The Devil's Advocate
If you are an entrepreneur or run a small business, the word innovation is nothing new to you. Everyday you creatively solve problems in innovated new ways. If you work at a large corporation that has layer upon layer of process the word innovation might be just that, a word.
A number of years ago a client of mine sent me an email from his senior manager. I will never forget what it said, "...you don’t get paid to be innovated". I recently read The Ten Faces of Innovation, by Tom Kelly. Anyone who is facing the ‘devil's advocate’ in their business today will love this book. Tom outlines ten personas found within every large organization. Working together these personas can overcome any challenge.
In order to grow your business in this new consumer empowered market place, corporations and marketers must embrace innovation and stop finding ways to kill ideas. A number of my clients have rolled out innovation departments and/or cross functional teams. But it needs to go beyond that. Everyone within the organization needs to be innovated. From the call centre person addressing a customer concern to the CEO looking to increase share holder value.
