Innovation is the name of the game

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Wanted: CEOs from India

: innovation is at the center of a company’s way of doing things, it finds ways to innovate not just in products, but also in functions, logistics, business models, and processes.

A process like Dell’s supply chain management; a tool like the monetisation of eyeballs at Google; a method like Toyota’s Global Production System; a practice like Wal-Mart’s inventory management; a mathematical understanding like the one that fostered the market in credit derivatives; or even a concept like Starbuck’s re-imagining of the coffee shop—these are all game-changing innovations. So was Alfred Sloan’s corporate structure that made GM the world’s leading car company for decades, as was P&G’s brand management model.

Another myth is that innovation is for geniuses like Chester Floyd Carlson or Leonardo da Vinci: throw some money at the oddballs in the R&D labs and hope something comes out. The notion that innovation occurs only when a lone genius or small team beaver away in the metaphorical garage leads to a destructive sense of resignation; it is fatal to the creation of an innovative enterprise.

Of course, geniuses exist and, of course, they can contribute bottom-line-bending inventions. But companies that wait for “Eureka!” moments may well die waiting. And remember, while da Vinci designed a flying machine, it could not be built with the technology available at the time.

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