Killer Innovations with Phil McKinneyPast Shows Archives - Killer Innovations with Phil McKinney

COVID-19 greatly impacted technology efforts and continues to do so rapidly. Tim Bajarin joins us from Silicon Valley to discuss work from home shifts and the newest innovations from Apple.

Over the last eighteen months, businesses have realized that bringing everybody back to the office isn’t realistic. People are comfortable with the flexibility that working from home provides. Creative Strategies did several studies on this topic and discovered that people establish sophisticated work from home set-ups. Because people want consistency with their office and work from home, IT directors face new challenges. Even when in-office, people are still connecting with clients and colleagues virtually.

Because people now want studios in their homes for work, homeschooling kids, etc., the housing demand has skyrocketed. Architects are currently designing new custom homes that include studios. We are moving towards the hybrid environment being the norm. Large and small companies have been investing in sprucing up their offices for their employees to match their WFH settings.

COVID has opened room for more innovative technologies. People want better cameras, pushing laptop makers and other tech companies to make heavy improvements. Intel competitors have evolved, such as AMD and Qualcomm. Apple’s introduction of the M1 Chip has immensely shaken things up in the valley. The demand for Macs has increased immensely as well. Apple is innovating on so many fronts and has the patience to stay in it for the long run.

Government regulation has become more prevalent, specifically with the European Union, as it attempts to harness the growth of companies like Apple and Facebook. Tim says that Washington D.C does not understand technology, which has caused some issues. While they talk significantly about clamping down on things, the reality is that great economic challenges will arise if governing bodies step in.

Tim Bajarin is one of the most recognized and sought-after global technology analysts, futurists, and consultants. His fifty years in Silicon Valley have made him a voice that moves the market.

“With his writing and analysis being at the forefront of the digital revolution, Tim was one of the first to cover the personal computer industry and is considered one of the leading experts in the field of technology adoption life cycles. He is president of a technology-focused company, Creative Strategies, and a regular podcaster on Tech.Pinions (also broadcasted on The Innovators Network). He is a futurist and credited with predicting the desktop publishing revolution three years before it reached the market and multimedia.

Been with Creative Strategies since 1981, Tim has served as a consultant to most of the leading hardware and software vendors in the industry (IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, AMD, HP, Xerox, Compaq, Dell, AT&T, Microsoft, Polaroid, Lotus, Epson, Qualcomm, Toshiba, and numerous others).

Tim Bajarin is on the technology advisory boards of IBM, Compaq, and Dell. (from Wikipedia)”

To know more about Tim Bajarin, Work from Home (WFH), Apple, and Silicon Valley, listen to this week's show: Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies on Work from Home (WFH), Apple and Silicon Valley

It's no mystery that COVID-19 disrupted the technology industry. Bob O'Donnell joins us to discuss the innovation impacts of broadband and 5G.

COVID-19 dramatically changed how we communicate, increasing the need for fast, consistent broadband. The broadband industry globally builds around two and a half years of capacity ahead of time. High internet usage spikes from COVID resulted in broadband capacity exhaustion 14 days after March 1, 2020. The spikes were due to people working from home and kids being home from school. Zoom, WebEx, Microsoft, etc., all came together to improve the problems.

A strong work-from-home environment is the byproduct of the shift from in-person to remote. To build out their mobile workstations, people invest in high-quality PCs, monitors, cameras, platforms, etc. Bob believes there will continue to be an “explosion of installs” of different video calling platforms.

Competition in the tech world has seen accelerated growth since COVID-19 started. There are four or five video conferencing platforms most people are currently using. Zoom, for instance, released 320 new features last year. When it comes to microchips, things have never been more competitive. Intel and AMD are working with global governments on semiconductor and supply chain issues. Technological innovations are continuously rolling out.

When it comes to 5G innovation, most of the world started out using mid-band frequencies. The U.S started with low and high-band frequencies. Mid-band turned out to be the fastest, leaving U.S 5G efforts off to a slow start. Like Y2K, everybody knew 5G was coming but did not plan for it properly. However, things are now starting to pick up.

The world's leading proponents on 5G private networks, Vodafone Germany recently unveiled a private network at Porsche's main factory. Everything at the factory runs on a 5G network, which does real-time tuning on the car while it's on a test track. Bob is currently working on a study of private 5G and how companies are implementing it. Everybody is talking about private 5G and its potential impacts from chip manufacturers to software, devices, and networks.

Bob O'Donnell is the President, Founder, and Chief Analyst of TECHnalysis Research. The firm's research and O'Donnell's opinions are also regularly used by major media outlets, including Bloomberg TV, CNBC, CNN, Investor's Business Daily, the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, and more.

O'Donnell writes regular columns for USAToday and Forbes and a weekly blog for Tech.pinions.com published on TechSpot, SeekingAlpha, and LinkedIn. Before founding TECHnalysis Research, Bob served as Program Vice President, Clients, and Displays for industry research firm IDC. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

To know more about Bob O'Donnell and innovation impacts, listen to this week's show: Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research — What Innovation Will Impact You?

Many businesses find their innovations fail, often at great expense and strenuous effort. These innovation failures surprise and frustrate them. They are then left wondering as to what caused their innovations to fail.

Many causes result in innovation efforts failing. While many causes of innovation failure are within your control, some are not. Understanding the most common causes of innovation failure is essential to prepare yourself better to address them. When you are prepared to face the inevitable, you increase your chances of success.

To know more about the causes of innovation fails, listen to this week's show: Why Innovation Fails – The Top 10 Causes.

Innovation tools allow us to do things we naturally can’t, which unleashes our creative potential. It can be hard to pinpoint the right one for your organization with thousands of options out there. Let’s explore several innovation tool categories that will help improve performance.

To know more about these innovation tools, listen to this week's show: 9 Types of Innovation Tools.

Creativity is one of the most important skills you can have. It unlocks the door to game-changing ideas. Although some people have it naturally, some exercises help in improving creativity.

1.     Take a walk outside: Breaking free of your work, moving around, and observing your surroundings can give you mental clarity and boost creativity. 

2.     Write a list of things that annoy you: You can identify new patterns by identifying these things. This exercise can lead to new ideas previously unseen. 

3.     Play with the lyrics to your favorite song: Playing with the lyrics of your favorite song opens your mind to new possibilities and breaks you out of your comfort zone. 

4.     Create a video montage of your day: This can be a fun way to document your life and see how your creativity manifests itself. Trying different techniques and making edits will improve your creativity skills.

5.     Write about what scares you and why it scares you: Some creatives sharpen creativity muscles by writing about what scares them and why (or writing about what doesn't scare them). Exploring scary things can open new avenues that would otherwise be closed.   

6.     Play games that require creativity: Many creatives play games such as chess or scrabble. These games sharpen the mind and improve problem-solving. 

7.     Do something that makes you laugh: If you're struggling with a creativity block, you can watch funny videos or do other things that release endorphins.

8.     Draw something you see every day but don't pay attention to: When we see the same things repeatedly, they become mundane. If we examined the objects and scenes that make up our everyday lives, we'd be surprised at how much creativity hides in plain sight.

9.     Exercise your brain with a puzzle: Puzzles exercise the creative side of your brain by forcing you to come up with new ideas and solutions. Doing this can help you break out of a rut.

10.  Make crafts out of old things lying around the house: Crafts helps you tap into your creativity and improves your ideation.

To know more about these creativity exercises, listen to this week's show: 10 Exercises That Will Improve Your Creativity.

Benchmarking compares your organization to others to measure your performance and identify areas for improvement. When done correctly, benchmarking can help you learn from your peers and identify areas for improvement. However, benchmarking can also have negative consequences if done incorrectly. How do you escape the innovation benchmark trap?

Proper benchmarking helps you understand how you compare to others in your industry and makes it easier to identify best practices. It can also help with planning strategic initiatives and resource allocation. An example of bad benchmarking comes from the story of MCI WorldCom in the late 90s and early 2000s. MCI WorldCom was involved in fraud which inflated their assets. Ultimately, many companies benchmarking themselves with MCI WorldCom went bankrupt.

Innovation benchmarking, which compares how an organization innovates to others, is becoming more popular. This is growing because leaders are feeling more uncertain about innovation. This uncertainty comes from a lack of confidence in their ability to generate new ideas.

Some consequences of innovation benchmarking include:

Leaders –

The best way to avoid the trap is to benchmark with purpose. Learn from peers, but don't assume that what worked for them will work for you. If you follow blindly, your organization can fall apart. It's critical to understand their thought process and discern if their approach is worth experimenting with.

To know more about benchmarks, listen to this week's show: How to Escape the Innovation Benchmark Trap.

It takes practice and patience to develop your creativity, and there are bad habits people learn which crush their creativity. But like all bad habits, we can break these if we are willing to work at it!

Habits are things you do automatically, without thinking. Bad habits can form in a few days, but it can take months or years to form good ones. Breaking bad habits and creating good ones can be challenging, but it's worth it in the long run. You need to be aware of your bad habits and then find a new routine that rewards you by creating a good habit to replace them.

Here are eight of the very worst bad habits that could hold you back creatively every day:

To know more about bad habits that kill creativity, listen to this week's show: What Bad Habits are Killing Your Creativity?

With the start of a new year, let’s look back at the most downloaded episode of 2021.

As an innovation leader, I encounter loads of information every day. I like to use tools that capture/organize this information and bring it together in a way that’s easy to access. I need these tools to be accessible on an iPhone, Android, laptop, and iPad. Here are the five tools I use which fit my criteria:

I like to separate my tools into categories like information collection, organization/combination, and the serendipity effect. I used to use Moleskine notebooks for collection, but now I use the reMarkable 2 tablet. It’s similar to writing on paper. All my information is sent to my phone and desktop for storage. I also like using the Kindle Oasis to highlight and save information that I find important or interesting. I use Otter.ai when I am running ideation sessions. This tool acts as an AI-powered assistant, recording and transcribing meetings and other meaningful conversations.

I listen to many audiobooks and podcasts, hardcover books, and online articles. I need a tool that can gather all that information and synthesize it. That is where Readwise comes into play. This tool does all that and pinpoints things I may have missed initially, triggering serendipity. I like to pair Readwise with a tool called Roam Research, which organizes and makes connections between the information Readwise collects.

To know more about my favorite innovation tools, listen to this week's show: Most Downloaded Episode of 2021

Creative people can think of new ideas, and creative ideas are those ideas that are new, useful, and different. It all starts with the creative person. What is so special about them? What are their qualities?

Creative people often have a sense of limitless creative freedom and experimentation. Their creative genius is a natural part of who they are. If you are not naturally creative, you can learn and develop your creativity by applying creative qualities.

To know more about the qualities of creatives, listen to this week's show: What are the Qualities of a Creative Person?

For innovation leaders, it is vital to learn how to turn failures into successes. Innovation is all about seeing opportunities others don’t see and seizing them. Successful failures lead to successful innovations.

The experimentation phase is within the innovation process, often full of failures. These failures are not always negative. When things don’t go as planned, failures allow us to see what needs change. Successful innovations require risk and a capacity for productive failures, which reveal something new about the problem you are trying to solve. To experience productive failure, you have to fail successfully. Three characteristics help you figure out if your failures are successful.

To know more about these characteristics, listen to this week's show: 3 Characteristics of Successful Failures.