The future is already here, I'm just trying to aggregate it.
I love this question:
If you had a fleet of drones to call your own, what would you do with them? What problem would you use them to solve in whole new way? What existing solution-provider, in so doing, might you manage to obliterate?
(via Is the Drone’s Potential Being Shot Down Too Fast? - Larry Downes - Harvard Business Review)
The best ideas are when you take two older ideas that have nothing to do with each other, make them have sex with each other, and then build a business around the ugly bastard child that results. The child that was so ugly nobody else wanted to touch it. Look at Facebook: combine the internet with stalking. Amazing! Twitter: combine internet with antiquated SMS protocols. Ugly! But it works.
Taken with the appropriate grain of salt, this article is brilliant.
The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Mediocre People - The Rumpus.net
This fits with my thinking lately, that I don’t want to be an expert in anything anymore. If anything I want to be an expert on change itself or human nature, but not any industry.
Industries change. Industries are at the mercy of human nature.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t plenty of Women that are doing amazingly innovative things but it dawned on me why men tend to be involved in more innovation.
Boys like to break stuff.
I have a teenager daughter and two boys and I can tell you from personal experience that boys just like to break stuff more than girls do. We love breaking stuff. It;s not mean or malicious, it’s just fun. Innovation, often (but not always) requires breaking stuff along the way. And when I look at some of the women I know doing innovative things it’s often times in an additive or collaborative way. This is good.
Bottom line I think men and women could learn a lot from each others approaches. So to men and women alike, go break stuff… uh, in a collaborative way.
First mover or fast follower? What’s your take?
Here’s one of the biggest that would-be innovators should ask: Should I lead or follow? Does the “early bird catch the worm” or can you “identify the pioneers — they have arrows in their back”? Is the advantage to the “first mover” or should you be a “fast follower”?
The story of my life:
It’s no secret that many successful companies struggle to grow beyond their core offering. This isn’t because organizations can’t identify new opportunities or develop new and novel concepts; many can and do. Companies often have problems launching these concepts. Internal politics, risk avoidance, and the fear of failure weigh heavily on these growth initiatives. In the end, the company often fails the ideas long before the ideas can fail the company.
My review of Grant McCracken’s new book, Cultermatic.
Good stuff in this article but here’s my favorites:
Be Uncomfortable
You wanna build your IQ higher in the next two years? Be uncomfortable. That means, learn something where you have a beginner’s mind. Stay on the uncomfortable path and you will find that you can get smarter.
Trust Your Ideas
“Innovation is hard. It really is. Because most people don’t get it. Remember, the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, these were all considered toys at their introduction because they had no constituency. They were too new. And what you’re working on right now may in fact fall right into that. And if you see clearly, the pathway to the future, stick to it.
ADDING MULTIMEDIA ESPN Innovation Lab Opens Today at ESPN Wide World of Sports
High-Tech Lab Provides Opportunity to Develop Progressive On-Air Elements for Fans
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—The ESPN Innovation Lab officially opened today at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort. The Innovation Lab provides ESPN a real-world testing ground to continue developing new ground-breaking on-air products.
“The ESPN Innovation Lab is an extension of ESPN’s commitment to being a leader in technology,” said Chuck Pagano, executive vice president, technology, ESPN. “This cutting-edge production house will foster creativity and the development of new tools to provide fans the best on-air coverage of sporting events.”
The mission of ESPN’s state-of-the-art facility is to enhance the viewer’s experience by utilizing the world-class playing fields and the 250,000 youth and pro athletes who use them annually to develop new products during actual game conditions. This working research facility will also be open at certain times of the year for visitors to view the company’s emerging-technology staff at work and get a sneak peak at upcoming technological advancements.
How about innovative new ways players can use social media? No?
