KACHARAGADLA

A culture conducive to innovation is not only good for a company’s bottom line. It also is something that both leaders and employees value in their organizations. In seminars at companies across the globe, I have informally surveyed hundreds of managers about whether they want to work in an organization where innovative behaviors are the norm. I cannot think of a single instance when someone has said “No, I don’t.” Who can blame them: Innovative cultures are generally depicted as pretty fun. When I asked the same managers to describe such cultures, they readily provided a list of characteristics identical to those extolled by management books: tolerance for failure, willingness to experiment, psychological safety, highly collaborative, and nonhierarchical. And research supports the idea that these behaviors translate into better innovative performance. But despite the fact that innovative cultures are desirable and that most leaders claim to understand what they entail, they are

There is not much agreement about what makes an idea innovative, and what makes an innovative idea valuable. For example, discussions on whether the internet is a better invention than the wheel are more likely to reveal personal preferences than logical argumentation. Likewise, experts disagree on the type and level of innovation that is most beneficial for organizations. Some   studies   suggest that radical innovation (which does sound sexy) confers sustainable competitive advantages, but   others   show that “mild” innovation – think iPhone 5 rather than the original iPhone – is generally more effective, not least because it reduces market uncertainty. There is also inconclusive evidence on whether we should pay attention to consumers’ views, with some   studies   showing that a customer focus is detrimental for innovation because it equates to playing catch-up, but   others   arguing for it. Even Henry Ford’s famous quote on the subject – “if I had asked people what they

Many organizations would like their leaders to create more innovative teams. But how exactly should they do this? If you ask highly innovative leaders what makes them effective you are apt to hear, “Well, I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.” Or they will make something up that sounds compelling. But the fact of the matter is that people who excel at something aren’t usually very good at pinpointing exactly what accounts for their skill. So to find out more, we conducted our own study. We began by collaborating with a respected organization in the telecommunications industry whose leaders scored well above average on most managerial competencies. We identified 33 individuals who scored at or above the 99 th  percentile on innovation, as measured by their peers, subordinates, and bosses in a comprehensive 360-degree feedback survey.  We believed these closest colleagues would have the most accurate view of what made this group of leaders stand out from the pack in this large

Ronald Coase nailed it back in 1937 when he identified scalable efficiency as the key driver of the growth of large institutions. It’s far easier and cheaper to coordinate the activities of a large number of people if they’re within one institution rather than spread out across many independent organizations. But here’s the challenge. Scalable efficiency works best in stable environments that are not evolving rapidly. It also assumes that the constituencies served by these institutions will settle for standardized products and services that meet the lowest common denominator of need. Today we live in a world that is increasingly shaped by exponentially improving digital technologies that are accelerating change, increasing uncertainty, and driving performance pressure on a global scale. Consumers are less and less willing to settle for the standardized offerings that drove the success of large institutions in the past.   Ourresearch   into the long-term decline of return on a

The visionary Apple co-founder was also a master storyteller who used narratives to motivate his team. Steve Jobs knew the power of storytelling better than almost any entrepreneur. In the new book  Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols ,  co-authors Nancy Duarte, CEO of Silicon Valley design firm Duarte, and communications expert Patti Sanchez share how leaders like Jobs have used creative communication methods to bring about change. Here are four innovative ways Jobs inspired Apple's employees with compelling stories, as cited in the book. 1. The ceremony. Jobs was known for using symbolic gestures at Apple, like having the signatures of every member of the original Macintosh team engraved on the inside of every Mac (the way artists sign their work), but he also used ceremonies to help forward his agenda. For example, when he wanted the company to forget about Mac OS 9 and move on to Mac OS X, he held a mock funeral for Mac O