Innovation 101: Braden Kelley's guidelines for getting started on your innovation strategy

Braden Kelley

We've found that many of our blog readers are placing an increased focus on their innovation efforts. While innovation has historically been a core part of their business plans, they're now turning up the heat in an effort to ignite new ideas, gain in-depth customer feedback, invigorate product development, and sharpen their competitive edges.

So we thought it would be helpful to provide some actionable advice and real-world guidelines for improving your innovation strategy -- innovation 101, if you will. We recently turned to one of the leading consultants and speakers on innovation, Braden Kelley, to tap his brain. Listen to our podcast below chock full of his recommendations and insights.



Braden has consulted to some of the world’s leading B2B and B2C organizations. He works with companies on creating innovation strategies, increasing customer marketing effectiveness, managing organizational change, and improving organizational performance.

He also writes frequently on continuous innovation. He blogs at Blogging Innovation and tweets @innovate. He has a new book out, "Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire" which we talked about during our podcast. In addition, we covered:

• What innovation means for B2B companies vs. B2C companies
• The top three things to consider when framing out your innovation strategy
• Who should champion innovation strategies within an organization
• The rise of the "chief innovation officer," and companies that have one
• Whether innovation is a top-down concept, or more of a state of mind and culture
• Common obstacles hindering innovation today
• How the most innovative companies foster a culture of innovation
• Case studies of organizations that are doing innovation right
• How to use employees' collective wisdom to ignite an organization's innovative spirit
• Where you can hear Braden speak in the coming months

I hope the interview is useful to you. If you have any questions about things you hear during the podcast, feel free to leave a comment here and we'll get back to you.

Thanks again, Braden, for sharing your insights and expertise.