Innovation (Page 3)

In: Innovation

This paper looks at Innovation Leadership a term that encompasses creating the climate for innovation within organisations as well as driving innovation to ensure an organisation is driving growth, is healthy and continues to be commercially viable. The authors state that Innovation Leadership has two components, Innovative Leadership and Leadership for Innovation Innovative LeadershipApplying Innovative Thinking to Leadership Tasks. Establishing new ways of thinking and different actions in how you lead, manage and go about work. How you face into complex challenges and the tools and processes utilised to deal with complex, entrenched or intractable problems. Innovative Leaders are quick and agile often in the absence of detail or predictability. Leadership for InnovationCreating the climate and framework where innovation can thrive in the organisation. Empowering and enabling the team to apply Innovative Thinking to solving problems and developing new products and services. Six Innovation Thinking Skills The authors propose sixContinue Reading

In: Innovation, Innovation Systems

This article looks at innovation methodologies used by the SAP Design and Co Innovation Centre which are utilised to get clients involved in brainstorming and the design process. There are five methods suggested: Brainstorming: The Walt Disney Method This method utilises role play based not three facets of Disney’s personality, ‘the dreamer’, ‘the realist’ and ‘the spoiler’ in the exercise each role is used to work through the concept, to consider what is possible (dreamer), then to consider how to do it (realist) and what could go wrong (spoiler). Empathy Mapping An empathy map is a way to cluster results based on thoughts feelings pain and gains. Starting with a white board or large piece of paper with a head and five sections what the character sees, hears, things, feels and is challenged by. Here’s a more detailed description and the online game. Belbin Characters Dr. Meredith Belbin found that whenContinue Reading

In: Innovation

This article looks at Apple and the Innovator’s Dilemma in particular with the iPhone as the main success trap potentially holding Apple back. “When you get a product that is wildly successful you get comfortable”, this stops trying something new and new ideas have to compete for resources with the core product. Clayton Christensen wrote his first book about the Innovators Dilemma in 1997, demonstrating how very successful companies could do everything right and still lose market leadership or even fail as new unexpected competitors rise and take over the market. In this article by Molly Wood she makes the point that if you go back and read that book and replace every time that Christensen mentions “a company” with “Apple” it looks that Apple is a company on the verge of being disrupted and that it is unlikely that the next great idea in technology will come from Cupertino.Continue Reading

In: Innovation

Immigrants innovate at a higher rate than US citizens, as a study in 2016 identified that more than half the successful start ups in the US (worth more than $1 billion) were founded by immigrants. Another study in 2019 from George Mason University said that firms owned by immigrants had uniformly higher rates of innovation. “It appears that immigrant entrepreneurs are not replacing Americans, instead, they are creating something new.” Professor John S. Earle, George Mason University 2019 Many immigrants flock to the US and Silicon Valley because of the size of market opportunities and the access to venture capital funding, but the journey to founding US based start ups is not without difficulty. Om Malik (writer and venture capitalist) said he agreed that immigrants do innovate at a higher rate and that he saw “Silicon Valley as a microcosm for the impact immigrants had throughout the U.S., bringing newContinue Reading

In: Innovation, Scenario Planning

Synopsis of an article from Smarter with Gartner by Jackie Wiles Published 24th July 2020 This article explains that scenario planning is a critical tool for functional leaders to establish plans and line up immediate decisions and actions. “Those who understand how disruption affects enterprise strategic and operational decisions can make small but powerful changes to prepare their own teams to act on the risk and opportunities that come from volatility.” Caroline Angle, Principal, Advisory, Gartner. Scenarios don’t forecast the future; they explore what’s possible Scenarios are not predictions or contingency plans, they identify and develop strategic assumptions on how to respond in different likely scenarios. Know the objectives for your function Scenario planning needs to align to the companies broader vision, mission and goals but at the functional level it: Ensures focus on critical growth and transformation initiatives Establishes the highest priority decisions that go ahead no matter whichContinue Reading

In: Customer Centricity, Innovation, Transformation

Synopsis of an article from Knowledge@Wharton by Peter Fader published 27th July 2020 This article adapted from an updated book ‘Customer Centricity’ by Peter Frader, which was first published in 2011 and the book has recently been updated. In 2011 Fader wrote about Starbucks that they made no effort to learn about their customers or to understand their buying habits. This year he has updated the book to look how they have transformed to become data driven on customer centricity. Fader refers to how Starbucks built a Facebook community, not for their product but for ‘Leaf Rakers’. The Leaf Raker’s society a secret or private group that purports to be obsessed with autumn, which is also when Starbucks puts its popular pumpkin spice latte on the menu each year. “Facebook, as we know for better and worse, is a treasure trove of personal data — but also, and perhaps moreContinue Reading

In: Innovation, Leadership, Transformation

Synopsis of an article from McKinsey Accelerate by Daniel Pacthod and Michael Park, Published, 28th July 2020 The authors start by pointing out that through the crisis many companies have learned to become more efficient, working faster and better and that these strategies will be essential to retain as the world returns to the new normal. “How can leaders avoid the impulse to abandon the progress they have made in shaping a more productive and competitive company profile? We believe the answer is a renewed focus on people and their capabilities. Only by advancing new cadres of adaptive, resilient leaders, as well as a middle bench fluent in technology that cuts across silos, will companies be able to work with the speed and impact necessary to further the broader transformation that has begun.“ The way to do this is simplification, prioritisation of talented resources and leaders who leverage personal energy and balanceContinue Reading

In: Innovation

Synopsis of an article from InnovationAus by James Riley Published 20th July 2020 This article is based around an interview with Kevin Bloch who is leaving his current position as Cisco’s regional CTO to form a technology advisory firm. The key premise put forward is that Artificial Intelligence is going to have a larger impact on the global economy and society than the internet and that many firms are massively under investing in appropriate R&D and innovation to take advantage of this transformation. Most Australian firms invest less than 5% for revenue back into R&D, this compares with 10-30% for global technology leaders. “The question now is how do we get our business leaders in this country to really understand what AI is. If they don’t, their companies will at best be less competitive and at worst they won’t be around any longer,” Mr Bloch said. Kevin Bloch Read moreContinue Reading

In: Innovation, Innovation Systems

Synopsis of an article from Entrepreneur.com by Tiffany Delmore, Published 15th April 2020 In this short article the author points out that most companies do not have an effective way to prioritise or select where to invest in innovation aligned with the corporate strategy. Without a proper system in place, you end up chasing hundreds of goals and failing to achieve any of them. Tiffany Delmore To be effective at innovation it is important to build a system that can make the hard decisions – easy. Here are some ways to help you build the process for identifying, validating and priortising innovation opportunities and ensuring you spend more time facilitating aligned initiatives and avoiding the “pitfalls of time mismanagement”. Translate purpose into action Having clarity of purpose for your company provides a set of guide rails that helps weed out those that do not match your business vision. Set asideContinue Reading

In: Innovation

Synopsis of an article from Fast Company by Nick Wolny, Published 19th July 2020. This article explains that anger and frustration can be harnessed and have potential to be transformed from a negative emotion into a powerful tool that empowers us to pursue desired goals. “If you’re angry about something, your brain is wired to make you want to move toward the emotion and fully engulf yourself in it.” Nick Wolny A study on the impact of emotions on creativity in 2014 identified that positive emotions can constrain creativity whereas negative emotions and in particular anger facilitates and fosters creative performance. Anger can catalyse innovation, channeling your emotions into a productive source of creativity. How to Channel Your Anger Nick suggests three ways to harness your energy and build ‘fuel for our creative fire’. Stream of consciousness writing – the classic brain dump that you may have learned how toContinue Reading