The Innovator's Guide to Growth

I picked up an interesting vibe at the Magazine Publishers Association Innovation Conference the other week. For the most part, the industry has had a tough year as it grapples with recession, changing consumer behavior, and a range of disruptive technologies...

If nothing else, developments in the e-reader market provide substantial fodder for online commentary. It seems that every week features a story in a mainstream publication about the latest "Kindle killer" followed by endless chatter and eager speculation in blogs and on Twitter...

Yesterday I facilitated a discussion at the Magazine Publishers Association annual Innovation Conference with Melanie Healey, the Group President of North America for Procter & Gamble. She told a story with some important innovation implications...

In a chat last week, Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein explained why he wasn't bothered by J.D. Drew's relatively low number of runs batted in (quotes from Joe Posnanski's blog): "When you're putting together a winning team, that honestly doesn't matter...

A central argument of this blog is that every company must grapple with the reality that their current business model has a finite life, which means seeking reinvention and transformation. Leaders, too, need to constantly think about how they can reinvent and transform themselves...

Earlier this week, Netflix announced a winner in a $1 million contest designed to help the company improve its recommendation engine. While other companies shouldn't blindly mimic Netflix's specific program, they ought to step up efforts to share the innovation load as widely as possible...

The economic shocks that reverberated through the economy a year ago could easily have marked the end of the nascent "Innovation Movement." After all, how could companies prioritize developing innovation programs in the face of very real questions of fundamental survival...

Last week, I wrote about the dangers of overly relying on quantitative market research when developing innovation opportunities. A tendency to seek "safety in numbers" causes a similar problem in another part of the innovation process: managing the creation of intellectual property...

The other day one of my clients asked me a deceptively simple question: What is the best market research technique? It turned out to be a leading question, as he had in his hand an article from a recent article in Inc. that said, "Given limited resources .....

On Tuesday, Sony announced plans to introduce an intriguing new e-reader in time for the Christmas season. Analysts immediately asked: Is the device a Kindle killer? That's actually the wrong question. The right question is whether Sony can create a viable growth business with its new reader...

Most companies have turned from feeling paralyzed by the economic shocks of 2008 to plotting response strategies appropriate for today's tough markets. One thing companies need to carefully consider is how to confront the new reality of increasingly value-conscious customers...

Most observers agree that large companies aren't optimally organized to innovate. What's less clear is a better alternative to current organizational designs...

Take a deep breath, and repeat after me: "My [business model, product, business unit, brand, offering] has a finite life...

Microsoft and Google's increasingly captivating competitive dance took another turn on July 29 with the announcement of a search partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo. The deal could create a viable competitor to Google--or even more enticingly build very different kinds of growth businesses...