Blue Ocean Strategy
The Blue Ocean Strategy by authors W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne reminds companies to swim away from competition. Circque de Soleil, Nintendo and Casella Wines all use the SCAMPER principle Eliminate to great commercial success.
What is a Design Sprint?
On these pages I’ve talked a lot about Design Thinking and it’s two main characteristics. One, it involves the end user early and often to ensure that what is being created is actually going to be useful. Two, it calls for iteration – not assuming you have the complete picture at the start of a project,…
Repeatable Genius
Steve Jobs is one of the most idolized tech entrepreneurs of all time. He put Apple on its path to be the first trillion dollar company the world has ever seen. While many credit this success to Jobs’ product design prowess, in his book titled “The Way To Design“, Steve Vassallo offers another explanation: Steve…
Thinking Fast And Slow – Don’t Kick The Ball Back
System 1 and System 2 I recently read (actually listened to in the car) the book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. In it Kahneman describes two modes of thought. What he calls “System 1” is fast, instinctive and emotional, whereas “System 2” is slower and more logical. For most of us, driving to a…
Build Your Innovation Mindset – Don’t Look At The Obstacle
Innovation is a mindset Carol Dweck shares an important insight from her research in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. People with a fixed mindset – those who believe that abilities are fixed – are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset – those who believe that abilities can be…
Design Thinking vs Lean Startup
Pot-ae-to, Pot-ah-to? Design thinking and lean startup are innovation strategies. The paper titled “Design Thinking Vs. Lean Startup: A Comparison of Two User-Driven Innovation Strategies” examines these two innovation strategies, their common traits, their differences, and how the two strategies might inform one another or produce a third strategy. Design thinking Design thinking is an…
Amazon’s Turbulent Beginnings
Amazon is a dominant player now, but its birth was plagued with doubt and financial weakness, reveals the book The Everything Store by Brad Stone. Amazon started as an online book seller, and this was a canny move by Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder. Books were true commodities – all the same, no question of whether…
Unclench Your Mind – Creative Change
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…
“The Myths of Creativity” by David Burkus – Echos of Altshuller?
David Burkus is an author, keynote speaker and associate professor of leadership and innovation at Oral Roberts University. I recently listened to the audio version of his book “The Myths of Creativity”. Here are some of my key take aways. Breed myth We are all capable of creativity. This is not ability limited to a…
Jerry Seinfeld, Life Efficiency Expert
“When I finish with my cereal, I put the bowl away with the spoon in it. Why go to a separate drawer to get a spoon every morning? I’m going to need it, leave it there. How often am I going to use that bowl and not need the spoon that goes with it? I’ll…