Jeff DeGraff

Professor, University of Michigan

Jeff DeGraff is both a seasoned, world-renowned advisor to Fortune 500 companies and a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Jeff shares his simultaneously creative and pragmatic approach to making innovation happen with top-shelf clients and colleagues who have dubbed him the Dean of Innovation. Jeff has written many books, including Creativity at Work, Leading Innovation, Innovation You, and, most recently, Making Stone Soup. He’s also written dozens of articles for Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, and Salon, to name a few. He provides business commentary on his NPR program and writes a syndicated weekly column in Inc., Wired, LinkedInfluencers, Huffington Post, and Fortune with three million readers a month. His methods have gained such a following that he created the Innovatrium, a cutting-edge, collaborative innovation institute in the heart of the University of Michigan’s campus. Tireless, eager, and always looking for the next big thing, Jeff is a living tribute to his own fundamental principle: there is no end point in innovation. He can’t wait to see what’s next.

One of the most valuable training programs I have participated in. They not only teach you a good process for developing innovation projects and how to get the support needed to have success, but also teach you tools that can be used in any project. You will learn tactics to successfully communicate with all of the different personality types.
- Joe Kankal, Ammara Designs
Innovation is often misunderstood. It can be thought of as 'play' at work. It can be demanded irrationally with unrealistic expectations. The tools taught through the Innovatrium lead to intelligent insights and practical steps for finding creative breakthroughs where organizations often suffer paralyzing blind-spots.
- John Kuzava, Xperience
My biggest take-away from the CPI course is that true, lasting innovation requires all types of personalities, not just the creative go-getters we think of when we picture an innovator! Any innovation that reaches a certain level of success will have a team of creative, collaborative, control-orientated and competitive roles, fulfilled to the level necessary for that organization and product's needs. Jeff and the Innovatrium team have changed my thinking around what is possible in my organization and in my career. Thank you!
- Anonymous
Due in part to this CPI program, I am redefining the business model for my small start up company to take advantage of our forward position in an expanding market and am also leveraging the skills developed within this program to lead a strategic planning and visionary effort within my primary organization.
- Josh Schaidle, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
I am excited to explore making a start up company. I envision a day when I see other people using my product.
- Victoria Hicks, Meritor
The Innovatrium's CPI Program helped me to make a long lasting change in myself and my career. I happily recommend the program to anyone who is looking to improve their ability to innovate, be it by changing their perspective or helping them find the tools that they need to succeed. The CPI leaders, Jeff DeGraff and Bill Lloyd, are best in class educators and mentors who have decades of experience innovating and helping innovate. Let them be your guides and they will not let you down.
- Michael Skrzynski, Stryker
The Innovatrium program structure helped me to create an innovation practice through its unique instructional approach: prework, in-person session, biweekly breakout sessions for the following three months with opportunities for 1on1 coaching and a Project presentation after four months with excellent personal feedback. Jeff and team's approach uses clearly articulated principals and well-designed tools which support very rich application to many different types of projects, as we witnessed within our class in addition to the breadth of examples Jeff shared in person.
- Barb Termaat, Cisco

Instructor

Jeff DeGraff

Professor, University of Michigan

Staney DeGraff

Jim Fish

Jeff DeGraff

John DeGraff

W. Ethan Eagle

Sharing Product

Instructor

Jeff DeGraff

Professor, University of Michigan