Innovation and Leadership
Knowlege@Wharton has an article on recent Wharton roundtable discussion on how Innovation and Leadership are linked. There are atleast four great takeaways from this article.
One, Culture is a critical factor in promoting innovation.
Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas, cited culture as a critical factor in promoting innovation. Business leaders, he said, create this environment by offering incentives for workers who innovate and by making it clear that innovation is expected. "You must have people with that hunger to always learn, who are always open and who think about things in a different way. You always have to reinvent yourself tomorrow."
Two, Passion is critical for innovation
Wharton professor of health care systems Patricia Danzon, who has conducted extensive research on pharmaceutical industry mergers, identified passion as critical to innovation. She acknowledged that passion is difficult to quantify, but suggested it may be linked to workers who have a stake in the business, either financially or in small firms where there is clear authority and little bureaucracy. "So much innovation in the pharmaceutical industry is coming from the small firms ... and it seems to come from the passion and the involvement of being master of your own destiny."
Three, There are no "Aha!" moments in most innovations
Wharton finance professor Peter Linneman, founding chairman of Wharton's real estate department, said there is no magic "Aha!" moment in most innovation. "It's just all hard work -- showing up everyday in the morning, studying plans, walking around seeing what other people are doing. If you wait for 'eureka,' you are never going to have innovation."
Four, Execution remains critical
Execution remains critical, continued Linneman. "Great ideas are cheap. Ideas matter, but the execution matters more." Duckworth said successful leaders must possess emotional intelligence and sensitivity to multi-cultural and multi-generational issues. Awareness of social concerns, she said, keeps executives in tune with customers and open to new possibilities.