Innovation is the hot topic in many arenas: politics, economics, business and not the least, our own cultural field. Financial Times writer Philip Delves Broughton (former and now part-time journalist, fiction writer and somewhat regretful Harvard MBA) reviews Michael Raynor's The Innovator’s Manifesto. The author notes leading thinking on innovation has cleaved (emphasis mine): On one side are those who embrace the ideas of collaborative consumption and fast failure, who argue that innovators need to experiment with their potential … [Read more...]
St. Stevens Day, or, How Steve Jobs Solved the Innovator’s Dilemma
At the risk of piling on the beatification bandwagon, an interesting post from the good folks at Harvard Business Review. The author argues that Jobs solved (Clayton Christensen’s) Innovator's Dilemma upon returning from the wilderness, citing the radical changes he made at Apple. You know the ending: the case of Jobs and Apple is an excellent illustration of the difficulty, rarity and reward of “solving the dilemma.” I was equally struck, however, by some of the language employed. He notes (emphasis mine): Apple talks a lot about its … [Read more...]
The Innovator’s DNA, or More Disruption
From Clay Christensen and friends, of Innovator's Dilemma fame. In a new book, Christensen and coauthors Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen investigate what characterizes innovative individuals and how these traits transfer to the organization. Five habits of mind...characterise disruptive innovators: associating, questioning, observing, networking and experimenting. Innovators excel at connecting seemingly unconnected things...companies that have the highest “innovation premiums”...display the same five habits of mind as individual innovators. … [Read more...]