Top Gun “That’s right, Iceman. I am dangerous.” Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell Some parts of the 1986 movie Top Gun starring Tom Cruise as Maverick are downright cringe worthy, but the flight sequences and lingering pans over the gorgeous F-14 more than make up for it. In this Youtube video, former Northrop Grumman VP Mike…
Innovation, critical to organizational health A recent McKinsey’s report identifies the organizational outcomes that make the greatest contributions to organizational health. The second highest score goes to innovation and learning. “We think of organizational health as … the organization’s ability to align around a common vision, execute against that vision effectively, and renew itself through innovation…
If it is your responsibility to call people together to solve a problem, then whether this is presented as a brainstorming session, just part of a meeting, or an ad hoc discussion at your office door, you need to set a tone and guide the group to a useful conclusion. There’s a lot of cross…
Proven reusability “For a long time people were using the space shuttle as an example of why reusability is dumb. You can’t take a single case example and make an entire theory out of it.” Elon Musk Musk has frequently made the case that discarding a rocket is like flying a jumbo jet across the…
Problems are invitations for your best work If problems are threatening to give you an ulcer, consider that these problems and your ability to solve them give you purpose. It’s also a lot more fun to solve problems than do the same old same old every day. They didn’t make a movie about Apollo 12…
Mercedes-AMG new F1 engine In 2014, Formula 1 introduced a new set of rules requiring all participating cars have engines with turbos and some form of electric hybridization. The approach taken by some teams uses what they call MGU-K (motor generator unit – kinetic) which is the same process used in most road going hybrids…
Crowd sourcing I’m as fashionable as the selection at Costco allows, but studying innovation as I do, Zara, the Spanish fast fashion retailer, comes up frequently. Zara has over two thousand stores world wide, each gathering vital feedback from customers. Whereas many retail outlets will respond to customer purchase data, Zara goes a step further…
I asked for ideas, but… So you’ve encouraged your staff to come up with innovative ideas. You hate those ideas. Now what? In a previous post I wrote about what it’s like to have your boss get all excited about innovation and how to muster your own excitement. This looks at it from the boss’…
Making running shoes faster Not necessarily making faster running shoes. Adidas brings together components from around the world to make its shoes. Each component may have been around the world having separate steps of manufacturing to it before ending up the final assembly of a running shoe. This process can take up to two months…
In her book, Creative Change, social psychologist Jennifer Mueller asks why we resist change, and how we can embrace it. It is a cliché that individuals and organizations must innovate to thrive in today’s environment of fast change, and yet we often reflexively resist new ideas when presented with them, to our detriment. “The irony…