Shutting down the idea factory

e economic downturn has hurt just about everyone: individuals, businesses, banks and even governments. But an unreported effect may have the most negative impact. The unnamed victim in this economy is 'innovation.' The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is laying off people because so little is happening. "A reporter for the Associated Press named Deb Reichmann first spotted the problem. At a time when we are being urged to invent the new future of American business and energy, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is laying off people because so little is happening.Venture capitalists, who always underwrite the next big thing, have invested $3 billion in the first quarter of this year. But that's down by nearly 50 percent from six months ago. Just when we need a flood of innovation in America, the money to make it happen has become a trickle." Is the situation any different in Canada? No. Canadian journalist David Crane wrote an editorial on the release of

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Destination: Work - Thriving in a Tough Economy by Tapping Into the Discretionary Effort of Your Employees, Ross Reck, Ph.D. & Harry Paul

Has your company’s bottom line taken a serious hit because of today’s lousy economic climate? Has your company tried to fix the situation by undergoing a round or two of layoffs, only to see your productivity plummet because of reduced morale and your better performing employees jumping ship to other companies or surfing the internet for job postings on your time? If so, would you like to turn your situation around instantly—as in overnight? If you think something like this is impossible, think again. The secret for turning things around is to tap into the discretionary effort of your employees—get them excited about coming to work and applying every bit of energy, creativity and passion they have toward performing their jobs instead of doing only what they have to do to in order to stay employed. How important is discretionary effort to the success of a business? Towers Perrin looked at 50 global companies over a 12 month period and found a direct relationship between discretionary effort and company performance. They found that the companies that received high levels of discretionary effort from their employees had a 19 percent increase in operating income and nearly a 28 percent increase in earnings per share.

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The Care and Framing of Strategic Innovation Changes - Arthur VanGundy Ph.D.

One of our members - Josh Gluckman from Think Growth, recently provided this document from Arthur VanGundy. There is a bit of content, though well worth the read... The Care and Framing of Strategic Innovation Challenges Arthur B. VanGundy, Ph.D. (“Andy”) avangundy@cox.net November 2005 Author’s Note: This paper represents the draft version of parts of several chapters in my recently-released book, Getting to Innovation: How. NY: AMACOM, 2007. http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Innovation- Asking the Right Questions Generates the Great Ideas Your Company Needs Questions-Generates-Company/dp/0814408982/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105- 5881108-2916424?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189367822&sr=8-1 Ideas in Search of Problems Are ideas a dime a dozen as the expression says? Probably not. That’s too easy and somewhat of a cop out. It is relatively easy to get ideas, but probably more difficult to get “good” ideas—those with the greatest probability of solving problems.

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Powerful Solving in the Foundation of Innovation - Matthew Battle

Why innovate? “No matter what anybody else tells you: corporations achieve competitive advantage through acts of innovation.” Peter Drucker According to the Boston Consulting Group 2006 survey Result, 72% of the executives rank innovation as a top-three strategic priority, up from 66% in 2005. 72% of respondents said their companies would increase spending on innovation in 2006. At the same time, many executives—nearly half of those surveyed—remain unsatisfied with the financial returns on their companies’ investments in innovation. Does that sound familiar to you? Why is innovation so important to CEO s? In the past, there has been a major trend among companies to reduce cost. 6-Sigma tools were so efficient for cost-cutting in transactional areas, as well as in technical areas, that their reputation has reached every big company. What they want: To gain money! This rigorous approach allows you to increase your margin by the given formula: Profits = Revenues – Costs Big profits can for sure come from decreasing your costs. But, in the end, even if a company has become the most efficient one on earth, it doesn’t mean it will be the most profitable. Why? Because the revenues will stay fixed, and more, will decrease year after year as the customer gets used to the product, and because competitors will launch some new, audacious products to compete with it!

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Learning to View Your Customers as a Powerful Tribe - Ed Welch

A CEO using Twitter to connect with customers? Why? Tony Hsieh (pronounced “Shay”), CEO of Zappos.com, uses Twitter to connect with customers. Why would a busy, important, successful CEO want to connect with customers? Make no mistake; Hsieh isn’t using Twitter for a marketing gimmick, but to make meaningful connections. The Dallas Mavericks went from being one of the worst basketball franchises in the National Basketball Association (NBA), to being one of the best and most valuable. The reason is usually sitting somewhere in the crowds at Maverick games. His name is Mark Cuban. Mark is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. His leadership lifted them to heights never before thought possible. How? Mark knows how to connect. Guess where he sits during games? With the fans. Guess who reads all the emails sent to the Dallas Mavericks? Mark does. He usually wears a jersey, not a suit and tie. He dresses like a fan and acts like a fan. Mark understands that connecting with fans is the key to the success of the Mavericks. Herb Kelleher, a legend of Southwest Airlines. Herb Kelleher was frequently spotted on Southwest flights, chatting with ordinary passengers. Why? Surely he had more important things to do? Kelleher was connecting with his customers.

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