Building an Organization that Fosters Creativity and Innovation
— barriers to breakthroughs, risk taking
Speaker: Kimberley Wiefling
Meeting Date: Thursday, November 7, 2013
Time: 6:00 PM: Registration & Informal Networking, 6:30 PM: Management Forum / Guided Networking, 7:00 PM: Dinner, 7:30 PM: After Dinner Presentation, 9:00 PM: Adjourn
Location: RAMADA Silicon Valley – 1217 Wildwood Ave Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Summary:
Management Forum / Guided Networking: Bring Your Management Challenge; Arrive by 6:30 PM to join this exciting Management Forum. Following informal networking is a guided discussion typically related to the topic of the evening’s after dinner talk, or of general Technology Management interest.
Light Dinner: This month we’re continuing with our light dinner format — typically sandwiches, salad, drinks, and cookie or similar light dinner.
Presentation: Building an Organization that Fosters Creativity and Innovation
Many companies that were successful 100 years ago no longer exist. Trapped by their own success, they gradually learn to reduce risk, avoid mistakes and failure at all costs, and consequently squelch or kill innovation and creativity. This makes them vulnerable to global competition from new or more aggressive companies with less to lose. Oddly enough, the most successful companies are the most vulnerable, as their very success can lead to an inability to recognize and adjust to shifts in the environment. This phenomenon has been described in detail in books like Clayton Christensen’s “The Innovator’s Dilemma” and Jim Collin’s “How the Mighty Fall”.
This presentation will explore the biggest barriers to breakthroughs in an organization, and practical ways to promote risk taking, thinking differently, and sparking innovative thinking in their organizations. Real world examples of successful and unsuccessful innovators from a number of different industries will be examined and analyzed.
Highlights
- What is Creativity?
- Relationship of Creativity to Innovation
- Barriers to Creativity and Innovation
- Building Environments that Foster Creativity and Innovation
Bio:
Kimberly Wiefling, president of Wiefling Consulting, enables teams to achieve what seems impossible, but is merely difficult. She regularly facilitates workshops on creativity, innovation, leadership, team effectiveness, and execution excellence globally.
Kimberly has worked with people from over 50 different countries, in companies ranging from startups to the Global 1000. A physicist by education, she began her career with 10 years at HP in product development program management and engineering leadership. She then spent 3 years growing Silicon Valley startups, including a Xerox Parc spinoff where she was the VP of Program Management and Organizational Effectiveness.
In the past 7 years she’s worked mainly with the globalizing Japanese companies. In 2007 she wrote what became a very popular project management book, “Scrappy Project Management – The 12 Predictable and Avoidable Pitfalls Every Project Faces”, also published in Japanese by Nikkei Business Press. Kimberly is a force of nature – a menace to mediocrity on a mission that matters. She’s determined to transform Planet Earth for the better one inspired and engaged team at a time.