From the monthly archives:

December 2009

Keeping the hen out of the foxhouse

December 22, 2009

In a pair of recent posts (URLs below), I laid out the case for a robust innovation function that exists as a standalone department. Click here to read the first post Click here to read the second post Click here to go to the website of one of the greatest beer bars ever (because why […]

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Innovation talent considerations

December 18, 2009

This is the third post in a series about the need to setup standalone innovation departments and what they should look like. The first post laid out my case for treating innovation with the robustness that reflects its strategic importance and the second laid out some specifics on the necessary nature of standalone innovation departments. […]

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How to get the most from your innovation resources

December 18, 2009

I argued in my last post that innovation should be treated like any other function and given the respect that its strategic value merits. So what does that look like? (Note: I am assuming for the purpose of this series of posts that innovation is considered critical for a company. If the situation did not […]

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The case for a robust innovation function

December 17, 2009

“Innovation” has become so much of a buzzword that the talk within the innovation community has turned to whether innovation is passe. But I am not that concerned with what is or is not in fashion. And I am not that concerned with buzzwords. I am concerned with helping people innovate (either as individuals or […]

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You can’t take it with you

December 16, 2009

The annual budgeting process for large public companies is crazy. Literally. It’s an exercise in kool-aid drinking minus the charismatic leader. It typically ends with a bunch of otherwise smart people jointly deciding on a P&L for their business that has a very loose connection to reality. Each person knows that this is so. But […]

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Control is not an asset

December 16, 2009

You don’t really control anything. And if you’re a person that badly needs to control things then you have a very frustrating life. Unless you’re very good at deluding yourself. The world is a scary place. There are sharks. Tornadoes. Worms in apples. It is profoundly uncomfortable for most people to feel entirely at the […]

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Innovation diversity

December 15, 2009

I really love whitespace/revolutionary/disruptive innovation. I just dig it. Typical line extensions just don’t quite do it for me. But that’s a personal preference. It doesn’t reflect the totality of my opinion on how companies ought to manage their innovation efforts. In fact, I have written of the need to pursue both revolutionary and evolutionary […]

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An anachronistic communication

December 12, 2009

Maybe I’m getting soft. I don’t know. But I’m starting to notice – more than ever – communications from companies that are at best goofy and at worst mildly offensive. And when I say “offensive,” I don’t mean that they offend me in any typical way. Actually, I might enjoy a little provocation. Something to […]

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Poor networking or just a scam?

December 8, 2009

I got an email from Plaxo yesterday at midnight (so about 14 hours ago) telling me that Mr. X (not his real name though that would be cool) had added me as a business connection. Now I didn’t know Mr. X but I’ve been told by someone wiser than I that it’s a good idea […]

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Network not netjerk

December 7, 2009

I just got an email from a guy I knew years ago. I have had zero contact with this person in more than two years and possibly as much as six. And even when we had contact, we were not close. We socialized a handful of times a year and he was friends with my […]

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