Just about every CEO in America wants to increase their innovation capabilities, but most are still wondering how. Hiring great design and innovation leaders certainly helps, because the connection between design, innovation and corporate culture is powerful indeed. Connecting the right people with the right processes can be key in developing cultures of innovation, lets […]
Read MoreEmbracing your inner creativity.
There are many ways to help an organization spark creative breakthroughs. Developing your inner creative resource is part of the very fabric of creativity. And it’s never too late to start, because creativity is a journey, not a destination. For most people, the idea of creativity may be associated with artists and fashion designers. Yet […]
Read MoreCreative Intelligence.
By Bruce Nussbaum. In 2011, Dr. Dre was an unhappy hip hop music producer and businessman. He had built n empire on his kind of music, studio music played in clubs for serious dancing. He had designed a very specific music profile–heavy at the bottom but with clarity and good range. He was proud of […]
Read MoreDesigning for culture: a few preliminary thoughts.
By Peter Norlin. As a student of organizations for over 30 years, and as a consultant who helps people co-create “productive workplaces” (the title of a powerful book by Marvin Weisbord), I’ve spent my professional life thinking about how people learn and change, especially at work. In an effort to define and talk about my […]
Read MoreHow are YOU talented?
By Marty Neumeier. Thousands of people have taken the Metaskills Quiz, the easy online test for assessing five key talents — or metaskills — needed in an increasingly talent-hungry workplace. At the end of this 10-minute quiz, your “talent handprint” pops up, showing you which of the five metaskills you rely on most. Cool. But what does it mean, […]
Read MoreCreating a culture of innovation.
By Darrel Rhea. The most frequent request I get from senior leaders is “Help us create a culture of innovation.” What leader wouldn’t want this? It turns out that a significant number of leaders don’t want it. They clearly want the outcomes of a culture of innovation – increased revenues from new, differentiated higher-margin products, more engaged and creative […]
Read MoreDesigning for culture – are we designing or developing? Yes.
By Peter Norlin. Before we take the next step in the process of designing an organizational environment that will stimulate and support the emergence of a “culture of innovation,” I’d like to clarify the frame for this process. What do I mean by “frame?” In this context, I’m referring to whether we should consider the […]
Read MoreSeeking stories of changing innovation culture.
By Tamara Carleton. How do you change culture to support change? Whether it is open innovation, portfolio management, or customer-centered innovation, implementing a new innovation framework often means changing an organization’s culture. I have teamed up with William Cockayne, who oversees the Foresight and Innovation program at Stanford University, and Yuriko Sawatani, a professor at […]
Read MoreDesigning for culture – asking ourselves the right questions.
By Peter Norlin. If we really want to wade into the weeds here, that is, if we wish to create a practical, do-it-yourself guide to designing workplace cultures where innovation can flourish—then to start, we need to ask ourselves some questions. The answers to these questions, like the stones that Hansel and Gretel dropped behind […]
Read MoreInnovation culture – questions to explore.
The premise is simple; in study after study CEO’s agree, they all want their organizations to be more innovative, but few know how. Traditional models of innovation, such as relying on R&D for technology-based innovation or on marketing for incremental extensions-based innovation, most often fall short. An emerging and more scalable model is design-led innovation; […]
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