Executives want innovation. They constantly ask themselves “how can we be more innovative?’. But, that’s the wrong way to look at it. Rather, they should ask themselves “what kills innovation?”. 

Businesses looking for the innovation Holy Grail, innovative culture, will never get it if they continue to do the things that impede it. You see, what not to do is as important as what to do. Usually, businesses have it all wrong when it comes to innovation because they believe it is additive, so simply adding more innovation programs, more hackathons, more this, more that; will work.

Nonsense!

Innovation is subtractive, which means you have to STOP doing stuff that impedes it. And there area few things any business can stop doing to unleash the powers that drive innovation:

C ….. always need consensus, afraid to make decisions
R ….. risk aversion
A ….. analysis paralysis
P ….. process driven, not results driven

Get rid of the CRAP and you open the door for innovation.