A decade of innovation teaches us this

I've been pondering for several weeks, at least since the start of the new year, the state of play of innovation in large corporations. I think I can speak with some knowledge about this, having conducted innovation activities and projects in a wide array of Fortune 500...

Signal versus Noise

The post today frames a classic issue in communications:  how to improve a signal and hopefully eliminate or at least mitigate noise.  The noisier the communication is, the more difficult it is for the sender and the receiver to communicate.  Thus, we try...

Disruptive innovation: where, not what

First, a slight diatribe.  Why is it that companies think their people can do successful innovation when they don't share a common language?  In the title I've used the word "disruptive", and by this I mean innovation in the "third horizon" - incremental, breakthrough...

Becoming an innovative company: better late

So, after over a decade of innovation consulting, I can say without doubt that companies that are just starting to innovate have it much better than those that were attempting it years ago.  That's because as more companies try more innovation, more tools are vetted,...

Innovation Confidence Course

Recently I read a nice article in Inc Magazine about 10 Innovation Killers.  The author refers to a lot of factors that stymie innovation, including many of the usual suspects:holding a brainstorm and then doing nothingsustaining a fear of failurethinking innovation...

Riding the whirlwind

One of my favorite apocalyptic texts is the saying that if you sow the wind you'll reap the whirlwind.  This is from the Old Testament, where the prophet Hosea is telling the people that they need to change their ways.  Obviously the passage has a rather negative...