ExpertCEO

Other than fostering innovation from within our teams, how can we be directly innovative ourselves? Not everyone is a Steve Jobs, but we're not milquetoasts either. Plus, we're the ones with the most influence over resources are used. So what are the best things you've found to help you be personally innovative? Any examples of how that produced outcomes, good or bad?

This comment was posted to the external blog site. I've inserted it in this thread because it's quite thoughtful...

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Ha Vo - @SimplyH on Twitter Says:
August 9, 2009 at 10:59 am | Reply

Dear Kelly,

Thank you for the interesting mentions of books to allow CEOs to read more about how to be / become innovative.

But as you well said innovation is a qualitative skill and in my opinion quite hard to ‘just learn’. If someone is not innovative, then I think there is a small chance that he / she will become innovative after reading books. We humans are creature of habit and therefor find it extremely hard to change our habits, something we need to do to ‘challenge conventions’.

As my domain is 2.0 / 3.0 I have found it still too often that people just talk about ‘modern’ web technologies / tools and have debates at seminars about why Social Media or Enterprise 2.0 does or doesn’t work.

Many pshychology researchers (John Bargh, Tanya Chartrand, Peter Gollwitzer, John Kihlstrom and Timothy Wilson) argue that 95% of our habits is automatically and unconsciously and that only 5% of our habit is planned and conscious. Although I have been thinking about habits – also reading the book of 7 habits of effective leadership of Stephen Covey – I saw a Dutch researcher / speaker Ben Tiggelaar at a Health 2.0 conference talking about the theories of how we as humans have a hard time changing our habits / behavior. There is even a test www.solidarts.com/ddd/test to test if someone wants change, understands how to get there and understand how self-change is necessary.

In our work, at our level, we need to have people around us who will create an innovative surrounding. At ABN AMRO they have a so called ‘Chief Dialogue Officer’, as dialogue is a basic necessity to learn and understand other perspectives / ideas. From a management perspective, the common American business culture (top-down) might be a tough environment to achieve more dialogue between the common workers, specialists and their top execs. Too often I hear consultancy agencies speak about how ’social media’ can be used to achieve a more ‘flat’ organization. Well, it’s true but the key is to have leaders who understand that they have to adjust their management / leadership habits to allow innovative thinking and to support the process of it. ABN AMRO even created a ‘Dialogue House’ for it. I guess especially within banks, they need to do a lot more to generate innovation than at IT companies. So understanding how hard it is to change habits, CEOs who are not innovative need to do more things like:
- really create an open environment for ideas / dialgoue
- really take part in it

But even then activities might not generate enough results. How I push myself to be innovative:
- Do a lot of new things, really DO them. Don’t just read reports, books, etc. Try things out for a while and understand how it works by yourself (like Twitter) and do not stop at 101s
- Have a lot of talks / meetings / brainstorming sessions with people who can challenge your ideas
- Give out concrete deadlines for new products / ideas and put consequences to it (less salary / no bonus / resignation)
- And put yourself to the test, let your colleagues assess your innovation and put the consequences to it.

But a CEO is often too arrogant due to his / her position and might often not put such hard consequences upon him/herself. It’s easier to push others than ourselves, but it’s easier to change ourselves than others.

Some of my personal blogs about leadership / innovation:
- hhvo.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/2009-a-cri...-unite-and-innovate/
- hhvo.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/enterprise...pioneers-who-get-it/

I hope you’ll get more replies to get a decent discussion about this, as I think CEOs MUST be innovative!

- Ha

I agree with the comment you've posted. Not everyone is an innovator, but everyone has a responsibility to help the company foster innovation.

Is the CEO good at that?

Are the rest of the Exec Team?

Are the right people getting to innovate? Everyone wants to make the decisions, and a lot of the folks with the most innovative ideas may not be the best at presenting their ideas. You'll run them off in a hurry if they're not nurtured and empowered.

Over time, innovation is the biggest challenge to growth. OTOH, startups need focus too. Small companies need to choose their innovation targets carefully, and not lose sight of execution either.

Cheers,

BW

Three thoughts:

On product innovation:
I believe the most critical element is to spend time in the trenches with the users of your products. If you are making equipment for fast food places, work the fast food lines yourself for a month. If you are building airplanes; be a pilot and fly the machines yourself. A lot of innovation - and pride too - comes out of seeing your products applied. You will find that innovative ideas then arise naturally; and one improvement or new product will lead to another and another. I would say we come up with a significant idea on average once a week. Probably better than 80% of those result from direct field experience. While not all are executed, of course, it gives us plenty of material to choose from.

On corporate structure innovation:
Mostly, be fearless and sceptical of conventions and prestige. On hiring, I think most companies leave a lot of very good and affordable talent on the sidelines because they are too conventional in their hiring outlook for example. A Harvard graduate will be expensive and will probably have good academic credentials. But, that does not necessarily imply that this graduate will have better business sense than say for example a scrappy kid who managed to find his/her way through life, is naturally smart, enthusiastic and learned lessons of business life the Harvard guy/gal simply never encountered. Plus, the kid probably costs less.

On the purpose and goals of the business:
Some innovation can be useful here too. The conventional outlook is to put financial performance up front; and a common result is a backfiring that causes the company to thrive briefly only to subsequently fail. The focus might be too narrow, and perhaps your business should have a broader goal; with good financial performance being a result of that strategy, but not the original focus. For example becoming 'the friendly expert' in your field; providing solutions of both large potential and niche applications may bring a following of enthusiastic customers who feel they can trust you. That might contrast companies with very sharp pencils, that continously optimize their product line for best profit, but in the process leave a lot of frustrated customers on the sidelines; unable to procure items that have become part of their own product lines or business. I remember for example Motorola being a well-respected and diversified company, selling everything from semiconductors to consumer items to military radios. I used to design a lot of their components into our products. Then, they jettisoned much of that in favor of the temporarily lucrative cell phone handset business - and predictably enough, now they are in dire straights...

live a very diverse and creative life. break rules. dress differently. talk to customers when they think you are a temp.

Often, the CEO is the person shielded from many of the more challenging problems in his/her own company. Throughout the organization, few people want to bring the “unsolvable problem” to the CEO for fear that this may be perceived that his/her team has a lack of ability or competence. In today’s skittish work environment, such protectionist behavior is even more prevalent as folks are often in “preservation mode” more than ever.

What does this have to do with CEO’s being innovative?

I’ve found one of the best ways CEOs can be “creatively innovative” is to help solve the unsolvable problems throughout the ranks of his/her organization. This isn’t about the innovation that’s coupled with long term vision and strategic goal setting, but it’s a tactically and strategically useful way to be “directly innovative” as Kelly has posed in his question to us.

The CEO is often in a unique position to help solve what may be less possible from a rank and file position, whether it’s due to the extra resources a CEO can marshal (e.g. polling his ExpertCEO colleagues or calling in a favor with a senior peer to push through an impasse) or whether it’s due to the wisdom many of us CEOs have gathered through many years of successes and failures in our long professional journeys. I believe most good CEOs earn their position partly because they are innovative problem solvers.

Examples: I’ve stepped in (and been invited in) to help break through impasses around complex bids, proposal pricing, product pricing, product development, recruiting, hiring negotiations, budgeting, sales planning, sales tactics, internal processes, customer relations, internal conflict resolution and even expediting the occasional clerical/administrative bottleneck.

The challenge isn’t to solve problems, but get your team comfortable with sharing their “unsolvable problems” with the CEO and being comfortable that the CEO wants to contribute to solutions at all levels within the organization - not find instances to punish people for an inability to address every challenge that confronts them. Once your employees see that you are a reliable resource for the challenges where they are truly blocked, they will not only be comfortable in seeking your guidance and counsel, you will be elevated to a new level of respect. Be the guy who is usually expected to have a solution, not just a vision.

Our schedules are busy enough, but allowing at least some time to proverbially “walk the shop floor” and bring constructive assistance into unexpected areas of our companies is invaluable.

From a meta-standpoint, I don’t think its possible or wise to attempt a separation between personal innovation and business innovation; it all comes from the same place IMO. I also agree with Kelly Herrell that it’s not a “skill” that can be readily enhanced.

Some of what we think of as innovation, like flying to the moon, is actually the result of evolutionary experience and what that entails: success and failure, risk and reward, personalities and raw luck. Certainly the flash of inspiration and genius is woven throughout long hours, banality, and the opposite of innovation: copying others.

Some of what we think of as innovation, like the Wright brother’s Flyer (a key precurser to moon flight) is a hybrid- flashes of inspiration wrapped in the traditional means to solve complex problems; breaking them into smaller pieces and solving by iteration.

I don’t even want to get into the difference between innovation and mere novelty, since for many those terms are synonyms.

However I do think that conditions can be arranged that are conducive to innovation- if we are talking about the kind of innovation that presents as inspiration, epiphany, or vision.

All of us experience those moments on a fairly regular basis as we move through the challenges of daily life. Unfortunately, that kind of innovation usually is focused on small potatoes- stuff important to us on a personal level, but not life changing for anyone else.

My final answer to the stated question?

Make sure you find time to get in the mood to think about stuff- in the gym, in the car, the shower etc. Try driving home with the radio off. If a cocktail or two helps, by all means enjoy them. If you have a long but rote job like cutting a big lawn or painting the barn, plan to spend some time thinking about business- nothing specific- just go over things in your mind.

Try to have intentional but informal conversations about the state of the business with whoever you run across, regardless of level- let it be known that you like to talk shop whenever and wherever anyone else is willing.

Encourage everyone around you to memo and recount their inspirations (and do it yourself) no matter how small- it’s a good way to connect on a personal level and you never know where you may spot a pattern, trigger to an unrelated issue, or opportunity to do something positive.

Lastly, figure out who has a real passion for your goals: If necessity is the mother of invention, desire must be its father.......

I agree completely with Martin's comment, use the time during your everyday actitvites to think about your business. I commute three hours a day and most of the time I keep the radio off. Exercise is also a fantastic time to think ...take a break at lunch and go for a walk.

For me 'thinking' time needs to be planned. We are so busy 'doing' that we often underestimate how important it is to shut everything out and just 'think'. I plan 1/2 on Fridays for my 'thinking' time, just me and my white board! Innovation, as already mentioned in some of the comments, is most often about problem solving. For me an effective way to have a productive 'thinking' Friday is to be sure that every time during the week I focus on something I wish to improve ,be it smaller issues or grander strategic objectives, I write it down straight away and review this list during my 'thinking' time Friday.

I think that the CEO can add some value by innovating him/herself, but the most value will come from generating a culture of innovation.
Probably the biggest single decision a CEO can make is to start complimenting mistakes!!!
Innovation implies risk. If we want to have innovation in our company, we must allow risk. But failures imply, in many cases, losing your job. So people will try to avoid risk, even when it is a reasonable one.
So, CEOs should, in my perspective, ask people about mistakes, encourage them to try harder, and praise them publicly.
That is, in my perspective, the ultimate innovation a CEO can make.

Lots of good responses on this thread. I didn't mention it earlier, but I had some thoughts on this topic myself... it's the Aug 8 posting to the external blog:

blog.expertceo.com/

If you scroll down you'll see a related posting from me as well, from July 6.

My job is innovation and ironically it's the hardest thing to do for yourself. I have found taking a "sabbatical' from work 2-3 weeks is the best way to break out of the routine and see your company from the outside.

Here's something you can try if you want to "brainstorm" though. It works for me.

Get a time and set it to 5 minutes.
Visualize your biggest barrier or opportunity. Got it in your head?
Start the time and type on your computre for 5 minute NON-STOP about anything that comes into your mind (the barrier, opportunity, what you had for lunch, fun, friends,homelife, whatever).

The key is to NOT STOP TYPING.

When the timer goes off, look at what you've written and you'll often find some interesting thoughts that stand out. The idea behind this excercise is to break down your internal editor. Stream of consciousness typing is hard to do for a long time; but when you stop editing yourself, you'd be amazed at what insights pop out of your sub-conscious mind.

Try it. It works for me. And let me know what comes of it, Kelly.

Branden Lisi
President/Founder
Object 9
www.object9.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Here's an interesting link / interview on the subject of innovation that might be worth a few minutes of our time:
gigaom.com/2008/05/30/gigaom-interview-amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos/

Thanks Bill. Amazon cloud computing is a great story about innovation. As Bezos said, they had to do it for themselves anyway -- and later realized it could be something a big, different market would want.

It seems like an obvious evolution of thought. But could you imagine being in your exec staff meeting (or for that matter a board room) and discussing entrance into a completely different industry before you knew how you were going to do it? Not likely.

Instead, they capitalized on an internal momentum. The organization's skills fermented. And somewhere, somehow, the flash of inspiration occurred - and the CEO was bold enough to chart a course on a new strategic vector.

VERY importantly, to do that he had to grasp what was going on in a completely different industry. (I call it "looking past your own desk.") They are newbies, and yet they're changing an industry.

In his 1962 book, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," Thomas Kuhn noted that most major disruptions come from individuals who are either very young or don't have previous experience within the field they're disrupting. That fits Amazon's cloud computing initiative to a T.