Each week I scour articles, wading through the dogs, and bringing you the best insights to help product managers and innovators be heroes.

Just for fun – Conan, the product manager, introduces the Apple “AirBag” – innovation no one needs. Apparently comedian Conan found Apple’s patented paper bag a little underwhelming, so he created a spoof – the fully wireless connected AirBag. Watch the video above or at https://youtu.be/fnsrDIUWhTg

Need to radically change a product experience – learn from Yahoo Finance rebellion. The product management team for Yahoo Finance spent the last 18 months conducting user research and learning how to improve Yahoo Finance. Any changes to the popular Finance service would be a big deal – it had been 7 years without a significant UI update. The radical changes enraged existing users but have also attracted new users. If you have to make a significant product update, read this… http://www.businessinsider.com.au/yahoo-finance-product-boss-controversial-redesign-backlash-2016-9

Best paying product manager summer internship – $8,934/month! Yep, it’s a good time to be a product manager or to get into product management. Summer MBA students can make $8934/month at Amazon, $8000/month at Quora, and $7000/month at Groupon. Not shabby for an intern! Read more at http://time.com/money/4512223/intern-pay-high/

The product manager’s dilemma – execute on the urgent or strategize for the future? If you are pulled between doing what is urgent today and what is important for product tomorrow, you must be a product manager. It is a challenging tug-of-war battle, with urgent execution too often winning over strategy. Here are some suggestions to get time for strategy work: https://blog.intercom.com/product-manager-prioritize-time/

Improve your idea pitching by properly reading the room. Product managers have to be good pitch artists to convey their ideas and influence others. The best know how to read the reactions of their audience. This article tells you how: https://www.fastcompany.com/3063790/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/heres-the-right-way-to-read-a-room

 

With the rise of innovation labs, here are good reasons to not outsource your innovation efforts. Companies are increasingly looking for external sources of innovation or innovation influence. Whether it be participating in an innovation lab, investing in a startup, or traditional M&A, there are plenty of ways to outsource innovation. However, the success vs failure rates of these approaches are similar to those of internal innovation. See why organizations should be careful not outsourcing too much: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brianquinn/2016/09/22/you-cant-outsource-innovation/#21d594447aba

How CarMax drives rapid innovation. CarMax is an nontraditional approach to car buying, adding transparency and a focus on customer experience throughout their processes. It’s clearly working as they have a Net Promoter Score of 81, higher than Apple and Amazon. The secret to their success is innovation driven by small agile teams that operate like start-ups. Read about it at http://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2016/09/25/the-next-generation-of-customer-centricity-a-methodology-to-drive-rapid-innovation/