Cheating is a form of innovation
Have you heard about the scandal with cheating on the SAT? It’s particularly prevalent in Asia with Chinese and Korean students being repeat offenders. The organizations behind the cheaters go to some considerable lengths to get the SAT questions. They send questions to phones by text and other means. The stakes are rising though. Some cities in China are actually […]
There’s no innovation without innovators
You know the usual approach to innovation in a corporation. Hold an offsite for brainstorming and to stimulate creativity. Get a big-name consultant. Team comes up with an idea, makes a plan. Does a public relations blast announcing their breakthrough idea. Fails. Do again. Fail again. If that wasn’t the case the vast majority of […]
What’s the Difference between Entrepreneurship and Innovation?
You can’t lift up any piece of news or commentary these days without seeing a discussion or article about entrepreneurship and innovation and how to improve one, the other or both. Prescriptions abound. But my question is: are entrepreneurship and innovation the same thing or are they different? I ask that because you usually see […]
The Beatles’ Leadership and Innovation Lessons
guess you have been watching all the news that’s fit to print about the Beatles and the British invasion? Yup, I’m old enough to have listened to the Beatles when they were in their prime. I was, however, young enough not to realize how innovative their music was. And now it’s all getting revived again. […]
Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO – Stockholders want Safety, Not Innovation
So Satya Nadella will be the next CEO of Microsoft. By all accounts he’s a smart guy, good techie, collaborative, someone the board should be able to control. But I am sure not even his friends think he’s a Steve Jobs. Maybe he’s been in Microsoft too long at 22 years? What does his promotion […]
Are you confusing creativity and innovation?
OK this is one of my pet peeves; the frequent confusion between creativity and innovation. As in: “we are teaching people to be innovative by showing them how to brainstorm and create new ideas.” Sorry folks; that’s not innovation. Let me give you an example; when two people make love they can also make a baby. […]
Saving Microsoft and the Second Coming of Amazon
I guess you heard that Steve Ballmer will retire in the next 12 months? Well, bully for him, why didn’t it happen sooner? We all know that Microsoft has slipped dramatically in value for almost his entire tenure So who’s next? What is the Great Succession of Microsoft? It isn’t easy to restore the fortunes […]
“Jobs” the Film: Can a Narcissistic Bully be a Good Leader?
I just went to see “Jobs” the film. A warning: the opening scenes are cringe-worthy and I almost walked out. It gets better after that although never great. But it’s pretty accurate in its view of Jobs. The view of the film is pretty much summed up by Jobs’ first and only real boss who […]
Is Innovation a form of Business Acumen?
The history of science is littered with the carcasses of things we found out in unexpected places. Such as Sir Alexander Fleming finding penicillin in a “failed” experimental dish consisting of mold that was thought to be an accident and of no use. Currently you might have heard of another example in the medical field; […]