See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/275461399

Leading Innovation Change - The Kotter Way

Article  in  International Journal of Innovation Science · September 2011

DOI: 10.1260/1757-2223.3.3.141

CITATIONS READS
25 8,405

1 author:

Praveen Gupta
San Jose State University
140 PUBLICATIONS   342 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Quality in Manufacturing View project

work happiness, tourism, knowledge management, HEI View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Praveen Gupta on 18 July 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Leading Innovation Change - The Kotter’s Way
Praveen Gupta,
Adjunct Industry Professor,
Illinois Institute of Technology,
School of Applied Technology
201 East Loop Road, Wheaton, IL 60189

Abstract
Innovation has been considered necessary for every problem today. In any business meeting, conference or
media innovation is discussed and desired. However, key challenges in realizing innovation are a well
understood framework and an infrastructure for its successful deployment. Current frameworks including
Open Innovation, Crowd Sourcing and many others do not address corporate needs in terms of credibility
and for its body of knowledge for developing competency. Having established a credible and teachable
framework for innovation, the author realized that organization leadership is unable to drive innovation due
to misunderstanding of innovation principles and change management at the leadership level. Recognizing
success of Prof. Kotter’s Leading Change model, the author adapts the model to managing the innovation
change. Kotter [1] This paper presents application of the Leading Change to innovation management and
providing guidance to organization leadership for innovation deployment. Innovation deployment has
become a necessity for organizations in knowledge age for achieving competitive edge and sustaining
profitable growth.

1. INTRODUCTION
Current conversations about business innovation started in the late 90’s when Professor Clayton Christensen of
Harvard Business School directed businesses to pursue the path of destructive or sustainable innovations to achieve
growth. Christensen [2] Since then global competition and market conditions have necessitated acceleration in
innovation. In the rush to innovate, corporations pursued the path of Open Innovation that helped some
organizations or Crowd Sourcing for innovation that is still being talked about. Neither of these two approaches to
innovation has given corporations an ability to innovate as needed. For example, an article in a recent Fortune
magazine states that during 2000 to 2008, Pfizer won FDA approval for nine drugs at an average cost of $6.7 billion
for each drug, too expensive for sustaining Pfizer’s profits. Ekling, et al [3]

Prior to the current trends in innovation there were tools and techniques to teach people creativity, methods for new
product development along with inventive problem solving methods such as TRIZ, or methodologies to manage
development of new products. None of these methodologies have adapted to the Internet age, nor have they been
scaled up for mass innovation needed in the knowledge age.

Research shows that conventional methods of innovation resulted in a return of up to 20 cents on a dollar while
knowledge-age-friendly innovations result in returns of around 80 cents on a dollar; more attractive to investors.
Since most leaders are unaware of conventional innovation, and new methods have not been optimized, there is a
need for a model to bring change to the corporate culture, making it ready for innovation, and for a systemically
developed framework for innovation ready for mass adaptation in the information saturated knowledge age.

The author adapted John Kotter’s model for leading change to bring the innovation change needed in the corporate
world. Kotter’s eight-stage process was designed for the 21st century and in the need to bring innovation sense to
corporate leadership. The eight stages are listed below:

1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency

2. Creating the Guiding Coalition
3. Developing a Vision and Strategy
4. Communicating the Change Vision
5. Empowering Employees for Broad-based Action
6. Generating Short-term Wins

Praveen  Gupta     Page  1  

 
 7. Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change
8. Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture

2. BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION FRAMEWORK

In addition to the Kotter’s framework for change management, the author has developed the framework of
innovation based on the study of approaches adopted by great innovators, specifically Einstein for unlimited
thinking and Edison for nearly unlimited innovation, amassing over one thousand patents in his lifetime. The new
framework was developed in search for the science of innovation, and is called the Brinnovation™ (abbreviated for
Breakthrough Innovation) framework. Gupta [4]

Brinnovation builds on employees’ natural talents, and simplifies the innovation process. The framework includes
the following:

1. Fundamental strategy for business that is sustaining profitable growth

2. Brinnovation framework demonstrating that innovation is a function of effort, knowledge, play
and imagination.
3. Rule of 2 for defining the breakthrough extent of innovation
4. Holistic rules for creativity, and a process for thinking innovatively
5. TEDOC (Target, Explore, Develop, Optimize and Commercialize) Keathley, et al [5]
Methodology for developing innovation solutions profitably
6. Measures of innovation including recognition of innovations, employee ideas, and revenue
growth.
7. Portfolio of Fundamental, Platform, Derivative and Variation innovations
8. Business Innovation Maturity Model (BIMM) comprising five stages namely Sporadic, Idea,
Managed, Nurtured and Sustained

3. CULTURE FOR INNOVATION

Realizing business growth without mergers or acquisition requires leading innovation within four walls by inspiring
employees for their better intellectual engagement and output. Organic growth necessitates creating a culture of
innovation, driving change in people’s thoughts and behaviors. Culture is a frequently talked about issue however
rarely accomplished because culture is not a thing or two but instead is inclusive of everything that happens in an
organization. So what does culture consist of? Is it different in different companies, countries or communities? By
understanding the components of culture one can see that between cultures there are commonalities and differences.
It also shows that to change a company culture certain pieces need be changed to achieve desired outcomes. Based
on the inputs from students representing eight countries the following items can contribute to defining an
organization’s culture:

• Vision, Objectives/purpose/goal
• Rules and standards
• Code of Ethics
• Work atmosphere
• Social responsibility/ caring
• Listening
• Bureaucracy – Speed of decision making
• Communication
• Preferences and interests
• Hierarchy/ structure
• Shared benefits
• History/ traditions
• Rewarding failures
• Recognizing successes
• Motivation
• Help/ support

Praveen  Gupta     Page  2  

 
Thus by changing an organization’s culture to one more suitable for innovation, we would need to change thoughts
and actions. When we say we want to change culture we imply that we’ll bring about certain practices that are more
conducive to inspiring, implementing and rewarding innovations.

Professor John P. Kotter has captured a process for leading change, enabling executives to identify, inspire and
execute actions for creating culture of innovation. Accordingly organizations that are not able to exploit innovation
to achieve profitable growth must not have created a sense of urgency, understood the value of innovation, or
learned the innovation process. Without a sense of urgency it is difficult to set expectations for desired change or to
engage employees intellectually. Much of today’s corporate leadership is more focused on short-term profits, and
thus the organization is not aligned for innovation. Prof. Kotter has outlined an eight-stage change process that can
be equally applied to creating a culture and deployment of innovation.

STAGE 1 – ESTABLISHING A SENSE OF URGENCY FOR INNOVATION

Most companies today are focused on short-term profit, and thus deploy initiatives like Lean Six Sigma to cut cost;
missing the intent of achieving perfection or becoming the best supplier for customers. On the contrary, innovation
is considered an expense thus counter to reducing cost and does not get serious consideration. Surveys continuously
showed that innovation is one of the top priorities of business executives except when it comes to allocating
resources. A recent IBM Global CEO Study shows that creativity in leadership has become a critical requirement for
success in today’s economy. IBM [6] It is amazing to note how surveys show what we want to hear year after year.
It must be the way questions are formulated to get desired replies when surveying organizations. Earlier leadership
studies have shown that twenty years ago top leadership attributes included honesty, integrity, futuristic vision and
knowledge. Kouses [7]Leadership implies creativity. In an interview published in International Journal of
Innovation Science, Chris Galvin, former Chairman and CEO of Motorola, redefined leadership as taking followers
to a place never visited. Galvin [8]Leaders must be creative otherwise how would they create new growth
opportunities!

Due to intense global competition from rising economies and reduced merger activity, the need for organic
innovation has skyrocketed. The challenge then is to understand why most corporations are not pursuing innovation
with a sense of urgency to achieve their business objectives. It requires a different perspective of business. The
purpose of a business must not be to make money but instead to provide value to its customers and to society. If a
business serves customers well it will make money and profit. Thus the leadership focus must become to serve more
customers well, leading the business to profitable growth. Leadership is required for growth and good management
is necessary for profit. Thus to create an urgency for innovation, corporate leadership must aim for market
leadership through profitable growth. Once the strategy is to achieve profitable growth, leadership would adopt and
deploy innovation to achieve business objectives. Without setting goals for sustained profitable growth, innovation
would not be perceived as needed, even though the term “innovation” would be bandied about freely.

To create a sense of urgency for innovation, corporate leadership must commit to sustained profitable growth,
strategize to develop a portfolio of innovations for both the short and the long term, and allocate resources
accordingly including resources for deployment. The portfolio of innovation will include innovation for three to six
months, 9 – 15 months, 30 – 36 months, and beyond. Absence of such an approach indicates too much dependence
on existing product mix, and/or the complacency caused by the absence of crisis at the leadership level, too much
information about innovation, a poor understanding of the innovation process, ineffective corporate performance
(including measures of innovation), too much talk about innovation as an annual program; or even killing the
innovation messenger. I have worked with a few senior managers who tried to introduce innovation to their
company; I never heard from them again. They no longer worked there.

In tough economic times corporate leadership must also go back to a basic idea that community and business need
each other. In order for business to succeed it needs community support for employment and infrastructure at the
least, and community needs business support through employment opportunities and new solutions. Sustained
profitable growth creates a better community and business relationship that sours when a business purely focuses on
profit at any cost without a corresponding focus on revenue growth.

To create a sense of urgency for deploying innovation leadership must articulate the fundamental strategy for
sustained profitable growth and role of innovation in realizing its business objectives.

Praveen  Gupta     Page  3  

 
STAGE2 – CREATING THE GUIDING COALITION FOR INNOVATION
A guiding coalition is the catalyst for instilling change in employee behaviors. The innovation team formed to drill
down innovation in the organization must represent the organization not just the leadership. It must have people with
power but without ego, people from middle management, people from operations representing both genders, and
must incorporate diversity of experience and culture. The more diverse the guiding coalition the more likely it will
be innovative in its approach to introducing innovation in the organization. The members of the coalition must be
enthusiastic about the success of the corporation, care for people, educated or trained in credible innovation methods
and tools, and be aware of and interested in measuring innovation performance. The guiding coalition can assess the
corporate performance to identify profitable growth opportunities for innovation, and develop a persuasive and
pleasant message of innovation. Innovation and fun go together.

In the Internet age, the corporate guiding coalition may also include outside members such as professors,
consultants, or associates from professional organizations in related or diverse industries. The guiding coalition can
also use social media tools to spread the message to employees, supply chain, and stakeholders. Technology can be
deployed to engage employees for their input. The guiding coalition members must understand that all employees
will make innovation happen in the company with their support. Empathy and care for employees is critical to build
trust.

Today, corporations are managing people as human capital or headcounts. In the virtual world where interpersonal
skills are becoming less relevant, human capital becomes a term in the economic equation for corporate
performance. In recent years employees were considered as human resources (HR), used to deliver solutions to
customers at the lowest cost. While companies are deploying improvement strategies such as Lean or Six Sigma,
many times savings are measured in reduced headcount, a pathetic way to communicate how much leadership cares
for employees. In Thomas Watson’s time at IBM HR represented human relations to inspire employees to create
innovative solutions. Employees were trusted for their intellectual contributions, allowed to err, and rewarded for
innovations.

The guiding coalition must recognize that employees must be inspired to innovate at work, they cannot simply be
told to innovate. It is interesting that when a company is managed for short-term profit, the environment is tense,
competitive and destructive because of the fear of layoffs. In such an environment, employees show up at work, pass
their time, do the job, become numb of stress, and start acting dumb because nobody listens to their ideas. They feel
disrespected and even mistreated.

When a company is managed for long-term profitable growth, a risk-taking culture develops, failures are acceptable,
and the environment is more fun-loving because employees are thinking freely, trying different things and hope to
contribute to their organization’s success. Corporate drive to innovation must persuade employees that innovation is
vital for their personal success as well as the corporation’s success. The drive to innovation must be an enjoyable
experience they can share with their friends and families. Employees love to take pride in their work.

Interestingly, many innovative firms have been known to create a culture of fun through a colorful environment,
non-routine activities, less management and more leadership, freedom to think, and tools and toys to play with. Add
the availability of food, and employees love to be at work because they enjoy being there. The corporate need for
innovation must appeal the employee’s heart.

STAGE 3 – DEVELOPING A VISION AND STRATEGY FOR INNOVATION

One of core characteristics of a great leader is the ability to create a vision that followers buy into and pursue to
realization. Vision is a portrait of the future if innovation is deployed. Executives must create a vision highlighting
reasons for and the activities required to deploy innovation. The vision must be logically compelling and
experientially appealing. A vision must be convincing for its value proposition, exciting to talk about, and providing
direction and promise for the future. A successful vision must be realizable and contingent on the most likely
available resources of all kinds, and also logically achievable.

For a corporation to create a vision it must think like a new business all over again. It is wise to adjust one’s vision
given the current market conditions and evolving community needs. Creating an exciting vision requires creative
leadership. Leadership must review its current strategy and business model including the product/service mix,

Praveen  Gupta     Page  4  

 
business processes, internal competencies and resources. The review inspires a vision of what can be accomplished
in the future (5 – 15 years) in its field, adjacent fields, or in a totally different field. To create a successful vision
requires learning of trends in society and of various technologies, use of those technologies and growing consumer
or customer demands.

For businesses, the fundamental strategy needs to be sustained, profitable growth. The first element is growth;
second, profitably and the third is to sustain it over time, i.e., theoretically perpetuate success. This may require a
combination of acquisitions and innovation, and innovation can be open or organic. Once that is understood
leadership must ensure that growth is accomplished profitably through utilizing best resources, methods and
execution. The effort to sustain requires creating a portfolio that will include short term and long term innovations.
In other words, there must be some innovations to achieve profitable growth in near term; others, in the longer term.
We use the terms variation, derivative, platform and fundamental to describe innovations ranging from real time
mechanical innovations to conceptual innovations that may take years to develop. Such a portfolio allows a
corporation to allocate intellectual and financial resources for innovation accordingly.

We must also understand that innovation can be deployed internally for improving existing processes and products
quickly. Therefore, the vision must include a focused-future and wide-present application of innovation skills and a
related commitment of resources. Commitment to innovation is a commitment to growth and opportunities rather
than purely profit and consolidation. Thus leadership must create a futuristic vision and a portfolio of innovations
prior to launching the innovation initiative and investing in developing innovation competency internally.

STAGE 4 – COMMUNICATING THE CHANGE VISION FOR INNOVATION

A clearly communicated vision can lead to great successes. President Kennedy’s vision to take the man to moon in
1960’s, even though perceived to be impossible at that time, became a reality and led to many subsequent
discoveries and innovations. In a corporate environment, clear and frequently communicated vision is a necessity to
in order to become believable to be acted upon. Employees eventually align to a believable and understood vision.
For example, when a small company president clearly communicated to his employees a commitment to excellence
and financial objectives with shared benefits, profits multiplied in first year. Prior to that the company was happy to
meet its numerical goals, and barely made a profit. In another company, a division of a large corporation, the
president hesitated to communicate with employees, even after hearing from employees that they wanted to hear the
company vision directly from him. Nothing positive happened until the president resigned one fine morning.

There are many ways to communicate a vision; story boards, pocket cards, bulletin boards, emails, posters, signs or
town hall meetings. Helping employees see the vision and its benefits inspires and engages employees. If benefits to
customers, employees, humanity, society, or community are strong, employees will align with the vision. For
example, development of the cell phone in 80’s at Motorola with trend-setting objectives, industry building vision,
led to the flip phone and launched the cell phone industry. Bill Gates’ vision for making information available to
everyone led to great successes at Microsoft.

Any vision for innovation at a corporation must be straightforward without any motherhood and apple pie jargons;
vivid and beneficial for all stakeholders, and without any inconsistencies. Leadership by example is best way to
communicate a vision that must be realized. Fortunately, with innovation possibilities for a compelling and
appealing vision are infinite. That is not the case with cost-reduction or profit oriented initiatives. The vision must
be such that it genuinely challenges the employee intelligence and requires collaboration from defining the target to
commercializing the innovation.

One of the most evident commitments to vision is allocation of resources. Innovation does require financial as well
as intellectual resources while exploring various possibilities. It requires faster decision making by leadership and
support for taking risks, and acceptance for experimental failures. The innovation vision and associated
communication must clearly allay any employee doubts and give confidence for employees to align with the vision,
and act boldly.

STAGE 5 – EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES FOR BROAD-BASE INNOVATION

As soon as employees hear the word ‘empowerment’ it causes adverse reaction, it sounds a cliché of the past that
has never meant what it should have. Empowerment is not a buzz word indicate a caring for people and empowering
in ways to bring out their best. Empowering employees implies listening to them, investing in them through

Praveen  Gupta     Page  5  

 
education, and making them responsible for major accomplishments. They need the authority to make decisions to
accomplish what is expected. In order for employees to be intellectually engaged they must be enlisted and
empowered.

To deploy innovation in a predictable, pervasive and profitable way there must be incentives throughout the
organization for people to innovate. Incentives include absence of bureaucratic policies and procedures, open
communication, and open or common spaces for information interaction. Incentives also include playful activities
to engage thinking minds, and places free of distractions for reflective thinking. Encouraging and allowing time for
play and reflective thinking is critical to an innovation environment. Most corporations hire highly educated and
trained people but do give them time to think openly to take advantage of their intellectual assets.

In addition to removing barriers, a roadmap is equally important to clarify steps for leadership and employees to
institutionalize innovation in an organization. For example, the Center for Innovation Science and Applications has
developed the Business Innovation Maturity Model (BIMM) that consists of five stages:

• Sporadic, representing the existing state of innovation,

• Ideas for engaging employees,
• Managed, for developing new innovative solutions,
• Nurtured, for institutionalizing innovation, and
• Sustained for results, of innovations that progressively advance or mature culture of innovation.

In this model, employees know that leadership expects to use innovation to offer new products or services to
customers for profitable growth. Empowering and engaging employees require achieving excellence in managing
employee ideas, i.e., Idea innovations.

Everyone happens to be creative or innovative one time or another, and has been called genius at one point by
friends, family members or even co-workers. However when corporations desire innovation on demand, they must
invest in training employees in how to innovate. For example, a CEO mentioned that as a student when someone
asked him to think of some creative ideas, he had no clue how to think creatively. Similarly, most employees today
don’t know how to think creatively. Yet, continual competition in all aspects of business from around the world
requires innovation on demand to be part of the business model. We must train employees in creativity and
innovation concepts, techniques, tools and methodologies. We must train employees in the corporate process of
developing innovative solutions and launching innovative products or services from concepts to deployment, (i.e.
commercialization). Corporations must develop in-house innovation competency, setting up an innovation room or
laboratory, and establish checks to ensure innovative practices become routine.

It has been common that new programs launched by corporate leadership get stuck in middle management. It is
critical that middle managers and supervisors buy into the innovation strategy before expecting employees to be
innovative. I have worked in organizations where employees are told more about what not to do than of what they
could do. Instead of supporting their ideas by saying, “Why not?” employees are told to bring justification for their
innovation. Employees are shown limits and boundaries instead of stretching beyond the status quo. Empowering
employees must also include supervisors supportive of their innovative practices.

STAGE 6 – GENERATING SHORT-TERM WINS TO INNOVATION

I remember when the Six Sigma program was being developed at Motorola I was asked to manage Small Wins to
Six Sigma, a group of four projects utilizing the Six Sigma methodology. While working on the small wins we had
to develop answers to many questions not thought before, and refining the methodology for broader deployment.
Questions were about using the methodology, measuring success, and recognizing and celebrating successes. Most
importantly, small wins fuel the spirit of change. Successful initial deployment allays doubts in employee minds,
removes hesitation to try, and builds confidence and support systems in case they need help.

Similarly, deploying innovation through Sporadic, Idea, Managed, Nurtured and Sustained stages still requires short-
term and small wins gained from adapting new methods and tools. Short-term and small wins also result from
embracing new culture, launching innovative products or services, and ensuring traceable financial impact.
Innovation will occur at idea, process, product or service, business model, or strategy levels. An organization must
have a process and system in place to deal with expected and the surprise elements of innovation. Innovation

Praveen  Gupta     Page  6  

 
requires some degree of chaos, and business requires a great degree of reproducibility and organization. An
innovative organization must change from having a rigid structure, offering standard products or services with a
known lead time to a flexible structure offering customized and innovative solutions on demand to customers.

Short-term wins or proof of the concept solutions allow the organization to address details in order to make
innovations pervasive, predictable and profitable. Short-term wins could be a portfolio of innovations including two
process innovations, three product innovations, a business model innovation, and dozens of idea innovations. Short-
term wins are like holding hands to learn to walk before we start walking or running on our own routinely. Having a
portfolio of innovations such that some contribute to profit and others to revenue growth will provide broad
experience to accelerate deployment of innovation.

While working on short-term wins for innovation it is quite possible that some of them may not really become very
successful. Initial failures can be equally important to experience as they provide valuable lessons of what to avoid,
prevent future failures, and enable a stronger platform for frequent innovative solutions. Short-term wins provide
visible evidence that the innovation is worth it, and justifies desired changes in the system. Rewarding successes
builds morale and momentum for more innovations, and discourages skepticism. Short-term wins also gain buy-in
from management at all levels including those in the finance departments. Successes persuade neutrals (those
waiting on the sidelines for the innovation initiative to die) also to join the innovation campaign.

Experience from short-term and small wins regarding innovations strengthen the management message, teaches us
what to do, and what not to do to drive innovative practices throughout the organization. Well informed and
enthusiastic executives can offer more charismatic and transforming leadership in pursuit of innovation.

STAGE 7 – CONSOLIDATING GAINS AND PRODUCING MORE INNOVATIONS

Generating short-term wins from innovation creates a great launching pad. Initial successes must become the
foundation for expanded, greater innovation successes. Lessons learned and innovation methods adapted to an
organization’s environment must be extended and expanded to institutionalize innovation across the organization.
People innovate best when they are cared for and their intellect is nurtured. One must look at the initial wins as
seeds that must be watered and nurtured to become trees of innovations. The organization must foster innovation
where every employee is engaged across all departments.

Publicizing successes will strengthen enthusiasts and soften employee resistance by providing incentives to
understand and join the innovation bandwagon. The success should be used to inspire employees through the
innovation vision, enlist more employees for their ideas, create incentives for innovation, investment in innovation
education, and regular communication of innovation outcomes, even incremental ones.

One of the challenges during the initial or selective deployment of innovation projects is that collaboration across
departments is required. Priority is not understood equally across all departments. As a result innovation projects can
get stuck in the organizational mud. This will waste resources, dull the innovation front and finally stall the
innovation drive. Instead the leadership must accelerate the innovation drive after the initial wins, demanding
teamwork, accountability and innovative solutions. Recognizing and celebrating successes is a great way to
reinforce leadership commitment and communicate innovation expectations routinely and repetitively.

To ensure that a newly developed innovation system is sustained over years, the corporate culture must be redefined
accordingly. Corporate vision, policies and procedures, informal rules or behaviors, code of ethics, work
environment, and organization structure must be amended to perpetuate innovation in everything. Innovative
thinking must become a competitive advantage in the near term before becoming a mandate to survive in a global
economy. Leadership roles must be defined and appointed to ensure innovation deployment and its effectiveness,
innovation champions and innovation professionals to lead the deployment, and every employee must be required to
practice innovation, innovative contributions for success of the organization need significant weight regarding
evaluation and compensation. Innovation training and certification must be used to acquire innovation expertise in
order to develop in-house competency cost effectively. Measures of innovation, periodic review of innovation
processes and products, and actions to nurture innovation in every department must be developed and deployed.
This is the stage when innovation has become a standardized process throughout the organization.

Praveen  Gupta     Page  7  

 
STAGE 8 – ANCHORING NEW APPROACHES IN THE CULTURE
So many times we see corporations developing new initiatives for improvement or innovation only to be perceived
as fads; expected to fade away. In case of innovation, it is a necessity in the knowledge age for individuals, and
critical for corporations to globally compete profitably. Changing demands and technology are creating customer
expectations for a dynamically enjoyable experience. Product life cycle is becoming like the life of a fruit.
Therefore, people must learn to innovate routinely and corporations must plan a portfolio of innovations for short as
well as long-term benefit.

Anchoring innovation is a must to perpetuate a culture of innovation. Anchoring is like hard-wiring one’s brain for
innovation. Similarly, the challenge is how to hard-wire a “corporate brain” for innovation. For example, 3M has
had innovation in its vision for decades, the company perpetuates its culture of innovation through a policy of
allocating unaccountable time for freedom to think or do anything for the company. Similarly, corporations must
reinforce innovation in everything through expectation, environment, measures, activities, and decision. Leadership
walking the talk and talking the walk are essential to maintain consistency of purpose. If corporations establish a
fundamental strategy of sustaining a certain percentage of profitable growth through innovation the internal need for
innovation will be sustained, and infrastructure will grow and nurture the innovation culture constantly. Employees
will understand the need for innovation to support corporate objectives. From new employee orientation to exit
interviews of departing employees, all must emphasize innovation in order to maintain an awareness of innovation
inside and outside the company. Stakeholders and society then expects innovation from the company, setting the
expectation for leadership to deliver. Without anchoring innovation in the culture that would be impossible to
deliver.

Once a company is branded as an innovative company there is an expectation of innovative products or services
from the company. Expectations of the leader are changed accordingly. When bringing in a new CEO, it is
imperative that he or she must drive growth through innovation, not be a taskmaster to cut cost for short-term profit
only. As new employees join the company they are oriented toward innovation because of the corporate policies,
procedures and job expectations. In a way the corporation is perceived to be a learning and smart organization. Once
as the “corporate brain” is activated for innovation it does not easily stop; very similar to the human brain.

CONCLUSION
Consulting firms have observed through surveys that CEOs are still not sure how to pursue innovation. Reasons for
being innovation averse include lack of confidence in innovation processes, measures, long product development
times, late to market and a lack of accountability for innovation. As a result companies offer limited incentives, have
no plans for dealing with failures, and question the investment in innovation. McKinsey [9]

The author recognizes the need for addressing leadership’s inability to manage the change to innovation culture,
engaging employees across the board, turning out faster innovations, and sustaining profitable growth instead of
managing for profits alone.

Leading innovation change provides a proven framework to executives in launching their innovation initiatives
successfully.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author appreciates reviews by Jim Correll, a Master Business Innovator and mentor with the Innovative
Business Resource Center in Independence, KS. The author also would like to express his gratitude to Prof. Robert
C. Carlson, Dean of IIT School of Applied Technology, and his colleagues Arvind Srivastava and John Forsberg
their inputs.

REFERENCES

1. Kotter, John P., Leading Change, Harvard Business Press, 1996

2. Christensen, Clayton M., The Innovator’s Dilemma, Harvard Business Press, 1997
3. Ekling, Peter, Reingold, Jennifer and Burke, Doris, “Inside Pfizer’s Palace Coup,” pg 85, Fortune, August
15, 2011

Praveen  Gupta     Page  8  

 
 4. Gupta, Praveen, Business Innovation in the 21st Century, BookSurge Publishing, 2007
5. Keathley, Jane, Owens, Tracy, Fabritius, Willibert, Posey, Kevin and Merrill, Peter, “Innovations Driven
Organizations: What, Why and How, The Quality Management Forum, pg , Volume 36, Number 1, Spring
2010
6. Capitalizing on Complexity, Insights from the IBM Global Chief Executive Officer Study, 2010
7. Kouses, James M. and Posner, Barry Z., The Leadership Challenge, The Jossey-Bass Management Series,
1987
8. Galvin, Chris, A CEO’s Perspective – Making Innovation Work, International Journal of Innovation
Science, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2010
9. Innovation and Commercialization, McKinsey Global Survey Results, 2010

   

Praveen  Gupta     Page  9  

 
 Praveen Gupta
Praveen Gupta, a faculty for teaching innovation classes at University of Illinois, and Illinois Institute of
Technology, both in Chicago. Praveen has focused on developing science of innovation in order to make
innovations more predictable and profitable, and build leadership confidence in innovation for higher return on
investment through profitable growth. He is a Director of Center for Innovation Science and Appliactions at IIT
School of Applied Technology.

Praveen was the founding editor-in-chief of International Journal of Innovation Science, and author of the Business
Innovation in the 21st Century book. Prior to starting his pursuits in innovation in 2003, Praveen had been a thought
leader in Six Sigma.

Besides teaching, Praveen is president of Accelper Consulting, where he helps organizations in deploying
innovation. He has developed a Certified Business Innovation program that is offered in collaboration with Illinois
Institute of Technology. Praveen’s innovation curriculum is taught in multiple universities internationally.

Praveen received his MS degree from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, and BS from Indian Institute of
Technology, Roorkee.
 

Praveen  Gupta     Page  10  

 

View publication stats