Loyal readers (and anyone caught in an elevator with me) already know my passion for Patent Analysis. Inventors, entrepreneurs and other innovators should pay close attention as the process is low risk and the results are always educational. As a quick recap, Patent Analysis takes statistical advantage of the roughly 5 million patent applications and …
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How can you provide fruitful criticism to your manager?
In 2012, ISD teacher Joseph Drake was suspended for criticizing in a private email a school board member who suggested increasing teachers’ work-hours. Similarly, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Robert Neumann, was, most probably, ousted from his function after criticizing his boss, former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, in a private meeting with a …
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Great innovation + poor strategy = Failure
Guest post by Steve Pearson Too many engineers in the kitchen can doom a company As many people can tell you, I like to talk about the importance of combining innovation and strategy to ensure long-term company growth. And I’ve learned that lesson first hand. I used to work for Motorola and, while there, bought …
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Group brainstorming: 60 years on
Creativity and innovation have become the buzzwords of the day. For instance, in the 2012 IBM CEO study , more than half of 1700 surveyed CEOs saw innovation as a key resource of sustained economic value. In the same study, 61% of CEOs reported creativity as being one of the traits critical for employee success. …
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As a manager, how often do you ask for feedback?
Guest post by Dr. Jana Niemann Recently, I had lunch with a manager who was worrying that he may not be effective enough in motivating and inspiring his employees. My first question to him was: “What do your employees think about this?” To my surprise, he conceded that he did not know: he had never …
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Make failure your teacher in innovation
Post by Dr. Diana Rus In an economic environment fraught with uncertainty, many companies face intense pressures to innovate in order to capture more market share or gain new markets. In this quest for the holy grail of innovation, leaders find themselves grappling with the question of what they can do to spark innovation within …
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Ken Robinson
"If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”
−Ken RobinsonKen Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity (TED)
[If you don’t have Flash, you can click here for the TED site.] Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. He challenges the way children are educated by championing a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge …
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John Maynard Keynes
“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”
−John Maynard Keynes