Innovation

It is my great pleasure to announce that the executive summary for the Association Social Technologies survey project is now available!  You can download it here.  (For your information, the actual URL is www.socialtechsurveysummary.org.)  And while you’re there, don’t forget to reserve your copy of the full project report and qualify for pre-release pricing! If you’re going to be in San Diego, we will have a limited supply of print copies that you’ll be able to get from Ben, Lindy and me, as well as our friends and partners at Omnipress.  If you’re planning…

On October 15, the second Blog Action Day will take place.  As the event site describes it: Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. Last year, the Blog Action Day theme was the environment, and this year we’ll be focusing on poverty.  The P.I.Blog was part of Blog Action Day in 2007, and I’m proud to participate again in 2008.  I want to invite all of my fellow bloggers to join me this year. …

Check out the new P.I Mobile Podcast recorded in my room at the Hilton Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter!

There will be one more post today, actually a P.I. Mobile Podcast, but following Maddie’s lead, I want to do one final update on everything that is going on for me in San Diego.  Here goes: 1. Check out my schedule for the meeting, which now includes my participation in the UnBloggerUnCon (or whatever B-Mart called it) on Monday from 5 pm-7 pm. 2.  Don’t forget to bid on my Silent Auction prizes, including any of the four very affordable “Buy now” offers that could really help your association! 3.  This weekend, we’ll be releasing the executive summary of the…

ASAE & The Center’s Annual Meeting is almost here (I leave tomorrow morning), and one of the challenges attendees often face at large gatherings of this kind is a shortage of business cards.  Fortunately, a great new solution to this annoying problem is now available. I signed up for Dropcard a few weeks ago, and I think anyone going to a conference or meeting should consider doing so as well.  Just in case you ever find yourself without a card, you can use Dropcard to text someone your contact information, including links to Facebook and LinkedIn profiles if you have them.  All…

We tend to think of innovation as a tool for inventing and marketing new products and services.  This is certainly its main thrust.  However, as Jeffrey Baumgartner points out in this article on Innovation Tools, you can use innovation for streamlining business processes, eliminating steps, reducing waste and cutting out costs.  When times are tough we should use what he calls reductive innovation to examine and improve every aspect of our business.  As well as asking ‘How can we delight customers?’ or ‘How can we double sales?’ We should ask questions like,…

Watching the Olympics leads me to comment on the lessons that sport has for business.  I believe that the benefits of sporting lessons for business are exaggerated.  Business success is based on more than motivation, discipline and hard work.  It depends heavily on innovation - and sport is a very poor guide to that.  In sport the rules are clearly defined and everyone has to conform to them.  In business every assumption and rule can be challenged. Organisations must be prepared to change everything including their fundamental business model.  Sporting coaches cannot help here. …

In this significant new work, Gary Hamel challenges our thinking about management.  He argues that the management methods used in most organisations are relics of systems designed over 100 years ago to control and command.  They are inappropriate, inadequate and obstructive for knowledge-based 21st century organisations that want to be agile and innovative.  He gives detailed case studies of companies that use new and advanced management methods.  In particular he describes Whole Foods, W L Gore and Google.  He advises that we completely replace conventional systems of management with a…

I went for a walk in the park today and noticed that most of the people who were walking their dogs were using ball throwers.    We had a dog for many years and in all that time I threw balls and sticks for it and was never aware of any need for a ball thrower.  I guess that if you had asked 1000 dog owners what problems or needs they had in relation to their dog they would have come up with a 100 things before anyone thought of a ball thrower.    Yet now every other dog owner has one.  When anyone can throw a ball why does everyone need one?   Well they do offer some benefits.  They…

There are several interesting innovation blogs.  Some of my favourites are listed in the blogroll on the right hand side of the page.  A couple of compendiums usefully compile a list of all the latest postings on innovation blogs and I am pleased to say that the BQF Innovation Blog gets listed.  Try these two: Pageflakes Alltop Innovation Now you can keep up to date on innovation postings with a minimum of effort. Paul Sloane

Okay creative thinkers, here's an exercise for you! Michael Phelps has reached the pinnacle of sport. He also helped NBC makes tens of millions of dollars in advertising revenue by boosting their ratings in his quest for eight gold medals. What now for Phelps? New product endorsement opportunities of course!What new off-beat product endorsement ideas do you have for Michael? How can you help him cash in? Feel free to add a fun tag-line in as well. Here's an example. "Hi folks, Michael Phelps here. I swam so fast at the Beijing Olympics that it was a real pain in the butt for a…

Last October, I ran a "Canada Needs A New Motto" contest in which I solicited your ideas for fun, off-beat mottos for our neighbor to the north. We had a lot of fun with this, and you came through with some real zingers for Canada such as: "Canada, we gave the world Celine Dion . . . but we also produced Wayne Gretzky so we can call it even."  "Canada: birthplace of the mullet." "Canada: like Switzerland . . . but without all of the excitement." "Canada: mostly harmless since 1867." Well, Russia has been in the news this week, and I…

The most amazing relay performance I've ever seen! That's what the American quartet of Michael Phelps, Garret Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak pulled off in the 4 x 100 Free Relay at the Beijing Olympics last night. [Shown below are Weber-Gale and Phelps.] This event exceeded expectations. It was better than USA's Bruce Hayes coming from behind to nip Germany's legendary Michael Gross ("The Albatross") by 0.04 seconds in the 4 x 200 relay in 1984 in LA. Better than USA's Klete Keller defeating Australia's great Ian Thorpe by a similar margin in…

You ever get a metaphor wrong? You know, you hear an expression and then use it without really thinking it through? All these years, I've been thinking the term "lowest common denominator" was a pejorative term often used when critics speak dismissively of low-brow culture. But today I learned that I'm wrong. I've been reading Andrew Hodges new book One to Nine: The Inner Life of Numbers. [Hodges also wrote Alan Turing: The Enigma.] In his chapter about the number Nine, Hodges discusses the term "lowest common denominator," a term that many associate with…

Back in 1978, I created the "Question-Mark Bird" (shown at left). I liked this design because it requires the viewer to adopt a creative frame of mind when looking at it. For example, seen from one perspective, the design looks like a bird; from another, like a question mark; and, if you turn it upside down, it looks like a seal bouncing a ball on its nose. I've used this design in various places: in my books (A Whack on the Side of the Head), in the Creative Whack Pack, and also as a some time logo for my business. You might say that this design has "worn well"…

Mitch Ditkoff from the Heart of Innovation Blog has published a new manifesto on ChangeThis.com called 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas. His goal in writing this report is to highlight where "ideas with enough mojo to rally sustained support" come from, so individuals can help to drive innovation in today's organizations.

In the latest Innovation Panel Interview, the topic of how to handle failures gets some special attention. In the course of the conversation, the innovation panelists bring up a topic I didn't expect to see there: grace.

Check out this excellent SCAMPER creative problem solving resource page, and the Random Question Tool that blogger Luciano Passuelo has created.

Here's an interesting blog post that explains how to use a "swipe file" to capture ideas. A swipe file is a strategy that comes to us from the advertising industry, and it involves keeping a file of cool ideas that you want to refer to in the future.

Each year, the non-profit Business Innovation Factory (BIF) hosts an annual Collaborative Innovation Summit in Providence, Rhode Island where they bring together innovators from all walks of life to share their personal stories about how they turned their ideas into innovations. During the last four years, the reputation of this summit has steadily grown as a quality event that's worthy of your attention.

In early June I posted under the title, Starbucks Is Dead.  In that post I explored how, for me as a consumer, the experience had changed, and I was walking away from my favorite coffee.  I expressed some hope that they would return to innovative greatness under the newly resumed leadership of Howard Schultz, the original founder.  Well, things have taken a decided turn for the worse; Starbucks posted its first ever loss last week, and announced the closing of over 600 American stores, and nearly all its Australian ones.  Don’t Aussies like coffee? The closings might be a smart move…

Okay, I’m not the greatest cartoonist. I try. Self expression means doing things you aren’t so good at sometimes, just for the fun of it. So, by posting this drawing I’m giving you permission. Drawing is one of those skills that most people associate with creativity, as in, if I can’t draw I’m not creative.  Well, that’s a myth, but drawing is fun, and a grand form of self expression. If you haven’t read it yet, pick up the classic book on drawing by Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.  I promise you, it will be an eye opener,…

  I was in Paris over the weekend for a family celebration. While there we made a side trip to the cities primary tourist attraction, the Eiffel Tower.  It was a Sunday morning and we went early to get in line to go up the tower.  My 12 year old step son had never been and was quite excited, and it was fun for Caroline and I, two jaded old-timers, to be with someone getting such a kick out of it.   While we waited in line a funny thing happened — Greenpeace activists somehow unfurled a huge yellow anti-nuke banner. For a few precious moments it time, it was perfectly positioned in…

I just returned from a long weekend in Paris.  I was there doing a keynote at the CREA Universite conference on creativity “fun-damentals.”  I’ve written a book about creative process but it’s clear to me that before a process can be highly effective one must practice the fundamentals.   What are creativity fundamentals?  Simple things really, here is my list from the talk I gave at the conference: Writing things down in a notebook. Keeping lists of ideas. Regular review of your ideas to add onto lists, rule out some, take action on some. Always seeking new…

Just became aware of the untimely death of newsman TimRussert.  He fell victim to a heart attack this past Friday, June 13. What a shame, what a loss for journalism and all fair-minded Americans.  He was a voice of reason in the journalistic scene and was respected by both sides in the USA.  Simply because he was honest, well informed, tough, fair, and he asked great questions. Two lessons to learn from his sudden death of a heart attack. One, competency in one area does not mean you aren’t blind in another.  Tim was clearly overweight and at risk, and he knew it. The wise person…

If you want to succeed in life you have to be emotionally literate. The new formula to success is the Emotional Intelligence Quotient, rather than the traditional Intelligence Quotient, according to Daniel Goleman, clinical psychologist and founder of the business consulting agency Emotional Intelligence Services (EIS). Rationality – or keeping your cool – is not the only guarantee to professional and private success. It’s your emotional competences. The EQ measures the intelligence manifested in our understanding and our handling of human emotions – dividing it into a complex scale…

New offices, new products, new Brains and projects around the world; an exciting, fast-paced year slows down during our yearly summer break. It’s time to take a deep breath, lean back and sum up last year’s happenings before the IdeaMachine will take up speed again on August 6th. Closing my eyes… …we produced ideas in Munich, Mainz, Dusseldorf, Geneva, Addis Abeba, Perth, Orlando …we transformed factories and meeting rooms into vibrant ideahubs …we hired new Brains and trained them to skilled idea technicians …we opened an office in Long Beach, California…

Creativity Central - a blog about creative thinking, innovation, ideas, and brainstorming - recently interviewed our Co-founder and IdeaDirector Markus Mettler. Here you can read the full interview.

I just watched one of my favorite movies again: The Hudsucker Proxy by the Cohen Brothers. This is it’s synopsis: As Norville Barnes contemplates suicide from atop a New York skyscraper, he looks down on a city he thinks has betrayed him. Months earlier, a naive Norville travelled from his native Indiana to the Big Apple with dreams in his heart and determination on his mind. After landing a mailroom job at a big corporation, he was quickly promoted company president. The honest, unsuspecting fellow failed to realize he was simply a pawn in a plot to undermine investor confidence. Good…

Our friend Geoffrey from the Group Brilliance Blog lately posted this interview with BrainStore’s Co-Founder Nadja Schnetzler. If you understand German…. Have fun listening!

Everyone who talks about creativity goes on and on about "thinking outside the box".  But what does that really mean?  And why is it so important? Well, learning to think outside the box can really make a huge difference.  Trust me on this.  I know! A couple years ago, I suffered through a horrible, torturous reminder about how important it is to think outside of the box. Here's the story! It was one of my first times visiting Germany, and I understood almost no German.  So, every time we went out to eat, I had to spend a ton of time poring over every single…

An enigmatic figure named Dr Zoltan sent me an interesting list of thoughts about creative careers.  With 81 points on the list, it was pretty impressive!  (I'm not even sure I have that many thoughts about creativity... and I think about it all the time!) So, out of sheer admiration for his tenacity and dedication, I read through it.  And, I'm delighted to say, the points were pretty impressive for their insight too  (and not just their number!) My Personal favorite is #40:Trust your own ability to consistently create new ideas in the future. Commit to yourself over your…

Now, there are a lot of products and services that don't get a lot of attention because they're not "sexy".  Like toilet brushes, silverwear, and the trusty old letter opener. But wait, here's a completely new way to open letters - and it will completely amaze (and amuse) you. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the newest evolution of the letter opener....

Big news in the world of coffee yesterday.  Starbucks has apparently decided to offer $2 coffees to reward loyal patrons. The Associated Press reports: Looking to bring more value-seeking consumers through its doors for a late afternoon caffeine fix, Starbucks Corp. said it will now offer its morning customers any iced grande beverage for $2 after 2 p.m. The price is a big cut from the normal price of most grande-sized iced drinks.... To get the discount, customers must present a receipt from their morning Starbucks visit.Does this sound like a good idea to you? To me, Starbucks…

Roger von Oech reminded me yesterday of a funny mistake I used to make.  He wrote about how he misunderstood the meaning of the metaphor "the lowest common denominator" and then asked us which metaphors we got wrong.  Well, until I studied ancient Greek in college, I thought that giving someone "kudos" meant rewarding them with a Kudos candy bar! So I was always disappointed that I never actually saw candy change hands, despite all the promises......Until I learned in college that "kudos" is actually the Greek word for "honor" and…

The cover story of the current issue of Business Week looks at how the Olympic Games have fostered innovation across a wide range of sectors and industries: "Sometimes innovation pops up in unexpected places—from ticket technology to starting guns. Makers of these goods hope to get an added marketing boost from their ties to the Olympics." Is it just a coincidence that GE - the parent company of Olympic Games broadcaster NBC - is mentioned prominently in the article? [image: Business Week] 

In his bestselling book Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, celebrity restaurateur Danny Meyer explains how he went from a struggling 27-year-old first-time restaurant owner to the leader of a true hospitality franchise: the Union Square Hospitality Group. Anyone who's ever visited New York has at least heard of Meyer's collection of restaurants - whether it's the flagship Union Square Cafe, the Gramercy Tavern, or the summertime cult favorite Shake Shack. While Meyer's autobiographical book is a fascinating read for anyone who delights in celebrity chefs,…

Even before the publication of his breakthrough book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, Chris Anderson has consistently used his Long Tail blog as a way to generate conversation around the themes found in the book and point out interesting new examples that he has uncovered in the business world. To his credit, Chris has been unafraid to take on his critics and understand their points of view in order to better fine-tune his own arguments. Now comes perhaps the biggest challenge - a Harvard Business School associate professor who apparently worked with Chris on…

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal published a book review of Year Million, a collection of essays by 14 prominent futurists and thinkers who collectively ponder the fate of mankind, one million years hence. Suffice it to say, the thinkers were encouraged to come up with some fairly outlandish predictions - like this one from computer scientist Robert Bradbury, who predicts the creation of the "matryoshka brain":"Inevitably, we will leave our bodies entirely behind and evolve into radically different entities. Picture a vast shell-like form surrounding the sun and…

In the current issue of Contagious Magazine (subscription required), Noah Brier and Faris Yakob of Naked Communications have prepared a tour de force article about the new age of social (meta)data. Data is no longer just boring old data -- it is now a wonderfully fluid and shareable construct that is open to a rich number of interpretations (and re-interpretations). Prior to Web 2.0, if you mentioned the word "data" to a colleague, you were likely to receive either a blank stare or one of those "please, don't go there" type of looks. Now, thanks to pioneers like…

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, is creativity." -Charlie Mingus PS: My 11-year old daughter, Mimi, sent me this picture today and told me to post it on my blog because it reminded her of my book about a cool caveman who was the first person to get the idea for the wheel.

There are lots of things in this world that people get addicted to: alcohol, nicotine, heroin, sex, and Blackberries just to name a few. But perhaps the biggest addiction, one that often flies in under the radar, is the addiction to OUR OWN IDEAS. Here's how it works: We think something up. We feel a buzz. We embrace the idea. We think about it some more. We tweak it, we name it, we pitch it, and POOF, the addiction begins. At first, like most habits, it's subtle, harmless, a seemingly casual pursuit with a thousand positive side effects: increased energy, renewed focus, a feeling of…

NOTE: The following has been our most popular blog entry since we started Heart of Innovation 13 months ago. We feature it here for those of you who may have missed it. MD Since 1986, I've been working with a wide variety of organizations who have acknowledged their need to innovate -- enough, at least, to invite Idea Champions in to help them on their way. It's been a fascinating ride. Along the way, I've noticed that a lot of people who work in corporations are ruled by a host of "reasons" why innovation can't happen. Many of these reasons, I realize, are based on years of in-the-trenches…

A college professor stood before his philosophy class at the start of a new semester. Silently, he picked up a very large jar and filled it with golf balls. Then he asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly, pebbles settling into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students…

Have you ever spent hours trying to solve a problem only to find you've been working on the wrong problem? Try doing it for five years. That's what Apple Computer engineers did with the Newton handheld computer over a decade ago. From 1993-1998, Apple made a valiant effort to break open a market for portable handheld pen computers. Unfortunately, they spent most of that time working on a problem that didn't really exist for consumers. And as they labored at it, their intended market was stolen by Palm Computing's PalmPilot. What follows is a tale about a fatal assumption -- an obsession with…

The 8/9 edition of the Wall Street Journal reported that three large financial firms have agreed to buy back auction-rate securities from their customers in an effort to settle charges that they mis-led customers regarding the safety of the financial instruments.USB, Mertill Lynch & Co., and Citigroup Inc have agreed to purchase $36 billion in response to regulators allegations that the companies: Mis-led investors, Pushed securities that they themselves were selling out of their portfolios, and ignored client demands for help.Auction-rate securities are long term bonds that have the…

A cornucopia of old office equipment may be found at The Office Museum.Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Velos_Victory_666_Pencil_Sharpener.JPG

Things that quite possibly only interest me...You and Everybody ElseMore than 1 in 10 adult Internet users in the United States have blogs.1I'd Gladly Pay You Tuesday for a Hamburger TodayBear Stearns hedge funds were highly leveraged, in some cases borrowing as much as $20 for every dollar invested.2You Want Fries With That?Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee are the most obese states with more than 30% of the states population registering as obese.3Put It In My Hand For a Dime?The average salary of a worker with a bachelor's degree did not rise in 2007 from 2006 after adjusting for…

We have a good public library in our town. In fact, it was one of the draws that led us to settle in Lititz, PA. The building is fairly new and well kept and the shelves are well stocked and the staff is quite friendly. It is quite a good library.I was dropped off this morning at the library with the kids as my wife needed to run some errands. The plan was to walk home after we got some books. We were about 10 minutes early and since rain was threatening we brought an umbrella. It was a good thing too as it did indeed begin to rain.As we were waiting, the staff began to arrive for the 9am…

On a break this week. So you soon.

If you think about any of the individuals or firms that seem really successful at innovation, one thing should shine through clearly. They are all fully committed to innovation. Edison is famous for saying that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. He knew over 1000 ways not to make a lightbulb, because he kept trying. All of the firms we hold up as innovative are the same way - they commit to innovation and expect everyone to be innovative.Since I'm writing at the time of the Olympics, let's use an athletic analogy. Do you suppose that Michael Phelps is…

Let's face it - everybody wants to innovate, but most people can't find the time, the urgency, the resources or the bandwidth. When they finally get all the people, dollars, resources and time, they then play it safe, choosing to innovate around small issues. Eventually everyone decides that innovation is just a new word for new product development.Let me suggest instead the BHAG - Big Hairy Audacious Goal. When you set out to innovate, set up an outrageously audacious, aggressive, time consuming goal that needs to be met quickly. Then, figure out how to make it work. Why would you take this…

We all know that CEOs want innovation. Every press release, every annual statement talks about the importance of innovation to just about every firm. Yet there is a disconnect that exists between the executive level demands and expectations for innovation and what happens six to nine months later. You see, most people within a business would love to be more innovative, but they've got the pressure to deliver on quarterly and annual goals and promises to Wall Street, investors and shareholders. So, while the advocacy of innovation from the senior suite is interesting, what gets done is what…

I was sitting in an innovation discussion with a client recently when it struck me - in some ways innovation is very much like electricity, and often we want it to behave exactly like electricity, even when it won't.Innovation is unlike electricity in that you can't simply "flip a switch" and expect an immediate outcome. I can flip a switch to turn on the lights in my room, but I can't simply say "be innovative" and expect an immediate result. Nor can I flip the innovation switch off and on repeatedly, since the "flow" of ideas takes time to build.However, that last concept - a "flow" of…

I'm posting this hoping that some of you, faithful readers, might be interested in working with our Incubator software which we will release this week (July 21, 2008) as a beta trial. What that means is that we'll provide the software as a hosted instance and you can try it out and give us comments and feedback. Some of those comments and suggestions may make it into the final version.If you are interested, please contact me at jphillips at ovoinnovation dot com. Sorry for the jumbled email address but you know the drill online. The beta will be available through at least August 15.

...[H]ere's the real crux of it, the thing that puts bounce in the step of the ones already on this path - there is the chance to be part of possibly the greatest project in the history of civilization, to be at the forefront of the generation that confronted the worst conflagration the world had ever seen - and sorted it out. Scientific American calls climate change "arguably the most imposing scientific and technical challenge that humanity ever faced"; a veteran British politician warns of "an ecological time bomb ticking away"; and the former chief economist of the World Bank predicts…

Some reflections on dilettantism, job searching, organizations, and personal branding, among other things, from the Unrepentant Generalist...One other interesting development during this job search was my realization that I have become more comfortable with my personal brand as a generalist. I can admit to myself that I am better at thinking across disciplines and considering the big picture than I am at specializing and making sure all the details are right, instead of trying to be good at everything. ...The really brilliant people, the deep thinkers, are the ones who are able to identify…

I knew what I was getting myself into. While in London several weeks ago I caught one of the two big Radiohead concerts in Victoria Park. I think there were something like 60,000 people there on that beautiful summer's night and the show was great but the crush of people and long lines to exit were not. Sometime during that evening I swore off attending anymore ultra big shows like that - except for the same one in Montreal yesterday for which I already had tickets.Drizzly weather, muddy grounds, a different and closer vantage point, and a little more space. This time I could actually enjoy…

There was an article in the National Post earlier this week describing how The Black Knight's immense popularity is helping to lift the fortunes of beleaguered Canadian 3D theatre operator IMAX. Not only is the box office moola spilling over to IMAX's screens, Batman seems to be reintroducing movie-goers to an experience they left years ago - not because it wasn't impressive but because the films themselves (usually of the nature documentary variety) were stuck in a bit of a rut. But nothing quite beats a caped vigilante jumping off a Gotham skyscraper or a disheveled joker (masterfully!)…

My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really going on to be scared. -- P.J. Plauger

What journalists do, which many bloggers have yet to learn, is to consult multiple sources and do fact checking before blurting out a story. But what bloggers do, which journalists have yet to learn, is to wear their biases on their sleeve, rather than pretending they don’t exist. - Tim O’Reilly, (From Lessons on blogging from John Stewart)

Over on Harvard Business, I had a chance to interview master anthropologist and frequent blogger Grant McCraken. Check out the interview here. We talk about culture as a key factor in organizations, the abuse of innovation and other words, and what insights ethnography can provide struggling managers.

I get a lot of email, and sometimes lots of blog comments. Some of it is very nice, has feedback and useful criticism, or suggestions for things to write about, and I’m grateful for it. Some are requests for speaking engagements which I make a living on, also awesome. A good chunk are requests to read, review, or watch things other people have done, which is fine if it’s not a generic piece of PR spam. And then there’s a pile that’s is harder to classify: I’m being asked for something, but it’s not entirely clear what it is. Here’s a recent favorite…

Another post at Harvard business is up - here’s an excerpt: There is a difference between talk and action, and memos are 90% talk. We all know this. If a CEO at a 20,000+ person company wants to take action, he will, and most of those actions will surface through the executive chain. The corporate-wide memo is the most diffuse and overrated tool in an executive’s playbook, but since it’s the only play that most of the world sees, we naturally over-represent its significance. In every paragraph ask “Is this talk or action?” and you’ll see more clearly what…

I’m a travel whore, I admit. If I can go somewhere i haven’t been, and on someone else’s dime, I’m a happy man. So when I had a chance to speak in Milwaukee and the dates lined up, I said yes. I’ve been to 41 of the 50 U.S. states and this trip will make it 42. I’ll be doing my famous full day seminar, Making things happen, based on the bestselling book. It’s a bargain rate: $125 for the full day, ridiculously inexpensive for any kind of full day professional seminar. Here are the details: When: Friday Sept 19th, 2008 Where: University of Wisconsin,…

The evidence says that people who buy mutual funds retire a lot poorer than if they’d simply bought index funds. So why do mutual funds keep growing? In our latest Fast Company column, we explore why it’s so hard to get the truth to stick.

Brawndo. A fake sports drink brand in a satirical movie (Idiocracy) becomes real, and now it’s a real brand but it’s still satirical, and it seems to be satirizing a RabidMacho kind of sensibility, and people who drink it must be mocking that sensibility, right?, except that RabidMacho people will almost certainly love the brand too, so ultimately, no one is distinguishing themselves from anyone else, and what’s the point? Well, the point is the ads. They are hilarious, and that’s enough. Watch the ads here. Here’s a teaser: [BRAWNDO] It’s like a monster truck…

Here’s Google CEO Schmidt, in response to a question about whether Google is “dumbing down” kids: Kids use [Google] all the time because it’s a new way of learning. When I was growing up, in Virginia, they made me memorize the names of all the capitals of every county in the state. Completely useless information. So kids today are going from knowing everything to being able to search very quickly. The kids need to learn how to search because they’re going to have to search everywhere. They’re going to have search everywhere on devices that they carry with…

You know that one GM Olympics ad? The one that’s seemingly stuck on repeat, the one with the uplifting song that starts, “All of these lines across my face…” Well, I adore it, because it seems to be a rare specimen: the self-refuting argument. First, there’s the primary argument, made via the titles: “…goes for miles and miles on every gallon,” “hybrid,” “biofuel,” “clean diesel,” “fuel cell.” I.e., GM is Rainforest Pure. GM = Green Motors. Then, at the end of the ad, as the song comes to an…

The UK Open Memory Championships will be held next weekend in London. From the Times Online story: To put it into perspective: on average most of us can recall between five and nine numbers in a row. The eight-times world memory champion Dominic O’Brien, 50, can remember the order of 54 randomly shuffled decks of playing cards - an astounding 2,808 cards. Most amazing of all, several of the participants claim they’re not savants, they just practice a lot and use clever mnemonic techniques. Pridmore’s system for remembering playing cards involves assigning a different mental…

As many of you know, I was recently on “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.” Here is the video of my (very) brief appearance. If I were given more time, I would have discussed these 7 tips for keeping your job.  Fortunately, CNBC decided to post these tips on their website along with another article [...]ShareThis

I just had a conversation with a consulting firm that specializes in B2C innovation. Now they are being asked to do some B2B innovation. They asked me, “What’s the difference between innovation in a B2B and a B2C environment?” Although in many respects, the innovation efforts are similar, there are quite a few differences which are [...]ShareThis

My friend, Rajesh Setty, has been collecting “Quoughts.  He describes these as questions that provoke thought. In particular, he wants to know, what is one question that you wish someone had asked you when you were young…and why? My response will be posted on his site soon - along with his commentary.  But I thought I would [...]ShareThis

Making Resolutions That Work Here is an article I wrote some time ago.  But I am republishing it because with the move to the new website, certain articles were lost.  As you will see in my next blog entry, setting resolutions (or themes) does not need to only happy on December 31st. Like dinosaurs and gas-guzzling [...]ShareThis

Over the years, I have seen companies progress through three levels of innovation. Most organizations are at the “innovation as an event” level. They have brainstorming sessions to generate new ideas. At a more sophisticated level, innovation can be part of a “process.” That is, the organization has a structure in place to define problems, generate/evaluate ideas, [...]ShareThis

Demand for the technology is expected to rise dramatically over the next few years, and IBM's speech research group is focusing on forming partnerships to take it to market

Why is it so hard to stimulate innovation inside big corporations, while at the same time VCs are awash in innovative business plans and people?

From GE to Nestlé to watchmaker Omega, companies use the Games to test-drive new ideas—and strut their stuff

It's not yet clear how tradition-bound equestrians—or Olympic judges—will view the iconoclastic footwear

Animation producer Kadokawa thinks it has more to gain than to lose by allowing its content to be shared for free on the Net

So you want to complain today about your work, your boss, the economy, the weather, your spouse, your children, the presidency, the country, and on and on. Just ask yourself: What good does the complaint do? Does it actually solve the underlying issue you are grappling with? Or is it helping you vent out at something or somebody? Remember the golden rule: Stop Complaining, Start Living. Or was it: Stop Worrying, Start Living. You get the point.Jon Gordon has written this amazing little book titled: "The No Complaining Rule" that tells us how to turn every complaint into an opportunity and…

"If we act boldly, then our economy will be less vulnerable to economic disruption, our trade balance will improve, the pace of U.S. technological innovation will accelerate, and the American worker will be in a stronger position to adapt to the global economy," states Barack Obama, the Democratic U.S. Senator of Illinois and now the Democratic nominee for President, in his (new) book "The Audacity of Hope". Senator Obama lays out a vision for reclaiming the American Dream aided by a government built on our best traditions, representing our everyday lives, uniting our common hopes and dreams,…

The Top Innovators of the Innovation Index are having better to excellent second quarter results in 2008.These top innovators' 2008 second quarterly earnings increased 5% to 43% over 2007 second quarter earnings.This is fantastic growth!!In short, these innovators are growing even in these trying economic conditions.When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Their quarterly stock performance did not quite correlate with their quarterly earnings performance though.The stock markets are discounting these solid innovators owing to the general malaise in the U.S. economy, increase in…

I launched the Innovation Index in December 2006. The Innovation Index is a weighted stock price index of the Top 20 Innovators in North America. The Innovation Index has performed remarkably - it delivered 66% gross return in 2007 and beat the major U.S. indices, and is again beating the major U.S. indices in 2008.The success of the Innovation Index inspired me to launch the new investment management company Innovation Index Group, that manages the Innovation Index Fund based on the Innovation Index. On this Creativity And Innovation Driving Business and the Innovation Index Blog, I provide…

Dear Creativity And Innovation Driving Business Blog Subscribers:Are you interested in making your money work smarter and grow faster, and achieve potential average returns over 25% a year?*We have created a brand new private placement investment fund called:The Innovation Index FundWhat is The Innovation Index Fund?The Innovation Index Fund is a private investment fund where investors such as you can invest their monies in The Innovation Index. The Innovation Index Fund, LLC is managed by Innovation Index Group, Inc. What is The Innovation Index?The Innovation Index introduced in December…

Frost & Sullivan Lauds Sonitor's Innovation in Ultrasound Earthtimes (press release), UK - 42 minutes ago"Its latest innovation relates to the development of a semi-disposable, environment-friendly patient tag that allows the ultrasound-emitting electronic core

Kawasaki to Provide Secrets of Innovation to Online Lead GeneratorsMarketWatch - 2 hours agoVIENNA, VA, Aug 20, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Visionary entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki will deliver the keynote speech on "The Art of Innovation," topping

Peter Balbus to be Featured Innovation Expert on American Airlines PR Web (press release), WA - 7 hours agoBrand extensions and novel packaging are no substitute for real innovation. Ownable Distinction shifts the basis of competition away from cost and towards

TrustedReviewsIDF 2008: Intel launches innovation challengeIT PRO, UK - 8 hours agoThe chip giant’s chairman Craig Barrett launched the Inspire/Empower challenge, which is offering four prizes of $100000 to innovation gems benefiting IDF: Intel chairman's anti-Bush keynote PC ProIDF 2008: Education starts at home, urges Intel chairman IT PROall 4 news articles

Discover a Breakthrough Venue of Innovation at ... Taipei INVENT 2008MarketWatch - 11 hours agoThis event unfolds across the three theme zones: the Competition Pavilion, Technology Innovation Pavilion and Technomart, and the 2008 National Invention

Without adequate security protection, organizations run the risk of lost, stolen or damaged information.

Latest Web technologies can provide effective collaboration — as well as security risks.

CIOs shouldn't limit their focus to server and storage hardware when launching energy-efficiency programs.

SCM software can increase efficiencies — and if you're not careful, it can also add complexity.

Using more than one service provider can pay off — or add costs.

Sun Microsystems Boosts Partner Advantage Program with New MarketWatch - 1 hour agoGuided by a singular vision -- "The Network is the Computer"(TM) -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and

Kawasaki to Provide Secrets of Innovation to Online Lead GeneratorsMarketWatch - 2 hours ago"In this economy, online lead generators are focused on finding the industry innovations that provide immediate business value," said David Wengel,

UCT GSB course unlocks business creativity and innovationBizcommunity.com, South Africa - 3 hours agoThe international contingent is led by Christophe Gillet, former Director of Business Innovation for Sony Business Europe and now a director of UCT Business School Programme Develops New Managers Cape Business Newsall 2 news articles

New Webinar Covers Business Analyst Empowerment, Hosted by voke MarketWatch - 3 hours agoDistributed teams are here to stay, and a lifecycle approach to better business/IT collaboration delivers innovation, value, and efficiency.

Peter Balbus to be Featured Innovation Expert on American Airlines PR Web (press release), WA - 7 hours ago an organization for senior business executives that promotes broad-based technology innovation as a core component of regional economic development.

Atos Origin, the provider of IT infrastructure services and technology for the Beijing Games, designed and built two main classes of systems to run these Games: Games Management Systems (GMS) and Information Diffusion Systems (IDS). We'll explore GMS today and look at IDS next.

One file reportedly contained information about 34,000 students and another contained names and birth dates of 74,000 students.

The test program will let cardholders get near real-time alerts of transactions via text message or mobile e-mail.

The purchase of a customer-service technology software provider is the largest acquisition to date for the software-as-a-service vendor.

It's been a big week for the Android phone platform. Most important, the Federal Communications Commission gave the all clear to the first Android-powered handset, which will be built by High Tech Computer and is currently expected to be called the Dream. Additionally, Google released an updated version of its SDK.

The next few weeks and months I will give some open workshops and will be participating in a couple of events. It would be a pleasure to meet you there! Besides that I am doing a series of private events for corporations (don't forget you can hire me ;-)Open Workshops24 Sept. 2008: Amsterdam, Netherlands. Venue: ULURU. Business Model Design & Innovation Workshop (sign-up / few seats remaining)10 Oct. 2008: New York, US. Venue: Center for Architecture (sign-up)29 Oct. 2008: Amsterdam, Netherlands. Venue: ULURU. Business Model Design & Innovation Workshop (sign-up)8. Oct. 2008: Toronto,…

I finally succeeded to submit a powerpoint presentation to the "world's best presentation contest" on slideshare.net, after some initial problems with the submission options (they simply disappeared before the end of the deadline...).Please have a look at my slides below on "why business model innovation maters". If you like them please click on the link and go vote. Thanks! As a Swiss I believe in your democratic opinion - but vote "thumbs up" anyways ;-)Business Model Innovation MattersView SlideShare presentation (tags: osterwalder alex alexander telco)

At the moment I am completely immersed in reading about visual thinking for my upcoming book on business model innovation. Do you wonder what the connection is? Well, the book I'm working on will be very visual and practical, containing only the very necessary text...Visual tools are an increasing must in the executive toolbox - particularly when you think of all those terrible ppt-decks and never-read-business-plans full of text and numbers.Let me briefly share some of the literature I have been looking into the last few days:The Back of the Napkin (Dan Roam). Dan has created a great and…

The last two days I had the great pleasure to speak about business model innovation at the East African Business Summit, a gathering of over 150 CEOs from the region. It is not everyday that I speak alongside Professor Michael Porter and a head of state, President Museveni (hopefully that will become more frequent). Slides I presented at the event, unfortunately without the animations... (or pdf download):The most important thing I retain from this event is that East Africa features many remarkable business leaders, whom I had the opportunity to talk to extensively. Remarkable, because these…

I’m just back from a 2-day business model workshop I gave in Medellin, Colombia, with a local telecommunications company. For the first time I really elaborated a bit more on the design-thinking component of sound business model development. I pointed out that business people must display a particular design attitude and use design techniques in order to come up with good new business models.The participants of the workshop, mainly from engineering backgrounds, responded really well to this message. They seemed to enjoy the co-creation, visual working on the wall, etc., which I got them to…

In an interview with the Austin Statesman, ITIF President Rob Atkinson discusses how Innovation Economics is the best approach to economic growth.

In his recent article in FedTech, ITIF Senior Analyst George Ou discusses ways companies can better manage their IT power use to become more environmentally friendly. Ou argues by adopting energy monitoring and management best practices on both the client and server side firms can also save money by efficiently reducing energy use.

In his recent OPEC 2.0 op-ed, Columbia University law professor Tim Wu offered his vision of a broadband policy by declaring the broadband market a “bandwidth cartel” that has gouged the public like the energy market. To remedy the situation, Wu advocated much more facilities-based competition, particularly through municipally-provided fiber-optic Internet service and called on the government to open up wireless radio spectrum to “liberate us from wires, cables, and rising prices”. While this bash-the-corporation rhetoric may have some populist appeal, Wu’s…

The Internet has become a multi-service converged network that transports telephony, data, and video for millions of users. Some of those applications cause problems for other applications and this has prompted broadband providers like Comcast to proactively manage their network. Comcast will switch to a more accurate “Protocol Agnostic” network management system by year end. This FCC filing examines how P2P applications harm telephony applications even during low levels of utilization, how traffic shaping technologies can resolve these problems, and how Comcast’s new Protocol…

ITIF hosted a breakfast forum with Dr. Richard Lipsey that discussed technical change and economic growth. Dr. Lipsey is a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Simon Fraser University and author of the award winning book, Economic Transformation: General Purpose Technologies and Long Term Growth.

[ September 23, 2008; 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. ] Dan Heath, New York Times bestselling author and co-author of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, will present at NCTI's upcoming Webinar, Made to Stick: Get Your Message Heard. This is a free event but space is limited - register now!

New York Times bestselling author, Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, is NCTI's featured Innovator. Find out how can AT entrepreneurs make their visions more concrete and real for users.

10 Tips to help you amplify your message and maximize your outreach efforts.

[ November 5, 2008 to November 8, 2008. ]   Hilton at Dallas Lincoln Centre Dallas , TX Join between 400-600 professionals—college/university faculty, public/private school staff development personnel, administrators, teachers, correctional personnel, psychologists, researchers, and many others to explore personnel preparation and classroom interventions in the context of teacher education and special education in changing times.   Workshop sessions will focus on Response-to-Intervention (what it is and what it [...]

The Steppingstones of Technology Innovation for Children with Disabilities is a funding stream provided by the Office of Special Education Programs within the U.S. Department of Education. Applications are due September 4, 2008.

Measuring spin in an organic LED is an important step toward a spintronic device.

Surgical imaging system turns cancer tissue neon.

A new age of "technological reproducibility" is here. Ugh.

TriGeo Wins Campus Technology 2008 Innovator Award for Ohio MarketWatch - 42 minutes agoTriGeo SIM has won numerous awards including the 2007 and 2008 SC Magazine Reader Trust Award, 2007 Frost & Sullivan North American Technology Innovation of

Frost & Sullivan Lauds Sonitor's Innovation in Ultrasound Earthtimes (press release), UK - 42 minutes ago"Sonitor's recently improved market presence in the US location systems market confirms the ultrasound RTLS technology's unique value proposition," explains

Peter Balbus to be Featured Innovation Expert on American Airlines PR Web (press release), WA - 7 hours ago an organization for senior business executives that promotes broad-based technology innovation as a core component of regional economic development.

Salesforce.com Acquires InStranet, Bringing Industry-Leading MarketWatch - 10 hours agoSalesforce.com is adding this technology innovation as a key component to Salesforce CRM Customer Service & Support, enhancing its Call Center and Customer

Discover a Breakthrough Venue of Innovation at ... Taipei INVENT 2008MarketWatch - 11 hours agoThis event unfolds across the three theme zones: the Competition Pavilion, Technology Innovation Pavilion and Technomart, and the 2008 National Invention

by: Roger DooleyIn Decoy Marketing, I described my befuddlement when staring at a shelf full of shaving gel product variations. In that case, a jumbo-sized can at the same price as the regular-sized cans put an end to my indecision. It turns out I’m not the only marketer with an eye on the shaving gel shelf.

by: Eliane AlhadeffLynn Marentette, in one of her superb Blogs, Interactive Multimedia Technology, (Lynn is also the author of TechPsych and Technology-Supported Human-World Interaction ) reports that Sheraton hotels has partnered with Microsoft Surface to implement a Virtual Concierge application. She also challenges us to think how this could play out in classrooms, libraries, information centers, and other public spaces.

by: David PolinchockThis was at the heart of our discussion about the socialization of place and now there seems to be some numbers to support the theory. Here's what we think. As more & more people do their actual purchases online, what's to become of the physical real estate of retail?

by: Nancy BaymPrince may be eagerly suing everyone who posts live videos of his shows on YouTube, but the Swedish label Songs I Wish I Had Written, headed by Martin Thörnkvist, one of the leaders of music-business think tank The Swedish Model, is taking the opposite strategy.

by: David ArmanoIf there’s one type of headline that gets attention—it’s about claiming the death of something. Well, I’d like to proclaim the “un-dead” nature of a format which I think has the potential to become something more powerful than we are currently seeing today.

My good friend Nirav shared his experience with Shahrukh Khan's Paanchvi Pass*. No, he didn't watch the show but was involved in a great Viral gimmick. In his own words below Here's the pictures of the "paanchvi paas" promo tools that we talked about a few weeks back. These 2 glasses were stuck on to the bonnet and back of my car by someone at a crossing, and I spent a good 20 minutes trying

Yahoo’s newly launched ymail/rocketmail has gone viral with kaunhoonmain. The only reason to get a new mail id is that you haven't got your chosen id in earlier portals. This viral plays on that aspect. Pretty cool. This actually got me thinking of getting myself a new id. Decided I was too lazy after all First seen on Pluggd.in. Let me know what you think

Image Source - Fundivision Both have branding on the building rooftops, but did you even notice Pepsi in this photograph. I like, do you?

This blog is a result of an interesting discussion with Nithya of Muziboo fame. Muziboo is a young startup, which reaches out to the musician in everyone. Finally there is a space which goes beyond encouraging just young bands to encouraging individuals interested in music. More on Muziboo in another post This network is based on common interests in music, and not necessarily on an existent