June 2004

The Harvard Business Review talks about Innovation as "the" competitive advantage in a tough economy "What's innovation got to do with it?"

What's innovation got to do with it? It's tough out there. While the overall business atmosphere is still one of extreme caution, and global outsourcing and other trends continue to redistribute jobs around the world, some people claim that out-innovating your competitors will automatically put you ahead no matter how crummy the economy is.

Innovation, that is, that you let blossom rather than dictating it, says one high-profile guy writing in the Harvard Business Review. To get more innovation, says Gary Hamel a visiting professor at London Business School, businesses must increase the ratios of:

• Innovative employees to non-innovative employees (how they view themselves is the benchmark)


• Radical (big deal) innovation to incremental (small step) innovation (this requires loosening the reins--often a tall assignment)


• Innovation from outside as opposed to that from internal sources (no need to be a lone wolf; get good at capturing energy from others)


• Exploration/new learning to the number of opportunities (risk little, learn much and do it often)


• Commitment to broad innovation goals as opposed to lots of little, narrow ones

He says forget numbers at this point. Just raise these ratios, and he gives 5 ways to do it (along with examples that demonstrate his points):

• (I love this one!) "Free your innovators" -That means everybody, folks--every employee. Along those lines check out this excellent resource you can give your employees so they can learn to jumpstart their own creativity. Seth Godin writes a powerful prescription for learning to be an incremental innovator--it's a good start. And while you're at it, bone up on being a leader. Read what top business school deans think about leadership qualities (see page 4).


• "Look outside" - Use the web to find people whose passions match your problems.


• (This is a toughie.) "Get radical" - He means do something that changes how your customers think and act. Or change the definition of competition (digital cameras). Or change the economics of your whole industry (Southwest Airlines). This kind of thinking really does require pulling some stops out.


• "Experiment" - Keep them low-cost, "under-the-radar" and strategic--it's not the same as testing. Choose carefully, make them developmental and track their progress.


• "Stick with it" - Don't look at dollars invested; check your persistence.

Thank heaven for magazines and ezines and books and scholars and professors and business giants (and marketing people). What if each one of us had to come up with all this stuff by ourselves? Society would grind to a painful halt.

But even if you happen to be one of those who's already figured these things out, it's still nice to hear you're right, isn't it?

Sincerely,
Barbara

Some of what’s going on at ReallyGoodFreelanceWriter.com:

• Published "Leadership 401: It's all about communicating" in the Employer's Advantage Newsletter published by Growth Dynamics Corporation. Take a look.


• Shared tips and secrets with 8 companies on how to create more dynamic websites in my "Writing for the Web" class at Cleveland State University.


• Investigated and wrote introductions for 10 brand new technologies for a Chicago-based inventors' service.