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Gladwell is an idea connector. I suspect he also is a people connector.

I find his work important because he recognizes how varied ideas connect. He paints a word picture of a world that makes more sense after you read his work than before you read it.

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Mr. Obama will tell the delegates to the climate conference that the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions “in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020,” according to a White House official.

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Creativity as a Search for Meaning

By By John Armato

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…Creativity is part of, and not necessarily separate from, intellectual efforts…one of my frustrations with perceptions of creativity (especially in the workplace) is that it is the icing and not the cake. There’s a tendency to equate “being creative” with “being wacky.” This does nothing for making meaning.

That’s why I’m especially passionate about what I call the “Do Something Real” mandate. Consumers just want what they want. And that doesn’t include having relationships with brands just because brands want them to. It’s about saying, showing, giving, or doing something that matters to them, that brings them value, because you can’t fight clutter with clutter. You can fight clutter only with relevance. Simply put, it’s about striving for PR programs and communications that are meaningful to people.

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Is Your Company Brave Enough for Business Model Innovation?

By Mark W. Johnson

[Excerpt:]

To crack this nut, the technology needs to be delivered to market with the appropriate business model — and there’s no guarantee that the right business model is the one IBM is currently using. The business problem confronting IBM, then, is whether it needs a different model to realize this opportunity. If so, IBM must figure out a way to seize what I call its “white space beyond” — that is, its opportunity to open up an entirely new market with an entirely new business model.

IBM has done this before many times, having successfully moved, for example, from the leasing model it used to sell its fabulously costly mainframes in the 1960s to a purchase model for its lower-end mainframes and minicomputers in the 1970s, and — far more radically — to a retail model for its personal computers in the 1980s.

IBM took a lot of flack for being something of a technology laggard in the PC market, preferring to be a fast follower; it didn’t get nearly enough credit for being on the cutting edge of business model innovation.

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TweetsGiving Aims to Raise $100,000 for Charity Through Social Media

By Jennifer Van Grove

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If you’re not familiar with TweetsGiving, it’s a global, volunteer-organized social media charity drive starting today and extending through Thanksgiving, similar in purpose and practice to Twestival, but built around the notion of celebrating gratitude. TweetsGiving gives back to the Epic Change charity in an effort to raise money to build additional classrooms, a library, cafeteria, and dormitory for a school in Tanzania.

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Innovation Perspectives - Do you need permission to innovate?

This is the first of several ‘Innovation Perspectives’ articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on ‘What is the most dangerous current misconception in innovation?’. To kick it off, here is Steve Todd’s perspective: by Steve Todd

Permission to Innovate: Who Needs Permission?

The most dangerous misconception that I often see in potential innovators is their belief that they need permission to innovate. Or approval. Or funding. Or a specific job title, for that matter.

Some innovators may be living in a culture where personal innovation is discouraged. Not to worry. Start a skunkworks and apologize later.

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How Open Innovation Can Help You Cope in Lean Times

By Henry W. Chesbrough and Andrew R. Garman

These strategic moves can reduce the costs of R&D today without sacrificing tomorrow’s growth.

History shows that the companies that continue to invest in their innovative capabilities during tough economic times are those that fare best when growth returns. That’s how the U.S. chemicals industry overtook Britain’s after World War I, how Sears surpassed Montgomery Ward as the leading U.S. retailer after World War II, and how Japanese semiconductor makers outpaced U.S. companies after the downturn of the early 1980s.

[Click on the link to read the rest of this article at Harvard Business Review online.]

Land of Misfit Ideas
by Jeffrey Phillips

Misfit of Innovation…

Do you remember the annual Christmas special about the island of misfit toys, where Rudolph ends up because he doesn’t “fit in” with the other reindeer? The island is full of misfit toys that weren’t acceptable for one reason or another.

A recent Accenture study on innovation found that there must be a mythical land of misfit ideas. Executives who were surveyed for the innovation study said that “opportunities to exploit underdeveloped areas/markets often die because they can never find a home to nurture them.”

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Design Thinking for Social Innovation

Designers have traditionally focused on enhancing the look and functionality of products. Recently, they have begun using design tools to tackle more complex problems, such as finding ways to provide low-cost healthcare throughout the world. Businesses were first to embrace this new approach—called design thinking—now nonprofits are beginning to adopt it too.

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