Essentially leaders of innovation get paid for what isn’t. Yes, they get paid for what is not. As an executive, manager, team leader or entrepreneur, you don’t get paid for what happened in the past. You get paid for what is not - that which is not yet reality. So , as a leader of innovation,...

Being a leader isn’t easy. In addition to dealing with limited budgets, looming deadlines, and the rate of change happening in the outside world you also have to take notice of the rate of change and innovation within your own business. And this change is largely due to everybody’s belief...

Michael Mendizza One entrepreneur’s passion for Play, the state of optimum learning and performance, highlights its role in creativity and innovation. Michael Mendizza is a documentary filmmaker, author, and educator. He’s the founder of Touch the Future, a nonprofit learning design center, and CEO...

By Michael Mendizza and Andrew Papageorge   We have never experienced this moment before. Never in our personal history, or the history of the universe has this moment, with its challenges and joys, the sun and moon, the tides and planets, the stars and the wind dancing across the sky, ever been quiet...

You want to play in the realm of difference making? Then you need to be willing to take a stand, not with a prediction, but rather with a declaration. It is your natural right. We all can do it. It means you will be taking a risk and going beyond what is familiar and comfortable. Allow me to make a...

There is a common misconception that innovation consists primarily of an inspirational event where the idea or concept is created followed by the perspiration necessary to implement the idea in the marketplace. In reality, bringing a successful new product or process to market requires a sequence of...

In the Olympics, athletes must meet an ever-increasing performance level to simply compete. An athlete might break a current world record and still finish fourth. Winning is not a finite challenge, it is a relative one. The same holds true for innovation. An organization’s reaction time and capabilities...

For the past 200 years we have been thinking, and consequently acting, with a machine-like mentality. During the Industrial Revolution, we began to see the company as a machine. We believed that an organization, like a “good” machine, could be controlled, and it should do what the owners...

Innovation is a big buzz-word these days, but what does it really mean?  Many think of breakthrough inventions that advance the state of technology.  Some confuse innovation with creativity.  Others think innovation is simply marching to the beat of a different drummer. Think of this simple definition,...

Our most cherished beliefs often need to give way for innovation to emerge. Why? It’s simple. Thinking leads to action and our actions lead to results. We can only change ourselves and our organizations by changing our thinking. Yet, giving up (or suspending) our personal agendas, our biases,...