How Small Businesses Can Leverage Crowdsourcing
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 had the opportunity to interview Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of InnoCentive, one of the early pioneers […]
New School is Old School
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 were purists who liked the original version and would do anything to prevent the new […]
Should You Catch or Fish for Innovations?
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 the hot fish. Most consumers, when they go to the supermarket, ask for those specific […]
Microwork Sourced Innovation Article
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 $5. Not bad, if you want my two cents… 5 Ways To Make Your Company […]
An Insider’s View on Fiverr and Microwork Outsourcing
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 logos, graphics, websites, and research. In most cases I would pay several hundred dollars for […]
Stop Asking For Ideas
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. A few minutes into his presentation, he displayed a slide that showed the typical e-mail […]
How Focusing On The Big Picture Can Help Grow Your Bottom Line
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 how you feel about Trump’s now aborted run for President, you have to give him […]
Tactics For Captivating Your Audience
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 band rocking out tunes on the pool deck; the captain and crew shaking hands and […]
7 Strategies For Running Your Business While Pursuing Your Passions
People often live by the saying: if you want to get something done right, you need to do it yourself. While I have heard people toss this phrase around like a badge of honor, there is no philosophy more toxic for an organization, especially small businesses. Businesses of any size are complex and it is […]
Why Edison Was Wrong
Researchers often throw around the Edison quote, “I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” Researchers use this quote because it “validates” […]