"Nothing bad ever happens to you." Do I stand by this quote? Yes. When it comes to business, there's a serious power that comes with taking this statement to heart. The quote is borrowed from renowned speaker Joe Vitale. In his research, he discovered that business...
The process of natural business and technological evolution and destruction was appropriately labeled “creative destruction” by economist Joseph Schumpeter. The forces of creative destruction, especially during economic downturns, tend to speed the passing of older, less efficient businesses and technologies (especially without the intervention of...
I would like to tell you more about how I used the RealOpen TM innovation management system in my own business. In addition to being a management consultant working for some of the best corporations and universities in the world, I also own several businesses....
It’s important to realize that in our system, we separate “Filtration” from “Evaluation.” We believe strong, well-thought-out filtration significantly reduces the burden on R&D organizations to evaluate or even develop products or technologies that never should have entered the new product development process in the...
One of the concepts we use to help get the right innovations into the development process easily and quickly is something I call an innovation platform. An innovation platform defines your product and customer vision precisely enough to use as a filtration model and focal...
I have a question – a question that you may have as well: How can you, as a manager, marketer or an innovator, tell if you’re really customer connected? Sure, it’s easy to feel customer connected – you’ve done your market research, sat in on the focus groups,...
When I speak around the country, and I proclaim the most dangerous thing that a company can do is focus on risk, the response I get is shocking. There’s a warm, comfortable feel to risk management in corporations today, and that comfort is a manifestation...
Think holistically about the customer experience. As you’ve probably picked up I’m not a fan of incrementalism – the “paint it blue, call it new” style of innovation that seems more directed to satisfying the need of new product development departments who want to proclaim...
Along with “love thy customer” and the rest of the “customer touch” components, we arrive at one of the more human elements of the innovation process: teamwork and the team itself. Basically what I look for is a team that really “walks the walk,” rather...
I’m sure you’ve had this experience yourself. Come up with a good idea, and run it by your peers and superiors in a meeting. Before you’ve finished your last sentence, someone in the back of the room pipes up, announcing that he or she “is...
