Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen Shapiro

What is Your New Year’s Theme?

Stephen Shapiro — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:53:42 +0000

New Year’s Eve is just around the corner. Many of you know that I have a tradition of setting a “theme” for each year rather than a resolution. My theme for 2009 was “cool things.” And it definitely was a year of cool things. I signed a 2 book deal with Penguin’s Portfolio imprint. I became InnoCentive’s [...]

Three Innovation Distinctions (part 1)

Stephen Shapiro — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:52:35 +0000

Last week I was with a group of extremely successful entrepreneurs in Las Vegas. I was a bit of an outlier as my background is mainly with large, multi-billion dollar businesses. Everyone else in the room came from the start-up world. Also, nearly everyone in the room worked exclusively with speakers and [...]

Video of My TEDx NASA Speech

Stephen Shapiro — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:27:52 +0000

For those of you who asked, here is the video of my six minute speech at the TEDx NASA conference. Click the bottom right button on the video player to watch in full screen. Enjoy. Click here to watch the video on YouTube

Hand Dryer or Paper Towels / Collaboration or Competition

Stephen Shapiro — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:00:31 +0000

At the Open Innovation Summit last week, I had a lively conversation with a few individuals. The debate was about which model of open innovation is most effective – competitive or collaborative. Kevin Boudreau and Karim Lakhani wrote an excellent article earlier this year in the MIT Sloane Management Review on this very topic. [...]

Toothpaste Innovations

Stephen Shapiro — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:02:10 +0000

I never really thought much about toothpaste. But at the last two innovation conferences where I spoke, toothpaste was one of the hot topics. At the FT Innovate conference in London, Unilever discussed their “Signal White Now” (and other brands) toothpaste. Instead of using harsh bleaches and abrasives, they borrowed an optical-effect technology from their laundry [...]

Shooting for Mars May Help Us on Earth

Stephen Shapiro — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:00:20 +0000

At the TEDx NASA conference, I had some amazing conversations with people in the “green room” while preparing to take the stage. One individual had spent his entire career with NASA focused on travel to Mars. This was his life’s passion. But now that he has moved out of the space program into the private sector, [...]

Innovation @ TEDx NASA

Stephen Shapiro — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:04:41 +0000

This past Friday I had 6 minutes to share a message about innovation with the world at TEDx NASA. It was a fantastic event with 29 speakers, authors, musicians, aerospace engineers, a neuroscientist and more. 1,700 people were in attendance and it is reported that nearly 100,000 people watched via video streaming on the internet. Given [...]

TEDx NASA

Stephen Shapiro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:08:42 +0000

I am now in Newport News, Virginia preparing for my speech tomorrow at TEDx NASA. There will be 1700 aerospace engineers and scientists in the audience. My topics is titled “Innovation is in the Space.” I have only 6 minutes for my presentation. This may prove to be my most challenging speech yet! Blaise Pascal (not [...]

FT Innovation Conference Highlights – Part 1

Stephen Shapiro — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:24:25 +0000

I just returned from a week in London where, amongst other things, I spoke at the FT Innovate conference. There was an impressive line-up of speakers including the CEOs of Jaguar, EMI and Best Buy. This is the first of two blog entries with conference highlights. Jaguar Land Rover David Smith, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover, [...]

Complete Idiots’s Guide to Target Marketing

Stephen Shapiro — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:42:22 +0000

My good friend Susan Friedmann just released her next book today, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Target Marketing.” Do you want to get the word out to buyers about all the great things your business has to offer, but a big-bucks marketing campaign just isn’t in your budget? Now you can get the expert information you [...]