Twice in the last week, I found myself telling clients from successful, profitable companies the story of Kodak’s decline. In both cases, they went a bit pale, and asked if I’d ever written up the story so they could give it to their bosses. Continue reading Disruptive innovation
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Creativity in the public sector
Our politicians keep introducing reforms, claiming that this will make public sector organisations as efficient and innovative as the private sector, but each time it just seems to make things worse. Continue reading Creativity in the public sector
Change the world
All too often enthusiastic inventors claim their inventions will change the world…. Continue reading Change the world
Purposeful play
The recent launch of Cambridge’s Raspberry Pi, a £15 credit card sized computer, designed to encourage beginners to have fun programming, reminded me of the days when I was a student at Churchill College. Most of my male friends seemed to spend most of their time utterly absorbed in playing around with computers, electronics and software. Continue reading Purposeful play
Are bankers bonkers
I was recently giving a talk to about 200 engineers at one of the regions most innovative and successful companies. When we got to the Q&A, one of them asked me “Are you motivated by making money?” Continue reading Are bankers bonkers
Beyond the brainstorm
The other day I was giving a talk about creativity, and was asked whether brainstorming was the only way to be creative. I thought this was a good question, because although a free wheeling “Brainstorm Session” is often seen as the main way of having new ideas, for most people other techniques will work better. Continue reading Beyond the brainstorm
You can’t eat consultants
A friend emailed me the other day about an awards event he’d been at for innovative early stage social enterprises. As seems to be increasingly fashionable these days, the “prize” was “support” rather than money, and in his closing address, Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society glibly said “Innovation doesn’t flourish when there’s money about.” The audience wasn’t impressed. Continue reading You can’t eat consultants
crisis creativity
As I write this, it’s been a rough month.
First an obscure Icelandic volcano grounded all European air travel. Then three young bankers were burnt to death by rioters in Athens, while Greece’s debt levels suddenly looked like bringing down the Euro. Finally a blowout in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico turned BP’s exploratory well into a financial and environmental nightmare. Continue reading crisis creativity