Invincible Enterprise

Discussed all day with Greg Yezersky on creating corporate innovation training.  One version of the workshop is called "invincible enterprise".  What an intriguing name! A quick summary of my ideas of the traits of an invincible enterprise are -

A. disciplined workflow,
B. consistent innovation,
C. cultivation of internal leaders.  

Item A will grantee the quality of the product today, B will assure the viability of entreprise tomorrow, C will make sure the next leaders are ready.

The entreprises has the ABC will be invincible, those don't, will parish sooner or later. Among the big companies, HP has A and B but does not have C, Kodak has A and C but not B, Apple and IBM probably have all.  Google, Facebook, CISCO are too early to call.

If we look at countries as entreprises, it is interesting to compare USA, China, Japan, Germany, Sigarpore, Taiwan.  All score differently on the ABC.

Overlooked ingredients of innovation

When one is very hungry,  cooking up a new dish is not the first thing come to his mind entering the kitchen.   When there is no trust that invention can be shared without being stolen, people keep the idea to themselves.  When there is no tolerance for failure,  no one dare to try new things.

When there is lack of rigor, lazy is disguised as innovative.  When there is no quick way to recycle the resource after failure, waste and chaos run amuck.

Basic safety, trust, acceptance of failure, pruning, and recycling.  Most forget these
Ingredients.

Photo: discuss innovation with leadership Monterey peninsula, class of 2013.

Oh, the places you'll go.

Watch "Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss" on YouTube
It's been so long since I read Dr. Seuss book.  I was startled to see oh the places you'll go listed as must read business book.  The book I read to my children years ago, when I re-read it, I was in awe to realize it is not just for kids.  It is for people.  Even for tired, beat-up,  torn old souls like me.

Write it down

So many books I have been reading lately all stressed on writing journals.  I try to require my students to do so.  One aspect of writing things down is the discipline of keeping the good idea in once own language regularly.  Few books delineate how to use the journals.  However.