I received some interesting notes back regarding the post (here) from SCPD, particularly on the 60 percent of IOT programs that don’t make it past proof of concept. For those of you coming from outside the tech world, IOT refers to the “Internet of Things.” I wasn’t surprised, as the Gartner Hype Cycle for IOT […]
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Business Unit Leaders: 3 Unconventional Ways to Access Your Hidden Growth
It’s that moment. It’s when you are given that target for next year, and suddenly you feel a tenseness in your upper back. It’s the “stretch goal,” and if you were doing athletics it might be fun, but in the context of your P&L leadership, this is a goal that if you miss it, the […]
Business Unit Leaders: How are you Doing at Breaking Out of the Box?
As usual the real learning was in the application. I was in Denver a couple of weeks ago with a group of colleagues for some strategic development and planning. As part of our work, one of the team members set up some offsite time at a popular “escape room.” In case you haven’t heard, these […]
The Trouble With Moonshots for Existing Enterprises
It was a quest of nearly mythic proportions, and I had a front-row seat to the action: allow anyone – anywhere – to make a satellite-based phone call. The program was dubbed Iridium (named for the 77th element when initial calculations showed the need for 77 satellites). It was conceived of in the 1990’s and […]
Innovation Sponsors: Leave This Seat at the Innovation Table Empty and it Will Come Back to Haunt You
If you are on the board, a member of the C-Suite or a P&L accountable leader in a larger firm, there is a common blind spot when launching innovation initiatives. I was reminded of this during a phone call with a colleague whom I did several large-scale breakout programs with while in an op’s role […]
The New Role of Corporate Development: Going from Powerful Ideas to Pragmatic Implementation
True story from my ops background: When I was running through emails one morning, I found one that stopped me in my tracks. The VP of a recently acquired product line had sent an incendiary note to the CFO and copied dozens of people internally, using coarse language to declare the integration systems team completely […]
Want to Accelerate Innovation? Find Your CMO
I can’t tell you the number of times I’m asked to facilitate a session to accelerate a project and this happens: all the introductions are complete, and while it’s very clear that all the “backstage” players are present (R&D, Development, Corporate Development), the essential front of house team members who connect that value to the […]
For a Powerful Innovation Program, Be Sure to Open Up Your Lens
I was speaking for a group of senior executives last week and a great question came up: “What is the most destructive thing you see when working with new innovation teams in existing firms?” As my mind flashed through dozens of projects and larger programs, there was one thing that came up over and over […]
The Fascinating Thing About Continuous Improvement Goals? They are a Path to Strategic Change
I was giving a talk recently and the topic of cycle time reduction came up. It’s a historical fact that after Six Sigma, Motorola took on a very aggressive corporate program to reduce product development cycle time. We used a methodology that set a targeted reduction over a six-year time interval. To set the bar […]
The Key to Getting Max Value? Choosing the Right Landing Zone
Conversation with passionate founder: “I’ve built a device that is an amazing addition to the business traveler with features of x,x and x. Can you help me get a conversation with the big 3 cell phone firms?” As part of my work, I get a chance to work with early stage firms and their passionate […]