7 Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs

Happy New Year! 2011 has finally arrived, and I'm looking forward to new innovative gadgets that I can put my hands on! I have to admit, that personally, 2010 was a year that I willingly bought several Apple products without giving them second thoughts. Their eye-candy design, intuitive user interface and simplicity are many of the obvious selling points on the radar.

Of course, many have wondered, how is Apple able to introduce these highly desirable products? I believe the answer is in many ways quite complex (i.e. design, simplicity, business model innovation, innovation culture and uncovering hidden user needs). Nevertheless, below is a presentation of 7 innovation secrets from Steve Jobs - deriving from his personal entrepreneurial success. The principles are outlined by Carmine Gallo in his new book, The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs (McGraw-Hill (MHP), October 2010).

The 7 Principles of Innovation according to this book are:
1. Do what You Love
2. Put a Dent in the Universe
3. Kick-Start Your Brain
4. Sell Dreams, Not Products
5. Say No to 1,000 Things
6. Create Insanely Great Experiences
7. Master the Message

7 Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs

Ken Robinson argues that schools kill creativity

I was lucky enough to watch Sir Ken Robinson live at a conference (Innotown) a couple of years ago. Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Robinson is an author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies. He was knighted in 2003 for services to education.

Highly recommended.

Creativity in Action(!)

Funny how the outcome of a creative process can turn into something completely unimagined. Check out the hilarious video below that illustrates this point quite nicely:

Motivation and incentives related to creative work

How do we become more motivated? Higher salary? Maybe to a certain extent. According to Dan Pink, there are three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction: autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Check out the fantastic video below - called 'The surprising truth about what motivates us'. Now, that's what I call a creative presentation!

A new, special friend

Nexi is a robot developed by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She visited the Milano Senior Center in Melrose this week to allow her developers to conduct research on how she — the robot — interacts with seniors.



Jun Ki Lee, a researcher with the Personal Robots Group at MIT’s Media Lab in Cambridge, said Nexi is an MDS robot — Mobile, Dexterous and Social — meaning that she can move around on wheels (mobile) and pick up objects (dexterous). The “social” aspect comes from Nexi’s unique face, which is modeled after an actual human face, complete with eyes with eyelids, eyebrows and a mouth — all of which helped her land at number 17 on Time magazine’s list of the “Best Inventions of 2008.”

Truly amazing!

The Best Robots of 2008

To fully understand the rapid development in robot technology it can be useful to view videos that demonstrate their abilities. The link below shows some extremely entertaining and fascinating robot demonstrations in several categories: Soccer, humanoid, self assembly, music, ornithopters, exoskeleton and rugged terrain.

Enjoy!
--> The Best Robots of 2008