How companies strangle innovation – and how you can get it right
A shorter version of this post first appeared on the HBR blog. — I just watched a very smart company try to manage innovation by hiring a global consulting firm to offload engineering from...
View ArticleOffice of Naval Research goes lean
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has been one of the largest supporters of innovation in the U.S. Now they are starting to use the Lean Innovation process (see here and here) to turn ideas into...
View ArticleThe red queen problem — innovation in the DoD and intelligence community
“…it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. ” — The Red Queen, Alice in Wonderland Innovation, disruption, accelerators, have all become urgent buzzwords in the Department of...
View ArticleWhy Uber is the revenge of the founders
CEOs of companies with billion-dollar market caps have been in the news — and not in a good way. This seems to be occurring more and more. Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance...
View ArticleJanesville — A story about the rest of America
I just read a book – Janesville – that reminded me again of life outside the bubble. Janesville tells the story of laid-off factory workers of a General Motors factory that’s never going to reopen....
View ArticleInnovation at Speed — when you have 2 million employees
Success no longer goes to the country that develops a new fighting technology first, but rather to the one that better integrates it and adapts its way of fighting…Our response will be to prioritize...
View ArticleLeadership is more than a memo
I just read Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley. It was both eye-opening and cringe-worthy. The book explores the role of gender in the tech industry – at startups and venture...
View ArticleThe Difference Between Innovators and Entrepreneurs
I just received a thank-you note from a student who attended a fireside chat I held at the ranch. Something I said seemed to inspire her: “I always thought you needed to be innovative, original to be...
View ArticleWhy entrepreneurs start companies rather than join them
If you asked me why I gravitated to startups rather than work in a large company I would have answered at various times: “I want to be my own boss.” “I love risk.” “I want flexible work hours.” “I want...
View ArticleWhy the future of Tesla may depend on knowing what happened to Billy Durant
A version of this article appeared in the Harvard Business Review The entrepreneur who founded and grew the largest startup in the world to $10 billion in revenue and got fired is someone you have...
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