174 Thinking about innovation and strategy
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 14, 2021
I've been asked several times lately to write about, or perhaps more specifically, to opine about, innovation strategy.
Jeffrey Phillips
Two documents that tell you all you need to know about innovation
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 19, 2021
If you believe everything you hear, or read, within your corporation about innovation, you may end up a bit disappointed. As we've seen over the last two decades, talking about innovation is easy, but implementing it and realizing the benefits are a bit more difficult.
Join 78,000+
Insiders
Sign Up for our Newsletter
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Trending Sources
What we talk about, when we talk about innovation
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 26, 2021
After over 15 years of work in the innovation space, sometimes I get a bit weary talking about innovation.
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine
Jeffrey Phillips
AUGUST 25, 2020
For those of you who were listening to radio and, yes, buying compact discs back in the 1990s, you may recognize the headline of this post as the title to an R.E.M It also depicts what innovators and entrepreneurs should be thinking in the middle of this COVID epidemic.
Register Today for RIDG’s Return on Innovation: Webinar Series
Speaker: Michelle Royal, Founder of RIDG
Join RIDG's Chief Innovation Officer, Michelle Royal, for a free 60-minute webinar on Tuesday, March 9th at 10 a.m. ET. You’ll learn how to lead your business to a new frontier in a time of disruption and prepare for the future despite intense financial and mental constraints of a pandemic. This is the first webinar of a three-part series on how innovation produces higher profits and happier people. RIDG helps companies make strategic financial decisions and empowers their teams to grow the business.
Conditions for innovation to succeed
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 11, 2021
I was asked recently to write a short post about the conditions necessary for innovation to succeed. It's actually not possible to write a short post about innovation, much less the conditions necessary for innovation to succeed, but I've tried to simplify this into nine critical factors for success.
|
Most good innovation is offensive
Jeffrey Phillips
NOVEMBER 10, 2020
If you are a football fan, the way I am, you know the old adage: defense wins championships. For years, decades even, defense held sway in the coaching ranks. Everyone seemed to believe, and it was often proven out, that the teams with the best defense would win the championships and the Super Bowl.
Innovating in the midst of chaos and disruption
Jeffrey Phillips
FEBRUARY 2, 2021
There's a great poem by Kipling that I'm sure is now out of favor, but it has a central message that we all need to hear. The poem is "If" - and if you are interested in reading the poem you can find the link here. Go ahead and read it now. After the Biden inaugural, poetry is on the upswing in popularity and Kipling is a good poet. Plus, the poem has a message that we need to hear now.
Book Review: A.L.I.E.N. Thinking
Jeffrey Phillips
FEBRUARY 9, 2021
As you may know, as a noted (ahem) blogger and voracious reader, I am sometimes asked to review books on strategy and innovation.
Reversing your thinking
Jeffrey Phillips
OCTOBER 29, 2020
I was speaking with a good friend whose vacation home was threatened by wildfires out west. We spoke about issues like climate change, and controlled burns and other issues that lead to more fires, and more destructive fires. His parting shot to me was - you are an innovator.
Leading Advertising and Analytics Company Outperforms With a Graph Database
Advertisement
Xandr, a division of AT&T, has built an identity graph that connects information on people, households, and more. The company is using this graph to provide advertisers an ability to deliver commercials more successfully than ever before. Learn more.
|
|
I don't want to live in a Ready Player One world
Jeffrey Phillips
NOVEMBER 4, 2020
I'm working with a startup, focused on the future of nutrition. This is not my first startup, or as we used to say in Texas, my first rodeo, and I doubt it will be my last. I've had the good fortune to work in several startups that had different trajectories.
As digital transformation unfolds, it pays to be a generalist
Jeffrey Phillips
FEBRUARY 18, 2020
I remember the hubbub surrounding Dan Pink's book A Whole New Mind , in which he stated that the future (this was back in the early 2000s) would belong to right brained people, because machines would ultimately automate anything that could be easily documented and that followed a standard process. His argument was that everything that could be reduced to a defined process would be outsourced or automated, and in most cases he has been proven correct.
The important gap between capability and need
Jeffrey Phillips
AUGUST 13, 2020
I'll be writing occasionally for my friends at the Collective - a group focused on autonomy, mobility and the use of drones. I think this group has an excellent opportunity to create new solutions and influence new products.
Practicing for an emerging future
Jeffrey Phillips
MARCH 13, 2020
I'm writing this in the stages of the corona virus outbreak in the United States where we've finally decided to take the virus and its impact seriously. While the virus may not be as deadly as some other viruses, it is clearly contagious. I think after weeks of ignoring it or wishing it away, or waiting for a miracle cure, we've finally decided to do what must be done - that is, more social distance to reduce the spread.
Extending the Reach of HR: Supporting and Sourcing Remote Talent
Speaker: Karen Lim, Alliance Academy
The concept of Global HR is becoming more common as more companies become permanently remote. As companies expand their talent-bases beyond borders, HR reps will bear the responsibilities that come along with it. Adapting to different cultures, distances, and legal implications whilst preserving core company values is essential. Once you can do this, the world becomes your oyster. Join Karen Lim of Alliance Academy, and learn to thrive in a remote-first mindset.
Innovation or ERP: which path will digital transformation follow?
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 17, 2020
I've been thinking a lot about the concept of "digital transformation" recently. You can't help but encounter it on Twitter or LinkedIn, in business publications and in discussions with customers and prospects. Everyone wants to know about digital transformation. Admittedly, teaching a class on digital transformation keeps it forefront in my mind.
Innovation is a harsh mistress
Jeffrey Phillips
AUGUST 19, 2020
I'm a big fan of science fiction. There's really nothing more interesting to me than to think about how the future will unfold, and science fiction is a great way to project what may happen with society and technology in many different future settings.
Changing after COVID - the Why, the How and the What
Jeffrey Phillips
APRIL 15, 2020
Let's face it, the COVID pandemic and the following economic freeze-up are likely to have a lasting impact. Experts are constantly telling us that the future will be different - things can't go back to the way they were. No one is quite sure what the future holds - many have ideas or predictions - but there are few definitives. There is one thing you can count on - change - and the faster you decide not WHAT to change, but the WHY and HOW to change, the better off you'll be.
Ideas are easy, good ideas are hard
Jeffrey Phillips
JUNE 20, 2019
I'm writing a series of posts that examine some of my lessons learned after over 15 years of corporate innovation consulting. Past posts have included the concept of needing a why and a how for innovation , why ideas need a sponsor and how to understand the range of innovation options your company will consider. In this post I want to discuss the proliferation of ideas and their relationship to innovation. Ideas are easy Ideas are the raw material of innovation.
The Best Sales Forecasting Models for Weathering Your Goals
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
Every sales forecasting model has a different strength and predictability method. It’s recommended to test out which one is best for your team. This way, you’ll be able to further enhance – and optimize – your newly-developed pipeline. Your future sales forecast? Sunny skies (and success) are just ahead!
It's past time to reintroduce risk into corporations
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 18, 2019
I was on a conference call recently, discussing an upcoming keynote that I'll deliver to a academic-federal government program meant to accelerate new technologies from basic research into the market. We were talking about the "ecosystem" of contributors that can help move basic research from academia and research labs to market. One participant talked about the role that large corporations could play, and sometimes do play, in commercializing new technologies.
Innovation Building Block 2 - important, unsolved problem or opportunity
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 15, 2020
I'm going back to basics for a handful of blog posts - back to what I call the innovation building blocks. In the first blog I wrote about the importance of defining an innovation bias in your culture. In this episode of the continuing series on innovation building blocks, I'm going to be focusing on the importance of an important and unsolved problem or opportunity. To which you'd say: no kidding.
Book Review: What about the Future? by Fred Phillips
Jeffrey Phillips
OCTOBER 3, 2019
I'm returning today to one of my favorite activities - a book review. Good books are simply too rare, and good books about topics important to innovators are unfortunately even more rare. However, I'm happy to say that I've just read a book about understanding the future that should be read by anyone interested in foresighting, forecasting or scenario planning.
Digital transformation marks the demise of product innovation
Jeffrey Phillips
AUGUST 7, 2019
There comes a time when every phenomenon reaches its zenith, before a long fall or a sudden collapse. We like to refer to this point in the cycle as the "tipping point" - the point at which we can remain in stasis or the structures will collapse. We are warned that we are close to the tipping point for global warming, for example, where more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may result in weather and climate changes that create catastrophic change in the weather, sea levels and other factors.
11 Ways to Make a Short Remote Design Thinking Project a Success
Advertiser: Treehouse Innovation
You can achieve a huge amount in a short period with a virtual design thinking project. While some teams want to come together for several weeks or months to tackle a challenge, others want to run short, sharp projects to find a quick solution. And with the right preparation, attitude, and structure in place, that's totally possible.To help make sure your short innovation projects are a success, download this free guide from the team at Sprintbase, a virtual design thinking platform, to learn their top tips.
Demographics is your destiny
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 24, 2020
In a short break from my recurring posts on innovation building blocks (see articles on innovation bias , f inding important unsolved problems and discovery and exploration ) I was motivated to write today about demographics and destiny. As a person who really enjoys understanding how the future will unfold, there are few more important trend lines and signals than demographics, yet far too many companies ignore the clear signals that demographic change indicate.
Innovation FOMO and FOMAD
Jeffrey Phillips
DECEMBER 18, 2019
Today, memes enter and leave the lexicon so quickly that I almost hesitate to use newly coined words or phrases, in fear that they may have already become passe. So you can imagine my trepidation in using FOMO - the "fear of missing out" - when writing about innovation. However, rather than simply expand on innovation FOMO, I'd like to introduce another, even more important issue - FOMAD.
The Big Nine: digital transformation, opportunities and perils
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 29, 2020
I've been reading a fair number of books and articles lately about digital transformation. The concept of digital transformation is still somewhat nascent, still being defined, but increasingly it seems that many of the significant underpinnings of whatever digital transformation ultimately becomes are rapidly coalescing, and controlled by just a handful of companies in the US and in China.
If it doesn't fit, it must be innovation
Jeffrey Phillips
SEPTEMBER 5, 2019
Years ago, Johnny Cochrane convinced a jury that OJ Simpson was not guilty of murdering Nichole Simpson. While there were undoubtedly many factors that led to the acquittal, one of the biggest factors was the gloves. When OJ tried on the gloves in the witness stand, the gloves did not seem to fit his hands. Cochrane then uttered the famous line in his closing: if the gloves do not fit you must acquit.
The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
Speaker: Donald Fan, Senior Director of the Global Office of Culture, Diversity & Inclusion at Walmart Inc.
In the digital era, rife with uncertainty and ambiguity, innovation plays an essential role in sustaining organic growth and outperforming the global competition. Research proves time and again, there exists a robust bond between innovation and diversity & inclusion (D&I); our challenge is to help our leaders understand how to plant the seeds of innovation in the fertile D&I garden in order to drive a strategic and competitive advantage from the office and in the digital landscape.
Innovation skills that are critical now: empathy
Jeffrey Phillips
MAY 4, 2020
I'm writing a series of posts that discuss some of the most important traits and skills that are needed to support innovation now, in the midst and in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. I've written about beginner's mind and why that skill will be vital. I've also written about being comfortable in ambiguous settings. Today I am writing about another rare capacity - the ability to have empathy with prospects and customers.
Culture and innovation bias - the first building block
Jeffrey Phillips
JANUARY 8, 2020
I'm writing a series of blog posts about the fundamentals of innovation success. In my previous article I wrote about the importance of fundamentals in any activity , using music and practicing scales as an analogy for understanding the fundamentals of innovation. In this post I'm going to be writing about two very interconnected issues - organizational culture and the bias for, or against, innovation.
Innovation fundamentals: using time effectively
Jeffrey Phillips
FEBRUARY 4, 2020
I've been writing an occasional series on some of the fundamental building blocks for innovation success - at least those that I think are critical, intangible and often overlooked. I've written previously about having a bias for innovation in your culture , seeking and finding important and unmet needs or opportunities , and introducing discovery and exploration in your innovation process. These concepts all have something in common, which is the next building block I am going to discuss: time.
Why digital transformation will drive business model innovation
Jeffrey Phillips
FEBRUARY 18, 2019
As a follow up to my previous post about the intersection of digital transformation and innovation , I wanted to conduct a thought experiment to illustrate why the real impact of all the impending change from digital transformation and innovation will be business model related. While the implementation of new technologies is interesting and challenging, and creating new products and services is daunting, at least you can still do that primarily if not exclusively in your existing business model.
This Buyer’s Guide Will Help you Choose the Best Graph Database
Advertisement
Selecting a graph database is an important decision that can shape the success of your organization. This guide is intended to assist your buying decision with side-by-side comparisons of graph databases from Amazon, DataStax, Neo4j, and TigerGraph.
Don't break the rules - become flexible and agile
Jeffrey Phillips
JULY 26, 2019
I've read yet another good and insightful piece on success in digital transformation, which relies on an unfortunate metaphor - one about "breaking the rules". I've been around consulting just long enough to have "broken the rules" in the business process re-engineering wave, the ERP wave, the CRM wave, the Six Sigma wave, the innovation wave and now the digital transformation wave.
For interesting innovation, ignore your instincts
Jeffrey Phillips
APRIL 22, 2019
I've been around the block for a while, and every once in a while I'll tell the folks on my team who are younger than me what's likely to happen with a specific strategy or project. Since they are young and a bit wet behind the ears, it often comes as a surprise to them that I can predict with some degree of certainty what's likely to happen.
Innovation traits that are critical now: comfort with ambiguity
Jeffrey Phillips
MAY 1, 2020
I'm writing a series of blog posts that examine what skills are necessary to innovate in a post COVID pandemic environment. In the first installment, I wrote about the importance of "beginner's mind" , because in the post-COVID future, some past experiences and knowledge may not be meaningful, and looking at new challenges with a fresh perspective will be valuable.
Understanding future conditions is vital to create innovative solutions
Jeffrey Phillips
MAY 15, 2019
I'm just wrapping up another project that's focused on trend spotting and scenario planning, working to help a client company understand the emerging competitive conditions their business will face in the next 5-7 years. While foresighting, trend spotting and scenario planning are exceptionally valuable, many innovation projects simply ignore the benefits they can receive from doing this work. Instead innovators plunge in to create the products and services they believe customers need.
B2B Pocket Playbook: End-to-End Guide to Sales Enablement
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
Sales enablement is the strategic process of providing sales teams with the content, guidance, and mentorship needed to engage targeted buyers. It’s all about equipping sales professionals with the tools they need to put their best-selling foot forward. And if sales teams want to continuously sell better -- and faster -- their sales enablement process must have a game-winning strategy. It's time for you to start selling smarter - and hitting your sales number - with the best B2B database in the market. Get started today.
Let's personalize your content