Postponed - Stay tuned for new date in early 2012.

Companies like Apple, Amazon, and Netflix have taken the world by storm. They have a differentiated brand, a cult-like following, and the ability to make millions on new ideas.

Their success can be yours. The New ROI: Return on Innovation Seminar is for you if:

• You're responsible for the growth of your business.
• You're tired of being in a commodity business and getting commodity profits (or lack of).
• You want to engage and delight customers with relevant, innovative products and services that capture their hearts, minds, and wallets.
• You feel stuck and need some ideas on how to make your company more innovative so you can grow.

Over the past few years, many companies have had a hard time. However, other companies in the same industries and geographies have had their best years ever - growing 10%, 20%, and even 100% or more over prior years. The difference is the ability to create a better future through innovation.

Program

The New ROI is all about driving more profits to your bottom line. Three speakers will provide different but complimentary  perspectives on innovation and how to drive it into your organization.

Part 1 - Innovation as a By-Product of Organizational Structure

When you get the organizational structure right, great things follow. Glenn Mehltretter will share insights into gaining productivty, engagement, and innovation in your company by following three key principles of organizational design. Just like Jim Collins wrote in Good to Great, getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats is critical to long-term success. Glenn will explain the science behind structure, and how it impacts innovation in your business.

Part 2 - Encouraging Creative Entrepreneurship

Carl Nordgren will explode the myth that creativity is a rare quality — he believes it is common as dirt and all the more wonderful for it — and he will share proven ideas so everyone in your organization can increase their creative capacities and develop their entrepreneurial instincts. A creatively entrepreneurial work force will not only generate more game changing ideas, they will turn the execution of the inches and the minutes of daily organizational life into a dozen victories every day.

Part 3 - Driving Innovation at the Organizational Level

The right structure and more creative people drive innovation. But how do you get opportunities from an idea to a business proposal that a top manager can make a go/no-go decision on? Craig Mathews will talk about what is needed to discover ideas, develop them into something a manager can back, and then deliver them to the market for increased profitability. Craig will discuss the secrets behind why some people can deliver 100X the profits from a new product/business idea than others - and how to find and utilize them for the growth you want. Based on his 20+ years of experience as an innovator, research into innovation, and analysis of innovative companies like Apple, Craig will show a framework that you can implement in your company to provide business growth through innovation.

As a special bonus, Dan Nelson, artist extraordinaire and Crowd-Wower, will visually map the event to help capture ideas in a visual storyboard.

Networking Lunch

After the seminar, stick around to discuss the concepts learned with other executives from the Triangle. Lunch is included in the ticket price, and we will be at Cardinal Club, so expect great food!

About the Speakers

Craig Mathews is an innovation catalyst at Big Think, and teaches enterpereneurship at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School to MBAs and cross-campus entrepreneurs. He has studied and been active in innovation for most of his life. He has started multiple businesses and has a diverse executive background including IT, marketing, and general management. Big Think focuses on uncovering opportunities for businesses and moving them from commodities to market leaders. Big Think has helped more than 100 companies turn ideas into tangible profits, driving innovation into corporate cultures through employees identification, process implementation, and innovation/business training. Big Think's clients include companies in North Carolina, Europe, and India.

Carl Nordgren has been teaching courses in Creative Entrepreneurship at Duke University and other schools for 11 years. He recently launched CreativePopulist.com to help organizations develop the creatively  entrepreneurial abilities of their people. He is a successful serial entrepreneur in multiple industries. He is a frequent speaker and has written the soon to be published Welcome to the Creative Populist Revolution.

Dr. Glenn Mehltretter is CEO of PeopleFit, which has the only complete science-based management system available. Based on more than 40 years and thousands of companies' experiences, PeopleFit has made Requisite Organization principles available to most companies. Strategy requires an effective corporate structure to be executed well, and PeopleFit has made it their mission to make that happen. Just one example of a client includes Mallinkcrodt Baker: After 7 years of near-zero growth, PeoplFit was brought in and provided the foundation for >100% growth in 12 months, reducing workplace injuries by 50% and customer complaints by 40% in the process.

Event Sponsors

Big Think (BigThinkResults.com) - Increases Return On Innovation for companies through consulting, training, and strategy development.

Creative Populist (CreativePopulist.com) - Improves the overall appreciation for and impact of creativity in companies.

PeopleFit (peoplefit.com) - Has the only complete systems approach to organizational design, proven in over 4,000 cases to provide significant productivity improvement and increased workforce engagement.

Dan Nelson (WowYourCrowd.com) - Attracts crowds at grand openings and trade shows and energizes meetings and strategy sessions through his visual meeting maps.

The Marketing Machine (TheMMachine.com) - A creative services agency focused on building brands and driving marketing that gets results.

SmartCore (SmartCoreSolutions.com) - Your one-stop resource for C-Level strategic support when you
need additional management expertise, but don’t want to incur full-time cost.

Expedite Group (ExpediteGroup.com) - Helps companies realize greater productivity and engagement by taking care of personal research and tasks that distract people during the day.

Effective With People (EffectiveWithPeople.com) - Uses psychological type (MBTI) and temperament, to help leaders, managers, and teams increase their personal and collective effectiveness.