Over my career, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know a number of CEO’s.  The general perception in the market is that CEO’s of public companies are only focused on meeting the quarterly numbers.  The following are 3 CEO’s I’ve had the opportunity to spend meaningful 1:1 time with and who “get it” when it comes to innovation.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO, DreamWorks Animation

One of the biggest challenges for any CEO is the balance of risk and reward when it comes to innovation.  In the case of Jeffrey, his perspective on risk is unique.  During a recent event at the Computer History Museum where I was interviewing him on stage, his response to a questions I posed on risk was refreshing compared to most CEO’s.

“In order for us to delight and surprise — and to exceed the expectations of our audience — the requirement is that we are original and unique.  Original and unique equals risky. Risky equals failure – sometimes.  We build into every aspect of our enterprise, including the movies,  that we can fail and it won’t destroy the enterprise. It’s built into what we do, what we ask our artists to do, what we ask our filmmakers to do, what we ask our technologists to do — we ask them to build into what we do enough opportunity for failure  that allows us to have enough opportunity to take risk that allows us to be unique and original.”

Jeffrey is one of those CEO’s who give’s his team the space to experiment and fail.  The result is that every one of DreamWorks Animation’s movies have been profitable in a highly competitive industry.  Not a small task when you consider that the average investment to make one of their CG movies is $120 million with an additional $170 million in marketing.  A ~$300 million bet before the first customer buys the first ticket.

Wendell Weeks, CEO & Chairman, Corning

When I come across people who are passionate about their products, I can’t help but get interested.  In the case of Wendell, we are talking about someone who is a “glass geek”.  My first meeting with Wendell involved him bringing in glass samples and then proceeding to abuse them, the whole time I was getting a lesson on the science of glass.  Needless to say, I was hooked.

Over the three years following that first encounter, Wendell and I have spent time together working on all kinds of crazy ideas.  I remember one discussion in his office in Corning, NY.  I went off describing  some  crazy device I wanted to build.  Everyone else told me I was nuts for even trying.  While I was waving my hands trying to convey what I was envisioning, Wendell proceeded to pull out a sheet of paper and worked out the calculations on the spot.  He immediately replied that he could build it and set his team off to work on it.

Wendell exudes passion for his products, his company and its ability to innovate.  Give me a CEO with passion for ideas and innovation and I will show you a company that will consistently win against their competition.

Paul Jacobs, CEO & Chairman, Qualcomm

I can’t imagine the challenge of taking over a company that was started by your father.  I had many encounters with Paul’s father in the early days of the wireless industry.  The first time I met Paul, I came into the meeting with the attitude of him being “the son”.  Was I wrong.  Paul and I immediately got into a deep discussion on some arcane issue of wireless spectrum utilization.  Everyone else in the room checked out and started reading their emails.  The discussion went on for more than an hour.

In each of our subsequent meetings, Paul was either bringing something to demonstrate or sharing some new insight he discovered in his travels.  His unbounded curiosity drove him to go anywhere and talk with anyone if he felt he could learn and discover something new.

For most other CEO’s, once they made to the corner office, the stop feeding their curiosity and they focus on protecting what they have been able to achieve.  Not the case with Paul.  His curiosity is what feeds him and the rest of Qualcomm.

When I stack up each of these organizations against the 7 Immutable Laws of Innovation, they clearly check the box when it comes to the Law of Leadership.   In my research, I found that highly innovative organizations feed off the innovation energy coming from their CEO’s.  Without executive leadership that truly gets innovation, an organization can only go so far.

How does your organization’s innovation leadership compare?

With this morning’s announcement that Kodak would seek bankruptcy protection, I reflected back on how and why it reached this point.  In my opinion, Kodak fell into the same trap that most large, successful and once highly innovative companies get into – how to keep the innovation engine working over the life of the company.

So what are the 3 mistakes that Kodak made?

Weak innovation portfolio management

Like most large successful companies, once they achieve a significant market position, management retreats into a defensive mode.  This includes how they make innovation investments.  I’m willing to bet that if you “follow the money”, you would find Kodak’s investment model for innovation over the past 10 years would fall into the range of 95% to existing core products (e.g. film, chemicals, etc) and 5% into anything new.

When I arrived at HP, the investment model was 98% and 2%.  It took +3 years to shift to a model of 70% to the core, 20% to adjacencies (new products to existing customers, existing products to new customers) and 10% to new (new products to new customers).

Believing they figured out the innovation formula

Once companies experience innovation success, they grab on to the process that got them there and believe that it contains the magic answer.  In some extreme cases, companies treat their innovation process as a trade secret.  Big mistake.

The one constant in business is change and the innovation process is no different.  Organizations that stick with any process because “it worked in the past” puts themselves at risk of future failure.  If change is inevitable, then change to the processes, policies, rules, etc need to change.  Innovation is no different.  Large organizations that have generational success with their innovation strategy are ones that continuously innovation the way they innovate.

Betting on any innovation rather than going after a killer innovation

When large organizations fall behind, they mobilize the troops to play catch-up.  In the case of Kodak, their new “innovation” was to compete in the already crowded market of printers.  Instead, don’t panic and grab at the first thing that sounds good.  Be disciplined to go after a true killer innovation which is:

.. an innovation that is a significant and highly profitable departure from current offerings from you and your competitors that would be difficult to duplicate.

Killer innovations create new markets and industries.  They disrupt rather than are disrupted.  Don’t settle for anything less.

What’s next for Kodak?

The open question is will Kodak survive bankruptcy or will they disappear like Nortel and have the assets (mainly the patent portfolio) dispersed to the wind.

If I were advising the Kodak Board on what they should do, I would say:

1) Perform an honest assessment of the organization against the 7 Immutable Laws of Innovation.  My guess is there are a number of areas that need improvement.  Prioritize the areas that need focus.

2) Re-build the innovation portfolio and investment model. Go after true killer innovations.

3) Be transparent with the organization and Wall Street on the innovation strategy.  No need to go into the details of the “what” but on the “how”.

4) Focus, leverage and nurture an innovation culture.  Remember that culture eats strategy for lunch.  If you don’t get the support of the culture, it doesn’t matter what the CEO or Board want.

The book launch event for Beyond The Obvious is set for Thursday, February 16th at the Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA).

The event will begin at noon with Phil being interviewed by John Hollar, the President of the Museum.  He will also be taking audience questions.  Following the event, Phil will be signing books.

Kepler’s Books will be on-site selling copies of Beyond the Obvious before and after the event.

At the event, Phil will also be revealing a new project he is working.

The event is open to the public but registration is required

Last week was CES and the hype machines where operating at full speed.  Ahead of the show, I posted a column over at Forbes on my prediction for the most over-hyped innovations for CES 2012.

After a few days at CES, I  found three innovations that I felt have future potential (none of these innovations are shipping and thus outside the traditional CES hype cycle). Below is a video where Kym McNicholas and I take a look at the three.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Links to the three companies I mention in the video:

• MetaWatch - wearable technology
• Tobii – eye tracking
• Dynamics – compute powered credit cards

Just as in Hollywood, the book publishing industry has a process of reviewing new books and authors and then telling others what they think.  In my case, the first review of my upcoming book, Beyond The Obvious,  has been reviewed by Publisher Weekly.  All in all, its a good a review.

McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer for Hewlett-Packard’s Personal Systems Group, provides a thoughtful yet practical guide to consistently generating innovation. Arguing that ideas are a company’s most valuable currency, he maintains that an organization’s success will be determined by its ability to generate ideas that lead to innovations that customers want. To help companies ignite these ideas, McKinney shares a system called the “Killer Questions”: a tool that prompts re-evaluation of old organizational beliefs that dictate how a company operates but which may no longer hold value. To do so requires negotiating the forces inside an organization that challenge innovation as well as dealing with outside curve balls. While re-examining core beliefs is hardly new advice, McKinney’s system helps distinguish valuable ideas from others with less potential as well as paying attention to delivering value to customers, the value chain, manufacturing and supply, marketing and sales, shipping and distribution, and the customer experience. McKinney also provides an invaluable guide to extracting ideas from the book and applying them within an organization. He includes a helpful time line and six rules to keep companies on track. Offering concrete advice, McKinney gives organizations the tools they need to generate ideas and know that they’re moving in the right direction. Agent: Marc Gerald, the Agency Group. (Feb.)

Order Now …

As promised, my publisher is making a chapter available for free to readers of the blog. Chapter 1, “Why Questions Matter”, covers:

• The Power of Questions
• How Questions Work
• Bad Questions, Good Questions
• Killer Questions

Visit the book site for access to the chapter.

The team has also setup a Facebook page for the book. Updates and reviews of the book will be posted there.

When you put together a kick ass innovation team, be careful as they will take that innovation skill and apply it to your retirement party.  As you can see from the image, the team decided to take some license when it came to the cake.  The entire thing is edible (yes – even the devices).

In addition to the cake, they also created a retirement video.  I enjoyed the video up to the point of them showing some video bloopers. I knew I should have made sure they were deleted.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Below are some more photo’s of me with the retirement cake.  In my personal opinion, I don’t see the resemblance.

How do you innovate a brand?

Back in 2008, the HP corporate marketing teams was tasked to innovate the brand.  To my surprise since it was never made public, the Brand New blog wrote a fairly lengthy blog post on the project and pointed readers to Moving Brands who was part of the team.  Moving Brands has posted a complete set of material including the early investigation, concepts, images,  etc of the work the team did.

Yours truly seems to have become the poster child in an image where I’m explaining an idea for a new logo to convey the brand.

The idea that I’m showing in the top photograph was a rough concept presented in an ideation workshop that I was asked to participate in and help facilitate.

After Brand New posted the material, HP sent them the following statement:

In 2008, HP asked marketing agency Moving Brands to propose new ideas for various elements of HP’s brand identity, including fonts, graphics, and logos. HP is one of the world’s most valuable brands and has no plans to adopt the new logo proposed by Moving Brands. HP did implement some of the other design elements shown in the case study.

So … what do you think of the concept?

It’s that time of year when companies prepare to show off their latest technology innovation at the show to end all shows – CES (Consumer Electronics Show).  Given the changes in my role at HP, I thought I was going to be able to dodge going.  Instead, I will be attending CES this year as press.  You heard that right — I will be reporting from CES on the latest technology innovations rather than trying to convince a reporter that my stuff is the cool stuff they should be writing about.

Am I going or coming from the dark side?

With that said, I have low expectations based on the press releases that I’m getting from every vendor attending the show.   The result is a pile of “me to” ideas with maybe some minor incremental innovation to make it look good.

To filter through the press releases, I’ve developed a formula.  I count the number of times words like innovation, breakthrough, revolutionary, never before and invented appear.  The more they appear, the less likelihood that there is something truly interesting being announced.

My reporting from CES will appear under my Forbes column and on twitter (@philmckinney).  If you know of some killer innovations being shown at CES that I should see, drop me a note.

Below is a brief summary of the highlights from the podcast.

Leadership Skills

• Integrity
• Vision/Strategy
• Communication
• Relationships
• Persuasion
• Adaptability/Flexibility
• Teamwork
• Coaching & Development
• Decision Making
• Planning (my weakest skill)

Innovation Leadership Skills

• Innovation leadership means taking risks
• Innovation is about constantly looking for new opportunities and threats
• Innovation is about change.  Foster a culture where change is expected.
• Don’t rest on traditional management and leadership techniques.  Every project and situation is different.
• Innovators are optimists.  Show it in your leadership style.
• Innovators cut through the crap.

Subscribe to the Killer Innovations Podcast on 

What is an innophobic?  Its a person who is so afraid of innovation that they won’t even try.

Have you ever noticed that when someone asks you to do something that you’ve never tried before; you immediately start hearing voices in our head trying to convince you that you can’t do it?  It happens to everyone.

When it comes to innovation, this self-doubt seems to get magnified.  It’s as if the size of the perceived risk becomes a multiplier to the amount of self-doubt we can conjure up.  The analogy I use is walking across a 4×4 beam.  If you set the beam flat on the floor, there is no issue.  You easily walk across the beam.   Now place that same beam 30’ in the air. All of sudden the perceived risk starts creating a mountain of self-doubt.  What if you were to fall?

In the case of innovation, what if you were to fail? Innovation is scary but you can overcome your fear and doubt to become an innovation leader.

As I’ve said a 1000 times – the ability to be innovative is not a special gift some people are born with.  It’s a skill that can be learned and practiced (just like walking across the beam).  And if you dedicate yourself to the practice part, you can become an Olympic caliber innovator.

At each of my talks, I’ve offered up a challenge.  Give me two hours with an innophobic, no matter how strong their fear is, and they will walk away with a new level of confidence in their ability to be an innovator.

For the first time, I’m going to make the same offer to readers of the blog.

I can’t do it for everyone so here is what I will do. If you’re being held back because of self-doubt on your personal ability to innovate, then send me a brief email that describes:

1. Why you doubt your ability to be innovative.
2. What would be the impact on your career, family and business if you could be more innovative.

I will select 2 or 3 of the people who submit the most interesting email and mentor them 1:1 for 2 hours each. In-person if they are based in Silicon Valley or by Skype if they are remote.

At the end, I will invite them to write a blog post on what they discovered about themselves and their new outlook on innovation.

When it comes to new innovations, we sometimes ignore the underlying ideas that make it work. Its hard but we need to look beyond the new and shiny and understand what makes the innovation an innovation.

Since I announced the book, I’ve been swamped with offers from companies and consultants with what they claim is the latest innovation in online marketing and promotion.  I have to admit that some of these “new and shiny” ideas look enticing. but when you step back, the underlying idea that makes online marketing work is word of mouth.  Word of mouth is driven by creating a great product and then backing it up with great customer service.  Sounds simple doesn’t it.  Then why have so many organizations ignored the basics and instead gone for the new and shiny?

Here is a good reminder why the word of mouth basics are where the real innovations take place.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Over the years, I’ve seen my fair share of poorly written mission statements.  The steps to creating a mission statement, in my opinion accurately represented by the cartoon, quickly becomes one more activity that is turned into a repeatable process my some well-meaning consultant. Have you noticed what’s missing from most mission statements? Any kind of  innovation and creativity.  What is managements view on innovation if you don’t apply it to something so critical as an organizations mission statement?

Wikipedia defines a mission statement as:

A statement of the purpose of a company or organization. The mission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a path, and guide decision-making. It provides “the framework or context within which the company’s strategies are formulated.”

A mission statement typically contains 3 elements:

1. Customer segment (who) – who is your target client/customer?
2. Product/Service (what) – what product or service do you provide to that client?
3. Differentiation – what makes your product or service unique, so that the client would choose you?

An example of mission statement that includes all of the key elements:

McDonalds – “To provide the fast food customer food prepared in the same high-quality manner world-wide that is tasty, reasonably-priced & delivered consistently in a low-key décor and friendly atmosphere.”

• Customer Segment: The fast food customer world-wide
• Product/Service: tasty and reasonably-priced food prepared in a high-quality manner
• Differentiation: delivered consistently (world-wide) in a low-key décor and friendly atmosphere.

Rather sterile and boring.  I would have thrown in “fun for kids and adults” – or maybe “laughter”.

Mission statements needs to be aspirational.  They empower teams to create raving custom fans by doing whatever it takes to meet the mission.

What are some of the most innovative/aspirational mission statements you’ve come across?

The economy upon which companies and employees have built their future has changed.

Just do a quick comparison of market capitalization to book value for public U.S. companies over the last two decades.  There is a dramatic rise in value attributed to intangibles – ideas, innovations, intellectual capital, etc.  In 1978, book value averaged 95% of the market cap – machinery, buildings, etc.  Today, the book value makes up 28% of the market cap. That means that 82% of the value attributed to companies is now coming from intangibles.

The value attributed to such things as intellectual capital is evidence of the transition we are experiencing to the creative economy which requires different skills from its workers.  It places a higher premium on creativity and the ability to translate the ideas generated into meaningful innovations.  A well-known formulation of this argument comes from Robert Reich, who argues that the economic well-being of any country now depends on the creativity of its workers rather than the profitability of its corporations.

In this new world, wealth creation is dependent on continually being able to create new ideas.  Workers who have embraced this creative economy by improving their innovation skills earn an average of $20,000 a year more than other workers.

A Conference Board survey of CEO’s found that creativity is growing in importance (97%).  To reinforce this point, these same CEO’s said they “prefer the creative employee over the technically skilled one” 63% of the time.

Do you have the creative skills to succeed?

As a trustee of the Computer History Museum and having worked closely with Jeffrey Katzenberg (CEO) and Ed Leonard (CTO) of DreamWorks Animation, I was asked to be the moderator for an event titled “The Technology of Animation”.  I got to play Jay Leno for ~90 minutes and interview them in front of an audience ~400 people.  The discussion covered a wide range of topics including: the history of animation, the role of technology innovation on animation, Shrek’s Law, 3D and what’s the next breakthrough in CG (computer generated) animation.

Below is the video of the event.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

In today’s economy, organizations can’t grow revenue by flogging the same old stuff to the same old customers through the same old channels in the same old way.  That’s what everyone else in your industry is doing.  As I’ve said many times – being like everyone means you’re average which means you’re boring and who wants to work with boring.

If you want to grow revenue, you have to conceive, develop and deliver jaw dropping innovations in the form of new products and services.  That’s not easy to do if your energies are focused on protecting your current position in a desperate attempt at survival.

I can hear it now – “But there is no guarantee that the new idea will work.  It’s too risky.”  In reality, staying the current course and speed is a riskier decision.  The one prediction I can make is that the future is different from today and therefore you need to do things differently.

Why am I convinced that “new” works?  Customers will always make room for something new, useful and value packed.  What is surprising to most people is that customers make their decisions on what they value in their head, not with logic or analysis.  No … Really — It’s based on their own internal value scale that when tipped in the right direction, will make getting whatever that new thing a priority.

So how do you make sure your new thing is the right thing?  By making sure that its delivers on at least two of the following benefits:

Time: Time is the most valuable resource we have and most anyone will trade resources to get time in return.  For example, I pay someone to do my yard work so that I can spend that time with my family.

Money: Whether we like it or not, money is what allows us to pay for the things that our families need and want.  Any new thing that makes us more productive in our ability to make money is a high priority.

Entertainment: Having fun and laughing releases endorphins (also known as “endogenous morphine”) into our bodies.   They resemble opiates in their abilities to produce a feeling of well-being. New things that deliver fun and enjoyment is like taking a drug.  Once you’re hooked, it’s hard to give up.

The way to grow in today’s highly competitive market is to bring something unexpected and exciting to your customers. You never know, they may get addicted to what you are delivering.

I was recently going through some old files and notebooks and came across a paper I wrote during my sophomore year in college (Spring 1980).  The paper was for a course on the history of technology that I titled, “Conditions of Technological Development”.  The professor, who happened to be the Assistant Dean of the College of Engineering, gave me a B+ with the comment of “Some good thoughts – well expressed.”  Little did I know what path my career was going to take and how the subject of this paper was going to become the foundation for everything I do including the subject for my book.

The paper took a fairly simple view of what is needed to create the right conditions for innovation.  The conditions I identified included; the role of agricultural productivity to free up land and human resources, the role of low cost mass production to meet the desires of the customers and the availability of the raw resources.  The paper also brought up concerns about the need for environmental restraint.

Given the perspective I gained from the 31 years since I wrote this paper, my view of what’s needed to create the right conditions for innovation has changed.  If I were to write the paper today, I would say that the following are the critical elements needed:

Effective protection of intellectual property

Without an effective intellectual property policy, there is little to no incentive to invent. It’s through the guaranteed protection that rewards the risks taken to discover and commercialize breakthroughs.

Vigorous competition

Highly competitive markets fuel the speed of innovation.  In markets where near monopoly conditions exist, innovation slows to a crawl as the company has no outside force challenging its leadership position.

Stable economic environment that is pro-business

The willingness of organizations to invest in the development of innovations is the tied to the economic return they will receive.  Therefore stable economic environments (e.g. low inflation, growing GDP, predictable non-burdensome tax regulation, etc) allow for organizations to plan and commit to the long investment cycles needed for breakthrough innovations.

Availability of risk capital

Whether it’s from within an organization or from venture capitalists, risk capital is a fundamental requirement for innovation.  Without it, the idea dies before it even has a chance.

A strong research and development infrastructure

Research and development infrastructure is established when the government, universities and industries achieve a high level of alignment, support and cooperation.  To achieve this level of support, incentives and rewards need to be in place to encourage the right behaviors.

Transparent regulatory systems

The regulatory systems need to be open and free from biases.  The lack of a transparent regulatory system discourages organizations from developing new innovations since the ability to secure the reward is blocked by others who use influence to prevent a truly competitive marketplace for ideas.

Ethics and the rule of law

When some of the conditions are non-existent, innovation can still flourish where there is a moral and ethical structure in place.  The core is a legal and judicial system that ensures uniform application of the law to all parties.

A strong emphasis on education

The engine that makes innovation happen is our ability to apply human ingenuity to the problems and opportunities that emerge.  The education system is critical to nurturing human ingenuity by establishing a foundation of critical and creative thinking skills.

What conditions do you think are critical to innovation?

Given that today is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states, I was reflecting back on the past year and compiling a list of everything that I’m thankful for.  I find as I get older, the list gets longer.  As I was scanning some of my favorite blogs this morning, I stumbled across an article by Howie Jacobson on gratitude as a business strategy.  Given that tomorrow is the official kick-off to the holiday shopping season, its something we should all take time to read and ponder.

Most of us are fantastic complainers. When someone doesn’t meet our expectations, we let them know. We may even let their boss or mother know.

There’s nothing wrong with expecting excellence, and taking steps to get it. The problem is, we tend to take excellence–and thoughtfulness, and kindness, and joyfulness–for granted.

When things go as we expect, we don’t even notice or acknowledge it. Dennis Prager refers to this as the “broken tile” syndrome: look at a ceiling with one broken tile, and where is your eye naturally drawn? To the broken tile, of course. Not to the hundreds of whole ones.

To see if this is true for you, think for a moment about your many contributions to the people around you. Do you get thanked enough for them? Does the gratitude-to-criticism ratio you experience feel right to you?

… continued on FastCompany

One item on my list this year is you — the readers of the blog and listeners to the podcast.  Thank you!

Its that time of year again when managers deliver annual performance reviews.  Over my career, I’ve been shocked on how few managers have the leadership skill to properly deliver constructive criticism. This morning, I came across an interesting column by Tony Schwartz on hbr.org about mistakes we make in delivering criticism.  He makes the point that in most cases what we say is less important than how we say it.

Here’s a question guaranteed to make your stomach lurch: “Would you mind if I gave you some feedback?”

What that actually means is “Would you mind if I gave you some negative feedback, wrapped in the guise of constructive criticism, whether you want it or not?”

The problem with criticism is that it challenges our sense of value. Criticism implies judgment and we all recoil from feeling judged. As Daniel Goleman has noted, threats to our esteem in the eyes of others are so potent they can literally feel like threats to our very survival.

The conundrum is that feedback is necessary. It’s the primary means by which we learn and grow. So what’s the best way to deliver it in a way that it provides the greatest value — meaning the recipient truly absorbs and acts on it?

Tony goes on to list the 3 mistakes everyone makes.  Its a good read

continued at  HRB.org

Even with all of the articles, columns and blog posts on innovation, the number of myths that still exist is astounding.  Below is the list of the 5 most common myths that I attempt to dispel whenever I’m giving a speech or innovation workshop.

1) I’m not creative – this is one that I’ve taken on as a personal mission.  It’s amazing how many people don’t consider themselves creative.  We are born creative.  Watch young kids play with an empty toilet paper roll.  How many different ways can they find a use for it?  Over the years of schooling and our career, we are taught that conformity is the path to success.  Conformity leads to average which leads to boring.  Creativity is about coming up with ideas that stand-out.  You are creative.  What’s missing is the knowing how to unlock that natural ability.

2) The best ideas come from serendipity – This myth is the one that holds more people back from even attempting to be creative.  They have this belief that some outside event, such as falling in the bathtub, is needed before the idea is formed.  What may look like serendipity, is in reality, the result of years of laying the mental groundwork.

3) Creativity is the result of the lone inventor – We have a saying in the innovation industry; “There’s no such thing as a truly new idea.  Ideas are the result of building on the work of others”.  Many of the creative ideas that led to creating great companies were the result of a team.  Some examples:  Microsoft, Intel, Google, Skype and many more.

4) Fear is a motivator for creativity – If you see a management team using fear (e.g. your division will be closed down if you don’t come up with a new product) as a motivator for creativity, sell the stock and run away as fast as possible.  It’s been my experience that the happiest most up-beat employees tend to be the most creative.

5) It’s all about money – When people see an idea that becomes a major market success, they believe becoming rich was the initial motivator.  In some cases that is true but not in most cases.  When you dig into the motivation for most ideas, it was to solve a problem that others had overlooked.  It was in solving the unspoken need that drove the success of the idea.

What are the most common myths you’ve heard?

For many of the innovations we take for granted, we miss out on hearing what went in to making it happen.  After my post yesterday on Jet Blue, I got an email from a reader with links to a series of video’s put out by GE on the technology and innovations that went into making their jet engines.  Normally, these kinds of video’s are marketing/promotions videos with a thin veneer of innovation.  The result is a turnoff.  In the case of GE, they did an excellent job of communicating the innovation challenges and breakthroughs in making engines that were quieter, lighter and more fuel efficient while at the same time, not coming across like your being marketed to.

For larger organizations, its hard to tell their innovation message in a way that conveys the wow and wonder of human ingenuity.  Its these stories that need to told as way to inspire the next generation of inventors.

If you like this one, then I would suggest you subscribe to the GE Youtube channel.

When it comes to innovation, experimentation is expected except when it comes to your core business model.  This is one of those sacred cows that shouldn’t be touched.  The results from a well-designed experiment of business model innovation can be a real eye opener.

Take Jet Blue as an example.  Last July, they announced a promotion called BluePass that would allow travellers unlimited flights in a three-month span for one fixed price. The three-month promotional period runs from August 22nd to November 22nd. Travellers have three plans to choose from:

• Three months of unlimited travel between JetBlue’s Boston hub and any JetBlue city, all for $1,999.
• Three months of unlimited travel between JetBlue’s Boston hub and any of 13 selected JetBlue cities (none west of Chicago), this time for $1,499.
• Three months of unlimited travel between JetBlue’s Long Beach, California hub and any of nine selected JetBlue cities (none east of Chicago) for $1,299.

You may be wondering who would go for such a pricing option.  Based on the advertising and promotion put around the offer, it was clearly aimed at the frequent business traveler.  What caught my attention was Jet Blue’s willingness to perform a business model experiment this extreme.  They weren’t looking to tweak the pricing model. Instead, they framed an experiment that tested the boundaries.

At the same time, they weren’t being reckless.  They limited their downside risk by restricting the total number of passes they sold under the promotion.

Will this become a standard offering from Jet Blue? We will have to wait and see.  My hope is that it wakes up other organizations to get out of the rut of the expected business model and go experiment.

If you don’t, someone else will and the result is that you will be watching them take over your industry.

There are all kinds of economic development programs put in place by governments with the objective of accelerating economic growth.  Not satisfied with working just in their own country, governments are now establishing innovation competitions in other countries.

I personally think this a great idea.  Being an innovator is hard enough much less in countries that have limited to no support/mentoring for their local Edison’s.

The Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) initiative was established in 2010, with funding from the U.S. Department of State, to spur economic advancement through science and technology-based innovation in countries across the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia.

They recently announced a technology focused business plan competition.

In Partnership with MIT Enterprise Forum from the Pan Arab region, GIST has opened its Business Plan Competition to all technology entrepreneurs with promising new technologies and companies. This funding will support new technology start-up development by facilitating mentorships with successful entrepreneurs, providing networking opportunities a model for suitable business development strategies in the region and access to U.S. markets by organizing visits to the U.S. for a selected group of entrepreneurs to establish direct connection with potential investors and partners.

“I Dare” GIST Business Plan competition winners will receive awards as follows:

• Winning team (1 team): $50,000
• First runner-up (1 award): $25,000
• Second runner-up (1 award): $10,000
• Best Female Entrepreneur team (1 award): $15,000

To read more …

Have you’ve been looking for funding to commercialize your innovation but came up empty? One avenue that is growing in popularity are innovation competitions. If your ideas fits the requirements, its a source of funding that doesn’t required you to give up any equity.

One example is the recent UK Technology Strategy Board announcement.  They will invest up to £15m in collaborative research and development projects that stimulate innovation across key enabling technology areas – advanced materials; biosciences; electronics, photonics and electrical systems; information and communications technology; and nanoscale technologies.

This competition is co-funded by Scottish Enterprise with up to £2.75m of additional funding. Our focus is on projects where recent technological discoveries or breakthroughs have inspired people to innovate in a context of significant technology risk, or have led to ideas that are yet to find applications in a recognised market or business sector. Innovation in these key enabling technology areas can be a significant driver of economic growth and enhance quality of life.

Proposals should be collaborative and led by a business. We expect to invest between £250k and £500k in each project, although projects outside this range will be considered. We are primarily looking to fund applied research projects attracting 50% public funding.

Registration deadline is 30 November.

Link to full story

On Wednesday, I will be traveling to Atlanta to give a speech on “Innovation and Diversity” to the American Institute for the Management of Diversity. Given the title and the group, you may think you know what I will be talking about but you would wrong.

The topic description is:

The key to unlocking the innovation potential in an organization is the ability to change perspective. By looking at problems and opportunities in a different way, we create the opportunity to discover solutions that create competitive advantage. One key to changing the perspective is to create innovation teams with the widest range of diversity including ethnicity, age, education, nationality, socioeconomic status, family structure and any other characteristic that defines us as individuals.

One area of diversity that has historically been overlooked is neuro-diversity – specifically the growing population of individuals diagnosed with autism. 1 out of every 110 children has autism. More children this year will be diagnosed with autism than AIDS, cancer and diabetes combined.

This community will become a growing portion of our future workforce.

Individuals with autism have a different perspective than the rest of us “neuro-typicals” and that difference can give a boost to an organizations innovation efforts. However, to take advantage of this resource, organizations need to recognize that traditional management and innovation approaches are insufficient.

Should be interesting …

One thing that I’ve been thinking about lately, especially given my recent announcement, is what will be my innovation legacy.

Another person who pondered this question was Alfred Nobel.  Alfred teamed up with his brother and father and opened a lab in Stockholm to study nitroglycerine.  In 1866, he discovered that by mixing it with keiselguhr powder, made from a white chalky rock, he could stabilize nitroglycerine.  He named the new invention dynamite.

His new invention was immediately embraced by the mining and construction industries.  However, it didn’t take long before the military also found a use for it.

In 1888, a rumor that Nobel had died led to the publication of his obituary in a French newspaper under the headline, “The Merchant of Death is Dead.” The first line of the obituary read, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”  Nobel was horrified by the thought that he would be remembered primarily as an arms manufacturer whose greatest discovery, dynamite, enabled warring nations to kill their enemies more efficiently.

He set himself on a path to find a way to improve his reputation and leave a legacy that would benefit the world.

Upon his death in 1896, it was announced that he had set aside a $9 million estate to form a foundation which would award an annual cash prize to individuals who had made the most significant contributions to physics, chemistry, literature, and peace.  The foundation awarded the first Nobel Prize in 1901.

I’m proud of the products that define my current innovation legacy.  But I want to do more than just live off the past.  My new goal is to be known as someone who had an impact on others by helping them to get better at innovating.

What is your innovation legacy?

Earlier today, I announced that I will be retiring from HP.

This is not the traditional retirement.  I’m not planning on spending my days playing golf or sitting around the house driving my wife crazy. I have far too much passion, energy and ideas to sit on the sidelines.

My definition of retirement is the freedom to write, speak, mentor, advise and teach without the restrictions of the traditional employee/corporate structure.

My passion is to help innovators get better at innovating and I’ve spent the better part of the last dozen years fulfilling that mission.  My time at HP started out as an advisor on innovation that turned into a request to join for a year or so to “help grow the innovation culture at HP”.  That was 9 years ago.  I can honestly say that I’ve done everything that is within my power to fulfill that objective.

In helping grow the innovation culture at HP, I had the privilege to mentor, be a part of and lead teams that delivered some amazing innovations including: Blackbird, Firebird, Envy 133, Gabble, Twynergy, Pluribus, Vantage TouchWall, DreamScreen and many more.

These innovations were the catalyst for HP making it on to the Most Creative Company lists for the first time.  The innovation teams at HP deserve the recognition.

So what am I going to do after HP?

Repeat what I did at HP by helping others get better at innovation.

In the near term, I will be focusing on the launch of my first book, Beyond The Obvious.  At the same time, I will be expanding my efforts on the blog, podcast, speaking and teaching Killer Innovation Workshops.

I’m also excited that once again, I will be able to take on board seats, advisory roles and mentoring opportunities since I will no longer have to worry about conflict of interest and other corporate restrictions.

HP has asked me to stay on through a transition period and to ensure that a number of customer obligations are completed.  I anticipate that my last official day at HP will be 12/31.

A box arrived this week and what do you think was inside?  The galley proofs of the book!

Its hard to believe that the book is almost done.  What started as an email in the spring of 2010 from the person who eventually became my agent, the project is nearing completion.  If someone had told me how much work it takes to write book, I might have had second thoughts before starting.

Now comes the long wait for the hardcover and digital versions to be released.  The book is currently available for pre-order with a worldwide release scheduled for February 7, 2012.

To sign-up for free content (excerpts, chapters, etc), visit BeyondTheObvious.com and register.

These days we are under a constant barrage of innovative solutions to every possible problem we may have.  Each of these innovations is the result of some team that has been chartered to come up with something that will sell.  The objective for these innovation teams need to more than just any run of the mill innovation but to set the bar of finding and launching killer innovations. Otherwise, we are in the business of adding one more item to the pile.

Given that innovation is the buzzword bingo term of the decade, it seems everyone is trying to find the magic formula to creating the next great thing.  The result is a flood of ideas and innovations being thrown around like they are manna from heaven. The result is massive overload of products, technologies and services that cause confusion for the intended customer.

Which innovation is the best one to solve my need?  Which will survive and which will die?

Just look back to the automobile industry when it was the “hot innovation” at the time.  In 1904, there were 195 different cars put out by 60 companies. Over the next 10 years, 531 companies where launched and 346 perished.  By 1923, only 108 car makers remained.  The number dropped to 44 car manufactures in place by 1927.  How many are around today?

You could argue we are seeing the same thing today across a number of areas including mobile applications, social networking, geo location services, couponing, etc.  If history is a predictor of the future, then we will see a large number of companies try and fail.

So what are you doing to make sure you’re one of the few winners?

Below is a news report on the Hacking Autism Hackathon.  If you are interested in running your own hackathon in your area, drop me an email.  My dream is for this to be the first of many Hacking Autism Hackathon’s.

Visit HackingAutism.org for more information.

Hacking Autim Hackathon video