10 Traits of the Most Innovative Entrepreneurs 

Entrepreneurship is a much talked about and researched subject. Rightly so. Entrepreneurs have the ability to think of new ideas, better solutions as well as have the passion and drive to actually bring to market new ideas with meager resources which others think are losers. They are the people who are the engines of economic growth as innovation and entrepreneurship go hand-in-hand and are synonymous. Entrepreneurship is all about doing something new or doing it in a different manner.

One of the ways to find out the traits that are common to entrepreneurs is to study the traits of the most innovative of them. This is exactly what Thai has done in this article. Thai has picked up the 10 most common traits of entrepreneurs like Thomas Edison, Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, Timothy Sykes , Paul Budnitz, Alynah Patel, Elon Musk and Emma Schrage through their interesting quotes as to what made them successful as an entrepreneur. So if you want to become an entrepreneur, reading this article could be your MBA in entrepreneurship.

Why Strategy, not Technology, Drives Digital Transformation

Today every company’s corporate strategy involves making sure that it is digitally compliant to survive the fast changing digital world. To achieve the above objective a company has to go through “digital transformation” which not an easy process to accomplish. It would depend on the level of digital experience you want to offer and where you are at present. The process gets more complex with not only fast changing technology but with numerous competing technologies and products. 

However, Ronald has some thoughts as to how we can make the process less painful. One, he suggests that we put the onus on  the vendors to convince us that they are offering the best option. Two, to ensure relevant customer experience we need to understand the entire customer journey thoroughly and to do everything in customer’s interest. Third, remember behavioral science is as important as data science. Lastly, ensure commitment of the entire organization. If digital transformation is important to you, read the article as it gives sound advise 

Top ten digital transformation actions from PwC

Digital disruption. Lot of talk but not many putting money on it. Its more for growing the present business rather than future business. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) conducted its 7th annual Digital IQ Survey with the objective of identifying ten key digital transformation attributes which correlate to achieving stronger financial performance. 

The Digital IQ Survey threw up some interesting and some of the already known digital transformation attributes which enhance financial performance. Of course, the first on the list is the CEO’s direct involvement in the process. 73% of respondents felt that CEO should be the champion for digital transformation. One of the interesting attributes that showed up in the survey was that Digital enterprise investments are made primarily for achieving competitive advantage implying that digital technology should be used to do business as it should be done rather than just doing it what you were doing before more efficiently. That is, digital transformation should be looked at to bring about a paradigm shift.

Managing Innovation & Disruptive Technology

Going digital is becoming a critical part of corporate strategy. It is on most entrepreneurs and managers. They are some stage of thinking or implementing digital transformation of their organization. It is critical that you think of digital transformation in terms of strategy, selecting the architectural framework and execution in an integrated manner.

Think of digital transformation with a much broader perspective, that is, engulfing the entire business including enhancing customer experience, changing processes to reduce costs, simplify service management, optimizing operations and seeking business insight through analytics with the objective of gaining competitive advantage. Nicolas suggests that you should not think of digital transformation in terms of creating entirely new systems and processes, or try to reinvent the wheel, however, do not hesitate to change what is necessary. 

In this must read article, Nicholas Evans discusses six key steps to make your digital transformation journey a success. What more. He also displays a digital transformation model with the six key characteristics that can assist you in planning your digital transformation journey.

The Social Innovation Benefits to the Business Bottom Line

In this article, Joseph Agoada discusses a very interesting source of innovation and breakthrough business ideas. Necessity is the mother of innovation and nonprofits and social impact organizations are perpetually in “necessity” which forces them to come up with “social innovation” to find a solution. 

Till now, we have thought of dealing with the social innovation of nonprofits with charity and donations. But now, it’s time to think of our corporate strategy in terms of forming partnership with these nonprofit organizations and to think of “social innovation” as an business opportunity. We need to move away from charity to turning social innovation into a profitable venture through social impact investment. 

NGOs and non-profit organizations innovate with practical solutions to the problems they face. They are aware of ground realities, have in-depth knowledge and also know the solution to the problem. As such, they are a great resource for organizations to turn social innovation into profitable ventures to solve world’s tough problems through new innovative partnerships between the public and private sector. This is what Vodafone did with M-Pesa , it’s money transfer service through mobile in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.