Innovation Survey

I just finished reading a survey on corporate innovation published by the Boston Consulting Group. The information in the survey suggested that many of the executives interviewed (roughly 72%) thought that innovation was one of the top priorities for 2006 and planned to invest in it. But almost half of them also pointed out that they were unsatisfied with the ROI made on innovation. The editors of the survey pointed out a few of the difficulties that occur when trying to improve innovation...

• development times were longer than expected
• lack of coordination within the company itself
• not enough research/insight on the customer
• difficulties forming the right ideas or the shortage of ideas
• a risk adversive corporate culture.

Read the survey for yourself and let me know what you really think.

...Michael

Michael T. Bauer, MSW is the President and Chief Creative Officer of Innovative Business Resources, LLC, a management consulting firm that focuses on helping organizations align their leadership and culture with their business strategy.

Michael is the publisher of the Creative Edge Newsletter.

Creativity and The Brain

Interesting article in the USA Today 8/27/06 on how the human brain works, especially in the area of creativity. The article is an interview with Neuroscientist Nancy Andreasen. She provides a few examples on how to give your mind a workout and build a more creative mind. For example she suggests:

• "Explore an unfamiliar area of knowledge. For example, people who use a lot of math on the job should sign up for a painting class.
• Spend time each day thinking. Don't censor your thoughts, but allow your mind to go freely to a problem and see what kinds of solutions or ideas surface.
• Practice the art of paying attention. Look for and really observe a person, an object or something in your daily commute that you hadn't really noticed before. Try describing or drawing that object in a journal or sketchbook.
• Use your imagination. Spend time each day imagining a different world. What would it look like? What would you do there?"

Don't forget to read the rest of the article and learn more about creativity and the mind.

...Michael

Michael T. Bauer, MSW is the President and Chief Creative Officer of Innovative Business Resources, LLC, a management consulting firm that focuses on helping organizations align their leadership and culture with their business strategy.

Michael is the publisher of the Creative Edge Newsletter.

A PDF On Innovation

It's amazing how much information is written in a two and a half week period. I recently returned from my backpacking trip to find a lot of information on innovation...so I hope you enjoy my recommnedations over the next few weeks.

First, you need to be aware of a new ebook on the subject of innovation in the corporate world. It appears that at the moment you can get it in PDF, but by the end of the year it will only be available for purchase in hardcover. It's a facinating look at the strategies and methods necessary to make innovation happen on a reqular basis. I strongly recommend that you get a copy and let me know what you think about the book.

Michael T. Bauer
President/CCO
Innovative Business Resources, LLC
http://www.creativeleading.com/ote

Leadership meets Squidoo

This will be my last post for a couple of weeks. I'm leaving on Saturday to spend two weeks at the Philmont Scout Ranch with my son and his boyscout troop. My backpack is prepared, my hiking books are worn-in, and my mind is ready for anything.

I have a lot of new things to share with you. A great new PDF on innovation, a couple artices about innovation...many great things to share, but not today. Today, I want to leave you with this message, "Please check out my pages at Squidoo."

http://www.squidoo.com/creativeleading (is the starting point)

Talk to you again on August 22,

...Michael

Michael T. Bauer, MSW is the President and Chief Creative Officer of Innovative Business Resources, LLC, a management consulting firm that focuses on helping organizations align their leadership and culture with their business strategy.

Michael is the publisher of the Creative Edge Newsletter.

Mood @ Work

In recent article in the July 26th issue of Knowledge @ Wharton, Wharton Management Professor Nancy Rothbard and Ohio State Professor Steffanie Wilk write about the impact of mood on work performance. It seems like common sense that the mood one brings to work will have an effect on their work performance as well as the performance of others around them. However, most research has focused on work- family conflicts, and very few have looked at the effect of mood.

As a clinical social worker by training...I've always been interested on the impact of mood and attitude in the workplace. I see it all the time...whenever I walk into a company or talk to people about where they work. There is always a discussion about the people that come to work in very positive moods and those who always seem to arrive with a negative mood. The article points out that both positive and negative moods have an impact...but positive moods are more potent. They also suggest that it's the moods you bring to work that have a stronger effect on work performance rather than mood changes caused by events at work.

To quote the article:

"One of our findings shows that the mood people bring with them at the very start of the workday influenced employee mood more powerfully and consistently than any other variable," Rothbard and Wilk write. "We also found that for the most part, as expected, customer mood influenced employee mood. Interestingly, negative customer interactions only affected less experienced workers. Last, we show that daily mood at work can influence important work outcomes."

And...

"What I think is really interesting about these findings is that the positive mood that you bring to work is very strong," Rothbard says. "People actually do a pretty good job of walling off the negatives. What's interesting for organizations to understand is that what people bring with them to work is not all bad for the organization, and in fact can be quite positive."

So, start your day off with a positive mood and it will carry over.

...Michael

Michael T. Bauer, MSW is the President and Chief Creative Officer of Innovative Business Resources, LLC, a management consulting firm that focuses on helping organizations align their leadership and culture with their business strategy.

Michael is the publisher of the Creative Edge Newsletter.