Monday, December 04, 2006
Innovation by walking around...
Ever heard of the book: Management by Walking Around? I wonder if the blogosphere would noodle the notion of innovation by walking around...
Some of my best ideas don't occur at work. Even when they do occur at work, they are usually in the time when I am walking between one meeting and another. At most times, brilliance hits me whenever I get a chance to walk outside. The one thing that I can say is that my idea engine has been slowing down since working in corporate America as we don't get outside as much as when I was working on various Internet startups. Maybe I need to figure out how to hold more meetings outside instead of being locked up in stuffy conference rooms.
Anyway, here are four notions that you should consider in terms of embracing innovation by walking around:
The key takeway is to do something. Walking around is doing something. Innovation at its basic level requires enterprises to get moving. When this occurs, the perspectives will change for the better. Innovation also requires IT leadership (distinct from management) to remove otherwise insurmountable barriers (aka process) and allow folks to focus on interacting in a human way...
| | View blog reactionsSome of my best ideas don't occur at work. Even when they do occur at work, they are usually in the time when I am walking between one meeting and another. At most times, brilliance hits me whenever I get a chance to walk outside. The one thing that I can say is that my idea engine has been slowing down since working in corporate America as we don't get outside as much as when I was working on various Internet startups. Maybe I need to figure out how to hold more meetings outside instead of being locked up in stuffy conference rooms.
Anyway, here are four notions that you should consider in terms of embracing innovation by walking around:
- Decide with passion that a solution to whatever problem you face already exists; your job is to find it. Remember innovation is not invention and therefore stop attempting to reinvent the wheel
- Ask yourself, how would someone else solve this problem? Thinking from a perspective of other than your own is useful
- What experts could I call upon to help me solve this problem? Of course this requires you to acknowledge that expertise may reside outside of your own enterprise and at times you need to avoid internally forced socialization and prefer to talk to others who are not indoctrinated into a certain way of thinking. Likewise, calling on experts may be justification to spend time reading the blogs of thought leaders within the blogosphere or at least using social networking sites such as LinkedIn.
The key takeway is to do something. Walking around is doing something. Innovation at its basic level requires enterprises to get moving. When this occurs, the perspectives will change for the better. Innovation also requires IT leadership (distinct from management) to remove otherwise insurmountable barriers (aka process) and allow folks to focus on interacting in a human way...
