Category: Books

Deliberately Look in a Different Direction

Until 1954 there was only one television channel in the UK.  It was the publicly owned BBC.  In that year the government auctioned licences for commercial TV stations.  These would be regional operations which could offer advertising on TV for the first time.  Various companies were interested in this opportunity and they naturally focussed on the regions with the best demographics – it seemed... Read More--

Innovation Insights from the Founder of Sony

Akio Morita was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1921.  His father owned a business brewing sake.  It had been in the family for 14 generations and it was expected that Akio, the oldest son, would step into the business but the boy was more interested in electronics than in brewing. Morita studied Physics at Osaka Imperial University and served as a naval lieutenant during World War II.  While in the Japanese... Read More--

For Innovators Rejection comes with the Territory

Joanne K Rowling is the British author of the Harry Potter series of fantasy novels which have become the best-selling book series in history with over 400 million copies sold.  She acted as screenwriter and producer on the Harry Potter movies which is the second highest-grossing film series ever.  Rowling was born in Gloucestershire in England in 1965.  She worked as a researcher and secretary... Read More--

Why do we Underestimate the Power of Progress?

How well-informed are you about the state of the world?  Please try this short quiz. How did you get on?  Most well-educated people do badly in this little test.  The average person gets only two or three questions right out of 13.  This is because we generally hold a distorted view of the world – we see the world as much poorer and less developed than it really is.  We seem unaware of the... Read More--

Messy beats Tidy

Review of ‘Messy’ by Tim Harford   In this book economist Tim Harford argues cogently that we are wrong to strive for order and tidiness because openness, adaptability and creativity are inherently messy.  We should appreciate the benefits of untidiness. This provocative work contains many intriguing stories supported with references to academic research.  Some of the insights and examples... Read More--

Eight Tips for Better Conversations

Photo by Isakarakus on Pixabay   You probably know some people who are unremittingly dull company. You may be fortunate enough to know some brilliant conversationalists who can enliven any discussion. In which category would other people place you? How can you improve your conversational skills to become a welcome sight at every social event? Here are some tips.   Ask Questions Most people like... Read More--

Monitor Your Innovation Capability in these Three Areas

Many organizations have top-level goals for innovation but struggle to measure progress toward them.  How can you assess the current state of your innovation capability?  There are three critical areas to consider. First, you should measure your ability to fill the pipeline by monitoring the number of new ideas being generated.  If you have a suggestions scheme you can scrutinize how many submissions... Read More--

Focus on the Opportunity, not the Problem.

Two groups of engineering students were given a similar task – to design a bicycle rack for a car.  The first group was shown an existing but poorly designed roof rack for bicycles.  They looked at all the issues with the current design and then set out to come up with something better.  The second group was not shown the ineffective roof rack; they were simply told to design a really good bicycle... Read More--

10 Ways to Simplify your Business

Gordon Tredgold We tend to over-complicate things.  We try to do to many things instead of focusing on a handful of essential priorities.  So says Gordon Tredgold in his book, FAST – Principles every business needs to achieve success and drive results.  He expounds four key precepts: Focus, Accountability, Simplicity and Transparency. The book has many stories, examples and useful tips. ... Read More--