Dear:
This
month’s Inspiring Ideas takes a look at the topic of
innovation. While many companies might be thinking that survival
rather than innovation is today’s principle objective, the fact is
that the two are fundamentally linked. It was Darwin who said that it
wasn’t the strongest or most intelligent species that survived, but
those that are most responsive to change. Well as we all know,
today’s business environment is changing pretty fast, and it’s
those companies who are best equipped to innovate that will meet the
challenges that these changes present with greatest success. This
month we bring you insights from some of the world’s top innovation
experts – Gary Hamel, Clayton Christensen, Vijay
Govindarajan and Paul Saffo. We hope you enjoy and, as
always, feel free to send us any comments or suggestions.
Chris Stanley, Editor HSM Inspiring Ideas
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Tips from the Top
The goal of forecasting is not to predict
the future but to tell you what you need to know to take meaningful action
in the present. Take a look at Stanford tech futurist Paul
Saffo’s Six Rules of Effective Forecasting
[Read +] |
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Million Dollar Tales
Amazon.com
Legend has it that Jeff Bezos
wrote his business plan during a road trip to Seattle with his wife. The
plan was simple: while the largest bookstores and catalogues for books
might offer 200,000 titles, an on-line bookstore could offer more. The
company began as "Cadabra.com," a name quickly abandoned for sounding too
like "cadaver." Bezos renamed the company "Amazon" after the world's
biggest river. [Read +] |
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After
Office
What impact does you company’s
organizational DNA have on its capacity to innovate? Did you know your
company even had organizational DNA? Well, it does, according to Tuck
professor Vijay Govindarajan, and the ability to manipulate this DNA is
fundamental to the success of any proposed strategic innovation. Vijay
explains why in this exclusive article for Inspiring Ideas. [Read +] |
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| MULTIMEDIA TOOLBOX |
 VIDEO Watch as Harvard Business
School’s Clayton Christensen discusses the concept of
disruptive innovation and why the capacity to be disruptive is what leads
to some of the most successful innovations of all. [watch
video] |
| VIDEO When we think of
innovation it’s often with regards to products or technologies. But what
about innovation in management? As part of this exclusive interview with
HSM, Gary Hamel identifies some of the key drivers that
make management innovation necessary. [watch
video] |
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As a Knowledge Sponsor for the World Innovation Forum,
Capgemini is working to help executives identify what it takes to be a successful innovator in challenging
economic times like these. We are benchmarking activities and
results with executives like yourself and peers in multiple industries. By
participating in this survey, you will be an important part of this
benchmarking effort and learn where your business stands compared to the
market.
If you would like to receive a copy of the final report, please provide
your contact information at the end of the survey.
In addition, to thank you for completing the survey, respondents may enter
into a drawing to win an Amazon Kindle
2, a market changing and innovative device for 2009.
Click here to participate in
the Innovation survey.
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| HSM NEWS |
| Change and Innovation
in the 21st Century |
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Admiral James G. Stavridis, Commander, United
States Navy Southern Command shares his insights
Today’s military is more agile and capable than ever before,
yet it is still in the very nascent stages of becoming a true post-modern
organization that possesses the ability to couple strategic speed with
global reach and purpose. Creating an organization—especially of the size
and scope of the military, but applicable to many other large, complex,
tradition centric organizations—that is truly able to adapt to 21st Century
realities requires developing a culture that is change-centric and has an
adaptive structure to match external conditions and forces.
Read the full article here
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| RECOMMENDED READING |
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The
Future of Management
By:Gary Hamel
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