"The only real training for leadership is leadership" - Anthony Jay

"A year from now...you will wish you had started today" - Karen Lamb

We stand now on the precipice of the financial event of this generation.  Looking back on the events of today from a distance of one month, one year or one decade down the proverbial road, it is unlikely we will ever be the same or think the same about money management.  For better or worse, we will have learned lessons, some painful and some rewarding.  Some of us will have taken these lessons, moved on and succeeded.  Some of us will forget the lessons, stay the course, pray for the best and experience the worst.

I continually struggle to understand how organizations can sink so much money into training, resources (both human and financial), structures, processes, capital and consultants to cut costs, streamline processes, eliminate waste and all of the other important expense column efforts, only to ignore, obfuscate, deny, politicize and attack initiatives that are proven to grow the income column.

Starting today (or whenever this "bailout" happens), we are going to see many companies rise and probably many more fall.  This is the tipping point.  Cost cutting ( think instead...responsible cost management) is only half of the equation for success.  You've leveraged it.  You've driven down the expense column and made the overall financial picture better.  But now...you are running out of the "low hanging fruit" aren't you?  You are spending more and more time, effort and resources for the same "gain" which...if you were honest with yourself...isn't really a gain at all is it?  Nope.

So now, you have to look at the other half of the balance sheet.  It is called a balance sheet for a reason you know.  The column reads "Income."  Hmmm...if I can't make a big difference on the bottom line anymore attacking the "Expenses" column, how can I increase the amount at the bottom of the "Income" column.  You know the answer is growth and you know there are easy to follow, repeatable processes available to find this growth you seek.  You know that each and every employee, customer, consumer, vendor, partner and competitor has at least one idea to add potential revenue to your business.  The truth is, they probably have more than one...maybe hundreds, thousands, millions.

No problem...right?  You'll just order everyone to provide their ideas, you'll pick a few of the safe and easy ones and bada-bing...income and growth!  Wrong!  Is this how you would have attacked your cost cutting initiatives?  No way!  You put together a dedicated team to seek out wasteful processes, effort and expense.  You trained them to a point where they wore colorful belts (metaphorically speaking of course).  You mirrored everything Toyota did.  You cut and cut and incrementally improved until you impacted the bottom line.  Excellent!  So WHY would you not do the same thing with growth, creativity and innovation?

The problem is that you really cannot use the same processes, people and training for growth that you did for expense reduction.  So here's what you need to do:

• Establish a dedicated team of creatives, innovators, project managers, facilitators, designers and engineers.
• Remember to match the dreamers with the doers.
• Establish processes for creative problem solving, idea generation and idea/innovation management
• Provide quality training in creative problem solving, organizational creativity and innovation concepts
• Establish adequate funding streams, dedicated human resources and minimal oversight structures
• Define your business problems and challenge your organization to deliver solutions
• Seek to constantly mature your people, processes and technology in growth-based activities
• Establish innovation metrics (qualitative and quantitative) to ensure you are growing at the rate you seek
• Establish, protect and reward a corporate culture of ideas, entrepreneurship and growth
• Have not only a vision of the future you are inventing for your organization, but also a roadmap of actions on how to get there

There are many, many other important aspects of an efficient and successful innovation management program.  Need help?  Get some.  There are growing number of innovation management specialists, consultants, trainers, facilitators or any other number of experts for which you may need assistance.  You did it with your Six Sigma program...remember?  Why is this any different?  Its not...so get over it.

So...as we stand here at the tipping point of business/economic change...what's your play?  Safe?  Status Quo?  New and Improved?  Inventing The Future?  Good Luck!!!