Why innovation is the most fun you can have in business

I was delighted to book a special keynote on innovation this week with an Ontario community. Details will follow shortly.

Innovation is one of the toughest challenges for businesses today. It's an essential survival skill for most businesses , but it's also a process/frame of mind that is hard to integrate into businesses that have traditionally succeeded doing just one or two things really, really well.

Here's the blurb for my presentation on Doable Innovation to help you commit to making growth and product development part of your business's DNA.

In today’s fast-changing markets, innovation is becoming an increasingly essential tactic for survival and success. But most organizations have trouble harnessing the potential of innovation.  Businesses are generally created to fill a need and then replicate successful processes again and again – so it’s no wonder they don't understand where and how to inject regular, sustained jolts of innovation into their operations.

That’s why Rick Spence has created a simple new framework to help businesses master the challenges of innovation and new product development. A business writer and speaker who has studied Canadian entrepreneurship and innovation for 25 years, Rick thinks innovation can be part of every company’s DNA. Innovation isn’t a revolution – it’s about tweaking what you already do in order to do more of it, for more people. Innovation is based on two things we should all be doing more of: listening to customers, and giving our staffs the confidence to ask each other, “What else can we do for our customers?”

In this interactive and highly entertaining keynote, you will learn:

·       Why innovation is the key business process of the 21^st century;

·       Stories and case studies from successful Ontario companies that have embraced simple, sustained innovation, including manufacturers, retailers, professional service companies and solo entrepreneurs;

·       Why you and your team members are more creative than you think;

·       Seven easy steps for taking innovation out of your backrooms and into the marketplace.

“People often think innovation is harder than it is,” says Rick. “It’s actually the most fun you can have in business. It will engage and re-energize your employees, and draw you closer to your customers. It’s win-win-win.”

Rick Spence is an entrepreneur, writer and speaker specializing in entrepreneurship and growth. He is the former editor and publisher of PROFIT magazine, and now a twice-weekly columnist for the National Post. He is the author of Secret of Success from Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies. Rick has taught entrepreneurship at Ryerson University and sits on the board of directors of a multinational software company. Follow him on Twitter at @RickSpence.