The World Has Changed In 20 Years, But Not Innovation

The World Has Changed In 20 Years, But Not Innovation

On May 17th 2001, twenty years ago, I started Miller-Klein Associates Ltd. The corporate merry-go-round had taken another turn, leaving me without an exciting job, so I turned to private practice. My ambitions were limited. I wasn’t interested in starting another ...

The Price Today is not the Price in the Future

The Price Today is not the Price in the Future

Prices fall We have all noticed, or should have noticed, that manufactured products tend to get cheaper with time. The extreme case is computing. The first personal computer I used professionally in 1978 was the Commodore PET. This beast had an ...

You Hate Bureaucracy, But What is Your Alternative?

You Hate Bureaucracy, But What is Your Alternative?

It may be old-age or being locked down by Covid-19, but I’m feeling rather grumpy. As soon as I had finished my previous blog on the dangers of so-called ‘best practice’, I heard myself saying “and another thing!”. So here ...

When Best Practice is a Terrible Idea

When Best Practice is a Terrible Idea

I don’t know about you, but I react badly to the label “best practice”. What gets touted as best practice is often terrible practice. Or at least the wrong practice in the wrong place at the wrong time. It starts with ...

3 Powerful Strategies to Position for Growth

3 Powerful Strategies to Position for Growth

Over the years I have attended many courses, workshops, and talks on business strategy. Some memorable, and some not. Some engaging and useful, and others confusing and a waste of time. The best of the lot were courses by Arnoldo ...

A Powerful Tool to Focus on Stocks and Flows

A Powerful Tool to Focus on Stocks and Flows

In 1892 the wonderfully named Captain Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey became lead engineer and steam engine designer for Willans and Robinson. The efficiency of steam engines was a hot topic, and he needed to understand and communicate where the ...

How to Understand Your Customers? Listen to Them!

How to Understand Your Customers? Listen to Them!

Photo by nappy from Pexels In your innovation journey, you will have to talk to your customers to find out whether your new idea works for them. After all, we know that the number one reason for innovations falling flat is that they solve ...

Gaining Mastery - See One, Do One, Teach One

Gaining Mastery – See One, Do One, Teach One

Years ago, I asked a surgeon how they learnt a new procedure; you can’t operate on a patient with a textbook propped open on a convenient part of their body. They said it was very simple; “you watch one, you do ...

Two Great Innovations - One Specific Solution and One Technology

Two Great Innovations – One Specific Solution and One Technology

There are many kinds of innovation. Some hit you with a flash of light as you realise that there is a simple, practical and clever solution to a pervasive problem. The kind of innovation that makes you slap your head ...

Precision Has Made Our World What It Is

Precision Has Made Our World What It Is

Looking back through the history of innovation, the technologies that created the biggest impact are the ones that enabled further innovation. Whether it’s the water wheel, the steam engine, the electric motor or the microchip, each triggered a wave of ...