Latest "Best Practices are Stupid" Posts

Summary of Tip 8 (of 40) from Best Practices Are Stupid. There’s No Such Thing as a Know-It-All The late great Will Rogers once said, “There is nothing so stupid as an educated man if you get him off the thing that he was educated in.” No one person can know everything. And no organization […]

Summary of Tip 7 (of 40) from Best Practices Are Stupid. The Goldilocks Principle Today, we delve into a simple yet critical aspect of problem framing: The Goldilocks Principle. When attempting to solve a problem, we often frame it either too broadly (e.g., solving world hunger) or too narrowly. A prime example of the latter […]

The Kindle version of Best Practices Are Stupid is now available for order on Amazon. And I guess it’s currently pretty popular in Canada. It hit the best-seller list and was the #1 Hot New Release in the Management Sciences category. Woohoo! If you decide to buy, be sure to order the version with the […]

The Kindle version of Best Practices Are Stupid is now available for order on Amazon. Today is the 12th anniversary of the book’s original publication. Today marks the formal release of the updated e-book edition. The paperback version will be available very soon! Note that the original version (with the yellow lightbulb on the cover) […]

Woo hoo! The Kindle version of Best Practices Are Stupid is now available for pre-order on Amazon. The updated editions of the ebook and paperback will launch on September 29th – the 12th anniversary of the book’s original release. Note that the original version (with the yellow lightbulb on the cover) is available from resellers […]

How do you summarize a 40,000-word, 200+ page book into one page? When the book was originally released, Sacha Chua created this wonderful infographic that summarizes each of the tips. Although a few of the names have changed in the updated edition, the concepts remain the same. To save this document, right-click and save on […]

Summary of Tip 5 (of 40) from Best Practices Are Stupid. Expertise Is the Enemy of Innovation Today’s tip is about finding breakthrough solutions. My perspective is that our past experiences can limit our ability to see new and different futures. In other words, expertise is the enemy of innovation. This was validated by Lee […]

Summary of Tip 4 (of 40) from Best Practices Are Stupid. Don’t Think Outside the Box; Find a Better Box This tip is the reason I wrote the book Invisible Solutions. The concept is so important yet overlooked. Leaders often encourage employees to “think outside the box” to boost creativity. However, this unbounded approach can […]

Summary of Tip 3 (of 40) from Best Practices Are Stupid. Asking for Ideas is a Bad Idea This is a favorite of mine and one that so many organizations get wrong. Companies often seek innovation by soliciting ideas from employees, but this approach typically yields impractical, low-value suggestions, cluttering the innovation process. This inefficiency […]

Bring Stephen’s innovation insights to your next event!