To Get Big, Start Really Small
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Big new ideas and big target markets are important to innovation. However, if we want to win big, we have to start out incredibly small. New ideas grow by dominating a small niche, and then spiralling out.
Tim Kastelle
You Can’t Win With Average
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Being average isn’t enough – we need to be awesome at something if we want to win.
How to Design for Outcomes
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If we want to change the world, it’s not enough to have great ideas. We also have to have the managerial skills needed to execute our ideas. The baby incubator from Design that Matters is a great case study showing the obstacles we face.
Innovation Requires Change
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Marshall McLuhan said: “Any innovation threatens the equilibrium of existing organization. In big industry new ideas are invited to rear their heads so that they can be clobbered at once.” How do we get around this problem?
Two Ways to Deal With Innovation Uncertainty More Effectively
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Innovating means that we are seeking out uncertainty. The ideas of scaled investments and affordable losses can help us reduce this uncertainty, and increase our chances of succeeding.
Having a “Risk Averse Culture” Increases Your Risk
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If we try to avoid short-term risk, we actually increase the long-term risk of catastrophic failure for our organisations. If risk-aversion keeps us from innovating, we’re thinking about risk all wrong.
All of Our Innovation Barriers Are Self-Inflicted – Reflections on the Drucker Forum
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What should management look like today – and tomorrow? I just got back to Australia from the 6th Global Drucker Forum that took place over the weekend, where these two questions (and others!) were addressed. Drucker was a great thinker, and one of his pieces inspired the title for this blog – so I was […]
How Should We Organise for the Social Era?
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Our organisations are idea-processing machines. This means that we need to think about how we get work done in new ways. There are some fascinating lessons in how to do this in the world’s first organisation chart, from 1854!
The Innovator’s Hypothesis: Michael Schrage Tells Us How to Take the First Step
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“The Googles, Amazons, Apples, Netflixes, and Capital Ones … don’t insist on performing lots of interesting experiments because they’re rich; they’re rich because they insist on performing lots of interesting experiments.”
Innovation Thoughts Triggered by Marshall McLuhan
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“Official culture still strives to force the new media to do the work of the old media. But the horseless carriage did not do the work of the horse; it abolished the horse and did what the horse could never do.” Thoughts on this and other provocations from Marshall McLuhan.
On the Importance of Time in Innovation
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We often think that great new ideas get adopted rapidly. Unfortunately, this is untrue. In order to innovate effectively, we must understand the role that time plays in innovation.
There’s No Low-Hanging Fruit in Innovation
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Innovation efforts often start by looking for quick wins. The problem is that quick wins don’t solve tough problems, and solving tough problems is what leads to competitive advantage. We’re better off by going after the tough problems first.
