The phrase “that’s how it’s always been done” has likely shown up at least once in your career. In the past, this phrase was less a way to avoid innovation and more a stance of pride. What we built worked then, so it will work now. However, with creative and technological advances in everything from [...]
Imaginative Play As children, our naturally inquisitive minds are designed for imaginative play. Depending on how you slice the data, children ask an average of 69 to 107 questions each hour they are engaged in conversation with adults. Our minds are little sponges, soaking up every piece of information we can get our hands-on. Then, instead [...]
The Problem with Traditional Experimentation Experimentation and innovation cannot exist without one another. To embrace innovation, we must also embrace the experimental process. But this is not quite as easy as coming up with new ideas and testing each of them. Each new idea will cost a company in time, money, and manpower, and these resources [...]
Red straw trap: Success sticks you to the past Josh Linkner, Detroit Free Press June 18, 2016 In 1953, three employees of the San Diego Rocket Chemical Company created a mixture to protect missile skins. It didn't work. They tried again – no luck. And again, and again. Finally, on the 40th try, they were successful. [...]
Late last year, I finally traded in my trusty Ford Focus for a new (to me) lightly used 2014 Ford Focus. (It has 18,000 miles on it) It is a great car, I really like it. But that is not what I wanted to tell you about. This Focus happens to be a Flex Fuel car. [...]
The Lean Learning Center reviews organizations that have embraced change and stood the test of time. In our article about the importance of innovation and creativity to an organization’s success, we discussed the average lifespan of an S&P 500 company: The average lifespan has declined from 61 years in 1955 to 18 years in 2014. However, [...]
