Built to Innovate: Essential Practices to Wire Innovation into Your Company’s DNA

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KEEPING THE ENGINE HUMMING

NURTURING THE HABIT OF INNOVATING

When a big, ambitious company is floundering, executives are often tempted to “go big” with innovation. They may choose to bet the company on a visionary moonshot-style program, perhaps one developed by a handful of technical wizards in a secret skunkworks isolated from the rest of the business, with the goal of creating a breathtaking new product or service that blows away the competition.

It’s a glamorous, exciting strategy—and occasionally it even works.

But history shows that, more often, companies that bounce back from near-death experiences do so not through a single “big bang” of creativity. A much better strategy is making innovating a habit that permeates the organization, ...