Developing and Scaling a New System for a Non-Profit Serving Seniors in their Homes
About this Client Our client is the leadership organization supporting the more than 5,000 community-based programs across the country that are dedicated to addressing senior isolation and hunger. By providing funding, leadership, education, research and advocacy support, our client empowers its local member programs to strengthen their communities, one senior at a time. In this […]
Why You Need An Innovation Coach
Today, organizations routinely ask their people for innovation, and then prevent it from happening. Costa Michailidis, Co-Founder of Innovation Bound Tweet You’ve gone through training or read about things like design thinking and lean startup. Now you’re ready to innovate with your team. But somehow the project doesn’t go as smoothly as the exercises and […]
Who is Your Organization’s Human Centered Innovator?
How can human centered innovation make a difference for you and your organization?
How to use your Customer’s Point of View to Inspire Design Thinking
I have worked in many organizations where the customer was at the center of our business strategy. We segmented them by things like, “white, male, 35”. We sometimes went a step further and gave them a name – Sally the Soccer Mom was my favorite. But all of our analysis came from within our organization. […]
The Customer’s Job-to-be-Done
Your customer has a task they are trying to accomplish. For example, a dad buying a minivan wants to safely deliver his daughters (and all her friends) to their activities and back home again. When that dad comes to your car lot, that is his job-to-be-done. Yet many businesses treat that customer as if he […]
How to Manage Innovation in Your Sandbox
How many innovators does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: none. Light bulbs aren’t changed by innovators because they’re too busy solving other problems (e.g. how do we get the light bulb to change itself) and defending their solution to their peers. Traditionally, innovation is a lonely sport, filled with too many great […]
Tips for Building an Innovation Culture based on Design Thinking
Your mission as a corporate entrepreneur is to find new customer problems that your business is uniquely positioned to solve. Unlike a startup, you are not alone in this endeavor. There is a whole organization full of smart, passionate people for you to tap into. This is where Design Thinking is the corporate entrepreneur’s friend […]
Building a Team of Customer Problem Solvers
Jack and Kim walked down the hall away from their CEO’s office. They were buzzing with excitement. “Wow, I can’t believe he gave us full reign to build our innovation team!” said Kim. When their CEO had asked if their process of cycling through pain points and potential solutions with customers could accelerate innovation, their […]
Four Design Thinking Tips to Achieve Strategy Change
Employees in large organizations in both the public and private sector have “Strategy du Jour” fatigue. Every year, they’re hit with new strategic directions that involve changes in the way they work without any clear impact on the things they care about, like the work they do and the customers they serve. This starts to breed […]
Design Thinking is not “One and Done”
Jack ran into Kim in the hallway outside the CEO’s office. “You too?” he asked. The CEO had requested a meeting to discuss their proposal for investment in the winning team’s innovation challenge. “He said he wanted to do a test, see if we could celebrate a quick win,” said Jack. Kim frowned. “That’s what he […]