The Innovation Zone

Go Getter or Go Giver?

A great little book I came across recently. (hear me interview the author Bob Burg on blogtalkradio) Ranked as one of Amazon.com's top books (#13 today!), The book offers  insight into what the author calls the Five Laws of Success - five skills we all need in order to get ahead in  business and in life. It's an easy read (pack it for your next flight), written as fiction, it tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success. Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. The Go Giver takes you on a personal journey of innovation that cuts to the core of how you approach success. This is simple stuff we all should know cold (and probably do), but don't practice as often as we preach it. Hey, innovation has to begin somewhere - why not with ourselves first?

Gen Y++

There is nothing new about the chasm between generations. It was there as I was growing up in tied died blue jeans with shoulder length locks (yes, no kidding, me!). It was there as my parents left the old country to come to the promised land of America, and it's there today as my daughter lobbies for an iPhone. So maybe I'm just taking my place in a long line of older generations when I step up to the microphone to express my amazement at how wide the gap seems to be from where I stand.

Yesterday I had the chance to talk about innovation to a group of underfrad students at Babson. It's not a new venue for me. I've guest lectured at a number of schools and was an adjunct at Boston College for several years. But it's been a little while since the last time I did that. Boy was I in for a surprise!