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When Fosbury Flopped: Three Lessons for Disruptors

Posted by Outthinker in Innovation, Strategic thinking

In 1968, Olympic fans and athletes watched in bemusement as a college sophomore jumped over the high bar backward. Until that day, every gold medal winner, indeed every Olympic athlete, who had competed in the high bar had gone over forward. Dick Fosbury literally turned his back on that tradition … won the Olympics … and forever changed the way the competition is played. Within eight years, 90% of high jumpers were using what came to be called the “Fosbury Flop.” Today, the Fosbury Flop is just the way you do things.

08 Jul

How Artificial Intelligence Changes Us

Posted by Robert C. Wolcott in Innovation

Professor Moran Cerf contributed research and insights for this article.

I’ve had a few conversations with Sophia the Robot, an invention of Hanson Robotics making the rounds of tech conferences worldwide. Preparing for a session at Webit 2018 in Sofia, Bulgaria, I had a surprisingly engaging exchange with Sophie. (Unfortunately, she didn’t cooperate during our interview in front of 5,000 people. Stage fright, perhaps?) It’s unsettlingly easy to see how one day, after the clunkiness resolves, it will feel natural to engage with our technological colleagues. I feel I’ve gotten to “know” Sophia in a way and look forward to our next conversation.

24 Jun

How Inflection Points In The Hotel Business Change Where You Lay Your Head

Posted by Rita Gunther McGrath in Innovation

In 1977, James Eyster, then a Ph.D. student at Cornell, published a book that would completely change the nature of the hotel business worldwide. His idea could not sound more boring—unless you saw the impact it would have. It involved the negotiation and administration of hotel management contracts.

14 Jun

Seven Ways to Squelch Innovation

Posted by Outthinker in Innovation

Sometimes they don’t know it themselves. When they do, they hide it. But they are out there. Executives, managers, and business owners who want to stem innovation. If you no longer want your organization to try new approaches, if you believe that the best path to growth is to keep doing what has been working for years, this guide is for you.

11 Jun

Artificial Intelligence’s Renaissance: Manoj Saxena On The Next Decade Of AI – And Beyond

Posted by Robert C. Wolcott in Innovation

In 1956, Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon infamously predicted, “Machines will be capable, within 20 years, of doing any work a man can do.” While Simon missed by over 40 years (and counting), Artificial Intelligence (AI) entrepreneur and investor Manoj Saxena believes this time is different. While hype obscures the near term, Saxena explains, “AI is not a 50-year trend. It’s a 500-year trend.”

31 May

Strategy as Play: Lessons from Urban Outfitters

Posted by Outthinker in Strategy

The word “strategy” too often brings to mind images of uptight executives in boardrooms, with heavy binders and spreadsheets, debating critical choices. Experts will tell you strategy is “a plan of action designed to achieve a major or overall aim.” Strategy is a science, and it’s serious.

28 May

Netflix and the Battle for Your Disposable Time

Posted by Rita Gunther McGrath in Innovation, Strategic thinking

In my forthcoming book, Seeing Around Corners (now available for pre-order wherever you buy books), one of the major themes is that a major blind spot for organizations is that they tend to see the world through the lens of their existing industry. There are a lot of good reasons for this, but it can cause otherwise smart organizations to stumble.

20 May

The Fortress and the Ship: How to Manage Your Core Business While Seeking New Innovation

Posted by Outthinker in Innovation

In a glass-walled boardroom overlooking the Hudson River wrapping around downtown Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty in the distance, our guest lecturer flicked on one of the strangest slides I’ve seen. Juxtaposed against a sleek, modern room were two medieval paintings. One of a fortress. The other of a ship.

14 May

Entrepreneurship Inside the Box: Glass Cubes at MIT and Blowout Parties in the Alps

Posted by Robert C. Wolcott in Entrepreneurship

Polyball is apparently Zurich’s blow-out party of the year. It’s hosted by the country’s top school of science and technology, ETH, the university where Einstein got his start (and rarely attended class). While this lovely irony reflects the city’s, uh, party scene, the students at ETH assured me it’s quite an experience.

06 May

When Hierarchy is not an Option: A New Organizational Model For Fast-Moving Contexts

Posted by Rita Gunther McGrath in Leadership

Earlier this month, I spoke at the Human Resources Directors Conference in the United Kingdom. At the conference, I shared some material excerpted from my forthcoming book, Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen, about how easy it is for executives to get trapped into an old way of thinking—and the new type of leadership model that is required in today’s highly transient advantage contexts.