Leadership: The Philosopher’s Stone of Innovation…? (Part 2)
The other end of the spectrum re strategic decision-making is where it is totally driven by the leadership of the company. This is very often the case with start-up, early-stage and founder-run, privately held firms. The potential advantages are somewhat obvious: strategy is driven by a focused vision, factors which may not be effectively quantifiable [...]
Leadership: The Philosopher’s Stone of Innovation…? (Part 1)
I had the opportunity to speak before the Association for Strategic Planning this week on the topic of Innovation - an inherently rather broad and deep subject, so my approach was one of surveying the various paradigms of innovation (creativity/ideation, invention, implementation, value-creation, etc.), and that all of these conceptual frameworks for understanding [...]
The evolution of the organizations – Part 2
The second major stage of organization model started to emerge around the middle of the 20th century. It was heralded by the work of the humanist psychologist like Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and applied to organization life by people like McGregor and Herzberg.
This movement, if one wants to call it that, added another component to [...]
Innovation Risk Management & Product Success Rates
In my earlier post on the potential traps of metrics-based innovation management, I noted that while a significant amount of innovation appears to be driven out of smaller firms, there is an underlying, Darwinian dynamic by which we only see the relatively small percentage of successful outcomes, as compared to the very large numbers of [...]
The evolution of organizations – Part 1
Organizations have gone through two major evolutionary transitions over the last 100 years. The first was the foundation of the modern organization around the turn of the 20th century.
This was the time of Henry Ford and the mass production. It saw the emergence of Frederick Taylor and the scientific method of management. It viewed the [...]
Forthcoming Talk @ ASP Orange County on Innovation
Just a heads up that I’ll be speaking before the Orange County Chapter of the Association for Strategic Planning this coming Tuesday (Feb 19th) at the Doubletreee Club Hotel in Santa Ana. Details and registration info are available here.
Here’s the promotional blurb on the event….
Most companies are aware of the need for innovation, and [...]
The Potential Trap of Innovation Metrics
“Be careful what you wish for measure … you just may get it.”
As my library of books on Innovation grows, I am seeing two somewhat conflicting themes emerging in regards to the role of metrics in Innovation. One sees up-front metrics as a key determinant of establishing efficient distribution of a firm’s resources across all [...]
The challenge of new business paradigms
I recently gave a presentation on the third evolution of business, what I call the Spiritual Phase of organizations. (For more on this look for a future article to be published on our website.)
While many in the audience clearly understood how organizations have evolved from the Machine Phase to the Humanist Phase and we are [...]
Improving Your Company’s Velocity - Practice, Practice, Practice
Not only is it a way to get to Carnegie Hall, but focused, repeated practice of your firm’s best business processes is one of the ways to improve your overall velocity. In sports, it’s called establishing “muscle memory” by the repeated execution of a golf or tennis swing (for example), first working on the [...]
Speed - Life In The Business Fast Lane
At this week’s staff meeting, we discussed an emergent theme from our conversations with clients and other constituencies - that of improving the velocity of organizations in executing across a number of dimensions.
In the area of new product development, the ability of a firm to accelerate new product introduction ahead of competition and within window [...]