Organic Hat

Disruptive Innovation & How: The Empire Strikes Back – Technology Review

Craig Daniels — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:31:59 +0000

“How Xerox and other big corporations are harnessing the force of disruptive innovation.”
It used to be the rebels (disruptors) toiled by themselves in their parents garages or so mythology would have us believe but, now larger giants like GE are embracing Disruptive Innovation and liking it.
“disruptive innovations are typically introduced by start-ups, the rebel forces in the business universe”
“We define disruptive technologies as those that offer “good enough” solutions to new groups of consumers, and often at radically lower prices.”
You’ll have to sign up to read this whole article but it and the resources offered at Tech Review are worth the minute it takes..
Via www.technologyreview.com

Disruption: Coming Soon to a University Near You – Forbes

Craig Daniels — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:08:12 +0000

“It’s becoming a familiar story, university experiences are increasingly being characterized by: impractical learning, out-of-touch faculty, exorbitant tuition, time-wasting requirements and diminishing probabilities of employment.”

In the 1960′s Experimental Education was the rage, the buzz word on most if not all campuses. Unfortunately the zest did not take hold on a large enough scale to become accepted as a vital tool of Innovation. The hulking mass of the status quo won the battle then.
Are the times different enough now for a true embrace of the Experimental? I’m skeptical but open to the possibility. This article opens up a good line for more discussion.

“Disruption is coming, there is no doubt of it! Will it be soon? Will it be virtual? We have little idea at this time as to how it will eventually turn out. What is also clear, however, is that the technology revolution taking place means that when disruption does come, it will be more than mere operational rearrangements; it will be profound and revitalizing.”
Via www.forbes.com

Leading Change in the “New Normal”

Craig Daniels — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:45:56 +0000

“Perhaps the biggest benefit of deep and rapid change is that everything needs to be reexamined. When survival is at stake, all the “crazy” ideas that were dismissed earlier resurface for serious discussion.”
Rapid change has created many examples of Innovation that everyone can learn from. This article focus on some of what has gone on in India over the last 20 years and how it has engaged both people and companies in the drive to success.
Via blogs.hbr.org

Why Hollywood’s Idea Of ‘Innovation’ Is SOPA | Techdirt

Craig Daniels — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:01:50 +0000

What happens when your business is based on fear? Fear that everyone is out to destroy your business. The answer of course is no innovation will occur.
This post lays out a short outline of Steve Blank’s analysis of how Hollywood has based the foundation of their business on fear and not innovation. It’s a quick read and will amaze you at just how short sighted Hollywood really is.
“A ton of folks have been sending over Steve Blank’s absolutely awesome detailed analysis of why Hollywood can’t innovate… and the result is SOPA. It touches on many points we’ve raised separately, but puts it all together in such a…”
Via www.techdirt.com

Is the answer as simple as Developing Mindful Leaders?

Craig Daniels — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:45:53 +0000

“Organizations invest billions annually on a success curriculum known as “leadership development,” which ends up leaving so much on the table.”

As we tumble headlong into a new year that is already rapidly evaporating I think it a great moment to stop and look around at just what’s going on both inside ourselves and outside in the frantic workplace.Polly LaBarre writes about how the integration of mindfulness into the workplace may be the only answer needed for success and satisfaction.

Mindfulness can create a wave of Innovation that cascades throughout our lives if we just stay in each moment.Read the rest of the story: Via blogs.hbr.org

Innovation Sprouts From Failed Attempts to Learn

Craig Daniels — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:01:18 +0000

Innovation often revels itself through trial and error and while it can find its way out of a maze developed using rocket science it is not chained to difficulty so much as persistence.

Drinking my first cup of coffee this morning I tripped over an article in the Atlantic titled “How I Failed, Failed, and Finally Succeeded at Learning How to Code” and started reading. From the start the article painted a journey of discovery that enticed me to continue reading to know how and why and what I found was much more than a need for the transformation of the education system.

The system we throw ourselves and our children into fails to ignite a hunger for learning. Within the read I stumbled over the following, “All it takes is a little hunger. You just have to want the answer”

I read it over a few times while making a second cup of coffee and wondered why is it we spend so little effort and money on nurturing that hunger, I mean we all have it yet we seem to gleefully give it up when asked to. Into the Innovation desert we walk and forget how to get out… Are you hungry? read the whole piece.

“Colin Hughes’ programming website, Project Euler, provides a plan for how to learn anything in fun, discrete steps…”
Via www.theatlantic.com

Can Taking A Bellyflop Change The Rewards Game?

Craig Daniels — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:21:51 +0000

{EAV:f61a4f0054719426} There are dozens of national reward programs and perhaps hundreds of regional ones around the U.S. so why would we need another one? One company based in Chicago thinks it has the answer, that company is Bellyflop and they have just rolled out what looks like a very cool way to deal with trying to juggle a pocket full of coupons and reward cards.

They are calling their program simply Belly and right from the start they have a name that lends itself to advertising gold. A business signs up, adds an iPad to their counter, when a customer visits they can swipe either a card or use their phone to record their visit and gain points for exceptional customer rewards (their phrase not mine). The more businesses in the program the easier and maybe more fun your life becomes.

Belly has a 3 pronged sales pitch that just might work.

Belly makes customer loyalty easy
One card fits all
Earn rewards you actually want

What do I like most about Belly? I like that it is easy as pie to get and keep track of points for rewards and second I like that Belly has a sense of humor which I hope they will encourage their merchants to adopt. Check out the video and watch their site for more info. Oh and it seems the co-founders of Groupon have invested a million dollars through their Lightbank company into Belly.

Content Curation Races to Innovate

Craig Daniels — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:45:50 +0000

By my count there are over two dozen websites that are now offering some level of tools that allow just about anyone to curate the content from what interests them. Some of these sites also offer premium tool sets for adding even more power for the user to tap into.

One of the interesting sites is Paper.li which has been around longer then most of the other services and is more of an aggregator then a robust curation site it does allow the editor to choose a full set of sources that will influence the final content. Paper.li also allows the editor to quickly delete the stories that do not fit within their vision of the editions topic. Now they are rolling out an embed feature so people can take the edition and pop it into their web page or blog and receive future updates automatically, very cool.

What I’d like to see Paper.li add next is to give an editor the opportunity to add text to each story this would allow for a more personal and robust edition being produced. Also I’d like to see a way to anchor some of the stories so they are not replace when automatic updates take place.

I’m embedding an example of a Paper.li personal edition that I created around the subject of Innovation.

Post Title 4

Craig Daniels — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:18:46 +0000

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Example WordPress Gallery with built-in lightbox

Post Title 3

Craig Daniels — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:44:25 +0000

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