posts tagged ‘innovation culture’

How to build a cleantech portfolio (or: just about anything)

6 April 2011 | Scott Elrod

[contributed post to SmartPlanet] When PARC, a Xerox company, became an independent subsidiary in 2002, we were free to consider entirely new directions and industries. Cleantech was one of our first efforts to take the deep competencies and expertise we cultivated solely for Xerox, and apply them to problems and needs for other clients. But how did we align our idealistic motivations – concern for the environment, desire for impact – with commercial realities? Here are some of the strategies that helped us resolve conflicting goals and move from possibility, to reality... including knowing WHAT to start, and knowing WHEN to stop.

Brainstorming for quality ideas: 10 tips

6 October 2009 | Jennifer Ernst

I've often heard "brainstorming" touted as a way to make an organizational culture more innovation-friendly. No argument there: brainstorms, if well-constructed, can be a great source of new ideas. But the problem for many companies isn't a lack of ideas. More often, it's a lack of high-quality ideas and poor practices for supporting the transformation from idea to innovation -- i.e., the implementation. In these cases, open-ended idea generation isn't likely to lead to organizational wins. These organizations need to focus on improving the quality of ideas and the mechanisms for selecting and supporting them going forward. Brainstorms are an interesting technique to look at, because they represent a microcosm of organizational behaviors... the behaviors that support or undermine innovation.