Recently I read an excerpt from a new business innovation book wherein the author went to great lengths to instill the need to provide sufficient resources for every innovation effort, without which the effort would be almost certain to fail. The cited leadership's frequent failure to ensure adequate resources as the single most important reason for innovation failures.
Hogwash! Not only is the author wrong, his perspective is downright dangerous to the heart of the innovation effort. Frequently when addressing a client's desire to instill greater innovation within their organization, I will define a strategy that purposely restricts access to resources. Why? Simple. When we are faced with severe limitations, most groups either quickly give up or wade into the fray determined to succeed despite the their circumstances.
When I think of difficult, in fact, perilous circumstances, my mind turns to the Apollo 13 near disaster. You will recall that following an onboard explosion enroute to the moon, Houston Ground Control was faced with several problems. First, was how to turn the spacecraft around and head it back to earth. The next arose a few days later when the crew began to suffer carbon dioxide poisoning. In response to this second dilemma and his engineering staff's analysis that no in flight repair was possible given the crew's available resources, the Flight Director gathered the engineering team together. He placed them in a room with only the equipment which the crew had onboard, which he unceremoniously dumped onto the table from several sacks and told them they had just hours to design a solution that the crew could replicate. He also told them that failure was not an option.
The result? With only minutes of oxygen remaining, the engineering team talked the astronauts through the construction of carbon dioxide scrubbers, fabricated from a sock, a carbon filter cartridge of the wrong size, a few other odds and ends and a roll of duct tape. This innovation saved the lives of the three crew members and possibly the future of the Apollo program.
What do you think about this article? Do you agree or disagree with it? Be the first to comment on this article, and share your thoughts with the world. No registration is required to post comments.
Resource Management Software - Enhance Your Bottom Line George Purdy The most crucial decision in a profit-making initiative is to decide the allocation of resources. Resources are often limited and far extend
Resources - Writing the Resource Box Marc Foster The Internet is the information highway, this phrase has been used so long may it should be named for the Internet Photo Award. People who go to the Internet...
It is impossible these days to switch on the television or open up a newspaper and not read about the UK's credit crunch. It seems we are all going to be affected by it whether its increases in petrol...
Airlines would not be able to exist or run properly without the assistance of cabin crew, and this is why they are so fussy about cabin crew recruitment. This is a special job and it requires the services...
Mortgages and the credit crunch Chris Clare The onset of the credit crunch is making it ever more difficult to get a mortgage and you may have found that the credit score that you achieved last year does...
American Crew Shampoo... some of the finest shampoos available for men's hair. Using very high quality natural ingredients, American Crew Shampoo delivers first rate cleansing, conditioning and treatment while
What Innovation Can Do to Your Life Kim and Charles Petty It's a talent that everyone has, yet they think they don't. The power of innovation. If you've ever marvelled at somebody's creative prowess, guess...
Leatherman is the name the associates itself with multi-tools. Leatherman have innovated tools that are high quality. The Crunch is no exception. The Leatherman Crunch deviates from standard Leatherman designs
As the world economy is taking a turn towards the downside, homeowners are also feeling the financial crunch. The United Kingdom, in specific, is badly affected by the tumultuous signs of economy. As people...
These are hard economic times and people are facing a cost crunch. For a newbie Internet businessman there are many things he has to spend on. The cost of designing a web page is a heavy expense. One is...
When innovators talk about thinking outside the box, they mean coming up with creative ways to solve problems - new ways to look at things. How do they do it? How can you do it too? We first have to ask...
Run, run, run. React to this, react to that. How can you be effective when you are continuously being pulled into situations? You want a way out and you think the solution is to become proactive. But how?...
How do you like to solve your problems? Do you prefer to use the more creative problem solving techniques, or the systematic ones? You'll get the best of both with the add-subtract-change method.Add, Subtract,
There were four of us at dinner. Three ordered "regular" coffee, the fourth requested "decaf." Every so often a server, carrying two pitchers, refilled the coffee cups and knowingly poured three cups from...
To creatively solve problems you need to get your mind looking in new directions. You can systematically do this by using a list of words, primarily adjectives, to create "what if?" scenarios. You start...
You've likely heard this beforee... "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."Says who? I mean come on. If prevention was so popular why would we see so many "cures" being marketed. Why? Because of...
How many times have you heard the phrase "knowledge is power"? Probably enough for you to really wonder if you're actually doing something useful with your life, isn't that correct?So you want to possess...
Have you ever used your intuition to solve problems? Can you trust your intuition? Can you improve it?What Is Intuition?Intuition is simply a feeling, sense, or hunch based on information not available to your
People often think that there is a creative type. This is a myth.1. We can all solve problems.2. We can all produce large sets of ideas, large numbers of novel ideas and large numbers of diverse...
There is a momentum of thought in the USA and EU that implies that either of the two continents should come out on top in the innovation game. Perhaps this is related to the number of articles that appear...
The hardest and most important part of any negotiation is knowing when to walk away.Few things are sweeter than a successful negotiation session where both parties leave the table with a winning solution....
Do you need greeters or should you avoid them? That is the perplexing question many retail organizations are struggling with today. Often touted in the press as the perennial example of the benefits to...
Article: Facing A Resource Crunch? Read On! Author: John Di Frances Publication Date: 2007-05-18 Total Views: 566 Word Count: 399 Category:Home /
Advice / Innovation
Categories
