What better way to end the year than with a laugh? Especially, when such levity has direct relevance to the success of our business. Why? Because smart strategy in our highly unpredictable environment requires continuous innovation. To innovate, we need to harness creativity. And the most universal manifestation of creativity is humor. Which is why more and more organizations are looking to make humor an integral part of their culture, and why, along with my two co-curators, we launched Stand-Up Strategist earlier this year – to recognize and celebrate the important role of humor in corporate leadership and culture. So without further ado, a little something to make you laugh.

What is no secret is that the wealth of insights made available by the knowledge economy is making possible the unprecedented understanding of customer relationships for companies. As part of the Slingshot Platform, we are developing one such new analytics, entitled the Infatuation Interval Index (or I-Cubed) which uses social media and big data to measure the cyclicality of customer attachment to corporate brands, services, and goods. Here is another interesting example.

I am pleased to be speaking at the Dubai Knowledge Summit, taking place on December 5-6.  The Summit, organized by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, features an impressive line-up of speakers, topics, and discussions, having become one of the top, annual events in the UAE since its launch five years ago.

The second piece in my article series for TechSauce, a leading media hub for the tech startup community in Thailand, was recently published.  The series is entitled ‘Future Shaping Innovation Step-by-Step’, and the focus of my second article is about ‘The Fine Art of Infatuation’.

Finding new, previously unexplored combinations of already existing components to drive new levels of value is at the heart of smart innovation. In fact, the approach is so useful and effective that I call it the Innovation Shortcut. Here is a recent example in practice, from the Middle East.