Why Clay Christensen and Michael Porter Could Both be Wrong About the Future of Higher-Ed

The Stand Off: There has been a lot of buzz around Harvard Business School starting their own version of MOOC, HBX, and the debates and arguments between two of the best minds in strategy in the world today – Clay Christensen & Michael Porter. By creating HBX, Harvard finally decided to bet on Porter’s strategy, that the core business strategy of a firm should remain unchanged and every part of the business need to reinforce this core strategy. There has been a lot of debate about who among the titans has got this right. Both could be wrong In my […]

PBTO5: Innovation, Design Thinking and Solving Complex Problems

http://traffic.libsyn.com/pushingbeyondtheobvious/05_PBTO5__Innovation_Design_Thinking__Solving__Wicked_Problems_.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Email | RSSIn this episode, we host Lakshman, who heads the innovation practice for the consulting division of SAP, based in India and also a visiting faculty at the Hasso Plattner Institute, Potsdam, Germany.  In this conversation, we talk about the importance of defining the right problem to solve, as the first step in any innovation practice. Lucky also shares his views on how to build a practice capable of being able to innovate on a consistent basis. We also talk about Design Thinking, its history, the key components of this philosophy and […]

How To Build Organizational Culture

Recently, I was moderating a design thinking workshop and talking about how it is critical to foster a culture of innovation within the organization and that it is responsibility of the leaders to build & nurture this culture. Some one stopped me and asked the following question: ” As a leader, what can i do to build the culture that i want for my team or organization”. For a moment, i was lost for the right words. I then took a pause and collected my thoughts and responded such: Building a culture is like gardening. Irrespective of what you do […]

PBTO4: Getting Hooked On Customers With Bob Thompson

http://traffic.libsyn.com/pushingbeyondtheobvious/04_PBTO4__Getting_Hooked_on_Customers_with_Bob_Thompson.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Email | RSSWelcome to episode number 4 of “Pushing Beyond the Obvious”. In this episode, we have with us Bob Thompson, CEO & editor of www.customerThink.com, the biggest online community about customers and customer centricity. Bob has recently released his book #HookedOnCustomers. We shall talk to him today about what does customer centricity mean and everything that goes along with it. We talk about The fact that most customer centric organizations are such, because their operational fabric is such that they do listen to their customers and act upon it and this is […]

PBTO3: What Matters is Execution, Not Ideas

http://traffic.libsyn.com/pushingbeyondtheobvious/03_PBTO3-What_Matters_is_Execution_Not_Ideas.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Email | RSSIn this episode, we host Meron Bareket, the host of  “Inspiring Innovation Podcast” and the person behind the Inspiring Innovation Podcast Incubator, where he walks through all the steps that one needs to go through to set-up and start a podcast of their own. I am bringing this podcast to you by following his instructions as well. We had a very interesting conversation about entrepreneurship, his journey from making software to how he got a job at the local Israeli radio, his iPad only magazine –“Inspiring Innovation” and his current role […]