Fear: The Anti-Innovator
Fear is one of the most basic human emotions. It has contributed significantly to mankind’s survival. Without it, our ancestors would...
Mission: Innovation
[Author's note: If you find listening to the Mission: Impossible theme music makes you feel like you can run through a brick wall, you...
Simple - Not Simplistic
The world is a complex, chaotic place. Innovation efforts are all the more complicated because they are directed at an inherently...
Why do we make things unnecessarily complicated?!?
A big innovation project fails. A pseudo-post-mortem reveals that Pat and Chris made decisions that turned out to be wrong. Pat and Chris...
What is "Simplicity" in Innovation?
Complexity, Simplicity and Innovation The human brain is an amazing thing. It can simultaneously think about mixing the chicken noodle...
Killing Projects without Killing Project Teams
The ancient Greek storytellers had keen insights on human psychology. The myth of Sisyphus, a legendary king who played a few tricks on...
Road Closed – What’s an Innovator to Do?
It’s a special occasion for you and your friends, so you are going out to celebrate. You made reservations at that trendy new restaurant...
6 Lessons of Creative Destruction from a Sushi Dinner
Is there any professional effort that requires more courage than innovating? Innovation tomes frequently focus on the creative aspects of...
An Innovation Clan Has an Innovation Culture
Quick story: I had been working on a project to bring a new-to-the-world product to market for two years. Like the dozen or so others on...
Innovation Clans are Made, not Born
As demonstrated in Part 1 of this blog series, of the three forms of managerial control – market (financial), bureaucratic (command), and...
