About a year ago, a blogger I had never met posted something online that he called “An Innovation Matrix”. I thought the blogger had a really original idea — something that took innovation both deeper and beyond the Blue Ocean thesis. I encouraged him, certainly guided him, and — every now and then — challenged [...]
Tag Archives | Innovation
3 Must-Reads for this Weekend #14
I’m sitting at home coughing and coughing. After a long 40 days on the road, I am now officially sick. About the only thing I have energy to do is to read, but luckily there are some amazing things people have written. The common thread is about knowing when and how to adapt (because adapt [...]
Innovation Isn’t Tied to Size, But to Operating Rules
I have to admit that I see red whenever I see people pick on big firms for not being able to innovate, or celebrate startups alone as “getting it”. I teach and advise entrepreneurs (from Stanford, in Silicon Valley, et al) and I’ve advised and worked with some of the best global Fortune 500 firms [...]
Our Obsession with Scale is Failing Us
Bank of America just announced they will cut 16,000 jobs by year-end, an acceleration of a previously announced “efficiency effort.” After this, they’ll no longer be the largest banking employer. Now, it’s easy to think that Bank of America is failing, that it’s yet another bad situation related to a down economy. But there’s something [...]
Traditional Strategy Is Dead. Welcome to the #SocialEra
When I say, “Social is and can be more than media,” people resist. It’s as if the two words (social and media) are now permanently fused together. But they shouldn’t be. The fact that they are joined at the hip in so many people’s minds means that marketing agencies are thriving — but that the [...]
Social Means Freedom, For Better or Worse
This is part II of a series on how the social era affects every business model, from how we organize, what we produce, and what we sell. (Part I, the foundational rules of the social era can be found here.) Do let me know what you think.. and especially what you want to see addressed [...]
Without a Clear Vision
Vision is crucial. It is utterly irreplaceable. No amount of execution or financial success can replace vision. Why? Because, vision can lead the creative work of an entire tribe. (Not just of a few people who think about it all the time, but for everyone.) Vision is the art of seeing things invisible, Jonathan Swift [...]
Yahoo’s ShakeUp Demands Fearlessness
Four longtime Yahoo board members, including the chairman, are leaving the company. In this one move, Yahoo is trying to make a clean break from the past — signaling that they are primed to reboot. It’s a much-needed and long-overdue step on the path to shifting trajectories. The Pattern of Failing Organizations Larger organizations follow [...]
What Barack Obama Could Learn from Vivek Wadhwa
Ever since the presidential election of 2008, I’ve been getting progressively mad about something. I got enthralled with an administration that wanted to connect with people in the social era to create change. Perhaps unrealistically, I had this hope it would carry beyond the election cycle. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I thought [...]
8 Dangers of Collaboration
Most of what is written about collaboration is positive. Even hip. Collaboration is championed enthusiastically by the Enterprise 2.0 experts, as well as leading thinkers like Don Tapscott as the crucial approach for the 21st century. Collaboration creates once-elusive “buy-in, or “empowerment”, improves problem solving, increases creativity, is key to innovation at companies like Legos, [...]