How To Leverage Collaborative Innovation
Every now and then I read an article like this one in Forbes that touts the virtues of looking outside the walls of your company for innovation. There is a whole section in Mavericks at Work devoted to this, and the concept was, in fact, a partial inspiration for the name of this blog. I’m an outwardly focused individual, and naturally seek opportunities to collaborate and increase my knowledge. Similarly, organizations can seek the same opportunities for all kinds of situations - new products, new business solutions, new technologies, new perspectives on old problems.
Sphere: Related ContentHow To Transform A Culture With Innovation
Have you ever witnessed an innovation that transforms everything in a culture?
It doesn’t happen often. Most of the time innovation improves rather than transforms. Well over 90 percent of the time, in fact.
There’s a good reason for that. Change is hard. In Myers-Briggs terms, most people in our culture (75 percent) prefer ’sensing,’ and one of the aspects of sensing is resistance to change. Incremental change, if useful, might be OK. Transformational change is painful.
Sphere: Related ContentHigh-Priced Gas Is GOOD For America!
How could this possibly be? We rely on gas for just about everything in this country - how could high priced gas actually be GOOD for us?
Because without high-priced gas, we’d have no incentive to innovate.
In my article on ‘Who Killed The Electric Car?’ last year, I emphasized the fact that no one wanted an expensive, inconvenient-to-operate electric car while gas was cheap. The economics would never work out, even if electricity was marginally cheaper than gas, because batteries were way too expensive. But it’s safe to say that many foretold the coming of high-priced gas back then. Peak Oil is a concept dating back to the 50s, and those who adhere to its principles saw a drop in petroleum production on the horizon.
So why didn’t we do anything about it? Same reason we don’t do anything about Social Security, widely predicted to collapse in a couple of decades - it’s not a current crisis. We respond to current crises pretty well in this country - we plan for future crises poorly (just ask those living in New Orleans).
Sphere: Related ContentWill Verizon’s Open Source Innovation Succeed?
Up until late last year, Verizon was a closed network. And then, this:
In late November, Verizon Wireless said it would allow any device or software to run on its wireless network. It’s a reversal for the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier, which had been known as the most protective in the industry.
Why the turnaround? And what does this say about the organizational character of Verizon?
Sphere: Related ContentHow The US Patent System Crushes Innovation
Forbes Magazine recently interviewed Michael Meurer and James Besson, authors of Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk, a massive study on the costs and benefits of holding patents. Their chilling conclusion:
Sphere: Related ContentMeurer and Bessen concluded that in every industry, except pharmaceuticals and biotech, publicly traded companies spend more money litigating to protect existing patents and paying fees to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office than they earn from the same patents. (Bessen and Meurer evaluated patents issued by all publicly traded companies between 1984 and 1999.)
Three Amazing Reports On The State Of Innovation - Part II
Table of contents for State of Innovation
- Three Amazing Reports On The State Of Innovation - Part I
- Three Amazing Reports On The State Of Innovation - Part II
In our first installment, the Boston Consultancy Group identified innovation trends via a survey of over 2400 senior level executives. In this installment, Booz-Allen-Hamilton studies the world’s largest R&D investors to determine what innovation strategies succeed.
Sphere: Related ContentThree Amazing Reports On The State Of Innovation - Part I
Table of contents for State of Innovation
- Three Amazing Reports On The State Of Innovation - Part I
- Three Amazing Reports On The State Of Innovation - Part II
In December, three international consultants published the results of their research on the current state of innovation. This four-part series will cover each in turn, then I’ll add a conclusion that ties them together. First on the block - Innovation 2007 from the Boston Consultancy Group.
Sphere: Related ContentUnlimited Free Broadband Downloads!!
That sounds a lot better than “Up to 17 hours of broadband downloads per month!” And when you can do it for the same price, you’ve entered The Long Tail. That’s what Netflix has discovered.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Next Big Disruptive Innovation Platform
This article in PC World describes Samsung’s two latest television prototypes that use an astounding new technology called organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). But the article is remarkable not for the new product but for the new disruptive platform it represents.
Sphere: Related ContentRadiohead’s Publicity Stunt - Innovation or Deception?
This month’s Wired Magazine features a David Byrne interview with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke to discuss Radiohead’s wildly successful ‘free’ downloading stunt.
Since others insist on keeping this topic fresh, I’ll continue providing the counterpoint. Is Radiohead responsible for innovating the music industry business model, or merely deceiving gullible fans?
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