We’ve all been sucked into doing something stupid, right? Fortunately, Steven Greenspan has written a book called Annals of Gullibility. In its conclusion he explains how to avoid gullibility, and I’ve provided a synopsis for you. Read the full story at the American Express Open Forum. More on psychology if you need the advice.
Innovation
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Guy Kawasaki
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How to Avoid Gullibility
8 Feb 2010 | 3:45 pm -
How to Be Empathetic
4 Feb 2010 | 10:24 pmBy definition, good marketers are empathetic. That is, they have a capacity to understand and care for the needs of others. Bruna Martinuzzi explains how to be empathetic over at the American Express Open Forum. -
How to Not Be Annoying on Twitter
4 Feb 2010 | 10:19 pmAmber MacArthur explains how to not be annoying on Twitter over at the American Express Open Forum. Sage advice for you to develop a great reputation and following on Twitter. More Twitter tips. -
The Elements of Guyle: British Blogging
27 Jan 2010 | 10:06 pmWant to make your blog classier? You should blog like a Brit. I explain how to do this in ten easy steps. -
How to follow the Apple announcement
27 Jan 2010 | 7:56 amFollow the Apple announcement at Apple.alltop. We aggregate over 200 sources there.
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Principled Innovation
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My #tech10 update
7 Feb 2010 | 11:57 amLater this week, weather permitting, I’ll be downtown for ASAE & The Center’s 2010 Technology Conference at the Washington Convention Center. I’m excited to see many P.I. Blog readers and my favorite association community peeps. The Technology Conference is always a good time, and this year should be no exception! My session, The iPhone Volunteer: Why Mobile is the Next Great Platform for Member Engagement!, is on Thursday, February 11 at 4:15 pm. If you’re going to be at the conference, I hope you’ll join me because this may be the only session during… -
Test post
6 Feb 2010 | 7:32 amPlease ignore this test post. I’m trying to correct some problems with my RSS feed. -
Five words for 2010
4 Feb 2010 | 11:07 amAs we settle into 2010, I’ve been thinking about the five words on which I’ll be focused this year. I am sharing them here with the hope they may inspire association leaders throughout our community to think differently about what is possible in the year ahead. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and if you have your own words in mind, I hope you will consider sharing them. Intention–It has never been more important for associations to have leaders, especially in voluntary roles, who are intentional about building the inventive business models,… -
New mobile tech post on SmartBlog Insights
1 Feb 2010 | 6:31 amYou’ll want to check out my new post on mobile on SmartBlog Insights, for which I serve as editor-at-large. It is the first in a series of five posts I’ll be sharing on the Insights Blog in the coming weeks to expand on my Top Ten 2010 Trends for Associations. Here is how I close the post: Without question, mobile will be a major topic of, hopefully, generative conversation across the association community throughout 2010. How will you make sure that conversation occurs inside your organization? If you’re looking for a way to get the conversation going inside your… -
Free breakfast session on March 4
31 Jan 2010 | 5:49 pmIf you’re an association executive in the Washington, DC region, I hope you’ll join me for a special free breakfast session on Thursday, March 4 in Alexandria, Virginia. The topic of my talk is “Solving 21st Century Problems: How Associations Can Innovate to Thrive,” and I am presenting this session in partnership with my friends from Higher Logic, Powered by DUB and Vidzu. Here is the session description: While association stakeholders attempt to solve the 21st century problems they face personally and professionally, many associations are still offering solutions…
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In Pursuit of Elegance
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First, Agree on the Problem
8 Feb 2010 | 10:32 amMost of us are great problem-solvers, once we have properly defined the problem. But that is the hardest, or perhaps most overlooked, part of the process. Sometimes we’re solving things at the wrong level, something above the root cause level—meaning we’re attacking a symptom. Sometimes we’re looking for solutions in the altogether wrong area, because our assumptions, mindsets and biases point us in the wrong direction. Sometimes we pour so much time and energy into solutions we forget the original problem entirely. (Perhaps that helps explain feature creep!) And… -
The Power of Incomplete Microstories
5 Feb 2010 | 8:29 amIf you follow this blog you know I'm a huge fan of "I Wrote this for You." (Iain Thomas contributed a piece for this blog here.) Here's Iain talking at a recent TEDx event is South Africa. It's a heartwarming story about the power of story. It's a must-see, if you want to change the world. And even if you don't. -
Pick Your Cool Projects Now!
2 Feb 2010 | 1:30 pmMost of us are in goal-setting mode right about now. We’re making lists of all the great things we will accomplish in 2010. Alas, all too often the items on the list look a heckuva lot like the ones on last year’s list. We’re all guilty of it. I know I am. It’s time to make sure that doesn’t happen again a year from now. It’s time to scan and sift the list, and turn those high-potential, high-priority goals into cool projects.READ MORE HERE. -
Testing the Headwinds of Change
1 Feb 2010 | 9:39 amEvery year, millions of people “resolve” to lose weight. It’s the number one goal set each January 1. And by about this time each year, it’s the most abandoned one. There are dozens of theories about why that might be, but the explanation I like most (because we can do something about it) is that our optimism tends to overpower any thought of contingency planning...READ MORE HERE. -
Toyota Recall & The Penalty of Leadership
30 Jan 2010 | 8:05 amI've been asked by dozens of people in the media to comment or opine on the Toyota recall situation. I've declined all, for the simple reason that I don't like to speculate on something I know nothing about, don't have the facts on, and could at best add little insight into what must be a terrible ordeal for Toyota people. And I would hate to offer some "here's yesterday's weather" kind of comment that would only appear glib and unintelligent. Having said that, I can offer this. I've read all the stories and blogs. I've digested the expert…
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Made to Stick
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Quote of the day
8 Feb 2010 | 8:19 pmUS Airways Customer Service Line: “Your call will be answered in: One hundred. Fifty. Four. Minutes.” -
Making math concrete
8 Feb 2010 | 5:04 amSteven Strogatz, an applied math prof at Cornell, has started a series on the NYT site to re-teach basic math from an adult perspective, with the goal to show “why it’s so enthralling.” I love the second installment, which explores the way that using rocks in place of digits (i.e., six rocks rather than the number “6″) can provide unexpected insight on seemingly tough problems: For example, instead of adding just two odd numbers together, suppose we add all the consecutive odd numbers, starting from 1: 1 + 3 = 4 1 + 3 + 5 = 9 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9… -
Changing the Saints
4 Feb 2010 | 6:45 pmGreat story in SI by Don Banks about how the Saints defense was transformed, thanks to the efforts of new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Forget football for a second (at least until Sunday)–this is one of the clearest organizational change stories I’ve heard in a while: If you want the short answer of how the Saints went from being a 7-9 and 8-8 team in 2007-08, to this year’s “turnaround” 15-3 NFC champions, it has everything to do with Williams and his relentless emphasis on creating turnovers. … “He came in and he made us obsessed about… -
What makes a great teacher?
29 Jan 2010 | 3:05 pmIf you’re interested in teaching, this article by Amanda Ripley in The Atlantic is a must-read. For years, people have speculated about what makes a great teacher. But now there is data. It has been gathered painstakingly by Teach For America for over a decade, and it covers hundreds of thousands of kids. TFA linked the test scores of students to their teachers, so that TFA can spot patterns in the data: Which teachers are causing big boosts in the kids’ scores–for instance, advancing them by three grade levels in one year? And what traits do those star teachers have in… -
The web’s “face-sucking” potential
28 Jan 2010 | 11:12 amStanford professor Brian Knutson describes the way the internet has changed his thinking: In terms of how I think, I fear that the Internet is less helpful. Although I can find information faster, that information is not always the most relevant, and is often tangential. More often than I’d like to admit, I sit down to do something and then get up bleary-eyed hours later, only to realize my task remains undone (or I can’t even remember the starting point). The sensation is not unlike walking into a room, stopping, and asking “now, what was I here for?” — except that…
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Blogging Innovation
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Innovation That is Measured is Treasured
9 Feb 2010 | 12:30 amWhy Results Require Rewards: Encouraging Action With Incentiveby Robert F. Brands with Jeff ZbarImagine a company that has taken the time to consider the role of Innovation in the corporate mission. Employees were encouraged to be part of the innovation process but their reward was compensation linked strictly to output.Does that encourage value-added thought process? In my mind, it encourages work, which should need no encouragement at all.Now, what if that same company put a reward system in place whose reward system was based on innovation and results, not hours or labor? It aligned reward… -
Part 3 - Three Innovation Distinctions
9 Feb 2010 | 12:15 amby Stephen ShapiroThis is the third of my "Innovation Distinctions" entries.In the first part of this series, I wrote why you should focus on "Challenges, not Ideas." Next, I addressed the distinction of "Process, not Events."In this final entry, I discuss why innovation requires "Diversity not Homogeneity." Be sure to read the previous two articles before reading this one.As mentioned in the other blog entries, I first shared these distinctions with a group of speakers and authors who were brainstorming ways to improve the learning experience for other speakers and authors who attend their… -
10 Simple Ways to Stay Connected
9 Feb 2010 | 12:01 amby Matt HeinzNo matter what you do for a living, an active network is critical to your current and future success. That said, it's very easy to ignore the often simple, tactical things you can do to keep your network engaged and growing.Here's a list of ten things to consider doing daily. If ten is too much to start (although this list should take all of 15-20 minutes if you stay focused), start with just 2-4 and expand from there. Each piece incrementally will help, and you'll be surprised how quickly your investment comes back in the way of opportunities, introductions and more.Email three… -
January's Top 10 Innovation Posts
8 Feb 2010 | 9:27 amThis year I thought I would experiment with a Top Ten list at the beginning of each month, profiling the ten posts from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Blogging Innovation. So, without further ado, here are January's ten most popular innovation or marketing posts:10 Lessons Learned from 2009 - by Holly G. GreenTop 10 Innovation Articles of 2009 - by Braden KelleyMicrosoft - Apple - Google in Tablet Battle - by Braden KelleyThree Enterprise 2.0 Themes to Watch in 2010 - by Hutch CarpenterApple Tablet Sneak Preview - by Braden KelleyApple Tablet Won't Be Runaway Success -… -
Study of Innovation Risks
8 Feb 2010 | 7:22 amBuilding upon the Boston Consulting Group innovation study, Altin Kadareja has configured a research study for his graduate thesis titled: "Quantification of Innovation Risks".He is focused on developing a model that can identify, analyze and quantify the risk of innovation projects. This model stands besides innovation project management practices and is based on a step by step structural framework empowered by a PRA (Probabilistic Risk Assessment) analysis. He is closing out his research this week, so please help him out by filling in ashort online survey (only 13 questions).Braden Kelley…
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Roger von Oech
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"Vanishing Point" from Bonsajo
20 Jan 2010 | 7:35 pmI really like this short video (1:40) entitled "Vanishing Point" from Bonsajo, a visual performance unit in Japan. It makes me think of some stuff I saw in the late 1960s and early 70s. It's fun just to watch it and let it flow over you. Vanishing Point from Bonsajo on Vimeo. -
Personal Highlights of the '00s
27 Dec 2009 | 3:30 pmThe '00s are at an end. On a personal level, I can say the '00s were a good decade. I spent most of my fifties there (I aged from 51 to 61). I had some wonderful experiences, met some interesting people, and created a few things along the way.Here are some of my personal highlights from the '00s:• I Imagined that a Rhombic Triacontahedron could be broken into 30 pyramids. This idea became the Ball of Whacks. I patented it, went to China to manufacture it, and created a company (with Stuart Kaplan, Creative Whack) to market and distribute it. Subsequent products are the X-Ball… -
Novel Omission
14 Dec 2009 | 4:25 pmClick HERE to follow me on Twitter!For the past month, I've been Twittering — and having a lot of fun doing it. I was an early adopter of Twitter — March, 2007 or member #1,810,431 — but didn't much do with it until recently. One thing that has helped make the experience enjoyable is the Tweetie app for iPhone. Now, I can take a few minutes here and there and check what's happening in the "river of Tweets" that flows by.Many of the people I "follow" are interested in innovation, creativity, and the new social media technologies that enhance social… -
New Version of Creative Whack Pack App!
24 Nov 2009 | 10:01 amToday, Apple approved a new version (3.1) of my Creative Whack Pack iPhone app. [Here is the link to iTunes.] Since it was introduced last March, this product has become the iPhone's premier creativity/innovation tool. It has also been #1 in its category (Business). Great price too: $1.99. The three main new features are: Note-taking workshops. Each specific Creative Whack card has its own sound effect. These enhance the user experience, and make the session more memorable. There is increased "sharability." You can now share Creative Whack cards with friends and colleagues… -
What's Your Creativity Style?
21 Nov 2009 | 1:13 pmIt's time again for some inspiration from Heraclitus, the world's first creativity teacher (he lived around 500 BC). Today's insight is: “I searched into myself.” Heraclitus felt that consulting our own knowledge and intuition is a wonderful way to gain insight. Unfortunately, some of us never learned this lesson. Much of our educational system is an elaborate game of "guess what the teacher is thinking," and we come to believe that the best ideas are in someone else's head rather than our own. Heraclitus reminds us that there are good ideas within ourselves…
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Innovation Weblog
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Why open innovation alliances fail
One of the reasons why open innovation is so hard to implement is because you must open up your internal innovation processes to another organization. According to one innovation expert, you actually need to manage three sets of relationships in any potential partnership, which explains why it's so hard to create a successful open innovation alliance. -
How to find potential open innovation partners
The world if filled with incredibly smart people. If you can locate them and convince them to partner with you, they can help to drive your open innovation efforts forward. Stefan Lindegaard shares several strategies for making that happen. -
Is open innovation over-hyped?
Open innovation has been hyped in the media and by some consulting firms over the past few years as the next new thing and is just giving a term to an activity that has been underway in business for a long time. Simply put, open innovation is partnering to gain leverage and build barriers to competition. -
Government's promising role in fostering open innovation
One key partner that has the potential to greatly affect and enhance the human condition is government. This author prefers the open market as the main catalyst for change, but given the complexity and scale of certain types of research, government can play a vital role in advancing knowledge in science and technology by supporting basic research. While some governments have been funding research for quite some time, the inefficiency of the process may be keeping new discoveries from being commercialized. -
Serendipity and open innovation
When you open up your innovation processes to outside partners, you sometimes don't end up where you thought you would. Serendipity may take you somewhere even better.
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Gregg Fraley
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Attention Microsoft – Pace of Innovation Matters
9 Feb 2010 | 9:53 amThere’s been an interesting dust-up in the press recently, having to do with innovation at Microsoft. An ex-Microsoft employee, Dick Brass, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times, basically saying that Microsoft is failing to innovate. He says that in spite of good intentions, great employees, and beaucoup resources they don’t have a formal [...] -
JD Salinger, Lessons in Creativity & Innovation
30 Jan 2010 | 5:50 amI feel compelled to write something about J.D. Salinger. I loved his work and read all of it, which sadly for fans such as I, wasn’t really that much. Beyond Catcher in the Rye, there was Franny and Zooey, Nine Stories, and Raise High the Roombeam Carpenters, and Seymour an Introduction. This is his body of [...] -
A Tribute to Bob’s Big Boy, a Cartoon
28 Jan 2010 | 10:58 amBranding is something we are imprinted with at a subconscious level. I saw this guy at Hobgoblins, a quite ordinary guy, but with this poofy quiff. I asked myself why? The result is this drawing. Non-Americans might not get the Bob’s Big Boy reference, click here and you’ll see what that is. -
Creativity is Where Prosperity Starts
26 Jan 2010 | 2:59 amI have no idea who Steven Weber is, but I’m going to find out. He posted a piece on The Huffington Post today that I think is brilliant. In my view, it’s one of those things that needs to be said more often. The simple fact Steven brings up is this: creativity leads to prosperity. Value [...] -
Thomas Friedman – Spot on Re: Jobs, Jobs, (Steve) Jobs
25 Jan 2010 | 3:38 amThomas Friedman is one of my favorite writers in the political-economic arena. Probably because he’s a great thinker. When he writes a column you can be sure it is well thought out, well researched, and to the point. He also has ideas — he goes beyond reporting. Yesterday he wrote a New York Times Op-Ed piece [...]
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Brainstore
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A Simple Method To Think About The Future
25 Jan 2010 | 6:57 amWhen developing scenarios for the future, many people struggle because they are trying to get inspired by thinking hard about the future, and feel overwhelmed when they do not find something “awe-inspiring” to say. What about letting them invent “Headlines of the Future” for the industry or topic you are working on? It puts them in the shoes of a different group (journalists) and generally produces great insights that people can relate to better because they are more familiar to them. -
Let’s talk about the “We Have More Than Enough Ideas” Myth
24 Jan 2010 | 2:41 pmEvery single week we visit companies in Switzerland and Germany, sometimes also in other parts of the world, and we often hear a variation of what we like to call the “we have more than enough ideas” myth, a story that is told to us by decision makers in companies of all sizes and industries. It is told in different variations, of which the most common one is something like the following: In our company, we actually do not have a problem with generating ideas. We have so many ideas that we do not know which ones to implement or we have problems with the implementation of ideas… -
Finding Ideas
19 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pmThis fun commercial sent to us from Japan shows people at the moment of inspiration in their everyday lives. The commercial shows people being inspired in bed, in the park, in the WC, in-transit, at the beach and even in board meetings. What’s really remarkable about this commercial though is how similar it is to the grumpy thinker who stars in the first part of the presentations we give about BrainStore! Check out some of our images for where people get ideas: And, we both have the same conclusions: that it’s much better to be proactive and actively try to get ideas than to just… -
Presenting: Young Innovations Europe
17 Jan 2010 | 1:30 pmYoung Innovations Europe (YIE) is a fresh and exciting magazine created for and by young people interested in exercising positive leadership in their own communities in groundbreaking ways. YIE are interested in showcasing the best initiatives, programs and innovations young people are implementing throughout Europe. In their first magazine, YIE also portrais the Idea Factory BrainStore on page 9. You can read the article online on YIE’s website. -
Where in the world is Brainstore today?
14 Jan 2010 | 3:30 amUPDATE: We have a winner! Congrats to Axelle who was the first to guess (on Facebook) that BrainStore was in Strasbourg today. Here’s where we held the Idea Event! For more pictures, check out our photo album on Facebook. Last month, we started a new contest here on Brainstore’s blog called “Where in the World is Brainstore?” Why? In the past 20 years, we’ve been all over the world. We’ve traveled to four continents, holding our Idea Events everywhere from Zurich, Switzerland to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Washington D.C. in the USA. So since we get to have so…
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Project Rethink
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Where does the iPad fit?
A lot of people are talking about the “revolutionary new iPad” but even more people are talking about where this device fits in the world — why is it so revolutionary? Is the iPad attacking the netbook market or the eBook market? Where does this new device fit? In my mind there are 4 major computer [...] -
Your Dilemma
Every couple of years I try to make a point to read “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton M. Christensen. Having just received a Kindle for Christmas, I thought what better way to break in an eBook device than with a book highlighting the problems with mismanagement of disruptive technology. As someone who works in publishing, [...] -
The Circle of Google and User Experience
Google has evolved beyond a single web application. Google has capitalized on establishing a consistent user experience across the web. One of the key factors to Google’s success, besides their dedication to innovative solutions, is found in their application workflows. Recently I clicked through the links in the top left corner of every major [...] -
Piece-of-Junk Innovation
The trick with innovation is coming up with something “new”. We have a tendency to iterate what we know; iteration is not innovation. There are a few companies who do this very well; Apple and Google typically come to mind. But I think there is an overlooked simplicity to the success of new products from these [...] -
Surround Yourself With Good People
Groups have interesting dynamics. I don’t claim to be an expert on the psyche of a group but I can tell you one thing; good people bring good results. Surround yourself with good people. It’s humbling, but try to avoid situations where you feel that you’re the smartest person in the room because if you do [...]
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Endless Innovation
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How far should you let people peek inside your creative process?
8 Feb 2010 | 6:19 pmIn the era of the social Web -- when it's possible to tweet, blog or status update every miniscule fact of one's life -- it's fashionable to opine that every personal detail and inner thought should be made public. After all, if you're not going to do it, someone else will. But just how far should you let people peek inside your creative process? It's a question that I've been pondering for the past 48 hours, having just completed Vladimir Nabokov's posthumously published work, The Original of Laura. To make a long story short, Nabokov (pictured, left)… -
Microsoft, Middle Management and Why Some Companies Can't Innovate
6 Feb 2010 | 6:10 amThis week's op-ed piece (Microsoft's Creative Destruction) in the New York Times from Dick Brass, a former Microsoft VP, was a wake up call for the tech world. In a thoughtful but ultimately scathing piece, Brass describes how and why Microsoft gradually evolved from an innovative company with first-mover advantage to a technological also-ran scrambling behind just about everyone in bringing new products to market:"As they marvel at Apple’s new iPad tablet computer, the technorati seem to be focusing on where this leaves Amazon’s popular e-book business. But the much more… -
Move over McKinsey, here comes IDEO
25 Jan 2010 | 5:00 pmAs one of the premier strategy consulting companies in the world, McKinsey has always been a pipeline of future CEO talent for the nation's leading businesses. The number of Fortune 500 CEOs with a consulting background at McKinsey is truly staggering -- as McKinsey points out on its recruiting website, over 150 McKinsey alumni have become CEOs of companies with more than one billion dollars in annual revenue. (Heck, even Chelsea Clinton worked at McKinsey - it's the type of place you go to when you're the daughter of a U.S. president and a graduate of Stanford and Oxford). So… -
Five Lessons for CEOs from the Massachusetts Senate Race
21 Jan 2010 | 5:08 pmThe Brown-Coakley Senate race in Massachusetts, which ended with the hugely unanticipated victory of unheralded newcomer Scott Brown for the Kennedy Senate seat, seems to be one of those "defining political moments" that you always read about in history textbooks. This, after all, was the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Ted Kennedy for over 40 years. The idea that an unknown Republican could win the Senate seat in the "bluest of blue states" -- especially after Barack Obama carried Massachusetts by more than 25 points just over a year ago - is staggering. And not just for… -
LEGO: Still the favorite toy of geniuses and innovators
12 Jan 2010 | 5:19 pmLEGO created this whimsical and delightful video to highlight the inspiration and sense of wonderment that LEGO brings out in all of us. The (sometimes surreal) video supports the launch of a new website, LEGO Click, that showcases some of the world's most interesting LEGO builds and provides a central hub to interact with other LEGO fans. The Lego Click website currently contains a mix of photos, films, tweets and blog posts. And, as an added bonus, there's also a LEGO PHOTO iPhone app to "LEGO-fy" portraits of your friends with multi-colored LEGO plastic bricks. [video:…
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The Heart of Innovation
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Innovation from the Inside Out
3 Feb 2010 | 7:58 amThese days, almost all of my clients are talking about the need to establish a culture of innovation. Some, I'm happy to report, are actually doing something about it. Hallelujah! They are taking bold steps forward to turn theory into action. The challenge for them is the same as it's always been -- and that is, to find a simple, authentic way to address the challenge from the inside out -- to water the root of the tree, not just the branches. Guess what? Systems are not sufficient to guarantee change. In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Systems die. Instinct remains." -
Get Deeply In Touch With the Passion to Create!
30 Jan 2010 | 6:48 amIf you want to CREATE something extraordinary, you're going to need some of the spirit that Dean Schambach exudes. When the true force of creativity is burning bright in every cell of your body, all the rest will follow. Hats off to David McDonald, Woodstock filmmaker, for this pearl of brilliance. More Dean More David -
Want a Brainstorming Breakthrough? Get the Right Question!
28 Jan 2010 | 1:06 pmThere's a simple reason why so many brainstorm sessions are a waste of time. The problem statement being pitched to participants is the wrong one. This is not surprising -- especially when you consider how little time most facilitators put into preparing for a session. Here's what happens: The person who calls the session is usually scrambling -- overwhelmed, over-caffeinated, and running from one meeting to the next. Out of breath, they pitch the topic to the group, but the topic is either vague or secondary to a more essential challenge that remains unspoken. G.K. Chesterton, one of the… -
Facilitating a Brainstorm Session Is Like Going to a Casino
27 Jan 2010 | 6:41 pmFacilitating a brainstorm session is like going to a casino. You show up, find your favorite game, place your bet, and pray for luck. Sometimes you win. Most of the times, you lose. And the odds are always stacked against you. That's the way it is for most of us -- casual visitors to Vegas or Atlantic City or a neighborhood poker game. Then, of course, there are the professionals -- people who gamble for a living. They have a different approach. They know how to find an edge. They count cards. They calculate the odds. They read body language. They know when to hold 'em and know when to fold… -
If You Want to Spark Bold New Ideas, Facilitate (Don't Lead)
26 Jan 2010 | 8:18 pmHere's one of the dirty little secrets of corporate brainstorm sessions: When they are led by upper management, department heads, or project leaders, they usually get manipulated. Because honchos and honchettes are heavily invested in the topic being brainstormed, it is quite common for them to bend the collective genius of the group to their own particular point of view. Not a good idea. Participants -- out of respect for the expertise (or position or parking space) of the facilitator -- will invariably moderate their input. And while this can sometimes lead to good results, the results are…
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Grassroots Innovation
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Why I'll End Up Paying For E-Mail
5 Feb 2010 | 4:45 pmE-mail is free, information is not. Information is costly to obtain.More and more business transactions are taking place online. It's not just ordering figurines from Amazon.com anymore. Things like banking, insurance, registrations, and unemployment all take place via e-mail.So, all of the information that you need to run your life - your account number, your payment receipts, etc - resides in those e-mails.With the "free" e-mail all of those e-mails are on someone else central server somewhere. Should they choose to shut you out, your hosed. Controlling your information becomes valuable.It… -
Yesterday's Innovations
4 Feb 2010 | 4:44 pm -
3 Feb 2010 | 5:35 pm
3 Feb 2010 | 5:35 pmA lot of business people think that he who shows emotion first loses. The thought behind this is that those who are emotional aren't acting consciously, rather, they are unconsciously reacting to their emotions and are therefore unreliable. Weak. Prone to error.The problem with this attitude is that you can overlook the human element. The part of us that makes us human. Passion, emotion, heart; they matter. A lot. -
AMEN
3 Feb 2010 | 9:09 amMalcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers does a good job describing what it takes to be successful; hard work, smarts, and luck.But there are other key factors that most people overlook.Specifically, according to some research published you should also be able to:* Listen to others* Follow the steps* Follow the rules* Ignore distractions * Ask for help* Take turns when you talk* Get along with others* Stay calm with others* Be responsible for your behavior* Do nice things for othersSometimes easier said than done. -
Back
2 Feb 2010 | 5:04 pmIt wasn't so much having to re-image the machine. Or wasting the time on the phone with the tech center in India. Or having problems with recovering the files from the back up hard drive.No, the special joy was the upgraded virus protection causing the machine to crash. The proverbial cherry in the aged Manhattan so to speak.Regardless, Grassroots is back.We will not longer click on links sent to us; not even funny links from our friends at Christmas time that have our heads pasted on dancing elves. Because as funny as the laugh is, it's not worth days on end of getting back to even.
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creativesage.com
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The Art of Raising Venture Capital in 2010: Don’t Forget to Do Your Homework!
28 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pmTurning Vision into Value If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, or if you’re visiting, please invite your friends and colleagues and join us for the Silicon Valley Innovation Institute’s Innovation Society 2009 Series… SVII "First Wednesday" Innovation Society Meeting February 3rd, 20106:00 - 9:30 p.m. Featured Program: The Art of Raising Venture Capital in 2010: Don’t forget to do your homework! Guest Speaker: Steve Goldberg of Venrock Associates During the 1990s, the steady and monotonic upward growth of the overall economy and the dramatic growth and… -
Puzzles, Mysteries, and Muddles: Problem Solving and Innovation
5 Jan 2010 | 3:31 pmTurning Vision into Value If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, or if you’re visiting, please invite your friends and colleagues and join us for the Silicon Valley Innovation Institute’s Innovation Society 2009 Series… SVII “First Wednesday” Innovation Society Meeting January 6th, 2010 6:00 - 9:30 p.m. Program: Puzzles, Mysteries, and Muddles: Problem Solving and Innovation Guest Speaker: Jerry Talley, Organizational Development Consultant We live in a world filled with problems that are more complex, more conflicted, and more interconnected than ever before. -
Masdar City, UAE: World’s First Carbon-Neutral, Zero-Waste Community
1 Dec 2009 | 10:12 pmTurning Vision into Value Invite your friends and colleagues and join us for the Silicon Valley Innovation Institute’s Innovation Society 2009 Series… Next Meeting: Wednesday, December 2nd, 20096:00 - 9:30 p.m. Masdar City, UAE: World’s First Carbon-Neutral, Zero-Waste Community Guest Presenter: Karin Larsen, Masdar City Project Masdar City is the expression of a vision. It represents Abu Dhabi’s multifaceted response to the challenges facing a sustainable future. The Masdar Initiative and Masdar City are positioning Abu Dhabi as a global leader and hub for the… -
Invest in Innovation by Growing Creativity: How to Love and not Fear the “C” Word Behind Innovation
1 Nov 2009 | 1:00 amCreativity, a presentation by Jakob Denk View more presentations from Jakob Denk. (tags: gradient paper) In a recent Silicon Valley Watcher post, Founder/Publisher Tom Foremski blogged about “10 Reasons Why This is a Great Time to Invest in Innovation.” At the end of his post, which listed many excellent reasons why now, in an economic downturn, it is an excellent time to innovate, Tom concluded with: “The next upturn will be led by what I call New Rules Enterprises, these are organizations that are highly efficient and have made the most of the economies of Internet… -
Tom Foremski Discusses Silicon Valley’s Role as the Global Engine of Innovation
28 Sep 2009 | 4:00 pmTurning Vision into Value Invite your friends and colleagues and join us for the Silicon Valley Innovation Institute’s Innovation Society 2009 Series… Next Meeting: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 6:00-9:30 p.m. Guest Speaker: Tom Foremski, Publisher and Editor, Silicon Valley Watcher What are you observing lately, regarding Silicon Valley’s role as the global engine of innovation? Are we experiencing another comeback? What will be the global and local impacts of Silicon Valley’s latest innovations, which have been moving ahead rapidly, despite the economic conditions of…
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Innovate on Purpose
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Trend Spotting - Purpose, Frequency and Responsibility
3 Feb 2010 | 2:02 pmI've written before (and recently) about the reactive nature of many businesses. It often seems there are more incentives to ignore signals in the marketplace and then conduct heroic efforts at recovery than to simply plan effectively and study trends and act accordingly. The purpose of today's topic is to examine whether or not trend spotting and scenario planning is important and valuable (hopefully already answered) and if trend spotting and scenario planning are important, what individual or team within your firm should be focused on this work, and how frequently it should be… -
How to spot - or avoid - innovators
2 Feb 2010 | 8:35 amAs always, we'd like to make our readers and clients happy. In that vein, I'd like to introduce how to spot people who are likely innovators. In this way, you can identify them more quickly, and choose to hire them if you want to be more innovative, or you can ignore and avoid them if the status quo is more your scene. Good luck with that strategy, by the way.Identifying people who are innovators is actually relatively easy. They are the ones who don't actually seem to belong the organization in the first place.Innovators tend to:Reject the standard framing of a… -
Innovation does not equal technology
1 Feb 2010 | 12:03 pmI had the opportunity to speak to a group at a university recently about innovation. In fact, I've spoken to four universities about innovation in the last few months. There's a growing awareness that innovation needs to happen in university settings. This would include innovation on the administration of the university, in the teaching methods and in what is taught. But that's a sideline to what I want to write about today.In my most recent speaking engagement I was confronted by a senior faculty member who argued that all this talk about "innovation" was pointless, and… -
The most powerful innovation tools
27 Jan 2010 | 9:11 pmI was leading a training session with a client today when one of the folks in attendance looked at me and said - this isn't rocket science. I had to agree. In my experience most of the really interesting tools and techniques for innovation, the ones that create real insight, are fairly simple, but in their simplicity force the team to look at its products and services in a completely new light.Take, for example, my favorite "low hanging" fruit - the scenario plan. A scenario plan can be built by a few well trained executives in a workshop in a day or two, using trends and… -
Book Review: LinchPin
26 Jan 2010 | 4:15 amEvery once in a while an opportunity comes along to explore something really new and different, and I'm happy to say that you're experiencing one of those events. Seth Godin is releasing a new book entitled LinchPin, and is trying out a completely new "media" strategy relying on bloggers. I was honored to be asked to participate. You'll find his entire book launch on the Squidoo lens: http://www.squidoo.com/the-Linchpin-Posts.Seth sent out sections of his book in advance and we had a chance to read those sections and ask questions of Seth about the book. I've…
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Scott Berkun
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The future of UI – interview on CBC
29 Jan 2010 | 9:21 amThe folks at CBC’s Spark show interviewed me about the future of UI, and the boring post. Good stuff on innovation, ui design, whether I’m a curmudgeon or not, the Ipad and more. ~10:00 long. To listen: Go to the The future of UI interview on CBC’s website. Use the raw mp3 link to play in your browser -
Should Americans get more vacation?
27 Jan 2010 | 2:14 pmIn a series of posts, called readers choice, I write on whatever topics people submit and vote for. If you dig this idea, let me know if the comments, and submit your ideas and votes. This week’s reader’s choice post: What’s the impact of 60 hour work weeks and only 2 weeks of vacation on American companies? (submitted by Lynn – thx!) The running joke at any big corporation is the phrase ‘work/life balance‘. Anywhere that needs to make a special phrase like this is by definition a place populated by workaholics. You’d never hear people talk about… -
Twitter reconsidered
26 Jan 2010 | 10:22 amI wrote a post in June of 2009 called Calling Bullshit on Social Media. The goal of the post was to put twitter, and facebook, into an honest perspective, given all the hype and idiocy surrounding the phrase social media. It was picked up all over, as echo-chamber articles about social media often are, and has well over 100 comments and links to it. In the six months since then my use of twitter has increased, warranting a follow up post. I don’t retract what I said – but now I have more experience to explore similiar points. Stats: I’ve been on twitter for 7 months. My…
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BQF Innovation
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Don’t cut Innovation
3 Feb 2010 | 10:09 amAlistair Darling (photo by the Sun) In December the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announced that he would make cuts of £600m in funding for higher education, research and science by 2012. Shortly afterwards the Science and Technology Facilities council announced a range of cuts in experimental programmes. The number of students funded to take PhD degrees is expected to fall by 25%. It is remarkable that these announcements have not generated national concern because they strike at our national ability to innovate. On Dec 16th over 100 leading scientists and… -
The ‘Break the Rules’ Exercise
1 Feb 2010 | 9:17 amInnovators are rule breakers. We often see how new entrants to a market break the rules to which that the existing players conform. The low cost airlines did this when they challenged the ways in which the major airlines did business. The new players used electronic tickets, bypassed travel agents, did away with allocated seating, flew to new smaller airports and so on. Break the Rules is a workshop method that I use to challenge the fundamental assumptions of your business. It can be used to illustrate the number and level of restrictions on how you work. It can also be the basis… -
Don’t Take the First Answer
19 Jan 2010 | 5:39 amThe macho manager is keen to be seen as decisive and can quickly come up with an idea for tackling most problems. Doing something is generally (but not always) a better option that doing nothing. But the first answer we come up with is unlikely to be the best answer. Photo by Bernie Condon A better approach is to take a little time to generate a long list of possible ideas and then evaluate them in order to select one or more to try. Our first idea is often the most obvious, the most straightforward response. It is rarely the best response. As we mull over the problem and force… -
Competitive Advantage through Innovation Workshop
15 Jan 2010 | 4:27 amI am running three one-day workshops for BQF entitled Gaining Competitive Advantage through Innovation. These workshops will cover advanced idea generation techniques that really work for new products and services. Delegates will practise and learn practical methods that they can take back and use in their organisations to help improve innovation. There are details here. The dates are London Feb 25 and Sept 16 Midlands June 17 These workshops are open to non-members of the British Quality Foundation. Places are limited so please book early. Paul Sloane -
21 Great Ways to Innovate
8 Jan 2010 | 4:52 amHow hard is it to innovate? Not once but over and over? How can you repeatedly implement great new products, processes or services? Continuous innovation is not easy and if you keep using the same method you will experience diminishing results. Try innovating how you innovate by employing some of these ideas. 1. Copy someone else’s idea. One of the best ways to innovate is to pinch an idea that works elsewhere and apply it in your business. Henry Ford saw the production line working in a meat packing plant and then applied to the automobile industry thereby dramatically…
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Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen Shapiro
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Three Innovation Distinctions (Part 3): Diversity not Homogeneity
1 Feb 2010 | 10:16 amThis is the third of my “innovation distinctions” entries. In the first part of this series, I wrote why you should focus on “Challenges, not Ideas.” Next, I addressed the distinction of “Process, not Events.” In this final entry, I discuss why innovation requires “Diversity not Homogeneity.” Be sure to read the previous two articles before [...] -
More Blog Entries Coming Soon
25 Jan 2010 | 12:01 pmI have been working ’round the clock to finish my Personality Poker manuscript. It goes to the publisher Feb 1. After that, I will be back and blogging in full force… -
R.I.P. Robert B. Parker
19 Jan 2010 | 3:40 pmToday I learned that one of my favorite authors, Robert B. Parker, passed away. He is probably best know for his “Spenser” books. These fast-paced crime stories are based in Boston (my hometown) and were the inspiration for the ’80s TV show, “Spenser: For Hire.” I read every book and loved them all. He is also the [...] -
Three Innovation Distinctions (Part 2): Process Not Events
18 Jan 2010 | 6:00 amIn the first part of this series, I wrote why you should focus on challenges, not ideas. You should read that article before proceeding. In this second entry, I will focus on “Process, not Events.” I first shared these three distinctions with a bunch of speakers and authors. In the speaking industry, conferences/conventions are the primary model [...] -
I Need Your Help: Personality Poker Book Subtitle
8 Jan 2010 | 9:21 amI need your help! I am in the process of finishing the manuscript for my next book, “Personality Poker.” The book will be published by Penguin’s Portfolio books and is expected in stores September 2010. We have been working on a subtitle for the book – and I would love your input. I realize that you don’t know [...]
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BusinessWeek.com -- Innovation
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Special Report: The Value of Design
9 Feb 2010 | 10:36 amThe catalyst for this report on the value of design in business was the outpouring of reader comments that arrived after a bad-tempered blog post -
Why Design Matters
9 Feb 2010 | 10:36 am -
Super Bowl Ad Winners and Losers
8 Feb 2010 | 12:53 pmDerek Rucker, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business, talks about the best and worst television advertising during the Super Bowl -
Innovators, Break Down Those Silos
8 Feb 2010 | 11:55 amThe most effective way to achieve meaningful change in business is to enable collaborative innovation across cubicles and industries -
Google's Display-Ad Sales Should Top $1 Billion
7 Feb 2010 | 10:24 pmAs analysts say rising demand for Internet display ads will begin paying off for Google in 2010, one asks: "Is this a $10 billion business?"
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Working Knowledge ®
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Preparing for the Unknown
28 Jan 2010 | 8:12 amPoint: You may not be able to predict the future, but you can prepare for it by tracking early trends and staying open to disruptions. Story: What will the web look like in 20 years?Stuart Miniman of the Office of the CTO at EMC Corporation asked me to contribute my thoughts on this, as part of EMC’s ON magazine celebration of the web’s 20th anniversary. My predictions for 2030? I know that I don’t know, but I do follow some heuristics that are helpful regardless of which future materializes. “You can’t predict the future,” said Google’s Eric Schmidt back… -
How to Accelerate Innovation
19 Jan 2010 | 4:46 amPoint: Accelerate innovation by finding an analogous solution from a different industry. Story: Henry Ford’s assembly line is often touted as a breakthrough innovation. What’s less known is that Ford got the idea by seeing the “disassembly line” process of butchering hogs at the Philip Armour meatpacking company in Chicago. Similar techniques were also already being used by Campbell’s to automate canned food production. Adopting ideas from other industries and applying them to your own industry is a powerful and proven source of innovation. But what if you… -
Open Innovation at Tesco
4 Jan 2010 | 7:08 pmPoint: Open innovation makes developing niche products and services affordable Story:Tesco.com, the world’s largest online grocery retailer, is opening its API to third-party developers. Developers get access to Tesco’s powerful grocery engine to design apps for specialized purposes. For example, a developer could design an app for customers who have an allergy to peanuts. The app would display only those Tesco grocery items that are free of any peanuts. Likewise, another app could focus on calorie counting: customers could order just the right amount of food to stay within the… -
Shell, HP, Clorox & CSC: Protecting Open Innovation from Corporate Antibodies
7 Dec 2009 | 1:32 pmPoint: By picking where open innovation occurs and what it communicates to the rest of the organization, innovators can protect open innovation efforts from corporate antibodies Story: All organizations, especially large ones, have an “immune system” in the form of an army of fine-tuned antibodies that root out risk and threats to the smooth-operating status quo. These antibodies help drive efficiencies, attack waste, promote uniform performance, and prevent infection for foreign ideas. That’s good for efficiency, but innovation requires taking risks and changing the… -
Invention Machine’s CTO on Open Innovation
4 Dec 2009 | 7:59 amPoint: When reviewing the ideas submitted to your open innovation portal, identify ideas that have momentum and ideas that are outliers. Story: Open innovation efforts yield many ideas, often too many to use. So, what’s the best way to manage and make productive use of the ideas you receive? To answer this, I interviewed Jim Todhunter, CTO of Invention Machine, as part of the Open Innovation Summit held in Orlando December 3-4, 2009. I asked Jim about how Invention Machine Goldfire software can be used in open innovation efforts. He described three key tasks to do after you have…
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Creativity And Innovation Driving Business - Innovation Index
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Business Innovation eBook & Definitive Guide on Creativity
31 Jan 2010 | 9:08 pmInnovation eBook used by 550+ innovative companies worldwide - eBook Best Seller (deployed at Nokia, EDS, J&J, Pepsi, HP, many more...)Innovation eBook and Definitive Guide is a 212-page collection of over 55 best practices, case studies, and insights on the current state of Innovation in Business at Top Innovators including Apple, Google, Netflix, 3M, Proctor and Gamble, Johnson and Johnson, Toyota, GE, BMW, Deloitte, Frito Lay, IBM, Nike, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Microsoft, Dell, Tata, Intel and more. With pertinent articles from this award-winning Creativity And Innovation… -
As Twitter is to consumer, oGoing is to business
25 Jan 2010 | 8:27 pm"I am excited to launch a new social media communications platform for business users who want to connect, communicate & collaborate with their co-workers, peers, teams, customers, partners & prospects now!" Sanjay Dalal, founder, oGoing. "oGoing provides a robust social networking platform for the Enterprise. As Twitter is to consumer, oGoing is to business" oGoing connects You with Your co-workers through the exchange of frequent answers to one question: "What's going on?" (What's going on at your work, projects, product launches, deals, partnerships, customer service, group… -
oGoing is Live! Introducing oGoing : "Twitter for Enterprise"
20 Dec 2009 | 9:12 pm"oGoing is Live! I am excited to launch a brand new social + business networking service for business users who want to connect, communicate & collaborate with their co-workers, peers, teams, customers, partners & prospects now!" Sanjay Dalal, founder, oGoing. "oGoing provides a robust social networking platform for the Enterprise." oGoing connects You with Your co-workers through the exchange of frequent answers to one question: "What's going on?" In real-time!oGoing is the most innovative social + business networking service in the marketplace today for sending and sharing real-time… -
Launching oGoing - What's going on?
16 Dec 2009 | 8:54 am"If you like Twitter, you will love oGoing," Sanjay Dalal, founder, oGoing. oGoing connects You with Your friends, family and co-workers through the exchange of frequent answers to one question: "What's going on?" In real-time!oGoing is the most innovative social networking service in the marketplace today for sending updates to all your friends worldwide now!You can find all your friends on Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Facebook and Myspace when you join oGoing, and invite them to get started.Using oGoing, you can keep in touch with your friends, family and co-workers with frequent answers to one… -
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
14 Dec 2009 | 11:30 amInnovation eBook used by 550+ innovative companies worldwide - eBook Best Seller (deployed at Nokia, EDS, Pepsi, HP, many more...)Innovation eBook and Definitive Guide is a 212-page collection of over 55 best practices, case studies, and insights on the current state of Innovation in Business at Top Innovators including Apple, Google, Netflix, 3M, Proctor and Gamble, Johnson and Johnson, Toyota, GE, BMW, Deloitte, Frito Lay, IBM, Nike, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Microsoft, Dell, Tata, Intel and more. With pertinent articles from this award-winning Creativity And Innovation Driving…
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ITIF
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Rob Atkinson to speak at State of the Union for Technology event
9 Feb 2010 | 2:44 amITIF President Rob Atkinson will be speaking at The Atlantic’s upcoming State of the Union for Technology event on February 9th and 7:45am. The panel will address to what degree president Obama has made inroads on his promise to promote technology in government and what needs to be to make more progress. -
ITIF Event: The Impact of Offshore Manufacturing on Technology Innovation: Implications for U.S. Policy
3 Feb 2010 | 4:30 amAt this event Carnegie Mellon Professor Erica Fuchs examines the impact of offshore manufacturing on innovation, using the photonics and automobile industries as case studies. -
Report Series: Explaining International IT Application Leadership
1 Feb 2010 | 5:39 amIn this series of reports, ITIF explores international IT application leadership in five fields: health IT, mobile payments, intelligent transportation systems, e-government and electronic IDs. -
Explaining International IT Application Leadership: Intelligent Transportation Systems
27 Jan 2010 | 5:28 amIn a new report, ITIF examines the international leaders in ITS and suggests steps the United States should take to close the gap. -
ITIF Event: Explaining Intelligent Transportation Systems Leadership
27 Jan 2010 | 3:46 amJoin ITIF for the release of a report that will identify the leading countries in intelligent transportation systems, explain why the United States lags so far behind, and offer a set of policy recommendations for how federal and state governments can take steps to accelerate the deployment of intelligent transportation systems.
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National Center for Technology Innovation
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Steppingstones 2010 Invitation for Applications
2 Feb 2010 | 10:15 amSteppingstones of Technology Innovation for Children With Disabilities notice inviting applications for fiscal year 2010. Grantees will develop, implement, and evaluate innovative technology approaches designed to improve results for children with disabilities. Deadline March 19, 2010. -
CoSN Conference 2010
23 Jan 2010 | 4:12 pmFebruary 28 – March 2, 2010 (Washington, DC) CoSN Conference 2010 is the premier conference for district technology leaders from the public and private sector. Attendees will join their colleagues in Washington and learn the lastest on educational technology in K-12; hear exciting keynotes; network with colleagues; attend dynamic panel presentations; explore new emerging technology trends; and learn how [...] -
CEC 2010 Convention & Expo
23 Jan 2010 | 4:06 pmApril 21-24, 2010 (Nashville, TN) CEC Convetion & Expo is the largest professional development event dedicated to special and gifted education. Conference attendees will have the chance to catch up on what’s happening in the field, broaden theirs perspective of special education, and further their professional growth through the more than 800 educational hours offered. To learn more and [...] -
CSUN 2010
23 Jan 2010 | 3:54 pmMarch 22-27, 2010 (San Diego, CA) This conference allows researchers, educators, practitioners, end users, speakers and exhibitors to gather together to share research data, best practices, and preview new products and applications in the pre-conference workshops and exhibits. In celebration of the conference’s 25th anniversary, Captain Ivan Castro will convene the opening of the conference as the Keynote [...] -
ATIA 2010 Orlando
23 Jan 2010 | 3:52 pmJanuary 27-30, 2010 (Orlando, FL) The ATIA Conference features the latest products and services, showcasing more than 125 exhibitors in one of the most comprehensive exhibitions in the industry. Conference attendees can choose from a robust selection of more than 275 educational sessions and hands-on labs that target curriculum and goals. Attendees that span a wide array [...]
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Technology Review RSS Feeds
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Micro Solar Cells Handle More Intense Sunlight
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmCells absorb sunlight concentrated 1,000 times without cooling. A startup company hopes to bring down the cost of generating power with concentrated sunlight by using microscale solar cells that can utilize twice as much light as other panels, without the need for expensive optics or cooling systems. Panels made from the tiny cells, which the Durham, NC-based company Semprius developed using a novel microprinting technology, also offer significant savings on materials costs. In late January, the company announced a joint agreement with Siemens to develop demonstration systems based on its… -
Getting a Grip on Online Buzz
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmService tracks social network chitchat about a product. Big-name companies increasingly recognize the importance of discussions about their products on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. But keeping track of so many conversations in real-time is a daunting challenge. -
An Early Warning System for Cancer
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmAutoantibodies could alert doctors to cancer development. A new screening tool developed by scientists in Denmark may help detect the earliest stages of cancer by taking advantage of the body's own defenses. The researchers constructed a microarray system that analyzes patients' blood for a specific class of immune agents called autoantibodies. These are agents that attack the body's own tissue, targeting what they perceive as "foreign" cells, such as specific molecules on the surface of tumors. -
Blog - A Genetic Determinant of Biological Aging in Humans?
8 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pmResearchers have found a genetic variant linked to the length of telomeres. Some people may be genetically programmed to age at a faster rate, according to new research. Scientists have identified a genetic variant linked to the length of telomeres--a region of repetitive DNA that caps the chromosomes. Previous research has shown that telomeres shorten with age and are considered a marker of biological aging. The research was published this week in the journal Nature Genetics. -
Searching for Disease Clues in Genetic Diversity
7 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmResearch on the Mexican genome could broaden the scope of personalized medicine. Over the last few years, scientists have discovered hundreds of genetic variants linked to disease. But the vast majority of that research has focused on people of European, Asian, and African descent. A new effort to catalog genetic diversity among people in Mexico--who along with other Latin Americans have a unique ancestry--could shed light on diseases that affect these groups disproportionately, and on why some drugs may work more or less effectively in these populations. The research might also help uncover…
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Belfer Center: Energy Technology Innovation
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U.S. Public Energy Innovation Institutions and Mechanisms: Status & Deficiencies
14 Jan 2010 | 3:51 pmThe United States needs to transform the way it produces and uses energy. This will require the improvement of current technologies and the development of new ones. To achieve the maximum payoff for public investments in energy technology innovation, the United States will need to improve and better align the management and structure of existing and new energy innovation institutions, and better connect R&D to demonstration and deployment. In this policy memo, the authors discuss three general and important recommendations for thinking about different initiatives, and we discuss the… -
Catalyzing Strategic Transformation to a Low-carbon Economy: A CCS Roadmap for China
1 Jan 2010 | 1:32 pmChina now faces the three hard truths of thirsting for more oil, relying heavily on coal, and ranking first in global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Given these truths, two key questions must be addressed to develop a low-carbon economy: how to use coal in a carbon-constrained future? How to increase domestic oil supply to enhance energy security? Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) may be a technological solution that can deal with today's energy and environmental needs while enabling China to move closer to a low-carbon energy future. This paper has been developed to propose a possible CCS… -
A Silver Lining in the Climate Talks Cloud
6 Dec 2009 | 12:53 pm"...[W]hat would constitute real progress? One important step forward would be a constructive joint-communiqué from major countries (just 17 industrialized and emerging economies account for about 90 percent of annual emissions). Such a joint-communiqué could lay out key progressive principles to underlie a future climate agreement, such as making the notion of common but differentiated responsibilities meaningful through the dual principles that: all countries recognize their historic emissions (read, the industrialized world); and all countries are responsible for their future emissions… -
Trade Could Hold the Key to a Climate Deal
3 Dec 2009 | 11:03 am"Implementing such a linkage is possible. The Montreal Protocol, successfully protecting the ozone layer, is already restricting trade with non-participants and non-compliers, although only in the substances controlled by the treaty. To repeat this success and overcome the obstacles for a climate agreement, signatories should become favoured trading partners while non-compliance should trigger a temporary denial of this status. Disputes can be solved by expanding the mandate of the WTO's dispute settlement body or another mediator." -
Energy for Change: Introduction to the Special Issue on Energy & Climate Change
18 Nov 2009 | 1:23 pm"Without energy, there is no economy. Without climate, there is no environment. Without economy and environment, there is no material well-being, no civil society, no personal or national security. The overriding problem associated with these realities, of course, is that the world has long been getting most of the energy its economies need from fossil fuels whose emissions are imperiling the climate that its environment needs."
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Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog
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The Top None
8 Feb 2010 | 2:57 pmI'd planned in all sincerity to write an essay about the three Super Bowl commercials that I thought wouldn't get the recognition in most "top ten" lists, but that I believed might actually do something business-wise down the road. I meant it. I wanted to be positive... -
Don’t Make Social Media Another Silo
8 Feb 2010 | 2:37 pmSocial Media Week in London saw a great set of events, thinking and presentations for all things social media. One of my favourite presentations from the week came from an event I wasn’t able to attend: Steve Bridger’s keynote from the Media140 Third Sector and the Real-time Web event. -
Serious Games for a Better Future - EnerCities out of Beta
8 Feb 2010 | 2:04 pmPRESS RELEASE Gaming For A Better Future Leiden, The Netherlands - February 3rd 2010 Following my prior post EnerCities: The First Serious Game On Facebook, on February 3rd, game developer Paladin Studios has launched EnerCities 1.0. It is an online game in which players are challenged to build a sustainable city. It will run online and on Facebook, and is available in six European languages. The game is part of an educational platform dealing with energy issues, backed by European Commission funding of €1 million. -
Microsoft, Middle Management and Why Some Companies Can't Innovate
7 Feb 2010 | 12:55 pmThis week's op-ed piece (Microsoft's Creative Destruction) in the New York Times from Dick Brass, a former Microsoft VP, was a wake up call for the tech world. In a thoughtful but ultimately scathing piece, Brass describes how and why Microsoft gradually evolved from an innovative company with first-mover advantage to a technological also-ran scrambling behind just about everyone in bringing new products to market: -
Vodafone, Twitter and the challenges of managing your brand in social media
6 Feb 2010 | 1:04 pmIt’s been an interesting afternoon for Vodafone. Their VodafoneUK Twitter account has attracted a lot of attention after one Tweet in particular stood out from their usual customer service conversations online. In between the Tweets resolving network coverage and other queries one stood out. You can read about what was actually said elsewhere.
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Applied Imagination
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Creativity Matters Workshop in Connecticut - February 8
6 Feb 2010 | 4:40 amCreativity Matters: Engaging Creativity and Innovation in Work- A Housatonic Valley Cultural Alliance Roundtable -... with Creativity Educator Steven Dahlberg==================Creativity matters in all aspects of society, work and life. The imagination mindset helps us think in new ways ... which produces creative ideas and solutions ... and ultimately leads to innovation. If you want to unleash your imagination and explore new ways of expressing your creativity in meaningful ways, don't miss this interdisciplinary networking forum for artists, educators, business people, entrepreneurs and… -
Ten emerging technology trends to watch over the next decade
7 Jan 2010 | 7:03 am[25 December 2009 - 2020 Science] Ten years ago at the close of the 20th century, people the world over were obsessing about the millennium bug – an unanticipated glitch arising from an earlier technology. I wonder how clear it was then that, despite this storm in what turned out to be a rather small teacup, the following decade would see unprecedented advances in technology – the mapping of the human genome, social media, nanotechnology, space-tourism, face transplants, hybrid cars, global communications, digital storage, and more. Looking back, it’s clear that… -
Creativity: What Is It? - Creativity Networking Series to Launch in January 2010
30 Dec 2009 | 11:54 am==========================CREATIVITY NETWORKING: Creativity: What Is It?... with educator Steven Dahlberg==========================SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2010, 2:00-3:30 P.M.The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm, 44 Upland Road, New Milford, Connecticut 06776. $10; open to all. RSVP to 860.355.0300 or culbertsonv@hunthillfarmtrust.org.Creativity matters in all aspects of society. If you want to reconnect with your inherent creativity and explore new ways of expressing it, don't miss this series, which will be held at 2 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month at The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm in New Milford,… -
An Officer and a Creative Man
22 Dec 2009 | 5:21 amI found similar mindsets ... [19 December 2009 - New York Times - Op-Ed by Mark Moyar - h/t Dan Pink] ... The American corporals and privates who traverse the Afghan countryside today are not at issue. They risk life and limb every day, with little self-pity. Despite the strains of successive combat deployments, they keep re-enlisting at high rates. The problems lie, rather, in the leadership ranks. Although many Army and Marine officers in Afghanistan are performing well, a significant portion are not demonstrating the vital leadership attributes of creativity, flexibility and initiative. In… -
Living Your Purpose Through Creativity - Listen Live Thursday
8 Dec 2009 | 6:21 am[7 December 2009 - The Intuitive Path with Anja Weiland] Anja's topic for this episode will be "Living Your Purpose Through Creativity" with Steven Dahlberg, head of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination. Steven is dedicated to helping others develop and apply their creativity for their overall well-being. He works with individuals, organizations, businesses, and educational institutions. We will speak about the relevance of creative thinking in uncovering and realizing our purpose in life and career. Steven will give us an insight into the creative thinking process and…
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Blue Ocean Strategy | Gabor George Burt on Creating Blue Ocean Strategy
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Getting the Blue Ocean strategic sequence right — Step Four
8 Feb 2010 | 12:48 amContinuing in our series which takes a closer look at each step in the Blue Ocean strategic sequence, our focus advances to the fourth step — streamlining and cost innovations. Once featured, each step is made accessible through the Blue Ocean Strategy Basics archive of this site. For the fourth step, we turn to pages 132 — 133 of the book Blue Ocean Strategy (co-authored by Professor W. Chan Kim and Professor Renée Mauborgne):To hit the cost target, companies have three principal levers. The first involves streamlining operations and introducing cost innovations from manufacturing… -
Basking in blue oceans of “intelligent luxury”
4 Feb 2010 | 1:50 amWhat is the common link among all the companies that are successful in creating Blue Oceans? The answer can be distilled down to two words: Lifestyle enrichment. Companies that understand that they are not in the business of selling certain products or services, but rather in the business of delivering lifestyle enrichment to customers, are the ones that prosper. Blue Ocean Strategy helps to instill this perspective, and once it takes root, a company can continue to stay highly relevant to customers, drive lifestyle changes, and continuously create blue oceans.Embracing this way of… -
Defying Conventional Wisdom: Herring Power
3 Feb 2010 | 12:45 amBlue Ocean Strategy is all about challenging conventional wisdom — questioning taken-for-granted assumptions, and overstepping industry boundaries. It’s a frame of mind of continuously questioning and searching for a different angle and fresh perspective. You can draw inspiration from everyday life, and train your mind by having a discerning view of the world around you. Consider the following bit of comic insight, as an example of challenging conventional wisdom.HerringpowerHorsepower seems a logical measure of thrust for machines of land transport. You can visualize “220” horses… -
Getting the Blue Ocean strategic sequence right — Step Three
31 Jan 2010 | 11:38 pmContinuing in our series which takes a closer look at each step in the Blue Ocean strategic sequence, our focus advances to the third step — target costing. Once featured, each step is made accessible through the Blue Ocean Strategy Basics archive of this site. Today, we turn to pages 131 — 133 of the book Blue Ocean Strategy (co-authored by Professor W. Chan Kim and Professor Renée Mauborgne):Target costing, the next step in the strategic sequence, addresses the profit side of the business model. To maximize the profit potential of a blue ocean idea, a company should start with the… -
SAS takes first place
28 Jan 2010 | 1:38 amWe’d like to take a moment to congratulate our friends at SAS for being awarded the prestigious title of the ‘Best Company To Work For’ by Forbes Magazine. Given our association with SAS, via Gabor’s address at the company’s Global Forum in 2007, and his contribution to the recently-published Radical Action for Radical Times by Jonathan Hornby, SAS’ Director of Worldwide Marketing, we applaud the recognition. And given CEO Jim Goodnight’s focus to make sure his “chief assets” come to work cheerfully every day, it seems very well-deserved. What is SAS doing to receive…
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Creativity Central
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How to pick a good fight. A field guide for corporations.
26 Jan 2010 | 6:58 pmTwo words. Robert De niro In one corner you’ve got the raging bull – Jake LaMotta in a 3-piece suit. In the other, Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle – a quiet, simmering time bomb draped in a casual Friday Polo shirt. And in the middle, a lot of corporate chameleons not sure what color to change. Most of us wish for a harmonious, up-with-people kind of workplace. Conversation, not annihilation. But according to business consultancy eePulse, “the problem is that a peaceful, harmonious workplace can be the worst possible thing.”… -
10 Steps to an Insight Resume
10 Jan 2010 | 2:29 pmThe late Phil Dusenberry (Former Chairman of the ad agency BBDO North America) believed that one good insight is worth a thousand ideas. Under his stewardship, BBDO developed successful campaign like GE's "We bring good things to life" and Pepsi's "The Choice of a New Generation." His book, Then We Set His Hair On Fire was a book about insights in business -- how you get them, how you recognize them, how we keep them coming. "Ideas, valuable as they may be are a dime-a-dozen in business. That is certainly the case in ad agencies where ideas (not all of them good) are the currency… -
Creativity and the healthy organization
1 Jan 2010 | 10:57 amNeurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering. Carl Jung Tension. Friction. Conflict. All words that are the… -
The Downside of Collaboration
26 Dec 2009 | 2:55 pmI am a serious collaboration junkie. Unfortunately, not all collaborations are created equal. Often the value of the collaboration is undermined by the time expended, the loss of focus on core projects and the sometimes deleterious effects on interpersonal relationships within an organization. So there’s a Catch-22 of overselling collaboration as a positive solution to innovation and business growth. In my experience, many collaborative efforts are short circuited by lack of relevant training. Often, experts in various areas of a business, haven't had the time to work… -
Creativity and the aha moment
14 Dec 2009 | 4:29 pm"We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.” T.S. Eliot Aha. Eureka. Epiphany. All words that probably have their chemical basis in a dopamine reward pathway. But the magic of the aha (or Ah Ha) moment is more alluring than the clinical. I have always had a passion for aha moments. One of joys of being a creative consultant is watching others experiencing these moments of a novel connection or flash of insight. I often ask people in our seminars to write about…
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MyBrainBlog
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Director of Results
20 Jan 2010 | 7:47 amI've been "The Idea Guy" for quite a long time.It's been my official (and unofficial) title at any number of jobs I've had through the years. The cool thing about the designation was that it was created and bestowed upon me by my clients. If the Queen of England knighted me tomorrow, I don't think I'd feel quite as honored as the first time a customer of mine called me The Idea Guy (though it would be waaay cool to be "SIR Idea Guy!")Recently I have embraced a new title that I will wear just as proudly:Director of ResultsThis new title (while not replacing my beloved DTIG mantle) certainly… -
2010 Reading
9 Jan 2010 | 8:48 pmOne of my goals this year is to read more books. I mean, don't get me wrong... I read a lot of books (a LOT of books!) but I know I've sort of slacked off in the last year or two and should have polished off twice as many as I actually managed to complete. I developed a bad habit of buying every book that seemed like it might be good, added it to a stack, started reading 2 or 3 of them at a time and then I'd abandon them for the next set of cool books I bought and didn't end up going back to finish most of them.To better help me keep track of my progress, I created a new Shelfari account (see… -
How Do You Come With So Many Ideas?
7 Jan 2010 | 1:31 pmI buy them in bulk from Sam's Club…Obviously I'm kidding, but I poke fun because this is THE most common question I get. I figure this must be what it's like for magicians who get asked how they perform a trick. It's been a challenge to try and define just how I do seem to be able to "out ideate" most other folks. Here are a few of the truths I managed to arrive at on this topic.1. I come up with more good ideas because I come up with more bad ideasI ran across this quote by Linus Pauling early on in my life and fully believed it: "The best way to come up with a good idea is to come up with… -
Today is Whensday!
2 Jan 2010 | 7:59 amI thought New Year's Day was the perfect time to share my new "Whensday" philosophy. By now you've probably noted the unique spelling (or at the very least realized the date of this blog post is most certainly NOT the weekday that falls between Tuesday and Thursday.)I came up with this concept back in April while thinking about just how many of my own projects get delayed because of simple procrastination. I scribbled the concept in my journal, bought the domain name, and put it on my "when-I-get-around-to-it-list."Well, folks… Today is Whensday.Whensday is that day you SAY you're going do… -
10 Idea Inspiring Lightning Rods
29 Dec 2009 | 8:43 pmEver come upon a co-worker sitting at their desk just sort of staring into space (or their computer screen)? You ask what's going on and they answer in a dull and defeated voice that they are waiting for inspiration to strike.WHAT...???Do you also sit on your arse waiting for dinner to make itself? …For the lawn to grow shorter? …For the sidewalks to shovel themselves after a snow? …For your clothes to jump out of the closest and force themselves upon your body and thrust you out the door to start your day?Waiting for inspiration? Puh-leeeze!You may as well wait for lightning to…
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Idea Sandbox » SandBlog
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Environmental Integration: Satellite Dish Disguise
9 Feb 2010 | 4:22 amOver the past several years, I’ve had the good fortune to be able travel around Europe. I’ve taken tens of thousands of pictures. I love this shot below. Terra cotta roof tiles, and lush, greens hills a patchwork alternating vineyards and olive groves. This is Vinci, Italy. Where Leonardo was born and grew up – you know – Leonardo da Vinci (of Vinci). However, in the middle of this great shot – is a mark of the late 20th Century – the satellite dish. You can also see mid-century old-school antennas. [Fig. 1 Vinci, Italy View] You can click the image above… -
How To Create Word Of Mouth, Best Practices
5 Feb 2010 | 6:21 amNo. 4. The final of a 4 Article Series Welcome to my final article about word of mouth. I’ve spent this week “debunking the bunk” surrounding WOM. It follows a podcast interview I took part in last week. Today’s topics are… (7) How do you intentionally create WOM? (8) What are some WOM Best Practices for small businesses? (7) How do you intentionally create WOM? Let’s think about what word of mouth really means. It means people talking about you… spreading the word, making remarks. It means you’re worth remarking about – that you are… -
Social Media: Its Role In Creating Word Of Mouth And Customer Experience
4 Feb 2010 | 6:56 amNo. 3 of a 4 Article Series Welcome back! This week I’m talking about Word of Mouth (WOM). Last week I contributed to a discussion with John Moore (from Brand Autopsy) hosted by Jay Ehret of The Marketing Spot. We “debunked the bunk” surrounding WOM, and had fun doing it. This week I’m sharing stuff that didn’t necessarily make the podcast. Today I answer: (5) What’s the role of social media in creating WOM? (6) Has the focus of Social Media had a negative effect on the Customer Experience? (5) What’s the role of social media in creating WOM? You… -
The Importance (Or Not) Of Social Media and Word Of Mouth
3 Feb 2010 | 9:47 amNo. 2 of a 4 Article Series This week I’m talking about Word of Mouth or WOM. What it is, how to create it, etc. This is following a podcast hosted by Jay Ehret of The Marketing Spot featuring John Moore (from Brand Autopsy) and I. I’m taking you through information that didn’t necessarily make the podcast. Yesterday I shared thoughts on these ideas: (1) What is Word of Mouth? (2) Is WOM taking back seat to social media? Today, I address these questions: (3) Is WOM diminished as a marketing discipline? (4) Is social media durable as a marketing and WOM tool? (3) Is WOM… -
What Is WOM And How Is It Related To Social Media?
2 Feb 2010 | 5:26 amNo. 1 of a 4 Article Series Last week I was flattered to be part of a discussion about word of mouth (WOM) marketing and social media. John Moore (from Brand Autopsy) and I, spoke with Jay Ehret of The Marketing Spot. Link to podcast → Power To The Small Business: Debunking Word-Of-Mouth Bunk. Jay let us know ahead of time what types of questions he was going to ask. Time didn’t permit me to share all of my thoughts. I thought I’d share them this week in a series of articles about word of mouth and how to be remarkable. Here are the questions, and the schedule: Tuesday…
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Innoblog
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The Time Has Come for Business Model Innovation – Strategy & Innovation February 3, 2010 Issue
2 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pmLater this month Mark W. Johnson’s book, Seizing the White Space: Business Model Innovation for Growth and Renewal, will be officially published (although you can get the book now from Amazon). To celebrate the publication of the book and to start what we hope will be an ongoing discussion about business model innovation, this issue includes several articles on the subject. In “The Time Has Come For Business Model Innovation,” Mark explains how business model innovation relates to disruptive innovation and why it’s so important. Here is an excerpt: Q: In your book, you… -
Why Do We Care about Disruption?
21 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pmWhy Do We Care about Disruption? The other week, two of my colleagues were engaged in a fierce debate about whether a particular business was or not in fact "disruptive." When they asked my opinion, I surprised them by answering, "I don't really care." "But we're all about disruptive innovation aren't we?" one of them asked. "Well yes," I replied, "but we're all even more about building successful, sustainable, scalable businesses." It's natural to think that our sole raison d'??tre is disruption. Innosight's co-founder Clayton Christensen… -
A New Framework for Business Models
20 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pmQuick: Describe your company's business model. Having trouble? That wouldn't surprise me. In reality, there isn't really any consensus about what the term "business model" even means. Suggestions range from the all-encompassing, everything-in-your-value-chain approach to the reductionist "A business model is nothing else than a representation of how an organization makes (or intends to make) money." That latter definition is from Peter Drucker. And while I applaud his attempt to reach for the essence of the idea, I think he went too far. A business model has to specify… -
The Disruptors of the Decade
13 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pmNear the end of December, I created a survey with a single question: "Which companies do you think have done the best job of driving growth through disruption — transforming what exists or creating what doesn't through simplicity, convenience, affordability or accessibility — between 2000-2009?" More than 3,000 individuals nominated close to 300 different organizations or individuals (a few may have been less serious, such as the three nominating my mother). I sifted through the nominations, and identified the most frequent nominations in three categories: established… -
Google’s Nexus One: Not Just a New Phone
7 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pmIn the past few days there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding the announcement of Google’s new touch-screen handset, Nexus One. The handheld device, which Google is calling a “superphone,” has a beautiful 3.7-inch display, an ultra-thin body, a long-lasting battery, and of course Google’s heralded Android operating system. Google has obviously produced a nifty device, and it’s given rise to expected debates and chatter over how the Nexus One matches up against and poses a threat to Apple’s iPhone. But there is much more to this story than just a…
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Innovating To Win
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How’s That Hope Thing Workin’ For Ya?
2 Feb 2010 | 10:27 amWell, okay… I admit that I’m annoyed. When Obama was swept into office, the winds of change seemed an unstoppable force, and many likened Obama to JFK. Now, Obama has distanced himself from JFK by essentially scuttling the programs that... -
Innovation - Getting It and Getting It Done
25 Jan 2010 | 2:18 pmAs with most things, when it comes to innovation there is a huge difference between getting it and getting it done. Everyone wants to get it; but the rewards of innovation are only enjoyed by those who get it done.... -
Boyd on Linking Strategy and Innovation
18 Jan 2010 | 2:16 pmI read a nice post on Drew Boyd’s blog, Innovation in Practice, discussion the idea of linking innovation with company strategy. In it, Drew discusses two models of interaction between company strategy and innovation: Strategy informs innovation – in this... -
Where to Open Innovation?
11 Jan 2010 | 7:56 amRight after I gave a talk at the Open Innovation Summit in Orlando on overcoming some key obstacles of open innovation, I had the chance to talk with Business Week’s Michael Arndt. We had a great chat about future innovation... -
Looking For The Innovation Silver Lining In 2010
7 Jan 2010 | 11:21 amAs we begin 2010, I think it’s a great time to mention “The Silver Lining” by Scott D. Anthony. The book which bills itself as “An Innovation Playbook for Uncertain Times,” touches on some very important themes that we should...
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Innovationedge
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Going to the Olympics? Get your carbon credits!
3 Feb 2010 | 7:12 pmWith about a week to go before the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, it’s interesting to note that there is a green effort underway to make these events more environmentally friendly. Twenty-five partners are heading an ambitious effort to leave a legacy of carbon neutral Games by doing things like offsetting air travel for Olympians. Those games are projected to put about 268,000 toes of carbon emissions (118,000 tons from direct emissions and 150,000 from indirect emissions), resulting from Olympic travel by participants and spectators. (These projections come from the Center for… -
Prize4Life Illustrates Collaborative Innovation at Its Best in the Quest to Cure ALS
2 Feb 2010 | 1:31 pmIn Conquering Innovation Fatigue, we emphasize that many innovators are motivated by the desire to make a difference in the world rather than merely obtain personal profit. We also discuss the concept of innovation competitions as a great way to fuel innovation success and access new talent. We also emphasize the importance of collaboration across disciplines and organizational boundaries as the future of innovation success. All these concepts are nicely illustrated by an organization seeking to cure ALS, Lou Gherig’s disease. Prize4Life, Inc. (Prize4Life.org) makes an interesting case… -
Cool technology fuels our hunger for on-demand information
1 Feb 2010 | 3:17 pmLast month I wrote about some of the technology that was on display at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show and the trends for the future. With the dawning of the new decade it is interesting to see how far technology has come since the last one. When we are living it, we don’t always realize how dramatically our habits are changing, but looking back we can see how far we have come. The personal computer and the Internet were the defining technology the 90’s, but there is a collection of devices and technologies that have defined the decade of the 2000’s. These technologies had a… -
Inventables delivers inspiration and innovation to the dreamers of the world!
29 Jan 2010 | 6:35 amI am thrilled to see that TECHCRUNCH.COM is featuring the innovative company of my friend and partner Zach Kaplan. Zach’s Chicago-based company, Inventables, inspires thousands of designers in their companies (such as Proctor & Gamble, Motorola, and Black & Decker), to be innovative. Check out the artlicle here! So what is Inventables and why are so many designers and engineers excited about this company? Inventables is a no-frills website that was launched this month where vendors of raw materials and technologies can create online profiles for their products in order to… -
Will 3-D be in your living room this year?
22 Jan 2010 | 6:33 amWe like gadgets at our house, and I am amazed at what I saw last week at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, the premier event for the presentation of the industry’s latest electronic products. Without a doubt I have to say that the event was the coming-out party for consumer three-dimensional (3-D) display technology. 3-D devices were on display in whatever area you looked at the show- televisions, video players, cameras, gaming and even broadcasting. The results were impressive! It is no longer just a curiosity. 3-D technology has been around for quite a long time, but along with the…
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innovation playground Idris Mootee
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This Is Just The Beginning Of The Battle Of Ebook Readers. Winners Will Need To Get The Right Combination of Intutive Good User Interface, Display Technology, The Right Price Point And Content Availability.
8 Feb 2010 | 5:40 pmEveryone is interested in find out how the iPad will be able to create a new user category or expand at the expense of other eBook readers. The future market leader will have the right combination of user interface, display technology, price point and content. The Kindle is a pretty nicely designed product that pretty excel on all fronts except price point. It has enough internal memory to hold an incredible between 1,000 and 2,000, depending on the sizes. They make buying a book is so easy. Following Sony, Amazon and Apple, Acer has finished working on an e-book reader rumored to have a 6… -
Liquid Adhesion Technologies Combined With Google Map And Location Based Devices Will Make Spiderman Real.
7 Feb 2010 | 5:34 pmEvery time there Is a new product launch there are always hype around how innovative the product is. Not all innovative new products deliver on the hype like Apple. The biggest one was the Segway although it was a big engineering achievement. Its sophisticated system of dynamic stabilization certainly showcases electronic engineering excellence did deserve some hype. Paul Graham's recent essay about why the Segway failed to change the world is interesting. He focuses mainly on the fact that the Segway basically makes people look dorky -- and that a better design might have helped more… -
Is This The End Of The Smartphone? Soon All Phones Will Be Smart. Welcome To The Age Of The Superphone.
4 Feb 2010 | 3:37 pmI really like this Stumptown coffee place, this one is in mid-town NYC. It is so much cooler than Starbucks. Don't you love the way the people dress? And the coffee is good. uses organic milk and organic coffee, and is cheaper than those expensive ones. who needs hostile coffee snobs first thing in the morning anyway, even I am in NYC. I hope they stays cool while they become popular. OK this post is not about coffee, it is about Smartphone. It is funny people still refer some phones as smart phone and some not. Not only the lines are blurred and the market for phone-only phones… -
Media Format Wars Do Not Seem To End In The Audio Technology World. It Is Even Hard To Figure Out Who Your Enemies Are?
2 Feb 2010 | 9:37 amDigital is turning every industry upsaide downs and into battlefield for platform wars. The newly ended one was the war between HD DVD and Bluray between Sony and Toshiba. Before that there was the Toshiba DVD-Audio and Sony’s SACD war. I really hoped that SACD would win out as I really like the quality jump and it was great when I played the Nora Jones SACD. It was like she was performing in our living room. These platforms war usually consists of both a hard ware and software play and content drives adoption. The first one is DVD-Audio was launched in 2000, a standard that’s obviously… -
Evolution By Mutation, Recombination, And Natural Selection Will Power Up Our Next Generations Of Machines.
31 Jan 2010 | 5:04 pmLast time when I was in Tokyo my friends were telling me about their domestic robot projects, they were very cool ideas and didn’t sound too far away. I was half-jokingly talking about how I see that as another platform play. The problem with machines is their limited ability to learn, unlike humans. Today robots are a long way from matching human emotional complexity, Japan is working hard to create this future — where humans and intelligent robots routinely live side by side and interact socially and won’t get into any argument or a fight. I guess they will program them to sing…
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innovation.net
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Open Innovation's Next Challenge: Itself - John Hagel III and John Seely Brown - Harvard Business Review
5 Feb 2010 | 8:50 am"If you look at most of the widely cited examples of successful open innovation, the model in use poses a question to a group of "solvers" who then provide an answer. You might call this the transactional model of open innovation — involving only narrowly defined, short-term transactions. Problem posted, solution offered, payment made, transaction completed, all parties move on. This approach has two limitations. First, it misses the opportunity to build long-term trust-based relationships among participants. Second, it does not encourage participants to build cumulatively… -
Mobile brand building
27 Jan 2010 | 11:45 amWe all know that mobile is an explosive area these days both in terms of consumer adoption and the unlimited number of device, network and app innovations being launched. I've been working over the past seven months on a venture-funded project to launch a new mobile brand-building business called Third Screen Marketplace. We're still in semi-stealth mode, but it's an exciting business model that I can hint at. It's aimed at bringing consumer insights and open innovation platforms to mobile help leading consumer companies co-create brand… -
Intel wants a chip implant in your brain
30 Nov 2009 | 12:57 pmIntel believes its customers would be willing to have a chip implanted in their brains so they could operate computers without the need for a keyboard or mouse using thoughts alone. The implant could also be used to operate devices such as cell phones, TVs and DVDs. The chip is being developed at Intel's laboratory in Pittsburgh, USA. It would sense brain activity using technology based on FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging). The brain sensing chips are not yet available, but Intel research scientist Dean Pomerleau thinks they are close. Theoretically, different people thinking… -
Leveraging creative minds to solve traffic congestion
19 Jun 2009 | 3:23 amMy good friends and partners at Spencer Trask have just announced an exciting project with IBM and ITS America. It's a global innovation challenge, focused on solving traffic congestion. Here's an excerpt from the press release: The ITS Congestion Challenge is the first global competition to identify the best ideas to reduce congestion and mitigate its impact on the economy and environment. The competition is open to entrepreneurs, commuters, transportation experts, researchers in all fields, universities, and citizens around the world. All ideas will be reviewed,… -
Collaborative Communities vs. Competitive Marketplaces
17 Jun 2009 | 3:21 pmGood article in the recent MIT Sloan Management Review on Managing Outside Innovation. It's written by Kevin Bougreau (London Business School) and Karim Lakhani (Harvard Business School). To me one of the first interesting things about this article is that it's part of the next wave of discussion of open innovation. The leading thinkers (and leading companies) are way past the discussions of should be have an 'open innovation' initiative and how to do basic scouting. Now, as this article discusses, it's about how best to…
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Creativity & Innovation
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Improvisational Cuisine
8 Feb 2010 | 12:25 pmI just learned of a restaurant where the kitchen improvises your meal (thanks to Leslie Marticke of SCAD): it’s called POSH and it’s in Scotsdale, Arizona. From their web site: POSH serves a seasonal coursed menu, starting with 4 courses, up to as many as desired. How it works…we offer a list of main ingredients, requesting you to CROSS OFF which items you DISLIKE, then our creative chefs surprise you with the remaining selections. We have a spot at the bottom of the list to add additional dislikes or particular medical conditions (allergies). The kitchen is essentially a… -
Microsoft and Innovation
6 Feb 2010 | 8:24 amI just read a fascinating articled by Dick Brass*, who was a vice president at Microsoft from 1997 to 2004. He wrote the article on the occasion of Apple’s release last week of the iPad, a table computer. Many people are probably unaware that Microsoft has been advocating table computing for about ten years. Dick Brass was the guy in charge of tablet computing at Microsoft, so it’s fascinating to read his account of why Microsoft failed with their tablet PC, with a ten-year head start over Apple. (Of course, we don’t yet know whether Apple will also fail or not…but… -
Cross Understanding in Teams
8 Jan 2010 | 12:02 pmThe term “cross understanding” comes from a new article by George Huber and Kyle Lewis at UT Austin. It’s essentially a theoretical elaboration of the widespread observation that “T-Shaped” people result in more innovative collaborations.The term “T-shaped people” is usually attributed to Tim Brown of IDEO and a 2007 article in Fast Company magazine, where Tim says: We look for people who are so inquisitive about the world that they’re willing to try to do what you do. We call them “T-shaped people.” They have a principal skill… -
Jugaad and Bricolage
31 Dec 2009 | 2:42 pmBusiness Week* reports on a management fad from India, that goes by a Hindi slang word, jugaad (say joo-gaardh). It means “an improvisational style of innovation”. It’s “inexpensive invention on the fly”. It sometimes has negative connotations, like cutting corners. The idea is that it doesn’t have to be perfect or fancy; it’s just good enough to satisfy immediate needs. (Implicit in the Western fascination with this concept is the assumption that Westerners want products to satisfy more than basic needs, like to match their lifestyle, or provide… -
Massively Collaborative Mathematics
26 Dec 2009 | 12:46 pmI like this story from the 15 October 2009 issue of the journal Nature, about how a pair of blogs allowed dozens of contributors to collaboratively solve a theorem that no single mathematician had been able to solve: the Density Hales-Jewitt Theorem (DHJ for short). The mathematician who created the blog was Timothy Gowers, a Professor at the University of Cambridge and a holder of the Fields Medal, the highest honor a mathematician can receive. Even someone of Gowers’ high caliber was not able to solve the theorem. So he decided to try an experiment: He posted on his blog an…
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Phil McKinney - Sharing his experiences on innovation, creativity and ingenuity
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Are you ready to compete in the creative economy?
8 Feb 2010 | 8:26 amJust do a quick comparison of the market value to the book value for public U.S. companies over the last two decades and you will see the dramatic upward rise in value attributed to intangibles – ideas, innovations. In this new world, wealth creation is dependent upon the capacity of a nation to continually create ideas. In short, a nation without a vibrant creative labor does not possess the knowledge base to succeed in the creative economy, and must depend on ideas produced elsewhere. The creative economy is a new a world in which people work with their brains instead of their… -
Can you measure the impact from innovation?
1 Feb 2010 | 12:41 pmOne of the constant challenges for an innovator is to prove the value of their work. Many believe that innovation and creativity cannot be measured and therefore will always struggle with getting the respect it deserves within an organization. The perception that innovation impact cannot be measures is a myth. At the same time, its not a slam dunk either. The challenge is getting an organization aligned on what the right metrics and measurements. One metric that is commonly used and one that I don’t agree with is: Innovation = R&D Spend as % of Revenue This is the metric that… -
Getting And Keeping Your Creative Mojo
25 Jan 2010 | 8:03 amHave you ever had the time when everything was clicking? When you came up with the idea that later you wondered where it came from? We all have … and then we search for ways to re-create that moment. In sports, athletes come up with all kinds of superstitions to “help” them win games such as not changing their lucky socks or always wearing the same t-shirt. When it comes to innovators, many have created their own set of rituals. One ritual, which I don’t fully understand, is controlling the environment. Some have created dedicated space in which they’ve… -
Sundance and 3D (Updated with video)
24 Jan 2010 | 11:14 amWith all of the excitement around 3D (Avatar, UP, Monsters Versus Aliens, etc) , the key driver for the future success of the media is in expanding the development of good 3D content. Because of the newness of the media, there is the need to share the lessons learned, techniques and technologies to help content creators. So the members of the loosely organized “3D Consortium” (DreamWorks, Sony, Disney, NBA and HP) came together to develop a 3D Workshop for the Sundance Film Festival. I chaired the workshop yesterday. The other members of the workshop panel included:… -
Yes – You Are Creative!
18 Jan 2010 | 7:34 amWhat is shocking to me is how many people don’t think of themselves as being creative. Whenever I give a speech, I ask the audience if they consider themselves as creative. On average, about 1/3 raise their hands which means 2/3 of the audience self classify themselves as non-creative. I’m a believer that everyone is creative and that you are creative every day … you just don’t always recognize it. For example, you say at least one sentence each day that has never been spoken before. This unique sentence is the result of the creative process of translating an…
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Michael Osofsky on Innovation
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SF Pillow Fight 2010
6 Feb 2010 | 4:17 pmDon't miss Pillow Fight 2010 in Justin Herman Plaza on Valentine's day at 6 PM:http://www.pillowfight.info/ -
RE:invention
1 Feb 2010 | 4:41 pmThe Scary Cow film-maker cooperative had its 10th screening event yesterday. Anton Gill had invited me to see his new film The Crosses which I enjoyed. But what made a real impact on me was his other film, RE:invention.RE:invention is a wonderful short documentary about real people dealing with the effects of the current bad economy. There are three vignettes given that cover each person's crisis, their reactions of despair, and finally their self re-invention--hence the wonderfully chosen title of the film.It was a great movie because it covered the lives of real people whom I could relate… -
PhD in Netnography - application deadline fast approaching
8 Jan 2010 | 8:59 amIf you're interested in developing the science behind the emerging market research technique of netnography, then you should check out the PhD program at the Schulich School of Business, York University.Information about the PhD program: http://www.schulich.yorku.ca/phdApply by January 15, 2010 at http://www.schulich.yorku.ca/ssb-extra/school.nsf/allwebdocuments/Apply+to+schulich+now#Link_3 -
Exploratorium After Dark program for adults to play
29 Dec 2009 | 10:31 amSan Francisco has an awesome museum called the Exploratorium. We used to go there all the time when I was a kid. Now they have an after-hours exhibit just for adults that looks right up the innovator's alley.Exploratorium After Dark: http://www.exploratorium.com/afterdark/ -
Innovative sleeping bag allows you to walk around
9 Dec 2009 | 2:18 pmEver worried while you're camping that you might not get out of your sleeping bag in time to run away from a bear? Well I just found something interesting that could help. It's called the Selk'Bag and it's a sleeping bag jump suit. I found it while doing some testing on my company's technology.Selk'Bag: http://www.lippiselkbag.co.uk/
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Outside Innovation
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Apple’s iPad: Just Good Enough to Transform the Publishing/Media Industries
29 Jan 2010 | 9:59 amMy quick take on the iPad, based on the video footage of Steve Jobs’ announcement, is that it is a transformational device. I believe that the iPad will transform the publishing industry. Magazine and newspaper publishers are breathing a sigh of relief. The iTunes/iPhone model of delivering content encourages people to pay for subscriptions or by the issue. On the Web, publishers worry about charging for content. But once the content is downloadable on a mobile, portable device, people seem to be more willing to pay for it. Steve Jobs pioneered paying for music through iTunes. Jeff Bezos… -
The REAL Reason that Google has Lost China
26 Jan 2010 | 10:36 amAmid the flurry of punditry and posturing that has surrounded Google's decision to pull its search business out of China and its accusations of hacking by the Chinese, there's another story. Non-elite Chinese people don't find Google's search (or its other services) useful. Google has failed to gain a foothold in the Chinese market because Google hasn't paid attention to making it easy for Chinese customers to use its search engine or its tools. Image: from Tricia Wang The best "on the ground"… -
Innovations in Haitian Relief & Rescue
21 Jan 2010 | 1:40 pmGlobal/Local Coordination for Haitian Relief and Rescue Efforts The disaster in Haiti has galvanized all of us. Among the harrowing news reports are all the difficulties in coordinating relief and rescue efforts and getting aid to people in need. Just this morning (Jan. 20), I was reading a press release from Doctors without Borders that its plane containing 12 tons of life-saving medical supplies has been turned away three times from the Port-au-Prince airport since Sunday, despite assurances of its ability to land. The logistical and coordination issues are truly daunting. I’ve been… -
Addressing a Customer Pain Point as the Basis for a New Business
19 Jan 2010 | 7:00 amWhat’s at the heart of a good customer-centric business model? We believe that it has four significant components: 1. Ensure that the model is designed to address or mitigate customers’ moments of truth. 2. Ensure that you address those moments of truth with innovative approaches that take full advantage of available technology. 3. Hone an efficient execution engine that: a) lets you make money while you’re meeting customers’ moments of truth, and b) builds barriers to entry through experience, scale, and distance traveled on the learning curve. 4. Entice customers into contributing… -
An Amazon/Apple Deal?
16 Jan 2010 | 7:37 amYesterday I attended an informative Webinar from the folks at Mequoda—a firm that specializes in helping publishers make money online. The topic was How To Publish on the Amazon Kindle, but they also covered all of the eReaders. During his presentation, Don Nicholas made a prediction that caught my attention. He said that when Apple announces its eagerly awaited Tablet later this month, they will also announce deals with Amazon and perhaps Barnes and Noble, to enable their e-reader software to run on the iTablet (or whatever it will be called). Whoa! Everyone has been thinking that…
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Think Differently!!
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Seth Godin's New Killer iPad Application
6 Feb 2010 | 10:59 pmSeth Godin believes he has designed a killer iPad application: a nonlinear multimedia presentation and collaboration application. Well, almost. He has specified what he wants it to do, and has challenged entrepreneurs to go out and build it. Here's his concept overview: "It's a collection of pages (slides, images, type, let's call them pages) that are easy to navigate in a non-linear way. I'd like to be able to write on any of them in real time using my finger. I can also call up, on demand, a calculator or a blank drawing pad. I want to be able to play a presentation the same way some… -
29 Decisions To Make When Building and Operating Your Blog
6 Feb 2010 | 6:15 amProBlogger recently posted an article listing 29 debates within the blogging community - 29 topic areas where there are different schools of thought in the blogging community regarding best practices when starting and running a blog. For anyone starting or operating a blog, this is a great list to see where you and your blog sit on each of the 29 points of discussion. For example: #25 Monetization: Blogs should be Monetized vs Blogs Should Never Be Monetized? #1 RSS Feeds: Full RSS feeds vs Partial RSS feeds? -
Prediction: The New Apple 24" Desktop iPad!
5 Feb 2010 | 4:42 pmI have a prediction for one piece of new Apple technology over the next 2 year period: "following the success of the iPad when the apps come on board, Apple will design and release a desktop sized version of the iPad with around a 20" or 24" screen that is fully touch sensitive as well as mouse operated, and will run all of the existing iPad software apps and distribute all its published content to your desktop as well as running all the existing desktop software applications your 24" or 27" iMac does. Your iPad will be repositioned a lightweight portable version of your desktop, for use in… -
Technology Industry Analysts: The iPad WILL Be A Hit
5 Feb 2010 | 4:30 pmA few posts back I suggested that the iPad will be a hit when 3rd party software developers develop game changing apps for the iPad, and enough distributors content comes online through the iPad.Read Write Web recently posted a round up of technology analysts predictions for the iPad, where the analysts have come to the same conclusions.Amongst other thoughts, the analysts predict thatthe iPad will sell between 1 and 6 million units in FY 2010 and 4 and 9 million in FY 2011the iPad will become a real hit when the iPad apps arrivethe iPad will be a casual gaming device but not a 'serious'… -
Game Changing Software Applications On the iPad?
5 Feb 2010 | 2:55 pmChuck Frey of the Mind Mapping Software Blog has been following developments in the mind mapping software space, including how mind mapping software developers are responding to opportunities around the iPad. One example of the excitement is iPhone mind mapping software developer Craig Scott of iThoughts. Craig suggests mind mapping software on the iPad may be one of the "game changers" we have been looking for. This is what Craig had to say:"Having watched the launch of iPad last week . . . I really do believe that it will be game changing.. . . an iPad specific version of iThoughts . . .
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Think For A Change
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Don't OPEN Yourself Up To INNOVATION Failure...
2 Feb 2010 | 4:37 pm"I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief" - Gerry SpenceOpen Innovation...or expanding the pool of brains thinking about your business problems outside of your organization...is a concept that has gained significant and recent traction. The concept is very sound:From Wikipedia...Open innovation is a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology”. The boundaries between a firm and its environment have become more… -
An FAQ For Prospective Clients...(Engaging An Innovation Management Consultant)...
29 Jan 2010 | 8:05 amProspective Client FAQ You have questions about this whole “innovation” thing. We know…It’s okay. In fact, we developed this “Frequently Asked Questions” Guide just for you! Q: WHY SHOULD I DO THIS? A: Look, let’s be honest, you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t already realize that you need some help driving more top-line growth in your organization. You’ve done your due diligence in driving out waste from your processes. You’ve leaned out your workforce to the breaking point. Your shareholders, partners, employees and/or customers… -
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses...
25 Jan 2010 | 9:34 am"Don't make excuses. Make things happen." - Doug HallThere is a constant hum around innovation today. Organizations everywhere talk about it incessantly. "We need to be more innovative." "Innovation is the key to top-line growth." "Innovation is essential to success." Blah, blah, blah....All that talk would be great if it was actually backed with action. Unfortunately, the talk is much more common than the actual "walk" or action taken to make innovation happen. It is a frustrating, but not insurmountable, problem.This propensity for inaction… -
Your Monthly "Just Do It" Schedule for Innovation...
18 Jan 2010 | 5:38 am"The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing" - Walt DisneySometimes it can be hard to get past the point of "thinking about solving the problem" or "trying to solve the problem" and actually "solving the problem." So, I've put together twelve concepts that will get you to take action, once and for all, on creating and executing upon an innovation management approach for your organization.January - Stop taking orders and start finding solutions. Ask "How do you do things now and how can we do those things better?" Become a partner in solving the real problem… -
Are You Finding Problems, Solutions or Both???
11 Jan 2010 | 9:16 am"There is no shame in not knowing...the shame lies in not finding out" - Russian ProverbWhat makes up a good idea management system? Obviously, coming up with great ideas...or "finding solutions." But shouldn't you apply just as much effort into making sure you have the right problem...or "finding problems?" Making sure you understand and define the problem you are attempting to solve is the first step (some would say the MOST important step) in the problem solving model. For a brief refresher on the problem solving concept, here is the Think For A Change, LLC. Idea…
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Securing Innovation
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Tweet of the Week @CiscoSystems
8 Feb 2010 | 5:46 pmJohn Earnhardt noted on The Platform, the blog of Opinions and Insights from Cisco, that this is the 5th anniversary of Cisco's first blog post. This auspicious occasion was marked, today, with this tweet. Click on the image above to read the entire post, but here's an excerpt. This first blog entry started something of a trend at Cisco. We now have internal blogs “out the wazoo” (I believe is the technical term). And, we now have 16 “corporate blogs” that you can access on Blogs.Cisco.com. Topics range from High Tech Policy (our first blog), to corporate stuff (this… -
BusinessWeek Special Report: Patent Trolls
2 Feb 2010 | 10:23 pmDon't miss this Special Report from BusinessWeek. Tech Giants' New Way to Thwart Patent Suits Frustrated by litigation costs, Microsoft, Sony, and Nokia are paying third-party patent acquirers such as RPX to fend off patent lawsuits Slide Show: Patent Trolls' Top Targets Apple, Sony, Dell, and Microsoft are the companies most frequently sued by so-called non-practicing entities alleging patent infringement Acacia: The Company Tech Loves to Hate With the most patent-infringement cases against tech giants, Acacia Research is often called a "patent troll." Inventors hail it as a savior… -
IPCom, Patent Trolls, Reputation Management
28 Jan 2010 | 4:08 pmIs there a likelihood of confusion between IP.com Inc. and IPCom GmbH & Co. KG, a German non-practicing entity, or NPE, that is sometimes called a patent troll? The Register, a British online journal, apparently sees the potential for confusion with the similarity of names and tries to keep its readers well-informed in this report that the British courts recently found the IPCom patents invalid in the UK. IPCom GmbH (not to be confused with IP.com) acquired a load of patents from Bosch, and has been waving them at mobile-phone companies ever since, with limited success. This time last… -
Kent Displays Reflex™ LCD Tablet
26 Jan 2010 | 7:12 pmKent Displays recently announced forming Improv Electronics, a new business unit focused on development and sales of consumer electronic products. The products will utilize Kent Displays revolutionary Reflex™ no power LCD technology. The first product sold under the Improv Electronics name, the Boogie Board LCD Writing Tablet, is now available. This product is the first paperless writing tablet to utilize a pressure-sensitive Reflex LCD for the writing surface. While most other LCDs are made on glass, the Reflex LCDs used in Boogie Board tablets are made of impact-resistant, flexible… -
Guy Kawasaki on the Art of Innovation
25 Jan 2010 | 6:24 amEntrepreneur, Twitter star, and former Apple software evangelist Guy Kawasaki highlights advice for creating meaning, innovation, and...revenue. We follow @GuyKawasaki from our Twitter account @ipdotcom and read his blogs, How to Change the World and Holy Kaw! Guy Kawasaki has thoughtfully included IP.com's blog, Securing Innovation on his Alltop pages for Patents and Innovation (but not on the page of links for Inventions) along with a lot of other blogs we read regularly.
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15inno
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Good laugh! Herding Cats or Managing Innovation: The Harder Job?
9 Feb 2010 | 12:56 amI really like this video. Check it out and ask yourself which job is the hardest: the job of a cat herder or the job of an innovation leader working to make innovation happen internally as well as with external partners. Click here to view the embedded video. Do you see some similarities on these jobs? : – ) -
Who Controls Eco-systems in Open Innovation?
8 Feb 2010 | 9:01 amIn a discussion in my Leadership+Innovation group on LinkedIn, Mark Karasek asked for examples in which “open standards” ecosystems benefited everyone rather than giving one company a lion’s share. I had a hard time thinking of such examples so Mark raises a valid point. Actually, I would say that most – if not all – effective eco-systems are initiated and/or controlled by a company that stands to benefit most from this. I do not view this as a negative thing. However, it should caution especially smaller companies when potential partners pitch you a project in… -
Is China Innovative?
7 Feb 2010 | 12:01 pmI tapped into an interesting discussion on LinkedIn. Chris Gelken, who is host and co-producer of Today, a live news magazine, asked whether China is an innovative society. Personally, I find the development of China to be both fascinating and a bit frightening seen from a Western perspective. Based on several visit, my take is that if China avoids too many financial bubbles, then the drive and ambition of the Chinese people to climb the value chain ladder will turn it into an innovation hotspot sooner than many think. There are many great comments in the discussion and I have inserted… -
Open Innovation and the Power of Viral Marketing: Simple and Effective Lesson from General Mills
5 Feb 2010 | 6:21 amGeneral Mills presented several of their open innovation initiatives at the recent CoDev conference. They are doing great work and I will post more about this later. In this post, I want to show an example of how open innovation can be done in a simple, yet effective way. The open innovation team at General Mills uses small business cards to describe what they are seeking. The cards are distributed to their contacts. Since the issues are not relevant to everyone, they make sure to ask whether the recipients could forward the card to other relevant people in their network. This is a very… -
Crowdsourcing Is Not Always Open Innovation: Lesson from PepsiCo
4 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pmWe need to be careful about defining open innovation as this can have different meanings for different companies in different situations. Personally, I like to describe open innovation as a process in which a company bridges internal and external resources and act on the opportunities identified in this process. I also believe that it only becomes open innovation when the external input is significant and thus beyond simple idea generation from external resources in the early phases. My take on this is quite broad compared to other definitions and so far the companies I talk and work with…
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Innovation in Practice
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Innovation and Reputation
7 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pmSustainable innovation requires structured methods. But it also requires collaboration and information sharing among colleagues. Innovation is a team sport - groups produce better results than the lone genius. So how do you create a more favorable context for collaboration and sharing in your business unit?Reputation is what matters. The degree to which a technical worker will share information with a colleague depends on that colleague's reputation for returning the favor. The rule of reciprocity states that people give back to those in the form they have received from others. It… -
The LAB: Innovating the iPad with Attribute Dependency (January 2010)
31 Jan 2010 | 1:07 pmApple's iPad creates a new category of consumer electronic somewhere between smart phones and notebook computers. Success depends on how well it embeds into our everyday routines at work, home, and elsewhere. Success also depends on how well it creates new routines. A great innovation tool for this is the Attribute Dependency template of the corporate innovation method called S.I.T.. This template creates (or breaks) dependencies between attributes of the product and the external environment. The iPad already has many of these. My favorite, for example, is the ability to show… -
Innovation Sighting: Task Unification with the iPhone
24 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pmThe iPhone is an incredible platform for innovation. As it becomes more popular, it invites even more innovation. Many of the iPhone's functions demonstrate the Task Unification template of the corporate innovation method called S.I.T.. Task Unification is a pattern that assigns an additional job to an existing resource or component within a product or service. To use Task Unification in practice, we start by listing the components of the product or service. Then we assign non-intuitive tasks to some of the components randomly. The idea is to create weird, ambiguous "virtual… -
Language and Innovation
17 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pmLanguage and innovation are inseparable. Language puts meaning to our ideas, be it spoken, written, or symbolic. We convey ideas to others which is essential in corporate innovation. Innovation would be nearly impossible if we did not have language. If you want to improve your innovation effectiveness, improve your use of language. Structured innovation methods help regulate our thinking and channel the ideation process. At the moment immediately before we innovate, we hold in our minds a pre-inventive form or structure that has yet to be understood. It is at that exact moment… -
Linking Innovation with Strategy
10 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pmInnovation that is linked to strategy is seen as more realistic and supportable. Innovating is efficient because you avoid creating ideas that are out of scope. Firms struggle with this as Idris Mootee observed in his blog, Innovation Playground:"The most amazing thing with strategic experience innovation is that it takes one kind of company and leadership to create the idea and another kind of company to scale it up and drive industry transformation and we see it in markets after market."Andrew Hinton offered this insight on his blog, Inkblurt:"We hear the words Strategy and Innovation…
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INDIA INVENTS
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Household utensils from used tyres
8 Feb 2010 | 3:37 amBusinessline has carried this interesting picture. Credit to Ritu Raj Konwar.Can anyone share more information on this venture from Nagaland? -
Solid Propellant plant at ISRO
8 Feb 2010 | 3:25 amAn important technology was mastered by ISRO scientists by designing and setting up of a Solid Propellant plant at SHAR.The Solid Propellant Plant (SPP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, set up for manufacturing S200 solid boosters of GSLV Mk-III, was commissioned on December 18, 2008 with the successful casting of Head-End Segment (HES). Subsequently, in February 2009, the Nozzle-End-Segment (NES) and in April 2009 the Middle Segment (MS) were also processed. Thus, processing of all the three segments for the first static test of S200 booster has been completed. The S200 booster… -
Mitti cool or Chotukool
7 Feb 2010 | 11:15 pmGodrej launching Chotukool brings to mind low penetration of Mitticool supported by NIF. Who would be more successful? (source: NitiBhan, -
Copenhagen wheel and kanak Gagoi
30 Jan 2010 | 9:29 pmCopenhagen wheel project reminded of the various proposals received under TePP and a few supported under TePP and NIF. The most interesting is Kanak Gagoi's bicycle. Recuperating kinetic energy at braking is a known principle. Why did one project succeed and man others failed? I think the difference is in engineering. To convert many of our innovators initial prototypes into commercial products, we need organisations like SENSeable city lab. -
Daseri Subramanyam- creator of Bhetal story
28 Jan 2010 | 4:21 amAs a child the most fascinating story I read again and again was that of Bhetal and Vikramarkudu. The writer Daseri Subramanyam (85 years) died on 27th in Tenali, A.P Established in 1947, Chandamama is the brain-child of visionaries B.Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani. The magazine was launched with an aim to entertain and educate young minds about the rich traditions of India. Chandamama has been delighting readers since then with engrossing stories, amazing facts, and thought-provoking features. Mention Chandamama, and one will instantly recall popular features such as Vikram/Vetala, stunning…
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Lateral Action
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How to Create Your Own Blogger Stage Fright – and Then Kick Its Ass
8 Feb 2010 | 5:33 amImage by eschipul When Mark tossed out the challenge of sending in our creative blocks, I hit the keyboard faster than a speed demon in a red wagon. I was determined. I was going to tell someone. Once and for all. I have performance anxiety. I know, I know, that’s a dreaded thing to have. Especially if you’re considered something of a blogosphere phenomena that churns out great content by the bucketful. But there you have it – some days, I just can’t write. It’s not for lack of ideas. It’s not for lack of ability. It’s just performance anxiety, a very simple creative… -
Switch Off Your Social Self – Switch On Your Creativity
1 Feb 2010 | 10:03 amImage by the sea the sea We’ve all heard someone say things like, “Everyone is an artist” and “We’re all born naturally creative.” But most of us smile and nod (and think to ourselves, “Yeah, right!”) when we hear something like that, much in the way that we do when someone says something like, “Everyone is beautiful – fat, thin, tall, short, etc.” We’ve been so conditioned to believe in societal definitions and “rules” about what art, success and beauty looks like that it’s often hard for us to fathom any other alternative, and so we spend our time actively… -
An Interview with Chris Brogan, Trust Agent
27 Jan 2010 | 5:30 amImage by Bryant Hill If you’re a creative entrepreneur looking to make connections and promote your business on the web, Chris Brogan is one of the people you need to pay attention to Chris is an eleven year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at chrisbrogan.com. He is co-author with Julien Smith of the New York Times bestselling book Trust Agents. Chris is President of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing… -
Creative Block #4 – Creativity v Cash
25 Jan 2010 | 2:29 amThis post is part of the Break Through Your Creative Blocks series. If you have a creative block you’d like some help with, tell us about it – details in the first article in the series. Sometimes it can feel like a constant battle to earn enough money to justify spending time on creative work. This problem can be particularly acute if you work in a creative medium with little obvious commercial potential. This kind of block doesn’t just affect your non-commercial work however – it can lead you to resent the work you do to pay the bills, and bring up resistance to… -
Creative Block #3 – Lack of Time
18 Jan 2010 | 3:24 amThis post is part of the Break Through Your Creative Blocks series. If you have a creative block you’d like some help with, tell us about it – details in the first article in the series. One of the biggest challenges facing many creative people is simply finding the time to pursue their creative interests, in the midst of the demands of everyday life. Strictly speaking, lack of time doesn’t qualify as a creative block – but when we say we “don’t have time” for something, it’s often an indication that we aren’t making it a priority. This is a very common issue, so I…
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neuronspark
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iTablet, iSlate, iCrumba
25 Jan 2010 | 11:13 amiCurumba! Apple Tablet Has Projector, Flash, All Intel Inside... All this frantic Apple fanatic hysteria has been like watching a cartoon. Their anticipation is fed by rumeos and speculation generated by Social Media tools. Yes, there's an Event scheduled for this Wednesday at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, no singing or dancing, but a carefully paced performance by you know who. It will be Space Invaders meets the Raiders of the Lost Ark and faces will melt! The device unveiled will be thin, light and beautiful. The assembled crowd will snap photos with their iPhones and… -
The Future of Digital Distribution
19 Jan 2010 | 7:13 amDigital Media Insider @ CES, discuss the increasing importance of new digital media distribution models for content owners. Jennifer Kavanagh, VP, Digital & New Media, Oxygen Media Rob Barnett, Founder/CEO, My Damn Channel Scott Brown, Marketing Strategy, Cisco Media Solutions Group Jason Rubinstein GM & VP, Digital Media, redbox Richard Bullwinkle, Chief Evangelist, Rovi Corporation Moderator: David Straus, CEO, Withoutabox -
The Plug Computer
18 Jan 2010 | 7:29 amAt the Storage Visions conference Simon Milner of Marvell Semiconductor introduced us to the Plug Computer and talked about the community of developers creating applications and services for this new low power platform. -
ASUS T 101MT
16 Jan 2010 | 10:24 amAt CES ASUS show their multi-touch EEE PC powered by Intel's Pine Trail Atom N450 1.66 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, with 2GB memory, 320GB hard drive. -
VIA
15 Jan 2010 | 11:49 amStewart Haston gives us the latest on VIA technologies
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InnovationLabs
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How to Create a Winning Business Model
5 Feb 2010 | 5:21 pmAs a critical source of competitive advantage, innovation certainly deserves the attention it receives. But innovation is also notoriously difficult to manage. And while recognized innovators are widely admired for their achievements, every business leader knows that the pursuit of innovation is exceptionally challenging even as it is entirely necessary. The roots of the problem lie [...] -
The Future of Business Education
25 Jan 2010 | 7:07 pmThere has been a lot written about the rate of change and how the speed of change isn’t going to slow down any time soon. One of the impacts of this condition is the complexity of doing business in any industry or sector of society has increased. This complexity challenges every leader to develop new [...] -
Help Wanted: Innovation (or maybe not…)
15 Jan 2010 | 2:49 pmWe hear from executives everywhere about how they are genuinely concerned about the state of innovation in their organizations, and how much they want innovation to improve. Often enough, when they need to hire new people, they’re hoping that the new staff will be able to help them with innovation too. I recently noticed an ad [...] -
The Unknown, the Future, and the Impossible
11 Jan 2010 | 5:05 pm“We sell our souls at the altar of the incremental.” Well, we do if we embrace the view that that change is slow and steady, and comes out of what came before. But what if it doesn’t? What if change is radical, disruptive, breakthrough? Innovation is always a matter of the dialog between these two poles, between the [...] -
Don’t Let the Collaborative Event Tail Wag the Project Dog
31 Dec 2009 | 2:05 pmI’ve been facilitating and supporting face to face collaborative events for over 25 years and sometimes have to watch against an event-centric approach in my work. Of course a major collaborative event involving perhaps hundreds of participants and spanning several days must be well designed. The event must have objectives and deliverables. It must have [...]
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The Kick Board (Kevin Dostalek's Blog)
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SharePoint Saturday Indianapolis Recap
1 Feb 2010 | 3:45 amWow, what a great day we had on Saturday at the first ever SharePoint Saturday Indianapolis event. I was fortunate to be on the organizing committee for this event along with Rob Bogue, John Ferringer, Kory Geyer, David Reed, Krista Sellery, and Mike Mitchell. We also had a great group of volunteers that really helped with all the logistics of the day including: Andy Bradley, Tuong Do, Keith Oswalt, Karyn Williams, John Boomershine, and Mike Ticker. The folks at our facility, the Gene Glick Junior Achievement Center, were also great all day long! I also heard from all the sponsors… -
Mindmap and CodeSamples from nSpin 2010-Jan-14
15 Jan 2010 | 5:57 amHere is the mindmap and code samples from the presentation I gave last night at nSpin entitled "Overview of the SP2010 Social Platform for Developers". NOTE: This is NOT the presentation I'm giving at SPSINDY. To view/download the whole mindmap just click on the thumb below: As for the codesamples, here are a couple notes: General These are all VS2010 projects You will need to change some of the hardcoded SPSite URLS to yours- anywhere you see http://sp2010 The first and third projects must be run on a SharePoint 2010 server. As such, you need to insure that your project's… -
Kevin's Speaking Engagements in January
11 Jan 2010 | 5:02 amHey everyone! I just wanted to drop a note to all about two speaking engagements I've got lined up here in the month of January. I hope if any of the topics below are of interest that you'll be able to come and check them out. The first is a SharePoint 2010 Development topic for the nSpin group that is coming up THIS THURSDAY. Event nSpin SIG meeting following the Indy .Net UG meetin Date/Time 1/14/10, 7:30ish (.NET UG starts at 6) Title Overview of the SharePoint 2010 Social Platform for Developers Level 200-300ish Audience SharePoint Developers Link http://nspin.net Description… -
CKS:EBE Customization Screencast
12 Oct 2009 | 6:17 amI recently did a presentation at the Indianapolis SharePoint Developers group, nSpin (a SIG of the IndyNDA) on how to use the Community Kit for SharePoint Extended Blog Edition (CKS:EBE) to customize your blog running on top of SharePoint. Due to other environmental factors outside of our control, we ended up having to compress the 85 minute presentation into 30 minutes. There were also quite a few people that couldn't make it and were asking me for slides. Well, I'm not really a slide kind of guy-- this particular presentation was about 33% Animated MindMap and 66% demos. So anyway,… -
JS Injection for SharePoint List Forms
24 Sep 2009 | 5:15 amI’ve seen a few questions out on Twitter in the past few weeks on how to change SharePoint page behavior based on querystrings passed in an URL. While the context for this question leads to many possible alternatives (filter web parts, custom web part, xslt, js, etc…) I found that the advice I was giving in most cases was “if you just need something quick (and dirty), then just inject some javascript. It seems though that arn’t many easily findable tutorials around for how to do this, so I decided to write this article. Please note that this is NOT the best way to accomplish…
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Kenji Summers | The Future is Bright
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My 2010-02-08 Leftovers Are Good For You
8 Feb 2010 | 7:30 pm@ANDphred blogs harder. ha. Nice job sir. I will redirect traffic. How are you feeling? # The creative world is going to hear about a guy named Sean Francis #in2010 # @ANDphred word. What's the opportunity looking like? in reply to ANDphred # #Bush should have got the ball on the goal line. You give your best athlete the ball in that situation. # RT @mgproject Join us at 9:30 CST for a special, impromptu episode of the Drum. This year's Super Bowl Spots. http://twurl.nl/yihpk6 # @GodMc_Literally ha. True. I want to know how they afforded a bowl spot. http://myloc.me/3BpeB in reply to… -
There’s No Future in Digital Strategy…
8 Feb 2010 | 10:45 amI didn’t say it, Bud did. However, if the glove fits get Johnnie. -
Glamour Life 2010 (A Tribute To Big Punisher) (Produced by Jet Audio)
8 Feb 2010 | 7:46 amGreat cut. L.G.P. Download: Glamour Life 2010 (A Tribute To Big Punisher) (Produced by Jet Audio) -
Sprite Commercial featuring Drake WITH CREDITS
7 Feb 2010 | 2:41 pmI took a slight hiatus…Pardon the quality. Feb 13th is too far away, so I present to you the bootleg version of the latest Sprite commercial (featuring Drake). It seems the Coca-Cola Company would like you to believe that Sprite can give you that ’spark’ to create, do, and make something happen. I think the masses will like the spot. I even dig the strategy that (probably) went into the brief. I wonder if a high quality version will leak before February 13th. In the meantime, enjoy Sprite’s decision to play the commercial before films at select movie theaters. Credits… -
400 Faces by Felix Morelo
4 Feb 2010 | 7:06 am400 Faces by Felix Morelo, originally uploaded by KenjiSummers. Public chalk artwork spotted on 14th st near Union Square (NYC). For more info: FelixMorelo.com Sent via my mobile office by AT&T Visit www.kenjisummers.com
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InnExperience
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Taking a break
8 Feb 2010 | 5:02 amSincere apologies to those few who followed this blog. I have decided to take a break from blogging and will not be posting on this blog any longer. Feel free to take whatever you find useful. Till we meet again … Filed under: Innovation -
Anti-Globalization Bill 2010 passed by America
30 Jan 2010 | 4:24 amDear Mr. President, Congratulations on the passing of the landmark Anti-Globalization Bill, 2010. I quote from the first 30 minutes of your The 2010 State of the Union Address on 27th January 2010. Obama - 0:17:45 – 0:17:55 “… to encourage businesses to stay within our borders, it is time to finally slash the taxbreaks to companies that ship jobs overseas and give tax breaks to companies that create those jobs right here in America.” Sure Mr. Presidunk. But where will you get the skills you need. I believe you exported these to us lesser mortals for mercenary… -
Meet Kamesh
26 Jan 2010 | 8:28 amA proud moment for my friend, a proud moment for me and for this blog. The Art of Juggling in the Hindu, 25 January, 2010. A quiet, unassuming man with neatly combed silver hair and metal-rimmed glasses, it’s Kameshwar the IT Consultant you see at first glance. But, all it takes is five minutes spent reading his slim volume of sweetly insightful poetry — Seahorse in the Sky recently published by Writers Workshop — to get a glimpse of the poet within. And, half-an-hour over coffee spent discussing the many versions of the Mahabharata and his yatra to Neemsar, where the 18 Puranas… -
The end of consumer ignorance – Marketing Predictions for 2010
22 Jan 2010 | 3:24 amWhen not all is well, people turn to astrology. Not ClickDocuments. They decided to use crowd-sourcing and approached a lively bunch of people for their predictions. Result: the ClickPredictions eBook that you can download free. My Mantra – “Marketers should first realize that the perception (of their customers) is the only reality.” Some tips for 2010: Marketers should – Unlearn marketing as a ‘function’, learn that it’s a conversation and listen to what the customer communities are saying; Learn to communicate honestly without smoke and mirrors and forget about… -
Green The World … make it a better place.
2 Jan 2010 | 4:16 amGreen the World (Click on the image to see the animated version). Feel free to share. [http://www.ideafarms.com/NewYear2010/NYC_2010.html] Thank you Michael Jackson!! May your soul rest in peace. Posted in climate change, environment, Sustainability Tagged: climate change, conservation, environment, Green, Happy New Year 2010, Heal the world, Michael Jackson, New Year Greetings, Seasons greetings
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Fast Company
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Kiribati - A Climate Change Reality
9 Feb 2010 | 9:35 amIn preparation to the Copenhagen climate change conference, UNDP produced a film about the reality of climate change in the Pacific island of Kiribati. The film clearly shows how people's lives are being affected right now by rising sea waters. GreenEnergyTV.com is an Online Television Channel that is dedicated to airing "Green" video content for millions of viewers around the world. We welcome companies, individuals, families, inventors, schools, kids, teachers and organizations to Upload videos showing what they are doing to be Green & Watch videos on the site. We are a community and a… -
Foursquare Steps Up its Location-Based Content With Zagat, HBO Deals
9 Feb 2010 | 8:18 amConscious of the advancing, diversifying competition to its location-based gaming/info services, Foursquare is not sitting on it's laurels: It's announcing new partnerships with some big-name media companies to add content to its system. First up is a deal with Zagat, which will add some named-quality reviews to Foursquare and act as a promotional vehicle: Foursquare players will be able to earn a special "Foodie" badge if they check into the right eateries--a lot like the special reward badges that the deal with Bravo kicked off in January. Zagat itself will get a boost, as its traditional… -
U.S. Climate Change Portal Could Birth Entirely New Industries
9 Feb 2010 | 8:01 amAt long last, we can access the government's climate change data, info, products, and services all under one roof: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Services site, a portal that brings together the climate change information scattered across various government agencies. The service isn't just for policy wonks and climate change nerds. It's also intended to answer questions for educators, business owners, and the general public with help from a number of tools--including an interactive "climate dashboard" that shows constantly updating climate datasets (i.e… -
False Alarm: Cardboard Furniture Is Still Cool
9 Feb 2010 | 7:58 amThe trend may not be over, but Roberto Giacomucci's new line shows it might be getting there. Rumors of the death of the paper-furniture trend have been greatly exaggerated. Proof it's alive and well comes from Italian designer Roberto Giacomucci, whose paper furniture line was recently released by cardboard construction whizzes Kubedesign. It's all flat-pack of course--does it even come in a box? (Free design idea: mail art furniture. The shipping container folds into the object.) It's totally recyclable, so redecorating is as easy as slicing it up and tossing it in the bin. The chairs don't… -
Infographic of the Day: Your Computer Use, Visualized Like a Jackson Pollock
9 Feb 2010 | 7:54 amYou spend all day clicking a mouse. What's that look like? There are lots of heat maps of Web sites, showing where people's clicks and eyeballs go when they arrive at a page. But this is the first app we've seen that lets you build one for yourself. Designed by Anatoly Zenkov and available on a Mac or PC, it's dead simple: You just run the app, minimize the window, and go about your business. The tracks show your mouse path, and the circles show where your pointer lingered--stopping points where you were working on the keyboard, away from the computer, or immersed in content. You could almost…
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Schumpeter's Century
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2010: The Year of Innovation
25 Jan 2010 | 9:18 amThomas Friedman issues the call, which should be shouted from the rooftops (NYT):What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of “Start-Up America.” -
The Coming Prosperity
7 Jan 2010 | 8:51 pmPhil's (@auerswald) latest blog, "The Coming Prosperity" is up. Check it out. The précis:In our lifetimes the majority of the world's population will join the global economy. This is not just a good thing. It is the biggest and best development in human history.But progress toward global prosperity is not inevitable. The very magnitude of the changes already in process and those to come creates significant obstacles to their realization. The choices that each of us make will determine the extent and reach of the coming prosperity, and our part in it.This blog, and a book I am writing by the… -
The Invention of Enterprise
7 Jan 2010 | 8:25 pmThe new edited volume by David S. Landes, Joel Mokyr, and William Baumol will be out next week. Most edited volumes aren't interesting, but this is a different story and fills a void. I haven't read it but it is self-recommending. The full title is: The Invention of Enterprise: Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Times, and it is part of the Kauffman Foundation Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Pre-order now. Chapter 1 is available from Princeton University Press (pdf). Here is the table of contents and here is a brief abstract:Whether hailed as heroes or cast as… -
Reputation and Social Entrepreneurship
17 Nov 2009 | 11:07 amEconomists know a lot about entrepreneurship and have more or less even settled on a defition for the field. Auerswald (2009) writes: "For all the different notions of entrepreneurship that have been floated over the past century, the most fundamental and enduring is the definition of the entrepreneur as the “residual claimant” in a new venture—the person who walks away with, or (alternately and importantly!) is liable for, whatever is left over when the accounting is done—plus or minus."He then goes on to define a social entrepreneur as the residual claimant for an enterprise, but… -
Godin on Upside vs Downside Risk
10 Nov 2009 | 5:41 amSeth Godin has a good post about the change that occurs when a firm achieves economies of scale and ceases to be entrepreneurial:A new restaurant might rely on fresh vegetables and whatever they can get at the market. The bigger, more established fast-food chain starts shipping in processed canned food. One is less reliable with bigger upside, the other—more dependable with less downside.Here's a rule that's so inevitable that it's almost a law: As an organization grows and succeeds, it sows the seeds of its own demise by getting boring. With more to lose and more people to lose it,…
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Wright Creativity
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It’s all okay…
8 Feb 2010 | 8:30 pmPicasso once said that Good artists copy, great artists steal… So I am “stealing” @IkePigott’s video in regards to the new Facebook page changes, because well, he says it better than I could…and he already did the work I’m thinking it would be good to be Caligula in this situation… Related posts:Facebook’s TOS -who’s really shocked? Friday Photography with heart and mind Guest post from CouchSurfingOri -
The Accidental Entrepreneur
5 Feb 2010 | 9:11 amThis photo was taken by an LG eNV2 at ACCHB while the photographer from the OC Register was showing us the pictures he had taken of myself an Annmarie for my Accidental Entrepreneur story published online today (and in print tomorrow). Related posts:Winter sunset in San Clemente Is that a smile? Friday Photography from Chema Madoz -
Are you getting the most from your blog?
4 Feb 2010 | 5:51 pmIf the only place you can work on your blog is sitting in front of your laptop at a location with wifi, you are missing out. Today, Wordpress for Blackberry left the beta phase and entered full availability. iPhone addict? Check out Wordpress for iPhone (wordpress for iphone)! I’m using the Blackerry app…and just might be in love. Super quick to install, and set up, easy to use interface and overall really, really cool! Do you have easy access to your blog? Related posts:How to change your tags without editing blog posts How to get a (cheap) blog makeover The importance of strong… -
The world is dominated by bloggers.
3 Feb 2010 | 8:28 amThe final post topic I gathered from my readers and followers was from Angry Julie (the first two were from @HealthOC and @Hagre). She is convinced the world is dominated by bloggers and wanted to know my thoughts. I think I agree! Why you ask? Let’s start by looking at the sheer statistics (stats from Techcrunch, Technorati, comScore and FutureBuzz): 133,000,000 – number of blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002 346,000,000 – number of people globally who read blogs 900,000 – average number of blog posts in a 24 hour period 1,750,000 – number of RSS subscribers to TechCrunch,… -
How to manage your time and enable yourself to actually have a blog
2 Feb 2010 | 12:06 pmAs I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this weeks post topics are all courtesy of my twitter followers and friends. Today’s question/idea came from @hagre, who asked me to share a how-to on something I do well. In the last few months, I have shared tutorials on many things, blog management calendars, complete blog designs, improving your social media, how to be a better writer. But what I noticed was that none of these discussed the root tutorial, the “how-to” everyone needs to have in order to actually do any of the above “how-to’s”. The tutorial I was…
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Foresight 20/20
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Engineering translation and design thinking
9 Feb 2010 | 7:25 amLast night I attended a panel discussion on Smart Medical Devices, put on by the Biomedical Engineering Society. There was a lot of discussion about the definition of Smart Devices, new technologies (which were very impressive), and ultimately the discussion found its way to pointing out the need for biomedical engineers to act as translators between the engineering and medical communities. Sound familiar? This is exactly the type of discussion that goes on in design thinking circles. Just as it's important for designers to understand human needs to design… -
Ten minutes with the VP
28 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pmI received an email from a regular reader of this blog asking the following question: I need to think about an interesting topic to do a 10 min presentation to my Global Consumer Insights Vicepresident. If you were him, what would you like to hear about from a CI manager of a WW consumer goods company? Here are a few thoughts from conversations I've had with clients recently: Remember that the consumer is a source of information, not answers. Think about what you really mean when you talk about statistical significance. Insights are derived, not observed. Innovation is not random. … -
Another case for problem-posing.
19 Jan 2010 | 4:45 amThis weekend I read a fascinating article by Columbia professor Dr. Robert Jervis in the Boston Globe. He wrote about the way our brains make connections, how these connections inform our decisions, and how this process could have contributed to the incorrect decisions the CIA has made when drawing conclusions about terrorist threats. He made two points that were of particular interest to me. The first point is his assertion that humans are very good at recognizing patterns and making connections that are relevant to our world view. In the work I've been doing, I would… -
Is your company running a casino?
6 Jan 2010 | 4:39 amOf course your company isn't running a casino on purpose. But is it running one accidentally? You can tell based on its approach to innovation investment. Does your company solicit new ideas for products and technologies in a more random fashion, investing in those that either can be executed with current resources, or do not pose much risk to the status quo? Do people know the success criteria for a breakthrough idea? In other words, is there a way to tell if a new offering with no current benchmarks is likely to succeed? Usually the answer is no. Does this… -
Technology and consumer research: The chicken and the egg
16 Dec 2009 | 12:56 pmIt's funny how the planets sometimes align around a topic. This week it's the chicken and the egg question regarding technology and consumer research. It all started last week when I was talking with a friend from a local technology start-up about the need to understand consumer (or other end-user in B2B situations) motivations in order to ensure the relevance of new product offerings. Then today I saw two interesting posts that essentially dance around the same question; when developing breakthrough innovation, which comes first? The first post is from Don…
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Tin Whiskers
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Backlash against transactional open innovation
4 Feb 2010 | 11:55 amA good article that sites the backlast against transactional models of open innovation: Bloomberg article. Well documented on this blog, we’ll see more posts like this as time goes on. Trying to run an innovation program in a transactional model assumes that innovation is a transactional endeavor (predictable, deterministic, and easily measured.) It is not. -
Steve Jobs and gadgets: Learnings for innovators
1 Feb 2010 | 10:28 amIt has been a while since a new technology product hype equaled that of the new IPad announced last week from Apple. In all of the presentations by innovation consultants, pundits, and talking heads that I’ve been privy too over the years, no doubt Apple/Jobs has been cited more than any other as an example of the best of every type of innovation (open, closed, customer-driven, consumer-driven, Blue Sky, and every-flavor thereof.) Everyone is eager to morph the Jobs message to mesh with whatever they are hawking. Not to be outdone…. Actually, I don’t have dog in the fight. -
Friedman Article in NYT that Gub’ment focus on Innovation
26 Jan 2010 | 10:04 amThis op-ed piece in the NYTimes by Thomas Friedman will be interesting to those interested in innovation. I’d say Friedman is right in that President Obama should focus on job creation through innovation and revitalization. But Friedman ignores a problem: government will see the problem as “what should government do?” rather than “what are we doing to impeded business that we should stop?” Friedman says: Obama should bring together the country’s leading innovators and ask them: “What legislation, what tax incentives, do we need right now to replicate you… -
Can adademic studies propel a career in innovation?
19 Jan 2010 | 12:49 pmRecently a friend’s college student daughter asked me how they might adapt her college courses for a “career in innovation.” Having read my posts on Tin Whiskers, and aspiring to a top MBA program, she assumed I might have an inspired answer. I did not. And since I usually have a pat answer to questions about the hysteria around innovation (and open innovation in particular), I was a bit more surprised by my blank stare than was this starry eyed student. That always causes me to reflect. I realize now that my reaction is derived from several opinions, assumptions,… -
Open Innovation and in re Bilski
18 Dec 2009 | 8:00 amIn my earlier career as an engineer, I encountered the patent process. I’ll admit I wasn’t impressed. I recall a meeting in 1989 where I described the invention (a software method for detecting the speed of wheels for anti-lock brake purposes) to a lawyer from GM’s patent office. He claimed he was an engineer, too, but he certainly spoke a different language than I did. He wrote up the patent application and asked me to read it. I tried but couldn’t understand it. I still can’t. But the invention worked, I got a plaque and a hefty financial reward…
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Be Innovation
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$10,000 for Innovation
13 Jan 2010 | 7:14 amBusinesses all over the world ask themselves the same questions every day. Or, if they don’t, they probably should. “How can we make our company better? Run smoother? More efficient? Make more money?” Often times we look outside the company for help or advice. Sometimes we think that we know all the answers and we don’t need help from anyone. And much of the time I am sure that we just expect things to get better without trying at all. But take this new idea from the struggling publisher, Conde Nast. They are offering their employees a $10,000 prize for whoever… -
France Hates Innovation
8 Jan 2010 | 7:11 amThis piece from Wired.com is yet another describing the futile attempts by people who are uneasy about the changes brought about by digital content. In this latest one, it appears that the French Government has decided that it might be a good idea to tax successful online companies in order to help unsuccessful companies. They think that taxing a company like Google, who has figured out what people want to do, and need to do online, is the way to help other companies who have failed to see the wave of the future and continue to lose money because of free content. Let’s face it people,… -
Innovative Way to Bring in the New Year
31 Dec 2009 | 10:43 amDo it in style! Happy New Year to all. Tagged: 2010 -
Email Me Updates
30 Dec 2009 | 7:00 amThere is a local brewery near my home town in New Jersey that continues to email me. Here is the story behind that email. I went with a friend to the brewery, which offers a small casual style bar where you can come in and try to featured beers. There were a few small groups of people there, the servers were friendly, and they love to talk about beer. As we were leaving, we were offered the chance to join a mailing list by simply our email address on the bottom of our check. I was happy to do so. Now, whenever they plan a new event, or come out with a new brew, I get an email from them… -
NY Times Allows Adam Raff to take out Personal Vendetta against Google
28 Dec 2009 | 11:06 amHere is an op-ed piece in yesterday’s New York Times about “Search Neutrality“. Before I respond, its only fair to say that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and so Adam Raff is not wrong for writing this piece. A lot of his points, upon further investigation, are wrong. It does not take long, only a couple of paragraphs, to discover that Adam Raff is not in favor of Google for a reason. He blames the failure of his company, Foundem, on Google’s “decision” not to rank them near the top of search results for product comparison. More likely,…
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New Medici
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Google Checkmate on Apple and iPad Hype: Buy Adobe
29 Jan 2010 | 11:29 amWith the new Apple iPad receiving an iHype or iYawn from the tech and media communities, a former colleague and Applephile, Patrick Kearney, suggested that Apple was crazy not to just acquire Adobe and own/integrate Flash. I counterpointed via the socialnet, that Adobe would be more integral to Google’s apps and offer a serious checkmate [...] Related posts:Apple Tablet as Print/Magazine Page-Turner A potential interactive page-turner - think iTunes for magazines, books...What Would Google Do (to Innovate Next)? Jeff Jarvis' book came out this past week - yes,...Tim Armstrong Leaves… -
Welcome to Content Farmville!
27 Jan 2010 | 12:04 amIf the social or virtual goods market is exploding, expect it to also affect content online. Find a way to commoditize virtual content. So forget the Zygna virtual goodsvilles for a second, and start seeing 2010 as the year of ubiquitous “content farming” - where all of the serious digital publishers start long-term planning. [...] Related posts:Apple Tablet as Print/Magazine Page-Turner A potential interactive page-turner - think iTunes for magazines, books...The Ten Spot: Oct 29, 2009 via 'Paranormal' Now the Most Profitable Film Ever | The...AOL Anti-Portal: Hub and Flow At… -
FitBit: A Pocket Wii for New Year’s Health Resolutions
1 Jan 2010 | 10:06 pmA new take on the Nike Plus (Nike +) physical tracking device has finally gone into fulfillment on its pre-orders. I am playing with confirming my pre-order within the week - right in time for CES, but had to wait a very long while for the pre-order to commit. As a media + lifestyle company, New [...] Related posts:Innovation in Recession: Attack, Be Narrow and Backlog Ideas From BusinessWeek's "The Innovation Engine: The Upside of Recession" -...Must-View: Traditional vs Digital Journalism A must-view from the Monaco Media Forum: Arianna Huffington from...The 10,000-Hour Rule Start tracking… -
2010 Media & Entertainment Predictions
31 Dec 2009 | 11:17 pm2009 provided the best non-documentary film of the year in “The Hurt Locker” - it seems timely to take a few heroic stabs at predicting where media will be in the new year. Before 2009 times out in Los Angeles, a breakout of Media & Entertainment possibilities: DVD - “Hurt Locker” is an apt metaphor for [...] Related posts:Looking for Ideas: A Media + Entertainment Perspective From today's keynote on "Looking for Ideas: a Media+Entertainment Perspective"...SXSW: Multi-Picture Your Media Woke up this am, and found the excellent SXSW PanelPicker...Media &… -
The Ten Spot: Dec. 31, 2009
31 Dec 2009 | 10:08 pmLast day of the year, and pulling out those excerpts that have been gathering dust in the draft box. Stay tuned for the New Medici network to go live in Q1 2010, as well as a breakdown of media companies for last year and going forward into the new year. via How to Keep Your New [...] Related posts:The Ten Spot: Oct 30, 2009 via HuffPost Game Changers: Who Is The Ultimate Game...The Ten Spot: Nov 7, 2009 Spielberg: Have Movies Will Travel.... Again? - BusinessWeek Even before...The Ten Spot: Oct 29, 2009 via 'Paranormal' Now the Most Profitable Film Ever | The... Related posts brought to…
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Sharp Innovation
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Patentable Subject Matter in Europe
1 Feb 2010 | 9:46 amIPKat has a good review on patentable subject metter in Europe. here's a brief excerpt:In Europe, all inventions that are new and not obvious are patentable [Article 52(1) EPC], but this is subject to various exceptions and exclusions. The exceptions [Article 53 EPC] are:inventions the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to "ordre public" or morality;plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals; andmethods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practised on the human or… -
Reinventing the Patent System
12 Jan 2010 | 9:40 amIBM, a world leader in obtaining patents, is also working to reinvent the way we do patents. "Reinventing the Invention System" is an article by IBM about the issues of patent quality and innovations such as crowd-sourcing to improve prior art searches. They helped support Beth Noveck in developing an exciting pilot program at the USPTO, Peer To Patent, a system in which inventors could expose their pending patents to the world for commentary and prior art suggestions, in exchange for receiving a rapid examination. The best prior art submitted would be sent to the PTO, who then would ensure… -
Telling a Story in Patent Drafting: Toot Your Horn, Cautiously
11 Dec 2009 | 5:09 pmA bare-bones approach to patents has been proposed by some highly respected practitioners, an approach in which "unnecessary" elements of a patent such as a background section are eliminated in an effort to avoid some potential pitfalls that have been seen in litigation when the Federal Circut imported unintended limitations into the claims or took other steps that limited patent coverage. However, in light of KSR and other recent judicial trends, there may be a case for more story telling to create the case for non-obviousness. If the patent never gets allowed in the first place, making it… -
Announcing "Got Invention Radio"
18 Nov 2009 | 11:05 amI've had the privilege of working with inventor, innovator, entrepreneur, and author Brian Fried on some of his patents. Very impressive inventor and businessman. I've watched with pride as he's worked to educate and inspire many inventors in New York and beyond. Now I'm delighted to share the news about a new radio program he is hosting to help innovators and inventors. Got Invention radio (see http://www.gotinvention.com) makes it debut this week. Here's an excerpt from a press release at BusinessWire:Inventor and Author Brian Fried Launches Nationally Broadcasted Live Radio Show “Got… -
For Sharper Innovation, Focus Not on Ideas But on Unmet Needs
5 Nov 2009 | 6:29 amIn response to a recent BusinessWeek article on generating creative ideas ("How to Produce Big Ideas on Demand"), one commenter, Larry McDonald, made a valuable albeit overstated observation about the problem with idea generation per se:Ideas are the kiss of death, sadly. The fastest way to fail is to have ideas, instead of looking for unmet needs. If you must have ideas, the most critical issue is what you choose to have ideas about. Picking the right subject to innovate around should be half the task. Once you know the target of opportunity, only then think of solutions. Ideas on their own…
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Innovation CHEF
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Why the iPad won’t support Flash
2 Feb 2010 | 5:39 pmVery informative post here from John Gruber on Apple, Adobe and Flash. I am not (yet) an Apple user. My phone is currently a very old model Nokia that is next to indestructable. The lack of support for flash always struck me as a limitation. I love flash videos and post quite a few here on [...] -
International Conference for IP in Ireland
2 Feb 2010 | 3:57 amIt is coming up soon so get organised!It is the 3rd International Conference for Intellectual Property, Trademarks and Patent for Ireland. In the lovely Radisson Hotel, Dublin 8 on the 18th-19th Feb The theme this year is “Research, Innovation and Investment” Should be good: The IP Ireland 2010 Conference has been designed to draw on key industry leaders that [...] -
Are Great Innovators Born or made
28 Jan 2010 | 2:44 pmVery excited to have an article published in the latest edition on Technology Ireland. The magazine is dedicated to providing the inspiration to innovate. Entrepreneurs, researchers and technology managers share their real life stories. It is a good read and a great resource.The article is here. I guess my pet topics came up. Encouragement of natural creativity Positive [...] -
Innovation 2010
27 Jan 2010 | 2:56 pmWell it has been a while getting back to blogging. The day job has soaked up nearly all my time and probably will for the next little while. There is a lot to look forward to innovation wise in Ireland this year. The Innovation Task force report will be out soon. We will get bored [...] -
Cool innovation video from Phil McKinney
3 Dec 2009 | 5:42 amPhil McKinney, who is one very successful and passionate innovator, spoke to the SuperNova community. In this brief inteview Phil speaks about Innovation. Phil is an incredible innovation leader and has excellent material available on a “pay it forward” model on his website Killer Innovations Check it out.
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The EstiMate Software Blog
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The EstiMate Story – or, why we’re so passionate about all this pricing stuff.
4 Feb 2010 | 9:20 amYou may or may not know that EstiMate was born out of my own frustration when I was running my basement sign shop from 1993-1999. I had grown up in the sign industry, in my mother’s own basement sign shop, and throughout the late 70s and all of the 80s I watched her struggle to price her work. The phone would ring, she would answer and listen to the customer’s description of the sign they wanted made, and then she would say: “just a moment, let me go figure that.” She would drum her fingers on the desk for a while, all the while staring at her “calculator on the… -
EstiMate DiamondMine™ – Discover Buried Treasure In Your Business!
3 Feb 2010 | 11:08 amHave you ever “just known” that if you were more efficient, or organized, you could be making more money from your business? EstiMate DiamondMine takes those feelings and boils them down to math. Using EstiMate DiamondMine, you can now very easily see where the financial “leaks” are in your business and learn how to plug them, all by answering a few simple questions and generating a free report. What Brought This Tool About? For many years, I’ve wanted to add this tool to the website, but one thing or another has always come up and then I forget about it again. -
Finding Magic In Your Procrastination
25 Jan 2010 | 10:33 am“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.”’ How’s that for refreshing? A few evenings ago while I was cruising around the interwebs, I found this video interview with Jessica Hische on humblepied.com. Jessica is a type designer and hand-letterer working in Brooklyn, NY. One of the things I absolutely love is hand lettering and the state of mind I get in when I’m doing it. Painting and graphic design have always overlapped for me — probably why I ended up so deeply embedded in the sign… -
New! EstiMate Configurator Available Online
12 Jan 2010 | 1:00 pmWe’ve been asked over and over again to provide an easy way for potential customers to configure and price the EstiMate system that fits their shop. Well, we are proud to announce our new configurator! The EstiMate configurator will allow you to select options that describe how you want to use EstiMate in your shop and will build a system for you, ready to go. Enjoy! -
RateMate Hourly Rate Calculator Now Available!
30 Nov 2009 | 8:17 amDesigned For Mac OS X and iPhone RateMate Hourly Rate Calculator is a port of our ProfitWatch Software from Microsoft Windows to Mac OS X and the iPhone. Mac and iPhone lovers can now determine their hourly rate in style using this new release. RateMate Overview RateMate will help you determine the proper hourly rate for your business or services. Too often, businesses fail to charge enough for their time, basing their hourly rate on such things as: What the owner’s friend(s) are charging in their business(es) What other companies in the same area / field are charging What…
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Information Design Watch
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Brainstorming A History of the World
5 Feb 2010 | 11:07 amRattle offers its first blog post on developing the user experience strategy for “A History of the World,” the companion web site for the BBC Radio 4 series of the same name. Written and narrated by Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, the radio program travels through two million years to tell the history of humanity through 100 handmade objects from the Museum, ranging from a stone chopping tool to the cell phone. The web site enables exploration of these objects in detail, but also gives users the opportunity to participate by commenting on the collection or… -
Easy = True
2 Feb 2010 | 10:21 amAn interesting article on “cognitive fluency” offers this great infographic: Reporter Drake Bennett leads with the fact that “that shares in companies with easy-to-pronounce names do indeed significantly outperform those with hard-to-pronounce names.” He continues: Other studies have shown that when presenting people with a factual statement, manipulations that make the statement easier to mentally process – even totally nonsubstantive changes like writing it in a cleaner font or making it rhyme or simply repeating it – can alter people’s judgment of the… -
Rendered in Neat Circles
2 Feb 2010 | 6:43 amPopular Science links to another interesting information graphic on space exploration. This one, designed by Michael Paukner, illustrates the number of human-created objects orbiting Earth — and assigns responsibility: You can view larger versions on Paukner’s Flickr page. The title of my post comes from the Popular Science URL: see-space-debris-cloud-surrounding-earth-rendered-neat-circles. Ironically, this summarizes the problem with the visualization. Despite the attractiveness of the graphic, the neat circles show linear values by area, making precise comparisons completely… -
Real-Time Bus Location
30 Jan 2010 | 6:23 pmUsing GPS and Google Maps, MASCO — the Medical Academic and Scientific Community Organization, Inc., of Boston, Massachusetts — offers this elegant real-time bus map for its shuttle service. The map shows buses in service, their location, and their direction of travel. For folks waiting at the bus stop, the service is accessible via web-enabled phone at http://shuttles.masco.org/m. -
Why Hospital Data is Growing: Genetic Testing, EMRs, and the “-Ologies”
29 Jan 2010 | 1:21 pmAs a UX consultant with clients in the healthcare arena, I’m not unfamiliar with the kinds of data needed by employees on a hospital intranet, or by current and prospective patients on a public site. But I’m usually more concerned about the best way for people to find this information, rather than where it’s coming from and how it gets managed. So I was especially interested in the Global Information Industry Center at UCSD’s eye-opening report on data growth in hospitals. (If the group’s name sounds familiar, these are the same folks who recently concluded…
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Indexed
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How good is good?
9 Feb 2010 | 8:09 am -
Eww, slimy.
8 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am -
Architecture, romance, careers, whatnot.
5 Feb 2010 | 4:36 am -
Just rotten.
4 Feb 2010 | 4:34 am -
They are out to get you. And they’re stealthy, too.
3 Feb 2010 | 4:33 am
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VizThink Blog
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VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for February 8th
8 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pmA collection of visual thinking links found on the web in the past few days by our editors & vizthink community contributers. Have a link suggestion? Tweet it or add it to delicious and be sure to tag it with vizthink. These are the links for February 8th: Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color – Smashing Magazine – Liked this article? You may also enjoy:VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for February 4th VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for February 7th VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for February 1st -
The Seed (An Animated Voyage)
8 Feb 2010 | 6:45 am‘The Seed’ is the creation of animator/artist Johnathon Kelly, produced in conjunction with Adobe, and is an excellent, animated depiction of the life of an apple seed: The Seed from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo. From the video’s description on Vimeo: A two-minute animated voyage through nature’s life cycle, following the trials and tribulations of a humble apple seed. The film was kindly funded by Adobe, made using their CS4 range of software. It was produced at Nexus Productions and features a soundtrack by Jape. It was made using a mixture of stop motion papercraft and 2D… -
VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for February 7th
7 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pmA collection of visual thinking links found on the web in the past few days by our editors & vizthink community contributers. Have a link suggestion? Tweet it or add it to delicious and be sure to tag it with vizthink. These are the links for February 7th: The BBP Blog » Interview with Nancy Duarte – "What makes an effective presentation? I recently interviewed Nancy Duarte, CEO and principal of Duarte Design and author of slide:ology, to find out what she thinks. You don’t have to go far to figure out Duarte is passionate about story-telling and using effective… -
[Rewind] An Interview with Jessica Hagy of ‘This is Indexed’
5 Feb 2010 | 7:03 amOn this week’s VizThink rewind we’ve pulled an interview Tom Crawford did with Jessica Hagy back in November of 2008. Jessica is the creator of “This is Indexed” and I have no doubt that you’ve encountered one of her humorous venn diagrams or other charts over the past couple of years. This visual podcast runs about 20 minutes, so it’s a pretty quick listen but it gives you some great insight into Jessica’s process. Indexed by Jessica Hagy at VizThink ‘09 Originally Published November 20, 2008 Visualization can be a very powerful tool. Even… -
VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for February 4th
4 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pmA collection of visual thinking links found on the web in the past few days by our editors & vizthink community contributers. Have a link suggestion? Tweet it or add it to delicious and be sure to tag it with vizthink. These are the links for February 4th: GEO Data Portal Posters – The motherload of UN Data related infographic posters… (h/t Randy Krum of Cool Infographics) Liked this article? You may also enjoy:VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for January 9th VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for January 25th VizLinks | Visual Thinking Bookmarks for December 17th
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Adaptive Path
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Temple Grandin at UX Week 2009
8 Feb 2010 | 9:04 pmOn Saturday, HBO premiered its original film Temple Grandin, and the media exposure around it has definitely raised Ms. Grandin’s profile. We were extremely fortunate to have her speak at UX Week 2009, explaining how her autism affects how she perceives the world, her work with animals, and her experience in what I call “animal-centered design”. Here are videos of her entire presentation (there aren’t many full-length presentations of her online, and I couldn’t find any others where she talks about design). Temple Grandin PART 1 of 2 | UX Week 2009 | Adaptive… -
Signposts for the Week Ending February 5, 2010
5 Feb 2010 | 5:29 pmDon’t call them “whiteboards”! We most definitely find these bamboo dry erase boards compelling. We’re digging on these tips for crafting subtle & realistic user interfaces. Like everyone else, we’re itching to design for iPad. Already some folks have made it a little bit easier: Here’s a collection of iPad UI elements on Flickr, and here are clips from the Apple announcement that focus on the new interactions. As part of some literature research for a client project, we dug up “Instructive Interaction: Making Innovative Interfaces… -
Tricks with Slime Mold
4 Feb 2010 | 11:00 amMy spirit animal is slime mold and I’m not afraid to admit it. This stranger-than-fiction life form has become the poster child of self-organizing systems, and the experimentation is getting interesting. I’m a bona-fide member of the Slime Mold fan club, and it’s inspired a collection of thoughts about how companies can leverage the bottom-up, self-organizing methods that slime mold has mastered. Now honestly, I’m more of a dictyosteliomycota fan. But I’m not against admiring the myxomycota branch of the family. After all, what’s not to love about an… -
Analytics – The Usability Lab of the new decade
3 Feb 2010 | 9:22 pmBrandon started a discussion on an internal mailing list, asking, “The usability lab is now the ________ ?”, and explaining: 10 to 15 years ago the usability laboratory was the must-have for vetting and testing your design ideas. But more nimble development processes and new tools seem to have superseded the usability lab. Some of these are: remote screen sharing and screen recording tools and services voice of the customer feedback systems, like Get Satisfaction and other SaaS tools A/B testing and multi-variant testing remote co-design tools like online card sorting survey tools… -
30 seconds to creativity
2 Feb 2010 | 9:26 amI tweeted a while back that it’s been discovered you can boost creativity with side-to-side eye movement. People who watched a target moving side-to-side for 30 seconds have been tested as producing significantly more ideas when immediately given a creative task. This technique is, “thought to increase the cross-talk between the hemispheres.” So I put together both a PowerPoint and Keynote file to help you do the same thing. Try it out before your next design session, and let us know if you think it works!
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The Phoenix Principle
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Does your business Facebook?
5 Feb 2010 | 4:59 pmI had two more Facebook ignorers this week. First was an old friend who didn't use Facebook, and could not imagine how it would be beneficial to his business. I responded with "that's kind of like the folks who didn't use a telephone saying that they didn't see any value in it for business." When you don't use a tool, it's easy to pretend it isn't valuable. Makes life easy on your competitors who do give it a try.The second was a business that recruits people under 30. The top marketers at this company are still doing all their efforts with newspapers, radio and typical broadcast… -
Be Flexible, and Forward Thinking - Office Depot, Apple
1 Feb 2010 | 9:56 am"Strategic Plans Lose Favor" is a recent Wall Street Journal headline. Seems like some big companies, and big consulting firms like Accenture, McKinsey and the Boston Consulting Group are rapidly learning what this blog has been pushing for a few years. That flexibility trumps traditional approaches to strategic planning. When Office Depot's strategic plan was leading to revenue struggles, the company set up a situation room to track key indicators and adjust to market shifts much quicker. "Strategy as we know it is dead" according to Walt Shill, head of strategic planning at Accenture. -
Winners and Losers from Shifts - Apple, Amazon, Microsoft
30 Jan 2010 | 3:04 amOne of the biggest business news items this week was the launch of Apple's iPad for $499. Although perhaps overlooked by many big companies, and several IT departments. To some businesspeople, the iPad seems another consumer toy, thus not terribly noteworthy. Some see it as a small-market share sort of oversized iPhone for mobile telephony/data use. One executive commented to me this week "I don't understand why anyone cares, I don't own an iPhone and cannot imagine why I would ever want to download an app," He has a huge investment in Microsoft technology, has never used an iPhone… -
Data is overrated - Scenario planning and global warming
28 Jan 2010 | 8:30 amMost businesses have multiple analysts who spend day after day accumulating, analyzing and displaying data. Financial analysts, marketing analysts, IT analysts - they are all over the place. Then businesses will hire consultants who bring their own analysts to further find and review data - then present yet more charts and data summaries. When I worked for The Boston Consulting Group we used to say "the data will set you free!" And we believed that if we dug up more data and did more analysis than anyone else we would offer insight to change businesses everywhere.Yet, more of our… -
The problem with lists and awards - and best practices
25 Jan 2010 | 8:32 amWe all love awards and lists. Who doesn't like being rewarded for their accomplishments. At the same time, we have acquired a strong taste for lists "The best..." Another verification of success. But both can be harbingers of potential problems - and even destruction.Ben Bernanke became Time magazine's "Man of the Year" and now he's at some risk of losing his job (see 24/7WallStreet.com "In Not Bernanke, Who?" Think about the list of Great Companies that appear in books, like Good to Great, only to end up in big trouble - like Circuit City and Fannie Mae. Why does it seem those who…
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FOLDEN.INFO eMedia News
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Semantic Content Discovery Tool
4 Feb 2010 | 5:22 pmGyzork is a very interesting content discovery tool, that combines several up to date technologies. The application uses semantic technologies to find content, which means retrieving information by additional added information to a document indicating its meaning. To find information Gyzork offers three way to get started, by using a category, describing the subject or [...] -
Easy Online Word Processor to make Posts on Social Networks
4 Feb 2010 | 2:07 pmrunt.ly is an easy but comfortable and handy online tool to make posts on social networking sites. It is a simple webbased word processor to write a text including facilities to enrich the text with other media like photos and videos. After a text is created the app supplies a short link to become shared. [...] -
3D Screens and 3D Cinema without Lenses
3 Feb 2010 | 10:19 amThe technology company Sunny Ocean Studio has announced a world premiere to be introduced at the CeBIT trade fair. The company will introduce a 3d capable screen, which does not require any auxiliary means like lenses. At first a monitor will be introduced. Furthermore the company is working on a 3d cinema system working without [...] -
Social Media Aggregator for Photo Sharing
28 Jan 2010 | 10:40 amSocial media aggregator services enable the central administration of various social media accounts as well as to administrate information and communications. Exactly this Showzey does to photo sharing. The service connects to existing accounts at social networks and media sharing sites. Now Showsey grabs own photos and those of friends. By its various networking functions photos [...] -
Google Social Search now on Google.com
27 Jan 2010 | 2:05 pmGoogle announced the integration of Google Social Search in its main homepage Google.com on its official blog. This feature enables everyone to display results from friends and trusted sources within the search results, which too is described by searching the social graph. The integration happens just a couple of month after the launch and the availability [...]
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Smart People RSS | SmartPlanet
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Discovery's Olly Steeds asks the tough questions
9 Feb 2010 | 6:12 amWorld-traveler and mystery-solver, this investigative journalist says in the history he uncovers, he finds lessons for today. by Melanie D.G. Kaplan -
New college program trains future drug industry professionals
9 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amDrexel University's College of Medicine has launched a Drug Discovery and Development program meant to train future pharmaceutical industry... -
Saving the world, one design at a time
8 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amEmily Pilloton is touring the country in her Airstream and promoting her mantra of designing for 'Humanity, Habitats, Health and Happiness.' by... -
Computers in Haiti and Afghanistan: One Laptop per Child expands its reach
8 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amMatt Keller of One Laptop per Child talks about the program's growing reach around the globe. by Christina Hernandez -
Meet the 'Indiana Jones' of NASA
5 Feb 2010 | 2:25 pmNASA scientist Chris McKay takes his work to the far reaches of planet Earth, studying extreme conditions in order to find life on other planets....
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ZenStorming
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Increasing Creativity and Memory in 30 Seconds?
5 Feb 2010 | 12:30 pmShifting the eyes from side to side has been shown to increase creativity and memory recall -
5 Lessons on Designing Innovation from Basketball’s Shot Clock
29 Jan 2010 | 9:34 pmSome lessons on designing innovations. How the 24 second shot clock was an innovation that may have saved basketball. -
Let’s Design Healthier Hearts – American Heart Association Takes an Innovative Step
22 Jan 2010 | 12:45 amThe American Heart Association has defined ideal heart health and created an online tool to help us get there. Is it enough? I don't think so. -
The Boliven Innovation Network™ – Patents, Drug Trials, News and More
15 Jan 2010 | 10:05 pmAmazing database at the Boliven Innovation Network™. -
Eight Principles of Fun – Authenticity at the Heart of Innovation/Creativity
9 Jan 2010 | 10:16 amThought and action provoking video on the importance of having fun and being authentically 'you'!
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xBlog: The visual thinking weblog
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Information is beautiful: 30 examples of creative infography
5 Feb 2010 | 1:19 pmA quick roundup of some recent information design projects seen around the web: Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to do client work on an infography, but it seems to be one of the most challenging task for a graphic designer. The perfect infography must synthesize complex information in a simple visual representation, which is not easy. The following examples take information architecture to another level by making it beautiful. -
Business clichés visual find-it poster
7 Jan 2010 | 12:20 pmIn case you missed it, last month we sent out our 2009/2010 holiday greeting. Actually, it was more “greeting” than “holiday” — and maybe more “beating” than “greeting!” Why? because we went ahead and poked some fun at a lot of those empty business clichés that get thrown around in meetings, emails and corporate conversations. So go ahead and download it, hang it up by the water cooler, leave it on someone’s desk… ;-) Later this month we’ll be sending out an interactive PDF with all of the clichés identified and… -
Assorted Infotoons by lunchbreath
5 Jan 2010 | 8:15 amI love these funny graphics — they’re kind of like a cross between Goopy and Indexed. Be absolutely sure to check out Mindmapping. (Via Chris Glass) -
Victorian Infographics
5 Jan 2010 | 7:58 amCheck out this sampling of beautiful vintage information design over at the always-excellent BibliOdyssey: The David Rumsey Map Collection has now been online for ten years. [This] selection of carto-curios is from the latest batch of material uploaded to the site. Rumsey is an internet hero of the first order. Following the success of his business he was able to afford to indulge his latent interest for all things cartographic and he assembled a massive collection of more than 150,000 items. That might have been the end of the story: rich dude spends money on secret passion in obscurity. But… -
New project: The Carbon Economy
5 Nov 2009 | 7:16 amFor the second time in recent months XPLANE has partnered with The Economist to create a compelling video on a topic of global importance. After working together on “Did You Know? 4.0”, The Economist enlisted XPLANE’s visual communication expertise to develop “The Carbon Economy” about the growing importance of climate change and green technologies and solutions. “The Carbon Economy” will be shown at The Economist’s upcoming Carbon Economy Summit on November 17 and 18, 2009 in Washington, D.C. The video is three minutes in length and includes simple visuals and a moving…
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Holiday Matinee
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A Review: Yeasayer, Odd Blood
9 Feb 2010 | 9:23 amWhen I heard Yeasayer’s newest creation, Odd Blood, I could have sworn some of the songs sounded familiar. Turns out that’s because the Brooklyn-based experimental trio has been treating fans at live shows to the new sounds since last summer. But the fact that I could recall a song from hearing it once at a festival meant it had important sticking power. After many runs through I still haven’t tired from it and the album has tremendous replay value. It’s a nice mix of tracks ranging from inspiring, to spiritual, to makes me wanna dance in my car. Standout tracks for me… -
Not the traditional quilt from grandma
8 Feb 2010 | 2:13 pmI never really liked those all-over quilted jackets because I feel like too much is going on with them, but I really like this Lavenham Quilted Tote available at C.H.C.M. The small pocket on the outside is convenient for a small item that I’d need to get out quickly (because bag-digging really sucks). -
Cute animal + advertising campaign = Sadness for me
8 Feb 2010 | 1:55 pmWWF (the World Wildlife Fund, not the World Wrestling Federation) has this inspiring campaign for saving wildlife that hits the emotional spot and I almost hate it for that reason. They just had to choose such a cute photo! There’s a panda one, too, but that one makes me even more sad. (via Inspire Me Now) -
Surfer Blood’s “Swim” video is whack. Watch it here.
8 Feb 2010 | 11:50 amOh the things we do to play a gig. Surfer Blood won’t let any old man, snowcone licking kid or neighborhood bum get in their way. I still can’t decide if this video makes any sense but I almost don’t care because the song is such a jam. Click here to view the embedded video. -
Welcome to photographic utopia
8 Feb 2010 | 9:49 amSuper Bowl is old news already but discovering rad photographers never gets old. Case in point - Jan Erik Svendsen. You like music, portraits, fashion and documentaries? Sure you do. Peep this.
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Inventor Spot - Inventions, Innovations, and Interesting Ideas for the Inventor in All of Us
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10 Heart Shaped Breakfast Gadgets That Make Every Day Valentine's Day
9 Feb 2010 | 9:59 amIf there's a sad thing about Valentine's Day, it's that it's too short. Yes, I know, Valentine's Day has approximately the same number of hours as any other day, but one day is not enough to celebrate love. An incurable romantic, I think every day should be started with expressions of love. Let's start with breakfast! Here are some heart-shaped breakfast gadgets that will help you lucky lovers start your day remembering why you are together... -
Learn About Wine: Pairing Wine With Fast Food Fare
8 Feb 2010 | 10:12 pmNot everyone who likes the occasional glass of wine likes to indulge their senses with expensive cheese and aperitifs, so learning to taste wine with these foods on the palette just isn't practical. An educational wine tasting business in Los Angeles, with this in mind, has decided to do things a little bit differently. -
Flying Panties Available In DIY Ornithopter Kits
8 Feb 2010 | 7:48 pmFlying Panties - not just an anime video anymore! Coming this March you can get your very own Flying Panties ornithopter kit. You know you want one. -
Michael Jackson Figurine Will Be A Thriller
8 Feb 2010 | 1:03 pmMichael Jackson fans will have to wait a few months for a new polyvinyl figurine of the King of Pop that shows him at his best, in full-out Thriller mode. -
Hair Washing Brush Provides Invigorating Massage
8 Feb 2010 | 11:07 amThe "Innovation refreshing pretend! Brute" from Alinco may have a stressful name but when put to work on your hair and muscles, all that tension (and dirt) just washes away.
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Work In Colour
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What's this Social Innovation thing?
2 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pmIt's easy to find references these days to the importance of business innovation. And it's true, creative thinking and innovation are critical if you want to surf the current waves of change in business. But it's not just about commercial enterprise. -
How to innovate your business model
26 Jan 2010 | 8:29 pmI recently came across a Harvard blog post by Mark Johnson on reinventing your business model. A confession: I'm not the full bottle on business models, and have used only rudimentary or ad hoc versions in the past.But as soon as I read this post, I saw that here was a model I could implement - and so that's what I am doing right now. -
Ray Anderson - a creative entrepreneur
13 Jan 2010 | 5:32 pmI recently did some workshops for the Victorian government on using creative thinking for sustainability. I had a great time researching good examples - including the story of Ray Anderson. Do you know about him? -
Taking Centre Stage
5 Jan 2010 | 10:01 pmI have just taken on a new teaching gig, in an organisation where I trained many years ago. The guy who handed the course over to me was a friend, someone I had trained with 17 years ago. While we were chatting, he told me a story I hadn't known before - that he became a teacher because of something I said to him all those years ago about my own life. -
Lighting Candles
22 Dec 2009 | 1:31 pmLast night, I lost it. Christmas had become a mad rush to buy stuff, cook stuff, finish work, make phone calls, see clients, clean the house, prepare food and...
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Innovatio
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Crise provocou queda inédita de pedidos de patentes em 2009
9 Feb 2010 | 8:11 am"É a primeira baixa em mais de 30 anos", indicou o economista chefe da OMPI, Carsten Fink. Notícias Relacionadas:As 40 melhores empresas do mundo em 2009 Apple tenta patentear publicidade integrada aos aparelhos Comissão de Comércio Internacional investiga a Apple a pedido da Nokia -
Estratégia de Redes Sociais no mundo Corporativo
9 Feb 2010 | 3:00 amAs redes sociais ocupam, a cada dia, uma fatia maior do tempo e das atenções de milhões de cidadãos conectados: e as empresas já perceberam o poder das mesmas como agente de inovação e alavancagem. Notícias Relacionadas:Conferência Internacional sobre Redes Sociais -
Mirando Resultados 2.0
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 amO Livro Mirando Resultados 2.0 apresenta a Metodologia Moebius de Planejamento Web, líder de mercado na América Latina. Notícias Relacionadas:Gestão da Inovação na Prática: lançamento no mercado editorial -
Tamanho não é documento: pelo menos na Inovação !
8 Feb 2010 | 5:30 amInovação não é somente para grandes empresas e nem tem cara de ficção científica. Notícias Relacionadas:Agentes Locais de Inovação passarão a atuar em Sergipe Guia Prático de Inovação para Empresas Brasileiras Ofício circular aos “chefes”: nós, funcionários, sugerimos passos para a inovação sustentável -
Amazon adquire start-up com 6 funcionários para combater o Ipad
8 Feb 2010 | 2:30 amEm matéria publicada por Rafael Cabral, no Estadão Online, a Amazon mostra sinal de que modernizará o produto que mais vendeu em 2009, o Kindle, ao adquirir a empresa Touchco. Notícias Relacionadas:Ofício circular aos “chefes”: nós, funcionários, sugerimos passos para a inovação sustentável “Inovações Reversas”: Uma Saída Para o Brasil? Falta cultura às empresas brasileiras
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Frogblog.biz
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Is The American Dream Dead?
8 Feb 2010 | 2:00 amIn describing why business models must change, Kay Plantes pointed out a study that indicates 78% of respondents believed the American Dream has died. This has bothered me all weekend. I believe that most positive change comes from optimists building what they believe is possible. (Have you ever worked with a pessimist trying to build what they believe is impossible? It makes for a long day.) Could it really be that the the U.S. is depending on 22% of the population for that optimism? Maybe that is enough in Ayn Rand’s world , but I like the odds when more folks are on board. So this… -
It’s In The Details
5 Feb 2010 | 3:00 amI’m not usually one to point out spelling mistakes (glass houses and all) but this sign was pointed out to me by my lovely wife during a quick stop in Peoria the other day to see my son perform in the All-State Honors Band and I figured I would share. Even in today’s wonderful world of spell check, misspelled or misused words are all around us. I usually gloss over it. Poorly executed marketing is a depressing thing to see. But here we have the former offices of a Private Detective Agency. The sign had been there a very long time. Covered most of their window. And the question… -
Open Innovation – Filing a non-patent
20 Jan 2010 | 3:00 amThe top 25 companies by US patent value was released by Business Week and it is worth a look. IBM generated the largest number of patents while Microsoft generated patents of the highest value (according to the BW study). The number of patents involved at IBM is a simply mind-boggling 4,914. That’s over 13 patentable inventions a day. Not a bad brain trust. But what caught my eye was a paragraph at the bottom of the story: As a defensive measure, the company also published details on almost 4,000 inventions in a publicly available company journal last year. By publishing I believe they… -
Filtering Ideas – Yodeling Pickle
18 Jan 2010 | 3:00 amHow many ideas have you rejected this week? It’s tough to keep track given the velocity they come at us. (Heck, we get bombarded with 34 gigabytes of information including 100,000 words a day, not to mention what we think up for ourselves.) As children most of us were thoroughly trained to censor our thoughts before letting go with the ridicule inducing comment. (The Cubs are going to win the pennant! – ah, some of us never learn.) This sometimes serves us well. In the world of ideas it can be deadly. Ideas are fragile things in business. Any number of stray comments, poor… -
Flying With A Good Idea
13 Jan 2010 | 2:00 amWho here hasn’t at least once dreamt while speeding down an interstate in whatever jalopy the fates put in your hands that you were, just for a moment, flying? Ok, maybe it’s just us guys. Or am I the only one who kept track of exactly where that special bump in the country road would provide a moment of lift? A key component of creativity is recognizing when an idea that is working in one place might have application in another. (Like when Wilber twisted the tube box) This came to mind while watching Leo Laporte interview Ford CEO Alan Mulally at the Consumer Electronics Show…
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Creativity_Unbound
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Is advertising giving crowdsourcing a bad name?
6 Feb 2010 | 2:44 pmJohn Winsor hosts Crowdsourcery at Social Media Week I didn’t get to New York for Social Media Week so I missed catching this crowdsourcery panel live, but did sit through it online. I’m a big fan of John Winsor and Michael Lebowitz as well as Faris Yakob. Three smart guys for sure. Put them at the same table with Denuo’s Seneel Radia and JWT’s Ty Montague and there’s no shortage of wisdom and experience (not to mention opinion) to go around. In a nutshell (and I paraphrase here), Ty starts with the accurate assessment that crowdsourcing is still so new we don’t really know… -
Are those Superbowl ads any good? Twitter will tell us.
3 Feb 2010 | 6:30 pmEven in an age of social media there’s still something about Superbowl advertising that appeals to us all. Maybe it’s because the game is the last big common media experience we share anymore; we know that everyone else will be hearing and watching the same jokes as we are. Perhaps it’s because we relish the fact that for one night every advertiser out there will actually attempt to entertain us, rather than insult us with the idiotic messages that interrupt most programming. Or it might just be all the pre-game hype that obligates us to pay attention. After all we’ll need an opinion… -
Perfecting the podcast: a conversation with the Beancast’s Bob Knorpp
2 Feb 2010 | 4:51 pmAnyone who’s listened to The Beancast knows it’s one of the best marketing podcasts around. The topics are topical. The guests know their stuff. The conversation stays lively. But if you think that Joseph Jaffe, Len Kendall, C.C. Chapman, or Angela Natividad perform so well on the show simply because they’re smart, or well-read, think again. A big part of it has to do with host Bob Knorpp who works his tail off to research each week’s subjects, prepare his guests and map out the conversation. I’ve now had the privilege of doing the show twice and am booked again for May 2. (I… -
It’s time for advertising and social media to work together
30 Jan 2010 | 11:16 amA simple print ad for Panera started a conversation in a newspaper ad that continued with hundreds of engagements on Facebook. The debate has raged for a year now. Old media is dead. New media owns the future. Advertising interrupts. Social media engages. Outbound marketing has lost its clout. Inbound marketing delivers greater efficiency. The fact is they work together. And most brands need both. Let’s take Facebook as an example. Consider that the social network absorbs more of our online time than Google or YouTube. Its users number in the hundreds of millions — in the US alone… -
What you really want to be is a brand that’s loved
26 Jan 2010 | 5:25 pmBy now you’ve seen, read about and possibly shared with others the viral hit of the week: Coca Cola’s Happiness Machine. In fact, you’ve probably already got requests from clients asking for something like that for their brand, too. And who wouldn’t want one? The video got over a million views on YouTube in fewer than 10 days. Far more when you consider it’s been embedded in hundreds if not thousands of blogs. Jump all the way to page 48 of Google’s search results when you plug in “Coca Cola Happiness Machine” and it’s still there: stories, articles, video. In fact when this…
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Ideas Exist | a blog of ideas
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Idea #18: Blind music festival
3 Feb 2010 | 7:38 am[Why not pretend you're blind and read this post with the Webanywhere Screenreader A few months ago, I tried to go blind for a day, although I had the idea at about six in the evening. Still, going blind for a few hours is difficult if you aren’t asleep. The lowlight of my particular experience was taking a nightmarish shower during which a rat jumped on my back disguised as the feeling of a loofah that usually hangs from a hook on the wall. After the shower, I spent most of my time reflecting on what it is like to keep your eyes closed for more than a few minutes, the chief feeling I… -
Idea #17: The Walking Advert
19 Jan 2010 | 8:43 amSince we were on the theme of advertising in Idea #2, I thought I’d continue 15 ideas later with another idea designed to harness businesses’ lust for exposure: make yourself into a walking advert. “Ha!” I can hear you saying, “Sell out!” But hold your tongue a minute. You have sold out yourself and got NIENTE in return. Have a look at the logos crawling around inside your wardrobe. You’re already advertising for companies. Worse, you’ve paid them for the priviledge! It’s time the tables were turned. Idea #17: The Walking Advert So how do… -
Idea #16: The Best Person in the World
30 Dec 2009 | 10:45 amI’m not one for mystical novels, but Hermann Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game is class. It revolves around a future utopia in which all the most gifted people are sequestered from the rest of society, and spend their whole lives devoted to mastering The Glass Bead Game. Hesse never actually describes The Glass Bead game in detail, but he does hint that it involves synthesising loads of random skills: The rules of the game are only alluded to, and are so sophisticated that they are not easy to imagine. Playing the game well requires years of hard study of music, mathematics, and… -
Idea #15: Sell surprises
12 Dec 2009 | 10:41 amReady for a bit of idea-powered rocket science? Rule number one for a successful business start-up: Give people something they love. Rule number two for a successful business start-up: Give people something they can’t get anywhere else. (There are, of course, 386 other rules, but I don’t know what they are.) Now before you dismiss me as an aimless pretender, have you ever heard this: “Everyone loves surprises.” Ah ha! Yes, you have! Now then, people love surprises do they..? Wait a minute – that fits the first rule for a successful business start-up! Now, I… -
Idea #14: Remote mail for digital nomads
26 Nov 2009 | 3:55 pmI stumbled back into the UK recently and upon hurling myself through the door of my family home fell at the foot of a 19ft mountain of mail. Now, to be clear, since I absconded from Newcastle Upon Tyne in 2006 and assumed the unassuming title ‘nomadic freelance creative’ (part of the greater order of the ‘digital nomads’), I have outsourced my mail sorting to my mother. I’m not ashamed. It has just been a failed policy. Not to say my mother hasn’t been trying. For the past three years she’s managed to keep me informed about every single wedding…
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Youtego Blog. Younique Place to read...
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Define, visualize and stay connected!
19 Jan 2010 | 5:29 amWhile getting into the depths of self-recognition with core functionality of Youtego, we came across the idea of visual communication to be used inside and even outside of the system. This will be a new communication process based on personal self-definition or self-visualization as we call it: TegoChannels: the new format for personalized communication based on visually defined Tegos. TegoChannels centralize all expressions and impressions for any given Tego around the subscribers for that Tego. This channel concept is based on a natural idea: we focus on things that we define, so we would… -
The Story of Self-Recognition
18 Jan 2010 | 1:08 amThe story of self-recognition is not a fantasy – it is a reality. Recognize your strengths, recognize your passion and you sense this incredible feeling of empowerment and entitlement. The whole idea of self-recognition is about answering one, simple question: what makes me unique? Answer that question, find your passion and be a success! YouTube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLnZKaGDA3o All comments and feedbacks are appreciated. - Youtego Team -
StartupLucky: great interview with Artyom Shamtsyan
15 Dec 2009 | 2:04 pmAn hilarious interview from Aronado at StartupLucky and Artyom Shamtsyan, founder of Youtego. -
New screens from Youtego
13 Dec 2009 | 4:53 amPublic Profile Now you can share your profile to anyone outside of Youtego. Mine looks like this: www.youtego.com/ego/albert Google image search tab We were long waiting to introduce Google Image Search to make more relevant icon search! Edit profile new design Eventually we have new design for Edit Profile! Notification Preferences In your Edit Profile form, in Preferences tab you can configure your notification settings the way you want. Waiting for your comments Cheers - Albert -
Welcome to Youtego Public Beta
23 Nov 2009 | 7:42 amDear All, We attained another milestone – Youtego Public Beta Release! We move forward and this is the most inspiring feeling you may have while working on something new. First of all, I would like sincerely and wholeheartedly thank our user community for this fantastic, energetic, proactive, inspiring attitude that they demonstrated right from the first days of Youtego. Really, Youtego is alive because of you and we truly travel this marvelous journey altogether! You still don’t know what is Youtego? I think these TegoTours created by our most active user community members answer that…
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The Complete Innovator
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“Innovation in a Collaboration World” – the other side of the coin with #innochat on 28 Jan 2009 – 12pm EST
27 Jan 2010 | 9:33 amCollaboration is, apparently, “the new hot thing” in Innovation nowadays. Not that it’s all that new – but it certainly is hot. More than a passing trend, it’s surely just a concept whose time has finally come after years of flirting with the edges of corporate credibility. Now, the drive toward a socialized business structure is firmly on course thanks to the penetration of Web2.0 technologies not just through business, but through our personal lives too – the net effect being a gradual cultural change towards accepting a universe where the exchange of information and knowledge… -
“Collaboration in an Innovation World” – setting the stage for a landmark #smchat on 27 Jan 2009 – 1pm EST
26 Jan 2010 | 10:21 amCollaboration and Business have long been interesting bed fellows, ever flirting with each other, but rarely embracing each other. For business, collaboration has been an attractive mistress, full of allure and promise, but always just out of reach - never delivering on the early promise shown. For Collaboration, Business is the bad boy with a leather jacket on a Harley – knowing that great things could be achieved if only business wasn’t so selfishly focused on personal profit. Although the above is probably not the best analogy I’ve ever come up with, it holds more than a nugget of… -
Tackling Collaborative Innovation – the #smchat and #innochat doubleheader
22 Jan 2010 | 2:04 pmI should’ve known better really – after, all it’s happened once before, so surely I should’ve spotted it coming a mile away when I 1) was dumb enough to make some suggestions on #innochat for future topics and then 2) found myself on the receiving end of a seemingly innocent telephone call with Chris Jones, Renee Hopkins and Gwen Ismael. Like a steam liner heading slowly but surely into an iceberg in broad daylight, I found myself yet again somehow agreeing to moderate an upcoming session. For those of you not in the know, #smchat and #innochat are two of the most vibrant and… -
Continuing the Conversation: For Companies, Build Teams, Not Communities
8 Dec 2009 | 1:50 pmYesterday I posted a response to all the wonderful comments and contributions that you all made to my last post on “Why Companies Shouldn’t Build Online Communities“. As I plan to delve further into this idea of “Social Teams”, I thought I’d repost that reply as a post in its own right so as to make it easier for people to find and read – so here goes: Dear All Many, many thanks for your responses – they’re both very welcome and very appreciated. I wanted to take some time to reply to some of the concerns that were expressed in the comments. It… -
Why Companies shouldn’t build Online Communities..
22 Oct 2009 | 10:14 amForget about Communities.Don’t do it. Don’t even think about it. Oh I know that communities are all the rage currently – companies are falling over themselves to create, build and own their very own communities: Communities of Employees, Communities of Customers, Communities of Interest Groups, Communities, Communities, Communities…. But with all of these efforts out there, how many of them are yielding real tangible results for the sponsoring organization? It seems that the very concept of communities is a flawed one for most corporations – leading to wasted time, money and effort…
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Innovate Together
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Aiming big on Innovation Projects
28 Jan 2010 | 12:16 amMost innovation projects are guilty of coming up with some pre-requisites, which stifle it right from the beginning. These are the main ones that I have come across:1. Aiming too small2. Defining too many boundaries3. Eliminating unconventional thinkingSo why do enterprises do this? We could have a huge debate on this topic but it usually boils down to 2 big reasons:1. Fear of Failure2. Fear of changeSo how do we overcome these obstacles and take the innovation forward? The only way, I believe, is to define huge goals and plan big. Why? Since when we define huge goals, it becomes difficult to… -
Open Innovation - What is the role of internal teams?
22 Dec 2009 | 2:11 am“If I practice Open Innovation, and get solutions to my problems from outside the company, then what does my internal team work on? How can I rely on outsiders to provide solutions to our company problems?” These were some of the questions that were posed to me when I was discussing Open Innovation with one of my class mates who was running his own business. Good question and I thought this needs further clarification – so here is my attempt.It is a misconception that Open Innovation is the solution to all problems. Also it is very risky to rely only on Open Innovation to get answers to… -
How do I start innovating?
6 Dec 2009 | 10:09 pmMost entrepreneurs or senior managers I have spoken to all agree that innovation is both required and worth the effort but a common question is – How do we start or more importantly how do we identify the areas to focus on? They have had many experiences in the past where they have sponsored many “innovation” project but they have nothing to show for it. So they are confused and have decided to stay away from it.Fair point. So thought I will discuss more about this. At the outset, let me confess that there is no magic formula for this. Innovation by definition means that we are going to… -
Can you innovate from your comfort zone?
30 Nov 2009 | 2:59 amIs it possible to innovate from your comfort zone? This was the question I was thinking over this weekend. I had just watched a movie which had a typical “rags to riches” story and the hero in the end made a statement or an observation that he did not think he could have achieved all of this if not for the initial hardships that he faced. That set me thinking. Isn’t that genuinely true for any major innovation of our times? Or of companies which were responsible for those innovations? So what do you think? I think it is really very difficult to innovate from your comfort zone. Now – I… -
Are you experimenting enough?
23 Nov 2009 | 1:03 amHow many of your company projects failed last year due to technology or business reasons and since they were being tried ahead of their times? Note that project failures due to poor execution or people management issues don’t count in the above list. If the answer is none and if you are proud about it, think again - Are you actually playing it too safe? It takes a lot of courage to try and do projects that are innovative and being attempted for the first time. There are just too many obstacles – critics who are quick to point out why it will never work, “experienced” leaders who…
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SERVICE INNOVATION
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LEARNING MORE IMPORTANT THAN KNOWING
9 Feb 2010 | 12:31 amIf there is one thing that everyone agrees on than it is the fact that changes are the norm and they are becoming more and more unpredictable as well. This means that what worked in the (recent) past might not work in the future anymore. At least some of this (old) knowledge is becoming obsolete. In this situation it is key to learn fast and to act fast.Let me give a simple example. In The Netherlands we are experiencing a much more severe winter than the last ten years. It is freezing for more than two months and for most of the time there is snow. Even if it is melting during the day, it… -
3 Feb 2010 | 2:18 am
3 Feb 2010 | 2:18 amTHE MARKET IS WIDER THAN YOU THINK Recently I did ask a customer what he viewed as his competition. Because he was working in the IT market, he mentioned other IT companies. This is a very risky perspective though.Why? Well your new competitors might come from totally different markets. And you also miss opportunities to learn from other markets.This IT company who sells hardware and related services, called themselves a 'fulfillment company'. All the more reason to look outside of your current market.For example: Zappos might also be called a fulfillment company, which started… -
IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE IS A WIN-WIN SITUATION
25 Jan 2010 | 10:54 pmLast week I did attend a Center for Service Leadership webinar about Georgia’s roadmap to faster, friendlier and easier customer service.It was very impressive to see the results of such a large project, which covers 130.000 employees. I know that it is a popular subject to complain about the government’s performance and customer service. But this is an example how you can significantly improve customer service without huge investments.Their focus is on 4 area’s of service:- Faster, the main complaint from customers are the waiting… -
THE ‘NOT-INVENTED-HERE SYNDROME’ PREVENTS INNOVATION
19 Jan 2010 | 1:08 amMany organizations are starting to see the need to innovate. However still many of them still have the (strong) opinion that they can only innovate themselves, so innovate from within. Open innovation, crowdsourcing and the use of any other outside expertise is a bridge too far. The reason for this attitude is really a cultural heritage.The management of an organization often shares the same attitudes on how the business should be conducted. In sharing these management attitudes, you can see them as collective attitudes, collective beliefs. Together they form the culture in your organization. -
THE SERVICE OF SELF SERVICE
12 Jan 2010 | 12:54 amIn December I did fly to Copenhagen for the Climate Change Conference. The day before I departed I could check in online. Nothing special you would say. However, I was pleasantly surprised when they offered the option to receive by boarding pass on my iPhone. So, there was no need to print it. Cool! My mindset was already in Copenhagen so if I could save a little bit by not printing that would be good. And as long as I have my phone with me, I would also have my boarding pass there. The boarding pass looked like a bunch of dots and should be shown to a special reader.So, when I was at the…
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Growth Spurts
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Benevolence: A key to start-up success
24 Jan 2010 | 6:00 pmBelow is a powerful yet light-hearted 2008 talk by Paul Graham (from renowned US-based online/web incubator Y-Combinator) about the importance of benevolence as a key to start-up success. Paul’s not making a case for social ventures, or not for profits, but rather, a compelling case for why it’s just so important to genuinely put the customer first. He singles out three key ways in which benevolence will help your start-up. 1. It improves morale In short, if you feel like you’re really helping people, you’re more inclined to work harder during the emotional… -
Another neat visualisation
17 Jan 2010 | 7:21 pmRegular readers will know that here at thinkGROWTH we’re big fans of elegant and innovative communication. Take, for example, the work of Toby Ng Kwong To, which we’ve previously highlighted here, or the University of Utah’s impressive magnification visual, highlighted here. Well the latest visual tool that’s caught our eye is this interactive map from the Modern Language Association, illustrating the percentages of the US population speaking various languages. Interesting stuff indeed! Note: Click on this link or on the image below to go the MLA website for a play -
Top tips for unleashing innovation potential
10 Jan 2010 | 1:40 pmInnovation is a key organic growth competency. It’s also something we’re passionate about at thinkGROWTH. So it’s no surprise that it’s a subject we like to frequently explore. However, our recent Growth Insights 09/10 research also suggests that innovation is an area that many companies really struggle with. Growth Insights 09/10 reveals good news – in that companies are aware of the need for, and aspiring towards, greater innovation. It also makes clear that innovation will be an essential growth capability in the times ahead: Innovation trailed only cost… -
Most useless machine ever
3 Jan 2010 | 3:59 pmTo kick off the New Year in style, we thought we’d start with something completely useless, yet highly entertaining… Enjoy! -
Crowdfunding
7 Dec 2009 | 12:45 amOpen innovation and crowdsourcing are approaches we’re big fans of here at thinkGROWTH. Done correctly, they have the power to exponentially improve rapid insight and idea generation, not to mention build valuable communities of interest in the process. Take mystarbucksidea or Ideastorm, as well known examples. (Or even popcorn flavoured chips if you’re that way inclined!) Done less effectively, and the results may be somewhat, ahem, less spectacular… But where the notion of crowdsourcing, or harnessing the power of the crowd, gets particularly interesting, is when it is applied towards…
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ScottGould.me
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Three Ways To Write Blog Posts
6 Feb 2010 | 1:38 amBeing a preacher and a pastor, you get taught a valuable lesson when it comes to growing church by keeping your visitors and inspiring them to come back week after week. I think it applies to blogging too. You can write blog posts one of three ways: 1. Preach them full. Give everything you’ve got, and then give them more than the need. 10 reasons for this, 39 tips for that, 15 ways to do naught. Stuff them full of content. Sure they are full and you have satisfied the need, but in doing so you have eliminated what drove them to you in the first place: hunger. This is like when you write… -
Do You Believe In A Flat Social Media Earth?
5 Feb 2010 | 12:43 amOne of the mantras of Social Media advocates (of which I’m one) is the flatenning effect. It’s what I noticed a year ago (and wrote about here) when I was able to speak directly to directors, CEOs, managers and decision makers without getting asked “And who are you?” by a secretary before being refused to be transfered to the boss’ direct line. I guess what it means is that you don’t need a business card – Social Media gives you a direct line. And in this way, yes, I feel that the world is the flattest that it has been since Copernicus came on the… -
Building Community Part 1
1 Feb 2010 | 11:37 pmWhat follows is what I have observed about building community over the last 10 years. There are 10 steps, each of which builds on the other, but can always be revisited. Today is part 1 and the first 3 steps. 1. Prepare Before any discussion of community there must be personal preparation. Because community is relationship around more than it is relationship with, you must prepare yourself to be an effective catalyst. Community requires activation. A leader activates community and makes it happen – they unite people and ideas with other people and other ideas that previously had not… -
People-To-People: A Few Thoughts
29 Jan 2010 | 12:03 amThe above photo was a long time coming. That was last Friday when finally, after 9 months since we first attempted to meet, Farhan and I finally shook hands. It’s an interesting thing, this photo, and it ties together a few thoughts I’ve been having over the recent weeks on People-to-People which I’d like to share. Firstly People-to-People is about people. In fact, to be more accurate, I like to say that ‘everything is about people, and people are what everything is about.‘ We tend to underestimate people. We often make them means to an end, rather than… -
The Good, The Bad, And The Boring
28 Jan 2010 | 12:34 amIf you can’t see the above video, click here Compelling is not synonymous with what is good. My favourite book, the Bible, records some pretty bad stuff. Bad, but compelling. In business we want to create good experiences. Actually, scratch that -- we want to create great experiences. But the reality is that in life, it is often the most distressing bad experiences that compel you the most. What you don’t want is boring. Boring is lost and forgotten, wasted to the pages of FAIL and such stuff. Good and bad are both compelling. Tony Robbins, the life-transformation guru, wrote in…
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Non Innovative
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Innovation versus Business
3 Feb 2010 | 7:58 pmLast night one of my colleague had asked me a question, what you want to be:An innovator or a businesspersonI don't know why he asked such question but it seems that people have such sort of perception that innovation most of the time don't bring you any business, its by old and hard way you can do business and bring business but I think it is not true,Most of the people will consider innovation as only in product/service as product/service development and they to consider it as a risky proposition, and yes to certain extent it is a risky proposition to put your bet on new concept but there… -
Need a business idea look for pain !!
31 Jan 2010 | 7:20 amIf you really want to innovate your business and improve your revenue look for the pain, usually that customer face daily.And they complain about it and you become a deaf on the problem, in latest I had a discussion with one of friend he want to go in to start his own business of computer and related products. So we tried to focus on where is the pain lies in this business, as he belong to that industry he simply said that its service of assemble PC is a pain for every customer, nobody (vendor) want to take a long term shot on the assembled PC, why not no body is providing a long term… -
Instead of counter thinking go for parallel thinking
23 Jan 2010 | 8:44 pmArguments, this is the one of the common way through businesses either small or big one make decision.The following is the process algorithm that is used in the argumentHypothesisArgument on assumption supported by evidenceCounter argument on assumption supported by evidenceGo to step 2, until and unless a solution comes out.....1.Hypothesis : It is a statement given that is under fire of the argument.for example : Product of ours is better deliverable than competition or in simple terms our product is better than competitor's product2. Argument on assumption: May be in this step the one who… -
Avoid Arguments
23 Jan 2010 | 8:44 pm -
Know Thy customer than innovate...
22 Jan 2010 | 9:24 pmFollowing is a example that is given by Peter Drucker the famous management guru on innovation "In 1920 during the British era there is a one company in Britain which makes and export locks to India, company was the best seller in the market for years. As of now the locks available in the market are not so of good quality, any person can also open them with a Little push there is no key requirement to open than as par say. Company was doing good, so owner of the firm decided that to redesign the lock make it better and safer. Hence the company did the same and replace the old locks with…
