Podcast on The Brain Advantage

Brad Kolar is one of the brightest guys I know.  He and I worked together in Accenture back in the mid-90’s.  He has been a contributor to all of my books.  And now he is the co-author of a fascinating book called “The Brain Advantage. ” I had the privilege of receiving a review copy […]

Is it Dali Time…Or Hammer Time?

Yesterday I met with Jeff Boudro, the “Director of Really Cool Stuff at Staples.”  And from spending time with him, I can attest to this being the truth! Case in point is the picture left… Jeff bought a clock that has 9 dials, each one representing a different timezone.  For example, the top row of […]

Does Stress Limit Creativity?

Friday I was stuck in New York City.  I wasn’t sure I would ever get out. The Tri-State area was getting hammered by a snow storm.  I was scheduled to leave at 1PM, hours after the snow began.  The airports were closed. And to make matters worse, earlier in the day, two people were struck […]

What We Don’t Know We Know

Last night I went to a seminar.  On the whiteboard, the seminar leader drew an oft-used framework: There are things you “know.”  For example, I know I can speak English. There are things you “know you don’t know.”  I know I can’t speak Chinese. And there are things you “don’t know you don’t know.”  Obviously […]

When Open Innovation is not a Tournament

A magazine asked me to write a book review of Innovation Tournaments by Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich. The book arrived in the mail yesterday and I immediately turned to the index to see if InnoCentive was listed. Sure enough, we are mentioned in several places in the book. This got me thinking: Is InnoCentive […]

Three Innovation Distinctions (Part 3): Diversity not Homogeneity

This is the third of my “innovation distinctions” entries. [for your convenience, all three articles have been packaged into one pdf file] In the first part of this series, I wrote why you should focus on “Challenges, not Ideas.” Next, I addressed the distinction of “Process, not Events.” In this final entry, I discuss why […]

More Blog Entries Coming Soon

I have been working ’round the clock to finish my Personality Poker manuscript.  It goes to the publisher Feb 1.  After that, I will be back and blogging in full force…

Three Innovation Distinctions (Part 2): Process Not Events

In the first part of this series, I wrote why you should focus on challenges, not ideas. You should read that article before proceeding. [for your convenience, all three articles have been packaged into one pdf file] In this second entry, I will focus on “Process, not Events.” I first shared these three distinctions with […]

Why Best Practices are (not Always) Stupid

A couple of days ago I wrote an article entitled – “Why Best Practices Are Stupid.”  You can read my rationale there; I won’t bother reiterating it here.  Besides, there is a video in that post. But there are situations when best practices are NOT stupid. Core & Support Capabilities In an even earlier article […]

Deja Vu All Over Again

Some things never change. October 7, 2008 I wrote an article about how our airport security measures are messed up.  I contended back then that we needed to move from a reactive model to a proactive model.  Instead of responding to terrorist threats after the fact, we need to predict what will happen next.  In […]