In 2007, my business book Group Genius was one of the first books about collaboration and innovation. Since 2007, a lot more books have been published on that topic, each one affirming the points in my book. That’s because Group Genius was grounded in scientific research, and that research has stood the test of time.… Read More Group Genius: Today It’s the Accepted Wisdom
In this weekend’s Wall Street Journal,* Alex Foege is critical of “tinkering time”. My ears perked up, because this is a common practice at some of the most innovative companies. It means you give each employee a small percentage of each week to dedicate to their own pet projects. W. L. Gore gives each worker… Read More Tinkering Toward Innovation
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is suing Google, claiming that Android infringes on iOS (iPhone) patents. One of Apple’s patents is apparently for the feature of clicking on a phone number in a web page, to make the phone automatically dial that number. That patent should be invalidated immediately, for several reasons: 1.… Read More Clickable Phone Numbers: Obvious or Not?
Last week a U.S. jury sided with Apple in its patent case against Samsung and awarded Apple $1.05 billion. Robin Feldman, an intellectual property law professor at the University of California Hastings Law School, said this just before the verdict: “The trial is evidence of a patent system that is out of control. No matter… Read More Apple Wins in Court; Innovation Loses
Starting in 2008, Google’s statisticians began “Project Oxygen”.* The plan was to statistically analyze years of performance reviews to identify which behaviors were associated with the best performing managers. The methodology also allowed them to rank-order the behaviors. Here they are, from top to bottom: Be a good coach. Provide specific, constructive feedback. Empower your… Read More Google’s Study of Effective Managers
Google has a famous strategy for innovation: Give each engineer one day every week to work on blue-sky, big potential ideas of their own choosing, and only require them to work on their “official” assigned project four days each week. When I describe this to executives, I often get this question: “Why wouldn’t the engineer… Read More Innovation at Google
In each creative field, whether art, science, or invention, the creator’s productivity goes through a characteristic trajectory: it builds up, reaches a peak age of creative productivity, and then tends to drop off over the rest of the lifespan. The curve looks different in different fields; for example, in math and physics, productivity shoots up… Read More Extending the creative lifespan
How can we maximize human potential to make the world a better place? How can we make work more fulfilling–whether in a business, a school, or a government agency? For the past two days, I’ve been attending a high-powered conference here in Half Moon Bay, California, hosted by Gary Hamel (Wall Street Journal’s “top business… Read More Inventing the Future of Management
The Creativity Guru 