InnovationCreation

Side track off the "what is innovation" quest.

I have been podlistening (pod catching) for about 8 months now. I have tuned out NPR and created my own radio station that is mostly talk oriented. A year ago I would have laughed at the thought of buying an iPod because, at the time, it was mainly a "music" device, and I am not a music person.

But along came podcasting and I am hooked. There are some hurdles still (where is my preference based station creator?) and there are hiccups (iTunes 4.9 slowed down the podcasters of the world for a few days). But over all I am an interested subscriber of several shows.

One phenomenon I have discovered is being PodDeaf. PodDeaf happens to those people who have their iPod volume just a bit higher than the out side noise such that anyone on the outside talking to you generates this action: first your sheepishly remove the ear piece, reluctantly turn down the volume, then look back at the person addressing you and say "What did you say?".

Innovation: A leadership issue talks about the definition of innovation through a company's actions to create or increase innovation. Actually, the actions taken are steps to create an environment of innovation. Google encourages an open door policy around technology demonstrations. They also want "leaders listening and encouraging and kind of creating a discussion" around ideas and prototypes.

The whole article is about how leaders can shape or create an environment for innovation to (hopefully) occur. Again, the definition of innovation is not talked about but there is effort help leaders understand what environments it takes to get innovation.

The last part of the article has a great analogy to organizations as fish tanks and innovation. What is your company like?