Innovation FOMO and FOMAD

Today, memes enter and leave the lexicon so quickly that I almost hesitate to use newly coined words or phrases, in fear that they may have already become passe.  So you can imagine my trepidation in using FOMO - the "fear of missing out" - when writing about innovation. ...

Why being ambidextrous is not enough - looking ahead to 2020

It's about that time of year where we begin to look back, to think about what we've accomplished and what lies ahead.  Knowing that the end of the year is in sight, and the holidays are almost upon us, we anticipate work slowing down, and perhaps for just a few days...

Innovation - fast and slow, for the right reasons

For quite some time we've been hearing about how important it is to do things quickly, with many new adjectives placed in front of the word "innovation". These words include adjectives such as "lean", "agile" and "rapid", to make the point that innovation should be stripped...

Why context is more important than ideas

Everyone has ideas - they are like the air, everywhere and ubiquitous.  People who say they don't have any ideas are merely referring to their lack of ideas about a specific issue or in a specific setting.  Everyone has ideas, all the time.  What they often...

All your data are belong to us

I'm riffing today on an old meme - "all your base are belong to us" - the poorly worded alert in a game that was released years ago.  The message was meant to inform the player that all of his or her bases were lost to the enemy.  The statement became a rather...

Data-driven or insights inspired?

As the phenomenon of digital transformation continues to unfold, we need to be wary of certain absolutes that will work their way into our language, our thinking and our consciousness.  It's common, especially in the early stages of any emerging trend for new ideas...

Book Review: What about the Future? by Fred Phillips

I'm returning today to one of my favorite activities - a book review.  Good books are simply too rare, and good books about topics important to innovators are unfortunately even more rare.  However, I'm happy to say that I've just read a book about understanding...

The music isn't in the piano

I was speaking with a long time colleague and trusted branding partner, Kevin Polonofsky from Revered recently about branding and marketing.  We were specifically discussing the idea of training people to do specific tasks that they did not have time to do, or had...

Why I still get my Netflix movies in the mail

I'm a movie junkie - I love movies.  Old movies like Casablanca, or even new movies like John Wick 3.  Can't wait to see what John Wick can survive in the third installment.  I wore out a Blockbuster card back in the day when Blockbuster was a thing. ...

If it doesn't fit, it must be innovation

Years ago, Johnny Cochrane convinced a jury that OJ Simpson was not guilty of murdering Nichole Simpson.  While there were undoubtedly many factors that led to the acquittal, one of the biggest factors was the gloves.  When OJ tried on the gloves in the witness...

VUCA is a matter of perspective

VUCA is the new black.  Suddenly everyone has realized that sometimes the economy or markets are volatile or uncertain.  If I were older and cranky I'd blame this on the millennials, not because they are millennials but because they've never lived with a stock...

Customer experience is about to undergo a significant transformation

I've been writing lately about the intersection of innovation and digital transformation, first because it is a very current topic and second because there are fascinating possibilities as innovation and digital transformation collide.  Increasingly, new product development...

Digital transformation: Pandora's box or cornucopia?

Digital transformation.  Everyone from the CEO to the janitor understands that digital transformation is important.  Every competitor is talking about what digital transformation will do for their business - create new revenues, cut inefficiencies and costs, discover...

Smart, fast, innovative and digital

The title of this post is the answer to the question:  what does my business need to look like in the future in order to be successful?  I think that increasingly we can make the assumption that the pace of change will remain about the same, the world and markets...

Digital transformation marks the demise of product innovation

There comes a time when every phenomenon reaches its zenith, before a long fall or a sudden collapse.  We like to refer to this point in the cycle as the "tipping point" - the point at which we can remain in stasis or the structures will collapse.  We are warned...

Challenges when innovating smart, connected devices

I've been struck by the importance of two rapidly converging forces - digital transformation and new product innovation.  As we've discussed, here and elsewhere, ad nauseam, there is increasing demand for new products and services, making stretching the capacity of...

The conflict between digital transformation and speed

Just one more post about the importance of speed and agility and I'll leave this tired trope alone.  It took over 50 years for a reasonable majority of US households to obtain landline telephone service.  It took less than 10 years for a majority of households...