Brad smith ceo intuit. Innovate in 30year old company? A: te

Brad Smith CEO of Intuit or more famously known for developing QuickBooks and the Intuit innovative culture. Innovation is a process and Smith has created an environment that promotes two ideas in his company. First, he creates teams and gives them the tools and time to come up with new ideas that will change their customers world. Second, he provides a culture that's allowed to present failing ideas in their search for the next great idea. How does your company stay innovative?



By de Bono Consulting

The art of innovation | Guy Kawasaki | TEDxBerkeley

de Bono Consulting

Infusing Innovative Thinking Into Six Sigma!

Did any of you read the article by Don Peppers on Six Sigma? Peppers did a great job bringing to light the lack of innovation tools in the Six Sigma process. The Six Sigma process was designed to plan, predict, document, adjust, and improve the current work process. For this purpose, Six Sigma is a great tool and meets all of the companies objectives. If the company is looking to be more innovative, then the company should be looking for a tool that promotes innovation like Lateral Thinking or any other innovation tool. I think that comparing Six Sigma process improvement to Innovation is like comparing "oranges and apples." They both may be fruits but their taste, look, and purpose are completely different.

If your company is looking to implement the Six Sigma process, I would recommend that the objectives be clearly identified and communicated company-wide so that the company does not try to accomplish innovation objectives with a process improvement tool. Here's a thought, may be 3M was not looking for innovation in Six Sigma but process improvement?

By de Bono Consulting

America's Secret Weapon

Bill Gates recently published America's Secret Weapon an amazing article about innovation and how America needs to invest more into research and development. In a comment to Gate's article, someone wrote that we need an individual with the vision, alignment, and execution of innovation. I think that we need to train the leaders of this country some tools that will help build and execute a game plan in order to remain the top innovative country in the world. Thousands of companies and governments have turned to Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking to push their people to think outside the box. I know these innovative tool will produce the innovative ideas this country needs to remain at the top.

By de Bono Consulting

The Difference Between Innovation and Creativity!

By de Bono Consulting

Beta Test our new Innovation Assessment (v3.0)

We're soon launching the third beta test of our new innovation assessment - and we need your help!

The feedback from the first two rounds of testing has been overwhelming positive, and we're eager to see what improvements that R&D department has cooked up.

This is a team-based innovation assessment that focuses on the culture of innovation within a team or organization. We posit that innovation is a function of two variables:

1. Individual team members' personal attitudes towards innovation
2. The group culture and how it enhances (or impedes) innovation

There's no cost to participate - we simply want user feedback. Beta testers will receive detailed, highly personalized reports on their individual innovation styles, the overall team innovation style, and specific suggestions for fomenting a more innovative culture.

The time commitment is 15-20 minutes to complete the online assessment, 2-3 hours for a team workshop to discuss the results, and 5 minutes for an online survey about the experience. We also ask the team leader for a 30-minute phone interview.

Want to join? We'd love your input! Email beta "at" debonoconsulting.com to participate.

Disney's Top 10 Innovations

Staten Island Live has a feature on Disney's all-time greatest innovations. And no, I don't see the connection between Staten Island and Walt Disney, but let's just glide right past that question.

Anyway, it's an interesting article. Several of these innovations have become so commonplace that I had no idea that Disney had invented them. Nor, for that matter, did I even consider them particularly innovative. But then, what's that old chestnut? "Every great idea is obvious in hindsight."

How to Create a Culture of Innovation

Today, few people would describe AT&T as a particularly innovative (or for that matter, particularly admired) company. But once upon a time, Bell Labs was a bastion of innovation.

In fact, Jon Gertner describes Bell Labs in its heyday as "the most innovative scientific organization in the world." He points to a number of conscious decisions that fostered an innovative, collaborative environment:

1) Physical co-location - AT&T intentionally put various unrelated teams in the same place, which encouraged cross-disciplinary conversations. This interaction was further enhanced by the building architecture, which encouraged researchers to mingle.

2) Empowerment - Bell Labs gave its researchers the autonomy to pursue their ideas without senior managers breathing down their necks.

3) Time -AT&T realized that sometimes, it's important to let ideas percolate for a while. They gave time to their scientists, without worrying overmuch about instant results.


Gertner's article is quite good - you should read the whole thing. The one thing he fails to describe is Bell Labs decision-making processes. I'd like to know how they analyzed their projects and made decisions - did they employ a process akin to, for example, the Six Thinking Hats? How did Bell Labs evaluate their results? And ultimately, what led to their decline?

Innovation: Tubeless Toilet Paper from Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark estimates that the 17 billion toilet paper tubes produced each year in the U.S. generate 160 million pounds of trash. According to a recent USA Today article, the company will launch tube-free Scott toilet paper. This innovation removes an unnecessary element of their product to help the environment and reduce material costs.

Des Moines Innovation Summit

de Bono Consulting CEO and President, Barbara Stennes, is gearing up for the Innovation Summit for Business Leaders in Des Moines on July 23.

The interactive and engaging event will explore the skills needed to become more innovative, and how to engage your workforce in strategic innovation during challenging times. Attendees will also participate in the Medici Game, led by simulations expert, Dan Topf.

Learn more about the Innovation Summit.

Register for the Innovation Summit.

Innovative lawyers (!)

Last week, the Financial Times released its Innovative Lawyers report. I know, I know… I had the same reaction. Innovation in the legal industry? C’mon. As it turns out, however, law firms are doing some pretty cool – and yes, innovative – things.

For example, in the “billing and fees” category, the FT gave top marks to a firm that (at least in one case), has tied its fees to client satisfaction. Moreover, “bonuses are payable if the firm proactively reduces litigation.” In other words, this firm is compensated for helping its client avoid legal woes, rather than racking up billable hours by bogging the client down in endless litigation. Another major law firm now pays its lawyers a percentage of the fees they generate, rather than simply divvying up profits. While pay for performance has become common in many industries, it's rare in the legal world.

And in the “finance” category, the FT points to a law firm that has worked on microfinance securitization. Admittedly, this innovation is perhaps more financial than legal, but it’s nonetheless an important step in reducing global poverty. Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in microfinance, and asset securitization could spread its impact even further. Other innovations include branding and advertising campaigns, technologies for monitoring client relationships, outsourcing of back-office processes to countries like the Philippines, and more.

In short, it’s a good report, and all the more enjoyable because it examines a stereotypically dreary industry.

Edward de Bono on Innovation

Edward de Bono discusses the importance of training employees in lateral thinking to give them a systematic approach to innovative thinking.

Check out the article on the de Bono Consulting website:
http://www.debonoconsulting.com/Edward-de-Bono-Innovation-Must-Go-Beyond-Lip-Service.asp

iinnovate Podcast With IDEO Founder

We're always looking for great websites on creativity & innovation, and the iinnovate blog is no exception. The blog is run by students at Stanford University's Business and Design Schools, and offers podcast interviews with leaders of some of the world's most innovative companies.

We found the interview with IDEO Founder, David Kelley particularly relevant.

Kelley highlighted the importance of empowering your people to think that they are creative. Companies should tap into the creativity of everyone in the organization, not just the boss. Kelley stressed that we need to give all employees opportunities to generate and share their ideas no matter their position in the organization.

We couldn't agree more. But how do you provide such opportunities for generating new ideas?

People who are trained in Six Thinking Hats love the fact that in Six Hat Thinking there is a time and a place for creative thinking (called green hat thinking) where they don't have to worry about their ideas being criticized or "shot down."

Analysis of ideas, both the positive aspects and potential weaknesses, takes place at a later stage in the thinking process. During green hat thinking, you're strictly capturing new ideas.

The Six Thinking Hats process encourages creative thinking from each individual, not just those who are the most vocal.