Be Innovative
Monday, August 20, 2007
Creativity and Innovation: Larry Keeley.
This is an old lecture on Innovation Effectiveness given by
Larry Keeley, at
UC Santa Barbara, on 15 November 2005. Most of what he's talking about is being said in some form or another in up to date graduate business programs in North America, but the overview presented here in 1.5 hours is worth your while.
Keeley claims that the "hit rate" of innovation is very low--around 4% of innovative ideas are successful--because of the way we think about innovation and the way we have been taught to innovate, e.g., think outside the box, innovate without boundaries, brainstorm without objectives, etc.
We need to change those old patterns, and this is what he recommends (this is a literal transcription of his summary slide):
- Align top management around an innovation intent...
Clear innovation definitions and directions are imperative
- Diagnose your situation; select relevant capabilities...
Break out of the orthodoxies used in your industry
- Use special method to produce relevant discoveries...
Not just technology shifts but key unmet human needs
- Build initiatives using clear protocols...
Ground innovation in your skills with special disciplines
- Keep the emphasis on prototypes and future platforms...
Avoid trying to "prove" the financial case first
If you follow this formula, you can't fail: according to Keeley, you should "expect innovation hit rates between 35 to 70%."
Even though this is a good summary of the talk, I would recommend watching the whole video. Of particular interest to some of you will be
The Ten Types of Innovation™, and the
Innovation Landscape™, which is a set of graphs created with Excel--I don't know too much about the methodology, but the graphs and the information that you can read off them seem impressive.
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