Bob Williams

Why innovation must move beyond ROI

November 19th, 2010 | Leave a comment | Tags: ,

Innovation is a darling buzzword and I still see the term used frequently in my readings. But what’s really behind the word innovation? Why do some companies seem to get it while others don’t? Innovation is defined as doing something new or doing something that already exists in a new way. Established companies want to think of themselves as innovative and like to publicize that to the public and employees. Why wouldn’t they? After all, who wants to be thought of as stale, unimaginative, or not creative?

I wonder what the ROI case was for the aqueduct?

Yet business is about Return on Investment (ROI). People make a business …Continue reading >>

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

Best Buy wants your ideas

July 12th, 2009 | One comment | Tags: , ,

Checkout the new crowd sourcing site launched by Best Buy call Idea X. Similar to the Starbucks idea site that I wrote about earlier this year, Best Buy is looking to use the power of bulk thinking to generate new and innovative ideas for its business. As with Starbucks, the ideas submitted to Best Buy are posted for everyone to see. This allows others to read, comment, and vote on their favorite ideas.

Be mindful of the fine print though in the terms of use. Ideas you submit become the property of Best Buy. Here is a small excerpt of that language:

Furthermore, by submitting the Materials using IdeaX, you …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

Innovation sourced from standard processes?

May 2nd, 2009 | Leave a comment | Tags: , , , , ,

Innovation from the everyday

In a MBA class last year I took the following note during a lecture:

Drucker – creativity and innovation driven off standard process

This week I found that note in a review of some materials and thought it would be a good topic for further thought. Peter Drucker lists process need as one of seven sources of innovation in his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Drucker’s thought makes sense to me. From experience I know that standard processes tend to grow over time to:

Account for items previously not thought of or missed Cover new regulations or contractual obligations Add steps for quality assessment

Standard processes …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

Thoughts on serendipity and managed processes

November 15th, 2008 | Leave a comment | Tags: , ,

Question: Should we rely on serendipity or a managed process for incremental innovation?

I’ve been asked to answer this question as part of an assignment.  I thought it would be good to record the answer here. It’s not because I think my answer is anything great or has uncovered some train of thought that no one else has wrestled to understand.  In fact, I see blogs, podcasts, and the like on creative thought versus process all the time.  But this is my sounding board and place for me to record thoughts.  I’d welcome yours.

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Man, by nature, wants life to be very rhythmic and loves to have patterns of …Continue reading >>