The Struggle and Need for Innovation - Is it Only Lip Service?

I received the following trends alert related to the role of innovation in our current corporate life. By the way, this is a worthwhile thing to subscribe to!

The point of this post is my comments after the alert. Please read!

Herman Trend Alert: Innovation and Entrepreneurship February 24, 2010

For years now, we have seen a growing trend towards "Innovation" being a leading
focus for corporations worldwide. A new book from Robert C. Wolcott and Michael
Lippitz, "Grow from Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation"
(McGraw-Hill 2010), provides a roadmap for effectively creating innovation in
organizations.

Wolcott is the founder and executive director of the Kellogg Innovation Network
(KIN), "a unique forum for select executives and innovation managers to meet and
discuss internal and industry-wide challenges, business growth, risks, and
successful strategies, with academics from the Kellogg School of Management".

Discussed in the book, "Innovation Radar" (IR) grew out of an understanding that
"innovation is about more than just products and technology". Companies can
innovate in any area. Using IR, executives look at 12 dimensions of innovation;
the chart represents all of the activities with which companies can add value.

The valuable part of IR is that it provides a bridge between strategy and
innovation and gives executives the opportunity to have all of their questions
and answers (hopefully) before they begin the strategic process.

Wolcott suggests that entrepreneurs. . ."Be clear about their objectives. Be
clear about their questions. Recognize that "we [often] only see the things for
which we are looking".

The authors also talk about some corporate initiatives that promote innovation,
like IBM's "Global Innovation Outlook" programs and "Innovation Jams". In these
unique in-person and online events, IBM engages people from a wide variety of
enterprises to solve global challenges facing humanity.

In "Saving America: The Generativity Solution" by Robert R. Carkhuff (HRD Press
2010). Moving past any obvious political overtones, Carkhuff believes that the
lack of economic freedom hamstrings entrepreneurship. Defining Generativity as
"the capacity to generate a new idea", the author also provides an organized
approach to innovation. “The Generativity Solution” is the application of
"generativity" to all areas and levels of human endeavor: individuals,
organizations, and all components of the community, culture, and economy. And
that is only the beginning.

Expect innovation to become increasingly important, as the nations of the world
look for answers. Wolcott is right: "Corporate entrepreneurship in all of its
forms is the strategic answer to the challenge of economic growth."
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MY COMMENTS:
Yes in fact, innovation is now more than ever critical as our economic engine sputters along. And yet, here in lies the concern and the reality check. As someone who comes in contact with thousands of managers and team members across North America each year, here is what I've discovered is the reality.

Conformity is the desired behavior! Many people in management and leadership positions have a very low tolerance for diversity and difference and these elements are essential components to innovation.

Many in the very positions who have the power to champion and foster the very innovation needed don't have the emotional intelligence or ego management to create and support the environment necessary for the very thing needed to occur!

I suggest we partner the concept of innovation with the fostering of divergent and contrary thinking. Can we as leaders in the business community handle it? We'll need it to move our economy, businesses, and country forward.

Coaching Question: What is your tolerance for people who are dramtically different from you in every way. How do you feel or handle when people disagree with your position in a definitive and dramatic way?

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Solution to Less Women in the Sciences - Have Female Professors

In my previous post regarding the brain drain. There was a portion of the post that addressed our kids interest in math and science.

Now add to that another dimension...how this trend impacts women in business leadership - the ripple effect of women under represented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. There is a gap in executive leadership, particularly in these fields.

That dilemma is discussed in this incredibly interesting article that addresses a study about leadership succession.
Title: A Formula for Success - Want more women to study science? Hire more female professors.

So let me add to my previous suggestion of having teachers who are able to stir interest and continued curiosity. Looks as if we need a strategic effort to nurture and recruit more female professors in higher education as well.

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A Significant Business Trend - Brain Drain Back Home

Recently I posted information about the business trend and education trend of an uneducated workforce.
You can read that post here:

Couple that with this reported trend of foreign-born graduates returning to their home country and you have to wonder where our country's competitiveness will be in the next few years.

Additionally what is disturbing from this report is that many of our kids are not interested in subjects that appear to be "hard." What?!!!

We have to ask ourselves why 50% of our math and science graduates are foreign born! What about kids raised in the U.S.? Do we need better math and science teachers who teach in a way that generate and stir genuine interest and continued curiosity?

Additionally, we have to consider how our parenting around education is impacting this trend. There is a ripple effect!

Now some of you reading this post might think, "Well with the constriction of the economy, those leaving the country will help bolster native born employment. Perhaps, and that certainly is good. However, those now in the employment pool need to be as qualified for our companies to thrive and compete globally.

The trends report follows below:

Herman Trend Alert: US Brain Drain

More than 50 percent of the science graduate students in the United States are
foreign-born. Due to a lack of emphasis on the STEM (Science, Engineering,
Technology, and Math) subjects and the fear that the curricula will be too
challenging, native-born students have passed up these post-college options.
Filling the void have been the foreign-born for whom a US graduate degree was
and is a meaningful ticket to a prosperous future.

A trend we forecast numerous times is now official: Within the next five years,
hundreds of thousands Chinese and Indian immigrants who in the past would have
stayed and worked for US companies will go home permanently. This history-making
trend was recently revealed in a recently released study, Professor Vivek Wadhwa
of Duke University. The Brain Drain is already affecting US companies and will
have increasingly devastating consequences.

There are several reasons why this homecoming is taking place. First, there are
increasing job opportunities for them at home. In the last two years, the
economies in India and China both grew much faster that the US. Not only are
they welcomed with open arms, but because they have studied abroad, they have a
better understanding of how to do business in the US. China even offers
financial assistance and housing incentives to lure skilled workers home.

Second, because the Asian cultures are so different from those of the US, there
is a strong comfort factor that is missing for workers choosing to stay. They
miss their loved ones and rarely enjoy the same support systems.

Finally, US immigration laws and attitudes (fueled by 9/11 and recent economic
challenges) discourage immigrants from staying. The now long and arduous process
of obtaining one of the relatively few H1B visas or applying for green card
status dishearten even the most enthusiastic. Though Wadhwa only studied
students from Asian countries, the same situations apply to graduate students
from South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

The good news is that we believe that once the US economy really recovers, the
rate of departure will slow somewhat; however the cultural and home economic
factors will remain.


Source: Herman Trend Alerts are written by Joyce Gioia, a strategic
business futurist, Certified Management Consultant, author, and
professional speaker. Archived editions are posted at http://www.hermangroup.com/archive.html

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Best Buy Scores - A Brilliant Brand Management Idea

Best Buy has initiated an idea that I suspect will be long on return on investment in multiple ways from brand management, to employee motivation, building company culture, and I'm sure you can think of more.

As if they don't have a significant corner of the market already, they will up their brand awareness with a clever campaign to find the best carolers from their employee ranks for commercials this holiday season, conducting their search from coast to coast. They are filming all the stages of the search, turning them into episodes, and posting them on Youtube for all to see.

I'm thinking will Best Buy be a happier place to visit while holiday shopping? My experience with them is they in general are pretty friendly and helpful. Let's imagine the vibe when you go in now as they combine their holiday promotions with boasting employee morale, making their employees the stars of the show this holiday season.

I wanted to blog about this to springboard ideas from this idea in these areas: increasing brand awareness, brand perception, boosting employee morale, employee motivation, nurturing a fun company culture, and with all that contemplating how the bottom line might be impacted.

I hope the powers that be will be tracking the results of this initiative and I can't help but think that it might drive more buyers into the store this season. We'll see.

Here is Episode #1 (it's fun to watch and does have a bit of an American Idol feel to it). There are more episodes posted.

An Updated View of Workforce Readiness

If you are in the business of employee training and development, corporate training, or education and training then this is a MUST READ post.

According to the article associated with the link to follow, our incoming workforce will not be adequately equipped to deal with the needs of the 21 century workplace and economy. This is an alarming educational trend and business trend!

Here is the link - go here.

This information presents all sorts of potential challenges. Consider the following areas:
1. how will we hire differently?
2. how will we provide ongoing education and development of current employees that meet these needs?
3. what kind of learning will be offered?
4. what extra pressure and stresses will be put on managers?
5. how will that impact management trends?
6. how will company competition and profitability be effected?

Phew...and that is just off the top of my head. Bottom line, training and developing employees I suspect will be more enhanced, take on a greater role and will require more committed funding than ever before and where one use to consider employee training and development an option or necessary evil in the corporate budget, that will no longer be an option!

I recommend that you read the complete article and consider it's impact from where you sit.
If you'd like to talk it through with a training professional, don't hesitate to contact me via my site: www.joanncorley.com