Comments for Innovation News

Comment on Important CHANGES to Innovation Engineering by Doug Hall

Doug Hall — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:07:30 +0000

Innovation Engineering is mindset dedicated to continuous improvement. We track data – run experiments and continuously improve effectiveness.

The blog post details what we are learning. To really make a difference within a company culture it is more effective to start with accelerating existing ideas as opposed to creating new ideas. A survey of the “pioneers” who attended the Leadership Institute at the beginning found that those that accelerated existing ideas had more confidence and commitment to the system a year later. It also respects the ideas and opinions of individuals within the company.

To make SUSTAINABLE change within a culture – an “event” to spark ideas doesn’t seem to “stick” Real change comes from deeper engagement by the leadership over a much longer period of time. Our recommendation is a minimum of 12 months of weekly, monthly and quarterly coaching – starting with a 3 month trial.

Comment on Important CHANGES to Innovation Engineering by Fred Botterbusch

Fred Botterbusch — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:46:23 +0000

Now I’m more confused.
So we are not to start with a Jump Start any more. Is Jump Start gone all together, or when is it appropriate? Fred

Comment on Today is the day to take action on your future by Rob Sleamaker

Rob Sleamaker — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:59:57 +0000

Doug,
Your October 23 post, “Today is the day to take action on your future” – and the guy “who didn’t get it” – prompted this thought for me. Maybe the problem is more fundamental that we might think. That business guy, and many others, might benefit from an analogy. Consider that a successful business is like a sports team, such as soccer or basketball. Each team has positions that must be played, with assignments for each player. Those team mates must work together to put the ball in the other teams net more than letting the ball go in their own goal. While players can cross-train to cover teammates, they still have their specialty skills that contribute to the success of the team. If a soccer team has great field players but no Goalie, they will get scored on a lot. Also, every successful team has a great coach, an organized coach, a coach who knows how to bring out the best in each player.
So, perhaps one of the fundamental reasons that guy “didn’t get it” about innovation is that he, as coach, just doesn’t understand how “Innovation” represents “the Goalie” in my sports team analogy. I think most small business owners don’t always understand all the vital positions that must be played in order to be successful, let alone understanding the importance of Innovation as “the Goalie” on their team. They especially may not even understand how vital Innovation is for long term success.

In a way, it’s no different than our current education system, our food production and distribution system, and our broken medical system in the USA. We’ve lost sight of the essential positions that must be covered / played to be successful for the long term.

I have found a book call The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber, to be quite useful in helping me understand “the positions on my team” that must be played by excellent people. But I think that book does not give enough discussion about the importance of innovation.

Thanks for all you are doing for Innovation and small business.

Best wishes,
Rob Sleamaker

Comment on There is no reason not to follow your heart! by mary levenhagen

mary levenhagen — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:09:25 +0000

My heart sank yesterday morning when I read that Steve had passed. After reading this today it reaffirms to me that a great man has left this earth. I’ve copied what you shared and at our employee meeting this morning I am going to pass this on to all our guys. It’s no wonder why he was a great success and we are blessed that he shared with us his thoughts behind his actions.

Comment on There is no reason not to follow your heart! by Al

Al — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 22:05:51 +0000

Given that I believe your thoughts take you to where you’ll be tomorrow, I find the following especially sad under the circumstances: When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.”

Comment on Entrepreneur Learns how to Commercialize his Offering by How to Find a Legitimate Work at Home Business | The PLR Resource

How to Find a Legitimate Work at Home Business | The PLR Resource — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 06:35:42 +0000

[...] Entrepreneur Learns how to Commercialize his Offering [...]

Comment on Three Simple Secrets to Success by Barry Bruns

Barry Bruns — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:17:29 +0000

The more I learn about Innovation Engineering, the more analogies I see to a high performance fighter air-to-air battle, and the training required to prevail in such an arena. The pilot who can Observe the adversary, Orient to what they are doing, Decide how to proceed, and Act on the above the fastest, over and over, wins. It’s Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles measured in fractions of seconds, not years, quarters, months, weeks, or even days. As an instructor in this business I drove my trainees past their threshold of awareness, into the area where they lost control of their aircraft or the fight. I could never let them drive past my ability to control it, however. It was only in this area of forced failure that they progresssed, they raised their awareness threshold, and got better. Without driving them to failure I failed as an instructor. The trainees had to be able to accept this, to be able to learn from that horrible feeling of failure, of losing a battle, of having their precious ego sliced, diced, and spread out on the dry erase board during the debriefing. The good ones requested to be scheduled to fly with me over and over, they wanted more of this failure experience. But, they learned from this until I could no longer defeat them, no longer drive them past their awareness threshold. They were as good as I was, as good as anyone in the business, and better than any potential competition.

The extreme challenge for those of us involved with Innovation Engineering is how to drive our clients into such learning cycles without getting kicked out of their establishments. The more willing they are to grow, the harder we can drive. But, we have to remember that we are driving them into growth, not into failure from which they cannot recover.

“Fight’s on…”

bjb

Comment on Declaration of Independence from being a Commodity by Greg Lemmon

Greg Lemmon — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:17:22 +0000

Hi Dave,
This new study was done just last week, so it is not published anywhere other than this blog post.
I was the statistician who analyzed the data, so if you have any questions, e-mail me at greg@eurekaranch.com

Thanks, and I’m glad you enjoyed the leadership institute.

Greg

Comment on Declaration of Independence from being a Commodity by Dave Schmidt

Dave Schmidt — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:44:33 +0000

you mentioned a “new study” …”New research shows that companies who are focused on innovation are thriving today. Importantly they are thriving by adapting for new customers and by innovating their product lines. Today they have 37% of their sales in products or services they didn’t have 3 years ago and 43% of their sales are to customers they didn’t have 3 years ago.”

Can you share the reference for the study?

Thanks,
Your innovation institute was great!