726 Posts Found

Advocacy of a “permissive environment” for creativity in an organization is often a veiled attack on the idea of the organization itself. This quickly becomes clear when one recognizes this inescapable fact: One of the collateral purposes of an organization is to be inhospitable to a great and constant flow of ideas and creativity.

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Creativity, Organizational Behavior

Most daring new ideas are foolish or dangerous and appropriately rejected or ignored. So while it may be true that great geniuses are usually heretics, heretics are rarely great geniuses. If we could identify which heretics would turn out to be geniuses, life would be easier than it is. There is plenty of evidence that we cannot.

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior

Most companies are not innovative. Few companies have a senior executive responsible for innovation. Few executives have taken a course in innovation. My surveys of executives at 18 companies show that they want to become more innovative. But they don’t know where to start.

My recommendation? Have your entire top management team read “Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution” … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: William C. Finnie | Source: Discovery@Olin | Subject: Innovation

It may be 104 years old, but the company churns out cutting-edge products like a brash new startup. Here are the secrets of its success.

Content: Article | Author: Michael Arndt | Source: BusinessWeek | Subjects: Best Practices, Innovation

Inspiring creativity is one of the most pressing needs for corporations, particularly those in markets that are forcing them not only to improve but transform themselves. Yet true creativity can be had only if you are willing to break the rules that have locked you in a set way of thinking, not just doing. This unique book will help managers think about how they think. … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Luc de Brabandere | Subject: Innovation

The same advice on differentiating and learning faster than your competition that is often given to companies, is equally applicable to us as individuals. In this interesting piece, Stephen Shapiro explores how to unleash your inner innovator to differentiate yourself and to find new ways of adding value to your organization.

Editor’s Note: a very interesting read, especially the bit about NASA testing children for … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Stephen M. Shapiro | Source: 24/7 Innovation | Subjects: Innovation, Personal Development

You don’t need six people hopped up on Frappuccinos to generate jaw-dropping ideas. Let the mind games begin.

Content: Article | Author: David Jacobson | Source: MBA Jungle | Subject: Innovation

The world is flat (at least the economic one). The networked world is also a “flat” world, one where work can come from anywhere and be performed anywhere. Corporate learning departments have a huge role to play in addressing the challenges of a flat world and in helping to support innovation.

Content: Article | Author: Craig Mindrum, Ph.D. | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Innovation, Knowledge Management

Divided into three sections, the book is filled with the practices and procedures of companies that are in the vanguard of ICM – Dow Chemical, Xerox, Rockwell International, Skandia, and Hewlett-Packard. The first part of the book presents essential terms and concepts, along with basic material on the principles of value extraction and a discussion of the usefulness of values in the management of intellectual … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Patrick H. Sullivan | Subject: Innovation

Innovation isn’t about a leap in technology; it is about a leap in consumer value. Marketplace success isn’t about what is going on inside your company’s R&D lab; it’s about what is going on in the daily lives of your customers.

Content: Quotation | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Innovation

When companies and creators talk about design today, their focus tends to be on new product development. Such a focus, however, generally leads to increasing complexity, higher operating costs and higher risk of failure, creating a vicious spiral that drives customers away and destroys shareholder value.

Process and service innovations do just the opposite, by creating a virtuous circle — attracting and retaining customers by improving … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Design, Innovation

The need to forgo customer input, so to speak, may be the most disheartening premise of a successful radical innovation journey. Granted, listening to the customer is the fundamental driver of short-term business performance. But doing so also narrows eyesight and leads to fatal inertia when markets or technologies shift. Today’s customer preferences have no inherent predictive value for tomorrow’s markets. Radical innovation asks for … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Customer Related, Innovation

In order to discover radical innovation opportunities, a company should not only acquire the competencies of the future but also weed out those of the past. In particular, it needs to overrule so-called “best practices” with “next practices.” This is not easy when leaders have blessed best practices as knowledge jewels that shall be protected and handed down to new generations of professionals and managers. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Best Practices, Innovation

Most companies urgently need to boost their innovation productivity. However, many lack the discipline to systematically filter their innovative ideas, focus only on the most promising among them, and follow through effectively in developing, launching, and sustaining the resulting products. To isolate the best ideas and drive them to market, managers need to set clear, data-driven targets for innovation, install oversight mechanisms to increase success … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: James P. Andrew, Kermit King | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Innovation

Most claims of originality are testimony to ignorance and most claims of magic are testimony to hubris.

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Creativity, Thought

Creativity involves evolving something new from the present ideas and perspectives. It requires seeing and conceptualizing things from newer, unexplored perspectives. Fostering an atmosphere of creativity at the workplace requires implementation of unconventional rules and practices. Creativity is ubiquitous but hidden. In such a scenario, application of uncommon practices helps uncover cutting edge ideas and perspectives. The paper examines these issues and discusses the management … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Robert I. Sutton | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior

First published in 1961, The Management of Innovation is a business classic: one of the most influential books about business organizations ever published. Challenging the received wisdom that there is “one best way” to manage, it sounded the death knell of classical management theory and provided something lasting in its place: a way of looking at organizations that allowed for different contexts, different markets, and … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: G. M. Stalker, Tom Burns | Subject: Innovation

When a disruptive innovation is launched, it changes the entire industry and every firm operating within it. This book argues that it is possible to predict which companies will win and which will lose in a specific situation–and provides a practical framework for doing so. Most books on innovation–including Christensen’s previous two books–approached innovation from the inside-out, showing firms how they can create innovations inside … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Clayton M. Christensen, Erik A. Roth, Scott D. Anthony | Subjects: Innovation, Management

For the past 25 years, the author of this article has studied organizations that provide stimulating work climates and found that while some of the best, most creative ideas are often spontaneous, in general, creativity is not random. Certain organizational structures can foster greater innovation–not just the generation of great ideas, but their implementation as well.

Content: Article | Author: Stanley S. Gryskiewicz | Source: Psychology Today | Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior

A long list of constraints stands in the way of the kind of successful innovation necessary for high performance. Attempting to micromanage away the problem isn’t the solution, however. Instead, company leaders must actively choose a philosophy of innovation that helps everyone in the organization understand how to get beyond the obstacles to success.

Content: Article | Authors: Anita M. Thompson, Jane C. Linder, John F. Engel, Paul F. Nunes | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subject: Innovation