How CEOs F-Up Innovation #14: the Not Invented Here (NIH) Syndrome
CEO’s can F-up innovation both by denying NIH is an issue in their company, and by failing to embrace outside innovations in the innovation portfolio.
Stop Wasting Time On Ineffective Innovation Management Practices
R&D and innovation management executives are always looking to implement best practices that improve their opportunity for success. However, many practices and ‘common-sense’ innovation management decisions don’t have any correlation with innovation success or failure.
Inflection Points: when current strategies no longer work
Inflection points manifest in two primary forms: expansion or contraction. However, both signify the same reality; strategies that worked in the past may no longer suffice in the future. Successfully navigating through either type of inflection point is crucial for a business’s survival.
While many executives rely on financial metrics to detect inflection point shifts, these metrics often lag behind the actual changes.
Are innovation failures always as obvious in the moment as they are post-facto?
Are innovation failures always as obvious in the moment as they are post-facto? Here’s a short list of some product launches that, on paper, had all the elements needed for success, but were total failures none the less. I’m not listing head-scratching new products like Juicero, but thoughtful, strategic innovations that could have been successful. […]
The Primary Reason I See Innovators Fail
A primary reason I see many small businesses fail to grow, or even fail completely, is the reluctance of their founders to embrace sales as the most critical function for their success.
Four Reasons Executives Should Stop Innovating
The first step in launching a successful new product is to avoid the common traps that nearly guarantee failure.
Leaders need to ask themselves why failed products were launched in the first place. How did leaders NOT see that some products were certain to fail.
Three Rules to Follow When Making Innovation Decisions
Making any decision about innovation is extremely challenging. Leaders are frequently confronted with the need to make definitive choices in situations where the potential outcomes are, at best, unclear.
To achieve success in innovation, leaders must adhere to these three fundamental rules when making decisions.
Why conflict is a prerequisite for good innovation decision-making
Innovation is fundamentally about challenging the status quo.
Challenging assumptions and decisions is critical to avoid one of the 9 ways leaders fail by innovation: Innovating for themselves.
Leaders Should be Micro-Managers but not Micro-Deciders
It is important to distinguish between being a micro-manager and being a micro-decider. One builds engagement and accountability, the other can be highly detrimental.
Innovation and Operations – Where Innovation Really Matters
The real business value of innovation comes from improving processes that lead to systematic efficiency, cost savings, and competitive advantages