Innovation Isn't 'Creativity,' It's a Discipline You Manage
Too many managers think innovation is just about brainstormed ideas. Esther Baldwin of Intel Corporation explains how measurement, rigor, and IT tools, applied to the innovation process, can fuel business growth.
Innovation, like “quality,” is one of those notions that’s fuzzy to a lot of managers. If it’s hard to measure, it can be hard to think about. But Esther Baldwin is out to change that.
In her 20+ years at Intel Corporation, Baldwin has launched the Innovation Center in Shanghai, China, and built global data centers in Japan, the UK, and US. Now, as research proliferation manager in Intel’s future technologies research organization, her focus is on introducing ways for companies to use information technology more smartly in filtering, capturing, and analyzing innovation ideas. She argues that innovation can be comprehensively managed as an organization-wide discipline and that companies that who succeed at it will find unexpected opportunities for growth.