Monthly Archives: September 2011

Free Access – Mobilizing Your Innovation Army

In advance of the Back End of Innovation conference in sunny San Diego this October 17-19, 2011, IIR has made available a free recording of my webinar ‘Mobilizing Your Innovation Army’ that you can watch at your convenience.

Click here to watch ‘Mobilizing Your Innovation Army’

The Back End of Innovation conference is shaping up to a great event with lots of great speakers including John Kao, Donna Sturgess, and fellow Innovation Excellence co-founder Rowan Gibson.

In this webinar, I focus on:

  • The importance of building a common language of innovation
  • How to destroy the lone innovator myth
  • Ways to use The Nine Innovation Roles
  • Why big innovations often start small
  • How everyone can make a difference for innovation

Click here to watch a recording of ‘Mobilizing Your Innovation Army’

I hope to see you at the Back End of Innovation conference – October 17-19, 2011 in sunny San Diego.


Build a Common Language of Innovation

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Netflux – A Qwikster Innovation Divorce for Netflix

Netflux - A Qwikster Innovation Divorce for NetflixBreaking up is hard to do, but sometimes it is the right thing to do.

Imagine my surprise when an e-mail from Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix arrived in my inbox this morning announcing that Ms. Netflix was getting an innovation divorce.

Yes, Ms. Netflix has decided to send her old man packing and is no longer ashamed to tell you his name – Qwikster. Yes, Mr. Qwikster has been kicked to the curb with his DVD and Blu-Ray collection. Rumor has it Mr. Qwiskter was caught having a ‘qwikie’ with a mature video game, and Ms. Netflix decided she’d had enough. The newly independent Ms. Netflix announced she planned to devote all of her energy to her passion for streaming content now that Mr. Qwikster was out of the picture. Both hope that their individual pictures will be sharper after the breakup – and in full high-definition. They will share custody of their children Television and Movies, with Ms. Netflix getting custody online and Mr. Qwikster maintaining his relationship with the two by mail. Some friends of Ms. Netflix and Mr. Qwikster have already abandoned one or the other, with some people maintaining a relationship with both. In time we will find out who really has more friends.

I wish both Ms. Netflix and Mr. Qwikster the best of luck in their new lives apart from each other.

The Importance of Focus to Innovation

Surely I jest, but this news event has important innovation implications to discuss, and innovation should be about fun. The most important of these implications is focus.

When it comes to innovation, scale and breadth of offering often lose out to focus.

But few leaders have the courage to make the hard choices that are often necessary to keep innovation vibrant and the executives focused where they need to have their attention, while liberating the entrepreneurs to pursue the next best innovation with the passionate persistence it takes to succeed.

The divorce will allow each business to optimize its supply chain, its strategy, and most importantly will allow executives to spend less time in meetings that don’t effect their sphere of impact so that they can focus on identifying and executing innovation projects that create new value for their customers.

While I believe that Netflix strategically mishandled the execution of their innovation divorce from Qwikster, I must applaud its rationale. Although, I’m not so sure about the line in Reed’s e-mail where he talks about AOL and Border’s. Does that mean that he thinks that Qwikster is dead on arrival?

Personally I used to play Blockbuster and Redbox off of each other until my local Blockbuster went out of business. That forced me into a ‘friendship’ with Mr. Qwikster and Ms. Netflix. Now, I probably get more value out of my relationship with Mr. Qwikster because I can order old Disney classics like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to watch with my daughter, but if Ms. Netflix ever got her act together and formed real relationships with people like Mr. Disney and his friends Hanna and Barbera, then maybe I would ask Mr. Qwikster to stop mailing me stuff.

It will be interesting to see how Ms. Netflix and Mr. Qwiskter develop on their own. Ms. Netflix faces a huge headwind in building real relationships with the movie and television studios, and there is no guarantee that Netflix will win in the streaming space. Redbox is entering the space, Amazon is there, and Apple and maybe even Spotify pose real risks. Who will win? I don’t know, but it will be interesting to watch, although maybe not in 3D.

One Final Thought

I’m not so sure about the new name though – Qwikster – what is that? A cross between Quicken and Friendster?

I would be curious to hear what your take is on the name and whether you believe they will be able to achieve more innovation apart than together.

Editor’s Note: I will be conducting two-day innovation masterclasses in Dubai (October 23-24, 2011 at the Four Points Sheraton Dubai) and Kuala Lumpur (October 26-27, 2011 at The Renaissance Kuala Lumpur) if you would like to attend, please click this link for more information from the event organizers. If you would like to organize this masterclass to come to your part of the world, please contact me.

Special Bonus

Download 'Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire' sample chapterIf you’ve read all the way to the bottom, then you deserve a free sample chapter from my new book Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire. I hope you enjoy the sample chapter and consider purchasing the book as a way of supporting the future growth of this community.

Download the sample chapter

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Mobilizing Your Innovation Army – Redux

We had some technical difficulties last week, so IIR will be re-hosting this free webinar this Thursday – September 15, 2011 at Noon EDT.

Too much of the time the innovation conversation focuses on whether someone is innovative or not. We waste far too much time focusing on how people can become more innovative instead of stopping to think about the possibility that everyone is innovative in their own way.

The lone innovator myth needs to die.

Great ‘lone innovators’ like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison had teams of people surrounding them and helping them succeed.

At Noon EDT on Thursday, September 15, 2011 I will present a FREE webinar titled ‘Mobilizing Your Innovation Army‘ as part of the Back End of Innovation conference that will take place October 17-19, 2011 in San Diego where fellow Innovation Excellence co-founder Rowan Gibson will be speaking several times on creating a sustainable corporate innovation system.

Innovation is a team sport, and in this webinar we will take a look at how to engage your entire workforce in the innovation process by leveraging The Nine Innovation Roles to harness the different unique innovation capabilities that we all possess. We are all innovative in our own ways, and The Nine Innovation Roles help you evaluate your current workforce and provide insight into how to mobilize an innovation army.

In this webinar, we’ll focus on:

  • The importance of building a common language of innovation
  • How to destroy the lone innovator myth
  • Ways to use The Nine Innovation Roles
  • Why big innovations often start small
  • How everyone can make a difference for innovation

I hope to see you at the FREE ‘Mobilizing Your Innovation Army’ webinar on September 15, 2011 at Noon EDT.


Build a Common Language of Innovation

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Reminder – Free Innovation Webinar Tomorrow

At Noon EDT tomorrow I will present a FREE webinar titled ‘Mobilizing Your Innovation Army‘ as part of the Back End of Innovation conference that will take place October 17-19, 2011 in San Diego where fellow Innovation Excellence co-founder Rowan Gibson will be speaking several times on creating a sustainable corporate innovation system.

In this webinar, we’ll focus on:

  • The importance of building a common language of innovation
  • How to destroy the lone innovator myth
  • Ways to use The Nine Innovation Roles
  • Why big innovations often start small
  • How everyone can make a difference for innovation

I hope to see you at the FREE ‘Mobilizing Your Innovation Army’ webinar on tomorrow at Noon EDT.


Build a Common Language of Innovation

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.