There are many changes taking place in education. As an outward sign of this change, schools are striving to make their environments more like the “real world,” which is to say like adult workplaces.

2. Why do so many digital transformations fail? - Tuesday, September 4, 2018

According to a McKinsey and Company article cited in CIO magazine more than 70% of corporate digital transformations fail.

On paper it’s an equal playing field. The failing entities have the same technology as everyone else, certainly are drowning in very big data sets, and assuredly have a large number of very bright professionals eager for purposeful tasks.

3. Strategic Planning Rights and Wrongs - Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Strategic planning is one of those phrases like creativity or innovation. It means something different to each person who hears it based on his or her experiential application of the concept.

4. Innovation Requires Patience in Building a Strategy - Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Failure is real and should be feared. Ironically, fear of failure is the most potent saboteur. This is a fact proven time and time again in the world of innovation.

Many expensive and time-consuming efforts to build innovation capability and capacity inside of organizations fail for a few simple reasons. Either they import a framework completely from the outside without attuning it to their practices and the culture and internal systems reject it or an anxiety to “get it right” leads to years of benchmarking, planning, and the formation of the governance of innovation without actually doing the work—and the work is simple: create net new value.

5. Conscious Innovation a Necessity - Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Readers of this column understand how the role of business itself is morphing. Technology has met customer preference and disrupted many categories. Think of Airbnb, Lyft and Uber, as well as UberEats. Look at the unimaginable growth of Apple and Amazon. Examine, too, the function of innovation as a formal discipline and the rise of Conscious Capitalism.

6. Interning at an Innovation and Strategy Firm - Tuesday, July 31, 2018

The Southern Growth Studio has ongoing internships programs with Rhodes College, Christian Brothers University, the University of Memphis Department of Anthropology, as well as the Temple Israel Fellowship program. This summer, my son, David Graber, also served as an intern. This is his story.

7. Conscious Business With Brian Schultz - Tuesday, July 24, 2018

While working as an aid to Sen. Arlen Specter, Brian Schultz had a vision. Actually, he saw a movie and there he had a vision. The experience at the theater gave him an idea. This particular venue blended a theme restaurant and movie theater. They served “warm beer and roller-skate-place type food.” It was 1991 and “love at first sight.”

8. Take a Break from Social Media - Tuesday, July 17, 2018

A lot of professionals I know relieve stress with a few minutes on Facebook after they finish a phase of a project or need a break from their tasks.

Welcome to facebook.com, where you can bliss out on cute kitten photos, catch up with an old friend, find a novel product, or play defense from aggressive people who pounce on your character to make a point. It’s weird. On one hand you get connection; on the other you get discord.

9. Curiosity is the Common Denominator Among Our Best, Most Systemic Thinkers - Tuesday, July 10, 2018

I have a question. I really do. Why have there been so few formal studies on curiosity and its immense power to create value in the for-profit and non-profit sectors? Even on most of the professional assessment, strength finders, and behavioral audits, curiosity is not codified and measured. I don’t understand. Do you?

10. Conscious Capitalism: Conversation With Raj Sisodia, Part Four - Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Raj Sisodia is the Professor of Global Business, Babson College, Co-founder & Co-Chairman, Conscious Capitalism, Inc. Raj has written ten books and over 100 academic articles.

11. Connect and Care to Grow Business - Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Keynote from Conscious Capitalism Conference: Jeff Sinelli. Jeff is the founder of Genghis Grill and Which Wich Superior Sandwiches. This is his story. He starts by making two comments: “When you want something bad enough, the world will conspire to give it to you,” and, “This is an emotional stage for me, I may start crying.”

12. Connect and Care to Grow Business - Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Keynote from Conscious Capitalism Conference: Jeff Sinelli

Jeff is the founder of Genghis Grill and Which Wich Superior Sandwiches. This is his story. He starts by making two comments: “When you want something bad enough, the world will conspire to give it to you,” and, “This is an emotional stage for me, I may start crying.”

13. Food for Thought: Café Momentum - Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Keynote from Conscious Capitalism Conference: Chad Houser, CEO and executive chef of Café Momentum

Café Momentum founder Chad Houser graduated with a degree in English literature, then wanted to go and cook. After culinary school, he founded a restaurant. Then, the recession hit. Yet the restaurant prospered.

14. Demystifying the Path of B Corp Certification - Tuesday, June 5, 2018

From the Conscious Capitalism 2018 Conference, the largest gathering of conscious capitalists dedicated to elevating humanity through business. Practicum: B Corp 101, led by Kim Coupounas, director, B Lab.

15. Businesses Need Purpose - Tuesday, May 29, 2018

A talk from Haley Rushing, chief purposologist, The Purpose Institute, from the 2018 Conscious Capitalism Annual Conference.

Why purpose? Humans need purpose and meaning in life. For every venture there are both extrinsic and intrinsic aspirations. Purpose is an intrinsic aspiration. Years of research has shown that those who have only extrinsic goals suffer from anxiety and depression. Yet, those who have intrinsic goals have very low levels of depression and anxiety.

16. Conscious Capitalism: Gravity Payments CEO - Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Dan Price, founder and CEO, Gravity Payments, in conversation with Dev Patnaik, CEO, Jump Associates

17. Conscious Capitalism: Conversation with Raj Sisodia, Part Three - Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Raj Sisodia is the professor of global business at Babson College and co-founder and co-chairman of Conscious Capitalism Inc. Raj has written 10 books and more than 100 academic articles. 

Can you explain the Mother and Father archetypes in business in a little more depth? Capitalism had a mother and a father and they were both embodied in the same person. For Adam Smith the father energy that was about self-interest and the freedom to pursue opportunity. His other book, “The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” was about the human need to care, the mother of capitalism. People have forgotten this necessary balance. 

18. Conscious Capitalism: Conversation with Raj Sisodia, Part Two - Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Raj Sisodia is the professor of global business at Babson College and co-founder and co-chairman of Conscious Capitalism Inc. Raj has written 10 books and more than 100 academic articles.

19. Conscious Capitalism: A Conversation With Selim Bassoul - Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Editor’s note: Selim Bassoul is CEO of The Middleby Corp., an Elgin, Illinois-based manufacturer of commercial kitchen equipment, residential appliances and systems for industrial processing.

20. Conscious Capitalism: Conversation With Raj Sisodia, Part One - Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Raj Sisodia is the professor of global business, Babson College, and co-founder and co-chairman, Conscious Capitalism Inc. Raj has written 10 books and more than 100 academic articles. He is the co-author (with John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market) of “Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business” (Harvard Business Review Publishing, 2013), a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

21. Another Conscious Company: Which Wich - Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Editor’s note: Columnist Michael Graber interviewed Jeff Sinelli, founder and “chief vibe officer” at Which Wich, about the sandwich chain’s focus on conscious capitalism. 

22. Poo as Good Business - Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Talk about nothing wasted. Behold the founding story, which reads more like a creation myth, of Poo-Pourri.

Suzy Batiz, a 40-year-old woman from Jonesboro, Arkansas, declares her second bankruptcy conventional “rules” of success did not work for her life. To heal, she renounces the world of commerce and takes a two-year spiritual quest, experimenting with alternative healing methods that included the lost art of tapping and shamanic training in Peru.

23. Capitalism Isn’t Broken, It’s Been Hijacked - Tuesday, April 3, 2018

We live in tense times. In our era, we’ve seen systemic and corporate fraud at SkyTel, Enron, and others. We’ve watched our tax dollars bail out many of the largest banks and insurance companies.

24. Innovating Human Resources - Tuesday, March 27, 2018

If you boil down the function of human relations to logical extremes, you end up with polar opposites.

On one hand you have the traditional view of HR: a place to fill out all of your essential employee paperwork, ask questions about benefits, send out messages about birthdays, and a place to be heard if you have an issue with a manager or boss.

25. Extreme Collaboration - Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Collaboration, as a concept, can be used by those seeking control of a culture for their own purposes. If collaboration becomes a form of groupthink or censorship, watch out. I’ve seen many different professional cultures’ versions of collaboration – and have left some feeling as if I were in a governmental public input meeting where very little actual input is allowed by design. 

26. The Bigger the Back End, The Stronger the Backlash - Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Be careful. When innovation gets real, people react in unpredictable ways.

People whom you thought were forward thinking recoil in reactionary conservatism. Others are willing to move a step forward, but vigilantly cautious. The more concrete you get in detail, the stronger the reaction you receive internally.

27. Belly Button Meeting Tips - Tuesday, February 27, 2018

We get hired to moderate and facilitate a lot of meetings. Sometimes they are annual strategic workshops. Sometimes they are customer co-creations. They range from strategy to innovation and every combination between the two poles.

28. Extending the Transformation - Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Innovation can be the spark that galvanizes an organization and resets the whole of it for higher and faster growth.

After using innovation methods successfully to create meaningful products, services and perhaps overhaul the business model itself, these methods and mindsets can be used to refine and advance many other operational segments of the business.

29. When Suppliers Innovate - Tuesday, February 13, 2018

One of the greatest thrills of a career is when you see a nice client thrive and prosper. Recently, I was flown to the West Coast with a client to co-present the findings of a few innovation projects. We had an esteemed audience, including senior vice presidents of marketing, procurement and sales, and a few vice presidents, too.

30. Embody The Problems - Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Much of the work of innovation takes place trying to deeply understanding the unmet needs of a particular market. As one innovation school of thought calls it, what are the “jobs to be done”? Discerning these needs, these undone jobs, takes more empathy than data, more heart than head, and it takes an investment of time and attention.

31. The Value Of Unstructured Free Time - Tuesday, January 23, 2018

I want to dedicate a column to the next generation. For me, this means addressing Uncle Leo and Ellery, my youngest son and grandson, respectively. May they have the space to explore in the vast treasures of childhood and lose sense of time while playing. There seems to be an unconscious conspiracy against people having free time to relax, create and simply enjoy life.

32. Stumble Bravely Into Innovation - Tuesday, January 16, 2018

I met many people who have been put in charge of their organization’s innovation program because of their past performance record. They were product managers, engineers, database architects, IT professionals, HR specialists or marketers by training. Suffice to say, they have proven to be capable and trustworthy in the past with a given initiative. 

33. Predicting the Turn - Tuesday, January 9, 2018

A Back End of Innovation 2017 Conference keynote presentation by author Dave Knox. By living in two worlds at once – both the corporate and startup worlds – Dave sees the fruitful interplay between the two and the spaces in between.

34. Start With Feeling - Tuesday, January 2, 2018

People ask me often about innovation. No one has a clear definition. Innovation is one of those words that mean something different to anyone who hears it. Similar to other words that are filled with misunderstanding, such as creativity or strategy, innovation requires a refining conversation to demystify and better understand. 

35. Innovation Metrics: Rock, Lava, Smoke - Tuesday, December 26, 2017

When organizations begin their innovation journey, they have no idea how to account for the many forms of value that gets created. They may also have dormant fears about changing modes of work to effectively innovate.

36. Creating Global Champions With Innovation - Tuesday, December 12, 2017

A 2017 Back End of Innovation talk by Santhi Ramesh, global director, innovation, commercialization & futures, The Hershey Co.

“Global expansion strategy is key to most established companies,” begins the presentation. Hershey has a 70 percent market penetration in the United States, but only 30 percent globally. 

37. Making the Most of Generation IoT - Tuesday, December 5, 2017

A talk by Maciej Kranz, vice president of strategic innovations for Cisco Systems. This talk about connected things hails from the 2017 Back of Innovation Conference. What is most interesting is that while the connected home space is slow to adapt, the connected commercial, or B2B, space is adopting the Internet of Things at a dizzying rate. The presenter would know, as he is the vice president of strategic innovations at Cisco.

38. Where Design Meets Innovation - Tuesday, November 28, 2017

A panel discussion at the Back End of Innovation 2017 conference.

Moderator: Julie Anixter, executive director at AIGA, the professional association for design

Panelists: 

39. How to Speed Up Innovation - Tuesday, November 21, 2017

A keynote presentation at the Back End of Innovation 2017 Conference by Fred Tavan, global head of innovation lab, reinsurance and insurance risk, Sun Life Financial

“My main concern is speed to market,” starts Fred, “as I have seen many innovators lose hope. The antidote to losing hope is insisting on speed. Speed is how I can impact the culture.”

40. How Betting On the 76ers Paid Off - Tuesday, November 14, 2017

A talk by Rhyan Truett, director of Innovation Lab operations, Philadelphia 76ers. Rhyan Truett is the director of operations at the Sixers Innovation Lab crafted by Kimball. The Sixers Innovation Lab supports rapidly growing, early-stage companies in the consumer product space and provides speed and flexibility; individualized, industry-leading consulting; and investment opportunities to startups with potential.
Alongside managing director Seth Berger, Rhyan manages the day-to-day operations of the Innovation Lab, currently supporting four companies in the esports, digital media, pet care and daily fantasy sports industries.

41. Out of the Lab, Into the Marketplace - Tuesday, November 7, 2017

A keynote presentation by Rachel Antalek, vice president, concept innovation, Starbucks, at the Back End of Innovation 2017 Conference.

Rachel Antalek has been at Starbucks for almost 12 years.

42. Seeing the Future With ‘Macroforces’ - Tuesday, October 31, 2017

A keynote talk from the 2017 Back End of Innovation Conference by Tom LaForge, founder and CEO, Macroforces LLC. Tom LaForge begins the conference asking, “What is a macroforce and why should they be important to you?”

43. Witnessing Real Change - Tuesday, October 24, 2017

We host several Innovation Bootcamps each month. After doing this work for years, you expect a predictable pattern at each session. Surprisingly, it’s not in the transformational new thinking about the enterprise and the potential value that is created.

44. Unlocking Daily Creativity - Tuesday, October 17, 2017

A Day of Innovation session led by Monica Kang, founder & CEO, InnovatorsBox. How can you face your fear and use it as a strength?

45. Steele Joins Southern Growth Studio’s Anthropology Team - Wednesday, October 11, 2017

April Steele has joined Southern Growth Studio as a business anthropologist, responsible for collecting and analyzing data to evaluate existing and potential products and services. Steele’s hire comes as the Memphis-based innovation consulting firm grows its applied anthropology practice. Using qualitative social research methods like ethnography, the anthropology team steers the innovation process, conducting primary research to distill and communicate key insights to clients.

46. Using Innovation Inside the Enterprise - Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Increasingly people with job functions that serve an enterprise but have no customer-facing roles are filling up our Innovation Bootcamps. They are being sent to learn new methods, mindsets and approaches to problem solving. They don’t know what to expect when they arrive, but have plans to apply what they learned to create value for their firms upon leaving.

47. Execution Anxiety: Facing the Back End - Tuesday, October 3, 2017

After the thrill of a successful front end of innovation project, a company gains valuable insights and perspective. They also receive a portfolio of market-tested concepts that range from easy-to-launch to some that are totally new, a breakthrough for them as a company and their market.

48. Don’t Give Me That Data-tude - Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Humans are a limited species. We cannot with any certainty, given the dynamic nature of life, predict the future.

In some cases you have better odds when running models and scenarios based on judging the future by analyzing past behaviors and patterns, such as insurance actuary tables or credit scores; however, most predictions are wrong.

49. Is Business Killing Our Creative Sprits? - Tuesday, September 12, 2017

This week there was an article in Inc. magazine that was wildly popular on social media. Elon Musk named his favorite books and there was only one business book out of 10. The rest were science fiction, classics, great books. Many were surprised to learn that Musk finds inspiration in the arts and other fields and finds the canon of management literate uninspired, clichéd, even boring.

50. Mindset is Greater Than Process - Tuesday, September 5, 2017

When organizations first experiment with innovation, they tend to be anxious. They are unsure of the unknowns. What has to change? How can we measure the return? What does innovation even mean? How do we do it?

51. Bravery Overcomes Internal Barriers - Tuesday, August 29, 2017

It never fails; the same stories and struggles pop up midway through an innovation session.

Picture this typical scenario: Three engineers from different countries of origin, a global and a domestic product manager, a salesperson, someone from the nebulously defined brand department (nebulous because the discipline means something different at every organization we’ve encountered), and someone who serves as a diplomat or relationship manager to an important segment of the business.

52. Know the Strata - Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Both innovation and strategy work include methods of problem solving. When organizations make mistakes, it is often because they suffer some form of myopia and have too narrow a perspective.

This error of not seeing the full context of moves that can be taken in a given situation causes a loss of market share, brand erosion, and shortsighted decisions and ill-informed actions to be made.

53. Countercultural Secrets of Successful Innovators - Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Successful innovators may seem cavalier, but really they are vast and complex beings. As the great American poet Walt Whitman said of the prophetic role of a poet, “They contain multitudes.”

54. Inviting a New Vision for Memphis Region - Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Memphis has been blessed to give birth to the modern grocery store, rock ‘n’ roll, and such corporate category leaders as Holiday Inn, FedEx and AutoZone. These native inventions became the basis of our regional economy after the slow demise of the agrarian culture when cotton was king.

55. Sense of Purpose Drives Entrepreneurs - Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Editor’s note: This column is the third in a three-part series. If you are struggling to decide if being an entrepreneur versus a person who prefers a corporation or organization, ask yourself this question: Why do you work?

56. Honor Your Muse, Part 2 - Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series. Full of fear my friend stares into the unknown, wondering whether or not to launch her own business. Only dark silence answers her unvoiced pleas. Like so many professionals in a monolithic system, she yearns for meaning and purpose in her daily work, which is lacking for her in health care social work.

57. Honor Your Muse, Part 1 - Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Editor’s note: Part one in a three-part series. Recently, more and more people ask me about launching their own business. They see something liberating about leaping into the unknown, owning their own destiny and not having to make compromises they are forced to make in their current situation.

58. Events - Friday, July 7, 2017

POTS@TheWorks will present the world premiere of “Victory Blues,” a winner of the 2015 NewWorks@TheWorks playwriting competition, Friday, July 7, through July 30 at TheatreWorks, 2085 Monroe Ave. Visit playhouseonthesquare.org.

59. 3 Modes of Innovation: A New Strategic Framework - Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Every client assumes they have to disrupt or be disrupted, but that is often the wrong innovation recipe for them. Disrupting their culture at times of growth may be the worst advice you could offer.

60. The Green Rush & Tokyo Smoke - Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Alan Gertner gave a keynote presentation for the Front End of Innovation 2017 Conference and his talk was about the emerging Green Rush, legalized cannabis, the birth of a brand and an industry.

Alan’s calling is coffee, clothing and cannabis. When he took the stage, you saw the radiant archetype of a hipster: beard, boots, swagger and a yet venerable-looking like a guy who worries about taking risks but takes them anyway after anxious consideration.

61. Creating That Headspace - Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Some notes from Panos Panay, Berklee College of Music, that your organization can absorb in seeking to innovate.

62. Events - Tuesday, June 13, 2017

The Memphis Juneteenth Jobs & Career Fair will be held Tuesday, June 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Andrew AME Church, 867 South Parkway E. Human resources directors and executives from more than 25 Memphis and Mid-South companies will be on hand to discuss opportunities; attendees are encouraged to bring resumes. For more information, contact Telisa Franklin at memphisjuneteenth@gmail.com or 901-281-6337.

63. Unlock the Value of Failure - Tuesday, June 13, 2017

A Front End of Innovation 2017 keynote by Soon Yu. This talk spoke of the emotional toll of being a professional innovator. The candor and transparency of the speaker made it one of the most engaging keynotes in a stellar year of speakers. Essentially, when we innovate things, we too are being remade. These are tips to handle this process mindfully.

64. Events - Monday, June 12, 2017

The Memphis Juneteenth Jobs & Career Fair will be held Tuesday, June 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Andrew AME Church, 867 South Parkway E. Human resources directors and executives from more than 25 Memphis and Mid-South companies will be on hand to discuss opportunities; attendees are encouraged to bring resumes. For more information, contact Telisa Franklin at memphisjuneteenth@gmail.com or 901-281-6337.

65. Events - Saturday, June 10, 2017

The Memphis Area Transit Authority will participate in the 12th annual National Dump the Pump Day Thursday, June 15, by offering free rides in Memphis, Shelby County and West Memphis on its paratransit vehicles, fixed-route buses and rubber-tired trolley buses. For details and route maps, visit matatransit.com.

66. Women Are Not Robots - Tuesday, June 6, 2017

A Front End of Innovation Conference talk by Erica Eden, director, Global Design Innovation, PepsiCo. “We don’t treat women like people,” Erica begins this talk. “If you look across multiple categories, the overall hypothesis is that the men’s brands cast a shadow over the women’s brands.”

67. Emotional Innovation - Tuesday, May 30, 2017

A Front End of Innovation Conference talk by Craig Dubitsky, founder, Hello Products. Hello Products is disrupting a $30 billion daily use global category by asking the right questions and delivering delight.

68. Internal Disruption: How to Create a Culture for Innovation - Tuesday, May 23, 2017

A Front End of Innovation Conference talk by Terry Bradwell, AARP chief innovation officer, and Anne Marie Kilgallon, AARP vice president, innovation. We “have been in a major transformation journey at AARP for three years,” says Terry Bradwell. “We are living longer and it changes how we think about retirement, work, love and everything about life.”

69. Science Behind Empathy and Storytelling - Tuesday, May 16, 2017

A talk by Tim Urmston, Seek Co. founder and CEO, from the Front End of Innovation Conference 2017. Connecting brands with people they serve through insights, story, ideas and strategy – this is what supercharges a project.

70. Little Things Matter Most - Tuesday, May 9, 2017

The success of an organization’s innovation program has a direct correlation to how deeply senior leadership supports it.

If senior leadership gives innovation lip-service but doesn’t embody any of the necessary mindsets, methods or tools, or if leaders continue giving energy to the day-to-day default behaviors of a place, beware. Paraphrased from Gandhi, they need to be the change they want to see in the world.

71. Exit Now: 9 Signs of a Bad Client - Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Not all client-consultant relationships are equal. Like a good marriage, both parties must be capable and willing to work together. Listening respectfully to one another is key to success, as is being able to perform at the highest potential capacity on the scope of work without adding unnecessary obstacles. Being able to accept and capitalize on ongoing feedback is also a two-way street.

72. Using Customer Reviews as Consumer Insights - Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Many companies waste some of their most valuable, intimate customer data. They may hire a firm or a few internal people to deliver responsive customer service and respond to online reviews and questions. However, they tend to neglect this treasure trove of field data for insights on how to improve their business or innovate on a new set of needs. 

73. Wisdom in the Workplace - Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Maybe you’ve been in this meeting or one like it. Competing agendas fly like bullets. The pace of conversation speeds up. Interruptions pounce out the façade of civility. People anxiously wait to talk, heads burning with desire, rather than listen.

74. Upsetting the Category - Tuesday, April 11, 2017

After years of battling over market share and swapping customers back and forth, many companies lose perspective of their market. They know their market too well, ironically, which cripples their vision of new ways their categories could potentially grow or be disrupted. 

75. Pivot For Innovation - Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Pivoting your way to profitability, Somik Raha, SmartOrg. There are many unforeseen hazards between concept and launch. Pivoting provides a unique opportunity to learn from experience and to change course at key development stages, making the difference between attaining mediocre results and achieving astounding success.

76. Winning the Scale-Up Game - Tuesday, March 14, 2017

A Back End of Innovation talk by Daniel Friedman, chief revenue officer for Imaginatik. The Back-End Innovation Game “I am going to focus on how,” says Daniel. “It all starts with asking the right questions.”

77. Two Highlights From the Back End of Innovation - Tuesday, March 7, 2017

“A Systems Approach to Creating an Innovation Funding Board,” Craig Wirkus, Cisco. Cisco’s five-pillar strategy for innovation: Build, buy, partner, invent and co-develop.

78. 5 Keys to Good Collaboration - Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Back End of Innovation Conference keynote by Daniel Shapiro, associate professor of psychology, Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital, and associate director of Harvard International Negotiation Project

79. Keurig’s Journey into Connected Appliances - Wednesday, February 22, 2017

A talk by Rachael Schwartz, general manager and senior director innovation, Keurig Green Mountain, given at the Back End of Innovation conference. 

Schwartz began with two main points: 

80. Becoming A Partner of Choice - Tuesday, January 10, 2017

A talk by Johnson & Johnson executives Janette Edelstein, director external innovation, and Chris Ryan, director innovation sourcing.

81. Mold the Future Of Unplanned Purchases - Tuesday, January 3, 2017

A Back End of Innovation Conference talk by Melissa Crompton, senior manager, New Model Innovation, The Hershey Co. In this changing retail landscape where trips in-store are down, how does a highly impulsive category remain relevant? And how do we become relevant to new audiences who are not going in stores? 

82. ‘Love is The Answer’ - Tuesday, December 27, 2016

A talk at the Back End of Innovation conference by Christy Amador, senior communications manager, Global Public Affairs and Communications for The Coca-Cola Co., highlights how one company engages its employees more deeply.

83. Follow These Guidelines To Innovate Well - Tuesday, December 20, 2016

A talk at the Back End of Innovation conference by 3M Healthcare’s Heather Webb discusses how the company manages to innovate in a complex business.

84. Innovation Inside the Box - Tuesday, December 13, 2016

2016 Back End of Innovation Conference keynote by Drew Boyd, executive director of the Master of Science in marketing, University of Cincinnati.

The thesis of this talk is that creativity is a skill, not a gift. This practical advice starts with a promise from Boyd: “I’m going to teach you how to use your brain to innovate any way you want.”

85. The Innovation Trajectory Leads To Collaboration - Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Talk by Tamara St. Claire, CIO, Xerox Healthcare. We use three key methods at innovation in my group, started St. Claire:

1. Lean Startup model: Based on a non-conventional approach to management to act more like a startup, not assuming you know what the market wants. Build. Measure. Learn – this is the cycle of Lean Startup. Then, build MVP, minimally viable product, which is a way to test customer reactions. Develop criteria for success. Should you pivot or persevere? This process manages the chaos and uncertainty of new product development. 

86. Back End Of Innovation Is The Hard Part - Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The Back End of Innovation Conference this year was in the perfect setting: New Orleans. The dynamic culture that gave the world Jazz and a North American culinary culture continues to inspire innovation and serve as a model for how to pivot and re-launch itself more powerfully than before after an epic tragedy, such as Katrina.

87. Human Evolution of Innovation - Tuesday, November 22, 2016

A Back End of Innovation Conference keynote by Kevin Ashton. Ashton opened his innovation talk at the Back End of Innovation Conference by taking a picture of the crowd and publishing it on Twitter, which he remarked was revolutionary a decade ago. 

88. The Role Of Conscious Corporations - Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Denial of a human-centric world and its impact on the planet since the industrial revolution is no longer an acceptable worldview.

In March, we reached the point of no return, the point where most credible international scientists agree that damage will be unprecedented and relentless. As we have surpassed global CO2 concentrations at 400 parts per million (PPM), let’s make this alarm a time for changing the purpose of business.

89. Give Us Your Lions! - Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Command-and-control, top-down organizations have the most trouble innovating. In particular, the fearful mindsets that review, align and sign off on “decks” to be presented to vice president-level colleagues often edit out the insights and recommendations that have the power to grow the business in new ways. 

90. Embedding Innovation In An Organization - Tuesday, October 25, 2016

It takes two factors to make innovation real at an organization: concepts and culture. Work on both at the same time and the rest will emerge as a byproduct of the process.

If you outsource your innovation efforts, you will end up with concepts that will not be accepted by your existing culture. Some concepts might be potent enough to generate a lot of sales. Others will be even stronger, allowing your company to reframe what a category means to consumers and positioning you as the leader – think of the famous examples: Swiffer, iPhone and Tesla.

91. Innovation And The Tech World - Tuesday, October 18, 2016

While the world of technology has filled the world with tools of productivity and connection, it has its drawbacks. Many people today suffer from the shadow side of technology.

Droves of burned out, screen-addicted zombies sign up for Digital Detox weekends. Families schedule a family night without cellphones at the table once a week or only allow their preschoolers to play games after reading. Technology has imploded many of the societal norms we once held sacred: look how online dating has disrupted generations of rituals.

92. Reboot a Sluggish Brand, Part 2 - Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Editor’s Note: Part-two in a two-part series. In last week’s column, we explored the corporate psychological journey that happens to accept the fact that a once-leading brand needs to be transformed and relaunched.

93. Declining Sales Call for Brand Reboot - Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Editor’s note: Part one of a two-part series. Once market share dwindles and revenue targets are missed year after year (despite category growth), it may be time to reboot a once-beloved brand.

94. When to Call An Innovation Firm - Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Change is difficult, and changing for the better rarely happens out of virtue. When prospects reach out we know only one fact: They want to change something in their organizational mix and grow and want help. Often the need is an unexpressed and even unconscious urge for the company or nonprofit.

95. Back to Basics: Elements in the Product Story - Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Many companies and people confuse what they mean when discussing value propositions, benefits and features. Be clear with your product marketing. 

Value Proposition. Definition: A value proposition is the concise statement of the overarching solution to your customer’s problem. The solution, then, is not your product or its technical details, but the solution your product or service provides; i.e., the end result, the value given to the customer.

96. Healthy Visionaries - Tuesday, September 13, 2016

If you want to create a high-growth company or transform a slow- or flat-growth organization into a category-dominating leader, you cannot manage this type of growth with an MBA-styled leader who wants to function like a strategic CFO by mainly cutting costs and managing profit and loss.

97. Brand Essence: The Rock ‘n’ Roll of Business, Part 3 - Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Editor’s note: Part three in a three-part series. Your marketers either need to create a fire or be fired. If you have uninspired and uninspiring marketing professionals on your team, be warned. Give him or her one chance to kick into high gear. Then act decisively. Fire them if they cannot change tempo.

98. Brand Essence: The Rock ‘n’ Roll of Business, Part 2 - Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Editor’s note: Part two in a three-part series. One real power of a brand is that it serves as a tuning fork for an organization, helping them quicken strategic decisions, vetting new opportunities and making hard choices when projections are slipping away from the target.

99. Brand Essence: The Rock ‘n’ Roll of Business, Part 1 - Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Editor’s note: Part one of a three-part series. Like famous musicians, effective brands maintain a certain sway over those who come into contact with them, a sense of awe and authority that translates talent, focus and hard work into an essence that communicates instantly.

100. Innovation Is Potent Leadership Development - Tuesday, August 9, 2016

You can’t outsource the important things. After working with more than 100 clients, we have noted one of the most critical factors in the success of an innovation project: If you outsource all of the work on your innovation projects, they will fail.