Does a CIO have a role to play in innovation? Has Six Sigma left you with room to play?
I came across a very interesting article on the role a CIO can play in fostering innovation in their organization. It is about time someone talked about this critical issue and BCG did.
Innovation is a buzzword often abused by people. Like IT Strategy it is dropped by just about every business leader at every opportunity where they want to appear erudite! And then, when the party is over and everybody has gone home, leaders revert back to tactical stuff that got them to where they are i.e. fighting fires!
So what is innovation? Simply stated, it is the “creation” of something “new”. It does not have to be “new to the world” as most innovations are simply “new to your ecosystem.” More importantly, it does not have to be a “giant leap”; a small step forward is also innovation. Perhaps, these are the two biggest misconceptions about innovation.
Leadership and innovation are inseparable. For without innovation there is no leadership and there is no innovation without leadership!
Innovation is risky and it takes the foresight and the strong stomach of a leader to undertake this journey. The payoff is tremendous but the fallout is equally spectacular, albeit in the exact opposite direction. 80% of new adventures result in failure their first year and less than 5% survive past 3. So, you need appetite for innovation rarely found in business leaders who are risk managers in the “Six Sigma” mold.
Most business leaders get the innovation imperative. Does the CIO?
CIOs have long assumed that innovation is the purview of the “business” leaders. In this new world where the world is beginning to acknowledge that CIOs are business leaders, this thought process will become an issue. So the expectation is going to get in the way of your career if you are not on the innovation train.
However, there is a bigger issue. While you are not on the train, and the expectation is that you should be, the task of getting on is your responsibility – nobody will invite you to this party! Nobody will make it easy for you. It will take some doing on your part.
The question is: Are you thinking innovatively to get your seat at the innovation table?
