The Innovation Minute #19: Find Someone Else Who Has Solved Your Problem (transcription)
A couple of days I posted a new video that introduces the “science of breakthroughs.” For those who prefer to read rather than watch, here’s the transcription. (you can watch the video here) Today, we move to the third part of my FAST innovation model. You’ll remember that FAST stands for Focus, Ask, Shift and […]
The Innovation Minute #19: Find Someone Else Who Has Solved Your Problem
Today is the first video in the “Shift” part of the FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test). In this video I share a fun example that provides a different approach to finding breakthroughs. Hint: your years of expertise may not be helping! Be sure to watch the previous videos! Transcription: Today, we move to the […]
The Innovation Minute #18: Ask Better Questions Get 10x ROI
Today is the final video in the “Ask” part of the FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test). With this, we sum up with WHY asking questions is so important. We discuss why you should not “think outside the box.” And we talk about the upsides of challenge-centered innovation over idea-driven innovation. The next installment will […]
Choose Your Business Partners Carefully
I am a big fan of business partnerships. My mantra is, “Innovate where you differentiate, and partner with others for everything else.” There’s an important caveat to this. Be sure to choose your partners carefully. Think about the bad experiences you’ve had with a company. Were they the company’s fault? Or was a business partner […]
The Innovation Minute #17: Einstein’s Perspective
Today we explore a page from Einstein and his perspectives on asking questions. The key is to avoid focusing on solutions and instead focus on the problem. We are in the “Ask” portion of the FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test) Be sure to watch the previous videos! Transcription: At this point in the […]
The Innovation Minute #16: Ask a Different Question to Get Better Solutions
When you ask different questions, you always get different solutions. Here’s a fun story about an airport that had people complaining about baggage claim wait times. Their solutions on the surface seemed good. But it never really solved the problem in the eyes of the customer. But when they asked a different question, they solved […]
The Innovation Minute #15: Specific Questions Reduce Creativity
NASA has done some amazing innovations over the years. But when they tried to create a washing machine in space, it didn’t go too well. But changing the question led to different results. We are in the “Ask” portion of the FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test) Be sure to watch the previous videos! […]
The Innovation Minute #14: Abstract Questions Lead to Low Quality Solutions
Today we use solving the “education system” problem as an example of how changing the question can lead to different solutions. When questions are too abstract, we get very low quality solutions. We are in the “Ask” portion of the FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test) Be sure to watch the previous videos! Transcription: […]
Failure is Overrated!
I was recently interviewed by the financial service firm, BBVA Compass. They asked for my thoughts on failure. I said that failure was overrated and that we needed a different mindset. Here are some sound bites from my interview/article “I don’t believe that failure is necessary in general. I also don’t believe that the answer […]
Three Activities to Inspire Innovation at Any Company
I was asked by BigSpeak to write an article with three activities that would stimulate innovation with teams. And I needed to do it in under 1,200 words. Here’s the result: Companies are becoming irrelevant faster than ever. Why? The pace of change outside of organizations is moving faster than the pace of change within. The […]