Posts filed as “Innovation”
Day-glo 80′s ski tricks, Border Smashers, and Dinner Rolls
Before Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile, a group of runners had been working on it for a decade and many, including scientists, considered the four minute barrier physically impossible. But once the world saw Roger do it in May of 1954, within weeks his record 3:59 was beaten by John Landy of Australia….
Turkeys, Flash Freezing and Cafeteria Trays
In late 1953 the Swanson brothers had a glut of turkey. Swanson were turkey wholesalers and had overestimated the market. They thought they would make a killing that year on Christmas turkeys sales. Not so much. So now they had 235 metric tons of turkey riding around the U.S. in refrigerated rail cars and the…
Turn the small screws
Think big! Blue sky! Anything is possible! Let’s build the next iPhone. Or better, let’s disrupt our own business model with a seismic market change, like iTunes. No…wait, like Spotify! This kind of collaborative bluster is akin to throwing a Hail Mary in the waning seconds. Possible, yes. Probable, no. I was reminded of a…
The risk is in your head
Our twelve year old son walked into the lunchroom at Sugarloaf ski resort a couple weeks ago and said quietly, “I learned how to do a 360.” I said, “Awesome! That’s pretty cool. How did you learn that?” He said he just decided to do it. Within 24 hours our ten year old and his…
Changing behavior is the new killer app
Innovation is implementing something new, which is realized by another as having value. This isn’t creativity. People can be wonderfully creative over and over until they finally produce an innovation recognized by another person, or a whole community of people, as indeed valuable. Lytro has introduced a real game-changer in the camera market by creating…
No one can innovate alone
Think of some of the most iconic ancient innovations: the wheel, the arrowhead, pottery. In each case some one knew how to make such a thing, because they were mentored by some one before them knowledgeable in the craft. Each learned a skill which enabled them to replicate a thing of value, hone their skills,…
Insourcing Innovation
GE is in the process of overhauling design of their signature appliances. And starting to manufacture them in Kentucky instead of Mexico and China. “So a funny thing happened to the GeoSpring (water heater) on the way from the cheap Chinese factory to the expensive Kentucky factory: The material cost went down. The labor required…
Adequate Performance Gets a Generous Severance Package
“There is no clothing policy at Netflix, but no one comes to work naked. Lesson: You don’t need policies for everything” Turbulent, ambiguous times, right? Market complexity accelerating, yes? Here’s a strategy for beating market complexity: increase the density of talent in your organization faster than the complexity increases around you. In the same way…
Integrate the Human Factor in Your Work
The profession of radiology has been progressing over the past fifty years in terms of how people are trained, equipment and technology used, and immediacy of feedback. Yet despite these advances, error rates often remain statistically significant and frustratingly high depending on the type of reading performed – bone density, chest radiographs, mammograms, gastrointestinal, and…
Innovation = Meaning + Seeing + Leading
I had an interview with Venkatesh Valluri, President of Ingersoll Rand India. In our conversation, he spoke of the qualities of successful emerging leaders as possessing three distinct qualities: The ability to scan a constantly moving stream of technologies and information and pick out the meaningful trends in their businesses The ability to conceptualize these…
About Shawn
Shawn Hunter is currently Executive Producer & Vice President for Skillsoft's leadership video learning collections. For over a decade Shawn has engaged, collaborated with, and filmed, hundreds of business authors, executives, and business school faculty in an effort to produce video learning solutions, as both an entrepreneur and later as a product developer for Skillsoft.
>> Read More