Innovation Engine in Business Week
Maddock Douglas in Business Week
Recent Articles
March 2, 2010 Practical Wisdom's Role in Innovation Practical wisdom is sucked out of our brains by the structures, policies, and procedures we put into place in an attempt to make things more efficient, scalable, and safe...
February 17, 2010 If yours is a culture of "knowers", you are making your innovation life much harder than it has to be...
February 11, 2010 Maddock Douglas in the New York Times "Green Inc." blog Report Pits Perception Against Reality on Issue of Green Business Practices If truth is only a matter of perception, then brands like Wendy's, Levi's and Amazon.com may be a bit luckier than, say, Nike or GE — at least as it relates to their environmental credentials ...
February 2, 2010 Going Green's Unexpected Advantage True, green is good for the consumer and our planet, but sustainability makes for a key driver of innovation and carries ...
January 5, 2010 Why Victims Can't Invent AnythingConsider this tale: Two salespeople for a leading athletic shoe company are sent over to a developing-world soon-to-be superpower country in the early 1980s. After a ...
December 8, 2009 Conscious Capitalism: Doing Good Via Self-InterestMaybe if members of the social responsibility movement were to spend less time hectoring companies about climate change, worker exploitation, and the like, and more ...
November 24, 2009 Innovation: Why Failing is O.K.Columbus insisted the world was round and then promptly missed America on his first attempt. The Wright Brothers claimed flying was possible and nearly killed ...
November 3, 2009 Innovation: It's About ImplementationIf no one knows about what you have come up with, you haven't innovated at all. You need to compel workers to adopt innovations.
October 20, 2009 SinnovationThe end-of-the-year sales push is in full swing. Planning for 2010 is under way. And between all the meetings, memos, and conference calls, your summer vacation is now...
October 6, 2009 Innovation: The Alpha EffectWe recently got a call from a friend who happens to be the CEO of a Fortune 1000 company. She told us she was leaving to go to a much smaller firm. She had nothing but...
September 22, 2009 Idea ParentingYou've seen this movie: You are involved in an amazing new product-development program. Since you're one of the brilliant ones, you are brought in early - top of ...
September 1, 2009 Get Ideas Flowing with a Job SwapMike went to a high school with hundreds of kids in each class, which made gym class kind of a circus. But a technique that his gym teachers used to make sure all the ...
August 18, 2009 Question No. 1 for Managers of Innovation"Why should I follow you?"; When you introduce your vision to have your company be more innovative, you may think your employees will ask about cost, potential ...
July 28, 2009 Dealing with the Brilliant Naysayer"What if Harold doesn't approve"; And with these five words, discussion of a potentially brilliant idea comes to a screeching halt. Most every company has a Harold (or...
July 14, 2009 Major League InnovationWe are often asked about ways to innovate beyond the traditional business setting. In honor of the All-Star Game, here is our suggestion to the owners of professional ...
June 30, 2009 Insurers Innovate, but They Don't CommunicateLast time, in our column - Insurers: Effective Innovators - Almost, we said in total sincerity, we want to stress that insurance had the potential to ...
June 16, 2009 Insurers: Effective Innovators AlmostWhat if we told you insurance is one of the most innovative industries we know? (Hold the smirks. We are serious.) What if we went further and said that the insurance ...
June 2, 2009 The New Rules of Managing InnovationWhat do we do next? Those of you who have followed this column over the past two years are aware we have written extensively about how companies like yours build and ...
May 26, 2009 The Smart Way to Tap Social MediaO.K. In our last column, we hope we persuaded you that you need to add social media - things such as Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, and Facebook - to your ...
May 12, 2009 Dive into Social Media NowWe believe this with all our heart: While social media are complex and often misunderstood, they have a value beyond traditional marketing campaigns. More ...
April 28, 2009 Every entrepreneur who took venture capital money during the past 40 years will tell you pretty much the same story: The VCs exerted far more control than expected, ...
April 14, 2009 Are You a Walt Disney or a Roy Disney?Perhaps no other country celebrates innovation the way America does. This passion for inventions started early in our history. Did you know that George Washington ...
March 17, 2009 Win Via Inspiration, Not Panic Entrepreneur: the type of personality who is willing to take upon herself or himself a new venture or enterprise and accepts full responsibility for the outcome ...
March 3, 2009 Don't Let a Good Crisis Go to WasteThere has never been a better time to innovate. However it takes an entrepreneurial mindset to see that what most people view as a crisis is actually an opportunity ...
January 27, 2009 Laugh a Little, Innovate a LotHow much fun are you having at work these days? Let's face it. Having fun isn't as easy as it used to be, even for the most courageous, creative, and curious. Today ...
December 30, 2008 Harnessing the Power of the Sales ForceCertain fundamental tensions exist everywhere. In our personal lives it's "spend now or save for retirement?" In sports the question is often "bet it all on winning ...
December 16, 2008 How to Produce Big Ideas on DemandWhat if we told you that you could come up with a great idea anytime you wanted? We'll go further. We can show you how not only to summon new and innovative concepts ...
December 2, 2008 Why Companies Lack Successful InnovationIt is easy to blame chief executives and senior management for not devoting enough attention to introducing new products, but that is too simplistic an explanation for...
November 18, 2008 What to Look For in a CIO"The people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, usually do." –Think Different campaign, Apple 1984 With the economy in a recession and your ...
November 4, 2008 Innovating During a Recession"Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful." -Warren Buffett Last March, we wrote an article titled "The Upside of a Recession" ...
October 21, 2008 Why Not Mass Produce Green Homes?"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," wrote philosopher George Santayana. Most of us know that, and that's why we study the magazine ...
October 7, 2008 Change Your Process to Boost ProfitsHere's something to ponder: The only difference between a rut and grave is that a grave has four sides instead of three. We mention this fact because if your ...
September 23, 2008 Advantage, Smaller CompaniesWhen it comes to innovation, David almost always beats Goliath. We know you don't want to hear it, but it is true. That's why while the rest of us are dreaming of the ...
September 9, 2008 Brand-Extending Ourselves to DeathThe words in the headline weren't chosen to be provocative - although we concede they are. We picked them because they're depressingly accurate. An extensive ...
August 26, 2008 Social Media Exposes the Corporate PsychopathTruth or dare. We dare you (CMO, brand manager, PR-communications specialist, CRM manager, or whoever you are) to have your company authentically enter into the ...
August 12, 2008 Why the Pressure to Innovate Won't StopWe're now into an era where new products and innovations (BusinessWeek.com, 6/17/08) are seen as smart investments. Some context will show that: • This wasn't always ...
July 29, 2008 Innovating Outside the JarThere is a great saying in the South: "You can't read the label when you are sitting inside the jar." From our experience this saying applies directly to your ability ...
July 15, 2008 Don't Ignore What Darwin Teaches"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." -George Orwell. George Orwell and Charles Darwin got it right, at least when it comes to new product ...
July 1, 2008 The Best Way to Boost Share PriceUltimately, the reason companies in general and marketers in particular are interested in how new products can be developed and introduced more effectively is the ...
June 17, 2008 Diversity: Don't Innovate Without ItA white guy, a white guy, and a white guy walk into a bar... did we lose you yet? Thought so. Nothing interesting was going to come from that joke. Humor works ...
June 3, 2008 Ten Reasons Your Next Launch Will FailIntroducing new products and services successfully requires: a) sufficient expertise and resources, b) a defined process (BusinessWeek.com, 5/8/08), and c) leadership ...
May 20, 2008 Believe in Innovation to WinThere is no doubt most companies today are big believers in the idea of innovation. Its importance is heralded in corporate visions and mission statements. The chief ...
May 8, 2008 Saving the World Through InnovationPresident Bush recently announced a plan to stop the growth of greenhouse gases in the U.S. by 2025, acknowledging the need to head off serious climate change. For ...
April 24, 2008 Finding Your Company's Great Thinkers"The people on the front lines are right, until proven otherwise." -Colin Powell As we mentioned previously, the best, most innovative, companies ...
April 10, 2008 The Innovation Engine: ConnectivitySure, you have smart people. But so does the company down the street. Simply being smart doesn't give you an edge. It's just the price of entry if you want to come up ...
March 27, 2008 Super Bowl Ads: A Big FumbleIt has been some two months since the big game, and while some recall the New York Giants upset the heavily favored New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, almost no ...
March 13, 2008 The Innovation Engine: The Upside of RecessionPop quiz, hot shot: What do MTV, Trader Joe's, and the iPod have in common? Yes, of course, they're all now ubiquitous and make our lives much more agreeable. But to ... |
