I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about the links between innovation and leadership and how one impacts the other. I have also recently been in some really good discussions about knowledge sharing, communication and collaboration. All of these topics are relevant to managers in general but I see them being particularly relevant to the life sciences arena, especially in such a competitive environment.

I don’t claim to be a management guru or a leader in all things innovative. I do, however, have a keen interest in these topics. I like learning from the experiences of others. I have quite a few experiences of my own that may be helpful, or at the very least, entertaining. I hope to use this blog as a forum to discuss topics and challenges that we run into everyday – managing a global and diverse workforce, the importance of innovation in a tight economy, developing new leaders, collaborating with partners, getting information to the right people at the right time, learning from our collective experiences and having fun along the journey.

Innovation and the New Year
The New Year inspires me to tackle the topic of innovation. I have had the privilege to work with some incredibly innovative people – the type of people that you want to be around in case some of their thought processes will rub off on you. They are dreamers and practitioners. Some are seasoned veterans, others are just entering the early stages of their careers. Some are logical, practical and quantitative in their approach while others are artful, random and very “right-brain” focused. All have the uncanny ability to think, respond and inspire in uncommon and unexpected ways.

I guess I would describe innovation as “the actual execution on creative thoughts”. It is one thing to have an innovative idea. It is quite another to actually implement it. Although I don’t have the empirical data to support my hypothesis (being the right-brained type that I am), I think that innovation most commonly develops in pockets and spreads virally through an organization. When people get together to debate an idea or discuss a challenge, innovation begins. Where it goes and the resulting value is impacted by things like organizational culture and structure, social climate and even economic factors. It is often most difficult to be innovative in a down economy but that is precisely when innovation is needed and valued most.

I read somewhere that innovation was akin to capturing lightning. I like the analogy because it illustrates the physical energy that is ignited when innovation is encouraged and practiced within a team, group or organization. It reminds me of a colleague who comes up with some pretty outrageous ideas. Sometimes he throws them out to the group to initiate critical thinking and discussion; sometimes he plays devil’s advocate or suggests the seemingly impossible. But he always makes me think! His perspective and his thought processes are completely alien to me and that’s why I like working with him so much. At the end of the day, the result of our discussions is usually something unique, creative, sometimes frustrating but always worth the effort.

So the question I keep coming back to is: How do you develop (and then sustain) that type of thinking at an enterprise level? How do you capture the elusive lightning bolt and then hold on to it? How do you instill the level of trust and support required to constantly encourage innovation? Is it mostly luck or can you nurture an environment or an individual to innovate? If you have ever experienced a truly innovative environment, what was the secret?