Doblin’s “Ten Types of Innovation”
Larry Keeley of Doblin Inc. lectures on the Ten Types of Innovation at UCSB in 2005:
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 ContentArrr, Mateys - Top 7 Innovation Pirates
“Innovation is a pirate ship that you create and sail under cover of foggy darkness into the safe harbor of your competitors.” - Larry Keeley, lecture at UCSB, 1995
If innovation is the pirate ship, an innovative company is the pack of scurvy dogs, armed to the teeth and ready to wage war on the competition. Like pirates attacking from the cover of night and fog, innovators attack in areas of weakness their competitors don’t even know exist.
Here are seven companies that came from nowhere to dominate their markets by seeing opportunities overlooked by their competitors, and in doing so redefining how their industries operate.
Sphere: Related ContentIC’s Familiar Quotations on Innovation
Here it is, people - as Ed McMahon would say, “Everything you ever wanted to know about innovation quotes is in this list.” Some pertain to business, some to art, some to politics. Some will make you think, others will make you scowl.
You have no idea of the massive scope of this effort. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into decades. The things I do for my readers.
So without further ado: “Innovation Catalyst’s Familiar Quotations on Innovation.”
Sphere: Related ContentTwo Vastly Opposing Views on Brainstorming, Pt. III
IDEO loves brainstorming. Doblin hates brainstorming. Who is right? Who is the most wrong? Let’s start smacking them together and see what ends up on the floor.
Sphere: Related ContentTwo Vastly Opposing Views on Brainstorming, Pt. II
In my first installment I discussed IDEO’s approach to brainstorming and how they incorporate it into their innovation processes. Now let’s take a look at someone who thinks brainstorming is a waste of time.
Larry Keeley of Doblin is a well-known innovation educator and consultant. Doblin has researched innovation extensively and discovered a great deal about what does and doesn’t work. Keeley’s unique perspective evolved over 20 years of field experience and forms the basis for Doblin’s innovation strategy. His pragmatic philosophy is reflected in Doblin’s Ten Types of Innovation. He believes that rather than waste time and effort on producing ideas that most likely have no value, people should focus their creativity on adapting the strategies proven elsewhere and combining their Ten Types in creative ways. A good overview of his philosophy can be found in this video (90 minutes):
Keeley believes in innovation effectiveness, which he now considers an emerging science until itself. His firm has gobs and gobs of research data on why innovation fails. At about the 15 minute mark of the video he launches into a dry, witty diatribe against brainstorming - which he portrays as a process in which management generates tons of ideas which never are put into action. He later says that brainstorming is ‘dangerous’ and produces far too many useless ideas. His data suggests that innovation fails (over 95 percent of the time) because people don’t do the most simple things - copy what the industry leaders are doing, and focus their creative efforts on the things that matter:
- Make money in a novel way
- Connect to the rest of the world
- Create lots of beneficial alliances with other companies
- Make a spiffy, memorable brand
- Focus on customer experience
Is there a place in Keeley’s model for novel ideas? Not really. Part of this is born from paranoia - the risk associated with implementing novel ideas, and the fact that the market punishes failure. He cites evidence that successful companies focus 98 percent of their effort on sustaining their existing products and services. Instead of generating tons of ideas for new stuff, Keeley recommends that upper level management focus on one or two ideas that combine the Ten Types in novel ways, then shepherd the ideas to fruition. Doing this, Keeley claims an effectiveness success rate of 35-70 percent. Thus Keeley’s approach uses extremely high-level strategic concepts to create a new perspective on what constitutes ‘doing things right,’ and as such should be a fundamental component of every business endeavor.
In my final installment I will smack the two opposing views together and see what breaks.
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