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			<title><![CDATA[The Mother of Invention?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=260</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I’m new to working in Supply Chain and am finding it extremely interesting, challenging, and critical to the long-term success of the organization. One thing that I’ve noticed in particular is that, more than for any other business function, logistics conditions around the world are hugely variable and can be ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:17:21 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=260</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[It's Innovative, But Is That a Good Thing?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=246</link>
			<description><![CDATA[(Or, Your metrics don’t go with those shoes)I’ve argued in the past that creating and driving innovation shouldn’t be the goal, but that creating and driving sustainable growth should be. The problem with that position is, though, that not all growth is healthy or advisable. Therefore, I’d like to take ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 24 May 2008 13:02:23 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=246</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[A Vote for Process Innovation]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=226</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Think of the most innovative companies in the world. Better yet, pick one. Focus on it. Get it firmly in mind. How much of that company's annual revenue is represented by new products? If it's a young company you're thinking of, that percentage may be quite large. If it is ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Strategy]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:35:51 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=226</guid>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Structure is a Good Thing]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=225</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I’ve been reading a lot about how government can and should stimulate innovation, particularly in relationship to the emerging economies in India and China. The consensus seems to be that innovation flourishes in areas that are particularly free of government regulation, which makes a certain degree of sense; if you ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:21:51 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=225</guid>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[You Measure What Matters]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=218</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Is innovation mutually exclusive with continuous improvement? “Incrementalism is innovation's worst enemy!" Sam Walton has declared. "We don't want continuous improvement, we want radical change.” Large, established firms seem to find it much easier to focus on incremental improvement than to embrace change of any kind, let alone radical change. ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:20:52 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=218</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[The Decline of the Corporate Lab Rat?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=217</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), is an organization that was once described as a think-tank for rich countries. In a recent publication, the OECD defined innovation as "new products, business processes and organic changes that create wealth or social welfare." It's a definition that isn't tied to ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:11:56 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=217</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Where's My Return on Innovation?!]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=208</link>
			<description><![CDATA[(Or, Is That a Canary in Your Coal Mine?)The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in partnership with BusinessWeek, conducted (from October 2006 through March 2007) its fourth annual survey of senior executives on innovation and the innovation-to-cash process.Its key findings, released in August of last year, include some worrisome trends:Innovation remains ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:07:52 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=208</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Wal Mart Saves the World]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=207</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Wal Mart is being complimented and criticized in equal measures for its Green Innovation program. As one of the most polarizing business entities in modern history, Wal Mart's ability to elicit this kind of dueling reaction is hardly surprising. The "Wal Mart" effect aside, though, innovation that is aimed at ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Strategy]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:12:57 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=207</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[It's The End of the Year - Do You Know Where Your Innovation Process Is?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=196</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Do a Google search on Innovation in 2007 and see what you return. Lists of cool inventions, next-generation product ideas. A conference or two. No mention, however, of ideas on improving innovation processes. To my mind, this is an acid-test exercise that illustrates how far organizations have yet to go ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:45:29 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=196</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Hey, You Got Your Innovative Ideas In My Process Expertise!]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=194</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Prematurely born innovations generally do not fare well when released too soon into the innovation pipeline. Further, we know from our experience with Lean Six Sigma that clogging the innovation pipeline with too many projects will cause the overall innovation lead time to swell; conversely, understanding which innovations are ready ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:00:54 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=194</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[The Four Archetypes]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=183</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In my last post, I referenced a recent article found on Forbes.com. The article, "Built for Innovation", was written by Stephen Wunker and George Pohle. Wunker leads the healthcare, financial services, and telecom industry practices at Innosight, one of the organizations referenced in the article as contributors to the research ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:50:06 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=183</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Mimicking Innovation]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=181</link>
			<description><![CDATA[For every Google, for every Nintendo, there are a thousand copy cats.  Success breeds imitation in innovation, as in everything else. But what is striking to me about the organizations that attempt to mimic another company's successful innovation process is how often they fail to produce meaningful innovation. Henry ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Methodology]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:59:39 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=181</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Trick or Treat]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=163</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Halloween is a good day to remind us of the choices we're faced with in the context of our innovation conversations. I don't know if the "trick or treat" paradigm was invented by Halloween, but it was certainly popularized by the holiday. It's so common to hear the words, I ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Strategy]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:45:50 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=163</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Coping with Process Variation]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=161</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I have talked before about Little's Law and its role in improving the speed of the innovation process ("One critical issue that must be better understood is the cause of long innovation lead times," from my post on August 29th.) According to Micheal George, the author of some of the ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Management]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:47:35 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=161</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[I'm Not Saying Executives Can Be Stubborn, But...]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=147</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Here’s an anecdote I came across recently that reminded me of why many businesses I’ve been involved with have trouble successfully implementing their innovation intentions. On Thursday, September 4, 1862, Lee’s army was headed north, crossing the Potomac. A bottleneck developed in midstream when a wagon train became entangled. Stonewall ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 29 Sep 2007 18:58:59 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=147</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Fun With False Choices]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=139</link>
			<description><![CDATA[False choices have aways been around in business, and they have always been frustrating to deal with, primarily because they are self-perpetuating. Raise your hand if you have heard a co-worker or, worse, someone in a leadership position, point out that strategies based on optimizing quality and  those based ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 16 Sep 2007 20:11:43 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=139</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Making it Faster]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=122</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Not long ago, Nicolas Carr made a provocative assertion in the title of his now-famous article "IT Doesn't Matter." In asking whether IT mattered, Carr was being intentionally provocative as a way of getting the reader’s immediate attention. He both abandoned and answered the question in the first paragraph of ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:48:47 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=122</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Remember, It's Just a Tool]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=121</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Sometimes in our enthusiasm for a program we can lose perspective on why the program is important. I’ve seen it time and again in organizations seeking to gain ISO certification or those adopting Six Sigma principles. The point of the programs is often lost in the rush to implement. ISO, ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:11:34 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=121</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Growing Tomatoes in the Desert]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=103</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In late June, the Committee for Economic Development issued the latest in a series of reports by business think tanks illustrating a growing change in the way American business is thinking about value. "Built to Last: Focusing Corporations on Long-Term Performance," lays out a strong case against a destructive short-term ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Management]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 22 Jul 2007 13:22:39 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=103</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Innovation at Ford - A Micro-Case Study]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=99</link>
			<description><![CDATA[It’s instructive to take a few minutes every now and then to look back and remind ourselves of what fueled the growth of some of the greatest businesses of the last century. Henry Ford once said, “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.” ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:19:35 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=99</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Failing Upward]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=93</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Learning to ice skate when I was seven, the tip of my skate caught a slight imperfection in the otherwise glassy frozen pond at Cascade Park in Jackson, Michigan. I hit the ice face first, my hands losing the race with gravity and failing to cushion my lip against the ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Jun 2007 13:00:47 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=93</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Chasing Innovation (Your Economic Life Depends on It)]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=79</link>
			<description><![CDATA[William is a guy I work with. Ever since he drunkenly proclaimed at happy hour that he has royalty in his family tree he’s been known around the office as Prince William. He’s a bright guy - a business analyst specializing in developing markets - and is good for an ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Strategy]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 09 Jun 2007 08:11:51 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=79</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Institutionalizing Innovation]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=46</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In my experience, you have to get someone’s attention if you want what you have to say to sink in; I make this next statement in that spirit. Two-thirds of the organizations currently listed on the world’s stock exchanges are going to fail. In all likelihood, you work for one ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Management]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 03 Apr 2007 08:54:31 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=46</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Beginning At the End]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=35</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Sometimes the end is the beginning. I recently changed jobs and changed cities, leaving behind truncated plans and plunging ahead into the chaos of the new. Information Technology, always central to my life but in the background like the steady hum of power lines noticeable only when they go suddenly ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:29:13 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=35</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Providing the Tools]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=25</link>
			<description><![CDATA[So the organization has decided to become more innovative. Great. We can expect an increase in R&amp;D spending, a shift in strategic positioning, and an emphasis on new products or services. But what will be missed? Where are the most common pitfalls that slow or derail entirely an organization’s innovation ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Strategy]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 17 Jan 2007 11:51:03 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=25</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Little &quot;i&quot; Innovation]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=21</link>
			<description><![CDATA[A process engineer is hired by a service organization after a successful career spent improving work flow and throughput in a manufacturing environment. He busies himself identifying tools he used in his manufacturing career that could be retrofitted for use in the service industry to the benefit of his new ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Strategy]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:40:22 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=21</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[About Commentator: Cass Pursell]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=87</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I make my living as a Quality professional. I am certified via the American Society for Quality (ASQ) as a Quality Manager (CQM). I received my Black Belt training in Six Sigma from the fine folks at Pivotal Resources, and have managed and participated in many Six Sigma projects over ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[About Commentators]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 2007 03:56:30 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=87</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Right Tasty Glaze]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=17</link>
			<description><![CDATA[There’s a great quote by British cookbook author Jane Grigson relating the holiday season to innovation. "Clever food is not appreciated at Christmas. It makes the little ones cry and the old ones nervous. Don’t," she warned, "Be original."The holidays, for many, are about tradition, not innovation, about, for example, ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 24 Dec 2006 12:08:54 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=17</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Aligning For Innovation]]></title>
			<link>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=15</link>
			<description><![CDATA[According to a recent article in The Economist, Google has established a production formula that requires developers to spend 70% of their time working on core products, 20% of their time in support of non-core projects, and 10% of their time pursuing projects that they are personally passionate about. Google ...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Cass Pursell]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Strategy]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:48:23 -0700</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.realinnovation.com/commentary/blog.asp?bi=15</guid>
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