Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 1, 2012

They're bad at innovation by design: All the pressures and processes that drive them toward a profitable, efficient operation tend to get in the way of developing the innovations that can actually transform the business. However, I also pointed out a paradox: being bad at innovation and good at execution isn't necessarily undesirable.

Innovation 15

Innovation Company ROI Disruptive Innovation 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 3, 2014

Nick is a typical manager at a one of the world’s most successful widget companies. But like most hierarchical organizations, Nick’s managers and their managers expect to be informed of his ideas before they make their way to the big boss. In so doing, you increase the speed of innovation and decrease the cost of failure.

Consensus 13

Consensus Innovation Company Ries 13

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 18, 2012

They're what Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup , calls "vanity metrics.". That's what Ries calls an "engine of growth.". Seek out what Ries refers to as "actionable metrics." Traditionally, managers were used to achieving business objectives in departments that make things, sell things, or manage money.

Metrics 18

Metrics Media Ries Reference 18

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 2, 2013

Meaningful innovation requires sponsorship. At its core, Penrose's idea is the reason innovation requires sponsorship. Middle managers with limited resources and set evaluation metrics will simply operate in a predictable fashion. It's why Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma is so difficult to overcome. It always has.

Innovation 9

Innovation Execution How To Ries 9

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 27, 2015

Can you think of any business topic that’s been hotter for longer than innovation? In a McKinsey poll , 94% of the managers surveyed said they were dissatisfied with their company’s innovation performance. And yet when it comes to innovation, the gap between aspiration and accomplishment seems as big as ever.

Innovation 8

Innovation Company Engineering Supply Chain 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 15, 2012

As we practice innovating we are propelled up a personal learning curve — and we begin to accomplish our dreams. Or is failure a tool that will help me innovate more effectively? When we sublimate the sadness, we risk losing our passion, an essential lubricant for the engine of innovation. Acknowledge sadness.

Ries 22

Ries Learning Curve Learning-by-Doing Bottom-up 22

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 15, 2012

As we practice innovating we are propelled up a personal learning curve — and we begin to accomplish our dreams. Or is failure a tool that will help me innovate more effectively? When we sublimate the sadness, we risk losing our passion, an essential lubricant for the engine of innovation. Acknowledge sadness.

Ries 20

Ries Learning Curve Learning-by-Doing Bottom-up 20

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 30, 2017

In his Harvard Business Review article summing up his tenure, Immelt recalls that the two things that influenced him most were Marc Andreessen’s 2011 Wall Street Journal article “ Why Software Is Eating the World ” and Eric Ries’s book The Lean Startup. Innovation at GE was on a roll. Then it wasn’t.

Ries 8

Ries Long-term Short-term Price 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 30, 2014

If it’s the former, that question you raised will be carefully considered and may trigger ongoing discussion — and possibly action — by the company’s managers and leaders. Ries points out that at most companies, “the resources flow to the person with the most confident, best plan. So why open the floodgates?

Company 11

Company Ries Christensen Innovation 11

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Recognize that innovation requires failure. In a world where competitive advantage is increasingly short-lived, as Columbia Business School professor Rita Gunther McGrath has described , successful companies have to bake innovation into their standard processes. Failure Managing yourself Personal effectiveness'

Ries 14

Ries Open-book Competitive Advantage Education 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 21, 2015

A choir can’t perform well if it’s made up of all sopranos; similarly, on an innovative team, you won’t achieve good results with people whose strengths and styles are all the same. People who judge prefer having closure, with all loose ends tied up, when managing tasks and making decisions. Judging or perceiving.

Diversity 8

Diversity Ries Creativity Groupthink 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 30, 2013

In 2010, one of us was sitting in a room at the Harvard Business School with Eric Ries and a number of budding entrepreneurs. For that reason, the "Lean" mentality is one of the most powerful tools in the innovator''s arsenal — in startups and mature corporations alike. One of these young entrepreneurs in particular stood out.

Company 9

Company Ries Maturity Innovation 9

Harvard Business Review

MAY 13, 2014

GE is an icon of management best practices. That includes learning from the outside and striving to adopt certain start-up practices, with a focus on three key management processes: (1) resource allocation that nurtures future businesses, (2) faster-cycle product development, and (3) partnering with start-ups.

Six Sigma 8

Six Sigma Incubator Payback Period Ries 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 17, 2012

The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen (which is also on John Coleman's list) builds on the notion of a growth mindset more specifically within a business context. Whether disruptive innovation involves a product, service, company, or especially, an individual, Christensen provides a robust theory for learning how to lead.

Books 13

Books Christensen Ries Disruptive Innovation 13

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2013

In my eyes, the work Steve Blank, Eric Ries, and others have done to provide a cogent, accessible frame around the academic concepts of emergent strategy is one of the most important contributions to the innovation movement over the past few years. Innovation' I love Lean. That''s not right.

Ries 8

Ries Telecommunications Business Model Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 9, 2016

Al Ries and Jack Trout capture the essence of this model in their classic book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. ” In this view, a brand is not something you make, it’s something you manage. ” A brand is not something you manage over time. Brand innovators tend to create different kinds of relationships.

Brand 8

Brand Airlines Health Care Trout 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 16, 2016

When my publication, Innovation Leader, surveyed 170 executives who work in R&D, strategy, and new product development roles at large public companies, we found that 82% said they’ve already deployed some elements of the lean startup approach. “They want to see their product commercialized.”

Company 8

Company Airlines Ries Survey 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2011

HP had grown so large, to about $30 billion in sales, that Barnholt and other senior managers felt pinched to reach their double-digit growth goals. To launch HP's big new businesses, the company's managers took rigorously logical steps. And they were all big," Barnholt recalls, "But they all failed! Their ideas made sense.

Ries 13

Ries Agility Market Segmentation Christensen 13

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 13, 2017

I talked with Rita McGrath, a professor at Columbia Business School, who together with Ian MacMillan, of the University of Pennsylvania’s business school, developed this classic methodology for planning innovation. In short, too many firms used conventional planning to manage their new ventures. What Is Discovery Driven-Planning?

Planning 9

Planning Benchmarking Project Competitive Advantage 9

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 22, 2012

Sometimes, it seems they've always loomed large: for decades, Michael Porter has been synonymous with strategy, and John Kotter with change management. One minute, you've never heard of Eric Ries , and the next he's on the cover of Inc. magazine, speaking at major conferences, and advising the White House on innovation.

Reputation 9

Reputation Ries Case Study Kotter 9

Harvard Business Review

JULY 16, 2013

For a designer like myself, it''s easy to recognize which executives know their products intimately, and which manage from a spreadsheet. That''s a big change from only five years ago, when UX wasn''t on anyone''s radar outside the tech world. A few years ago, this characterization would have seemed like a step down for a senior executive.

Leadership 10

Leadership Ries CEO Productivity 10