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

4 steps for how product managers can navigate the politics of innovation projects. (1) Anticipate resistance. (2) Unmask political motives. (3) Find the right champion. (4) Secure social proof. Organizations are often “wired” (not purposefully) to kill innovation. To be successful, you must know how to manage the organizational politics. HBR shares how at https://hbr.org/2017/11/how-to-navigate-the-politics-of-an-innovation-project

Product managers should avoid failing but not avoid learning from failure. Most people have a negative reaction to the word “failure” and for a good reason. We want to succeed, not fail. However, product managers are creating products that didn’t exist before. This is the realm of innovation, which requires learning. Failing and learning go together. We need to think of failing in the right way. This will help… http://www.romanpichler.com/blog/leveraging-failure-in-product-management/

6 product marketing & management mistakes that companies can avoid. (1) Not updating an MVP soon enough. (2) Not building a faster product prioritization plan. (3) Ignoring design. (4) Investing in vanity features. (5) Laying low emphasis on data. (6) Not seeking enough feedback. Details for each at http://blog.linktexting.com/product-marketing-mistakes/

5 quick tips to spark innovation on your marketing team. (1) Encourage trial and error. (2) Create innovation teams. (3) Question the status quo. (4) Encourage risk taking. (5) Reward creativity. Read about each at https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/11/30/five-quick-tips-to-spark-innovation-on-your-marketing-team

Act like a VC to create an open innovation culture. Open innovation is popular because it helps organizations think differently and leverage capabilities they may not otherwise have access to. Making it work well is not always an easy path but taking an approach of a venture capitalist can provide the right mix of freedom to explore with the accountability to produce results. More at https://blog.innocentive.com/building-a-culture-for-open-innovation