What do you do with an idea?    

Hal’s Blog- I was working with a fine group of nonprofit organizations in the Tampa, Florida region last week in a program of …

On the virtues of the unexpected

Much of our life is spent living in the land of expectations met. What happened yesterday happens tomorrow. I drink the same coffee, use the same toothpaste, greet people with the same expressions. We assume the expected and value it. More people rate McDonalds high because they offer the same things everywhere than because it serves great hamburgers. Where it gets interesting is in the ways...

What Lies Between?

Hal’s Blog- Last week I wrote about boxes and how the organization charts that contain them can have so little effect on organizational culture or performance.     My colleague Arthur Webb wrote a comment musing on how a CEO might graph a set of relationships with no boxes.  Great question.  Let’s ponder it this week. 

Strategy & Tactics

I was sipping coffee with my friend Bruce late last week. When he works with groups, he has one key question:  What problem are you trying to solve?  On the one hand, I love any focus that brings concentration and intentional thinking to an organization, and problem solving does that.    On the other, I see all the literature on being driven by assets rather than barriers....

Prompting innovation

Apologies for two weeks off. Now to pick up on the practical work of promoting innovation I mentioned at the end of last posting. First three principles: Innovation is not about what is new. In a result frame it is about what is better. Novelty without improvement is of very limited value.Innovation comes from individuals and small teams far more often than from committees, plans, or...

The Path of the Calf: Part 2

In my last entry, I shared Samuel Foss’s poem, the Path of the Calf. It is cited by me and others who seek innovation as its opposite: getting in a groove and staying there. This week let’s turn that coin over to look at the limits of more free-form traveling. First, consider the value of staying on a path long enough to really learn it. Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers sums up the...

Innovation Comes from Immaturity

This assumption is based on a limit and on a rediscovery. The limit is the concept of growing up, which implies acceptances of convention and tradition that innovators avoid. Indeed, the designation of “immaturity” is frequently applied to innovators of all ages who constantly question the rules. To be mature is to become habituated to life’s prevailing norms, values and habits. In many...