Innovation is not a BIG deal.

Simon Sinek in Start With Why says innovation is revolutionary. It changes industries, changes the way we do things. According to Sinek, innovation is a BIG DEAL. He is right. And he is wrong. Innovation is a big deal about 2 percent of the time. 98 percent of the time though, innovation goes unnoticed by most […]

The Thought Leader vs. The Change Leader

Thought Leadership may be the fastest growing “sub-industry” in the world. There are over 150 million blogs covering every subject under the sun. Everyone is clamoring to be THE Thought Leader in their respective fields. (Including yours truly, of course.) While thought leadership is good, it can also be a trap. In a popular 1960’s […]

Innovation is like a sunset

I spend a lot of time on a sailboat so I’ve seen my share of sunsets. Glorious sunsets. Average sunsets. Lots of sunsets. It occurred to me recently that innovation is a lot like a sunset. 1. Sunsets can surprise you. You know the sunset is coming but you never know how it will appear […]

Innovation Beats Clever Advertising

One of the best ad campaigns of all time was unveiled the day Avis declared “We’re number two, we try harder.” Avis was immediately propelled from the back lot of the airport parking deck to the “front row” in the minds of the car renting public. It was brilliant. Hertz dominated the market and, until that […]

Market Innovation or Don’t Market

Innovation is the buzzword of the century and, while it is laudable to want to be like Apple or Amazon, it’s hardly necessary to reinvent your industry to find success. It IS necessary to market innovation. Why marketing innovation works. Simply put, innovation is a creative solution to a customer problem. Big problems, little problems, […]