I just saw a tweet from enterprisey that said: “We need focus on delivery, not perpetual churn so Innovation Leadership team meeting closes on a high with us all chanting "No New Ideas"!”
Yikes!! What a scary thought. Enterprises are right to feel that they must focus on execution for success. But they must not confuse execution with doing the same old same old. It case you haven’t noticed, the rules are changing all around us. Of course if you have a pulse, you already know that.
In these very volatile times, no one can afford the luxury of complacency, and no one can risk sticking their head in the sand by adopting the position that if we just do what we have always done, just more efficiently, everything will be okay. Clinging to old paradigms when the only certainty is the unprecedented scope and scale of change is reckless and dangerous.
The successful executive must understand that brilliant focus on execution must include innovation and new thinking. Everything must be open to discussion; nothing can be so sacrosanct as to be above examination.
Nice post. I think it is important to remind people that flawless execution is PART OF innovation. Too many people, especially in large orgs, think of innovation as new ideas or patents. Those are not innovations, they are inventions. Good ones are powerful seeds for innovation. But innovation requires adoption of some sort. The more one demonstrates this capability, the higher the appreciation for innovation.
Posted by: Christian Gammill | February 08, 2009 at 02:02 PM
Absolutely!! Innovation is about value delivery. With out strong execution, value will not be realized.
Posted by: James Todhunter | February 09, 2009 at 09:57 PM