Recently, I was involved in an innovation initiative which was a crowdsourcing initiative to identify efficiencies within a company. The challenge was open to all employees and voting and commenting were permitted. After the challenge was closed, the most popular (by votes and comment counts) were presented to leadership. Their reaction, to say the least, was less than … [Read more...]
The 5 Vectors Of Business Transformation
I spend my days in the Innovation Office of a large professional services organization. Our team focuses on helping the firm generate and refine new ideas to improve our culture, operations, and the services we provide to clients. All our efforts would be useless unless what we do is strategically aligned. One tool we use to ensure alignement is to map out the business … [Read more...]
Cat & Mouse: Innovation In Entertainment
Change is happening. You can’t avoid it. The economy is fluctuating, there is an ongoing battle to reconfigure the regulatory landscape, and the marketplace keeps shifting as new players get into the game and established players enter new markets. However, the most profound changes we are seeing are being driven by technology – the digital platform is opening up new channels, … [Read more...]
Social Strategy: Time for Some Little Thinking
Imagine you've been invited to the most anticipated cocktail party of the season. Well in advance of the event, you anticipate the people you will meet and the exciting conversations you will have. Finally the evening comes and, as you arrive, the hostess greets you at the door and offers to take your coat. Before you head into the party, however, she stops you and hands you a … [Read more...]
The Age of the Nano-Demographic: P2P Marketing
In college, I learned about new music from my friends. Like it or not, I picked up tips about personal style from them, too. You can blame them for some of the looks I've sported through time. The important point here is that my market-facing tendencies are not defined by my age, race, or socio-economic status as much as they are by the people I hang out with. This is why … [Read more...]
Prioritizing Preferece: The Challenge of Managing Design
Managing any initiative is a complex affair - juggling timelines, milestones, and dependencies; managing risks and mitigating factors. The management of design processes gets geometrically more complex when you add the wildcard of personal preference to decision points. Many non-designers are incapable of articulating their reasons for preference-based choices in a way that … [Read more...]