Management consultants have a unique set of skills most professionals envy. Often working closely with C-Suite level executives, consulting firms carry the heavy responsibility of helping entire corporations improve their overall performance across a variety of...
Never underestimate the marketing power of excellent customer service. From a friendly smile to going above and beyond, a customer or client wants their purchasing experience to be easy, efficient, and personalized. Most of all they want to be made to feel like...
I recently read a social media post where a woman raved about the cool job interview she’d just been on. She loved everyone’s hospitality, the tattooed interviewer, and the overall casual vibe. It put her at ease and allowed her to feel like they respected her as an...
I remember the day I ruined TV dinners for my father. No, I did not burn his supper. I introduced him to the microwave. My dad was born in 1929, walked to school barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways in Oklahoma, and neither trusted nor enjoyed most electronics. ...
What do millennials want? If you knew the answer to that, you probably wouldn’t be interested in reading this blog. But I want to let you in on a secret: millennials want what everyone else wants. We’ve just been taught that we don’t have to settle. With so many...
Through the entrepreneurial lens of my experience, I’ve developed an interesting theory: people are more inclined to move when the pain of change is less than the pain to stay the same. More people seem to be motivated by wanting to avoid pain than actually capturing...
Human interaction today is saturated with continuous interruption, demonstrated most obviously by our addiction to the real-time access of smartphones and social media. As humans, we experience interruption in a way that aligns closely with the commonly used...
It’s no secret that remarkable success rarely comes without failures, demonstrated by a finding that 70% of new products fail to meet market demands. Most organizations distinguish innovation as the desired destination, yet the stops (and detours) along the way often...
Appreciation and recognition are crucial in employee retention and engagement. However, this becomes challenging to do effectively as advanced technology allows your team to be more distributed. A recent Gallup survey found that increased numbers of Americans are...
Last week, we defined “invent” as the act of creating something purely new, as part of our 3 I’s of Innovation blog series that also includes “iterate” and “interrupt.” In an age where every idea has already been brought to life, it’s next to impossible to create...
Participate in a strategy session at just about any leading product-driven organization today and you’ll be hard pressed not to be inundated with the word innovation. Understandably so – innovation is a powerful word, connoting growth, inspiration and market...
Fresh ideas are the foundation of innovation. It’s widely believed that building a pipeline of ideas is the ultimate weapon for leading organizations but real value stems from developing a strategy to choose them wisely. What does your company need to know to sort...
It’s hard to generate new ideas. It’s even harder to generate ideas that succeed. As new product failure rates hover around 70%, discovering new ways to grow revenue is a daunting prospect for organizations. So, how do you invent new ideas to successfully maximize...
True innovators know one thing for sure: past performance is not an indicator of future results. The road to sustainable disruption is a windy one and to stay competitive, organizations must know how to navigate inevitable curves. Last week, I made the case for...
The only constant is change. Businesses know that innovation is crucial to staying ahead of competition and are under more pressure than ever to generate new ideas. The process of cultivating a culture of innovation can be tricky; it’s easy to lean on concepts from...
Both innovation and disruption sound great on paper for any business aiming to distinguish itself from the competition, but do audiences know the difference? Many companies – especially startups – make liberal use of these words that connote change and creativity but...
One of the biggest challenges of product innovation is creating an element of surprise. What does this mean? As consumers, we tend to gravitate towards products or services that fulfill a need, whether we realize that need or not. The most impacted I’ve been by...
Even the most successful businesses face customer, competitive, and business growth challenges. The factors which led to stunning success in times past may not be what leads you to success in the future. Contact Us 1) Lack of innovation can kill your company....
Early on the idea of an “Application Economy” was revolutionary. Very few companies embraced the concept that any business, no matter what the industry, should imagine, create, and distribute online tools, apps, or products. Today, as leading analysts and market...
When you think of companies that have a reputation for excellence in innovation, Apple most likely comes to mind. Steve Jobs once said: “To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it...
