Jeffrey Phillips listed some of the most common innovation barriers in one of his recent posts:

• Most people work within one business unit or function, but often innovative ideas combine capabilities from several functions or business units.
• Most people are compensated on a specific set of goals. Rarely does the compensation include any aspect of innovation.
• Innovation requires change and risk, two factors that most firms try to eliminate from day to day operations.
• The pressure from Wall Street for quarterly earnings is so high that few organizations do a good job looking at evolving trends and new opportunities.
• Most businesses have optimized their staffing and processes to the point where there is no slack in the system.

I also notice these problems during my work as well as during my academic studies. To put it in a nutshell there is one central precept of innovation: freedom.

Posted by maz on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 at 09:47.