California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 10

FEATURE

BETTER, FASTER,

STRONGER

How business leaders can actively shape innovation to achieve results

S

ome people think that innovation begins with ideas sparked
by random magic - a light bulb
flashing on in an "aha" moment.
But in a competitive marketplace where
only the innovative survive, companies
can't afford to wait for magic to happen.
Instead, innovation must be strategically
crafted inside a company, where employees
understand the how and why of developing new ideas that benefit customers.
"The first thing business leaders need
to understand is that innovation is, in
fact, a process, a discipline and a set of
skills that can be mastered and managed,"
says Scott D. Anthony, managing partner
of Innosight, a management consulting
company headquartered in Lexington,
Massachusetts. "A lot of people think that
innovation is random, it's unpredictable,
it just magically occurs. But once you understand that there's a discipline behind it,
you can begin to actively shape it."
The question, then, is how to encourage innovation. Some companies build a
culture of creativity where ideas bubble up
from everyone. Others rely on dedicated
research and development teams focused
on specific initiatives.
Depending on your company's culture,
structure and goals, certain approaches to
innovation will be more effective than others. But, according to research firm Gartner, all innovative organizations have one
thing in common: They expect innovation.
"We've looked at the literature about
what makes people innovative, and a

10 * California Business



California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California

Table of Contents
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - Cover1
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - Cover2
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - Table of Contents
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 4
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 5
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 6
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 7
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 8
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 9
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 10
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 11
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 12
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 13
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 14
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 15
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 16
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 17
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 18
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 19
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 20
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 21
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - 22
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - Cover3
California Business - Volume 3, Issue 1 - Northern California - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/wise/calbusiness_nc_2013spring
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com