One of the major themes running through the blog is that innovation is a complex process made from different activities. Tim and I have pushed this pretty hard because innovation is often confused with invention (the generation of an idea resulting in a new physical process or thing). There is a lot to be gained […]
I was in a business presentation session with a large engineering firm last week, which got me thinking about what I like to see in new product strategies. In this instance, the firm was considering a move into the renewable energy industry, based upon how big this industry might be in the years ahead. Now […]
You have probably heard of the dark matter puzzle in astronomy. I don’t remember that much from the astronomy unit that I took as part of my science degree but dark matter is one of those big questions that just gets undergrad students thinking. Put simply, the universe is really heavy (!) but if we […]
How do we deal with complexity? A while ago I suggested that one strategy that we use to handle complexity is that we outsource some of the rote memorisation of facts and routines that we need regularly. This is essentially the strategy that Atul Gawande also advocates in his outstanding book The Checklist Manifesto: How […]
There was a bit of interest in the blog piece that I did on responding to change so I thought I would follow this up with a quick discussion of a really good model for understanding inertia and how resistance to innovation develops. One of my favorite research studies on excellence and inertia is by […]
One of my secret pleasures is Ken Burns documentaries. Ever since I saw his breakthrough work on the American Civil War about 20 years ago I have been mesmerized by his careful and beautiful use of images, narrative, music and cinematography (another innovation). It doesn’t really matter what the topic is… the Lewis and Clark […]
Do you want to know how to easily find success? If so, then you probably shouldn’t read Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod. One of the themes of the book is that success is not easy. Creativity and Innovation are inherently threatening acts to many people, which makes new ides […]
Strategy is a big and complicated area of business theory so its nice to simplify things a bit sometimes. My favorite simple theory of innovation strategy is what I call the salami theory. The idea of the salami theory came from my days (some time last century) in a share house while studying a science […]
If anyone ever asks you why innovation is important, consider this: Year Technology Lighting Efficiency 1750 B.C. Oil Lamp 17.5 (lumen hours per BTU) A.D. 1800 Tallow Candle 22.2 1815 Whale-oil Lamp 39.4 1875 Kerosene Lamp 46.6 1883 Electric Light, Carbon Filament 762.0 1920 Electric Light, Tungsten Filament 3,463.7 1992 Compact Flourescent Bulb 20,111.1 The […]
How do we cope with the barrage of information that we face each day? Yesterday I suggested that the information glut has been with us for a long time. Stowe Boyd ended up talking about the same issue yesterday in a terrific post called The False Question of Attention Economics. His contention is the same […]