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Innovation – My forthcoming book January 27, 2009

Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Everything 2.0, Innovation, Perception, Sustainable Innovation.
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I’ve been getting this crazy urge to write a book. I’m hoping it will make me famous – isn’t that what a book is supposed to do for its author anyway. And I’m going to be innovative like the rest of them authors. The title? Innovation of course. It’s going to be a cakewalk I know, since I have all the basic ingredients.

Copycat

Copycat

So here’s my book recipe. In the beginning I’ll talk about nebulous concepts and indirectly accuse the reader for being so ignorant. I’ll tell her what she already knows and hide behind some easy facades. To succeed at innovation, you have to be creative, I’ll tell her. Creativity, for as far as I can see, means simply to be different from the rest. Doesn’t matter if you create any value or not, you must speak with authority, wear something outlandish, pierce your ears and other parts of your body, throw sarcastic glances at lesser beings and have some pictures of you appear while at a fashion do. It’s really that simple.

In the next chapter, I’ll talk about the basic concepts of innovation. Patents, R&D improvements, process optimisation, software tools, collaboration, disruption – I need to do this to add credibility to my claims as the author of a book on innovation. If readers haven’t seen through other authors, I won’t get found out will I?

Having laid the foundations, I can now preach about the value of innovation and build some theoretical frameworks (read fancy graphical templates). I’ll  bring in business jargon to validate that innovation is the need of the hour and how it will be our saviour in these times. Words like Strategy, Culture, Processes and Growth will sound quite impressive to the readership. They always have!

And now for the best part of my book writing strategy. (Remember, I will need a publisher.) So here’s what I plan to do. I’ll spend a few months ‘compiling’ the references by surfing the Internet and put together a Bibliography citing from already famous authors and institutions. That way I’ll know which are the best ‘hooks’ to piggyback on. For example, if I slipped in references of Walmart’s innovative business model, Peter Drucker’s quotes on innovation, Nandan Nilakeni’s future project and also requoted some famous innovation authors’ books, I would have a surefire formula to target the bestseller list. These days, to be original, you don’t even have to hide your sources. Sometimes it helps to be upfront about plagiarism because nobody would suspect you. How innovative is that?!

Context? Who said anything about my being responsible for context? It’s your context isn’t it? My job is only to write and it’s your job to figure out how to apply my thoughts to your contexts.

So dear readers, please point me to your publisher friends. Any publishers out there that are reading my blog may send me an advance to write yet another book on the hackneyed topic of innovation. Because I’m all ready to write a book. Minor issue that I have nothing new to add. Writing is all about style anyway!

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Leadership Innovation – Crisis of aspiration December 26, 2008

Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Business, Culture, Everything 2.0, Innovation, Innovation 101, Leadership, Perception.
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Today’s Economic Times carries an article (How to manage through a crisis) by Arun Maira. My highlights in colour below …

Arun Maira
Arun Maira, Senior Advisor – BCG India.

The difficulty is in determining what should be cut-back to get through the immediate crisis with least effect on the future prospects of the business. While Telco was in the midst of a large
capital expenditure program to expand its design and production facilities in Pune in the early 1980s the truck market went into recession. Finances became tight. The board had to consider whether to reduce the bonus to employees or reduce dividends to shareholders. One view was that since the company could not disappoint investors whose support it needed through the crisis, dividends must be maintained and cuts made elsewhere — in the bonuses and benefits of employees perhaps. An opposing view was that the company needed the dedication of its employees more than ever in tough times and hence the company could not afford to demoralise them.

The lesson was that, in a crisis, the company must retain the support of all its stakeholders. (more…)

Innovation 101: Going forward into the past December 23, 2008

Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Business, Design, Everything 2.0, Innovation, Innovation 101, Learning.
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One of the most striking examples I’ve seen of retrofuturist design is the present version Volkswagen Beetle. It simply ‘brings the emotional ‘iconic user connect’ back into our evolving cultural and aesthetic sensiblities using current state of technology’. 

Many argue that the comeback version of the VW Beetle is ’quasi plagiarism and that it insults the intelligence of the consumer’ or that it is merely a fad. And that one should not dilute the idea of ’serious innovation’ by resorting to gimmicks like these.

1961 Beetle (approx) in Seattle with sunroof i...
Image via Wikipedia
Retrofuturism

Innovation 101: Retrofuturism

There’s no argument. But I couldn’t agree less with such a contention. (more…)

Innovation goes bananas July 23, 2008

Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Culture, Globalisation, Innovation, International.
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Innovation is difficult to define - it perhaps even defies definition. We may be better off not even trying to. Can innovation be taught? Short answer, no. Can wisdom be bought? DITTO.

Courses in innovation are being created without any focus on the human being. Today’s innovation bandwagon focuses on philosophy, methodology, tools and what not. I ask a simple question. “Do you not need something more than education and training to be a musician”. Basically, can anybody become a musician or does s/he have to be one in the first place? If I simply teach musical notation after which you practice strumming for 6 hours a day, can you become a guitarist OR do you have to be a musician before I brush you up?

Are there some intrinsic traits or talents or experiences that are prerequisites for innovation?

Think about it!!! (more…)