This page contains a summary of all of the past shows in the form of an archive. They are presented in date order starting with the newest. If you are looking for a specific topic, I would suggest you use the search function to the right.
Innovation Execution – Translating Ideas Into Real Products
As I’ve said a thousand time, ideas without execution are a hobby and true innovators are not in the hobby business. True competitive advantage comes from those that can take an idea and turn it into a real innovation that has impact. Innovation execution is a core ability that organization must build and support if […]Read More »Ranking Your Ideas – How to make sure you are working on the best ideas
Ranking Your Big Ideas The purpose of ranking is to ensure you are working on the best ideas that will have the most impact Step 1: Rank the best ideas (most impact) Rank each of the following ideas (0 = lowest, 5 = highest) Will this idea change/improve the customer experience/expectation? How does it improve […]Read More »Can Questions Help You Discover Breakthrough Ideas?
Segment 1: Ideation – Creating Killer Ideas The current method … simple questions get simple answers Better questions get better ideas Explore beyond the obvious – SCAMPER Idea Quota Characteristics of the best killer ideas The ideation session has a purpose Consider timeliness in setting the focus and the session Recruit for diversity (executive level, […]Read More »Get Focused On Your Search For Breakthrough Innovations
Segment 1: Having A Focus For Your Innovation Search Where to focus? Moving into new competitive arenas Expansion into new geographies Improvement in industry structure Innovation in value delivery system Innovation in products and services New or existing customers What customer segments that should be the focus of the innovation? YUPPIES YUFFIES MOBY/DOBY WOOFS SKIPPIES […]Read More »Current Methods Versus A Better Way To Innovate
Segment 1: Why do current methods not work? Most ideas are either incremental or unrealistic Not confidence that there aren’t better ideas Lack of follow-through form the list of ideas generated Lack of executive and management support Segment 2: Is there a better way? Killer Innovation Approach Tools Focus the innovation search Ideation by using […]Read More »Why is innovation important?
Segment 1: Why is innovation important? This is part 1 of the re-created audio for the workshop slides. Innovation acceleration Technology Adoption Innovation Reality Innovation Gap Innovation Delay Innovation Impact Executive View of Innovation The Challenge of Innovation The Value From Innovation Listen to this week show: Why is innovation important? http://archives.warpradio.com/btr/killerinnovations/070517.mp3/media.libsyn.com/media/philmckinney/KI_20071112.mp3Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | […]Read More »Finding and Keeping Innovation Champions
Segment 1: Finding and Keeping Innovation Champions What are innovation champions? Passionate about an idea Will do almost anything to see the idea become a reality Why are they iimportant? Give me a person with passion and I can build a team that will succeed An innovation champion, in many cases, is the difference between […]Read More »Overcoming The Mid-project Blues and a new creativity exercise
Segment 1: Overcoming the Mid-Project Blues Project go through three phases Start-up Enthusiasm Mid-Project Blues End-of-Project Euphoria (blog entry on recent launch) How do you overcome? Remind yourself why you started the project (e.g. go back to you notebooks and re-live the start) Take break … go on vacation Come up with new ideas for […]Read More »One Dimensional Innovations
Segment 1: One Dimensional Innovations – Getting out of the innovation rut “One Dimensional Innovations” are when you are stuck in a rut and focusing your innovation efforts in the same area as your competitors Why is it so hard? People tend to focus the innovations in areas where they think they are getting measured […]Read More »The New IQ – Innovation Quotient
Update 11/17/2013: Do you have what it takes to be an innovator? Its as simple of question to ask as many think. Experts have been attempting to develop tests to identify those individuals who can have significant innovation impact on an organization. One word of caution: I’m not a believer that any test result […]Read More »Finding Hidden Ideas By Using Five Hats
Segment 1: Five Hats Method To Finding Hidden Ideas Get out of the rut of how you look/evaluate/organize your ideas Use the “Five Hats” approach Alphabetical Time Location Continuum Category Look for … Non-obvious patterns Strange combinations of ideas appearing next to each other Segment 2: Killer Question Of The Week “What are the assumptions […]Read More »Fighting Innovation FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)
Segment 1: Fighting Innovation FUD (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt) The basis for FUD? Fear of Change Fear in the skill set Fear based on negative memories Uncertainty based on the unknown nature of innovations Doubt based on inability to see a path to success Doubt based on memories of past failures What can you do? […]Read More »Prioritizing Your Ideas
Segment 1: Prioritizing Your Ideas – Rank your ideas by scoring them against the 5 Key Question – Assign an estiamte of when the idea will become a product 3 timeline buckets (example: 1-2 yrs, 3-5 yrs, +5 yrs) If on the border, round up! – Rank order the ideas based on their score (first […]Read More »Seeing The Big Picture To Innovate
Segment 1: Seeing The Big Picture To Innovate Key Skills: Boundry Crosser: Success will come to people with a very wide and multi-disciplinary backgrounds Metaphor Maker: Using methaphors to capture the connections/similarities and therefore the vision Pattern Watcher: The abilty to pick out meaningful trends from the flood of information Segment 2: Killer […]Read More »Here Are The 7 Reasons Why Innovations Fail
Segment 1: Innovation Failure What are the reasons that innovation efforts fail? Innovation for awards and recognition Meaningless innovation Non-user driven innovation Innovation as long as its green Innovation by committee Lightspeed innovation Copycat innovations Segment 2: Killer Question Of The Week What part of your service offering is under appreciated? Why? What part of your […]Read More »Career Advice For The Creative/Innovation Economy
Segment 1: Career advice for the creative/innovation economy Find mentors: Look for different mentor/apprenticeships over your career to gain different skills/perspecive. Find and feed your passion: With passion, your sucess is all but gaurenteed Change jobs/change industries: Don’t get stuck in the same role. Change roles and expand your experience and perspective. Constant Learning: Learn […]Read More »Managing The Innovation Funnel
Managing The Innovation Funnel The amateur innovator is a “one hit wonder”. The professional innovator is able to create a stream of killer products. One key is to properly manage the innovation funnel (innovation pipeline) to ensure that you have a stream of ideas leading to products. What should be the flow through the funnel? […]Read More »Measuring Innovation Impact
Segment 1: Measuring Innovation Impact R&D Spend % across the innovation portfolio (core products, adjacent and new) Core = average gross margin Adjacent = some improvement in gross margin (20 – 25%) New = significant improvement in gross margin (>50%) R&D spend between ‘people’ and ‘programs’ R&D Resources What is the % of individual contributors […]Read More »Trend Safari – Traveling the world in search of emerging trends
Segment 1: Trend Safari – How do I discover emerging trends? Why? – Find trends before my competitors so that I have a distinct advantage – Align resources to be first to market with a solution that addresses/supports the trend Lessons Learned – Not just watching – Going to places where I normally don’t […]Read More »Improv Innovation – Using improv comedy tools/tricks to innovate
Segment 1: Improv Innovation Improv comedy is one of the best examples of real-time creativity Improv Tools & Tricks for yourself Writing Describe an emotion in two minutes without using the word From a random word, write an entire story in 5 minutes Start with the first four word of a random sentence and […]Read More »Making The Innovation Pitch
Segment 1: Making The Innovation Pitch Make sure the idea is ready How big is the idea? Understand how decisions are made Work from their perspective Structure the pitch 5 second, 5 minute & 30 minute pitches 10/20/30 (thanks to Guy Kawasaki) Test your pitch Deliver the pitch Have a demonstration Segment 2: Killer Question […]Read More »Creating White Space Innovations – Using innovation maps to create white space innovations
Segment 1: White Space Innovations Create an innovation map to find the white space opportunities by mapping this history of your products, markets, industry or customer segments against two dimensions Vertical dimension: convenience/experience Horizontal dimension: quality By mapping the history, you will start to see the rut that you are in. Identify white space opportunities by looking for open space beyond the trend […]Read More »Tools And Tricks To Overcome Creativity Block
Segment 1: Tools And Tricks To Overcome Creativity Block Talking Pictures Concept Fan Drawing Brutethink Thril Problem Reversal Circle of Opportunity Segment 2: Killer Question Of The Week Redefine the problem ‘There is usually more than one-way of looking at problems. You could also define this one as ….’ ‘… but the main point of […]Read More »