When it comes to innovation we often focus on the sexy part – coming up with the ideas! In this insightful Harvard Business Review video Vijay Govindarajan, Tuck School of Business professor, talks about why innovation is so hard to implement and what you can do about it. Innovation is all about commercializing creativity and Vijay explains why companies need to forget about the past if they want to create the future. In his new book The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge with Chris Trimble – he explains  how companies need to build separate innovation  teams that a are separate from the operating engine of the business. This is important if you want to let go off organizational baggage and introduce new skills and fresh perspectives. You can follow Vijay on Twitter right HERE!

A recent survey from IBM’s Institute for Business Value shows that business leaders value one leadership competency above all others.

After conducting 1500 in depth face-to-face interviews with CEOs and public service leaders around the world – “creativity” was identified as the single most important leadership competency for the successful business of the future.

The report suggests that creative leaders should “embrace ambiguity,” “take risks that disrupt legacy business models,” and “leapfrog beyond tried-and-true management styles.” Coming through the worst economic downturn in their professional lifetimes, when managerial control and process ruled the day, this indicates a remarkable shift in mindset. It’s a sea change from a rational ‘scientific’ management approach built around efficiency and control to a creative ‘intuitive’ approach – based upon agility, adaptability and emotional intelligence.

With the acceleration of the pace of change – global trends are reshaping the business landscape and are forcing companies to either adapt or die. At ThinkTank, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how companies can become more creatively evolved.

Think differently

Read the rest of this entry »

Many SME’s recognise the importance of mapping out a future strategic direction for their business and acknowledge the need to become more structured in their approach, however, very often, business owners just don’t know how to start or where to begin. Without a clearly mapped out destination point for a business, its form becomes too malleable, shaped by the vagaries of an eternally changing environment, leaving the business a hostage to fortune. A business owner could learn a few lessons from Sarah Connor, the heroine of the Terminator franchise. A warrior, who challenges accepted wisdom, carves out a new path and in so doing rewrites the future. ThinkTank channels this wisdom as we highlight;

1. What is Strategic Planning Exactly?
2. How can businesses benefit from Strategic Planning?
3. How should a business prepare for the Strategic Planning Process?
4. Once the Planning team is selected, how does Strategic Planning work?

Read the rest of this entry »