The Elephant in the Board Room

Richard Watson — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:48:24 -0400

I’ve just been reading some nifty new stuff by Tom Peters. One of the big trends that I keep telling people about - but to almost no effect - is ageing. Fortunately Tom gets it. Here are a handful of statistics from his book on trends.

“In the US between 2002-2010 the number of people aged 18-44 will decline by 1% while the number of people aged 55-64 will increase by 47%”

“Americans aged 50+ hold 70% of global wealth and the average net worth of a household headed by someone aged 55-64 was $120,000 compared to $7,200 for people aged under 35.”

Innovation by Saying "No"

Richard Watson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:36:22 -0400

Given that most of the mess we’re currently in was primarily caused by certain financial innovations, perhaps now is a good time to consider whether some innovations really are a good idea.

Build a Problem Factory

Richard Watson — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:03:10 -0400

Eight years ago I did some work with a chemicals company. One of their divisions made paint and wanted to invent a framework for innovation. One of the things we did was get into bed (not literally) with the customer complaints manager. We figured that what people complained most bitterly and most frequently about was probably an area where innovation should be pointed. A few years later one of the products that came out of R&D was a white paint that told you about which bits of a (white) wall you’d forgotten to paint.

Innovate your way out of trouble

Richard Watson — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:55:17 -0400

Some more thoughts from my mate Andrew at GIN...

At times of financial turmoil the temptation is to metaphorically batten down the hatches and wait for the storm to pass. Cut costs, cut jobs – if it moves (and even if it doesn’t), cut it. The problem is that everyone else is doing the same and you run out of things to cut – unless it is your own throat.Lord Leverhume (Unilever) famously said, “We have no money, we will have to think”. But thinking without action is just hallucination, so we need to get used to the idea of doing something positively different.

The Why Revolution

Richard Watson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:32:41 -0400

Somthing my friend Andrew Crosthwaite at Global Innovation Network just sent me. It reminds me of something about the '7 levels of why' that I had in my head for at least five years - but never managed to write down. See if it strikes a chord with you too.

Six Innovation Insights

Richard Watson — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:33:06 -0400

It’s incredible what you can find on the Internet these days. I was cruising around cyberspace the other day without any specific sense of where I was going when I stumbled upon a paper on innovation models by Professor Joe Tidd at the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex (UK). Reading the report sparked off a number of ideas. Using the paper as a foundation here are some thoughts about innovation processes, tools and trends.

Models of Innovation

Richard Watson — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:50:06 -0400

Seeing that my last post was about bath bubbles I thought I’d better get a bit more serious, so here’s a quick review of innovation models. First though I think it’s worth looking at definitions because in my experience a great number of people still regard innovation as scientific R&D or continue to confuse creativity with innovation.

Thought Bubbles

Richard Watson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:27:19 -0400

There’s been a lot of talk about housing bubbles recently – allegedly caused by various low-cost financial innovations - but I’d like to start a discussion about another kind of bubble that is currently rather boring. Bath bubbles have been around for years but where is the innovation? There isn’t any. Generally speaking they come in one size and one color (clear thru opaque) and frankly I’m rather bored of them.

Green Innovation

Richard Watson — Mon, 26 May 2008 20:46:13 -0400

You’d have to have been living on another planet not to notice that saving our planet is a pretty big trend these days and the trend for all things ‘green’ and sustainable is naturally making its impact on innovation too. In some parts of the world you now can’t move for carbon neutral holidays, low carbon cappuccinos and packaging that’s been reduced reused and recycled.However, I see a problem on the horizon and it’s called Eco-Exhaustion and it has a distant cousin called CSR Cynicism.

Beginner's Luck

Richard Watson — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:21:56 -0400

According to Thomas Kuhn’s classic book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, youthful exuberance is a key driver of scientific discovery and change. This seems to square up with my own experience of product and service innovation. The best new ideas that I’ve come across, or have been involved with, have come from people - or companies - that have next to no formal knowledge or training.