innovation Category
Beyond Bullshit for Design Thinking
Posted on October 4, 2017 Leave a Comment
Design thinking is in its ‘bullshit’ phase, a time characterized by wild hype, popularity and little evidence of what it does, how it does it, or whether it can possibly deliver what it promises on a consistent basis. If design thinking is to be more than a fad it needs to get serious about answering […]
Design thinking is BS (and other harsh truths)
Posted on September 19, 2017 1 Comment
Design thinking continues to gain popularity as a means for creative problem-solving and innovation across business and social sectors. Time to take stock and consider what ‘design thinking’ is and whether it’s a real solution option for addressing complex problems, over-hyped BS, or both. Design thinking has pushed its way from the outside to the […]
The logic of a $1000 iPhone
Posted on September 12, 2017 Leave a Comment
Today Apple is expected to release a new series of iPhone handsets with the base price for one set at more than $1000. While many commentators are focusing on the price, the bigger issue is less about what these new handsets cost, but what value they’ll hold. The idea that a handset — once called […]
Decoupling creators from their creations
Posted on June 1, 2017
The world is transformed by creators — the artists, the innovators, the leaders — and their creations are what propel change and stand in the way of it. Change can be hard and its made all the more so when we fail to decouple the creator from the created, inviting resistance rather than enticing better creations. […]
Jaded: Whether You Are a Plant or a Stone Makes All the Difference
Posted on May 11, 2017
An attempt to innovate – do something new to produce value — is always fraught with risk and a high likelihood that things won’t go as planned, which can leave people jaded toward future efforts. Whether that metaphor of jade is one of a rock (static) or a plant (growth) makes all the difference. Innovation is hot. […]
What’s in your baggage?
Posted on April 19, 2017 4 Comments
Social and emotional baggage is what we bring with us and, like the real thing, it’s all in what we pack, how we pack it and how aware we are of what we’re packing it for. And like the real thing, individuals and organizations can’t go on much of a journey without carrying some of […]
Seeking simplicity among complexity? Go Dutch!
Posted on April 7, 2017 2 Comments
In a world awash in content and the resulting complexity that comes when it all intersects the viable options for how to manage it remain few. The Dutch De Stijl art and design movement might offer some lessons on dealing with complexity that we can apply beyond products to creating beautiful, functional, and effective services, […]
You Want It Darker?
Posted on November 11, 2016 1 Comment
It is poetic irony on many levels that weeks after Leonard Cohen releases his album about the threat of death that he passes on, mere days after we saw the least poetic, most crass election campaign end in the United States with an equally dramatic outcome. This points to art, but also to the science of […]
Fail Fast, Succeed Sooner(?)
Posted on October 4, 2016
Our series on paradox continues today by taking a look at the curious case of failure and how it’s popularity as a means to success represents more than just a paradox, but a series of contradictions that might just thwart the very innovation it seeks to support by embracing it. Failure is everywhere. Today […]
Innovation Framing
Posted on May 17, 2016
Innovation is easier to say than to do. One of the reasons is that a new idea needs to fit within a mindset or frame that is accustomed to seeing the way things are, not what they could be, and its in changing this frame that innovators might find their greatest obstacles and opportunities. Innovation, its […]
