyone has the raw capability to think of a great idea, but not everyone has the ability to bring ideas to fruition. It’s a process that requires vision, a strong handle on industry trends (both present and future) and risk takers willing to champion seemingly impossible feats. Most companies have innovators or teams of innovators with these qualities, but many don’t incorporate both customer feedback and customer observational research as key components for designing the next generation of product development. This article will explore the benefits of leveraging a customer-centric model to create more innovative, user-friendly devices that provide the support customers really need.

Ideascale2021-12-05T09:16:53-08:00December 17th, 2012|Categories: Strategies|Tags: Business Model Innovation, business objectives, company culture, customer engagement, Customer-centric innovation, ethnography, idea generation, idea implementation, in-depth article, industry trends, Innovation Culture, insight, leadership, Product Development, R&D, systems approach, vision|

Innovation Foundations at PSA Peugeot Citroën

In my previous article ‘Establishing the Foundations for a Balanced Innovation Portfolio’ I discussed the important role played by key innovation foundations in the success of a systemized collaborative innovation program. Even though you’re in a less than perfect position, the important step is to recognize the relative strength (or weakness) of each foundation, then put actions in place to improve each one. In this article I'm sharing the experiences of PSA Peugeot Citroën on their first ever collaborative innovation campaign.

Ideascale2021-12-05T08:33:45-08:00October 22nd, 2012|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Idea Management, Organization & Culture|Tags: automotive industry, business focus, Business Model Innovation, case study, collaborative innovation, company culture, foundations, innovation challenge, Innovation Management, innovation team|

PowerPoint Makes us Stupid: Never Mind the Slides, Here’s the World Café

People who work in the nuclear power industry track their lifetime exposure to radiation as a function of the maximum allowed by law. If only a benign regulatory agency would set limits for exposure to PowerPoint presentations. Lamentably, many would learn that they have exceeded the lethal dose. In this article innovation architect Doug Collins explores a better way: one that marries the best that the virtual form of collaborative innovation can offer with the long-standing, effective approach of hosting an in person World Café.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:11:24-07:00October 16th, 2012|Categories: Collaborative Innovation|Tags: collaborative innovation, Communication, Creativity, Employee Engagement, innovation psychology, knowledge sharing, powerpoint, trends, virtual, World Café|

Establishing the Foundations for a Balanced Innovation Portfolio

Corporate innovation programs can’t fulfill their potential without the right foundations in place. Many organizations are taking their programs across the enterprise. In this article we consider three key foundations and how they can be boosted to improve corporate innovation: the linkage between every day innovation and corporate targets, the levels of openness, trust and acceptance of diverse opinions.

Ideascale2021-12-05T08:21:38-08:00September 17th, 2012|Categories: Organization & Culture, Strategies|Tags: Best Practices, business focused innovation, Communication, community, corporate innovation, foundations, in-depth article, innovation foundation, Innovation Management, innovation portfolio, Innovation Strategy, portfolio management, sustainable innovation|

Threat vs. Opportunity – The Art of Pitching your Ideas

Why is your boss neglecting the fantastic idea you came up with even though it looks promising (in your eyes at least)? And why is your boss so intent on avoiding negative situations? This is an irritating behavior many of us have experienced and one that Bengt Järrehult examines more closely in today’s blog.

Ideascale2021-12-05T08:18:19-08:00September 11th, 2012|Categories: Innovation Psychology|Tags: Communication, objective state, presentation, prospect theory, risk aversion, risk management, subjective state|

Why HR and Finance will Love Collaborative Innovation

It’s good to have friends in high places as you transform the world through the practice of collaborative innovation. In this article innovation architect Doug Collins introduces you to your buddies in human resources and finance. Say hello!

Ideascale2021-12-03T14:42:14-08:00August 7th, 2012|Categories: Collaborative Innovation|Tags: collaborative innovation, Communication, cross-communication, finance, financial strategy, HR, innovation champion, knowledge transfer, leadership|

Cognitive Biases Inhibiting Innovation in Top Management Teams

The top management team of an organization is arguably the most important team for deciding and implementing innovation strategies. They typically decide which markets to be entered, which markets to be exited, and which new technologies to pursue. But decision making is fraught with biases – errors in judgment that affect the quality of decisions. Sometimes with devastating results. In this post we will see how basic human psychology affects the decision making of top management teams.

Ideascale2021-12-03T14:41:49-08:00July 31st, 2012|Categories: Innovation Psychology|Tags: Best Practices, cognitive bias, decision making, innovation blockers, innovation psychology, leadership, strategy, top management|

How to Change Innovation Culture the Fast & Viral Way

There are different approaches to facilitating cultural change within an organization in order to promote innovation. Bengt Järrehult argues that the viral change, whereby successful changes are achieved through experimentation and then spread by different groups copying or adopting the change leads to faster and more long-lasting culture change.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:11:40-07:00July 17th, 2012|Categories: Innovation Psychology, Organization & Culture|Tags: Change Management, company culture, Innovation Culture, leadership, psychology|

4 Steps for Top Executives to Execute on to Truly Empower Innovation

Why would a company that rose to prominence based on its innovativeness abandon its lifeblood when the founder exists the building? There are many examples of this happening out there. However if they follow in the footsteps of the world’s ‘serial innovators,’ leadership can keep a company’s innovation flame lit without having to bring back the founding CEO.

Ideascale2021-12-03T11:21:18-08:00June 21st, 2012|Categories: Leadership, Organization & Culture|Tags: company culture, executive sponsor, founders, goal setting, Innovation Culture, leadership, leadership strategy, long term strategy, risk-taking, serial innovators, vision|

How to Court Serendipitous Network Intelligence

Most innovators understand what serendipity is. Dictionary.com calls it "an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident." But have you ever heard of serendipitous network intelligence?

Ideascale2021-12-03T11:20:56-08:00June 7th, 2012|Categories: Book Review, News|Tags: back pocket questions, information curator, innovation, intelligence, network, newsfeed, Reid Hoffman, serendipity, value|

A promising Approach to Finding Technology Solutions: Supplier Summits

Given the relatively small number of qualified solution providers for any given technical challenge, one fairly productive and successful problem solving approach undertaken by corporate technology seekers is to organize "supplier summits."

Ideascale2021-12-03T07:09:28-08:00May 3rd, 2012|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Open Innovation, Support for SMEs|Tags: business development, collaborative, industrial paradigms, inner circle, networking, Open Innovation, Problem Solving, solutions, supplier summit, Technology, technology transfer, unconventional thinking, value|

The Bouillon Soup Lesson: You Cannot Innovate Alone

It is often in the commencement of one’s career that simple mistakes are made. Whether it’s a result of inexperience, blinding enthusiasm or fearlessness doesn’t really matter, as long as the lesson learned serves you, and others, well. Gijs van Wulfen shares a constructive experience from his first innovation position.

Ideascale2021-12-03T07:01:05-08:00April 4th, 2012|Categories: Front End of Innovation|Tags: customer research, food & beverage, Innovation Strategy, lessons learned, risk analysis, Teamwork, time-to-market|

Innovation: Should you Roll the Dice?

Paul Sloane uses a gambling analogy to show how uncertain innovation is and why senior management isn't likely to approve a new idea after several failures in a row.

Ideascale2021-12-02T18:16:57-08:00March 27th, 2012|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: Competition, conservative, distribution, experiment, Failure, forecast, innovation, management, marketing, profit, research, revenue, risk, risk management, risky business, Success, winning|

We Need to Innovate. Now What?

If you are not one of the lucky few to work in one of the most innovative companies in the world, you've probably thought at some point "we really need to innovate." Gijs van Wulfen provides practical advice on where to begin.

Ideascale2021-12-02T18:11:51-08:00February 23rd, 2012|Categories: Front End of Innovation|Tags: company culture, Ideation, Innovation Culture, innovative companies, top management|

Need Innovation? Seek Out Your Mad Scientists

“Mad scientists”—rule-breaking geniuses whose resistance to convention sometimes produces radical innovations—are both a blessing and a challenge to R&D organizations. Recent studies suggest how such rogue innovators can shape a company’s culture and what can be done to channel their influence.

Ideascale2021-12-02T18:08:45-08:00February 9th, 2012|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: case study, company culture, Creativity, efficiency, HR, human resources, innovation champions, organizational evolution, radical innovation, rogue ideas|