Innovation can be quite messy and difficult to measure. That's why in my latest post I elaborate on a different set of innovation metrics that are not as straightforward. They offer a new way of describing innovation more accurately than metrics focused on hard assets and hard skills. Science has long shown that there are some criteria for evaluating innovation and creativity (such as the Torrance Test), and it's time to get them into corporate innovation KPIs. Read more about them here.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER.
READ OUR PAST NEWSLETTERS HERE.
Getting ready for the publishing date (January 2016) of my new book "Die Silicon Valley Mentalität" I continue giving you a sneak peak to some of the elements that form the SILICON VALLEY MINDSET and which you can apply yourself regardless of where you live.
The first one is Show me. Instead of quickly reacting to a colleague's idea with "What a stupid idea" or "Who needs that?" refrain yourself from responding with those phrases and instead relax, sit back, and say "Show me." Read more about that here.
The CREATIVITY-technique of the day is Criticize the Idea As Someone Else. This technique lets you experience somebody else's critique points. Take the idea and imagine yourself as a different character, who now looks and criticizes the idea from this person's point of view. The person can also be a fictitious character, wildly exaggerating the critique. Start with Pinocchio, the janitor, the crazy professor. You get the point.
A list of more creativity techniques can be found here.
INNOVATION is hard to measure. It's like an oily fish that tries to escape from your bare hands. That's why I suggest new fuzzy metrics to capture other data that science discovered to be indicators for creative and innovative individuals and entities. The paradox is that we all say we want innovation, but our actions kill innovation. And that's why we need to become more aware of what encourages and what chokes innovation.
Not every STARTUP needs to come to the Silicon Valley. You can build great and successful startups in your own region too. Often the services and products may be very local and a great fit for your region.
But sometimes it may make very much sense to move your startup here. The German basketball player Dirk Nowitzki certainly would have a had a great career in Germany. But he decided to get out of his comfort zone, moved to the NBA, and with hard work became a superstar.
Silicon Valley is for those who want to get to the next level and get challenged and benchmarked by the best startup ecosystem that there is in the world today. Read more about startups with the links below.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER.
READ OUR PAST NEWSLETTERS HERE.
An Intrapreneur is a remarkable character. Why would anyone take on the internal bureaucracy to push a new product from idea to the market with all the effort, backlashes, grilling from the legal department, just to get a few percentage points of bonus - if at all? I know quite a number of them who did and even while being successful they did not get the rewards.
And still they couldn't change who they were and did again. Sometimes in the next company. But what makes them run and how can we help them? Some of the articles below shed light on that.
NSFW - Roy Lichtenstein interpreted by Stefan Sagmeister
Today's NSFW - internet lingo for Not Safe For Work - comes from some work done by designer Stefan Sagmeister. He and Jessica Walsh looked at Roy Lichtenstein's distinct style and created an ad campaign for the fashion store chain Aizone. They took the 2D world of Lichtenstein and transferred it to the real world. The effect is messing with reality and your eyes, not least because of the colors.
