** Who Killed My Innovation "Conceptlet":

What is wrong with senior and middle-level leaders today?  They certainly have grabbed onto the latest innovation buzzwords and have no trouble "talking the talk," but they either have no clue, and thus inadvertently kill innovation, or they do have a clue, and thus intentionally kill innovation.   Either way, innovation suffers, ideas are killed and corporate morale goes in the toilet.

Innovation Killer comments include:

• "That does not follow our process model"
• "We need to focus on meeting this quarter's results"
• "Our resources are limited"
• "We need to follow best practices"
• "We already have an R&D area that worries about that"
• "I can't sell that to management"
• "We've never done something like that before"
• "That sounds too risky"
• "Let's think about that problem next quarter"
• "Let's put that in front of the committee"

"Walking the talk" about innovation is a leadership behavior.  Your employees, vendors and customers are going to quickly be able to see through the "talk" and determine if you are truly serious about leveraging innovation as a key competitive advantage.  In today's extremely competitive global economy, it isn't enough to have a great product or service.  You need to separate yourself apart from the rest of the competition and give your customers a compelling reason to purchase your products and/or services.

Be alert to the "innovation killers" in your organization.  These are the people or "antibodies" that work to protect the status quo.  They can also be found through comments or actions that seek to plant the seeds of doubt about the effectiveness of innovative approaches to solving customer problems.

By establishing a solid innovation culture, supported by process, people, technology, strategy, ownership, commitment, alignment, training and well publicized success stories, the innovation killers and antibodies can be kept at arm's length.  But be vigilant...your commitment to keeping innovation alive and well must always be greater than the commitment of those trying to kill it.

Have A Great Week!!!