Breakthrough Ideas for 2007 - Harvard Business Review

February’s issue of Harvard Business Review included 20 essays exploring Breakthrough Ideas for 2007. The Disruptive Thoughts blog has provided a nice 6-word story format of each of these essays at this post

Topics discussed (and the lovely 6-word stories, thanks to Disruptive Thoughts blog) - and the executive summary provided by HBR, wherever I was able to get it!

1. The Accidental Influentials - Gladwell’s wrong. Epidemics created by many - In his best seller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell argues that “social epidemics” are driven in large part by the actions of a tiny minority of special individuals. The idea seems intuitively right—we think we see it happening all the time. Nevertheless, this isn’t actually how ideas spread. It’s better to focus on getting enough plain, ordinary people to sign on.


2. Entrepreneurial Japan - Not an oxymoron; catalyzing the rebound - Japan’s economic rebound is generally attributed to the turnaround of corporate giants and to industry consolidation. But it is also fueled by the emergence of new companies led by entrepreneurs in their twenties and thirties. An entrepreneurial Japan—no longer an oxymoron—may ultimately overshadow the much touted start-up cultures of China and India.

3. Brand Magic: Harry Potter Marketing - Mutual Maturation: brands and their customers - Most brands target a specific age group. The big problem with this approach is that it positively discourages customer loyalty—and, as we all know, it’s a lot cheaper to keep customers than to find new ones. To get around this problem, companies should consider creating brands that mature with their customers.

4. Algorithms in the Attic - Businesses future found in math’s past - For a powerful perspective on future business, take a hard look at mathematics past: the old equations collecting dust on academics’ shelves. Just as big firms need the keen eye of an intellectual property curator to appreciate the value of old patents and know-how, they will need savvy mathematicians to resurrect long-forgotten equations that, because of advancing technology, can finally be applied to business.

5. The Leader From Hope - In tumultuous times lead with hope

6. An Emerging Hotbed of User-Centered Innovation - User-Centered Innovation holds potential. Ask Denmark.

7. Living With Continuous Partial Attention - To miss nothing, constantly scan everything.

8. Borrowing from the PE Playbook - PE’s M&A lesson: be very selective.

9. When to Sleep on It - Consciously collect info. Unconsciously make decisions.

10. Here comes XBRL - XML-based standard will revolutionize financial tools.

11. Innovation and Growth: Size Matters - Innovation ’superlinearly’ scales with population growth.

12. Conflicted Consumers - If alternatives exist ‘loyal’ customers leave.

13. What Sells When Father Knows Best - Conservatism rising. ‘Values’ matter. Businesses adapt.

14. Business in the Nanocosm - Nanotechnology changing society in big ways.

15. Act Globally, Think Locally - Maximize global returns: aggregate local knowledge.

16. Seeing Is Treating - Imaging technology and biotechnology improve care.

17. The Best Networks Are Really Worknets - Build networks after defining desired outcomes.

18. Why U.S. Health Care Costs Aren’t Too High - Health costs aren’t rising. Spending is.

19. In Defense of “Ready, Fire, Aim” - Good innovation: fail fast, fix faster.

20. The Folly of Accountabalism - Bureaucratizing morality solves little, sacrifices innovation.