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Dancing at the Innovation ball
Image: Vectorpouch on Freepik Innovation is all about uncertainty - no-one knows quite what's around the corner. So there's a limit to...

John Bessant
Feb 28, 20221 min read


Making innovation count
The great management writer W. Edwards Deming had a powerful introduction to his talks on quality management. Pulling out a dollar bill...

John Bessant
Feb 3, 20221 min read


Not invented here?
Why letting go is sometimes the hardest part of innovation History is full of examples of innovations which, despite their promise, have...

John Bessant
Jan 20, 20221 min read


Everyday entrepreneurs
Here’s a challenge. Close your eyes and try to visualise an entrepreneur. There’s a good chance that what you’ve come up with will be...

John Bessant
Jan 9, 20221 min read


Learning to create the digital future
What kinds of skills are going to be needed in organizations as they move towards an increasingly ‘phygital’ (= hybrid physical and...

John Bessant
Dec 20, 20211 min read


Delivering digital transformation
The challenge of digital innovation is everywhere. It’s hard to escape the talk of ‘revolutionary impact’ or ‘digital disruption’ or the...

John Bessant
Dec 10, 20211 min read


Successful alchemy
This is the story of the development of porcelain, a series of innovations which enabled the creation of beautiful artefacts and a global...

John Bessant
Nov 24, 20211 min read


Shaping the future of learning about innovation
The development of skills and capabilities to work with innovation is becoming essential — they are no longer the province of...

John Bessant
Nov 19, 20211 min read


Priming the innovation pump
Image: Kvalifik on Unsplash You don’t get to be 150 years old just by being lucky. German pump-maker Wilo is paused to celebrate its big...

John Bessant
Nov 1, 20211 min read


Learning into the future
Innovation matters — of course. It’s the driving force behind economic and social change and underpins our evolution as a civilised...

John Bessant
Oct 20, 202113 min read


learning to play - and Playing to learn
Image: Robert Collins on Unsplash I’ve just come back from a workshop held at the FlyingLab — a simulator/ lab/play space set up by the...

John Bessant
Oct 8, 20218 min read


Going with the flow
How great ideas sometimes come from following the natural flow of things….. Image: James Homans on Unsplash Sometimes it’s the simplest...

John Bessant
Sep 29, 20218 min read


How is Social Media Driving Innovation?
Image credit — Unsplash (This is the first in what will be a series of guest blog pieces, picking up on key themes in innovation...
jBurris
Sep 21, 20213 min read


Sustainability-led innovation
The sustainability challenge. Maybe you’re a pessimist, seeing dire threats in global warming, worrying about the rate at which we’re...

John Bessant
Sep 14, 20219 min read


Flying high with great ideas...
How psychological safety can help foster innovation Try this. Get hold of a group of people, mostly strangers, and have them gather at...

John Bessant
Sep 2, 20216 min read


Old kids on the innovation block
Image: @pisarovski on Freepik It’s sometimes easy to forget that even the world’s largest companies were once start-ups. And a key ...

John Bessant
Aug 12, 20211 min read


Innovation courses...
Innovation courses are a bit like London buses - you wait for ages and then two turn up at the same time! I’m launching my own integrated...

John Bessant
Aug 4, 20211 min read


Learning to manage innovation - a glimpse into the future
(Click the image to listen to the podcast) One of the few good things to come out of the current pandemic crisis has been the steady flow...

John Bessant
Jul 31, 202114 min read


Crisis innovation - another song.....
This formed part of my keynote session with Tim Minshall at the R&D Management conference last week. Their title was 'Innovation in an...

John Bessant
Jul 14, 20213 min read


Transacting innovation ideas...
There’s a lot to like about Berlin - a city swollen with culture (anywhere that devotes a whole island to museums and galleries must...

John Bessant
Jun 28, 20215 min read
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