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The Innovation Blog

Corporate Will Trumps Corporate Strategy

Posted by Jay Terwilliger on February 1, 2018

The other day I was having a conversation with the Division President of a large company about innovation. I mentioned to him that in our 30 years in the innovation space, we have noticed that innovation initiatives tend to have a 3-5 year life. The pursuit of breakthrough innovation – “Big Bet” innovation that expands the opportunity for significant growth through expanding markets or creating new ones, takes time. The unfortunate result of changes in Corporate Will is that too often, just when investments begin to pay off with new platforms, new technologies, etc., the efforts are often abandoned.

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Topics: Innovative Culture, Communication, executive sponsor, Alignment, Success Factors, breakthrough innovation, leadership, strategy, Strategic Goals, decision-making, breakthrough, Transformational Innovation, changing the game, innovation decision-making

Yogi Berra's sage advice for companies on Vision, Mission & Strategy

Posted by Jay Terwilliger on September 25, 2015


“You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.”

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Topics: Future, Future Pull, strategic innovation, strategy, Strategic Goals, Vision

Should Innovation Be Top-Down Or Bottom-Up?...It Depends!

Posted by Creative Realities on September 19, 2012

We are often asked if the best way to structure for innovation is top-down or bottom-up? The answer is both if you are going to succeed in the long run.

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Topics: Mark Sebell, Stage Gate, structuring for innovation, game-changing, Innovation, breakthrough innovation, strategy, growth, decision-making, Incremental Innovation

Is Bill Belichick a Design Thinker?

Posted by Creative Realities on February 2, 2012

Bill Belichick is widely regarded as a football genius, contrarian, and grump. He is also an innovator. All of the X's and O's of design thinking can be found under the hoodie.

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Topics: Design, Design Thinking, Innovation, Innovation Strategy, strategy

‘Hunting’ for a different way to approach your innovation challenges?

Posted by Creative Realities on July 11, 2011

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Topics: creativity, culture, Sarah Feloney, training, skills, Innovation, strategy

The Hard Part: Sorting through all these ideas

Posted by Creative Realities on July 5, 2011

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Topics: facilitation, Clay Maxwell, bizinovationist, Sort, invention, Innovation, strategy, brainstorming

5 Personalities That Ruin the Social Media Party

Posted by Creative Realities on May 18, 2011

Social media is a giant cocktail party. I am not the first person to point this out, as the existence of this book would suggest (I haven't read it but since the author's title confirms my opinion, I am inclined to believe it's brilliant).  I recently attended an interesting presentation at the Business Innovation Factory by Francois Gossieaux, author of The Hyper-Social Organization: Eclipse Your Competition by Leveraging Social Media. His main theme was that in order to successfully leverage web 2.0, you need to understand human 1.0. According to Gossieaux, businesses should worry less about what the latest and greatest technology can do and think more about the fundamental human behavior it can facilitate. He argues that humans are instinctively social creatures and the same basic principles apply online as they do in face-to-face interactions. I could not agree more. Yet so many social media marketing efforts ignore common courtesy and exhibit behavior you couldn't get away with at a cocktail party. I must admit I am guilty of committing some of these sins myself, but hey, we are all still learning the best way to play in the world of social media, aren't we? Here are 5 personality types that are sure to ruin the party.

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Topics: Chris Dolan, Social Media, strategy

Game-Changing vs. Incremental Innovation

Posted by Creative Realities on November 7, 2010

This past week I got sucked into what I thought was a pretty weak online debate. The question posed was, "Is Incremental innovation the enemy of Breakthrough Innovation?"

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Topics: Mark Sebell, Innovation, innovation consulting, breakthrough innovation, Championed Teamwork, leadership, strategic innovation, strategy, growth, Strategic Goals, criteria for innovation, decision-making, breakthrough, new product development, Essentials for Innovation, Risk, Management

Exploring Innovation's Other Side

Posted by Creative Realities on September 11, 2010

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Topics: Jay Terwilliger, Innovation, leadership, strategic innovation, strategy, growth, implementation