Good design is seldom accepted, it has to be sold. – Julian Shulman

And here are some of the posts that caught my attention this week:

• Integrating Lean Startup and Design Thinking – by Ralph-Christian Ohr.  Ralph summarises a research paper that talks about how to integrate these two innovation tools.  Since I just finished attending the Lean LaunchPad for Educators course, the lean startup approach has been on my mind recently, and this is a good summary of how it might be used in conjunction with design thinking.
• Simplicity Requires a Clear Understanding of Who and What Creates Value by Valeria Maltoni.  Valeria’s weekly curated post is one of my inspirations for doing this (along with Harold Jarche’s equally good fortnightly review).  In this post, she tackles the important differences between communication that is simplistic versus that which is simple.  An important topic.
• How Jenna Lyons Transformed J. Crew Into a Cult Brand by Danielle Sacks.  I found this one fascinating.  I’m not a big fan of J. Crew clothing, but it’s a great story.  Though Sacks does not draw this point out, it is a great example of how the same innovation tools (experiments, in this case) can fail with one strategy, while succeeding in another.  The difference?  Purpose.  That’s a big innovation lesson, similar to the one that David Robertson tells in his book about innovation at LEGO.
• Startup Myths and Obsessions by Mariana Mazzucato.  In this post, Mazzucato picks on some of the key themes that she addresses in her excellent book The Entrepreneurial State.  The key point is that if you are trying to build an effective innovation ecosystem, then you must also have an effective government supporting this development.  It’s a counterintuitive argument for many, but the evidence is compelling (especially in the book).
• Darkness and Light: Why Writing is an Act of Bravery by Sarah Peck.  I write to figure out what I think about something, so I get benefits from doing it regardless of what anyone else thinks.  Nevertheless, if you publish your work, you’re making a leap.  Peck talks about how to get the most out of this act.  Writing is a core part of creativity, and it’s a skill that we all should be building.

Here I am at the California Design exhibition.

I had one post this week: To Innovate, Amplify Weak Signals.  If we’re trying to create the future, we have to be very sensitive to the weak signals that are out there – finding and amplifying weak signals is a key innovation skill.