Good design is good business. Yet it’s amazing how few good business people recognize and understand the commercial value of good design.

Think about how every day poorly designed products and services add complexity instead of simplicity to our lives. The tortuously convoluted language used by the financial services industry, the non-intuitive features on electronic gadgets that most of us will never fathom, big call centres that tell you what they can’t do instead of what they can, antiquated recruitment practices that tick boxes instead of identifying talent and newspaper layouts that are cluttered with ads all fighting for attention like kids on a sugar rush! The universe may contain intelligent design but many products and services certainly do not!

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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Brand Architecture, Branding, Cork, Creativity, Design, design sustainability, Design Thinking, environmental design, Glucksman Gallery, Innovation, Ireland, Irish Design, Jonathan Amm, Marketing, ThinkTank, Twitter, www.think-tank.ie

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

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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Apple, Branding, business models, Creativity, Design Thinking, IBM, Innovation, Jonathan Amm, Lateral thinking, Leadership, Srategy, Steve Jobs, Twitter, www.think-tank.ie

“Out there in some garage is an entrepreneur who’s forging a bullet with your company’s name on it,” Gary Hamel, a leading business strategy writer and consultant, has written. “You’ve got one option now — to shoot first. You’ve got to out-innovate the innovators.”

Unfortunately most organizations have an in built defence mechanism against new ideas. People don’t like change so immediately find reasons why ideas should not be considered. The problem is that if you don’t start anticipating the future you could be run over by it.

Many SME’s would acknowledge that they need to become more innovative but just don’t know how to start or where to begin. ThinkTank sat down to map out 4 practical ways SME’s  can generate ideas, capture insights and successfully implement a game changing innovation strategy.

1. Make innovation a priority

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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Business Consulting, Creativity, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurs, Innovation, Jonathan Amm, Marketing, Organizational Change, Start-ups, Strategy, ThinkTank

In tough times we need ideas more than ever before. New ideas are the rocket fuel that can propel growth, ignite economic opportunities and improve our quality of life.

INSEAD’s Global Innovation Index 2009-2010, currently ranks Ireland as the 19^th most innovative country in the world. Ireland Inc is basing its recovery on forging a new smart economy built around innovation. Crowd-sourced competitions like Your Country Your Call have recently been launched to encourage citizens to generate new ideas and proposals that could transform Ireland by creating new jobs, new opportunities and a new way of thinking.

The IDA (Industrial Development Authority) have also invested €2m launching a global campaign with the positioning ‘Ireland – Innovation comes naturally’. It is designed to attract greater direct foreign investment and stimulate economic growth. To highlight this focus, the ‘I’ word has even found its way into our political lexicon. Minister Batt O’Keeffe is now fondly known as the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Innovation.

So what can we do locally to become more of an Innovation Nation? As part of a new series, we’ll take a closer look at innovation and how we can apply it to our businesses and our lives.

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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Cork, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurs, Innovation, Ireland, Jonathan Amm, Lateral thinking, Management, Marketing, Strategy, ThinkTank, Twitter

Running a business without marketing is like winking at a pretty girl in the dark – you know what you’re doing but nobody else does. Marketing is the lifeblood of any business and the engine that drives demand, turnover and cash flow.

Marketing is not about boring your customers to death. When you have a personality and a story that is all your own, you can create marketing that’s a tough act to follow.  Why is it then that marketing is a bit of a hit and miss affair for so many businesses? Team ThinkTank sat down to map out  the 5 reasons why companies get it wrong when it comes to marketing right.

1. It’s not planned. (more…)

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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Branding, CMO, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurs, Jonathan Amm, Marketing, Marketing Director, Startups, Strategy, ThinkTank, Twitter