Innovation i tech High

INNOVATION
you to keep in mind that in
our business, the upside is
limited and the downside is
unlimited!” Yeah, that pretty
much killed any hope of
innovation.
6Innovate only when
you need to.
It’s tantalizing to try
to innovate on demand.
It appears to cost less,
focuses on specific issues,
and provides a rallying cry
when a crisis looms. But
this is like trying to stay
healthy by waiting for a lifethreatening
condition to
arise before paying attention
to your health. A crisis is
a great motivator, but it is
also the most expensive
way to innovate, and it
rarely changes long-term
behaviors. Consider that only
20 percent of all people who
experience a serious cardiac
event go on to modify their
behaviors over the long term.
In the same way, you’ll never
sustain innovation by just
waiting for the next crisis.
7Encourage everyone
to drop any and all
ideas into an electronic
submission box.
The suggestion box is my
all-time favorite innovation
killer. It’s the roach motel of
innovation. Organizations
make two fatal mistakes when
they take this path. First, they
put one part-time person at
the narrow end of a very large
funnel of new ideas. That’s
a setup for disaster. No one
person can keep up with
the flow, and it’s too easy to
shoot down ideas that don’t
pass some unwritten code
of acceptability. Second,
the submitter almost never
knows what happened to
his or her idea, and soon
gives up on even trying.
Ideas need to be treated with
respect. Our ideas are our
children. We want them to be
acknowledged, cared for, and
nurtured. Ignoring ideas is the
best way to convince your
associates that innovation is
nothing more than a hollow
mantra.
Although each of the seven
innovation killers is familiar,
overcoming them requires
constant diligence on your
part. As a leader, it may
well be the most important
responsibility you have to the
long-term success of your
company. It’s hard work–
you have to create a culture
that embraces uncertainty, you
have to define the boundaries
of acceptable failure, and you
have to recognize and reward
measurable innovation. In short,
innovation has to become a set
of habits that is consciously kept
alive through your leadership.
The good news is that if you
work to keep the innovation
killers at bay, you will create a
culture that not only thrives on
innovation but can’t live without
it.
About the author
Tom Koulopoulos is
acknowledged as one of the
industry’s leading futurists. He
is the author of ten books and
founder of Delphi Group, a
25-year-old Boston-based think
tank, which was named one
of the fastest growing private
companies in the US by Inc.
Magazine. Delphi provides
advice on innovation practices
and methods to Global 2000
organizations and government
agencies
A crisis is a great motivator, but it is also
the most expensive way to innovate, and
it rarely changes long-term behaviors.
INNOVATIONANDTECH
January | 2018
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