The Most Innovative Small Company in America, Inc. Magazine
Article on Inc's pick for most innovative company. The article is 6 pages long, so if you're interested in reading about 'Threadless' - you'll need some time to read this one.
Strategy Execution Expert Gary Harpst Launches An Execution Revolution, Be Excellent
This entry introduces a new book that will be published in July 2008: Six Disciplines Execution Revolution. A good quote from the entry:
“A revolution is about to start that will provide a leapfrog opportunity for small and midsized businesses in the way they execute their strategy,” said Harpst. “Knowing how to plan and execute, while overcoming today’s inevitable surprises, is the most foundational capability any successful organization can learn. To accelerate this revolution, we’ve established a publishing division and supporting websites designed to educate business leaders on how they transform their businesses and maximize their ability to execute strategy,” added Harpst.
Some good links in the entry: http://www.sixdisciplinespublishing.com/ and http://www.garyharpst.com/
Innovation Muscle, Innovation in Practice
Entry discussing how improving innovation in companies is like building muscle. A good quote from the entry:
"You need to decide what kind of (innovation) muscle form you're looking to achieve. Drawing on examples nearly everyone is familiar with, you need to decide if you want to look like Arnold (GE) Schwarzenegger (bigger bulk) or Bruce (Apple) Lee (lean and toned). This decision will help you determine which kinds of exercises you do and how you do them.
A good link in the entry: http://www.sitsite.com/app/homepage.asp
Innovation at Microsoft, JobsBlog
A video discussion about innovation at Microsoft. It is about 5 min long.
How to structure your company to support innovation, Innovation Weblog
This entry is a mention of some highlights found in the new book The Game Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation by A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan. An interesting quote from the entry:
To selecting appropriate innovation structure for your business, the authors recommend considering six criteria:
- Whether the innovation opportunity is inside a core business, in a business adjacent to a core business, or in an entirely new business
- The level of risk and opportunity and the level of investment.
- The degree to which the innovation opportunity leverages existing strengths or requires the creation and development of new capabilities and strengths.
- The time horizon of innovation development.
- The type of experience and expertise required on the innovation development team.
- The phase of innovation development - ideation and prototyping, development, qualification or commercialization.
Harvard Business Study Links Motivation to Creativity, Front End of Innovation
This entry introduces a Harvard study that was published in May, that was to find "the effects of business life in the amount of creativity produced". A good quote from this entry:
At the end of the research phase, these participants provided 12,000 entries. There was concrete evidence that:
People have their best days and do their best work when they are allowed to make progress.
Link to the Harvard Study: Getting Down to the Business of Creativity, by Julia Hanna
Getting Down to the Business of Creativity, Mitch Ditkoff
This entry is Mitch's take on the above mentioned Harvard Business study. He also has a couple of good links to previous entries on his site that are related and good to read on their own. An interesting quote from Mitch's entry:
When you treat people with respect, acknowledgment, and genuine positive reinforcement, you significantly increase the odds of creativity -- and by extension, innovation -- flourishing in your organization. ... Common sense? For sure. But common sense, it seems, is all too uncommon in most organizations.
Harvard Leadership and Presidency Debrief, Stephen Shapiro
Review of an event at Harvard about "Leadership and the Next President". Mentions some of the topics discussed at the event.
An interesting quote from it:
- Accountability – Avoid “spin” and oversimplification. She felt that the President needs to lay the facts on the table as they are without sugar coating. And that s/he must take full responsibility for any results, rather than blaming others.
- Collaboration – Don’t just turn to your superstars. This is about inclusiveness. She said that “bifurcated thinking is the enemy of change.” Recognize that not everyone will support you. In fact, she felt in most situations, 1/3 will be for, 1/3 will be against, and 1/3 will be on the fence. It’s that last third that makes the most difference.
- Initiative – They key is to not feel helpless. Instead, empower at a grass roots level. She felt that innovation was the answer, and that there are already solutions out there to most of our problems. We just need to find them.
Mobility & Vertical Markets by Rodney Bowen-Wright, Rodney Bowen-Wright
An interesting quote from it:
Car insurance companies are currently trying to attract young drivers to sign up for their insurance policies using DriveCam's solution as an incentive. Their solution is currently installed in 85,000+ vehicles in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa.
There is also an interesting link to an article in The Wall Street Journal about DriveCam: Mom Called and Said, "Slow Down"