Strategic Innovation: Embedding Innovation as a Core Competency in Your Organization

THE BIG SURPRISE ABOUT LEADERSHIP ACCOUNTABILITIES

We expected that senior leaders would fulfill their accountabilities in a direct and timely manner, while leaders at first and middle levels would be harder to convince. After all, these were the people who had lived through many different initiatives that had been pushed down on them over the past ten years. We figured that since they were not involved in the creation of the innovation effort, they would be harder to engage.

What we learned was surprising. We incorrectly assumed that because people were at higher levels, they would be more engaged, interested, or motivated than first- or middle-level managers.

A great example of our error was a factory plant manager in Latin America who involved ...