February's Top 10 Innovation and Marketing Articles

This year I thought I would experiment with a Top Ten list at the beginning of each month, profiling the ten posts from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Blogging Innovation. So, without further ado, here are February's ten most popular innovation or marketing posts:

1. Two Biggest Mistakes in Social Media - by Mike Brown


2. Radical Innovation of Meaning - Apple iPad - by Hutch Carpenter


3. Four Models for Competitive Crowdsourcing - by Hutch Carpenter


4. Aligning Social Media, Marketing and PR - by Matt Heinz


5. 56 Reasons Why Innovation Initiatives Fail - by Mitch Ditkoff


6. Bill Gates Coming out of Retirement? - by Anonymous Microsoftie


7. Reverse Innovation a Popular Trend - by Yann Cramer


8. Innovation Metric of Leading Companies - by Stefan Lindegaard


9. Are MBAs becoming irrelevant? - by Idris Mootee


10. Ideas Are Core to Enterprise 2.0 - by Hutch Carpenter

If you're not familiar with Blogging Innovation, we publish 2-3 new articles every day built around innovation and marketing insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members.

Join our Continuous Innovation group or subscribe to our RSS feed to follow along.

---

Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

January's Top 10 Innovation Posts

This year I thought I would experiment with a Top Ten list at the beginning of each month, profiling the ten posts from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Blogging Innovation. So, without further ado, here are January's ten most popular innovation or marketing posts:

1. 10 Lessons Learned from 2009 - by Holly G. Green


2. Top 10 Innovation Articles of 2009 - by Braden Kelley


3. Microsoft - Apple - Google in Tablet Battle - by Braden Kelley


4. Three Enterprise 2.0 Themes to Watch in 2010 - by Hutch Carpenter


5. Apple Tablet Sneak Preview - by Braden Kelley


6. Apple Tablet Won't Be Runaway Success - by Braden Kelley


7. Should you be measuring ROR instead of ROI? - by Ric Merrifield


8. Presenting Twitter in Search Results - by Hutch Carpenter


9. 10 Signs That Innovation Will Fail - by Stefan Lindegaard


10. What is Design Thinking? - by Venessa Miemis

If you're not familiar with Blogging Innovation, we publish 2-3 new articles every day built around innovation and marketing insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members.

Join our Continuous Innovation group or subscribe to our RSS feed to follow along.

---

Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

Top 10 Innovation Articles of 2009

by Braden Kelley

Thank you to everyone who entered our last contest of 2009 for a chance to win one of three copies of Gary Hamel's latest book "The Future of Management" ?

Lady luck has spoken and I'd like to announce the three winners of their very own copy of "The Future of Management":

1. Cathy Olofson


2. Ashish Thomas (claimed)


3. Peter Vander Auwera (claimed)

Alternate: Bill Davis

Contest Winners - Please contact me with your address so I can mail you your book.

First, let me say that it was incredibly hard to come up with this list. I've come across lots of great articles this year that I can't find anymore. Luckily a lot of the really good innovation articles end up on our site, but for sure I've missed lots of great innovation articles published this year. So, apologies in advance if you thought your favorite article should have been included. You can always include it below as a comment.

Here in no particular order are Blogging Innovation's Top Ten Innovation Articles of 2009:

• Top 10 Tips for the Innovation Leader by Paul Sloane


• Popularity Contests: Why a Company Embraces One Innovative Idea but Shuns Another from Knowledge@Wharton


• Five Ways to Create Innovation Throughout Your Life by Matt Heinz


• In Search of Innovation by John Bessant, Kathrin Moslein and Bettina Von Stamm


• Four Quadrants of Innovation by Hutch Carpenter


• 21 Great Innovation Methods by Paul Sloane


• The New, Faster Face of Innovation by Erik Brynjolfsson and Michael Schrage


• Innovation Perspectives - Ideas are Not Enough by Rowan Gibson


• Innovation through the Eyes of a Child by Braden Kelley


• Your Innovations Aren't Immortal by Scott Anthony

Are there any others you would add to the list?

---

Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

Expanded Contest - Top 10 Innovation Articles of 2009

by Braden Kelley

Would you like a chance to win one of three copies of Gary Hamel's latest book "The Future of Management" ?

Well, if you've got a Twitter or LinkedIn account, then you've got an opportunity to maybe win one of three copies of this book.

To enter on Twitter:

1. Send an @reply message to @innovate with the URL of your favorite innovation article


2. Make sure that your tweet includes "2009 contest" in it


3. Submit your entry by the end of December 31, 2009 (GMT)

To enter on LinkedIn:

1. Submit a news article URL to our Continuous Innovation group on LinkedIn (1,700+ members) or add a comment to someone else's submission there


2. Make sure that you begin your submission title or comment with "2009"


3. Submit your entry by the end of December 31, 2009 (GMT)

I'll announce the three winners on January 1, 2010.

---

Braden Kelley is the editor of Blogging Innovation and founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.

10 Innovation Lessons I've Learned

What should innovation leaders and intrapreneurs know about innovation projects and new ventures? I have had the pleasure of working with such people for many years and I begin to see a pattern that I have summarized into 10 lessons for innovation leaders and intrapreneurs:

1. Know that innovation and intrapreneurship is about teams

• build a team of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (team definition by Katzenbach/Smith)

2. Work with passionate and persistent people

• nothing goes as planned in new ventures. Passion and persistence help overcome most challenges and they are essential for making great things happen.

3. Use recognition and stories

• recognition if often a better rewarding tool than money. Explore ways of recognizing people and use it to develop compelling stories that sells your company better than cold facts.

4. Define your target markets and eco-systems

• well-defined target markets are key to crossing the gap between early adopters and the main market. You also need to know that all markets are networked and that you need to break the current set of behaviours of many stakeholders within the eco-system before you can establish a new market equilibrium.

5. Understand the value proposition

• build a clear and concise statement that outlines your value-creating features to customers and stakeholders.

6. Craft an elevator pitch

• you always have something to sell; learn how to craft an elevator pitch that captures the very essence of your value proposition in terms that focus on the recipient of the message.

7. Define your values, personal brand and relationships

• know what you stand for and which messages you send to others and know the structure of your network and relationships; learn how to adapt to fit your strategic goals.

8. Define your team brand

• learn how to use values, personal branding and relationships as a team discipline to penetrate and win new markets.

9. Bring depth, breadth and empathy to the table

• all team members should have depth in an area that is critical to the company as well as breadth and empathy for the other things that makes or breaks the company.

10. Combine internal and external forces

• on development issues it is important to make "reapplied with pride" just as important as "invented here." Remember that the wealth of external knowledge outscores your internal knowledge and you need to turn this into an advantage. Get on the open innovation movement.

Let me know what you think.

---

Stefan Lindegaard is a speaker, network facilitator and strategic advisor who focus on the topics of open innovation, intrapreneurship and how to identify and develop the people who drive innovation.

Part 2 - Nature's 10 Simple Rules

Here's the second half of my thoughts on Nature's 10 Simple Rules for Business Survival (read Part 1 here). Send me your views on this list. Also, make sure you pin it up on your wall, your company's survival may depend on it.

Nature's # 6. Integrate metrics. Nature brings the right information to the right place at the right time. When a tree needs water, the leaves curl; when there is rain, the curled leaves move more water to the root system. OK, I'm not a big metrics guy. Experience has shown me that a quick decision grounded in intuition often beats the 100 page report and meeting from hell. But I also find inspiration in understanding how the world works, and for that big picture we need numbers - just numbers from a lot of different sources. Smart, revealing, insightful numbers. For example, James Dyson worked through around 5,000 prototypes before coming up with the wildly successful Dyson vacuum cleaner. Let the truth of that number hit you around the head. When did any of us make 5,000 attempts at anything? If all you read are balance sheets, that's how you'll see the world and you will fail. Too many factors impact on us for any one perspective to show the way forward. If you think otherwise, ask a banker about subprime.

Nature's # 7. Improve with each cycle. Evolution is a strategy for long-term survival. The long-term is the only term if you want to survive. Short-term thinking - like the ridiculous obsession with quarterly earnings - has taken more eyes off the ball than a couple of streakers at a football match. The magic mix? Big, long-term ideas combined with the spirit of "Fail fast, learn fast, fix fast". We can all learn from the frenzied world of fashion. In my first job at Mary Quant, we had nine months to conceive, produce, launch, sell, and then discontinue, a complete line. We got better at it - I promise you.

Nature's # 8. Right size regularly, rather than downsize occasionally. If an organism grows too big to support itself, it collapses. If it withers, it is eaten. When businesses start there are usually just a few people doing everything. Then there comes a time when more people are on the job than can comfortably fit around the lunch table. Thus middle management kicks in and, as Kurt Vonnegut put it in Slaughterhouse-Five, "So it goes". Right size is such a great term. The right size of a business depends on the business. This is where business gets specific and where clarity counts. If you want to manufacture cars for the world to drive, your right size is nothing like that of a boutique fragrance. The key though is to know what's right - right size, right people, right choices - and to take action.

Nature's # 9. Foster longevity, not immediate gratification. Nature does not buy on credit and uses resources only to the level that they can be renewed. Since joining Saatchi & Saatchi, one of my great pleasures has been the opportunity to speak to the P&G Alumni. These are people who have worked for P&G and believe in P&G principles. Best of all, they keep the P&G flag flying long after they have left the company. They are in it for the long-term and the long-term extends beyond a job at P&G and even their working life. They are an amazing renewable source for P&G that promotes the company, attracts more great people to work there, and connects P&G in rich and complex ways to the communities and countries it works in. Longevity is about making a worthwhile contribution. Gratification is about an immediate sensation.

Nature's # 10. Waste nothing, recycle everything. Some of the greatest opportunities in the 21st century will be turning waste - including inefficiency and underutilization - into profit. This rule can transform businesses, regions, nations, and people. One area of waste that I take very personally is the waste of human potential. That's why TYLA - Turn Your Life Around - is very close to my heart. This remarkable program based in New Zealand helps kids at risk start to make positive choices about their lives. We use mentors, fresh opportunities, experiences, support - whatever it takes to transform these young people into hard-working, energetic and joyful citizens. In today's tough climate, we want every hand to the pump. Waste not, want not.

---

Kevin Roberts is the CEO worldwide of The Lovemarks Company, Saatchi & Saatchi. For more information on Kevin, please go to www.saatchikevin.com. To see this blog at its original source, please go to www.krconnect.blogspot.com.

Part 1 - Nature's 10 Simple Rules

I've done the helicopter view of Adam Werbach's book "Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto" but now's the time to dig deeper. Right at the front of Adam's book (and picked up by Fast Company) is a list of Nature's 10 Simple Rules for Business Survival. In this list Adam draws from nature a tough bottom line for sustainable business. "Nature is far harsher than the market: If you are not sustainable, you die. No second chances and no bailouts." I'm not usually a fan of rules but these ten make sense to me. They are big-scale - forest-scale. Ocean-scale. Planet-scale. I've jotted down my own thoughts on each one. I'll share them with you here - five this week and five next.

Nature's # 1. Diversify across generations. This idea has certainly inspired me to write a number of posts here that I've called Stella's World. Of course they are about my and Ro's first grandchild but they are also about what change across generations can really mean. How few companies have that aspiration! In principle we all want our businesses to thrive across generations, but how few succeed. Adam tells me that fully one-third of the companies profiled in Jim Collins' "Built to Last" as out-performers, are now under-performers. Think Ford and Citibank. They lost the juice of excitement, wonder and delight and got lost in expectations and self-obsession.

Nature's # 2. Adapt to the changing environment - and specialize. To get to the future first you have to take on what I call the three A's - Adapt, Adopt and Act. It's worked for children, for animals - for all living things and never forget that businesses are living things too. People are often held back by the feeling that the challenges we face are so great that they can't effect any meaningful change. My response? If you can’t change the situation, change yourself. At Saatchi & Saatchi we have a True Blue sustainability program called DOT. Do One Thing. In other words, don't take on the world; specialize. Sure, some of the things people chose to change are small, but put them together and we're talking serious action. Action that can build as we get more confident about Adapting, Adopting and Acting.

Nature's # 3. Celebrate transparency. Every species knows which species will eat it and which will not. I like to see transparency as opportunity rather than threat. Take the emotional transparency of Lovemarks. You can't hide love - and few of us want to. Check out Lovemarks.com and see how that community responds to the brands it loves; openly, without hesitation, with pride. When consumers can push a brand like Tropicana to revert to its traditional packaging in just a few months, something's up. And what's up is that consumers are in control. They want confidentiality for themselves and transparency from their Lovemarks. No one said it would be easy.

Nature's # 4. Plan and execute systematically, not compartmentally. Every part of a plant contributes to its growth. Anyone who has been in business understands the damage caused by silo thinking. Community is key. All of us are better than some of us. In Peak Performance we demonstrated the power of inspirational leadership and teams. Groups of like-minded people working together to overcome all odds and achieve impossible goals. At Saatchi & Saatchi we sum this up in our spirit 'One team, one dream'. And our dream? "To be revered as the hot-house for world-changing ideas that create sustainable growth for our clients."

Nature's # 5. Form groups and protect the young. Most animals travel in flocks, gaggles, and prides. Packs offer strength and efficacy. This is a fantastic rule and the best argument ever for playing in teams. Most young people aren't educated into creativity; they are educated out of it. At Saatchi & Saatchi we give people an elastic-sided sand box, a problem, a deadline, and we get out of their way. To make sure they reach their full potential we have some older folk around to guide, mentor and run protection when it's needed. Usually it's not needed because what they want is responsibility, learning, recognition and joy. All that they get.

---

Kevin Roberts is the CEO worldwide of The Lovemarks Company, Saatchi & Saatchi. For more information on Kevin, please go to www.saatchikevin.com. To see this blog at its original source, please go to www.krconnect.blogspot.com.

Top 10 Tips for the Innovation Leader

1. Have a Vision for Change


You cannot expect your team to be innovative if they do not know the direction in which they are headed. Innovation has to have a purpose. It is up to the leader to set the course and give a bearing for the future. You need one overarching statement which defines the direction for the business and which people will readily understand and remember. Great leaders spend time illustrating the vision, the goals and the challenges. They explain to people how their role is crucial in fulfilling the vision and meeting the challenges. They inspire men and women to become passionate entrepreneurs finding innovative routes to success.

2. Fight the Fear of Change

Innovative leaders constantly evangelise the need for change. They replace the comfort of complacency with the hunger of ambition. 'We are doing well but we cannot rest on our laurels - we need to do even better.' They explain that while trying new ventures is risky, standing still is riskier. They must paint a picture that shows an appealing future that is worth taking risks to achieve. The prospect involves perils and opportunities. The only way we can get there is by embracing change.

3. Think like a Venture Capitalist

VCs use a portfolio approach so that they balance the risk of losers with the upsides of winners. They like to consider a large number of proposals. They are comfortable with the knowledge that many of the ideas they back will fail. These are all important lessons for corporate executives who typically consider only a handful of proposals and who abhor failure.

4. Have a Dynamic Suggestions Scheme

Great suggestion schemes are focused, easy to use, well-resourced, responsive and open to all. They do not need to offer huge rewards. Recognition and response are generally more important. Above all they have to have the whole-hearted commitment of the senior team to keep them fresh, properly managed and successful.

5. Break the Rules

To achieve radical innovation you have to challenge all the assumptions that govern how things should look in your environment. Business is not like sport with well-defined rules and referees. It is more like Art. It is rife with opportunity for the lateral thinker who can create new ways to provide the goods and services that customers want.

6. Give Everyone Two Jobs

Give all your people two key objectives. Ask them to run their current jobs in the most effective way possible and at the same time to find completely new ways to do the job. Encourage your employees to ask themselves - what is the essential purpose of my role? What is the outcome that I deliver that is of real value to my clients (internal and external). Is there a better way to deliver that value or purpose?The answer is always yes but most people never even ask the question.

7. Collaborate

Many CEOs see collaboration as key to their success with innovation. They know they cannot do it all using internal resources. So they look outside for other organisations to partner with. A good example is Mercedes and Swatch who collaborated to produce the Smart car. Each brought dissimilar skills and experiences to the team.

8. Welcome Failure

The innovative leader encourages a culture of experimentation. You must teach people that each failure is a step along the road to success. To be truly agile, you must give people the freedom to innovate, the freedom to experiment, the freedom to succeed. That means you must give them the freedom to fail too.

9. Build Prototypes

People' Bank has a refreshingly original attitude to new ideas. 'Don't debate it, test it' is the motto of this innovative American financial services organisation. Try the new idea at low cost in a section of the marketplace and see what the customer's reaction is. You will learn far more in the real world than you will in the test laboratory or with focus groups.

10. Be Passionate

Focus on the things that you want to change, the most important challenges you face and be passionate about overcoming them. Your energy and drive will translate itself into direction and inspiration for your people. It is no good filling your bus with contented, complacent passengers. You want evangelists, passionate supporters; people who believe that reaching the destination is really worthwhile. If you want to inspire people to innovate, to change the way they do things and to achieve extraordinary results then you have to be passionate about what you believe in and you have to communicate that passion every time you speak.

---

Paul Sloane writes, speaks and leads workshops on creativity, innovation and leadership. He is the author of The Innovative Leader published by Kogan-Page.

Guy Kawasaki - The Art of Innovation

I came across a nice cut of Guy Kawasaki's frequently delivered "Art of Innovation" presentation from Cisco Live 2009 that makes it possible to enjoy the key points in eight minutes.





So are you letting the bozos grind you down?


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

140char Innovation Insight Contest

In honor of the impact that Twitter has in democratizing information, I'd like to give everyone a chance to win a copy of the only business book I know of with a green cover - "Rethink" by Ric Merrifield.

The rules for entering the contest are simple. Send us your favorite innovation insight in 140 characters or less* via one of the two following channels:

1. Twitter - Send your favorite innovation insight as a tweet on Twitter with @innovate AND #i140 in the body of the tweet


• This will allow everyone to see all of the innovation insights submitted on Twitter by doing a search for #i140


2. Blog Comment - Post your innovation insight below as a comment in 124 characters or less


• This is to level the playing field for people who post a comment vs. a Twitter tweet

---

@reply and comment voting from 00:00 GMT to 23:59 GMT on June 30th will decide the finalists.

I will announce five (5) finalists on July 1st on this blog, complete with links to their Twitter accounts.

I will announce the ONE (1) winner on July 2nd via my profile on Twitter and on this blog with a quick profile of the winner, their winning entry, and a link to their web site.

---

Here are the entries so far (in no particular order):

1. The sovereignty of your #innovation is often more valuable than its content. - @jsbelfiore


2. "90% of what we learn comes AFTER we launch a new product." - Eric Feng, CTO of Hulu - @veget


3. The key to successful #innovation is learning to channel your inner wise-ass. - @jsbelfiore


4. Do Better Today - What You Did Yesterday. - @pehodk


5. #Innovation is a mirror, which reflects your thought processes. If you see nothing, you're a vampire. - @jsbelfiore


6. Genius in innovation is the clever reapplication of the "obvious" in a non-obvious manner or area - @jmccolgin


7. Solutions come & go based on current technology; but underlying needs of audience transcend time and lead to meaningful solutions - @adamdole


8. Innovation doesn't just fall into your lap - Gijs van Beeck Calkoen


9. Ideas have to be consciously designed - Gijs van Beeck Calkoen


10. The application of a technology follows the generation of an idea, not visa versa - Gijs van Beeck Calkoen


11. Innovation is the intersection of what's possible, viable and desirable. - @ddetlefsen


12. Innovation requires commitment. What is commitment? A chicken is "interested" in breakfast. The pig is "committed" to it. - @ddetlefsen


13. Innovation is change that adds value. In math: I=Magnitude of Change*(addition of good features + removal of bad features) - @ddetlefsen


14. Innovation does not just happen for free or by magic - it's a game you can choose to win - @simontevans


15. Make innovation happen by instilling fear - why? Because chasing an oppt is an option; running away from danger is a must - @bpluskowski


16. Innovation is the process of uncovering problems for which people need solutions, and then developing a valuable and accessible solution. - i360 Insight


17. "Nothing can withstand sustained thinking" ~ Voltaire - @tomludwicki


18. Innovation is like loosing weight. Everyone wants & talks about it, knows its benefits, but most won't work for it. - @ddetlefsen


19. Aligning Business models with market expectations and Challenge the Market with Rapid Demonstrator development - @stefaanvermael


20. Research is the transformation of money into knowledge - Innovation is the transformation of knowledge into money! - @Lerou


21. Insight in a Marketing-driven company is hindsight, while Insight in Innovation-driven company is foresight. - @Lerou


22. Implementing best practice is replicating yesterday; innovation is designing tomorrow. - @paulsloane


23. I do not know who discovered water but I am sure it was not a fish. We cannot perceive that in which we are immersed. - @paulsloane


24. Organizations that have a high % of people initiating innovative solutions 2 social problems are far more likely to thrive. - @DennisHoenig


25. Will not innovate with a scam, will not innovate sending spam. will not innovate if workers cram, will not innovate Sam I am - @chris_townsend_


26. Innovation and creativity seem to peak where the ripples spreading outward from knowledge networks intersect. - @geniusnet


27. Creativity = the contxn b/w 2 seemingly random objects. Innovation = creating market value from two seemingly random objects. - @adamdole


28. Question all rules. 1900 Olympics only 15 women took part. It was feared if she ran too fast her uterus would fall out. - @Journeywoman


29. Humankind's evolution: Stone Age-> Feudal Age-> Industrial Age-> Information Age-> Knowledge Age-> Awareness Age - @CrazyColombian


30. Everything big started small. - @ryantracey

And some of my own to help stimulate thinking (@innovate):

• "Innovation is a gift. What are you doing to ensure employees want to give it?"


• "An innovation leader's job isn't to provide the answers but to provoke the thinking that gets you there."


• Knowledge Management is more about "How do I?" while Innovation is more about "Why don't we?"


• "We must create clarity in innovation strategy, goals, and participation for a continuous innovation culture to be created."

I look forward to seeing your favorite innovation insights!


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

World Innovation Forum Wrapup

Stu Miniman tagged this photo with Twitter identities

I recently had the opportunity to attend the World Innovation Forum (May 5-6, 2009) and a couple of pre-conference events on May 4, 2009 - the ?WhatIf! Innovation Forum and the Paul Saffo Workshop. I was invited to blog and tweet from the balcony at the World Innovation Forum as a member of the BloggersHub (sponsored by Pitney Bowes).

The conference lineup included - Paul Saffo, CK Prahalad, Vijay Govindarajan, Clayton Christensen, Fred Krupp, and Dan Ariely

I did a lot of live-tweeting at the event and have now finished up my blogging this week in David Letterman fashion with a series of Top 10 Insights posts. To wrap it up, here are my Top 10 World Innovation Forum Experiences (including private visits I scheduled while in NYC):

1. The infamous Cinco De Mayo dinner


2. Dan Ariely


3. ?WhatIf! Innovation Field Trip (Apple Store and OZOlab)


4. Clayton Christensen (2nd Session)


5. TheVisualMD visit with CEO Alexander Tsiaras (blog entry coming soon)


6. Making Boris Pluskowski laugh at my tweets


7. ?WhatIf! Innovation Breakfast


8. Brightidea visit with Co-founder Vincent Carbone


9. BloggersHub Pizza Lunch


10. Paul Saffo Workshop

Here are links to all of my Top 10 Insights posts:

• Paul Saffo


• CK Prahalad


• Vijay Govindarajan


• Clayton Christensen (1st Session)


• Clayton Christensen (2nd Session)


• Fredd Krupp


• Dan Ariely

It was good to finally meet the other innovation bloggers in person and to hear a lot of great speakers. The BloggersHub helped to extend the reach of the event to thousands of people around the globe who followed the tweet stream and blog posts, and several of the online conversations around points made by the speakers had me laughing out loud.

In the end, I came away with a few key insights that will help to shape my business, and a couple of thoughts for new white papers that I hope will advance our collective understanding of what it takes to successfully and continuously innovate.


Have you found this conference coverage useful?

Do you think more conferences should model the BloggersHub concept?


NOTE: If slides from any of the talks are shared with me or posted somewhere, then I will update my posts with embedded versions or links.


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

Top 10 Dan Ariely Insights - World Innovation Forum

Taking a slightly different approach than other World Innovation Forum bloggers, I've distilled the 90 minutes with Dan Ariely down into these Top 10 Insights:

1. Dan Ariely suffered extensive burns when he was younger and what he learned about prolonged pain (and removing lots of bandages) is that while going quickly (to get it over with), you also need to take breaks and recover (the mind can only absorb so much pain - or change - at once)


2. Optical illusions are an analogy for how our intense focus causes us to miss key indicators of change


3. Why do some countries have more organ donors than others? It's as simple as using opt-out instead of opt-in.


4. The way we ask questions causes people to reflect differently on how they answer


5. Not all choices are there to be picked - some are there for comparison - to make picking other choices easier (a dummy choice being present can actually change the choices people make)


6. Just because people are switching tasks more these days, it doesn't mean they don't still lose a great deal of productivity doing so


7. Ariely did research into cheating and found that most people cheat - and they tend to cheat just a little bit - amount of reward and probability of being caught did not matter


8. Getting people to sign at the top of form that they are telling the truth increases accuracy more than bottom


9. The more steps a choice is removed from real money - the more likely people are to cheat or steal


10. We design to overcome physical limitations - we know we're not supermen - with mental limitations - we think the opposite

Finally, I'd like to end with a couple of bonus fun facts from Dan Ariely on cheating:

• Cheating across countries is constant (once all parties agree that something is cheating)


• Between bankers and politicians - Bankers actually cheat twice as much

Updated May 24, 2009 - Here are the slides from Dan Ariely's presentation at the World Innovation Forum:

Dan Ariely - World Innovation Forum

View more Microsoft Word documents from Braden Kelley.

Updated May 28, 2009 - Added some videos of Dan Ariely speaking at TED


What do you think?


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

Top 10 Fred Krupp Insights - World Innovation Forum

Taking a slightly different approach than other World Innovation Forum bloggers, I've distilled the 90 minutes with Fred Krupp down into these Top 10 Insights:

1. We are pumping pollution into the air like there is no tomorrow - and if we don't change, there might not be...


2. There are now more wind power employees than people mining coal


3. The solar energy business market cap is over $100 Billion - Who knew?


4. Brazil and Indonesia are #3 and #4 in CO2 emissions - after #1 USA and #2 China


5. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) created an online community to spur innovation


6. Fred Krupp is not a supporter of the Pickens Plan - he thinks it ties us to natural gas powered electric cars and trucks


7. Fred Krupp showed a video of a guy making things out of sugar and then criticized the technology because it can push food prices higher (I love it when people aren't afraid to weaken their own proof points)


8. Conrad Burke of Innovalight and their printed solar cells was another interesting topic


9. Will the world approve a cap-and-trade agreement by December 2009 in Copenhagen when Kyoto is revisited?


10. Fred Krupp is a huge fan of implementing a cap and trade system

Finally, I'd like to end with a quote from Bernie Karl that personifies the entrepreneurial or innovative spirit:

"I never let lack of money or education stop me, I believe they are my two strongest assets."


What do you think?


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

Bonus - Top 10 Clayton Christensen Insights - World Innovation Forum

Taking a slightly different approach than other World Innovation Forum bloggers, I've distilled the second 90 minutes with Clayton Christensen down into these Top 10 Insights (primarily about health care and education):

1. Disruption drives things towards convenience and accessibility


2. Clayton Christensen believes that the key to healthcare is pushing care farther from the center towards nurses and users and local devices


3. There is a tension between people's different learning styles and the need for standardization


4. When Clayton Christensen writes a book, he draws a diagram. Then he writes a chapter to describe the diagram. That's how his brain works.


5. Clayton Christensen believes that over time teachers will become tutors and all instruction will eventually go online


6. Schools struggle to keep kids engaged because the kids are looking to feel successful and to have fun with their friends


7. Instead of telling Andy Grove of Intel what to think, Clayton Christensen told him how to think - and then Andy Grove could draw his own conclusion


8. We tend to frame problems incorrectly, often lack a common language to discuss the problem, and usually don't take time for re-education before proceeding to try and solve it


9. The tyranny of delivering the numbers tends to make great innovation ideas homeless


10. We should build cheap, limited electric cars aimed at teenagers - parents don't want teens going far or fast

Finally, I'd like to end with a quote I heard recently from an unknown origin:

"Minds on the margin are not marginal minds"


What do you think?


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

Top 10 Clayton Christensen Insights - World Innovation Forum

Taking a slightly different approach than other World Innovation Forum bloggers, I've distilled the first 90 minutes with Clayton Christensen down into these Top 10 Insights:

1. Largest markets don't represent the biggest growth opportunity - non-existent markets are key


2. Sustaining innovation improves product past what people need - disruptive innovations often win by being inferior but closer to customer needs


3. Low cost strategy only works when you are fighting against a high cost competitor - prices fall if only low cost competitors exist


4. A good disruptive strategy creates an incentive for leaders to exit the contested area and focus on higher margin businesses


5. Biggest opporunity in China isn't low cost labor, it's the untapped market of non-consumers


6. Clayton Christensen believes that green energy opportunities are not in high tech solutions but in low tech developing world instead


7. Be careful about outsourcing too much of your operations - you can end up creating competitors (Compaq/Flextronics example)


8. Good companies survive by setting up separate businesses with an unfettered charter to kill the mother company


9. Clayton Christensen doesn't seem to believe that listening to customers is key to innovation


10. Listening to customers doesn't necessarily tip off leaders to possibilities of disruptive innovation

Finally, I'd just like to say that if you've never seen Clayton Christensen in person, he is a gentle giant with a calm demeanor, and surprisingly funny.


Update May 24, 2009 - Here are the slides from Clayton Christensen's presentation at the World Innovation Forum:

Clayton Christensen - World Innovation Forum

View more Microsoft Word documents from Braden Kelley.

What do you think?


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

Top 10 Vijay Govindarajan Insights - World Innovation Forum

Taking a slightly different approach than other World Innovation Forum bloggers, I've distilled 90 minutes with Vijay Govindarajan down into these Top 10 Insights:

1. Most companies spend too much time on Box 1 thinking and not enough on Box 2&3 thinking


• Box 1 is about closing the performance gap and restructuring


• Box 2&3 are about Closing the Opportunity Gap (projects for 2020) and Renewal


2. Strategic Intent is about dreaming big (other people call this a BHAG) - not creating a mission statement that nobody reads


3. Every company needs a growth playbook for three horizons:


• Horizon 1 - Core Business


• Horizon 2 - Adjacent Space

Horizon 3 - Entirely New Space


4. Horizon 3 projects are 95% assumptions and Horizon 1 projects are 95% knowledge


5. People at the top "Think" - People in the middle "Make Sure" - People at the Bottom - "Do" - If you want transformation - You must engage the "Doers" at the bottom


6. Huge entry barriers to keep competitors out can also prevent you from getting out of the fortress you've built when it's disrupted


7. Because the message is simple - It does not mean that it is easy to do - The future is now


8. India and China went from 55% of World GDP to less than 5% because they missed several productivity revolutions


9. Innovation in emerging markets coming to USA will be hard for American companies to compete against because low margins won't be attractive


10. Be the change you want to see in the company - If you get fired for it, find a new company

Finally, I'd like to leave you with a link to a Vijay Govindarajan webinar (Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators) where you can listen to a lot of the content and follow along with many of the slides.


Updated May 24, 2009 - Here are the slides from Vijay Govindarajan's presentation at the World Innovation Forum:

Vijay Govindarajan - World Innovation Forum

View more Microsoft Word documents from Braden Kelley.

What do you think?


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

Top 10 Paul Saffo Insights - World Innovation Forum

Taking a slightly different approach than other World Innovation Forum bloggers, I've distilled my time with Paul Saffo down into these Top 10 Insights:

1. There are times when the uncertainty is so great that you shouldn't even forecast at all


2. Google becoming richer as people 'contribute' search strings - Where else do you think you are consuming but actually contribute?


3. 2/3 of Roomba owners give them a name - 1/3 take them with them to friend's house or on vacation


4. Innovative ideas often take about twenty years to succeed - If you find something that has been failing for almost 20 years, pay special attention


• LucasFilm Habitat failed 20 yrs ago, others followed in failure, then Second Life took off


5. People tend to substitute forward velocity as a measure of succcess


6. Sometimes bad management is what allows innovation to happen


7. The innovators' trap is mistaking a clear view for a short distance


8. People talk about innovations as an S-curve. Most people look at the inflection point. Look at the flat spot instead.


9. Forecasters tend to over-estimate the short-term and under-estimate the long-term


10. If you want to make sense of the future, look back - Look back twice as far as you are looking forward

Finally, I'd like to end with a quote from Mark Twain:

"History doesn't repeat itself, at best it sometimes rhymes"


UPDATED May 24, 2009 - Here are the slides from Paul Saffo's presentation at the World Innovation Forum:

Paul Saffo - World Innovation Forum

View more Microsoft Word documents from Braden Kelley.

What do you think?


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

Top 10 CK Prahalad Insights - World Innovation Forum

Taking a slightly different approach than other World Innovation Forum bloggers, I've distilled 90 minutes with CK Prahalad down into these Top 10 Insights:

1. Companies achieving competitive separation will be focused on 'next practices', not best practices


2. Managers must focus some of their attention on volatility and discontinuities, because if not actively managed, discontinuities become disruptions


3. To manage volatility you must address two contradictory requirements:


• Strategic Clarity and Consistency


• Operational Agility and Resilience


4. Avoiding commoditization from now will require the creation of personalized, co-created experiences (possibly using multiple vendors)


5. Only when you try to get rid of variable costs do you realize they are fixed


6. Our new business reality requires systems capable of enormous volatility and scaling up and down rapidly


• How do I create capability of anticipating the future?


• How do I enable real time reconfiguration of resources?


7. Four billion people want to be part of the global marketplace - this will have a profound impact on sustainability


8. The question is not whether I can invest big, it is whether I can learn fast


9. Innovation requires speed and stamina along with clarity of direction


10. Don't start where you are in determining strategy - you will only get extrapolation from present - and you will only get budget-oriented approaches


• Position yourself in 2015 or 2020 and then fold the future in


• Strategy is about folding the future in, not about extrapolating


• You imagine the future and then you determine the short steps inbetween to get there

Finally, I'd like to end with a quote from CK Prahalad's mother:

"Never accept silence as agreement because you'll regret it later."


What do you think?


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)