Innovation and Leadership

Harvey Firestone, an American businessman and founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, once said, "Capital isn't so important in business. Experience isn't so important. You can get both these things. What is important is ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn't any limit to what you can do with your business and your life."

This statement, which dates back to the past, remains very true and is becoming more and more relevant. In times when a new creative idea and the ability to implement it represents a competitive advantage and is essential for a business’ long term success, many companies seek ways to encourage an innovative culture.

What is innovation and an innovative approach for a company, anyway? Is it about the products or services it provides to its clients or customers? Or is there something more to innovation? And what is the role of leadership in terms of supporting an innovative environment within a company?

In general, innovation can be considered a way of thinking and acting that creates ways of doing business more effectively and creatively using the potential of all team members. The process of innovating is not only about product or services. There is huge room for innovation in all functions in each organization. Everybody can do things differently and enable things to be done differently.

One of the roles of leaders is to inspire people in the business to think in an innovative way. There is a close link between innovation and leadership. The truth is that the role of a leader involves the ability to look forward, to have a clear vision, to challenge the status quo, to have the courage to take risks. All these qualities are part of an innovator’s DNA. What can we, as leaders, do to support the innovative behaviour of employees?

The prerequisite is an environment of trust. In an environment where good assessment is based only on a task well fulfilled or a project well implemented, fear of failure can exist, which is a disincentive to innovation. In innovative companies, a willingness to take risks and the belief that failure is learning are part of the approach.

It is also important to create such an environment in a company so as to ensure that all employees understand how important it is to innovate and are not content with the existing status quo. The ability to innovate, to change things, is an essential driver of long-term success and engaged employees are the best source of innovation. One of the ways to change and move things forward is to inspire employees to ask questions. Our brain is designed to be stimulated by questions, and by asking questions we become more curious. And the truth is that we are all born with the mind of an innovator – we are open-minded, curious, and intrigued by things around us. Only later do we learn how to fit in, to adjust to standards, and learn to respect the existing limits. Yet, some people keep the mind-set of a child together with the ability to achieve objectives. But innovation is not about genius; it is about engagement, hard work and about always asking ourselves, “What can I do differently and better today”?