Innovation Isn’t an Idea Problem, Nor is it a Recognition Problem

In a recent HBR article with the same title, David Burrus argued that Innovation is a recognition problem. He also went on to propose a solution to this problem, one that Rhode Island based Rite-Solutions is already using. The general idea is that people are given a certain fixed amount of virtual currencies (say 10000$) which they can invest in any of the idea that is proposed on their internal idea site. This could eliminate the bias of any one or a set of executives, who are usually responsible for deciding on the feasibility of any particular idea. In my […]

Leading a culture of Innovation

I came across this great video where Kevin & Jackie Freiberg talk about how to lead with a culture of innovation. One thought that stands out for me from this video is one question: What happens if we start a culture of planned obsolescence of all our products? I think this one question will differentiate between companies that will thrive and those that will lose their way! First, lets listen to what they have to say.. [youtube=http://youtu.be/7XGlwdiyMdA] Now, I have tried to summarize what the Friebergs talk about below: Innovation happens when you learn to “be comfortable being “uncomfortable””. This […]

Role of culture in a sales team.

Culture is what transforms any team to greatness or failure! Sales teams are no exceptions to this. There is a specific culture in each and every sales team, doesn’t matter if someone has carefully instilled it there or it just got there by accident. So, what is the culture like in your team and why is it so important? I met a sales manager recently. He indicated that he wanted to have a high performance culture in his team. When I prodded him to explain what he meant by high performance, he said that he wants everyone in his team […]

Celebrating failure

Today, I read a blog by Seth Godin on How to fail. In this blog, he talks about how to fail better. He also mentions that not trying new things due to fear of failure is also not a good option. He also goes on and provides some random ideas that will help you fail better, more often and with an inevitably positive upside. With more and more organizations looking to innovate more often and much faster, it is not enough to know how to fail. It is important to encourage employees to take on the risk of failure. The […]