5 Strategies Big Businesses Use

To Build A Culture of Innovation

Stephen Wunker
This post was co-written with my colleague David Farber:
As over-used as the word innovation may be these days, there
is no denying that building a culture of innovation is at the top of
most corporate agendas. After all, a companys own employees
are uniquely positioned to understand the intersection of
business operations, product development pipelines, and
customer demand. New growth should be spurred from
within. Yet attempts to build a culture of innovation where
employees share new ideas, then use fast and cheap processes to
get breakthrough solutions to market often fall flat.
Its not for lack of trying. We have seen plenty of companies try
to build that culture. They put in a foosball table and paint the
walls with bright colors. They announce that innovation is going
to be one of the companys top priorities. They even offer cash
prizes to employees who come up with great ideas. Theres a
wave of excitement, but three months later its business as usual.
General Assembly and ONEin3 (respectively, an educational
institution focused on technology, business, and design, and an
organization that connects Bostons young adults) recently
brought together a group of entrepreneurs, design thinkers, and
innovators including those from some of the worlds leading
brands to help understand what groundwork needs to be laid
for an innovative culture to survive. Although theres no silver
bullet or single right way to build a culture of innovation, our
conversation uncovered 5 strategies that worked across
industries.
1. Understand the different types of innovation that
youre trying to foster. One of the biggest problems with
new innovation efforts is that they often dont encourage
employees to think beyond the development of new
products. This means that employees with non-customer-facing
roles are either left out or forced to brainstorm new product ideas
in spite of a lack of knowledge about customer needs. Despite
the product-centric view that gets passed down to employees,
business strategies tend to align with a need for bottom-up
innovation across several domains most notably the 4 Ps:
profit models, processes, products, and policies. By highlighting
the different arenas in which employees can be involved with
innovation, companies can help employees add value in areas
where they have deep knowledge and a desire to get involved. s
innovation team now actively encourages employees to get
involved with three forms of innovation: product, business model,
and policy. Since moving beyond the traditional product focus,
Microsofts innovation efforts have taken the company in
directions that were previously unthinkable. For example,
earlier this year the process helped bring free versions of Office
to the Android and iOS platforms. The broader innovation
process is also a driving force behind the companys ongoing
efforts to establish legal precedents that push back against the
NSA and EU regulators on privacy and disclosure requirements
that could have deep and lasting impacts throughout the
industry.
2. Empower champions to push back against
bouncers. Big businesses have large employee bases with clear
reporting lines. While this structure provides a number of
benefits, it can also be a roadblock when it comes to creating a
culture of innovation. While a company may preach the benefits
of innovation, middle managers are still tasked with ensuring
optimal performance in the businesss core activities. They have
little desire or capacity to jeopardize core initiatives for unproven
innovation efforts. Employees often get an early no from their
direct supervisors, return to their day jobs, and put innovation
out of their minds again. Brett Bishop, a Managing Design
Strategist for Capital One, explained how his team beat the
system. We went to people who were too busy to pay
attention. We got our quick wins while no one was paying
attention, then had the proof point to do more. Bishops strategy
is one that Capital One has now institutionalized, with his team
helping innovators find the fringe the people who have tried,
recognized that they need help, and are willing to let you try out
new ideas. Innovation champions can help employees find
friendly spaces to test their new ideas, while also providing a
level of protection against managers who are charged with
focusing on the core.
3. Redefine metrics and incentives. New ventures often
struggle because they are judged by the same metrics used to
evaluate activities that the business has been involved in for
decades. New initiatives cant compete at the same level, and
they are killed off before theyre given a chance to prove
themselves. Performance metrics often suffer from the same
problem. While employees are told to be innovative, their
performance goals and compensation packages dont create the
incentives to do so. Cathy Wissink, a Senior Director at
Microsoft, shared how the organization went from a performance
system reminiscent of Game of Thrones with teams bringing on
sacrificial lambs who could be easily cut come review time to
an atmosphere where senior management provides air cover to
those willing to take on important innovation challenges.
4. Give employees the tools they need to make their
case. Even the best ideas arent going to get any traction if the
value they bring to the organization isnt made clear. And thats
often where companies fall short. They invest in innovation
programs to bring in new ideas, but they dont give individuals
the tools or frameworks to show why those ideas are
worthwhile. , a leader in 3D design and engineering software,
built a strong culture of innovation by bringing its employees
through a series of innovation workshops. Employees are taught
not how to come up with new ideas, but rather what to do with
the good ideas they come up with, from knowing who should
hear the idea to what that person should be hearing. Autodesk
employees are given both the training and resources to create
business pitches that highlight the value of their ideas and
demonstrate why Autodesk is uniquely positioned to implement
the solutions.
Do What You Love To Do and
 We dont get a chance to do that many
things, and every one should be really
excellent. Because this is our life.
Im convinced that about half of what
separates the successful
entrepreneurs from the non-successful
ones is pure perseverance.
Get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on
the good stuff.
Learn continually there's always "one
more thing" to learn!
Customer Care
Our DNA is as a consumer company
for that individual customer whos
voting thumbs up or thumbs down.
Thats who we think about. And we
think that our job is to take
responsibility for the complete user
experience. And if its not up to par, its
our fault, plain and simply.
People dont want to just buy personal
computers anymore. They want to
know what they can do with them, and
were going to show people exactly
Make a Difference
You've got to find what you love.
The only way to do great work is
to love what you do. If you
haven't found it yet, keep
looking. Don't settle. As with all
matters of the heart, you'll know
when you find it.
Your time is limited, so don't
waste it living someone else's
life. Don't be trapped by dogma
which is living with the results of
other people's thinking. Don't let
the noise of other's opinions
drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the
courage to follow your heart
and intuition. They somehow
already know what you truly
want to become. Everything else
is secondary.
I was worth over $1,000,000
when I was 23, and over
$10,000,000 when I was 24, and
over $100,000,000 when I was
25, and it wasnt that important
because I never did it for the
money.
It turned out that getting fired
from Apple was the best thing
that could have ever happened
 that.
Innovation
Innovation distinguishes
a leader and a follower.
Were gambling on our vision, and wed
rather do that than make me-too
products.
to me. The heaviness of being
successful was replaced by the
lightness of being a beginner
again, less sure about everything.
It freed me to enter one of the
most creative periods of my life,
between
Do you want to spend the rest
of your life selling sugared
water or do you want a chance
to change the world?

Heres to the crazy ones, the

misfits, the rebels, the
Creativity is just connecting things. troublemakers, the round pegs
in the square holes the ones
who see things differently
theyre not fond of rules You
can quote them, disagree with
Innovation is the ability to
them, glorify or vilify them,
see change as an opportunity not a
threat. >>> but the only thing you cant do
is ignore them because they
change things they push the
human race forward, and
while some may see them as
Ive always wanted to own and control
the crazy ones, we see genius,
the primary technology in everything
because the ones who are
we do.
crazy enough to think that
they can change the world,
are the ones who do.

Innovation has nothing to do with how

many R&D dollars you have. When
Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was
spending at least 100 times more on Why join the navy if you can
R&D. It's not about money. It's about be a pirate?
the people you have, how you're led,
 and how much you get it.



I want to put a ding in the
To turn really interesting ideas and universe.
fledgling technologies into a company
that can continue to innovatefor years,
it requires a lot of disciplines. >>>

I would trade all of my

technology for an afternoon
with Socrates.
My experience has been that creating a
compelling new technology is so much
harder than you think it will be that
you're almost dead when you get to
the other shore. Sometimes life hits you in the
head with a brick. Don't lose

faith.

There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote
that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is
going to be, not where it has been.'
And we've always tried to do that
at Apple. Since the very very beginning.
And we always will.

New Product Development

Sometimes when you innovate,
you make mistakes. It is best to admit You can't just ask customers
them quickly, and get on with what they want and then try to
improving your other innovations. give that to them. By the time
you get it built, they'll want

something new.

Idea Management


Its really hard to design products
Theres a phrase in Buddhism, by focus groups. A lot of times,
Beginners mind. Its wonderful to people dont know what they
have a beginners mind. >>> want until you show it to them.

So when a good idea comes, you know,
part of my job is to move it around, just
see what different people think, get
people talking about it, argue with
people about it, get ideas moving
among that group of 100 people, get
different people together to explore
different aspects of it quietly, and, you
know just explore things.
People think focus means saying yes to
the thing youve got to focus on. But
thats not what it means at all. It means
saying no to the hundred other good
ideas that there are. You have to pick
carefully.
Im as proud of what we dont do as I
am of what we do... Our leadership
comes from saying 'no' to 1,000 things
to make sure we dont get on the
wrong track or try to do too much....its
only by saying 'no' that you can
concentrate on the things that are
really important.
Steve Jobs Success Story
Inspirational Lessons from Steve Jobs
Do What You Love To Do and Make a
Difference
Some people say you have to be
a little crazy to buy a Mac. Well,
in that craziness we
seegenius and thats who we
make tools for.
Design is not just what it looks
like and feels like. Design is how
it works.
In most peoples vocabularies,
design means veneer. Its interior
decorating. Its the fabric of the
curtains of the sofa. But to me,
nothing could be further from
the meaning of design. Design is
the fundamental soul of a
human-made creation that ends
up expressing itself in successive
outer layers of the product or
service
Quality
Be a yardstick of quality. Some
people aren't used to an
environment where excellence is
expected.
 Steve Jobs' 12 Rules of Success Quality is more important than
Steve Jobs Turns Apple Back To Profitability quantity. One home run is much
Creative Marketing Lessons: Sell Dreams and better than two doubles.
Emotional Benefits
Steve Jobs vs. Others
Apple Innovation Strategies
Apple's Design Process
Apple's New Business Models Venture
Acquisitions by Apple

Synergistic
Organization and Inspired
Team

I have one of the best jobs in the

world. I get to hang out with
some of the most talented,
committed people around, and
together we get to play in this
sandbox and build these cool
products. Apple is an incredibly
collaborative company. You know
how many committees we have
at Apple? Zero. We're structured
like a start-up. We're the
biggest start-up on the planet.
And we all meet once a week to
discuss our business,

Part of what made the Macintosh

great was that the people
working on it were musicians,
and poets, and artists, and
zoologists, and historians who
also happened to be the best
computer scientists in the world.

The only thing that works
is management by values. Find
people who are competent and
really bright, but more
importantly, people who care
exactly about the same things
you care about.

The people who are doing the

work are the moving force
behind the Macintosh. My job is
to create a space for them, to
clear out the rest of the
organization and keep it at bay.

Its not about pop culture, and

its not about fooling people, and
its not about convincing people
that they want something they
dont. We figure out what we
want. And I think were pretty
good at having the right
discipline to think through
whether a lot of other people are
going to want it, too... We just
want to make great products.

My job is to not be easy on

people. My job is to make them
better.

The people who are doing the

work are the moving force
behind the Macintosh. My job is

Steve Jobs about
Apple's Culture
"I have one of the best
jobs in the world. I get to
hang out with some of
the most
talented, committed peo
ple around, and together
we get to play in this
sandbox and build these
cool products. Apple is
an incredibly
collaborative company.
You know how many
committees we have at
Apple? Zero.
We're structured like a
start-up. We're the
biggest start-up on the
planet. And we all meet
once a week to discuss
our business," said Steve
Jobs at the company's
to create a space for them, to
clear out the rest of the
organization and keep it at bay.
When I hire somebody really
senior, competence is the ante.
They have to be really smart. But
the real issue for me is, Are they
going to fall in love with Apple?
Because if they fall in love with
Apple, everything else will take
care of itself. Theyll want to do
whats best for Apple, not whats
best for them, whats best for
Steve, or anybody else.
Corning
Corning has a long heritage of inventing new
technologies and creating new businesses. It
presents an excellent example of harnessing the
benefits of the in-company venturesand
the business systems approach to new product
development and project management. Research,
development, and the innovation process are the
lifeblood of Corning. It is an integral part of
its culture and values-driven tradition.
Corning is oriented around innovation, built
on constant reinvention. "Discovering
Beyond Imagination" is a corporate slogan that
embodies literal truth... More
Dell Inc. Questioning Everything
"I wish it were possible for me to interact with
everyone at Dell as I used to. But it's not possible to
scale the number of interactions to be consistent
with the growth of the company", says Michael Dell,
Worldwide Developers the Founder of the Dell Inc. "We've found there are,
Conference. >>> however things you can do to bridge the distance
between you and your people in a larger
Winning Corporate
organization, and develop the fast-paced, flexible
Culture
culture that's a source of competitive
Silicon Valley advantage."... More
Firms "How we manage to maintain the attitude of a
Silicon Valley firms have challenger, even as we continue to grow at record
flat and participative speeds? Culture is, by far, one of the most
management structures enigmatic facets of management that I've
In a meeting rooms at encountered. The best way I know to establish and
most Silicon Valley maintain a healthy, competitive culture is to partner
companies, the mix of with your people through shared objectives and a
people, expertise, and common strategy."... More
ages is striking. More "Mobilize your people around a singe goal. All of
importantly, the degree our experimenting and questioningand learning i
of candor is tremendous. s done in pursuit of one goal: finding the next
You don't expect to find frontier of value that we can create for our
such level of frankness in customers... Make failure acceptable as long as it
hierarchical companies. creates learning opportunities. There's no risk in
Freedom To Fail preserving the status quo but there's
no profit either"... More
Noble Failure
P&G: Making Innovation the Norm
In more direct cultures,
such as Intel or Sun When asked 'What's the one thing you've done that
Microsystems, you can most inspired innovation in your
7
witness easily an intense organization?' Craig Wynett, the General Manager
argument between a of Future Growth Initiatives at P&G answered 'What
senior executive and an we've done to encourage innovation is make it
entry-level engineer. ordinary. By that I mean we don't separate it from
Status and seniority the rest of our business. Many companies make
aren't based on age or innovation front-page news, and all that special
position; they're based attention has a paradoxical effect. By serving it up
on what you know and as something exotic, you isolate it from what's
can deliver... More normal. You don't trumpet your ordinary business.
The same has to be true of innovation. For
Innovation-friendly innovation to be reliable, it needs to be
Organization addressed systematically, like any business issue in
Google which you define the problem and then solve
it."... More
"We run the company by
questions, not by Innovation Is Love
answers," says Eric Value Innovation: Yin-Yang Strategies
Schmidt, the CEO
of Google. "You ask it as The Jazz of Innovation 11 Guiding
a question, rather than a Principles
pithy answer, and that
Loose-Tight Leadership
stimulates conversation.
Out of the conversation
comes innovation.
Innovation is not
something that I just
wake up one day and say
'I want to innovate.' I
think you get a better
innovative culture if you
ask it as a
question."... More
10
Commandments of
Innovation

GE: Energizing
People
Jack Welch's goal was
to make GE "the world's
most competitive
enterprise." He knew
that the the current
business environment
requires an energized,
energizing leader:
"You've got to be live
action all day. And
you've got to be able
to energize others.
Your cannot be this
thoughtful,
in-the-corner-office
guru. You cannot be a
moderate, balanced,
thoughtful, careful
articulator of policy.
You've got to be on the
lunatic fringe," urged
 Jack Welch.
Welch urged everybody
to stretch. Stretch
targets energize. "We
have found that by
reaching for what
appears to be the
impossible, we often
actually do the
impossible; and even
when we don't quite
make it, we inevitably
wind up doing much
better than we would
have done."... More
Systemic Innovation:
7 Areas

http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/cs_

innovation_culture.htmlDon't
Innovate. Create a Culture of
Innovation
 Scott Edinger

While many organizations focus on addressing problems, the

most successful focus on raising the bar. One of the ways they do
this is by creating a culture where innovation thrives. When this
organizational strength is magnified, it can become a source of
competitive advantage.
One of my clients asked me to help identify the best practices of
leaders who were the most innovative in his organization. In
many interviews and meetings, there was very little discussion
about brainstorming, generating ideas, prototyping, and the
likethe kind of things most of us think about when we consider
institutionalizing innovation. Instead, I heard what many of us
would call excellent practices for leadership. My one-sentence
conclusion: Excellence in leading innovation has far less to do
with the leader having innovative ideas; it has everything to do
with how that leader creates a culture where innovation and
creativity thrives in every corner. Okay, maybe I cheated by
having a sentence with a semi-colon but you get the gist in short
form.
So if that is the conclusion, then what are the things that leaders
must do to foster innovation? Here are five strategies that make a
profound difference.
1. Focus on outcomes
I was struck by the fact that leaders of these teams put a great
deal of effort into clearly envisioning and talking about the
outcomes in a given scenario, rather than directing how those
outcomes would be achieved. They did not micromanage, nor did
they abdicate. Rather, they painted a picture of the future and
held their teams accountable for how to get there. Clearly, one of
the ways that innovation is cultivated is by having leaders who
make sure everyone involved knows the outcome and strategic
goals of any objective. By focusing on outcomes and results, these
leaders free up a lot of energy for the creative process of making
it happen.
2. Develop reciprocal trust
Not the garden varieties of trust, but complete and shared
confidence in one another. I use the term reciprocal trust in
these instances because it was very clear that this was not simply
confidence that someone could be counted on to do a good
job--there was a much more palpable sense of trust that
permeated the relationships. Direct reports and close colleagues
often described their leaders as protectors and I frequently heard
the comment he/she covered my back." Certainly consequences
existed for going outside the parameters of a project, but never
for trying something that didnt work.
3. Challenge the status quo
The leaders I spoke with were by no means rebels, but they were
also not afraid to challenge people higher up in the management
chain. I did hear in a number of cases that they are fearless, or
that they possess a willingness to take on difficult issues, even
when it means expressing disagreement with higher levels in the
organization. They separate issues from people and are able to
disagree, without being disagreeable. Doing so cultivates
tremendous respect from their colleagues. One peer in particular
used the term healthy creative tension when describing the
atmosphere of meetings led by the innovator.
4. Be inspiring
For innovation to exist you have to feel inspired! said one
source. Based on the research in the book I co-authored, The
Inspiring Leader, (McGraw Hill 2009) I was not shocked to hear
so many comments related to this topic, because most of the data
indicate that no other leadership competency influences
productivity and engagement more profoundly. Similarly, when
people feel inspired by a leader they are more inclined to give
more effort and go the extra mile on a project. That extra effort
and commitment is often what produces innovation.
If the goal is easy to achieve, there is not much need to innovate.
A trend that I observed was that these leaders set stretch goals
that were very difficult to achieve. Moreover, they were able to
get members of their team bought in to the power of achieving
those goals. The goals set within these innovative groups
required entirely new approaches in order for the goal to be
achieved. The combination of need for innovation and
commitment to the goal fueled creative change.
So the next time you are wracking your brain to come up with the
idea that will save the day, or the innovative solution to your
problems, or just a better way to do something, put your efforts
into fostering and promoting innovation within your
organization. A culture where innovation thrives in every corner
is exponentially more valuable than a culture which anoints one
or even a few people as the innovative ones. If you create an
environment of innovation, who knows where your next great
idea will come from?