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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

Can our winter of discontent be made a glorious summer by innovation?

Posted by Jay Terwilliger on October 25, 2016

Like it or not, we are in an era of discontent, and it’s only getting worse.

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Topics: Social Innovation, social unrest, peaceful solutions

The Three Levels of Innovation

Posted by Jay Terwilliger on September 30, 2015

There are three ascending tiers of innovation that you can pursue.  The level you choose will dictate the simplicity or complexity of the journey you will undertake.  Unfortunately, far too many companies expect to achieve the highest levels of innovation while only providing the strategy, tools, and support for lower-level success, at best.  The three levels are:

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Topics: breakthrough innovation, Incremental Innovation, Transformational Innovation, innovation portfolio

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

What Hillary Clinton & Tom Brady can teach us about brand engagement

Posted by Jay Terwilliger on August 20, 2015


 

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The Power of an External Mindset

Posted by Jay Terwilliger on August 6, 2015


When you think of innovative cultures, think of an ice cube:

Change happens at the edges where the ice cube, or the organization, meets the world around it.

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Don't just "Think Outside the Box"... Think in New Dimensions

Posted by Jay Terwilliger on May 10, 2013

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Topics: creative, innovative, out-of-the-box, thinking, think different, creative thinking skills

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

3 Keys to Avoiding Groupthink When Collaborating

Posted by Jay Terwilliger on May 30, 2012

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Topics: Jay Terwilliger, groupthink, creative thinking, Collaboration, Championed Teamwork, brainstorming

The Person Who Can Say “Yes” to Innovation Without Permission

Posted by Creative Realities on May 21, 2012

The over-arching truth about big innovation is this; “You Get What You PlayFor,” because the processes and tools for managing core businesses don’t work when the goal is to identify and successfully introduce ideas that don’t exist today; true innovations not incremental ones. So you get what you play for and it’s who gets to play that makes all the difference.

When executives create teams to pursue breakthrough innovation they typically push the work down to the operating levels, just like they do so successfully with their core businesses. That sounds eminently laudable – after all, they’re “empowering” a group of hands-on people. They think they are too busy to deal with innovation but there’s another reason for taking that approach: Leaders don’t want to get involved in big innovation. They are afraid of it because they haven’t experienced it or been schooled in managing it; and bosses don’t like being visibly vulnerable.

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Topics: Mark Sebell, Absurdity, executive sponsor, new ideas, Skin in the game, Innovation, breakthrough innovation, decision-making