The State of Innovation

Some key elements pulled out of this Newsweek article regarding 3 surveys done on attitudes towards innovation.

"One tactic shared by all of the successful innovators...was a rigorous process for managing innovation, including "a disciplined, stage-by-stage approval process combined with regular measurement of every critical factor, from time and money spent…to the success of new products in the market."

"...according to the report, "although more than a third of top managers (senior VP level and higher) say innovation is part of the leadership team's agenda, an equal number say their companies govern innovation in an ad hoc way." In other words, there is no process in place to manage—or, presumably, measure—innovation efforts."

"The two groups of executives did align on one question, however: how to boost innovation performance, starting with making innovation a core part of the leadership agenda, modeling behavior that encourages innovation, and—echoing [other studies] improving tools and processes for managing innovation risk and making better decisions."