Category Archives: Innovation

Investing in culture of innovation

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

Everyone would agree that the rational risk-taking–and acceptance of failure as a likely outcome of any exploratory project–represents one of the most crucial components of the bona fide culture of innovation. What is missing in our endless talks about establishing … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Rewards and Recognition | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Are We Faking Innovation?

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

Let me begin with a couple of quotes. “Innovation is like teenage sex; everyone talks about it, nobody really knows how to do it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone claims they are doing it!” (Cris Beswick, Founder … Continue reading →

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Can we make crowdsourcing available to small companies?

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

Crowdsourcing is a powerful open innovation tool allowing organizations to tap on the collective wisdom of their own employees (internal crowdsourcing) or pools of external talent around the world (external crowdsourcing). Internal crowdsourcing (usually managed through Internal Innovation Networks) can be … Continue reading →

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3 Ways to Improve the Efficiency of the “Idea Generation” Process

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

In my previous post, I compared the efficiency of two approaches to corporate innovation: “bottom-up” and “top-down.” The former approach relies on ideas that are first generated by a company’s employees and then channeled up to the company’s senior management. … Continue reading →

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What Do Numbers Say About Different Models of Innovation?

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

I’m not a fan of the “idea generation” model of innovation. This approach, which I call “bottom-up,” puts the focus of innovation on ideas that are generated by employees on the ground and then channeled upwards to senior management. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Crowdsourcing, Innovation, Innovation Service Providers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

On Henry Ford, Toyota and Faster Horses

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

A consensus seems to have emerged that customer feedback, gathered through market research, is a key to successful innovation. And yet, dissenting votes can still be heard. Some folks claim that paying too much attention to customers can stifle innovation, degrade … Continue reading →

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Have too many ideas? Blame your CEO!

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

In an elegant piece in Harvard Business Review, Whitney Johnson points to a problem that many innovative companies face: an excess of good ideas. Obviously, only a fraction of them can be pursued. But what are we going to do … Continue reading →

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Three Reasons for your Company to Write an Innovation Charter

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

 This piece was originally posted to the Qmarkets blog A lack of executive leadership is one of the most commonly mentioned reasons for the failure of innovation. This leadership vacuum usually comes in two flavors. The company’s CEO loudly declares “Let’s … Continue reading →

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The Myth of “Unstructured” Innovation

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

I’m grateful to everyone who commented on my post, Does Innovation Need “Structure”? Many agreed with my assertion that adopting a formalized process (“structure”) provides innovation with direction and helps create what is commonly known as culture of innovation. Yet, … Continue reading →

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Does Innovation Need “Structure”?

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Eugene Ivanov

A 2012 study by Accenture found that organizations that have a holistic, formal innovation structure consistently report better outcomes of their innovation programs. But Kevin Daly of Affinnova is skeptical. In a recent piece, Daly described Affinnova’s own survey of … Continue reading →

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