December 31, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Gifts of Innovators: Six to Watch, Listen and Learn from in 2016…starting with Roger McGuinn
In our current era of corporatized innovation, and obsession with Silicon Valley’s unicorns, there’s a certain kind of person that I’m drawn to in the extreme – the artist as innovator who uncompromisingly runs their own creative enterprise, on their own steam. Continue reading →
December 31, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
LAST DAY TO VOTE – Top 40 Innovation Bloggers of 2015
Voting is now open in the Top 40 Innovation Bloggers of 2015 Contest hosted by Innovation Excellence. If you’re a first time visitor to Innovation Excellence, we have over 7,500 articles on site to support our mission of making innovation insights accessible for the greater good. Please check out our search feature, browse by category or author, or subscribe to our rss feed, email, or free magazine. Continue reading →
December 31, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
SCORRE System Approach for Effective Presentations
Curtis Fletcher, an expert communicator, innovator, and product manager…reveals a simple approach for creating effective presentations for innovators and product managers Continue reading →
December 30, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Four Reasons to Take a Rapid Prototyping Approach to Your PLM Implementation
Many companies view product lifecycle management (PLM) implementations the same old way they’ve viewed enterprise system implementations (like ERP) for years. As a result, companies tend to follow the same waterfall implementation approach. The waterfall approach, which originates from very structured project methodologies in the manufacturing and construction industries, is a linear and sequential approach to software implementations. Continue reading →
December 30, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Your Key To Creativity – The Projected Mind
To make new theories, new inventions, and other great creations, we have to do better than adjusting existing theories and designs. We must forcefully move our mind beyond the existing thinking about the subject. We must move out of our conscious world and focus our mind in a new place occupied only by the new creation. Continue reading →
December 29, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Who Needs to Know the Business of Your Business?
To create a nimble, flexible organization that knows how to win, teach your employees the “business of the business.” Continue reading →
December 29, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
3 Big Things to Look Out for in 2016
Is there anything truly new that is having a major impact? A new year is a great time to both reflect and look forward. In past years, I’ve written about how the cloud is reshaping industry, how interfaces are evolving and the emergence of new ecosystems. We always seem to be in the midst of some great new trend that is reshaping how we live and work. Continue reading →
December 29, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How to Achieve Excellence in the Fuzzy Front-End – Part 2
Read about Key Findings in part 2 this two-part series on the Fuzzy Front End of Innovation. Continue reading →
December 28, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How Simplification is the Key to Change
Why are change and innovation so hard to achieve? It’s not why you think. The reality is this: we spend our days drowning in mundane tasks – meetings, emails, reports – often self-created complexities that prevent us from getting to the meaningful work that truly matters. Using simple stories and techniques, Lisa Bodell, CEO of futurethink, shows us… Continue reading →
December 28, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Gadgets that will rock your New Year
A lot of news organizations are telling us what will be hot in 2016. Last year at this time they told us that smart watches would change the way we do business and manage our personal lives. I would not say that this has happened, although we did see smart watches become more mainstream. So […]
December 28, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Innovation Risk & Return: Horizons, Uncertainty and the Teddy Bear Principle
I’ve had a couple of interesting conversations recently focused on the strategic view of innovation using the 3 Horizons framework originally proposed by McKinsey, and the assessment of risk and return from innovation. The 3 Horizons approach can be used to manage different areas of future business concurrently, albeit with different managerial approaches given the different requirements and characteristics. It can give a view of how innovation and other business-building activity such as M&A could extend a company’s reach into new sectors (Figure 1). It can provide a time horizon to business growth in new and existing areas. It can give a perspective on the potential for new technology platforms and new markets (Figure 2). Figure 1 – Three Horizons (Source: http://steveblank.com/2015/06/26/lean-innovation-management-making-corporate-innovation-work/) – See more here via @Ralph_Ohr Figure 2 – a 3 Horizons matrix defined by knowledge of market and technology (adapted from @TimKastelle). Simplistically, all you need to … Continue reading →
December 28, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Are You More Innovative Than You Think?
As a teacher of creativity, I agree that persistence is an important success factor when producing new ideas. As the researchers point out, when creative challenges start to feel difficult, most people lower their expectations about the performance benefits of perseverance, and consequently, underestimate their own ability to generate ideas. But other factors can boost…or inhibit innovation…motivation, hope, and anxiety (yes, you read it correctly – anxiety).
December 27, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Embracing Quick Wins and Quick Losses
When moving a new product or service through the development cycle, there are generally four outcomes a New Product Development (NPD) team can expect. Two of these outcomes are especially good – although which ones they are might surprise you. It may seem counterintuitive, but one of the positive outcomes does not result in revenue – or even a product – and organizations must learn to embrace this notion. Continue reading →
December 27, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Darwin: On breaking the rules (December 27, 1831)
Darwin first observed and complied with the rules without preconceptions. Then with this base knowledge in hand, he changed science as we know it. Continue reading →
December 26, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Voting Open – Top 40 Innovation Bloggers of 2015
Voting is now open in the Top 40 Innovation Bloggers of 2015 Contest hosted by Innovation Excellence. If you’re a first time visitor to Innovation Excellence, we have over 7,500 articles on site to support our mission of making innovation insights accessible for the greater good. Please check out our search feature, browse by category or author, or subscribe to our rss feed, email, or free magazine. Continue reading →
December 26, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How 2015 Changed Corporate Innovation: An Overview
There were several key (and generally welcome) themes that emerged throughout 2015 within corporate innovation. These are, in part, driven by the increasing value that corporate and business leadership place on this (still relatively) new competency, the sophistication of practitioners in the field, and the results of seeing what works or fails. It is truly an exciting time to be in this field and to see these changes form across the industry. As always, this list is from a personal perspective, that is perhaps biased by my experience within the field, generally working with established corporate organizations and their leaders. Continue reading →
December 26, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
7 Top Tech Trends Impacting Innovators in 2016
2015 was a transformative year for technological innovation. 2106 continues that technology trend with more disruption in sight. Below is a short list of Chuck Brooks’ predicted trends for the coming year: Continue reading →
December 24, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Innovation the Chinese Way: Francois Jullien Weighs In
François Jullien is a brilliant French philosopher, professor at Paris Diderot University, and heading the chair for Alterity: he likes to take one step back, immersing himself in a different culture, and then come back to his initial matter. That’s what he did with China, adopting Chinese point of view before coming back to Europe, identifying gaps, and questioning back European way of thinking, raising the ‘unconsidered’, what is not currently being thought over. He just published a ‘Lexique euro-chinois de la pensée‘, a short opus that will enchant your evenings! Last March 20th at Transit City Conference, he explained in what ways innovation perception differs largely between China and Europe. To tell the truth, François does not ‘explain’, he ‘tells a story’, and he’s a master storyteller. I will try not to betray his thoughts, and style of words. First he shared his faith on transformation rather than on … Continue reading →
December 23, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Special People That Believe in You
Companies don’t need more ideas, they need ideas that are more meaningful. Companies have plenty ideas because they measure and track the number of new ideas generated. Meaningful ideas are, by definition, understood by a few and misunderstood by the rest. It’s lonely to advance an idea that most don’t understand. Continue reading →
December 23, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Eight Terrible Mistakes which Presenters Make
Practice your presentation and deliver it with confidence and enthusiasm. Get your message across. You will enjoy it. More importantly, so will your audience. Continue reading →
December 22, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Pyramid of Results, Motivation and Ability
When engaging in a change effort it is important to focus not on outputs but on outcomes. The difference is sometimes subtle for people, but the biggest difference is that outputs are usually activity-based where outcomes are behavior-based. There are several good behavior modification frameworks out there including the Six Boxes framework from Carl Binder, the Six Sources of Influence framework from… Continue reading →
December 22, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
3 Days to Nominate – Top 40 Innovation Bloggers of 2015
Just a quick reminder that you’ve only got three (3) days left to nominate your favorites for the Top 40 Innovation Bloggers of 2015. We are eternally grateful to all of you out there who take the time to create and share great innovation articles, presentations, and videos and to make a list of the Top 40 Innovation Bloggers available each year. Our previous lists have been tremendously popular and now it’s time to open nominations for 2015! Continue reading →
December 22, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2016
Health care continues to be a hot topic for our society, and in 2016 no doubt we will see more discussion. Innovative ideas and actual breakthroughs are exciting, and I look forward to seeing new technologies transform the health care industry. One of the big advances is in the area of new vaccines to treat […]
December 21, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
A Sneak Peak at a Book Likely to Spark a Renaissance of Storytelling
Good news! The LOOK INSIDE feature has just been enabled on my Storytelling at Work Amazon page which means you can get a sneak preview of the book and decide if you want to buy it.
The Storytelling at Work blog
Why I Wrote the Book
December 21, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Digital Tonto’s 2015 Book of the Year and other Powerhouse Reading
The past few years have been especially good for books. It seemed like every time you turned around, some great CEO or brilliant scientist was publishing a memoir. Or somebody else you’d never heard of just comes out with something incredibly insightful and interesting that you just had to read. It was hard to keep up! Continue reading →
December 21, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Eight Years of Blogging at Innovation in Practice
This month marks the eight year anniversary of Innovation in Practice. As always, I want to thank my many readers and supporters who follow it.
December 20, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How to Create an Idea Factory
One reason why most BIG IDEAS don’t manifest is because the idea originators don’t have a team of allies on board to help them develop and execute their ideas. Idea originators either try to do everything themselves or spend so much time trying to en…
December 20, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Turnbull’s Innovation Policy: What’s in it for big business?
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/Tech-innovation-will-anchor-economy-going-forward-Turnbull-says Continue reading →
December 20, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
A Plane That Curbs Jet Lag?
By now I’ve traveled through so many time zones that jet lag is something that just is. most people who travel for work have their own strategy for getting through those early meetings in Hong Kong, or those long flights to Australia. Now Airbus And Qatar Airways are debuting a carbon fiber plane that actually […]
December 20, 2015 | by Chris Kalaboukis
ISPIM Grand Prize 2016 – Recognising Excellence in Innovation Management
ISPIM Grand Prize 2016 is looking for cases that significantly advance the practice of innovation management in proven application, not theory. The advance should be in how innovation is managed, we are not seeking proposals that describe the actual end output, the what. The deadline for entries is 8th April 2016. Continue reading →