Fortune Gets Innovative

Leading up to the Fortune Innovation Forum, Fortune magazine has launched Business Innovation 2005, a blog highlighting top stories about business innovation and featuring original interviews with some of today's most innovative business thinkers (including yours truly on the benefits of "joining the conversation").

Kudos to Fortune for taking a giant step towards shedding their stuffy old-media image and embracing the blog platform for this. The technology choice was easy, though (that's kind of the point of blogging). The real challenge for them was to truly "join the conversation". Well, they did. I was pleasantly surprised to find some great content from people other than "the usual suspects", and even more pleasantly surprised to see that these people really rose to the occasion (wouldn't you if you had the opportunity to answer three questions from Fortune?). Here are some of my favorites that are of particular relevance to entrepreneurs and small business owners:

Navi Radjou: The importance of global innovation networks - This is where enterprising entrepreneurs have an opportunity to partner with larger companies to bring innovations to market.

Yvonne DiVita on innovative ways of marketing to women - Tips on creating female-friendly marketing campaigns and brand perception.

Niti Bhan on the importance of good design - There really is more to good design than just "it looks good".

Dane Carlson on continuous innovation and disposable business ideas - I think my favorite quote from the whole blog: "Now it's finally possible to try what I call the disposable business idea: Have an employee with a new idea? Start a business in an afternoon and give it a whirl between meetings for a few weeks. If it doesn't work, toss it out and start something new after lunch. If it takes off, turn it into a division and assign a Vice President."

Douglas Rushkoff on "Social Currency" - One of my other favorite quotes: "In an age of interactive media, customers don’t want to communicate with brands or their spokespeople, anymore. They want to communicate through them."

Darrell Zahorsky (About Small Business Guide) on small business innovation - Darrell describes three factors that helpl create an innovative culture in small businesses, plus offers big business some tips on what it can learn from small business.

Jim Canterucci on building a daily habit of innovation - Entrepreneurs can't thrive on just a single innovation. Learn how to come up with great new ideas every day.

John Jantsch on the top 10 natural marketing advantages of small business - Entrepreneurs, heads up. One of the trends you'll see in the next couple of years is big business "becoming small". Get a jump on the 800-lb. gorillas by leveraging your natural advantages.

There are also lots of links to great other stuff, like Jim Carroll on 10 ways to instill innovation in any organization and a link to the Wikipedia article on Diffusion of Innovations (one of my favorite books). I spent a couple of hours reading and following links - time well spent.