(Generic substitutes courtesy of Shazam791 on Flickr and Creative Commons. I hate beets)
Increasingly, I've been grappling with the question of process, tools and methods and its relationship (or not) to cultivating a culture that, at worst, permits and, at best, encourages innovation.
Call it a slow hunch, but I'm coming to the point of view that innovation process, methods and tools are no substitute for innovation leadership.
Sounds trite for sure, but I'd guess that less than 5% of my time in discussions with clients about innovation competency and culture revolve around this hot potato issue. There's no focused effort to develop innovation leaders at all levels within the organizations. Seems like a real miss.
There are different styles of leader for sure - the iconic ones come to mind.
Yet to lead innovation, we each have to learn our way of embodying a certain mindset and behaviors. What makes me optimistic is that I think, through experience, we can develop these competencies.
