Turning Failure into Success

Readers of this blog know that I am not a huge fan of failure. I think it is overrated and should be minimized. Instead, I like to view innovation through the lens of experimentation. But sometimes a failure in execution can be a way to impress customers. I wrote about some examples of bad situations […]

Innovation Minute #29: What’s Your Organization’s Personality?

In the past few videos I discussed the personalities of individuals and what this means to high-performing teams. In today’s episode I discuss the personality of the organization. And no, this is not the average of the personalities of the people. It’s something completely different. And understanding this is critical to the success of your […]

Innovation Minutes #26 and #27 Transcripts

Here are the transcripts for the last two innovation minutes. Innovation Minute #26:  Is your team playing with a full deck? Twenty years ago when I started getting actively involved in the world of innovation, I thought there were some people who were innovative, and then there was the rest of the people. What I […]

Innovation Minute #28: Play the Cards You Are Dealt

In the last video I shared why diversity, although critical, can actually have a negative impact on the organization if people are not given the tools to appreciate one another. In today’s Innovation Minute, I share the tool I developed: Personality Poker. I explain how it can be used to understand personalities and I provide […]

Innovation Minute #27: Why Diversity Can Kill Innovation

In the last video I shared why diversity is critical to innovation. However, diversity on its own can have a deleterious effect on an organization’s performance. You need one key ingredient to go from dysfunctional to innovative. Learn what it is in this installment of The Innovation Minute. Be sure to watch the previous videos!

One of the Top 50 Innovation Blogs

Here’s a little self-promotion. This blog was selected was one of the top 50 Innovation Blogs on the Planet by Feedspot. (their words, not mine) I’m not sure how they determined this (my guess it is purely quantitative as I can’t imagine Feedspot can assess the quality). Although I am honored to be on the […]

Innovation Minute #26: Are You Playing with a Full Deck?

People know they need to play to their strong suit. But did you know that a team should play with a full deck; that is, a complement of people with different personalities/experiences that work seamlessly together? In this Innovation Minute, I start the conversation about organizational culture and collaboration. Be sure to watch the previous […]

Innovation for Mid-Sized Companies

I was recently interviewed by Chuck Leddy for the National Center for the Middle Market. We discussed, as you may guess, what middle market companies need to do in order to innovate and why it is critical. In addition to a written article (where I answer 9 questions), the page also includes a much longer audio […]

The Ignorance of the Masses Cancels Out the Knowledgeable Minority

Crowdsourcing has always been a popular method of problem solving. In a nutshell, crowdsourcing is when you ask a large group of people (the crowd) for their answers to a question. Polling and surveys are forms of crowdsourcing. Social media posts that ask for your opinion are another. And now companies are using this technique more and more […]

The Best Protection is Being Known for Your Innovation

best practices = copying someone else = plagiarism   Recently I discovered that someone wrote a 1,000 word article that included passages lifted straight from my book, “Best Practices are Stupid.” The examples were the same. The language was the same. The only original part to the article were the first two lines. After that it […]