In many companies there is no obvious strategy for selecting or even evaluating ideas. According to author Robert B. Tucker, a clear set of criteria for screening ideas and having properly-trained people on the selection team is critical to systematic innovation.
Jeffrey Baumgartner shares eight ingredients that are critical to the success of any innovation program.
Which will help your business to be more successful: statistics or probability? Underwriters at insurance companies use statistics to assess future risks. This is based on years of collected data. Probability is what card counters in Vegas use to increase their odds of success. This is based on real-time, real-life experience. If you want to play it safe, use statistics. If you want to win big, use probability.
The third major issue to be tackled by our distinguished panel of innovation practitioners is connecting innovation to business strategy. Specifically, how do you connect innovation to business strategy, and get the funding and senior management commitment to follow through on both short- and long-term innovation initiatives?
The problem most people and organizations have is that they tend to kill ideas at the wrong times, either too early or too late, and this is very detrimental to their innovation process. Jeffrey Baumgartner explains to how to establish common-sense criteria for killing an idea
Years of cost-cutting and focus on process excellence have created in many firms a culture that is focused on operational excellence and risk avoidance. For innovation to succeed as a corporate objective, the culture must change to accommodate the risk and uncertainty that accompanies an innovation focus. Luckily, several important levers can help you change the culture, as Jeffrey Phillips explains.
One of the problems that many large organizations face is how to innovate successfully within the confines of a massive, bureaucratic operational structure. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the area of research and development, where small, entrepreneurial firms routinely do end runs on large companies will multi-million dollar research budgets.
A combination of detail and framework innovation is a potent recipe for business success, according to Jeffrey Baumgartner. What are framework and detail innovation? Read on to find out.
Many companies focus exclusively on the users of their products. If they would only widen their view to encompass the entire "customer chain," they would see amazing opportunities for innovation, according to Daniel Scocco.
Many businesses make the mistake of giving innovation projects to junior executives. It seems natural to hand innovation opportunities to enthusiastic and promising upstarts. But generally it is the experienced heavyweights who can overcome all the process and political obstacles that will occur, explains Paul Sloane.
Take a lesson from Airbus and WebVan: When you have that really big, disruptive, amazing, incredible, world-changing idea, it should not mark the end of your innovation process.
In many organizations, big ideas cause change, and thus they tend to encounter a significant amount of resistance and inertia. The solution, according to Jeffrey Baumgartner, is to cultivate idea stakeholders. Read on to learn how to build support for your big ideas.
Sustainability is a growing issue for everyone on our planet and, not surprisingly, offers some huge opportunities for innovation, according to author Chas Martin.
How can you encourage your employees to think of drastic innovations? Paul Sloane shares one simple technique that enables small teams to envision entirely new business models.
To what extent does an employee work – and innovate – to benefit the organization and to what extent does she work and innovate to benefit herself? Senior managers would like to believe that employees are a team of selfless workers who – in exchange for a monthly wage and odd benefits – work exclusively to the benefit of the organization. As the organization grows, the employee receives promotions, salary increases and additional benefits that encourage her to continue serving the company 100%.
