Much of what we think stands in the way of innovation is in our control: our attitude.
In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way; that’s an attitude most traditional organizations don’t have. I’ve made reference to this fact quite a bit in the past, and is a common topic of discussion among innovation wonks. One way to know if you are standing in your own way is to look at your organization from the perspective of “what are we doing to block innovation?”.
For example, do you have an organizational chart that looks like this?
Probably. This is how an organization where management is the enemy of innovation looks like, it’s also why most organizations can empathize with the following sketches:
Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done. pic.twitter.com/SpLD9Oiuvf
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) January 30, 2015
there's no safety in the status quo, so disrupt or be disrupted. pic.twitter.com/UANsggx6sQ
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) February 10, 2015
Can you see how your organization is deliberately killing innovation?
Bottom line: The default state of all new ideas is “NO”. New ideas have to be protected, they need to be given room to breathe. As a business leader, your jobs is to jumpstart progress by enabling innovation. They way to do that is to provide purpose, challenge and support; then get out of the way. That’s how you give ideas oxygen.
H/T: Vala Afshar.
Everyone has a favorite book, but how about one that changed your life? Typically you get asked about your favorite books about a specific topic, or books in general; but never about a book that changed your life. Well, somebody asked me this question recently, I’d never thought about it before. 
Innovators are less myopic than the rest, that’s a fact you can count on. But, what makes them so?