The world is changing so fast it almost makes your head want
to explode, doesn't it? Last week's new, cutting edge
technology is today's yard sale inventory. Wasn't it just a
year or so ago that it looked like the European Union was
really going to take off, but today it looks like China will
be America's biggest economic competitor. Who knows what
tomorrow will bring? Well, no one knows for sure, but this
much is certain: Europe's economy will continue to grow as
will Russia's; China will become Asia's largest economy (and
every year China produces more and more engineers than we
do...in fact the number of engineers we produce is actually
declining) - so what is going to keep the American economy
at the top of the global economic food chain, especially now
that we've shipped much of our manufacturing overseas?
INNOVATION! American ingenuity, creativity, know-how, and
imagination have put a young country's economy at the top
and kept it there, but to continue to do so will require
some intentional change on the part of many, if not most
American companies - it won't happen on its own!
Good work is being done in the halls of state and federal
governments to grease the wheels, making it easier for
innovative companies to thrive. Discussions are underway to
change our education systems so the produce students who
know how to think creatively. But it is in the business
sector that the most immediate changes need to be made. Here
are three keys for any business that wants to be an industry
leader through innovation: Freedom, Listening, and
Imagination.
FREEDOM
Every company has a culture. Some are as open and loosy-goosy
as Holland (Holland has legalized prostitution and marijuana
- "Hey, we just want everybody happy!"). Other companies can
be as repressive as North Korea. Others are as traditional
as the Swiss. Others live in a constant state of turmoil
like Somalia. Every company has a culture, but the ones who
are the most successful innovators are the companies that
put a premium on a culture of Freedom. Not a loosy-goosy
freedom, but a structured, purposeful freedom with definite
goals and ends.
Freedom in a corporate culture means a lot of things. It
means that management has complete trust in its employees.
It means that everyone is free to take risks AND free to
fail. The freedom to fail has been institutionalized at
Johnson and Johnson ever since its founder, General Johnson,
said, "If I wasn't making mistakes, I wasn't making
decisions!" At Emerson, Charles Knight states, "You need the
ability to fail. You cannot innovate unless you are willing
to accept mistakes." Edison was once asked if he was getting
many results. "Results? Why, man, I've gotten lots of
results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I
haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong
attempt discarded is often a step forward." A corporate
culture of Freedom, freedom to try, freedom to fail, freedom
to succeed, is foundational for innovation.
LISTENING
Now that management has taken the first steps to create a
culture of Freedom, an environment conducive to innovation,
the question comes then: "how exactly does innovation
happen?" It starts by Listening, but not just random
Listening, but specifically Listening to your lead
customers, your lead users. Feedback from any customer is
valuable information. Way back in 1979 Proctor and Gamble
became the first company to put its 800 number on all its
products and it received 200,000 calls the first year and is
still a major source of ideas for product improvement and
innovation. But the best ideas come from the lead customers.
Lead customers are those who buy a lot of your product,
really use your product, and are in fact dependent on your
product. Likely they know your product at least as well, if
not better, than you do. They know its strengths AND its
weaknesses and probably have a good idea about how to make
it better or what companion product is needed from you to
enhance the primary product's performance. Studies have
shown that the vast majority of new product/system
innovations come from lead user suggestions and that
virtually all current product/system innovations come from
lead users. Every successful, innovative company has honed
its Listening skills and its people have the Freedom within
the company to make the changes and create the innovations
from ideas garnered from good Listening.
IMAGINATION
Two companies that would be the "poster children" for the
use of Imagination in the workplace in order to bring
innovation to the marketplace would be 3M and Apple. At 3M
innovation has produced over 50,000 new products, with over
100 new products every year. 3M produces everything from
suntan lotion to medical supplies to, of course, tape. The
corporate structure at 3M is built to insure Freedom. While
space here does not allow a complete analysis of 3M's
structure for innovation, (see the 2003 edition of Tom
Peter's "In Search of Excellence" and his new book
"Re-Imagine!"), just remember this: at 3M, the 11th
Commandment is "Thou Shalt Not Kill A New Product Idea."
What does that have to do with innovation? OK, so you've
developed a new product at 3M, say a new glue. At 3M there
are standard measures of "tackiness", how sticky a glue
product is, but your new glue just doesn't quite measure up.
But the 11th Commandment says that a new product idea can't
be killed, so your glue just goes on the shelf. Time passes.
Then one day another guy comes along and picks up your glue.
He remembers you showing it to him and he's got a problem.
Seems that he sings in his church choir and he's tired of
how all the little pieces of paper he marks his hymnal with
keep falling out. So he takes your not-very-tacky glue,
paints some on the bottom of a small piece of paper, lets it
dry, then sticks the paper in his hymnal, pulls it off to
see if it damages the pages, and it doesn't so he goes
merrily on his way. On Sunday everybody in the choir wants
some of his little sticky pieces of paper and he gets an
idea. Ever wondered where Post-It notes came from? Now you
know.
Freedom + Listening + Imagination = Innovation
And then there is Steve Jobs and Apple. Who knew the world
NEEDED an IPOD?! My son is a pretty typical 15 year old. He
has 2,034 songs on his IPOD. He claims a friend up the
street has over 20,000! How does Apple constantly turn out
world changing, innovative products? First, Steve Jobs
staffs his product development department with what Tom
Peter's calls "Weird People": artists, actors, poets,
musicians, historians, and any otherwise naturally creative
people. And where would these people tell you their creative
vision comes from? From their soul. Jobs says, "Design is
the fundamental soul of a man-made creation." So Jobs turns
these non-techie people lose on Silicon Valley and when you
combine people who know high-tech inside and out with people
who are artsy-creative-weird, imagination reaches critical
mass and what you get is innovation.
So whether your business is high-tech gadgets, tape, or
selling cars, you too can be elevated to the top by
implementing the 3 keys to Innovation: Freedom, Listening,
and Imagination. And as you, America's business leaders go,
so goes America's economy. How high can you go? How high can
you dream?
Always in demand as a Keynote/Motivational Speaker, Dr.
Parrish has a
Smooth delivery filled with humor and is guaranteed to make
you think!
He has the unique ability to appeal to PhD's or teenagers.
An amazing
storyteller, Dr. Parrish can draw in an audience, make them
laugh, make
them cry, and leave them with changed hearts and minds.
Learn more at:
http://www.TheNavigatorConsultingGroup.com
|
