My whole career has been focused on innovation, on developing and delivering exciting new technologies and products. That’s led me to also devote considerable time and energy to thinking about—and working to build—organizational cultures that foster truly transformational innovation. Along the way I’ve learned a few things.
First, innovation can’t be forced. It can be encouraged, incentivized, and supported, but it cannot be compelled. Innovation requires that people exercise their creativity, that they challenge conventional thinking, that they take appropriate risks—and people exercise these behaviors only when they want and feel a deep need to do so.
