What is it about garages that drives such amazingly committed environments for nascent business startups? To give us a ground-level view (no pun intended) into this motivation, let’s explore an experience I had last week at AirVenture2013 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. For a few days, I had the good fortune to join thousands of aviation enthusiasts […]
The garage located at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto is famous for where Hewlett and Packard made it happen. It’s nothing more than a simple building with swinging doors – so what made it work? Today, we continue our examination of this question with a look at how the element of low overhead plays a […]
Picture this: An entire third-shift maintenance crew waxing floors and dancing to country music at one in the morning. After a week of grueling hours to solve a technical problem at a remote site, improvising a “rodeo” to chase the rats out of the basement with brooms in the middle of the night. Engineers riding […]
When I first began running large-scale programs for a global organization, I quickly found out that multiple time zones created an enormous strain on the team. If you are in the central US, here’s what your day might look like: a 4 A.M. wake-up call to check in with your Asian team at the end […]
In 1988, when Chrysler president Bob Lutz tasked design chief Tom Gale to create a version of the Ford Cobra, he gave the production team a charter consisting of these three parameters: A $50 million budget 36 months to get it to production (in time for the ’92 Detroit show) “Be ethical, moral, and don’t […]
Amazon, Apple, Disney, Google and Hewlett Packard all started in one. The garage is a uniquely American icon and metaphor – and it has happened too many times to ignore. Some of my earliest experiences in design, innovation, materials and fabrication occurred in the family garage under the mentorship of my father and uncles. Between […]
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland When I’m working with clients on how to find the growth plan for their business, I first help them step outside of their organization to see the entire landscape that’s available to them so that […]
The funding model of our roads and other transit infrastructure is broken — what happens now? Background: An unexpected side effect of increased fuel efficiency and fewer miles driven in personal vehicles is that the government is collecting (much!) less fuel tax revenue — withering the coffers at state and federal levels. This means that […]
Last week, we talked about how small, medium and large firms differed in their challenges and approaches to innovation. This week, I want to give you four key elements that must be present for success – regardless of what size firm you are in. 1) Line of Sight In his book Great by Choice, Jim […]
When I began consulting, my clients were primarily innovators within mid-size organizations. Frequently, I’m drawn into discussions with small and large firms, as well. These consultations have been fascinating lessons in the different approaches to innovation and which approach best fits with which size and stage of business. In any economy, investable organizations are the […]
