Innovation Pipeline

Ask anyone about the role of innovation in today’s economy and you’re sure to hear a unanimous endorsement of innovation’s function as a fundamental driver, delivering competitive value and new opportunities.

The dirty little secret is: the practice of innovation lacks discipline and process in the large majority of today’s established public companies (tech included) and startups. Why so?

There’s an abundance of books on the topic of innovation and a handful about process and discipline. The consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton has noted the disconnect, as has SRI International CEO Curt Carlson in his book The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want.

It’s the rare organization, corporation or university that has the discipline and process in place to kick out truly innovative ideas in a predictable fashion.

All of which is critical in light of the proposal by the Brookings Institution and the Information, Technology & Innovation Foundation earlier this spring calling for the UnitedStates government creating an agency focused solely on innovation. This new National Innovation Foundation would help improve productivity and increase incomes at a time when both need to be improved. But in order to translate benefits of a national innovation effort, it’s important to have the basic understanding and principles of discipline on how innovation is practiced.

Part of the problem is mindset: most people still think of innovation as black magic, not a process that can be tracked and managed.

But it can be, if it’s approached correctly. What are the roadblocks? Well-known IBM innovator Irving Waldawsky Berger says silos are the biggest enemy of innovation. The antidote, he says, is to break them down and ensure information is shared across disciplines.

There’s an expression: invention is a flower and innovation is a weed. That may be true. But even weeds need water, nutrients and sun. –Lee Bruno