Innovation as a Process

I would like to thank my friend, Gary Swanson, of Universal Parks for point me in the direction of a great online speach by author and Carnegie Mellon alum Scott Berkun. Scott was a project manager at Microsoft where he was expected to "deliver" creativity as part of his job.

Over time he studies the success of leading innovators such as Newton, Edison and Van Goghand crytsalized his thought about the difference between the "spark" of creativity that is an epiphany and creative or true innovative thinking as a process. Look at the presentation and gain real knowledge!

My most favorable part of the presentation is a quote by William McKnight, Chairman of 3M:

"As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to
delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their
initiative. This requires considerable tolerance. Those men and women, to whom
we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to
want to do their jobs in their own way. Mistakes will be made. But if a person
is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the
long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell those in
authority exactly how they must do their jobs. Management that is destructively
critical when mistakes are made kills initiative. And it's essential that we
have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow."

William McKnight, 3M, Chairman, 1948