Welcome to The Innovative Manager – First Official Blog Post

Hi. My name is Jacob Nielson. I am a product manager and an innovation geek. Thanks to my job, in 2011 I was asked to dedicate 3 months of full time work to researching innovation methods and what I discovered changed my life. A whole new way of thinking was opened up to me and I could feel my mind getting more adventurous and excited about the future. Since then I was asked to work as a product manager for the most advanced product the company made and I was tasked to figure out a way to make it better. That’s what I do right now and it is a fantastic experience. Innovation is a fun thing to be involved with because it’s about building a better future and who doesn’t like to do that?

As I learned about innovation both from studying theories and from actually living through it, I realized a few things:

1. There was a lot of information about innovation scattered all across the web that is highly valuable but in most cases, hard to find
2. There were few central resources that could simply explain the best of the best in current innovation process theory
3. There were many conflicting ideas

Having noticed this, I had the thought that one day I might be able to contribute something to the innovation discussion online. That one day is today. And after nearly 7 months of working on the side, at night and in the early mornings, learning about blogging, thinking up content ideas and doing my own graphic design with OpenSource software (Inkscape is amazing!) I finally got to the point when I had something that I wanted to show to the world. It’s called The Innovative Manager.

I want to first point out that the title of The Innovative Manager is not with reference to me, but is with reference to you, the innovator or aspiring innovator. You are the innovative manager that I hope this site provides value for. Whether you are a scientist, researcher, engineer, marketer, strategist, CEO, entrepreneur or wantrepreneur, I intend to create, find, distill and critique the best ideas regarding innovation and management out there today. Later on I also plan to develop further content ideas regarding other management considerations that I hope will be valuable to you as well.

To clarify the purpose of this site, below is TheInnovativeManager.com Purpose Statement:

TheInnovativeManager.com exists to equip you with the tools and trade secrets the great innovators, entrepreneurs and thought leaders have used throughout history to change the world. We invite you to join our community and become a part of and learn from a group of unique individuals who spark new ideas, grow their businesses and, in the words of Steve Jobs, put a dent in the universe.

Additionally, as this is a future-focused site I thought I would share with you my overall vision for both content type and specific mediums I plan to create/use for this site. Given my limited time and resources, I plan to roll these additional content types out in phases. Though this roadmap is definitely subject to change (especially after getting feedback from you!), over the next several years I hope to roll out the benefits of the site according to the roadmap (no product manager is able to function without a roadmap!) below, with phase 1 starting today.

If you like or dislike this plan, let me know! I’d love to get your feedback and additional insight on ideas for this site. At the end of the day, I view this site as yours – something for you to use as a central resource to help you in your efforts to become more innovative. If you want something added or changed, feel free to let me know!

I really appreciate you stopping by the site today and I hope that you get the value out of it that you came for. Given that innovation is my passion, this is a labor of love for me and I only hope it can be helpful to others as well.

Take care,

Jacob Nielson