Tag Archives: Business

The AI Paradox: Why SMEs Might Be Losing Ground Just When They Thought They’d Caught Up

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Eugene Ivanov

Three months ago, I declared AI the great equalizer for small and medium enterprises. Today, I’m not so sure. In fact, I’m worried we might be celebrating prematurely — and that the very technology promising to level the playing field … Continue reading →

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Putting the Cart Before the Horse: What We’re Getting Wrong About AI

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Eugene Ivanov

The debate about artificial intelligence has become exhaustingly predictable. On one side, we have doomsayers who celebrate every misstep—a misdrawn map of Europe, a miscounted number of r’s in “blueberry”—as proof that AI is fundamentally flawed. The word “hallucination” has … Continue reading →

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Unlocking SME Innovation: Why AI-Based Problem-Solving is the Great Equalizer

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Eugene Ivanov

In mid-October 2009, I was visiting with a client, a large, Midwest-based paint and coating manufacturing company. As part of their product development process, the company’s engineers built a powerful outdoor pump to paint industrial buildings. The pump worked beautifully … Continue reading →

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Size Matters

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Eugene Ivanov

This image was created with the help of Gemini Of the many “rules” attributed to Jeff Bezos, his two-pizza rule is perhaps the most famous: every internal team should be small enough to be fed with two pizzas — ostensibly to make … Continue reading →

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Four Barriers to Adopting Open Innovation (and How to Overcome Them)

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Eugene Ivanov

This image was created with the help of Microsoft Designer A friend of mine, an innovation consultant, likes to joke: “Innovation is simple…but not easy.” The same can be said about open innovation too. Prof. Henry Chesbrough, who introduced the concept of … Continue reading →

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Are You Free to Innovate?

Posted on November 24, 2023 by Eugene Ivanov

The image was created with the help of Microsoft Designer I like to argue that one of the most powerful drivers of innovation — and the one that draws surprisingly little attention — is freedom. Freedom emerges as a common denominator for the factors that … Continue reading →

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The Inverted-U Law of Innovation (and Life)

Posted on October 21, 2023 by Eugene Ivanov

The image was created with the help of Microsoft Designer This piece has originally appeared on Medium. I like to argue that providing workers with immunity for failed innovation projects is a much better way to promote corporate innovation than by “celebrating … Continue reading →

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