Quote

Author

Company

Part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, and poets, and artists, and zoologists, and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world... More

Steve Jobs

Apple

My thesis:

• For the first time ever, everyone in an organization – not just the boss – is expected to lead.

• The very structure of today's workplace means that it's easier than ever to change things and that individuals have more leverage than ever before.

• The marketplace is rewarding organizations and individuals who change things and create remarkable products and services.

• It's engaging, thrilling, profitable, and fun.

• Most of all, there is a tribe of fellow employees or customers or investors or believers or hobbyists or readers just waiting for you to connect them to one another and lead them where they want to go.

Leadership isn't difficult, but you've been trained for years to avoid it.

Seth Godin

Squidoo

Play with your physical workplace in a way that sends positive "body language" to employees and visitors.

Tom Kelley

IDEO

Ideas are the engines of progress. They improve people's lives by creating better ways to do things. They build and grow successful organizations and keep them healthy and prosperous. Without the ability to get new ideas, an organization stagnates and declines and will eventually be eliminated by competitors who do have fresh ideas.

Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder

Ideas Are Free

We have focused on managing creativity and innovation, but that's not the only thing that matters at Google. We also have to manage day-to-day operations, and it's not an easy task. We are building technology infrastructure that is dramatically larger, more complex and more demanding than anything that has been built in history. Those who plan, implement and maintain these systems, which are growing to meet a constantly rising set of demands, have to have strong incentives, too. At Google, operations are not just an afterthought: they are critical to the company's success, and we want to have just as much effort and creativity in this domain as in new product development.

Eric Schmidt

Google

That's how we're going to stay innovative. We're going to continue to attract entrepreneurs who say, 'I found an idea, and I can go to Google and have a demo in a month and be launched in six.'

Google's 9 Notions of Innovation

Marissa Mayer

Google

To convert a solid performer into an aggressive competitor, you have to create an organization that not only values better performance but also sustains the commitment year after year. This means a major shift in values, not a slight step-up in the number of new ideas for the next year.

Andrall Pearson

Harvard Business School

Great organizations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved. Eliminate politics, by giving everybody the same message. Keep a flat organization in which all issues are discussed openly. Empower teams to do their own things

Bill Gates

Microsoft

The most important step I've taken to encourage innovation is to hire people who have experience outside of banking – creative people who can apply what they've learned in dynamic, customer-centric categories to our more traditional business.

Hal Tovin

Citizens Financial Group

All successful employers are stalking men who will do the unusual, men who think, men who attract attention by performing more than is expected of them.

Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab

To succeed in the long term companies must foster the right kinds of innovation-focused skills with leaders who operate at various levels in the organization.

Soren Kaplan

InnovationPoint

When you put people into a new structure, it stimulates them to rethink what they’re doing on a day-to-day basis.

Ronald T. Kadish

U.S. Department of Defense

Brought pretty smart people together. Infosys has given opportunity for youngsters to come out with new ideas. Infosys has created a platform where meritocracy has prevailed. Infosys has put premium on innovation; we have created incentives for people who are innovative. Infosys has been an enlightened democracy where the hierarchy of ideas prevails over hierarchy of men and women. Infosys has built-up a mindset where everybody makes short-term sacrifices because they see long-term benefit in that.

Narayna Murthy

Infosys

Many large enterprises are well equipped for innovation. These corporations display best practices in innovation management by systematically building it into their processes. They invite staff to move from one discipline to another so as to break down the silos that can isolate different departments. People are encouraged to move from manufacturing into sales or from research to finance. This is good for morale, but even better for developing understanding across departments. It stops sections of the company becoming to rigid and set in their ways. It encourages people to see things in different perspectives.

Paul Sloane

Ashton-Tate