Being an effective innovator is not an easy task. The good news is that you can learn from others’ experiences. Gijs van Wulfen walks us through some of the important lessons he learned as a marketer, strategy consultant and innovation facilitator.
Switzerland is more innovative and entrepreneurial than generally thought. The world holds on to the caricature of Heidi and of utterly dull bankers, evoked by Helmut Schmidt, many years ago: “Europe is not governed by the gnomes of Zurich”. We forget the implications of the fact that the Swiss national hero is the ultimate rebel: Wilhelm Tell; and rebellion is companion of innovation.The strong Swiss franc and the weak state of the economies of its trading partners will make 2012 difficult, but Switzerland scores tangible successes: prosperity, low debt, reasonable growth, public budgets in the black, low unemployement and trade surplus. This miniature model of Europe must be an inspiration for the EU to become what it should be: the world’s most successful region in the 21rst century.
Often individuals and organizations tend to get stuck in the mode of talking about innovation and/or trying to understand innovation. The only way to really know innovation is to do innovation, and learn from your mistakes along the way. In this article Harun Asad suggests preparing an Innovation Mission Statement as an initial, action-oriented way to get out of the rhetoric trap.
A company seeking to adopt mass customization must first understand what the idiosyncratic needs of its customers are. After this crucial step, the company may establish what it is going to offer and what it is not. In part three in this series on mass customization, Frank Piller and Fabrizio Salvador walk through some of the potential methods of solution space development.
In the 21st century economy, having strong innovation skills is critical. This year, instead of the proverbial New Year’s resolution to lose weight or get a new job, why not commit to building your innovation ability? This article discusses the urgency for building your innovation skills, and outlines some simple and effective ways for doing it.
The techniques of improvisational performance can be applied in helpful ways to any situation where people are collaborating to innovate or build something, says improv expert Kat Koppett.
Innovation is actually easy – when the corporate culture is supporting it. Unfortunately today many companies show ”excellent” practise killing the innovative spirit. In this new in-depth article Dirk Loop explores the opportunities every employee – not just executives and innovation managers – has to enhance a culture of innovation. He gives a brief overview on common weaknesses within corporate process frameworks and shows hands-on solutions.
At one time, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was one of the most innovative companies on the planet. What happened?
Creative communication is critical to making your product or service stand out in the minds of your customers. Sam Horn explains how in this fascinating interview.
The most innovative leaders have a mindset like that of a venture capitalist. They take a portfolio view of innovation projects. The venture capitalist will invest in a basket of different start-up companies, fully knowing that most will fail. A few might break even and one or two might be successes. But one big success can pay back the costs of all the failures. Even though he is smart, the VC does not know at the outset which ventures will succeed and which will fail so initially he backs them all. As time goes on he cuts funding for the failures and gives more to the winners.
Rowan Gibson explains how intellectual capital has become an outdated way to measure an organization's worth. What's needed are new measures used to create value today, such as imagination capital, entrepreneurial capital and relationship capital.
Companies are increasingly recognizing that today’s turbulent times require nothing short of continual reinvention. Weathering today’s storm isn’t enough. Companies need to develop repeatable processes that regularly renew their firms before the next crisis hits. This kind of renewal must begin with the leaders themselves.
Start-up companies are almost synonymous with innovation, while the well established companies are usually perceived as being risk averse and much less innovative. In this article Jeffrey Baumgartner uses Prospect Theory to better understand how executives perceive risk and innovation opportunities.
A great leader can turn your team into entrepreneurs who are hungrily looking for new opportunities. The key is empowerment. Learn how to empower your employees to innovate in this article by Paul Sloane.
