Innovation
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Work Is Mostly Mundane. And That’s Not A Bad Thing
Just like the modern world implores that we should be happy all the time (we aren’t and we are not meant to be), the modern workplace wants everyone to be engaged, energised and innovative when they simply don’t need to… Continue reading
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Do You Really Need An Innovation Strategy?
Do you really need an innovation strategy? I say no. You need a strategy that sets out a challenge and invites everyone to ask questions and go on a journey of discovery. A strategy that is founded on principles of… Continue reading
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Innovation Doesn’t Happen By Accident
Trickle down innovation, just like trickle down economics, doesn’t trickle down very far at all. When leaders are implored to innovate they often go for the easiest and most attractive option, innovation theatre: You bring someone in to give an… Continue reading
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The Creativity Productivity Paradox
You can’t endorse a top-down authority structure and be serious about enhancing adaptability, innovation, or engagement. Gary Hamel Employers are facing a conundrum: a generational gap in job satisfaction. Research seems to indicate that while Gen Z and millennial workers… Continue reading
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Analysis Paralysis and The Threat To Innovation
A much delayed first post of 2023, which has been for a couple of reasons. Firstly I’ve taken a super relaxing break and switched off completely rather than my usual rambling around. I’ve been staying in one of those Caribbean… Continue reading
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Turning Constraints Into Innovation Opportunities
As we enter a further period of economic uncertainty we will undoubtedly see a slash and burn approach to cost reduction in many of our organisation’s. An impending crisis often triggers suboptimal decision making that tends to focus on survival… Continue reading
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Few People Get Promoted For Asking Difficult Questions
Research indicates that even when everyone within a group recognizes who the subject matter expert is, they defer to that member just 62% of the time; when they don’t, they listen to the most extroverted person Khalil Smith Innovation must be founded… Continue reading
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When Leaders Talk About Innovation, Always Be Sceptical
Declare yourself an innovation company and celebrate creativity, by all means. Then treat your employees to a little seminar in business history that emphasizes real-life time frames and the numbing necessity of trial and error, trial and error, trial and… Continue reading
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When Everything Is A Crisis, Nothing Is
Who would win in a fight between the housing crisis in one corner and monkeypox in another? We live in a world that now has competing, intersecting, and sometimes conflicting crises. There are the old standards like the climate crisis,… Continue reading
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Society Has Digital Transformed, But It Isn’t Evenly Distributed
We often blame innovations for the way they make our lives faster, busier, more intrusive, but in reality our core human behaviours and beliefs are slow to change. Marchetti’s constant, named after Italian physicist Cesare Marchetti, is the principle that… Continue reading
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Built Not To Last: Could Planned Obsolescence Be Good For The Social Sector?
Planned obsolescence is the practice of deliberately creating consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete (or out of date) and therefore need to be frequently replaced. If we designed our organisations to have an expiry date would we get better social outcomes? Continue reading
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The Anatomy of a Great Idea
Ideas are not invented equally. I’d suggest that anyone who repeats the adage that ‘no idea is a bad idea’ has never attended a management away day. So what makes a great idea? Continue reading
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What Effect Does Environment Have On Our Ability To Think Creatively?
When you think of the “space to innovate” what immediately springs to mind? Is it the physical space , the mental space, the calendar space? All three? I’ve been thinking a lot about spaces and environments this week: specifically what… Continue reading
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Why We Fail To Predict The Future
rns out very different than we imagine. The more our organisations actively think about the future the easier it becomes to close the future gap and put yourself into that future. Continue reading
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Innovating Against All Odds: The Endlessly Adaptable Future of Work
Received wisdom isn’t what it used to be. The future will be made up of shades of grey where few things are certain and the best you can do to prepare is to be endlessly adaptable. Continue reading
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How To Kill Ideas (Part 53)
Many organisations act as inhibitors of innovation. Rules and protocols are put in place, often for very good reasons, that preserve the status quo. Over time, organisations develop a set of social norms – ‘the way we do things around here’ –… Continue reading
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Why The Employee Idea Scheme Doesn’t Work
The concept of asking employees to share their ideas to drive innovation is always a good one. Unfortunately, the traditional suggestion scheme is, in my opinion, not the way to go about it. Continue reading
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Why Do We Believe In Silver Bullet Solutions?
In folklore, a bullet cast from silver is often one of the few weapons that are effective against a werewolf or witch. In business, the “silver bullet” is a simple, but sure-fire solution to a complex and/or chronic problem. Once… Continue reading
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Community Is The Most Powerful Unit Of Change
We are less pessimistic about our own lives than we are about larger units. We’re not very pessimistic about our village, we are not pessimistic about our town – but we are very pessimistic about our country, and even more… Continue reading
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Three Reasons Why We Fail To Solve Problems
Why do some problems get solved whilst others stick around? Here are three examples of why we sometimes fail and what we could do differently. Continue reading
Paul Taylor 