Innovation

Three strategies for setting the stage for innovation in your organization.

To bolster innovation, use a growth-affirming innovation narrative supported by four proven levers.

In the consumer goods industry, small R&D bets often outperform big ones.

The true story behind Twitter’s success belies the conventional wisdom of social networks.

Before your next large-scale product launch, try leveraging uncertainty for competitive advantage.

Leadership Collection What does it take to make an organization truly innovative? This collection of articles from MIT Sloan Management Review examines the deliberate processes managers can take to nurture innovation and the importance of being able to translate the language of innovators to the executive office.

Giving people time and resources to pursue innovation projects can produce extraordinary outcomes — but only if you match your “slack strategy” to employee type. The authors found that different types of employees respond in different ways to slack innovation programs; that different kinds of slack resources are better suited to certain types of employees than others; and that different kinds of slack innovation programs produce different kinds of innovation.

Companies used to spend years clarifying business requirements before they would even think of launching new software. Today, cheaper cloud-based apps mean that implementation decisions are made on the fly — and there’s no going back.

Businesses can innovate and thrive by nurturing a “creator” mindset.

Creating innovative products and services that disrupt the status quo requires creativity, and creativity involves thinking differently about constraints. But too much of a “the rules don’t apply to us” attitude can lead to ethical crises. That’s what’s happened at Uber, where a string of controversies led to a mass exodus of executives, including the company’s president and CEO. Organizations intent on innovating need to understand ahead of time the consequences of breaking certain rules.