Anyone who’s worked inside a large company can name a few reasons why good ideas die: conflict with existing businesses, naysayers, insufficient resources, and so on. Yet when companies decide to “get more innovative,” they typically forget to address the things that kill promising ideas. Here’s how to change that:
- Start with a survey. Ask your innovation MVPs about the company dynamics that strangle new ideas — then take action on their answers.
- Get external validation. Selling an idea is easier when customers know about it and can express their desire for it.
- Invest real money. Ideas can’t succeed unless companies allocate sufficient resources for them to do so.
- Reward decision makers who back winning ideas. But make sure that backing losing ones isn’t a career-ending move.
- Think weekly, not quarterly. Moving slowly kills ideas and demoralizes investors. Looks for ways to speed up the building process.
Adapted from "6 Ways to Keep Good Ideas from Dying at Your Company," by Scott Kirsner
