The 6 Essential Innovation Personalities

By Dr. Evans Baiya, innovationenterprise.com, March 2018

Innovation is fundamental to grow and sustain an organization. Yet when it comes to innovation, leaders often make the mistake of involving the wrong team members in the process, which ultimately stalls or kills the initiative.

What if I told you there are just six high-performing innovation personalities that are all necessary to get the innovation job done? While every person on your team is capable of contributing to innovation, they all contribute differently. Personality matters when it comes to innovation projects. And it is not possible to develop and scale an innovation without each of these personalities. Read More

Four Ways Creativity Turns Your ‘Job’ Into Your Life’s Work

By Courtney Feider, forbes.com, March 2018

We are born with all of the creative gifts we can ever use. Then they are systematically programmed out of us by the demands of modern life.

In 1965, a thoughtful researcher named George Land developed a creativity test for NASA to help select innovative engineers and scientists. The study worked so well in practice that in 1968 he decided to test it on children. Land concluded that it would be very important to test creativity over a period of time. So he analyzed the creativity of 1,600 children ranging from 3-5 years old. He then re-tested the same children at 10 years of age and again at 15 years of age. Read More

10 Things Effective Leaders Do to Encourage Innovation

By Dr. Evans Baiya, success.com, December 2017

When I work with companies on innovation projects, whether it’s industry-changing new products and services or smaller-scale ideas to streamline internal processes, I often see leaders and their teams struggling to freely ideate and really dive into the brainstorm process. When they do finally get there, it’s a big aha moment, but it takes a while.

The reason is simple: When ideation isn’t second nature, it’s because company culture hasn’t been supporting it. This is understandable. In today’s fast-paced marketplace, there is hardly time for breath, let alone innovative thought and brainstorm sessions around the future of the industry, company or department. Read More

How Childhood Lessons Can Help You Face Change Without Fear

By Courtney Feider, forbes.com, December 2017

Just when change and disruption are at epic levels, everyone is afraid and disengaging.

According to Gallup’s new State of the American Workplace report (registration required), in a pool of 100 million full-time employees, 51% of Americans feel no real connection to their jobs or satisfaction as a result of their jobs and 16% are “actively disengaged,” feeling resentful towards their job and doing the bare minimum. Read More

The Heart of Leadership: Seeing Ourselves and Seeing Others

By Andy Johnson, hr.com, December 2017

Human beings are masters at seeing what they want to see. In every situation, we consistently extract information that confirms our existing opinions about ourselves and the world around us. We view the world in a way that is highly selective and inherently biased. Ideas that fit the script are noticed; those that don’t are ignored. In this way, we continue to reinforce our existing beliefs, making real change often merely wishful talk. Read More

Is Your Idea Good Enough?

By Dr. Evans Baiya, Innovation Enterprise, September 2017

You have an idea to solve a problem or opportunity, whether it be a new process for your department or even a new business idea. So how do you figure out if your idea will actually work and if it’s sustainable? People often come up with ideas that could be significant, but they struggle with quantifying them to determine if they can be viable products, improvements, services or businesses with true value. Read More

3 Reasons Innovation Fails

By Ron Price, td.org, June 2017

Innovation is a tough dart to land for many companies. Most organizations see the value of innovation, whether it be internal innovation that revamps processes and systems, or external innovation that creates a new product or service. They might even succeed in rallying teams around the idea of innovation and getting people excited about the possibilities, only to fall short before hitting the bullseye. Read More

5 Things Successful Leaders Don’t Say

By Ryan Lisk, Success.com, February 2017

“I am the expert of my intention, but you are the expert of my impact.”

This popular leadership catch phrase is one of the reasons many leaders struggle today. How many times have you had a conversation with someone only to learn they interpreted your message differently than you intended? Or found they were hung up on one phrase or word, completely missing the point? Read More