Innovation Best Practices

How people shop is changing even more dramatically than you ever thought it could. These major changes create opportunities for using innovation to create new competitive advantages. Believe me, there will be winners and losers in this transformation. The winners will be those who smartly use innovation to capitalize on these new trends and opportunities. Contact: richard@i2ge.com

In previous podcasts, I have talked about the many ways that you can create multiple innovations that add up to being dramatically better than your competition. This addresses one of the most powerful forms of innovation capable of helping you create major benefit advantages versus your competition. There is some good news and good help in this podcast.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the innovators have never been trained in innovation best practices. Almost no colleges offer an innovation degree and almost no companies offer internal training programs on innovation best practices. This podcast details 38 most proven innovation best practices–best practices proven to be able to consistently double innovation success in any business. Contact: richard@i2ge.com

The most successful innovators know that to be consistently successful requires them knowing more than they know today. Put simply, they need to ask a lot of questions. Even more specifically, they need to ask the kinds of questions that can consistently deliver high quality answers that make a difference. This podcast is inspired by a Harvard Business Review article and my own experience with asking the right kinds of questions. Contact: richard@i2ge.com

When I tell companies that the innovation failure rate has been 75% or greater for over 55 years, it seems most companies think that is something that happens to others, but not them. The 75% failure rate exists for every kind of company in every kind of business. The good news is that we know how companies can consistently double their innovation success rate. This podcast details exactly how that can be done. Contact: richard@i2ge.com

Innovators always need to be aware of the changing threats for their specific business. But the megatrends – the global threats–are also something all competitors need to be aware of. What is a threat for one company can be an opportunity for another company. Contact: richard@i2ge.com

The nature and dimensions of competition has never changed so much, so fast. Gaining a competitive advantage is far more challenging and complex than ever before. Having said that, at no time has been gaining a competitive advantage been more important. Contact: richard@i2ge.com

The whole area of mobility is going through the biggest transformation since the Model T. Being aware of the multidimensional transformation will help innovators capitalize on this major opportunity. Contact: richard@i2ge.com

Unfortunately, the last few decades the field of innovation has been dominated by somewhat trendy innovation methods that today seem remarkably less attractive and effective. The latest to experience this is Lean Innovation. I provided an overview of its challenges and outline what I consider to be a more fundamental and enduring innovation method.

Fast Company magazine publishes its annual list of the most innovative companies in the world – a list that for years has been dominated by many of the same companies. Wow! This year's list is dramatically different – long overdue. The number one and number two most innovative companies are probably companies you have never heard of but they are bringing about innovation on a massive level.

When I started this podcast I never thought I'd get the 200 let alone 300 episodes, but here we are. Thank you; thank you to all the listeners around the world. In this podcast I share my thoughts on what the top 10 all-time podcasts are from these first 300.

One of the most proven innovation best practices is artificial intelligence. We use an AI capability to conduct deep and broad searches around the world to better understand trends, facts, issues, and much more. This capability recently revealed some of the major issues being faced by countries around the world between now and 2025.

Periodically we have discussions with key industry innovation leaders. Our goals are to learn about their challenges, capabilities, and understanding of major innovation trends in their business. We take all the information that we learn and roll it up into a summary – this podcast shares those key insights.

Steve Jobs told innovators that one home run innovation (think iPhone) is much better than two innovation doubles to use a baseball analogy. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies are not and have not followed this sage advice….but hey should and this is how.

James Hlavacek’s book Fat Cats Don’t Hunt shares some truly valuable and powerful insights. These core values from his decades of success are right for any business.

I had heard about and explored Alibaba briefly but when I did a deep dive recently I was impressed beyond any expectations I could've had. They are not only an amazing seller of products but are also one of the most successful innovators in the world.

Our relationship with innovation failure is critical to innovation success. There is a lot we can learn about this from scientists. For example, Edison had 1000 failures before successfully inventing the light bulb.

The Harvard Innovation Labs pioneered some new innovation approaches that have subsequently been adopted in a variety of forms by many others. There are some good practices going on here that all of us can learn from.

The change from handheld calculators to computers changed the world of innovation possibilities. With the advent of quantum computing another major advancement in innovation possibilities is emerging. This is an early on update on what is happening that I will update periodically.

Kari is one of the most successful perceptive innovators in America today. We discuss a major challenge all companies face when there is a shift in consumer needs and behaviors. If you're an innovator, you need to pay attention to this.