Change Your Frame of Reference for Better Innovation
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What we can accomplish is enabled by how we view the world. It’s also constrained by how we view the world. Figuring out how to change our frame of view is a powerful innovation tool.
Are You Ready for the #SocialEra?
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What are the implications of the new ways that technology allows people to connect and interact? Nilofer Merchant explores this in her book 11 Rules for Creating Value in the #SocialEra – it’s a good book with some important lessons.
Why the Future of Innovation is Open
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As outlined in my previous post, sustainable innovation requires evolution and revolution. Over the long term, organizations need to be capable of both moving along existing growth trajectories and creating new ones when the old business matures or stalls. This can be depicted as recurring movement along innovation s-curves. In the case of a new […]
The Problem With Google
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How can you learn what you need to know to become an expert? It requires deep knowledge of a field, but it also requires broad knowledge of related fields. Our current technologies support deep, but not broad. We need to figure out a way to find t-shaped knowledge.
Don’t Be an Innovation Gnome!
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There is often a gap between what we do daily and our long-term objectives. This gap can kill strategy, and it can kill innovation. We apply some lessons from South Park to figure out how to successfully bridge this gap.
What is Innovation?
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People often think it’s weird when they hear that I study innovation – even people in very innovative jobs. The biggest reason for this is mistaking invention for innovation. If you do this, then studying innovation makes no sense at all – what can you learn about the flash of insight, the stroke of genius, […]
Why Lean Startups Turn Into Innovative Firms
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One of the exciting trends in innovation right now is the lean startup idea. The basic premise is that when ventures are starting out, building a scalable business model needs to be a top priority. People like Steve Blank, Eric Ries, Ash Maurya and Alex Osterwalder are all doing great work in this area. I’m […]
My Thoughts on Silicon Valley + blog under construction
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The blog will be under construction this weekend as I work with Todd Lohenry from e1evation to upgrade the site. Todd does fantastic work, and I recommend him highly. In the meantime, the latest online update to the UQ Business School’s Momentum magazine includes an interview with my discussing my thoughts about my recent trip […]
The Worst Innovation Quote Ever
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Here’s my candidate for the worst innovation quote ever: Now, to be fair, it’s actually a paraphrasing of Emerson. Or, to be more accurate, a misquote. Nevertheless, it reflects a very common innovation misconception – that it’s all about the idea. Andrew Hargadon has written a terrific post on this topic, which I encourage you […]
Are eBooks Really Books?
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The Right Idea at the Wrong Time is Still Wrong
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You may remember Webvan, probably the most spectacular flame-out in during the tech boom in the late 90s. If you don’t, Nicole Perlroth describes their blowup for Forbes: Of Web 1.0’s most memorable implosions, Webvan still takes the cake. The online grocer raised $375 million in an IPO, descended upon eight major U.S. cities, peddled […]
