Do you have an appetite for some fresh fodder to spark your innovative ideas? This week, I’m highlighting three very different innovation blogs. Digest their content, and you’ll be feasting on a well-rounded diet of innovative insights.
InnovToday
Start off with an “appetizer” at InnovToday, where the authors explain that entries are purposefully kept brief “to provide readers with food for thought in a concentrated form.” Blogger Yann Cramer is an innovation learner, practitioner, writer and speaker; his blogging partner, Roobini Aruleswaran is a writer and poet. Their goal? To provide individuals, managers and leaders with insights and stories to help them fulfill their innovation potential more confidently and effectively.
Cramer and Aruleswaran are both widely traveled, and the international scope of this blog is one of its most interesting features. Though most InnovToday readers are from the U.S., the U.K. and France aren’t far behind, and the authors draw from experiences and examples all over the world. Recent post topics include innovation lessons from Kodak’s bankruptcy, innovative problem-solving among New Delhi bread-gatherers and how Belgium’s failure to form a traditional government accidentally created a more effective and efficient model of government.
Working Knowledge
Dig deep into the main course at Working Knowledge. Founder Andrea Meyer is an author who writes about innovation and strategy for MIT, Harvard Business School, McKinsey & Co. and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Because Meyer’s work focuses on creating executive education materials and writing case studies, her blog has a practical tone, with each post taking you through a lesson from a real-world company’s experiences.
Since Meyer works primarily with large organizations and academic institutions, reading her blog will give you a taste of what big corporations and thought leaders are thinking and doing when it comes to innovation. A recent post discussed the Collaboration Curve effect, in which collaborating with others can speed success, and used the Impressionist painters as an example of a group that was able to achieve better results by working together.
Gregg Fraley
Top off your innovation meal with a treat from innovation consultant Gregg Fraley, the author of Jack’s Notebook: A business novel about creative problem solving. Fraley’s diverse background, which ranges from working as a TV producer to managing high-tech companies, and his lifelong experience as an entrepreneur come through in his blog posts, which are thought-provoking and fun to read.
Refreshingly free of corporate or academic jargon, Fraley incorporates cartoons and sketches into his quick, conversational posts. Recent topics have included lessons about innovation from the Oscar-nominated movie “Moneyball,” how wishing you were more attractive than you are can stunt your creativity and how to avoid an “innovation infarction.” Fraley is generous in referencing other useful articles or blogs while putting his own spin on a topic.
Want more? Fraley’s website offers free resources, including articles and speeches, transcripts of more than 40 interviews with innovation experts and recommended books on innovation. You can also link to his Innovise Guys podcast, in which he and Doug Stevenson interview leading experts on creativity, innovation, market research, improvisation and invention.
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