#MonkeyFirst Innovation
At Google’s X division, the company’s “moonshot factory,” the mantra is “#MonkeyFirst.” The idea is that if you want to get a monkey to recite Shakespeare on a pedestal, you’d better start by training the monkey, not building the pedestal, because training the monkey is the hard part. Anyone can build a pedestal. The problem is that most people…
Don't Go On Your Own: Lessons From LoyaltyOne's Corporate Innovation Lab
Some corporate innovation labs never seem to get rid of the image that they're just there for PR purposes, or as nicely decorated conference rooms. Yet some are effective, and have an important role in realizing their organization's innovation agenda. The key? They are not set up and managed as standalone entities, without any real ties into the…
Corporate Innovation: The Talent Perspective
Innovation — the internal capacity to generate new ideas, products, or processes that create value — is one of the engines of corporate success. Unfortunately, it is also an engine of corporate angst. Don’t take my word for it. In a recent survey of CEOs, 81 percent said innovation was critical to their firms’ share price. The same survey found…
Lean Enterprise Transformation: Why We Need It And What It Looks Like
The word transformation seems to scare people off. Many people associate the word with traditional, linear, multi-year programs that don’t take into account the speed of change, rarely test before deploying at scale, and expect significant investment of resources before any measurable business outcome is achieved. And I agree; those efforts scare…
An Ugly Business (Or: Why You Need to Reframe Your Ugliest Challenges and Constraints Right Now)
This article by David Hicks was previously posted here and has been republished with permission. Image © Ugly Models On a scale of 1-10 how beautiful/handsome would you say you are? OK, let’s look at things a bit differently: on a scale of 1-10 how ugly do you consider yourself to be? Were you honest with your assessment or did you try and…
The Innovator’s Rosetta Stone for the C-Suite
Face it, the C-Suite speaks its own language. And as a corporate innovator, so do you. Innovators love change, but working to change the thinking of leadership — dedicated to maximizing the profitability of the core business — is difficult, to say the least. What we need is a way to integrate our needs into the language and systems that dominate…
Benchmark Your Innovation Efforts: First 13 Case Study Talks for Innov8rs LA
During Innov8rs LA, you’ll get access to a diverse range of stories, perspectives and experiences from people doing amazing work driving innovation in large and legacy organizations, across all sectors. There's no better opportunity to benchmark where you stand. To ask how they did it, and discuss strategies and tactics. To get new ideas for…
The Innovative Team: Recognizing and Developing Your Innovators
Creativity is in high demand. According to studies done by Adobe and IBM, 94% of hiring managers consider creativity when assessing candidates, preferring creative candidates 5-to-1. CEOs across the globe consider creativity the #1 leadership quality required for success. But those same studies also reveal that creativity is the one area where…
The Real State of Innovation Strategy, Leadership & Culture
This is an article by Cris Beswick, republished with permission and as originally published at The Future Shapers here We all know there’s nothing new about innovation, or even innovation strategy, leadership or culture. The truth is that as an outcome of creative endeavour, it’s been around since the age of man as we, ‘Man’ has always…
When in Madrid... Check out BBVA, Telefonica, Real and more
Innov8rs Madrid is not your regular conference where you are forced to sit and listen to some celebrity far away on a stage (and fall asleep half-way the morning). During all our events, you'll go out and explore the local ecosystem. So, we're excited to announce seven field trips to BBVA, Telefonica, the Global Sports Innovation Center and more…
The What, Why & How Of An Effective Innovation Ecosystem
When you open a LEGO set, the sheer amount of pieces and parts can be overwhelming. Even though you know the end result you’re aiming for, you have no idea how all these little blocks fit together to get there. According to Dan Toma, an innovation ecosystem is a lot like LEGO. There are a ton of moving parts, and your job is to figure out how they…
Explore The Future of Everything (And Failure Too): Field Trips for Innov8rs LA
Our events are different from the traditional (boring) conference where you fall asleep half-way the morning. You won't be locked up in a windowless ballroom for four full days listening to long lectures. We can't talk about innovation in a traditional, comfortable setting, right? We want you to experience innovation in action. And for sure,…