pattern emerging. In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collin expresses these core similarities as passion for what we do, economic viability of the product or service of the company and focussing on being the best in the world at what you do1
. The question is whether these three
components are enough? We have already seen some spectacular failures of great companies and products: Betamax, SwissAir, Polaroid and Enron. On the other hand we have also seen some spectacular success stories: Procter & Gamble, Apple, Google and 3M.
differentiator between these companies is the ability of the successful companies to reinvent themselves through embracing innovation. In a recent study done by McKinsey, 84% of executives say that innovation is extremely or very important for their companies’ growth strategy2
The . So what does this mean? Well, if companies
have realised that they need to innovate, the obvious next question is how? And as Mr Shakespeare would say, “Therein lies the rub”.
The Innovation Journal
I believe it is imperative that companies challenge their existing worldviews. The tools and techniques that many business leaders still apply in a creative economy were designed in the industrial age. Mechanistic, reductionist thinking is not serving these businesses; instead I believe modern organisations need to look at frameworks that enable them to think abductively. Roger Martin suggests disruptive innovation comes from the innovators ability to hold multiple conflicting views in their head until a clear solution starts to emerge3
. In the
same way I believe by adopting and integrating multiple frameworks, we can improve the effectiveness of innovation and enable business to attain a competitive advantage on a global playing field.
Systems Thinking
Often a key challenge to innovation is identifying where the need is. If we understand the environments we live and work in, it is likely that we will be more successful in identifying opportunities for innovation. Sometimes the complexity in our environments, be it our companies or our communities, makes it difficult to see where the best opportunity for innovation lies.
September 2012 | Management Today 53
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