Author Archives: Eugene Ivanov

About Eugene Ivanov

Eugene Ivanov is the Founder of (WoC)2, an innovation consultancy that helps organizations extract maximum value from the wisdom of crowds by coordinated use of internal and external crowdsourcing.

The Holidays We Celebrate

I remember my first Christmas. I was thirty-six back then. On a dark, frosty morning of December 15, 1990, my family (my wife and two little kids, aged two and three) and I left St. Petersburg, Russia, and flew to … Continue reading

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The Questions We Answer

As a Russian-American, I’m used to answering questions about Russia. Most of them are mundane, revolving around the same theme: how much does it cost to buy this or that in Russia? Apartment prices usually attract the bulk of the … Continue reading

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Do Wars Boost Innovation?

A slightly different version of this piece was originally published on Change Logic’s Viewpoint Blog. War is a horrible thing. Images of killed, wounded, or orphaned Ukrainian kids, victims of Russia’s barbaric aggression, leave little room for the belief that … Continue reading

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Will the Women Innovators Please Stand Up?

My wife often complains that her hairdryer was designed by a bunch of bold males. True, it produces a stream of hot air. But the control buttons on the handle are arranged in such a way that the device is … Continue reading

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Dose Is Everything: How Religious Diversity Affects Performance

The idea that diversity boosts corporate performance and innovation is becoming mainstream. So far, the focus of attention has been mostly on factors of social diversity: the diversity of race, gender, and sexual identity. Unfortunately, less is known about the … Continue reading

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Innovating in Your Dream and With a Drink

There are a few reported approaches to boosting human creativity. Some of them are very proper. Perhaps the most popular is taking a shower — especially if followed by going to the garden and sitting under the apple tree. Another … Continue reading

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How to Build Your Innovation Dream Team (Part 2)

In Part 1, I described two potential approaches to building a corporate innovation team. One emphasizes specific individual skills of team members, the other focuses on the optimal mix of functional roles within the team. There is the third approach to the … Continue reading

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How to Build Your Innovation Dream Team (Part 1)

Do you agree that to pursue a corporate innovation project, you need a dedicated innovation team? Maybe not. We often hear that “innovation is everyone’s job” along with arguments that any structure kills creativity and stifles innovation. Why is the … Continue reading

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Are You Free to Innovate?

My search for factors advancing corporate innovation has led me to a somewhat unexpected conclusion: to innovate, you need freedom. This freedom can be realized at three major levels. The first level is individual, manifested as freedom from being discriminated … Continue reading

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Location (Location, Location) and Innovation

In my previous post, I discussed evidence indicating that liberal social policies make U.S. states implementing them more innovative. If so, one would expect that liberal U.S. states are in general more innovative than conservative. To see if there is … Continue reading

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