As the world’s economy crawls out of the great recession, the concept of innovation has become a hot topic, as it becomes apparent that those companies considered ‘innovative’ have weathered the storm much better than those that are not.
Indeed, between 15 September 2008 – when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy – and when this article was written, the 15 organisations from the Fast Company’s 2010 list of the ‘World’s Most Innovative Companies’ publically traded on United States equities markets saw an average stock value increase of 20 percent, whereas the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and NYSE Composite Index averaged an increase of only 0.2 percent. The NASDAQ Composite Index (where the majority of these 15 companies are traded) saw an increase of 13 percent.
Ranging from Amazon to Walmart, Apple to Google, Nike to Disney, and Intel to IBM, these companies not only came out of the economic slide on both feet, but are now positioned to lead their industries into the next decade.
So what separates these organizations – the GEs, Ciscos, and Microsofts of the world – from everyone else?
Blue sky brains
To understand how to be innovative, the first step is to understand what innovation is. According to Merriam-Webster, innovation is, “The introduction of something new; a new idea, method, or device.”
Naturally the second step is to figure out what doesn’t exist – to figure out what’s new. And that’s the hard part.
Discovering something new means entering into a world no longer based on old thinking. It means moving from geo to heliocentric. The solar system still revolves, but it now revolves around the sun – not around the Earth.
So, how do organisations considered innovative do that?
Procter and Gamble, one of business’s leading innovators for nearly 175 years, focuses on speed. It encourages employees to look for even the simplest improvement to a current product or smallest growth opportunity in a market.
Employees aren’t necessarily looking for the next big thing, but rather the next thing that will make someone’s life better sooner – be it through teeth whitening strips that take less time, baby diapers that allow for better mobility, or paper towels that pick up more using less.
Meanwhile, 37Signals, a small software firm in Chicago, Illinois, looked at its by-product to create new opportunities. When they built their project management software, a secondary outcome was the design of a new web application framework called Ruby on Rails. They released it as an open source product in 2004 and today it is being used as a web development framework in production environments for websites including Twitter and Hulu.
TaylorMade Golf places a premium on empowering all of its employees to speak up and offer their ideas – not just the members of the research and development teams – and has transformed itself from second fiddle behind rival Callaway into a $1bn company.
Then there is Google, whose legendary “20 Percent Time” not only encourages, but requires, employees to devote 20 percent of their time to personal projects. The result: Gmail, Google News, AdSense, and Orkut, among other products.
Playing for power
But, through it all, regardless of how an organisation discovers the new, the one thread that runs through all these companies is a culture that promotes fun.
Ideo – one of the world’s leading design firms and the brains behind products including the Apple Mouse and the Crest Neat Squeeze Tube – preaches fun. And it makes sense. Children are some of the world’s greatest innovators – their imaginations unrestricted by the realities we face as time goes on, and to them that innovation is nothing more than playing and having fun.
Likewise, comedians are great innovators – constantly changing and adapting to keep us laughing and loving their product: fun.
Which is why at the 2010 Association of Corporate Travel Executives Global Education Conference in Chicago, 16-18 May, attendees learned from Second City, one of the leading improvisational programmes whose students have included Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Meyers, Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Stephen Colbert, Jon Favreau, Jack McBrayer, Dave Foley, and Kevin McDonald.
This one-of-a-kind, interactive learning experience provided first-hand knowledge about how to use improvisation techniques to inspire innovation. After all, business is one big improvisation, requiring the foresight and agility to leverage long-term relationships and adjust to change in real-time.
Attendees were challenged, inspired and entertained during this creative, thought-provoking session, designed to help professionals adapt and respond to the inevitable unknowns – and create something new.
Innovation is hot right now, and rightfully so. Those that are successful at it will drive the direction of our future, while those that are not will fall flat and fade into eternity. But, it is not nearly as hard as you think. All it takes is moving quickly, looking creatively for byproducts, empowering those around you to speak up and take chances, and – most importantly – having fun.
