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Creativity And Innovation Directors, Consultants And Managers
Creativity and Innovation is essential for competitive advantage, yet the role of Creativity and Innovation Manager is often not viewed as essential. Organizations without such a role will simply not perform as competitively as their rivals.
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Have You Put a Straightjacket on Your Business Potential?
When you mention the words structure, organizational system or
process, most business owners flee. The myth that a formal
structure will restrict creativity, kill flexibility, make the
company too impersonal and lead to bureaucracy is exactly...
How To Identify Ideal Money Making Web Opportunities
I was winding my way up the levels of a very crowded parking garage the other day. The line of cars desperately seeking a spot ahead of me kept turning to the right.
So, of course, it occured to me that perhaps there would be less...
Improve Your Business Dealings with Improvisation
"Nothing is accidental ... use everything." -- Keith Johnstone Even the best-laid plans, the proverb goes, go oft astray. And by learning how to improvise like actors or jazz musicians, corporate types can better adapt to the always changing...
Starting Your Business: 3 Tips for Bootstrapping Your Way to the Top
Bootstrapping a business startup does not necessarily mean that you are unable to find traditional sources of capital. It may mean that you are clever, or that you know a bargain when you see it, or that you are the type of person who derives a...
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The Value of Values
One of the toughest jobs a leader has to perform is to act as
guardian of an organisation's values.
An organisation's values are the things that are really
important to it.
In the early days of an enterprise, the values are sometimes the
only thing that keeps the business going. When other factors
make the chances of survival doubtful, such as funds, markets,
and technology, it is the set of beliefs held by the original
founders which pull the business through. The beliefs of the
organization are almost always the beliefs of the original
leaders.
These beliefs are intangible. Think of Unilever's belief in
co-operation, or Mars's belief in efficiency, or IBM's belief in
innovation, or Hewlett-Packard's belief in "plain hard work", or
Levi-Strauss's belief in empathy with its customers. It is the
high value placed on these beliefs that ensure these
organizations survive in the first place and continue to survive.
As the years go by, and the organization changes its technology,
its products and its leaders, there is a danger that it may
abandon its original set of beliefs or relegate them in
importance or forget them. To do so is to risk corporate
suicide. If original values have to change - often a difficult
step - then new values must replace them and be as meaningful,
relevant and important as the original ones.
As custodians of the organisation's values, leaders have to know
the values, live the values, and preserve the values. John
Maxwell tells the story of how John Wooden, head basketball
coach at the University of California, put values before
expediency. Wooden had spotted an outstanding young basketball
player whose skills would be an asset to his line-up. Everyone
urged him to sign the youth. But Wooden was unsure. Something in
the young man's demeanour bothered him. So he arranged a home
visit, with the contract all prepared in his inside pocket. When
he took tea with the family, he couldn't help noticing a
disrespectfulness in the youth's attitude towards his mother.
One of the key values in Wooden's team was respect. And it was a
value he intended to maintain. As a result, the contract stayed
in his pocket.
Values are not just important for the organization. They are the
touchstone that determines whether people succeed in the
organization. When the chips are down, it's not what you do that
counts,
but whether you stay true to the values. As Christel
Brown says, "People do things because of their values. People
rob banks because their values include greed, more money and
maybe recognition. People die on the battlefield because their
values include love of their country and patriotism." Values are
the ultimate people motivators. In organizations where values
matter, people may be dismissed for violating the rules; they
should always be dismissed for violating the values.
John Maxwell says that values are at the heart of everything an
organization does, hence the use of the phrase "core values".
"Values are like glue. They hold an organization together.
Values are like a ruler. They set the standard for a team's
performance. Values are like a compass. They give direction and
guidance. Values are like a magnet. They attract like-minded
people. Values provide identity. They define and identify the
team."
One last example. Few people today have heard of Phil Knight,
Bill Bowerman and Steve Prefontaine. But these three were the
driving force and inspiration that created Nike, the footwear
and clothing colossus. And what drove them? A passionate belief
that things could be done. The stories of Bowerman's endless
experiments with the family waffle iron into which he poured
rubber to create the best running shoe sole are legendary. So
are Prefontaine's battles to make running a professional sport.
Today, Nike actually employs executives as "corporate
storytellers" to remind their staff of the values of the
original founders and that their business is about getting
things done.
In business, as in life, beliefs can move mountains. Without
belief, without a positive set of beliefs, and without action to
act on these beliefs, we achieve nothing. Our beliefs and values
drive us and our businesses. As Alvin Toffler says, "Every
business has a belief system and it is at least as important as
its accounting system or its authority system."
About the author:
© Eric Garner, ManageTrainLearn.com
For instant solutions to all your management training needs,
visit http://www.managetrainlearn.com and download your FREE
personal copies of our training software. And while you're
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| DTI - Welcome to the DTI's Innovation Home Page |
| The DTI is working to stimulate a significant increase in innovation throughout ... It covers Living Innovation, web streaming of a series of high profile ... |
| www.dti.gov.uk |
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| Innovation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| An innovation in this light occurs whether or not the act of innovating ... A convenient definition of innovation from an organizational perspective is ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| National Innovation Website |
| The Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources has developed this website to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of innovation and ... |
| www.innovation.gov.au |
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| Innovation, creativity and brainstorming resources from ... |
| A comprehensive site designed to provide busy entrepreneurs with a focused collection of the best resources on innovation, creativity, and brainstorming. |
| www.innovationtools.com |
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| Innovation Weblog - Trends, resources, viewpoints from Chuck Frey ... |
| The Innovation Weblog - Valuable trends, resources and viewpoints in innovation, creativity and brainstorming from Chuck Frey at InnovationTools. |
| www.innovationtools.com |
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| CORDIS: Innovation Portal: Home |
| This Innovation Portal is supported by DG ENTR of the European Commission, ... European Commission adopts new Communication on Innovation: on 13 September ... |
| cordis.europa.eu |
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| CORDIS: Promotion of Innovation: Home |
| This programme stands at the cross-roads of the Community's policies on Research, Innovation and SMEs. |
| cordis.europa.eu |
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| Innovation Network... leveraging innovation, creativity and ... |
| The Innovation Network is an association of companies and employees committed to innovation. The site features some interesting articles as well as some fun ... |
| www.thinksmart.com |
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| Business Innovation : Car Reviews, Online Gaming, and Product Branding |
| If your in need of great Online Gaming material, we carry up to the minute news and reviews for all of your favorite games and gaming systems. |
| www.businessweek.com |
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| Innovation - Life, Inspired | PBS |
| Learn about fascinating innovations, explore interactive features, submit questions to our experts, investigate resources and lesson plans, and more. |
| www.pbs.org |
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| Innovation.org - Welcome |
| Impact of Innovation Saving & Improving Lives Controlling Healthcare Costs Strengthening ... Future of Innovation New Medicines in Development Next Wave of ... |
| www.innovation.org |
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| Innovation: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
| See all blog posts tagged with innovation on Technorati. |
| www.technorati.com |
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| Innovation Relay Centres - The World Largest Network for ... |
| Innovation Relay Centres giving advice on Innovation, Technology Transfer and Exploitation. Major European source for innovative technologies or new ... |
| irc.cordis.lu |
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| The Tech Museum of Innovation | Welcome |
| The Tech Museum of Innovation - Welcome! The Tech Museum inspires and educates the innovators of the future. |
| www.thetech.org |
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| Pages tagged with "innovation" on del.icio.us |
| CoDev 2007 - Co-Development for Business Growth: Open Innovation and Alternatives ... PDMA & IIR's 5th Annual Front End of Innovation ... |
| del.icio.us |
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| innovation |
| Publication highlighting the research activities of NUS. The site provides snippets of selected articles online, and provides a subscription form online. |
| www.innovationmagazine.com |
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| Canadian Innovation Centre |
| Services includes invention evaluation, technology due diligence, market research, and education programs. |
| www.innovationcentre.ca |
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| London INNOVATION :: Home |
| Maximise your business potential through innovation. Learn the secrets of successful business innovation in London. |
| www.london-innovation.org.uk |
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| Eric Von Hippel's Homepage |
| Downloadable Books. Democratizing Innovation (2005) ... The Sources of Innovation (1988). Free download of the complete book. Permission granted by Oxford ... |
| web.mit.edu |
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| Intel Innovation in Education |
| www.intel.com/education/ - 3k - Cached - Similar pages |
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