Topics / Innovation

Featured Items

Matching Results

John Moore over at Brand Autopsy writes a pithy summary of an article on Steve Jobs (Good Steve, Bad Steve by Fortune, March 17, 2008) . It's worth the read as he provides capsule insights on topics such as:
  • Being innovative
  • Connecting with customers
  • Staying focused
  • Managing people
  • Hiring talented people

Buy this book from Amazon.com

You and your team are stuck. It happens as you pursue and tackle ambitious, challenging, and world changing ideas and projects. This book is a practical and fearless way to regain the momentum...and the fun!
Thomas Friedman writes that the technological forces of globalization are making the world flat. Richard Florida's research indicates that the world is actually very spiky - that the benefits of globalization are unevenly distributed globally.
Many of our long time readers will recognize the names of Brandon Stuut and Andrew Shelansky. Brandon and Andrew were the technology team, the "dynamic duo," who helped launch InsideWork. Andrew was also an occasional writing contributor to our site.
At 35, Loïc Le Meur has carved a niche by ignoring business conventions, respecting competitors, building relationships and learning his lessons out in the open.
Jim Hancock / Dec 12 2007
Articles
Dan Wooldridge writes a follow up to a previous post on Stephon Marbury's $14.98 basketball shoes designed to transform the "shoe culture".
Dan Wooldridge continues his challenge to the parents, educators and leaders of today to prepare our children for today's world.

Buy this book from Amazon.com

Simplicity = Sanity. This is the premise of the book for an overly complicated and increasingly complex world. Ten laws to help us move toward simplicity in design, technology, business and life.

Buy this book from Amazon.com

Gordon MacKenzie worked at Hallmark for exactly 30 years — to the day. His role was to create for the giant greeting card company.
A Roman Catholic order acquires a Pfizer biotech lab to develop cures for cancer and gains influence to push for more ethical practices in the pharmaceutical industry. Dan Wooldridge asks how we can push for positive change within our own industries.
Dan Wooldridge writes that the legendary Seattle restaurant, Canlis, is a model of the integration of a biblical worldview with world-class business innovation.
What are the top ten most innovative companies? Jim Hancock takes a look, and discovers an interesting relationship between innovation and age.
Jim Hancock / Aug 11 2008
Articles
Jeff Howe is a contributing editor at Wired Magazine, where he covers the entertainment industry, among other subjects.
Sam Nguyen / Sep 2 2006
Websites
Dan Wooldridge points us to a remarkable video by Honda on the role of failure in creating success. In a time when we are terrified to fail, we must embrace the path of failure to success.
How many times have we heard an NFL football crowd chant, "Go for it! Go for it!" only to watch the coach kick the ball on 4th down? David Wooldridge examines a CAL-Berkeley study finding that NFL coaches may not be the bold, risk takers we've been led to believe.
We usually think that innovation and creativity depend on talent and knowledge. That might be true, but is it possible that a latent fear of failure and judgment among professionals stifles the innovation businesses need?
design, technology, business, life
Sam Nguyen / Oct 2 2006
Websites
Innovation leads to another innovation. An interesting lesson from an artificially shaped watermelon, and its unforeseen side effects.
Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch thinks he knows why so many movies look the same. In two words: Risk Aversion. Does this apply to your industry?
In 1981, San Francisco television station KRON ran a two minute, 17 second feature on the coming age of online newspapers: "Imagine, if you will, sitting down to your morning coffee, turning on your home computer to read the days newspaper; well it's not as far-fetched as it may seem..." Jim Hancock invites us to take a look at what went right and what went wrong with that vision.
Seth Godin has strong ideas about marketing—"Marketing is now about leadership, about leading a tribe, about assembling and connecting and interacting with a group of people on a mission. Marketing is creating a movement"—and the bona fides to back them up.
Seth Godin / Jun 1 2009
Articles

Buy this book from Amazon.com

Dan Wooldridge writes about the microcredit breakthrough innovation of Mohammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. A challenge for followers of Christ to think about business innovation from the perspective of the Kingdom of God.
Diego Rodriguez, a partner at IDEOand professor at Stanford, writes at the intersection of design, innovation, leadership. He explores how art and science come together to bring "cool stuff to life." Visit metacool.typepad.com metacol.typepad.com
InsideWork / Dec 30 2008
Websites
Dan Wooldridge notes that rigid thinking about your business model may make you susceptible to competitors that you didn't see coming. Current examples show how fierce competitors can come from surprising directions.
Using data from a Gallup Survey authored by strategy guru, Gary Hamel, Dan Wooldridge discusses how newcomers to an industry can disrupt and destroy the incumbents. Ignore at your own peril.
Glen McMahan wonders if there aren't products that have already reached a perfect blend of form and function . . . products that really are good enough . . . categories where innovation simply isn't necessary because there's nothing to be gained by producing something that's new but not different . . .
Glenn McMahan / May 29 2009
Articles
My brother-in-law hired an Amish company to put a new roof on his home. Those guys didn't just look different; they thought and worked different, smarter, faster, cheaper and...well, just better.
Jim Hancock / Aug 10 2009
Articles

Buy this book from Amazon.com

Cost cutting and process improvement are not sufficient paths to profit. Wealth is created through innovation, but innovation can be impeded by barriers within a company and in the market.
The film industry has been where the music business was -- making it difficult to download digital movies even as hackers and pirates demonstrate how easy it really is. It's time to face the music
Jim Hancock / Sep 16 2006
Articles
Ted Lucas of Lattice Capital Management LLC tells how understanding the meaning of work and the example of Bach stimulated creative thinking about his profession.