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” […]
How Aristotle Can Help You Sell Better
[This article originally appeared on the American Express Open Forum] I was recently in the market for a new car. I had narrowed down my list of prospects and went out for some test drives. At the car dealerships, each salesperson immediately jumped enthusiastically into sharing the features and functions of the cars. “It has […]
How To Motivate Innovators
Organizations use a variety of tools to motivate employees to participate in their innovation efforts. The most common form of motivation involves compensation via a points system. When you contribute an idea, solution, comment or vote, you get points – much like American Express Membership Rewards points – that can be used to buy a […]
The Four Principles of Personality Poker
We will be releasing a series of videos about Personality Poker over the coming weeks. Each will talk about a specific concept or insight from the book. You can pre-order the book now. Each book comes with a deck of the specially designed poker cards which will be demonstrated in the next video. Enjoy!
Open Innovation @NASA
I am speaking at TRIZCON tomorrow. The opening speaker today was Jeffrey Davis, MD, Director of Space Life Sciences at NASA Johnson Space Center. His excellent presentation focused primarily on the open innovation efforts of NASA. Here are some of the key soundbites I heard… They wanted to avoid the “serendipity” associated with many innovation […]
Read our Change This Manifesto
Today, the good folks at ChangeThis.com published my Personality Poker manifesto. It is a quick read that will provide you some of my thoughts on why organizations struggle to become innovative…and what can be done about it. Read it/download it here Here’s the excerpt that Change This included on their website… Issue 75 – 01 […]
Don’t Do The Wrong Things When Things Go Wrong
No company is perfect. Something will eventually go wrong, even if you have the greatest Six Sigma or quality program on the planet. And it is how you handle these problems that can determine your relationship with your customers. For example, I needed a taxi from my hotel in Paris to the airport. According to […]
Cathedral or Chaos?
The other day I gave a speech on open innovation at a conference primarily focused on open source software. One of the presenters at the event suggested that instead of trying to create a cathedral by controlling software development, we should instead be comfortable with a mess. The point of open source is to let […]
Are You Smarter than a PhD?
“Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?” is an entertaining show. In the world of innovation, the biggest question is, “Are you smarter than a PhD?” Here’s what I mean… In Personality Poker we address four primary innovation styles. The spades are the ones who are, as we would say in Boston, “wicked smaht.” We […]
Measures: Will You Get What You Want?
I recently spoke with a new client who shared with me their innovation measures. When I looked at their measurement system, I immediately saw flaws. But before addressing these imperfections, let me first provide you my perspective on innovation measures. In general, there are three types of measures associated with “challenge-based” innovation (be sure to […]