As I have mentioned many times, education is an important step in developing an innovation strategy for any company.  This innovation education is important at all levels in the organizational chart.

A recent article in Business Week by Stefan Lindegaard titled “Why CEOs Don’t Get Innovation” mentions a lack of education as one of the reasons CEOs don’t “get” innovation.  The article identifies several reasons why CEOs don’t fully leverage innovation, including:

  • CEOs often focus on short-term gains instead of long-term benefits.
  • Innovation is not typically measured as part of a CEO’s performance.
  • Most CEOs lack innovation education – not taught in school or in the workplace.
  • The compensation structure in many businesses rewards day-to-day activities, but not new or untested innovations.

A good first step in leveraging innovation in your business is to begin educating everyone in your company about the benefits of innovation.  Teach employees at all levels how to identify innovations and how they can expand the business.  Providing specific examples of valuable innovations (in your business or other businesses) helps people better understand the innovation process.

To further encourage innovation and creative thinking, managers and executives must appreciate the value of spending time brainstorming or performing other creative thinking exercises.  Even though the results of these activities may not generate revenue in the upcoming quarter, they can support the long-term growth of the company by identifying new products and new product features.  Innovative activities must be encouraged and valued by company management even if the activities cannot be measured as easily as direct revenue or meeting project deadlines.

CEOs and other executives should set the tone for the company’s innovation strategy. Without a company-wide understanding of innovation and support of innovative activities by company leaders, many companies will merely talk about innovation without actually experiencing it.