Tag Archives: Harvard Business Review

Don’t bring me eggs…Sorry, I meant problems.

Posted on March 22, 2021 by Eugene Ivanov

It appears that the resistance to the time-tested management wisdom “Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions” has reached a critical mass. Writing back in 2017 for Harvard Business Review, Sabina Nawaz suggested to “retire the saying” and replace this … Continue reading →

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A sober look at drinking and creativity

Posted on March 9, 2021 by Eugene Ivanov

In one of my prior lives, I was a researcher in a Russian academic lab. A colleague of mine was studying the effects of ethanol alcohol on yeast cells. Every time she presented project updates to the rest of the … Continue reading →

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The Words We Choose

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Eugene Ivanov

In a recent HBR article “Stop Calling It Innovation,” Nadya Zhexembayeva suggests ditching the term “innovation.” Her point? Employees hate innovation. Rightly or wrongly, they associate innovation with undue risk, extra work without reward, and even job loss. As a … Continue reading →

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Don’t blame crowdsourcing for “bad ideas”

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Eugene Ivanov

As I mentioned a couple of years ago, I try to follow what academic researchers write about crowdsourcing. As a crowdsourcing practitioner, I welcome the clarity, holistic approach, and intellectual vigor academic research brings to the table. On occasion, however, … Continue reading →

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Is your shovel good enough to hit the nail?

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Eugene Ivanov

Imagine you’re outside and need to hit the nail into the wall to hang a picture. You select the nail of the correct size and then look around for an appropriate hitting tool. You pick up a new, shiny shovel … Continue reading →

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Does “process” kill innovation?

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Eugene Ivanov

Reading Steve Blank is always a pleasure. Not only is he among the world’s best scholars of corporate innovation; his ability to explain complex things in a simple language is unparallel. Blank’s recent HBR piece, “Why Companies Do ‘Innovation Theater’ … Continue reading →

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The Crucial Role of Marketing in Innovation

Posted on March 16, 2019 by Eugene Ivanov

There is a common misconception that innovation and marketing are two separate concepts when it comes to business. However, if you analyze it, you will see how successful game-changing technologies have used marketing to promote their product and create customer … Continue reading →

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A sober truth about drunk people

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Eugene Ivanov

Harvard Business Review is a serious periodical not known for publishing frivolous content. Yet the tone of one of its features, “Professor X, defend your research,” in the latest (May-June 2018) issue, was far from academic. Defending his research was … Continue reading →

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One more time about “innovation terminology”

Posted on February 6, 2018 by Eugene Ivanov

In a recent HBR article, Scott Kirsner suggests ditching the term “corporate entrepreneur.” Kirsner names a number of reasons why corporate innovation, especially in large firms, is different from true entrepreneurship. One is bureaucratic shackles that restrict the development of … Continue reading →

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Don’t “fiddle” with the crowd — ask it better questions instead

Posted on November 16, 2017 by Eugene Ivanov

(This post originally appeared on InnovationManagement.se) As the examples of successful use of crowdsourcing to address complex technical, business and social issues grow in numbers, so do the instances of failed crowdsourcing campaigns. To make crowdsourcing a widely recognized idea-generating … Continue reading →

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