Justin Norvell is a lifelong musician who has worked for Fender for a quarter century. As executive vice president of product, he's tasked with a seemingly impossible challenge: How do you keep innovating a heritage product, one that consumers strongly identify with?...
To Outperform Your Competition, Tap Into the Innate Creativity of Your Employees
Where do the best new ideas come from? And how can you ensure you actually hear about them? For leaders at companies of all sizes and types, these questions are of paramount importance. Technologies and methods of doing business are being invented and disrupted...
Embracing Your Creativity in Uncertain Times
With every product and every service, there are so many unknowns. Will people purchase my product or service? Is it the right time to launch? Do I have the experience to take this to market? Do I have enough money to launch this business? Is the market ready for this...
How to License Your Artwork Without Trade Shows or an Agent
As a creative person, I've always found the opportunity to license my ideas rather than sell them myself irresistable. Over the years, I haven't wanted to run a business so much as I've wanted to come up with new product ideas. Becoming successful at licensing has...
The Secret to Coming up With New Ideas
To become successful at anything, you've got to practice discipline. You must do something over and over and over again to do it extremely well. And being creative is no exception. For James Altucher, the American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur and bestselling...
Want to Invent Best-Selling Products? Innovate Like the Founder of Scrub Daddy
Shark Tank star Aaron Krause -- the energetic inventor and founder of the bestselling sponge Scrub Daddy -- has been releasing new products at a relentless clip this year. First, there was Eraser Daddy, Scrub Daddy's take on the famous eraser material popularized by...
Mix and Match is a Simple Game That Can Help You Find Your Next Million-Dollar Idea
Creativity is a muscle. If you want to get better at being creative, exercise it! People act if creativity exists in short supply -- like they either have it or they don't. I know creativity doesn't work that way. When I quit my job at the toy company Worlds of Wonder...
How to Come Up With New Product Ideas Whenever You Want
In my experience, the way most inventors invent is by identifying a problem and developing a solution for it. Unfortunately, this is not an effective method. There are simply too many uncertainties. Do other people agree that the problem is real--so real that it...
How to Outwit Your Competition and Come Up With a Great New Idea
Decades of experience have taught me that making thoughtful improvements to existing products is a consistently profitable way to innovate. An effective way to come up with ideas is to start by surveying the market in a familiar industry and asking: What's missing?...
3 Games to Help You Generate Business Ideas
Too many people say to themselves: "I'm just not creative." But creativity is a skill that can be developed with practice and dedication. It's about solving problems and refusing to take no for an answer. The most creative people I know ignore what's widely accepted...