Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 3, 2014

When CEOs set out to conquer new markets or undertake billion-dollar acquisitions, we’d hope they’d at least sought out some consensus from their trusted advisors. In so doing, you increase the speed of innovation and decrease the cost of failure. If you truly want to innovate, it’s important not to punish failure.

Consensus 13

Consensus Innovation Company Ries 13

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 18, 2012

They're what Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup , calls "vanity metrics.". That's what Ries calls an "engine of growth.". Seek out what Ries refers to as "actionable metrics." These methods can become major marketing channels, customer-service delivery channels, and new ways of gathering intelligence.

Metrics 18

Metrics Media Ries Reference 18

Harvard Business Review

MAY 25, 2012

The widespread adoption of Eric Ries 's work beyond Silicon Valley has been a godsend for innovators. At IDEO, we frequently refer to Ries's work to help clients understand approaches to innovation, and believe that we have identified a few helpful best practices that build on the approach defined in The Lean Startup.

Ries 15

Ries Business Model Entrepreneur Agility 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 27, 2015

Can you think of any business topic that’s been hotter for longer than innovation? In a McKinsey poll , 94% of the managers surveyed said they were dissatisfied with their company’s innovation performance. And yet when it comes to innovation, the gap between aspiration and accomplishment seems as big as ever.

Innovation 8

Innovation Company Engineering Supply Chain 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 30, 2017

In his Harvard Business Review article summing up his tenure, Immelt recalls that the two things that influenced him most were Marc Andreessen’s 2011 Wall Street Journal article “ Why Software Is Eating the World ” and Eric Ries’s book The Lean Startup. Innovation at GE was on a roll. Then it wasn’t.

Ries 8

Ries Long-term Short-term Price 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 30, 2014

For companies seeking to innovate, adapt to change, and maintain an edge in fast-moving, competitive markets, a questioning culture can help ensure that creativity and adaptive thinking flows throughout the organization. Ries points out that at most companies, “the resources flow to the person with the most confident, best plan.

Company 11

Company Ries Christensen Innovation 11

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Recognize that innovation requires failure. In a world where competitive advantage is increasingly short-lived, as Columbia Business School professor Rita Gunther McGrath has described , successful companies have to bake innovation into their standard processes. Here’s how to leverage that setback into even greater success.

Ries 14

Ries Open-book Competitive Advantage Education 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 9, 2016

We can still see the “brand as object” model in the American Marketing Association’s definition : “Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” Brand innovators tend to create different kinds of relationships.

Brand 8

Brand Airlines Health Care Trout 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 16, 2016

When my publication, Innovation Leader, surveyed 170 executives who work in R&D, strategy, and new product development roles at large public companies, we found that 82% said they’ve already deployed some elements of the lean startup approach. Show customers barely-working products with rough edges?

Company 8

Company Airlines Ries Survey 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2013

In my eyes, the work Steve Blank, Eric Ries, and others have done to provide a cogent, accessible frame around the academic concepts of emergent strategy is one of the most important contributions to the innovation movement over the past few years. Corporate leaders can take steps to encourage this kind of market-based learning.

Ries 8

Ries Telecommunications Business Model Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 13, 2014

You need to think like a portfolio manager, allocating resources both to innovate in your core and for the future. Knowing that today’s operations will almost always win the lion’s share of resources, you need to consciously create a protected class of innovative ideas to invest in, even if money is tight.

Six Sigma 8

Six Sigma Incubator Payback Period Ries 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 30, 2013

In 2010, one of us was sitting in a room at the Harvard Business School with Eric Ries and a number of budding entrepreneurs. For that reason, the "Lean" mentality is one of the most powerful tools in the innovator''s arsenal — in startups and mature corporations alike. One of these young entrepreneurs in particular stood out.

Company 9

Company Ries Maturity Innovation 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 17, 2012

The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen (which is also on John Coleman's list) builds on the notion of a growth mindset more specifically within a business context. Whether disruptive innovation involves a product, service, company, or especially, an individual, Christensen provides a robust theory for learning how to lead.

Books 13

Books Christensen Ries Disruptive Innovation 13

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2011

The innovation research identifies the tyranny of large numbers as a common (and vexing) problem for leaders as companies grow, well documented by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen in The Innovators Solution , Jim Collins in How the Mighty Fall , and by Scott Anthony on this blog. Their ideas made sense.

Ries 11

Ries Agility Market Segmentation Christensen 11

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 13, 2017

So you look at past projects, gather and analyze relevant market data, make predictions about how much revenue you’ll be able to generate, decide what resources you’ll need, and set milestones to reach your targets. You’re working on a new venture and you know you’ve got to create a plan to execute it. Not so fast.

Planning 9

Planning Benchmarking Project Competitive Advantage 9

Harvard Business Review

JULY 16, 2013

They recognize that as UX eclipses traditional brand marketing, they need to be more hands-on with their products. The gap is growing between traditional sales-and-marketing-driven behemoths with their "customer-centric" approach and the new breed of organizations like Square and Zipcar, who have a "UX-centric" culture.

Leadership 10

Leadership Ries CEO Productivity 10

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 28, 2013

This was the advice I got from a marketing guru when I asked for his help with titling my second book. As David Burkus recently wrote, innovation isn''t an idea problem, but rather a recognition problem ; a lack of noticing the good ideas already there. This is what that marketing guru was trying to tell me.

Ries 10

Ries Conference Diversity Power 10

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 22, 2012

One minute, you've never heard of Eric Ries , and the next he's on the cover of Inc. magazine, speaking at major conferences, and advising the White House on innovation. Sometimes, it seems they've always loomed large: for decades, Michael Porter has been synonymous with strategy, and John Kotter with change management.

Reputation 8

Reputation Case Study Ries Kotter 8