March 31, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Need radical ideas? Don’t trust the experts!
Do you know the feeling that when you are looking for novel or radical ideas every time you do an ideation session amongst your employees the winning ideas are incremental ones? In our business we sometimes see Idea Challenge being organised that aim f…
March 31, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Tom Brady’s Stunning Instagram Post Is a Masterclass on How to Deal With Loss
It’s easier to feel anger, blame, rage, persecution, unfairness, and a range of emotions that only serve to distance us from the one inevitable and indisputable fact that we lost, instead of doing this. It’s been a little over a year. Super Bowl LII is history. Tom Brady and the Patriots lost. Of course, you …
March 30, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
21 Awesome Quotes on Intuition
“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” – Albert Einstein
“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” – Benjamin Spock
“Systems die; instincts remain.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
March 30, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Smells like the happiest day of your life – anticipation & setting up the looping process…
One of the organisations I consulted for was a leading manufacturer of flavours and fragrances. They are one of the largest unknown companies in the world – their products are integrated in almost every household and luxury item you use. I was asked to help this company at a time when it was slipping from …
March 29, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Attacking the Problem of Doctor Burnout
The IHI Triple Aim is to lower per capita costs, improve the quality of outcomes and improve the patient experience.Add the doctor experience and you have the quadruple ain. Some patient engagement and experience experts say there are 5 steps to making it happen: 1. Establish vision 2.Create a culture of engagement 3. Employ the right …
March 29, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Serious About Your Social Mission? Then Innovate It
A “lean” approach amplifies both profits and purpose. Corporate philanthropy. Benefit corporations. Nonprofits and non-governmental organizations. Doing well while doing good seems to be all the rage these days. Sounds ideal. But, if we are truly intent on achieving both, we need to start taking social impact just as seriously. Mission-driven organizations have an equal …
March 28, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
What Storytelling Themes Most Intrigue You?
IF YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES TO SPARE, please respond to my new online storytelling poll. I will be launching a series of Wisdom (storytelling) Circles in Woodstock, NY on April 10th and am curious to find out what storytelling themes people find most c…
March 28, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Innovation with Marco Polo
I spent a great deal of time in 2018 traveling across the world in search of innovation insights. In countries ranging from Colombia to China to Azerbaijan to Bosnia-Hercegovina, I found examples of cases where modern and ancient civilizations applied creative thinking to solve problems. I presented these insights to the readers of Innovation Excellence …
March 28, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Department of Energy is Helping to Create a New Future in Manufacturing
In the recession that followed the dotcom crash in 2000, the United States lost 5 million manufacturing jobs and, while there has been an uptick in recent years, all indications are that they are never coming back. Manufacturing, perhaps more than any …
March 27, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Intrapreneurship at Pernod-Ricard: test and learn in action
Astrid Froment created Kangaroo Fund, an open innovation Fund for the 18,000 Pernod Ricard Employees, and an intrapreneurship program adopting experimentation & lean Start Up. In 2 seasons, it generated more than 250 ideas, 20 finalists, and 10 ideas incubated… She shares with us this exciting story. Following my article on “Dare to be difference makers”, I …
March 27, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The International Home + Housewares Show 2019
We recently attended the International Home + Housewares Show (IH+H) held in Chicago, IL March 2-5. McCormick Place was filled with the latest products from over 2,200 suppliers. The Show is attended by nearly 60,000 industry professionals. Our first stop was the Pantone exhibit to explore new color trends and explore key visual merchandising concepts. …
March 27, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Two Reasons You Can’t Afford to Retire
The tired old notion of retiring is absolutely the wrong way to think about the most important part of your life. We get old when the weight of our memories and regrets starts to exceed that of our dreams. When it to comes to the topic of retirement, t…
March 26, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
We need MD/MBEs not MD/MBAs
In my view, we are training too many MD/MBAs that don’t add value to the system and that many programs should be terminated or restructured. Also, more medical students are jumping ship to pursue non-clinical careers. While the numbers may a small portion of the roughly 20,000 first year US medical students, the trend is evident. Instead, …
March 25, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Idea Challenges – You Get What You Give
In contradiction to what many people think, Idea Challenges are not about getting, they are about giving. Your employees will not automatically start sharing great, useful and relevant ideas to your organisational needs. As an organisation, you must gi…
March 25, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Announcing LinkedIn Learning a-la-carte!
Many of you enjoy the benefit of sharpening your skills through LinkedIn Learning courses. To date, LinkedIn offers access to their entire course library via subscription. I am excited to announce that starting this Wednesday, March 27, LinkedIn will begin…
March 25, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Retail Business Is Dead. Long Live The Retail Business!
It’s long been conventional wisdom that the retail industry is dying. We’ve seen unprecedented store closings and bankruptcies at major chains such as Toys R US, Sears and Radio Shack and even successful chains are trimming locations. It seems that in a digital world, physical stores have become a thing of the past. Yet if …
March 24, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Ideation Pitfalls Part 2: The Not Normal Issue
It may surprise you to learn that you and your team are not the best people to be judging potential innovations generated at the ideation stage. Why? So, I hate to be the one to tell you…but you, and many people in your business, are not normal! The Not Normal Issue Just in the …
March 24, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Why Early Google and Facebook Employees Are Rallying to Protect Kids from Social Media
Algorithms are driving behaviors that may very well be inadvertently targeting society’s most vulnerable, and the Social Media obsession may be harming children in ways that we are just beginning to understand. Social media is one of those topics that divides people. Some see it as oxygen–they can’t live without it–and others see it as …
March 23, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Agile Leadership
When I started working at KLM in my first ever job as a team leader I made every mistake I see beginning leaders make. I did the work, instead of helping others to do it. I told people what to do and how to do it, instead of focussing on purpose and ma…
March 22, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
What They Won’t Teach You in HA school, Medical School or Residency
I think “health administration” is an anachronism, since we have a sick care system masquerading as a health care system and the last thing we need is more administrators, rather than leaderpreneurs. Consequently, those offering programs to students interested in being health systems administrators offer courses and measure competencies designed to fight a phony war. Instead, they should be …
March 21, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How One Organization Created A Movement That Transformed Healthcare
By 2004, Don Berwick realized he had reached a crossroads. His organization, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) had been working since the late 80s to promote the quality methods that had transformed manufacturing to do the same for medicin…
March 21, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Four Ways to Nudge Smarter Innovation
I love behavioral science. Together with related disciplines such as perceptual science, cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology, I’ve found it to be incredibly useful in helping us both to innovate, and to communicate our innovations more effectively. However while it is wonderful for guiding our designs, it’s critical to remember that its theories are approximations …
March 20, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
A Little Known 9-Word Tom Brady Quote is the True North Of All Success
It’s not talent, skill, or even dedication that guides your path to success. It’s this. First things first. This isn’t a Patriot-ic column. Yes, I’m from Boston. Yes, I’m rooting for the Pats this Sunday. Yes, I cannot help but be drawn into the Super Bowl frenzy. And yes, I too was wondering if Tom …
March 20, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Why Do Startups Fail?
Premise: There has been enough written about startups and reasons why almost all of them fail. So, why write another post about this? Even though there is no dearth of resources (blogs, videos, books, stories, etc) on reasons why startups fail and how to avoid them, I don’t see any reduction in the failure rates …
March 19, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Big Blues From the Viagra People
In 1999, I conceived and co-founded (with Paul Kwicienski) the world’s first interactive business blues band, Face the Music.
The concept was a simple one: help organizations increase teamwork and decrease complaint by getting employees to write an…
March 19, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Ask, ‘Who benefits most from my innovation?’
Sony and Philips developed the Compact Disc (CD) which they launched in 1982. It was originally designed to store and play music. It offered much higher quality of recording than vinyl records. It later became used for data storage; it held far more data than most personal computer hard drives. Mickey Schulhof had joined Sony …
March 19, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Sickcare Innovation Bubble Problem
A bubble is an economic cycle characterized by the rapid escalation of asset prices followed by a contraction. It is created by a surge in asset prices unwarranted by the fundamentals of the asset and driven by exuberant market behavior. When no more investors are willing to buy at the elevated price, a massive sell-off occurs, causing the bubble to …
March 18, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How Peloton Uses Consumer Insights To Drive Innovation
Peloton is the exercise company currently taking the fitness world by storm. The company’s sleek $2200 stationary bikes enable busy professionals to exercise at home, at any hour of the day or night. But that’s not what’s giving the $4 billion unicorn startup so much forward momentum right now. Peloton’s magic formula turns out to be …
March 18, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How To Prepare Your Organization For Innovation
In 1919, Mahatma Gandhi initiated a campaign of civil disobedience, including the sale of banned literature, fasting, prayer and work stoppages, to protest the oppressive Rowlatt Acts the British had recently passed. These were an immediate success, but soon turned disastrous and ultimately ended with the massacre at Amritsar. He would later call this his Himalayan …
March 17, 2019 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Simple Mind Game Shows How Fast Technology is Accelerating
We’re not wired to think exponentially, and this trivial thought experiment will prove just how hard it is. We most often get the future wrong because, to paraphrase economist Paul Romer, “Opportunities don’t add up, they multiply.” Stick with me for a few minutes because the math behind that isn’t as straight forward as it …