Business Creativity And Innovation

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Who are the successful innovators? In this episode, I talk to the entertaining Samuel West, founder of the Museum of Failure. Apart from having tales of who has failed spectacularly, Samuel West answers the question about who is actually good at innovating.

Some believe that you cannot plan creative activities. Simon Raybould and I take the wonderful topics of chaos and planning and weave them into a conversation. Obviously there's a bit more to it than that, but to get the whole story you will need to listen in.

The very nature of Innovation means that things will look different. Here I discuss the future of work with Scott McArthur. Listen to discover how our businesses might be organised, what skills we might need and which technologies will become dominant. There's more but you need to listen in!

Innovation is great and solves many business issues like surviving and beating the competition. It gets overlooked though because some CEOs see too much pain in the way. What if I could highlight some of the potential issues and then we could solve them together? Wouldn't that be great?

Are you frustrated by traditional methods of planning or creating 'to do' lists? Maybe you find them too restrictive? Its nice to know what you have to do but sometimes the methods of capturing this information seems a little too rigid. Virtual gardening might be the answer you are looking for!

People often refer to the fact that Science Fiction becomes reality. It is not that strange as most Science Fiction is not created as a result of a wetted finger held in the breeze or gazing at tea leaves in the bottom of a cup. It is perfectly possible to predict the future by looking out for 'weak signals'. These are signals, bits of information that are missed by most people who are not experts or who are not able to see patterns.

It is now the time to bid farewell to 2021 and look forward to 2022, a year that we hope will be much better for us all. But what do we  need to keep in mind regarding Innovation and/or reinvention for next year? Scope and intensity will be key with a leaning towards innovation. The changes made in 2021 will gather pace, there is no going back.

The secret to innovation is …. that there is no secret! There are a few things to consider but these are definitely not secret.   Also, please do not believe that Innovation is the preserve of a select few, the Innovation Gurus that have sprung up everywhere. As the great Charles Handy once said ‘guru is just an American word for charlatan'. Once you have worked out what works for you, simply practise and repeat. There are however a couple of things to remember.

No I am not pretending to be the Grim Reaper and I am not referring to you, simply your business. How long do you think your business can carry on without some sort of change? With business lifecycles getting shorter you may not have as much time as you think!

Looking at the title you might be forgiven for thinking that I have gone mad. Please bear with me for a few minutes. Recently I attended an online lecture all about Smart Cities which also touched on technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things just in case you missed this acronym). We have a tendency to fixate on technology because it apparently gives us something such as speed, connectivity, big data or simply control. The main learning point for me was not the technology, although it can help. The main point was about the systemic nature of smart cities.

Calling all business people, scholars and all round nice people I have something for you - The Anti Plan. Despite the title, I am not proposing complete anarchy. Please keep listening. Many who know me will be familiar with my dislike of plans and planning. I realise the need for it and do create them but often they are created because someone has decreed that a plan shall be made. There is a way forward though!

If you live in the UK you will be more than aware of the COP26 conference but did you watch Panorama this week? If not you should catch it on the BBC iPlayer. For those outside the UK, the program was entitled Coca-Cola's 100 billion bottle problem. It is a huge problem, there are billions of single use plastic bottles created by the Coca-Cola company that are littering the world. But what can be done about it?

How do you keep in touch with reality? Recently I went to the National Mining Museum at the old Caphouse colliery near Wakefield. The highlight was of course going down the pit itself. Whilst in an enclosed gallery we were invited to experience working as some of the miners had done years ago, that is, in the dark.

If you embrace the idea of creativity then as an employer you can get something else. And it is entirely for free, increased intrinsic motivation. Create the right conditions for yourself and others to be creative (at the appropriate time

Mood Hoovers. Do you have some of those negative people in your business who just suck the life out of you? If you are self employed maybe you are surrounded by some. What do you do about them? Find out

Exploring the givens is something we need to do in order to challenge those things that sit in the background and quietly undermine us. Whether at home or at work, we tend to focus on things around us that are

Creativity is there already. This is about valuing the creative potential in all of us, and trying to create room for it to flourish. Each of us has the ability to be creative, even if this only exists in small

Using negativity, especially within the workplace, is something you should try to do. There are creative techniques that embrace negativity. In this podcast I describe one technique that you can use either on your own or with a group of people. If

As young children we play without thinking about what we are doing. Sticks become spears and swords and cardboard boxes make great castles. These, and other methods of play allow us to experience the real world but in a non-threatening way.

Breaking mindsets is all about smashing fixed ways of thinking. Most, if not all of us have either a fixed way of doing things or a fixed way of thinking about things. These fixed patterns are known as mindsets and

Often there is no budget for innovation. It can be difficult to make time for innovation or to make it part of everyday life when the bean counters demand that everything is charged to a cost centre. This is the

Build up dont knock down. ‘Building’ techniques are extremely powerful and often very portable. They can have very positive secondary effects. Furthermore, they allow you to take virtually any input – a random piece of news, a misunderstanding or an accidental

Many business owners think of their business in terms of what they do on a daily basis e.g. farmers milk cows, printers print brochures and jewellers make jewellery. A better way of thinking about your business is to ask the

My weekly Late Morning Show on Radio Ramadhan broadcast on June 3rd, 2019.  My guest is the founder of LA Skin Care, Louisa Ashforth. Entertainment is provided with a little music from Paul Simon.

My weekly Late Morning Show on Radio Ramadhan broadcast on May 27th, 2019.  My guest is Mindset Strategist Sue Curr. Entertainment is provided with a little music from Eddy Grant.

My weekly Late Morning Show on Radio Ramadhan broadcast on May 20th, 2019.  My guest is Steve Judge, two times World Champion Paratriathlete. Entertainment is provided with a little music from Erasure.

My weekly Late Morning Show on Radio Ramadhan broadcast on May 13th, 2019.  My guest is Frederika Roberts, The Happiness Speaker. Entertainment is provided with a little music from The Stranglers.

My weekly Late Morning Show on Radio Ramadhan broadcast on May 6th, 2019. The show contains some Business Creativity and Innovation as well as a brief look at local newspapers and for some unknown reason the Himalayan Times! Entertainment is

My weekly radio show Coffee With Derek broadcast on March 2nd 2016 on Iman FM. The show contains some Business Creativity and Innovation. Entertainment is provided with a little music from Dire Straits plus an interview with Caroline Palmer from Raising The Baa

Part two of my weekly radio show Coffee With Derek broadcast on April 6th 2016 on Iman FM. Some things on Business Creativity and Innovation plus a little music from REM.

Part one of my weekly radio show Coffee With Derek broadcast on April 6th 2016 on Iman FM. Some things on Business Creativity and Innovation plus a little music from REM

Whilst at the recent PSA MEGA convention I was privileged to listen to the great Nabil Doss. He provided us with a template for producing a trailer, the trailer code. I wrote mine down and hastily recorded it and cleaned

There are many lists of things that highly creative people do. I’m not going to replicate one of those here but just leave listeners with one question to answer – Do you ask the BIG questions?

As CEO, if you want people to be creative, you must be prepared to implement their viable ideas. You must encourage creativity. Employees will soon work out that your support of creativity is a sham and will hold back on