Insight Index – Page 38

JIM’S INSIGHTS

Futurist Jim Carroll has quickly become recognized as your ‘go-to source’ for effective insight on what comes next, the strategies that you consider, and the leadership path you need to follow.

INNOVATION INSIGHTS

If you keeping doing the same old thing, you’ll
end up with the same old thing!

Innovation and the concept of “chameleon revenue”

I am not alone in thinking we’re in the midst of a significant economic transformation. As Mick Fleming, president of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, said recently, “It’s going to be a move from a bad economy to the next economy.” What is the shape of the next economy? In many cases, it will […]

The importance of innovation in the era of the “new normal”

The CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce recently caught the essence of the state of our “new normal“, when he observed that we’re in the midst of “this move from a really bad economy, to the next economy.” What is the shape of that next economy? While we can’t be certain as to the […]

What do innovative organizations do?

Here’s a quick little rap on what innovators focus on: There’s more on this line of thinking in the Innovation category of this blog. Enjoy!

Insight on deep, transformation change – and the “next economy”

Next week, I’ll be in Jacksonville, as the lunch time keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the Materials Handling Association of America. We’ll have about 300 executives in the room, from a broad cross section of North American industry. My topic? “Moving Beyond the Meltdown: Aligning Yourself for Growth Through Innovation“. In the last […]

Failing at the future: 10 reasons why some companies will miss out on the economic upturn!

Just over a year ago, the global economy changed. What has it changed to? When I keynoted the Missouri Governor Economic Development conference in St. Louis two weeks ago, I offered this quote from the American Chamber of Commerce: “It’s going to be this move from a bad economy, to the next economy.” What is […]

What’s next with economic development? My report from Missouri ….

Two weeks ago, I was featured as the closing speaker at the 2009 Governor’s Conference on Economic Development, the 51st annual event of this type. Governor Jay Nixon addressed the crowd on Thursday, Sept 10th, noting in his keynote that: To compete – and win — in the 21st century, we must encourage entrepreneurship and […]

Why innovation thrives in the building of sandcastles…

I’m now into a bit of a slow stretch for some summer; postings here will be slow for a time. Years ago, inspired by similar times, I wrote about how innovation thrives in the building of sandcastles. It was a great post — and it made it into BusinessWeek. I thought it a fitting post […]

Has innovation really changed much with the meltdown?

One year ago today, I was on stage in Sydney, Australia, opening the 2008 Toshiba Mobility Exchange Conference. Part of my talk focused on the issue of “innovation in the high velocity economy.” Looking back at a clip from the talk, one year after the global economic meltdown, some key points continue to remain extremely […]

Innovator’s fail faster!

There’s quite a bit of traffic on my clip about the importance of innovation with social networking. The experience learned here links back to a point I often talk about in my keynotes about the reality of innovation: Innovators fail fast. Innovators who fail fast learn faster. Innovators who learn faster from faster failure master […]

Being innovative – it depends on the company you keep!

Even though it’s summer, I’m busy dealing with the CEO’s of a large number of clients for events coming up in the fall. One event features me as the opening keynote speaker for a large global travel organization in Phoenix in October I was on the phone with the CEO yesterday, discussing a variety of […]

Increasing the stakes – why innovation is gaining more traction

As we end the first six months of 2009, one thing is clear: people are realizing that innovation is more than a buzzword. It’s a critical component of an organization’s success: it’s the lifeblood that makes the organization tick and survive a world of high-velocity change. As someone who spends a lot of time helping […]

Re-engage with the Future! 10 Great Words

The motivational wrapup to a recent Las Vegas keynote – advising the audience to “re-engage with the future.” This is based upon my “10 Great Words” document which you can find here, in a big PDF.

“What am I going to do today to kill new ideas?”

Here’s a video clip from a recent keynote in Las Vegas. I was on stage in front of an audience of 4,000, speaking for a global organization. In this clip, I’m speaking about the challenges that organizations face with innovation — and in particular, the fact that every organization has people who wake up each […]

A conscious decision – don’t take part in this recession!

I led a small workshop last week after an event, focused on the issue of “how can we establish opportunities for growth during an economic downturn.” The cover of my handout was titled, “It’s January 15, 2020: What did we do to move through the great recession of 2009.” Inside, I presented a number of […]

Where’s the growth? Rethinking long term opportunity

I wrote this PDF report last spring, before the recession set in. Yet I still think it makes for a lot of powerful arguments as to where we will see industrial and market growth in the future. From the introduction: Gloom has set in on global markets. Volatility rages. Some organizations have gone into a […]

Playboy, innovation, and brands from the 1950’s

When you travel a lot like I do, you end up doing a lot of reading. One of the books I’ve been reading provides a fascinating look back at the fifties and sixties: Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream. (No, I didn’t buy it for the pictures, because there are very few.) I […]

I read a book today, oh boy! “Bothered by My Green Conscience”

Fifteen years ago, I met Franke James — a brilliant designer, artist, and creative thinker. At the time, she had been the lead designer for a conference program for which I was the lead speaker. Our paths diverged, and I had not seen her for some time, but was aware of her ongoing work. In […]

Time for a little innovation oxygen? Why wasting time is a GOOD thing…..

When my friend Scott Kress summited Mount Everest last year, he used a little bit of oxygen for the final push. Many climbers do — sometimes you need the extra energy to accomplish something massive! So it is with innovation — sometimes you need some help to accomplish great things. I’ve written an article this […]

10 Things You Need to Do to Innovate in a Recession

Business Week ran an article in January, “10 Worst Innovation Mistakes in a Recession.” It’s easy to point out mistakes. It can be harder to indicate what you should be doing. I’ve been out speaking to organizations about trends, the future, innovation and creativity for fifteen years. Since last year, when the meltdown began, I’ve […]

The Shed Project – How to Move a Shed 20 feet – Intact?

So let’s really try out the power of social networking, and see if it can apply to practical, everyday problems. Our backyard shed needs to move about 20 feet, in order to expand the basketball area. Preferably, we’d like to do it intact, rather than disassembling it and rebuilding it. One suggestion was to dig […]

You need to have a relentless focus on growth — RELENTLESS!

I was interviewed sometime last month by FoodProcessing.com – this was related to their discovery of the keynote I did for the Readers Digest / EveryDay with Rachel Ray team food industry summit in New York last fall. They ran a short article, “March of the New Machines: The Future of Food Processing” — and […]

When do you innovate?

The New Yorker has a great article out, “Hanging tough,” about how some companies choose to ensure that they stay innovative in recessionary times. That’s the theme I’ve been focused on for the last 8 months on stage. Here’s a clip from a recent Las Vegas event for a global organization, addressing the theme, “Innovators […]

Thinking big – the transformative ideas that will shape our future

In the interview just posted on my site (“What is a futurist“), I commented that “we live in transformative times — we’ll look back at 2009-2010 as the period of time in which we started to apply really transformative thinking to solving some of the big problems we have in health care, energy and the […]

What does it mean to innovate at high velocity?

I was the opening keynote speaker for a major credit union conference. In the room were the CEO’s and Board members for several hundred small to medium sized CU’s. This coming week on Friday, I’ll be the closing keynote speaker for the annual conference of the Texas Credit Union League in Austin. I spend quite […]