Innovation Insights
by Stephen Shapiro
Over the past couple of weeks, I have had the identical conversation with several different clients. Apparently, there is an existing belief that if you want to instill a mindset of creativity, you need to have less “structure.” To some
Last night I was at an event where I woman said, “I want to get in touch with my creativity. I used to paint and play music, but no longer do that.” This got me thinking about how we throw
Imagine the following scenario. You are single and live just outside of New York City. Your employer wants you to work in London for a few years. You are excited about the prospect of living overseas and are interested in
Innovation is accelerated when you “ask the right question, the right way, of the right people.” It may seem obvious, but if you ask the wrong question, you may be led down a futile path. An example of this comes
Today I was interviewed on BNET’s The Live One. Check out this 20 minute video for some perspectives from my new book, “Best Practices Are Stupid.” This book will be available on September 29, 2011.
We often hear the expression “Wisdom of crowds.” And if you have read my articles, it will be apparent that I am an ardent fan of crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing makes the argument that the aggregation of information produced by groups, result
Many years back, I led classes on Stephen Covey’s “Principle Centered Leadership” for Accenture’s managers. Over 75 percent of the attendees said that achieving balance in their life was their number one reason for taking the course. This is not
While at a skeptics convention last week in Vegas, one of the speakers talked about why mirages are the result of light taking the path of least resistance. Instead of light from the sky going straight to our eyes, it
As I previously announced, my next book, “Best Practices Are Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition,” will be published by Penguin’s Portfolio imprint on September 29, 2011. For those of you who have not seen it, here is the
I was recently interviewed by Lisa Earle McLeod. The resulting article has been published in a number of newspapers and online sites, including the Huffington Post. Here’s the first half of the article… Do you ever find yourself trapped inside
While speaking at a conference on “happiness at work” in Copenhagen, I met Cathy Busani, the Managing Director of Happy, a training and consultancy business operating in the U.K. Although they only employ 30 people, Happy has won wide recognition
Let’s face it, sometimes you feel horrible. You feel like the universe is conspiring against you. It could be caused by an upsetting event, such as the end of a relationship or the loss of a job. Other times the
Open innovation and crowdsourcing promise to revolutionize the way companies innovate and develop new products, create marketing campaigns and solve problems of all kinds. Unfortunately, there is more confusion than clarity about how to best utilize these approaches. Recently, I
I just finished reading a mindless crime novel* – my favorite genre of book. The victim was the producer of an old television series who recently sold the rights to do a remake of the show. Fans were outraged. Most
On talk radio the other day, they were discussing the fishing industry. The conversation centered on how certain types of much more popular than others. I not sure of the specifics, but I think salmon, tuna, and sea bass are
If you have been around for a while, you might recall the Hertz commercials from the 70s where the ex-football star and criminal, O.J. Simpson, is running through airports hurdling over rows of departure lounge seats and luggage. I know
In my blog entry yesterday, I posted an interview with a woman who does “microwork” on the fiverr site. Be sure to read that interview first as context. Now, as promised, here is the article on innovation she wrote for
As readers of this blog know, I am always interested in exploring different forms of open innovation, collaboration, and outsourcing. Personally, I have used a number of sites including 99designs.com and elance.com. I have used these for the development of
This article was published on the American Express OPEN Forum. The title you see here on this blog was rejected by them and replaced with “The Art of Decision Making.” I decided to retain the original. This has been
I recently gave a presentation on innovation for a company that sells travel packages online. The presenter who preceded me was the executive in charge of creating the technology that automatically sends follow-up e-mails to prospects who visited the site.
Being a professional speaker on innovation, I attend a lot of conferences and meetings. And I am always amazed at how poorly most meetings are run. One things in particular disturbs me… When meeting time is used to present things
This article was published on the American Express OPEN Forum. When I sent in the article, I called it “If you focus on the hot dog, you might go hungry.” Clearly they didn’t like that title 🙂 Regardless of
I just returned from a fantastic weeklong cruise to the Southern Caribbean and noticed that it was structured similarly to others that I have enjoyed in the past. Immediately upon arrival, there is much fanfare: champagne as you board; a
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