Recently on LinkedIn Professor Phillip asked this question to the group:

My answer was the following: Anytime a significant new energy source is proposed for mass consumption, it faces two huge barriers to entry.
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PART FIVE IN A SERIES – Innovate

Innovate means: develop more ideal solutions, apply them intelligently, and adapt continuously.

We are pretty far along in the series, so let's insert a very quick summary.

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PART FOUR IN A SERIES – Important Points about Best Practices

As we said previously: Best Practices are solutions that have worked in the past and represent old knowledge. Best Practices have a context for success.

If you are looking to best practices, you had better understand the Psychological Inertia of your situation so you understand (before time, effort, and resources are expended) if their context for success will work within your context for success.
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PART THREE IN A SERIES – The 2nd of Three Survival Tools

Previously, we mentioned that both humans and organizations have three main survival tools. The first was, Be Relevant. The second is, Be Efficient (Do what has worked before).

After you determine if you are relevant, you need to create a plan to retain relevance or increase relevant, as the case may be. The most efficient way to go about this is to figure out what has worked before and do that – use past best practices.
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“No one promised you fair,” Mom would always quip when some unearned indignity had been visited upon me in my callow youth. I thought her quite unsympathetic. Her words of wisdom, however, stayed with me my entire life. So what does this have to do with anything?
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PART ONE IN A SERIES – Let’s start with the basics.

Survival is a human’s main motivating force.

Because humans are social creatures, our most foundational survival tools revolve around interactions/relationships. It starts when we are born, helpless and weak. If other people didn’t meet our needs, we would die. As we develop competence, power and knowledge, we apply those skills within and against our social structure. This, in turn, causes our environment to adapt. The most foundational aspect (underlying process) of human survival is to interact in ways that are, overall, beneficial.
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Sorry it’s been so long since we’ve been out in cyberspace. Scott and I have been writing a book with Brion Hanks, a 40 year veteran in the construction industry specializing in safety and risk prevention. The three of us have been applying an innovator’s view to the safety issues within the industry. It’s going to be an interesting book. If anyone has any stories they would like to share or comments to make, let me know.

Recently the question went out: In large organisations (i.e., with more than 10,000 employees working in a wide range of departments and functions) how can you truly embed an innovation culture?

The best answer I read was by Richard Campbell (Business Innovation Consultant at Jekkub Design Management, London, United Kingdom). (My responses to his ideas are in brown.) He said, “There are as many authorities on innovation as there are ways to foster such cultures. Which of these that will work for your company depends on the existing culture…” This is absolutely true. Because innovation must be useful to the company, it must be ‘customized’ (for lack of a better word) to that culture. To miss out on this important concept means the solution will probably not stick.  Then he said, “who is the innovation champion, how engaged are your staff currently (have they seen lots of pointless change recently)…” This I partially agree with. People are willing to engage if they feel their opinions are heard and if the new idea fits with their understanding of the situation. The reason pointless change is pointless is because it fights the existing culture.  (All of what Richard said is powerful, but I’m just going to focus on this starting idea.) When you understand your company’s culture, you will understand why the company is stagnating in certain areas, which will be the areas that need innovation and will give the best ROI.
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Recently I was asked this question: “Which country/region will have the most influence on long term trends? Will it be Brazil, London, Middle East, Korea, China

1. Brazil- 2014 World Cup & 2016 Olympics
2. London- Host to 2012 Olympics
3. The Middle East- Arab Spring Uprising
4. Korea- forefront of 3D/ 4D and augemented reality
5. China- economy bigger than USA by 2016 2 days ago

Here’s my answer at the 50,000 foot view for the long term:

The US still has the most potential IF we capitalize on our native innovative culture.
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Audio Clip: Radical vs Incremental Innovation

Recently someone asked me, “Can you give me an example of radical versus incremental innovation – and throw in an example of distruptive innovation, too.” This is what I said:

My great grandmother (Nana) lived to be 99 years old. We asked her what was the most amazing technology she ever saw, “Was it when man first walked on the moon?”

“No,” she said; “what moved my heart and shocked my mind was at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. I saw a man ascend in a hot air balloon. That was the first time in my life I realized man would fly. Everything from that moment on was an obvious next step.”
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