Showing 51 - 60 of 62
Creativity along the road less travelled
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 02/04/2015
» 'Two roads diverged in a wood and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference", wrote Robert Frost in "The Road Not Taken".
Marketers should put their trust in innovators
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 19/03/2015
» 'Business has only two functions — marketing and innovation," American management consultant, educator and author Peter Drucker once said, and he was right, although I would reverse the order, as innovation must create the products to be marketed. But helping marketers with innovation has shown me that marketers think like Drucker, with marketing being primary and innovation secondary.
The typology of ideas, or how ideas are made
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 05/03/2015
» An idea is an idea, isn't it? Well, ideas have more nuances than meet the eye at first glance. When business people aim at producing new ideas for a challenge they face in their business, say developing a new product, they often talk about ideas in an undifferentiated fashion. In reality, ideas come in many different facades and vary in their degree of maturity and elaboration, meaning and feasibility among other factors.
Stop copying and start creating
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 05/02/2015
» 'The 'surplus society' has a surplus of similar companies, employing similar people, with similar educational backgrounds, coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things, with similar prices and similar quality," Kjell Nordstroem and Jonas Ridderstrale said in their book Funky Business. Can a company expect extraordinary results if what they do is what other companies ordinarily do?
Let it go: How to unclutter your life
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 22/01/2015
» 'The beginning of a circle is also its end", the ancient-Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus said. The new year ends one cycle but begins another. Is this not the perfect time to let go of the old in favour of the new? Doing so can reconnect you to your creative self.
Archetypes and your brand
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 20/11/2014
» Have you ever noticed that some people you meet remind you of others you have known? That character types recur in myth and the narrative arts? These character classes are called archetypes, and you can use them to learn about yourself as well as your brand.
Taking the long view of one's life
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 06/11/2014
» What will you do today? Will it move you towards your goals? More importantly, do you have a clear vision of your future? Do you have a plan, not only for the next five or 10 years but for the decades to come? After all, if we all survive the next few decades, medical advances promise to prolong our lives substantially.
Less hot air will lead to more innovation
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 25/10/2014
» At my company, we have a mantra to help us live up to our values: "No bullshit". Don't be offended. BS kills innovation, so it's important to understand what it is, how it works against innovation, and how you can deal with a culture that breeds and tolerates it.
Are you ready to be an entrepreneur? (Part 2)
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 25/09/2014
» My last column identified five decisions you need to make when starting a new venture: Do you have an entrepreneurial mindset? Is your business idea really worth pursuing? When should you start? Should you go it alone or with partners? How to structure a partnership? Here are the other five decisions you must consider carefully to have a good chance of succeeding as an entrepreneur.
Do you think you're ready to be an entrepreneur? (Part 1)
Business, Detlef Reis, Published on 11/09/2014
» 'Who wants to be an entrepreneur?" I asked my graduate students in a course on decision-making. To my surprise, three-quarters of them raised their hands. It seems the American futurist John Naisbitt was right when he said: "We are shifting from a managerial society to an entrepreneurial society." Being customer-focused in all that I do, I added a section on entrepreneurial decision-making to the course. After all, becoming an entrepreneur and then making a go of it requires making big decisions wisely and avoiding the common traps that Noam Wasserman outlined in his book The Founder's Dilemmas. In this column and the next, I'd like to share 10 pieces of advice for entrepreneurs to help you discover if you're ready for entrepreneurship.