innovation

Digital transformation is a popular phrase in business today. The pandemic has created a massive shift to work from home, remote work, online ordering, and other digital transformation efforts. It has been a frequent topic in strategy forums, webinars, C-suites, and more. There is no question that we are experiencing

Boards of Directors, and the shareholders they represent, always want more innovation from their management teams and the company. But what can they do about it? Boards spend more and more of their time on governance, risk management, compliance, compensation, and other factors, many of which have little to do

Innovation means different things to different people. It also unfortunately means different things to different organizations. Organizations can get trapped in their traditional views on innovation, and it is time to adopt a wider view of what innovation can and should be.      

Innovation is about solving real problems. It does NOT require that you solve the problem in a unique or imaginative way. It really is all about solving problems. To be fair, if you don’t solve it in a unique way, then that innovation might not be a competitive advantage, or

The Wall Street Journey released their inaugural Management Top 250, a list of the best managed companies. It is based on the research of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University, releasing a much larger list and their scoring in this table Amazon tops the list, followed by Apple and

Boards of directors are usually associated with governance issues such as risk management and financial controls. They of course have a major role in strategic direction, either in establishing it, approving, or hiring the right executives who will establish the strategic vision. But does that extend all the way into

Today I am giving a presentation on behalf of the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center and hosted by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. I believe innovation is not just something a few insightful people do in a special innovation department. It happens at every level. And you don’t know where the next

On the same day I posted my IndustryWeek column on innovation, titled 4 Keys to Making Innovation a Capability, I just happened to come across some other stuff from my blog feeds on innovation, from quite different perspectives. First was this video on HBR titled Four Methods for Corporate Innovators

Is innovation born or built? I don’t know the answer as it applies to people. But as it applies to organizations, it’s built. My latest IndustryWeek Lessons from the Road column, titled Making Innovation a Capability, focuses on building an innovative organization. There are key lean skills and mindset that

  This is a quote from the book Lean Thinking by Jim Womack and Daniel Jones, and I think one of the most useful phrases brought out from this book. What does it mean? So many companies spend considerable amount of time focusing on their competitors: what are they doing?