The Innovator's Guide to Growth: Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work

CHAPTER 10

Innovation Metrics

MORE THAN TWO DECADES AGO, management guru Tom Peters penned an editorial titled, “What Gets Measured Gets Done.” Indeed, one of the findings from the research that Peters summarized in his 1982 business classic In Search of Excellence is that excellent firms use measurements and metrics to make sure that people spend time on the things that really matter.¹

The theory is simple. A senior manager hoping to influence behavior has no stronger lever than his or her choice of measures. Measures serve as tangible guideposts that help middle and junior managers make the critical on-the-ground resource allocation decisions that—more than any senior management fiat—ultimately determine a company’s innovation strategy. ...