Change: Three Essentials For Every Leader
The sustainability of any organization hinges on leadership's ability to understand, embrace, and implement change. Whenever leaders are surveyed about what keeps them awake at night, “change” is usually at or near the top of the list. When change initiatives fail, so do leaders. When brands fall into decline, and organizations implode, it's often due to a company's inability to change. In…
Innovation’s Best Kept Secret
Those of you who frequent this blog know that I'm not a huge fan of either/or propositions. In most, if not all cases, decisions that are made on this basis simply constitute a lack of depth and understanding. This particularly holds true as it applies to the topic of innovation methodology. Most innovators view innovation from one of two perspectives: those who believe disruptive innovation is…
Ideas Don’t Equal Innovation
I had a long conversation yesterday with a friend discussing creativity, ideas, innovation, branding, and the like. As a result of our conversation, I decided to dust off an old post, give it a few updates, and pass along my thoughts, which can be best summarized as "Ideas Don't Equal Innovation." It is my hope to help dispel the myth that ideas are inherently good things. Let me state right from…
Leadership – What’s Next?
There is no shortage of debate surrounding leadership when it comes to philosophy, style, definitional distinctions, nuances, complex theory, etc. That said, I believe most reasonable people would agree leadership is nothing if not personal. Leadership can represent a pursuit, discipline, practice, passion, calling, skill, competency, obligation, duty, compulsion, or even an obsession. I've…
Leadership & Change
First the bad news: If you’re not willing to embrace change you’re not ready to lead. Put simply, leadership is not a static endeavor. In fact, leadership demands fluidity, which requires the willingness to recognize the need for change, and finally the ability to lead change. Now the good news: As much as some people want to create complexity around the topic of leading change for personal gain,…
Disruptive Business Models
How disruptive is your business model? While much has been written about corporate vision, mission, process, leadership, strategy, branding, and a variety of other business practices, it is the engineering of these practices to be disruptive that maximizes opportunities. Without a disruptive focus, you are merely building your business model on a "me too" platform of mediocrity. Few things are…
The Impact of Trends on Business
Trends have a significant impact on business. Does your business exploit trends or do they exploit your business? What was the latest fad chased or trend adopted by your business? Why did your management team jump on the bandwagon? Has the trend or fad generated an increase in revenue or gains in efficiency and/or productivity? In today's blog post I'll examine the impact trends can have on your…
The Innovation Song
The Innovation Song you ask? That's right...The above video contains a song performed by a Stanford student which was submitted for his final project for a class entitled: "Innovation and Implementation in Complex Organizations." The song was intended as a tribute to Gordon MacKenzie's "Orbiting the Giant Hairball," a book that puts forth some thoughts on how organizations can better address the…
Innovate or Perish
Innovate or Perish is a battle cry that I have long espoused to my clients. I can't think of a better example of what can happen to those companies that fail to innovate than the rumors circulating about the Tribune Co. The Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and other once-revered trophy brands is hemorrhaging under the burden of huge debt obligations, insufficient cash…
Measuring Innovation
Measuring innovation is where the rubber meets the road. While it's very easy to wax eloquent about innovation, I've found that for most companies, measuring innovation is quite a tall order. Moreover, even for those organizations that do measure innovation, are they measuring the right metrics, for the right reasons? I've authored many posts on the topic of innovation, and have lectured often on…
Innovation is Hot
Innovation is definitely hot...Yesterday's blog on innovation tools sparked an avalanche of inquiries asking for more posts on the topic of innovation. It seems as if each time I address the subject of innovation it triggers a Pavlovian response from our readers crying out for more information. While there is an innovation category on this blog containing several posts, and one of our more…
Innovation Management
Much has been written about the importance of innovation but there is very little information in circulation about how to actually stimulate innovation. While most executives and entrepreneurs have come to accept the concept of innovation management as a legitimate business practice, in theory, I have found very few organizations that have effectively integrated innovation as a core discipline…
Collaborate, Innovate and Dominate!
Those of you who know me or have followed this Blog for any length of time know how strongly I feel about innovation (see my Return on Innovation Blog Post) as a key driver in business. You also know how heavily I value partnering, venturing and collaboration as key leverage points. Independently these two concepts are powerful, but couple them together and they create a catalyzing effect of…
The Impact of Globalization on Business
I have traveled to more than 22 countries and have had the opportunity to transact business in various parts of Asia, the Middle East, Canada, Central, and Latin America, Russia, and former Eastern Block countries, India, and the European Community. Conducting business on a global basis has always been of great personal interest to me, and it has also been both a pleasurable and financially…