Blog
Blog
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September 11, 2024Paul Graham, cofounder of Y Combinator, was so inspired by a speech by Airbnb cofounder...
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September 3, 2024You know that asking questions is essential. After all, when you’re innovating, you’re doing something...
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August 28, 2024You were born creative. As an infant, you had to figure many things out—how to...
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August 18, 2024AI is everywhere: in our workplaces, homes, schools, art galleries, concert halls, and even neighborhood...
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August 14, 2024In 2020, the International Standards Organization, most famous for its Quality Management Systems standard, published...
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July 31, 2024Stop me if this sounds familiar. A new hire bounces into your office and, with...
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July 22, 2024“This time feels different.” I’ve been hearing this from innovation practitioners and partners for months ...
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July 17, 2024The quest for immortality is as old as humankind. From King Gilgamesh in 2100 BCE...
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July 10, 2024“Trust no one. Suspect everyone.” Great advice if you’re an MI6 agent trying to uncover...
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June 26, 2024It’s not easy leading innovation. Especially these days. You need to do more with less. ...
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June 19, 2024As a leader in your organization, you’re under tremendous stress. Not only do you need...
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June 5, 2024Purpose. Goal. Mission. You hear these words a lot this time of year. Not because...
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May 27, 2024Doing nothing fuels creativity and innovation, but that fuel is wasted if you don’t put...
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April 21, 2024You are a natural-born problem solver. From the moment you were born, you’ve solved problems. ...
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April 2, 2024You’ve heard the adage that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Well, AI is the fruit...
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March 19, 2024Growth is the lifeblood of any organization, and the quest for growth opportunities is not...
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March 11, 2024In 2014, rumors started to circulate that Apple was developing a self-driving autonomous car to...
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March 5, 2024AI is NOT a substitute for person-to-person discovery conversations or Jobs to be Done interviews. But...
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February 27, 2024Unintended consequences often catch us off guard despite their predictability. The moment they occur, we...
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February 13, 2024The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and nowhere is that more true...
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January 31, 2024Most customer research efforts waste time and money because they don’t produce insights that fuel...
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January 17, 2024Fabric & Home Care Marketing That is the job title on my very first business card. ...
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January 2, 2024“You sound stupid when you use the word ‘_____________’ because you’re trying to sound smart.” Mark...
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December 4, 2023“I would argue that it was an innovation success!” At that moment, I started to deeply...
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November 28, 2023“Yes, and….” You know it. You love it. You may even use it. The phrase is a...
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November 15, 2023or The No-Cost, No-Hug Secret to Smarter Teams Welcome to the exciting conclusion of “Everything You...
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November 7, 2023or “Why Mandating a Return to the Office Destroys Safety” In last week’s episode, we learned...
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November 2, 2023or Why the Lack of Psychological Safety Makes You Dumber It’s been over 20 years since...
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October 19, 2023AI is killing Corporate Innovation. Last Friday, the brilliant minds of Scott Kirsner, Rita McGrath, and...
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October 11, 2023You know that customer insights are important. You spend time and money to collect customer insights. But...
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September 18, 2023“If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Albert Einstein (supposedly) This is...
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September 11, 2023Why are people so concerned about, afraid of, or resistant to new things? Innovation, by its...
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September 7, 2023Using only three words, how would you describe your company? Better yet, what three words would...
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August 30, 2023If you’re like most people, you’ve faced disappointment. Maybe the love of your life didn’t...
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August 21, 2023You are a rolling stone, and that means you gather no moss! You read the...
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August 16, 2023You are a savvy manager, so you know that you need an innovation portfolio because...
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August 9, 2023It’s that time of year. The summer sun is beating down harder than ever. The...
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August 2, 2023What if a tool had the power to delight your customers, cut your costs, increase...
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July 25, 2023Several years ago, my now-husband and I were in London. It was his first time...
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July 16, 2023Being a leader isn’t easy. You must BE accountable, compassionate, confident, curious, empathetic, focused, service-driven,...
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July 11, 2023You are a leader, an innovator, and an optimist. You see what’s possible, and you...
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July 3, 2023When my niece was 4 years old, she looked at her mom (my sister) and...
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June 27, 2023“Leader” is a word that gets thrown around A LOT. Senior Management Teams are now Senior...
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June 21, 2023As the world around you becomes more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA), you know...
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June 13, 2023You are a leader. The boss. The person in charge. That means you know the answer...
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May 3, 2023When asked to describe his test for determining what is and isn’t hard-core pornography, Supreme...
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April 27, 2023“Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” It’s a meme and my new favorite euphemism for getting dumped/fired (as in,...
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April 19, 2023A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my hatred of failure while acknowledging that...
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April 11, 2023To Cede, or to Seed, that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to...
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April 2, 2023The Official Story “Innovation” is not peanut butter. You can’t smear it all over everything and...
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March 22, 2023How do people react when you say “innovation?” Lean forward, eyes glittering, eager to hear more Stare...
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March 14, 2023Last week, as news of Silicon Valley Bank’s losses and eventual collapse, took over the...
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March 1, 2023You want and need the best, most brilliant, most awesome-est people at your company. But...
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February 16, 2023Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. That is one of the very few pieces...
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February 8, 2023“Everything changed since the pandemic.” At this point, my husband, a Navy veteran, is very likely...
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January 31, 2023Day 1 Oh innovation, a journey just begun A bold quest filled with challenges, risks, and dreams, A...
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January 25, 2023Whelp, the apocalypse is upon us. Again. This time the end of the world is brought...
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January 16, 2023You know that innovation is something new that creates value. (But not too new) Sometimes the value...
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January 10, 2023What happened the last time you asked your team for ideas? A. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. B....
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January 3, 2023Everyone is an innovator on January 1. That’s the day when each of us resolves to...
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December 14, 2022Congratulations! You developed and are using a best-in-class Innovation Process. You start by talking to consumers,...
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November 30, 2022“What business are you in?” How do you answer this all-too-common question? Do you name the company...
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November 17, 2022You know ALL the innovation tools and frameworks: Design ThinkingLean StartupDisruptive Innovation But knowing and doing are...
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November 9, 2022“What had a bigger impact on the project? The process you introduced or the people...
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November 2, 2022If you heard it once, you heard it a thousand times: Big companies can’t innovateWe need...
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October 11, 2022Q: How might we brainstorm new ideas to serve our customers better? A: Have a brainstorming...
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September 24, 2022In the Before Times, we attended conferences to learn, make connections, and promote ourselves and...
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September 18, 2022Several months ago, a colleague sent me a link to Roger Martin’s latest article, “The...
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September 14, 2022Innovation is BIG! Big ideas! Change the world! Go big or go home! Which makes sense. Giant corporations need big...
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August 30, 2022You have, no doubt, seen the design squiggle. The ubiquitous scribble is all loopy and...
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August 24, 2022It just landed on your desk. Or maybe you campaigned to get it. Or perhaps...
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August 18, 2022Most of my advice to leaders who want to use innovation to grow their businesses...
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August 10, 2022Between theory and practice is a nearly infinite chasm of superficial understanding and unearned confidence....
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August 2, 2022You know that innovation is essential and why it is essential. But do your colleagues share...
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July 20, 2022All eyes are on you, You have the data. You heard everyone’s opinions. Now it’s time...
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July 12, 2022What are some of the things you know you should do, but you don’t? Eat five...
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July 4, 2022As a leader, you champion innovation. You recognize its importance to your organization. Its role...
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June 22, 2022“You’re right. It’s counter-intuitive but correct. Good job!” I wish I could take back those words. ...
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June 14, 2022“Can I offer you a bit of advice?” As an innovator, this question should trigger your...
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May 11, 2022Looking for help with Innovation? Look no further than the: 1.93 billion Google results773, 733 articles in...
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May 1, 2022We all want to be successful leaders, and if you’re reading this, you probably want...
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April 25, 2022I love engineers* Engineers are the ultimate problem-solvers. They see a problem and the need to...
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April 18, 2022“We want to build a culture of innovation.” It’s a noble goal. After all, a culture...
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April 13, 2022Do you remember the 2010s? The US economy was in its most prolonged ever period...
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March 29, 2022“We need to be more innovative.” How many times have you said or heard that? It’s...
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March 16, 2022Imagine that you decided to temporarily shut down your business. You made this decision because...
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March 8, 2022When you were a child, you knew that the best stories began with “Once Upon...
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February 23, 2022Forget secret handshakes, guarded rituals, and clandestine meetings. The easiest way to show that you’re...
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February 13, 2022Before setting off on a journey to strange lands, most travelers take time to learn...
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February 6, 2022You know that to deliver today’s business and achieve tomorrow’s goals, you need a portfolio...
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January 30, 2022After months of work, haggling, encouraging, and deep breathing, you finally have your innovation capability...
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January 23, 2022The Great Resignation is real. At the start of 2021, 40% of employees thought about...
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January 18, 2022It’s January, and even though the end of the year feels far away, you know...
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January 10, 2022“Why doesn’t anyone bring me ideas?” “Why doesn’t anyone ask questions during my meetings?” “How can I...
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January 4, 2022Before we go any further, I need to be clear that I absolutely, totally, and...
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December 14, 2021Have you ever said to someone, “I wish you were more like (fill in the...
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December 8, 2021Over the past 987,460 days of forced WFH, I’ve participated in several virtual ideations. A few...
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November 20, 2021Everyone knows about brainstorms but did you know there are three other types of storms...
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November 12, 2021“We are not lost. I know exactly where we are. Granted, it’s not where we...
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October 26, 2021A few weeks ago, I wrote that innovation happens in the gaps and offered a...
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October 7, 2021“Innovation happens in the gaps.” It’s a statement so simple yet so profound that as soon...
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September 26, 2021“Who should be on our innovation team?” Unfortunately, innovators, especially those able to succeed in a...
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September 6, 2021We are natural problem-solvers. From the moment we’re born, we’re solving problems. Hungry? We wail and cry Confused...
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August 28, 2021I do. We do. You do. My Mom taught pre-school. It wasn’t a job; it was...
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August 25, 2021Most people know that 95% of new products fail within three years of launch. It’s...
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July 15, 2021“How might we ruin a perfectly good and useful tool?” This might not be the question...
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April 27, 2021Some conversations stick with you for a long time. Some conversations take your breath away...
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April 1, 2021Of all the facets of innovation, innovation metrics may be the most requested, studied, and...
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March 24, 2021We all love Innovation but there are times when it isn’t the answer. In fact,...
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March 17, 2021“Fall in the love the problem, not the solution.” Although not as well-known as other innovation...
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February 15, 2021Have you heard any of these sentences recently? “We don’t have time” “Our people don’t have the...
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December 30, 2020According to a 2018 survey by NPR and The Marist Poll, the most common New...
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December 22, 2020“The definition of insanity is repeating the same actions over and over again and expected...
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December 15, 2020“Speed Kills” is as true in innovation as it is on the road. Although it’s a...
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December 9, 2020Innovating – doing something different that creates value – is hard. Innovating within a large organization...
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November 11, 2020“We are not good at killing innovation projects.” In the past two days, three people in...
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October 26, 2020When I was a senior in college, I took a pottery class. One of our assignments,...
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October 21, 2020Things we know we should do because they’re good for us: Eat 5 servings of fruits...
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October 13, 2020Dear Corporate Executive, Congratulations! You’ve taken action to make innovation happen. You created an innovation team,...
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October 8, 2020When a business fails to innovate it is because executives fail to lead. It is not...
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September 24, 2020Innovation is not peanut butter. You can’t smear it all over something and enjoy the deliciousness. In...
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September 18, 2020The seasons may be changing but, for most, there is no end in sight for...
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September 2, 2020“When people hear ‘Innovation’ they think of shiny new objects. So, we don’t really use...
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August 26, 2020I love stories. When I was a kid, my parents would literally give me a...
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August 26, 2020“When you say, ‘uh-huh’ over and over like that, I can tell you’re not listening...
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August 6, 2020If you’re innovating without involving your customers, you’re wasting time and money. I believe this so...
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July 29, 2020Over the past several weeks, I’ve kicked off innovation projects with multiple clients. As usual,...
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July 23, 2020“We need more data.” How many times have you heard this? How many times have you...
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July 15, 2020“If you spend a lot of time in your own head, you’re spending time in...
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June 24, 2020Innovation doesn’t start with an idea. It starts with a problem. Sometimes those problems are...
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June 18, 2020Last week, I wrote about Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), a process of using art to...
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June 10, 2020“It was quite a sight! A dozen senior executives from a big, conservative financial services...
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June 3, 2020Last week, I published a post with a very simple goal – define innovation so...
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May 27, 2020When I worked on P&G’s WalMart sales team, one of my bosses was a big...
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April 28, 2020It was a large rectangular room. Chairs lined the walls. A children’s play area was...
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April 20, 2020“What happens next? You know, once all of this is over?” my friend asked. “There...
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March 31, 2020It started with emails from the airlines letting us know that they’re cleaning the planes...
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February 19, 2020When I first heard about this book, a first-person account of innovating within a large...
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February 6, 2020Is it just me? I hate running experiments. I know that I’m not supposed to say that,...
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January 22, 2020Several years ago and courtesy of the TED Women Conference, I got my hands on...
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January 16, 2020According to research by Strava, the social network for athletes, most people will have given up...
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December 9, 2019As I wrote in Part 1, I learned several valuable lessons about how to make requests...
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December 9, 2019Writing weekly articles is not easy and, I’ll admit, sometimes I just mail it in....
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December 3, 2019It’s that time of year. The time when we look back and take stock, and look...
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November 18, 2019A few weeks ago, I published a piece in Forbes with tips on how to learn from...
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November 11, 2019“They put their modems in filing cabinet drawers! Can you believe it?!?!” The crowd roared with...
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November 9, 2019Do you want a job that offers some sort of stability without the soul-sucking repetition...
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October 21, 2019It’s that time of year again. The time of year when people everywhere write up their...
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October 6, 2019On August 27, Pumpkin Spice season began. It was the earliest ever launch of Starbucks’...
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September 7, 2019It’s been 22 years since the publication of The Innovator’s Dilemma, the book that catapulted Clayton Christensen...
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June 9, 2019“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will...
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June 9, 2019“What do you plan to do on vacation?” my friend asked. “Nothing…” Long silence “…And it will be...
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March 2, 2019Like many people, I have heard the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset.” And, like many...
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February 21, 2019“I don’t know how I got into the program. I’m not innovative.” For nearly two years,...
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February 1, 2019Part 1 was all about the experience of working in Corporate Innovation so, naturally, Part...
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January 29, 2019Have you ever had that eery feeling of some secret you’ve been keeping being subtly...
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July 11, 2018I am not a soccer fan but my husband is. So why, as a non-soccer...
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June 3, 2018My name is Robyn and I am a recovering Innovation Snob. I didn’t realize I was...
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May 12, 2018My Mom was a nursery-school teacher. It was more than her profession, it was her...
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May 6, 2018I’ve had more than one conversation recently in which an Intrapreneur will ask me, with...
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April 22, 201880/20 Nothing drives my husband more insane than when the “80/20 Rule” is invoked. Whenever we’re...
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April 15, 2018It’s Monday morning, you’re settling into your office. As you sip your coffee and start...
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April 8, 2018A few weeks ago, my 5-year old niece and I spent the afternoon together at...
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April 1, 2018“There is only one boss. The customer.” – Sam Walton With all the buzz around human-centered...
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March 25, 2018A few weeks ago, a friend sent me an HBR Online article that argued that...