The first quarter of 2015 is over and you might be feeling a befuddled as your innovation efforts aren’t taking off as you’d planned.
Fear not, this series of thought leadership articles will help you reframe the discussion at your organization. We’ve shared a few introductory posts to help organize your thinking, and then focus on specifics that will breathe new life into your efforts. The topics share the best articles (as voted by Brightidea in Q1 2015) on best practices and emerging trends from innovation leaders and Fortune 500 firms.
Keep a notebook (or a mobile device) handy as you read, and when you’re finished reading, be sure to reach out with your questions.
Enjoy!
1. 5 Ways to get Ready for Innovation in 2015: If you aren’t ready for innovation, consider this post your orientation to what awaits. The steps listed will help you focus your efforts, channel all that creative energy and feel sure of yourself as you set off on your own innovation path!
2. IBM Institute for Business Value: More than Magic: How do the most successful organizations innovate? IBM surveyed more than 1,000 C-suite executives from across the world to gather specific practices and find out where they think innovation is headed. If this doesn’t get kick your planning process into overdrive, nothing will!
3. 5 Ways Managers Stifle Innovation: Many companies today are unknowingly stifling innovative thinking, and that needs to change – fast. Do any of these five behaviors listed sound familiar? If so, the tips at the end around unlocking innovation will be VERY helpful.
4. Chief Innovation Officers Need Friends in High Places: Even innovation leaders at high-power organizations like Hyatt Hotels, Nestle, Purina Petcare, and Merck & Co. face challenges when it comes to change management and creating a culture of innovation. This piece shares insight from expert innovation executives who have successfully overcome internal and external struggles at top corporations – and the importance of executive support.
5. The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Media: This list of innovative media outlets is one any publisher would be proud to be on, but only ten made the cut. These sites are very different from each other, but all foster interactive communication and are killing it online. Check out this who’s who and what they’ve done to inspire your own efforts going forward.
6. The Benefits of Open Innovation: The term “open innovation” was coined by Henry Chesbrough and “refers to the collaboration between companies, individuals and public agencies to create innovative products and services and, in the process, share its risks and rewards.” And this article shares real-life situations where this ideology has been put to the test and succeeded. Is ‘open innovation’ where our efforts are headed? Should it be, in the spirit of creating a better place to live?
7. How Smart Entrepreneurs Make Innovation Look Easy: Does being an expert innovator require a certain genetic makeup, or can anyone be an Elon Musk? This article shares concepts explored in a new book, “The 4 Lenses of Innovation,” by Rowan Gibson. Gibson shares traits of true innovators and ways to unlock yours via connecting powerful digital tools, a structured process, and some best innovation practices (shared in the piece).
8. 2015: The Year the Cloud Bursts: From smart homes and digital health to merely understanding what saving data ‘in the cloud’ means, 2015 is predicted to be a revolutionary year where advanced technology becomes more accessible to the average person – and indispensible for the rest of us. Where do you fall in this continuum?
9. Re-Framing Innovation in 2015 – How iteration really does transform fear of failure: Fear of failure is one of the biggest hurdles companies face when attempting to encourage innovation. Overcoming it requires a true commitment to risk-taking and acceptance when mistakes are made – and adopting an iteration mindset helps. Learn more about how that looks here.
10. The Five Most Disruptive Innovations at CES 2015: Disruptive innovation sounds scary, but offers the potential for some truly groundbreaking partnerships between unrelated companies – and nowhere is that more evident than at this year’s CES. Check out these trends and predictions for where these innovations are headed.
Please share your favorite articles below. And for more insights on innovation, check out our April Google hangouts with Innovation Leaders sharing their best practices.
