February 29, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Self-Service Innovation – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
As more companies move toward self-service, it is relevant to ask how customer participation impacts satisfaction and service quality. Research is reviews that makes it clear that firms should take care to find the optimal level of customer participation for their service, and that this optimal level depends on customer readiness to serve themselves. Continue reading →
February 29, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Innovation Clusters: Why companies are better together
Innovation is often associated with triumphant lone inventors. The likes of Thomas Edison, Louis Pasteur or Bill Gates are the central characters in this narrative. But all innovators spring out of a specific context. The environments that foster their individual and collective success are very often ‘innovation clusters’: ecosystems that stimulate and nurture the best ideas and attract the brightest talents.
February 29, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Business Becomes Human
An R&D scientist once said to me, “We need to always begin new product development projects this way,” after sifting through more than 20 in-depth consumer narratives of their condition. These people went into great details about their lives, their struggles, their rituals, and their beliefs. As we unpacked their learnings, the scientist understood the complexities of having… Continue reading →
February 28, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Intelligent Automation Is This Year’s Big Tech Trend
Accenture, a global consulting firm, predicts that intelligent automation will be 2016’s biggest tech trend, perhaps even the biggest trend of the century. Although I think it’s a little early to forecast one trend for all of this century (it’s still pretty early yet!), I do think IA already has made a significant shift in […]
February 28, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Innovation – the best (and last job) in a Machine World?
Creativity and originality are thought to be one of the last traits that machines will be able to learn so as everyone asks which jobs are going to be replaced by machines is innovation the best job in the world? Continue reading →
February 28, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Innovation is Change
Can you think of a single innovation that didn’t change something? I didn’t think so. Innovation is change, or at least, innovation requires change. In my role as an innovation keynote speaker and workshop facilitator, I recently led a German-based industrial company’s North American IT leadership team through an innovation workshop, during which we spent part of the time working to define their common language of innovation (as described in my book Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire). For companies looking to build a sustainable innovation capability this is… Continue reading →
February 26, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
If You Want to Create Breakthrough Products, Get Meaningful Feedback Early in the Game
Most Fortune 500 companies have some kind of corporate strategy in place for ratcheting up their innovation efforts. Consultants are hired. CEOs give pep talks. And internal initiatives are launched.
February 26, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Everyone Is In Transition
Source: Gaping Void
A book of my transitions
One way to help your workforce transition
February 26, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Early Bird Special for Innovation & Leadership Summit!
We’re delighted to invite you to the Innovation & Growth Leadership Summit, on April 25-26, 2016 in Chicago. This groundbreaking event builds on CoDev, to go beyond Open Innovation. It’s about innovating BIG (starting small), narrowing in on high-growth opportunities, breaking silos, leveraging technology, keeping costs low, and moving fast. Our speakers are not celebrities […]
February 26, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How Heinz Innovates to Reinvent the Humble Baked Beans
The story of innovation to reimagine baked beans at KraftHeinz resonates with innovation leaders no matter their industry. And, it has Design Thinking at the heart. Continue reading →
February 25, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Actions to Reduce Fear and Innovation Failure
Fear is one of the avoidable elements that often lead to innovation failure. As a result, knowing the actions to reduce fear enable a successful innovation program. Continue reading →
February 25, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
3 Best Ways To Reach Startup Nirvana
OK so you are fed-up with your day job and are thinking about leaving to join a startup or starting your own startup. Good for you. Of course, it’s scary. In fact, its freaking you out. How will you know if it will be successful? How will you know if its right for you? How…
The post 3 Best Ways To Reach Startup Nirvana appeared first on thinkfuture.
February 24, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Let’s Start a Change Revolution
Some people would argue that the pace of change is outstripping our ability as humans to cope with all of the changes we are being expected to absorb. I would argue that we are in the middle of a period of discontinuity thrust upon us by the rapid advances in computing and mobile connectivity that have put a supercomputer in everyone’s pocket and a target on most companies’ backs. Because… Continue reading →
February 24, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
We Need to Innovate the Innovation Process
All too often, we see innovation as a single event. The truth is that the road to any significant innovation is a long and twisted path. Greg Satell writes here about ‘integration’ and ‘team of teams’. Continue reading →
February 23, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Collaborate to Innovate
How do enterprises use collaboration as a tool for innovation? Leading Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise is a new book by Peter Cook. Continue reading →
February 23, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How We Discontinued History & Geography
I was reading in Scientific American a few months ago that Australia finally started to (smartly) disrupt its educational system and is replacing history and geography in primary school with coding. When I’ve told people about this, most were appalled, most said “Why can’t they teach coding AS WELL AS history and geography”. To them,…
The post How We Discontinued History & Geography appeared first on thinkfuture.
February 23, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Are Universities Missing Out on Open Innovation Growth?
A recent study finds that companies are not working effectively with universities. Are they missing out on potential innovations? Continue reading →
February 22, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Calling All Engineers: Beyond Form, Fit and Function for Formulated Products
Like most engineers, I learned about rules of interchangeability back in school. These rules help companies decide whether a product change should require a new item number or simply a revision of the same item number. The standard “form, fit and function” (F/F/F) definition has served the needs of discrete manufacturers well for a long time. But what about formulated products? Continue reading →
February 22, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Innovation Sighting: Coca Cola’s Green Billboard
Task Unification is defined as: assigning an additional task to an existing resource. That resource should be in the immediate vicinity of the problem, or what we call The Closed World. In essence, it’s taking something that is already around you and giving an additional job.
February 21, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Up Close and Professional with Gap’s Kyle Hermans
The interesting thing about the dialogue I recently had with Kyle was well, only everything – starting with his customized title “Senior Director of Innovation Capacity and Organization Effectiveness” custom molded to fit Kyle’s extraordinary expertise. When asked to describe it – the words were so fluid it was abundantly clear this role is far more than a title but more a promise to pioneer new thinking. Continue reading →
February 21, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
A New Wave of Open, More Social Digital Innovation?
There are four aspects where technology will trend towards open to exploit our connected world that might offer up more opportunities to participate and explore Continue reading →
February 21, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Key to Greater Organizational Agility
Companies seeking to cope with the pace of accelerating change are looking for ways to go faster, and managers in non-technical disciplines have become increasingly infatuated with the Agile Software Development methodology and many are finding ways to adapt parts of it to create agile change or agile marketing or other such things. Sure agility sounds like a good thing and sure agile marketing sounds like it must be better than regular marketing, but is it? What is agility really? Continue reading →
February 20, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Non-Judgmental Listening as a Catalyst for Innovation
If there is person in your life who is on the cusp of a breakthrough, big idea, or simply struggling to figure something out, there is one thing you can do that will be supremely helpful. It has nothing to do with your good ideas, insights, or intuit…
February 20, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Top 20 Innovation Articles of January 2016
Drum roll please… At the beginning of each month we will profile the twenty posts from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Innovation Excellence. We also publish a weekly Top 10 as part of our free Innovation Excellence Weekly magazine and email newsletter. Did your favorite make the cut? Continue reading →
February 19, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Shape-shifting Tech Will Change The World As We Know It
What will the world look like when we move beyond the keyboard and mouse? Interaction designer Sean Follmer is building a future with machines that bring information to life under your fingers as you work with it. In this talk, check out prototypes for a 3D shape-shifting table, a phone that turns into a wristband, a deformable game controller and more that may change the way we live and work. Continue reading →
February 18, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
New York Fashion Week enters digital age
New York Fashion Week is happening, but it’s not a new up-and-coming designer that’s turning heads in the design industry. Eleven designers have decided to take a risk and use digital printing to show off its latest fashions on the runway. This could revelutionalize the entire textile industry, as digital printing allows for an amazingly […]
February 18, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
No Instant Coffee Here: What Starbucks Teaches Us about Timing and Innovation (Part 1)
Timing is key in Innovation. Part 1 of the two-part blog series on the Starbucks story covers the time period from Starbucks’ humble beginnings in 1971 as just a single storefront to Howard Shultz raising the necessary capital to buy Starbucks and make it a private company in 1987. Continue reading →
February 18, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
11 Unexpected Facts about Managing Employee Idea Programs
Did you know that the average employee suggestion box has less than 10% adoption? From analysing over 20 research papers on suggestion systems (read more about our research in the Employee Suggestion Box: 10 Factors that Separate Failures from High Performers ), we’ve uncovered 11 unexpected facts about managing employee idea programs. Continue reading →
February 17, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Calling all “CoCos”: Drive your Business Performance
What are the most urgent needs facing today’s leaders? I think it’s the dual need for business and organizational transformation in order to address the future challenges coming our way. I’m excited to be among a team of highly experienced coaches and leadership effectiveness experts leading a highly interactive leadership development experience this summer specifically […]
February 17, 2016 | by Chris Kalaboukis
A National Open Innovation Strategy for Austria
Austria kicks off the new years with an Open Innovation Strategy, a first of its kind globally. Continue reading →