Business Innovation For Dummies E-Book

Alexander Hiam

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 616

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Discover how to access your creative power to boost your success in business Success in business demands constant creativity. Generating fresh solutions to problems and the ability to invent new products or services for a changing market are part of the intellectual capital that gives a company its competitive edge. Business Innovation For Dummies gives you practical, easy-to-follow information for generating new ideas, using creativity to boost sales, solving problems creatively, mastering the art of invention, honing creative thinking skills, and identifying new opportunities. * Advice on how to apply creativity to the workplace * Ideas for spicing up presentations * Shows you how innovation leads to more productive business Business Innovation For Dummies is a must-have guide for anyone in business who is looking to harness their creativity to boost productivity and revenue!

Leseprobe

Business Innovation For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Making Your Mark as an Innovator

Part II: Stimulating Your Creative Side: Thinking in New and Different Ways

Part III: Applying Creativity and Innovation to Daily Challenges

Part IV: Implementing a Major Innovation

Part V: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Making Your Mark as an Innovator

Chapter 1: Taking an Innovative Approach to Work

Tapping Into Your Own Creative Force

Generating more ideas

Identifying your biggest barriers to creativity

Taking advantage of your biggest enablers of creativity

Constructing Your Creative Place

Introducing Creative Practices to Your Daily Routine

Balancing tight and loose activities

Freeing yourself to daydream

Pursuing interesting questions instead of letting them pass by

Cross-training the body to strengthen the mind

Seeking Broader Experience

Finding ways to challenge yourself

Taking personal risks

Spending more time with people who aren’t at all like you

Seeking the company of innovators

Getting out of your personal and career silos

Supporting inquisitive behavior

Learning from innovation mentors

Becoming a Leading Innovator

Making your creativity and drive visible to higher-ups

Stepping up to development teams and roles

Chapter 2: Creating an Innovative Career Path

Seeing Your Career as an Adventure

Breaking through the barriers to career change

Making opportunistic moves

Counting Up Your Transferable Skills and Experiences

Seeking Opportunities to Innovate

Moving Toward Growth

Encouraging your own personal growth

Targeting growth areas in your current organization

Taking advantage of fast-growing cities

Serving the fastest-growing age groups

Tapping into international growth

Inventing Your Next Job

Proposing a new position for yourself

Generating freelance and consultative work

Developing entrepreneurial career options

Chapter 3: Leading with Creative Vision

Visualizing the Possibilities for Innovative Leadership

Setting ambitious goals

Encouraging others to envision change too

Knowing when innovation is required

Getting to Know Yourself as a Leader

Identifying your leadership orientation

Zeroing in on your leadership style

Adjusting your style to fit the situation

Adapting the classic styles for faster innovation

Putting orientation and style together

Developing Your Leadership Skills

Seeking feedback

Working with a mentor

Seeking varied leadership experiences

Managing the risks of innovation

Projecting a Positive Attitude

Expressing both hopefulness and optimism

Being pragmatically creative

Going for that positive ripple effect

Putting All Your Leadership Skills Together

Chapter 4: Innovating in Sales and Marketing

Making an Inconspicuous but Powerful Impact

Assessing (And Violating) the Norms

Finding abnormal ways to accomplish your goals

Communicating in a different way

Violating social norms on purpose

Avoiding the cost of a sales call

Committing to a Creative Approach

Writing your creative brief

Coming up with the first round of creative ideas

Narrowing Your Focus to Find Sources of Creative Advantage

Chapter 5: Being an Innovative Strategist

Thinking Big by Planning to Re-create Your Business

Shifting from more of the same to creative planning

Including a mix of traditional and creative elements in your planning

Ensuring a Healthy Strategic Cycle

Phase-shifting in strategic time

Influencing strategy from the bottom up

Investing in a Family of Innovations

Being tough on underperforming projects and products

Making your next strategic move

Deciding how big a strategy to pursue

Including customer value in your strategy

Managing Your Product Portfolio

Riding a best-selling product to the top

Understanding the life cycle of each product category

Mapping your product portfolio

Planting enough seeds to make sure something grows

Seeking Strategic Partnerships

Mastering the Art of Change Management

Enlisting the eager believers and excluding the hopeless cases

Making the destination visible to all

Managing resistance during the change process

Watching out for snap-back

Part II: Stimulating Your Creative Side: Thinking in New and Different Ways

Chapter 6: Getting Juices Flowing in Brainstorming Sessions

Identifying Opportunities for Group Creativity

Calling for help with a problem

Inviting questions for consideration

Building on suggestions

In or Out?: Issuing Invites to the Brainstorming Session

Deciding how big to make the group

Excluding people who squash the creative spirit

Including people who contribute needed knowledge

Adding people who bring unique perspectives and styles

Planning the Creative Process

Deciding how much creative distance you want to travel

Budgeting sufficient time

Deciding how many sessions to run

Preparing for Your Role as Facilitator

Practicing your questioning and listening skills

Guiding the group away from negative dynamics

Controlling your nonverbal signals

Becoming familiar with the challenge at hand

Mastering the Core Brainstorming Methods

Warming up the group

Using Osborn’s brainstorming rules

Introducing variations to improve results

Considering additional creative processes

Wrapping it up

Being a Brilliant Participant

Contributing great ideas

Being an informal leader and cheerleader

Overcoming your own creative timidity

Chapter 7: Mastering Advanced Brainstorming

Going the Distance to Cash In on Creativity

Critiquing the results of your brainstorming

Doing more research based on first-round questions

Being persistent

Focusing Your Brainstorming in Creative Ways

Stimulating a shift in how people think about the topic

Fighting design fixation

Sharpening the view with narrower problem definitions

Breaking the problem into smaller problems

Visualizing for Creative Success

Introducing visual reference material

Using imagery to stimulate the mind’s eye

Sketching ideas rather than describing them

Building solutions from standard geometric shapes

Storyboarding an idea

Making small-scale models

Using sticky notes and a wall for your brainstorming

Drawing a mind map

Combining research with mind mapping

Using mind-mapping software

Clustering ideas and suggestions

Producing insights and proposals from your mind map

Maximizing the Power of Team Thinking

Using index cards and the nominal group technique

Using pass-along brainstorming

Generating ideas from random words

Working individually, too!

Chapter 8: Going Beyond Brainstorming

Using Customer Input for Inspiration

Organizing a focus group

Asking customers to fantasize about their ultimate product

Inviting customer input, both critical and creative

Redesigning Processes

Taking Advantage of E-Mail

Including a provocative question or situation

Designing your e-mail for thoughtful consideration

Holding an e-mail contest for best idea

Engaging in creative e-mail conversations

Crowdsourcing for New Ideas

Going Deep for Intuitive Insight

Using naturalistic decision-making

Going back to nature

Asking a wise elder

Using soothsaying techniques

Being inventive

Chapter 9: Turning Problems into Opportunities for Innovation

Seeing Problems with a Fresh Eye

Framing problems as creative opportunities

Postponing the decision to allow time for creative thought

Using creativity prompts

Approaching problems with optimism and hopefulness

Applying Analytical Problem-Solving

Using Dewey’s problem-solving process

Performing a payoff analysis

Engaging Your Creative Dissatisfaction

Recognizing the opportunity to be creative

Considering the opportunity costs of not innovating

Applying intuition along with logic

Chapter 10: Going Shopping for Innovations

Exploring Your Industry’s Trade Shows

Crossing Boundaries for Good Ideas

Visiting the wrong trade shows

Talking to outsiders

Seeking out cross-training opportunities

Benchmarking Industry Innovators

Studying upstarts and startups

Interviewing innovative job candidates

Seeing what businesses are boasting about

Taking a positive approach to evaluating possibilities

Checking for alignment with your competencies

Sourcing from Innovative Suppliers

Evaluating suppliers based on their creative momentum

Asking your suppliers for free consulting

Bringing your suppliers together to brainstorm

Going to the Experts for Help

Chapter 11: Coming Up with Creative Combinations

Finding Inspiration in Successful Creative Combinations

Finding Innovative Combinations of Your Own

Revisiting classic combinations for quick wins

Brainstorming combinations with one of your core products

Recombining fundamental innovations

Combining Problems with Solutions

Finding problems similar to your own

Looking for problem themes

Getting Resourceful in Your Search for Combinations

Pairing things that nobody thinks should go together

Playing with words to find unexpected combinations

Imitating without violating intellectual-property rights

Combining a customer want with a solution you can sell

Seeking Unusual Information

Casting a broad net

Seeking weak signals

Trying Unusual Forms

Part III: Applying Creativity and Innovation to Daily Challenges

Chapter 12: Delivering Fresh Presentations and Proposals

Building the Credibility You Need to Be Creative

Sizing up your audience and context

Providing enough structure to reassure the audience

Engaging the audience

Finding Your Unique Insight

Starting with research

Incubating the facts until a fresh perspective pops out

Brainstorming for insight

Avoiding fixating on the first big idea

Outlining a strong framework for your presentation

Making Your Point with the Five Tools of Creative Presentation

Incorporating sources and facts

Engaging the mind’s eye with good visuals

An analogy is like a newly cleaned window

Telling tales

Branding Your Message with an Appropriate Look and Style

Matching tone and style

Creating a visual signature

Repeating your auditory signature

Controlling your body language

Chapter 13: Negotiating Creative Win–Wins

Turning Conflicts into Creative Opportunities

Identifying conflicts with rich potential for innovation

Reframing the disagreement to introduce creative problem-solving

Signaling your good intentions to create buy-in

Beginning the dialogue with easy win–wins

Assessing Everyone’s Conflict Styles

Identifying the natural collaborators

Reassuring the competitive negotiators

Making sure that your own style is consistent with your goals

Bridging the Gaps to Form an Ad Hoc Problem-Solving Team

Sharing your own interests and issues first

Building a creative problem-solving team

Transitioning to Solution Brainstorming

Making sure that everyone knows it’s safe to share ideas

Suspending judgment

Facilitating brainstorming when participants are hostile

Identifying and Refining Win–Win Ideas

Agreeing that some ideas hold significant promise

Working the top three ideas until one emerges as best

Chapter 14: Innovating to Save Costs

Avoiding the Creative Frost Effect

Boosting creative determination

Avoiding pessimism about the future

Trying a clean-slate approach

Focusing on the Biggest Cost Categories

Identifying spending categories

Focusing on major sources of error or rework

Learning from Others

Sending out your scouts

Reviewing examples of cost-cutting measures elsewhere

Asking around

Using Savings-Creation Methods from Idea to Implementation

Finding out where the losses really are

Generating effective cost-cutting ideas

Evaluating cost-cutting proposals

Implementing cost savings

Part IV: Implementing a Major Innovation

Chapter 15: Managing the Development of an Innovative Idea

Planning the Innovation Process

Being flexible about the design

Clarifying the goal

Communicating early, often, and widely

Emphasizing long-term benefits

Monitoring the results

Building strong implementation teams

Innovating in Teams

Maintaining momentum through the four stages of the team’s life

Tapping into diverse contributions by team members

Finding your strongest team role

Determining what the team leader needs to do

Considering a skunkworks to protect your team from interference

Building Development and Implementation Networks

Launching the Innovation

Emphasizing planning, preparation, and refinement

Promoting the project

Projecting the rate of adoption

Chapter 16: Spreading the Word to Diffuse Your Innovation

Strategizing to Spread Your Innovation

Identifying potential adopters

Finding out how fast your innovation will spread

Setting the strategic parameters

Targeting those early adopters

Designing Your Media Mix for Maximum Diffusion

Aiming for intelligent, sophisticated buyers

Emphasizing personal media in the early days

Adapting your marketing to the inflection point

Priming the Pump with Freebies

Chapter 17: Protecting Intellectual Property

Determining and Keeping Track of Your Intellectual Property Assets

Deciding what merits protection

Assessing the value of your intellectual property

Keeping track of the protective steps you’ve taken (or need to take)

Copyrighting As Much As You Can

Adding copyright protection to your work

Getting copyright protection when you’re not the author

Protecting Your Brands through Trademark

Ensuring that your brand is trademarkable

Applying for a trademark in the U.S. and elsewhere

Increasing your chances for trademark approval

Establishing your rights by using your mark

Pursuing Patent Protection

Searching for existing patents

Budgeting the cost of filing a patent

Considering foreign patent protection

Filing a provisional patent

Assigning or licensing your patent rights

Protecting Trade Secrets

Taking reasonable precautions

Enforcing a trade secret

Keeping Your Records, Writings, Plans, and Designs Secure

Chapter 18: Building a Business Around Your Innovation

Doing Your Development Homework

Researching and refining your idea and market

Deciding whether to proceed with your innovation

Protecting your intellectual property

Writing a Winning Business Plan

Design the cover, title page, and table of contents

Write the executive summary

Write your market analysis

Prepare a company description

Write a description of your innovation

Describe the organization and management of the business

Summarize marketing and sales

Present your service or product line

Explain your funding needs

Prepare your financials

Prepare an appendix of supporting documents

Funding Your Innovative Venture

Pairing up with venture capitalists

Locating angel investors

Obtaining loans

Selling Your Inventions

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: Ten Creative Ways to Boost Your Career

Look for Opportunities to Stand Out

Share Your Enthusiasm for Innovative Ideas

Look for Emerging Problems You Can Help Solve

Look for Emerging Opportunities You Can Surf

Do Something You Really Enjoy

Consider Working on Commission

Build Two Careers at the Same Time

Study

Volunteer

Champion Someone Else’s Good Idea

Chapter 20: Ten Tips for More Innovative Meetings

Ask for Original Information and Ideas

Reorganize Your Meetings, Not Your Staff

Re-solve Old Problems

Use a “Sideways Thoughts” Board

Pay Close Attention to Body Language

Control Routine Topics Tightly

Control or Exclude Spoilers

Brainstorm at Least Once a Month

Ask for Multiple Alternatives

Meet Somewhere New and Different

Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Stimulate Your Creative Genius

Persist, Persist, Persist

Work on BIG Problems

Rotate Among Three Knotty Problems

Eat Ideas for Lunch

Work on Your Self-Talk

Correct Your Mental Biases

Nurture a Secret Project

Cross-Train in Art

Do Art Projects with Your Kids

Start or Join an Inventors’ Club

Chapter 22: Ten Tips for Better Implementation of Your Ideas

Develop Your Team First

Plan for the Worst

Account for Each Project Separately

Document Failures

Differentiate Owners from Workers

Communicate

Avoid Burnout

Resolve Conflicts (Don’t Avoid Them)

Know When to Persevere

Know When to Quit

Business Innovation For Dummies®

by Alexander Hiam

Business Innovation For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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ISBN: 978-0-470-60174-7

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Alexander Hiam’s career integrates business and creativity in unusual ways. His work has included business strategy, high-tech entrepreneurship, new-product development, branding, naming, negotiating, and consulting — often in the role of innovator or generator of new ideas and approaches.

He’s also taught thousands of managers innovation and creativity skills through his workshops and idea-generation retreats, as well as through his authorship of study materials such as The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Creativity (HRD Press), Creativity By Design (HRD Press), Creative Roles Analysis (Trainer’s Spectrum), and The Entrepreneur’s Complete Sourcebook (Simon & Schuster).

Alex’s professional focus on business innovation and how to lead it is balanced by his interest in the arts. He shows paintings, collages, and photographs and writes fiction — his favorite being fantasy adventures for young adults. In this book, he harnesses his creative imagination to the task of helping others be more creative and successful in their businesses, whatever those might be.

Alex’s clients include the U.S. Coast Guard (he helps keep its leadership training innovative and at the forefront of management practice) and a lengthy list of companies, government agencies, nonprofit boards, and more. He’s helped the U.S. Senate work on its collaborative problem-solving skills and brought new assessment tools to the finance department of the City of New York. His creativity exercises are used by top ad agencies to help their staff be more open to fresh ideas, and he shares his enthusiasm for innovative branding with students at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. Alex likes to help others achieve their creative potential and find fresh options and solutions.

Alex’s other For Dummies books address his fascination with innovative approaches to marketing. He is the author of Marketing For Dummies, 3rd Edition, and Marketing Kit For Dummies, 3rd Edition (both from Wiley).

Dedication

My wife, Deirdre Richardson, suffered through lengthy writing sessions for nearly a year, and still managed to maintain a positive, encouraging attitude about this book — thereby serving as a perfect role model for what it takes to support a creative process from beginning to successful end!

Author’s Acknowledgments

I have lots of exciting ideas, but sometimes I need a little help disciplining them into proper shape for implementation. That’s why I’m so appreciative of the fine editorial team at Wiley that worked on this book with me, including acquisitions editor Stacy Kennedy, project editor Elizabeth Rea, copy editors Christine Pingleton and Kathy Simpson, and technical reviewer Lisa Gundry. It takes a team to do anything worthwhile. It helps when it’s a really good team!

I also want to thank my associates and clients at Trainer’s Spectrum, who provide me so many great suggestions and also, on occasion, the honest feedback that helps get the wrinkles out of my thinking.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Elizabeth Rea

Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy

Copy Editors: Christine Pingleton, Kathy Simpson

Assistant Editor: Erin Calligan Mooney

Senior Editorial Assistant: David Lutton

Technical Editor: Lisa Gundry, Ph.D.

Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker

Editorial Assistant: Jennette ElNaggar

Cover Photos: © Andy Ryan/Getty Images

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Lynsey Stanford

Layout and Graphics: Kelly Kijovsky

Proofreaders: John Greenough, Bonnie Mikkelson

Indexer: Sharon Shock

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

Innovation means so many things: new-product development, new brands, new ad campaigns, new Web sites, new production processes, new designs, new strategies, new solutions to persistent problems, and a great deal more.

Truth is, you need to innovate to succeed in your working life. The creative, forward-thinking people are the ones who make their mark and get ahead. It’s often risky to try new things or propose new approaches, but it’s even more risky to play it safe and close your mind to creative change. If you don’t take the lead as an innovator in your workplace and your field, you can be quite sure that somebody else will.

Businesses need to innovate too — and by businesses, I mean any organizations where people work, including startups, small businesses, big businesses, government offices and agencies, schools, hospitals, theaters, museums, temples, and churches.

My work has brought me into all these workplaces and many more. It’s so rewarding to help people create their own, better futures by teaching and facilitating the challenging process of innovation. It’s the most fun work I’ve ever done, except, I suppose, when I’m the innovator myself and am creating a new product, building a new business, or producing something innovative just for pleasure (such as a new art exhibit). Without innovation, work would be a dull, thankless routine. With it, there’s a reason to get up and rush to work each morning. Innovation gives us energy, and it gives energy to our workplaces as well, allowing them to grow and prosper instead of stagnate and fail.