Fresh Takes on Innovation

This is propably the most high tech bar in the whole world. The IBar finds out which drink you’re having by using sensors that calculate the glass shape and then link it to the content of the glass. So if you drink a prosecco, the IBar will recognize that because you won’t usually have a whiskey on the rocks in a similarly shaped glass.

So what’s happening, I ask myself, if you’re drinking a cosmopolitan… How will the bar recognize that you’re not having a Martini? Will the IBar identify it because of the customer’s gender? Men don’t usually drink cosmopolitans, or do they now? What if the guest is a gay man or a female whiskey amateur?

But experts say that within a few years we’ll be using it to pay for our drink by simply placing a credit card on it. They also say the interactive device will be able to upload pics and videos from your mobile to show off to other bar guests in the same way. Plus punters will be able to flick through food menues, special drinks offers and jukebox tracks on the multitouch bar surface.

The first ever iBar was this week installed at London’s swanky Soho nightclub 24.

The Economist reflects the Lessons From Apple: Buy clever ideas, pursue simplicity, ignore focus groups and fail wisely.

Apple has no “invented here”-policy. Instead they welcome innovation from the outside. They acquire good ideas and boost their potential by adding their own twist: outstanding design, simplicity and usability. Having the courage no to listen too much to user demands is another key to come up with unexpected, clever products. Of course some products fail, but the core idea might be successfull in a second or third implementation.

Guy Kawasaki, a Silicon Valley Entrpreneur and former Apple Evangelist involved in several hot Web-Startups (Coghead, Truemors, Jajah etc.) shares his view about innovation at the 2007 Event Marketing Conference.

He has some good points about transforming ideas into business. Innovation polarizes people and you should not be afraid of this, he states. Be more afraid of “Bozos”, those guys who keep saying it can’t be done, shouldn’t be done, and isn’t necessary - not recognizing the potentials of revolutionary products or services.

More: The Art of Innovation-article on Guy Kawasaki’s blog

…according to a Business Week Special Report are: Apple, Google, Totota Motor, General Electric and Microsoft. The Top 50 List might be a little US-focused, but is worth looking at.

The correspondent article about The World’s Most Innovative Companies underlines the need for new business models and organizations that are capable of sustained innovation.

Getting people to step out of their comfort zones can do a lot in sparking new ideas. But if they’re not paired with more fundamental changes, all those efforts will lead nowhere.

This development has to be driven by the leaders, not R&D-departments. Innovation touches the whole organisation, and thus, the whole organisation must adapt to constant change.

Innovation also requires inspired leadership. Executives must free up resources to execute new ideas and have the courage to take risks rather than just talk about their importance.

Learn how cognitive biases distort our view of reality. The Health Bolt Blog has a list of 26 Reasons What You Think is Right is Wrong.

The BrainStore Management Team just went through a very intensive and mind-opening strategy development process with LOTS (www.lots.mindo.com), a swedish company that helps companies and individuals to define their vision and strategy using a set of simple and effective questions.

In Swedish, the word “Lots” means “Harbour Pilot” (the guy that helps you steer your ship into the harbour).

It was a great experience. Thank you, Lots!

Are you proud of working on several tasks at the same time? You shoudn’t. Science shows, that doing more than one task at a time, or jumping between tasks, takes a heavy toll on productivity.

This article from the Slow Leadership Blog summs it up. Accept it: you can’t concentrate on two things at once.

I just stumbled upon an article in the RealBusiness Magazine. It’s from 2005, but still a good read.

Once a business grows, the dynamic and agile startup atmosphere tends to fade away. Bureaucracy takes over. Formal structures get in the way of creativity. How can business leaders keep the hunger for new ideas and develop a corporate enviroment that encourages employees to come forward with ideas and suggestions?

RealBusines Magazine 2005: When the ideas dry up.

Searching for a new way to visualize decision making processes? The guys of plays2run have the solution. The guys of plays2run have come up with a great way to visualize the plays of the marketplace, polititcs and all other constellations in society.
Similar to the table of Elements in chemistry, they have visualized the elements of these strategems. One great example is Martin Luther Kings Speech “I have a dream”, which is divided into segments, and each segment is explained with the elements of the “Playmakers Table”. The Playmakers table can be used for decision making, strategic planning, or just plainly to plan your next move in a competitive environment. Have fun!