Innovation of management

(Pam) I was at the Fortune Innovation conference this week in New York. Gary Hamel was the best speaker by far. He talked about the need for us to focus innovation around how we run companies, not just on creating new prducts and services. In the heirarchy of what is truly going to transform companies, the innovation of ideas and services can only go so far - it's the innovation of how you manage, and eventually the innovation around your entire business model or new industry paradigm that will yield the biggest growth.

This links so much with this book I'm reading at the moment by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on creativity - where he argues that creativity is not just an idea coming from an individual person - it's a fine balance between 3 things - the person who comes up with an original idea, a domain or culture to bring that idea into, and an environment or field that is receptive to that idea and will help it grow.

I'm starting to realise we over-value idea gen around small business issues, and don't value enough how receptive the environment or company itself is in whether an idea lives or dies. Which is why I feel sorry for General Mills (see the previous post by Scott).