New Prophet Study Shows How Strongest Innovators Succeed

Despite its promise as a primary source of organic business growth, capitalizing on innovation's potential is an elusive goal for many businesses. A new study released today by Prophet reveals how "model" innovators do it — with approaches that point the way toward better innovation success for others.

"We found that the strongest innovators have a catalyst leading the way — a leader who 'walks the talk' when it comes to growing and sustaining a culture for creative thinking," said Kevin O'Donnell, a senior partner with Prophet.

He added: "That's not so surprising, perhaps, as the most successful businesses generally have this kind of visionary leadership. What distinguishes the model innovators further, though, is the way these catalysts have cast the widest possible nets, both within and outside of the organization, to capture every possible source of inspiration."

Prophet (http://www.prophet.com), headquartered in San Francisco, is a global consultancy that helps a Fortune 500 clientele more effectively use branding, marketing, and innovation to drive profitable growth. It collaborated on the study with Play (http://www.lookatmorestuff.com), a Richmond, Virginia-based creativity and innovation consultancy that helps organizations drive strategic change and growth.

Prophet's 2008 Best Practices Study, "The Making of World Class Innovators," resulted from a survey of some 150 senior executives from businesses identified as having a clear commitment to innovation. Their businesses ranged from under $1 billion to over $10 billion in revenues, the majority based in the U.S. followed by the United Kingdom and Europe.

Model innovators, the study found, do a better job of setting the stage for success at innovation: Two-thirds have a proactive and ongoing innovation strategy, and more than half believe it's well-understood throughout the organization.

Internally, O'Donnell said, the strongest innovators work hard at creating the right behaviors among employees. "They promote curiosity among their employees, and three-fourths of this group encourages them to take risks," he said. "Models also recognize the need for training, with more than half doing so in areas like best innovation practices. Perhaps most importantly, 60 percent of this group also provides incentives to spur employee innovation."

Model innovators also realize that fresh thinking may come from outside their own walls. They are more likely to commit to building and nurturing global networks of outside scientists, inventors, academics and consultants. Many explicit require their partners and suppliers to figure out ways to help them achieve their innovation objectives.

"Most importantly, they are more likely to treat their customers as important partners in innovation," said O'Donnell. "Two-thirds of them, for example, are committed to and involved in some form of customer co-creation. And nearly half are facilitating this through use of new and social media — such as greater use of online communities."

Lessons can be learned from the strongest innovators, from the need for more innovation catalysts to inspire and engage to the value of expansive innovation networks, said O'Donnell. "Employees must understand and be encouraged to live the strategy — and be given the tools and incentives they need to do so," he added.

Download the executive summary of “The Making of World Class Innovators” here.