Posted to Diigo 06/14/2010

The Heart of Innovation: 50 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation

• Remember that innovation requires no fixed rules or templates — only guiding principles
• If you’re not having fun (or at least enjoying the process) something is off
• Always question authority
• Make new mistakes
• Reconfigure space whenever possible
• Ask questions about everything. After asking questions, ask different questions. After asking different questions, ask them in a different way
• Ensure a high level of personal freedom and trust
• Learn to tolerate ambiguity and cope with soft data
• When you’re promoting innovation in-house, always promote the benefits of a new idea or project, not the features
• Think long term
• Involve as many people as you can in the development of your innovation initiative so you get upfront buy-in
• Deliver each important message at least six times
• Don’t focus on growth. Growth is a product of successful innovation
• Develop a process of trying out new concepts quickly and on the cheap. Learn quickly what’s working and what’s not
• Know that attacking costs as a root problem solves nothing
• Seek diversity of viewpoints. Get people together across functions
• Don’t make innovation the responsibility of a few
• Pay particular attention to alignment
• Do your best to ensure that linear processes give way to networks of collaboration