Posts by Robert B. Tucker
How Does Amazon Do It? Five Critical Factors That Explain Amazon’s Incredible Success
With Amazon edging towards becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar company, fresh attention is being paid to the factors that could derail its growth. The company slowed a bit this quarter, sending the stock down eleven percent. Nevertheless, this downtick should not distract from the reality that Amazon has emerged as the new model of innovation effectiveness.…
Read MoreEight Things Winning Innovation Teams Do Differently
It’s no secret that innovation is tough to pull off. Even the “world’s most innovative†companies sometimes stumble. Just ask General Electric, which was recently delisted from the Dow Jones Index. Whirlpool’s tariff relief may give a boost to the beleaguered company, but American consumers appear to favor Korean brands and European styling. And former…
Read MoreThe Four Modes of Thinking and How They Impact Performance
Hi there, this is your brain speaking. Just wondering what thinking mode you are operating in today?  Seems simple, but it’s important to know what’s going on up there. Here’s why: Success in today’s hyper-competitive global economy depends on what’s happening upstairs in that frontal lobe of your brain where problem-solving, creativity and other cognitive functions…
Read MoreTracking Trends – Six Essential Steps for Spotting Your Next Opportunity
I once asked Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, what led him to start the company back in 1971. He explained that, at the time, he was running a company at the Little Rock, Arkansas, airport, refurbishing executive aircraft. It was there he began to notice that with increasing frequency, business people were showing up…
Read MoreThree Ways to Fend Off Disruption
Have you heard the joke about the disrupted barber? He was happily running a one-chair barbershop for years when a discount haircutter opened across the street. Customers deserted him. Business plummeted. The man grew desperate. Till one day he fought back: he created a sign and put it out front: “We fix $9 haircuts.†Business…
Read MoreWhy Innovation Leaders are Running Into Brick Walls of Opposition
Every now and then, a study crosses my desk that causes me to assault my assumptions on almost everything I thought I knew. And a just-released report by Boston-based membership organization Innovation Leader did exactly that. The upshot: I assumed that the practice of innovation was further along than it now appears to be. Let me explain.
Read MoreSix Ways to Raise Your Innovation Game
I just got back from speaking at a large conference of retail professionals in Scottsdale, Arizona. Bricks and mortar retailers these days are quickly becoming the proverbial “canary in the coal mine,†as economic and consumer trends hit them first. The death of Radio Shack, Borders, Comp USA, Blockbuster, A&P and others has energized this sector, and given rise to the notion that innovation is everybody’s business, not just the C-Suite.
Read MoreThe Five Hottest Innovation Trends
The start up craze. 3-D printing. Uber, AirBNB and the unstoppable On Demand Economy. We first reported on these and other driving forces of change in the inaugural issue of InnovationTrends (May, 2014). Only a year ago, we were just hearing about the “sharing economy†(since renamed the On Demand Economy), today the mainstream media reports on these trends constantly. Check out these top five I-Trends:
Read MoreAssessing Your Innovation Skills: Four ways to become indispensable
By 2025, predicts McKinsey Research, 140 million knowledge worker jobs could be replaced by office automation, and 75 million jobs by robots. What can you do, not just to ensure your employment, but your employability in the years ahead?
Read MoreSix Essentials to Cultivating an Innovation Culture
A decade ago, I was invited to coach a group of Nokia’s fast-rising superstars. Thirty-five “high potential†managers flew in to Palo Alto, California to network, sample local wines, and focus on innovation. At the time, Nokia seemed unstoppable. Growth was in the double digits. “The company sells five phones every second,†gushed Fast Company in a profile.
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