Jan 7, 2013

Five New Year’s Resolutions for an Innovative 2013

Want your business to be more innovative in 2013? Make these five resolutions

Resolutions

Ken Tencer, CEO of Spyder Works Inc. and co-author of two books, The 90% Rule and Cause A Disturbance (to be released in 2013), speaks to groups around the world about branding and innovation. He is a relentless advocate of how easy and simple innovation can be for any business. He offers five easy-to-do New Years’ resolutions for anyone who wants to be a breakthrough innovator in 2013.

#1:		Stop, look and listenThe world is filled with insight and inspiration. If you take the time to look and listen, you will discover ideas that can easily be transformed into new innovations for your business. Just get outside your business and your comfort zone and see what others are doing. Resolution: In each month of 2013 have each member of your management team find at least three new ideas from outside the business.
#2:		Build a backboardEveryone needs a backboard to bounce ideas off. And you can’t score if you don’t fire up a lot of ideas. So get your team together once a month to bounce new ideas around and see which ones score best. Resolution: To create a backboard for your team and have them fire up as many new ideas as possible and pick the best “slam-dunks.”
#3:		Be your own apprenticeDon’t be Donald Trump’s “apprentice,” be your own, and jump into your own Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den by testing your best ideas. See which of your team’s top ideas can meet a rigorous due diligence test. Resolution: To invest the necessary due diligence each month to determine the best opportunities and present them as working projects.
#4:		Choose a championEvery good idea needs a great champion in order to turn it into an active project that can become a commercial success. Resolution: To champion innovation opportunities and treat them with the same rigour as you would any ‘traditional’ project in your company.
#5:		Keep scoreMoney isn’t the only thing that counts but counting the things that generate money is critical to every innovative idea. Resolution: To establish metrics for each new innovation in order to measure its return on opportunity.