I’ve often heard my fellow innovators say that coming up with ideas is the easy part of innovation. Coming up with good ideas is more difficult and coming up with great ideas, ideas that are going to drive sustainable growth, well that’s the difficult bit!When looking to develop great ideas, Read more…
Innovation is a risky business. Depending on whose numbers you believe, up to 90% of innovations fail. Improving your chance of innovation success isn’t easy and there is no one simple fix. However, experience suggests there is an ecosystem of activities/conditions that will improve success rates but you need to Read more…
“Innovate or Die” used to be the mantra. Now its “Innovate Fast or Die”. If you are an in-company innovator, you’ll need to do some ‘groundwork’ to prepare your business to innovate at speed. If you are an in-company innovator, whether you are about to start an innovation Sprint, or Read more…
I was reading a McKinsey article* recently where Corning’s technology chief, Waguih Ishak, shared the lessons of his 40 years of innovation experience. It’s a good read, I recommend it. One of his lessons, ‘don’t die of indigestion’, got me thinking; what is it that causes those blockages that get Read more…
Your suggestions box is a good barometer of how engaged employees are in their company’s innovation efforts. Is your suggestions box empty, gathering dust? If so, your fellow employees either think someone else is doing it, it doesn’t matter or no-one will be interested in what they have to say. Read more…
With the US elections imminent, the autumn statement on its way, Brexit negotiations just around the corner…… innovators need to be politicians too The thing I love about innovation is its ability to take me into all areas of business. Great innovation projects need a good knowledge of, and connections Read more…
As innovators, we’re nothing without ideas. But where do those ideas come from? Can anyone come up with the big idea? Or is the eureka experience reserved for the Steve Jobs, Albert Einsteins and Thomas Edisons of this world? The traditional thinking is that we are either ‘left’ or ‘right’ brained – left brained Read more…
My last post about problem hunting prompted someone to point me in the direction of Peter Drucker’s classic article on ‘The Discipline of Innovation’ – suggesting that analysis first was the way forward. Whilst Mr. Drucker contends that “most innovative business ideas come from methodically analysing seven areas of opportunity”, I Read more…
I recently wrote about the challenges of breaking into established purchasing behaviour. Of course, this all about the fundamental task of innovators – to develop products and services with a valued point of difference, a USP that delivers a solution to an unmet need that is appreciated by the end user. Given this, I wonder whether we need Read more…
I recently came across a statistic about the average number of different meals Mums (and it does still seem to be mostly Mums) cook for their family. Apparently most households cycle just 9 different meals. I thought that was a really low number…… and then I counted up what happens Read more…