Starting Over – Spreading Innovation

One of the great things about my job is the conversations I get to have with top-flight innovation practitioners from around the globe.  It’s exciting exchanging ideas with people who are passionate about innovation and understand the import and impact of innovation when strategy, innovation, and execution converge.

Unfortunately, this convergence is still a rarity.  Too many organizations remain trapped in the quagmire of the accidental innovation paradigm.  They cling to the misguided notion that simply talking about the need to be more innovative will somehow unleash the torrent of intellectual potential within their companies that years of anti-innovation practice and cultural reinforcement have been so effective at suppressing.  This is sad state of affairs that I am committed to changing.  I am glad to say that I am not alone in this conviction.

Over the past nine months I have been rethinking how to help others to benefit from repeatable innovation best practices.  This has been a challenging process demanding so much energy that it has kept me away from blogging here.  But, it has also been very rewarding.  Recently, I have talking with innovation leaders at companies around the globe.  The response to these conversations has been tremendous.

In the coming months, I will return to posting here regularly, and I will share with you what I am seeing on the front lines of innovation in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.  I think you will agree that the outlook is very positive.  Despite a continuing economically challenging climate (and sometimes because of it), companies globally are reinvesting in innovation.  But more importantly, these companies want to learn from the mistakes of the past and relaunch their efforts around innovation.

Innovation continues to be a critical part of driving business success.  I am very fortunately to have the opportunity to explore its boundaries in new ways every day.

In closing, I’d like to thank Jim Kimball of SC Johnson for giving me just the push I needed to find my way back to my blog.  I had the immense pleasure of spending some hours with Jim when he popped into my office after the Front End of Innovation conference in Boston.  Of course, we talked about innovation.  But as Jim was leaving my office, he mentioned that he subscribed to Innovating To Win and that he had missed seeing any new posts.  His kind feedback reminded me of how much I miss the conversation with all of you.  Thanks, Jim.