January 31, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Top takeaways from CES
Having just come back from CES 2019 (Consumer Electronics Show), it’s clear: legacy companies need to step up their digital game. If you don’t have a digital technology strategy, you’ll become obsolete very fast. Even more importantly, you need a customer experience (CX) strategy – experience is key to every value proposition. Hyper-personalization, convenience, intelligence, 24/7 accessibility, and storytelling are essential to engage…
January 31, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Marketers Need to Start Preparing for the End of the Digital Age and the New Era of Innovation
In the middle of the 20th century, IBM used its headquarters in New York City as a showroom of tomorrow. Passersby could look into the window and see the newest mainframe on display, promising an exciting technological future. It was the dawn of the co…
January 30, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Art of REALLY Showing Up at a Brainstorm Session
So… you’ve just been invited to participate in a brainstorm session. Congratulations!
SOMEBODY out there thinks you’re smart. SOMEBODY out there thinks you’re creative. SOMEBODY out there thinks you can help them with… whatever. So, Congratula…
January 30, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
I Just Drove the Car of the Future – No, It’s Not a Tesla
If you love cars you’ll be blown away by what this $100 million startup is doing to change the driving experience. The journey into the future is rarely going to take place on a smooth well-paved multilane highway. Most often it involves uncounted detours along bumpy and narrow back roads that we never even knew …
January 30, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Innovate Like Sir Arthur C Clarke – An Optimistic Look at the Future
Last month I wrote about some classic innovation insights borrowed from the legendary Isaac Asimov. This month I would like to share some similar insights derived from the writings of the equally legendary Sir Arthur C Clarke, the author behind the brilliant Stanley Kubric movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, and a prolific author of quality, …
January 29, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Reinventing the Entrepreneurship Game
In my last blog I described how important it is to unleash the power of innovative entrepreneurship in our digital & connected world. How doing this manifests an optimistic, abundant & positive futures that: Maximises the potential of entrepreneurs to see & solve 21st century wicked problems, innovate new businesses that successfully compete, achieve exponential & sustainable growth …
January 29, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How to Find Innovation Champions and Pilot Partners from Outside In
Creating corporate innovation is never easy and takes several steps. Carlson and Wilmot mention five disciplines: Important Needs: Work on important customer and market needs, not just what is interesting to you. Value Creation: Use the tools of value creation to create customer value fast. Innovation Champions: Be an innovation champion to drive the value-creation process. Innovation Teams: Use a multidisciplinary, team-based approach …
January 28, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Intrapreneurship at Telefonica: Innovation Calls and Lean-Startup Development on the Menu
Susana Jurado is Head of Innovation Portfolio-Product Innovation at Telefónica since 2015. She joined Telefonica in 1998, where she has worked for Telefónica Digital PDI’s (Product Development & Innovation), and in the Research & Innovation direction (Telefonica I+D which coordinates the global strategy of digtal innovation across the group). She has developed expertise in …
January 28, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Becoming A Successful Executive Doesn’t Prepare You To Innovate
Becoming a successful executive is a fairly linear path. You start at the bottom and learn to solve basic problems in your field or industry. As you gain experience and improve your skills you are given more responsibility, begin to manage teams and work diligently to set up the practices and processes to help your team …
January 27, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How To Create a Strategic Planning Process for Innovation
Every innovative product begins as a concept in the mind of someone or some group of people. These concepts are the seeds of your company’s future growth. How is your company cultivating these seeds? How do companies manage this asset, the portfolio of product concepts, even before they enter the pipeline? In our experience, product …
January 27, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Killer App For Driverless Cars
Few of us have even thought about this particular use of driverless cars. But once you know you won’t want to live without it. This is the second in my series of columns on Autonomous Vehicles. Of all the potential benefits to driverless cars, and there are many, I’m going to bet that there is …
January 26, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Two Must-Have Keys to Innovation
Hello friends, It’s that time of year again: new year’s resolutions, hot cocoa, and a frantic pressure to put together a plan to somehow be innovative as the calendar starts anew. Let’s pause on the panic and look closer at innovation. It takes two factors to make innovation real at an organization: 1. Concepts 2. Culture …
January 25, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
What Happens When Doctors Begin Dating Startups?
The matchmaker business model, connecting one party interested in connecting with another party, whether it be with romantic or business intent or building a community of interest, is common. Now that doctors and startups are interested in working with each other or doctors are interested in finding clients for their side gigs, the dating docs models are expanding. Like all dating services, however, their …
January 24, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Three Startups Defying the Odds to Bring Breakthrough Discoveries to Market
In 1938, Bill Hewitt and David Packard, two graduates of Stanford University’s engineering program, decided to start a company in a rented garage with an initial investment of $538. In the decades that followed, their company, Hewlett Packard, became one of the most prominent technology firms in the world. They also planted the seed for …
January 24, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Wisdom From Above The Clouds
Have you ever been on a flight where as you’re taking off all you can see out the window is hazy, overcast weather – only to at some time later have your flight break through and emerge above the clouds, where all of sudden the sun is shining bright and clear? If so, then you’ll know how …
January 23, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Innovator’s Three Word Mantra
OK. Here’s the deal: There is something you want to create… begin… invent… change… complete… manifest… birth… or quicken. You’ve been thinking about it for a loooooong time. You may have even been working on it. But it still ain’t hap…
January 23, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Why iPhone X’s Face Recognition Failed
(Hint: It Was Supposed To) The unveiling of iPhone X hit one major glitch. How Apple recovered and handled it is a master class for all presenters. The iPhone unveiling in late 2017 was nothing short of epic. Perhaps the most impressive part of every A…
January 23, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Creating Systemic Change In An Age Of Dwindling Cooperation
The past few decades have seen the world become an ever more interconnected place, with the problems we face increasingly complex. The latest Global Risks Report from the World Economic Forum highlights the need for collective action to help tackle cri…
January 23, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Samurai Guide To Managing Difficult Clients (& having a life)
You are smart. You are creative. You are committed. And you have an awesome grasp of social media. Of course you do, you are a mover and a shaker in a company trying to stay relevant, make some magic, and diffentiate itself from the competition. Yo…
January 22, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Amazon takes aim at unprofitable items, big brands must comply
We’ve blogged previously about Amazon’s focus on growth over profits as well as the necessity for CPG companies to list products online. Changes are brewing, however. According to the Wall Street Journal (12/16/18), Amazon is “having second thoughts [about profitability]…and is pushing big brands to change how they use its site. Inside Amazon, the items…
January 22, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Scale-Up Canvas
4 Tips for Intrapreneurs Who Want to Scale-Up While there are many supporting methodologies to start an innovation project (design thinking, lean start-up, business model canvas, blue ocean,…), Lean scale-up by Ash Maurya provides precious guidelines, and metrics, but was not conceived with the case of a corporate start-up / intrapreneur project in mind. Corporate …
January 22, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The case for sick care improvements, not disruption
Sick care is in trouble. Many argue that we need to go big or go home claiming that we should stop tweaking the system of systems and, instead, make the existing model obsolete. However, the Moon shot mentality has many downsides. High risk high return…
January 21, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Here’s Why No One Cares About Your Ideas
“Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door,” Ralph Waldo Emerson is said to have written (he didn’t) and since that time thousands of mousetraps have been patented. Still, despite all that creative energy and all those ideas, the original “snap trap,” invented by William Hooker in 1894, remains …
January 20, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
What I Learned About Innovation from Practicing Law
For some years I was a litigation attorney, and much of my work revolved around courtroom rules of evidence. I appreciate these rules; they make rational sense to me. These days I help companies innovate successfully and gain market traction. When inte…
January 20, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How to Avoid Greatness
Want An Ordinary Life? Here’s How. If you clicked on this article because you’re okay giving up on your dreams for what’s ordinary and predictable there’s not much need to read any further, just carry on; it’s your choice and you’re the only person who has to live with it. Still here? Good. This is …
January 19, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
INTRODUCING: The Wisdom Circles of San Miguel de Allende
San Miguel de Allende is famous for a lot of things — its diverse culture, colonial architecture, hot springs, cobblestone streets, affordable living, great restaurants, town square, benevolent people, and Writer’s Conference, just to name a few. …
January 19, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Conscious Capitalism: Conversation with Raj Sisodia, Part Four
Raj Sisodia is the Professor of Global Business, Babson College, Co-founder & Co-Chairman, Conscious Capitalism, Inc. Raj has written ten books and over 100 academic articles. Q: How does short-term investment work with Conscious Capitalism? A: It doesn’t. Most speculators are shrewd masters. The biases toward quarterly bottom line stock price gains mean that …
January 18, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Untold Stories Of Everyday Innovators Inside Organizations
Lisa was the administrative assistant to the CEO of a global consulting firm. Her innovative approach to her work became the best practices that gave the company a competitive advantage. Kelly is an operations manager for the government. Her forward-th…
January 17, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
We Need Real Scientific Breakthroughs To Build A Clean Energy Economy
A decade ago, clean energy seemed like a pipe dream. Solar panels, windmills and electric cars were widely considered to be something for wealthy tree huggers to assuage their conscience, rather than components of a serious energy policy. Now, however,…
January 16, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
You Only Have Six Seconds To Reach Your Market Because …
In the age of overload this is the best way to reach your market. “They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Carol Buchner The first paid TV commercial aired in 1941. It was 10 seconds long but included only two seconds of voice over. It …