Posts by Soren Kaplan
Is Organizational Structure The Secret to Innovation?
Change your company’s structure to get bigger and better ideas. Just about everyone wants more creativity and innovation these days. But what’s the secret to getting it? While most companies agree that innovation is vital, few actually spend time creating structures or devising rewards systems hinged on creativity. Many leaders also struggle with the fact that innovation comes from culture, something…
Read MoreSix Trends Shaping the Future of Health Care
The healthcare industry is an ecosystem. So are the companies disrupting it. This article is one more in a series I call Everything Transformed where I’m highlighting the disruptive forces revolutionizing just about every industry on the planet, including packaging, travel and hospitality, industrial safety, and more. This time it’s healthcare. It’s no secret. The healthcare industry is going through…
Read MorePrioritize Your Best Ideas With One Powerful Tool
Innovation is as much about choosing what not to do as it is about deciding what you’re going to do. I’ll never forget the words of a client of mine, an executive at PepsiCo: “We can do anything, but we can’t do everything,” he said to me. So true. But most companies forget this fact. They…
Read MoreDecouple the Value Chain to Drive Digital Disruption
“Decoupling” the value chain is the next big strategy for digital innovation and business models Digital disruption isn’t just about the internet or mobile technology. It’s about the digitally-driven business models that forever transform business as usual no matter what you’re doing. I recently had a chance to connect with Harvard Business School professor, Thales…
Read MoreThe Packaging Industry is Massive, and It’s About to Be Disrupted
Technology isn’t just for creating new products and services. Disruptive technologies are transforming the packaging that comes with just about everything we buy. Imagine a day when you receive an alert from your refrigerator as you walk past 7-11 because the carton of milk at your home just expired. Or a day when you receive…
Read MoreThe Travel & Hospitality Industry is Being Disrupted – Again
Airbnb disrupted hotels. Now big travel and hospitality companies are going after the next disruptive innovation themselves before getting blindsided yet again. If you’ve followed my Inc.com column, you know I work with both big companies and start-ups around the world. My research, consulting and speaking give me a glimpse into the fledgling trends and upstarts that will one day…
Read MoreSerious About Your Social Mission? Then Innovate It
A “lean” approach amplifies both profits and purpose. Corporate philanthropy. Benefit corporations. Nonprofits and non-governmental organizations. Doing well while doing good seems to be all the rage these days. Sounds ideal. But, if we are truly intent on achieving both, we need to start taking social impact just as seriously. Mission-driven organizations have an equal…
Read MoreManufacturing Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Transforming Before Our Eyes
Large scale 3D printing farms will create the next industrial revolution When it comes to business and the economy, there’s constant buzz about Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. There’s also been lots of attention lately on middle America and the loss of manufacturing jobs. At times these topics seem at odds – the new high-tech guard disrupting the old, jobs…
Read MoreInnovation Comes With Messiness. Here’s How to Manage It
Every bold innovation involves messiness. The Chief Product Officer at Adobe reveals how to use it to succeed. In my work advising and consulting to some of the world’s most innovative companies, I see the best of the best practices for managing innovation. I also get a behind-the-scenes view of what really goes on during the innovation process itself–and…
Read MoreHow to Cut Costs and Still Be Innovative
With all the hype these days around the impending disruptions on the horizon such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and the like, it’s natural to assume that breakthrough innovation requires breakthrough technology. And if you consider the mind-boggling burn rates of recent innovation icons like Uber, WeWork, and MoviePass, it’s also easy to assume that monstrous investments are…
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