By: John Bessant Users are a hidden ‘front end’ of innovation, highly motivated, prepared to experiment and tolerant of things not working right first time. So it makes sense to try and bring this perspective to bear. It’s hard to forget that wonderful scene in Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’ film in which the small group representing the People’s Front…
By: Gijs van Wulfen Often times coming up with new ideas is not the hard part. In this example, a team came up with 752 new business ideas in a single workshop. But how can you pick the ‘right’ ideas? Gijs van Wulfen shares five lessons that he has learned in his innovation practice. In my last post I wrote…
By: Gijs van Wulfen Have you ever shared new big ideas at work? What happened…? Did they give you a standing ovation? Did someone bake you a cake to celebrate? Did you get promoted? Or I am a little too optimistic? Of course there are companies with a great culture for innovation where new big ideas are embraced by everyone.…
By: Anthony Ferrier As Innovation Program leaders look to expand their scope and influence across complex, global organizations, they are turning to the development of Employee Innovation Networks. This article examines what these networks can look like, and provides some high level overview of the value that they can generate. In the past 5 years or so large corporate organizations…
By: Gary Davis Recent discoveries of exoplanets that are relatively close to our solar system are used to illustrate the importance of “visualization”—of future consumer lifestyles, work and recreation, and product and service preferences—for the process of innovation. Different aspects of the visualization concept are discussed, including distinctions between consumers and companies, the importance of widely shared images and competition,…
By: Dimis Michaelides Imaginary scenario: you have been invited to a meeting to […] Imaginary scenario: you have been invited to a meeting to explore new approaches to a wicked problem. Loudmouth Number 1 describes his solution. Loudmouth Number 2 vehemently disagrees. A heated argument ensues. Some people take sides. Others remain silent. There are bruised egos. You are not…
By: Gijs van Wulfen When starting innovation, a lot of the same mistakes are made over and over again. Here is how you can recognize and avoid them. In my new book The Innovation Expedition I point out six ways of committing innovation suicide. And how to avoid these pitfalls in practice. Start without a business need. Think about the…
By: Gijs van Wulfen The effectiveness of brainstorms is challenged. A lot of them are done in the wrong way. In this post, Gijs van Wulfen suggests you should shut up in a brainstorm for better results. The spiritual father of the brainstorming technique is the American Alex Osborn. He is also one of the founders (and the ‘O’) of…
By: Gijs van Wulfen The race for the South Pole was a big event at the beginning of the twentieth century. Roald Amundsen was described as practical, pragmatic and ruthlessly ambitious. As a child Amundsen dreamed of being a polar explorer. In this article Gijs van Wulfen looks at his story as a source of inspiration for innovators. Amundsen’s original…
By: Gijs van Wulfen In my new book ‘The Innovation Expedition’ I love to refer in discussions on innovation teams to The Mayo Clinic’s Center for Innovation. The Mayo Clinic is a best-practice organization, which was researched in APQC’s Innovation: Putting Ideas into Action 2009 study. It favors a specific combination of personalities when it builds innovation teams. The Mayo…
