Jeneanne M. Rae
Adjunct Professor of Marketing
McDonough School of Business
Georgetown University

Innovation for Practitioners – Understanding Innovation Process and Risk Mitigation Techniques

Organic growth is back on the agenda in most organizations today. Studies have shown that understanding innovation process and applying appropriate business discipline along the way leads to much better innovation success rates. In this seminar, one of BusinessWeek magazine’s “Gurus of Innovation,” Jeneanne Rae, presents the process and tools to help you understand how to tackle innovation challenges in your organization. She will teach “design thinking” methods that will help participants develop empathy for customers and seek to find latent user needs that are at the heart of any innovation initiative. In addition, Jeneanne will introduce a variety of risk mitigation techniques that should be deployed during the innovation process to increase your chances of success.

Objectives

After completing this seminar, you will be able to…

• Understand why innovation is important to your organization

• Grasp why customer empathy is a key starting point

• Look for latent user needs using a variety of techniques

• Synthesize needs finding data to generate innovative ideas

• Develop and manage a brainstorming session

• Understand the value of visualization, prototyping and iteration

• Apply screening criteria to your ideas

• Tell a story that will enhance your chances for development funding
  
  

Who Should Attend

• Managers who lead business units

• Managers responsible for organic growth efforts

• Innovation champions

• Customer relationship managers seeking to co-development

• Company ”teams” facing an innovation challenge within their organization

Bring Your Innovation Challenges

Participants are encouraged to bring an innovation problem or challenge to work through during the session. Corporate teams will benefit particularly if they can focus on their challenge using the new methods and techniques conveyed. In this seminar, you will gain practical tools and tips to foster innovation on a systemic basis.

Content

Innovation Strategy and Process

• Why innovation is a critical element to drive organic growth

• Innovation process

• Cultural aspects that encourage (and discourage) innovation

Identifying Latent User Needs

• Customer empathy

• User needs finding and team dynamics

• User needs finding techniques

Creative Idea Generation

• Converging and diverging process

• Developing and managing a brainstorming session

• Applying screening criteria – when and what kind

• Creating a design framework to anchor concept generation

Visualization, Prototyping and Iteration

• The power of prototyping

• Methods and techniques

• User feedback and iteration to improve user resonance

The Role of Storytelling

• Why innovation requires a “whole brained” story

• Story elements

• Examples to reflect upon
  
  

Format

This two-day seminar meets from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day. It will use a mixture of lectures, discussion, case studies, and field work. All materials will be provided.

Instructor

Jeneanne M. Rae is an adjunct professor of Marketing at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, where she has taught both undergrads and MBA candidates for six years. Jeneanne is also president of Peer Insight, a research and advisory firm focused on innovation, customer experience design, and related topics. Since its inception, Peer Insight has completed over 1,000 interviews with innovation professionals around the world. In 2005 BusinessWeek magazine identified Jeneanne as one of its “Magnificent Seven Gurus of Innovation,’ and later that year was named her one of its “Leaders of the Year” for her work in the area of service innovation. Prior to starting Peer Insight, Jeneanne was a senior management team member at IDEO, the world’s most recognized design and development firm, for seven years. Jeneanne is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and received her B.S. degree with a dual concentration in Marketing and Finance from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. Jeneanne is a member of the prestigious Research Advisory Council of the Business Innovation Factory headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.

Jeneanne speaks widely on the topic of innovation, completing over a dozen conference keynotes and lectures in 2006 alone. She is published frequently on BusinessWeek magazine’s online innovation channel and has penned numerous other articles in management and trade publications.

Jeneanne has designed and taught executive education seminars on New Product Development, Innovation, and Customer Experience Design for numerous corporate clients including Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Bank of America, and Chubb Insurance.

Contact Us

Paula Dorminy or Gary Holler
Phone: 814-863-2782
Fax: 814-863-0413
E-mail: isbm@psu.edu