Work Archives

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson (Overview)

Have you ever had a sudden burst of inspiration that led you to a new solution to a problem? Do you ever marvel at seemingly impossible modern inventions like the internet? If so, you might wonder how individuals come up with such incredible innovations and how they develop them over time. In Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson explains that good ideas and novel innovations are largely the result of social collaboration. Continue reading for an overview of this fascinating book.

The 2 Types of Product Innovation: Which One Is Right for Your Business?

What is product innovation? What are the two types of product innovation you should practice when creating products? In Ten Types of Innovation, Larry Keeley and his co-authors identify only two types of innovation directly related to your product or service. These include innovations related to your core product and innovations related to how it fits into a larger system of products. Keep reading to learn more about the types of product-related innovations.

How to Get Things Done Faster: 3 Ways to Streamline Routines

What tasks do you do routinely? What if you could get them done more efficiently and free up time for more substantive work? In Someday Is Today, Matthew Dicks argues that achieving your dreams and overcoming mediocrity is possible, but only if you start acting now. He shares advice on how to maximize your time, efficiency, and productivity when it comes to everything you have to do, including your routine tasks. Continue reading to learn how to get things done faster in three practical ways.

The 4 Organizational Innovation Types—Explained

What are the best types of organizational innovation? How should you organize your company’s operations? Ten Types of Innovation by Larry Keeley and his co-authors identify four types of innovations that relate to organizing your company or its operations. The distinction between them lies in whether they relate to your capabilities, your internal organizational structure, your external relations with other organizations, or how you monetize your product. Continue reading for more details on these organizational innovation types.

A Network of Ideas: Harnessing Social & Neural Connections

When you network, do you deliberately share and collect new ideas? Do you seek out opportunities for collaboration? According to Steven Johnson, good ideas don’t just appear from nowhere. Rather, they build on existing knowledge and ideas. New ideas proliferate in networks. The more connected you are, the more you’ll find and develop good ideas. Read more to learn how you can plug into and benefit from a network of ideas around you.

How to Stop Overanalyzing & Start Getting Things Done

Are you a perfectionist? Do you analyze every last detail only to miss the big picture? In Someday Is Today, Matthew Dicks shares tips for accomplishing extraordinary things. He discusses ways to maximize your time, efficiency, and productivity so you can become as successful as possible, as soon as possible. One solution is to stop being a perfectionist and a micro-analyzer and just get on with the task at hand. Continue reading to learn how to stop overanalyzing and start getting things done.

5 Common Innovation Failures and How to Solve Them

Why do so many innovation projects fail? What are the solutions that will fix all of your innovative problems? In Ten Types of Innovation, Larry Keeley and his co-authors identify a number of reasons that innovation projects fail. Just a few specific reasons they pinpoint are: A project can fail because it doesn’t incorporate enough types of innovation, tries to incorporate too many types at once, or focuses on the wrong types. Keep reading to learn why innovation failures happen and how to prevent them.

How to Start Your Career: 4 Tips to Find the Right Path for You

Are you just starting out—and wondering where to start? How do you choose a company to work for? How long should you stay there? In Build, entrepreneur Tony Fadell shares his wisdom for succeeding in every stage of your career. When you’re just starting out, he says, you need to figure out what you want to do, work for the right company, pay attention to the broader goals of the company, and know when to quit. Keep reading for Fadell’s advice on how to start your career.

Why Innovation Prototypes Are Important for New Products

Why are innovation prototypes important for new projects? How should you test your products before putting them on the shelves? Innovation projects often fail when they focus on solving problems that customers don’t care about, and they implement solutions that work well on paper, but not in practice. This is why you need prototypes to test out what works and what doesn’t for customers. Find out why innovation prototypes are important and how to use them, according to Ten Types of Innovation.

Innovation Time: Encouraging Innovation in the Workplace

How to Have an Effective Strategic Discussion

When you’re at work, do you have time to develop ideas? How effective is “innovation time”? In Where Good Ideas Come From, best-selling author Steven Johnson explains how good ideas grow from minor inklings to groundbreaking inventions. He shows how you can use this knowledge to come up with the best ideas possible, and he discusses how to encourage innovation in the workplace. Read more to learn about workplace innovation time.