Tom Peters in his book 'A Passion for Excellence' quotes George Bernard Shaw, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man".
Innovation is to a certain extent identified with outsiders, non team players and antisocial individuals.
Peters goes on to talk about how "...invention comes from the 'wrong person' in the 'wrong place' in the 'wrong industry' at the 'wrong time', in conjunction with the 'wrong user'."
"Perhaps the most systematic analysis is The Sources of Invention by John Jewkes and colleagues. At the heart of it are extensive case studies of fifty eight major inventions, a sample systematically chosen from twentieth century Europe and America."
The results of this survey would surprise most people especially those that are obsessed and addicted to managing companies with systems and treating employees just like cogs in a machine.
"Jewkes's evidence suggests that at least forty six of the fifty eight occurred in 'the wrong place': they were invented by an individual not in any company, by a very small company, by an individual in an 'outgroup' in a large company, or by a large company in the 'wrong industry'."
David Ogilvy was quoted a while back on Bizcommunity as saying, "Few of the great creators have bland personalities. They are cantankerous egotists, the kind of men who are unwelcome in the modern corporation."
If innovation is to play a role in business and produce returns just like investments in buildings, computers, machinery and other essential infrastructure then it has got to be managed.
Managing innovation as a process takes some understanding of the way that it develops as well as the personalities that develop and drive it.
Managers that succeed have to be at times more innovative than the people they oversee.
Those that guard the guards are often unjustly labelled as the conservative first line of defence put in place by the establishment.
Without innovative management of the 'creatives' there would be no innovation as the 'creatives' would be directionless.
