How can you create business urgency with limited resources?

If a business has been around for 5-10 years and it’s generally making money, there’s usually an established series of “cash cows” within the org — i.e. the things that actually make it the money. (Insert something about 80/20 rule… Continue Reading

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On business innovation vs. tenure

Here’s a concept I don’t think a lot of people think about: we all know it can be bad to work at a place where there’s consistent turnover (people always leaving), because then priorities get skewed and it’s hard to… Continue Reading

Work isn’t set up to create innovation, no

You’d probably assume that innovation, as a concept, needs a few steps before it actually happens — and one of those steps is probably “creative thinking.” (Or, at the very least, some kind of thinking.) How do you achieve the idea of “creative thinking” that… Continue Reading

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Strategy and operations aren’t the same thing

Please stop confusing a planning process with a strategic one. Continue Reading

Cornell is trying to buck the Ivy League mold to a Silicon Valley place

Admittedly these are all stereotypes, but when you think about the Ivy League, you often think about guys (not talking about women here, per se) who want finance-type jobs in New York City or otherwise along the I-95 corridor. Please… Continue Reading

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Sanga Moses figured out an innovative way to help Uganda, perhaps re-contextualizing “innovation” in the process

People love to band about the term “innovation” — there’s a whole issue right now because of the recent New Yorker article on “disruptive innovation” — but most people actually use it the wrong way. (It’s similar to how many people think… Continue Reading

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Brief thought exercise: could modern-day San Francisco someday go the way of Detroit?

This isn’t going to be the most informed post of all-time; it’s mostly just a set of potentials and theories. Still, I think it’s interesting to consider. Start here: you can make an argument that, in the pre-war period and… Continue Reading

Perhaps the idea of “brainstorming” doesn’t make any sense at all

It would seem logical that better ideas could be generated in a group as opposed to simply by individuals — more perspectives and viewpoints, and an inherent vetting process in real-time. But then again, maybe that’s not true: But no study has… Continue Reading