Innovation Insights
by Stephen Shapiro
Sometimes the question you ask is more important than the actions you take. During President Obama’s inauguration speech, he said… “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works
Could you develop a new business idea every single day for an entire month? That’s what my friend Susanne Goldstein has been doing since the start of the year. She is a “business accelerator and experience architect,” and she wants
What do T-shirts and cupcakes have in common? A guy by the name of Johnny. Today I spoke at an event for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). They are an amazing organization that teaches entrepreneurship to high school
In just a matter of hours, 2009 will be upon us. If you have not done so, please read my article on setting New Year’s Resolutions. You may also be interested in some statistics about New Year’s Resolutions. Happy New
A friend of mine is a fantastic freelance writer. After telling her how great she is, she asked, “So if I’m that good, how come I’m not working now? Tough market out there.” Yes, it is a tough market. But
Many of my recent posts discuss “Innovation and the Bell Curve.” One quick comment on this idea. I often say that the left-hand side of the bell curve is about affordability and accessibility. But sometimes it is just about accessibility
I hope that everyone will be taking time off to enjoy family and friends. See you in 2009.
In the Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi once told his student Daniel, “Walk on road. Walk right side, safe. Walk left side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later [makes squish gesture] get the squish, just like grape.” This fits nicely with
2008 saw the $4 gallon of gasoline and the start of the current recession. Although car sales are down from last year, millions of vehicles were still sold. What car do you think was most popular? A hybrid? A fuel
Today, I am catching up on some bookmarked innovation articles. I will provide commentary on these in the near future. Does Obama Need a Department of Innovation? (NYT) Innovation at Kraft (USA Today) Electric Car Innovation is Not Coming Out
This article was originally published in December 2008 Early this week, I received an email from a researcher at a major national TV talk show. They are doing a show on New Year’s Resolutions and saw my article on the
OK, it is time to branch out from the blog world… For the past 2 days, I have been at the 800-CEO-READ event for authors. Great conversations about books, publishing, marketing, sales, design, story telling, and anything else related to
I am sunning myself with my family in Florida right now, hence the shortage of blog entries. We have been busy every day, so today has been my first day to relax and think. And no surprise, I have been
One of my last blog entries discussed the need to create affordable and accessible solutions to stay competitive. Given globalization, cheap labor, and a damaged economy, this makes more sense than ever. Here are three starter questions to ask to
A good friend of mine, Neil Mullarkey (yes, that’s his real name), is one of the funniest people I know. He, Mike Myers, and a couple of other guys founded the Comedy Store Players (an improv comedy group) in London.
Clayton Christensen, in his book The Innovator’s Dilemma, discusses how disruptive technologies will kill incumbent technologies. Basically it is about how the crappy and cheap will eventually take over the sophisticated and expensive. The well-worn example is in the computing
If you own the Innovation Personality Poker system, here’s an interesting game to play. It’s called “Shadow Poker.” It was suggested by my colleague Jason Bates over at Executive Rockstar. Shadow Poker is the same as regular Personality Poker, except
You may wonder how spam got its name. No, I am not referring to the annoying emails we get. I am referring to the canned pork product that pre-dated the internet. In a classic Straight Dope article from 10 years
The blog here has been quiet for a while. I was overseas for the past 2.5 weeks having a fantastic time. A handful of days in Lisbon. A week in England. And a few days in Oslo. It was my
Earlier this week, I was on “Riches in Niches” radio with Susan Friedmann. We discussed innovation and business success in today’s economy. The 30 minute interview (split into two parts) covers practical ways to survive this volatile marketplace. You can
Here’s an excerpt from a magazine I have. The title is: A Gloomy Feeling Wall Street was baffled. The market’s 18-month slide had brutally bent the Dow-Jones graph, ending with one of the worst one-day drops. The dollar loss on
Although much has been written about innovation, there is little agreement on what it is or why it is necessary. Is innovation the same as creativity? Is it synonymous with product development? Or is innovation just radical change? I like
I just got back from over two weeks on the road. I was in and out of five airports. As you go through security, the routine is always the same… – Take off your shoes – Take out your liquids
Although I did not know Paul Newman personally, I always admired him. He was an Academy Award winning actor (I remember being enthralled by “The Sting” as a kid), a championship race car driver, a successful food business man (I
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