What's Holding You Back?: Ten Bold Steps That Define Gutsy Leaders

Chapter 7. PRINCIPLE VI: Create a Culture of Innovation

You don't have to be around a company for very long before you get a sense of the culture. A leader sets the tone in his or her organization. For an organization to be consistently innovative, the leader needs to make it clear that innovation is highly valued: success must be rewarded publicly, and, perhaps even more important, people should not be punished or publicly criticized when an innovation fails.

I spent twenty-six years at Procter & Gamble in a variety of roles. During that period, the company held an annual meeting at its global headquarters in Cincinnati. All its headquarters-based management personnel and the leaders from all the international subsidiaries were invited. Individuals ...