Put your Innovators on an Island - Think Small to Think Big

Posted by Vince Poscente on Sat, Jan 14, 2012 @ 12:36 PM

Want your company to reach BIG GOALS in short order. Start thinking smaller.

Intuit, close to 8,000 strong and revenues in the billions, consistently finds ways to think big by thinking small. An example is their product SnapTax.

Screen shot 2012 01 14 at 12.25.06 PMIntuit's leaders could have sought innovation through focus groups, testing, R & D teams, outside hired guns. Yet they brought together a team of five to come up with a what is one of Intuit's many profitable products. It did it by allowing this initial group of five to be on an "Island of Freedom." They had the license to create and build like the culture of a start-up company.

According to Eric Ries, the Author of The Lean Startup, "Innovation is a bottoms up, decentralized and unpredictable thing, but that doesn't mean it cannot be managed. It can, but to do so requires a new managment discipline." Basically, Reis encourages senior mangement to "cultivate entrepreneurship" within the company's culture.

Encouraging entrepreneurship is critical, at all levels. Just ask the AlliedSignal executives who were approached by internal employees Gary Burrell and Min Kao (hence the name GarMin) with a new concept around global positioning systems. As these employees were ignored, they went on to be entrepreneurs and start their own company called Garmin. In the words of Rick Perry, "Oops."

Senior executives who insist on meddling in the efforts of innovators have not learned the ways of true entrepreneurial thinking. Learn from the example of Intuit and leaders like Scott Cook. Create an "Island of Freedom" in your company and see what they come up with. Your thinking small may turn into a BIG GOAL occuring in short order.

For more ideas about innovation and creating an island of freedom, start with this workshop in a box.

Click me

Tags: Goals, Sales, Business Leadership