What Successful Innovation REALLY Is

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What Successful Innovation REALLY Is

Successful innovation is not an event.

Successful innovation is not even a process.

Successful innovation is a mindset.

Here’s what the progression looks like:

1.    “We are widget-makers.”
2.    “We are widget-makers who innovate.”
3.    “We are innovators who happen to make widgets.”

It’s the difference between having “innovation” in the third paragraph of your mission statement hanging in the break room—and having innovation in your corporate DNA.

When innovation is in your corporate DNA, you are essentially bulletproof. You are no longer paralyzed by disruption because:

·     You now see ...

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Innovation

How Dissatisfied Are You?

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How Dissatisfied Are You?

I came to a bit of a revelation this morning, and I want to test it out here to see what you think. Here it is:

The core of innovation is dissatisfaction.

I know—sounds pretty negative, right? And now you’re thinking, “Gee, Bill, you’re really a ‘glass half empty’ guy, aren’t you?”

Well, I’m not. But I stand by my statement, and here’s why.

It’s because the innovator is constantly looking for problems to solve. The innovator is proactively seeking out the things that ...

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Innovation

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Are You One Of The “Cool Kids” In Your Industry?

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Are You One Of The “Cool Kids” In Your Industry?

Are you one of the “Cool Kids” in your industry?

You: “I dunno, Bill. What do you mean by ‘Cool Kids?’”

The “Cool Kids” (CKs) of an industry are those people and businesses that you (and the marketplace) look at and say:

·     “Wow! They’ve really got this figured out!”
·     “Oh my goodness—they just changed the game…again!”
·     “I wish I were sitting at their table!”
·     “I wanna work for/with them!”
·     “I wanna be them!”

The Cool Kids are the leaders. The Cool Kids are the ...

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Innovation

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Are You Listening To The Quiet People?

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Are You Listening To The Quiet People?

Here’s a great time-saver for all of you leaders who are looking for innovative ideas from your team. Don’t bother listening to:

·     the quiet people
·     people who are new to the organization
·     lower-paid team members
·     lower-ranked team members
·     interns
·     introverts

These people never have good ideas. At least, that’s what you might conclude if you were a fly on the wall in a typical corporate team meeting.

If you were that fly, you’d be forgiven for concluding that the only ideas that matter ...

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Innovation, Leadership

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Innovation: It’s Not Just For Innovators Anymore!

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Innovation: It’s Not Just For Innovators Anymore!

Innovation: It’s not just for innovators anymore.

When I worked in a large TV station, we had a department that was called “Creative Services.” I always thought that was a bit strange. This was television, after all—aren’t ALL of us in “creative services”?

But so many people (and so many companies) go through life believing that “creativity” and “innovation” should be relegated to the “wacky few.” So many leaders seem to have an attitude of, “Don’t talk to me about innovation; that’s ...

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Innovation, Leadership

Let’s Eliminate the Word “Failure”

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Let’s Eliminate the Word “Failure”

I’d like to start off the day with a bold proposal.

I propose we eliminate the word “failure” from the innovation equation.

Oh, I know. I can hear it now. “Failure is a necessary part of innovation.” “If you want to be a truly innovative company, you have to be willing to risk failure.” “If you’re not coming up with breakthrough innovations, it’s because you’re not failing enough.”

It’s maxims like this that make innovation, in the minds of many, practically synonymous with ...

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Innovation

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Innovation LOVES Contraints!

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Innovation LOVES Contraints!

It sounds counterintuitive, but creativity and innovation LOVE constraints!

I discovered this first-hand during the 15 years that I produced the longest-running, highest-rated, and most award-winning regional comedy TV show in the United States. Here’s just one example: One day, we had the opportunity to tape a comedy sketch with Michael Jordan (this is when he was still playing with the Bulls). But there were some constraints: we had only a 5-minute window with MJ, the sketch would have to be shot ...

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Creativity, Innovation

Is Your Idea Too Obvious? Great!

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Is Your Idea Too Obvious? Great!

Have you ever seen a new invention/product/service and said to yourself, “Well, duh! Anybody could have come up with that. In fact, I had that same idea months ago!”?

I know—it’s practically a rhetorical question, right? I mean, we’ve ALL had that experience. We’ve ALL come up with the “great” idea, but dismissed it as being too obvious. “Surely someone else has already invented this.” We’ve ALL come up with the obvious idea.

And yet, “someone else” is the one cashing the ...

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Creativity, Innovation

Innovation from Left Field

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Innovation from Left Field

Innovation Trick #47: The Article out of Left Field.

Let’s say you have a challenge, or an opportunity, that could use an innovative idea — but nothing’s coming. Your innovation well has run dry. What do you do?

Try this trick. Fire up your Google machine, open your tablet, or pick up an actual magazine and read an article. ANY article. The only stipulation is that this article should have NOTHING to do with your challenge/opportunity. It could even be an article ...

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Creativity, Innovation

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