Member Since February 2021
Skills
About
Her breakthrough framework for innovation, Rapid Learning Cycles, accelerates the development of physical products where the assumptions of Agile Software Development break down, and a Lean Start Up mindset is necessary but not sufficient to ensure the successful execution of a viable product. She has the rare combination of scientific depth, business acumen and creativity that organizations need to help them make the most of Innovation. She is the award-winning author of The Mastery of Innovation, The Shortest Distance Between You and Your New Product and High Velocity Innovation. Although she did not invent Rapid Learning Cycles, she and her clients synthesized the concept with Agile program management to characterize and refine them into a complete methodology to accelerate innovation. Those clients have cut time-to-market for their most innovative products by 50% or more. She has been able to achieve those results because she knows how innovators think.
Katherine Radeka
Published content
expert panel
Unlocking the potential of writing a book goes far beyond merely sharing knowledge and stories. As a New York Times bestselling author of eight books and the founder of Legacy Launch Pad, a collective that helps business owners publish authority-building builds, I've seen the power of influence that comes from publishing quality thought leadership. Not only can the process of publishing a well-crafted book land you speaking gigs around the world and reach new clients and partners, but it can also push your boundaries and help you find clarity in your own ideas. If you're a business leader or industry expert who is hesitant about authoring a book, I asked eight members of Fast Company Executive Board Book Authors, a community I lead, to speak from their experience about how their book(s) changed the game.
expert panel
If you're thinking about creating a content resource to serve clients and customers better, consider the following points before you move forward. Whether you are building a new brand or trying to elevate the image of a mainstay product or service that has been around for years, publishing a regular newsletter can be a great way to keep clients and customers informed and excited about what your business is working on next. However, running a high-quality newsletter alongside the daily operations of a well-oiled corporation or small business is not as easy as it sounds. Before you decide to take on any additional responsibilities or add more to your team’s plate, 20 members from Fast Company Executive Board are here to offer their take on what it means to make this type of commitment to potential audience members and the staff they’ll be expecting to lean on.
expert panel
Tune out the industry naysayers and lean into solving your target market's pain points. When you're a brand disruptor who aims to provide innovative solutions in an established "business as usual" marketplace, your company and its leadership are bound to ruffle some feathers. To overcome any negativity, continue to stay above the fray and let the data speak for itself. By proactively educating the underserved market of consumers and staying truthful about your business intentions, you'll mobilize a community of ambassadors in no time, who are willing to support your organization's potential and share their personal testimonials. As you begin to strengthen your client base, remember to put their needs first. But it's also imperative to build bridges by keeping your competitors even closer. At the end of the day, feedback, whether good or bad, fuels inspiration and innovation. This puts your company in a much better position to address concerns, defend its own progress, and defeat the status quo mentality of other colleagues in the field. Below, 16 Fast Company Executive Board members share tips to maintain your clients' confidence in your new establishment and develop loyal partnerships that will last a lifetime.
expert panel
The business world demands constant innovation, but when is the right time to unveil your "latest and greatest" ideas? Company innovation is an important part of a company’s growth. Without innovation, sales may become stagnant and customers may lose interest in seeing the same products or services offered after a long period of time. To ensure your business seems relevant and continues to excite your customers, adding new products or services becomes imperative. But when is the right time to introduce a new product? When should you launch that new marketing campaign? Here, 15 experts from Fast Company Executive Board shared their best advice for gauging whether now is the right time.
Company details
Rapid Learning Cycles Institute
Company bio
We help innovators change the world — faster. Companies get their best ideas to market faster with the Rapid Learning Cycles framework, which adapts Agile principles for physical products. The framework accelerates innovation by eliminating the root causes of the problems that slow down the execution phases of development: quality problems, late-found defects, cost overruns and schedule delays. Innovation and product development teams often experience these problems because their processes drive them to make decisions too early, when they don’t have the information they need to make good decisions. Then they have to revisit those decisions later, when they see that these decisions need to be changed in order to deliver a viable product. Teams using the framework make better decisions at the right time with the right people and the best available knowledge. They identify their most important Key Decisions, then identify the Knowledge Gaps they need to close in order to make these decisions with confidence. Then they organize the work of closing Knowledge Gaps into a series of Rapid Learning Cycles that allow for fast feedback and the flexibility to adapt as teams learn. At the end of every Learning Cycle, they share the knowledge they’ve built, and when it’s time to make a decision, they work with stakeholders and sponsors to make good, data-driven decisions. When teams do this, they don’t waste time revisiting decisions or arguing about things that should have been settled, or fixing a lot of problems when decisions don’t work out. As a result, they are able to drive down time-to-market and increase ROI from innovation and product development programs. Our user community includes product development teams in aerospace, medical devices, pharma, renewable energy, high-tech materials, transportation, semiconductors and a wide range of consumer products from packaged goods to food production to home appliances and electronics.