Categories: Articles

The 50 Most Innovative Companies

Where do you pull inspiration from?

Some of the best ideas (be it for clients of Twist Image or words you read in this Blog) come from reading, learning and hearing about new and innovative companies. The ones that really do break the rules. During my years in the music industry, I was often asked if there was a formula for success when it came to a band that would break through. My standard answer was/is: "every rule is an exception." Over the past decade-and-a-half, I’ve become ever-more fascinated by how similar the success of a band is to that of a company. The most innovative companies do things differently. They think differently and they’re willing to risk what they know for something new (sometimes it works… sometimes it doesn’t).

The 50 most innovative companies.

The latest issue of Fast Company is now on the stands and the cover story is The World’s Most Innovative Companies 2011. While the magazine is always well-worth buying (personally, I never miss an issue), take a look at how innovative Fast Company was with the online version of this article. They make the content flow in a smart and highly-usable way (I wish more publishers would do this kind of development for their important stories). There are some companies on this list that will surprise you, while there are other that you’ll expect/anticipate. Regardless, it’s an amazing read that should inspire you to re-think your business, the industry you serve and how you treat your consumers.

Dig in… and innovate.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.