Management Blog

The power of nanovation

The story of how a small Indian-made car went from zero to hero has much to tell the world's innovators, the new book Nanovation by Kevin and Jackie Frieberg and Dain Dunston claims.

This 800ceoread review explains how the authors have used the development of India's Nano microcar to espouse the virtues of small innovations with the potential to make a large impact.

Here are just a few insights taken from the Nano story:

• Nanovation is often born from a desire to make the world better
• Nanovation begins with clearly defining the problem
• Nanovators see problems as invitations
• Nanovation is action-oriented. If you see a problem, act on it
• Nanovators frequently ask, "What if?"

A series of questions that potential 'nanovators' should ask themselves is also listed in the blog post:

• How many times have you looked at a situation in your country or company and thought, someone should do something about this?
• What if you were that someone? Or what if you supported someone who shared your vision and was in a position to make a difference?
• And forget changing the world for a moment: How about in your job? Is there some problem in your workplace or in your industry that you think "someone" ought to address?
• What would it take for you to lead the change?

Five steps to disruptive innovation

Disruptive innovation – the creation a new market that displaces an existing one – is a result of skills that are within reach of every entrepreneur, according to Clay Christensen and Hal Gregersen.

The authors of The Innovator's DNA, Christensen and Gregersen discuss how organisations can foster disruptive innovation within their ranks in this Harvard Business Review webinar.

Why execution is the driving force of innovation

The notion that innovation is predominantly about new ideas is a myth, according to this Forbes article on the importance of execution in the process of being new products or processes to life.

This myth, along with a series of others about the innovation process, is based on research by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble in the book The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge.

The authors claim that by rejecting the many myths that surround innovation entrepreneurs are in a much better situation to turn a startup business into a profitable success.

Just a few of the myths discussed include:

Innovation is only about ideas – it's claimed ideas start the process but focus, discipline and resources are needed to bring them to life

Great leaders don't have failures – it's claimed conflicts between innovation and daily processes often lead to failure

Innovators are subversives – many strong innovators integrate change into real world operations rather than disrupting the system

Everyone's an innovator – while ideas from all members of staff should be welcomed, major innovations need to be handled top down

Only startups can innovate – research shows the world's biggest problems can only be solved by the planet's major companies

How to be an Accidental Creative

The key to successfully developing new ideas at a moment's notice is to understand your 'creative rhythm', author Todd Henry argues in the new book The Accidental Creative.

Open Forum's review explains that everyone has a creative rhythm – a set of elements that can help professionals innovate despite the pressures of everyday office life.

Unlocking and building upon these elements is a potential wellspring of creativity. Neatly presented in the acronym FRESH, these elements are Focus, Relationships, Energy, Stimuli and Hours.

1. Focus – clear goal setting is the springboard to creativity

2. Relationships – the right relationships offer a source of inspiration

3. Energy – don't plan out every second of the day, manage energy instead

4. Stimuli – carefully consider what you feed your brain

5. Hours – make time to encourage practices that make you more creative

Tiniest camera revealed

Ready for your close-up? Every gadget we currently own, no matter how small, could soon have its own camera.

US scientists have invented a camera that has no lens, no moving parts and costs a faction of a cent to make in a development that could revolutionise a number of industries, Fast Company reports.

Cornell University's Planar Fourier Capture Array camera, a device so small it could fit on the head of a pin, doesn't need a lens as it uses light waves to determine what it is looking at.

Just some of the possible applications include medical equipment that shows doctors what is happening inside the human body or building sensors that track the sun to achieve energy savings.

On the home front tiny cameras may be integrated into a number of household functions such as vacuum cleaners that are better at finding hidden bits of dust and debris.

The end of wallets?

The humble but all-important wallet will be history by the year 2015 according to PayPal president Scott Thompson.

In this recent blog post Thompson claims customers are increasingly giving up traditional payment methods and are instead turning to electronic transitions.

It's suggested that in the near future consumers will predominantly use 'digital wallets', software applications loaded onto smartphones.

According to The Street blog, digital currency is certainly on the agenda with Visa and Google announcing plans to enable smartphones to pay for purchases.

Starbucks in the US offers an example of the trend in action by allowing customers use their smartphones by scanning a barcode to pay for coffees.

Time for a few silly questions?

When aiming to achieve effective brainstorming outcomes it can pay to stop being serious and start having fun, HR consultant Tim Lambert suggests in this management-issues post.

Referencing the Monty Python skit 'The Ministry of Silly Walks', Lambert says asking silly questions can do more than just provide a silly answer, it can result in a competitive advantage.

It's claimed the process of questioning 'common sense' and 'accepted practice' in a light-hearted way can lead to those beautiful eureka moments when a new perspective opens up.

While there are no one-size-fits-all silly questions here are a few ideas from the post that may prove inspiring for a future 'Ministry of Silly Questions' meeting.

• Do we have to go to China for manufacturing suppliers?
• What happens if we got half our workforce to work from home?
• Do we need managers?
• Why do we do things in this sequence?

When failure means innovation success

A growing number of authors on entrepreneurial excellence are questioning whether being wrong is all that bad.

In this Forbes video, Adapt author Tim Harford explains why breakthrough ideas are the result of an evolutionary process involving trial and error.

Smartphones set to improve public transport

A new study of commuters in the US suggests people are more willing to use public transport if they are given tools to effectively manage their journey, Wired reports.

Researchers asked a group of car drivers to instead use public transport albeit with the assistance of smart phone apps that included real-time information on schedules, delays and nearby shops.

The study concluded that commuters embrace public transport when they feel they are in control of information about services, in other words they're fine to wait if they are given a timeframe.

And in good news for public transport operators, the ability to offer these real time services is relatively affordable as there is no requirement to install costly equipment at transit stops.

In other transport app news, a Sydney schoolboy is gaining considerable attention after successfully creating an innovative car parking app, The Age reports.

At just 17 years of age, Brandon Cowan has developed an app called iParkedHere that helps users remember where they have parked their car and when parking meter time will run out.

Eye-scanning technology set to change computer use

Computer users could soon be saying goodbye to their mouse and trackpad thanks to new technology that allows them control devices merely by looking at them, BusinessWeek reports.

The ability to control computers visually is a result of advances in infrared sensors that track eye movement, an innovation that developers say will change the way the world uses computers.

According to the article, eye-tracking technology will let users achieve many things they currently do with a mouse, such as opening folders, by merely staring at an icon on the screen.

It may also allow readers to scroll down on-screen text without touching a cursor as a result of an eye sensor's ability to track the section of a page the user is reading.

It's hoped clip-on devices that enable eye-scanning will be available within a year at of a price point of under US$200.