CFI Radio Hour - A Practical Approach to Innovation

Robert Brands, Innovation Coach and author of Robert's Rules of Innovation (Wiley, March 2010) http://www.robertsrulesofinnovation.com/ joins Dee McCrorey for a "down from the rafters" discussion on sustainable innovation. Robert will share ten critical rules that corporate leaders and business professionals must apply now if they expect to fast track their way to success post Great Recession. Creating and sustaining innovation takes guts. Although not for the faint of heart, it is do-able if you're willing to toss out the old and make room for ten new rules that matter now.

One thing this Great Recession has triggered besides the loss of jobs is the beginning of new partnerships and creative collaborations. Alan Korn, http://www.alankorn.com/ a Berkeley, California-based attorney specializing in art, entertainment, intellectual property and business law, joins Dee McCrorey for a candid discussion on copyright essentials, terminating a collaboration and avoiding unintentional collaborations.

Guest Dawn Rivers Baker, microbusiness trend spotter, researcher, publisher and editor of the MicroEnterprise Journal joins Dee McCrorey for a discussion on how the Great Recession is changing the landscape for existing and new microbusiness owners. With more than 6.3m U.S. workers out of work for 27 weeks or longer many are deciding to join the ranks of the micropreneur. Will they become part of the microbusiness fabric or a temporary response to unemployment? What longer-term impact could a shift towards a microbusiness economy have on big business?

Losing your job, and unemployment, are among life's most traumatic events. With the average time for finding a new job in the U.S. approaching 25.1 weeks, people are definitely feeling the stress. But did you know that how you react to the loss of a job will make or break your search for new employment? Dr. Lynn Joseph, considered an expert in the area of job-loss recovery will share five exercises from her groundbreaking job-loss program and visualization system.

Innovation is essential to business and workplace success, but despite its importance, persistent shortcomings exist in creating it. Today's economic meltdown has raised the bar for organizations--create more innovation at a faster clip. Join me and social anthropologist, Mike Alvarado, President of Going Evergreen, as we walk you through five actionable steps that will fast track you and your team to new heights of innovation.

Social media and Web 2.0 technologies continue to extend the reach of organizations in building powerful online networks. But social systems are organic, not mechanistic, composed of vibrant, constantly evolving, self-regulating networks--the human DNA that holds it all together. Charles Kalev Ehin, PhD Emeritus Professor of Management at The Gore School of Business and author of The Organizational Sweet Spot joins Dee to discuss practical tips on how companies can tap the true power of social networks to re-engage their workforce and drive innovation throughout the ranks.

Creating a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem begins with disciplined and courageous leaders capable of looking beyond their organization’s status quo to one that will differentiate their company for decades to come. Join Dee and her guest Rev. Dr. Lorraine Cohen, CEO and founder of Powerfull Living; an organization dedicated to business development, leadership, and personal transformation for a discussion on how leaders can reinvent their organization from a command and control environment that blocks people from reaching their full innovation potential to the creation of a healthy ecosystem that taps entrepreneurial power at its source.

We continue our 7-part series on The Evolving Enterprise with guest Wendy Beecham, CEO of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives. Since joining the organization in 2007, Wendy has transformed FWE&E by applying similar strategies gleaned from her 25 years of corporate experience in a variety of leadership roles including senior vice president of a division at LexisNexis Group and managing director of London-based Sweet & Maxwell Group, a legal division of the Thomson Corporation.

Ron P. Wacks, CEO, Microbusiness Strategies Group of Companies and President Emeritus, American Association of Microbusinesses joins me for a rich discussion on how the evolving enterprise can leverage the power of the microbusiness supplier.

How do you discover the unique attributes of your company in order to make a real difference at work and in the world? Kate Roberts, principal of The Wired Woman ( www.thewiredwoman ) and former partnership strategist for Cisco Systems, joins us for the first in a series on The Evolving Enterprise. Kate will share practical ways that companies and individuals can capitalize on growth opportunities through partnership alchemy--enabling success in both business and social arenas.