clair075

As someone who styles themselves as an innovation consultant, I'm constantly asked about the difference we've made in the corporations where OVO has worked.  Recently, in a meeting with potential clients, I was asked about past experiences.  I classify them in three categories:  unabashed successes, short term successes and utter flameouts.  Of course, as a good consultant I took credit for the first two and divorced myself from any involvement in the third! If you are interested in what made the differences, read the paragraph at the end of this post.  Because this post isn't really about me, or OVO or our successes.  It's about how you.  Specifically, how you should be evaluated for your next role, regardless of the position or level or authority.  You see, innovation is no longer a nice to have, or an occasional experiment or a "flavor of the month".  As fast as things are changing, as quickly as industry barriers are falling, as fast as ...

I was thinking over the weekend about cavemen.  Recently, archaeologists discovered a cache of bones in a cave in South Africa that could represent an entirely new hominid.  While the discovery itself is interesting, what I'd like to think about is how cavemen innovated, and what that may tell us about how we innovate today, both in terms of the nature of innovation and the pace of innovation. Think about our first ancestors.  At some point they were without tools, using their hands or fists to defend themselves. Then one day a long time ago one of them picks up a bone or a tree branch to defend itself, and the club was created, probably one of the first tools ever invented.  But here's where it gets interesting:  how long did it take to invent the club, and how long before another invention was created?  I'd like to argue that the nature and pace of innovation is always accelerating, and is evolving more rapidly as we have more and more information around...

Today I am leading a panel at the Sports and Fitness Industry Association leadership meeting in New Orleans.  I had the chance to sit in and listen as Jim Carroll , the futurist, talked about a number of trends that will force changes in the way we make and sell products.  Jim's presentation was very interesting and let me to think about what happens when past experience doesn't matter anymore.  I'll explain what I mean by that shortly.  Jim and I share an appreciation of trend spotting and scenario planning. Jim touched on a few reasonably well-known trends and their implications.  For example, he talked about the fact that most industries don't understand the power of transformation, or where new disrupters will come from.  For example, disruption in the automotive industry is much more likely to come from Tesla or Google than from GM or Ford.  He also talked about the increasing pace of change.  Again, for automotive manufacturers the disrupter...