The Best Moderators? A 3rd Grade Teacher!
Part I Both of my parents were lifelong educators. My dad earned his doctorate in the 1970’s, and I recently stumbled across some of his research papers. He had a keen interest in learning styles and researched the topic extensively. Many of the theories he wrote about have been scientifically proven through neuroscience, and they apply to qualitative research. In short, if you want to...
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Agile Innovation: The Ultimate Oxymoron?
Innovation teams are under immense pressure to generate new revenue and profit, quickly. A common criticism of front-end-of-innovation (FEI) assignments is that they are time-consuming and lack agility. Indeed, there are many ways that these assignments can “go off the rails.” The worst possible outcome is when the cross-functional team is not aligned on the insights and opportunities. Critical momentum is lost, launch deadlines delayed,...
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Thanksgiving: Many Lessons in Innovation
I recently completed a fascinating article about the history of Thanksgiving in the U.S. Despite what you might think, the “first feast” was meager consisting of seafood, wild game, and raw pumpkin and cranberries. (Note the exclusion of fried turkey, pumpkin pie and cranberry relish.) Another fun fact: forks didn’t exist. Historians have confirmed that our first Thanksgiving was eaten using the hands, a knife,...
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Survive The FEI!
One of our clients recently referred to the front-end-of-innovation (FEI) as a “simmering pot of ideas, opportunities, opinions, politics, and fear.” In response, I quipped, “remind me not to ask you for a testimonial for our next brochure.” Seriously though, these feelings were founded as this client had recently completed its first ever investment in a formal FEI assignment. Not to mention, this client also...
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Strategies for Better Customer Journey Maps
Tell me about the last time you bought a new mattress. Tell me everything that went into that purchase—the time spent researching, mattress stores visited, even the nights spent tossing and turning while deciding you really did need a new mattress. Before you start emailing me about your mattress-buying experiences, know that I’m only trying to make a point. It’s a pretty daunting task to...
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