Nov 24Pathways to scaleWhy planning your innovation expedition helps avoid a lot of windswept trouble on the journey… When I was a child a big feature of the social landscape was the annual visit to my uncle’s house on Christmas Eve. My dad came from a big family and they’d gather at his…Innovation12 min readInnovation12 min read
Published inTelling tales·Nov 7What’s in your handbag?It’s a pattern I’ve developed, a carefully choreographed set of moves. Or maybe a better analogy is stage directions, the script offering guidance on how to play the scene. Except that each performance is different, playing in different theatres, each has its own peculiarities and foibles. …Crime8 min readCrime8 min read
Oct 31Tell ’em a storyWhy storytelling is so important in communicating innovation Innovation is all about trying to convince others — people to help develop your idea, sponsors to back you, markets to buy in to your great new thing. So it makes sense to spend time and effort crafting a tale which will…Innovation3 min readInnovation3 min read
Published inTelling tales·Oct 17Practised precisionLooking up he can see two white vapour trails etched into the hazy sky. He turns lazily in the bed, twisting so that he can see her still-sleeping form, her face pressed deep into the pillow, her neck arched against the clean white sheet. Then he rolls away gently, doesn’t…Soccer6 min readSoccer6 min read
Oct 16Prove it to me!Why evidence plays a key role in scaling innovation A good idea will sell itself, right? Unfortunately not — Emerson was spectacularly wrong when he suggested that all you needed to do was build that better mousetrap to have the world beating a path to your door. History is full…Innovation12 min readInnovation12 min read
Oct 9The entrepreneur’s journey — the musicalI’m running a course on entrepreneurship and was looking for a way to help students remember some key milestones on the journey — value proposition, minimum viable product, prototyping, business model development, etc. So trying it out in the form of a song…. You can listen to it here… or …Innovation1 min readInnovation1 min read
Published inTelling tales·Sep 24Country roadsThe road snaked upwards and towards the distant forested slopes of mountains. Dust swirled around its edges where the heavy trucks pulled off the tarmac and on to the white verge as they let faster cars overtake on the long slow climb. The crunch of stones being ground to fine…Fiction Writing6 min readFiction Writing6 min read
Sep 20Member-onlyStringing together an innovation storyHow convergence and creative collisions fuel invention It was the Covid lockdown that did it. Got me into compulsive listening. As my physical world contracted so I spent more and more time taking voyages inside my head, carried along by music. These days the choice of vessels in my harbour…Innovation13 min readInnovation13 min read
Published inTelling tales·Sep 18Weekend breakFive doors closing quietly in the early morning. Five couples crossing the threshold, moving out to merge with an outside world still gathering itself for another busy day. Five fingers pressing keys on five screens showing silver against the early morning sun. Text messages fly from five cities set far…Thriller4 min readThriller4 min read
Sep 7Member-only5 keys to unlocking creativity… and why it’s good to keep working out at the creativity gym Imagine: · An artist sitting in front of her easel, mind focused as she faces a blank canvas and thinks hard and long about where and how she will make her first mark…. · A games designer…Creativity12 min readCreativity12 min read
