Grow Your Business: Fight to the Death

Let Doug wake you up ...

Market Growth: Walmart Timelapse Expansion

Neat link shows Walmart store growth over the years as the company expanded.

Enabling Growth: Interesting Insights into China Market

Interesting insights on China market from Bain and Co. Consumers are moving up-market, while local and multinational players adjust and adapt to capture the higher growth market segments, through operational efficiency and quality improvement. ...

... "The result: China's middle market is growing faster than the premium and low-end segments combined, and accounts for nearly half of all revenues in some product categories such as televisions and washing machines. " ...

Via Bain & Company: China Battleground

Chief Innovation Officer: Get Trained

Attend training on the Chief Innovation Officer role. The Chief Innovation Officer course is targeted to push the frontiers of the field and brings into focus fostering innovation talent, creating portfolio techniques, and enabling business processes necessary to execute innovation projects in support of growth. ...

... "BMG's Chief Innovation Officer seminar is designed specifically for business leaders who are leading the charge for innovation inside their organizations. This 2-day interactive seminar features emerging strategies, tools and techniques from some of the foremost thinkers in innovation today.

Upcoming Seminar Date: 4/30/2007 2 days Denver, CO " ...

Chief Innovation Officer Seminar

CIO Disconnect: Internal Focus Puts Growth at Risk

Recent Gartner CIO survey shows CIOs are distracted by internal focus and risking IT credibility by not investing in growth enablers. ...

... "However, CIO near-term priorities remain internally focused on IT services, according to a worldwide survey of more than 1,400 CIOs by Gartner Executive Programs (EXP). Gartner analysts warn that this disconnect will place CIOs and IT at risk. " ...

Gartner CIO Survey

IT Governance: Board of Director Involvement

Corning demonstrates leading practices in board-level governance of IT - setting strategy, shaping the portfolio, understanding business impact, and sustaining benefit realization. The company expects growth through innovation in display technologies, diesel products, and telecommunications. Corning has a history of innovation and continues to invest in longer-term emerging technologies. ...

... "They play an active, creative role in helping to set IT strategy, make sure they know what's in the technology pipeline and what it will mean to the bottom line, and ride the results hard. " ...

Via Corporate Board Member Magazine: Board Level Governance of IT

Technology Evangelist: Leadership Role Understood

Are technology evangelists engaging and empathetic? This survey thinks so. Understand what makes these folks tick. ...

... "Technology evangelism requires a commitment to the product or service being sold, as well as to the company and its management. A technology evangelist is attached to a cause that embodies a vision, makes people feel better, generates impressive effects, initiates selfless actions, and polarizes people to act positively. Evangelism also requires specific attitudes, strategies, and techniques that are quite distinct from those found within sales or marketing environments. " ...

Via Growth Resources, Guy Kawasaki: Technology Evangelists: A Leadership Survey (PDF) ...

All About OPM3

PMI's Organization Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) is not without controversy, and things are heating up more than ever. Some tout it's ability to help organizations navigate a growth path and others claim it's too focused on academia and doesn't hit on real world issues facing project managers.

Here are a few recent articles that show the good and the bad ---- all you need to know to decide if OPM3 is for you.

First, this month, AllPM is highlighting articles on OPM3, including the following:

The Essence of OPM3

The Business Value of Maturity Assessment

OPM3 and your 'C' Level

Comparing CMMI and OPM3

For another perspective, there's a very insightful critique of OPM3 on Projects@Work:

Assessing OPM3

Of course, we need to keep in mind that it's the first iteration, and will evolve over time. I do know that there are major improvements in store for the next release. It'll be interesting to weigh in after the product matures. Meanwhile, it's a tool, and, like any other, can easily be misapplied or overused.

Growth: Enabled By IT Strategy

Even non-profit orgs have growth plans enabled by IT strategy. ...

... "But his IT strategy doesn't sound much different from those in the for-profit world: Expand globally, improve mobility, drive growth. " ...

Via InformationWeek: College CIO

Innovation: Necessary But Not Sufficient

Recent research illustrates that companies expect their growth to be enabled through innovation, however they see significant room for improvement in their innovation process. To address their shortcomings, the survey results show a strong investment in external spending on the front-end of innovation, including customer and market insights. Survey provides additional findings for improving innovation. ...

... "Furthermore, 50% of the companies reported that 10% to 25% of their revenues over the next 3 years would be driven by products and services that will be developed over the next 12 months. Less than 5% of these companies believe they have a highly effective innovation process and only a small number are using state of the art approaches to innovation like open networks and innovation based metrics." ...

Via ArchStone Consulting: Survey Reveals 50% of Companies Dissatisfied with Return on Innovation Investment (PDF) ...

Technology Strategy Roadmap for Small Business Evolution

Cisco creates technology strategy roadmap that supports small business evolution as the enterprise matures. The roadmap defines three phases of evolution for small businesses: Foundation, Growth, and Optimized. Small companies in foundation phase seek to communicate, provide access to, and share information with employees, customers, and suppliers. Growth phase businesses focus on efficiency and cost-effective solutions to enable mobility and real-time information sharing. In the optimized phase, businesses focus on differentiating themselves in their market through optimizing interaction with customers, suppliers, and employees and have integrated technology into the fabric of the business. ...

... "The Cisco Smart Business Roadmap provides a structured, planned evolution path to help businesses keep pace with change and make informed technology purchases. This roadmap shows how Cisco technology solutions can optimize businesses by effectively addressing current challenges and evolving to take on new challenges. " ...

Via Cisco: The Cisco Smart Business Roadmap (PDF) ...

Growth Business Process: Program Management

Must-read HBR article is an interview of Jeffrey Immelt on GE's growth as a business process. Includes a well-developed process wheel, personalized to GE, but applicable to most enterprises. ... Link (PDF). Way at end of the article (pg 10), note that Jeff Immelt admits GE's weaknesses and identifies program management as a skill needing development --- the ability to manage significant high-profile investments.

21 Success Secrets of The Beatles

One thing I enjoy doing is studying excellence. There's something about unique, extraordinary human achievement that I find fascinating.

I love studying it, dissecting it, and extracting lessons from it. It's what attracted me to write about Napoleon. It's what led me to explore lessons from Einstein. And it's what leads me to dive into lessons from The Beatles.

Like them or not, nobody can argue that The Beatles didn't achieve amazing feats. I doubt there will ever be another musical group that could rival them for sheer impact on the music scene and the world.

They were the first pop artists to record in stereo. They were the first band to experiment in the studio. They were the first band to list lyrics on their album. The list goes on and on.

But what made them so successful? And are the lessons applicable to building successful and innovative individuals and teams in business? Here are 21 lessons that answer definitively "yes."

1) Focus on Strengths - They focused on their strengths, doing what they do best (songwriting and performing).

2) Engage a partner - They got help (from Brian Epstein, their manager, and George Martin, their producer). They couldn't have achieved such heights on their own.

3) Differentiate! - They dared to be different, whether it was their suits, their hair, the instruments they experimented with, their neverending search for new chords, and so on.

4) Have key values - They stuck to principle themes, such as love, peace, and the search for truth.

5) Adopt a cause - In the band and in their solo careers, they always had a cause that they were passionate about, whether peace, vegetarianism, eastern philosophy, or some other passion.

6) Worship change - They weren't afraid to change, even in the midst of success. At the top of the moptop craze, they changed their style, then they changed again with Sergeant Pepper, which was a virtual celebration of change.

7) Broaden your horizons - They continuously sought self-growth, learning new philosophies, new chords and instruments, etc.

8) Be passionate about everything you do. They treated each deliverable (i.e. song) as THE hit, which is why their "B-sides" did better than most people's A-sides.

9) Embrace conflict - They readily embraced creative conflict and friendly competition. It was precisely the conflict and competition between Lennon and McCartney that made each of them strive for new heights.

10) Keep moving - Fast! - They recorded constantly, always looking for some new and unique angle. They recorded first and asked questions later.

11) RMF (Risk Magnificent Failures) - They experimented with new chords, new concepts, and had some celebrated failures (Revolution #9-although some liked it; the Magical Mystery Tour Movie, in which they filmed everyone on a bus in the hopes that something neat would happen--nothing did). In a sense, each album was also an experiment in some way.

12) Aim for the Skies - They thought big ("To the toppermost!" they used to say) and they believed it! Similar to Napoleon Hill's principles in Think and Grow Rich, they aimed high and got there.

13) Talent matters - When all is said and done, they had the right talent. All the other elements wouldn't have helped if they didn't have a natural talent for music. Luck helps, but if you have the right talent in the right job, the luckier you get.

14) Use your whole brain - They used the left and right sides of their brain---using the right side when freeflowing creativity and innovation were needed, and the left side when the proper structure was important.

15) Have Fun!!! - Above all, they had plenty of fun, and even stressed the importance in the song "She's Leaving Home" (about a girl who left home to explore "something inside that was always denied for so many years---She's having fun, bye bye.")

16) Never Conform - They didn't conform to standard education, which led to their unorthodox style. In fact, I've noticed most great pop musicians hold their instruments "the wrong way." Tom Peters pointed the same thing out about great Tennis players and their rackets.

17) Field the right team - They were built for synergy -- each were different but shared the same values. The whole was truly greater than the sum of its parts.

18) Get noticed! - They wouldn't have gotten anywhere if they didn't get noticed in the first place. How did they get noticed? By playing in public, where they could get noticed. This should stress the importance of networking. Be seen.

19) Prototype and Test! - They prototyped and tested zillions of versions of their songs. For each hit, there were about 20 alternate takes in different styles and genres. And they practiced each version over and over.

20) Study the greats, Then forget them. - They didn't begin in a vacuum. They studied their idols, such as Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino, and others. If you want to succeed at something, a good place to begin is studying those who have succeeded before. But then make your own way, just like The Beatles did. Carve your own niche.

21) Be Authentic - They were authentic to who they were - British lads from Liverpool.They could sing colorful lyrics about places like Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields, and could talk about TV shows like "Meet the Wife" ("It's time for tea and Meet the Wife" from "Good Morning"). They could sing about these things because it's who they were, not because they were trying to be cute or clever. It's important to be true to who you are, not who you'd rather be.

Globalization of Research and Development: IBM Build Russia Presence ...

IBM boosts research and development talent in Russia to support geographic growth. This is a trend that is accelerating, especially where high-growth rates are expected. ...

... "IBM will invest $40 million over the next three years in the Russian Systems & Technology Laboratory, which will employ up to 200 people by the end of 2008. The lab will focus on mainframe technology development and continues IBM's emphasis on utilizing skills and expertise around the globe, especially in high-growth countries such as Russia, Brazil, China and India. The lab is the fourth major development operation announced by IBM in recent months. Other new facilities include a Linux Technology Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil; a Solutions & Technology Center in Bangalore, India; and a mainframe development lab in Shanghai, China. " ...

Globalization of Research and Development: IBM Build Russia Presence: Via IBM: IBM Chairman & CEO Opens IBM's First Development Laboratory in Russia ...

IT Strategy: Financial Services CIO Recognized ...

CIO is recognized for excellence in strategic management, impact on company results, and deployment of advanced technology. Financial services firms are critically dependent on technology and must integrate IT strategy into the overall business strategy. Saxo Bank is differentiating itself. ...

... "In a profile appearing in Borsen in connection with the award, Ole Rossing was commended for his central role in the strategic direction of Saxo Bank. The bank has no separate IT strategy – rather, IT is a fully integrated part of the company's total strategy, placing Rossing in a particularly pivotal role for the bank's success in recent years. He has also been a key driver of the bank's exponential growth in recent years. Ole Rossing came to Saxo Bank eight years ago, at which time the bank's IT department numbered just seven employees. Today, Rossing leads 200 of Saxo Bank's 575 current total employees. " ...

IT Strategy: Financial Services CIO Recognized: Via saxobank: Saxo Bank's Ole Rossing scoops up IT award ...:

IT Strategy: Enable Knowledge Based Economy ...

Government minister sees knowledge work as the key to economic development and creates IT strategy that supports the creation, collaboration, and deployment of knowledge to drive economic growth. The plan emphasizes the development of citizens to create and leverage knowledge to further innovation in the local and global marketplace. ...

... "Kuwait's Communications Minister Ibrahim Al-Shatti presented Monday a working paper outlining the national IT strategy in light of Knowledge Based Economy (KBE). " ...

IT Strategy: Enable Knowledge Based Economy: Via Kuna: Kuwait's Communications Minister outlines national IT strategy ...

IT Strategy: Consulting Growth Rates Upbeat ...

Strategic planning consulting services are on the rise ...

... "Technology buyers spend more than a quarter of their project-based budget on IT strategy consulting and this service will see a growth rate twice that for business transformation consulting ... " ...

IT Strategy: Consulting Growth Rates Upbeat: Via Silicon Republic: Irish IT services spending to rise in line with EU ...

WAN Transformation Enables Sustained Growth Rates ...

Logistics company transforms its WAN to achieve network reliability, stability and bandwidth growth. ...

... "C.R. England's high dependency on its WAN to communicate with customers, vendors and employees was the leading motivator to reevaluate the effectiveness of its Wide Area Network (WAN). CR England's mission critical business applications are centrally managed at its main office based in Salt Lake City, Utah using a thin client model. C.R. England changed its WAN infrastructure from an expensive and inadequate frame relay to a more affordable, highly redundant and fast Internet based VPN. The switch from frame to Internet afforded C.R. England increased bandwidth, greater control, and more WAN reliability and redundancy than ever before. WAN reliability, network stability, and a significant increase in bandwidth were imperative to keep up with the company's growth rate and business needs. " ...

WAN Transformation Enables Sustained Growth Rates: Via FatPipe: FatPipe Keeps C.R. England Trucking Rolling on the Internet Highway, Migrating from Frame to VPN for a Disaster Proof, Highly Redundant WAN ...

What's Your Project Leadership DNA?

I enjoyed Judith Glaser's Creating We so much, I picked up her new book, The DNA of Leadership. It's another gem that should help leaders to break through organizational silos and rise above the judgmental, fearful environment that exists in so many companies.

One chart in the book depicts the dynamic tensions inherent in any organization. The categories spell out the word CHANGES. Here are the categories, along with the related low and high end traits:

Co-Creating (low=Competitive/Exclusion, high=Community/Inclusion)
Humanizing (low=Distrust/Judging, high=Trust/Respect/Appreciation)
Aspiring (low= Stagnant/Limiting, high=Growth/Possibilities/Expanding)
Navigating (low=Withholding/Silos, high=Sharing/Exploring)
Generating (low=Competing/Persuading, high=Wondering/Innovating)
Expressing (low=Dictate/Control, high=Encouraging/Developing)
Synchronizing (low=Compliant/Resistance, high=Spirit/Commitment/Creating)

The book offers all sorts of real-life examples of each, the root causes, and how to achieve maturity in these areas. I recommend it to anyone in a leadership position who wants to be able to---as the book says---communicate, differentiate, and innovate.

Organizational Project Management; Why Should CEOs Care?

Paul Dinsmore and Pedro C. Ribeiro's article in Chief Project Officer talks about why CEOs should care about project management. He lists several areas where project management can directly impact the bottom line, including working capital, sales growth, and profit margins.

People are beginning to realize that project management is much more than managing individual initiatives; it's about transforming everything an organization does into a project-based approach.

In the article, Celina Antunes, CEO South America Region for Cushman & Wakefield Semco comments:

“For decades, project management has been a discipline in engineering, construction and other industries, where a key management skill has always been the ability to complete a job on time and on budget. Yet it's only been in recent years that the discipline has moved to its current status as one of the leading reasons for success in some of the world's best companies. When you need an outcome done right, on time, and within a budget, you definitely need project management to assure results”

Of course, to be truly effective, this requires a strong committment to becoming a "learning organization." Here's an excerpt from another quote, from Robert Cook, former CEO Latin America for Unisys Corporation:

“The importance of excellence in project management could not be over rated. I would guess that all of us as senior operations people have been involved in projects that have created shareholder value and those - that have reduced
shareholder value... We need to be in a continuous learning process. A well structured lessons learning process in project management is key to seamless execution and ensuring that the direction of the project is correct from the beginning of the effort”.

For the full article, read on...

Chief Project Officer: Why Should Project Management Matter to CEOs?

Collaboration and Openness Business Model ...

In continuation with previous post on collaboration and openness, IBM releases study that supports the business model for transparency and collaboration to drive innovation and, ultimately, revenue growth. ...

... "In terms of how to drive innovation, the study found that 76% of CEOs ranked business partner and customer collaboration as top sources for new ideas. This greatly contrasts with internal R&D, which ranked eighth as a source for new ideas -- cited by only 14% of CEOs. Despite the value they place on collaboration, many CEOs are still in the planning stage. While 76% of CEOs say that collaboration is critical, 51% say their organizations currently collaborate extensively. Interestingly, this is exaggerated in emerging markets, where 73% are collaborating, compared to 47% in mature markets. The study also suggests a link between collaboration and financial performance. " ...

Collaboration and Openness Business Model: Via IBM: Majority of Global CEOs Plan Fundamental Change and Expect New Forms of Innovation to Drive Growth, According to IBM Study ...

Collaboration and Openness in the Participation Age ...

Sun CEO Scott McNealy challenges industry leaders to rethink traditional business models built on the global network economy, where transparency, community, and collaboration drive innovation into The Participation Age. ...

... "Sun believes the world is entering a new era - the Participation Age - where dramatically lowered barriers to entry, plummeting device prices, and near-universal connectivity are driving a new round of network participation. From blogs to Java, SMS messages to Web services, participants are forming communities to drive change, create new businesses, new social services and new discoveries. This growth in the network economy is fueled by sharing and collaboration among communities interconnected by technology and driven by purpose. Sun also believes that sharing and collaboration in the Participation Age will stimulate innovation to help all participants from across the world grow and prosper. " ...

Collaboration and Openness in the Participation Age: Via Sun Microsystems: Thought Leaders Prove Sharing Builds Economies at Sun Microsystems' Participation Age Event: Sun CEO Scott McNealy Pushes Industry to Rethink Business for 21st Century, Focus on Collaboration and Community ...



Addtional references on the intersection of transparency, collaboration, community, and innovation:

Via SAP: SAP Leads Industry Collaboration in Support of Enterprise Services: "For the first time, a community process in which collaborative business process innovation can flourish in an open and transparent forum will become the standard by which all enterprise services development is measured. The Enterprise Services Community Process is the only industry-driven method for defining enterprise services and is poised to become the preferred method for the SAP customer and partner ecosystem to achieve business process innovation through the use of enterprise services. "

Via The Future of Work Weblog: Distributed Work and Network Building Tools: "As work becomes ever-more-highly distributed, an individual's responsibility for maintaining his or her network of connections, both inside and outside his or her company, is increasing. Team members might be located in different geographic locations and timezones. They may only have come together for a short-term project or they might not even be members of the same company. ... "

Via Business Week: This Way To The Future: "Ultimately, innovation is about continually pushing back the boundaries of what is possible. The true genius of capitalism is that it provides economic incentives for sustained innovation. "

Project Management Training: Experienced Workers Wanted ...

Tom Peters' recent presentations (see Tom's slides in his sidebar) point out the age demographics shift as a major growth opportunity for today's companies looking to innovate. Combine that with the insights from this article and we should see an upswing in project management and related training services. Tailor the services to the mature segment of the workforce and you could differentiate in a saturated market for PM training. I better brush up on my teaching skills ...

... "The company also offers all its tech workers, regardless of age, skills certification and training opportunities, including project management classes that can enhance older tech worker's existing skills base. " ...

Project Management Training: Experienced Workers Wanted: Via InformationWeek: Keeping Older Tech Workers On The Job Longer ...

Innovation in Project Management; A Lesson from Ford

Tom Peters blogged recently about Ford, Pixar and the new wave of innovation sweeping companies. Although he had a softer spot for what Pixar is doing, the main point was that innovation is the new world order. Operational excellence is out, as is short-term thinking and reactionary cost-cutting. Even GE is now all about innovation.

Just look at these enlightening statements in a recent announcement from Ford CEO, Bill Ford, announcing their renewed focus on innnovation...

Ford Motor Company stands for a far-sighted commitment to growth. We stand for a renewed focus on the customer. We stand for boundless innovation in every aspect of our business...

Here is what we will not stand for: incremental change, avoiding risk, thinking short-term, blocking innovation, tying our people's hands, defending procedures that don't make sense, and selling what we have instead of what the customer wants. In short, we will not stand for business as usual.

Going forward, our employee evaluations will include a section on innovation. We’re also going to design compensation plans that reward new thinking. And we’re going to create a way for employees to appeal a decision, even if they have an idea and the boss says no.

These are inspiring words. Don't be surprised to see this approach make its way into the project management field. Instead of taking a project charter and "executing well," enlightened project managers will encourage opportunity assessments, get their teams and management excited about new ideas and concepts (assuming they're not squashed), and attempt to try new methods.

We've been posting recently about Agile Scrum Project Management. That's just one example of something that's new and different, but will most likely not gain ground in traditional, conservative organizations.

Here's more from Bill Ford's presentation...

Innovation Acceleration: Innovation-Driven Vision: Ford Motor Company

Project Portfolio Management: IT Business Management Solution ...

Touchpaper introduces new project portfolio management (PPM) system that drives IT business alignment. ...

... "Touchpaper has launched a new product portfolio underlining the company’s IT Business Management (ITBM) strategy and its vision for an ITBM enabled organisation where the IT and customer service departments measure themselves against the strategic and operational goals of the business. Aimed at commercial and government organisations, the Touchpaper ITBM suite is available through the company’s direct sales channels and via its international network of Value Added Reseller (VAR) partners. Many customers have already committed to the new Touchpaper ITBM solution including Hachette Livre UK Books Group, London Borough of Hillingdon, London School of Economics and Political Science, Newport City Council and Sanimed.

Specifically, Touchpaper’s ITBM suite can help deliver projects that drive business growth and value; meet customer needs and pre-defined levels of service; achieve governance and regulatory compliance; link business and IT strategies, plans and relationships; demonstrate the business value of IT; apply metrics to IT; budget and manage IT spending; foster change in business processes and manage risk. " ...

Project Portfolio Management: IT Business Management Solution: Via Touchpaper: Touchpaper Launches New Solution for IT Business Management ...

ServiceOriented Architecture SOA Governance: Market Consolidation ...

Mercury acquires Systinet to extend its reach into the service oriented architecture SOA market. It further expands the footprint of their integrated business technology suite. This market space is ripe for consolidation as major information architectures transition to the services model. ...

... "Mercury Interactive Corporation, the global leader in business technology optimization (BTO) software, announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Systinet Corporation, a privately held company, for $105.0 million in cash. Systinet is a leading provider of service-oriented architecture (SOA) governance and lifecycle management software and services. Customers use Systinet technology to manage SOA business services and to build secure and reliable Web services. Systinet technology, when combined with Mercury BTO Enterprise offerings, will help enable customers to take a lifecycle approach to optimizing the quality, performance and availability of SOA business services.

Systinet SOA products provide a system of record and a set of governance and lifecycle capabilities that help provide the visibility, control, quality and integrity critical to SOA success. Systinet products deliver capabilities for publishing and discovering business services; creating, managing and enforcing policies; and managing the full lifecycle of business services and other SOA assets. " ...

ServiceOriented Architecture SOA Governance: Market Consolidation: Via Mercury: Mercury to Acquire Systinet to Capitalize on High-Growth SOA Market ...

ITIL Managed Services: Security Outsourcing ...

Firm sees growth opportunity in recurring revenue for ITIL-compliant managed services in security. ...

... "Complexity has reached a point that you need to unify criteria, you need a security policy, then you need an administrator with expertise in ITIL for all of this. So the companies are now saying it is cheaper to outsource all this and not worry about security than to train and maintain such a person, Vuoso said." ...

ITIL Managed Services: Security Outsourcing: Via Business News Americas - Latin America's Business Information Leader: Etek unit: Service revenues to match consulting in 2006 ...

ITGovernance: Software Quality Assurance ...

Paul Krill reports on the next wave of software capabilities planned by Compuware and NextWave. ...

ITGovernance: Software Quality Assurance: Via Computerworld: Ajax, app quality enhancements are readied ...

... "CARS 5.1 has been integrated with the Compuware Changepoint IT governance solution. A subset of Changepoint capabilities for request management, knowledge management, and reporting are featured in CARS 5.1. " ...

Compuware introduces IT governance solution that provides metrics for software development: a quality index. ...

Via Compuware: CARS 5.0 Provides Maximum Business Value to QA Organizations Through the Implementation of Effective Governance Models to Deliver Reliable Business Applications ...

... "One of the major challenges facing CIOs today is maximizing the business value of IT investments. CIOs know that business value means shareholder value, and increased shareholder value means revenue growth and/or improved operating margins. Previously, these types of goals were left up to the business managers to accomplish through business initiatives. Now business is increasingly looking towards IT to not only be linked with these initiatives, but also to be an enabler to accomplish these goals. With CARS 5.0, Quality Governance™ enables IT organizations to deliver the processes, systems and metrics to accurately assess the value, cost, risk and performance of the services they provide. By integrating with Compuware IT Governance by Changepoint, project portfolios that contain development projects will benefit from new metrics that communicate a software quality index. This integration not only increases the accuracy of tracking and evaluating a project’s health and risk, it also reduces the administrative burden of collecting and entering data into multiple systems for reporting. CARS provides CIOs with more detailed metrics about the quality of the application portfolio. This improves decision-making, and allows for better alignment with the business. " ...

Project Management: A Global Career Opportunity ...

It's clear that all around the world, the project management career path is seen as a growth opportunity for the future. Valerie Khoo explores the project management career. ...

Project Management: A Global Career Opportunity: Via The Age: The perfect job for organised people ...

... "Markus Meier-Lindner, corporate services manager for the Australian Institute of Project Management, says project management is a growth area. Dedicated project offices are already established at many organisations as they seek to manage whole portfolios of projects simultaneously, he says. " ...

Sustaining Innovation: Growth Through Creativity ...

Creativity fuels the innovation engine. How can we increase creativity to accelerate innovation? What are leadership principles necessary to drive growth through the creative organization? Here are some great insights ... Marc Babej provides excellent summary of Peter Georgescu, Young & Rubicam, on sustainable innovation from the Fortune Innovation Forum. Peter emphasizes three points on innovation: Embrace creativity, emphasize human values, and support active involvement in investing in future generations through education. Creativity is seen as a core enterprise competency that requires a special type of leadership to cultivate and sustain. ...

Via Being Reasonable: Peter Georgescu on Sustaining Innovation ...

... "First, embrace creativity as the most vital enterprise resource. The only leverageable asset on a company's balance sheet. Creativity is the cure for lack of differentiation, and in turn it begets profits. It's an inexhasutible resource, but also fragile. Creative output requires a new type of leader, one who refuses to manipulate or manage through fear. " ...

David Tanner, Tanner & Associates, Inc., discusses harnessing and increasing the creative capability in a research and development environment. These techniques should apply to most innovation scenarios. ...

Via Winston Brill: Creativity and Innovation in R&D ...

... "It's vital to set aside quality time specifically for people to learn the techniques of creative thinking. This first step satisfies an essential criterion for cultural shift - that is, it gives status to the effort. What resources can you use to focus on this subject? In-house seminars, books and articles on creativity, and outside creativity experts. " ...

Ben Simonton expands on the leadership techniques necessary to increasing the enterprise creativity competency ...

Via Corante: What Drives Innovation?. IdeaFlow: Discussion about innovation and creativity -- new products, strategy, open innovation, commercialization of technologies, patents, idea generation, customer input in the NPD process, more.

... "The brain controls creativity, innovation, productivity, motivation and commitment. I will attempt to explain a superior leadership strategy which turns on brains to the maximum extent and thus greatly enhances innovation. ... A superior leadership strategy inspires people to do more, dream more and learn more. We all know that people are our most important asset and that the best ones are self-motivated self-starters. Unfortunately, only 5% or so are naturally that way. A superior leadership strategy is capable of making the vast majority of employees self-motivated self-starters who are highly committed and highly productive, up to 300% more so than if poorly motivated. So what is this strategy? " ...

Innovation is Everyone's Business ...

Business innovation does not come naturally in large organizations and is a key ingredient companies are searching for to create and sustain growth in their markets. Fred Smith, CEO Fedex, offers insights on business innovation and the responsibility of the workforce. This responsibility must be nurtured until it become a norm or core value of the enterprise. ...

Innovation is Everyone's Business: Via Business Innovation 2005: Interview with Frederick W. Smith: Innovation and business excellence at FedEx ...

... "Frederick W. Smith: Everyone in the company is responsible for innovation, though executive management must encourage innovation, reward it and measure it to determine success. We