Articles by Jeff DeGraff
Explore Jeff’s latest thinking on innovation, leadership, and organizational transformation through articles published in Inc., Fortune, Psychology Today, Big Think, and more.
Jeff is a prolific writer whose insights regularly appear in leading business publications. His articles bridge academic research with practical application, offering frameworks, case studies, and actionable insights for innovation practitioners.
Featured Articles
From Pizza to Pentagon: How a Domino’s Executive is Driving Innovation in the Department of Defense
Jeff’s unique journey from scaling Domino’s Pizza to advising the Department of Defense on innovation strategy—and what corporate leaders can learn from military innovation.
The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict
Why the best ideas emerge from productive tension between competing perspectives, not from harmony and consensus.
The Secret to Innovation? Ride What Moves
Understanding momentum and timing in innovation—how to identify and leverage forces already in motion rather than fighting against them.
Recent Articles
Jeff has written extensively on innovation topics. Some recent highlights include:
Inc. Magazine Column
- The Infrastructure of Innovation
- How to Free Up Your Ability to Think Creatively
- Open Source Innovation: What’s In and What’s Out
- The Innovator’s Storybook: Creativity and the Well-Told Tale
- How Rules and Bureaucracy Breed Innovation
- Using the Right Innovation Tool for the Right Innovation Job
- Why Courage Is More Important Than Creativity
- Critics Make the Best Innovation Evangelists
Psychology Today – Innovation You Blog
- The Age of Answers Is Over: Training Adaptive Thinkers for Modern Military Realities
- How Breakthrough Ideas Become Mainstream
- What the Most Creative Countries in the World Do
- Why Innovation Is So Hard
- The Greatest Innovations Are the Ones You Don’t See
- Skeptics Create True Believers in Your Innovation
Michigan Public Radio – The Next Idea
- Michigan has the parts to build a powerful economic engine. They just need to be connected.
- Is the finite diploma obsolete in our fast-changing world?
- The invisible employment crisis that threatens the auto industry and our economic future
- Don’t tax robots to save jobs… they might just create new forms of employment
Browse by Topic
Leadership
Creativity
Organizational Change
Competing Values
Military Innovation
Defense Transformation
Constructive Conflict
Economic Development
Education Innovation
Where to Read Jeff’s Work
- Inc. Magazine – inc.com/author/jeff-degraff
- Fortune Magazine – fortune.com/author/jeff-degraff/
- Psychology Today – Innovation You Blog
- Big Think – bigthink.com/people/jeff-degraff/
- Michigan Public Radio – The Next Idea series
- Faculty Focus – Teaching and pedagogy articles
- West Point Academy – Military innovation articles