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Pros:
Great insights into idea generation, digital innovation tools and how improv theater can help you innovate.
Cons:
This episode could mention some more examples of companies that apply some of the discussed techniques.
Pros:
Normally Homeland Security would maybe not be the first thing you think about when hearing ’Innovation’. Exactly that is why this podcast brings a refreshing new perspective on innovation.
Cons:
Quite long podcast episode. Also, there could be more examples that connect the insights more across industries.
Pros:
Interesting point of view about how corporates can keep innovating. Especially that it is not just about ’being like a startup’ but about taking some of the strengths of startups that can be implemented and combining it with the strength of corporates.
Cons:
The formatting is not very appealing. More pictures, video content, quotes or other rich elements would be needed to make the article more user-friendly.
Pros:
Great summary of what makes these top companies so innovative. These examples of innovation give some hints on what is key to stay competitive.
Cons:
Hard to directly find actionable ways to implement these insights.
Pros:
Very good and hands-on ideas to directly strengthen your ability to think creatively. Well structured article.
Cons:
Not all of the tools are shown in a visual way. This would help readers to directly understand the concept better.
Pros:
Very straightforward innovation process with five stages. Good examples also of companies that have one or several of the stages implemented well. Based on more than 30 interviews with executives.
Cons:
Login needed in order to read the full article.
Pros:
It is the idea of the book to look at what not to do and learn from the mistakes of others. Particularly good is thereby the emphasis on which circumstances are key for whether a company succeeds or fails. These aspects are applicable to both large companies and small startups.
Cons:
Some of the weaknesses include the fact that the book often talks about rather traditional companies and organizational structures, even though more and more companies today have much more innovative setups.
Pros:
The reason why this book is seen by many as one of the most influential books in the area of innovation is because of the groundbreaking and thorough research it is based on, which gives a great insight into what mistakes companies should avoid in order to survive.
Cons:
The weakness of the book is that all the examples are now already many years old, while the pace of technological innovation continues to increase. The use of these rather old examples might also make the book less engaging to read nowadays, and the presentation of data in some chapters in a rather dry way, surely doesn’t help with this.
Pros:
This is a very new approach to strategy and to innovation and is therefore considered one of the top innovation books. The concept of the value curve is a key concept that can be applied directly to compare your offering to one of your competitors, helping you to visualize potential opportunities for blue oceans. This book will definitely stimulate your creativity and make you think of how to serve so far underserved communities.
Cons:
The book is sometimes very technical, uses rather complicated vocabulary and sometimes appears rather academic. Some readers also argued that the examples illustrated in the book were picked only to support the theory, while other important cases were neglected.
Pros:
The book’s success speaks for itself and the theory of Jobs to be Done has helped many businesses to better understand their customers’ needs in order to create valuable products and services.
Cons:
It can be said that Christensen is not the first person to talk about the jobs to be done theory. It has been argued by some readers that exactly this is the intention of the book: to make something popular and earn money with a concept that already exists. Critics argue that the theory could be well more summarized and that the book is rather repetitive.
Pros:
Yes this is a strategy book. But in order for a company to be innovative, you don’t just need creative people brainstorming about new products. Instead, you also need the overall strategy in order to target the right markets and focus on the right business opportunities
Cons:
There sometimes seems to be a lack of generalization as most examples are from one case study. Also, critics argue that there is not a lot of debt but it's written on a rather macro level.
Pros:
The book gives a great guidance on how to develop the right framework and the right structures in order for creative people to flourish and to have an impact in the organization.
Cons:
Some critics say that the book is thereby a bit dry and repetitive and basically proposes being more organized as the solution to every problem. Also, there are other books about implementing a more structured way of working, like for example “Getting Things Done by David Allen.
Pros:
Implementation is at least as important and for that you need to be able to get into the market. In a pragmatic way, the authors show a strategy to overcome this gap and enter the market.
Cons:
A weakness of this book is that it is strongly focused on high tech industries and the B2B market. Also, the strong marketing and sales focus could be seen as a downside.
Pros:
Simple and short way to evaluate a business idea. This is inspired by Startup School who know very well how to evaluate ideas. Great tool!
Cons:
Don't expect that this tool can replace lots of iteration rounds and customer feedback that you need to gather.
Pros:
Great toolbox with hands-on tools for policymakers, investors and innovators to assess the impact of social innovations. The 11 tools come with templates that you can print and use yourself. And the whole toolset is completely for free.
Cons:
As a social innovator you might feel a bit lost as there is no clear guideline where to start.
Pros:
Great program for change leaders and corporate innovators. Oxford Said Business School offers first class educators and an exciting program over the course of 6 weeks.
Cons:
Oxford courses come with a price and also the time needed each week shouldn't be underestimated.
Pros:
Great program for change leaders and corporate innovators. Oxford Said Business School offers first class educators and an exciting program over the course of 6 weeks.
Cons:
Oxford courses come with a price and also the time needed each week shouldn't be underestimated.
Pros:
All the physical materials you need for your innovation workshops! These products help you to set up your office in a way that promotes an innovation culture.
Cons:
Not that cheap and of course you need to find a place in your house or office. Maybe could be connected to online whiteboard solutions in an innovative way?
Pros:
Very cool online brainstorming tool that helps your team to collaborate digitally. Great to organize your ideas. Very affordable.
Cons:
High competition among brainstorming mindmapping software tools. Need innovative approaches to differentiate from the others.
Pros:
Really interesting What if questions that help you address current challenges and bring new inspiration. Great examples from successful innovations!
Cons:
While the cards show a lot of possibilities, they do not help you to make decisions about which direction to take.
Pros:
One of the best idea management tools out there. Very nice visualization and great structure that helps even the biggest corporation to include their employees into the innovation and idea generation process. Great customer support as well that helps you whenever you have some issue or want some personalized features.
Cons:
For small startups it might not be necessary to have ideanote, as you can just do the idea management process in person. However, we have also learned with Covid that for all teams it can be beneficial to digitalize processes.
Pros:
A classic that was way ahead of his time. Published nearly four decades ago in 1985! Long before the Innovator's Dilemma, Peter Drucker shows how innovation is a field of its own.
Cons:
A little bit outdated, especially the examples.
Pros:
A great course that gives a lot of value for money, helping anyone to better come up with ideas and transform them into value.
Cons:
No info on how long the course actually is.
Pros:
Great international event with a lot of inspiring speakers. A must-go in the area of tech. Quite affordable.
Cons:
Might be hard to gain an overview of what was going on as a lot of startups are there.
Pros:
Extremely inspiring event where you meet many founders and investors. Beneficial for all people who would like to network in the area of technology and startups but also wants to enjoy really interesting talks, podium discussions and pitch competitions.
Cons:
The event is extremely packed because it is only on two days. Might be good to spread it over a day more.
Pros:
Extremely well designed video with great insights about the nature of innovation itself. It explains how great ideas and therefore innovation comes about.
Cons:
Maybe the video could be even more actionable by giving some advice on how to create an organizational environment that helps creating great ideas.
Pros:
One of the best tools for innovators is the business model canvas. This video gives you a great overview and good examples that help you use the canvas yourself.
Cons:
One aspect that is missing a little bit in the business model canvas is the organizational culture that plays a huge role for innovation.
Pros:
Good summary of aspects of what keeps us on a certain path and why we avoid change. Like in all his videos, Gutsche uses great examples and is an extremely engaging speaker.
Cons:
Similar structure to all his talks and some similar content. High focus on selling his own books and events.
Pros:
Best talk about the topic of thinking out of the box. Good explanation of why we actually need to get out of the box and how. Great insights on how to create the right organizational structures to inspire out-of-the-box thinking.
Cons:
Not the most entertaining speaker. Also, an old guy in a suit might not be the most convincing character to talk about this topic. Some of the content is rather confusing.
Pros:
Great collection of inspiring innovators and entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos or Steve Jobs. Extremely helpful insights into what it needs to be successful.
Cons:
The video could have been edited a bit more in order to provide additional value than just a collection of statements.
Pros:
Great examples! A well condensed list of important factors related to organizational culture and what keeps organizations from changing.
Cons:
Gutsche's points are partially repetitive across his videos and it is highly focused on selling his own events and books.
Pros:
According to us, one of the best and most entertaining TedX talks in general, not just about innovation. Great speaker with extremely valuable and actionable insights on how to innovate successfully.
Cons:
Of course this is just a summary of important things for innovating. Don't take this as the one and only truth as innovation also strongly depends on the respective environment etc.
Pros:
Nice collection of innovations throughout history and strong message: innovation is key to bring society forward and solve global challenges. Great promotion of public research programs.
Cons:
There cannot be an exhaustive shortlist of innovations. Many other innovations could have been added. Not very actionable for individual innovators, except for the motivational factor.
Pros:
Short clip which is part of a movie but strong take-away message! Shown in a fun way in this video, including your employees into your innovation process is key for success.
Cons:
Not everyone might get the important message that this video gives about innovation. And then, how do you actually include your employees into the innovation process?
Pros:
A short but great article that summarizes perfectly all kind of ways how someone can start innovating. You don't need to read ten innovation books. Just read this article and pick a way to start innovating.
Cons:
Lacks examples of the different ways to innovate. Some examples would make this article even more actionable. Also some images or video content are lacking to make the article visually appealing.
Pros:
One of the most important innovation templates ever. The business model canvas includes many of the key aspect that you need to be aware of when developing the strategy for your business. Great also to just try out different business models and see what is important for them.
Cons:
Nice tool but hard to implement changes in the whole business model. Be aware that a lot of resources might be required to reinvent the business model.
Pros:
Great tool if you have the customer insights. The visualization helps to show directly where you need to take action. This template will help you to offer exactly what your customers are looking for.
Cons:
Requires a lot of effort to find out how much customers like which product and how important the products are to them. It's not a tool for quick fixes.
Pros:
One of the easiest, yet best frameworks. Whether you just want to play around and brainstorm some new ideas or whether you actually need to come up with a new product for your company, this template will help you a lot. Just by comparing two or three competitors on different dimensions visually shows great results and opens your eyes to new opportunities.
Cons:
This templates depends very much on what competitors and dimensions you choose. Make sure to think a bit outside the box. Don't just think who is my direct competitor but also think about substitute products. And when choosing the comparison dimensions, make sure to look at it from a customer point of view. If these aspects are not considered, the template won't create any value.
Pros:
The empathy map is one of the most important, yet often undervalued tool. This is a great template to capture what your customer needs. The dimensions help to think of different ways to understand the customer, and writing down the learnings helps to actually develop more empathy towards the user.
Cons:
Like most templates, it is very simple. You first need to read about how to use it and maybe watch some videos on user research in order to be able to really apply the framework in a value creating way.
Pros:
Really Good Template that helps to create better products that the target group actually needs. Strategyzer has done a great job with this canvas and it can be used not just by startups but also by big corporations.
Cons:
Sometimes it is not 100 clear what the specific gains and pains for a customer are. It takes hard work and time to find out exactly what the customers need.
Pros:
Many good examples of great business models that are explained in details. Great inspiration for any business owner who needs inspiration. Great graphical design.
Cons:
The book is however also an oversimplification of reality, saying that these business models can make a company invincible. Also, as it is a successor of the Business Model Generator and other books, it is partially repetitive.
Pros:
Very engaging and graphically appealing book with lots of great examples. For anyone who is interested in Business Models, this is a great start. It is great to just get some inspiration from time to time.
Cons:
Some people might say that the book is more focused on design than substance. Also, is is a concept were you do not need to read a whole book to understand.
Pros:
The method is groundbreaking as it helps companies to embrace uncertainty and shows the value of an experimental approach to business. Every business person should know about the Lean Startup approach and consider its elements to operate a successful company.
Cons:
The weakness of this book is that it is strongly focused on a software context without many examples from other sectors. Also the method’s core idea is built around a process of incremental improvement, which neglects the necessity of any radical innovation. As one reader argued, if Henry Ford would have only worked based on this book then we would just have faster horses today instead of cars.
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