You know the feeling you get after attending a great conference? You are energized, optimistic, and inspired. You’ve heard from experts in the field, made awesome new connections with industry professionals, and generated tons of ideas for improving things back home. You’ve highlighted your notes and ordered a whole new
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Goal Setting in 2019
It is a tradition to spend time reflecting on our accomplishments at the end of each year. It is also a common practice to make new year’s resolutions as we ring in January 1st. A fresh calendar offers clear perspectivesand an opportunity to finally grab our
Prototypes and Pilots
Jeff is a Product Manager at a large company. He has profit-and-loss responsibility for a well-known consumer brand. Unfortunately, the last new product launch in the brand family was a disaster. The company is sitting on $3M inventory and nearly $1M in raw materials orders. Customers aren’t buying the product and
Leadership Lessons from Green Tea
Recently, my husband and I enjoyed a late weekend lunch at one of our favorite Japanese restaurants. He usually orders a bento box with shrimp tempura while I prefer the grilled salmon. I always order hot green tea because… well, because green tea is a requirement with Japanese food! The
An Idea Life Cycle for Innovation Success
Most of us have lots of ideas. Some of them are good, while others don’t pan out. Our idea span from improving technology and devices to better health care. Ideas are born to solve the great big, hairy problems of the world and other ideas are simple in nature to help us with our daily… Read More
The Power of a Master Mind
When I first heard the term, “master mind” I pictured the character Blofeld from the James Bond movie series. A sinister and evil man, obsessively stroking a long-haired white cat. Blofeld plots to take over the world, perhaps even the universe, but is always foiled by the clever, strong,
Design Thinking: Identifying Disruptive Innovations
To most companies, innovation is a crucial element of growth and sustainability. CEOs, stockholders, and Wall Street analysts all stress the importance of innovation to a firm’s financial well-being. Innovations allow companies to remain competitive, attract new customers, and increase profits. Yet, innovation remains elusive for a lot of firms.
Innovation Metrics
As they say, “What gets measured, gets done.” Measurements tell us how we are doing versus a standard and can provide motivation to improve systems or change behaviors. We know how far we’ve come and how far to go to achieve a goal by reviewing metrics. Traditional project metrics focus
“Wagile” in New Product Development
New product introductions fail at an amazingly high rate – about half of all new products commercialized fail to meet sales targets. In some cases, customers like the product features, but the cost is too high. In other situations, companies miss the mark in developing and designing a product that
What is Your Business Orientation?
Being successful in business means determining a strategy and following that strategy to execute flawless operations. There are infinite choices of strategies from which a firm might select – some focus on cost leadership while others will try to drive growth through customer relationships and product differentiations. The lens through
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