Idea and Innovation Blog

Wow!! Innovation is just about on everybody’s lips theses days. It’s a buzzword, a movement and a panacea to all corporate malaise. “I’ve got it Smithers, we will transform ourselves into a lean, mean, innovation machine”!!! Okay Chief, now what? Well in the real worl...

Some companies get it and others just don’t. Word-of-mouth promotion of one’s brands, activities and innovation initiatives is one of the most powerful, motivational and effective tool in a company’s arsenal. It’s viral, cost-effective and credible. So how does one build the...

As things go, there is a certain status that comes with size. Scale it seems is the street cred that makes the good..great; the known...ubiquitous; the powerful...mighty. And because folks immersed in innovation are  as susceptible as any to this seek out this revered status, the temptations is...

Last week-end, I went shopping and decided to buy an iPad. There are many outlets within the mall I was at where I could purchase this device; but since there was an Apple Store nearby, I decided on it. It appears that I wasn’t the only person with the same idea…because when I got ther...

When you look at the origins of innovations, one thing quickly becomes clear: it happens anywhere and everywhere, Take the innovative art of Bjork; it hails from Iceland. The Ski-Doo snowmobile; it’s from Quebec. Apple electronic devices; California. Red Bull from Austria. Creative spark ...

The following example is a case study among many highlighting why outside innovations can have such a hard time gaining traction. When I was a sophomore at college, I had an idea for a portable toothbrush.  The value proposition was to enable consumers to connect a toothpaste tube to the shaft...

Ask anyone about their organization and they’ll tell you that they’re different – fair enough and true enough. This raises an interesting question: if being different is so important that it bears mentioning, why then should any company want to emulate the innovation processes of ...

Every now and again, we like to use simple everyday situations to illustrate how easy Innovation and Idea Management can be. In the latest installation of this theme, I will share a simple example of collaboration and its ripple effects across a seemingly complex, diverse and siloed environment. L...

There is a healthy debate regarding the benefits of automating the innovation workflow process versus routing ideas manually. From our perspective, both sides are right. Because we would be loathe to create more ambiguity about this thorny subject, let us outline why a workflow strategy designed ar...

As a company, have you ever wondered what you clients are thinking? As a company, are you even sure that clients *like* your products? Two very simple questions, simple *if* you actually ask. For the last few years one could swear that companies don’t ask these questions anymore. How many t...