The Importance of Innovation in Today’s Business Environment

People usually say “necessity is the mother of invention”, but the reality is that innovation is a necessity in today's global business environment. The globalization, the faster advances in the technology and financial crisis have caused that the 21^st Century is become more challenging than others centuries.   The challenge today’s is “creating an organizational structure that facilitates innovation” and “focusing innovation in the right places.

According to France, Mott & Wagner (2011) innovation involves the introduction of something new, particularly something radically different. The “something new” could be products and services, business processes, product/service delivery, business designs, or new ways of managing. According to Tidd, Bessant, & Pavitt, (2005) innovation type could focus on four categories:

1.      Product Innovation – change in the thing (products/services) which an organization offers.

2.      Process Innovation – change in the ways in which they are created and delivered.

3.      Position Innovation – change in the context in which the products/services are introduced.

4.      Paradigm Innovation – change in the underlying models which frame what the organization does.

According to O’Sullivan and Dooley (2008) the ability to manage the innovation process is an essential competence of any organization, but members must first understand the working of the process to be successful.   Executives generally agree that innovation should be everyone’s responsibility, but that employees can’t innovate unless their leaders empower them to do so in an environment that values and rewards their contributions (France, Mott & Wagner, 2011). To produce innovation product the organization need to create a culture, which encourage employee to make experimentation and learning experience. 

The innovation provokes changes and to implement changes, is important that the leaders apply the characteristics of the transformational leaders.

Leaders need to use their wisdom to identify when the organization needs a process of renewal and innovation. Organizations are always focused on how to achieve a better future. In this sense, the leaders need to be innovators (Selman, J. n.d).The leaders need to take awareness about the renovation need and would support the organizational growth process. For this, it has to know in what cycle of the “S curve” is the organization and identify the exact moment that the decline period will start to introduce a product or process and begin the cycle again.

Reference

Doherty and Horne, (2002) Managing Public Services; Implementing Changes

         Retrieves July 16, 2008 from http://books.google.com/books?id=OHmfHgBw-

        DwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Transformational+leaders+and+s+curve#PRA1-

        PA212,M1

Selman, J (n.d) Leadership and Innovation: Relating to Circumstances and Change

          Retrieved July 22, 2008 from http://www.innovation.cc/discussion-      

           papers/selman.pdf.

France, C., Mott, C., & Wagner, D. (2011) The Innovation Imperative:How Leaders

           Can Build an Innovation Engine. Retrieved on May 20, 2011 from http://www.mmc.com/knowledgecenter/viewpoint/The_Innovation_Imperative.php

O’Sullivan, D. & Dooley, L. (2009) Applying Innovation. Sage Publications, Inc.

Tidd, J., Bessant, J., & Pavitt, K. (2005). Managing innovation: integrating technological, market and

         organizational change, third edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Emotional Intelligence and Your Leadership Development

 

Emotional intelligence is a primary source of social skills, success, and influence. It plays a key role in regard to the above transformational leadership dimensions. I consider that emotional intelligence is the driver that would allow me to be successful in achieving a transformation as a leader. According to Johnson (2006) emotional intelligence is defined as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use that information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (p. 43).  Daniel Goleman author of various books and articles about emotional intelligence topics, established that IQ and technical skills are important, but the emotional intelligence is the most significant skills of leadership (Goleman, 1998)

Emotional intelligence involves abilities that can be classified into the following domains:

1. Self-awareness - Observing yourself and recognizing a feeling as it happens (interpersonal intelligence)
2.  Managing emotions - Handling feelings so that they are appropriate; understanding the origin of emotions; finding ways to handle negative emotions (fears, anxieties, anger, and sadness)

3.  Motivating yourself - Channeling emotions in the service of a goal; ability to delay gratification and stifle impulses to obtain a greater goal.

4.  Empathy - Sensitivity to others’ feelings and concerns and taking their perspective; ability to appreciate the differences in how people feel about things

5.  Handling relationships - Managing emotions in others; social competence and social skills (interpersonal intelligence). (p. 44)

 

Reference:

  Goleman, D. “What Makes a Leader”, Harvard Business Review, 1998 

  Johnson, A. (2006). Becoming fully intelligent. ENCOUNTER: Education for Meaning 

              and Social Justice, 19 (4), 40-46.

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Become a Leader For Life

To become a leader for life we need to discover and apply the talents and values that God gift you in order to drive a positive impact on the world around us.  According to Cashman (2008) leadership from inside out is about managing our energy and personal engagement, crusial to stay ahead of the game of leading and living. I really believe that to be a leader we need to have a life balance. We can recognize almost eight categories to balance our life. Please take a few minutes and make this simple exercise. In ranking order from 1 to 10 in where 10 is the maximun value, evaluate how do you feel in these area in your life. Please be sincere!

1.     Personal Development (1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10) 

2.     Spiritual Awareness (1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10) 

3.     Fun and Enjoyment (1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10) 

4.     Intimate and Social Relationship (1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10) 

5.     Health/Aging (1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10) 

6.     Personal Financial (1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10) 

7.     Career/Profession (1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10) 

8.     Family/Parenting (1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10) 

Institute for Empowerment Coaching (IPEC) call those categories as a “Wheel of Life.”  The balance in all area in your life will help you go forward when thing get challenging.  The process of becoming a leader is much the same as the process of becoming an integrated human being. For the leader, as for any integrated person, life itself is a career. Dare you to run it and gift the best of you. 

Reference

Cashman, K. (2008). Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for

life. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.