Intelligence Lost: Seven Innovative Steps to Ensure Boomer Retirement Doesn’t Create Knowledge Vacuum
The U.S. business community is facing a war of intelligence attrition. Fortune 500s will see countless experienced knowledge workers walk out the door over the next two decades. The U.S. Armed Forces are losing millions of officers and key personnel to retirement. For even those companies that thrive on innovation, the numbers are daunting – and demand action. Some 900,000 white collar workers from the Executive Branch of government, and another 5,400 federal executives, will be up for retirement... Read more »
Innovation and How to Harness the Creative Mindset
Every organization has a diverse group of personalities that respond differently to particular management styles. The creatives of an organization are often the group that stands out and may be misunderstood. How are creatives perceived in your company? What is the nature of the creative type, and how can they best be managed for the purposes of achieving Innovation? First, let’s describe what creatives are like. Highly charged creative types may act out or resist when they feel restricted by the... Read more »
Defeating Devil’s Advocates to Become an Innovation Champion
In an organization, it’s human nature to resist change and to stick with the status quo that’s often more comfortable and safe. Some of your teammates in your company may be devil’s advocates who claim they want what’s best for the business while they oppose initiatives for Innovation. As a leader and innovator-in-chief of your company, it is critical to drive the culture of Innovation throughout the organization even in the face of opposition. To defeat devil’s advocates, first you must... Read more »
Jump Start the Idea Process for Maximum Efficiency
Innovation begins with just one great idea – built upon, tested, retested and executed with care. It can take thousands of ideas, over the course of weeks, months or even years to reach that one great idea that will bring Innovation and profitable growth to a company. The goal of successful innovation is to get to those monumental moments quicker and more often in order to stay ahead of your competition. That innovation effort is only possible through Idea Management – by holding ideation... Read more »
Greenwashing: Electric Cars and Innovation Stalled
Electric cars seem like the socially conscious, feel-good investment among environmentally friendly consumers. In corporate boardrooms, the innovation seemed well liked indeed. What’s not to like? Cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt reportedly can drive for a day or more on a full electric charge. The Toyota Prius reduces a tank full of exhaust to the whir of a hybrid electric/ gas engine. The numbers are astonishing. The Nissan Leaf is considered the most fuel efficient vehicle in... Read more »
$4 Per Gallon Gas = Energy Innovation
Long lines at the gas pump weren’t the only product of the twin energy crises of the 1970s. A legislative push toward energy conservation and innovation were also born as a result. And that’s why one expert believes the skyrocketing price of oil will do the same in 2011. “History has proven that innovation in the energy industry has almost always been driven by high consumer prices,” said Robert Brands, a veteran corporate executive who now consults with companies worldwide and author of... Read more »
Keep the Idea Highway Open to All
Innovation advances your company towards the future – generating new products or services, boosting profits and increasing stakeholder value. To develop Innovation, the first step is to Inspire and Initiate your organization’s members. Innovation leaders need to provide the right support, both material and emotional, to stimulate new product development (NPD). What are effective methods of inspiring innovation? For starters, keep the idea highway open to all. Good ideas can come from anywhere... Read more »
The Right Rewards: Business Beyond Bonuses
What is the ultimate purpose of Innovation in a business? The end goal is Return On Investment (ROI) for all Stakeholders. After all, the objective of the New Product Development process is to turn ideas into money. ROI comes in the form of increased shareholder value, new products and new features – everyone wins, including your employees, your customers and your stakeholders. So to move your company forward and stimulate profitable growth, it’s important to give every member of your organization... Read more »
How to Measure Innovation
No matter if it’s a test score, sports game result or a sales figure, what we measure is what goes down in history. After all, “what’s measured is treasured.” It’s human nature to look back at past results as a basis for comparison and for improvement in the future. For this reason, it is absolutely essential to carefully observe and measure performance in the New Product Development process. In each of the different stages of the process, keep track of how much time... Read more »
Feels Like the First Time: Innovation Through Product Experience
When was the last time you experienced your product like it was your first time? Product development is a process of cycles – followed by closure. We innovate and create a new concept. Assemble teams to research, develop, manufacture and market the product or service. We then ship it to market. And then… What? SEE: http://www.robertsrulesofinnovation.com/idea-management We leave it out there for consumers to embrace, or ignore. Meanwhile, as our products mature on the store shelves of the... Read more »
How Coaching Leads to Sustainable Innovation
Successful and sustainable Innovation cannot be achieved without proper training and coaching from the leaders of an organization. Employees should be given the basic tools in the form of knowledge in order to create and improve their skill set. Any business can be optimized with the right Innovation coach to motivate and mediate employees. The ideal coach possesses a superior skill set and experience, a deep understanding of the innovation program’s goals, and they must be self-disciplined... Read more »
Value Proposition: The Key to Successful Innovation
What defines successful Innovation? Innovation is the process of using intellectual capital to create new products or services that generate positive business results in the form of financial returns. Discovering new findings then spurs more innovation which leads to further financial returns, and so on. Innovation is successful when positive outcomes result in return on investment (ROI). That is why Value Creation is so important. Adding perceived value to a new product or service will drive ROI.... Read more »
Creating Cross-Divisional Innovation Cohesion
R&D, Marketing, Sales, Finance, IT – you’re familiar with the most common departments within a standard company, and have likely been involved with one or more. You know it can be a real challenge for unalike minds to understand where each other is coming from regarding any number of topics within a project. As an owner, you have to be the champion – the true driver of the process in order to create cross-divisional cohesion removing the silos. First and foremost, never underestimate... Read more »
The Five Myths of Innovation
Three authors writing in the MIT Sloan Management review claim to have uncovered 5 ‘myths of innovation’. In brief they are: 1. The Eureka Moment. Many people think that innovation is based on a blinding flash of inspiration but the truth is more prosaic. Innovation is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. Most companies have plenty of good ideas but have poor processes for evaluating and developing the best ideas. 2. Build it and they will come. The proliferation... Read more »
Ten Principles Which Spell Continuous Innovation
Many people have tried to define a process for innovation, but most are too abstract for me. I like the easy to remember approach found in “Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival,” by Robert F. Brands. It seems to be more concrete, and chronicles several decades of practical experience to solidify the principles which together spell INNOVATION. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ten-principles-which-spell-continuous-innovation-2011-3#ixzz1G8RsQjuJ Read More →
The Ethanol Myth and Innovation Gone Amok: Some ‘Improvements’ Demand Serious Questions
Next time you fill up at the pump, check for a new sticker: “Contains up to 10% Ethanol.” It represents “innovative” efforts by Big Oil, Big Agriculture and Big Government to make a dent in America’s consumption of greenhouse-gas producing fossil fuels – and foster a move toward renewable, green energy. Transforming corn into ethanol for use our vehicles was sold as a win-win. We boost business for farmers and create energy independence (at up to 10% of each fill-up... Read more »
Innovation + Best Practices Win Race to South Pole – and Business Improvement
By Robert F. Brands One hundred years ago, two men set out on a Race to the South Pole. Both Englishman Robert Falcon Scott and Norwegian Roald Amundsen were experienced explorers. They knew the polar conditions of Antarctica. They knew with reward came inherent risk. Their shared tale is one about best practices versus innovation. One relied on mere “innovation” to master a frozen continent. The other innovated best practices he’d learned through years of intensive research. One... Read more »
INNOVATION THAT WITHSTANDS THE TEST OF TIME – AND TIMELINESS
The year is 1910, and Henry Ford’s Model T is rolling off the assembly line. It soon will join some 8,000 other automobiles currently in the U.S., motoring along at a brisk pace of 10 mph along 144 miles of paved roads – and “gassing up” at the local druggist. Fast forward 101 years, and today’s innovation is no less thought-provoking. Along with cars run on electric power in an effort to save resources and the environment, consumer products fueled by market research... Read more »
New Product Development Requires Fresh Perspective on ‘Creative’ and ‘Structure’
What exactly is new product development? Does the “product” actually have to be a product? Or can it be a process? Does the idea have to come from the C Suite? Or can it be a suggestion from the factory floor, the retail showroom, the Idea Box or a customer tip? How do you treat ideas once they land in your organization’s “idea hopper”, and how wide is your idea funnel? Answer these questions, and you’ve placed your finger on the pulse of how your organization... Read more »
Five Leadership Strategies That Can Make or Break Your Business in 2011
What’s in store for business leaders in 2011? As I gaze into my crystal ball, I see a year of promise and opportunity. And I see new challenges that require different ways of thinking and leading organizations. It’s not just that opportunities, threats, and changes in the marketplace happen faster and with less predictability than they used to. It’s that they’re also becoming increasingly interconnected and interrelated in ways we’ve never had to deal with before. ... Read more »
Innovation Evolution
