Welcome to Conspire’s Fun Friday Links, a weekly collection of interesting discoveries from around the Web. Most of the time, the goal is to get you thinking differently about innovation, collaboration, business culture, and life in general. Other times, we may toss an infographic or fun video your way. Submissions are welcome, and you can send them to conspire@mindjet.com for consideration.
11 Ways Big Companies Undermine Innovation
The process of innovation has become something of a David vs. Goliath scenario. In this case, however, Goliath is traditional corporate structure that wants very much to be as successful as David without having to act like him, and is too big, too stubborn, and too stuck in the past to catch up. From Harvard Business Review:
“Chief executives and business unit leaders weave the word innovation into their PowerPoints, hoping it will magically yield better product ideas, or miraculous improvements to existing processes.
I’m not (only) mocking the cult of innovation. Something very real is happening here: as it becomes cheaper and easier for startups to upend existing businesses with new offerings, big companies are realizing that they can’t continue to rely on their time-worn methods for cultivating and developing new products, and lumbering into new markets.
But in pursuing new strategies like open innovation, hackathons, corporate venture capital investing, or the “lean startup” methodology, the hulking mass of corporate culture and structure can get in the way. It’s like heading to the jungle to hunt for El Dorado in an overstuffed Winnebago.”
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7 Core Beliefs of Extraordinary Time Managers
Productively getting things done without wanting to throw your computer off a bridge may not seem like a choice we have. But according to the people who’ve mastered time-management, that’s exactly where most of us are wrong. From Inc.:
“Ordinary time managers see stress and overwhelm as inevitable on the path to success. Because they don’t question this assumption, they tend to blame other people or their situation for their time management challenges. They frequently miss opportunities to be more effective.
Extraordinary time managers realize that their choices determine whether or not they end up stressed and overwhelmed. They take ownership of their commitments, negotiate expectations, set boundaries, and if necessary, leave situations that don’t work for them.”
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Emotional Intelligence Can Be Your Project’s Most Critical Success Factor
In a nutshell? Unhappy people are unmotivated. They don’t care much, and will consider projects that perpetuate their unhappiness to be of low priority — even if that’s not at all the case according to business leaders. Solution? Nurture emotional intelligence. From Entrepreneur:
“According to Daniel Goleman, the author of Emotional Intelligence, emotional intelligence is made up of five key components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.
When EQ components are evident, a project team will act with a high emotional bank account, the buffer or shield that can protect a team and support project success on a high-risk, high-engagement project. An emotional bank account is a Stephen Covey metaphor for the amount of trust perceived in a relationship.
With a well-funded account balance, project team members feel secure in imagining and executing creative paths to success and issues that arise are remedied efficiently and maturely. Research shows that a more cohesive, high-performing team produces better results.
But an EQ-deficient environment leaves employees feeling overworked, underappreciated and unwilling to help each other. Quite simply, unhappy team members can hinder the success of a project.”
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