Business Leadership
The innovation game is not played on a level playing field. Start-ups - companies under 5 years old owned by one person or a small team of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists - will innovate quite differently from established companies, which have a history of successful growth and a market share to defend. Recent start-ups that [...]
How much time during a standard 8-hour work day do you think most people are productive? Would you say about 6.5 hours? 5 hours? Well, the statistics are much lower than that. According to a study of 1,989 workers in the UK, the average person is only doing productive work for around 2 hours and [...]
One of the more important quotes about effective innovation comes from the great management thinker Peter Drucker. He challenged companies to ask themselves if they were spending their effort and resources on the right things. In so many cases, companies try to continually improve the efficiency of their processes, instead of asking the harder question [...]
Is diversity actually as good for innovation as most experts say? Or is this just a policy issue which doesn't have much evidence to show performance improvements? In the video above, I go through a series of research studies which provide some numbers behind the assertions. In this article, I go through those studies, as well [...]
HiPPOs are killers. No I am not talking about the large aquatic animals. (Even though statistically the are deadly, killing an estimated 500 people in Africa each year) No, I am talking about a killer of ideas. The HiPPO: Highest Paid Person’s Opinion. This is the tendency in most organisations for people to just follow the opinion or decision [...]
Well, that escalated quickly. Last week, Gillette released a new commerical, which instantly went viral for some very interesting reasons. Check out my response to the commercial and the controversy in the video above. The advert takes Gillette’s famous catchphrase “The Best a Man can Get”, and changes it to urge men everywhere to become [...]
The experience of change can be enriching, rewarding and beautiful as well as uncomfortable, costly and painful. I have been an evangelist of change in organizations for my whole working life and I have witnessed the pride and enthusiasm of new ideas going live and the bitterness and frustration of people who would prefer not [...]
When it comes to innovative business practices, Elon Musk doesn't appear to do anything half-hearted. In fact, we have previously spoken about how Elon Musk shows how you can turn a Twitter complaint into a solution in 6 days. But when it comes to representing an innovative leader, he has just taken his dedication to forward-looking [...]
Many entrepreneurs believe that the most important factor that will determine their level of success with a startup relates to their overall experience and skills in the niche area. However, the most successful entrepreneurs have developed a certain set of skills that have helped them reach their goals. While you definitely need nerve and patience [...]
Office morale can directly impact job satisfaction ratings as well as productivity and even talent retention. Unfortunately, some managers and business owners only think about the importance of morale when it sinks to a very low level. The ideal work environment will foster high morale on a regular basis, and this will feed high employee [...]
