Porter Novelli CEO Karen van Bergen has written her latest column for Huffington Post, this time dealing with the practicality of innovation:
It seems like “innovation” — in business, in technology, in client service — is such a hot topic it manages to span the gamut from meaningless to mystical. Everybody wants it. We’re in awe of it. But nobody can define exactly what it is. It’s positioned as fundamental to business success, but at the same time something elusive and mysterious, flowing from the minds of a select few visionaries.
For today’s business leaders — whether they are in the C-suite of a Fortune 50 company, or launching their own scrappy startup with a small team of friends, or even the head of a household — it is so important to understand that the common perception of innovation is only half right.
Yes, absolutely: innovation is indeed critical to driving great wins and business success.
But the idea that innovation can only come from a select few is not only fundamentally inaccurate — it’s totally self-defeating. Why structure your culture around the belief that a crucial component to success is bestowed only upon one-in-a-million among us?
Read the rest of the column here.