Bob Williams

Innovation process?

June 16th, 2010 | Leave a comment | Tags: , , ,

Earlier this week I had lunch with @Cjack_HC, @ElliotLeson, @Westdene64, and a few others. I joined the lunch late as the group was in the middle of a brainstorming session on creating names for business card designs.  Sounds easy, but I found the task pretty challenging.  It made me think of the age old question “Is creative accidental or thoughtful?

I'll be happy to give you innovative thinking. What are the guidelines?

Today, during drive time commute with the carpool gang, a similar question was asked. “Can you have a process around innovation?” At first thought the two words seem to contradict each other.

Merriam-Webster defines process as “ a …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

Resist Learned Mediocrity

November 6th, 2009 | Leave a comment | Tags: ,

During a team meeting last week, one of my colleagues used the term “learned mediocrity”. I thought about what this expression means within the context of an organization and for individuals.  Businesses and people don’t set out with an objective to be mediocre. In fact, I’ve read studies that show people will rate their own performance higher than outside observers Here’s one example reported from the Wall Street Journal. People and organizations don’t see themselves as mediocre. Have you noticed how in press releases companies refer to themselves as “a leading provider of ….”. Can everyone be a leading provider? Have you read articles about how people artificially create content …Continue reading >>